Chapter Text
"-And today, we'll be practising a counter-spell for use against Boggarts. Miss Granger, if you would?"
"Yes, Professor Lupin. A Boggart is a shapeshifting creature that mimics whatever we fear most."
"Correct, but incomplete. The Boggart is an amorphous, possibly primordial predator of muggles and wizards alike. Its targets are indiscriminate and, when hunting, it will take the shape of whatever it is that chosen victim most fears." The students murmured in anticipation. "And, inside this box, I have captured one." The whispers turned to outright chatter; one student jostled the boy beside him-
"I bet it turns into yer gran"
"Ah shaddap-" Lupin glared at the two.
"I will ask the class to be silent. I am not finished with the explanation." He took a breath to recentre himself. "So the Boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a Boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears." He measured the crowd for a moment, gauging the young sorcerers' reactions. Having found them unsuitable, his eyes returned to the delinquents. "And because you two were so kind to volunteer, we shall have you go first."
The class was shuffled to one side of the room, standing opposite to the simple applewood wardrobe that contained the beast, beset by waves of fear and anticipation. The first of the two boys stood four paces away from its doors, wand at the ready.
"Now remember, when casting you must keep your mind focused. Dwell not in the fear, but in whatever else you can think of. The more, ahem, 'ridiculous' the better." Despite Lupin's best delivery, the class did not laugh.
Their chances passed from student to student. One a werewolf driven bug-eyed, another a banshee who proceeded to lose her voice. When turn came for Neville, he found himself standing before Severus Snape, leering down at the boy only for his grandmother's dress to sprout atop the Boggart's shoulders. Hermione was met by a furious McGonagall, proclaiming she'd failed her exams. The crowd quite enjoyed watching that one.
Finally, the only two left were Harry and Malfoy, the latter having stared daggers at Potter since the start- perhaps anticipating how she'd mock him for this, he thought. Standing before the box, its doors now feeling ever so tall, Harry fought to clear his mind as thoughts raced through it. Voldemort? Maybe failure? Death? He couldn't grasp at a definite answer and with a nod to the Professor, the doors swung open. Thick black smoke poured out from the shadows and it emerged. Hollow, sunken eyes and an empty void for a mouth seeping with decay. The Dementor approached quickly, and Harry had only the briefest of moments to clear his mind before shouting- "Riddikulus!", causing the beast to dissipate into smoke and retreat. Behind him he heard Malfoy snicker and as she passed, she whispered:
"Really? That's the best you could think of?" Harry bit his tongue. It wasn't worth the fight.
The class waited once again in eager anticipation. Wand drawn, sleeves pulled back ever so slightly past the girl's slender wrists, a look of brash confidence spread across her face with a grin to match. "Are you ready, Miss Malfoy?" Lupin asked, and she nodded.
"Of course, perhaps we'll even see its true form!" The other students laughed, but Harry could only sigh in frustration. If there were someone to pull that off, of course it would be her. And yet, despite the confidence, it did not save her from what emerged. Pitch surged out from the awning, thick clouds of mist concealing the beast as it moved. Heels dragged across stone, the sound of dripping water echoed through the fog as the silhouette approached. As she raised her wand to cast, the clouds parted- and Harry felt his stomach churn.
A zombie, or perhaps more accurately a walking corpse. His walking corpse. Bloodshot eyes and covered in wounds that made his own scars ache. Blood seeped from each cut, every puncture, dripping down the tattered robes and from its fingertips and staining the stones red.
Instinctively she retreated, first drawing back her wand and clutching it close to her chest. Dracaena shook her head slowly, "no, no-" she whispered, barely audible. The room watched in horror as it shuffled forward, barely a pace away as the girl collapsed to the floor, eyes screwed shut and quivering in terror. It reached out for her with rotten fingers. A foot, an inch, barely a second away from touching her when-
"Riddikkulus!" Lupin's voice thundered and the creature contorted, shrinking to an egg and cracking open upon the floor. A second later, it was gone, retreating to the safety of its box. Silence hung pregnant over the room and before the crowd could begin to chatter, Lupin snapped to them. "That concludes the lesson for today, I expect you to reflect on this and, to keep what you've seen to yourselves." Harry swallowed hard and turned to follow the crowd- "You, Potter. Stay." Harry stopped dead in his tracks, inhaling sharply. He wanted anything but to see the fallout of this, and yet he had no choice in the matter.
"Yes, Professor."