Chapter 189: The Ignorant Boggart
Lupin paused, then shook his head. "Don't misunderstand, what I need to show the students is in here." As he spoke, once all the students were inside, Lupin intended to close the door.
At that moment, Professor Snape slowly stood up, letting out a cold snort.
"No need to close the door. I prefer not to witness your teaching methods." He adjusted his robes, his black cloak billowing behind him. Walking to the door, Professor Snape gave Lupin a chilling glare.
Bang!
The wooden door slammed shut from the outside with a dull thud. It made Lupin's eyelashes tremble slightly, his knuckles unconsciously rubbing the patterns on the end of his wand.
After a moment of silence, he subtly shook his head, then turned, his cloak swishing in an arc. He walked to the center of the common room. The students' gazes were fixed on him.
"It seems Professor Snape is not particularly interested in my class." Lupin was clearly accustomed to Snape's unpleasant attitude. He raised a hand to the students, gesturing for everyone to move to the other side of the room—where an old wardrobe stood. Lupin bent a finger and gently rapped on the side panel of the wardrobe; the cabinet trembled slightly.
Just then, a banging sound suddenly came from within the old cabinet.
Thump! Thump!
The cabinet swayed gently with each impact. Seeing some students startled and backing away, Lupin spoke to reassure them. "No need to be nervous. The creature inside poses no threat—it's just a Boggart."
A Boggart?
What was that?
Many students had never heard the name before. This led to a situation where many, who originally weren't afraid, became nervous upon hearing the strange name Lupin uttered, suspecting some terrifying creature was hidden in the cabinet.
It was morning, yet the classroom looked eerie and dimly lit. Many students who knew about Boggarts' characteristics were also stunned. Dozens of eyes were all fixed on the swaying wardrobe.
The dark brown cabinet panels revealed aged wood grain, and the brass door knocker lightly tapped the wood with the cabinet's vibrations, producing continuous clicking sounds.
"Boggarts love to hide in nooks and crannies," Lupin said, tapping the cabinet with the end of his wand, beginning his explanation to the students. Dylan also stared at the wardrobe. A Boggart, huh... It seemed like a very interesting subject for study.
"Things like under beds, in various cabinets, toilet cisterns, etcetera, are all places where these fellows tend to appear—not long ago, Professor Flitwick caught one in a broom cupboard."
Lupin smiled. "I happened to be nearby at the time, so I borrowed this Boggart specifically for your practical lesson." As he spoke, he lightly tapped the lock with his wand, and the noises immediately ceased. Lupin turned around. The corner of his worn wizarding robes created a gust of wind, sweeping across the tense brows of the front-row students.
"Who can tell me, what is the nature of a Boggart?" Hermione, right beside Dylan, immediately raised her hand.
"An amorphous shape-shifter! It takes the form of the observer's fear!"
Lupin: "('-'*) Very correct... To put it simply, this creature transforms into the form it believes will scare us." He held his wand in one hand, gently stroking its tip with the other.
"Right now, this Boggart is still sensing in the dark. Once I open the door—" Lupin deliberately paused. "It will turn into whatever one of us fears most, for example—Professor Snape holding your zero-point Potions essays."
Pfft... The tense atmosphere in the classroom suddenly broke, followed by muffled laughter.
Dylan stroked his chin. He harbored doubts about Lupin's claim that Boggarts could appear anywhere. —He had been at Hogwarts for two years and particularly enjoyed exploring nooks and crannies, so why had he never encountered a Boggart? How did Lupin manage to catch one just when he was about to teach a class?
Did this thing have a preference for certain people?
While Lupin was explaining the Boggart's habits to the other students, Dylan decided to try Divination to see what frightful thing he would encounter if he faced a Boggart. —If the Mirror of Erised showed him his desires, then a Boggart would show him his fears. This intrigued Dylan.
