Being His Daughter

Boggart

  "Everyone's been saying how this lesson is really fun," Jalen said as we all entered Defense Against the Dark Arts. "I hope they're right."

We all sat down in our usual spots, toward the back on the right side of the classroom, when Professor Lupin entered. "Good afternoon," he greeted us all. He looked jut as tired as he did back on the train, and his robes were still tattered, which Draco didn't fail to snicker into my ear. I glanced at him before shrugging and turning back to Lupin as he continued: "Put all of your books back into your bags, please. You'll only need your wands today."

I cast a confused look at Draco but then happily shoved all my books back into my bag and took out my wand, twirling it in between my fingers.

"Careful there, Sierra," Blaise hissed playfully into my ear. "Don't want to accidentally hit Pansy."

I smirked over at him and he gestured in front of us a little to the right, where Pansy was almost turned all the way around in her seat and was glaring at me. I snorted and tried to cover it up with a cough as Draco jumped in surprise.

"Alright, if you would all get up and move over to this side of the room," Lupin said. We all followed his orders. He swished his wand and all of our desks slammed into the opposite wall, leaving a big, clear space in the middle of the room. "Alright, come on," he said and we all hesitantly walked into the space. We were now toward the front, closer to Lupin, and I narrowed my eyes as he swished his wand again and pulled it toward him, causing a large and heavy-looking wardrobe to slowly drag forward. It stopped and I eyes it curiously, wondering what this had to do with the great lesson Jalen had heard about.

Suddenly the wardrobe gave a loud and violent wobble, causing me to jump back slightly in shock. Draco grabbed me and pulled me to him protectively.

"Nothing to worry about," Lupin assured with a chuckle. "It's just a Boggart."

My eyes widened. What did he mean 'Nothing to worry about'? Draco must've wondered the same thing because he hissed, "Is he mad?" into my ear.

Most of the class looked pretty nervous as well. "Why is a Boggart in that wardrobe?" Parvati Patil, a pretty girl from Gryffindor, asked.

"Ah, well you see," Lupin said. "Boggarts like dark, enclosed, spaces and this one was found in there, I believe yesterday. So I asked Professor Dumbledore if I could use it to give my third years some practice. So who can answer me this: What is a Boggart?"

Hermione's hand immediately shot up into the air.

"Yes, Ms. Granger?"

She took a breath. "It's a shape-shifter," she said. "It takes the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten the person closest to it the most."

"Ten points to Gryffindor! Very good," Lupin said, clapping his hands together. Hermione beamed.

"Now," he continued as the wardrobe shook slightly again. "The Boggart in here hasn't assumed a form yet because it doesn't know who the person on the other side is. No one knows what a Boggart really looks like. When I let it out, it will take the shape of whatever it thinks the one closest to it fears the most."

We all stared at him. "You're going to let it out?" Airam asked after a while.

"Yes, we will be practicing how to repel it. The spell in order to do so is fairly simple. You just need to force s to take the form of something you find amusing. Everyone repeat after me: Riddikulus!"