Amour

THE BOGGART

Snape watched as the students filed inside the classroom.Hermione had been down since the incident with the dementor but today she looked absolutely morose.Snape wondered what was up.He and the other teachers had already had a talk with Dumbledoor about the dementors,who said they were only there for the protection of the students(especially Hermione) from Sirius Black."Today we would have a practical class on Boggarts."Snape started the class but there was no amount of enthusiasm."Can anyone tell me what a Boggart looks like?"There was a murmur but no one answered.Snape was surprised that the usual hand didn't shoot up in the air."Is there a problem?"Snape asked specifically to Hermione.She snapped out of her reverie and started,"Sorry.Um-Boggarts are shapeshifters.No one knows..""No,really,is there something wrong?You are all looking dejected.I've never seen such lack of interest in a practical lesson."Snape asked the whole class.Ron said a straight 'no',Hermione looked down and Harry said,"Sir,we just had a divination class...""And Professor Trelawney said something about an omen..."squeaked Lavender.Aah yes.The Grim.Snape looked around asking,"So,which one of you is going to die this year?"Everyone looked at each other before Hermione finally said,"I am."Oh,I see.Had it been anyone else Snape would have joked it away but in this case he showed a little more concern.He sighed,"Professor Trelawney has been predicting the death of one student every year since she arrived at Hogwarts.But Ms.Granger,I don't think you are showing any symptoms of dropping dead anytime soon.So rest easy."Hermione cheered up a bit with this,as did the others."Now if we could all concentrate to the subject at hand-"Snape continued with the class,telling them about the boggart trapped in the wardrobe and how they had to first think of something that scared them the most and then turn it into something funny.Hermione closed her eyes to think better.What scared me most in the world?First the angry Snape's picture came to her mind but she shoved it away.Scarier than that...a Voldemort returned to full strength.But then a horrible image came to her mind...a ghostly figure,a growing darkness,a cold so penetrating it could freeze your soul,a rotting hand emerging out of a cloaked figure to clutch her throat.Hermione's eyes snapped open and she quickly checked whether anyone had seen,but she saw no one but Snape had noticed,but he too,although looking at her,was thinking of something else.She pushed the hair out of her face and got ready..................................................
Snape looked at Hermione as she closed her eyes to think.What could her boggart be?An expulsion letter from Hogwarts?An undone homework?A 0 in a subject?No,no,it was more than that,come on.She looks tense.She's visibly frightened.Is it Voldemort?The class took turns tackling the boggart-Snape rolled his eyes when the boggart changed to Snape himself when it landed in front of Neville,who recoiled in horror.He managed to tackle it by magicking it into his grandmother's clothes, which drew laughs but which immediately died down with the look Snape gave them.Ron magicked his gigantic boggart spider to wear roller skates,Seamus's boggart banshee lost her voice,Parvati's snake turned into a jack-in-the-box and then Hermione came forward.It took a fraction of a second to change;slowly morphing into a cloaked,hooded figure with rotting hands;then it hit him.Its a dementor.Snape jumped in front of it,blocking Hermione and magicked it back into the wardrobe,marking the end of the lesson."That'll be all for today.I want two roles of parchment on the effective ways of finding and ridding off of boggarts by Monday."Then Snape added."And Ms.Granger,you would definitely be excused if something fatal happens to you."This comment got many smiles and chuckles from the class but Hermione was too preoccupied to care.He deliberately stopped me from tacking on the boggart.Did he think of me to be that weak as to not be able to handle such a simple job?He did know you fainted seeing a dementor.But it was different...I had felt a deep sorrow then,as if I'd never be cheerful again.And all the happiness was sucked out of her along with her consciousness.But now in class,it was only a boggart.Then why did he..?Hermione went away frustrated and Snape realised she must have found something odd.