After all, before becoming a wizard, he was pretty much an ordinary person. He was afraid of ghosts. He was afraid of ugly and bizarre insects. He might even have had a tiny bit of acrophobia, though that could be overcome. —Judging by how quickly he mastered broomstick flying, he overcame it very fast.
However, after becoming a wizard and unlocking many max-level spells through the Achievement System, he had even captured the infant form of Voldemort. Dylan really wanted to know what he was still afraid of now. Ghosts?
Dylan thought of the spells he had mastered: Spirit Expulsion, Soul Whisper, Dementor's Bane, Cthulhu's Glare... including the traits he had unlocked and the Scepter of Authority... Even Dementors would rather lower their status to dust and become his foot-washing servants.
Let alone ordinary ghosts. Upon seeing him, these ghosts would be quite courageous not to flee in advance.
As for ugly and bizarre insects... Dylan lightly tapped his chin with his index finger.
"Now, when those Acromantulas see me, they act like they've seen a ghost. They either run or flee, and some even have all eight legs go limp." Dylan clicked his tongue.
It meant that whenever he managed to find time to go to the Forbidden Forest to "shear some wool," he rarely encountered Acromantulas hunting at night anymore.
Dylan strongly suspected that Aragog, the spider Hagrid raised, had given these Acromantulas orders. He thought Aragog told them to stay in their nests and not go out, especially not at night.
As for acrophobia and the like, there was even less to say. Dylan could now not only fly on a broomstick but also fly by himself, transform into a dragon and fly, ride a dragon and fly, ride a Hippogriff and fly... He had multiple choices.
"Now that I'm strong enough, what could possibly scare me?" Dylan tossed a coin, then caught it. He opened his palm to look.
In an instant, his vision gradually blurred, and he saw many scenes: Cedric falling stiffly, a purple mark on his forehead where the Killing Curse had pierced; Dumbledore's robes flapping in the wind at the top of the tower, then his fall; Fred's smiling face frozen in the firelight of a dark magic explosion, his fingers still in a peace sign; Professor Snape's throat bitten through by Nagini's fangs, blood bubbles furiously gushing out.
These scenes flashed through his mind. And not just these. There were many people Dylan didn't even recognize, or hadn't identified, turned into corpses. —Some people's faces were obscured by blood, others, like Fred, died directly in an explosion.
These corpses eventually piled higher and higher. Dylan suddenly realized that these seemed to be scenes he had seen before in crystal ball fragments or prophetic afterimages.
Now, they were kneaded by the Boggart into a gruesome, bloody jigsaw puzzle. The corpses stacked into a small mountain. Some wore Hogwarts robes, some wore Death Eater cloaks, and many more were blurred faces of men, women, old and young. —Dylan even saw his own mom and dad, as well as Florean and his daughter, Vera.
Dylan raised an eyebrow slightly. This meant... he was afraid of corpses? That seemed a bit too ridiculous. He had killed countless living beings directly with his spells.
As for corpses... they either helped him hatch Obsidian Flowers or were thrown into a pool of still water, turning into animated corpses manipulated by him. Dylan didn't think corpses would scare him. So, was he actually afraid that these corpses were of people he cared about?
"But I would never let the people I care about die." Dylan clicked his tongue again. He felt that this Boggart's ability wasn't quite up to par. Even if he felt a jolt of fear from such a scene, he knew it wasn't realistic. Dylan wouldn't let his mom and dad die, so the scene the Boggart showed wouldn't happen. Through divination, Dylan concluded that the Boggart might not be able to conjure a form that truly frightened him—because he genuinely wasn't afraid of anything. And, presumably, this monster couldn't see the void deep within his soul, so it could only piece together the most tragic fragments of his memories to make do.
However, credit where credit's due. "Good thing I did some divination beforehand. Otherwise, if the Boggart directly faced me and transformed into this, and others saw it, wouldn't it cause me a lot of trouble?"
Dylan silently cast a spell without changing his expression. The barrier of Occlumency solidified in his mind. Dylan tried to glimpse the future again. However, in that vision, the Boggart merely wobbled. It ultimately remained in the form of piled corpses.
