AN: I told you I'm slow! But here's the next chapter and I plan to update another one before Christmas. I hope you enjoy this one and please tell me what you think of it!

Chapter 4: The boggart in the wardrobe

Ron and Harry rushed into the DADA-room and sighed in relief that Professor Black wasn't there yet. Hermione still threw a despising look at them for being late.

"Where have you been?" she asked accusingly.

"Ron lost Scabbers" Harry answered.

"I didn't lose him! He ran away when I wanted to put him in my pocket!"

"You wanted to bring him to lesson? You know it's not allowed!"

"Yes! But he's sick!"

Their conversation was cut short by the arrival of their new teacher.

"Good morning, children!" he began. "Today we will have a special lesson which isn't part of this year's curriculum. However, as you all know the Ministry sent out the dementors to capture the escaped convict, Remus Lupin. I want you to know that dementors are very dangerous creatures. Do you know anything about them?" he asked. Nobody applied, except for Hermione of course.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"They feed on the happy thoughts of people."

"That's correct, yes. But more precisely they suck out every happy thought and memory of their victim and leave behind only the saddest and most horrible thoughts and memories. The victim can't think about anything else than these and with time he or she goes crazy because of this. Dementors guard Azkaban prison where those wizards are kept who committed some serious crimes. Because of the dementors' affects these witches and wizards lose their ability to do magic."

Harry shivered. He still couldn't forget the terrible feeling and the screams he heard when the dementor stepped into their compartment on the Hogwarts Express. But he quickly concentrated back on the lesson. Maybe he can find out how to protect himself from the creatures!

"It's very hard to fight a dementor, because - as I said - they influence magical abilities as well. We won't learn here how to chase away a dementor, it's advanced magic and you hopefully won't need it anyway."

Harry's heart fell and he didn't even realize that Hermione was waving with her arm to get the professor's attention.

"Yes, Hermione?"

"You said to chase away a dementor. Can't they be destroyed?"

"Good question. You're very perceptive" Hermione smiled happily. "There's a way to kill them but it's even harder than to chase them away and most wizards never manage to learn it. If you are interested you can read about it in 'Guide to most dangerous dark creatures' it is available in Hogwarts' library."

"The best way to defend yourself against a dementor is to keep out of its way. However" he continued after a short silence, "I don't want to rob you the opportunity to learn the counter-curse. Professor Dumbledore and I agreed to start a new study circle. Our first meeting will be on Friday afternoon at four o'clock here in this room. Everybody can come who wants to learn some advanced self-defense-curses and methods."

Harry had the feeling that Professor Black was looking exactly at him when he said this. He immediately decided that he would go. Since he was introduced into the magical world he always managed to find trouble… or trouble managed to find him! But anyway if somebody then he needed self-defense.

"Instead the dementors we will learn about a different creature today and this is the boggart. Does anybody know what a boggart is?"

Of course Hermione knew it.

"A boggart is a shape-shifter, it can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most."

"Correct again, Miss Granger" Hermione seemed to be grown a few centimeters with proud. "Boggarts usually live in dark places and they try to surprise their victims. I had two reasons to choose them for today's lesson. The first is a theoretical reason: boggarts are in a way very similar to dementors. Can somebody tell me in what this similarity stands?"

Nobody volunteered but Harry had an idea and he raised his arm tentatively.

"Yes Harry?"

Professor Black looked at him with a slight smile. For a moment he looked almost as if he was embarrassed about something. This was the first time he smiled and it was strange because - however he was kind and polite to the students - he seemed rather grim so far. Now that he smiled, he looked much younger and Harry realized that he must have been in his thirties rather than in his forties as he had thought before.

"I think they are similar because they both manipulate our mind…"

"Yes, you are right. Dementors bring out our worst memories which we fear and boggarts manipulate us to see our worst fears in them. For this reason you can fight both creatures with similar methods. You need two things: concentration and self-knowledge. But before I continue I'd like to tell you the second reason as well. This is a practical reason: a boggart was found in an old wardrobe in the teacher's room. I asked Professor Dumbledore to let us practice on it."

A rather noisy reaction followed this announcement. They all remembered their last practical lesson with Lockhart that turned into an absolute catastrophe. But Professor Black seemed to be much more appropriate for a task like this than their last teacher.

"Please put away your books and follow me to the teacher's room!" he said a little bit louder.

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They walked into the teacher's room and found Snape there. The potion-master jumped up immediately and started to leave. He looked at Professor Black with such hostility that Harry has never seen before… maybe only one time: when Snape looked at him! It was good to know that he wasn't the only one that Snape hated with a passion. To tell the truth Professor Black's face wasn't exactly friendly either. It seemed that they could drown each-other in a drop of water.

"Professor Snape!" the DADA teacher said icily.

