He didn't expect that. But what the heck she looks oh so funny in the ballerina dress... Daniel burst into tears, he laughed so hard that he almost cried.

That's it. She could just easily cry. Kaika will never find herself telling such a thing to Miranda. Never! And..ugh...the boggart was sooooo mean!

Poor Miranda. And a tear fell down her cheek, but there was nothing Kaika could do about it. Such a mean boggart. Yet, she knew the second year will find a way to fight the boggart. She had to. However, she was quite concerned about the fact that she wasn't the only one the boggart shaped into...there was a Denton in the picture too.

Curious Lockhart, now.

Kaika jumped in her seat as her balloon just popped...Jake, what the--? How could he turn us into balloon people? Huh. He'll have to see the Captain in practice...

She crossed her arms and watched the boy looking away. Good.

Celandine had pulled out her quill and notebook and was busily taking notes. On fears. Fear in general and specific fears. Fears of her classmates; who conquered them and who didn't. She noted down questions that were answered by Professor Kazimeriz and made a list of her own questions based on her observations.

She raised her hand to ask a few of them, "Professor? If you faced a boggart without any fear, what would happen? Is it possible to be completely free of fear? Or is fear related to intelligence?" Cela was finding it hard to relate the experience of fear with the lessons drilled into her since she was little.

"Can anything the boggart do become permanent, or is it always just your mind playing tricks on you? Like if you were scared of losing a limb or something like that, or more specifically having no limb, would it actually change you or just show you an image of yourself without an arm? Because, if it just showed you an image, and you were clearly hanging on to your wand..." Cela trailed off, trying to put words to her thoughts.

"And what about pain? If you are scared of feeling pain or," Celandine swallowed, thinking of her uncle, "or love, can the boggart actually make you feel... you know, anything other than fear?" She frowned again, "Can you trick a boggart? Can you make it think that your fear is something else?"

Kaika and Dom suddenly donned golden tuxedos with top hats and tails. They began to belt out a song:

One! Moment in her presence, and you can forget the rest...
For the girl who's second best, to noooone, son!
OOOH! Sigh! Give her your attention
Do I really have to mention she's the one!

Linking arms, they began to high-kick chorus line-style their way back into the wardrobe which shut behind them with a bang.

The boggart-friends of Miles began to stagger about blindly, clomping around in big shoes and wearing clown noses as they chased each other. You could almost hear the Benny Hill Show theme as they scampered about, madcap, until finally they chased each other into the wardrobe and slammed the door.

The boggart parents changed to match Rachel's vision, and humiliated, they rushed back into the wardrobe.

Evangeline's tower turned into a mountain of wibbly, wiggling jelly, shining a purty lime green. Unable to support her weight, it collapsed around her in blobs, revealing her to be on the floor all along. The boggart-goo slid back to the wardrobe.

The bloody-nosed Chris continued to stand there, but began chuckling gently as his nose continued to bleed.

"Belcanto, Parker, Rider,Green, Kaplan, Kaiser... Two points each; be seated." Kazimeriz said, stepping in front of the Dementor-boggart that hovered in front of Wright and casting "Ridikulus" before it even had a chance to fully shift into the form of Kazimeriz's fear. It disappeared back into the closet. "Wright... all others... be seated; we must wrap this up." Kazimeriz said. He dispatched the remaining few boggarts in a similar fashion, locking the wardrobes when he was done and turning to face the class.

