REVISED.

Kirsten Carlisle looked forward to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class the moment Harry had divulged to her what it comprised of during their time together at the Leaky Cauldron. The idea of conjuring spells that could thwart jinxes and hexes enraptured her as well as the dark spells. The discussion of counter jinxes would eventually lead to a conversation of the spells they would have to defend themselves. And oddly enough, Kirsten found the Dark Arts rather fascinating.

Ever since she found out from Hagrid that her mother was killed by a dark wizard, the young witch wanted nothing more to look into the infamous wizard. And as much as there were books that mentioned the wizard by his no-name and the atrocities that were committed, there was no relevant information about him.

Who he was. Where he was from.

Absolutely nothing.

Luckily Harry had prime information on the wizard considering recent events from his past year. The man's true name and heritage. How Voldemort somehow came to possess Ginny Weasley to open the chamber of secrets through a journal of all things. How he was able to manipulate Harry to a degree through said journal and show him a memory.

The wizard was certainly alive. Wizarding history books telling her otherwise be damned. He had enough will power to possess Harry's Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher his first year, and possess Ginny during his second year.

And if he was alive, that meant he was biding his time. As much as Kirsten would let her imagination run wild with books of fiction, there was always a common theme with evil characters. They weren't ever truly dead.

Which led to her fascination with the class. The evil wizard was clearly still out there, making calculated moves. He has tried to kill Harry on multiple occasions, so what would stop him from continuing?

Defense Against the Dark Arts would be the only true way to learn how to protect oneself.

And she wanted to be prepared.

"Good afternoon." The voice jolted Kirsten from her thoughts and her eyes landed on the sandy haired professor that entered through the doors. The young witch had almost forgotten where she was in that moment, looking around to see her classmates seated in the classroom with her. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags. Today's will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."

It was music to her ears.

"Right then," Professor Lupin said after everyone put their belongings away. "If you'd follow me."

Kirsten followed the professor alongside the rest of the class to what she would have referred to as the faculty and staff lounge back at her Muggle school. Of course, Peeves, a Poltergeist that Ron had warned her about earlier that morning, decided to get in the way until Lupin was able to handle him. As soon as Kirsten entered through the door to the lounge, the young witch wanted to turn back around immediately when her eyes landed on a familiar figure seated on one of the many old mismatched chairs.

Snape.

"Leave it open, Lupin. I'd rather not witness this," Snape drawled as he got to his feet and strode past them to the door. The man stopped and turned as he faced the rest of the class.

"Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear."

Kirsten glanced at the ever nervous boy to see he turned scarlet at Snape's words.

"I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation," Lupin said, "and I am sure he will perform it admirably."

Kirsten looked over to see Neville turning a darker shade of scarlet before snapping her back to the two professors.

Kirsten didn't miss the nasty glare that he directed toward her before he left, shutting the door behind him. She couldn't help the anger and curiosity that surged through her.

What exactly did she do to make him so furious with her?

"Now, then," Professor Lupin said, beckoning them towards the end of the room where an old wardrobe stands. It suddenly wobbled, banging off the wall.

"Nothing to worry about," Professor Lupin said calmly. "There's a boggart in there."

"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," Professor Lupin said. "Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks — I've even met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the headmaster if the staff would leave it to give my third years some practice.

"So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a boggart?"

Hermione raised her hand up in an instant.

"It's a shape-shifter," she answered. "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Professor Lupin said. "So the boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears."

Neville's terrified whimper did not land on deaf ears.

"This means," Professor Lupin said, "that we have a huge advantage over the boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"

Kirsten glanced sideways and couldn't help the small grin on her face. Hermione was practically jumping up and down with her hand raised to answer the question, while Harry was trying to get his words together.

"Er—because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be?" Harry answered, questioning his own response.

"Precisely," Professor Lupin said. "It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a boggart. He becomes confused. Which should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a boggart make that very mistake — tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself in half a slug. Not remotely frightening.

"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.

"We will all practice the charm without our wands first. After me … riddikulus!"

"Riddikulus!" Kirsten said with the rest of the class.

"Good," Professor Lupin said. "Very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And this is where you come in, Neville." The wardrobe shook violently once again and Kirsten looked at Neville to see he was shaking more than the wardrobe.

