The students scattered, screaming and running chaotic circles around the classroom.
A Boggart, after all, isn't a true "ghost." Every time the person closest to it changed, it would pause for a moment.
So the "ghost" was like a bad signal connection, switching between terrifying and bewildered states very frequently. The poor thing seemed utterly confused by the students.
But because its appearance hadn't fundamentally changed, almost none of the terrified students noticed this.
Only Wade remained still, observing the Boggart, then glancing at Professor Trocar, who had completely lost control of the situation. He noticed the new professor's expression was also a bit blank, as if he had never anticipated such a scenario in class, causing his CPU to short-circuit and temporarily rendering him unable to react.
After everyone had scurried around like headless chickens for a while, the crowd in the classroom basically split into two groups.
Most of them hid behind Professor Trocar, while a small portion cowered behind Wade.
Wade: "..."
He sighed softly and took two steps forward.
Wade was actually quite curious himself, wanting to know what he was most afraid of. At the same time, he felt that even if Voldemort or the corpse of a loved one suddenly appeared in the classroom the next moment, he would clearly understand it was a magical effect and wouldn't lose his composure.
The ghost quickly approached.
*Snap!*
With a crisp sound, the terrifying centipede ghost instantly vanished, replaced by something no one had expected.
"Ah... ah, ah, ah..."
Daphne's face was pale. She squeezed her eyes shut, huddled in the corner, as if she genuinely wanted to squeeze herself into the crack in the wall.
After screaming for a while, she suddenly realized the surrounding screams had stopped. She abruptly clamped her mouth shut, then cautiously opened one eye.
The imagined scene—of the terrifying ghost right in front of her, opening its bloody maw—was absent. Daphne bravely looked around and found no ghost in the classroom; instead, there was a...
"Fish tank?" Malfoy voiced the question on everyone's minds. He raised an eyebrow and asked in surprise, "Gray, your greatest fear is a fish tank?"
He deliberately feigned nonchalance, as if he hadn't been the first person to run behind Professor Trocar after the ghost transformed.
Malfoy snorted with laughter then, looking left and right, seemingly expecting everyone to join him in ridiculing Wade. But even Goyle just stared blankly ahead, his face showing nothing but confusion.
Malfoy looked back at the center of the classroom.
Alright, looking closely, that fish tank really was a bit strange—
Inside the transparent crystal fish tank, there was only a single, slow-swimming small fish, and the water was very clear. That was normal.
But extending from above the fish tank was a dense circle of pink fleshy nerves. At first glance, they looked like petal-shaped decorations, but upon closer inspection, one would realize that each tip was adorned with a round eyeball, and all those eyeballs were staring intently at the fish tank below.
This Cthulhu-esque scene made Malfoy belatedly break out in goosebumps, as if sensing some invisible, vast, terrifying presence.
He rubbed his arms and whispered to Pansy beside him, "Which movie is this scene from? Have you seen it?"
Pansy shook her head, muttering softly, "So creepy... What kind of stuff does Gray usually watch?"
The confused and astonished whispers of the crowd seemed to rouse the dazed Wade. He stepped forward, his Wand pointed at the Boggart, and said unhurriedly, "Riddikulus!"
*Snap!*
The fish tank vanished, replaced by a man in black with an old-fashioned camera for a head. He took a step forward, then thud, he fell, flailing his limbs on the ground as if swimming on dry land.
Malfoy's keen eyesight caught the slight twitch at the corner of Wade's mouth at that moment, as if he genuinely found the scene comical.
He couldn't help but say to the person beside him, "There's something... wrong with Gray, isn't there?"
"What? No, I don't think so?"
Goldstein, also hiding behind Professor Trocar, said, offering a reason for his housemate:
"You think this scene is strange, but maybe he watched some weird animated show as a child, and it left him with a bit of a psychological shadow."
"That's so nice."
Terry said enviously, "He had countless cartoons and movies to watch growing up. When I was little, all I had was the mud pit outside my house to play in."
