Chapter 3

Several days later, as Harry roamed the grounds during his lunch period, things got even worse.

For as he sat outside a tree by the lake, the pleasant fall air turned cold, the sky grew dark, and Harry had the strangest feeling of never being happy again.

Looking around bewilderedly, he tried to find the source of the feeling and found it at once when he saw two tall dark figures gliding silently towards him.

Both were cloaked in dark cloth, none of their skin showing. They were gliding several inches off the ground and seemed to moving slightly faster than the average human being. Before Harry could look again, his vision went black and he heard the faint screams of a woman…

"Harry!"

"Wha—" Harry gasped and sat up, clutching his head when he went dizzy from moving so fast. For some reason, he had been lying on the ground. "What happened?"

The new teacher, Professor Lupin., was peering down at him, frowning. Harry scowled. Just his luck the new teacher would find him passed out.

"Dementors," Lupin replied. "Didn't they tell you to stay off the grounds?"

Harry grimaced as he clambered to his feet. "I missed the welcome back speech," he said by way of explanation. "What are dementors? What did they do to me?"

"They guard the wizard prison," Lupin answered, still frowning at him. Suddenly, he thrust his hand into his robe and came out with a bar of Honeyduke's chocolate. "Here. Eat this."

"The wizard prison," Harry said, taking the chocolate. "Where Sirius Black escaped from?"

"Yes," Lupin replied grimly. "Dumbledore hates them, but Fudge wanted the castle to be well protected." At Harry's confused look he added, "Fudge is the Minister of Magic."

"Yes," he said shortly. "But that was…what was that? It was weird. Like all the happiness was just gone." Then, suddenly remembering his pride, he added quickly, "not that I was affected or anything."

Lupin was eying Harry's hand, where he still held the chocolate, untouched. "You can have a bite of that you know. I swear it's the very best."

Harry glanced down at his hand, as if surprised to find the chocolate still there, and took a large bite.

Lupin turned back towards the castle. "Come along. Lunch is almost over, and I have no interest in fending off more dementors today."

Harry shuddered involuntarily and glanced over his shoulder, then hurried to follow Professor Lupin, straightening his emerald and silver tie as he went.

"Dementors," Lupin told him once they were standing side-by-side, "are creatures that feed off happiness. In doing so, they make you feel horrible, make you remember…terrible things."

Harry frowned. So far as he knew, he didn't have any bad memories concerning screaming woman, and he told Lupin so.

"I'm no expert," Lupin said carefully, "but I would venture a guess that you were reliving your mother's death."

Harry laughed. "That's very unlikely Professor. That can't have been a bad memory, I don't very much care that my parents are gone."

They had reached the Great Hall, and Harry nearly slipped on the flagstones when Lupin stopped abruptly and turned to face him. "You don't care that your parents are dead?" he asked, his voice sounding strange.

Harry felt uncomfortable and guilty, the first time he ever had when talking about his parents. "Well, er, I didn't know them, and I'm told my mother sacrificed herself, quite stupid really, and my father…" he trailed off when he saw Professor Lupin's face.

"I'll see you in class next period Harry," he said, then left him standing in the Great Hall.

"Er, right Professor," Harry said into the loud Great Hall, having the strangest feeling that someone disapproved of him. Well, someone other than Snape.

He didn't like it.

In fact, Harry had a feeling lots of people were disapproving of him lately, if the dark look Ron was shooting across the room at him was anything to go by.

"What was all that about?" Malfoy asked, appearing behind Harry's shoulder. Harry very nearly jumped, remembering his encounter with the dementors, but he managed to stop himself just in time.

"What was what about?" he asked cagily, wondering what Malfoy saw.

"You being best mate's with the new Professor. When he walked away you looked as if someone just crucioed your puppy."

"Had experience with that, have you?" Harry asked, avoiding the question.

"I might've seen it done," Draco answered. "Fine, avoid my question; we have Defense Against the Dark Arts next anyway."

"Do we?" Harry murmured. He was actually wondering if Lupin was going to end up being another Snape. He hadn't seemed the type, but the look on his face when Harry told him about his parents…

"What is with you lately, Potter?" Malfoy asked. Harry noticed he had begun walking towards DADA, and that he had failed to follow. "You've been all…strange and distant."

Harry shook his head. He had been acting quite unlike himself the past few days. When was the last time he cursed a First year? At least three days ago, when he used to do it once a day. "Where're Crabbe and Goyle?" he asked, catching up with Malfoy.

Malfoy's lip curled disgustedly. "Probably still eating. Honestly Potter, you may be the only normal person I let follow me around."

Harry thought he was probably the least normal person in the school, but he let Malfoy have the last word as they climbed the stairs to the third floor. "So do you think this one's going to last?" Harry asked. "The Dark Art's teacher I mean. You know, Professor Quirell being admitted to St. Mungo's for insanity and Professor Lockhart being run off by the teachers doesn't make the post look all that good."

"Father's told me the job is cursed. I don't really mind though, as long as Lupin is gone by the end of the year. Dumbledore has him on a leash like some sort of dog."

