Gold Tinted Spectacles (Hecatemus Book #1)

Chapter 32 - No Longer Frightening

Defence Against the Dark Arts was undoubtedly Harry's favourite lesson and of course his best subject. Everyone knew this from all the members of the DA, up to and including all the Slytherins who in the sixth and seventh years shared the classroom for the discipline. Harry could only think that this was the reason he found himself at the front of the class with everyone else arranged behind him when Professor Daemon announced that they were doing some practical revision today.

The subject of the moment was Boggarts. For the NEWTs the pupils were often up against more powerful and dangerous creatures, but some of the discipline was to handle the less lethal possibilities in a more professional and efficient manner; hence the revisit to Boggarts, which hadn't been much of an issue since the third year.

"This should be easy for you, Harry," Professor Daemon said cheerfully as she took hold of the door of the shipping crate which held the creature, "show the other's how it's done."

The problem was Harry didn't really know what was going to come out of the box. At the beginning of the year he would have said positively that it would have been a Dementor, the creatures still filled him with terror because of what they could do to him even though he had a strong Patronus, but he was no longer so sure. There was a nasty suspicion at the back of his mind that one of two things would pop out of the crate: a vengeful Sirius Black, even though at a conscious level Harry knew his godfather did not blame him for his death; or a dead Draco.

With a deep breath, Harry gripped his wand and steeled himself at which point the professor opened the crate. For a moment he just stared, his mouth open and his wand remained motionless in his hand and then he felt the smile creep onto his face. The Boggart blinked at him and stepped forward at which point Harry couldn't help himself: he laughed. There was a cloudy, indistinct shape hanging around the creature, but there was one thing no one had told him; he could see the real Boggart.

From the gasp that had escaped the class Harry was pretty sure that they could see whatever had turned out to be his greatest fear, but he couldn't even tell what it was; all he could see was a quite ridiculous sight. The laughter bubbled out of him partly from relief and partly because quite frankly the Boggart was hilarious.

"Harry, you didn't cast yet," Professor Daemon sounded somewhat perturbed by the situation.

"Um," Harry tried to control the laughter, but it was getting away from him; the Boggart blinked at him again and for all the world appeared offended. "This high," he tried to explain and waved his arm at about knee height while gasping for breath, "pink!"

Then he dissolved in another fit of giggles. The Boggart was an ugly little creature, but it was no more than a foot and a half tall and any nastiness it might have had thanks to its features was offset by the fact that it was bright pink.

[Harry,] Draco's voice sounded confused, [you're looking at a mutilated, very dead me and you're laughing your arse off. Have you lost it?]

Rather than replying Harry sent his soulmate an image of what he was looking at.

[Oh,] was Draco's prompt response which caused Harry to laugh even harder; Draco almost sounded insulted.

[It's pink,] Harry sent back, which was the part that his brain refused to move past.

Harry managed a glance at the class and they all appeared to think he was deranged if their expressions were anything to go by, but he just couldn't stop laughing. The fact that the entire Wizarding world was afraid of Boggarts which were, in truth, bright pink, was completely absurd. He wanted to explain, he really did, but he could not form the words. Since Draco's worried expression had cracked into a grin and was rapidly forming into a forerunner for a fit of the giggles, Harry did not think he would be gaining any help from that direction.