Albus Dumbledore and the invisibility cloak
Chapter 20: Albus Dumbledore and the invisibility cloak
Harry is sitting at the Ravenclaw table eating breakfast when the owl post arrives; he’s not expecting anything so he’s very surprised when a neatly wrapped brown paper parcel lands on his toast. It has an envelope attached, with the shortened version of his name (Harry Potter) written in slanted cursive, and silver ink.
Selena pokes her nose out from his sleeve and slithers out onto the table, regarding the parcel with curiosity. “There is magic in this package Star, something... strange.”
With her words in mind, he regards the letter and parcel warily, before cautiously opening the envelop,
Dear Harry,
Consider this a late Christmas gift, it used to be your father’s, it has been passed down through the Potter family for generations, he entrusted it into my care. I feel it is time it was returned to you.
P.S open it when you are alone.
He stares at the words in suspicion, it’s not signed. It says to open it when he’s alone? What if it’s something dangerous, what if it’s from Quirrell. He looks up at the staff table, Quirrell is watching him intently, but he usually does so that doesn’t solve anything.
“What is it?” Fred asks between bites of toast that he stole from Harry’s plate (that was something he had to learn to be okay with, not being used to being able to share food, he frequently had to fight the urge to snap at anyone who tried to take anything from his plate, but now he got used to it he finds it strangely comforting). He shows Fred the note, the red heads eyes dart to their defence professor, clearly having the same suspicions as Harry.
“Let’s go outside.” Fred suggests, the others look at him quizzically but they all stand up from the table as Fred leads them out the great hall, to the edge of the black lake.
“Why did you drag me out here.” Blaise raises a dark eyebrow, amber eyes sharp and fixed on the note that is still clutched is Freds hand.
“Because of this.” Fred passes the note round the group.
“Quirrell?” Hermione says thoughtfully, a frown on her face.
“No.” Luna says suddenly.
They all look at her. “Dream?” Blaise asks.
“Feeling.” Luna tells them softly as she stares unblinking at the parcel. They’ve learnt to trust Luna and her feelings over the past few months, she is always right.
“Do you think it’s safe to open?” George asks no one in particular.
“Put it on the ground, I learnt a spell that checks for curses.” Hermione takes her wand out of her pocket and waits for Harry to place the package on the ground. “I thought it would be smart since Harry is ‘the boy who lived’ I assumed that people may try to curse him through owl post.”
“That’s a newt level spell.” George says gaping at Hermione.
“She learnt the disillusionment charm, that was newt level too. Hermione’s the smartest, I’m sure it wasn’t hard for her to learn a curse checking spell.” Harry shrugs, looking at Hermione curiously.
Hermione smiles. “It was easy once I learned the theory.” She says unbothered.
Fred chuckles, “You're going to be minister for magic one day.”
“I guess that would be interesting.” She shrugs. “Put it on the ground.”
Harry obeys, and they all watch as Hermione runs her wand over the parcel, a soft grey light fills the air around the package.
Luna raises her camera that Harry got her for Christmas (it’s charmed specially so it doesn’t need charging or new films putting in, it’s also waterproof, Luna now wears it around her neck almost all the time, she made a strap to carry it on that’s embroidered with leaves and flowers) and takes a picture of Hermione as she does the spell.
“So, is it going to kill Harry?” Blaise asks, as the grey light dissipates.
Harry shoots him a look, and raises and eyebrow, telling him without words that if anything kills him it will be the Dursleys not a puny cursed package.
Blaise snorts appreciatively. “True.”
“Secret language.” Fred and George say in unison.
Harry rolls his eyes and Blaise huffs in annoyance.
“No curses. It probably won’t kill you.” Hermione hands the parcel to him.
“Ok! ‘ Probably ’ is good enough for me.” He carefully unwraps the parcel. Inside is a large piece of silvery fabric, it feels like cool water running through his hands.
“It’s… fabric?” Fred states.
“Why would they give him fabric?” George asks bemused.
Blaise is staring at the fabric with wide eyes.
“That, Is an invisibility cloak.” Hermione says in awe.
“It will turn me… invisible?” He asks as he lifts the fabric out of the paper and runs his fingers over it gently.
“That is the general concept of an invisibility cloak.” Blaise mutters.
“Why don’t you put it on?” Luna suggests.
He nods and then covers himself with the cloak. He looks around at his friends who are all looking at him in awe and excitement.
“George, are you seeing what I’m seeing.”
“I think I am Freddy. That is of course if you are gazing at nothing.” George says with a positively gleeful and vaguely wicked grin.
“Absolutely Nothing!” Fred exclaims.
