McKinnon

| CHAPTER SIX |

When Sarai, Dean, and Seamus reached the Defense Against the Dark Art's class room, she immediately noticed that Remus wasn't already there waiting. Confused as to where he might have been, the three seated themselves at the front of the classroom, and pulled out their books for the lesson.
"Where is he?" She wondered aloud to her companions. Seamus shrugged from beside her,
"Dunno. But if he shows up late, it'll definitely be a family trait." He joked.
Sarai, who was already known for sleeping in had gotten in trouble a few too many times her first year for sleeping in through her first classes in the day. She shot Seamus a dirty look.
"It doesn't matter, I doubt he'd show up late his first class anyway." Dean said while doodling on a piece of parchment paper.
As if it was right on cue, Remus—Professor Lupin, entered the room with a kind smile on his face. Sarai, still bitter from the happenings of the other day quickly avoided eye contact with hun by staring at her parchment paper.
"Good afternoon," he said. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags. Today's will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."
A few curious looks were exchanged as the class put away their books. They had never had a practical Defense Against the Dark Arts before, unless you counted the memorable class last year when their old teacher had brought a cageful of pixies -to class and set them loose.
"Right then," said Remus,, when everyone was ready. "If you'd follow me."
Puzzled but interested, the class got to its feet and followed Remus out of the classroom. He led them along the deserted corridor and around a corner, where the first thing they saw was Peeves the Poltergeist, who was floating upside down in midair and stuffing the nearest keyhole with chewing gum.
Peeves didn't look up until Remus was two feet away; ,hen he wiggled his curly-toed feet and broke into song.
"Loony, loopy Lupin," Peeves sang. "Loony, loopy Lupin, loony, loopy Lupin --"
Sarai's blood began to boil as she went to take her wand out of her robe pocket. But Remus beat her too it.
"I'd take that gum out of the keyhole if I were you, Peeves," he said pleasantly. "Mr. Filch won't be able to get in to his brooms."
Filch was the Hogwarts caretaker, a bad-tempered, failed wizard who waged a constant war against the students and, indeed, Peeves. However, Peeves paid no attention to Remus's words, except to blow a loud wet raspberry. Remus gave a small sigh and took out his wand.
"This is a useful little spell, he told the class over his shoulder. "Please watch closely."
He raised the wand to shoulder height, said, "Waddiwasi! "and pointed it at Peeves.
With the force of a bullet, the wad of chewing gum shot out of the keyhole and straight down Peeves's left nostril; he whirled upright and zoomed away, cursing.
"Cool, sir!" said Dean in amazement.
Sarai beamed with pride. No matter how upset she was with him, she couldn't deny he was still the coolest professor in the school.
"Thank you, Dean," said Remus, putting his wand away again. "Shall we proceed?"
They set off again, and Sarai couldn't notice that her classmates around her were looking at Remus with a sort of newfound respect in their eyes. Needless to say, class was already starting off extremely well.
He led them down a second corridor and stopped, right outside the staffroom door.
"Inside, please," said Remus, opening it and standing back.
The staffroom, a long, paneled room full of old, mismatched chairs, was empty except for one teacher. Professor Snape was sitting in a low armchair, and he looked around as the class filed in. His eyes were glittering and there was a nasty sneer playing around his mouth. As Remus came in and made to close the door behind him, Snape said, "Leave it open, Lupin. I'd rather not witness this."
He got to his feet and strode past the class, his black robes billowing behind him. At the doorway he turned on his heel and 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."
Neville went scarlet. Sarai glared at Snape; it was bad enough that he bullied Neville in his own classes, let alone doing it in front of other teachers.
Remus had raised his eyebrows.
"I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation," he said, "and I am sure he will perform it admirably."
Neville's face went, if possible, even redder. Snape's lip curled, but he left, shutting the door with a snap. Sarai once again beamed even fiercer. Remus never tolerated bullies.
"Now, then," said Remus, beckoning them toward the end of the room, where there was nothing but an old wardrobe where the teachers kept their spare robes. As Remus went to stand next to it, the wardrobe gave a sudden wobble, banging off the wall.
"Nothing to worry about," said Remus calmly because a few people had jumped backward in alarm. "There's a boggart in there."
Sarai frowned, as she remembered her first experience with one. She was only 7 at the time. It was after her first experience with the Doxy who attacked her. She cried for hours after Remus quickly dispelled the pest away.
      "Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," said Remus. "Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks -- I've even met one
that had lodged 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?"
    Hermione and Sarai put up their hands.
"Hermione?"
   It's a shape-shifter," she said. "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most."
   "Couldn't have put it better myself," said Remus, and Hermione glowed. "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.
     "This means," said Remus, choosing to ignore Neville's 'mall sputter of terror, "that we have a huge advantage over the boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"
   Sarai glanced over to see a unconfident Harry take a moment to ponder. Hermione, was bobbing next to him excitedly with her hand raised once again.
    "Er -- because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be?"
     "Precisely," said Remus, and Hermione put her hand down, looking a little disappointed. "It's always best to have com pany 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. Not remotely frightening."
     Sarai snorted softly as she imagined the boggart take form.
      "The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really 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.
     "Good," said Remus . "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 wardrobe shook again, though not as much as Neville, who walked forward as though he were heading for the gallows.
