What If James Kept The Invisibility Cloak - Part 4 | Harry Potter Film Theory

This show is sponsored by Better Help online therapy. Welcome to 2024. What you do this month will set you up for the entire year ahead. Match with a licensed therapist who can help you make this year all that you want it to be. Visit Betterhelp.com/super to get started. What if James had kept the  invisibility cloak? Part 4. Heeeey Brotheeeeeer. For the past few weeks, we've been  trying to answer this question and it's been wild how different things might  have been if not for this one tiny

change. If you are not up to date, this video will make  the most sense if you've seen the first few parts. But either way, let's do a little recap just so  we're all on the same page. The key difference in James having the cloak is that it allowed Harry to be hidden on the night that Voldemort attacked. Both of Harry's parents were still killed and the sacrificial love was still cast, but Voldemort could never locate  Harry inside of the house. This, we reasoned, is because the cloak  works dif

ferently for its true owner. In King's Cross, Dumbledore eludes to it  having some kind of extra power in this way. So, basically, in the same way that Death could never locate Ignotus Peverell, it's not a matter of the cloak making you invisible, but making you truly unfindable. This forces Voldemort to wait 10 years, until Harry is vulnerable again at Hogwarts, where he attacks right away but still from afar using the diary. Where Harry, of course, overcomes the basilisk and saves the day

. Yay! So, now Voldemort is forced to wait another three years until the Quidditch World Cup to attack Harry in the open again, where he succeeds in Avada Kedavra'ing him, but the sacrificial protection saves Harry and blasts Voldemort to a mist, but still ends up making Harry into a physical horcrux. Voldemort isn't defeated for long, though, as  he takes advantage of the second task in that Year's Triwizard tournament to to abduct Harry,  who is the thing Fleur will miss the most. Where he wa

s then able to return via the Philosopher's Stone that he was able to steal from Gringotts, mixed with Harry's blood but is fended off this time by Priori Incantatum and the twin cores. With the knowledge of the twin cores intact, he  is now, a year later, focused on stealing the prophecy while Dumbledore is determined to protect it. But the Minister of Magic, Barty Crouch, Senior, also wants to know what the prophecy says  as a means of defeating Voldemort. And as such, Harry is eventually lur

ed there and  takes it where he is immediately attacked by death eaters who Voldemort  was able to send because he could sense Harry was there via their connection  through the horcrux inside of Harry. Dumbledore arrives and fends  off Voldemort for awhile, but Harry eventually steps in and blasts golden  fire at Voldemort, forcing him to retreat. Isn't it amazing how, like, all the  same things happen just differently? Oh, also, Voldemort got  terrible burns. Too bad for him. Before all that, h

owever, though, Harry and  Dumbledore retrieved the locket from the cave, which weakened Dumbledore, who was already  suffering from the ring horcrux curse, and the duel with Voldemort  weakened him to the point of... death. Now Harry has the false locket, but must still hunt down the diadem, cup and resolve the horcrux within himself. Although, important to note that Nagini is not around at all in this scenario. So, how will it all end? Well, today, we get one step closer. [Intro Theme Song]

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from the outside in. Okay. Heading into year six at Hogwarts, Harry  has some advantages he doesn't usually have. Like, for one, there are less horcruxes, and  although he doesn't know it yet, he has pretty easy access to the true locket. So, that hunt  shouldn't actually end up being all that hard. As for the cup and the diadem, he  has very little to go on at all, though unbeknownst to either Harry or Dumbledore, they were quite close to the diadem during  their lessons in the Room of Requirem

ent. Meanwhile, in the greater wizarding world, the last year has shown a Ministry  that, while a thorn in Harry's side, they were at least very anti-Voldemort with the  very strong Barty Crouch, Senior at the helm. This year, though, Barty Crouch and Dumbledore  are both dead and therefore there is a bit of a power vacuum in the wizarding world and at  Hogwarts, which Voldemort is keen to pounce on. The circumstance is most going to resemble  what we see during Harry's seventh year, where the M

