Author's Disclaimer: Wish these characters were mine, but they're JK Rowling's. I'm just jealous because she gets to play with them more than I do.
Author's Note: Will take each kid in turn, but it's slow goin'. If you like it, please review and check back; I'm doing my best to complete it!
"Boggart"The Gryffindor third-years sat before the common room fire. This was not terribly out of the ordinary, for those in the same year tended to associate more frequently with each other than with significantly older or younger students. On this night, however, the third-years were huddled unusually close together, occupying both the sofa and armchairs closest to the fire, gathered near each other as though hoping for strength in numbers. Stranger still, each seemed to be staring into the dancing flames, absorbed so deeply in his or her own thoughts that no one had spoken in nearly half an hour. Neville, Parvati, Dean, and Lavender sat shoulder-to-shoulder on the sofa, Seamus at Lavender's feet. Harry and Hermione had each claimed an armchair, Crookshanks curled in Hermione's lap, and Ron had perched himself on an arm of Hermione's chair, his hands supporting the bulk of his weight and feet crossed at the ankle for balance.
"So that Professor Lupin," said Seamus finally, "he's dead cool. He really knows what he's doing."
Lavender murmured in agreement, and Parvati nodded silently. Seamus continued talking, still staring unfocusedly into the fire. "That was a really good lesson. I bet I have nightmares tonight though," he finished quietly.
"But you conquered your fear, Seamus," Hermione said encouragingly. "Just try to do it in your dreams."
"Oh, sure," Seamus laughed, glancing up at her. "It's one thing to do it in a room full of people, in broad daylight, wide awake with a teacher behind you." He turned back to the fire. Lavender finished his thought for him, adding, "It's something completely different when you're asleep. You really have no control over things like that." A few heads nodded knowingly.
Parvati squeaked audibly and gasped, "Ohh Seamus, now that you've said it I'm bound to have nightmares!" The girlish fear in her voice made Dean snigger, and she turned to hit him on the shoulder. "Don't laugh at me, Dean Thomas! A nightmare's how I got mine in the first place!"
Lavender leaned forward to look at her friend. "Really, Parvati? I never knew that!"
"Well," said Parvati uncomfortably, "we've never come face-to-face with our worst fears, have we?"
"I have," interrupted Neville. "I see mine almost every day." He sighed.
"I've seen mine, too," said Seamus from the floor.
"Yours is from a nightmare, too?" Lavender asked his head.
"No, really seen it," he repeated dully.
"But Seamus," Lavender said quietly, "they don't really exist." He craned his head to meet her eyes.
"Have you ever come across one?" he snapped. She shook her head, looking embarrassed and apologetic. "Then you wouldn't know."
"Anyway," said Hermione thoughtfully, trying to ease the tension, "the lesson wasn't about whether or not what we're afraid of really exists. It was about confronting and controlling our fears."
"Well, you can't control your nightmares," said Parvati matter-of-factly.
"Or your boggarts, really," added Harry, speaking for the first time that evening. The rest of the group acknowledged the observation, then fell silent once more.