Chapter 13

"Good afternoon," Remus said to his class the following day. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags? Today we will be having a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."

The class looked very confused but did as they were told. Dean and Sam stood in the back of the class, ready to lead the children to the staffroom.

"Right then," said Remus, when everyone was ready. "If you'd kindly follow The Professors Winchester!" he said pointing at them.

On the way they came across Peeves, who was up to no good, of course. He was stuffing chewing gum into the broom cupboard's keyhole whilst floating upside down.

Sam halted the class next to the mischief-maker and said plainly, "And just what do you think you are doing, Peeves?" Peeves stopped what he was doing and slowly turned to looked up at him wearing the largest, 'I'm busted' smile.

"Winchesty-is-the-besty!" he said as innocently as he could muster, then he closed his eyes, threw his hands up into moose antlers on either side of his head, and began to blow raspberries at him and the rest of the class. That is, until Remus caught up and waded through the class to the front of the group.

Remus stood a foot in front of the poltergeist receiving ghostly spittle into his face when he cleared his throat which made Peeves freeze. He opened his eyes to see Remus standing inches from his face. Remus smiled at him.

"Hello, Peeves." he said simply.

"Loony, loopy Lupin," Peeves sang. "Loony, loopy Lupin, loony, loopy Lupin -"

"I'd take that gum out of the keyhole if I were you, Peeves," he said pleasantly. "Mr. Filch won't be able to get in to his brooms."

Peeves only rudely continued to blow raspberries.

Remus smiled, turned his head over his shoulder to the class and said, "This is a useful little spell, please watch closely!"

He raised his wand and exclaimed, "Waddiwasi!" The gum shot out of the keyhole and into Peeve's nose, promptly making him choke and gag, and he flew off cussing up a storm.

"Cool, sir!" said Dean Thomas.

"Thank you, Dean. . . other Dean." he teased. "You two should hang out sometime." With a hearty laugh from the class he bid them follow him to their destination.

Remus led them down another corridor and to the door of the staffroom. He held the door open. "Inside, please."

Sam and Dean walked in first and saw Severus sitting in one of the many mismatched chairs. He smiled slightly at the sight of them but it quickly fade when he saw the class file in behind them. How quickly he went from smile to scowl. He stood and waited until till he saw Remus step in.

"Leave it open, Lupin. I'd rather not witness this." He got to his feet and strode past the class, his black robes billowing behind him. At the doorway he turned on his heel and said, "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."

Poor Neville's face went red and so did the tips of his ears which meant even if he looked down at the ground, which he did, there was no hiding his embarrassment.

Remus looked at Severus with raised eyebrows. "Actually," he said in an obvious attempt to piss him off, "I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation." He walked over to Neville and patted him on the shoulder and then grinned defiantly at Severus.

Severus all but snarled at him, so Remus added, "And I am sure he will perform it admirably." Severus had had enough and he left quickly after that, slamming the door behind him which startled several of the students.

"Now then!" Remus said turning his attention to the students. "If you'll kindly turn about and follow the Winchesters to the other side of the room, thank you."

The class did as they were told. The massive amount of migrating feet rattled the floorboards which apparently had awakened the sleeping boggart inside the wardrobe. It aggressively began to shake and rock. The students in front, who had been moving toward it unawares, suddenly began walking backward creating an accordion of students. There were gasps of surprise.

"Nothing to worry about." Remus assured his class. "There's a Boggart in there." There were now several nervous looking students in the class, Neville looked especially scared.

"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," said Remus. "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 Professor Sam Winchester suggested that instead of getting rid of it, to give my third years a practical lesson in how to deal with a Boggart should you come across one! So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a Boggart?"

Hermione put up her hand.

"It's a shape-shifter," she said. "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most."

"Couldn't have put it better myself." Remus said and Hermione looked very proud of herself. "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. This means, that we have a huge advantage over the Boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"

Harry look distracted and annoyed that even though he had been asked the question, Hermione was practically falling over herself to answer it.

"Er - because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be?" he said.

"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."

There were a few nervous laughs from the class.

"The charm that repels a Boggart is simple," continued Remus, "yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a Boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing. We will practice the charm without wands first. After me, please...Riddikulus!"

The class repeated in unison.

"Good," said Remus. "Very good. 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."

The poor kid looked absolutely terrified. Remus asked him what scared him the most which turned out to be Professor Severus Snape himself. He then he told Neville to imagine his grandmother, well, rather her clothes. Then he took it one step further and told him to imagine Professor Snape in his grandmother's clothes.

"When the Boggart bursts out of this wardrobe, Neville, and sees you, it will assume the form of Professor Snape," said Remus. "And you will raise your wand - thus - and cry "Riddikulus" - and concentrate hard on your grandmother's clothes. If all goes well, Professor Boggart Snape will be forced into that vulture-topped hat, and that green dress, with that big red handbag."

The entire class began to laugh.

"Everyone ready?" Remus asked. "And in the spirit of fairness, the Winchesters will go after Neville, just to give you more examples of how Riddikulus can work to your advantage. See your fear, and then think of how to make it funny. Everyone form a line if you please."

Dean and Sam went wild eyed. They moved into position behind Neville, trying to smile in front of the children. As soon as they turned to face the wardrobe and consequently Remus, their bug-eyes pressed on him as if to say 'What the hell are you thinking!'

