Glad you all liked Hufflepuff and Neville getting some credit. They really never do. I mean, the awesomeness known as Tonks came from Hufflepuff.
So sorry Herimone fans, but if you saw my last story, it is my mission to counteract all Ron bashing with Mione bashing. Read all the other fanfics that have Hermione as a good person and Ron as the most horrible person ever.
This chapter is long...I hope that means I am getting better.
Chapter Seven
Harry was at breakfast this morning. The Gryffindor Quiditch team sat around him like guards, and Neville and Ron never left his side. A couple of seats away from this group was the rest of Gryffindor. He noticed a couple of his dorm mates with grins on their faces. That didn't bode well. "Harry, your hair is lime green!" Ron cried out.
"Seriously?" Harry asked. Ron nodded. Great...he just loved pranks played on him. Then he noticed the guilty two were still waiting for his reaction. Before the twins could move, Harry did the one thing he could think of. "Thanks whoever did this! How did you know green was my favorite color?" He smiled and acted happy. That put a dent in those pranksters plans! He really did need to get his hair back to normal.
"I like the new hairstyle Harry. It suits you." Luna grinned. He should have known Luna would get it right off the bat. "Don't you have defense today?"
"Yeah, Ron, we can't be late!" Harry literally dragged Ron in the direction of the defense room.
"Why are you trying to fill the shoes of Hermione?" Ron groaned.
"Because our defense teacher is awesome!" Harry replied. "He really knows what he is doing."
"That would be a first." Ron still didn't have much hope, then again, their defense teacher never really taught anything. Ron walked into the classroom with Harry and stared at him. "The guy isn't even here and you dragged me from perfectly good food!" Harry laughed. Ron was always the same: he constantly thought about food.
That gave him an idea! "So Ron, how do you feel about a cooking club?" Harry asked.
"I can't cook. Why do you think I appreciate good food so much?" Ron asked. "Unless I can stand in the back and eat. Will you be cooking?" Ron asked with hopeful eyes. Ron loved Harry's cooking. All the years at the Durselys had some good side effects.
"Yeah...I'm thinking of getting some of the Hufflepuffs and Luna to join in. I have a lot of spare time since the whole house hates me now. Maybe I'll get my grades up so I can beat Granger." Harry smiled.
"You seem incredibly happy for the most hated person in Gryffindor right now." Ron commented.
"Well, when those boys turned my hair green, I realized something: I can take this lack of popularity as a bad thing, or I can look at the glass half-full and make them think I am crazy." Harry smirked.
"I like you when you make plans." Ron said. "Plus the looks on their faces were classic!"
"Good afternoon." Professor Lupin started. Harry had a meeting with the man later after his transformation. He was concerned if Harry got hurt, which he hardly ever did. His wolf seemed to understand getting hurt caused attention, and the animal really did not want its freedom restricted by wizards. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags. Today's will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."
"Hey, you're right Harry. This guy is the best professor we've had so far, and its only been two minutes." Ron commented.
"Right then, follow me." Professor Lupin then managed to lead the class of Gryffindors down the hall.
"Loony, loopy Lupin." Peeves sang. "And if it isn't Potty? How's life treating you?" Peeves knew exactly how life was for him. It was complete hell. Thanks Peeves for pointing that out.
"I'll take that gum out the of keyhole if I were you Peeves." Harry didn't even notice the gum! He really should be paying attention. Professor Lupin began talking again. "Mr. Filch won't be able to get to his brooms." Peeves ignored Professor Lupin totally. "This is a useful spell, watch closely please! Waddiwasi!" The gum flew out of the hole and up Peeves's left nostril. Peeves fled the scene.
"Awesome!" Ron clapped.
"I'm glad you think that Mr. Weasley. On to the staffroom." Professor Lupin opened the door to the staffroom.
Inside was Snape, and Neville paled. Harry wasn't partially fond of the guy either. He'll probably just laugh at their first real defense lesson. "Leave it open Lupin. I'd rather not witness this. Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear."
"Herimone doesn't give me instuctions." Neville bravely stood up. "She isn't talking to me."
"Trouble in Gryffindor paradise?" Snape smirked.
"I'm sure you've noticed the whole house of Gryffindor spliting into two factions. As head of Slytherin house, isn't in your nature to notice these things?" Harry asked. Snape said nothing and walked out of the room. Funny, Harry was expecting points to be taken off. No, the bastard figured out that I don't care if my house is in last place! Damm it! There goes my plan to screw over the majority of Gryffindor!
