Chapter 21: Serena Snape: Love of Magic - chapter 21
I could feel my heart pounding as I walked through the halls of Hogwarts, it was a dangerous game I played, I had faced the headmaster and won, sort of, I achieved my goal of getting the cloak, was antagonizing the headmaster so thoroughly a good idea just for the cloak of death? I didn't know, but it was already done and I couldn't turn back, in case of emergency I can always go to another world if necessary.
On the other hand, mirrors were also a good choice, I wanted to study it and see if I could replicate them, it was an excellent method of communication, plus I didn't want to ask for the map, it would be of little to no use after I left Hogwarts, and even if I needed it I'd just have to wait until they lost it in their seventh year and steal it from Filch, or if I changed the timeline enough I could always steal it from them themselves, their live tracking really was impressive, if I could replicate it for places outside of Hogwarts then it would be worth it.
When I finally reached the Room of Requirement my heart finally stopped beating like it wanted to get out of my chest, once inside I pulled the Invisibility out of my inventory. It was a large piece of silver-grey fabric, silky to the touch and seemed to flow easily, it was large, I could easily wrap myself around it twice with ease, I stood in front of one of the mirrors that the room had generated, I put it on and disappeared, no matter how I looked I couldn't find any flaws in the invisibility provided by the cloak, a thought crossed my head and I tried, I tried to wish myself visible and my vision was obscured by the cloak over my head, perfect.
I took it off, inspected it again and smiled goofily, I almost wanted to squeal in joy, I had THE cloak of invisibility, it may not be all-powerful but it was still useful, it was just a shame it wasn't shaped better, it was a single piece of cloth more like a sheet than a cloak so it was awkward to wear, I hummed lightly as I considered it.
I pulled out a piece of metal and with a quick transmutation circle, they turned into needles and thread and I tried to pierce the cloak of invisibility. I couldn't, the stupid cloak was extremely resistant, I tried different metals or resistant materials to transmute the needle, but none were able to pierce the cloak, even increasing my physical strength with my metallic arts worked, I just ended up bending or breaking the needle.
Too bad, I'll just have to keep wearing it awkwardly, I was about to leave the Room of Requirement when another idea occurred to me, an extremely stupid one, I've been having a lot of those lately, that could basically make all the trouble I've been going through trying to get it for nothing, but the idea seemed appealing and stuck in my mind tightly.
I really had to do something about this urge to do stupid things, I was becoming more like a Gryffindor, it was unacceptable.
I pulled my Frusta Dominazione out of my inventory, and with a bit of hesitation I slapped the cloak down and held my breath…
… Nothing, how strange, I felt the tug on my magic when I tried to use Schiavo on her, it should have worked, I'll try a little more magic, maybe my diminished form of Baiser wasn't enough?
Returning to my full Baiser form, I focused more magic into my Frusta before striking the cloak again… nothing.
I frowned, the pull still remained, there were few things I couldn't use Schiavo on, even animals and other magical items were fair game, only humans were a no-go, I hadn't tried it but I doubted I could so much, the only possible way to use it on other people would be to enter my corrupted form, "the ugliest flower", and inject them with dark magic like when Baiser does it with Magia Magenta, she was even able to infect another magical girl's magic weapon in that form, I refused to believe that she couldn't pull it off, even if it belonged to death.
"La Verità!" I concentrated all the magic I could into my staff and hit the cloth, I felt the pull again, but nothing, why!? I gritted my teeth as I thought...
…Duraluminium.
Duralumin can generate an explosion of investiture, magic, I had nothing to lose by trying it. I took out a duralumin bead and swallowed it without hesitation, took a deep breath, concentrated all the magic back into my staff and began to burn the duralumin.
I gritted my teeth as waves of dark magic gushed out of my entire body, I directed everything towards my Frusta and quickly hit the cloak, just in time for the duralumin to wear off and undo my transformation, my legs gave out, I could feel my magic completely drained as I breathed heavily, using La Verità was always somewhat tiring, but this was on a new level.
Still, I turned my gaze to the cloak of invisibility, which began to tremble slightly.
"YES!" I screamed in happiness, take that Death! I watched intently as the cloak came to life, it quickly began to take shape and… it looked like a cloak? A normal cloak, a hood and a cape, only its two lower points were raised like hands? … for some reason I was expecting more, my Schiavos were more noticeable "well, what can you do?" the cloak raised its… hood? As if it just noticed me in front of it and looked at me? This was weird.
