Sign it [Lupin's Daughter]

Chapter 5

Nearly everyone laughed. Maddy was not one of them. Her scowl deepened, and she looked as if she was ready to run out of the room and attack Snape. She didn't seem to care that Neville was grinning as an apology.

She looked at her father, who wore an expression she knew very well, his 'I have an idea' expression, "Professor Snape. ... hmmm ... Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?" 

"Er- yes," Neville nervously replied. “But-I don't want the boggart to turn into her either."

"No, no, you misunderstand me," Remus wore a smile that would make any trouble maker proud. "I wonder, could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?"

Maddy hadn't been expecting that, and neither had Neville by his startled look, "Well… always the same hat. A tall one with a stuffed vulture on top. And a long dress green, normally... and sometimes a fox-fur scarf."

"A handbag?" Maddy's father seemed to try to coax every detail out of him.

"A big red one," Neville replied.

"Can you picture those clothes very clearly, Neville? Can you see them in your mind's eye?" Maddy's eyes widened as she realized what her father was trying to do. It took everything in her power not to giggle aloud. 

It seemed that Neville hadn't quite caught on yet, "Yes?"

"When the boggart bursts out of this wardrobe, Neville, and sees you, it will assume the form of Professor Snape," said Remus. "And you will raise your wand-thus - and cry Riddikulus'- and concentrate hard on your grandmother's clothes. If all goes well, Professor Boggart Snape will be forced into that vulture-topped hat, and that green dress, with that big red handbag."

Maddy couldn't contain her laughter anymore, and by the sound of laughter echoing the room she figured she wasn't the only one. 

"If Neville is successful, the boggart is likely to shift his attention to each of us in turn," Remus explained. "I would like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you most, and imagine how you might force it to look comical…" 

Maddy went deep into thought. What scared her the most? She wasn't too sure. Then an idea clicked that almost sent shivers down her spine. She still wanted to see the boggart, but now she had a strange suspicion she knew what it would become. And she knew what her father would suspect before the boggart started talking. Remus had told her she could do it right before the students banished it. Even though she wouldn't banish it herself, she thought of how to make it funny. How do you make it funny? She shrugged it off, before hearing Ron whisper, "Take its legs off." Maddy had no clue as to what his fear was, but there were certain creatures that are less frightened without limbs. 

"Everyone ready?" Remus asked. Maddy smiled widely, she was ready. She had told her father that she was going to do research on boggarts in her spare time, which given that she wasn't old enough to be a student, was almost the whole day. She noticed the whole class nodding and rolling up her robe sleeves. Wanting to seem older and tougher than she really was, she followed suit, rolling the sleeve of the sweater she wore. 

"Neville, we're going to back away," Remus explained, "Let you have a clear field, all right? I'll call the next person forward and I expect you to be prepared to jump back in, as I'll have Madeline be the last person to stand in front of boggart."

Most of the students looked concerned that he would allow his young daughter to stand in front of the boggart. "She's researching them." He reiterated. "Everyone back, now, so Neville can get a clear shot -"

The whole class retreated, backed against the wall, so Neville stood alone in front of the wardrobe. Maddy stood next to her father, and glared at the wardrobe. She rolled her already rolled sleeves higher, they were almost halfway between her elbow and her shoulder, and looked like she was prepared to fight the boggart with her bare hands. Neville, the one who was actually about to fight the boggart, was pale in the face.