"Good questions, Miss Toussaint. Fear is a primal instinct-- it is based in self-preservation. Therefore, it is practically impossible to have absolutely no fears. The boggart's magic is complex-- it is not merely a mirror, as many of you experienced. It can fool you into believing something is actually happening, including pain or a physical sensation, such as feeling as though you are all alone or on top of a tall tower. Depending on the depth of your fear and your psychological strength it can even extend to make you believe that you yourself are feeling pain, though most often the boggart would prefer to just allow you to see something... Such as in the case of Mr. Kaplan; instead of choosing to try to give him the illusion of bleeding himself, the boggart merely stepped out looking like Mr. Kaplan with a bloody nose. Keep in mind, however, that by the time Mr. Kaplan attacked, the boggarts in this class had been extensively weakened by repeated counter-attacks with the riddikulus charm. A boggart in such a weakened state could possibly be confused into misreading your fear-- especially if you have a strong mastery of your emotions. But be warned: as they can read your emotional landscape very clearly, you are much better off attempting to battle a boggart with a simple riddikulus charm and a humorous thought than attempting to trick a boggart. Two points, Miss Toussaint."

"As you have now experienced, boggarts are easily repelled once you are able to refocus your energy away from fear and onto something humorous. Before we continue, are there any other questions?"

ooc: Humphrey Boggart and Bob the Boggart are worn out; thank you for playing! I have to wrap this class up, and left it open longer than planned to try to give everyone a shot at boggart-bashing. If you didn't get to attack your boggart in that time I am sorry; perhaps we'll bring them back another time!

Putting a hand to her mouth, Miranda began to giggle at the sight of the boggart Dom and Kaika singing and dancing. Kaika didn't look all that bad and she was sure her captain would be an awesome showartist-person. Look at those heels!
Dominic however, seemed silly with that smile plastered on his face. Although Miranda could imagine him like this. It was still funny!

Hearing the professors response, a grin appeared on Miranda's face and she went back to her seat, humming on the song. One moment...Forget the rest...Girl, best, noooone, son! Gigglesnort!
Miranda saw Kaika had been watching, walked faster to her, gave her a hug and sat back down in her seat. Still humming.

Great class!

"WOO!" Miles lifted his arms up in joy as he danced back to his seat. And he got two points for it, excellent. He now felt awesome that he had actually defeated a boggart, and now he knew exactly what to do when everyone was laughing at him, put blindfolds on them! Bwaha!

Oi, what an awful sight...really...and singing! Kaika didn't like to sing! This was an outrage! But, she still smiled to Miranda, because she fought the boggart nicely...and the result didn't end in the Captain popping...so, yeah, good.

Except for the creepy show.

Her head turned to Prof. Kazimeriz and looked around, "Ummm, I don't think so Professor" she said, shaking her head. Well, she didn't have any questions so, good.

Twitch.

Jake sat quietly in his seat and let his feet swing back and forth, chest still heaving up and down as he tried to calm himself. Kaika didn't look happy, and... well that just totally proved his fear. Trying to hide the upset and fear from his face, Jake looked up to Kazimeriz and shook his head, not trusting himself to talk at all, before looking back down at his hands and inspecting them as if they were the most interesting specimens in the world.

Now he was scared.

Twitch.

Squeezing his eyes, Jake tried hard to take on a steely gaze as he felt them burrrrn... and we all know what that means when it's accompanied by a lump in the throat.

Twitch. Sniffle. Twitch.

Herminny could tell something was up the Hufflepuff boy so she looked over at the Hufflepuff boy and asked, "Are you alright".

Celandine wrote the answers down, still frowning slightly as something else occurred to her. "What happens if someone doesn't have a sense of humour?" Celandine asked, curiously, "Can they use something they know is supposed to be funny even if they themselves can't laugh?"

"Even if they are not the type to laugh out loud, most people possess some level of humor that can be used. However..." Kazimeriz paused, contemplating the question. His eyes glittered with dark amusement as he recalled his past. "I do remember one such gentleman in my days as an auror, with the ironic and unfortuante name of Siruis Li. He was one of the most solemn, dour individuals I have ever encountered. His countenance looked perpetually haunted -- no offense intended..." he said quickly to his cherished ghost guests. "Very detail oriented and cautious... He had not one frivolous or lighthearted bone in his body, was as grim as the dark lord himself. His meticulous nature made him one of the best investigators we had on the force... Unfortunately, it was his inability to laugh and take things lightly that was his undoing. He ran into a rogue boggart in his own home one night. Being so high-strung and humorless, he was driven to a heart attack by the boggart's attack. His stressful lifestyle made him ideal to duel dark wizards and the right man to investigate the most gruesome crimes, but he could not take down a simple boggart because he simply did not know how to laugh. Let that be a lesson to you all- for while defense against the dark arts is a deadly serious business, remembering to be light of heart when appropriate can be your salvation."

