Oh crap, I just realized I haven't updated in like...4 days. Sorry guys, it just kind of slipped my mind. Anywho, here's the next one, Enjoy!
Remus was excited beyond belief when the day came that he would teach his first class. And it only made him more excited when Dumbledore informed him that the golden trio was in his very first class.
Though before he went off to his class, Poppy insisted that he get his previous transformation wounds checked up. Remus protested that he had his transformation almost a week ago, and that he was fine, but Poppy simply told him to hush up and allow and old woman to tend to her very much missed werewolf patient. And who could say no to that?
So Remus stayed back to get himself checked up....and lost track of time. Which would probably explain why he was flying through the halls at the present moment.
And almost 5 minutes after class had officially begun, Remus arrived to the Defense Room where all his students were already present, books, quills and parchment displayed in front of them. The sound of chatter died out as he entered the room. Remus felt a hint of pride for his well organized students. Though the lesson he had in mind wouldn't involve books or quills he was still proud that they prepared themselves for him. He smiled as he strode to his desk in the front of the room.
"Good afternoon" he said placing his briefcase on his desk "Would you please put all your books back in your bags. Today's will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."
Remus chuckled as the class exchanged curious glances, apparently they had never seen the face of a practical defense lesson. "Right then" he said as the last few students tucked their belongings into their bags "If you'd follow me."
The students looked puzzled, but interested as they got on their feet and followed the defense teacher out of the classroom. Remus lead them along the deserted corridor and around the corner and upon turning the first thing they saw was Peeves the Poltergeist. Peeves was a long gone ghost from so many years ago that even Dumbledore remembered seeing him during his years as a student. And there was only one thing that Peeves resided in the halls to do. And that was to annoy the magic out of anyone who crossed his path.
At the moment Peeves was floating upside down in midair, stuffing the nearest keyhole with chewing gum. He did not look up until Remus and his students were about two feet away; then he wiggled his curly toed feet and broke into song.
"Loony, loopy, Lupin" he sang "Loony, loopy, Lupin, loony, loopy, Lupin-"
And as rude as Peeves was, he normally tended to show some kind of respect for teachers. The students, a bit taken back at his disrespect for Remus, turned to their professor to see his reaction; to their surprise he was still smiling.
"I'd take that gum out of the keyhole if I were you, Peeves" Remus said pleasantly "Mr. Filch won't be able to get his brooms."
Peeves payed no attention to Remus's words and blew a loud, wet raspberry.
Remus gave a small sigh as he realized, maybe his students didn't have to be the only ones to do something practical in this class. He drew his wand "This is a very useful little spell" That my best mates and I invented during our time as mischievous little third years such as yourselves "Please watch closely."
Remus raised the wand to shoulder height and said as clearly as he could "Waddiwasi!" and pointed it at Peeves. And then, with the force of a bullet, the wad of chewing gum shot out of the keyhole and straight down Peeves's left nostril; he whirled upright and zoomed away, cursing.
"Cool, sir!" Dean Thomas said in amazement.
"Thank you, Dean" Remus smiled a bit mischievously as he placed his wand back at it's holster "Shall we proceed?" The class nodded furiously and Remus did not hesitate to lead them along. He noticed the look of increased respect that his students where giving him the entire way and decided he had made a good enough first impression.
With that thought in mind, he led them down a second corridor and stopped right outside the staffroom door.
"In you go" Remus said as he opened it and stood back.
The students poured into the room, observing the place that they had never been allowed to before. The staffroom, a long, paneled room full of old, mismatched chairs, was empty all except for one teacher. Professor Snape sat in a low armchair and looked around as the class filed in. Remus noticed a rather nasty sneer playing around on his mouth. Nevertheless he stepped into the room and made to close the door behind him, but stopped when Snape said "Leave it open, Lupin. I'd rather not witness this."
He then got to his feet and strode past the class in one brisk movement. At the doorway he abruptly turned on his heel and said "Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom."
Longbottom? Remus furrowed his brows and looked to the boy Snape was glaring at. And then it hit him, Neville Longbottom! Son of Alice and Frank Longbottom! Good Gryffindor the boy was a spitting image of his father! Remus smiled, he always was good friends with the Longbottoms...until they where...tortured into insanity that is...
