Disclaimer: The characters and places and stuff belong to JKR. But for now, they are at my mercy. *evil grin* I'll return them as soon as I'm finished…maybe.

In this chapter: Defense Against the Dark Arts, changes in boggarts

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Chapter 16

The next morning, Harry woke up early enough to go back to his dorm before breakfast. He gave Severus a grateful hug, then pulled on his Invisibility Cloak and went to his dormitory to get dressed. The Gryffindor dorms were empty, and Harry found his friends in the Great Hall. He sat down between Ron and Hermione, who both turned to look at him.

"I saw your note," Ron told him. "You all right?" Harry nodded as he put some food on his plate.

"I'm fine," he said, vaguely. Hermione handed him a piece of paper.

"Timetables, I already gave them to everyone else," she told him. "Today we've got Defense first, then Transfiguration before lunch."

Just as Harry finished eating his small breakfast, a large group of owls began to fly through the Great Hall. Draco's eagle owl dropped a note in front of Harry, and he quickly opened it.

Harry,

The charm alerted me that you had a nightmare last night. I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you. Are you all right? Follow when you see me leave the Great Hall.

Draco

Harry glanced over at the Slytherin table and caught Draco's eye, nodding slightly. Draco stood from the table, and Harry did as well.

"I'll see you guys in Defense," he said to Ron and Hermione. He then left the hall and met up with Draco.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked, softly, as he and Harry went off to a corner.

"I'm fine," Harry replied, folding his arms over his chest and smiling slightly. "You should really take off that charm. I feel kind of guilty about you waking up whenever I have a nightmare, since you're in no place to do anything about it." Draco waved the suggestion off.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "This way, you're not alone when you wake up. Anyway, what did you do after you woke up?"

"I didn't want to go back to sleep, so I went down to Sev's," Harry replied, quietly. "He gave me the whole 'You Have To Distinguish Between Teacher and Friend' talk. Told me I can't make it a habit to go down there every time I have a nightmare."

"And?"

"And...I guess he realized how scared I was and let me stay. I got in my bed, and he came in to talk about the dream. Then he went to leave, and he...he turned the lights out. All of them." Draco's eyes widened, and he wrapped Harry in a brotherly hug. "And, well...yeah, I kind of freaked out."

"Oh, Harry," Draco sighed. "Why didn't you tell him before that you're scared of the dark?" Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"Anyway, he ended up sleeping in your bed, so I wouldn't be alone, and I'm fine now," Harry finished. He changed the subject. "What do you have today?"

"Defense, then Charms," Draco replied. "Come on, let's go up to Defense."

The two arrived quite early for Defense Against the Dark Arts, but not so early that they were there before Sirius and Remus. Draco found a seat towards the middle of the room, while Harry went to see his godfathers.

"Morning, love," Sirius greeted him with a kiss to the top of his head.

"Harry, Severus informed us that you had a nightmare last night," Remus said, concerned. "And that you sneaked down to his rooms at one in the morning." Harry stared at the floor.

"I was scared, and I'm used to going to either Draco or him after I have a nightmare," he sighed.

"What if someone saw you either going in or coming out?" Sirius asked, gently. "You could've gotten yourself and Snape into some trouble. It's not good for a student to be going into a teacher's private rooms during the term."

"But you told me I could come to your rooms, and you're both teachers," Harry protested.

"That's different, Harry, because we're your godfathers," Sirius explained, patiently.

"Well, Severus..." Harry started, not quite knowing what he wanted to say. "Severus is...something to me. I don't know exactly what, but he's something to me, just like you and Remus are my godfathers. And I don't know why, but I feel more comfortable in my room down there than I do in Gryffindor Tower. I feel...safer. I feel better when I go down there."

"We know you do, Harry, and it's all right," Remus said, soothingly. "But you can't just go down there whenever you're scared. You understand why, don't you?" Harry sighed and nodded. "Good. Then don't do it. Now, go sit down."

Harry went back to sit next to Draco, just as the other Gryffindor and Slytherin seventh-years began to file in. There weren't many Slytherins left; several of the Death Eaters' children had been withdrawn from school after the last term. Crabbe, Goyle, and Bulstrode were no longer at Hogwarts, and therefore, not in this class. The Slytherin seventh years this term were much more tolerable than in past years. Even Pansy Parkinson wasn't so bad anymore.

"Good morning, everyone!" Remus greeted the class. "I trust everyone had a nice summer?" The majority of the class nodded. "Good, good. Now for our first lesson of the year, I thought we'd review something we went over in your third year. Who can tell me what a boggart is? Pansy?"

"Boggarts are shape-shifters," Pansy said. "They turn into whatever you fear most."

"Two points to Slytherin," Remus replied, nodding. "Lavender, what repels a boggart?"

"Laughter."

"Correct. Two points to Gryffindor."

"We have a boggart for you today," Sirius stated, gesturing towards a box on the floor that was jumping slightly. "But before we let it out, does everyone remember what to do when you face it? Make your fear funny, point your wand, and say Riddikulus!"