Blaise rolls his eyes, and mutters something in Italian. “Your invisible.”
“Oh! This is amazing! Harry, you have an invisibility cloak.” Luna says jumping up and down in excitement.
“But… how?” Hermione says staring at him with her strongest ‘give me the knowledge I crave’ look.
Harry takes the cloak of and looks at her in question. “What do you mean?”
“Invisibility cloaks are extremely rare and very difficult to make. They also have very short lives, they only last about 10 years before they start fading. The note said it belonged to your father and it’s been passed down through your family for generations…” She trails off looking puzzled.
“It shouldn’t be possible.” Blaise says.
Harry looks down at the cloak, it’s a beautiful thing, cold to the touch like icy water, it tingles softly with magic and it feels so right in his hands, like it was waiting for him. He wonders who sent it, and why they didn’t sign the note, maybe it was one of his parent's friends? Why would his dad leave such a rare piece of magic in the care of someone else? “It’s… strange. But maybe one of the potters figured out how to make a lasting invisibility cloak, but they just kept it to themselves? As like a family heirloom?”
Hermione nods, “I think your right.”
“This is… a priceless thing to have Harry. I don’t think we should tell anyone else about it.” Blaise says.
“Our secret?” Harry asks with a smile. They all nod in agreement.
~~~
Harry is lying awake; he’s been tossing and turning for hours. He can’t get the sender of the cloak out of his mind.
He eventually gives up trying to sleep and quietly creeps out of bed, he scoops up the cloak and hisses quietly to Selena. “I’m going for a walk, you coming with me?”
“I will come.” She slithers up onto his arm.
He puts the cloak on, walks out of the dormitory and common room and into the hallway that leads out of the dungeons. The cloak seems to whisper, its magic happy to be hiding a Potter's secrets again after so long.
“Where are we going, Star?” Selena hisses curiously from under his sleeve.
“I don’t know. I can’t sleep, I thought a walk might help. Also, I wanted to try using the cloak. ” He hiss whispers.
“Salazars school is better in the dark, more quiet.” She informs him. “Its magic more calm.”
Selena is right of course. Now that she pointed it out, he realises how much calmer the magic is now than in the day, it seems to be sleeping just as much as the students in the dorms. “I agree, and even better no people staring at me.”
“They only stare because they fear you, to them you are a predator.” S he pokes her nose against his wrist in comfort.
“What do they have to fear? I haven't shown them my power. I'm just a first year.” He mutters in confusion. He knows that one day he may be something people fear, he knows power is something that scares people. But at the moment he is just a scrawny eleven-year-old, anyone with half a brain could see he is no threat to them. He is prey not predator.
“I hear whispers when I go through the castle alone, the students and professors mutter about how you are not what they expected.” She moves from his wrist to settle around his shoulders, flicking her tongue against his carotid artery. “The Wixen world had an idea... a picture painted for them by their Ministry and the powerful people that lead this country. Woven carefully into newspapers and stories, told by parents to hatchlings. They assumed that when you returned to the Wixen world that you would be the hero they had all been told to expect. You would be amongst foolish Gryffindor's students, have friends from the noble light families, brave and bold, happy to take on the role of the saviour in their stories. They did not expect what you truly are, and that terrifies them. The unknown scares humans, we serpents know not to fear such things but humans are less intelligent.”
“Oh.” It makes sense. Too much sense, and that makes him feel ill, chilling him all the way down to the bone. It hits him suddenly how known he to this world. He is in the books and the papers and botched versions of his life have been told as bedtime stories to children. He does not understand how he could be so naive as to dismiss all the whispers as simple interest in a famous person. These people, this Wixen world has known a version of him for over a decade, and he shattered their image, and that... that is a dangerous thing.
“You are in Salazar’s house which many people think is a marker of evil. You are friends with the fox keeper and he is from a notoriously grey house, a Ravenclaw muggle born, the two Weasley children who many say are no longer light like their family, and the seer who although she is from a light family her mother was from a dark family and the seer is said to be strange. These are not the allies Wixen want you to have. To them you are a precious hero turning to the dark.”
“Oh, Jesus Christ Selena, what have I done.” He knows the danger in being anything other than what people want you to be. How the hell did he not see all this before!? He has to do something.
“It is okay star. You do not have to fit their mould. You are your own.”
“No Selena I really can’t. I can’t have more enemies.” He takes a shaking breathe carful to be as quite as possible the last thing he needs is to be caught out of bed. “If Voldemort comes back for me to...to kill me, I need allies, not enemies. I won’t survive otherwise.”
“Stop!” Selena hisses sharply. “Humans.”