"Black!" it was more like a growl than a greeting. "I better get going… I don't feel like witnessing this madness..." he mumbled under his nose and slammed the door so hard that the walls trembled slightly.

Professor Black snorted but soon turned back his attention to the class.

"All right. As I said before to defeat a boggart you need concentration and self-knowledge. First of all you have to know what you are most afraid of. I'd like you to imagine that thing now. Close your eyes and imagine it."

Everybody did as they were told.

Harry was thinking rapidly. What was he most afraid of? The first thing that came to his mind was of course Voldemort… but then an even more terrifying picture appeared in his mind: the creature from the train and the screams he heard in his head… the dementors. He shivered and looked around to see if somebody had seen it.

"Do you have it?" Professor Black asked.

Everybody nodded around him.

"All right. When you meet a boggart it will take up the form of that thing that you fear the most. There is a spell that you can use against it though. It sounds like this: Riddikulus!" he showed with his wand how to do it. "Please try it out!"

"Riddikulus!" could be heard from more than twenty voices.

"Very good. But the spell isn't enough. As I said you need concentration. To deflect the boggart you have to face your fear and laugh about it. You have to think about something that makes your worst fear comical… or at least less terrifying. If this happens the boggart will look for another victim. As in this room there are plenty of possible victims the boggart will get confused after a while. This is our biggest advantage. Please form a line in front of this wardrobe."

They did so quickly but nobody wanted to be first… then somehow Neville ended up in front of the others and he watched the wardrobe with fearful eyes.

"What's your name?" Professor Black asked.

"Neville Longbottom, sir" Neville said in a trembling voice.

"You're the son of Frank Longbottom?" the teacher asked quietly.

"Y-yes, sir."

Black smiled and patted Neville on the shoulder but didn't say anything more about the topic.

"All right, Neville. Let's hear what you are most afraid of!"

Neville's lips moved but Harry couldn't make out what he said. Professor Black obviously could as he let out a bark-like laugh. Neville blushed to the ears.

"Never mind!" the professor said then in a friendly tone. "Professor Snape isn't really funny, what?"

Everybody snickered as they realized what Neville's worst fear is.

"I have an idea here" their teacher said thoughtfully, then bent down to Neville and whispered something in his ear. Neville seemed to be stunned at first, but after a while a broad grin appeared on his face.

Harry became very curious what the professor could have told him but he guessed they would find it out rather quickly. Professor Black stepped to the wardrobe and looked back at Neville.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

Neville gripped his wand so tightly that his knuckles went white but he nodded determinedly.

Professor Black opened the wardrobe and… Snape stepped out of it furious and dark as ever.

"Riddikulus!" Neville shouted and pointed at the fake-Snape.

There was a noise like a whip-crack and a wild wind surrounded Snape and it tore into his robe, raising it up high in the air so that his legs could be seen. Snape didn't wear trousers under the robe. His legs were white and hooked and he wore short-like pants with huge pink hippopotamuses on it that were moving around like people in magical paintings.

There was a roar of laughter, the boggart paused, confused.

"The next one!" Professor Black ordered and Neville stepped out of the way to let Seamus face the boggart.

The creature immediately turned into something else with a crack. A woman with floor-length black hair and a skeletal, green-tinged face stood in the middle of the classroom. A banshee. She opened her mouth and an unearthly sound filled the room…

"Riddikulus!" shouted Seamus.

The banshee made a rasping noise and clutched her throat; her voice was gone.

Then others came but Harry couldn't really concentrate. His mind was racing. Only two more people stood in front of him. How could he make a dementor funny? There was no way!

It was Ron's turn. Crack! A giant spider, six feet tall and covered in hair appeared.

"Riddikulus!" and the spider's legs vanished. Ron stepped away and it was Harry's turn…

He raised his wand and realized that his hand was trembling, the boggart turned and…

And then Harry was practically pushed out of its way by Professor Black.

Crack! The whole room turned dark. Harry suddenly forgot even the horrific image of the dementor. It was the blackest darkness he had ever experienced. He couldn't even make out his own hands. Then as suddenly as it started the darkness vanished as more hundreds of candles appeared in the air.

"Neville!"

Professor Black called in a strangely hoarse voice and Neville stepped in front of the boggart without hesitation. It turned into Snape again.

"Riddikulus!" shouted Neville and they had a split second's view of Snape in his funny underwear before Neville laughed out and the boggart exploded, burst into smoke and was gone.

While they were walking to next class everybody was talking excitedly about the lesson. Harry agreed with most remarks: this was really the best Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson they've ever had. But he felt upset. Why didn't Professor Black let him face the boggart? Did he think he was too stupid to do it? The most annoying thing was that deep in his heart he was glad. He still couldn't find out how he could have made the dementor look funny!

The others were cheering about something but Harry only thought about one thing: he has to learn the spell against the dementors!

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