Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Bailey, her pups, mate, and any alterations to the original storyline plot their presence creates to various readers amusement everywhere across the globe.
A Dog's Purpose Is Strange Magic 3 Chapter 14
Professor Lupin is already waiting for them in the classroom by the time the bulk of the class has arrived for the lesson. He bears a pleasant smile as he greets the mixture of Gryffindors and Slytherins alike, unphased by the unwelcoming and unimpressed expressions of the latter.
Turns out Professor Lupin has a surprise for them. The twinkle in his eyes as he said this made any impatience Bailey had forgotten.
Instead, Bailey turns intrigued. Especially when Professor Lupin informs them to leave their books and bags behind as they depart the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
Bailey no longer carries any suspicions regarding Professor Lupin's intentions where she always had them with Quirrell and Lockhart. Any uneasiness that previously took root has disappeared. She can tell he's nothing like the other previous dingbats that taught the subject. Those inhibitions are long gone. Now all he needs to do is prove his teaching prowess is an improvement.
This regard increases tenfold when Professor Lupin deals with the troublemaking Peeves. Using a handy little spell to get the Poltergeist to cease stuffing gum inside keyholes.
The results send an extremely perturbed Peeves speeding away in discomfort, cursing obscenities under his breath.
Professor Lupin has a sense of humor.
Bailey likes that about him.
It's soon discovered what this is all about. Professor Lupin is temporarily repurposing the staffroom for a practical lesson. None of the other teachers have done this.
The staff room is empty with Snape being the exception. Snape was sitting in a low armchair, and he looked around from his book as the class filed in.
As Professor Lupin came in and made to close the door behind him, Snape said "Leave it open, Lupin. I'd rather not witness this."
Snape then rose to his feet and strode past the class, his black robes billowing behind him.
Stopping beside Professor Lupin, Snape said "Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin, 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."
This causes Neville to practically shrivel, showing he'd rather be elsewhere, face turning scarlet.
Hermione's was even redder, skin resembling a bright tomato.
Raising his eyebrows, tone pleasant, Professor Lupin said "I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation and I'm sure he will perform it admirably."
Neville's face went even redder. Besides Professor Sprout no other teacher has even spoken about him in such a way before.
Snape's lip curls in distaste, but he continues for the door.
Despite how most people view Snape and his behavior during Potions earlier that day Bailey's disposition toward the man has never altered. So, she has no problem sitting on her hind legs, tail wagging happily, and front paws raised in a somewhat begging gesture asking him to pet her as he walks by. Much to Bailey's continued disappointment Snape doesn't even spare her a passing glance as he walks by. Bailey's heart sank at the rejection. Simply living up to the constant stigma already standing against him and living up to most people's expectations of him. Bailey is left subdued and crestfallen if her still tail and drooping head are any indication of the level of disgruntlement from this lack of recognition. Surprisingly Professor Lupin fills the gap, giving Bailey a brief stroke on the head and fondling her ears. She licks his fingers in thanks.
Rubbing his hands together in eager anticipation, Professor Lupin said "Now, then, let's begin."
Professor Lupin then beckons the class toward the end of the room where an old wardrobe where the teachers kept their spare robes stands. As Professor Lupin went to stand next to it, the wardrobe gave a sudden wobble, banging off the wall.
Bailey instantly freezes, positioning herself in front of her boy and the entire class, raising her tail to signal them to keep their distance which is heeded. Another loud band causes a few people to jump backward in alarm.
Calmly, Professor Lupin said "Nothing to worry about. There's a boggart in there."
Boggart? Bailey tilts her head, perplexed. What's a boggart?
Bailey might not know what that is but some in the class certainly do. Neville gave Professor Lupin. Look of pure terror and Seamus Finnigan eyes the now rattling doorknob apprehensively.
Apparently, whatever is occupying the tight space is supposed to be extremely volatile and not to be taken lightly.
It made Bailey even more wary about approaching it in the first place. She attributes that to everyone's reactions toward it.
"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," explained Professor Lupin. "Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks. I once met one that somehow had the misfortune to lodge 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. So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a boggart?"
Bailey has no idea.
Putting up a hand, Hermione said "It's a shapeshifter. It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most."
"Couldn't have put it better myself," praised Professor Lupin, smiling. "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."
No wonder everybody seems to be so jumpy and nervous just after mentioning the creature.
Folding his hands in front of him, Professor Lupin said "This means that we have a huge advantage over the boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"
"Um…because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be," guessed Harry, sheepishly.