Neville now stood in front of the line, followed by Sam, then Dean, then the rest of the class stood behind him.

"On the count of three, Neville. One – two – three!"

Remus pointed his wand and the wardrobe clicked open. Out came Severus Snape. Neville began to shake in his robes. Boggart-Snape came closer and closer.

Neville pointed his wand and stuttered. "R—r—Riddikulus!"

There was a loud cracking pop, and suddenly Boggart-Snape was dressed in Neville's Grandmother's clothes. The entire class laughed hysterically and the Boggart looked around confused.

"Excellent, Neville!" cried Remus! "Sam! Your turn!"

Neville retreated and Sam stepped up, already sweating. Remus watched closely. Boggart-Snape looked at him and with another loud CRACK there stood the same clown Sam had fought years before. The scarily painted face, the long, green hair parted in the middle, flower on his lapel.

It began to laugh manically and teasingly waved at him as if to say 'Hey there, Sammy! Now I'm gonna gitcha!'

Sam shuddered. He pointed his wand as the clown started to lung at him. "Riddikulus!" he nearly screamed. Suddenly the clown's hands, nose, and shoes turned into balloon animals which began to rapidly deflate. The clown was taken by surprise and reeled backward, tripping over himself as the class erupted in laughter.

"Well done, Sam! Dean, have a go!" Remus cheered.

Dean reluctantly stepped forward. He gulped hard, almost audibly. The Boggart zeroed in on him almost immediately but hesitated in changing form as if it was searching through the directory of Dean's subconscious. It reared up and, CRACK! The boggart took the form of something four-legged and barely visible. It snarled and barked and gnashed it's nearly invisible teeth.

"Ah, crap! It's a Hellhound!" Dean said and he rushed forward to use himself as an obstacle between it and the kids. He spread his arms wide. "Here!" he said as it was looking past him at the buffet behind him.

"Now, Dean!" Sam said urgently.

"Riddikulus!" Dean said. CRACK! The Hellhound turned into the cutest little puppy you had ever seen.

"Aaaaawwww!" cried the girls in the class, the boys laughed.

"HA!" cried Dean. "Not so tough now!"

"Good job!" Remus said. "Parvati, forward!"

She did as she was told and her Boggart turned into a Mummy whose head fell off. Laughter.

"Seamus!"

A Banshee that lost her voice. Laughter.

Several more students had their turn with several more hilarious outcomes. Then Harry's turn came about.

Harry stepped to the front, wand at the ready. Suddenly Remus jumped in front of Harry and yelled, "Here!" catching the Boggart's attention.

It focused on Remus and turned into a glowing orb surrounded by clouds.

"Riddikulus!" he bellowed and it turned into a scurrying cockroach. "Finish him off Neville!"

CRACK! Snape was back, and with another transformation into his Grandmother's clothes, Neville let out a cackle of glee that caused the Boggart to explode into tiny wisps of smoke.

"Well done everyone!" Remus said.

"I think everyone deserves a round of applause, yes?" added Sam. The students responded in kind. Remus and Dean joined in the applause.

Remus doled out some house points and dismissed the class. On their way out the kids chatted lively about this being the best lesson they'd ever had.

As soon as the last student was out of room, the three adults sank exhausted into the room's mismatched chairs.

"I thought it went well!" Remus said offhand like it was nothing. He smiled knowing full well he was about to get a talking to.

"Damn it, Remus!" Dean said, trying not to get too angry. "Why didn't you tell us you were going to make us do that?" He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "We've got some dangerous things in our Rolodex. What if I couldn't think of something to turn it into?"

"I wouldn't have let it get that far, Dean. It was as much a lesson for you as the children. Honestly, I thought it might turn into a Dementor after last night."

"Oh no. Not Dean's." Sam said.

"This Hellhound, you called it. Why is it your greatest fear? Why one of those and not something else?"

Dean remained silent, sweat still beaded on his forehead, his eyes stared directly at Remus without blinking.

"Years ago, I . . . I was killed." Sam began.

Remus' attention was now focused solely on Sam.

"Dean made a deal with a Crossroads Demon for my life. She resurrected me, and Dean got one year to live. When that year was up, the hellhounds came for him, as they do all deal makers."

Dean stood up and moved behind his chair and gripped the top of the seat hard.

"There was nothing we could do. If he tried to break the deal I would have died again."

Remus nodded. "And what do they do when they come for you?"

Dean spoke with a stone cold tone. "They tear your body apart and drag your soul to Hell."

"I see." Remus said. "In that case . . ." he stood and approached Dean and met his eyes with his. "I sincerely apologize, my friend. I had no idea."

Dean gritted his teeth. It was true, he didn't know. None of these people knew what it was like. But there was also absolutely no sense in holding a grudge against a man that didn't know any better, and had been nothing but sincere and helpful to him and his brother since they got here. He let his head drop forward and he sighed.

"Just promise me one thing." Dean said.

"Name it." Remus said in earnest.

Dean lifted his head and said, "Just lemme get another crack at that damn Dementor."

Remus smiled, relieved. "You've got a deal." he said and clasped hands with Dean and briefly hugged.

"We're good man. Just next time give us a heads up so we can properly prepare. Kay?" Dean asked.

"It's safer that way." said Sam.

"Of course." agreed Remus. "Shall we try again tonight after dinner?"

"Let's do this!" said Dean.