I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.
Boggart
Alex glanced at Luna, who smiled and waved from her table. He managed a smile and wave back, but had to tear his eyes away from her face to stop himself from staring. He lowered his head, eating silently. No one asked him what was wrong, though he could tell everyone but Ginny was curious. However, when Hermione had asked Ginny, her face had gone scarlet and she scurried up to the dormitory without answering. It was almost the weekend, when he could hide himself away in the water and escape from his problem. But first, he had to make it through two more days.
First up was Defense Against the Dark Arts, finally. They all arrived before Professor Lupin, but as soon as he arrived, he told them to put their books away and take their wands out, as they would be having a practical lesson. Then, he led them out of the class and down a corridor where Peeves was stuffing chewing gum into a keyhole. Lupin gave a single chance to stop peacefully, and when Peeves refused, Lupin sent the chewing gun up Peeves' left nostril. Then, they continued. They headed to the Staff Room, and found that the only teacher present was Professor Snape.
"Leave it open, Lupin," Snape said coldly, a wicked sneer on his face. "I'd rather not witness this." He strode to the doo, only to pause. "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."
Alex clasped his hands in front of himself and had to fight to keep his claws from exposing themselves. He needed this to end. He hadn't struggled with not exposing himself for years.
"I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage," Professor Lupin said, smiling kindly. "And I'm sure he'll perform it admirably."
Neville's face, already red with embarrassment from Snape's words, darkened even further, but Snape simply curled his lips in distaste and left, the door snapping closed behind him.
"Now then," Lupin said, beckoning the class toward the end of the classroom where there was nothing but an old wardrobe, in which the teachers kept their robes. As Lupin stepped up beside it, however, it gave a sudden wobble and banged off the wall. "Nothing to worry about. There's a Boggart in there."
Several people looked at Lupin like he was crazy, Neville looking absolutely terrified. Alex, knowing exactly what the Boggart would look like when it transformed into his worst fear, backed away.
"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," Lupin said. "Wardrobes, the gaps beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks. I've met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the Headmaster if the staff would leave it to give my third years some practice. So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a Boggart?"
Hermione's hand shot into the air. "It's a shape-shifter. It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us the most."
"Couldn't have put it better myself," Professor Lupin said, Hermione positively glowing with pride. "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 what each of us most fears." He ignored Neville's sputter of fear. "This means, that we have a huge advantage over the Boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"
"Er...because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be?"
"Precisely," Lupin nodded. "It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a Boggart. He becomes confused. Which should he be? 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 became a half slug. Not very frightening.
"The charm to repel a Boggart is very simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes off 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."
"Riddikulus!" the class parroted.
"Ridicule," Alex's mind hissed. "Freak."
"Better off this way," his father's voice hissed in the back of his mind.
"Good," Professor Lupin said. "Very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not alone. And that's where you come in, Neville."
The wardrobe shook again as Neville walked forward, looking like he might be heading for the Gallows, not a wardrobe.
"Just a moment, Neville," Lupin said, holding him back. "Alex, a word before we begin, if you please."
Alex nodded, walking to the far end of the room with him.
"I don't expect you to allow the Boggart to reveal what you're most afraid of," Professor Lupin said quietly, setting a hand on his shoulder. "I won't force you to face the Boggart if you aren't willing. I know how hard you have to work to keep your secret, and I have no intention of forcing it into the light. If you feel ready to face the Boggart, you may, but if you wish to sit the class out, that is fine as well."
Alex nodded gratefully. "Thank you."
Professor Lupin nodded and returned to the front of the class, Alex returning to the back, ignoring the suspicious and interested looks of the other students. They'd all put two and two together instantly and realized that whatever it was he was afraid of was also what caused his anxiety attacks.
"Right, Neville," Professor Lupin said once he was in front of the class again. "First thing's first. What is it you would say is the thing that frightens you most in the world?"
Neville's lips moved, but no sound came out.
"I didn't catch that, Neville, sorry," Professor Lupin said cheerfully.
"Professor Snape," Neville said, barely more than a whisper, and the entire class, minus Alex, laughed.
"Professor Snape...hmm...Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?" Professor Lupin asked.
"Er, yes," Neville said, then added hurriedly, "but I don't want the Boggart to turn into her, either."
"No, no, you misunderstand me," Professor Lupin said. "I wonder, could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?"
Neville looked startled. "Well...always the same hat. A tall one with a stuffed vulture on top. A long dress, green usually, and sometimes a fox-skin scarf."
"And a handbag?" Professor Lupin prompted.
"A big red one," Neville nodded.
"Right then," Professor Lupin said. "Can you picture those clothes very clearly, Neville? Can you see them in your mind's eye?"
"Yes," Neville said nervously, Alex realizing what Lupin had planned.
"When that Boggart bursts out of the wardrobe, Neville, and sees you, it will assume the form of Professor Snape," Professor Lupin said. "You will raise your wand 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 class laughed and the wardrobe wobbled more violently.
"If Neville is successful, the Boggart will turn its attention on each of us in turn," Professor Lupin said. "I would like all of you now to take a moment to think of what scares you the most, and imagine how you might force it to look comical."
