Chapter 4: Boggart Battles and History Hijinks
A/N: Okay, Chapter 4. The idea for the prank I got from Partially Kissed Hero by Perfect Lionheart. If you haven't heard of it, go check it out! Enjoy!
McGonagall was ecstatic when the four friends turned up and asked her if they could change their electives. She happily complied. Hermione had asked for Care of Magical Creatures instead of Arithmancy, because she already did that subject. Originally, she'd chosen Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Muggle Studies, but when she'd gone to Flourish and Blotts and seen how horribly outdated the curriculum was, she'd decided to switch to Divination, because she knew that all three of her friends were taking it. She'd tried to convince Neville of how behind Muggle Studies was, and he'd wholeheartedly agreed because he'd had excursions to the Muggle world with Harry, Sirius, and Remus when he'd been younger. However, he had still decided to do the subject because he wanted to set up a unique plant nursery when he grew up—the main part would be for Muggles, and there would be an entrance to the magical section similar to the entrance to Platform 9 ¾, as well as a Floo and an Apparition point. This plan assured him a foot in both worlds doing something that he loved, but in order to get the licence from the Ministry, he'd have to have a NEWT in Muggle Studies. "Besides," he'd said, "Imagine all the pranks we can pull on the purebloods who think that it's up to date!"
Soon after they'd successfully had their electives changed, it was time for Transfiguration, where they watched McGonagall shift into her cat form and back, and then found out that after they'd left Divination, Trelawney had claimed that she'd seen the Grim in Harry's future. Harry inwardly snorted and made a mental note to tell Sirius. He was sure his godfather would get a kick out of it; after all, his Animagus form was a Grim-hound.
The four of them left the lesson still smothering their laughter at Lavender and Parvati, who seemed to be convinced that everything Trelawney said was true. They made their way to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, since they had a free period and they'd organised with Remus and the rest of the Marauder's Recruits that they would set up a long-term prank, and they needed her help to pull it off. Luckily, it didn't take too long to convince her since she'd wanted to be a teacher when she'd been alive, and the four of them plus ghost rushed to the location of their prank to pull it off.
Satisfied, they left the Binns' office an hour later and headed down to lunch.
oOoOo
Nothing much happened until Thursday. When they got to Defence, Remus wasn't there, so the class sat down, took out their books and started talking. He soon arrived however, and instructed them to put their books away and follow him, as they were having a practical lesson. This excited them all, since the last practical lesson that the majority of the class had had was last year, when Lockhart had set the Cornish Pixies loose. Not a lesson any of them wanted to remember. Those who'd been tutored by Remus last year were looking forward to the lesson because his practical lessons were brilliantly devised and taught everyone something.
The class filed out of the classroom after their professor and followed him to the staff room, which was empty except for one teacher: Professor Snape. True to his pretend dungeon-bat character, he sneered and left, muttering about imbecilic Gryffindors.
"Now then," said Remus, beckoning them towards the end of the room, where the only piece of furniture was an old wardrobe. As he stood next to it, the wardrobe gave a sudden wobble, banging off the wall behind it.
"Nothing to worry about," he said as a few people jumped backwards in alarm. "There's a Boggart in there."
While most of the class looked like they certainly were worried about the Boggart, Remus quickly calmed them down and went on a short question-and-answer style lecture to get everyone in the mood for his lesson. He finished off with saying, "The charm that repels a Boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a Boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing."
He went over the Riddikulus Charm, then called on Parvati and asked what she was most afraid of.
"A-a mummy," she stuttered.
Remus smiled kindly. "Perfectly acceptable to be afraid of them. Well then, Parvati, how would you make a mummy funny?"
"Er… make the bandages and the head fall off?" she suggested.
"Excellent! Now, you stand in front of the wardrobe and when I open it, the Boggart will burst out and see you, and will assume the form of a mummy. You will raise your wand and shout, 'Riddikulus', and concentrate hard on how you want to make it funny. If all goes well, the Boggart mummy will unravel and its head will fall off, like you wanted."
The class burst into giggles, and the wardrobe wobbled more violently.
"Once that has happened, I would like you all to form a line, because it will likely turn its attention to us in an attempt to scare us. Take a moment to think of the thing that scares you the most, and imagine how you might force it to look comical."
The room went quiet. Last week, Remus had explained to Harry what he planned to do this lesson, but he'd also asked him what he should do about Harry's Boggart. Harry had encountered a Boggart when he'd been nine, and it had taken the form of a dead Sirius and Remus. Remus had explained that he didn't think it was a good idea to show his Boggart's form to a bunch of gossiping thirteen-year-olds. Harry had agreed, and suggested that he make it look like Harry and Neville simply didn't get to have a turn because the class was over. When Remus had looked puzzled over why he'd suggested Neville didn't participate either, Harry had told him that Bellatrix had escaped Azkaban, and that it was likely that she might be Neville's Boggart form. Remus had Flooed over to Neville's and explained his first lesson, and Neville had agreed that it was very likely true.
