Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin

Chapter 22: The Boggart (Pt 1)

25 September 1992

7:00 p.m.

Since the Day of the Dungbombs, there had been no further pranks attempted against Slytherin House. Harry contemplated some sort of revenge prank against Jim, but he decided against it for two reasons. First, he wasn't completely sure that it had been Jim's prank. Second (and more importantly in Harry's mind), he'd considered the dungbomb prank to be so juvenile as to be unworthy of a response. Certainly, he didn't see the need to be drawn into a prank war with the Git-Who-Lived over it. Apparently, however, someone in his House felt differently because a few days after the dungbomb episode both the Git and the Weasel had shown up for breakfast in particularly foul moods and sporting emerald green hair with silver highlights. It seemed that someone had reverse-engineered the prank that the Twins had tried to use on Harry the year before. Or perhaps the Twins themselves had gotten annoyed with Jim and Ron over something and did it themselves. Harry made a mental note to ask one of them whenever he remembered to care about his brother.

That night, right after dinner, Harry and the members of Team Protector met in the main DADA classroom for their first boggart encounter. Professor Lockhart spent the first thirty minutes explaining once again what a boggart was, how it had the ability to disguise itself as whatever the nearest viewer feared most, and how the Boggart-Banishing spell could repel it by forcing it to assume an amusing form rather than a terrifying one. The trick was knowing what your biggest fear was, having an idea for how to make that fear into something funny, and being fast enough to do so before you fell completely under the boggart's sway. At the best of times, boggart exposure was often embarrassing, but if one's greatest fear stemmed from an actual traumatic event, the boggart could often force its victim to relieve the experience and the attendant trauma. The actual boggart they would be using was currently in a heavy trunk sitting against the back wall of the classroom.

"Right then," said Lockhart amiably. "I've watched you all demonstrate the Boggart-Banishing spell to my satisfaction. You all have the wandwork and incantation down. The only question now is whether you can demonstrate both while maintaining the required mental framework. Now, you may have noticed that there were a number of chairs out in the hall. I'll ask you all to step outside and wait until I call you in. I have prepared you all to face your boggart-fears as much as possible short of direct exposure. However, some of you may still find the experience disturbing, possibly even traumatic, especially if your greatest fear turns out to be something other than what you were expecting and you are unable to use the defensive charm properly. In any case, it would be the height of irresponsibility for me to let any of you face a boggart untested with all your classmates watching, to say nothing of a breach of your privacy and trust. Mr. Flint, you're first. Everyone else, outside."

With that, the other team members stepped out into the corridor. The group was pensive and mostly quiet, other than a few nervous Hufflepuffs who were urgently practicing the Boggart-Banishing spell. Harry and Neville sat next to each other off to one side.

"So," whispered Neville, "what do you think your biggest fear is?"

Harry shrugged in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner. "I'm assuming it's doxies. Or my uncle. Or my uncle and doxies. Or maybe Voldemort trying to strangle me." He paused thoughtfully. "It's kind of disturbing, now that I think of it, that You-Know-Who is only fourth on my list. You?"

"I'm still not sure. I know it'll have something to do with Uncle Algie, but I still don't know what exactly. A year ago, I'd have thought it was drowning, but I think I'm over that, so I really have no idea." He furrowed his brow. "It's entirely possible that my greatest fear is a plate of Cousin Enid's meringues."