Malfoy and Harry joined the group of Slytherins at the top of the stairs and they all filed in to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, finding desks and stowing their things away.

"No, no, no, no." Harry turned to see Professor Lupin standing in the doorway of the classroom. "Gather your things back up, we're going on a field trip today."

"Prat," Pansy Parkinson giggled from the front of the room, but they all grabbed their things and followed Lupin out into the corridor.

"I have a special lesson for you," Lupin was saying as he led them through the halls. "Really quite lucky that I found one…"

Lupin was interrupted by a large burst of smoke, which made Harry's eyes water, and then a high, nasally voice shouted, "Why it's the slithery Third years!"

The group of Slytherin's coughed as Peeves appeared before them, wearing a large grin on his face. In his arms was an enormous amount of chalk. "Shouldn't be out of class, no you shouldn't," he cackled, and he began pelting the chalk into the group of them.

"Potty!" Peeves cried delightedly when he saw Harry, and he launched a whole box of chalk at him. "Cursed any ickly firsties lately?"

Harry, who had ducked so the box hit Crabbe, who was just coming upstairs with Goyle, replied, "Hullo, Peeves."

Lupin, who had been quiet this entire time, spoke up. "If you could let us pass, Peeves?"

"Loopy Lupin!" Peeves shouted, dumping his whole armful of chalk onto Blaise Zambini's head. He now looked as white as Peeves did. "Been visiting your tree Loopy? I know it's missed you."

"Yes I'm sure it has," Lupin replied calmly. "But we really must go."

Peeves ignored him, and he was now circling the group singing, "Loopy Loopy Luuuupin! Loopy Loopy Luuuupin!"

"Right," Lupin sighed and turned to the Slytherins, some still covered in chalk dust. "Well, I have a spell for situations such as this. Observe." He pulled his wand out of his sleeve, pointed it at Peeves and said, "Langlock."

Harry watched in amazement as Peeves' singing stopped and his eyes widened in shock. He pried at his mouth and made muffled sounds, before glaring at Lupin and zooming off.

"That was brilliant," Harry told Lupin.

Lupin looked faintly surprised and pleased at this, but he nodded. "Thank you."

"What did you do to him?" Malfoy asked, looking incredibly interested.

"I glued his tongue to the roof of his mouth. No, don't get any ideas. Now come along, we've wasted enough time."

Lupin led them through the school until finally, he stopped in front of what Harry thought might have been the staff room. He slid open the door to reveal a room filled with chairs and a large wardrobe towards the back. Professor Snape sat in one of the chairs in the corner, reading a book.

"Lupin," he said, standing up. "When you demanded my class time, I hadn't realized you would be using this room."

"Sorry Severus," Lupin replied cheerfully, looking not at all put-out by the death glares Snape was giving him. "We're going to be battling a boggart today. Care to stay and watch?"

"I fear that would be disastrous if I was to accidentally come face to face with the thing," Snape informed him. "And though I have no doubt my house will perform perfectly, with the exception of Potter, I dread watching Longbottom and Weasley come up against a boggart. So if you will excuse me." Snape didn't wait for a response before he swept out of the room.

Lupin flicked his wand and the chairs all flew to the sides of the room. "If you could all gather around the wardrobe?" he asked. The Slytherins gathered in a mass of silver, emerald and black around the wardrobe, which was now shaking violently. "As you probably heard me say to Professor Snape, I've got a boggart in there." Much to Harry's surprise, many of the people around him stepped back.

"What's a boggart?" he murmured to Draco.

Lupin, however, was getting to that. "Can anyone tell me what a boggart is? Yes, Miss Granger?"

Harry whipped around to see that the Gryffindors had arrived and had gathered around the wardrobe as well.

"Boggarts are hard to find," Lupin explained. "I was lucky enough to find this one in a broom closet on the fourth floor and relocate it here. Which is why I decided the Gryffindors would be taking their lesson with us today."

Nobody in the room looked too happy about this besides Professor Lupin, who continued, "So Miss Granger, what is a boggart?"

"A boggart is a creature who enjoys living in dark enclosed spaces. It's a shapeshifter, and it changes into whatever you fear the most."

"Precisely," Lupin beamed. "Mr. Longbottom, can you tell me why nobody knows what a boggarts true form is?"

There was a silence, and Harry turned around to look at Neville, as did everybody else. He had turned bright red, and seemed to be having trouble answering. Finally he stammered, "Because it's always trying to scare the person who sees it?"

"Yes!" Lupin gestured towards the front of the room. "Mr. Weasley, please come up here, I have use of your talents." As Ron made his way towards the front of the room, Lupin continued. "Now a boggart's greatest fear is laughter. In order to destroy it, all we need to do is force it into a comedic form. The spell for this is ridikulus. Come on, practice with me…"

The rest of the class obediently raised their wands and shouted, "Ridikulus!" Harry noticed the wardrobe was shaking much more violently.

"Of course it's always better to face a boggart with a large group such as this, or at least with a friend. Can you tell me why Mr. Potter?"

