Amelia's POV:
"Leo!" I screamed terrified when I saw him in the hospital wing. I ran up to him, noisily, but then I realized he was unconscious.
"Leo," I repeated in a more soft, concerned tone. I sat on the side of his bed holding his hand.
As soon as I got back from my early morning Quidditch practice, Harry broke the news to me that Leo had fainted the previous night. At first, I thought it was some sort of joke, but upon seeing the seriousness written all over Harry's face, I knew it was anything but. My heart sank as I imagined Leo in the throes of some sort of unbearable pain. I couldn't fathom just standing idly by while he suffered, so I made a beeline for the hospital wing. The thought of Leo lying there, alone and in agony, was too much for me to bear, and I knew that I had to do something to help him.
"Madame Pomfrey, is there anything I can do to help?" I asked for the eighth time in the past hour.
"Ms. Parker, I've told you various amounts of times, I don't need help. Please, just go to your class now. Mr. Gillingham is fine in my hands, I can assure you."
"Are you sure there isn't anything I could do? Maybe grab some pumpkin juice? Get some herbs for medicine from the greenhouse-"
"Ms. Parker!" she cut me off, "If you don't leave willingly, I'll have to make you leave. Trust me, Ms. Parker, you do not want that."
"Please just-" I started,
"I'll do what I do best. Now leave. I don't want to be the one responsible for you missing your classes. Mr. Gillingham will wake up soon."
"Fine. But when he wakes up, notify me please."
"Of course, Ms. Parker."
"Thank you," I said as I walked out of the hospital wing to my Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
I ran through the ancient corridors, eager not to be late to Professor Lupin's class. He said we're doing something special today. If I have to be honest, I'm quite excited about it. I'm just sad that Leo can't come. All of a sudden, tears threatened to escape my eyes as I ran up the magical stairs of Hogwarts. Even thinking of Leo's name brought me to tears. I wanted so badly to help him. To be there for him. To sit at his bedside and hold his hand. To watch his eyes finally flutter open. I just wanted Leo back.
I approached the door to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and quickly rubbed the tears out of my eyes. I opened it expecting rows of neatly placed desks filled with students and Professor Lupin pacing at the front of the room giving a lecture, but no, everyone was standing up. The desks were moved to the side of the classroom and there was a closet at the front of the room instead of Professor Lupin. The eerie thing about this closet though was that it seemed to have someone inside it. It was viciously rocking back and forth as if whatever was inside of it was unwillingly restrained in the closet.
"Now, everyone repeat after me, Riddikulus!" Professor Lupin proclaimed.
"Riddikulus!" the class repeated.
No one seemed to pay attention to me as I scurried toward my friends: Hermione, Harry, and Ron.
"Why are you late, Amelia?" Ron inquired.
"I went to go see Leo; he's in the Hospital Wing," I explained for Hermione.
"What… are we doing?" I asked confused as to why everyone was saying "Ridiculous."
"We're learning a new spell to fend off boggarts," Hermione explained.
"Uh… A boggart?" I replied still perplexed.
"A Boggart is a shape-shifting creature that will assume the form of whatever most frightens the person who encounters it," Hermione explained again, "At least that's what Professor Lupin said."
"And —the boggart— i-it's coming out of the closet?" I faltered
"Yes, Professor Lupin wants us to be ready no matter what," Hermione answered.
"Okay," Professor Lupin began, "Let's start. Everyone get in a single-file line in front of the closet. Quickly!"
Everyone started filing up, eager for the activity Professor Lupin had prepared for us. Although I wasn't, I still got in line with my friends.
"In today's class, you all will be performing the Ridikulus charm on a real-life boggart. Now, don't be scared; it's not real. It's just a duplicate of your fear. Ms. Patil, it seems that you're up first, do you mind stepping up."
