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𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐒 𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 when they walked into the classroom to find all the desks pushed to the sides and an armoire in the front of the room. She had spent a portion of her weekend helping Remus prepare for the Monday's lesson, and she found excuses to run away every time a third year begged to know what Professor Lupin would be teaching that week.
Ella stood beside Remus as the students all stared at the armoire with excitement and wonder. It shook every few moments, fueling their curiosity as to what they would be facing. While they were focused on the rumbling wood, Ella found herself quite focused on the fitted grey suit Remus had on today. No one else could be as handsome in a suit as Remus Lupin, she decided. It was almost torturous how she was to work with him every day, each of his suits perfectly tailored to his slim and defined figure.
The armoire shook violently, attracting everyone's attention. "Intriguing, isn't it?" Remus said to the class with excitement of his own. "Would anyone like the venture a guess as to what is inside?"
"That's a boggart, that is," Dean Thomas, a Gryffindor, answered.
"Very good, Mr. Thomas," Remus praised. He had gone over boggarts in class the week before so the students would be familiar with the dark creature, though they were unaware they would be facing one in the flesh the next week.
"Now, can anyone tell me what a boggart looks like?" Remus questioned.
Ella bit her lip to stop herself from smiling as her sister suddenly appeared in the blink of an eye. "No one knows."
Ron and Harry whirled around in surprise, having sworn she had not been there a moment ago. "When'd she get here?" Ron asked aloud, looking to Harry. But he was just as clueless.
"Boggarts are shapeshifters. They take the shape of whatever a particular person fears the most. That's what makes them so-"
"So terrifying," Remus finished her answer, glancing back at Ella, who was watching her sister with a proud smile. "Yes, yes, yes, yes." Remus moved to stand in the center of the room before the armoire. "Luckily, a very simple charm exists to repel a boggart. Let's practice it now. Uh, without wands, please." He didn't want to be spelled accidentally. "After me. Riddikulus!"
"Riddikulus," the class repeated after him.
"Very good. A little louder, and very clear," he instructed his students. "Listen. Riddikulus!"
"Riddikulus!"
"This class is ridiculous," Draco grumbled from the back, his arm healing in a sling.
Ella sent Draco a warning look, which he promptly ignored, before turning her attention back to Remus at the front of the room. "Very good! Well, so much for the easy part. You see, the incantation alone is not enough. What really finishes a boggart is... laughter. You need to force it so assume a shape you find truly amusing." The students all glanced around at each other with confusion. As they were still only third years, they hadn't learned many spells that required more than an incantation and a flick of their wands. "Let me explain. Um, Neville, will you join me, please?"
