Before I post this I just got to say, phoenixfelicis07, I hope it was an amazing cookie!
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3 Chapter 9: True Fear
By Thursday, Alexis was getting very frustrated with Ron. She couldn't understand how he could still be stubbornly ignoring her when he had forgiven Hermione for their spat on the same day. It was annoying but just another thing Alexis was forced to blame on the mysterious 'puberty'.
So of course Alexis wasn't in the mood for Trelawney's nonsense.
"Pair up with your partner class," said Sybill Trelawney in her aurora filled voice. "We shall read each other's future by palms."
Alexis failed to hold her groan as the Weasley twins ditched her, leaving her once more with a Ravenclaw girl Alexis still only knew by her last name, Fawcett. Fawcett gave Alexis a dirty look, no doubt because she was friends with Cho, but Alexis ignored it. She wanted to get this over with so she could see what her boggart was.
"My child, what do you see?" asked Trelawney to Alexis. She always liked Alexis, mainly because she didn't know Alexis completely made up all her predictions.
"I see Fawcett doomed to fall in love with a Hufflepuff only to have their most sincere moment ruined by a jealous snake her sixth year," said Alexis as falsely mystifying as she could.
"She already made that prediction!" cried Fawcett.
"It's a strong prediction, and I also knew you were going to get angry," added Alexis, hiding her smirk poorly.
"Wonderful, Alexis," said Trelawney. "A strong prediction is sometimes told twice. Now Miss Fawcett."
With a loud huff, Fawcett opened up her textbook and started examining Guy's hand as if it were a piece of meat at the butcher's. After several attempts to make a prediction, Trelawney took over. She nearly dropped Alexis's hand in fright.
"You poor girl," whispered Trelawney. "So young, so full of life."
"What?" said Alexis. She seemed to be the only student, save the twins, that wasn't looking a Trelawney as if they were about to hear the most dreadful of news. "Is this about the snake that kills me? Is that this year?"
"No, sadly your life is longer but full of so much pain," said Trelawney, dramatically. "Your past will be revealed, as a rat is amongst your friends. Soon everything you know will change and death will fill its place!"
The class gasped. Alexis blinked.
"So you're not going to tell me how many kids I'm having when I'm older?"
Trelawney opened her mouth but Alexis stopped her.
"Don't you dare tell me," said Alexis. "I can deal with dying and a rat for a friend but if you tell me how many kids I'm having I'm dropping this class."
With that Trelawney closed her mouth tight. Everyone knew Alexis was her favorite student because she thought Alexis had the Inner Eye. It was complete nonsense but it was going to earn Alexis an easy OWL.
Finally class ended the students were dismissed. Alexis was hurrying to the Defense classroom but Fred and George were right on her heels.
"So who's the rat?" asked Fred.
"We know it's not Ronnie, prat as he may be," said George.
"And Hermione wouldn't dream of ratting a friend out," defended Fred.
"But what we really want to know is-"
"What secrets of your past they'll reveal?" they finished together.
Alexis rolled her eyes at the twins. She suddenly dropped off into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, leaving them befuddled in the hallway.
Smiling at Harry and waving to Draco, Alexis just barely took her seat in the back of the class before Remus Lupin entered the room. He was in shabby robes and carried a worn out briefcase but he was smiling kindly when he entered. Alexis hadn't noticed it before when she saw him in the hall the other day, but he looked a great deal healthier then he had on the train.
Placing his briefcase down, Remus smiled once more at his class.
"Good afternoon," he said. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags. Today's will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."
A few curious looks were exchanged as the class put away their books. Alexis was already liking this new professor more and more. He seemed to know what he was doing and was into the hands on approach.
"Right then," said Remus, when everyone was ready. "If you'd follow me."
The class did as they were told and followed Remus out of the classroom and down a long corridor. Alexis quickly fell in stride next to Harry who looked equally as excited as Alexis about the lesson.
'What do you think he'll make us do?' thought Harry.
Alexis bit her lip to keep from smiling but Harry saw through it.
"He already told you, didn't he?" asked Harry aloud. "Not fair."
Before Alexis could laugh at her best friend a familiar crackle filled the air. It was Peeves and he was singing.
