It may be important to mention the new DADA teacher: Professor Remus Lupin. He was, perhaps, the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Hogwarts had ever employed. Quirrell's lessons were, all in all, pretty useless (the dueling they did was unsupervised and ill taught), and Lockhart's were even worse. Lupin actually seemed to know what he was doing. He'd brought in live creatures such as Grindylows and Hinkypunks for them to learn about with real experience, and taught them valuable defense tactics. Not to mention he was extraordinarily kind. Shiro found comfort in hanging out after classes with Lupin when he wasn't visiting with Hagrid.
"Okay, class, today we'll be facing something called a boggart. Can anyone tell me what a boggart is?" Lupin exclaimed one Double DADA lesson with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Though nobody raise their hand at the time, Konata had a feeling Hermione Granger had answered, correctly at that, during the Gryffindor-Slytherin class.
"Well, I'll tell you. A boggart is a creature whose true form has never been seen by anyone. You see, a boggart turns into whatever its victim fears the most. However, there's a spell that can help out when confronted by a boggart. It's called riddikulus. In order to perform this spell, you must think of something funny you'd like to happen to your biggest fear. For example, the boggart turned into Neville Longbottom's most feared professor, and his riddikulus caused his grandmother's clothes to appear on said professor." Konata, who had been given a vivid description of Neville's Gran and knew very well his biggest fear was Snape, giggled behind her hand.
Lupin motioned toward a large wardrobe in the middle of the room. "Boggarts prefer dark spaces, so this one is concealed in here. Do I have any volunteers to face it first?"
As if they had the same brain, the students simultaneously stepped back. The only one who remained in place was Shiro. Smiling sheepishly, he took a brave step forward.
"Ah, Mr. Ueda. Very well, very well. Are you ready?" Shiro paused for a moment, then nodded sharply. "Excellent. One… two… Three." With a flick of Professor Lupin's wand, the wardrobe burst open. Something invisible whipped the air into a strange vortex which spat out a swarm of shrieking, silvery phantoms of all varieties. Young children, elderly adults, middle aged people from about the 16th century… One thing they each had in common was the look of melancholy confusion on their translucent faces. Shiro gulped, slowly raising his wand.
"R…Ridikkulus!" he cried. However, the ghosts continued to advance on him.
"Nice try, very good, just designate your concentration to your humorous thought and say your spell clearly, try once more," Lupin urged him.
Shiro sucked in his breath and shouted, "Riddikulus!" At that, the spirits all silenced their screeching and melted into what looked like ice cream that had been left out in the sun. Lupin led the class into enthusiastic applause.
"Well done, Mr. Ueda! Very well done! Who wants to go next?"
Shiro retreated to the back of the crowd of his classmates, smiling uncontrollably and blushing a bit. He smacked his palm against everyone's outstretched hands, holding onto Konata's for a few seconds. He smiled at her, meeting her eyes to silently tell her he was alright. "Why don't you get in line to do it?" he offered. Konata began to object but, seeing how utterly happy Shiro seemed, just couldn't turn him down. She nodded and jogged over to get in line.
When her time finally came, Konata stood up as tall as she could and approached the currently cobra-shaped boggart, its merciless eyes piercing hers. It abruptly writhed in the air, splitting into two. Each half morphed into two humans: one a blonde Gryffindor girl with dark blue glasses, the other a blue eyed, dark-brown haired Ravenclaw boy. Shiro felt his heart turn icy. Konata's biggest fear was him and Blaze? His confusion was cleared up, though, when the image of her smiling friends turned gruesome. A look of fright appeared on their faces; horrid screams arose from their throats; their skin ripped away from their flesh; they turned to skeletons, Blaze's glasses falling to the floor and shattering. Konata gasped, her eyes starting to water. She knew this was just a mirage, but it felt so… real. So convincing.
"It's okay, Ms. Verdent… Remember your spell…" Lupin murmured. It was evident in his voice that he'd never seen a student with such a grotesque biggest fear. Konata raised her wand, but was shaking so badly it slipped out of her hand. She just couldn't find anything funny to make out of her best friends' deaths. Tears leaked from her emerald eyes, and she shook her head.
"I-I can't, Professor, I CAN'T…!" she gasped. Biting his lip, Lupin flicked his wand, sending the skeletons back into the wardrobe.
"That's enough for today… We can continue tomorrow. Thank you, class, and have a wonderful day."
However, Konata hung back. She was wiping her eyes on her sleeve, but couldn't seem to get her tears to subside. Lupin kneeled down to her height and patted her shoulder. "It's perfectly okay, Konata. There's nothing to be ashamed of. Lots of people can't face the boggart. And some of them have relatively silly fears, like rodents. It's 100% understandable that you didn't know how to make your riddikulus work. That was quite noble of you, your fear involving losing people you love," Lupin confided softly, pressing her wand into her hand. Konata nodded timidly.
"Good day, Professor," she whispered.
Lupin stood and ruffled her hair. "Good day, Ms. Verdent."
On her way out of the classroom, Konata felt someone grab her arm. Still a bit jumpy, she squeaked and swung her bag backwards. Shiro caught it with both his hands, grinning at her from the side. "Don't attack me, now."
Konata blushed and immediately let her bag drop to the floor. She didn't even bother to pick up its spilled contents. "Sorry," she said in a hoarse voice.
Shiro swatted at the air. "Don't worry about it. Okay, so about class today… It's nice to know that even deep inside, you still care about me. It's… reassuring. Thanks. Though I might have to spread a few rumors about you caring more about us than your little boyfriend."
Konata gasped rather unconvincingly, bringing her hands to her cheeks. "Oh no! How will I EVER go on when word leaks out that my replacement Neville is Blaze!"
Shiro smirked. "I was in that image too, y'know."
"Oh you know I was only kidding."
Shiro ruffled her hair. "'Course I do. But uh, see you around?"
Konata nodded. "See you around. Remind me I have some Fizzing Whizbees to give you."
"You do? Oh, wow! That's my favorite candy!" Shiro exclaimed.
"Huh! Awesome! Well, I'll see you later. Hopefully." Konata gathered up her supplies, gave Shiro a hug that lasted a few moments, and ran off before he could get another word in.
Shiro heaved a sigh, running his hand through his bangs. "''Course I do,' I say. Well, I suppose it wouldn't have gone down too well saying what I wanted to, since she has a boyfriend…" he muttered.