Testing the Limits of the Cloak

Harry stood on the Greengrass Manor lawn, wearing only swimming shorts and sandals. The sun warmed his pale skin. A slight breeze ruffled his messy hair.

"Soak me, Harry!"

He whipped his wand in the direction of the voice. "Aguamenti." A jet of water shot from the end of his wand. It hit something, vanished, and reappeared a foot away.

"Gah!"

He stopped the charm and regarded the unseen obstruction. He still couldn't see anything.

"It went straight through the cloak, curved along the insides, and shot out the back of it!"

Harry picked up a clipboard and walked towards the voice.

Daphne appeared, slightly moist, and dressed in full rain gear. Earlier, he'd suggested she also wear a swimsuit. She'd panicked and threatened to sting-hex him if he so much as transfigured her hat.

"It felt like I was in a cave made of flowing water."

Harry unclipped a muggle pen from his waistband and made a note on the clipboard. "So, it hides against water too. Although, if you know what you're looking for it is still possible to spot you, but only while the spell is being cast."

Daphne folded the liquid-like cloak. "That's four things it protects from so far — sight, chalk, water, and homenum revelio. Now at least, anyway. I still don't understand why anyone would charm the cloak to be vulnerable to homenum revelio. It's their own cloak isn't it?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. The charm's been removed now." Harry looked down at the clipboard. "But the cloak doesn't stop you being heard, nor smelt, and calor revelio still picks up a heat signature. I'm glad so few people know that spell."

Daphne snapped her fingers. "It's about going in versus going out."

Harry smiled. "Continue."

"Well, light bounces off things right? That's how we see. The water came from the outside, so did the chalk, and the homenum revelio feels like a wave going over you if you're hit. I didn't feel anything under the cloak."

Harry scribbled on the clipboard.

"Sound is vibrations, but it radiates out from you. So does smell. So does heat."

Harry grinned. "Sounds like you're on to something. Although it doesn't explain how you can still see while wearing the cloak. Chalk that up to magic, I guess. What would this mean if it were true?"

Daphne hesitated. "That… that other things coming from the outside might also not work on the cloak?"

Harry dropped the clipboard, took the cloak from her unresisting hands, and whipped it around himself, vanishing from sight. "Stun me."

"W-what?"

"Duelling practise time, Daphne. Stun me."

The adventurous blonde stared, shrugged, closed her eyes, and raised her hand in his direction. Red lights appeared on the tips of all five digits. A bolt of red shot towards him. Harry watched in fascination as the bolt hit the cloak, passed through it, hugged and curved along the inside, and hit his shoulder. Darkness.

…

…

…

"Harry. Harry!" Daphne's voice called to him from the fog of nothing.

"Ugh." He sat up on the grass.

Daphne was peering at him from a half foot away.

"Guess that didn't work then." He smiled sheepishly.

"What happened? I saw the bolt disappear. It didn't flash when it hit you."

"It passed along the inside of the cloak like you described the water did, but it happened to hit my shoulder. I'm guessing you've got a one in three chance of dodging a spell that hits you under this thing."

Daphne raised her eyebrows and bit her lower lip. "That's pretty cool, but it would have been even cooler if it made you immune to enemy spells."

He pointed a finger. "That would be a total game changer." He stood. "It's still pretty good though. Better than a demiguise cloak. Much better than a disillusionment charm."

Daphne frowned. "Still doesn't get us into warded areas."

He winced. Their one experiment at ward breaking with the cloak had been painful. They'd keyed him out of the Greengrass wards, and he'd tried to enter. It had gotten him past the perimeter wards, but the moment he'd fully entered the area-wards he'd been forcefully and painfully ejected. "If the cloak could get us through wards, that would be game over. But at least we now know what it can do."

He stretched his arms. "You ready for a super secret Hogwarts scouting mission?"

Daphne's eyes gleamed. "I am so ready for that."

.....

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