Hey, kids! I decided to fill in some blanks of Balisk's story like his sorting, buying his wand, stuff like that. This is his first encounter with a boggart. Enjoy!

The Boggart

"Try again," Snape droned, yanking a twelve-year-old Balisk Acton up to his feet by his collar and waiting until the boy steadied himself. "And remember the spell."

"Riddikulus, right," Balisk breathed, trying to slow his heart rate before lifting his wand with a shaking hand. His professor walked to the shaking closet and opened the door for what had to be the seventh time that day.

"Get ready."

Balisk braced himself as he heard the lock click. The door creaked as it opened and, for a moment, nothing happened.

Suddenly, a red flash of light hit Balisk, bringing him no physical harm but causing him to scream and grip his face as blood poured from his right eye.

"I can't do it," He said miserably as Snape trapped the Boggart in the closet once again and turned to the young boy. "My eye hurts."

"Because you can't release your fear," Snape said. "You think that the light can hurt you, but it can't. Balisk, it's just a Boggart, it doesn't have any power in it. It can't hurt you."

"I know that!" Balisk shouted. "I know that. It's just…I always picture my mother coming out of the closet with it and…It makes me think of her. She scares me."

"We have to do this until we get it right, Balisk. You're the only student I've had in a decade that shows your sort of promise—if you could just get over this ridiculous fear, you could be a great wizard one day. Frankly, I'm sick and tired of skipping over potions that are red or emit something red."

Balisk winced at his professor's tone. He knew that Snape had been skipping those certain potions for his benefit—a favor from Dumbledore after seeing the young boy's reaction to the Gryffindor colors. He remembered being forced under color-blinding spells by several professor just to get through the week without having a panic attack. Balisk wanted to get over his fear, but it just didn't seem to be working.

"Try again," Snape said again, helping Balisk to his feet and walking to the closet. "Picture something less threatening."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, a parade or something."

Balisk took a deep breath before nodding. He winced as the lock was once again turned and forced his thoughts away from the red light. Parades, fireworks, sparklers…

Balisk closed his eyes and shouted, "Riddikulus!"

When he opened his eyes, Balisk saw little bits of red paper floating down to the floor around him. He smiled slightly to himself, taking a bit of pride in his success.

"Confetti," Snape said disbelievingly. "You thought of confetti."

"I…Guess I did. You said something less threatening. I was thinking of parades and then fireworks and…I guess it just popped into my mind."

"Well, just in case it was an accident, we need to try again."

Balisk sighed wearily, feeling his entire body aching from several trials and errors—not to mention his falling and fainting when the light hit him.

It was going to be a long day.