Evan raised his hand. He had faced a boggart at his gandma's house once when he was nine, and he knew how to deal with it. Or at least in the theory. He had cried for hours then, when the boggart changed into him with a broken leg, and it took the whole family a lot of effort to convince him that no such thing would happen. Ahem, back to the class.

"You have to laugh at them," he said simply. And then came the spell of Riddikulus.

Freya raised her hand before saying "You have to try push past your fear, Professor and concentrate on something that will make the boggart looks funny."

Alice wasn't sure how she felt about these boggarts. To be honest she wasn't quite sure what hers was going to turn into considering she was terrified of heights...with her luck, probably a huge cliff or an airplane. Fun.

"Professor, wouldn't you also need to imagine something comical that it can turn in to? For example a paper airplane or a rubber duck?"

"You have to picture something comical or funny so that the boggart willl turn into it" she said

Oooh. Boggarts. A grin on her face at the thought of the idea of such a hands on class, Ivory swung her legs under her desk.

Nodding along enthusiastically with her fellow students, Ivory raised her hand as well to pipe in. "Well I think, one has to confront the biggest fear they have. Confront it and make light of it." Illustrating her point, she smiled. "You have to visualize the thing you fear most as just the opposite."

"It takes the shape of one's biggest fear.
They have to imagine the boggart really rediculous,
while incantating the spell "Ridikkulus," Hugo said.
Yeah, that sounded good. Then he thought about it.
"But what if your biggest fear is something abstract, for exemple,
not finding love or happiness? How can it take that shape?" Hugo asked, raising his hand.

''Goooooood question little Raaaaavenclaw'' Josh said as he moved to a more comfortable posititon on his seat. Merlin! He did not like the seats in classes. The armchairs in The Gryffindor Common Room were waaaay better. Whatever, getting back to the class, the Gryffindor boy raised a hand and stood up for he had a question as well.

''And i have another question professor'' he said looking all confident and cheerful. ''What if that person has nothing to fear?'' hehe ''Just like me. I cannot think of anything that i am scared of so what would the boggart do at this case?''

Gryffindor power! Rawr!

Luna raised her hand. "To protect yourself against the boggart you must think of something that will make you happy or make you laugh it then stops the fear," Luna said.

Alex was very happy that she had it correct..
She raised her hand again and said
"Professor, A Boggart is a shape shifter as everyone told and it changes itself according to ones worst fears.
No one knows the actual form of the Boggart.
Its always better to have more than one person at a time as it confuses the Boggart as it can not distinguish to about entertaining whose fears the most.."

As Alex answered the question She knew that it was the correct answer.
After all she was good at DADA and it was her favorite subject.


Alex again knew the answer perfectly. At-least one part for sure.
"Professor.. for defending ourself we need to think of something funny. Our worst fear in a funny way so that we can overcome it in funny way.
As the History says Professor Longbottom used her grany's clothes on Professor Snape's Boggart.."
Alex gave perfect answer as per her but she did not know what professor would say..
Why Alex become so nervous.

Fee raised her hand once again.
"Well, you have to imagine the creature in the most ridiculous clothes for example and laugh out loud.That stops the fear."

She found the imagination of her laughing at a dark creature a bit scary but oh well..

Sophia raised her hand. "You have to think of something that makes you laugh. Then say the Charm 'Riddikulus'" she said. That would take away the scariness of it all.

When the desk shook violently, Lexi leaned up against the side of it to prevent the boggart from escaping the furniture and scarring some poor child for life. When she was sure it had stopped shaking for the time being, she gently pushed herself off and glanced up at the class.

"Yes, yes, that's right. Riddikulus requires a strong mind and good concentration," she summarized. "To successfully cast off the boggart, you need to push past your fear and focus on something that will cause you to laugh--therefore repelling the boggart." She paused for a moment then added, "When facing a boggart, it's best to have someone with you, as that helps confuse the boggart."

Lexi eyed Fletcher with that same look she'd given him many times before. "Mr. Fletcher, when a boggart appears, it's very presence alone will instill so much fear in a person that the very last thing to come to mind will be what to call the boggart," she answered. She glanced back at the desk, eying it for a moment before adding, "Once you've turned it into something that'll cause you to laugh, though, feel free to call it whatever you wish."

...

Lexi hadn't been expecting that question. Of course, she knew the answer, but...she hadn't expected one of the students to come up with such a question so early on in the lesson. Those Ravenclaws... She beamed at the boy then... (OOC: Continued below)

...nodded a few times in Josh's direction. "Yes, I agree. It definitely was a good question," she said, giving the Ravenclaw boy a smile. Looking back to Hugo, Lexi said, "Let's say, for instance, that a person fears not finding love or happiness. The boggart might show you a depiction of yourself old and lonely, with no trace of happiness anywhere in your life. It would show you an example of how it would look or feel to be in that state."

"As for the answer to your question, Mr. Carter, let's see if the class has any thoughts," she said, glancing back toward the Gryffindor boy.

====================

Then turning back to the class, Lexi said, "A question was just asked--what would the boggart do if a person feared nothing? I think that's a pretty strong statement to make--to say that one fears absolutely nothing," she said, pausing a moment to let that thought sink in. "So what do you think? Is it possible to fear nothing? What do you think the boggart would do if a person feared nothing--as they say?"

Kellen considered this, before raising his hand, "Professor, don't boggarts prey on your insecurities? I mean, fear is a strong insecurity that a person has, but just because they fear nothing doesn't mean that they aren't experiencing any insecurities at the time. So would it not take the shape of whatever would encourage those insecure feelings?"