inistry falls during Bill and Fleur's  wedding where the death of then Rufus Scrimgeour as Minister leads to Pius Thicknesse being  turned into an imperius puppet in his stead. And of course, one Severus Snape being named  Hogwart's headmaster, with key Death Eaters, the Carrows, being installed as additional  teachers. This go around, I think we will see a combination of those particular outcomes,  but it'll still go a little bit differently. But before any of that can happen we have to  start

where we always do, at the Dursley's. And, as ever, this is vitally important to  maintaining the bond of blood charm, but also, as ever, it's not essential for  Harry to spend the entire summer there. Given the lack of known trustworthy leadership  at the Ministry and Voldemort's surge for power, there is growing concern about not only  Harry's safety at the Dursley's but the safety of the Dursley's themselves. Meaning finally, we get a proper introduction to one, the Order of the Phoenix, who

thus far have  played a quieter role compared to what we've seen in the past. And two, Sirius Black,  who had not been to Azkaban but has mostly existed in a state of solitude at Number  12 in the wake of losing his friends. The night of the Potters' death, he would have,  of course, realized that Peter had betrayed him and tried to hunt him down. The main difference  being that he can't find him because this time, Voldemort doesn't fall, so he is  still able to protect Peter. Thus Sirius is no

t framed for murder, but also  never takes over as Harry's godfather, because the protection available at  the Dursley's is so much more ironclad. And without Voldemort actually falling, the  protection is of much more vital importance, even if Voldemort is pretending  to disappear for those 10 years. So, Sirius has lost all of his  friends who he holds the most dear, is blaming himself for suggesting Peter  be the secret keeper, and can't even properly contribute to Harry's protection.  He has

been very depressed for a long time. He is, however, given brand new life and purpose  when the day comes to collect Harry from the Dursley's and provide him safe haven in his  own home. But what's absolutely wild is that, this go around, this is the first time Harry is ever meeting or even learning of Sirius's existence at all. And, right away, Sirius explains that he was bestowed the honor of godfather over Harry by Lily and James.  However, because the bond of blood provided such a powerful

protection over Harry while  he was at the Dursley's, it was agreed that his identity will be kept hidden from Harry,  lest he seek out Sirius for his guardianship. Which, face it, he totally would have. [MISTAKEN TEXT ON SCREEN] I could never have imagined how they would treat you. If I'd known, I never  would have agreed. But after the role I played in your parents' death, I didn't consider  myself fit or worthy of raising James's son. Such terrible- but also such Sirius-  logic. He would go

on to tell Harry, He would however be available to  help in any way that Harry required. This scene in my head, personally, is  a bit of a contrast to Remus's offer to help Harry in Deathly Hallows,  where Harry usually gets very upset at the prospect of Remus leaving his  family to, you know, chase adventure. But this time, hearing Sirius's story, the clear  signs of his self-imposed imprisonment and Harry's own intuition that there was nothing that mattered more to Sirius than to provide Harry

with any aid that he was capable of, Harry decides that he  can trust Sirius with at least some information. So, he doesn't tell him about the horcruxes in  full, or even the locket itself, but having by this point discovered the note inside the fake locket, asks him if he knows anyone with the initials R.A.B. And to Harry's utter shock, this request gets a loud barking laugh out of Sirius, who says of course he does! R.A.B. were the initials of his own brother Regulus, who had become a Death

