Chapter Twelve—
The Boggart

In Defense Against the Dark Arts on Monday, Professor Lupin decided to see how the fifth years would fend against the boggart, which had only previously been discussed when he talked about his third year class. Meril wondered what that would be like after dealing with grindylows, hinkypunks, barlowers—which were enormous, bat-like creatures with blood-red eyes and fangs the size of a baby's hand which can read minds and memories and lure people to them using the voice of a loved one—and basilisks, though he didn't bring any of those in, for the past two weeks.

"Okay, class! Leave your bags here and follow me!"

"Where are we going?" Lee called out, pushing his dreadlocks out of his face.

Professor Lupin smiled at Lee before replying, "It seems there's another boggart around, and I asked Filch not to do anything. I thought, since you guys seemed so interested when I talked about my third years, that you'd like to give it a try?" He raised his eyebrows and looked around at the students quizzically, as if asking them if he was right.

He was.

They followed the scruffy teacher down to the dungeons and into a large, unused room. Dust was covering everything. Cobwebs decorated the walls. Tables and chairs had been pushed up against the cold stone walls. A lone trunk sat in the center of the room.

"In there," Lupin said and pointed to the trunk, "is the boggart. Now, I'm sure you all know what a boggart is, correct?" The class all nodded and a few people could be heard as they muttered assent. Lupin smiled, pleased, and continued, "But, I'm going to ask anyway, just to clarify it. Please, can someone tell me?"

Alicia's hand shot into the air and Professor Lupin nodded in her direction. "Go ahead, Miss Spinnet."

"A boggart is a creature that takes the shape of what frightens the person who stands before it most," she answered matter-o-factly, flicking her black hair from her face, a small smirk tugging at her lips.

"Excellent! Five points to Gryffindor. Now, who would like to volunteer to go first? Mr. Gunderson? Go ahead."

Meril's fellow Gryffindor fifth year, Scott Gunderson, a tall, wiry guy with shaggy sand colored hair, stepped forward. Lupin signaled for him to step in front of the chest.

"Good. Now, think of what you're most afraid of and then think of what would make it funny. When you think it will work, say Riddikulus. Everyone try it!"

"Riddikulus!" the class chorused.

"What are you guys most afraid of?" Meril whispered to her three male friends.

George's face tinged pink and he looked away, muttering some gibberish under his breath. Fred and Lee just shrugged.

"Okay, Scott! What do you fear most?"

Scott thought about this for a moment before answering confidentially, "Skeletons!"

"Now, picture how your mother dances to her favorite Disco songs," Lupin ordered, a smile twitching at the corner of his lips.

Scott snorted with laughter and nodded.

"Now picture the skeleton dancing like that." He paused. "Are you ready?"

Scott nodded with a determined look on his face. Lupin bent down and opened the chest; immediately a skeleton burst out, its old, decaying bones jangling as it moved towards Scott.

"Think of the dancing now!" Lupin ordered. He then looked at the rest of the class and signaled that they should move back. "Now say it!"

"Riddikulus! " Scott bellowed, pointing his wand at the skeleton. Immediately the off-white collection of bones began doing to the Disco—poorly. Its bones creaked and squealed as they moved and jangled as they hit each other.

"Next! Miss Johnson!"

Angelina stepped forward and the skeleton turned into a butchered leg hopping towards her, leaving bloody footsteps in the ground. Angelina whimpered as she pointed her wand at it, her hand shaking.

"R-r-RIDDIKULUS!"

A beagle came running and grabbed the leg between its teeth before running off with it.

"Mr. Jordan!"

The zombie that emerged quickly fell apart, landing in a pile on the floor, just a collection of old body parts.

"Miss Dobson!"

Hayley, the girl that could sleep through anything, stepped forward, twisting her finger around her dirty-blonde hair nervously. The remains of the zombie turned into a barlower, much to the class's terror. Hayley was quick to stutter out a 'Riddikulus'. The thing's fangs fell out of its mouth and it was left fluttering helplessly around the room.

"Miss Haelstrome!"

A wide girl with blonde, knotted hair stepped forward; her name was Caitlin, and she was the person Meril forgot about most when she was thinking about her class. She was Meril's quiet roommate and was friends with Ravenclaws, whom she spent all her spare time with reading. That was why it was such a shock to the class that a stack of books should take the place of the barlower. The top book flipped open and it began screaming then fell off the pile; the second book opened and—

No one got to find out what it did because Caitlin screamed, "Riddikulus!" before it could do anything and a flame came and devoured all of the books.

"Mr. O'Gorman!"

