Chapter 75: Deathly Hallows (Cloak)

Earlier today Hermione met me for a chat on the Quidditch pitch while Cho was practicing with her tornado-tuned broom, our deal still stood so I saw her often.

"Harry was wandering around at night, can you imagine anyone other than Dumbledore catching him?" She told me, Hermione, that she was in one of the bleachers while I was working.

"I always go out at night, but you don't tell me anything" I replied.

"Yeah but you're different, they won't catch you and if they do, you'll know how to escape or even get them to congratulate you for it" She didn't mind my nocturnal escapades anymore, she learned that it didn't make sense.

"Harry may as well have the method of..." I stopped mid-word.

"Red?" She asked, seeing that I was frozen.

"Nothing, just... I thought of something..."

"Something bad I guess" she snorted "You're different…" she said, since the previous poison incident she had paid more attention to me and among that attention, she noticed that something had changed.

"Could be..." I wasn't going to tell her that I'm not a pure being anymore...

"Aren't you going to tell me what happened?" She asked annoyed. I had not explained anything to them and that frustrated her, that day she was very scared, and not having answers was worse, it was as if she did not belong to the work in which she was included.

"... Do you want the truth?"

"Yes..."

"I can tell you, but you won't be able to tell others... but if I ask you, you have to explain it to others, I don't want to repeat the same story... even if it's short"

"Okay, I promise" she said intrigued, she wanted to know what happened that day.

"I was poisoned"

"What?!" She was startled.

"Not exactly me, one of my clones. I wouldn't die from that, but I could feel the pain and that's why I acted like this"

"What? How? When? Where? Why?...!" She launched a tide of questions.

"Slow down, and calm down, I'm fine"

"But how? We're at Hogwarts, it's impossible for something like this to happen here!" She exclaimed in confusion.

"As impossible as a troll showing up when you're in the bathroom?"

"... That...was just a mistake..."

"And what about the cursed mirror that Harry saw...?"

"That was Harry's fault…" she tried to justify.

"And... the giant dog and what can happen next... never mind, you'll find out in the future..."

"... Does Dumbledore know? We have to go tell him or some teacher" she suggested, somewhat scared, she believed that if they told someone about the poison problem everything would be solved.

"The Headmaster already knows"

"And he already did something?" She was worried, imagine eating breakfast and suddenly dying.

"Yeah... I guess...not as much as I'd like"

"Why do you take it so lightly? You were poisoned!" She reproached me for my carefree attitude.

"If I'm honest... it's not something abnormal in my life, I live a lifestyle that leads me to face many great dangers..."

"WHAT?!"

"Do you know how dangerous dark wizards are? Do you know how many I've fought?"

"Did you front dark wizards?!!!"

"Not exactly... I defeated several dark wizards through ambushes, not facing them head-on. I used some ingenuity, but I still defeated several, with dishonest methods, but I did. Like I said... kind of normal in this life that I decided to lead..."

"I... I can't believe you..." She said. She couldn't imagine that, if the ambush part, since it's just like Red to use a malicious wit... but beating a dark wizard... maybe a lucky one, but many?

"Believe what you want to believe"

Hermione didn't speak any more on the subject, partly out of disbelief and partly because the idea of her worried her even more. If he really did face dark wizards... for that reason, she changed to another topic.

"What did you see in the mirror?"

"The one that shows what's in the depths of my heart?"

"What else but?"

"Hmm... Do you know that's the kind of question you end up embarrassed with when I end up saying something perverted and stare at your body?" I said, approaching her, smiling at her.

"I don't know why I bother to have a friendly chat with you," she said, annoyed, going back to reading the book she had with her.

Hermione began to study while I worked, partly annoyed, but she also kept thinking 'Has he really seen me in something perverted?', but then she shook her head and put that idea out of her mind.

...

My talk with Hermione made me think of something, although I did annoy her for a while as we talked, what I was mainly doing was processing an idea and seeing if it was plausible. After a while, I decided to make it and see if I could put it into practice, but I needed something to achieve it.

That same afternoon, I went to see Potter in the Gryffindor common room, which I was able to enter thanks to my brothers and a donation of cupcakes for those presents. When I met him to talk in his room, he was surprised, but accepted.

Once inside it was just me, Harry, and Ron, who didn't hate me as he used to and I hoped that would help.

"Harry, I need to ask you a favor" I looked at him trying to be as non-imperative as possible.

"Yes?" He asked something confused, it was not normal for me to be the one asking for favors, according to what he had heard.

"I need you to lend me your cloak for one night"

"What?" both Harry and Ron asked.

