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As Alix fairly screams, "Riddickulus!" at the boggart that's turned into a broken pocket watch, Marinette observes with mild dread. Not because of Alix or anything - she actually did really well, and Marinette is estatic for every student who manages the Riddickulus spell. But, she hasn't had a turn herself, yet, and Marinette really does not feel like facing whatever might be her greatest fear.
Though, she doesn't actually know what that is, to be honest. There are lots of things that scare her, and Marinette is sometimes baffled as to why she even got sorted into Griffindor in the first place.
...Oh, no, what if the boggart decides her worst fear is being laughed at by Adrien? It's going to turn into him, and mock her, and he'll think she's afraid of him and everyone's going to laugh, except Alya...
Marinette is startled out of her spiraling nightmare as the professor congratulates Alix, "Very good. You've got a good grasp of the spell."
She smiles, and then turns to the rest of the class once Alix scurries back to her place. "Ok, so we've covered a few one on one interactions with the boggart. Now, I want to talk about group interactions. What is a benefit to having multiple people facing a boggart?"
The class starts whispering amongst themselves, and Marinette turns to Alya. "Could a boggart get confused by a lot of people?" she asks her friend, "Since most people don't have the same fear, I mean."
Alya taps a finger against her chin as she thinks about it. Tap, tap, tap, tap...
After that, she smiles at Marinette and says, "You know, I think you're right. You should raise your hand."
"What?! No," Marinette panics, "Alya, what if I'm wrong?"
"You're fine, Marinette," she replies blithely, apparently completely unconcerned with her nerves. That's not remotely true, Marinette knows, but unfortunately Alya tends to be of the "sink or swim" school of thought when it comes to teaching her the finer points of social interactions, and the only warning that she gets before her friend decides to employ said school of thought is a wink and a don't worry about it, you need to learn how to be confident in your answers anyways before she says, louder, "Professor, Marinette has an idea!"
The professor, heedless of Marinette's plight, replies by saying, "Very good, then. What is a benefit to having multiple people face off against a boggart?"
Now that she's on the spot, Marinette freezes. After Alya nudges her in the ribs, she stutters, "We-well... Um, more people means the boggart would have to choose? And because of that it's either going to choose only one fear and leave other people not as affected, or it's going to try and use all of them together and end up looking kind of silly?"
When her answer is met by a beat of silence, Marinette despairs. Fortunately, the professor's face widens with a large smile, and she claps, "Very good, Marinette. Ten points to Griffindor. Yes, there are in fact cases in which multiple people have sufficiently confused a boggart into being harmless. One such example is a case in which one person feared small swarms of ants, while another feared vampires. The end result was a really tiny vampire, which hardly posed a threat. Now, it might be possible for a boggart to end up forming a swarm of vampires instead. However, that is highly unlikely, as Boggarts tend to be limited in size. As far as I know, boggarts are rarely much larger than an average person. This doesn't prevent the boggart from potentially coming up with a more fearsome combination, though, so I want all of you to still be wary with boggarts, even in groups."
"Now," she continues after her spiel, "Ms. Cheng, you and..." she looks around the room for a student who hasn't faced the boggart yet, "...Mr. Agreste, I think, will approach the boggart together. I want you all to see what happens in cases when multiple people encounter a boggart."
Ulp. She's going to have to face her greatest fear with Adrien?! That might just be her greatest fear, now that she thinks about it.
Alya grins at her. It's not reassuring. This is only confirmed for Marinette as Alya giggles, "hehehe..." and pushes her towards the front of the class with a cheerful, "Good luck!" for her parting words.
Marinette nearly crashes into Adrien, and ends up grabbing his shirt to prevent the both of them from falling. Adrien, meanwhile, instinctively catches her to the same end. It's actually not all that intimate, but that sure doesn't stop Marinette from flushing and panicking. When they're both righted, Marinette's face is still Griffindor red, and she barely manages to stutter, "Th-Thanks, Adrien."
Adrien smiles, "No problem", and Marinette's heart decides this is a great opportunity to start beating double time.
"Anyways, we should get going, right?" Adrien continues, and Marinette jumps in surprise.
"R-right," she answers too loudly, "Let's get this over with, right?"
Cringing at her unintentional shout, she scuttles her way to the front, hopefully away from total mortification (it doesn't work quite that perfectly).
Adrien follows her, and they come to a stop in front of the wardrobe housing the boggart. The professor, after receiving two nods to the question of "Are you two ready?" opens the closet.
Immediately, a swarm of poisonously glowing black-and-purple butterflies bursts out of the open door, rushing towards the duo.
Marinette's eyes widen as she wonders can I even deal with that many Akuma?! Then, she abruptly remembers that it's just a boggart, these things can't corrupt anything, and she shouts at the top of her lungs, "Riddickulus!"
The spell comes out in two voices.
Adrien, at the exact same time, shouts out the word, and there's a sharp crack as the black butterflies are engulfed by what looks like a giant ladybug-print yo-yo. The half-faces of the opened yo-yo snap shut, and when it opens again - this time like a compact instead of like ladybug wings- it releases white butterflies that vanish in a burst of light.
There's total silence around the room. Finally, the professor exclaims, "Well, seeing as the boggart has been destroyed, I believe that ends the practical for today. As you can see, a sufficiently powerful Riddickulus charm, more than simply banishing a boggart, can actually destroy it. On that note, I want a 12 inch essay from you guys on the different ways that one can identify and deal with boggarts, with or without engaging it directly. Class dismissed."
Marinette doesn't hear her speak. She's too busy staring in shock at Adrien, whose expression perfectly reflects her own. Because WHAT.