"Are you all ready to face your greatest fears?" Lupin asked his class with a wicked little smile. Every head bobbed up and down in a nervous sort of excitement. "Alrighty then!" Lupin opened up the door to the wardrobe sitting in the middle of the classroom. Right before anything emerged, he pointed his wand at Fiyero.
"Tigelaar! You're up first!" then he stepped away from the wardrobe while Fiyero blanched and took a step towards it. He tripped over his scarlet robes as he made his way over to the wardrobe. For a moment, there was only silence, then the very strict, stern figure of Professor McGonagall.
"Mr. Tigelaar!" her voice was sharp and harsh as she addressed Fiyero and, on reflex, he let out a yelp of fear before straightening his back, leveling his chin, and forcing his own eyes to meet hers. "You will write me a 10-page paper by tomorrow regarding the history of the discovery of animagi and if you do not complete this task, you will fail my class and I shall sentence you to an entire year of detention with me!"
"Riddikulus!" Fiyero yelped, brandishing his wand at the McGonagall boggart. This did nothing except make her angrier.
"I mean it, Mr. Tigelaar!" she warned, eyes flashing dangerously. "And even if you are expelled or drop out, you will still be legally obligated to serve detention with me, or you will be sent to Azkaban!"
"Be brave, Fiyero!" Lupin cried out to the terrified Winkie prince.
"Yes sir!" Fiyero replied, then he did his best to calm his nerves, ignoring McGonagall's continued threats. After taking one last deep breath in, he shouted out the incantation one more time and-
"YOWCH!" McGonagall gave a very undignified and cat-like screech as a firecracker suddenly went off underneath her foot. This sent her sprint-waddling back into the wardrobe in a very comical manner, a hailstorm of laughter following her back.
"Well done, my boy! Well done!" Lupin encouraged as Fieryo gave a satisfied smirk. Now that he had conquered his fear, his arrogance had returned in full blast and he took a dramatic bow before his fellow classmates before stepping back into the crowd, clearly quite proud of himself.
"What an arrogant, smug little-" from the back of the room, Elphaba was grumbling under her breath. Her little sister, Nessarose, responded by touching her arm and giving her a soft warning to behave. Immediately, Elphaba fell silent, but she continued to glare daggers at the stupid little Winkie prince. It made her green skin crawl to think that they shared a house!
"Boq! You're up next!" at the front of the class, Lupin enthusiastically waved the next student forward.
"Me?" the tiny Ravenclaw squeaked. Lupin smiled warmly and nodded at him. Boq gave another nervous little whimper, but he waddled up to the wardrobe nonetheless, tugging nervously on his blue robes as the door slowly opened. What came out was a creature far too big to fit in that wardrobe. It was a monstrosity! A giant! A behemoth! It was like a lion or a griffin, but twice as large! It looked like something Hagrid might've tried to keep in his back yard. Boq gave another terrified yelp as a giant, clawed foot raised itself over his little head.
"Riddikulus!" Boq shrieked, closing his eyes and pointing his wand bravely at his boggart.
"Oh! He's so cute!" it was the soft shrill of another student that first brought Boq back to his senses. He opened his eyes again and...
"Awww!" Boq couldn't help but agree. The giant griffin monster had suddenly been shrunken down to something the size of a puppy. It was even tinier than he was! Now this was a creature Boq would keep in his backyard. The tiny little thing gave a high-pitched wheeze of embarrassment before scuttling back inside the wardrobe, the door slamming behind it as it retreated.
"Bravo! Excellent!" Lupin clapped. Boq gave his own sheepish little bow to the class before stumbling back onto the sidelines, looking a bit flustered, but rather pleased with himself. Both the Thropp sisters, Elphaba and Nessa, smiled broadly at him, giving him a thumbs up.
"Nessarose Thropp?" speaking of which, one of the Thropp sisters was about to go up. Elphaba's proud smile instantly vanished into a look of concern and she shot a hand out to touch the armrest of Nessa's wheelchair.