"I need you to lend it to me for tonight and I will return it to you tomorrow or even tonight"

"You can't cast this invisibility spell on yourself?" Harry asked, his cloak was a very personal thing and although we got along better, we weren't exactly friends.

I cast a camouflage charm on a glass on a piece of furniture and showed it to them.

"The spell isn't perfect, you see it's still noticeable" I showed him that it's only a partial transparency "I only need your cape for a few hours. I assure you I'll give it back to you, I swear on Ron's grave"

"Hey…" Ron groaned next to me, but he trailed off when I tossed him a bag of candy.

"Look, I wouldn't ask you if it wasn't important" I said as he placed my hand on his shoulder seriously, but it was more to apply [Confusion] to him as he released my auras.

"I..."

"It will only be an hour at the most, you just want a few minutes and you will have it again. You know my brother and you can find me whenever you want to claim it from me or you could even look for Dumbledore, he is the best wizard there is and if he wants he can get it back for you ..." I confused it with my talk and my powers.

"It's fine... but take good care of it" he ended up accepting.

"Thanks, I'll get it back to you shortly"

Harry retrieved his cloak from the hiding place where he kept it and handed it to me. Once I got it I went back to my room, gave it to a clone, and sent it to Luna who I also sent a message.

...

Luna was waiting for me again at the Lovegood's and once I met her I went to the merchant. My plan was risky, so I wanted to sell the cloak first and buy it back instantly with the same money from the sale, that way I could buy more cloaks in the future... but it didn't work out that way.

"How is that not convenient?" I asked.

"It's something risky" Luna said trying to do an imitation of a fat man's voice, translating what the merchant said to me.

"You can not?"

"Yes I can, but this item, while not an incredibly powerful one, does have a bit of the essence of death in it. If you were to buy another one there would be more of the essence of death than is already on earth and that might attract her to here"

"Wait, this cloak wasn't truly made by death, how does it have the essence of death? And... Does the god of death really exist? Is there a Shinigami, Grim Reaper, or whatever you want to call it?" I was a little dismayed at what he was saying.

"As for the origin of the cloak, I won't tell you, you can go to the archmage, I won't steal his work. And if there is a god of death?... that's not exactly true, some worlds have it, but others only have specific rules or protocols. If you buy other cloaks identical to these, it is possible that you activate those rules and protocols, the consequences will be uncertain..."

"... that's something to process... Can I at least sell the cloak and buy it back to get it back? That way it would be saved in the registry and even if it's dangerous, I could buy another one just like it"

"Yes, it was just a tip, you can do what you want"

I thanked the merchant for the warning and did so. I didn't buy a second layer, partly because I didn't have that much money to waste. Now I could buy a second, albeit at the risk of summoning death or worse.

Just bought something else and once I was done we went to the Archmage. There we asked about the cloak as the merchant said, but he only told us the 'identification table'. I thought about it and realized it was worth spending the free chance on the death cloak.

I placed the cloak on the table and a sign appeared if I wanted to identify it. Select accept and then all the arms with the magnifying glasses moved analyzing it and then placed in such a way that each magnifying glass was behind another forming a kind of giant microscope.

I looked through the lined-up magnifying glasses and when I did, information flooded my mind, not abruptly and painfully, but a little disconcerting. The seconds passed and I was quite surprised, the story of the three brothers was not entirely real, but not less mysterious either.

Death did not give the objects to each brother, but the brothers did see death in a certain sense. The three of them suffered an 'accident' so to speak and entered, however little, the realm of the dead for a slight moment and from there they got a crazy idea.

'Why not use the power of the realm of the dead for themselves?'

Great wizards with talent, knowledge, and power who didn't fear consequences and didn't understand that both worlds were separate for a reason. The three of them created magical items by stealing the power of death from that realm. The brothers were marked by being in that world, leaving a slight connection, so their idea, although crazy, was possible.

The older brother who wished for power used his connection to death to obtain it. He couldn't use the power of the world of the dead, so he decided to produce a wand that by taking the energy of that world makes his spells more powerful, though it also received the personality of a bitch.

The second brother was greedy for existence beyond death, so he used his connection to the realm of death to create a gem capable of connecting the world of the dead with the world of the living and thus summoning the deceased. Although he didn't quite get it, he still got something, a kind of more corporeal ghost.

The third brother was not so sure, he knew that what they were doing was wrong, since for a reason he does not play with death, but he knew that everything was already lost... so he had an idea. He used his connection to death to create a cloak imbued with the power to recreate the veil that divides the two worlds, hoping it would go unnoticed.

And what the third brother feared happened. The fact that they have been, even for a brief moment in the world of death, affected them. Something of the death stayed with them and, under the 'rules' the merchant mentioned, that meant they were closer to her than anyone else.

