Chapter 10 – Boggart
After lunch, where Hermione ate quite a bit more than usual, the four of them made their way to Defence Against the Dark Arts. It would be their first lesson of the year, and so the first time being taught by Professor Lupin.
Emma didn't know what to make of him. She'd seen him a few times around the school and he looked very unassuming and ragged, but some of the students who had already had lessons with him thought he was a very good teacher. Considering the previous two they'd had, it would be a nice change if that were true.
When they arrived, Professor Lupin was absent, so everyone sat down, got out their books and started talking amongst themselves. Emma and Hermione were the only ones who weren't speaking. Emma was looking at Hermione curiously, wondering if she would talk about her vanishing act after Potions, but apparently not. Hermione was pointedly keeping silent, busying herself with her books. When Emma decided to try a different tactic and sulked, looking a little upset, Professor Lupin finally arrived.
He looked shabby as ever, particularly carrying his very worn briefcase, though he'd definitely put on some much needed weight since being at Hogwarts. He didn't look as gaunt as Emma any more, but something about him didn't feel right.
As he walked to the front, smiling vaguely at the class, Emma couldn't help sniffing the air as he passed, drawing Hermione's attention.
'What's up?' she asked.
'He still smells weird.' replied Emma, sniffing again.
'Weird, how?' asked Hermione, puzzled, trying to smell the air too.
'I'm not sure.' frowned Emma. 'It reminds me of Fang, a little.'
'Hagrid's dog?' replied Hermione. 'Perhaps he has a dog too?'
Emma just shrugged, Lupin had reached the front and addressed the class, distracting them.
'Good afternoon.' he said, calmly. 'Would you please put all your books back in your bags. Today's will be a practical lesson. You will only need your wands.'
Emma groaned. The only practical, if you could even call it that, in Defence Against the Dark Arts had been the Pixie Incident with that fraud, Lockhart, the year before. At least Lupin had already proven himself capable against Dementors, so Emma was a tiny bit hopeful that this would go better.
'Right then,' said Lupin, once everyone was ready. 'if you'd follow me.'
Curious, the class did as they were told and followed Lupin through the corridors. They came to a halt after just one corner though, as they met Peeves, trying to lodge some chewing gum in the keyhole of one of Filch's broom cupboards.
Emma would have been perfectly happy to leave him be and carry on, but when Peeves heard them, he turned to Lupin and began singing.
'Loony, loopy Lupin.' he sang, over and over again.
Emma found that very curious. Peeves usually treated the teachers with at least a little bit of respect. He'd even done that with Lockhart, who everyone else treated with contempt. Why was Lupin different?
'I'd take that gum out of the keyhole, if I were you, Peeves.' said Lupin, pleasantly, smiling and unfazed. 'Mr Filch won't be able to get into his brooms.'
Peeves just ignored him and blew a raspberry, making Lupin sigh.
'This is a useful little spell,' he said over his shoulder. 'Please watch closely... Waddiwasi!'
With incredible speed and force, the chewing gum shot out of the keyhole and flew straight up Peeves' left Nostril. With a lot of cursing, he flew away.
'Cool, sir!' said Dean Thomas while Emma was grinning.
That really was going to be a useful spell. Her tentative truce with Peeves wasn't going to last forever.
Professor Lupin thanked Dean and again led them further. Emma could tell that they were heading to the staffroom. There wasn't really anything else nearby of interest.
'Inside, please.' he said, pushing the door open and standing aside to let the class in.
The staffroom was long and a little thinner than most rooms in the school. All of the furniture was haphazard and mismatched, and one of the seats was occupied. It was Snape, of all people. Once they were all inside and Lupin was about to close the door, he spoke up.
'Leave it open, Lupin. I'd rather not witness this.' he said, making his way to the door. 'Perhaps 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.'
Neville went bright red, Harry glared, Hermione was embarrassed and Emma was on the verge of really hissing. Obviously he didn't get enough bullying done in his own lesson, he had to do it in other classes too. Lupin, however, was still very calm, happy even.
'I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation,' he retorted. 'and I'm sure he will perform it admirably.'
Snape's lip curled angrily, but he left without another word.
'Now then.' said Lupin, starting the lesson.
He motioned for everyone to move down to the end of the room where there was a dark, old wardrobe. As soon as Lupin got near it, the wardrobe rocked loudly and banged against the wall. There was clearly something alive inside. Given that Emma had read the Defence Against the Dark Arts book cover to cover over the holidays, she made an educated guess as to what it could be, and it turned out to be right when Lupin announced it.
'Nothing to worry about.' he said, still as calm as ever. 'There's a Boggart in there.'
Emma frowned. By it's very nature, a Boggart was something to worry about, and it seemed half the class agreed, at least, those with a magical background did anyway. Most began to step back, away from the wardrobe.
'Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces.' explained Lupin. 'Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboard under sinks. I once 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?'
Emma grinned as Hermione's hand shot up, as it always did.
'It's a shape-shifter.' she said, summarising the Defence Against the Dark Arts book flawlessly. 'It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us the most.'
'Couldn't have put it better myself.' replied Lupin, making Hermione glow. '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.'
Again, the class edged backward a step. Nobody looked happy about this situation.
'This means,' continued Lupin. 'that we have a huge advantage over the Boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?'
