One of us - Marauders Era

16

Josie and her friends stood amongst the crowd of Hufflepuff and Gryffindor students gathered in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. Professor Ramirez had warned them that after their first week back there would be an 'exciting' practical lesson. Now the time had come, he was stood at the front, patiently waiting for the class to quiet down before announcing what they would be doing.

"Who can tell me what a boggart is?" he asks the now quiet class. He observes the few raised hands before picking on Mary.

"A shape-shifting spirit that can take on a person's worst fear," she answers. The professor praises her before elaborating.

Boggarts morph into one of the worst fears of the person closest to it. There is a specific incantation to defeat it: 'Riddikulus', and the intention is to force Boggart to assume a less-threatening and hopefully comical form. If the castor can laugh at it then the Boggart cannot harm them.

After checking that they all understood, the professor clapped his hands together with a grin.

"Now to practice."

Murmurs of confusion erupt, Josie's hair turns a rich green as she exchanges nervous looks with her classmates. This is strengthened moments later when Ramirez wheels a sturdy-looking chest into the centre of the room. There was no denying that it contained a boggart. She silently thanked Merlin that they were paired with Hufflepuff for this class and not Slytherin.

"How did you get it?" Josie asks the professor curiously,

"Oh, usually if you encounter one, you report it and Aurors go out and capture them," he explains, "so I asked the ministry if I could borrow one for teaching purposes and they sent this over." He pats the chest which emits a rattling sound causing many students to wince.

"This is crazy," Marlene whispers.

He instructs the students to line up and uses his wand to unlock the chest. The first in line was a large Hufflepuff boy who had swaggered to the front of the line to impress his friends. Josie fails to hold back laughter as a shriek of fear fills the room. An alien-like old man with a scary grin climbs out of the chest and slowly approaches the wide-eyed boy. After many yells from the professor and desperate students, the Hufflepuff boy finally stutters out 'Riddikulus'. The creature instantly morphs into a normal-looking man wearing a brightly coloured bird's costume. Small applause breaks out, as he shuffles to the side.

Sirius squeezes Josie's shoulder comfortingly as her turn approaches. She had witnessed the numerous different students in front of her's fears including an evil clown and a 5-foot spider. However, she still had no idea what her worst fear was. She was about to find out. 

The boggart had morphed into her with red tearful eyes. Josie stood there confused until the Boggart started speaking.

"I- I didn't mean to," fake Josie stutters out, tears streaming down her cheeks, "it was an accident, please."

The Boggart moves to the side and bodies appear on the floor. It was Josie's friends and family, including Lilly and the marauders, her real friends that were stood behind her were speechless,  not knowing what to do. Josie stares at the lifeless eyes of her friends and family, blood seeping from their mouths and noses. She finally lets out a choked sob, fighting with herself to not run away. Her trembling hand wraps tightly around her wand as she summons all her strength to project the charm towards the gory scene in front of her. 

"Riddikulus," she manages to say after summoning all the fake confidence she could. She doesn't even look at what the boggart morphs into.

Lilly leads the stunned girl over to the side where they sit together and recover while watching the other students face their boggarts. Josie sits up straighter when it gets to Sirius' turn. He sends a wink her way making her roll her eyes but she feels a little better.