Cloak of Invisibility

The Cloak of Invisibility was the third and final of the three Deathly Hallows, first owned by the youngest of the Peverell brothers, Ignotus Peverell. The Cloak of Invisibility was the only known Invisibility Cloak that did not fade with age and provided everlasting protection to the wearer, something no normal Invisibility Cloak could provide. According to The Tale of the Three Brothers in The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Ignotus was the only one of the three Peverell brothers that did not trust Death, and rather than ask Death for something to further his own desires, he asked for the power to leave that fateful meeting without Death being able to follow him. Not wishing to betray his true motives in giving the brothers their "prizes," Death begrudgingly took of his Cloak of Invisibility that he used to sneak up on people with and handed it over to Ignotus. While his two brothers met gruesome fates at the indirect hands of their own gifts, Ignotus used the Cloak of Invisibility to successfully hide from Death for many years. Finally, when he was an old man and had lived a happy long life, Ignotus took off the Cloak of Invisibility, gave it to his own son, and went with Death as an old friend, but on his own terms and not those of Death.

The Cloak of Invisibility was passed down Ignotus' family line and eventually ended up in the hands of his final known descendants, the Potters. It eventually ended up in the hands of James Potter I, the father of Harry Potter. James used the Cloak of Invisibility in much of his misdeeds at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and kept it afterward. Around the time that Lord Voldemort was hunting the Potters for their son, the Cloak of Invisibility came to the attention of Albus Dumbledore when James showed him the Cloak of Invisibility, and Dumbledore (who had searched his entire life for the Deathly Hallows and already possessed the Elder Wand, another of the Deathly Hallows) asked to borrow the Cloak from James to study its properties. After James was killed, the Cloak was left in Dumbledore's possession.

Ten years later, Albus gave Harry Potter the Cloak of Invisibility for a Christmas present anonymously and told him to "use it well." This would be one piece of advice that Harry would heed quite well over his school career and beyond, as the Cloak of Invisibility aided Harry on countless trips and missions, including his search for Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes. It was not until the final story, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, that Harry learned the true nature of his own Invisibility Cloak and its true identity as the Cloak of Invisibility spoken of in the legend of the Deathly Hallows. As Ignotus' last remaining descendant, the Cloak was rightfully Harry's and was kept by him after Lord Voldemort's defeat. Harry resolved to pass it on to his own son one day, just as his ancestor Ignotus had done with his own.