      "Right, Neville," said Remus. "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.
"didn't catch that, Neville, sorry," said Remus cheerfully.
    Sarai was beginning to wonder if he enjoyed seeing Neville so frightened.
     Neville looked around rather wildly, as though begging someone to help him, then said, in barely more than a whisper, "Professor Snape."
      Nearly everyone laughed. Even Neville grinned apologetically. Remus, however, looked thoughtful.
      "Professor Snape... hmmm... Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?"
      "Er -- yes," said Neville nervously. "But -- I don't want the boggart to turn into her either."
      "No, no, you misunderstand me," said Remus, now smiling. "I wonder, could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?"
      Sarai was getting more and more confused by the sentence. Why was Remus interested in Neville's grandmothers wardrobe?
     "Well... always the same hat. A tall one with a stuffed vulture on top. And a long dress... green, normally... and sometimes a fox-fur scarf."
      "And a handbag?" prompted Remus . "A big red one," said Neville.
      "Right then," said Remus . "Can you picture those clothes very clearly, Neville? Can you see them in your mind's eye?"
    "Yes," said Neville uncertainty, plainly wondering what was coming next.
      "When the boggart bursts out of this wardrobe, Neville, and sees You, it will assume the form of Professor Snape," said Remus . "And You will raise your wand -- thus -- and cry 'Riddikulus' -- and concentrate hard on your grandmother's clothes. If all goes well, Professor Boggart Snape will be forced into that vulture-topped hat, and that green dress, with that big red handbag."
      There was a great shout of laughter. The wardrobe wobbled more violently.
      "If Neville is successful, the boggart is likely to shift his attention to each of us in turn," said Remus. "I would like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you most, and imagine how you might force it to look comical...."
     Sarai already knew what her boggart was going to take form as. And as silly as it sounded of having a Doxy appear as her boggart, she was grateful she already knew what it was going to be.
      "Everyone ready?" Remus asked, in an almost excited manner.
       "Neville, we're going to back away," said Remus. "Let you have a clear field, all right? I'll call the next person forward.... Everyone back, now, so Neville can get a clear shot --"
      They all retreated, backed against the walls, leaving Neville alone beside the wardrobe. He looked pale and frightened, but he had pushed up the sleeves of his robes and was holding his wand ready.
      "On the count of three, Neville," said Remus, who was pointing his own wand at the handle of the wardrobe. "One two -- three -- now!"
      A jet of sparks shot from the end of Remus's wand and hit the doorknob. The wardrobe burst open. Hook-nosed and menacing, Professor Snape stepped out, his eyes flashing at Neville.
Neville backed away, his wand up, mouthing wordlessly. Snape was bearing down upon him, reaching inside his robes.
      "R -- r -- riddikulus! "squeaked Neville.
     There was a noise like a whip crack. Snape stumbled; he was wearing a long, lace-trimmed dress and a towering hat topped with a moth-eaten vulture, and he was swinging a huge crimson handbag.
      There was a roar of laughter; the boggart paused, confused, and Remus shouted, "Parvati! Forward!"
       Parvati walked forward, her face set. Snape rounded on her. There was another crack, and where he had stood was a bloodstained, bandaged mummy; its sightless face was turned to Parvati and it began to walk toward her very slowly, dragging its feet, its stiff arms rising --
"Riddikulus!" cried Parvati.
       A bandage unraveled at the mummy's feet; it became entangled, fell face forward, and its head rolled off.
     "Seamus!" roared Remus. Seamus darted past Parvati.
      Crack!
      Where the mummy had been was a woman with floorlength black hair and a skeletal, green-tinged face -- a banshee. She opened her mouth wide and an unearthly sound filled the room, a long, wailing shriek that made the hair on Sarai's head stand on end -- 'Riddikulus!" shouted Seamus.
       The banshee made a rasping noise and clutched her throat; her voice was gone.
Crack! The banshee turned into a rat, which chased its tail in a circle, then -- crack!- became a rattlesnake, which slithered and writhed before -- crack! -- becoming a single, bloody eyeball.
'It's confused!" shouted Remus. "We're getting there! Dean!" Dean hurried forward, shooting Sarai a quick grin.
Crack!
      The eyeball became a severed hand, which flipped over and began to creep along the floor like a crab.
"Riddikulus!" yelled Dean.
       'There was a snap, and the hand was trapped in a mousetrap.
     "Excellent! Sarai, you next!" Remus cried, pulling Sarai out of her daze.
       She quickly stepped forward towards the mousetrap imagining the Doxy that was going to appear before her.
       But it wasn't a doxy. Or a spider. Or a mummy, or even a severed hand. What appeared before her caused several gasps to erupt from the room. When she stepped forward to the boggart, none other than Sirius Black appeared in the room.
       Sarai froze unable to move at the sight before her. Boggart-Black started at her with his sunken face, and long black unruly hair. His frame was skeletal almost as the boggart raised his wand to fire an attack before—-
       She felt a shove from beside her. Not expecting the sudden brute force she fell to the side as Dean had stepped back up into the way.
"Riddikulus!" He shouted and once more, the severed hand that appeared before him, was back in the mouse trap.
       Sarai gulped as she felt Remus help her up from behind her, he shot her a worried look, before calling out to Dean,
     "Excellent work, Dean." He said clearing his throat, "Ron! You next!"
      Sarai was shaking furiously, as Ron stepped up towards the Boggart. She could feel multiple sets of eyes on her before the class's attention turned to the giant spider that appeared before the class.
     "Dean, if you'll kindly escort Sarai to the Hospital Wing," Remus said as Dean and Seamus approached her.
       Sarai could barely hear anything else around her, as Dean gently link his arm around her own and escorted her out of the room.

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