The room was silent. Alex new what it would become if it chose him, but he had no way of making it look funny. At least, not if he wanted to keep his secret. Eventually, he decided on a pink tutu and roller skates, just in case. Everyone else, minus Harry, began to nod and roll up their sleeves. He felt the image of the tutu beginning to slip away as his father's insults hissed in his ear.
"Neville, we're going to back away and let you have a clear field, alright?" Professor Lupin asked. "I'll call the next person forward. Everyone step back now, and let Neville have a clear shot."
Neville raised his trembling wand and Professor Lupin counted him down, then sent a jet of sparks at the wardrobe. The wardrobe burst open and out stepped Snape, livid and eyes glinting as he bore down on Neville. Neville backed away, mouthing wordlessly. Snape began to reach into his robes.
"R...R...Riddikulus!" Neville finally forced out.
There was a sound like the crack of a whip, and Snape stumbled. He was suddenly wearing a lace-trimmed dress, a tall hat topped with a moth-eaten vulture, and a red handbag was swinging from his arm. There was a roar of laughter and Lupin called Parvati forward. Parvati walked forward, and there was another whip crack. Suddenly, Snape was replaced by a blood-stained, bandaged mummy. Parvati yelled out the charm, and the mummy's bandages fell around its feet, tripping it and sending its head rolling. Seamus was next, and the Boggart became a banshee. It was skeletal, green-skinned, and had floor-length black hair. It opened its mouth and began to shriek, only for Seamus to turn it into a rat, which chased its tail three times before becoming a rattlesnake. A moment later, it was a bloody eyeball. Dean was called forward and it became a severed hand, which scuttled across the floor at him. Dean's charm caught the hand in a mouse trap with a loud snap. Ron went next and the Boggart transformed into a gigantic spider, six feet tall and covered in hair. Alex recognized it as an Acromantula, and a moment later, Ron's charm had taken its legs. it began to roll, only to suddenly spiral into a vortex of color before transforming into Alex.
Everyone froze, staring. His skin was a pale, clammy grey, his feet's fins were extended and tipped in two-inch claws, his fingers bore slightly longer claws with webbing between them, his gills were exposed and flapping slightly as it breathed, and its pointed second set of teeth were exposed. the Boggart Alex wore only a pair of tight black shorts, and it was dripping water as soon as it had transformed. Students screamed and scrambled away from it as it closed in on Alex, its eyes shining with loathing, its fins slapping the floor noisily.
"Move!" Alex said, shouldering students aside just as the Boggart leapt at him. "Riddikulus!"
With a crash, the Boggart landed on the floor, now a scared, pale four-year-old in a small black cage, his father standing over him, jabbing him hard with a stick and shouting at him for peeing in the cage, calling him a "disgusting little monster." Alex swallowed hard.
"Riddikulus!" He said again.
With another crack, the Boggart was suddenly a dirty child, wearing tattered, faded clothes, covered in dirt and mud, bruises and welts covering its body from having been run out of town. Alex trembled and raised his wand again, only for Lupin to rest a hand on his shoulder.
"Hermione, if you would?" Lupin asked.
Hermione stepped past Alex, who Lupin guided away from the Boggart, Alex now shaking badly. The Boggart turned to Hermione and became Professor McGonagall, holding up a paper with marks all over it and berating Hermione for failing. Hermione cast her charm, and suddenly Boggart McGonagall was beaming proudly, holding up an award. Alex hurried to the window, using a Severing Charm to open it and pulled out a cigarette, barely managing to get it lit and smoking almost the entire thing through his lungs in one go, the cigarette doing almost nothing to help. They knew. They all knew now. He hadn't even realized the class was over until Parvati set her hand on his shoulder, most of the class standing around him as he smoked his third cigarette in a minute and a half.
"You're not a monster," Parvati said. "Whatever your father told you, you're not a monster. You're human, just like the rest of us."
Alex stared at her, then around at the others. Confusion began to fill him. What did she mean human? She'd seen his true form. They all had.
"It's alright, Alex," Lupin said, resting a hand on his shoulder. "No matter what grotesque, corrupted version of yourself the Boggart became because of your father's abuse, you're still you. You're still a human, and nothing will change that."
The rest of the class nodded supportively and Alex felt his shaking beginning to subside. He nodded gratefully and smoked on last cigarette as the class began to empty. Alex looked around and saw that the Boggart was gone and Harry looked confused.
"What happened?" Alex asked.
"We dealt with the Boggart," Lupin said kindly. "And everyone who dealt with it got five points, except Neville, who got ten for dealing with it twice."
"I guess that leaves me the odd man out," Alex said, setting his head back against the wall.
"Not true," Lupin said. "You also dealt with the Boggart. You may not have successfully managed to make it funny, but you stopped it from attacking the whole class. I've given you ten points as well, for protecting your class at the cost of letting a bit of your secret slip."
"Thank you," Alex said. "And for finding a way to keep them from putting two and two together."
Lupin smiled and nodded. "It is your choice when the secret should come out, and if it is in my power to help keep your secret safe, I will."
Alex nodded, putting the rest of the cigarettes away and repaired the window before leaving the class with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"He stopped me dealing with it," Harry said. "I don't understand why."
"He probably thought it would turn into You-Know-Who," Ron said.
"Most likely," Hermione agreed. "Are you sure you're alright, Alex? You're still trembling."
"I'm fine," Alex lied.
The other three allowed the subject to drop and headed for their next class.
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