As the Defense Against the Dark Arts class continued, one by one, students were called up to face the boggart. Parvati Patil, a fellow Gryffindor in my year, was among the first to go. Her boggart took on the form of a mummy. Neville Longbottom, Romilda Vane, Gregory Goyle, Justin Fletchley, and several others also faced their fears. As the line dwindled, I found myself growing more and more anxious, unsure of what my biggest fear was. The anticipation of facing my boggart was almost too much to bear. Before I knew it, it was my turn. My heart racing, I stepped forward to confront whatever form my boggart would take. I lifted my wand confidently, acting like I was ready to take on the world. And then, it happened. The boggart took the form of Leo, Harry, Hermione, and Ron, looking at me disgustingly with tears in their eyes.
"How could you, Amelia! How could you lie to us?!" Harry yelled at me.
"I-" Tears started to form in my eyes, now. I unconsciously lowered my wand.
"Ames, this low. Even for you," Leo said disappointedly.
"I can't believe you would do that, Amelia. It's outrageous!" Hermione shouted at me.
"Bloody hell, Amelia. How long did you think you could keep this secret?" Ron exclaimed.
I was overwhelmed with their words. I knew exactly what they were talking about, as well; about how I'm Harry's sister. I wanted to break and just cry. To tell them that I'm so desperately sorry. That I don't deserve them and that if I were them, I'd ignore me for the rest of my life. The looks on their faces just show that they'll never forgive me. I mean they weren't wrong, though. How could I lie to them for almost three years? I should've told at least Harry! It's unjust of me to keep this kind of secret from him. I then looked at Leo's dissatisfied complexion, trying to catch everything about him one last time. From his golden-brown curly hair, and his soft brown eyes, and how they stared at me revoltingly. Then I remembered he was unconscious in the Hospital Wing. Then I remembered, again, that I was in Defense Against the Dark Arts class and that this interaction wasn't real.
I quickly raised my wand again, getting out of my trance, and screamed "Ridikulus!"
Suddenly, the boggart transformed into four small rats that scurried across the floor, their high-pitched squeaks filling the air. I felt a shiver run down my spine and my hands trembled as the rats pecked at my shoes. But I refused to show any fear. I lifted my chin and put on a brave face, determined to stay strong, even though I had been scared just moments before. The room was dead silent, except for the mice squeaking on the floor. Everyone was staring at me when Professor Lupin interjected himself into the awkward situation in an attempt to deject me from it.
"Okay," he started, "Uhm… Ron, you're up next."
I moved to the side and Ron moved nervously towards the boggart/mice. It (obviously) transformed into a gigantic spider. With eight hairy legs and eight goggling eyes, the spider's head scraped against the rotting ceiling of the twenty-foot-tall room. I could see the fear drawn on Ron's face. His hand quivered as he reached cautiously for his wand in his pocket.
With a look of panic in his eyes, he lifted his wand and yelled, "Ridikulus!" In an instant, the enormous spider before him was transformed - it now had eight legs, but they were no longer hairy and terrifying. Instead, they were adorned with roller blades, making the spider look more like a strange, mutant insect than a fearsome creature. The sudden change caught the spider off guard, and it struggled to maintain its balance, wobbling and swaying. Everyone started laughing at the spider who kept on trying to get up but miserably failed to succeed every time. Ron couldn't help but chuckle as he watched the spider's repeated failed attempts to rise.
After a moment, Ron stepped aside to give Harry a chance to face the boggart. I could see Professor Lupin nervously tapping his foot on the ground as Harry approached the creature. As Harry drew near, the spider began to change, transforming into a dense, black cloud as it sought to take on Harry's deepest fear. Before the boggart could fully adapt to Harry's fear Professor Lupin stepped in front of Harry. The boggart quickly inhibited whatever Harry's fear was, and modified to Professor Lupin's fear, the full moon. I took one look at the transformed boggart and gasped.
"Ridikulus!" Professor Lupin screamed while holding his wand to the boggart. The boggart turned into a balloon, and flew around the classroom before shooting back into the closet.
Awkwardness filled the classroom. Professor Lupin took one look at his watch, then back up at the class, "Class dismissed," he said. The whole class nervously scurried out of the classroom, including me.