—When did being a Mudblood become something to envy?
Malfoy rolled his eyes, intending to say so, but then he looked at the Ravenclaws beside him, and at Professor Trocar's tall back in front, and ultimately swallowed his words.
Professor Trocar finally reacted then. He flicked his Wand, sending the Boggart, which was sprawling on the floor unable to get up, back into its box. Then he cleared his throat and looked at everyone.
"Aside from Wade Gray, I am very displeased with all of your performances just now!"
Professor Trocar slightly emphasized his tone. Seeing the students who had been chaotically fleeing now lower their heads under his gaze, he slowly exhaled, pretending that the chaotic class earlier was exactly the outcome he had intended.
Professor Trocar waved his Wand, making the Wands, books, crystal balls, and other objects that had been haphazardly thrown by their owners fly back to their places. Then he said:
"I think you've realized that running away is the most useless thing to do, and throwing away your Wand is utterly foolish!"
"The way to deal with a Boggart is the Riddikulus Spell, but if your mind is chaotic and your willpower weak, then standing with others is also a way to cope!"
Professor Trocar walked back and forth in the classroom, repeatedly emphasizing the method for dealing with Boggarts in a cold tone, and had everyone review the spell several more times. Only after a good portion of the class time had passed did he restart the practical exercises.
This time, the students lined up neatly, challenging the Boggart one by one, and things were much more orderly.
However, every time the centipede ghost emerged, it still elicited a small gasp of surprise.
...
As Wade expected, the news of the [Fish Tank] soon spread within a small circle.
At dinner, the SSC members sat near Wade, eating with expressions that seemed pained, as if they wanted to ask something but dared not.
The Weasley Twins, however, showed no regard for anyone's potential "fragile hearts." They strutted over carrying a fish tank, which even contained a small fish, presumably caught from the Black Lake.
"Look, Wade! The most terrifying thing in the world!" Fred said, winking and grinning.
"Overcome your phobia! If you're scared, we'll help you through it!"
George chuckled mischievously and patted the fish tank, placing it on the long table in front of Wade. Theo and Ryan, sitting opposite, quickly moved several plates out of the way.
"Hey, you guys!"
Hermione rushed over, indignant. Before she could scold them, she saw Wade poke the fish tank and say,
"Who said I'm afraid of this thing? You should put this pike back in the lake. It has very strict environmental requirements and is easy to kill."
The twins exchanged a look, then asked, confused, "Huh? But we heard... your Boggart turned into a fish tank?"
Seeing many people around them curiously prick up their ears, Wade decided to explain. He patiently said,
"In the vast starry sky, every star could be a sun, or even a galaxy. We live in the solar system, and the world outside is immense, so vast it's practically boundless."
"Oh..." Harry asked blankly, "What does that have to do with a fish tank?"
Wade said, "A Muggle scientist once posed a question—if there's a large number of extraterrestrial civilizations in the universe, why haven't we found any signs of alien life yet?"
"It's like, in a vast body of water, under what circumstances would there only be one fish?"
"Either there's extreme danger in the water, and all the other fish unfortunately died, with only this one fish surviving purely by chance and immense luck."
"Or else—"
Wade tapped the transparent fish tank and said,
"What appears to be a vast world is actually just a tiny fish tank, and this fish is being kept here by someone—and the keeper only wants to keep one fish."
"The little fish appears to swim freely in the water, but in reality, it's trapped in this fish tank its entire life, never able to leave. It doesn't even know that outside the fish tank, there are eyes watching it."
He spoke calmly, but whether it was due to rich imagination or overly sensitive emotions, several people suddenly shivered.
"I think I understand why you're afraid of that..." Harry murmured.
He imagined himself as that "only fish in the fish tank" and suddenly felt that even staying with the Dursleys was better than that.
"Why couldn't it be that the ocean is just too big, and this fish is small and swims slowly, so it just hasn't encountered other fish?"
