Cloak Of Invisibility

> I mean to say, it is not a travelling cloak imbued with a Disillusionment Charm, or carrying a Bedazzling Hex, or else woven from Demiguise hair, which will hide one initially but fade with the years until it turns opaque. We are talking about a cloak that really and truly renders the wearer completely invisible, and endures eternally, giving constant and impenetrable concealment, no matter what spells are cast at it.
>
> Xenophilius Lovegood describing the Cloak of Invisibility, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The **Cloak of Invisibility** was a magical artefact used to render the wearer invisible, and one of the fabled ***Deathly Hallows***. In ***The Tale of the Three Brothers***, it was the third and final Hallow created, supposedly by Death himself (whom had the cloak in his possession at that time). Template:Hallow
Template:Object
Death bestowed this cloak to ***Ignotus Peverell*** after he requested something with the power to hide him if he were to go place to place without being followed by Death. According to legend, whoever united it with the other two Hallows (the Elder Wand and the ***Resurrection Stone***) would become the ***Master of Death***.
This Invisibility Cloak was the only known one that would not fade with age and would provide everlasting protection to the wearer, something no normal Invisibility Cloak could provide. As such, it was the only Hallow known to have been successfully passed down from generation to generation since Ignotus's time. In 1991, it passed to the possession of Harry Potter who used it to great success in the Second Wizarding War and resolved to pass it down to his own children.

## History

### Mystic origins

#### Recent history

> It was only when he had attained great age that the youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son.
>
> Ignotus Peverell passing the cloak on to his son, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

 File:Harry-potter-deathly-hallows1-Ignotus passes on the cloak.jpg
The Cloak of Invisibility was passed down to ***Ignotus's son***. Ignotus's son had no male heirs so his oldest daughter, ***Iolanthe***, inherited it instead. The Peverell family died in the male line around this time, but the heirloom was passed down the generations through the female line, the Potters, as Iolanthe had married ***Hardwin Potter*** from ***Stinchcombe***.
In the ***20th century***, the Cloak eventually ended up in the hands of ***Henry Potter***, a ***Wizengamot*** member, who passed it to his eldest son ***Fleamont***. Fleamont was the father of James Potter, Harry Potter's father. James used the Cloak of Invisibility in many of his misdeeds at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and kept it afterwards. Around the time that Lord Voldemort was hunting the Potters for their son, the Cloak of Invisibility came to the attention of Albus Dumbledore when James showed him the Cloak. Dumbledore, who had searched for the Deathly Hallows in youth, asked to borrow the Cloak from James to study it. After James was killed, the Cloak was left in Dumbledore's possession.

 File:Cloak-1991.jpg
Ten years later, Dumbledore gave Harry Potter the Cloak of Invisibility as a Christmas present anonymously and told him to "*use it well*". This would be one piece of advice that Harry would use quite well over his school life and beyond, as the Cloak of Invisibility aided Harry on countless trips and missions.

## Abilities

> It's never occurred to me before, but I've heard stuff about charms wearing off cloaks when they get old, or them being ripped apart by spells so they've got holes in. Harry's was owned by his dad, so it's not exactly new, is it, but it's just... perfect!
>
> Ron Weasley on the Cloak of Invisibility, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

 File:Invisibility Cloak GIF.gif
The Cloak of Invisibility was especially powerful. If the story was to be believed, it concealed its wearer so absolutely that even death itself could not find them.
It had remained completely effective throughout its long existence of around seven centuries, unlike the other Invisibility Cloaks, which lost their power over time. It was also resistant to jinxes, hexes, and other spells which would normally damage or otherwise render a normal Invisibility Cloak ineffective, keeping it in pristine condition for centuries. An example of its spell resistance was seen just before the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione were huddled under it, a ***Death Eater***'s Summoning Charm had no effect on removing the Cloak of Invisibility. Even the Thief's Downfall did not affect it.

