I liked your idea that Figg was the one who reported to Dumbledore about what happened. I was struggling with who reported to Dumbledore after the Potters had died and why on earth they didn’t help. Well, Figg being a Squib explains that. Good thinking.

I like the portrait idea too, though. It makes sense too.

The idea that Fawkes was the witnesses was something I had already thought about. The problem was Fawkes has the ability to swallow curses and he could have interfered enough for us to have realized by Harry’s memories that Fawkes was there.

Voldemort is seeking to kill Harry Potter. He is said to fear only one wizard, Dumbledore. He would have wanted Dumbledore preoccupied somewhere else, so as to have an easier time killing Harry. Voldemort could have sent some death eaters to attack Hogwarts, where hundreds of children were. Dumbledore would have had to stay and protect the students and teachers. So, maybe Dumbledore was fighting another battle at the time the Potters were killed.

James invisibility Cloak:

It is difficult to think that James would give his invisibility cloak to anyone when it could have saved Lily or Harry’s life. My thinking is that James and Lily were somewhat confident in their secret keeper; they felt safe. Dumbledore must have needed it for something important, but what?

It seems to me we maybe limiting our thinking by focusing mainly on Snape. I can’t remember, but I’m sure someone will. Was Snape aware that James owned an invisibility cloak? It seems he was; so how did he find out? Did he find out prior to James dieing or did he discover it while Harry was at school. If Snape knew about this cloak before James’ death it is possible Snape maybe linked to this crucial element.

I think maybe helpful for us to think about what are some uses Dumbledore has made of invisibility cloaks, already.
I can think of 3.
1- Order of the Phoenix members used them to watch over Harry at the beginning of OoP.
2- Order of the Phoenix members used them to guard the entrance to the Prophecy room.
3- Dumbledore tells Harry to keep his invisibility cloak with him at all times in HBP.

Other then covering a person, is the invisibility cloak able to hide other things?

A few points of response:

Dumbledore would not have had any reason at all to tell the Potters the information was coming from Snape, and he would have had very good reason not to mention Snape’s name at all.

Yeah, I’m not sure Dumbledore would have told them about Snape either. But that doesn’t really change my crazy theory, does it? (Notice I still admit it’s a bit crazy?)

I agree with the entirety of your paragraph about why the Potters went into hiding (I think).

So for me, the scenario where Snape happened to be nearby on Halloween night and overheard Wormtail tell Voldemort the Potters’ location and Snape happened to have James’s Invisibility Cloak and then rushed to Godric’s Hollow to warn James just isn’t working out for me.

As I said, I abandoned this part of the theory just minutes after I initially posted it. The “overheard” Pettigrew part is toast. Not even on the table.

I just don’t see in those passages of James’s and Lily’s voices that they had been warned to expect Voldemort.

I’m reworking the theory to fit this objection (stay tuned), but it still doesn’t work for me. If Snape’s arrival was even just 30 seconds prior to Voldemort’s, the surprise in their voices would have remained, hoping that Voldemort would not have gotten there so quickly.

More on this later. I’ve got to convince myself to do schoolwork now.

Fudge said in PoA that Dumbledore had “a number of useful spies” giving him information. I got the feeling that Dumbledore was telling people he had several spies so that suspicion wouldn’t fall on one head (Snape’s), so I have a very hard time believing Dumbledore would have divulged Snape’s identity, even to the Potters. He has not told any of his trusted colleagues and friends why he trusts Severus so much, so for me, Dumbledore would not have had any reason at all to tell the Potters the information was coming from Snape, and he would have had very good reason not to mention Snape’s name at all. The Potters were being protected by the FC, but that didn’t mean they were invulnerable, and there was always the chance that at some point over the years they could have been captured and tortured. After all, they couldn’t have been expected to never leave their house until Harry was 17.