Still, she seemed to perk up at the sound of my voice and walked over to me before stopping just a few inches away, for some reason looking… outraged? How the hell was that possible? The cloak was flung in my direction.
"What the hell are you doing!" the cloak was undressing me!? Or rather, ripping off my clothes. "Let me go, you stupid cloak!" I never believed in my life that I'd be fighting a living cloak, but here I am, losing against it, I couldn't stop it from ripping off my Hogwarts uniform leaving me in only my underwear and fishnet stockings, once I was able to stand up half naked, I saw the cloak? Punching the clothes?... what the fuck. It was using its wrapped ends as fists as it punched the uniform on the ground until it stopped .
click My eyes widened when I saw my lighter in his hands? I pulled it out of my Pocket Space?!
"Wait!" I lunged in the direction of my uniform only to see the cloak drop the lit lighter on the clothes and intercept me halfway preventing me from reaching the uniform by covering my face and holding my limbs, I groaned loudly, I could only watch as my clothes burned, stupid cloak, I could feel him… preening? Just for the cloak to… hug me?! What the hell was going on?!
I could feel the grip of the robe relax and I was able to stand up once more, I could feel the tips of the robe approaching my underwear and beginning to slowly remove it, as if I couldn't notice.
"No! Enough!" I slapped the cloak, somehow it felt like I had kicked it from its puppy "Now, get off me already!" I tried to pull off the cloak, which clung to my body, I moaned loudly "I just want to… talk, then can you… cover me?" I gritted my teeth in frustration, luckily the cloak seemed to accept it and broke away from me once again.
"Okay, what are you?" The cloak tilted his hood in confusion, I slapped my face with the palm of my hand "Another question, why did you burn the clothes?" Now the cloak began to wave his tips furiously, was he ranting? Wait… did those movements look familiar to me?
"You know sign language!? How the hell do you know sign language?!" I asked the cloak incredulously, which seemed smug at the fact "I don't know sign language!" The cloak froze in place before folding over depressedly, I ran my hand over my face, pulled out my phone, and quickly looked up a sign language dictionary. NO. CLOTHES.
"No clothes?" I asked the cloak, which perked up again and nodded quickly.
"No, denied, I need clothes! I can't just wear a cloak all the time!" I immediately refused, the cloak was thrown in my direction again and draped over my shoulders before… shifting shape?! My eyes widened, I was now wearing an exact replica of my school uniform "Okay, that was amazing." I could feel him preen once again at the praise, inspecting the uniform I had to admit it was an identical copy, there wasn't a single thread different from my nor- uniform I blinked a few times.
I checked the bottom of my shirt again where my skirt was and tried to separate it only to fail… yes… they were one piece, the shirt and skirt were one whole piece that only changed shape halfway through.
"You... can't turn into multiple pieces of clothing can you?" The cloak stopped stiffly and began to tremble as if it was about to cry, I sighed "It's okay, you're still impressive" I caressed the cloak, I never thought I'd be comforting a piece of cloth, but it was stupidly effective, it now began to vibrate with happiness, I sighed, I hope it at least still serves as an cloak of invisibility, this wouldn't be worth it.
"Can you make yourself invisible?" I asked, the cloak immediately obeyed and turned invisible, I sighed in relief, just one problem, my legs, hands and head were still visible, I sighed once more "Can you turn back into a cloak?" I asked, the cloak immediately changed into a robe and covered me completely, I hummed as I walked over to a mirror the room had created, completely invisible, that was a relief.
"Okay, you're going to have to stay as a cloak most of the time." The cloak became visible and began to shake with the hood, its tips moving quickly once more, I reached for my phone again. I. GET. DRESSED.
"You want to dress me?" The cloak nodded, I rubbed my temple tiredly, took out a cigarette and lit it, it was giving me a headache "Okay, you want to dress me, but you can't turn into multiple items of clothing and I need you as a cloak." The cloak shook loudly "Calm down!" I slapped him before taking another sip.
"Look, I can make sure I use you on a daily basis, but I need my other clothes, underwear and my uniform, you can become my school cloak." I tried to negotiate, the hood shook its head before moving its tips. LESS. CLOTHES.
"You want me to wear less clothes?" The cloak nodded, I sighed "I can't wear less clothes" the cloak fluttered again, I groaned loudly "Okay, how about this, I need to wear my school uniform during my classes, but I'll wear less the rest of the day, how about that?" The cloak paused as if considering it, before signing once more. NIGHT.
"Yes, at night too, you can be my night clothes." I sighed tiredly, I was regretting this a lot. "Okay. Okay. Now, how… little clothes do you want me to wear?"