In addition, it would not hide the wearer from detection that was not based on optical sight, such as ***Alastor Moody***'s ***magical eye***, blind magical creatures such as ***Dementors***, spells such as the Human-presence-revealing spell (at least when cast by an extremely powerful wizard or witch, as only Albus Dumbledore had been seen to detect the presence of someone concealed by the Cloak of Invisibility), the ***Caterwauling Charm***, the Marauder's Map, or (arguably) certain ***Dark Detectors*** (e.g. ***Sneakoscopes*** would presumably still detect an untrustworthy action performed under the Cloak, and it's possible — but uncertain — that the Cloak would be detected by ***Probity Probes***).

## Symbolism

> "The Cloak of Invisibility," he finished, enclosing both line and circle in a triangle.
>
> Xenophilius Lovegood, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

As the last of the Hallows, the Cloak was shown as the wide triangle that encompassed the ***circle*** and the line intersecting at their very middle; and being the only one to be properly treated as an heirloom, the Cloak of Invisibility seemed to have represented survival at most. It may have also represented a certain goodness of spirit, as the artefact was the only one of the Hallows whose power could be shared by two or more people at once.

## Known uses

 1991 |  File:Cloak of Invisibility 1991.gif
 1993 |  File:Cloak of Invisibility 1992.gif
Harry and Ron used it to get out of the castle to visit Hagrid and to follow the ***spiders***.

## Behind the scenes

* In a chat with fans on the-leaky-cauldron.org, ***J. K. Rowling*** answered a fan's question of why Albus Dumbledore was sometimes able to see Harry under the Cloak of Invisibility, explaining that he used the Human-presence-revealing spell with non-verbal magic.
* The Cloak also had the limitation of only being able to hide what it was large enough to cover - it did not grow with the user(s), and if any part of them accidentally slipped past the boundaries of the Cloak, that part risked exposing their presence to anyone nearby. Thus, as the trio grew taller, they often had to stoop more to be completely covered by the Cloak.
* While it shields the wearer from sight and cannot be harmed by any class of spell aimed at it, the Cloak does not act as a shield against spells, curses, or hexes, aimed at the user, as Harry is affected by the Full Body-Bind Curse curse twice while under The Cloak in 1996-1997.
* The Cloak's appearance in the movie differs from the one described in the book. In the book, it is described as a fluid-like silky, silvery material.
* When asked which of the Deathly Hallows they preferred, Hermione Granger chose the Cloak of Invisibility, while Ron chose the Elder Wand, and Harry chose the ***Resurrection Stone***.
* It could be possible that Harry used the Cloak in his Auror years, until he decided to pass it on to James.
* In many eyes that follow the tales of the Hallows, they considered the Cloak of Invisibility to be the less important and less talked about. It is considered to be the weakest out of the Hallows, but later on it is seen that is could possibly be the most important and strongest out of the three Hallows.
* The cloak itself, much like other magical items in the Harry Potter universe, may have been based on the Mantle of Arthur from Arthurian legends. The mantle, or Ilen, was able to hide anyone underneath it by rendering them invisible, though able to see out of it.

## See also

* Peverell family
* Deathly Hallows
* Elder Wand
* Resurrection Stone
* Invisibility Cloak
* Potter family

## Appearances

Template:Imagecat

* Template:PS Template:1st
* Template:COS
* *Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban* (film)
* *Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire* (film)
* *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* (film)
* *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1* Template:Flashback
* *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2*

## Notes and references

Template:Reflist
Template:Tales Of Beedle
Template:Deathly Hallows Owners

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Template:PS, Chapter 22 (*Cloaked In Darkness*)
2. ↑ Template:PS, Chapter 23 (*The Mirror-Of Erised*)
3. ↑ Template:PS, Chapter 27 (*Through The Trapdoor*)
4. ↑ Template:COS, Chapter 25 (*Cornelius Oswald Fudge*)
5. ↑ J.K. Rowling Web Chat Transcript on the-leaky-cauldron.org