Hogwarts: I am Snape

Chapter 23 Invisibility Cloak

Behind a large desk, Dumbledore was looking at documents by candlelight.

He was wearing a snow-white nightgown with a purple-red velvet robe over it, yet he looked quite energetic.

On a shelf behind him lay the tattered, crumpled Sorting Hat, and next to it, in a glass case, lay a gleaming silver sword.

Dumbledore looked up.

“Oh, it’s you, Professor McGonagall. And James and Severus, it’s good to see you again.”

“Professor Dumbledore,” Professor McGonagall said angrily, “the two of them were just fighting each other with magic in the girls’ washroom. What an indecent display!”

“It wasn’t a fight,” Snape said immediately. “It was self-defense.”

Professor McGonagall glanced back at Snape, her brow furrowing slightly.

"Is James injured?" Dumbledore asked.

“I didn’t!” James said quickly, sounding somewhat annoyed and unconvinced.

Snape rolled his eyes inwardly. Who did he not trust?

“Tell me what happened.” Dumbledore put down the documents, his sharp blue eyes scanning Snape and James. “Who’s first?”

“Oh, I don’t care.” Snape shrugged.

James looked both resentful and uneasy: "Headmaster, I discovered that he sneaked into the girls' washroom on the second floor in the middle of the night, so I wanted to go and see what he was doing in there."

"Sneaking around with a Stunning Charm?" Snape said bluntly.

He pulled out a liquid-like, shimmering silver invisibility cloak from his robe.

"Mr. Potter, do you know whose little thing this is?"

"Give it back to me!" James snatched the Invisibility Cloak from Snape's hand.

Dumbledore's gaze fell on the silver-gray invisibility cloak, his eyebrows slightly raised, and a complex expression, barely perceptible, flashed across his eyes.

“Sir,” Snape said, “do you think it’s necessary for Potter to use the Invisibility Cloak on campus?”

“Of course not,” Dumbledore said calmly. “I trust Professor McGonagall will give you appropriate punishment.”

He turned to Professor McGonagall and asked, "Minerva, do you have any opinions?"

Professor McGonagall nodded and recounted what she had seen, along with her proposed course of action:
"Gryffindor and Slytherin will each lose fifty points, plus a week of detention, starting tomorrow night at six o'clock."

“Very good,” Dumbledore said. “Magic is for protection, exploration, and learning, not for fighting among classmates. I hope you will learn from this and not repeat the same mistake.”

“Headmaster,” Snape prompted, “I’ve seen Mr. Filch’s list of prohibited items, and the Invisibility Cloak is number one hundred and twenty-eight.”

He didn't want James to keep the invisibility cloak that couldn't be deciphered by spells, otherwise he'd be living in constant fear.

“Severus, even as the headmaster, I cannot confiscate a student’s valuable possessions at will,” Dumbledore shook his head slightly. “This is an extremely precious invisibility cloak.”

“You can’t only uphold the authority of school rules when ordinary students make mistakes,” Snape said, discontented. “Isn’t the precious Invisibility Cloak an Invisibility Cloak too?”

“Sir, he went to the girls’ restroom in the middle of the night; he definitely didn’t have good intentions,” James said urgently. “I can’t let this go unchecked; I only used it to—”

James tried to explain, but Dumbledore raised his hand to interrupt him. "Young people are always full of curiosity and a spirit of adventure." Dumbledore still smiled, looking gently at Snape. "Severus, what were you doing in the girls' lavatory?"

"Please stop talking about chatting with Myrtle. You and I both know you're not familiar with her."

“I hope I can tell you this to you separately later, and I’m sure you’ll be interested,” Snape said humbly. “Of course, after Potter’s invisibility cloak has been properly disposed of.”

“Sir, this was passed down to me by my father,” James said anxiously, glancing at Dumbledore. “If it’s gone, I won’t be able to explain it to him.”

Ignoring James's angry yet threatening gaze, Snape said to Dumbledore, "You can simply keep the Invisibility Cloak for him temporarily and return it to Potter at the end of the term."

“Hmm…that’s a reasonable suggestion. Let’s do it that way, James,” Dumbledore said. “I’ll keep it for you for a while, and I’ll return it to you when you get home.”

James hesitated for a moment, then nodded helplessly and handed the Invisibility Cloak to Dumbledore.

“It’s getting late, you should all go back and rest.” Dumbledore waved his hand. “Perhaps Severus has something else to tell me.”

“Wait!” James suddenly said, “There’s one more thing, one of my parchments is with him.”

"That blank parchment? You may have heard me talking about it; I flushed it down the toilet not long ago."

“What?” James stared at Snape in shock. “What did you say?”

“I’m so sorry, Potter. Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll buy you a bundle of parchment as compensation.”

“This is totally different!”

“Oh, I know, a bundle of parchment is obviously more, but please don’t be shy about it as an apology.”

Snape's words seemed to have driven James to the brink of madness; his cheeks flushed and his lips trembled, rendering him speechless.

"Alright, Professor McGonagall, take James back to the tower," Dumbledore said, dismissing him.

Professor McGonagall nodded and bowed to Dumbledore before leading a disgruntled James out of the headmaster's office.

"Turn your ears off." Before Snape could even ask, Dumbledore cast the spell, "You can say whatever you want."

He peered intently at Snape through his half-moon spectacles, his light blue eyes fixed on him.

During this time, Snape had been thinking about how to break the deadlock.

On the one hand, he had no reason to ignore Dumbledore, a "White Lord" with both top-notch strength and intelligence. He needed Dumbledore's help.

On the other hand, it would be difficult for him to take any unconventional actions behind Dumbledore's back at Hogwarts, since every portrait in the castle was his spy.

Therefore, he decided to tell Dumbledore about some of his discoveries in order to gain his trust and help.

Of course, he didn't intend to reveal everything, because deep down he still had some reservations.

“Professor,” Snape said, sitting down in the chair opposite Dumbledore, “I went to the girls’ lavatory to see Myrtle. I wanted to know something about Tom Riddle. Do you know him?”

Dumbledore suddenly stood up, so quickly that he startled Snape.

He stared at Snape with such sharp eyes that they seemed to pierce Snape's eyes like an ice arrow.

(End of this chapter)