"Loony, loopy Lupin," Peeves sang. "Loony, loopy Lupin, loony, loopy Lupin -"
"Peeves!" snapped Alexis. "Really?"
Peeves blew raspberries at Remus which Remus responded with shooting a piece of gum up Peeve's nostril. The same piece a gum Peeves had just stuck in the key hole of a door. Peeves whirled upright and zoomed away, cursing.
Alexis sighed, shaking her head with a smirk while the rest of her classmates laughed and cheered.
"Cool, sir!"
"Wicked!"
"Thank you," said Remus Lupin. "Shall we proceed?"
They set off again, the class looking at Remus with increased respect. Even the Slytherins seemed somewhat impressed by Remus's quick wand work. He led them down a second corridor and stopped, right outside the staffroom door.
"Inside, please," said Remus, opening it and standing back.
The staffroom, a long, paneled room full of old, mismatched chairs, was empty except for one teacher. Snape was sitting in a low armchair, and he looked around as the class filed in. His eyes were glittering and there was a nasty sneer playing around his mouth. As Remus came in and made to close the door behind him, Snape said, "Leave it open, Lupin. I'd rather not witness this."
He got to his feet and strode past the class, his black robes billowing behind him.
At the doorway he turned on his heel and said, "Possibly no one's warned you, Remus, 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."
Alexis took a defensive step, along with Harry, in front of Neville, who had turned a bright shade of red. Snape caught sight of this and sneered but fortunately, Remus did too.
"I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation," he said, "and I am sure he will perform it admirably."
Neville looked twice as nervous as before but Snape's sneer turned into a cruel smile. Alexis couldn't help herself.
"Always lovely to see you smile, sir," said Alexis in a way that told everyone it was anything but lovely.
"That's a detention, McPherson," growled Snape.
Alexis bowed her head in fake politeness.
"Thank you, sir," said Alexis. "You bless me."
"Two detentions," snapped Snape.
"Careful, professor," said Alexis. "People might think I'm your favorite if you keep this up."
Something about what Alexis had said had really rubbed Snape the wrong way but before he could retaliate Remus had closed the door in his face, the faintest of smirks on Remus's lips. Without Snape being visible, half the class had fallen into giggles including some of the Slytherins. Harry, on the other hand, was shaking his head sadly at his best friend.
'You would do that,' he thought.
'Couldn't help myself,' Alexis sent back with a shrug.
The class moved to the end of the room where Remus stood by a large wardrobe in the corner. Suddenly the wardrobe gave a violent shake, banging off the walls next to it.
"Nothing to worry about," said Remus calmly because a few people had jumped backward in alarm. "There's a Boggart in there."
Alexis couldn't help but to grin as half the class, that being the half that knew what a Boggart was, looked even more worried.
"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," continued Remus. "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."
For a brief moment, Alexis's mind trailed off, trying to imagine what her headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, would see if he faced a Boggart. She wondered if he would have as much trouble thinking of what he was afraid of as she was or if he already knew his greatest fear.
"So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a Boggart?"
Hermione put up her hand.
'Go figure,' Alexis thought to herself, teasingly.
"It's a shape-shifter," Hermione said. "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most."
"Couldn't have put it better myself," said Remus, and Hermione glowed.
'Grangers going to have a big head if he keeps that up,' thought Draco, earning him a stink eye from Alexis. She couldn't stay mad at him, however, because Harry had a similar thought running through his head.
"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."
'I wonder if Mad-Eye has ever seen a Boggart's true form?' Alexis thought.
'Pay attention, Hex,' said McPherson but she heard him chuckling.
"This means," said Remus, choosing to ignore Neville's small sputter of terror, "that we have a huge advantage over the Boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"
Harry gulped, looking towards Alexis for help. She gave him an encouraging smile. Gulping once more and trying to ignore Hermione who was bouncing on her heels to answer the question, Harry spoke.
"Er - because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be?"
"Precisely," said Remus Lupin, and Hermione put her hand down, looking a little disappointed. "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 into 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 practice the charm without wands first. After me, please...riddikulus!"
"Riddikulus!" said the class, minus Alexis, together.
"Good," said Remus. "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 again, though not as much as Neville, who walked forward as though he were heading for the gallows.
"Right, Neville," said Remus. "First things first: what would you say is the thing that frightens you most in the world?"
