Written for The Houses Competition
House Hufflepuff
Category: Drabble
Prompt: Boggart
Word count: 525
Beta: Dark Angel of Sorrow Returns
If there was ever a strange and confusing creature in the world of the strange and confusing, that creature would be a boggart with its lurking in shadows and small spaces, waiting for a victim to come by that it could scare before moving on. No witch or wizard had ever quite figured out what a boggart's purpose or drive was, not even the great Newt Scamander—notable magizoologist. It wasn't possible to ask a boggart what it wanted as all it did was delve into your mind and steal the image of that which you feared the most.
For some, that was a creature that had access to their minds, for others it might be a dark secret they kept hidden away. It was rumoured that for Harry Potter—Vanquisher of Voldemort—it was fear itself. There was only way to deal with a boggart and that was to turn your fear into something humorous. A difficult task for most people and an even harder one when your greatest fear is bearing down upon you. It was either that or run away screaming and hoping the boggart doesn't decide to follow you as you run.
Boggarts are not necessarily harmful, unless seeing your worst fear come to life right before your eyes is going to cause physical trauma. The boggart causes harm psychologically and those affected can remain so for the rest of their lives. It also means that if you are confronted with a boggart during a time when enemies are near—those enemies are made aware of what you fear the most. As such, boggarts are often used in interrogations and torture.
This use of boggarts was first introduced by Mafalda Higgens—a hedgewitch who had minimal power and wished to leave her mark on the Wizarding World. She had not been planning on using a boggart at first but had encountered one when walking home one day and captured it after realising the potential of the creature. A boggart helped many of Gellert Grindelwald's followers confess to their crimes and even reveal what they knew about the Dark Lord's plans.
The practice has since been disbanded, along with the use of dementors as guards of Azkaban prison. These changes were made by the Head of Creature Relations department—Hermione Weasley—accompanying her ongoing campaign of equal rights for all creatures from house elves to centaurs.
Boggarts are now on the protected species list, and hunters are fined a total of one hundred galleons per boggart they have in their possession. Consequently, a black market for boggarts has started forming; and many organisations are willing to pay a considerable amount to ensure a safe delivery of such an effective interrogation tool.
Aurors and the special taskforce of Creature Relations field agents are always on the lookout for shady dealings of boggarts and other creatures. It is unknown how boggarts breed, and is therefore unknown how wizard-kind can ensure their continued existence. At the current moment in time—there is an estimated seventy boggarts in existence.
Following in my brother's footsteps, I intend on capturing their existence in photos.
Dennis Creevey, Daily Prophet