Jennifer Potter and the marauders (book 5) 19 Years Later

Boggarts And Books

Jenny could barely focus during her classes on Monday, and she wasn't the only one, as her students were too excited about the start of the tournament which was happening that evening.
"James, unless your question is about Boggarts, I don't want to know" admitted Jenny, as she noticed that James had raised his hand for the 10th time that lesson.
"So the first challange is Charms?" Questioned James, ignoring Jenny's warning to stick to the theme of the lesson.
"Yes. As I've already told you. Now please get back to your work" instructed Jenny.
"But what exactly is going to be in the challange?"
"I can't tell you what is going to be in it, as that goes against all the rules"
"But can't you tell us more about what will happen during the challange, since we won't be able to actually watch it".

Jenny looked around the room and saw that no one was reading the textbook in front of them. Every single person in the room was waiting to see what she was going to say next.
"Eugh, fine. But don't blame me when you aren't ready to fight your first Boggart. Today's challange is the Charms Theory exam, as you already know. One student from each of the schools will sit in the hall and take the exam. The tests will all get marked tonight and the results will be published first thing tomorrow morning" revealed Jenny.
"So, it's like a really hard NEWT exam?" Quizzed Dominique.
"Yes, although this paper will be harder than any NEWT exam. There will be some questions in there that are NEWT level, but a lot of them will be above it. Which is why we have to choose the brightest students to compete. The champions will have been studying as hard as possible, and will have taken out every book in the library on the subject that they're competing in" answered Jenny.

"Who marks the papers?" Asked James.
"Well it's not me. None of the teachers are allowed to get involved in this tournament. Each of the challanges will be judged by someone in the Ministry who works in that area" explained Jenny.
"But surely since they're from our Ministry, they are just going to mark the Hogwarts students higher"
"Well the school hosting the tournament does often get an advantage. But since half of the challenges are theory based, it makes things fairer, as there will always be a right and a wrong answer. You are right though, as the host school often gets accused of cheating. However, it's the same for the Triwizard tournament, because the Headteachers are always going to give their own students more points. Which is why the teachers don't get involved in this event".

"I thought you were organising the whole thing, doesn't that mean that you're involved?" Asked Dominique.
"I am organising it. But I have not chosen the questions in any of the papers, nor will I mark any of them. I haven't even chosen what spells will get performed in the practical exams. All that gets decided by the Ministry, not me or anyone at Hogwarts" replied Jenny.
"So you can't help us win?"
"No. And even if I could, I wouldn't. This tournament is supposed to be fair. And if we won because we had cheated, we wouldn't really be winners, would we?"
"We don't win very often though"
"No, we don't. We won last year, which is why the trophy is in our trophy room right now. But you're right, we don't win all that often. If we lose this time, the cup will get handed to the winning school and they get to keep it for the next 5 years, until the next tournament".

"That's not fair though, because our year will never get the chance to compete" complained James.
"Unfortunately your year group fell in the middle. The 4th and 5th years are in the same boat as you though. The championship has to be held often, and many years ago it was decided that it would occur every 5 years. I did not choose it, so don't take your frustrations out on me" replied Jenny.
"But it's not-"
"I know it's not fair James, but life isn't always fair. Now, if we could get back to the matter at hand" interupted Jenny.

Dominique raised her hand, and Jenny sighed loudly.
"Yes?".
"It's about the lesson I promise" replied Dominique.
"Go on then" encouraged Jenny.
"Have you ever seen a Boggart, not in a classroom situation?"
"Several times. In fact I found one in my manor house at the beginning of summer, as the building had been empty for several months, because I'd been living in my second house in Hogsmeade"
"What did it look like?"
"Well Boggarts look different for every person, which you should know-"
"I do, which is why I want to know what form yours took"
"That is a very personal question, because you are essentially asking me what I fear the most in the world"
"Sorry Professor".

Jenny thought back to earlier that year when she had opened a wardrobe in one of the spare bedrooms and found a Boggart lurking inside.
Every time she saw one it looked different to the time before, as she feared a great many things, and the thing that she feared the most changed all the time.
Over the years she had seen her love ones dead on the floor, she'd seen Lucius Malfoy, Peter Pettigrew, and Lord Voldemort himself.
But the last time she saw a Boggart it had turned into her. The copy of her had laid unmoving on the floor for quite some time before Jenny had realised what it was and disposed of it.
The Boggart had not turned into her dead body, but what she assumed her body had looked like while she was stuck in St Mungo's. Essentially frozen, but alive.

"I saw Lord Voldemort, he is my greatest fear" lied Jenny.
Some of the students in her classes sat back in their chairs in fear.
"A Boggart is nothing to be scared of, for it cannot actually hurt you. It feeds off your fear which is why it turns into the thing that scares you the most. But they can be stopped with a very simple charm, which is in your textbooks; Riddikulus" continued Jenny, as she tried to ressure her class.
"What's my dad's Boggart?" Asked James.
"It is not my place to reveal what your father fears the most. Beside, it has probably changed since the last time I spoke to him" replied Jenny.

"Now, let's get back to reading in silence, so that you are ready when your time comes in the next week or so. You won't have a warning, as I don't know exactly when I'll be able to find one, so you'd better be ready" warned Jenny.
This got the whole classes attention and made their focus immediately return to their textbooks.
Jenny however found it much harder to get back to her work, as the images of her Boggart were now at the forefront of her mind.