Neville's lips moved, but no noise came out.
"I didn't catch that, Neville, sorry," said Remus cheerfully.
Neville looked around rather wildly, as though begging someone to help him, then said, in barely more than a whisper, "Professor Snape."
Nearly everyone laughed, including Neville himself. Remus was grinning, but had a thoughtful look on his face.
"Professor Snape... Doesn't he frighten us all?" he said with a chuckle, earning more laughter. "Now Neville, I understand you live with your grandmother. Am I correct?"
"Er - yes," said Neville nervously. "But - I don't want the Boggart to turn into her either."
"No, no, you misunderstand me," said Remus, now smiling almost childishly. "I wonder, could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?"
Neville looked startled, but said, "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?" prompted Remus.
"A big red one," said Neville.
"Right then," said Remus Lupin. "Can you picture those clothes very clearly, Neville? Can you see them in your mind's eye?"
"Yes," said Neville uncertainty, plainly wondering what was coming next.
"When the Boggart bursts out of this wardrobe, Neville, and sees you, it will assume the form of Professor Snape," said Remus. "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."
There was a great shout of laughter. Alexis was so excited she was jumping up and down.
"Snape in a dress, Snape in a dress!" she whispered over and over. She caught Harry rolling his eyes at her, smiling softly at her excitement.
"If Neville is successful, the Boggart is likely to shift his attention to each of us in turn," said Remus. "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..."
The room fell silent. Alexis immediately looked at Draco who nodded nervously at her. She mouthed, "turn it pink," making Draco smirk, before turning back to Harry. He looked confused before suddenly rather unsure about facing the Boggart but before Alexis could ask him what was wrong, Remus Lupin spoke.
"Everyone ready?" he asked. "Good. Now Neville, we're going to back away and 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 -"
No one seemed to hesitate to take a step back, leaving Neville pale and frightened in front of the wardrobe. Quivering his upper lip, Neville looked like he was about to cry but he had pushed up the sleeves of his robes and was holding his wand ready.
"On the count of three, Neville," said Remus who was pointing his own wand at the handle of the wardrobe. "One - two - three - now!"
A jet of sparks shot from the end of Remus Lupin's wand and hit the doorknob. The wardrobe burst open. Hook-nosed and menacing, Snape stepped out, his eyes flashing at Neville.
Neville backed away, his wand up, mouthing wordlessly. Snape was bearing down upon him, reaching inside his robes.
"R - r - riddikulus! " squeaked Neville.
There was a noise like a whip crack. Snape stumbled; he was wearing a long, lace-trimmed dress and a towering hat topped with a moth-eaten vulture, and he was swinging a huge crimson handbag.
Alexis had never laughed so hard in her life and she wasn't the only one laughing. In fact, it was the first time both the whole of the Gryffindor and Slytherin students were laughing together.
"Right, Pansy!"
Pansy walked forward rather proudly, though she was shaking slightly when she stood still. The Boggart Snape moved towards her, changing shape with a loud crack. In its place stood a great, big Hippogriff and it looked furious.
"Riddikulus!" Pansy shouted with a determined but shaky voice.
The Hippogriff went from being the size of a horse with an eagles face and a horses body to the size of a humming bird with a horses face too big for its bird body. Pansy grinned triumphantly.
"Seamus!" roared Remus.
Seamus darted past Pansy.
Crack!
Where the Hippogriff had been was a woman with floorlength black hair and a skeletal, green-tinged face - a banshee. She opened her mouth wide and an unearthly sound filled the room, a long, wailing shriek that made Alexis cover her ears.
"Riddikulus!" shouted Seamus.
The banshee made a rasping noise and clutched her throat; her voice was gone.
"Excellent! Ron, you next!"
Ron leapt forward.
Crack!
Quite a few people screamed. A giant spider, six feet tall and covered in hair, was advancing on Ron, clicking its pincers menacingly. Alexis watched as Ron took a deep breath and-
"Riddikulus!" bellowed Ron, and the spider's legs vanished. It squirmed on its belly but couldn't move, merely flopped.
"Draco!" called Remus.
Draco moved forward, an emotionless mask slipping on his face.
Crack!
