It wasn't until towards the end of the week did Malfoy make an appearance again. He walked into Potions class, late Jo might add, with his right arm covered in bandages and wrapped in a sling.
"Draco, I've missed you," cooed Pansy. "Does your arm hurt terribly?"
"Yes, it's excruciating," Malfoy answered quickly with a fake grimace.
Jo rolled her eyes. She knew he was lying, and a more prominent part of her was hoping Malfoy was telling the truth. Jo turned her attention back to Professor Snape. They were making a Shrinking Solution today for the first time.
After he finished explaining the formalities of the potion, Professor Snape had a few of them at a time get their supplies and ingredients from the storage closet. As Jo was picking up the last of her ingredients from a shelf, she felt herself get elbowed to the side, forcing her to drop a few supplies. Pansy stood right where Jo had just been moments before she was pushed over and was smirking at her.
"You know, you really ought to stop pushing me around like that," Jo gritted out, picking up her fallen items. She was fed up with the girl always pushing her around and was beginning to lose her cool. "One of these days, my wand might be pointing in your direction."
Pansy made herself stand tall over Jo in an attempt to be intimidating. "Are you threatening me?"
"Are you threatened by me?" Jo asked with a fake smile. She saw Pansy's fist clench as she gave Jo an ugly scowl.
Just then, Malfoy entered the supply closet, ending Jo and Pansy's little staring battle. "Ah, Potter," Malfoy taunted. "Have you heard from that oaf of yours?"
"That's none of your business, Malfoy," Jo fired at him. Leave it to her misfortune to be stuck in the storage closet with two of the people she loathed most at Hogwarts.
"With my injury, father was not happy. He has a lot of influence on the school governors, as well as the Minister of Magic himself." Malfoy continued in a mocked tone. "I suspect that giant fool's teaching days are numbered now."
"Talk all you want," Jo said, shaking with anger. It was taking everything in her power not to hit his egotistical, little face and give him a real injury. She was just sorry that Hagrid saved Malfoy from his stupidity that Buckbeak couldn't do any more damage to the git.
"My arm may never be the same again," Malfoy said with a fake sigh.
"Oh, you poor thing," said Pansy, placing her hand on Malfoy's arm.
Jo backed out of the closet with her supplies making a gagging sound. "Oh no," she said quickly, looking at Malfoy and Pansy gesturing to the two, "Better let me go now so I can vomit from this repulsive sight before me." And she was gone before either Malfoy or Pansy could say anything else to boil her blood pressure.
When she returned to the table with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Jo slammed her supplies down with a crash. Snape scowled at her but didn't say anything.
"What's up with you?" Harry asked, looking at Jo like she had five heads.
The Slytherins laughed loudly gaining the four's attention. Pansy, of course, was pointing at Jo while she whispered something to the Slytherin table that earned another burst of laughter. Jo rolled her eyes, turning towards her supplies and dividing them up. "I'll give you a guess."
"What's their problem now?" Ron groaned.
"Oh you know, the usual. Malfoy implying that he and his father are out to get Hagrid fired," said Jo, glaring at the Slytherins. "All because his father is best friends with the Minster…"
Hermione shook her head in disgust. "We won't hear the end of this."
"Why do I hear this much talking," came Snape's voice from his desk. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the classroom. "I want silence from here on out."
After Potions, the four headed to lunch before their first lesson with Professor Lupin in Defense Against the Dark Arts. They had just sat down at the Gryffindor Table in the Great Hall, when Seamus appeared with a copy of the Daily Prophet in his hand declaring, "He's been sighted! He's been sighted!"
"Who?!" Ron asked.
"Sirius Black!" Seamus responded quickly, thrusting the Daily Prophet down on the table in front of them.
Hermione snatched the paper up before anyone else. "Dufftown?" she exclaimed. "That's not far from here."
"You don't think he'd come to Hogwarts, do you?" a timid Neville asked.
"There are dementors at every entrance," said Dean.
"Dementors?" Seamus said with skepticism. "He's already slipped past them once. Who's to say he won't do it again?"
"That's right. Black could be anywhere." said another Gryffindor boy. "It's like trying to catch smoke. Like trying to catch smoke with bare hands."
This thought alone made Jo shiver. They were right. If Black could get past the dementors once, he probably could do it again. Jo looked down at the same wanted picture of Black that she had seen all over Diagon Alley in the summer. His cold eyes gazed right back at her. She shook her head and looked away reminding herself that as long as she was at Hogwarts with Dumbledore, she and her brother were safe.