Emma didn't need to pay attention as Harry answered, that having multiple people will confuse a Boggart, so she again grinned at Hermione, bobbing up and down on her toes to answer, and nudged her playfully when she looked disappointed that Harry had gotten it right.
Lupin rounded up the introduction with an anecdote of how a Boggart had tried to compromise between two peoples fears and failed miserably. Afterwards, he taught them the incantation.
'Riddikulus!' chanted the whole class, repeating Lupin's instructions.
'Good, very good.' he said. 'But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And this is where you come in, Neville.'
He beckoned a shaking Neville forward, and explained what would happen. The Boggart would assume his fear, which was, to no one's surprise, Snape, and by imagining Snape in Neville's grandmother's clothes, the spell would transform the Boggart into that image.
Making it's appearance funny was what hurt the Boggart because laughter was lethal to it.
'If Neville is successful, the Boggart is likely to turn his attention to each of us in turn.' said Lupin. 'I would like all of you to take a moment now to think about the thing that scares you the most, and imagine how you might force it to look comical...'
Emma was immediately reminded of herself, the previous year, essentially feral and out for revenge. She was definitely terrified of that happening again. Then again, now that she thought about it, that would mean the Boggart would change into herself, with claws, fangs and glowing eyes. She couldn't have that! People would guess what that meant and she would be executed soon enough. That was far more frightening, and of course, now it's what the Boggart would show.
'Everyone ready?' said Lupin.
'No!' thought Emma, but nobody else objected so she didn't feel like she could say anything.
How was she meant to make herself being found out and executed funny, and not have it reveal she's a vampire in the process?
Lupin left Neville alone in front of the wardrobe, getting the practical underway. He opened the wardrobe with a jet of sparks and out stepped Snape, staring angrily at Neville. It took him two attempts, but Neville did manage to make Snape wear his grandmothers clothes, which was very funny, but Emma was still racking her brain on what to do.
'Parvati! Forward!'
Parvati took Neville's place and the Boggart shimmered and vibrated slightly before there was a loud crack and it turned into an Egyptian mummy. Parvati looked afraid, but she too managed to change it, making it's bandages unravel, tripping it up.
Seamus was next. His was a Banshee, which screamed, hurting Emma's ears, yet still Emma had no idea what to do. She looked to Hermione, who was looking back, equally worried.
It was that look that made Emma realise that her worst fear wasn't being executed or being found out, it was the moment she really thought Hermione was dead the year before. Of course, she'd only been petrified, but she couldn't forget that moment. She couldn't lose her best friend.
This revelation didn't help though. If anything, it made it even harder. How on Earth was she meant to make the corpse of Hermione look comical?
Emma could remember the scene, Hermione on the floor, her bushy hair spread out around her shoulders, her face pale and unmoving, and her eyes wide and afraid. It was upsetting just thinking about it.
'Emma!' shouted Lupin.
Knocked out of her thoughts, she tentatively stepped forward to replace Ron. Obviously his fear had been a huge spider, and he'd removed it's legs. Emma still had no idea what she would do.
There was a long moment of suspense, at least to her there was, when the Boggart started to shimmer, to vibrate before it changed. At any moment the class were going to see Hermione dead, and Emma be the first one to fail to make their fear funny. She couldn't help it when she felt herself tear up.
The Boggart, however, had other plans. When there was the tell-tale cracking sound of the Boggart changing, it didn't become Hermione. It didn't even become Emma, or anything else she recognised. Instead, it became a small, dense, roiling cloud of acrid black smoke. It hovered there for a very short moment before whizzing away as fast as it could back to the wardrobe and slammed the door shut behind itself.
The whole class was confused, Emma most of all. Whispers started almost immediately, wondering what had happened. Emma just looked around, frowning, and turned last to Professor Lupin, who was smiling.
'Your fear is of people being afraid of you?' he asked, jokingly, though it seemed forced.
Unable to see the funny side, still stuck in her memories, she just looked away and walked back to Hermione. She needed to feel that her friend was still alive and well. Hermione, who could see that Emma was visibly upset, took her hand to offer some comfort.
The class continued after a few moments. Lupin reopened the wardrobe, letting more people try, but Emma didn't pay much attention, not until Lupin clearly stepped forward before the Boggart went for Harry. Emma thought he must not want a Boggart Voldemort in the room.
After it became Lupin's fear, a glowing orb that looked like the moon, he let Neville finish it off. One burst of laughter from him and it exploded into puffs of the same black smoke it had turned into for Emma.
'Excellent!' cried Lupin, as the class broke into applause. 'Excellent, Neville. Well done, everyone. Let me see... five points to Gryffindor for every person to tackle the Boggart – ten for Neville because he did it twice – and five each to Hermione and Harry.'
Harry complained that he hadn't done anything, but Emma just wanted to leave. Subdued, she followed the excited crowd going back to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom to pick up their bags, still holding Hermione's hand.
'That was the best Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson we've ever had, wasn't it?' said Ron, along the way.
'He seems to be a very good teacher.' replied Hermione, approvingly. 'But I wish I could have had a turn with the Boggart...'
'What would it have been for you?' sniggered Ron. 'A piece of homework that only got nine out of ten?'
'No, it would not!' glared Hermione, before looking to Emma again for a moment.
What it would have been, she didn't say, but Emma had a good guess it was probably her, feral, like she'd first thought to herself, and couldn't help feel ashamed.