"Right, Neville," Professor Lupin said. "First things first: what would you say is the thing that frightens you most in the world?"

Kirsten saw Neville's lips move, but she couldn't hear any noise.

"Didn't catch that, Neville, sorry," Professor Lupin said cheerfully. Neville looked around wildly, practically begging for someone to help him.

"Professor Snape," he said in barely a whisper. The entire class couldn't help the laughter that burst from their mouths.

Only Neville.

The curly haired witch looked over at Professor Lupin to see him pondering over something.

"Professor Snape…hmmm…Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?"

"Er—yes," Neville said nervously. "But — I don't want the boggart to turn into her either."

"No, no, you misunderstand me," Professor Lupin said, smiling. "I wonder, could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?"

Neville looked startled at the question. "Well…always the same hat. A tall one with a stuffed vulture on top. And a long dress…green, normally…and sometimes a fox-fur scarf."

"And a handbag?" Professor Lupin prompted.

"A big red one," Neville said.

"Right then," Professor Lupin said. "Can you picture those clothes very clearly, Neville? Can you see them in your mind's eye?"

"Yes," Neville replied uncertainly.

"When the boggart bursts out of this wardrobe, Neville, and sees you, it will assume the form of Professor Snape," Lupin said. "And you will raise your wand — thus — and cry 'Riddikulus' — and concentrate hard on your grandmother's clothes. If all goes well, Professor Boggart Snape will be forced into that vulture-topped hat, and that green dress, with that big red handbag."

Kirsten couldn't hold in her laughter along with the rest of the class at the thought. The wardrobe wobbled more violently.

"If Neville is successful, the boggart is likely to shift his attention to each of us in turn," Professor Lupin continued. "I would like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you most, and imagine how you might force it to look comical…."

Kirsten wondered what exactly she was afraid of.

Certainly not DuPont...

She thought of Voldemort, but decided against it. She didn't even know what he looked like... and to be honest, she wasn't afraid of him. The man was a coward who did nothing but strike from the shadows.

Oh!

The memory of her thirteenth birthday came rushing at her.

"Take its legs off."

She opened her eyes to find Ron muttering to himself, and small smile tugged at her lips. Her eyes then moved over to Harry, who she saw shiver. He looked around and both their eyes met. Kirsten threw him a questioning look but he just shook his head. He raised his eyebrows as if to question what she feared the most. In response, Kirsten shrugged her shoulders.

"Ready?" she asked him. Harry opened his mouth to reply but Lupin beat him to it.

"Everyone ready?" Professor Lupin asked, looking around until his eyes landed on Neville.

"Neville, we're going to back away," Professor Lupin informed him. "Let you have a clear field, all right? I'll call the next person forward….Everyone back, now, so Neville can get a clear shot —"

Kirsten stepped back a couple of times with the rest of the class, and saw Neville's pale and frightened face. He pushed up the sleeves of his robes and held his wand readily.

"On the count of three, Neville," Professor Lupin said, pointing his own wand at the handle of the wardrobe. "One — two — three — now!"

A jet of sparks shot out from the end of Professor Lupin's wand, and hit the doorknob. The wardrobe burst open.

She looked on as a hook-nosed and menacing Professor Snape stepped out, his eyes flashing at the round boy that stood near. Neville backed away mouthing wordlessly, while Boggart Snape reached inside his robes.

"R—r—riddikulus!" Neville squeaked and a whip-like crack sound followed. Boggart Snape stumbled back and, in an instant, he was wearing a long, lace-trimmed dress and a towering hat topped with a moth-eaten vulture; his hand holding onto a huge crimson handbag. Once again, nobody could hold in their laughter, and Kirsten noticed the boggart pause, in confusion.

"Parvati! Forward!" Professor Lupin shouted.

Parvati walked forward, her face set with determination as Boggart Snape rounded on her. Another crack resounded in the room, and Boggart Snape vanished. In replacement of him, stood a bloodstained, bandaged mummy; its sightless face looking on at Parvati. It began to walk towards her very slowly, dragging its feet, its stiff arms rising —

"Riddikulus!" Parvati cried. The bandage unraveled at the mummy's feet and became entangled; its face fell forward and its head rolled off.