Eater before being killed trying to desert Voldemort. And all of that information immediately fits the rest of the note, and Harry realizes that one of the horcruxes he'd been looking for might somehow be inside the very house he's now staying in. So, Sirius shows him Regulus's room and Harry immediately begins to search every nook and cranny of it, and, in almost  no time at all, recovers the true locket. And I know, I know. That sounds super  convenient, but that's as easy as it would have bee

n if Grimmauld Place hadn't needed  such a ridiculous cleaning. But, this time, it, of course, wouldn't because Sirius just  would have been there the whole time. They even handle it in the main  story, and just pass it by. And speaking of convenience, Snape  didn't kill Dumbledore this time, meaning Harry probably still  doesn't like him very much, but doesn't have an overwhelming 100% reason  to believe he's working for Voldemort. And because normally Dumbledore, like, knows that  all of this

is going to happen ahead of time, so he has to, like, figure out a way to plan around  it, he doesn't have to do that this time. He can just trust Snape to deliver a certain object to  Harry after his death: The Sword of Gryffindor. So, shortly after Harry's arrival at  Grimmauld Place, Snape appears at the door. But just because Dumbledore doesn't have  to rely on the will to get Harry the sword, he does still leave Harry, Ron,  and Hermione the usual objects: the snitch, The Tales of Beedle th

e  Bard, and the deluminator from the will, which are swiftly delivered as well  by the new Minister Rufus Scrimgeour. And despite Harry's initial  confusion over the sword, he, Ron and Hermione pretty swiftly figure out that  he's supposed to use it to destroy the horcruxes, which they successfully do to  the locket almost immediately. Boom! One down, and they didn't even have to  poorly plan how to break into the ministry! Which, incidentally, is, like, my least favorite  section of any of the

books at all. We're going to use polyjuice potion three times  in the final installment of the series? Like, we could probably 86 one of those, right? We have a problem. Polyjuice! It's not clever if you do it too often. Unfortunately, though, that is usually  their only lead. So, what comes up next? Unfortunately, though, that is usually  their only lead, so the big question is, like, what now? Well, back over  in Voldemort's camp, Voldemort is recovering from his latest encounter  with Harry,

which, if you will recall, involved him getting burned pretty badly  from Harry's super awesome golden fire. Sick burn, Potter. J, offscreen: Heh. Seriously, this hurts really, really bad. [J laughing] So, as it turns out, Harry has left Voldemort with a scar himself that usual magic doesn't  seem to be healing. And, as a result, Voldemort is in constant and terrible  pain, which, as you can imagine, he hates. Fortunately, though, he thinks he has a  solution deep within the vaults of Gringotts

, where he is storing one of his most valuable  treasures: the Philosopher's Stone. The very object that gave him back his body, and  which he thinks can cure him of this pain. The problem, if you're Voldemort,  is that this pain is so severe, it starts creating the unintentional  pathway between Harry and himself, meaning if you're Harry, you're constantly  feeling those chest scars prickling. Because, as a reminder, the scars are  on his chest this time. Much more macho. This otherwise fairly

new connection  becomes even more dangerous for Voldemort, who travels to the Lestrange vault hoping the stone will cure his burns. Physically maybe they can, but emotionally? He's doomed. So, sure enough, upon contact, the stone's properties spring to life, providing Voldemort with such relief and elation that the connection becomes wide open, and Harry is able to take in Voldemort surroundings. He can glimpse inside of the Lestrange vault and, to  his absolute astonishment, he sees the cup.

Now, of course, the issue is how in the how  are they going to break into Gringotts and actually steal the cup? Well, as it were, they  actually have one more advantage than usual in this particular regard. Normally, they have  access to Bellatrix's hair from Malfoy Manor, which gets them into the bank and behind the door. But also, like, hardly? Because it still ultimately requires the use of an Unforgivable Curse. So. But this time, they are living in the home of the otherwise never-before-a

rrested heir of one of the most pure-blooded families in all of wizard kind, Sirius Black. So, yeah, buddy! Harry is able to disguise himself as Sirius this go around for their entry into the bank, and, in an effort to really secure the disguise- or if there's any pushback from the goblins- even takes Sirius's wand. And you might think, like, why doesn't Sirius  just go with them? And it's a good question, but the answer is that Harry is still  keeping all the horcrux information close to the s