As for the statement that “none of them would have known the weapon Voldemort would create when he went after Harry,” we aren’t reading the prophesy exactly the same way and we have a different understanding of what the Potters were told. The prophesy:

‘The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…’ (OP37)

Dumbledore said Snape only heard this much: ‘The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…. “ So Snape didn’t hear the part about the boy being marked as Voldemort’s equal, and there’s nothing in the prophesy that specifically says Harry would be “turned into a weapon” by the attack itself. The possibility of that happening is in the phrase “the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal,” and Dumbledore said if Voldemort had heard that part, he would have thought twice about attacking, but there is nothing definite in the prophesy—-certainly nothing Dumbledore would count on. Moreover, the power Harry had that the “Dark Lord knows not” was the ancient magic invoked by Lily’s sacrificial death of which there is not one hint in the prophesy. Rowling said on her website that if Lily had not been given the chance to live and had not thrown herself in front of Harry to protect him, Harry would have been killed that night, prophesy or not. So I can’t see that Snape, James, and Lily would have thought Snape was the most important person to save and that Harry would be OK because of the prophesy (if they had even heard the whole thing or anything about it).

IMO the Potters were hiding because they knew Voldemort was going after them. Period. Hagrid told Harry the reason Voldemort was after them was a mystery, so Order members had not been told about the prophesy. Dumbledore told the Potters that they were being targeted by Voldemort, but he didn’t need to mention the prophesy to get them into hiding. They trusted Dumbledore, and if he told them his spies had informed him that Voldemort was planning to attack and wipe out the Potter family, that would have been enough for them. They had defied Voldemort three times, they were members of an organization trying to defeat Voldemort, and they knew Voldemort was psycho, so they didn’t need Dumbledore to justify his request that they go into hiding. That doesn’t mean Dumbledore didn’t share part or even all of the prophesy with them, but it would have been an unnecessary risk, and it would have been downright reckless to tell them Snape was involved. So while Dumbledore may have mentioned that a prophesy had been made, I find it nearly impossible to believe he would have told them anything specific let alone anything about Snape’s involvement.

Voldemort, as we’ve seen, likes to plan things out. The Potters had been in hiding since at least the time of Harry’s christening, and they had been under the Fidelius Charm for a week before the attack on Godric’s Hollow. I think Wormtail told Voldemort where the Potters were hiding very soon after he was made Secret Keeper but that Voldemort wanted to attack them on Halloween night. At least I find it highly doubtful that Wormtail waited a whole week until Halloween night before telling Voldemort and that Voldemort jumped into action practically the moment he heard about it. So for me, the scenario where Snape happened to be nearby on Halloween night and overheard Wormtail tell Voldemort the Potters’ location and Snape happened to have James’s Invisibility Cloak and then rushed to Godric’s Hollow to warn James just isn’t working out for me.

Way too many unexplained things, starting with why Snape was close by when Wormtail was giving this crucial information to Voldemort. If no one had been told that Wormtail was the spy as appears to be the case, then Voldemort was meeting Wormtail in great secrecy. So how to explain how Snape overheard where the Potters were hiding?

If the Potters knew Voldemort would be at Godric’s Hollow momentarily, the only thing they would have run to get is Harry IMO. They wouldn’t have wasted a minute. They knew they were up against Lord Voldemort, ruthless and uber-powerful, and that he wanted them dead. Plus, from Harry’s aural memories of that night, the whole thing caught the Potters completely off guard. I just don’t see in those passages of James’s and Lily’s voices that they had been warned to expect Voldemort.

http://felicitys-mind.livejournal.com/4129.html

The only person, it seems, who can tell people where the Potters were hiding is Wormtail. If Snape was there, he was there because Wormtail told him (thinking him a fellow DE) or because he accompanied LV there, as we know Wormtail told LV.

Here’s another idea. DD insisted that the Potters go into hiding because he knew LV would be after them. I’d guess that the Longbottoms were also encouraged to go into hiding. (Yes, at this point Snape could have pass info to DD saying it was the Potters he was after, but Snape was new to the game at this point, and LV doesn’t need him to know, doubt he’d tell him). So the Longbottoms are in hiding, perhapds at Godrick’s Hollow as well, with the potters, instructed to hide under the cloak if anything were to happen. Perhaps DD, knowing LV, thinks that he’d go after the pureblood neville before Harry and sees him in more danger. It would also explain why the longbottoms were tourtured. I’ve always wondered why the DEs were so sure that the Longbottoms knew something about where LV went. If the DEs somehow knew that they were there that night it would make sense, say if Wormtail were there as well.

Long shot, I know. But nothing is really clicking on this one yet… so I’m throwing it out there.