"Seamus!" Professor Lupin roared. Seamus moved forward to take on the boggart and successfully taken down his fear of banshees.

"Kirsten!"

Kirsten stepped forward to face the boggart. A large crack resonated throughout the room and the banshee vanished. In place of Seamus' boggart was a tall hooded figure. The entire class was quiet as they watched back and forth, between Kirsten and the boggart. Long black sleeves rose up to the hood and lowered it.

Grey eyes widened as the hood revealed her own face. However, it was a much more haunting version of herself. An onyx color spilled over the whites of her eyes and onto her irises in an all consuming manner. Boggart Kirsten's facial features were much sharper than hers, and nobody could mistaken the sinister aura surrounding her. It was then that Kirsten realized the boggart was stalking in her direction, like a predator, blood lust written on her face.

"Riddikulus!"

In an instant, boggart Kirsten began to melt. Her flesh was rolling off in droplets of black, leaving behind the muscle and skeletal anatomy. Boggart Kirsten was shrieking in agony; the noise close to what the banshee had sounded. Kirsten didn't care what sound her boggart self was making. As long as it was melting…. The muscle and other internal organs were the next to go which left only her skeleton. Fortunately for everyone, they did not witness her internal organs melting because of the robe. Her remains and robes left in a heap on the floor surrounded by the black liquid.

"It's confused!" Lupin shouted. "We're getting there! Dean!"

Kirsten stepped back and her fellow Gryffindor took her place. Her mind was in a daze as she thought back to the day, she first saw that face. It was the day of her thirteenth birthday. When she first started hearing the heartbeats that would ferociously pound within her head.

The kids in the orphanage weren't as bothersome that day, with the exception of Victoria, of course. The strange sound filled her head, and she was lucky to be in the bathroom of the orphanage at that time. The pounding was driving her mad and she wanted to stop it. They were causing her pain after all. And she was willing to do anything to stop it. That included tearing the bathroom door open, and plunging her fist into everyone's chests. She wanted to hold their hearts in her hand. To hear their heartbeats fade from her head.

Instead, she clung onto one of the sinks, desperately trying to fight off the temptation. That's when she caught a look of herself in the mirror. Her facial features were a lot sharper. And her eyes. The onyx color that seeped into the whites of her eyes were so daunting.

Kirsten involuntarily shuddered at the memory and watched her classmates. It was Ron's turn.

Crack!

An enormous spider, covered in hair, advanced on Ron. Its pincers were clicking menacingly at him. Her eyes widened and she even took a step back.

"Holy..." she muttered under her breath.

"Riddikulus!" Ron bellowed. The spider's legs vanished and it fell to the floor, rolling over. Lavender squealed and ran out of the way as the spider's body stopped to a halt at Harry's feet. Harry raised his wand.

"Here!" Professor Lupin shouted suddenly, and he moved forward.

Crack!

The spider's legless body vanished. Kirsten glanced up to see a silvery-white orb hanging in the air in front of Lupin. At the sight of his boggart, Lupin's face paled; Kirsten noticed how sluggish his movements were as well.

"Riddikulus!" Lupin says almost lazily.

Crack!

"Forward, Neville, and finish him off!" Lupin said as the boggart landed on the floor as a cockroach.

Neville's approach brought the return of boggart Snape. Neville's face was full of determination as he brought up his wand.

"Riddikulus!" Neville shouted. The boggart exploded after a split second view of Snape in his lacy dress. Kirsten's eyes flitted back to where her Boggart form stood.

"Very well, everyone, an excellent lesson. Homework, kindly read the chapter on boggarts and summarize it for me…to be handed in on Monday. That will be all," Professor Lupin said, ending the lesson. Everyone walked passed Kirsten and towards the door.

"Kirsten, are you all right?" a voice broke her thoughts. She looked at the direction of where the voice came from and saw Professor Lupin standing there, looking rather concerned. She took a step back slightly, remembering that this was a man who had witnessed her tears on the train.

How volatile she had been in that moment.

How concerned he was with her reaction.

Kirsten nodded her head in response, still looking at the last spot the boggart was in before it was destroyed. She had so many questions that would be left unanswered if she didn't seek out questions.

The young year turned to leave through the door where the trio were waiting for her before she looked him in the eyes.

"Just a bit tired is all…"