"Tsk, it really doesn't know what's good for it." Dylan snorted inwardly. He hadn't expected that this spell, which worked against Dumbledore's and Professor Snape's Legilimency, would stumble with a Boggart.
But then again... a Boggart, as an amorphous shape-shifting creature, was essentially a materialized vessel of fear. It had no fixed form; it usually existed as a gray mist, relying on the target's fear to gain a shape. —More precisely, it would actively sense the deepest fears of the observer and transform them into a visual image.
But for Dylan, this thing was still a creature composed of energy and psychic energy, capable of being affected by Spirit Expulsion. Dylan's eyes twitched.
He performed divination again, observing himself, trying to see the Boggart's changes after using Spirit Expulsion, or even Dementor's Bane. In the future, Dylan saw the Boggart let out a piercing laugh, then the surface of the conjured pile of corpses suddenly rippled like water.
—Cedric's body suddenly sat up and began blowing bubbles from his nostrils.
—Dumbledore's silver hair turned fluorescent pink, elegantly waltzing in mid-air with nothing.
—Professor Snape burrowed into Nagini's snake mouth, leaving only his large backside exposed, which wiggled continuously.
"Oh my... this is true fear." Dylan watched the bizarre scene the Boggart transformed into in the future, his mouth twitching fiercely. Compared to the previous scene of piled corpses, Dylan had to admit.
After being influenced by his Spirit Expulsion, the Boggart's newly generated forms truly sent a slight shiver down his spine. —It was too freakin' bizarre! Even if Professor Snape died and jumped from the tower in Dumbledore's place, he couldn't possibly make those kinds of movements!
Dylan quickly tried to use Spirit Expulsion to change the Boggart's form again. He kept molding it until it became a comical clown, then repeatedly performed divination. After confirming several times that the Boggart wouldn't create anything exaggerated or dramatic, he finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, Lupin stood before everyone. After gesturing for the students to gather around, he began to teach them the spell specifically designed to deal with Boggarts.
"Remember, you must press your tongue against the roof of your mouth, and the 'r' must have a slight trill of mockery—after all, this is a spell that makes fear ridiculous."
"But the Boggart isn't afraid of the spell's syllables; what it fears is your courage to make your fear look foolish." He explained, "Like making an Acromantula wear a pink tutu, or giving a Dementor's hood jingly bells." After having the whole class recite the spell three times, Lupin spoke again: "Don't forget the laughter."
"To break fear, it's not just about the spell—the magic of this spell is all hidden in laughter." He clarified, "Only your loud laughter can force the Boggart to twist into a form that you genuinely find amusing."
Saying this, Lupin turned and tapped the trembling wardrobe. The clinking of brass rings mingled with the thumping sounds from inside the cabinet. The students also lined up. Although reluctant, to be honest, these students, despite their nervousness, were actually quite excited.
Even when facing unknown fear, as long as a professor was clearly there to protect them, fear would only be an exciting stimulant—just like a rollercoaster.
Hermione, at the front of the line, clutched her wand tightly. Faced with the Boggart, a new phenomenon she had never seen before, Hermione immediately cast aside all her previous worries. She stared at the cabinet, ready to step forward at any moment. Neville, at the back, however, was cowering behind Dylan.
"Alright, first student, come forward when you're ready." The students at the front of the line, both scared and eager, stepped forward one by one, standing before the wardrobe. A grey mist diffused from within the cabinet. Lupin had completely released the Boggart. The first student immediately let out a gasp.
Dylan looked at Neville, who was trembling slightly beside him, and tilted his head. "Is there something you're very afraid of?" Neville swallowed, then gently shook his head. "No... I don't really know."
Dylan blinked. "You don't even know what you're afraid of, so what are you afraid of?"
"Uh... but it's precisely because I don't know what I'm afraid of that I'm scared." Neville was also taken aback.
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