The Flower and the Badger

Chapter 5

That Monday, Remus taught them about Boggarts.
"Boggarts take the form of your worst fear." Remus explained to the class. "But they're easy enough to get rid of. Simply use the spell Riddikulous." He motioned for Anna to come over to demonstrate. As she stepped forward, her released the boggart out of the chest that it was being kept in, and it immediately took the form of Anna's parents. "You're a disgrace!" Lily snapped, making Anna flinch back.
"A complete failure." James growled. "No wonder Petunia and Vernon beat you, you deserved it."
Anna tried to say the spell, but it wasn't coming out. Lily sneered at her. "You'll never be as good as Harry, so you might as well stop trying. You're a nuisance, that's what you are "
"Riddikulous!" Remus shouted, and the Boggart changed into a puppy.
"May I be excused?" Anna murmured, and Remus nodded. "Yes, you may." Anna quickly scurried out of the classroom, ignoring Harry who tried to grab her arm. She went to her thinking spot, the Black Lake. She sat down, placing her head in her hands as she took a deep, shuddering breath. That was her worst fear, not making her parents proud. That was all that she wanted, more than anything else. A tear fell down her face, and she quickly wiped it away. Anna stayed there the remainder of the day. Eventually, around dinnertime, Cedric came over, two plates of food in his hands. "Harry told me what happened." He said as he sat next to her, offering her a plate of food. She took the plate but didn't eat anything.
"Is that your worse fear then?" Cedric asked. "Your parents thinking that you're some sort of failure?"
Anna nodded as she stared out at the lake. "I just want them to be proud of me Ced. The thought of them not being proud of me, not being proud of who I am...well, it terrifies me, to be honest."
"I'm sure that they would be proud of you." Cedric said. "Look at everything that you accomplished. You literally went up against Uther Pendragon and won."
"I guess so." Anna finally took a bite of food, realizing how hungry she was, since she had skipped lunch. "Thanks Ced."
He grinned. "Honestly, what would you do without me?"
Anna laughed as she shook her head. "I really don't know."
"Mister Diggory." Remus came up to them. "Do you mind giving me a few moments alone with Miss Potter?"
Anna nodded at Cedric to let him know that she would be alright, and he gave her a quick hug before walking off. Remus sat down next to her. "Is that your boyfriend?" He asked casually, and Anna's eyes widened as she shook her head. "God no. Cedric is my best friend, he's honestly like a second brother to me."
"I figured as much." Remus said. "I see how you look at the Weasley boy."
"I'm not in love with Fred Weasley!" Anna objected, and a small smirk appeared on Remus' face. "I never said that it was Fred."
Anna blushed darkly as she groaned loudly. "It doesn't even matter anyways. He's dating Angelina Johnson and I'm sort of dating Seamus Finnegan."
"He looks at you the same way you know."
Anna rolled her eyes. "Yeah right."
"I'm completely serious. Whenever you walk by in the hall, Fred's eyes follow you, even if he's talking with Miss Johnson."
Anna looked back up at him. "Really?"
He nodded. "Yes, they do. I heard about the... unfortunate circumstances regarding Mister Wood."
"Don't even get me started on Oliver. When I found out last year I almost bloody smacked him."
Remus chuckled softly. "Your mother would have done the same thing. You have both of your parents spirits, you don't have to worry about them not being proud of you, because I know for a fact that they are."
"Do you really think so?"
Remus nodded. "I'm proud of you, so there's no reason why they wouldn't be."
Anna couldn't help it. She hugged him. "Thank you." She whispered, and he hugged her back. "You're welcome Anna. And....I'm sorry that I couldn't rescue you from your aunt and uncle. I just....I'm not exactly in a place where I can care for children."
"I understand." Anna said as she pulled away. "And it's all right, I live with the Grangers now, they adopted me."
"I heard about that. I'm glad that they were able to do what I couldn't." He stood up, and helped her to do the same. "Now come, it's getting a bit chilly out here."
They parted ways when they got inside, and naturally it wasn't long before Anna ran into Pansy.
"If it isn't the teacher's pet." Pansy laughed, and Anna rolled her eyes. "If it isn't the ugliest girl here." She retorted. Pansy scoffed as she flipped her hair. "Please. I'm prettier than you could ever hope to be. It's a miracle that Finnegan likes you. Of course, I did just see him snogging Parvati Patil."
"You're lying." Anna growled, and Pansy giggled. "Go and see for yourself." She pointed down the hall, and Anna immediately took off. Sure enough, there were Seamus and Parvati, sucking each others faces off.
"Did I ever mean anything?" Anna asked, and Seamus quickly pulled away. "Anna, I can explain-"
"Don't bother." Anna turned on her hell and walked off towards the Gryffindor common room, but not before hexing Seamus and Parvati to where they both had boils on their skin. She almost ran into Luna.
"Anna." Ginny said. "Are you alright? You look very angry."
"Do I? Maybe that's because I saw Seamus kissing another girl." Anna sighed softly. "I'm sorry Ginny. I didn't mean to snap at you."
"You hexed him I hope?"
"Oh I most definitely did."
"Good." Ginny nodded her head. "If you were heading to your common room, I would wait. Alicia is in the common room with her girlfriend, and it's getting rather heated."
"Noted. Who's she dating anyways?"
"Some Ravenclaw. They almost broke up you know. They were getting a lot of backlash."
Anna shook her head. "If they love each other, that's all that should really matter."
"Exactly what I said."
"Much as I don't want to watch them making out, I'm really tired so I'm going to have to risk it."
Ginny giggled. "Good luck."
"Gee thanks." Anna waved before entering the common room. Sure enough, Alicia was on the couch with her girlfriend, and Anna scurried up the stairs, covering her ears to muffle their moans. She quickly got into her pajamas, falling into bed and immediately going to sleep.