Before going over to the crate, Remus stepped up to Sirius and spoke quietly to him. Sirius nodded and went back to kneel next to Harry, who looked quite pale at the thought of facing the boggart.

"Don't make me do it, Siri," Harry whispered, gripping the edge of his desk so hard that his knuckles were turning white.

"Don't worry, Harry, you don't have to," Sirius assured him, softly. "Come, sit in the back with me. I'm not going anywhere near that thing."

"By any chance, is anyone's worst fear a dementor?" Remus asked the class. Blaise raised his hand, as did Carrie White, a Slytherin. "Please, go and sit in the back with Harry and Professor Black."

Blaise and Carrie joined Sirius and Harry in the back, watching the others face the boggart. Some of the students had the same worst fear as they had four years before. Ron, for example, was still afraid of spiders, so he used the same image as he did in third year: the spider lost its legs.

Other students, Harry noticed, were afraid of different things. It seemed that for most of them, as they grew older, they weren't afraid of monsters or anything like that. They were afraid of intangible things, like death and loss, and that meant that it was harder for them to defeat the boggart. How could they make such things out to be funny?

For example, when Draco approached the boggart, it became five separate coffins. Harry was in one, Severus in another. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy were each in their own coffins, and in the last one was a little boy who closely resembled Draco. Aidan. All five people were dead.

Harry watched Draco, who was slowly shaking his head and whispering to himself as he tried to figure out how to defeat it. He couldn't, and he began to back away from the image, tears streaming from his eyes. Remus quickly took care of the boggart--now the full moon--and as he got it back into its box, Draco slowly made his way back to Harry, who wrapped him in a hug.

"Sev and I aren't going to leave you," Harry whispered, gently rubbing Draco's back. The blond boy calmed down a little and sat in the seat next to Harry's, while Sirius returned to the front of the room.

"Has anyone noticed something about the differences between your fears from your third year and your fears now?" Remus asked the class. Harry raised his hand. "Yes, Harry?"

"As we mature and grow older, our fears mature as well," Harry explained, softly. "We fear things that we can't change, like death, and that's why a lot of people can't defeat a boggart. No decent person can make death funny."

The majority of the class nodded in agreement with Harry's statement, and Remus nodded approvingly.

"That's right. But even if it can't be defeated, it aids in the identification of a boggart. If you're afraid of a vampire or a werewolf, the boggart would turn into that monster, and you wouldn't be able to tell if it's real or not. But if it did what Draco's did a few moments ago, you would see easily that it's not real, though it can still affect you."

Parvati Patil raised her hand, and Sirius called on her.

"We saw that Professor Lupin's greatest fear is the full moon," Parvati said, softly. "I was just wondering, Professor Black, what yours is." Sirius let out a breath and lifted himself up to sit on the edge of his desk.

"I should think it would be quite obvious," he stated, "given my history. I think it's safe to say that just about anyone's greatest fear, after spending twelve years in Azkaban, would be dementors. My boggart would have turned into a dementor, and I would have been unable to defeat it because even a fake dementor would affect me as a real one would. I would have screamed, cried, and passed out within a few seconds."

The entire class was silent for a few moments, and then Remus spoke up again.

"There are fifteen minutes left, but go ahead and leave, if you want to. We're finished for the day. Oh, and five points to everyone who faced the boggart. Five points to you, too, Harry, for answering my question."

Most of the class left the room, leaving Remus, Sirius, Blaise, Hermione, Harry, and Draco. Harry knelt down by Draco, who was still quite shaky, and gently placed a hand on either side of his face.

"Are you all right?" Harry asked, softly. Draco nodded slowly. "You know Sev and I aren't going to leave you any time soon. You don't have to worry about it."

"That's what Mum and Dad said after Aidan died," Draco muttered, breaking free of Harry's hold and standing up. "Like you said, Harry: 'We fear things that we can't change, like death.' If you're meant to die, then you'll die. It can't be changed. If you and Uncle Severus are meant to leave me like everyone else did, then you'll leave me. Death is inevitable. I just have to get over it."

Draco turned to leave, but Harry caught him and pulled him into a tight embrace. Finally, Draco broke down and cried into Harry's shoulder. They didn't even notice Blaise, Hermione, Sirius, and Remus, who were watching sadly.

"That poor kid," Sirius said, softly, to Remus. "First his brother, then both of his parents? I'm surprised he hasn't killed himself by now."

"He still has people to live for," Remus replied, squeezing Sirius's hand. "I think he'll be all right, as long as Severus and Harry are around. They're really all he has left. I wish I could say that he has you and me, but he won't accept us like he did Harry and Severus."

"Draco, we need to get to class," Harry said, softly, when he pulled away a few minutes later. He let his hands trail down Draco's arms and held the blond's hands. "Blaise is waiting for you, and Hermione's waiting for me. Will you be all right?"

"Yeah," Draco sighed, pulling a hand away to wipe his eyes. "Yeah, I'll be fine. That was just...a moment. Sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Harry protested. He placed a comforting kiss on his friend's forehead. "You have nothing to be sorry for. We'll talk some more later, okay?" Draco nodded, and Harry squeezed his hand before leaving with Hermione.