Disclaimer: You already know, and if you don't I pity you.

A/N: Yes, I know this chapter doesn't have a lot of action. But it's a necessary lead in for the next one. I promise.

Chapter 5: Public Property

It is interesting to note how quickly the idea of a conscience can overtake a person. Especially when that person is about to embark on what could be an exciting, and possibly life threatening endeavor.

As far as Emily could see, there was absolutely no moral issue to putting the cloak on. After all, it was right there, out in the open where anyone could find it. The damned thing was practically begging her to take it and try it on.

But almost as soon as she took her feet off the bed her Uncle's voice entered her head:

'Proper young lady's never borrow with out first asking permission.' He had told her that when she was five just after she had taken her mother's costume jewelry out of one of her trunks.

All though, if she remembered correctly, her mother had found the entire ordeal quite humorous. She had not been angry with Emily at all. (Only her uncle had really seen anything wrong with the situation. As ussual.)

Besides, judging by the fact that the cloak was simply lying on the floor, it seemed less precious to James than her mother's costumes had been to her. Surely it wouldn't matter if she simply tried it on.

And if she didn't take it out of the room, then she wouldn't, technically, even be borrowing it. If it really was only a cloak, as Remus had said, what was the harm?

After all, what else did those boys expect her to do locked in a room all day? Remus had fixed her leg specifically so that she would be able to move around. It would be a shame to put that to waste.

But as her feet touched the floor another thought came to her: Remus.

He trusted her to stay there. In her bed. Where she was safe. He hadn't said as much because he didn't think it needed to be said.

Would she be betraying his trust by putting on that cloak?

Then again, while he may have trusted her to stay in bed, he couldn't have really expected it. He did not even have to know that she had tried the cloak on, it would only be for a few minuets at the most.

Besides, how was she supposed to fight off an evil villan, save the world from injustice, kiss a handsome prince or do any of the things a heroine was supposed to do if she simply stayed in bed? If this whole ordeal was to have a Novelesque pattern, it would be up to her to continue it. And trying on the mysterious cloak would certainly be a first step.

Finally she took the liberty of deciding that the cardinal law for such a situation should be that anything lying in the open could officially be called public property.

With very little hesitation, she stepped off the bed, onto the floor, and headed towards the cloak.

The moment she grabbed it up from the ground, she recognized it's texture. This was what had been lying on top of her when the boys had brought her to their dormitory.

Emily stared at it curiously running her hands under the sheer silver fabric. It did not feel like an ordinary cloak. The material was much more fluid than the velvet cloaks she was used to, and it's hems slipped between her fingers almost like water washing over her hands.

Curious. Very curious.

Once the texture of the cloak was significantly analyzed, Emily deduced that it was safe to try on. (Not that there had really been any suspicion that the cloak was un-safe before hand, but testing before doing seemed to be common heroine etiquitte in all of her novels.).

Carefully she flung the cloak around her shoulders and held it there. She was surprised, (and a bit disappointed), to find that the cloak felt like every other, velvet, run of the mill cloak she had ever seen. There was nothing, as far as she could tell, that was different about the way the cloth felt wrapped around her shoulders.

Perhaps it would feel different once she's tied it. She reached down to find the strings and nearly let out a shriek at what she saw.

She grasped her hand to her mouth as her eyes became as large as Sirius's ego. (All right maybe not quite that large, but it did come close.)

Her body was gone. It had completely disappeared. She blinked and looked down again, just to make sure.

Yes. Her body had unmistakably disintegrated underneath the cloak. She had become invisible. Now she was very clear on where the other half of the word Remus had almost said had gone. He had meant to say invisibility.

"Invisibility" Emily whispered under her breath.

It was amazing how words could take on new meaning once they had been said out loud. Once she said that word, invisibility, she realized exactly the sort of possibilities were open to her with this cloak.

She could leave the room. Maybe even find out exactly what a school for Wizardry was really like. Even if it was not exactly like the books she read, such a place would undoubtedly be fascinating.

Her mind racing, Emily nearly sprinted to the door. She was not going to spend all day locked up in a boy's dormitory after all.

But as soon as she began to turn the doorknob, the un mistakable sound of feet climbing the stairs reached her ears.

Was it lunchtime already? The battle with her conscience must have taken longer than she had expected. Quickly she threw off the cloak and ran to her bed carefully placing her leg on the blanket.

The door creaked open much sooner than she expected. She silently was grateful that her quick reflexes found her already in bed, and in nearly the position she had been in the last time the door had been open. (Consequently these reflexes were the only positive trait she had inherited from her dear uncle).

It was a good thing too, for the door did not reveal who she had expected when it opened.

"Alright there Gardner?"

James Potter stepped into the room, his bag slung over his shoulder. He was looking at her with the same dark smirk that he wore on the night Remus had been there.

"Fine thank you." She said coldly.

Honestly was it impossible to simply let that little escapade go? After all, it was never going to happen again. Not that she would mind altogether if it did...

But that wasn't the point. She wasn't that kind of girl after all.

"Just came up to get a few things."

"Really?" She said in the same cold and dignified manner.

Inside, however, she began to panic. What if one of the "few things" he was missing was the cloak? Then she would never be able to use it.

She was gratified to see him walk past her bed and pick up two books from his bedside table. One looked like a sort of textbook the other... well she couldn't really tell as he shoved it into his bag as quickly as he possibly could. This was apparently something he wasn't exactly keen to have any one else see as he looked very quickly, (almost as if he were embarrassed), in her direction before snapping his bag shut.

He turned to walk back out the door but hesitated just before he left the room.

"Oh, and don't worry." He said, retrieving his cocky manner and wearing that damnable grin.

"Your dear Moony will be back by lunch time." He threw her a wink before laughing himself out the door.

Of all the nerve!

Well that did it. The final straw.

She was going to follow him with that invisibility cloak and find out as much about the real James Potter as she possibly could. Perhaps then he would not be quite so cocky when it came to women.

And what's more, she would have no moral ambiguities about it what so ever.

After all a boy who leaves his cloak lying around could only expect as much.

It was now public property, and public meant her.

Emily took the cloak from it's spot on the floor, threw it over her entire body and walked out the door, following James (Who was still laughing his head off), down the stone steps.