Avi:
"Those with particularly good memories, or particularly bad experiences, will remember what it is like to stand before a Boggart and have your worst fear configured in front of your very eyes. Yes, I'm well aware that you dealt with this species in your younger years, but the fears of a thirteen-year-old and a sixteen-year-old are quite different, and I should be most interested in seeing how well you perform under pressure." Says our DADA teacher. Us Gryffindors have a class with Hufflepuff, and so Mitch stands next to Scott and I. In front of us, a beaten oak dresser rackets, puffs of smokes dusting from the places that have yet to be reached.
"I should like a volunteer." Everyone casts anxious eyes at each other. Going first is never an option for most of us.
"I'll go first, sir." I say stepping forward with a deep breath. How hard should it be?
"Very well then, you know what to do. Unlock the door, let the Boggart emerge, fixate on something amusing, and perform the incantation. Now, if the class would like to stand back, Mr. Kaplan needs his undivided attention."
I hear the shuffling of feet behind me, and the murmurs of excited students.
"Alohamora." I whisper, and the lock clicks out of place.
Out stalks a leopard-looking creature, but three times the size and five the muscle weight. With breath poisonous enough the make a whole village disease-ridden, it's no wonder that my greatest fear is ever encountering a Nundu. It snarls at me, foggy saliva drooling from it's mouth. Fear creeps up from my toes all the way to my brain, clouding my judgment. What am I still doing standing here? I should be running! I take a single step back, and the Nundu repeats the action. But there's only one way out of this, and scampering away is not it. With a deep breath, I imagine the beast no more than a puppy, all fat rolls and big eyes.
And with that, I call, "Riddikulus!"
With a puff off ashy smoke, the Nundu shrinks into itself, growing tinier and more adorable. The now baby creature begins scampering around, no longer used to it's miniature body. The class erupts into laughter, myself included. With a final yelp, the Boggart returns to it's closet, sulking. The class cheers for me, Scott and Mitch letting out massive congratulatory whoops.
"What we do without Fridays?" Scott says, reclining in his bed, an open fire contently crackling in our dorm. Todrick has sneaked out to see his boyfriend in Ravenclaw, so it's just me and him. I allow myself to smile, still with my face down over some exceptionally hard Transfiguration. We're learning the importance of correctly learning to become an Animagi, and it fascinates me greatly. To cast a charm to conceal your true identity is one thing, but to become a whole new species is beyond incredible. I'm beginning question six (Name three wizards who learned their art improperly, describe the consequences), when a sharp rapping interrupts my thoughts. It's a young Brown owl, presumably owned by the school, tapping the glass panes with it's beak. It's staring at me with it's beady black eyes. I instantly suspect something about Stella, and so I race to the sill. But Scott beats me to it. Before I can object, he unravels the scroll and reads the message aloud.
"Stella needs you. Who's Stella, and why does she need you at nine o'clock at night?" He asks me with a skeptical look in his eye.
"Um."
"Don't you dare lie to me, Avriel. I know you've been up to something. Spill."
I sigh. I knew it would come to this sooner or later, but seriously, one week after my dragon's been hatched she's been discovered?
"Come on."
I light a lantern, and we sneak out of the Gryffindor common room.
~
YOU ARE READING
HPTX (A Harry Potter + Pentatonix Crossover)
FanfictionAvi, Kirstie, Scott, Mitch, and Kevin have begun their sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Read on and experience their adventures as they compete in Quidditch matches, attend classes, learn to become Animagi, try to raise a ba...
