Chapter 23 The Invisibility Cloak

Chapter 23.

"What a careless bunch," Brian thought as he picked up the invisibility cloak.

Good luck to them.

Brian examined the invisibility cloak in his hands; it was the deathly hallows he had the easiest access to.

The soft cloak was cold to the touch, almost like liquid, yet as light as a feather, shimmering silver under the moonlight.

Brian turned it over and over but couldn't discern its secrets. It looked quite similar to ordinary invisibility cloaks, but the texture was noticeably better; that was the only conclusion he could draw.

Well, it was still a bit early for him to be handling the deathly hallows.

Brian draped the cloak over himself and looked at his invisible hands, thinking he might ask his father if he had collected a few invisibility cloaks or something. It was indeed quite useful.

He didn't intend to keep the invisibility cloak for himself. It was obvious that Dumbledore would be keeping an eye on this deathly hallows, and he didn't want to be found by Dumbledore at any moment.

"I'll return it to them tomorrow," Brian said as he descended the tower.

At the bottom of the tower, he heard Professor McGonagall's furious shouts. Brian tiptoed over in that direction.

Professor McGonagall had a big catch tonight; she had caught Harry and the others just coming down from the tower, along with Malfoy!

Brian covered his eyes. He hadn't let Malfoy know about what happened tonight, so he didn't understand why he was still out.

"I can't believe there are four students awake at this hour, wandering around! How dare you!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed, her nostrils flaring in anger. "Detention! Fifty points from each of you!"

The four of them gasped in shock. Malfoy shot her an angry glance but ultimately said nothing and sulkily lowered his head.

"Professor... please..." Harry pleaded, "You can't..."

"I don't need you to remind me what to do, Potter. Miss Granger, I thought you would be more level-headed. And Mr. Weasley, I thought you valued Gryffindor's honor..."

Professor McGonagall loudly reprimanded the four kids, making them huddle together like quails in fear.

Filch came running over after hearing the commotion, standing nearby with a malicious glare. Mrs. Norris squatted at his feet, her large yellow eyes scanning sharply around.

Brian stayed hidden, quietly watching. He didn't want to go over and get scolded.

Fortunately, Harry and the others didn't betray him.

After finishing her lecture, Professor McGonagall angrily waved them away.

The four of them walked back, dejected like frostbitten eggplants. Even Malfoy had no desire to mock them.

Brian took a shortcut and returned to the dormitory before Malfoy did.

He silently lay on his bed, mourning for them for three seconds.

Malfoy pushed open the dormitory door heavily, glanced at Brian lying on the bed, and immediately felt a surge of anger.

He came over and pushed Brian.

"What's wrong? Why are you back so late?" Brian asked.

"I went out looking for you; you snuck out in the middle of the night!" Malfoy said angrily. "But why do I feel that you were out there helping those Gryffindors?"

"Come on, I went to practice spells," Brian replied softly. "You know, our whole day is crammed with classes."

He believed a little white lie was beneficial for the little bit of friendship.

"Is that so? I got caught by Professor McGonagall! And Potter and the others too," Malfoy fumed. "They went out in the middle of the night; they must have dealt with that Dragon."

"I lost fifty points and have to serve detention! I'm going to tell my dad about that awful woman."

"But Potter and the others lost a total of one hundred fifty points for Gryffindor," Malfoy consoled himself. "Tomorrow, Gryffindor's score will definitely be empty. I think if there were negative points, they would have created history!"

The next day, the scores in the hourglass recording points showed a drop for both Gryffindor and Slytherin.

Among them, Gryffindor's score nearly dropped by half, leaving the students of Gryffindor unable to believe their eyes.

Malfoy sighed in relief at the position of the hourglass, as Slytherin's score did not drop from first place because of him; instead, Gryffindor fell from second to last place.

He then became smug, mocking Potter in the Great Hall and spreading the news of their midnight escapade being caught for everyone to hear.

This made Harry and the others the target of everyone's scorn.