Harry tore his gaze from the wardrobe, surprised that he had been asked a question. No teacher ever did that. "Erm, because it won't know what to turn into?"

"Right, it will be quite confused. Imagine a boggart attempting to turn into a mummy and a griffin at the same time. It would look quite absurd really, and would fail to scare you at all. Now," Lupin said, turning towards Ron, "what is it you are most frightened off, Mr. Weasley?"

Ron gulped and glanced at the wardrobe, then back at Lupin. "Spiders."

Several of the girls in the class gave squeals of fright, but Draco laughed loudly. "I wouldn't laugh if I were you Mr. Malfoy," Lupin cautioned. "It'll be your turn soon."

"Right," Malfoy scoffed. "I'm not afraid of anything." Many of the Slytherins murmured in assent. Harry frowned. Just this morning he would have said he wasn't frightened of anything either, but the thought of those dementors, their harsh rattling breath and the horrible feelings that came with them…he definitely feared that.

Lupin smiled faintly. "We'll see. Ron, can you think of any way to make spiders more amusing?"

Ron blanched. "None."

"Can you think of anything you find amusing?"

Ron hesitated, then answered. "My dad brought in some cursed muggle stuff this summer, one of them was this shoe with wheels on the bottom I guess they use to get around." He shrugged. "It was quite funny watching him try to use them. He was always falling down."

Several stifled giggles echoes through the room. Lupin nodded approvingly. "Good, Ron. So when I open this wardrobe, the boggart is going to turn into a spider. I want you to think as hard as you can about those muggle shoes and say ridikulus. All right?"

Ron nodded. Lupin stepped back, pointing his wand at the lock on the wardrobe door. "One, two, three!"

On three the door banged open and a large, hairy spider scuttled out, pincers clicking, its six eyes fixed on Ron. Several people now screamed and Harry saw Pansy being held up by Blaise. "Now Ron!" Lupin shouted.

Ron pointed his shaking wand at the spider and managed to utter, "Ridikulus."

There was a deafening crack and suddenly the spider was on rollerblades it's eight legs all going in different directions. There was a shout of laughter and Lupin cried, "Good, Hermione!"

Hermione rushed forward eagerly and there was another crack, the spider disappeared and replaced with Professor McGonagall, her stern eyes flashing, slowly pushing an exam marked with a large red "F" towards Hermione…

"Ridikulus!"

McGonagall was now in her animagus form, a cat, and was batting the failed exam around on the floor.

The laughter continued as Neville stepped forward. Crack. Snape appeared, gliding slowly towards him. "Ridikulus!" Snape was now in a dress, make-up covering his hawkish face.

Crack!

A rabbit was chasing its own tail.

Crack!

A banshee was clutching her throat, her voice gone.

Crack!

A Cornish pixie was colored like a rainbow, before, crack! A raging fire, crack! A bottomless pit, and then crack! The giant squid…

"Good, we're confusing it!" Lupin shouted. "You're next Draco!"

Malfoy stepped forward, a smirk already fixed on his face before crack! The boggart turned into a long, black cane, a silver snake with rubies eyes serving as the handle.

Malfoy stared transfixed at the cane, before yelling "Ridikulus!" It dropped to the floor, wiggling and squirming, at Harry's feet.

Harry raised his wand, preparing to say the spell, when…

"Ridikulus!"

Lupin had jumped in front of him, and Harry had time to see a glowing orb hanging in front of Lupin's dazed face before it cracked and shattered to the floor in a million pieces.

"Finish it off Ron!" Lupin demanded.

Ron ran towards them, and there was a crack as the spider on rollerblades appeared again, before the boggart exploded into a cloud of dust.

The class period ended, and Lupin had to yell over the excited chattering and clatter of the students getting their things together. "Well done! As you can see, we're all afraid of something. Now let's see, ten points to anyone who faced the boggart, and so Ron will get twenty for facing it twice, and then fifteen to Mr. Potter, Mr. Longbottom and Miss Granger for answering my questions correctly. Have a nice day!"

Harry walked next to Malfoy and out into the corridor. Both were heading in the same direction, although Harry was going to the Slytherin Common Room while Malfoy was headed to Ancient Runes.

"Can you believe it?" Malfoy asked. "The poor sot is afraid of crystal balls. What's so scary about fortune telling?"

"I dunno," Harry said. "Have you ever seen the Divination teacher? That old bat, Trelawney? She's scary. Follows me with her eyes whenever I pass her in the hallway."

"I suppose so," Malfoy agreed, but he didn't sound impressed with Harry's theory.

"Hey," he said, suddenly remembering something. "What was that the boggart turned into for you? A cane?"

"Don't be stupid Potter. It wasn't a cane."

"It was! Big fancy thing too, with a snake head at the top. Looked heavy." Harry laughed and headed off to the dungeons, leaving Malfoy sputtering behind him.

"I am not afraid of a cane!"

Author's Note

So, I hope the story is picking up and Harry is starting to act a little less spineless. Updates look like they're going to be on Tuesday, but I'll let you know if that changes.

Please be sure to review!