With his head still spinning with this horrifying revelation, he creeps around the corner of the corridor towards the voices. He comes to an abrupt stop when he sees professor Snape speaking to Quirrell, or more accurately threatening him.
“Would you happen to know why Hagrid has found a dead unicorn on the outskirts of the forbidden forest?” Snape says in a deadly quite voice, glaring at Quirrell with loathing.
“W-w-why w-would I kn-now ab-about th-th-that?” The defence professor stutters while he backs away from Snape bumping into the wall and shaking like a leaf.
“I am warning you Quirinus, if you cause any more issues, I’ll snap your neck myself.” Snape stalks towards his coworker and holds his wand to Quirrell's throat.
Harry takes a sharp breath in and Snapes head snaps towards him. He’s still under the cloak so Snape can’t see him but it puts Harry on edge, he starts to back away slowly.
“I-I-I have d-done n-n-nothing. Y-y-your I-I-insane!” He squeaks as he tries to shrink away from Snapes wand.
The potions professor is still looking in Harry’s direction. “Let us continue this conversation another time.” He says icily and then slips his wand into his sleeve and sweeps past Harry in a flurry of robes.
He presses himself against the wall so the professor doesn’t bump into him, then he realises he’s alone directly next to Quirrell.
Quirrell straightens up and dusts of his robes. “That nosy bastard.” He mutters and then looks around the corridor sceptically and then looks directly at Harry tilting his head to the side curiously, his eyes seem to flash red. “Hmm, interesting.”
Harry takes that as a sign to get the hell away from him. He turns around as quietly as possible and speed walks around the corner and through the corridors, planning to go back to the dorm room until he notices something strange.
The door to a classroom is coated with magic, it seems to reach for Harry pulling him in, willing him to go in the room, it cloying and sickly sweet. Before he can stop himself, he begins to reach for the door handle. “Star! Do not go in there, it is bad magic! Full of deception and lies-”
Her frantic hisses fade into the back of his mind as he reaches for the door, opening it and stepping inside. The cloying magic is not only on the door, it seems the whole room is full of it, dripping like poison from one place in particular, a mirror ancient looking with intricately carved words around the top of the oval shaped frame. His feet seem to move of their own accord until he finds himself in front of the mirror, he lets the cloak slip from his body and gasps when he sees the image reflected in the surface.
He is standing in the middle a huge smile on his face bright eyes and he looks so very alive. His friends stand around him laughing and smiling, a house stands behind them ivy climbing the walls it looks like a home. Selena is wrapped around his neck, her scales shimmering. Magic dances in the air around them, friendly and protective keeping them safe. Freya bounds around on the grass at their feet, Solace perched on her head and Lila chasing after them. The sun is shining and they are all safe and happy, alive and well. He feels tears well in his eyes, it so beautiful, its everything he wants and more, he cannot tear his gaze away from the reflection. He is more than Happy to stay here for the rest of his life however long that may be...
Suddenly he feels a sharp pain in his neck, sharp fangs sinking into his flesh, the trance like state he was in melts away, panic and fear replacing it swiftly. He raises his hands instinctively with one thought in mind protect, a sparkling gold shield closes around him.
“Star! Speaker! Are you okay. The magic it took your mind, you could not hear me, I had to wake you up.” It's the first time he has ever heard fear in Selena’s voice.
“I know, I know it's okay. You did what you had to, thank you. Th-thank you for snapping me out of th-that.” His voice shakes the adrenaline still pumping through him.
“That was a very powerful compulsion spell. Someone very powerful wanted you to be here tonight, Star. Be cautious.” Now that he is no longer under the compulsion, he can feel just how horrible the magic is, desperate to pull him here, to drown his will and choice and replace it with desire to see the mirror. “Keep the shield up.”
“Don’t worry I won’t let my guard down like that again.” He takes a few steadying breaths, slowing his heart rate and calming his mind. “Is there boomslang venom in my blood?” He asks her, pushing a hand to where she bit him and feeling wet blood on his fingertips.
“No star, I am not foolish. I was not trying to kill you only cause you pain.” She sounds offended and Harry is glad. The fear has gone from her voice.
“Well, that's something at least.” He mutters more to himself than Selena.
“We should leave this place. It is not safe for you, my speaker. Return to your friends.”
Before he can say anything in response Selena perks her head up as if listening to something, then hisses urgently. “The headmaster is coming.”
Dumbledore? Why would he come here? Unless... no. It must have been dumbledore, he is the most powerful wizard in the school, but why would he want Harry to see the mirror? Harry needs to do something about this, he has to plan this differently, he can no longer visibly hate the headmaster. He needs dumbledore to think he is on his side.