"Precisely," confirmed Professor Lupin. "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. Note remotely frightening at all. The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that 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 together.
Bailey even barks along with them for the fun of it.
Nodding in approval, Professor Lupin said "Good. 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 ever-reluctant Neville stumbles forward with heavy steps. Looking he'd rather be anywhere else than here, wanting to avoid it at all cost.
"Right, Neville," said Professor Lupin, kindly. "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.
Even Bailey had a hard time catching it.
Cheerfully, Professor Lupin said "Didn't catch that, Neville, sorry."
"Professor Snape," mumbled Neville.
Nearly everyone laughed.
So did Harry, but he stopped real quick when Bailey nipped his wrist in admonishment.
Humming under his breath in contemplation, Professor Lupins said "Professor Snape…huh…Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?"
"Yeah, but I don't want the boggart to turn into her either," said Neville, hastily.
"No, no, no, you misunderstand me. I wonder, could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?"
Neville does so with a confused and uncertain expression crossing his face.
The mystery behind this is soon solved. Professor Lupin instructs Neville that when the Boggart steps out from the wardrobe in Snape's form he must then say the counter charm while concentrating hard on his grandmother's clothes making Boggart appear to be wearing them. He then instructs everyone to take a moment to think of the thing that scares them the most and imagine how to force it to look comical to counteract it.
The class obeys even the Slytherins. Despite initial dislike for Professor Lupin even they know not to mess with a boggart.
Neville and Professor Lupin remain close to the wardrobe as the rest of the class retreats closer to the walls. Initially, Bailey's instincts tell her to follow her boy but instead chooses to stand with Neville to offer support so he doesn't panic. Bailey ends up standing alert and at attention leaning against his leg. She can tell by the glance he sends her sidelong that Neville is grateful for it.
On the count of three, Neville," said Professor Lupin, pointing his wand at the handle of the wardrobe. "One…two…three…now!"
Oh boy.
The wardrobe burst open and out walked Snape's menacing form, eyes flashing sinisterly at Neville.
Bailey barks, nudging Neville to snap him out of that frozen state, eyes big as saucers.
"R-R-Riddikulus," squeaked Neville.
There was a noise like a whip crack that made Bailey want to cover her ears. Snape stumbled. Seconds later he was wearing a long, lace-trimmed dress and a towering hat topped with a moth-eaten vulture, and swinging a huge crimson handbag.
There was a tremendous roar of laughter. The boggart paused, confused.
Professor Lupin shouted "Parvati! Forward!"
Parvati walked forward to stand beside Bailey as Neville had, face set. There was another crack, and the boggart transformed into a blood-stained, bandaged mummy. Its sightless face was turned to Parvati, and it began to walk toward her very creepily.
"Riddikulus," cried Parvati.
A bandage unraveled at the mummy's feet. It became entangled and turned clumsy. It tumbles to the floor with its head falling off.
"Seamus," roared Professor Lupin.
Seamus darted past Parvati.
A banshee replaces the mummy. She opened her mouth wide, and an unearthly sound filled the room. A wailing shriek that made all the fur on Bailey's back and neck stand on end.
"Riddikulus," shouted Seamus.
The banshee loses her voice.
The boggart then changes into multiple forms one after another as if it doesn't know which one to pick.
"It's confused," shouted Lupin. "We're getting there!"
Dean is next and his turn is just as good as Seamus's.
But when it became Ron's turn a lot of people screamed. Ron's greatest fear is those Acromantula they ran into last year.
An unflinching Bailey growls and snarls at the threat standing before her, hackles raised, clearly recalling the last time she faced off with an Acromantula.
"Riddikulus," bellowed Ron.
The spider loses its legs and rolls on the floor in Lavender Browns direction. She ran out of the way leaving Harry to take her place.
Emboldened by watching so many others have their turn Harry eagerly steps forward to face the image the boggart might send his way.
Harry was brimming with confidence after witnessing the performances of those before him.
But then, out of nowhere, Bailey can see him hesitate and a frightened look appearing in his eyes.
There's a crack and before the boggart took on the shape of a defeated Acromantula…now lies a lookalike of Bailey.
This version of Bailey is dead with her paws spread out, tail limp, tongue sticking out of her muzzle with blood coming out, eyes sightless and vacant.
Bailey's entire body went cold as she stared at it. She just felt sick.
There are horrified gasps around the room. Harry stands there speechless, not knowing what to do as terror streaks his heart.