After lunch, they walked to their Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom together. Hermione's bag suddenly fell apart at the seam, and a half of dozen books spilled to the floor. "Oh great," Hermione complained, stooping down to pick up her books. Jo bent down to help her and became confused for a moment.
"Hermione, why do you have all these books?" she asked, holding up two books. "We only have Defense Against the Dark Arts this afternoon. And how are you taking Arithmancy when it's the exact same time as Transfiguration?"
"Oh yes, I suppose you're right," Hermione answered vaguely. She took the books from Jo and stuffed them back into her bag. "Anyway, Professor Lupin's class should be interesting. I heard he's excellent!" Hermione continued, switching the subject. She started walking again leaving the others behind.
Ron turned to the twins. "She's hiding something from us, right?"
Jo nodded, following Hermione. "Yes, she is. And I'm going to find out what it is."
When they arrived at their Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Jo and her classmates found all the desks and chairs moved to the walls of the classroom, creating an open space in the middle of the room. Professor Lupin stood against his desk next to a wardrobe that was rattling noisily. "Please put your bags off to the sides. You'll only need your wands for this lesson," he addressed the class. Jo exchanged glances with the others. She couldn't ever recall having a class without their books.
The wardrobe shook violently, getting the classes' attention. "Is anyone else having horrible flashbacks to our pixies gone crazy class from last year?" Jo said, earning a few laughs and head nods from her classmates.
Once the class was gathered around in the center of the classroom, Professor Lupin paced back and forth in front of the shaking wardrobe. As Jo and the others moved closer to it, the wardrobe began shaking uncontrollably. A few students even took several steps away from the wardrobe. "Intriguing, isn't it?" Professor Lupin asked the class. "Would anyone like to venture a guess as to what is inside?"
"That's a boggart, that is," said Dean.
"Very good, Mr. Thomas," approved Professor Lupin. "Now can anyone tell me what a boggart looks like?"
"No one knows," piped up Hermione, hand held high in the air. "Boggarts are shapeshifters. They take the shape of whatever particular person fears the most. That's what makes them so terrifying."
"Yes, Ms. Granger, indeed!" Professor Lupin said. "Luckily, a very simple charm exists to repel a boggart. Let's practice now. Repeat after me – without wands, please – repeat after me. Riddikulus."
"Riddikulus!" the class responded back.
Professor Lupin smiled at the class. "Very good. A little louder please, and very clearly. Rid-di-lulus."
"Riddikulus!" the class nearly shouted.
Off to Jo's right, she heard Malfoy mumble under his breath. "This class is ridiculous." She ignored him. She could even say the same about him.
"Very good," Professor Lupin said again. "Now, so much for the easy part, you see the incantation alone is not nearly enough. What really finishes a boggart is laughter. You need to force it to assume a shape you find truly amusing. Let me explain – uh Neville, would you come join me."
Everyone's eyes darted to Neville who looked like wanted nothing more than to be invisible. He took a reluctant step towards Professor Lupin who was encouraging him not to be shy. The wardrobe shook even more out of control once Neville stood in front of the classroom with Professor Lupin.
"Now, Neville. What frightens you most of all?" Professor Lupin asked him.
Neville mumbles something but Jo couldn't hear it.
"I'm sorry?" Professor Lupin asked.
Neville took a deep breath and said louder, "Professor Snape."
The class howled with laughter, and Professor Lupin grinned, "Ah yes, Professor Snape. Yes, he frightens all. And I believe you live with your grandmother?"
"Yes," Neville said quickly in a worried tone, "But I don't want that boggart to turn into her either."
"No, it won't, Neville. Need not to worry," Professor Lupin reassured him. "I want you to think of her clothes and only her clothes very clearly in your mind."
Neville nodded his face in deep thought.
"Do you have it?" Professor Lupin asked. Neville nodded again. "Now when I open that wardrobe, here's what I want you to do." Professor Lupin took a step closer to Neville and whispered something in his ear.
Neville looked at Professor Lupin like he was crazy. Jo was getting a little antsy by this point. She wanted to know what was going to happen.
"Wand at the ready!" said Professor Lupin, pointing his wand at the wardrobe. Neville quickly pulled his wand out as Lupin counted down from three and unlocked the wardrobe.
