The Rare Cloaks

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 86949

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "mfisanich" <mfisanich at e...> wrote:
> Geoff said:
>  
> ...edited...
>  
> ... How does it know what to make invisible? How is it that the cloak 
> is not invisible itself, but rather silvery, until it is put on a 
> person?  Does the cloak magically 'know' when to start making 
> something invisible?  Does it have to be in physical contact with a 
> human?  When the cloak is folded in Harry's trunk, does it render 
> the objects beneath it invisible? the floor of the trunk? the floor 
> under the trunk?  How does this all work?
> 
> Hmmm...???
> 
> Yours in HP obsession,
> Melissa


bboy_mn:

I've often pondered those same question, however, since we have no
difinitive answers available, I've had to make up my own.

My opinion is that the invisibility cloak has a visible side and an
invisible side very much like the cloak we see in the movie. When you
fold it up to put it away, a wise person always folds with the visible
side out. 

If you happened to drop it on the ground invisible side up, unless it
laid perfectly flat, you would see minor visual inconsistancies around
the edges from wrinkles in fabrid that would give away it's location.

There are a lot of unanswered and unanswerable question regarding the
clock. If it only works when a human wraps it around himself, then
that would imply that you couldn't hide a solid object, like a dragon
in a crate, unless you were also under the cloak. That doesn't seem
very practical.

There is also the issue of magical intent. We know that magic can be
modified by intent. When Harry stuns Ron, Ron gracefully falls over,
Hermione revives him, and he gets back up and tries it again. But when
Dumbledore stuns fake!Moody, he does it through a solid door which is
destroy in the process of knocking Moody out. 

We do see a limited amount of magic that is performed by intent alone;
examples of wordless and/or wandless magic. Tom the innkeeper snapes
his fingers and the fireplace ingnites, etc....

So perhaps, the ability of the invisibility cloak is modified by the
magical intent of it's user to take from silvery and nearly invisible
to fully invisible.

I don't think we have enough to really make a definitive statement,
but the visible side/invisibile side seems like a very simple solution
to the mystery.

Just a thought.

bboy_mn