"Here," shouted Professor Lupin, hurrying forward.
The version of a dead Bailey vanishes. Replacing it is a white orb hanging in the air in front of Lupin.
Lazily, Professor Lupin said "Riddikulus!"
The boggart switches into a cockroach. At Professor Lupin's behest, Neville finishes off the boggart once and for all.
"Excellent," said Professor Lupin. "Excellent, Neville. Well done, everyone…Let me see…five points to Gryffindor for every person to tackle the boggart. Ten for Neville because he did it twice and five each to Hermione and Harry."
"But I didn't do anything," said Harry.
"You and Hermione answered my questions correctly at the start of the class, Harry. 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."
Talking excitedly, the class left the staffroom.
Harry and Bailey are slower to depart. Harry is on his knees, arms wrapped around Bailey's body, holding her tightly, and burying his face into her fur. In turn Bailey, concern and worry written all over small features, lays her head on his shoulder, ears droopy, tail lifeless and limp as a profound sadness overtakes and wrings her heart. An image of her boy being in the place of her doppelganger repeats over and over in Bailey's with no sign of stopping.
As if things in their position weren't already bad enough. Bailey thinks this is the earliest of their time in Hogwarts that things began to take a serious downturn.
Authors Note:
Finally got this one finished! Sorry it took so long!
For those of you on fanfiction I'm sure you've been facing the many unwanted ads when you're reading a story. Well, yesterday, I finally had enough, and I got an adblocker app. It worked! No more ads on any level! The one I got is Adblock Pro: Safari Ad Blocker. It really works. Just follow the instruction video that it attached to it.
Heads up everyone there's someone on fanfiction you need to seriously watch out for. Early a couple of months ago after I woke up I was checking my email and I saw I had a new guest review on my A Dog's Purpose Is Strange Magic 2 sequel. I took a look at it and got a very big shock. Some random person I've never spoken to before on here or anywhere else in my life was basically threatening me. Intimidating and practically ordering me to write a threatening letter to someone on their behalf, telling to stay off of for life or else they and everyone else close to them would be killed, disgustingly telling them to kill themselves. And at the bottom of the message this crazy person wasn't done. Warning me that if I don't send the letter then they would kill me and for confirmation to email them to make absolutely sure I complied with their demands. Of course I did nothing of the sort. Instead of doing what they wanted I reported them to the website, sent copies of this deplorable guest review message to police officer cousins of mine so they could have it on file, and I went to a nearby police station and reported it.
When I spoke to the police officers and they checked everything on the message they saw, that while the address and names of business were accurate the people and their names were not. They agree it was more than likely a scam because of the email address on the bottom in order to perhaps get access to personal information or potentially hack my computer. Despite that I'm still very happy they took it seriously as I showed and told them everything. All the same I'm still very happy that I brought this to the attention of law enforcement. Even though the entire thing might be fake I'm still very happy to have brought this to the attention of those who can do something about it if it was legit in some way. This may have been a scam, but it's obvious these people are beyond irresponsible if they try to goad people into sending death threats to random strangers just to get access to info.
Be that as it may if this does unfortunately happen to you do not send any messages to the email addresses they put down and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you bring the message to the authorities immediately whether it is legit or not.
Because it's a guest review it might not be visible for a couple of days as it loads if it is sent to you. But when it does you should definitely pressing the report abuse button and send it to the email that leads to the support staff that is available.
Just a heads up to those of you who aren't aware of this yet, Email alerts for this website are now only active if Email opts is enabled in account settings.
I hope you all like this one! I certainly did while writing it for your vast enjoyment! ;D
For those of you just starting out with my stuff there are other works on my profile that may catch your interest. I highly recommend you take a look as soon as the opportunity presents itself to you. Who knows, you may be pleasantly surprised by what you discover.
Stay safe everyone. Especially with all of these crazy natural disasters occurring a lot lately due to global warming and climate change everywhere for sure. I swear it's like they're getting worse and worse all the time and it's like officials are simply just ignoring it or pretending it doesn't exist entirely just to go on with their daily lives. Especially those in multi-million dollar companies that rely on certain elements of our planet that we rely on to naturally keep us safe instead of adapting and finding new safer ways to keep in business. There are so many options out there where they can adapt, but they just refuse to see it because all they care about is money. Climate change is altering so much faster than anyone can really keep track of.
So, in light of all this, it is important to live life to the fullest as much as anyone can.
I know I am. ;) See you guys next time.