The final Gryffindor fifth year boy stepped forward, a boy of average height with black hair. He stared hard at what was now a giant squid. Its tentacles were squirming about wildly, and this seemed to give Shane inspiration. He shouted the magic word and the thing's tentacles got all tangled up as it attempted to juggle.

"Miss Lizlow!"

Meril's stomach lurched as she stepped towards the squid. She took her wand out of her pocket and prepared herself.

BANG!

The squid was transformed into a swarm of moths, all five-inches in length with squirming legs and huge eyes. They flew towards Meril and she seemed to lose her voice.

"Come on Meril! You can do it!" Professor Lupin shouted encouragingly.

Easy for him to say; he wasn't about to be attacked by a bunch of hairy insects.

"Riddikulus!" she screamed; the moths' legs and wings simply fell off, and the bodies followed them to the floor, not being able to move anymore.

"Ew. That's gross!" Alicia squealed, jumping backwards.

"Mr. Weasley!" Lupin called, laughing slightly at Alicia's squeal. "No, not you. The other Mr. Weasley."

Fred retreated and George came forward. What was once moths became a person, but not just any person—Meril.

The whole class was curious about this, wondering why he, her best friend, was scared, but then the fake-Meril started to talk.

"I'm sorry George, I'm just not inter—"

"R-riddikulus! " he stuttered, and suddenly there was an extra Fred, an extra George, and an extra Lee. They all carried Dungbombs, and they chucked them all at once.

The bombs exploded in the fake-Meril's mouth. The noise that made was nothing compared to the laughter that erupted in the room. The class was practically choking with laughter and even Meril managed a chuckle, though she had to resist the urge to gag; she could almost taste it in her mouth.

"Mr. Weasley! Yes, you this time Fred!" Professor Lupin called out over the roaring laughter, smiling himself.

The class's laughter subsided to a chuckle as they awaited Fred's boggart. He stepped forward confidentially; he didn't even give a noticeable wince as what he feared most—a munchkin--appeared.

"Riddikulus! "

The munchkin grew three feet to an average height, and the class laughed at just how absurd it was.

Lupin chuckled. "Excellent job, everyone!" he called, stepping forward and getting rid of the boggart before anyone could even see what his fear was. "Ten points to Gryffindor!"

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"I can't believe I was taken down by my own weapon," Meril grumbled as she and the others headed down to lunch. "Why would you do that?"

"Fight fire with fire," George replied, indifferently. "Or in your case, fight Dungbombs with Dungbombs."

"Nah, I don't think you used that logic. You were just too frightened of me to think of any other attack. Is that it?" Meril teased, poking his nose.

George scowled, blushing slightly. "I'm not scared of you."

"Yeah. He must be scared of what you can do to him. Didn't you notice that the boggart was talking?" Lee pointed out.

"Now that's logic!" Fred exclaimed. "I didn't even think of that."

Meril frowned. "Neither did I. What was I saying to you George? Is that what you're afraid of? What I was saying?"

"No! The boggart must have been glitching. Yes, that's it. It was confused after being defeated so much...." The blush was rapidly increasing, crawling across every inch of skin.

"Okay; if that's the case, what do you really fear most?" Meril asked doubtfully.

"George isn't scared of anything! He's too brave!" Fred said mockingly, fluttering his eyelashes and looking wistful.

"He's right!" George declared, throwing his bandaged fist in the air.

"Ha, ha. Yeah right. And I hope it isn't something ridiculous!" Meril cast an indiscreet look at Fred at this.

"Moths," Fred retorted.

"Munchkins!"

"That is pretty ridiculous, Fred," Lee stated.

"Hey! I'm not the one who's afraid of a....zombie!"

"But that's normal. Being afraid of munchkins is just...weird...."

"Moths, Meril, moths!"

"Giant, rabid, rats! That's it!" George interrupted a finger in the air.

"What is he talking about?" Meril whispered at Lee; he shrugged.

"What I'm most afraid of," George replied, looking slightly offended that she could forget so easily.

"Oh, yeah. What was it?"

"Giant, rabid, rats," George repeated. "They're creepy."

"What about regular rats?" Lee asked.

"They're not as creepy."

"We live with Scabbers and you never seem freaked out," Fred said, in awe about this new thing he had just learned about his twin brother.

"Yes, but Scabbers is a normal rat. A little worn, granted, but pretty average," George pointed out.

"True that, true that...."

"But, seriously Meril, moths?" George said suddenly, going back to that topic.

"Exactly my point!" Fred exclaimed. "It just isn't natural to be afraid of moths!"

"Says the guy whose greatest fear is munchkins," Meril replied blankly, inspecting her nails.