The door opened slowly, and the class was as silent as ever. At first, Jo couldn't see anything until a hand burst out, grabbing the side of the wardrobe making Jo and the others jump. Then, Professor Snape stepped out of the wardrobe, glowering down on a terrified Neville.
"Think Neville, think," Professor Lupin urged Neville on as boggart Professor Snape bore down on him.
He lifted his wand arm shakily. "R-r-riddikulus!" Neville shouted.
CRACK.
Suddenly, boggart Professor Snape's usual black robes transformed into a long dress coat, with a ridiculous looking hat and a giant red handbag, looking very confused. The entire class exploded in laughter at this sight of this Professor Snape. Jo couldn't restrain the tears of laughter. Jo knew that from now on, anytime she saw Profess Snape, she would always be thinking of this moment.
"Oh wonderful, Neville, wonderful," boomed Professor Lupin. Neville flashed the biggest smile Jo had ever seen from him in all their years at Hogwarts thus far. "Everyone, form a line, please. I want everyone to picture the thing they fear the very most and turn it into something funny."
Jo began to think of anything that frightened her as different images swirled around in her mind. But the more she started to think of the thing that terrified her most of all, the more she didn't want to confront that boggart.
"Alright, Ron, you're next!" said Professor Lupin, calling him up.
Ron took a couple of steps towards the boggart Professor Snape. It zeroed in on Ron focusing solely on him. There was another loud crack as the boggart proceeded to change its' shape. Suddenly, a giant spider appeared right in front of Ron as be gave a small whimper.
Jo nudged Harry, "I knew it was going to be a spider," she said with a smirk. Harry chuckled. It was common knowledge that Ron had a fear of spiders. Jo learned that when they went into the Forbidden Forest last year.
Ron took a large step backward as the giant spider crept closer to him snapping its pincers. "Wand at the ready, Ron," said Professor Lupin watching on.
Ron pointed his wand at the spider and said clearly, "Riddikulus!"
Before everyone knew it, the spider had roller skates on all its legs and was stumbling all over the place. The class lost it and were laughing harder than ever. Even Professor Lupin was laughing. "YES! See? That was very good. Marvelous, very enjoyable. Parvati you're next!"
As Parvati's boggart turned from a giant serpent to a jack-in-the-box, Jo's turn was approaching quickly. She was dreading it and felt almost panicky. Harry was next, and that was where her thoughts were.
Harry stood in front of the boggart and just as quickly, it formed into a Dementor. Even though she knew it wasn't real, Jo still felt chills and goose bumps on her arms as she looked at the faceless monster approaching her brother. Before Harry could even attempt to cast the Riddikulus charm on it, Professor Lupin jumped in front of the boggart which quickly turned into an oval sphere.
"Riddikulus!" said Professor Lupin and the boggart changed into a balloon. With another wave of his wand, Professor Lupin sent the boggart back into the wardrobe. "Right, well sorry about that," he said. "I think we'll end the lesson here. Don't forget to grab your belongings. Excellent class everyone!"
The class moaned in disappointment, especially the ones who didn't have a chance to battle the boggart. Harry remained in the middle of the room, still looking where the Dementor boggart had been moments before. Professor Lupin glanced a look over at him with a sad look but didn't approach. Jo decided she should say something to her brother.
She walked over to him with their bags in hand. "Hey, are you okay?" Jo asked him gently.
"Yeah," Harry mumbled. "I just… I don't know. Why didn't he let me fight it off?"
"I don't know, Harry," said Jo. And that was the truth. Harry looked ready to tackle that boggart, but for whatever reason, Professor Lupin interfered. "C'mon, it's a nice day. Let's hang out by the lake before dinner."
When the four of them walked outside to enjoy the sunshine, Ron very excitedly wouldn't stop talking about the DADA class. "C'mon guys! You can't tell me that wasn't our best Defense Against the Dark Arts class. I feel like I actually learned something!"
"Professor Lupin was very good," said Hermione with approval. "Though I wonder what his boggart meant..."
"Is he worthy teacher after your dear Lockhart?" Jo asked with a grin.
Hermione's face turned slightly pink. "Shut up, JoJo. But I do wish I had a chance at that boggart, don't you?" she asked Jo.
Jo didn't answer. She knew what her boggart would have been. It would have been Harry seriously injured, or worse, dead. She was glad Lupin stopped the class because that was something she never, ever wanted to see.