"Owned." Ron commented.
"My hero." Neville said quietly.
"Now then," Professor Lupin muttered, "Don't worry about the noise in the wardrobe. It is just a boggart." Some people shook in terror. Harry didn't get it. Was this something you had to learn about in a wizarding household? "Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces like wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks- I've even met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the headmaster if the staff would leave it to give my third years some practice. So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a boggart?"
Hermione raised her hand. "It's a shape-shifter. It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will fighten us the most." Look at her, looking so smug. Maybe if I beat her in class, she'll become pissed off.
"Couldn't have put it better myself." Professor Lupin said, with a strained smile. Harry was the only one amongst the Gryffindors to even notice. It was probably because he was part Slytherin. "So the boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears." Neville paled some more. He looked ready to pass out. "This means that we have a huge advantage over the boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"
Granger was jumping up and down. "It is because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be." Harry said confidently. He really wasn't sure of the answer, but judging by the look on the Granger's face, he got it right.
"Precisely. It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a boggart. He becomes confused. Which should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a boggart make that very mistake- tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not remotely frightening. The charm that repels a boggart is laughter. You force the boggart to assume a shape you find amusing. Without wands first, after me please...riddikulus!"
"Riddikulus!" The class repeated.
"Good, very good, but that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough, and this is when you come in Neville." Neville stepped up to Professor Lupin and looked at him like he was crazy. "Right, Neville, first things first: what would you say is the thing that frightens you the most in the world?" Neville tried to say it, but failed. "Didn't catch that, Neville, sorry."
"Professor Snape," Neville whispered.
"Professor Snape...hmmm...Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?" Professor Lupin asked.
"Er-yes, but I don't want the boggart to turn into her either." Neville answered.
"No, no, you misunderstand me. I wonder, could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?" Professor Lupin asked.
"Well...always the same hat. A tall one with a stuffed vulture on top and a long dress...green, normally... and sometimes a fox-fur scarf. She also has a big red handbag." Neville was a little more confident because Ron was smiling at him in the crowd with Harry.
"Right then, can you picture those clothes very clearly, Neville? Can you see them in your mind's eye?" Professor Lupin asked.
"Yes." Neville answered.
"When the boggart burst out of this wardrobe, Neville, and sees you, it will assume the form of Professor Snape and you will raise your wand and say Riddikulus. If all goes well, Professor Snape should be in your Grandmother's clothes." Everyone laughed. "If Neville is successful, the boggart is likely to shift his attention to each of us in turn. I would like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you the most and imagine how you might force it to look comical..."
"Take its legs off." Ron muttered. At least he had a normal fear. Harry had so many memories to choose from! Voldemort was creepy...but he always managed to get out of trouble, and he knew what Voldemort was thinking, even if it was killing him. Then he thought of the dementor...his mum's screams freaked him out, but there was something more terrifying than that.
He looked around the room at the group of wizards and witches. This place was a completely different world than the Dursleys. He never, ever, wanted anyone to figure out how much he was hated in the muggle world. How much pain he was in. He was actually happy that if he had to be expelled, he could go to a creature camp rather than that horrible place. What form would that fear even take? "Everyone ready?" Professor Lupin asked. He'll find a way; he always did have good luck. "Neville, we're going to back away to let you have a clear field. I'll call the next person forward...everyone back so Neville can have a clear shot. On the count of three Neville...one, two, three!"
The boggart Snape glided out, looking just as creepy as the real one. "Riddukulus!" Neville squeaked. There was a crack, and Snape was in Neville's grandmother's clothes.
As people began to go up, and Hermione's boggart took the form of a failing report card (maybe he could use that against her), it was Harry's turn. Why couldn't he have a normal fear? Harry stepped forward, and with a crack, the boggart took the form of his worst fear.
A small boy, around six, was in a raggy pair of shorts, barely holding on trainers, and had the hood of a beat up sweatshirt up to cover his face. In short, it was Harry when he was six, and Harry's most miserable year of his life. As soon as the boy began to pull down his hood, Harry yelled "Riddikulus!"
"Forward Neville and finish him off!" Neville skipped up to the boggart and preformed the spell quite happily. The boggart was gone in seconds. "Excellent Neville. Well done everyone, everyone... let me see... five points to Gryffindor for every person to tackle the boggart- ten for Neville since he did it twice...and five each to Hermione and Harry for answering questions."
Harry smiled. No one had a clue what his worst fear actually meant. What he didn't realize that Draco made a deal with Luna to get her to tell him the form of Harry's boggart.