“Make your shield unseen star, he cannot know you have such power.” Selena hisses in his ear. He focuses for a moment willing the shield to disappear from sight. Then he pulls magic up from his core, making the bite mark on his neck disappear from sight also. Then he sinks down Infront of the mirror, willing himself to ignore the cloying magic of the compulsion spell, forcing himself to ignore the image in the mirror.
He hears the door creak open. Dumbledore must have warded it to alert him to anyone entering the room.
Harry feels the same way he does when he hears Vernon's car arrive in the drive. A predator is nearby. Alarm bells go off in his head, he wishes he could get out of this room, wishes he could run. But he won’t... he’ll show dumbledore what he wants to see, he will find out what dumbledore wants with him. It’s time Harry uses every drop of Slytherin cunning he has.
“Good evening, Harry.” Dumbledore's voice rings out, kind and good-natured tone firmly in place. Harry Knows it is a lie.
He feels the cloying Magic fade from the room, it has done its job it is no longer needed. The headmaster must have lifted his spell.
Harry feigns surprise, letting out a gasp of shock, and turning around sharply. “Headmaster Dumbledore sir, I'm sorry I was just...” He wants to see a Gryffindor, let's give him one then. “I was just exploring, I swear! I know it was reckless.”
The headmasters' eyes widen subtly and a surprised yet pleased look sparks in his blue eyes. “It can be our secret my boy. Curiosity gets the best of us all sometimes.”
“You really won’t tell? I won’t get in trouble?” He asks letting uncertainty fill his voice.
“No, no, of course not.” The old man says smiling in a way that in another life, a softer life where Harry was loved and wanted, one where he wasn’t an orphan or a freak - he probably would have found comforting. But sadly, for them, this is not another universe where things a bright and kind... no. In this life the world was cruel and Harry was unloved and unwanted and so very alone... so in this life that smile makes him feel sick.
Harry ignores the feelings churning inside him, pushing it all down, down, down, until he feels numb. He lets a look of awe and respect fix onto his face like a mask. “Thank you, sir!” His tone endlessly grateful, young and innocent, he knows most adults find it sweet.
Thankfully Dumbledore is no exception, his smile widens, his eyes twinkle. “Not at all, my dear boy! Not at all.” Harry hates the way the headmaster calls him boy it’s too much like Vernon and petunia. “I trust that your father’s cloak is serving you well.”
Dumbledore sent the cloak. Dumbledore sent the cloak.
It takes every single drop of his self-control not to burn the headmasters stupid wrinkly face off. He could burn this room and the people in it to the ground and not even care, because this man has kept James potters' cloak away from him for eleven years and has the gall to stand in front of Harry looking like he expects gratitude. Harry was enraged before this due to the fact that Dumbledore lured him to this room with compulsion spells and sent him to live with the Dursley’s, but this... this takes the bloody cake.
Luckily for Harry he has had plenty of practice in hiding his true feelings thanks to the Dursley's, so he keeps the smile on his face and forces himself to stay calm. “You sent the cloak? I didn’t know you knew my papa.”
“Oh yes, I knew the Potters. I was the one who assisted them in going into hiding in the war, when you were only a baby.” How is it that his parents were protected by one of the most powerful Wixen alive and yet they still died. Murdered at the end of Voldemort’s wand, sacrificing themselves just so Harry could survive . It does not make sense. “You look so much like them.” Dumbledore says his expression turning sad, “James’s looks and Lily’s eyes.”
He has heard those words so many times since he entered the Wixen world, he’s starting to hate that this is all people have to say about him. He doesn’t even know what to say in response so he decides to change the subject. “Sir, I wanted to ask you something.”
Harry considers how to broach this particular subject with Dumbledore, without accusing the old man outright. “Of course, fire away my boy.”
He considers his words carefully before letting any sound leave his mouth. “It’s just... I was wondering...” He lets his voice trail of in a way that suggest he is nervous and perhaps ashamed.
“Yes?”
“If-if you could find another home... for me.” Harry hates the way some part of him hopes the headmaster will say he can.
Dumbledore's eyes turn sharp though his expression stays soft and kind. “What makes you say that my boy?”
“I... I don't think they really want me.” Understatement of the century Harry thinks wryly, he needs to downplay it though. He doesn’t want Dumbledore to know the full scope of things. First rule to lying well is to stick as close to the truth as possible. “I'm scared to go back to privet drive.” He remembers when a teacher asked in primary school ‘How did you break your arm, sweetie?’ and he responded with ‘I fell down the stairs.’ It was close enough to the truth for her to believe him. The actual reality was that he was pushed by Dudley, he still remembers the sick cracking sound his arm made when it snapped as he tumbled down the staircase, and his cousin's gleeful laughter. But the teacher never suspected it. Harry is a good liar.
