Chapter 80 - Inspection
Christmas Eve and Christmas passed peacefully.
Aunt Marge arrived on the twenty-fourth as usual with Ripper and enough luggage for a week despite staying barely a day.
She was very pleased that all three of us were now in a boarding school.
"Well," she said loudly during dinner, "at least they'll make proper men out of you boys."
Dudley nodded obediently. Harry copied Dudley half a second later.
I nearly laughed.
Aunt Marge pointed her fork at us.
"Listen carefully boys. Study properly and make the family proud. I better not hear any of you doing any mis-adventure there, especially related to the other gender. Don't do anything that will shame the Dursley name."
"Yes, Aunt Marge," we answered together.
Thankfully she left the next afternoon. The house became peaceful again almost immediately.
A few more lazy holiday days passed after that.
Then one morning I told Mom and Dad that I wanted to take Harry and Dudley to Diagon Alley for a small shopping trip.
Mom looked worried for a moment, Dad too. But compared to before, they trusted me much more now, especially after everything at Hogwarts.
"Be careful," Mom said immediately.
"We will," I assured her.
So after some final instructions and warnings from Mom, we left for Diagon Alley.
The trip itself looked perfectly normal.
Harry and Dudley bought small things happily mostly new parchments, fresh ink, feathers and a few sweets.
Dudley bought some ridiculous self-stirring feather pen which he absolutely did not need.
Harry spent nearly ten minutes comparing different inks seriously like an old scholar.
Honestly, Hogwarts had changed both of them.
After wandering around for a while, I finally guided them toward Gringotts Wizarding Bank.
Officially, we were there to withdraw some money.
Unofficially, we had a much more important reason.
The goblin guards at the entrance recognized us immediately now.
They gave respectful nods.
We returned the greeting and entered.
Inside, I approached one of the goblin tellers.
"I would like to meet Account Manager Ragnok regarding Potter and Dursley accounts."
The goblin nodded sharply.
A few minutes later, we were escorted into one of the side chambers again.
Soon the door opened and Ragnok entered.
"Well met, Mr. Dursley," he greeted.
"And well met, Mr. Potter and Mr. Dudley."
Harry and Dudley greeted him politely too now. They had gotten used to goblin customs after my earlier explanations.
I nodded.
"Well met, Ragnok."
"How have matters been?"
"Profitable," he answered immediately with a sharp goblin smile.
"As all good matters should be."
I almost smiled at that.
Goblins, straightforward as always.
After some brief formalities, I finally reached into Harry's bag and took out the silvery cloak.
The moment the cloak appeared on the table, Ragnok's eyebrows rose slightly.
Interesting.
So he recognized that this was no ordinary cloak.
Dudley blinked in confusion.
"That's the thing Harry talked about?"
Harry nodded.
"The invisibility cloak."
Dudley stared.
"That thing actually works?"
"Yes," Harry answered quietly.
I turned toward Ragnok.
"Harry received this recently as a gift."
"The note claimed it once belonged to James Potter and had been entrusted to someone for safekeeping."
"And now it was returned."
Ragnok listened silently.
"I need it checked," I continued.
"For curses, spells, charms, tracking magic, compulsions, anything."
Ragnok nodded calmly.
"You wish only for identification? Or removal as well?"
"First identification," I answered.
"Then we decide further actions."
Ragnok gave a thin smile.
"As you wish."
He tapped the desk once. A few moments later several goblin curse-breakers entered the room. They carefully picked up the cloak and motioned for us to follow them deeper inside the bank.
Soon we entered a ritual chamber with runes glowing faintly on the walls.
The goblins began examining the cloak carefully with tools, ritual bowls, silver knives, and several strange magical stones.
Dudley stayed unusually quiet while Harry looked nervous.
I simply watched carefully.
After several minutes of examination and discussion in Gobbledegook, the goblins finally turned back toward Ragnok.
Ragnok listened to their report carefully.
Then he faced us.
"This is not a normal invisibility cloak."
I nodded slowly.
"I suspected as much."
"The material is unusual," he continued.
"And highly resistant to decay and detection."
Definitely one of the Hallows then.
The goblins probably suspected it too now, but wisely, none of them openly said it.
"And the spells?" I asked.
Ragnok nodded.
"There are several."
Harry stiffened beside me.
"Any dangerous curses?" I asked immediately.
"No."
"There are no harmful curses."
Harry visibly relaxed.
"But," Ragnok continued, "there is a tracking spell. And also a mild compulsive enchantment."
I narrowed my eyes.
"Compulsion to do something?"
"Yes. It is mostly a specific location-based movement tendencies. It suggests the one wearing it to guide them to a specific place."
Of course.
I sighed inwardly.
"And what about the tracking spell?"
"It is strongest and precise within a specific area, but outside that area it will only give a general location."
"Specific area must be Hogwarts then?" I guessed.
Ragnok nodded.
"Yes, it should be as Mr. Potter will be spending the next few years there."
"Within Hogwarts grounds, the tracking is very precise. Outside Hogwarts, it only gives a general area tracking."
I leaned back slightly.
"So whoever enchanted this cloak would know Harry took it out of Hogwarts and into London, but not exactly into Gringotts?"
"Correct," Ragnok answered.
Good.
At least Dumbledore would not immediately know exactly where we had taken it.
"Can the enchantments be removed, without damaging the cloak?" I asked.
Ragnok consulted the curse-breakers briefly.
Then he nodded.
"Yes. But it will require stronger materials and rituals."
"And additional fees."
"And don't worry about damaging it, it's a special cloak. Not even the strongest curses would damage it."
"Great then," I answered immediately.
"Remove everything. Every charm, every spell and every enchantment."
Ragnok nodded at once.
The goblins immediately began preparing.
Then suddenly I paused.
"One more thing."
Ragnok looked at me.
"Can we verify its ownership?"
"Whether this truly belongs to the Potter family?"
Ragnok smiled slightly.
"Absolutely, its simple enough. We only require a few drops of Mr. Potter's blood."
I turned toward Harry.
"You okay with that?"
Harry nodded immediately.
"Yes."
I looked back toward Ragnok.
"Then please proceed."
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End of Chapter 80 - Inspection