I solemnly swear that I am up to no good | Professor Remus Lupin

Chapter 24 | Boggart

Grace stood up. Her expression was a mixture of confusion and fear. She didn't look at me and walked past me with a quick pace.

"Grace!" I shouted after her, but she started running out of the hall. I walked up to the twins.

"We thought you had already told her"
"Sorry Maeve"
"I am sure she just needs time"
"Don't worry"
"She will come back"
"Sorry..." the twins tried to explain. I sighed. I knew exactly what had happened, the twins had told her that I was a Veela.

"It's alright, you couldn't knew...I...I just hope she..." i stuttered and the twins grabbed my hands.

"I am sure she will come back"
"Just give her time"

I felt tears in my eyes, I tried to blink them away, but it didn't work. "She thinks I am a monster" I sobbed and the twins tried their best to calm me down.

"But you are no monster, Maeve"
"You are very far from that"
"And she will realize that too, regardless of your possible Veela form"

"But...but what if am not able to control it" I stuttered.

"You will" George continued and tried to calm me down by hugging me. He stroke my back and it worked a little. So we made our way to class, I had stopped crying by now, but I was sure that everyone was able to tell that I had been upset. I stopped in front of the classroom.
"Maeve" I heard a familiar voice behind me say in a celebrating tone. I turned around and drowned in those beautiful eyes, that I had missed already. I smiled at Remus.

"Maeve..." he repeated in a worried voice after he saw that I had cried. "Do you want to talk after the lesson, how do you like that idea?" He asked and smiled at me. I returned the smile and nodded. We walked into the classroom and he leaned his body against the window wall. His desk was replaced by a large wooden closet.

The chairs were gone too so the students were standing in front of the closet waiting for Lupin to talk. I heard noises coming out of closet it even moved a little, like something heavy was trapped inside.

"Welcome, Students!" Lupin said and walked around. "Today we will Focus on the boggart-banishing spell. If you have done your homework, you should know what a boggart is. Mister Diggory, would you please enlighten us"

Cedric was talking with his clique in a corner of the room. Lupin had caught him off guard. He slowly walked forward. "An ugly creature..." he started. It was obvious that he hadn't done the homework and he had no clue and was just guessing.

"Well, Mister Diggory, at least this isn't completely incorrect..." Lupin stated surprisingly. Cedric was surprised too and went celebrating back to his friends. Lupin turned towards the class and since I was the only one, that had risen their hand he smiled and said "Maeve, take it away."

"A boggart can shape themselves into their viewers worst fear. They change their form depending on the fears of their observers, this means that no one knows what a boggart really look like" I explained and turned towards Cedric. "So if your worst fear is an ugly creature, you were correct" I told him with a smile. He seemed surprised but returned the smile.

"Excellent! Now, to defense yourself against the boggart, you say riddikulus! Repeat after me" Remus said towards the class and we repeated the word.

"When you use the spell you need to turn the fear into something really funny in your mind and with the spell the boggart will turn into that" he explained. "Now, please form a line" he ordered and walked towards the dresser. "I hope it will work this time" he muttered to himself, I wondered what he meant. I asked myself what my biggest fear was... I scared a lot of small things like clowns for example... but I didn't think it would be my worst fear. Many students had pushed themselves at the beginning of the line and were excited to use the spell. I was standing more at the end of the line, the twins had pushed themselves to the front. I was lost in my thoughts, wondering what my fear could be and didn't payed attention to the other students.

More and more students successfully used the spell and turned the boggart into something funny.  Only three students were standing in front of me now, I watched them using the spell. The first girls greatest fear were spiders, I giggled to myself as I thought of what Ron's facial expression would be now. The boy after her was afraid of heights, I couldn't blame him, before I had explored quidditch I was afraid of it too. The last boy in front of me was afraid of darkness. The boggart had turned itself into a lightbulb that went off and surrounded us in darkness, but he successfully used the spell and turned the light bulb into a small tennis ball. The class continued laughing and the ball rolled behind the closet.

The boy walked out of the line to the other students, making me the stand directly in front of the closet now. I sucked in my breath, grabbed my wand and pointed it towards the closet. At first nothing seemed to happen and i questioningly looked over at Remus. He seemed to turn uneasy too. I turned my eyes to the closet again.

A foot was the first thing that came from behind the closet. It looked like a girl that wore our school uniform. She walked around the closet and revealed her completely. My eyes wandered up at her and I let my wand fell down as I saw who it was. It was me.