Chapter 2

They were up with the sun the next morning making sure the first years made it down to breakfast. As they sat at breakfast and the owls arrived; Harley's owl Archimedes, a miniature, gray-ish barn owl, struggled with a rolled magazine, tied up in twine. He dropped it right in front of her and panted madly, flailing to an exhausted stop by her orange juice. Harley quickly unrolled the magazine to reveal the latest issue of Witch Weekly. She flipped quickly through the pages. "Sirius Black...blah..blah..blah..Chaos...Fretting Ministry...blah blah.. Sirius Black...yada yada...Sirius-bloody-Black.. Who bloody cares about Sirius Black? He was awfully handsome in his younger days, though."

Rhia simply rolled her eyes as Harley continued to flip, and jumped when Harley let out a gasp. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Qwilorg Tnornakoy has left his wife and the band to start a solo career." She squealed with excitement.

"So..."

"So?! So, now I have a chance!"

Rhia laughed for she so seldom had a chance to see this side of Harley; any occurrence of girlish glee was a cause for excitement. When breakfast was over, the girls went around encouraging first years to hurry along to class, then made their way to class themselves. That morning, a Wednesday, they had DADA together and swooned as the new teacher walked in. Well, you couldn't really say 'walked', he more 'strolled casually'.

"Good morning."

"Good morning, Professor," a few outspoken student ventured. This didn't include Rhia and Harley, seated in the back, jaws dropped and eyes widened. A hot male teacher...it was about bleedin' time.

"And who's that, I wonder," inquired Harley.

"Dunno. Don't remember him from last night."

"Not at all. Don't think I'd forget that...erm...visage."

"Although, he obviously hasn't heard of this new thing called 'cotton'."

They, and every other girl in the class, watched as the new professor made it up to the front of the classroom. In purple chalk, he wrote his name on the board: Remus J. Lupin.

"Harley Lupin...much better than Tnornakoy."

"I'll say."

Professor Lupin then sat his briefcase down on the teacher's desk and instructed them to not bother with their books, only their wand; today was to be practical lesson. "Right then. Follow me."

Harley only purred, which sent Rhia into giggles as the new Professor walked out the door. Only ruggedly handsome Lupin could send 'mature' seventh years into giggle-fits. After the girls composed themselves, they followed the crowd of seventh and sixth year DADA students out the door. The group, headed by Lupin, all squeezed into the Teacher's Lounge. Rhia and Harley were some of the last students in, but could still see well enough that Lupin was standing in front of an old, dusty wardrobe.

"Are we going to learn how to use hangers?"

"No, Miss Edwards, we'll be learning how to properly defeat a boggart."

At this, Harley made herself scarce behind the tallest boy she could find.

"Well, since Miss Edwards has shied away from the challenge, anyone care to volunteer to be the first to tackle our pesky little problem?"

The first to step up, of course, was someone who actually knew Lupin from outside of school. Seeing as how Remus knew his parents, Percy was first to pipe up. "I volunteer, Professor."

"Wonderful, Percy. Have at it then. When I open the wardrobe, the boggart will come out as your worst fear, the defense spell to use is Riddikulus, and this will turn your worst fear into something quite the opposite." After giving Percy time to get ready, Remus opened the wardrobe and a perfectly preened George Weasley stepped out, Prefect's badge all a-shine. This, of course made Rhia swoon and Percy shudder. It took a bit of boggart-George's strutting before a stuttering Percy got out the incantation correctly. When he finally managed, there was a poof and then, a cooing, pacifier-sucking, curly-haired, bouncing baby George was at his feet (which got more than a twitter out of Harley). The laughing drove the now crawling boggart-baby-George back into the wardrobe, which Lupin shut with a praising smile.

As Percy stepped back, Oliver Wood spouted, "Hell, if he can do it..."

"Then waste no time, Master Wood."

Wood took his dueling stance and squared his jaw, looking as if he were about to block a quaffle and not stun a boggart. The wardrobe burst open and out leapt Marcus Flint, Slytherin Captain, brandishing the Quidditch Cup, all green and silver in Slytherin glory. Unlike Percy's flailing stutter, Wood look quite miffed at that blasted boggart and seemed more than pleased to shout 'Riddikulus!' at it. In an instant, the Quidditch Cup became a shattered broom and Marcus Flint no longer boasting, but weeping.

A few more Gryffindor's went, then a Slytherin or two, a handful of Ravenclaws, then the Hufflepuffs had their turn. Next to volunteer was Cedric Diggory, at which Rhia and Harley moved up a bit in the crowd in anticipation. His boggart became an injured Cho, his beloved girl. His incantation turned the sad sight, however, into, instead of a fallen girlfriend, a victorious Ravenclaw seeker, snitch-hand outstretched in triumph.

Since there seemed to be a pattern going on here, another Hufflepuff went next. Rhia stepped up to the wardrobe and seemed hesitant. Harley knew why, but pretended not to notice all the same. When Lupin opened the wardrobe out fell a small limp body of a boy no more than twelve. It was Colin, Rhia's little squib of a brother. Harley cringed and looked away, not much wanting to see that either. Rhia faltered, at first, but said her incantation quick enough. The effect was not a harmed Colin, but quite a magical wizarding one.

"Well then...that was depressing."

"Found your nerve, then, Miss Edwards?"

Harley only smirked at Rhia as they passed each other with a look that screamed 'why me?'. As Harley took a stance before the wardrobe, she hoped her boggart wouldn't be anything as solemn as the other Hufflepuffs. Of course, Harley wasn't that lucky, for as soon as Lupin opened the wardrobe, out stumbled a quite injured, quite bloody Freddie Weasley. Harley, quite out of character for those who didn't know her, covered her mouth and shrieked at the sight as boggart-Fred fell at her feet. Tears formed in the corners of Harley's eyes and, nearby, Rhia noticed. She stepped towards her friend, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder momentarily as she whispered words of encouragement, explaining that it would only go away after she said the incantation. Harley closed her eyes a moment, gathering herself, then opened them again, wand aimed down at the boggart. "Riddikulus!" In a poof, much to her chagrin, the bloody, battered Fred was now perfectly fine and down on one knee before her, holding out a ring. Everyone, including Rhia, sniggered or catcalled as Harley blushed then proceeded to kick the boggart back in the wardrobe.

Finally, everyone had gone, and Lupin was about to lead the class back to the classroom when ever-vigilant Percy spoke up, "Professor, Penelope hasn't had a try yet."

Lupin stopped, turning back round to the wardrobe, smiling pleasantly at Penelope, "Well, we have to remedy that straight away." At that, Remus wasted no time in opening the wardrobe door.

To everyone's surprise, Rhia came out of the closet, seductively strolled up to Percy, grabbed the front of his shirt, pulled him against her, winked at Penelope, and then planted a wet kiss right on the poor, unsuspecting boy's lips.

Not only did Penelope gasp, but half the class, including Lupin, did also, "Well, that's highly unusual behavior for a boggart. Cheeky bugger."

Those that weren't gasping were Oliver, Cedric, and Harley, who were all supporting each other as fits of laughter consumed them. Rhia, however, didn't find it funny at all, and was having a hard time at keeping her breakfast down.

Penelope found it about as funny as real-Rhia did, and proceeded the haul back and slap Percy right across the cheek, sending the boggart-Rhia stumbling backwards into the wardrobe with the sheer force behind it.

"Well...unconventional," mused Lupin. "But...whatever works, I always say."