For a moment, Alexis thought she saw a grin light up Remus's face at the sight of Draco's Boggart. How anyone could grin at the sight of a eight foot werewolf with silver fur and piercing grey eyes was beyond her. Even Alexis was thinking twice of being in the room with the creature.
"Riddikulus!" howled Draco.
The great, and utterly terrifying werewolf was no more. In its place was a pink pup with a head too big for its tiny frame and kept falling over. Alexis had a feeling Draco had gotten that idea from Pansy.
The class was still laughing when Remus called Alexis's name.
"You next, Alexis!" called a triumphant Draco.
"Yeah, Hex's turn!"
Alexis smirked before stepping forward. She still didn't know what her Boggart would be. McPherson had raised her not to be afraid of anything, she wasn't even afraid of dying!
A loud crack filled the air and Alexis cocked her head to the side, confused.
"What?"
Standing in front of Alexis was herself only younger. Boggart Alexis looked about six or seven and was undoubtably very adorable if it wasn't for the grin that covered her face. It was sadistic, something Alexis expected to see on an insane person, not her younger self.
"I'm not afraid of myself," Alexis stated, blinking in confusion.
However, Alexis's confusion was quickly replaced with shock as her Boggart self transformed into another familiar shape. Many students gasped, having seen the form the Boggart had taken in the Daily Prophet only two years ago but Alexis merely stared.
"Tom?"
McPherson stood in front of Alexis, grinning his classic McPherson grin.
"Tom!"
Alexis took a step towards McPherson only for him to suddenly fall to the floor screaming a scream Alexis had only heard twice in her life.
"Help me!" cried McPherson. "Make the pain stop, please! Hex, Please!"
Alexis couldn't move. It was like she had been frozen in place by the same paralyzing spell McPherson had casted on her before he had been killed. She could only watch as her friend and guardian twitched and screamed on the floor in front of her. Her eyes widened as his form changed once more.
The black hair woman from the mirror her first year, her mother, laid in front of her screaming for mercy. But once more the figure changed and in its place was Hermione. Then Draco. Then Cedric. Then Ron. Finally, Harry laid in front of her, screaming a blood curling cry.
"Make it stop! Hex, make it stop!"
Panic was building up in Alexis. She didn't know what to do. McPherson was yelling at her, telling her it wasn't real, but she couldn't hear him. All Alexis could hear or see was Harry being tortured in front of her.
A hand fell on her shoulder and turned her away from the scene. Harry embraced her in a hug. He whispered into her ear, "I'm here, Hex. Don't listen to it. I'm here. We all are here."
A crackle came form behind the two friends, drawing their eyes.
"I'm not here, though," said the Boggart with McPherson's voice. "You let them kill me, remember? I died because of you!"
It gave another loud crackle, unlike anything Alexis had ever heard. Harry pushed her behind him.
"Don't listen to it, Hex," whispered Harry. "Don't let it scare you."
"I'm-"
But Alexis didn't need to finish. The boggart transformed into Harry's biggest fear- Dementor. Now it was Harry's turn to need defending but before Alexis could even move, Remus Lupin had pushed them behind him.
"Here!" shouted Remus.
Crack!
A silvery-white orb was hanging in the air in front of Remus, who said, "Riddikulus!" almost lazily.
"Forward, Neville, and finish him off!" said Remus as the Boggart landed on the floor as a cockroach.
Crack!
Snape was back. This time Neville charged forward looking determined.
"Riddikulus!" he shouted, and they had a split second's view of Snape in his lacy dress before Neville let out a great "Ha!" of laughter, and the Boggart exploded, burst into a thousand tiny wisps of smoke, and was gone.
"Excellent!" cried Remus as the class broke into applause. "Excellent, Neville. Well done, everyone...Let me see...five points to Gryffindor and Slytherin for every person to tackle the Boggart - ten for Neville because he did it twice...and five each to Hermione and Harry for answering my questions.
"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."
The rest of the class hurried out of the staff room excitedly. If Alexis had been looking, she would have realized that a great deal of their eyes had lingered on her before whispering to their neighbor but Alexis was currently focused with staring at the floor. Both Draco and Harry stood at her side, unsure what to do.
"Alexis," said Remus softly. "Would you like some tea?"
