Harry Potter and the Rise of the Ordinary Person - Chapter 36

Chapter 36: Christmas Time

Charles carefully took the Cloak of Invisibility into his hands and carefully gave it a look over.

“A top tier magical item amongst them all, what a masterpiece!” Charles couldn’t help but praise.

The silver Cloak of Invisibility was both sleek and soft, making it even more comfortable feeling than silk. It was as light as the air itself, and felt as if water was used to weave it.

“This Cloak of Invisibility is….how do I say….a little hard to believe.” Charles was a little taken aback. This startled sight of Charles had even astonished Harry and Ron, “Can I take a closer look?”

After obtaining an answer of approval, Charles took out a series of magical items and constructed a number of items to help him make a good inspection.

It was truly deserving to be one of the three Deathly Hallows. Legends had it that this was the cloak Death had worn with a skillful art that no other thing could match.

The invisibility cloaks in this world were generally woven from the hair of Demiguise or a Disillusion Charm was cast on a traveling cloak. These types of invisibility cloaks generally had a flew that made them slowly lose their effect as time went by, rendering it opaque and useless.

But this Cloak of Invisibility Harry had was not only beautiful in craftsmanship, but its effect was flawless. The invisibility effect was everlasting without ever fading, and not only was it dust-proof, smear-proof, and waterproof, it was very durable so that it would never tear. (Even if it did, it would repair by itself.) It was truly an essential item that people would fight and kill over. Even more perverse was the fact that it could also hide the smell of the wearer and obstruct the senses in a way that was several times more powerful than the Disillusionment Charm was. In the original works, harry Potter had used the Cloak of Invisibility many times to stealthily run away. As long as he didn’t leave behind any clues, then even Snape or Lucius wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Only the lost in her own world, Luna Lovegood, was able to detect Harry under the Cloak of Invisibility. But that girl’s overpowered sixth sense was not something that common sense could weigh against.

After finishing up his investigation of the Cloak of Invisibility, Charles had nearly acted upon his next impulse. But when he remember that this Cloak of Invisibility had been prepared for by Dumbledore, Charles had calmed down. In the original series, before any real plot was given, no one would ever be able to find a fault in this old perverted codger. Because at that time, no one knew just what would await them in the narrow corridor in the future.

The Cloak of Invisibility was an extremely vital item, for example.

“There was a note attached to the gift.” Harry spoke before handing a letter to Charles. Seeing the narrow, loopy, but dejavu like writing, Charles read: Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well.

A Very Merry Christmas to you.

“Seems like it was the family heirloom of the Potters.” Charles spoke. “You’d do well to cherish it. This is most likely the best invisibility cloak in the world with no equal.”

“Excellent!” Harry spoke happily after listening to Charles.

At that moment Fred and George Weasley came walking in, “We heard that you spent the entire today researching magic!” Either Fred or George spoke.

“Today is indeed Christmas, and everyone should be happy and not letting their fun slip away.” The other spoke.

Unknowing which one was which, Charles had in the end given up his research for the day and instead agreed to spend the day with them.

Together, they walked to the Great Hall. Despite being prepared, Charles had still been stupefied by the sight. A hundred fat, roast turkeys, mountains of potatoes, platters of sausages, tureens of buttered peas, rich gravy and cranberry sauce, and stacks of of wizard crackers every feet along the table. These magical crackers were nothing like the common Muggle toys that had little plastic toys or flimsy paper hats inside. Harry and Fred pulled one of them, but instead of the normal “Bang” and explosion, it instead went off with a cannon blast and a puff of blue smoke. On the rear end side, a rear admiral’s hat and several white mice came flying out. Up at the High Table, Dumbledore had swapped out his pointed wizard’s hat for a flowered bonnet and was happily chuckling away at the joke professor Flitwick had said to him.

After the turkey was finished, several flaming Christmas puddings were given. Percy had nearly broken his teeth on the silver sickle hidden inside of his piece. On the other side, Hagrid had gotten redder and redder in the face as he drank even more wine before finally kissing McGonagall on the cheek. To Harry’s amazement, instead of getting angry, she had blushed and giggled a bit as her top hat slipped to the side.

When Charles left the table, he had laden out all of the things he had gotten from the crackers including a pack of non explodable, luminous balloons, a potion that would induce nonstop laughter for five minutes, and a hat that would gradually change into white mice (The white mice would disappear after a while). The group had then spent a happy afternoon having a snowball fight on the grounds without magic. In the end, Charles had casted a Drying Charm over everyone’s cold and wet clothes. Gasping for breath, everyone had returned to the fireplace in the Gryffindor common rooms where Harry and Ron had began to play wizard chess while Percy chattered away at their side. Charles had given it a try as well, but unfortunately, his talent in this field had been severely lacking.

After eating a turkey sandwich, crumpets, sponge cakes, and Christmas cakes, everyone had felt too full and sleepy to do anything but to sit and watch Percy chase Fred and George all over the tower because they had stolen his prefect badge.

With his belly full of turkey and cake nor any mysterious ideas to bother him, Ron had fallen asleep as soon as he drawn open the curtains to his bed and crawled in. Charles knew that Harry was thinking about the Cloak of Invisibility and would be heading out on his own for an adventure only to bump into the Mirror of Erised, so Charles had decided against bothering him. Borrowing the Energy Ring to sleep for two hours and sleep away the fatigue, Charles later ran to the Room of Requirement to restart his magic research.

The next morning, Harry had came running back to tell Harry what he had found last night. Like in the original series, he had dodged Snape and “coincidentally” (80% chance that Dumbledore had planned this) made it into the room that had contained the Mirror of Erised. He had spent the entire night looking at it.

Harry and Ron had gone underneath the Cloak of Invisibility while Charles had made use of his earlier prepared cloak that had a Disillusionment Charm woven into it. (He hadn’t wanted to tell anyone that he had casted it himself), With Harry taking the lead, they probed their way into an abandoned classroom.

Over here, all of the tables and chairs had been pushed into a corner and an upturned wastepaper basket–but propped against the wall facing him was something that shouldn’t have belonged there, as if someone had put it there just to keep it out of the way.

It was a magnificent mirror with an ornate gold frame and stood nearly as high as the ceiling and stood on two clawed feet. On the mirror was inscribed: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.

“Do you see it?” Harry spoke quietly in front of the mirror.

“I can’t see anything.” Ron spoke with confusion.

“Look! Look at them all….there are loads of them….” Harry said.

“I can only see you.”

“Stand where I am, keep looking at it.” Harry stepped aside and allowed Ron to take the front, only to stare transfixed at his reflection.

“Look at me!” He said.

“Can you see all your family standing around you?”

“No, I only see myself. But I’m different–a bit older–I’m head boy!”

“What?”

“I….I’m wearing the badge like Bill used to–and I’m holding the house and Quidditch cup. I’m the Quidditch captain too!”

Ron tore his eyes away from the glorious sight in front of him to look gleefully at Harry.

“Can I take a look?” Charles suddenly cut off Ron’s excitement.

“Go on, take a look yourself!”  Charles stepped forward to read the inscription from right to left.