Forbidden Love (Ron Weasley x Reader)

Boggart ⚜ Chapter Five

        One week later and I was walking to Defence Against The Dark Arts class with Draco. He had stayed in the Hospital Wing all week and this would be his first class back. He still had that silly little arm sling on and was still over-dramatizing what exactly happened with Buckbeak. 

        All the students piled into class and I stayed at the back with my brother, Crabbe, and Goyle. Remus Lupin was our professor this year, but of course everyone knew he wouldn't last. No teacher ever lasts longer than one year as the Defence Against The Dark Arts professor. Rumor has it that the job position is cursed.  

        There was a large, ancient wardrobe at the front of the room. The wardrobe kept rattling aggressively as if something was in there trying to get out. Every time it rattled the entire class would jump back a bit, scared of it getting loose. 

        "Intriguing, isn't it?" Lupin said to the class. "Would anyone like to venture a guess as to what is inside?"

        "That's a boggart, that is." a student answered. 

        "Very good, Mr. Thomas. Now can anybody tell me what a boggart looks like?" 

        Hermione chimed in. "No one knows. Boggarts are shapeshifters, they take the shape of whatever a particular person fears the most. That's what makes them so-"  

        "So terrifying, yes. Yes yes yes..." Lupin cut her off. "Luckily, a very simple charm exists to repel a boggart. Let's practice it now. Uh without wands please. After me, Riddikulus!"

        "Riddikulus!" the class repeated after the professor. 

        "Very good, a little louder and very clear. Listen, Riddikulus!" Lupin pronounced the charm more clearly and precise. 

        The class continued to repeat after Professor Lupin except for Draco, who made a snide remark. "This class is ridiculous." I couldn't help but chuckle at the pun he had just made. 

        "Very good, well so much for the easy part. See, the incantation alone is not enough. What really finishes a boggart is laughter. You need to force it to assume the shape you find truly amusing. Let me explain..." Lupin continued. 

        The professor called a student up to the front, Neville Longbottom. Neville confessed that Professor Snape, the Potions teacher, frightened him most of all. Lupin instructed Neville to imagine his grandmother's clothes and only her clothes. Lupin then whispered something to Neville and told him to have his wand at the ready when he unlocked the wardrobe. Out of the dark, concealed wardrobe crept Snape looking very menacing as usual. Neville then shouted the charm and Snape's clothes warped into his grandmother's. The entire class laughed, including Lupin. 

        Professor Lupin called to the class to form a line so everyone would have a turn. All the students began to push and shove each other trying to get in a line formation. Draco shoved his way to the back of the line as students pushed me around so much I found my way at the front of the line. I was pressed up against the person in front of me, which of course turned out to be Ron. I felt my face get hot as soon as I realized it was him and how close we actually were to each other. 

        "I want everyone to picture the thing they fear the very most and turn it into something funny. Next... Ron!" Lupin called on Ron who was the first in line. Ron took a few steps forward, separating our bodies. I wished little moments like these lasted forever, but part of me was relieved because my heart beat was becoming so prominent that I'm sure he could've felt it on his back. 

        Ron worriedly faced the boggart and it took a few seconds to fully take shape. Ron whimpered as he saw what stood before him was a massive, grotesque spider. The spider was crawling towards him slowly, snapping at him threateningly. A chill ran down my spine as the spider was genuinely creeping me out. I was disgusted by the sight of it. 

        Ron pulled out his wand and hesitantly cast the charm at the boggart. "Riddikulus!" the spider suddenly appeared to be wearing roller skates on each leg and had trouble staying up as every leg was slipping. The entire class burst into laughter once again and Lupin praised Ron. Ron walked to the back of the class to watch. 

        "Y/N!" Professor Lupin called me up. "Show us what you see." I had been so caught up in seeing everyone else's worst fear that I completely forgot to think about mine. I stood before the boggart with my wand at the ready for longer than a few seconds, not really thinking about what I was truly afraid of. Then it clicked. The boggart began to change, slowly but surely picking the right thing to scare me beyond belief. A lot of things scared me, but ultimately it all added up to the same thing. 

        A dark, hooded figure stood before me, abstract and hard to make out. It stood taller than any man, even a half giant like Hagrid. It was lanky and hard to believe something could be so thin and still live. But that was it, wasn't it? There was no life to this thing. A cloud of doom engulfed me as I stood before it. I now realized that this was death itself. It was the figure I always pictured Death to be when Mum would tell us the Tale of the Three Brothers. The story that had terrified me to the core as a young child, so much so that I could not handle it being told to me anymore. I would bury my face in my pillow and cover my ears with my hands, trying to drown out the words as I wept in fear. I was now frozen in place with fear as Death took his cloak with his bony fingers and whipped it around me. Darkness consumed me. Darkness was the only presence you could feel and see when Death was near. Nothing but darkness surrounded me, like I was blind to the world. I couldn't even look down to see my own humanly flesh. I was just a soul trapped in eternal nothingness.   

        I snapped back to reality. This was just a boggart. But how could I possibly find the humor in this? How could I make Death funny? I couldn't. The next best thing I could do was think of a happy memory. I thought of one of the many memories I had with Dobby, laughing and joking around in my room. I could incorporate this. "Riddikulus!" Suddenly I was out of the darkness and Death stood before me again. I watched the hooded figure shrink down from almost touching the ceiling to being no taller than my knees. It's head looked up at me, revealing it's face. Now it took the form of Dobby. He made a silly face at me and shed the cloak, running and jumping around the front of the class like a mad elf. I chuckled heartily as Dobby could always make me laugh no matter what. I heard the class laugh behind me.

        "Wow! You handled that surprisingly well, Malfoy!" Lupin said to me. "I almost had to interfere if you had checked out for too long! You may be dismissed from class if that took too much out of you." 

        I nodded thankfully, but kept silent. I had never faced a fear so deeply rooted in me like that before. I was utterly drained and definitely not in the mood to stay for the remainder of class. I started to walk out of class, passing every student whose eyes were glued onto me. 

        "What was that?" Draco asked as I walked passed him. I ignored his question. 

        Right before I walked out the door, I noticed Ron looking at me. His face read the usual worried tone he expressed many times. Great, first he hates me and now he thinks I'm mad. Who doesn't think I'm crazy at this point? I looked away and kept my head down as I walked into the hallway. I quickly made my way to the Library. 

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        i have a question for you guys! what is your favorite harry potter movie and why? respond in the comment section if you'd like! my favorite is the second one, the chamber of secrets. i find it to have the scariest elements which a horror fan like myself absolutely eats up. it also introduces one of my favorite characters, dobby, and has some of my favorite scenes in general! not to mention the fact that it was the harry potter movie i watched most as a child.