Alexis only acknowledgement of her Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was a faint head shake. He hurried out of the room with a nod of his own. She knew he felt horrible for what had happened and was trying to make up for it. Unfortunately, Alexis's mind was running so fast around her newly discovered fear that she was willing to bet she would have even said yes to tea with Snape at the moment.
"We have to go to class," whispered Harry.
"But we'll see you at dinner," added Draco and for once Alexis didn't feel like teasing them. In fact, she didn't feel like doing much of anything at the moment.
Draco and Harry disappeared out of the staff room just as Remus return holding a steaming cup. He handed it to Alexis, who had sat down in the floor in crisscross position, before slowly sitting down next to her.
"It's hot chocolate," Remus said as Alexis took a puny sip. "I thought it would be better choice then tea after what had happened."
Alexis whispered a thank you but said nothing else. She was at a lost of words, having never even dreamed this was how her day would have went.
"I'm sorry about-"
"It's not your fault, Remus," said Alexis. "I should have figured that would be my fear, it's not like I'm afraid of death."
She tried to laugh convincingly but she wasn't sure it worked. Remus was looking at her very kindly as if he had known her for years and seeing her this way truly was torture to him.
"There is nothing wrong with being afraid of seeing your friends get hurt," said Remus reassuringly. "In fact, it was the fear of one of my old friends back in schools too. Always had me or James face Boggarts without him, mind you, James's fear seemed to change with the wind. Twice I remember his greatest fear being a certain girl telling him no to a date."
Alexis laughed genuinely, making Remus smile. They sat there talking for a few more minutes, mainly about Remus's old friends James, Peter, and a boy Remus never mentioned by name, before standing up to leave.
"Thank for the hot chocolate, Remus," said Alexis. "And the talk. It helped."
"Anytime," said Remus with a smile. "But Alexis, I'm going to have to ask you to call me Professor Lupin. It's only proper."
Alexis smiled, nodding her head.
"Yes sir," she said, walking out the door. "Bye professor!"
Humming softly to herself, Alexis made her way back to the Gryffindor Tower. She felt a great deal better after talking to Remus and now only saw the Boggart incident as an uncomfortable memory.
Then Alexis froze.
The Boggart had changed into McPherson. Her classmates saw this. They heard him pleading for her help, accusing her of his death being her fault. Everyone knew now and strangely, Alexis's fear for Boggarts was nothing compared to her fear of people knowing the truth.
And they did know.
So quick pointers: I absolutely love using Trelawney in my story because she's such a newb and funny with her false dramaticness (this is not a real word).
The scene where Remus smirks at the sight of Draco's Boggart was something completely different at first. Originally Draco was going to be afraid of Greyback, the werewolf that tried to bite him when he was little, but Remus would have recognized him and freaked out, meaning the scene would have been laking humor so I just made it a werewolf instead.
The creepy, younger Alexis was my sister's idea. Originally, she wanted me to have Boggart Hex tell the real Hex that Black was her father OR have Boggart Hex standing by Voldemort which I thought was cool but wasn't traumatizing enough.
Another idea we had was the Boggart being Tom Riddle or the diary but Alexis was only afraid of those two things when she was being possessed and didn't know what to do.
In the end, I went with the idea I came up with when I was still writing the first book, fear of being powerless as her loved ones were tortured in front of her.
Special thanks to my reviewers!
ThatOneGirlNoOneNotices: Thank you! I hope Hex's fear was to the same standard as the last chapters
Luna the HP fan: I agree with your opinion on Marietta and Slytherins and am glad you like my Draco/Pansy scenes. I know Rowlings hated Pansy and most writers turn her into a down right slut but I always thought there had to be a reason Draco liked her in the first place. Anyway, you gotta tell me what your theory was on Hex's Boggart! It's killing me not knowing
Kuroi-Akuma-no-Okami: thanks for the review and I hope this chapter is worth another one!
Guest: Thank you!
Phoenixfelicis07: Once more, your review has baffled me with how close you follow the story. I loved all your Boggart theories and was very surprised, pleasantly of course, by how close you were to guessing (or hypothesizing if you want to get all fancy) what it was. I'm very glad to know you liked how I dealt with the Buckbeak scene and would love to know your feelings on the Boggart scene.
Once more, thanks for the reviews and please don't hesitate to review and tell me what you think about Alexis's Boggart!
Review!
DCF