A hazy voice came from behind. Wade turned around and saw Luna, who had appeared behind him at some point. After listening for a while, she suddenly interjected, speaking earnestly,
"And what you just said isn't right—there aren't only living things on Earth! Someone once flew to the moon and brought back a bag of shimmering moon frogs. If we could fly to Mars, or to the sun, we might discover even more magical life!"
"Oh, Luna! Stop with your crazy talk! People will laugh at you."
A girl from Luna's dormitory covered her face with one hand and reached out to pull Luna away.
Wade smiled and said, "Perhaps you're right... I haven't personally seen the world beyond Earth, so I can't definitively say there are no other life forms out there. But if one day..."
He paused, then continued, "One day, if this small, slow fish truly encountered other fish, would they coexist peacefully? Or would it immediately become prey?"
Luna blinked and slowly said, "...How can one know?"
"Exactly..." Wade looked at her. "That's the problem."
The surroundings were quiet for a while.
Especially the Ravenclaws, many students frowned, pondering unanswerable questions like "What if the universe is barren?", "The keeper observing the fish," and "Why do we exist?"
Luna was led away by her friend, lost in thought, her eyes appearing even more distant, as if she were completely immersed in a semi-conscious state.
When Wade turned back, he found that the enormous fish tank in front of him had been moved by someone. Theo, however, had put a lot of food on his plate. As Wade looked over, a thick piece of toast had just landed.
"Theo, what are you doing?" Wade asked, puzzled.
"I heard that being hungry makes people pessimistic and prone to negative emotions," Theo said, his expression conflicted. "Wade... eat more dinner."
Wade looked at him, then at his plate.
He turned to Ryan and said, "Is he being sarcastic with me?"
Ryan stifled a laugh and put another potato on Wade's plate, silently showing support for Theo.
While everyone else was silent, the only thought of the two Hufflepuffs was—why think about this? It's just scaring yourself.
...
Malfoy was annoyed to discover that the topic he had painstakingly spread—"Wade Gray is afraid of a fish tank"—had quickly vanished, replaced by grand and abstract propositions.
Even during Astronomy class, Professor Sinistra added a white fish tank pattern to her hat and, while everyone observed the stars, spent a class telling legends of various constellations, finally stating that these were all fabricated by people.
During A History of Magic, Pansy suddenly sighed, "If our world is just a giant fish tank, then I'll still like you, Draco. I don't care if anyone is observing our feelings."
This confession, which would usually have delighted Malfoy, now made him frown.
—Why is everyone taking Wade Gray's casual remarks so seriously? That kid is obsessed with these kinds of questions, even making his Boggart look like a fish tank. Are you all going to be like that too?
—Speaking of which, why did the Boggart really turn into a fish tank with eyeballs? After all, compared to a hypothesis, a centipede banshee seems much scarier, doesn't it?
Malfoy vaguely felt something strange, but couldn't quite put his finger on why.
However, he didn't really want to delve into Wade Gray's thoughts. After thinking for a while, he dismissed it, eagerly awaiting the afternoon.
Last semester, when Hagrid taught Care of Magical Creatures for the first time, he brought in some Hippogriffs. Malfoy provoked one of them and, along with Harry Potter, was scratched by the creature.
Later, due to threats from "certain people," Malfoy had to swallow his pride and not instigate his father to get Hagrid fired. In exchange, Hagrid promised to take him to see a Dragon.
However, every day after that, Malfoy was stuck in detention with a professor because he had almost killed Crabbe earlier, so he never found an opportunity to see the Dragon.
Only very recently, after Malfoy's repeated urging, did Hagrid finally make an effort and "snatch" an opportunity for Malfoy to serve detention from Professor Snape.
Noticing the time, Malfoy happily walked towards Hagrid's hut, trying to keep himself from skipping, but as he got closer to the hut, his expression suddenly darkened.
—Why are all those people I hate here too?
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