Therefore, when the class had formed a line behind Parvati, Harry and Neville quickly went to the back of the line, followed by an understanding Draco, but a frowning Hermione took her place behind Ron, eager to succeed. The wardrobe door burst open, and a blood-stained, bandaged mummy walked slowly towards Parvati, dragging its feet, stiff arms raising—
"Riddikulus!" cried Parvati.
Some of the mummy's bandages unravelled, and the mummy fell forward, head falling off in the process. The class sniggered, and Parvati, satisfied, walked to the back of the line.
Seamus, as next in line, darted forwards. Crack!Where the mummy had been was a woman with floor-length black hair and a skeletal, green-tinged face—a banshee. She started wailing, and Seamus shouted, "Riddikulus!"
The banshee made a rasping noise and clutched her throat; her voice was gone. Lavender made her way before the Boggart, and Crack! A rattlesnake hissed and writhed in front of her. When she cast the charm, the rattlesnake's rattle turned into a baby's rattle and flew off its tail and hit it in the head.
Next was Dean, whose Boggart was a severed hand which quickly became trapped in a mousetrap. Ron was next, and with a crack, the hand became a huge spider, which had its legs vanished when Ron shouted, "Riddikulus!"
Hermione was up next, and the rolling spider became a disappointed-looking McGonagall, who said that Hermione had failed all her classes, and that she would have to leave the Wizarding World and never return. Hermione was so shocked that she froze and gasped.
Remus, seeing she couldn't do it, stepped in front of her, and McGonagall vanished. For a second, everyone looked wildly around to see where it was. Then they saw a silvery white orb hanging in the air in front of Remus, who said, "Riddikulus!" in an almost lazy manner.
The Boggart became a cockroach, and Remus shouted, "Finish it off, Parvati!"
Parvati charged forward looking determined, and once it had become the mummy again, she shouted, "Riddikulus!" and its head fell off again. She gave a loud, "Ha!" and the Boggart exploded into a thousand tiny wisps of smoke, which disappeared.
"Excellent!" cried Remus as everyone started clapping for Parvati. "Well done, everyone. Let's see now… five points to Gryffindor for every person to tackle the Boggart—ten for Parvati, because she did it twice—and five for everyone who answered my questions at the beginning. For homework, kindly read the chapter on Boggarts and summarise it for me, due on Monday. That will be all."
oOoOo
History turned out to be a blast. At first, everyone was confused, because Professor Binns was nowhere to be seen, then Myrtle appeared out of the blackboard. "Sorry all, Professor Binns is tied up at the moment."
The quartet snorted.
"Now. He hasn't left any notes, so I've had to make some lesson plans out of the blue. With some help, I've decided to show you an informational recording on how, long ago in a different galaxy, people saw and used magic very differently to the way we do. I must warn you, you won't find any resources on this in the library, because it isn't actually that well-known by the people in the Ministry, or most of the Professors in Hogwarts. You see, in that galaxy, the Statute of Secrecy didn't exist, and there were many wars as a result. This war is split up into three parts, and the first part we'll be watching today. Mr Finnegan, please tap this rune with your wand."
Seamus did as asked, tapping the rune on the old-style projector, turning it on. At first, the screen showed only black, then some blue script appeared, saying, 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…'
This too, disappeared, and then the music came.
All the purebloods and quite a fair few of the halfbloods reared back in surprise at the loud noise. Harry could see the muggleborns looking excited.
By the time the movie was over, everyone was entranced with the story, including the pranking quartet and Myrtle herself. When the credits ended, Myrtle had Seamus tap a different rune to rewind the movie reel, then the off rune. Then she faced the class. "Did we all enjoy that?"
Everyone shouted, "Yes!"
She smirked. "Well then, I think you won't mind the homework."
There were some groans throughout the class, but the overall attitude was a curious one. Harry was also curious, because their prank had simply been to show the movie and pretend it was real. It seemed she was taking her new role as a teacher seriously. "Since this is the first essay on a recording any of you have done, I'll make it simple: a foot and a half on how having a Statute of Secrecy would have helped them, and how not having one has impacted the relationship between the different races. To help you, there are illustrated lists of Star Wars races on my desk, one booklet per person."
The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw third-years exited their History of Magic class happy and babbling about Star Wars.