"Let go of me, Elphaba, I'll be fine!" Nessa growled under her breath, her own smile fading the moment she felt Elphaba try to stop her. Older sister or not, sisterly duty or not, Elphaba needed to lighten up and stop being so overbearing! How was Nessa ever supposed to make a life for herself if Elphaba was always right there, breathing down her neck and whining about every little thing she did?
"But I-" Elphaba tried to explain that she only wanted to look out for Nessa, but Nessa didn't want to hear it. Instead, the young Slytherin rolled her wheelchair sharply away from Elphaba and right up close to the wardrobe. There was a look of defiance in her eyes.
"Come on!" she told Lupin. "I'm ready!" and he obliged by opening the wardrobe door.
Suddenly, an entire crowd of people came pouring out of the wardrobe. The number of people in the wardrobe was twice as large as the number of people in the classroom. It didn't take long for Nessa to become lost in a literal sea of people, all moving around and jostling her, each of them seeming to tower over her because she was trapped in a wheelchair, which always instantly diminished her physical size anywhere she went.
"Nessa!" Elphaba cried out and took a step forward towards the crowd that was crushing her sister, but before she could unsheathe her wand, Lupin put out a hand to stop her. Although he appreciated the love she felt for her little sister, she had to let Nessa fight her own battles.
"She needs to do this alone," he cautioned the older Thropp sister and she, reluctantly, stepped down.
This proved to be a wise decision in the long run because, only a few seconds later, the entire large crowd suddenly separated, creating a space just the right size for Nessa to roll through. As she passed on by the parted group of people, they all shouted out adoringly to her, cheering her on in delight. She basked in the praise before raising her arms for silence, then she gestured for them to return to the wardrobe and, without further protestation of any kind, every last person that the boggart had transformed into returned to the wardrobe immediately.
"Piece of cake!" Nessa laughed charmingly before wheeling her way back over to Elphaba with a smug grin.
"Wow," Lupin was impressed. The wide eyes and mouths of all of his students made it clear that they felt the same.
Next, it was time for the other Thropp sister to have a whirl. Elphaba strode over to the wardrobe bravely, but the thing that came out of it made her flinch. To be fair, though, it made everyone else flinch as well. It was a giant tidal wave, roaring and powerful, stretching from floor to ceiling and threatening to drown the entire classroom. Elphaba, however, gained her bearings very quickly, and with all the strength and courage of a true Gryffindor, she cleared her throat and shouted out the incantation:
"Riddikulus!" then the giant tidal wave vanished at once, turning into mist that dissipated only half a second later.
"Wow," Lupin repeated, once again impressed by the raw magical talent and power the Thropp sisters both showed. They were naturals! And Elphaba seemed to be especially powerful, for he had expected her only to turn the tidal wave around and have it roll right back into the wardrobe. Instead, however, she had vanquished it entirely, causing it to evaporate right out of existence. That was impressive!
The whole class laughed and clapped, cheering Elphaba on genuinely. Unused to such a warm response from her peers, the green-skinned Gryffindor blushed a dark black and gave a shy little bow, but to the one student who was cheering the hardest, Elphaba only smiled. It was Galinda Arduenna-Upland. A Slytherin. Yes. Somehow, against all odds, that little blond Slytherin had become this green-skinned Gryffindor's very best friend. Now she stood towards the front of the classroom, cheering herself hoarse over Elphaba's amazing accomplishment.
"WOO HOO! WAY TO GO ELPHIE!" she shouted and Elphaba, without fear or hesitation, strode right over to her to accept the victory hug that Galinda was offering. Once they were locked in an embrace, Galinda shyly snuck a kiss to Elphaba's cheek as well and Elphaba's blush grew even darker. Although she adored the praise that her classmates were still drowning her in, that one little kiss from Galinda meant more to her than any praise in all the world ever could. She even giggled a little, which was how it became obvious that Elphaba was head over heels, and she reveled in the feeling of Galinda's arms wrapped around her body.