"Your homework is as follows: one foot of parchment detailing what you have learned about fear, boggarts, and dark creatures that utilize psychomagical attacks. Include in your essay your own speculation as to what a boggart might look like when in its natural state- that is, what boggarts look like to one another and to themselves when not attacking anyone. Feel free to be creative in this portion of your writing. I ask that you include an illustration on a separate parchment." Kazimeriz paused.

"The final piece of your homework is, as before, a lab activity, though this is merely for additional credit and is not required. I will, over the course of the next few days, unleash a small number of pogrebin in and around the castle grounds. As you may recall, the pogrebin is a small, grey dark creature that resembles a hairy rock. You might sense the pogrebin is near if you or your classmates start to feel inexplicably depressed or hopeless. If you do encounter such a creature, you can battle it simply with stupefying charms, cheering charms, hexes, and even brute force-- kicking them has been known to work before you stupefy them. Anyone who delivers one of my pogrebin back to me will receive extra points. I caution you, however- if you turn your back on the pogrebin it may attack and they have been known to kill. Are there any further questions before I dismiss the class?"

Qaz raised her hand and asked, 'Do we lose points if the pogrebin is, ahem, damaged?'

Joanne heard the professor's last explains very carefully and wrote down the homework on a piece of parchment. But with the last activity a doubt haunted her, she raised her hand " How are we supposed to transport the pogrebins to you Sir? Box them up maybe?"

Miranda was almost gaping. The professor wanted them to write about the class, but also, be on the lookout for a hairy stone looking creature, that may or may not kill you?
Oh dear.

Well, she'd have to start practicing the incantations, for there was no way Miranda was going to get close enough, to those hairy beasts, to get a good aim and kick them. Shudder.

Maybe you could just poke them with a stick.
Urgh, no!

"Professor," Miranda raised her hand, "When is the due date for this homework?"

Kazimeriz smiled. "As long as they are incapacitated but not mortally wounded, I will not be displeased."

"You may transport them in any way that you see fit. I will have a kennel outside my classroom where you can place them."

"Excellent question. Homework is due two weeks from today. If there are no further questions, class is dismissed." Kazimeriz said.

ooc note: Ever play the Muffin game? The lab portion of this class works something like that. My pogrebin will be invading people's posts randomly, hiding somewhere in the post. Your task is to find the word 'pogrebin'. It may be obviously hidden and it may be tricky, so look sharp!

See the pogrebin invasion in the example above? When you spot it, you may either notice it and RP your character into the scene and attack it or start to RP signs of a nearby pogrebin in your character (depression, feelings of despair, general emo-kid behavior) so the others you are RPing with may notice the pogrebin instead. Either way, someone finds the "pogrebin" and attacks it with cheering charms, incarceration hexes, petrificus totalis, stunning spells, physical force... You get the idea. You are free to RP capturing the pogrebin or letting it escape-- it's up to you. You are also free to work together to capture the pogrebin. Then, post a link at the Pogrebin Detainment Cages and RP placing the pogrebin you found in the cages there. Make sure you post a link so I can track which pogrebin you found!

Also, please note- if you RP being affected by the pogrebin but NOT capturing it personally, please include a link to your emo posts in your homework and you will receive the same points that the pogrebin captors receive. HAVE FUN and if you have any questions, please let me know. Pogrebin hunt begins tomorrow and lasts until I put up a notice stating that all Kazimeriz's beloved pogrebin have been returned. Xana~