CHAPDISC: DH12, Magic is Might - How Many Steps

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 180913

bboyminn wrote:
> <snip>
> Now, I would suspect that a house that has an entry like this
> is not likely to have more that two or three steps. This, 
> though quite uncommon, would  be a very low entry. Now if you
> are on the top of two or three steps and the wind catches
> your cloak, or you lose your balance and your arms swing out,
> in both cases you could breach the boundary of the Fidelius
> Charm, and your cloak or hand could be seen, even though the
> house itself was not reveal. 
> 
> In fact, I think that very thing is referenced in the books.
> Someone apparates to the top step, loses their balance, and 
> for a second the DE's think they might have seen something, 
> but then it's gone and they can't be sure. 
> 
Carol responds:

But Harry's hand shows when it slips out from under the Invisibility
Cloak. (Ron, IIRC, says that the same thing happens to him every
time.) The DEs keep thinking they see something (presumably an elbow
or a hand) but it disappears before they have time to be sure that
they've really seen something.

But *Lupin is not wearing an Invisibility Cloak and yet the DEs don't
see him.*

That's the discrepancy I see. It doesn't matter whether there's one
step or twelve, or how many levels the house has, or where the
entrance hall leads. What matters is the cloaks.

If Harry's hand or elbow can be seen when it slips out from under the
Invisibility Cloak, how come Lupin, who is wearing an ordinary black
*traveling cloak,* can't be seen? I can conceive of a hand sticking
out beyond the boundaries of the Fidelius Charm, but an elbow? That
must be some narrow step! And why bother with the Invisibility Cloak
if they can't be seen on the top step, anyway?

Carol, using up her fifth post to make her point clearer