carred chest. Except for Ron and  Hermione, who he usually always trusts anyway. I said usually there as if he doesn't always  trust them anyway. He always trusts them. J: Fact. FACT. Sirus doesn't love the idea, but, of course,  does love a little rule breaking and adventure. You've done beautifully. And agrees to let them use his hair. And so,  the planning commences along with a lot of Ron turning the lights on and off and Hermione  reading her new fairy tale book. Classic! Maybe Kreacher eve

n whips  them up some delicious salmon, since it never occurred to them to eat fish in  the normal story. You know, like, accio salmon! Went real heavy on the L pronunciation. SAH-lmon. SAH-lmon. SAH-LA-mon. [laughter] Slightly different story, all of a sudden. Was  looking for a fish, accidentally summoned the white wizard. So. That's Saruman. Yeah, no, I know. Maybe he's useful. I think he's a pretty bad dude. Yeah, no, he is. He is, yeah. He's  probably on Voldemort's side, yeah. Meanwhile, t

hough, now that  his burns have been healed, Voldemort sets off on his next mission of  procuring a more powerful wand that can overcome Harry's annoying phoenix feather one: the Elder wand. And, as it turns out, his hunt is significantly  easier this time, though, because, as usual, he tracks down Gregorovitch pretty quickly and  obtains the memory of the golden haired thief. Normally he gets stuck here for  quite some time, but this time, the article about Dumbledore and Grindelwald has  alre

ady been written and was a front page story, rather than buried in some, like, lame  biography by some author nobody knows about. And if I know one thing about Voldemort, that guy never misses the Evening  Prophet. He does it for the puzzles. Wormtail! I'm doing the Wordle. What's a five-letter word that starts  with S and ends with K-E? So, when Voldemort sees the golden-haired boy, though, he knows exactly who it is and  where he needs to go to question him. Back at base, though, Harry, Ron, a

nd Hermione finished their plans to rob Gringotts and it's as elegant as it usually is. Polyjuice up, "bly" by the seat of your pants and fly by the seat of those pants. Hermione! When have any of our  plans ever actually worked? Disguised as Sirius, Harry arrives at  Gringotts with his trusty companion, who I like to call Definitely Not Ron Weasley What are You Talking About Bro? And Hermione under the invisibility cloak. Harry presents his wand to the goblins and asks to visit his vault. All

is going according to plan when suddenly Harry is struck by a vision: Voldemort is questioning Grindelwald,  asking him for information about his wand. Harry snaps back to reality with  suspicious eyes all around him. "Your wand, Mr Black," says an impatient  voice. Harry fumbles for it and extends Sirius's wand to the goblin, who  was able to verify it as authentic. Wow, like, a PSA 10, even. They move forward and start the  break neck journey to the deepest vaults below. Harry clings to the c

art  when another vision flashes before him. "That wand will never be yours!  There is still so much you don't understand!" Grindelwald laughs and  then there is a flash of green light. "What is it?" Definitely Not Ron Weasley Asks. "He's looking for a wand. A more powerful wand." And then whoosh! A torrent  of water pours over the cart, and suddenly Harry's potion is washed  away. Not Ron fades back into- woah, no way, it was actually Ron the whole time?! I'll be the first to say it, they had m

e fooled. They're also all thrown out of the cart and hurdle to the cavern floor, where Hermione saves them with a cushioning charm and quickly Imperius's their driver to take them to the Lestrange vault. Ultimately, this will actually buy them a little bit of time, because the goblins think they're going to the Black vault. But, as per always, they make it  inside of the Lestrange vault, where they very quickly learn that Gringott's  vaults are also protected from within. The Geminio and Flagr

ante spells are ignited and the  crew is being buried in burning hot treasure. Brief aside: what a way to go, though,  right? Buried in treasure? Not so bad. Good news. Harry has already had a look around  the vault and knows roughly where the cup is and is able to loop it onto the Sword of Gryffindor.  Given their head start on locating the treasure, they're actually able to exit the vault before  things start to get too hot and heavy in there. Like, because of the flaming treasure, you  guys.

