Soulmate; Fred Weasley AU

Chapter Seventeen

"Now, can anybody tell me what a boggart looks like?" Professor Lupin asked, the boggart making loud thumping noises.

"No one knows," Hermione said. "Boggart's are shape-shifters: they take the shape of whatever particular person fears the most, that's what makes them so-"

"So terrifying, yes, yes," he finished for her. "Luckily, a very simple charm exists to repel a boggart," the boggart made a loud thumping behind him. "Let's practice it now—without wands, please. After me: Riddikulus."

"Riddikulus." We all replied in unison.

"Very good, a little louder, very clear. Listen: Riddikulus."

"Riddikulus!"

"This class is ridiculous." I heard Malfoy scoff under his breath behind me.

He then went on to explain in more depth about the boggart and how laughing at it was the only way to truly repel it. He asked Neville to step forward, who then stated his biggest fear was Professor Snape, and rightfully so. However, as soon as Neville shouted Riddikulus! in the boggart Snape's face, he immediately was changed into Neville's grandmothers clothes, making the entire class erupt in tear-jerking laughter. Lupin then had us all form a line, so we could all try this out for ourselves.

I stood in front of Harry, and behind a girl I wasn't familiar with. I was rather excited to see what would happen with mine, as I didn't really have a particular fear in mind.

I stepped forward, the previous boggart, which was now a Jack-in-the-Box, slowly started dripping down, as if melting into a puddle onto the floor. The anticipation made my heart rate increase, as the melted water took shape of an ice sculpture of a man, and suddenly the ice broke and out stepped a figure wearing a scary looking mask with snake-eye like slits covering his face. He removed the mask slowly and I gulped, then he removed his hood. He smiled but it was unkind, and what confused me the most was I'd never seen this man before.

"Expelliarmus!" The unfamiliar man yelled, tossing mine and Harry's wands out of our hands. I trembled with fear as the man jumped and shifted into a dark entity, something else I'd never seen before, all within seconds.

Lupin stepped in and cast the charm, and the dark figure turned into a balloon and went back into the boggart. Harry and I looked at each other, completely out of breath as Lupin dismissed the class.

"What the hell was that?" I asked, though it was more of a rhetorical question.

"Who was that man?" Harry asked me as Lupin made his way over to us.

"I-I have no clue! I've never seen him before in my life! I was half-expecting to get a spider just like Ron but, I've literally never see that man before." I confessed.

"That was Augustus Rookwood, though he's currently a prisoner in Azkaban so there's no reason to worry about him. It is rather odd that you've never seen him before, and that he turned into a Dementor to satisfy not only yours but Harry's fear too. It's remarkable, but not entirely impossible, I suppose." He said, collecting our wands off the floor as we were still too shocked to have done it ourselves.

"I didn't have a particular fear in mind when I went, could that have had something to do with it? Like, could he be someone I fear in my future?" I asked.

"Lola, I'm afraid I don't have the answer to that right now. I need to study this more and figure out of that's even possible, or if it's something bigger than a boggart. You two should head to your next class, we'll talk about this at a more appropriate time."

Harry and I walked out and went our separate ways, though it was fairly pointless for us as neither of us could fully focus for the rest of the academic day. We met each other in the library immediately after school, trying to find anything that could help us within the books we had access to. We didn't even talk, only to bring something up that could help better our understanding.

We didn't realize how long we'd been in there for, because at around seven, Fred and George, and Ron and Hermione came looking for us.

"You lot have been here this whole time? You missed dinner." Ron said, taking a seat beside Harry.

"I told you guys we should've checked here first, what are you guys studying for?" Hermione asked.

Fred sat down beside me, George across from me, and Hermione across from Harry, who I looked over to and he looked back at me. We slowly closed all of the books we had open, making sure we marked them so we'd be able to revisit them soon.

"In Defense today," I said, looking to Fred and George. "My boggart was this guy who Lupin said is named Augustus Rookwood, and is currently a prisoner in Azkaban. I swear I've never seen him before in my life, nor heard that name. But, then he knocked Harry and I's wands out of our hands, and so quickly shifted into a Dementor for Harry's part of the boggart. It was so strange, and terrifying doesn't even cover a third of how his gaze alone made me feel." I said, becoming nauseous at just the thought of him.

They both looked at me with a strange expression, and then to Harry who nodded. "I didn't know you didn't know that guy, Lola? I figured he was like... your dad or something." Ron confessed.

"Thanks, Ron. I can always count on you to make me feel better." I said sarcastically, standing up with Harry to put the books away.

"So, wait is that even possible?" Fred asked, standing up to walk with me as I shoved the books onto the shelves.

"That's what's weird, Freddie. Lupin has no idea. And," I spoke, looking over my shoulder to make sure nobody else heard, to avoid commotion. "When I saw his face, I couldn't stop thinking about you. It's worrying me so much Fred, I-I don't even know what to do, or how to protect you? If that's even what I should be doing?"

He gave me a sad side smile, and pulled me in for a tight hug, kissed my forehead, and rested his head on top of mine. "Ah, under your protection my love, I don't think anything bad will ever happen to us."