On the night of Wednesday, October 15th, 1997, at 10 P.M. Hogwarts time, the newly reformed D.A. met up in the Room of Requirement.

Up to this point, all the previous meetings of the reformed D.A. have been used to practice stunning and disarming and to practice doing so in various states from fully clothed to completely naked and everywhere in between.

Today, however, they would be moving forward with Boggarts.

However, there something was about to happen that really put in perspective how dark these times really were.

Neville, Ginny, Luna, and Sally had managed to capture some Boggarts and store them in the Room of Requirement for the newly reformed D.A. to practice on.

Sally retrieved her wand from her right hand pocket with her right hand and raised it upward.

"Accio Boggarts!" cried Sally.

But when the boggarts came, something very different happened than had been the case with any class in which boggarts had been taught about.

No one's boggart took its usual form anymore.

Instead, everyone's boggart took the form of a dead loved one or friend.

Parvati Patil's boggart was no longer no longer showed her a mummy. Instead, it rotated between showing her a dead Lavender Brown, a dead Padma Patil, her dad dead, and her mom dead.

Similarly, Seamus Finnigan's boggart wasn't a banshee anymore. Seamus's current boggart alternated between showing him a dead Dean Thomas, his dad dead, and his mom dead.

Meanwhile, Luna Lovegood's boggart went back and forth between depicting a dead Ginny Weasley and her dad dead.

"These are the times we live in," said Ginny sadly, "With our world currently in a state of open warfare, everyone is terrified for his or her family and friends. "

"I have to imagine," said Luna wisely, "That there are some people for whom such a boggart would be their permanent boggarts. However, it's a chilling mark of where we stand right now that everyone currently has such a boggart."

"Let's call a spade a spade here," said Neville firmly, "There is no way to make any of this funny and attempting to do so would be an insult and slap in the face to those nearest and dearest to us."

"That's where I come in," said Sally matter of factly, "I recently discovered an alternate method of defeating boggarts. After I did the first time, I did a few tests to make sure the method actually worked and that I hadn't come across a special case. Once this was clear to me, I let Neville, Ginny, and Luna in on the secret. Now it is time for me to tell all of you."

Everyone looked seriously and intently at Sally.

"So," said Sally patiently, speaking loudly enough for everyone to be able to hear her but softly enough that she wasn't shouting, "The alternate method to defeating boggarts is to focus your mind on the sound of your own internal laughter. Hear your own laughter in your head and be super focused on that sound and your boggart will collapse into such. This method doesn't require you to give your boggarts any funny forms and that's exactly what we need here because there's no such thing as a funny form for what these boggarts are showing. What these boggarts are showing is as far away from funny as it is possible to be and that's the bottom line. Nothing makes these forms funny. So, we need to attempt the alternative method of vanquishing the boggarts."

There was a minute and a nanosecond of uncomfortable silence and then everyone gave it a shot.

The first person to see his or her boggart reduced to dust was Ernie McMillan.

"I'm not surprised that Ernie did it first," said Neville seriously, "Ernie's s always been a highly motivated student and one of his greatest strengths is his ability to lock in on things and concentrate well."

"I'm proud someone from Hufflepuff did it first," said Sally honestly, "But everyone, remember, your mind MUST be locked in on that sound of your own internal laughter for the alternative method to work. Any lapse in focus or concentration will result in a lack of success here. You've got to do this perfectly for it to work."

The next three to do it successfully were Parvati, Padma, and Lavender, whose boggarts all met their demise at the exact same nanosecond.

"Well done, Parvati, Padma, and Lavender," said Sally approvingly, "Let's go everyone. You can all do it! I know you've all got it in you!"

Eventually most people in the room were able to do it.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the last person who had failed to do it was Luna.

While it felt a little weird that one of the leaders was the last person to have not yet accomplished the mission at hand, it was predictable considering that Luna had never been very good at concentrating on things.

Her mind tended to wander and sure enough she wasn't focusing on the task at hand. In fact, she was staring up at the ceiling.

"Luna," said Sally sharply, "I know your mind is a drifter, but you've got to lock in on your own internal laughter, at least long enough to get rid of the last boggart in this room."

"Sorry, Sally," said Luna quietly.

"Don't apologize, do the task at hand," instructed Sally, "You have just as much ability as anyone else in this room. But you've got to focus for a bit."

Luna finally looked back at her boggart, and she finally focused her mind on the sound of her own internal laughter and before she knew her boggart was dust too.

"I knew you could do it, Luna," said Sally encouragingly, "Good job everyone. I don't know when we'll practice this again, but you can all practice on your own. You don't even need a boggart to practice this. Just practice the discipline of focusing your minds on your own internal laughter and you'll be able to use the alternative method of vanquishing boggarts if the need to do so presents itself."

"I think that went well," said Ginny calmly, "What should we do next lesson?"

"Starting next meeting we are going to start learning about and practicing patronuses," said Sally in a crystal clear voice."

A shout out to the following members who have added Luna Lovegood and the Reformation of the D.A. to their favorites and/or follows lists since the last update:

hikolb6

Much love from Arizona for all the support. Love you all-Michael. :)