Invisibilty Cloaks; Laws of Magic

[Jim Ferer <jferer@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 48913

Suan, who probably has watched a lot of Dark Shadows in her time:"I 
understand that Hogwarts has a number of creepy candleabra sconce 
things hanging around it's walls (and if it doesn't, it flippin well 
should, what kind of medieval castle doesn't have creepy candleabra 
sconce things?!)"

I thought it was torches, mostly, but still. (Is the light magically 
amplified? I've seen torchlight like that, and it's not much at all)

Susan:If Mad Eye Moody's magical eye and the Marauder's Map can see 
Harry in his Cloak, it would indicate that the Cloak is not 
completely impervious. (It's been hinted in PS and CoS that 
Dumbledore can even see through it, magical eye or not) So do the 
same old laws of physics that bind the rest of us bind someone 
wearing a Cloak?"

It's the laws of magic that matter here, not physics.  Magic is 
subject to laws and limits as physics is, but what are they?  We 
don't know of many, except that magic cannot reanimate the dead.

Dumbledore can detect Harry without a magic eye, but I'm not sure it 
says D. can *see* Harry.  It could be he detects Harry's aura or 
senses him in some other way.

Other fantasy series set in alternate universes where magic works 
have approached the problem differently. Some say you can't be 
invisible, but by a charm prevent people from realizing your 
presence; other spells prevent people from looking exactly in your 
direction (which means you could be seen in a mirror, for instance).

Jim Ferer