"I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear" Snape finished. Remus frowned. Now why would Snape say that? He was sure Frank and Alice's kid would be a good one. Of course Snape was only implying that he was stupid by books, but Remus was sure Neville was a nice boy. He looked over to the boy and saw him turn scarlet. He then looked at Harry and saw him glaring at Snape.
Remus raised a brow "I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation" he said making the sudden decision to help the boy out "and I am sure he will perform it admirably." Remus noticed Neville's face go(if possible) even redder.
He returned his gaze to his colleague and saw Snape curl his lip before quickly exiting, shutting the door with a snap.
"Now then" Remus said as he beckoned the class towards the back of the room, where there was nothing but an old wardrobe. As Remus went and stood next to it, the wardrobe gave a sudden wobble, banging off the wall. "Nothing to worry about" Remus assured as a few people jumped backward in alarm. "Theres a boggart in there" he explained.
He noticed Neville give him a look of pure terror and Seamus eye the knob of the wardrobe carefully.
"Boggarts like dark enclosed spaces" Remus said "Wardrobes, cupboards, under sinks, the gap beneath beds..." he took a look around "I've even met one before that had lodged itself into a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday afternoon and I asked Professor Dumbledore 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?" Remus smiled as Hermione's hand immediately went up.
"It's a shape-shifter" she said as Remus nodded towards her "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us the most."
"Couldn't have put it better myself" Remus said, causing Hermione to glow "So the boggart sitting inside the wardrobe has not assumed a form yet. He does not know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. No one knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each one of us fears."
"This means" Remus said ignoring Neville's sudden sputter of terror "that we have one huge advantage over the boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?" he said intentionally making an excuse to talk to and look at the boy clearly. He saw Harry struggle a bit with the question before he answered, "Er-because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape to be?"
"Precisely" Remus said, beaming at his best friend's boy "It is always best to have company when facing a boggart. He becomes confused. Which chould he become, a headless corpse or a man-eating slug? I once saw a boggart that made the very mistake-tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug" and half a werewolf..."Not remotely frightening."
The class giggled a bit at their professor's words
"The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind" Remus continued "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 truly amusing."
"We will practice the charm without wands first. After me please...Riddikulus!"
"Riddikulus!" the class said in unison.
"Good" Remus smiled "Very good, but that was only the easy part I'm afraid. You see the word alone is not enough. And this is where you come in Neville." He chuckled as the wardrobe shook again, but not nearly as much as Neville, who walked forward as though he were heading for the gallows.
"Right, Neville" Remus said as the boy finally approached him "First thing's first: what would you say is the thing that frightens you the most in the world?"
Neville's lips moved but no noise came out.
"Didn't catch that Neville, sorry" Remus said cheerfully.
Neville looked around wildly, as though begging someone to help him, then said in barely more than a whisper "Professor Snape."
Remus joined the rest of the class in having a good laugh. Even Neville grinned a bit.
"Professor Snape" Remus chuckled thoughtfully "Scares them all...now Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?"
"Er-yes" Neville said nervously, though more relaxed than before "But I don't want that boggart to turn into her either."
"No, no, you misunderstand me" Remus shook his head smiling "What kind of clothing does your grandmother usually wear?"
"She carries a red handbag" Neville began, but Remus cut her off "No, we don't need to hear it, as long as you see it, we'll see it. Now, I want you to picture her clothes-just her clothes, very clearly in your mind."
Neville simply nodded.
"Alright then, here's what I want you to do" Remus said as he stepped next to Neville and leaned close to his ear. He quickly whispered the instructions "When I let the boggart out, I want you to picture Proffesor Snape in your grandmother's clothes." He spoke very low so the only ones that could hear were himself and Neville.
The boy laughed a bit at his instructions.
"Can you do that for me?" Remus smiled.
Neville nodded with some enthusiasm.
"Good" Remus said standing next to Neville. He drew his wand "Wand at the ready" he instructed.
Neville carefully drew his wand.