“I’m sure that’s not true. They are your family they love you-”
Harry hates that word. Love. He heard it a million times throughout his childhood, but never not once was it for him.
Vernon would say it before he left for work in the mornings, to petunia and Dudley.
Petunia would tell her son endlessly how much she loved him.
Dudley would say it to his parents. Making petunia croon and fuss over her precious diddykins and Vernon’s eyes would always soften.
Harry on the other hand only ever had their hate. So, it's safe to say he does not like the word love in any capacity especially when it's said in a way that suggest Harry is loved by any living being. Because it only ever be a sick twisted lie.
“-It is the safest thing for you, my boy. I’m sure you can work past any issues you are having with them. Family always prevails after all.” Dumbledore knows. Harry thinks maybe he has always known. Why else would he be so utterly dismissive? Perhaps this is what he wanted for the boy who lived. After all broken people are much easier to control. Harry wishes he could feel angry at this revelation but instead he just feels tired. He thought that this new world would be a chance at freedom... oh how wrong he was.
Harry can’t find the words to speak so he simply nods.
The headmaster’s eyes lose their sharp edge, twinkling once more. Then he turns his gaze to the mirror. “Do you understand what this mirror does, Harry?” He reaches out a pale finger and runs it along the words engraved in the mirrors frame reverently.
The words read; Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. Harry does not know what that means but he definitely knows what this mirror does. “It shows your hearts desires.”
“Very good my boy! That is correct, the mirror of Erised show you what you want most. Many a man has been driven mad staring into the depths of this particular looking glass.” Brilliant! Harry thinks sarcastically. You lured me to a mirror that could have driven me mad. Lovely. “May I ask a question, Harry?”
“Of course, professor.”
“What do you see in the mirror of Erised?” Dumbledore looks at him intently, Harry can tell that the answer to this question is extremely important.
Harry turns back to the mirror, sees the beautiful picture of his friends and all their familiars, the dancing thriving magic that sparks around them, the house, the safety, the way they are all so very alive and powerful. “My parents. I see my parents standing next to me... they’re telling me they-they love me.” Harry lets tears well up in his eyes (they aren’t entirely fake).
Dumbledore nods in understanding, he looks happy, content with the answer Harry gave him. He does not know what test this was but Harry knows he passed it with flying colours.
“What do you see, sir?” Harry asks, he knows whatever the headmaster answers will not be true, but it doesn’t hurt to ask anyway.
“I see myself holding a thick pair of woollen socks.” He says with a benign smile.
Harry is a little taken aback, he expected a lie, but not one so obvious. “Socks?”
“One can never have enough socks.” Dumbledore says idly. “Another year has come and gone and I did not receive a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.”
“Right...” Harry doesn’t really know what else could be said to that.
“Now, I think you best go back to your dorm, my boy.” He pats Harry’s shoulder affectionately. It takes all of his strength not to flinch away at the contact.
“Okay, goodnight, sir.”
“Goodnight, Harry.”
Harry does not want to be anywhere this man ever again. He is more than happy to exit the room swiftly and make his way back to the safety of his dorm. He pulls his invisibility cloak on, and begins the journey through the halls, taking the long way back to the dungeons as to avoid Quirrell.
“We are surrounded by predators tonight, Star.” Selena has been dead silent up until now, clearly, she was to worried about exposing Harry’s parsel-tongue abilities infront of the headmaster.
“I know.” Between Dumbledore and his compulsions, and Quirrell and his alleged slaughtering of unicorns, Selena’s words could not be truer.
“I’m worried speaker. It seems that you are their prey.”
“I think you’re right Selena. We will tread carefully.” He will have to speak to his friends tomorrow, they have been ignoring the threat of Quirrell to long, and he needs to tell them about Dumbledore.
“Very carefully, star. I am a powerful serpent but my venom can only do so much.”
~~~
He opens the door to the dormitory as quietly as possible, letting out a small sigh of relief, safe. He is safe here.
“You may drop your shield now.” Selena hisses, and slithers of his shoulders making her way over to the pillow on his bed and coiling up upon it.
“Oh, yeah.” He had completely forgotten about the magic shield that is closed around his body unseen, protecting him from the compulsions. He takes a few calming breaths and then slowly lets its protection fade from around him. It leaves goosebump on his skin.
“Sleep my speaker. Your magic is tired.” She hisses from where she is half asleep on his pillow.
“Okay.” He sinks into his bed, burrowing under the warm quilt, letting sleep claim him. “Goodnight, Selena.”
“Goodnight, Star.”