A Trek Through Worlds- HARRY POTTER X OC

12.

Professor Lupin had begun to explain to the class what a Boggart is and how the only way to fight one is through laughter.

"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 then turned to Neville.

"What do you fear the most?"

Neville, who had just almost been forced to kill his toad in Potions class, went red in the face. With the memory all too fresh in his mind, her murmured his answer.

"What was that?" Lupin prompted.

"Professor Snape," Neville repeated himself.

The class burst into laughter. Even Lupin let out a chuckle that only Effie knew the deeper meaning behind.

"I wonder, could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?"

Neville looked startled, but said, "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."

"And a handbag?" prompted Professor Lupin.

"A big red one," said Neville.

Lupin then lead the class through the pronunciation of the spell. Without wands, they all chanted together, "Riddikulus."

When Lupin opened the door, Snape stepped out. Although Neville was clearly scared, he tried to put on a brave face.

"Riddikulus."

Snape's dark cloak transformed into the outfit Neville had just described his grandmother wearing. The entire class burst with laughter, everyone now eager to defeat their boggarts.

Parvati Patil's became a mummy who tripped over its own bandages, Seamus Finnegan's became a banshee who lost her voice, Dean Thomas' was a crawling severed hand that got caught in a mouse trap, Ron's was a spider who lost its legs, and Hermione's was Professor McGonagall telling her she failed all her exams.

Effie, who had been behind Hermione and in front of Harry, felt a pit form in her stomach. Suddenly deciding that she didn't want to see her Boggart, she turned to Harry. She knew that after he went the class would be over and she wouldn't have to go.

"Go before me."

"C'mon Effie. It won't be that bad. Don't worry."

"Please..."

Harry looked like he was about to agree before Professor Lupin called Effie's name. Hermione had stepped aside and she was now face to face with Professor McGonagall. The Boggart, still in the form of Hermione's fear, hesitated for a moment before changing.

On the ground where McGonagall once stood were graces. Rotting away and covered in mold stood the grave stones of the people who she knew were going to die.

Cedric Diggory, Parvati Patil, Colin Creevey, Dobby, Mad-Eye Moody, Fred Weasley, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Severus Snape, and Albus Dumbedore. Smaller graves stood for a white snowy owl, and a shaggy black dog.

The class was silent, all laughing from previous Boggarts had disappeared. Everyone's eyes squinted, trying to make out the names on the stone slabs. And Effie wanted to crawl into a hole and die. She stared at a sharp quill on Professor Lupin's desk and the intrusive thoughts almost won. 

She tried to think of something funny to make the Boggart transform into, but the weight of the situation was too distracting. She should have pretended to use the bathroom. Or refused to go. Or done anything to prevent this. She always did the wrong things and she couldn't even imagine the repercussions this situation would have for her.