"One, two, three" Remus said slowly before flicking his wand. The wardrobe knob turned with a click and very eerily creaked open. And out stepped-Professor Snape, eyes flashing at Neville.
"Think Neville, think" Remus whispered coming up behind the boy. Snape began to advance closer, and closer until-
"Riddikulus!" Neville cried, pointing his wand at Snape.
There was a crack. Snape stumbled backwards and suddenly his normal black attire sprouted into a long lace-trimmed dress, a towering hat topped with a moth-eaten vulture, and he was swinging a huge crimson handbag.
There was a roar of laughter; the boggart paused, confused.
"Wonderful, Neville, wonderful! Incredible, ok to the back Neville" Remus praised, he then turned to face the class "Everyone form a line!" The students rushed to do as they were told, and as they did Remus walked over to the phonograph on a nearby table. He put on a catchy jazz rock track and turned back to his students, who were pushing and shoving to form a single file line.
In the end though it was Ron who ended up in the front of the line. He looked terrified beyond words' description as he stepped forward to face the severely confused form of Snape.
And upon spotting Ron, Snape quickly twisted and turned to an enormous spider. Ron whimpered pathetically as he drew his wand and stepped back. The spider snipped it's pincers and began to walk towards Ron.
"Wand at the ready Ron, wand at the ready!" Remus advised as he leaned against the table that the phonograph was on.
"Riddikulus!" Ron cried just as the spider was about to grab him. Roller skates suddenly appeared beneath the creature's feet, and it stumbled this way and that, trying to stand.
Remus bent over in laughter "See, wonderful, marvelous, excellent, very very good Ron. Parvati, next!" He shouted as he reached over and grabbed an apple from a nearby bowl. He took a large bite out of it and grinned at Parvati.
She stepped up to face the enormous snake that appeared before her. After her Seamus, then Dean and so forth. More than half the class had gone by before Remus cried "Come on then! Next!" He didn't even bother to see who was next in line, admittedly he was having just as much fun as his students.
But suddenly, as he looked up he spotted, standing in front of the boggart was...Harry.
Remus's heart immediately leapt to his throat. There was no doubt in his mind that Harry would immediately think of Voldemort. And to have Voldemort appear in the middle of his classroom....well not only would it have a heart stopping effect on Harry, but also the rest of the students.
But before Remus could do anything, the boggart twisted into....a dementor? Remus had to admit he did not see that coming, but as the dementor began to approach Harry, he realized he couldn't let it reach the boy.
So without a second thought, Remus shot forward and stepped in front of Harry.
The dementor spun into a silvery-white orb. It hung in the air in front of Remus, who was filled up with relief that he had reached Harry before the boggart-dementor. His relief caused his word of "Riddikulus" to come out almost lazily.
There was a crack and Remus stepped aside, deciding that he couldn't allow the class to know something had gone wrong "Forward, Neville, finish him off!"
Neville stepped forward with a look of determination, as the boggart turned back into Snape. And with Neville's cry of Riddikulus sprouted his dress once more. Neville stepped out and let out a great big "Ha!" and laughed straight at the boggart. It then looked around very stunned before it exploded, burst into a thousand tiny wisps of smoke, and was gone.
"Excellent!" Remus cried, trying to keep his voice as enthusiastic as possible. His class broke into applause.
"Excellent, Neville, well done everyone" he smiled a bit "Now, let's see, five points to Gryffindor for every person that tackled the boggart-ten for Neville because he did it twice...and five each to Hermione and Harry."
"But..I...I didn't do anything" Harry said, a bit dazed.
"You and Hermione answered my questions correctly at the beginning of the class, Harry" Remus said lightly. He tried very hard to look Harry in the(oh so familiar) piercing green eyes and pretend nothing happened. "Very well everyone, excellent lesson, there is no homework today so go on off to your next class now" he spoke to the entire room.
Every single person's face broke out in smiles at the sound of that. Except Harry's.
Remus frowned as he saw the look on the boy's face. He did want to talk to Harry, and this might serve as a good chance. But as Remus started towards him, Harry had already joined along with his friends in exiting the room.
HP
HP******HP
HP
There you go guys, the next one. Hope you liked it and please review! =]