A foot away, Lupin watched the two witches hug it out. A bittersweet smile stretched across his face. Although he had been a Gryffindor back in the day and had, thusly, been opposed to pretty much every Slytherin he'd ever met, seeing Elphaba and Galinda hug it out so sincerely made his heart melt. This was true friendship, this was true unity, this was Hogwarts was supposed to be all about, this was what the world was supposed to try and strive for, this was the level of nonjudgmental, nonprejudiced love and support that the world was supposed to crave, this was true love. And Lupin had seen the little kiss Galinda tried to sneak onto Elphaba's cheek. He laughed a little when he saw it.
"Ahhh, young love," he said to himself, and it felt all the sweeter to him just because of the miracle of the fact that one of them was a Gryffindor and the other was a Slytherin. There was just something so powerful and inspiring about their love story.
But that reminded him! The young Slytherin, Galinda, had not battled the boggart! She would've been next, had Elphaba not accidently killed the creature. It was with much regret and embarrassment that Lupin had to interject upon the two girls' exchange of affection.
"Ms. Galinda!" he said.
"Yes, Professor Lupin?" Galinda turned around, reluctantly releasing her hold on Elphaba. Elphaba, however, continued to cling to her waist.
"It just occurred to me that you did not get the chance to battle the boggart today," Lupin replied.
"Ah, that's alright sir! I don't mind missing out," Galinda replied with a joking smile. Lupin laughed despite himself. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but think that this was how all Slytherins should behave, and he cursed himself for having ever even once doubted her character because, admittedly, the first time she stepped into his classroom, he assumed that she would've been just as bad as all the rest. She had since proven him very, very wrong, and he was grateful for that.
"Nice try, Galinda," he replied with the same joking tone. "But you aren't going to get out of it that easily. Just swing by my office some time later today. I promise it won't take long!"
"If you insist," Galinda pretended to sigh unhappily, but Lupin could see the smile in her eyes.
"I insist," he replied with a smile all his own, so Galinda agreed to the terms of his offer.
A mere 10 minutes after dinner, Galinda came knocking on Lupin's door.
"Are you ready?" he asked as he let her in. A new wardrobe was waiting for her inside.
"I think," she tugged at her green robes before approaching the wardrobe with her wand raised. Lupin gave her an encouraging smile before throwing open the door. They were both met with a hailstorm of insults, cold and cruel as ice.
"Ugly! Freak! Loser! Uncool! Un-popular! Unlovable!" but the slew of insults was not the worst thing to come out of that closet that evening. After a few seconds of the bodiless voice screaming insults at Galinda, a figure finally stepped out of the wardrobe.
"Elphie?" and so it was. She and Lupin would know that green skin anywhere.
"Ugh! Don't call me that!" Elphaba hissed in disgust, crossing her arms and sneering down her nose at Galinda. "Honestly! It's such a stupid, ugly little nickname. Couldn't you have come up with anything better? Or are you really that stupid?" Elphaba began to laugh cruelly, her laugh seeming to fill the entire room. Galinda looked mortified. She took a step back.
"I-I-I," she stuttered.
"I-I-I," Elphaba mocked, pretending to look just as hurt and afraid as Galinda. But then her expression snapped back into the same nasty one it used to be in. "Merlin's beard! You sound like such a little baby! Stuttering and whining all the time! No wonder you haven't got any real friends! Who would ever want to stick around with someone like you?!"
"Elphie," Galinda whimpered again, lip quivering.
"Galinda!" Lupin finally interceded. "It's not real! That's not Elphaba! It's a boggart!" but Galinda didn't seem to hear him. All she could hear was her boggart, hurtling insults and cruel remarks about her character at her.
