Chapter 25

Boggarts

Katie, Amber, and Brittany walked with the rest of the Gryffendors to Professor Lupin's classroom.

"I don't really see why we can't just meet them in the staff room," Brittany complained, "I mean, that's where we're all gonna end up anyway."

'We can't do that, because it will lead to really strange questions," Katie explained, "We'll end up having to tell Lupin about the books."

"Ok," Brittany said tiredly.

Katie decided to drop this subject here; there was still a great deal of tension between the three girls concerning the accidental revelation of the diary's hidden secret.

"So," Katie began quickly, "Do you know what your boggarts will be?"

"Well I know mine will be a giant scorpion," said Brittany, "But I have no idea how I can make that funny."

"I really don't know what mine will be," Amber mused, "I'm not sure what scares me most. What will yours be, Katie?"

"I'm not exactly sure, but I have a few ideas," Katie said apprehensively.

When they arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, each girl took a seat in the front. Professor Lupin arrived a few minutes late—as the girls suspected he would—and ushered them out of the room. They were headed for the staff room when Peaves appeared seeminghly out of nowhere. He began singing his annoying little song while Lupin looked blankly at him. Peaves was given one warning about his behavior, but he ignored it as usual. Then Lupin turned to the class and asked them to watch as he performed a spell that might prove to be "useful" one day. Katie, Brittany, and Amber grinned as the wad of gum flew up Peaves's nostril. They continued their walk until they reached the staff room. Snape watched them all walk in, his eyes lingering perhaps the smallest bit longer on Katie. He then turned to Lupin and made his comments about Neville. Instead of looking at Neville or Lupin as Katie had thought he would do, his eyes flicked back to her. She frowned with displeasure at him, thinking about what he had just said about a boy that had suffered enough hardships in his short life. Snape's eyes then slid to the floor. After a few seconds of silence, Snape left the staff room.

Lupin then lectured the class on how to deal with boggarts. When instructed to, Katie considered her own boggart form and how it could be made comical. Like Harry, she had a great deal of difficulty with thinking of how the horrible form could be changed into something funny. But Lupin did not give either of them enough time to consider. They were asked to line up behind Neville, so Katie found a spot by Amber and Brittany. The class watched as each student took his or her turn with the boggart. Finally, Brittany was called forward. There was a swirl of color and a crack before the boggart turned into a giant scorpion. Her face grew pale as she shakily raised her wand and performed the spell. The scorpion turned bright purple and its stinger became a fluffy pink ball. Most of the people in the class laughed. Katie just stared at what her friend's imagination had created. Then it was her turn.

She faced the boggart, trying to prepair herself for what she was about to see. There was a loud crack and a swirl of color and then two forms stood in front of the class. It took a few seconds for everyone to realize what they were, but once they found out, there were screams of terror. Two bodies faced Katie, one male and one female. Decomposition had begun to set in which gave their flesh a rotting look. The woman grinned insanely at Katie and began walking towards her, arms outstretched. The man made to walk around behind her, but Katie knew this couldn't happen.

"Ridikuous!"

Two coffins appeared behind the corpses, and an invisible force pushed them into their proper resting places. With a final bang, the lids crashed down. Katie stepped back shakily, allowing Harry to walk forward and face the boggart.

"Here!" called Professor Lupin, stopping Harry from producing what he believed to be Voldemort. "Well, I think that is enough for today," Lupin said hurridly, eyes flickcing back and forth between Katie and Harry.

"Katie," Brittany began in a whisper, "Were those your, your parents?"

"Yes," Katie answered softly.

Amber nad Brittany stared for a moment until they realized what they were doing. They quickly turned their attention back to Professor Lupin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Later that day, the girls walked to dinner. Katie was not in an extremely talkative mood, but decided to try and be optimistic. Fortunately, talking did not prove necessary as Amber and Brittany chose to engage in a religious debate.

When they had finally finished eating, they got up from the Gryffindor table and started to walk back to the apartment.

"Ms. Insche. I would like a word with you."

Katie did not need the confirming glance to recognize the voice of Severus Snape.

"Yeah," she replied in a casual tone.

"I shall accompany you back to your apartment rather than discussing the matter here." With that he got up and walked around the table to reach them. The four made their way to the apartment in uncomfortable silence. Although Katie and Snape were accustomed to carrying on short conversations, Amber and Brittany spoke with him much less often. They finally reached the front door. Brittany pulled out her wand and tapped it. The door swung inward.

"I wish to speak with Ms. Insche alone," Snape requested.

"Why?" Brittany asked suspiciously after reading Katie's temporarily antisocial mood.

"From my previous statement, I would think that it would be obvious that this matter is between Ms. Insche and myself," Snape replied coldly.

"She'll tell us what you talk about anyway," Brittany stated, letting her curiosity get the best of her.

"Since you know that's true, Brittany, is this really worth fighting over?" Katie asked impatiently before anyone else could speak.

"Yeah, ok," Brittany relented. She and Amber went into their bedrooms, allowing Katie and Snape to have their discussion.

"As you probably know, I have heard the stories about your class's boggarts. I wish to ask you about yours. Who were the corpses?"

Katie paused just long enough to muse over Snape's blunt manner. Most would have broached the subject delicately, but not this man.

"My parents," she answered directly.

"Your biggest fear is seeing your parents' dead bodies?"

"No. It's seeing their dead bodies walking around and coming towards me with looks on their faces like they were completely insane. It's kind of like being afraid of inferi, because they are my parents acting different from the way they normally act."

Snape frowned: half in contemplation, half in understanding. Though his relationship with his parents had not been a good one, he knew enough about this girl to realize that seeing her boggart would be a painful experience. He had a strange desire to apologize, not oly for this incident but for everything that this young girl had faced. Yet he could not bring himself to do it.

"They… they would not want to hurt you," he managed to say. He looked at her pleadingly, willing her to read his true apology in his black eyes that had lost some of their coldness. He saw her looking back at him, struggling to interpret the expression on his face. He realized that her disability would not allow it. Sadness suddenly filled him—not pity, rather a feeling of disappointment that she would never be able to master this form of communication.

"I know they wouldn't," Katie whispered. Severus realized this would be the best place to end the conversation. He stood up, and slowly walked towrd the door. Katie rose as well, intending to show him out. As he opened the door, he looked back at Katie.

"Thank you," she said quietly yet sincerely. He looked at her for a moment longer, thankful for her confirmation. After only a few short seconds, he turned away,walking slowly towards his dungeon. He noticed that she waited awhile before closing the door behind him.