The Marauders: Year One | #Wa...

The Silver Cloak


The Potter house was tressed up for Christmas like all the muggle homes on their street. All the way home from King's Cross station, Charlus bragged as he drove along in the muggle car he treasured so, telling James how he'd gotten up in the wee hours of the night and magicked the twinkle lights all along the trim of his house. "All the neighbors are delighted," he said, "We get comments everyday!" Charlus was grinning, quite proud of his accomplishment as James's mother, Dora, smiled and laughed in all the right places, despite having heard the story about a hundred thousand times already from her excitable husband.

"It's brilliant, Dad," James said when the old muggle car rolled to a stop and Charlus had waved his wand to turn on the lights for his son to see. "Just like all the muggle houses!"

Charlus beamed with pride.

It had been quiet in the Potter house without James at home and his parents were excited to have him home. That much was obvious if for no other reason than because they seemed to circulate around him, like planets in orbit around the sun. James grinned and told them about the term so far at Hogwarts, telling them all about his friends and the things he was learning in his classes and describing the teachers they hadn't met during their own time at the school. He kept them laughing as they ate the feast that Dora prepared, telling them about the many hi-jinx that had gone on around the halls – being careful, of course, to leave out the fact that it was mostly him and Sirius that was getting up to all the mischief. Though James was fairly certain his dear father would high-five him for the news that his sun was causing laughter and harmless trouble around the school, he wasn't so sure his mum would have the same reaction.

But indeed Charlus's eyes glowed as James spoke, and he leaned back in a nostalgic air as Dora waved her wand, clearing away dishes into the wash tub. "Ah, Dora, love, do you remember our days at ol' Hoggy-warty-Hogwarts?" he asked, grinning.

Dora smiled, "They were the best," she agreed, her eyes sparkling as she looked at him, fondly remembering the days gone by, the way he'd looked then, the way he'd made her feel...

"What I wouldn't do to be back there with you now," Charlus mused, "Flying down the pitch, eating those marvelous biscuits those house-elves bake, skivving off Herbology to lie out on the grounds in the sun by the lake, getting lost on those bloody moving stairwells..."

Dora grinned, turning to the wash.

"Well, my friends and I, we've been working on a remedy for those blast staircases," James boasted. "It's a map of the school and so far it's quite good."

Charlus looked interested, "A map?"

"Yeah," James nodded. "We walk about and mark down all the rooms and staircases and all so that it's easier to get around. We've been working at it all term. Ought to take about a century, though, at this rate. We can only work on it during free periods, see, and the halls are crowded then so it's hard to keep updating the map with it so overrun in the corridors."

"I imagine it would be," said Charlus.

"It'd be much easier if we could go when there was nobody around, like at night or something," James lamented, "But old Filch, the caretaker – him and his cat, they seem to get around the castle so fast. It's like they can go through walls or something!"

Charlus glanced over at his wife, to be sure her back was turned, and lowered his voice. "Have you found any of the secret passageways?"

"Secret passageways?" James asked, leaning forward. "Blimey, I knew there had to be other ways around... Filch makes it from one corridor to another like lightening!"

"Well back in my day, Apollyon Pringle --" Charlus stopped suddenly as Dora turned back to them, carrying a plate full of green Christmas fudge. "Well doesn't this look delicious!" he exclaimed loudly, to cover the conversation they'd been carrying, "Thank you, love!"

For the first time in his life, James would've done anything to wait just a little bit longer for his mother's Christmas fudge.





It was three o'clock in the morning when James awoke with a start to find his father shaking him awake gently. Charlus had one finger over his mouth to signal James to be quiet, and waved, beckoning him along. James got up, sliding off the bed and into his slippers, and followed his father out of the bedroom, down the stairs, and into the basement of their house, where Dora's old potions-making equipment was stored, along with their summer Quidditch supplies, and Charlus's assortment of muggle-befriending accessories, like his fishing poles and golfing clubs. Past all the stuff, in a corner, sat a trunk that James knew well. It was his father's old school trunk.

Charlus sat down in front of the trunk on the floor, put the lantern they'd brought along down on stack of boxes, and took a deep breath, his palms on the lid. "You must solemnly swear to me that you'll never tell your mother about this," Charlus said. "She would kill me if she knew I gave this to you knowing that you were up to no good."

James prickled with eagerness. "Yes, sir," he said.

"Swear," Charlus urged.

"I solemnly swear," James said with a smile.

