The Dogfather

Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I swear, J.K. Rowling stole the idea from me:: continues to rant while being dragged away by men in white suits:

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"First question, what is a boggart?" said Lupin wisely.

Hermione immediately stuck her hand into the air, causing Lupin to frown slightly.

"Yes, Hermione."

"It is a shape-shifter." she answered. "The form it takes is the worst fear of the person it faces."

"Correct, five points to Gryffindor, now what would happen if the boggart were to face two people at the same time?" he questioned.

Harry decided to make things more interesting and raised his hand. The Professor was relieved to see someone else participate and called on him.

"It would be confused, and thus, try to take two different forms at once." he replied.

"Again, correct, five more points to Gryffindor." the werewolf granted. Susan and Hannah frowned a bit and looked put out. "Tonight I shall teach you how to defend yourself against boggarts, take a moment to think of your worst fear and how to make it funny." he instructed.

Harry slowly closed his eyes and thought hard, but there was now avoiding it. His worst fear was Sirius, soulless. How was he supposed to make that funny? And what would Moony think of it? He felt his stomach squirm as the professor taught them the incantation, 'Ridikulus'.

"Now," said the werewolf, placing a hand on the leather strap which bonded the shaking case shut. "I will call each of you forward at a time, once you stop the boggart, step aside." The students nodded and looked slightly fearful as their professor began to undo the straps.

"Susan, you first." he called before the case snapped open. The Ravenclaw stepped forward and faced a mime holding a knife. A/N: Aaaahhhhhhhhhh:runs away screaming: A/N

"Ridikulus!" she cried bravely. The mime's make-up began drip off his face and the knife turned into a banana.

"Hermione!" called Lupin. The Gryffindor stepped up. The melting mime suddenly turned into Hermione herself. The seudo-Hermione held out her wand and chanted spell after spell, but nothing happened.

The real Hermione began to shake slightly and stuttered the incantation, "R-ridikulus!" Her fake self suddenly produced a mass of penguins, which began to hail her.

"Hannah!" called Lupin, trying to conceal a laugh. The blonde girl marched forth as the penguins changed to a giant black rat with red eyes. The Hufflepuff paled slightly and murmured the spell. Suddenly, the rat lost its tail and it began to panic and run around in circles.

Finally, Lupin commanded Harry to step forward.

Stomach churning, the Gryffindor in question slowly walked toward the giant rodent. However, the rat, too soon for Harry's comfort, began to change. It shortened and soon there was a man in his place. The man had grey robes and lifeless grey eyes, staring forever at nothing. Harry felt his mouth grow dry, as he simply gaped at his godfather, but his conscience kicked in, screaming, 'You need to get rid of that, dolt!'

Harry, only dimly aware of the stares he was receiving, weakly raised his wand and whispered, "Ridikulus." The soulless Sirius turned pink and shrank into a poodle. 'Quite fitting.' he thought vaguely.

A cough brought him back to reality. Harry looked around and found everyone sending him perplexed looks as the poodle ran around him, yipping. He braved a peak at Remus and found him gazing at him with his mouth slightly open. "Class dismissed, Harry I need to-" But Harry was already half-way down the corridor.

'Dammit, I need to stop doing that.' he thought furiously, as he ascended the staircase to the Gryffindor boys' dorm. There was no way he could avoid Remus, sooner or later he would confront him about the boggart and Harry had no idea what he would say or do.

He opened the door to the dorm and found him face to face with the person he least wanted to see at the moment. Well, maybe second or third to least.

"What are you doing here?" growled Harry to a calm Hermione Granger. 'Or more importantly, how did she get here before me?'

"What was your boggart?" she retorted brightly. Harry scowled, pushed past her, and went into the bathroom, slamming and locking the door behind him. He undressed and took a cold shower, hoping she had left. 'I really need to stop doing that' he thought.

The next morning a small flock of owls entered the great hall along with the rest of the mail, carrying a long package, catching everyone's attention.

Harry was quite surprised when the birds landed in front of him. There was a small note attached to the parcel. Luckily, Harry examined this first.

Mr.Potter,

This package contains your Nimbus 2000

Please do not open it at the table.

Minerva McGonagall.

Harry snorted slightly. When it came to rules in general, McGonagall took pride in enforcing them. However, when the words 'Gryffindor' and 'Quiditch Cup' were in the situation, all abiding ways she once had flew to the wind. Anything to wipe that smirk off of Severus Snape's face. Harry heartily agreed.

Harry finished his toast, grasped the parcel in one hand and walked briskly out of the hall, with Ron tagging along. Harry muttered the contents of the package to his friend as they climbed the marble staircase. Ron practically squeaked with excitement and exclaimed, "Wait until Malfoy finds out!" And, as if on cue, the Slytherin in question appeared around the corner, flanked by his ever-present cronies.

Malfoy snatched the brown-papered package from Harry's hands and ran his hand along it before tossing it back. "Broomstick, do you think just because you have a smart mouth and that stupid scar that they'll let you have one, eh Potter?"

Harry sighed and Ron began to turn red. "Have we not already established this? I am not like you, and so therefore do not believe I am above the rules or better than anyone for that matter, if you really care, Professor McGonagall personally made it possible for me to obtain this." said Harry coolly, watching Malfoy falter.

"And it's a Nimbus 2000!" added Ron less smoothly "What do you have at home? A Comet 260!"

Suddenly, Professor Flitwick turned the corner and observed the scene. "Is there a problem?" he squeaked brightly.

Malfoy, defeated, muttered "No." and slouched down to breakfast.

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A/N: More Malfoy torturing, yes it is getting old but... it's so much fun! Uh-oh, Harry's in a bit of a pickle Hermione's suspicious. The running away thing is getting old as well, and something Harry needs to fix, that's sort of what the chapter's about... see title... And I personally congratulate all who guessed Harry's worst fear with imaginary chocolate medals. And, Dragon, if you locked me in a room with Snape for 2006 years, it wouldn't be wasted time, I could wash his hair within that period! Don't expect many updates for a while after this week; I'm going to Peru for two weeks. Review!