The boggart

I feel strangely nervous when Ginny and I sneak out the common room after curfew. "Nervous?" I ask.

She scowls. "You wish." Silently we sneak upstairs. My mind keeps playing all these pictures of what my boggart could turn into. Maybe it would be a basilisk or some sort of dangerous magical creature.

I glance at Ginny. I remember how shaken she was after the dementors. Maybe I should not have asked her to come. I could have just asked Pansy. Maybe I should let us get caught by a teacher, that way, I would not have to find out how Ginny would deal with her boggart. I glance at her. She is gritting her teeth a bit and is looking determined.

I remember the letter she wrote me over the summer. Maybe she will be just fine.

Well, it is a bit late to get caught now. We stand in front of the classroom. I hesitate, Ginny however does not, with a swift alohomora she opens the door and we walk into the dark classroom.

"Lumos," I whisper softly. Ginny closes the door carefully and then looks expectantly at me. "You do know what a boggart is, right?"

Ginny nods.

I take a step closer to her. "You know how you defeat a boggart?"

Ginny looks defiantly, like she wants to say: don't you dare tell me I'm too young. "No, I don't. I am not a third year after all. Remember, we do not share the same classes."

I smile. "Well, luckily for you, I just happened to have a class on them."

"No, you did not," she says faintly smiling.

I chuckle. "I did. Boggart are shape-shifters," I say in my best Hermione imitation. I am after all lecturing Ginny on boggarts. "They like to hide in dark spaces or more exactly this old wardrobe. They feed off emotions and change into what a person fears most." I feel myself grow calmer. "To defeat a boggart you must turn it into something funny. A boggart can't stand laughter."

Ginny snorts. "That's enough, Draco."

I then continue with a normal voice. "Fine, the incantation is ridiculus. You need to envision how you make your worst fear funny."

Ginny swallows. "So what will your boggart turn into? Please tell me it's not a puffskein."

"Very funny," I say. Silence falls upon us. "I'm not sure. It might be a puffskein."

Ginny looks at me hesitantly. "Was Harry's boggart- Did he have you-know-who as a boggart?" Ginny blushes deeply.

"I don't know," I answer. "Lupin ended classes before Potter could defeat it."

I look at the wardrobe. We should probably just go ahead and try, we could always just, oh, I had not told her yet, did I? "Hey Gin, if one of us is failing to beat the boggart, you know, we can always confuse it. If we don't fear the exact same thing the most, it won't know what to turn into and might change halve into a puffskein and halve into whatever you fear," I half-joke.

Ginny eyes bore into me. "You don't have to tiptoe around it. I know it will probably turn into Tom. As do you."

"You don't have to face him," I say awkwardly.

Ginny gets a bit red-faced. "Why did you even ask me if you do not even think I should face that boggart?"

"Look, I'm sorry," I hastily say, "I just did not want to push you to face him."

Ginny gives me a pointed look. "I wouldn't have come if I had not wanted to. I would not have cared about you calling me a coward."

"Still," I say, "I pushed you."

She snorts. "Please, I could have always threatened you with my bat-bogey hex.." She then grows more serious. "I have to face him, Draco. Don't you understand? I can't keep having nightmares every evening."

I stare at her. "I.. Why didn't you tell me?"

She looks away. "I'm fine Draco." It is clear she does not want me to question her.

"So," I then ask, "Are you going to change Tom into halve a puffskein?"

Ginny smiles. "Maybe. I feel bad for the puffskein though.."

I breathe in deeply than with a jerk of my wand the wardrobe opens and the boggart comes out. Crack! My father is towering over us. His grey eyes sink deeply into my skin. I swallow. "You are a disgrace, Draco," father sneers. "You are a disappointment. I would have thought you'd be ashamed a mudblood would beat you in all of your classes." The words hurt, just as much as they did the first time. Crack! Now my mother looks at me. "You humiliate me, Draco, you do not deserve to bear your last name. I wish I never got you." Crack! Now it's Severus. He glares coldly at me. "You dunderhead! I cannot believe I thought you any better than the idiots I am used to teaching." Crack! Now it's Pansy. "You disgust me Draco," she sneers. "Potter got on the team on pure talent. You are so pathetic, buying your way on the team. I wish you were more like Potter."

Now I am looking at Ginny. "I wish you were more like Potter," she spats at me. "You are nothing compared to him. You are a coward."

I feel someone hit the back of my head. "You should know I don't think about you like that," Ginny then blurts out. "I don't think you are crap."

I snort. Thanks, Gin, I needed that. I close my eyes, letting the cruel words from the boggart wash over me. "Ridiculus," I say. When I open my eyes Ginny smiles at me. "You're not too bad for a Malfoy."

I smile. "Hey," Ginny protests, " I give better compliments than that."

"I hate it when you give someone a genuine compliment on their moustache and suddenly she's not my friend anymore." Boggart-Ginny than says.

Ginny snorts. I laugh and step back gesturing for Ginny to step forward.

Crack! It's Tom Riddle. He smiles at Ginny. I feel disturbed. I want to step in, but I can't, Ginny would not want me too. So I watch as he smiles down at her. "I can tell everyone all your secrets," Riddle whispers, " I would know them, you told me yourself, I am your best friend."

Ginny steps back. Looks him defiantly in the eye. "You're not my friend," she whispers. "Ridiculus."

I guess she remembered us joking before. I snort, looking at the strange combination of Riddle and the puffskein.