"GALINDA! WAKE UP! THAT'S NOT ME!" a new voice suddenly joined in the fray. There, standing in the doorway to Lupin's office, was Elphaba herself. She had come by to watch Galinda fight her boggart. Seeing her own reflection had been the last thing she ever expected to see. At last, though, Galinda seemed to hear someone other than the boggart.
"Elphie?" she turned around in confusion, eyes swimming with tears. But even through her tears, she could make out a green figure standing in the doorway. That was enough of a jolt to get her to begin to realize that the Elphaba standing in front of her was not the real Elphaba at all.
A few seconds later, Galinda's grief had turned into sheer anger and she did not hesitate to raise her wand again and shout.
"Riddikulus!" and she sent the Elphaba-boggart flying back into the wardrobe, where she landed with hard crash as she made impact with the back wall of the wardrobe. A second crash followed not soon after as Galinda used another spell to slam and lock the wardrobe shut. Then she burst into tears. Lupin awkwardly excused himself while Elphaba took his place at Galinda's side, rushing over to comfort the crying girl, taking her in her arms and soothing her with gentle words of love and affirmation.
"Hey, hey, shhh, shhhh, shhh, it's ok, it's ok," the green girl muttered as she cradled Galinda in her arms. For a moment more, Galinda could only stand there and weep, but finally, the feeling of Elphaba's arms wrapped around her shaking body managed to calm her down enough for her to be able to speak clearly and focus on the situation at hand.
"Oh Elphie! I'm sorry you had to see that!" Galinda sniffled.
"Hey, shhh, this wasn't your fault!" Elphaba soothed. "Don't apologize! I don't mind it! And you're not weak," she added firmly. "You're human. And like any human, you have fears! Please don't feel bad about it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you."
"But the fear! It was so stupid!" Galinda sobbed.
"But it was also real," Elphaba countered fiercely. "Stupid or not, ever fear has its merit and its realness. It wouldn't be a fear if it didn't!"
Elphaba continued to try and talk Galinda down for the next few minutes, soothing her and hugging her close. At last, however, Galinda finally managed to come back around. Though she and Elphaba were still both a little shaken by what they had seen today, both of them had come out stronger because of it and now? Well...
"I'm hungry," Galinda said.
"But we just ate dinner!" Elphaba laughed a little. Galinda pouted. "Ok, fine, I think I have some sweets back in my room," Elphaba sighed.
"Yay!" Galinda giggled, and Elphaba rolled her eyes fondly as she escorted Galinda out of the room and away from that awful little wardrobe.
AN: Just wanted to see what everyone's boggart would be (and of course we got that Gelphie fluff in there too). Mine would probably be a spider. Like Ron, I had severe arachnophobia. Either that, or it would just be a creepy face/image. Something you'd see on a Creepypasta or SCP story or the Dark Web.
Also, tell me what you think about the houses I put everyone in. I nearly put Fiyero in Ravenclaw as a foreshadowing to what he would be like once he became the Scarecrow, but that felt too obvious.
I also nearly put Boq in Hufflepuff, but even though I think that would be a good house for him for multiple reasons, his book incarnation seemed highly Ravenclaw (openly accepting and supportive of Elphaba and her research with Animals, and a worker at the Shiz library).
Nessa was a bit trickier. She doesn't seem too Slytherin-ish ever (except for MAYBE when she takes over Munchkinland), but she doesn't really scream "Gryffindor" "Hufflepuff" or "Ravenclaw" either. I guess my ultimate factor for making her a Slytherin is the fact that she does have some large ambitions (winning Boq's heart no matter what) and she can be quite manipulative and resourceful (the girl's stuck in a wheelchair, of course she'll be adaptive and cunning). And she has always seemed a bit haughty, though this could be just because she hates being seen as a burden because of her chair, so she tries to be more independent and overcompensates by being a jerk to Elphaba.
Anyway, more house discussion! (And Boggart discussion too, if you like).