Death would claim them because that was where they belonged, and owning an item that contained a bit of the power of death made it all the worse. The brothers suffered misfortunes that caused the underworld to claim them, except for the youngest.

The younger brother was intelligent, covered with the cloak of death, she could not distinguish whether he was still alive or not. For her, he was dead and she did not need to claim him, but the moment came when he grew old and felt that continuing to live that way was not life. Similar to Nicholas Flamel whose body continued to weaken, he ultimately decided to die and hand over the cloak to his heirs. With that, those who were marked by death were reclaimed, even if they left a bit of the power of the world of the dead in the world of the living with their actions.

I was somewhat amazed, not as much as if they told me that death is a real and physical being, but surprised that these objects use the power of the realm of the dead. I thought of 'the door' in the ministry that I also wanted to investigate for a long time but had no power or temporary accessibility...

I put that aside and focused on what was coming, but more afraid of what I wanted to do. I approached the enchanting table and placed the cloak on it and, exceeding my expectations a little, nothing abnormal happened.

The layer broke up into points of light of mixed colors between gray, black, and purple.

[Non-detection/Invisibility(Semi-Divine/Deathly Hallow)]

-Covered by the veil of death, you become imperceptible even to death itself-

[Death Curse]

-The energy of death draws its gaze to you, causing you or nearby people to be more likely to die. It affects people who are close to circumstances that will lead them to death, the closer they are (to death) the more potential they have to die-

[Durability: Cloak of Invisibility(Semi-Divine/Deathly Hallow)]

-The invisibility effect will not be weakened, destroyed or worn out by normal means-

Well, here it is, although the [Death Curse] wasn't quite expecting it, but thanks to the first skill it becomes almost useless in a way. I asked the archmage if it is necessary to remove the balls of light if I wanted to enchant another item, and he said no.

Place what I bought from the merchant, it was another cloak that I ordered to be identical to the one of death but without its effects. Once I placed it, I saw the list of registered enchantments and selected two: [Durability(Superior)] and [No detection/Invisibility(Superior)].

This got me a second invisibility cloak almost indistinguishable from the real thing, but weaker. Since a weaker version is recorded for every enchantment I do, I couldn't perfectly recreate the cloak, but it was enough.

The durability(Superior) of the cloak, by using an invisibility enchantment also of a superior level, did not make it imperishable. The cape would last 10 years and then would wear off like any other cape. As for invisibility, the description was almost the same, only now it couldn't hide from the eyes of death and the like.

The cloak was perfect, with the same attributes, durability that wouldn't bring suspicion, and without the curse, the invisibility didn't need to be that strong. In that, I used my [Message] skill to send it to Potter. 'I'm sorry Harry, but this is all for my greater good' I said in my mind as I sent the fake cloak, well it won't be completely until 10 years from now when it wears off, but I'm sure at that point they would only think that was worn out due to natural causes. 'Red, you are a genius'.

After that, there were the three colored lights with the royal enchantments. Looking at the enchantments, I asked the Archmage a few questions about what could be used to enchant and the possible loss of those enchantments to ultimately make a decision.

I wasn't sure, but if it worked fine, that would be great... and if not, I could still remove the enchantment again only at a price that will be very high considering the value of the enchantment.

I moved my hand and the blood from my blood magic floated on the table, I wanted to see if it worked and if I could put the blood back in my reserves later. I wasn't afraid of losing the enchantment if the blood was scattered, as the archmage told me that if I enchanted an item that can be separated, as long as I put all the parts of the item together I could disenchant it again.

I was nervous about what he was going to do, but also I was somewhat anxious and excited because if it worked, I would have an invisible weapon. Still, I told Luna to back off a bit, just in case.

I pressed [OK] on the notification to 'enchant' the item with the three enchantments and the lights, like a beam of light, fell onto the floating blood. That made me curious because it's the first time I've seen how an item is enchanted, but I couldn't appreciate it much, since once the lights went on and the item was 'enchanted correctly' everything went black.

...

The Red that was in front of Luna imploded and then exploded into blood, which disappeared into thin air, the blood on the table also disappeared. So too, the Red and Tenebrius in other places fell into some kind of coma or dead, maybe... The real Red also 'Died' only it wasn't just that.

In his room, Red was lying on the floor without a trace of life, but his body was not as usual. From under his nose and ears to just below his neck, everything was different. He was seen in a semi-skeletal appearance with teeth visible, as well as a mixture of hazy purple and dusty ash. His back looked the same, light purple to ashy flesh, with his ribs and spine visible.