"Yeah, that's not normal either..." George agreed.

"Hey, you're afraid of Meril!" Fred retorted.

George heaved a sigh. "I thought we already established that I am not afraid of Meril, or anything she can say to me, but of giant rabid rats!"

"And that's normal?" Meril snorted. "Seriously, how often do you see those?"

"Not often, but the thought of them is..." A shudder was sent down his back and he cringed.

"Still, it's a bit…unrealistic, don't you think? And so specific! Giant rabid rats! That combination just….I really don't think you have anything to worry about. But moths…those are real! They're hairy and gross and the multiply like crazy! That is a reasonable fear."

"It's an insect, Mer. It's not going to harm you," Lee pointed out.

"Zombies aren't even real," Meril retorted.

"Well, if those are your standards, than everyone's fears were pretty bizarre, weren't they?" Fred cut in thoughtfully. "A live skeleton, a severed leg, a pile of books, a barlower…Really, the only reasonable ones were the squid and…well, George's."

"I told you, that wasn't my—" George interrupted, frustrated, but Fred waves him off.

"Yeah, yeah. Well, the glitch. Being afraid of a person, or what they can say or something, doesn't that make more sense than being afraid of something which, chances are, you will never come in contact with?"

Before anyone could make a reply to Fred's surprisingly insightful little speech, Professor McGonagall appeared around the corner.

"Miss Lizlow! Misters Weasley! I actually was hoping to run into you three. Are you on your way to lunch?"

"Yes, we are Professor," Lee replied.

"Well, I won't keep you, but please stop by my office afterwards. No, not you Mr. Jordan. Just these three. There's no need to look left out," she cried, seeing his face, "It's about their detention!"

"Ugh. I thought we were getting off easy on that," Fred groaned.

"It clearly said in the letter that it would be postponed. Not canceled, Mr. Weasley. Now go eat your lunch."

And Meril swore she heard the woman mumble, "Some of you need it," before walking off, though it could have just been her imagination.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

After lunch, Meril and the twins headed to McGonagall's office slowly, hoping to get out of some of their next lesson. When they got there, her office door was closed. Meril stuck out her hand and rapped on the oak door with her knuckles.

"Come in!" the professor sighed; Meril and the twins burst through the door.

"We have arrived!" George exclaimed, flicking his long bangs from his hazel eyes.

McGonagall glared at the Weasley boy from over the rim of her rectangular spectacles. "Yes, I see that," she said curtly, putting a stack of papers aside. "Please, have a seat." She pointed to the three chairs before her desk, which the three hesitantly sank into.

"As you know," the tight-haired woman began, staring hard at them, "you are here to discuss your detention. Now I am correct in saying that you all got the letter I sent to you regarding last Friday?"

"Yes," Fred and George said in unison, while Meril scowled.

"No," she grumbled. She recalled how she had headed down to the library on Friday and found that Madam Pince was not there, but in the Hospital Wing, sick with a bout of the Flu.

"Ah, yes. Sorry about that Mer," Fred sniggered.

Meril glared. "You intercepted the letter?" she accused coldly. "Even though you knew I was in a bad mood?"

"We never thought you'd find out!" George explained, grinning wickedly at her.

"Why you little—" Meril began, lunging towards the twins, but McGonagall pulled at her robes, stopping her.

"Miss Lizlow, please!" she shrilly exclaimed. "You should know better than that by now." The professor gave her a stern look.

"Sorry, Professor," Meril whispered, shrinking under her gaze. She sat back down and waited patiently for her professor to get to what she had summoned them for.

"Thank you. Now, your detention will take place Saturday morning, but you are to go to the Library Friday after your classes so that Madam Pince can instruct you on how to go about taking care of the books, understood?" The three remained silent; the twins grimaced at the prospect of spending two days in a row with the bitter librarian. "Understood? "

"Yes, Professor!" the three simultaneously sang, exchanging grins.

"Good. Now, go on off to your classes. But first," and the woman quickly wrote a note, "take this. Give it to your teacher. It explains where you were."

"Thanks, Prof," Fred said his grin widening.

McGonagall's face hardened and her eyes flashed in Fred's direction. "Go to class," she repeated, rubbing her tired face with her hands.

With a little finger waggle to her teacher, Meril got up from her chair, and the three left just as they had came.

a/n I think I am feeling much better about this one now. It JUST fits its page limit, but it fits, which makes me happy, and...yeah, I just feel that it is much better than it used to be. I hope you liked it; the chapters after this one are so much better than these past ones. Even though I revised all of these, I didn't completely redo them, so they still aren't, like, the best. But, still. Reviews are always appreciated!

xox