The second-year Defence Against the Dark Arts class was going so well that, toward the end of the year. they had started the beginning of the third-year curriculum. Today, they were defeating boggarts.
Jane waited in line, watching other students face the boggart. Most of her peers' worst fears seemed rather silly, to her eyes. She was not sure what her worst fear was though. Maybe it was equally silly. It was not.
Jane stepped up, to the boggart. It changed, and suddenly her mother was lying dead in front of her.
Jane trembled, pointing her wand. "Riddikulus," she cried.
The boggart changed to her sister, lying on the floor dead.
Jane whimpered, trembling some more. She pointed her wand. "Riddikulus,"
Now Neville was lying dead in front of her. Jane trembled. She pointed her wand, but before she could say anything an uncontrollable burst of magic shot out of it. It had such a strong force that she flew into the air, and landed hard on the floor.
Professor Lupin and Luna were soon at her side.
Jane sat up, slowly.
"Are you alright?" Professor Lupin asked.
Jane nodded, unable to speak. She was a little sore, but it did not seem like a big deal.
"Don't be embarrassed," he said. "For people with more severe worst fears, such as yourself, it is harder. Would you like a hand up?"
Jane shook her head, and slowly got up herself.
"I think it would be best if you went to the back of the line, so you can recover a bit from that, before trying again."
Jane did as she was told.
Luna went to the back of the line with her, even though she had not gone yet.
Jane was grateful for that.
Eventually, it was Luna's turn. Luna stood in front of the boggart, and it changed to Luna's father, lying on the ground dead. Jane recognized him, from having seen him with her at the train station.
"Riddikulus," Luna yelled.
Luna's father jumped up, no longer dead, and started dancing in a rather silly way.
Jane was next. She tried to copy off Luna's idea, but exact same thing happened as last time.
"Class dismissed," Professor Lupin yelled, crouching down next to her. "You can try again, but you don't have to," he told Jane.
"I-I think I want to," Jane said. "Um… my wand chose me as its second owner. Could who its first owner is affect uncontrollable wand magic?" she asked. She did not think it was a coincidence that the image of dead Neville was when her wand gave off uncontrollable magic, twice in a row.
Who was your wand's last owner?"
"Alice Longbottom."
Professor Lupin stared at her in shock, for several seconds. "Maybe it does," he finally said, "but I don't really know. Do you want to try it with someone else's wand?"
Jane nodded.
Luna handed her wand to Jane, and Jane took it.
Jane faced the boggart. "Riddikulus," she yelled when it was on her dead mother. It changed to her dead sister, yet again, "Riddikulus," she yelled. The image of Tracey came back to life, jumped up, and started dancing.
"Thanks, Luna," Jane said, smiling. She handed Luna her wand. "Sorry I basically stole your idea."
"Don't be. It worked."
"Congratulations Jane," Professor Lupin said.
Professor Lupin stood in front of the last second-year Defence Against the Dark Arts class. "I have an announcement to make," he said. "As many of you already know, my mate was released from Azkaban recently. I've wished I could spend more time with him, but it's hard while I'm working here, and he's traveling the world. Also, not too many people know this because they didn't publish it, but it was revealed, during the trial that I'm a werewolf. Word of mouth has spread this, and I"ve been getting hate mail, from some parents. I have decided that I will be leaving you at the end of the year, to join my mate on his travels."
Jane hadn't known that he was a werewolf. She was surprised. She was creeped out at first, but that didn't last. He was a good teacher, and he was a nice guy.
Jane and Neville were about the leave the train station with Jane's mother, Tracey, and Mrs. Longbottom, when Luna rushed up to them. Her father followed.
"If any of you are planning on going to the Quidditch World Cup, my dad can get a discount on tickets."
"Can squibs can to the Quidditch World Cup?" Jane's mother asked. She had never gotten to see Quidditch.
"Yes," Mr. Lovegood answered.