Amy put her hand up this was quite a debate and she wanted to be part of it, surely it is imposible to fear nothing, perhaps you may be frightened of fear or it may be something very subtle that only you know about deep down, but everyone must have a fear, it's one of the things that makes us human, we can love and fear at the same or at different times. She paused. To say you fear nothing does almost insinuate that you arn't quite human, that you don't have any emotion, and perhaps that would be the form the boggart would take, you having nothing she finished and put he hand down, it was probably all wrong, but that was her opinion, nothing wrong with that

"If, in fact, someone did fear nothing maybe the boggart would just take it's true shape, which no one is actually sure of," Lexi D suggested as she raised her hand. "But, if you have someone with you when facing a boggart I would assume that the thing would just move on to the next person and take the shape of what that person fears," she continused thoughtfully.

"There can never be a person who has no fear but if to say that it was true than the boggart would probably just turn to its regular form, I guess" she said

Riley was pretty intrigued by this question and tried to find the person who asked it. He had never seen a boggart and was sure he would have plenty for the thing to turn into should it ever happen, but for someone to fear nothing?

"Well Professor perhaps the Boggart would attack the person and cause them to fear Boggarts?" Riley said slowly, trying to make sure he made sense. Hopefully he did.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Lexi eyed Fletcher with that same look she'd given him many times before. "Mr. Fletcher, when a boggart appears, it's very presence alone will instill so much fear in a person that the very last thing to come to mind will be what to call the boggart," she answered. She glanced back at the desk, eying it for a moment before adding, "Once you've turned it into something that'll cause you to laugh, though, feel free to call it whatever you wish."

====================

Then turning back to the class, Lexi said, "A question was just asked--what would the boggart do if a person feared nothing? I think that's a pretty strong statement to make--to say that one fears absolutely nothing," she said, pausing a moment to let that thought sink in. "So what do you think? Is it possible to fear nothing? What do you think the boggart would do if a person feared nothing--as they say?"

What? Whaaaaaaaaat? What was that look for? Fletcher wasn't trying to get smart with the professor; he was just pointing out something that would help the class share a giggle or two and not be so afraid of the boggart.

"Whatever," he muttered under his breath, his gaze sliding to Salander for a moment. "We're still calling it Humphrey."

He folded his arms crossly and barely put up his hand to respond. "Well first of all, if a person claims to fear nothing, they're obviously lying." He rolled his eyes. "And second of all, I bet the boggart would come up with something for them to fear. Like it would turn into an exact carbon copy of the person and start attacking them or something. Something extreme and strange."

Silly Humphrey the Class Boggart.

He didn't like all this talk about Boggarts. It had set him to shifting uncomfortably in his chair. Fears were his weak point right now, especially given his Christmas holidays and he found himself wondering exactly how he would end up making the Boggart into something he could laugh about. Surely the teacher wouldn't release such a thing in front of younger students who could well be petrified by it.

Shaking his head, he focussed on the question, pushing his own thoughts away. "It might show that person a reflection of themself, as they are. If someone says they fear nothing, then they are not willing to look at themselves in such a critical light as to admit a fault. So, they fear themselves and the faults they don't want to admit."

"Honestly," Daisy said raising her hand. "I don't think anyone is truly scared of nothing. No matter how... amazing they think they are." She frowned a bit, "Everyone has a fear. Sometimes it's something you really wouldn't technically think is a fear. For example, fearing that you could possibly lose someone important in your life." She shook her head, she was getting off subject of the questions presented before her. "Though if a person as such did exist I would suspect the boggart would show it's true form, whatever that may be." Then a thought occurred to her, "Professor, what exactly does a boggart look like in it's true form?"

Er, fear nothing? Emmaleigh had no clue about that, but she did raised her hand to ask about something that had been bothering her, "Um, I don't know about not fearing anything, but what happens when the thing you fear is the boggart its self?" Because thats what Em thought she feared the most. Sure she had other fears, but at the moment, she was seriously panicking because all she could think about was the scary boggart.

He gave his buddy a firm nod. Yeah he wanted to call the boggart Bogart Humphrey because he wanted to see the great movie icon to come out from under those sheets. Unfortunately the lad still wasnt associating the boggart lesson with his own wishes of seeing the Bogart's ghost until he heard this.......


He dropped his arms and quit his seance, only dawning on him then that the boggart or whatever it was that lay beneath was supposed to represent one's fears. Brows furrowed slightly he replied "Well, if you aint afraid of nuthin', then... you'll find out soon enough wontcha? Guess you gotta see it first to know right?" says the lad who too had no fears. At least none that he was aware of.

brittany raised her hand. "I honestly dont think its possible for anyone NOT to be afraid of anything. Its kinda irrational. to me anyway. But I suppose the Boggart would self destruct because its has no purpose. It cant find anything to imitate. "she said hoping the professor understood

Jenny raised her eyebrows. Is it really possible to fear nothing? In fact, Jenny wondered what it would feel like to fear nothing at all.

"If there is someone who feared nothing, it would be extremely difficult to find that person." Jenny replied as she was pondering. "If someone did fear nothing, I think the the boggart would put way more effort into finding what his or her biggest fear is. At some point, there might be some little worry in our hearts that we're not even aware of, and the boggart would be able to look through that."

Cameron frowned. Feared nothing? Who actually feared NOTHING? Didn't everyone have a deep, dark fear of something? Even if it was something really small? She didn't think there was anyone in the entire world that was scared of nothing. How could you be scared of nothing? You'd have to be a really heartless, selfish, cold person to be scared of nothing.

"Professor.. is that even possible? Surely, it's human to be scared of something?" A close friend leaving? Someone passing away? It was NORMAL to be frightened of some things, right?

"..I didn't think that was even possible." How could you have NO fears? Cameron had sooo many. That wasn't fair. That person was a lucky duck.