Charlus took a deep breath and pushed open the trunk. James hovered excitedly, unable to contain his curiosity as Charlus began to dig through the contents, which James knew all too well. Wizarding photographs and Charlus's old Quidditch robes and dozens of old textbooks. The deeper Charlus dug, the more dust covered the objects he withdrew were. He was unearthing things from the bottom that had not been seen since he'd packed it all away in the dormitory in his Seventh Year. Finally, just when James was sure that whatever Charlus had been looking for was lost, he exclaimed, "There we are!" and, with a flair as though he were presenting James with the entire world, he withdrew a tiny little box.

The box was small enough that it fit on James's outstretched palm. It was the size of a Rubrix puzzle cube. James stared at it for a moment, utterly confused, then looked up at his father's excited face. "What's this then?" he asked, underwhelmed.

Charlus grinned, taking the box back, and put it down on the floor in front of them. He reached down and opened it up... then, much to James's shock and awe, he bent forward and stuck his entire arm down inside the box – an absolutely impossible feat, yet something James was seeing with his very own two eyes. He stared at his father, his jaw dropped, eyes bugged, as Charlus reached around, up to his shoulder in the tiny little box, biting his tongue in concentration as he dug about, searching for something by touch.

"But – but how -" spluttered James, blinking in disbelief.

"Undetectable extension charm," Charlus explained. "Capacious extremis," he elaborated. "Make it bigger on the inside, so to say. I could fit loads in here. Came in right handy when I needed to hide things from the staff or from other students. Or your mum. You know, when we were dating, I knew she used to sneak 'round and snoop in my things - she was ruddy good at it, too. When I wanted to surprise her with her wedding ring, I had to hide it in here." He grinned.

"Wow," James whispered, still watching as Charlus leaned all the way in, up to his shoulders in the thing, even his head inside now. "So what else is in there, then?" he asked, curious.

"All sorts," echoed Charlus's voice from within the box.

"Christmas presents?" asked James hopefully.

Charlus laughed. "Better." And with that, he withdrew himself from inside, pulling with him a shimmery cloak, made of silver fabric that moved like liquid and seemed to reflect the light from the lantern. He grinned up at it as he held it up, waving the dust out of it. "There we are," he said. "Your grandfather gave this to me when I graduated Hogwarts, and my grandfather gave it to him on his graduation and his grandfather and so forth... generations... centuries." He smiled, "I was going to wait until your graduation to give it to you but..." Charlus turned to his son and held it out, draped across his arms. "I think it might help you in finishing your map with your friends." He bit his lips excitedly.

James looked at the shiny material and back to his father. "A cloak might?"

"Not just any cloak, son," Charlus said. "This cloak."

Jame couldn't fathom how any cloak could help with getting the map finished, but then Charlus reached over and took the cloak and wrapped it around his shoulders... and disappeared.

"What!?" James gasped in surprise, "But – I - how? Dad?"

Charlus took the cloak back off, draping it again over James's arms. "It's an invisibility cloak," Charlus told him with a low, reverent voice. "It makes you invisible."

"Invisible?" James's eyes were wide and excited.

"Nobody can see through it," Charlus said thickly, "You just put it on and it makes you transparent. You can use it to get 'round the castle without being caught. You know. At night." He turned a bit pink at the tips of his ears. "Which is why your mother mustn't ever know I've given it to you."

"This is ruddy amazing," James said thickly, wrapping the cloak 'round his shoulders and looking at himself disappearing in a mirror in the corner of the basement. "Wow," he whispered. "We'll be able to get anywhere without old Filch seeing us." He was imagining all the pranks he and Sirius would pull, thanks to the power the cloak provided. The first prank he'd play with it would be on Sirius himself – thank Merlin he had time to come up with just the right thing before he saw him next! "Oi, Sirius's eyes ought to fall right out of his skull when he finds out about this," he muttered, excitement touching every nerve of his body.

Charlus said, "Make sure you don't tell just anybody about this. This cloak must remain a secret between you and your closest friends or else the staff might take it away."

James nodded. "I'll keep it between me, Sirius, Remus, and I guess Peter."

"Very good," Charlus said, smiling. "Now you can get that map made!"

"Speaking of," James said, taking the cloak off and laying it over his arms, "At dinner – you started to say something about secret passages?"

Charlus nodded, "Oh yes. Apollyon Pringle – the care taker when I was at the school – he used to get 'round the school as fast as you say Filch does today. Well, there was a rumor going about back in the day that the reason why was because of a secret map that the caretakers have and pass on generation to generation."

"A secret map?"

"Yes, of all the passageways. They go all over the castle," Charlus nodded. "The rumor says they keep it locked up in their office."

James fingered the silvery material over his arm. "In his office, 'ey?" he asked, envisioning already the daring attempt he and Sirius would be making to retrieve the secret map.

"Yes, the caretaker's office," Charlus said. "But you don't want to be – uh - seen sneaking in there," he added... and then he winked.