No one gave them a good look, especially towards Harry and Ron. Gryffindors were more forgiving towards Hermione since many of the points were earned by her, far exceeding fifty points.

It must be said that Gryffindor's score was originally very close to Slytherin's. With the stimulus from Brian, Hermione was more proactive in answering questions for points, while Brian was not very much interested.

Although Slytherin also lost points, overall, they ended up widening the gap with the second place, as Ravenclaw's score was much lower. Malfoy became a hero instead, loudly proclaiming in the common room how he discovered Potter and the others out on a night stroll and caught them to hand over to the professors.

"Professor McGonagall not only didn't praise my contribution, but instead deducted points from me. She is so biased," Malfoy said, raising his chin leisurely.

In the morning, investigators from the Ministry of Magic raided Hagrid's hut, but they found nothing. They searched the area around the school and the Forbidden Forest all day, finally leaving the school at dusk.

Malfoy was very displeased about this; he secretly hated himself for taking too long and not sending Hagrid straight to Azkaban on the spot.

Harry and the others watched all this unfold, secretly breathing a sigh of relief, while Harry also resentfully said, "I swear, I will never meddle again."

Overnight, he had gone from the most popular person to the target of everyone's scorn, and it was not a pleasant day for him.

"Potter, this should be your invisibility cloak," Brian's uniquely gentle voice sounded beside him, "I found it last night in the tower."

"Oh, thank you, Walker," Harry quickly replied, "it's very important to me."

"Indeed, it seems precious, and you need to cherish it," Brian said meaningfully. "And thank you for not exposing me last night."

"It's okay." At this point, Harry's mood fell, "You helped us, helped Hagrid."

"Regardless, thank you," Brian squinted and smiled, then walked away.

That day, he sent a letter home, asking Mr. Walker if he had any invisibility cloaks in his collection.

The next day, Becca brought back a letter from Mr. Walker, along with a small package.

Brian first looked at Mr. Walker's letter.

Mr. Walker mentioned that he did not collect such trivial things as invisibility cloaks; he could easily use the Disillusionment Charm to become invisible. However, he did have a few, and he bought one over.

He informed Brian that the magic of an invisibility cloak gradually fades, and it would need to be replenished by a professional alchemist after about three to four months, or it would lose its effect.

He also warned Brian not to sneak into the Forbidden Forest while wearing the cloak, as it was too dangerous, and many animals inside had excellent senses that could see through the cloak.

"Of course, if you want to sneak into the Restricted Section wearing it, I fully support that," Mr. Walker said, "the Restricted Section of Hogwarts has many ancient books that our family does not possess; you might find treasures in there."

Brian looked at the letter, remaining silent for a long time before putting it aside.

Then he opened the small package and took out the grayish invisibility cloak. Compared to Harry's, this one was indeed too inconspicuous, only large enough for one person, and the material was not very good.

"Truly a Deathly Hallow," Brian sighed. However, this invisibility cloak was completely sufficient for him.

He put on the cloak to test its effect and was very satisfied, sighing, "Why didn't I think of asking father for an invisibility cloak earlier?"

"I almost hung myself on that rope of the Disillusionment Charm."

Time passed until Sunday, when Ron received a letter from his brother Charlie, stating that he had brought the Dragon back to Romania.

"Great, the dragon is not dead." Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to upset Hagrid.

"But it's not that good either," Hermione added, looking at the letter.

In the letter, Charlie expressed deep condemnation and dissatisfaction, because when he received Norbert, the dragon was much thinner, having had a lot of blood drawn, and even its scales were somewhat bare.

Of course, the dragon's body was still not in too much trouble; they have strong recovery abilities and would soon recover. But Norbert had developed a significant psychological trauma, especially fearing wizards in robes and the wands in their hands.

"At least it feels right, doesn't it?" Ron comforted, "It's right for it to fear wizards; staying away from wizards can indeed help it live a little longer."

"I'm not worried about it," Harry said irritably. His days had been quite tough lately.

"Don't let Hagrid know," he added.