Get your heads out of the gutter. Anyway, obviously Harry is now shirtless,  scars on full display. That water was cold, y'all. Look it up, it's cannon. No, I'm actually still kidding. But he realizes he needs to tie up one more loose  end: the philosopher's stone. So, quickly he tosses the cup to Ron and turns  back to the vault with sword in hand. The vault is still filling with  molten treasure, but near the back, he can just spy the bright red stone that  brought Voldemort back. A quickly n

arrowing path looks navigable enough, if he acts fast. Without any hesitation he makes a run for it, carefully to avoid as much  treasure as possible. Then, knowing he only has one shot, brings the  sword down hard on the stone and it shatters. Triumph fills Harry, and he stares in  amazement as the sword of Gryffindor transforms from a bright silver to a lustrous  gold. This moment of pause is costly, though, as he moves for the exit. But suddenly a large  plate lands on his shoulders, scalding

him. He runs for the exit but the once narrow path is  gone, and treasure is raining down from above. Throwing caution to the wind, he sprints  through the now knee-high molten treasure floor, but it's no good. The heat is too intense. He  looks for something large on the surface that he can make a good foothold, and spots another plate. Focusing hard on the plate he makes a leap but his foot slips on a coin underneath, and he  falls, the newly gold sword flying from his hand. "Wingardium Levio

sa!" Harry hears Ron shout, and  suddenly he finds himself floating towards the door. Harry desperately reaches for the  sword, but has completely lost track of it and suddenly finds himself outside the  vault, collapsing on top of his friends. And y'all know what happens next. Gringgot's  guards, dragon, escape, yada yada. Very routine. It's no fun when things go exactly as  they always did, you know? We got to, like, change stuff. [J laughs] Meanwhile, though, back at the ranch or something, V

oldemort has arrived on the grounds of  Hogwarts. He knows just what he needs and right where it is. The white tomb  is open and the Elder Wand is taken. A moment of victory courses through  him when all of a sudden he feels the dark mark burn. Gringotts. The boy has  been there. It has been taken. He knows. Fear floods through his body as his mind races  through the rest of his horcruxes. The ring, the locket, the diadem. He must check  them all. Double the security around them. Harry sees all

of this unfold  in Voldemort's mind, as well, and coasts to the sky on the back of the  dragon. He knows what the final horcrux is and that they need to head to Hogwarts.  Voldemort's first order of business is to visit the vault and confirm the loss of  the cup and the security of the stone. As Voldemort arrives, the Flagrante  and Geminio curses have worn off and the remaining treasures are  easy enough to sift through. The remnants of the stone are easily  spotted as is their uselessness. Rag

e, however, breaks over him  as he confirms the cup has been lost and the goblins around him  cower as he explodes in anger. He pulls the sword and examines the  rubies sparkling in the candle light. His eyes scan the name etched  into the goblin-forged blade. At that moment, Bellatrix arrives at  her own vault and screeches to a halt. Fear floods Bellatrix's eyes as she realizes the  full impact of his words and there is nothing for it. Voldemort turns and, in an instant,  Bellatrix collapses o

n the floor, dead. So, with the Elder wand in  one hand, sword in the other, Voldemort enters an almost trance-like  state, performing complex maneuvers. A small, silvery mist exits his body,  and is absorbed into the sword. The glittering red rubies flicker  once before suddenly erupting into a violent shade of green,  and a new horcrux is born. [Outro Music] Hey, Brother! Guys, as ever, thank you so much for tuning in  this far and sticking around with us through this multi-part series. We're

having so much fun writing it. We're hoping next week will be the grand finale, and finally give us some closure to What if James Had Kept the Invisibility Cloak? If you have any thoughts or comments on the story so far, be sure to let us know in the towel section down below. Otherwise, if you just want, like, as much Harry Potter content from us as you can possibly get, be sure to go and check out our brand new podcast, Through the Griffin Door, where J and I are going chapter by chapter an

d giving all of our insights on all the little specific details that you may have missed in the past. You can check that out right over  here. But otherwise, until next time, bye!