Ryan rubbed his hands together as he walked towards the DADA classroom. Facing his boggart would be so easy, he was sure he'd be done in about thirty seconds. Furthermore, he was a Gryffindor, and they weren't afraid of anything, right? Or something like that. Given that he, in fact, did not know what his boggart was, Ryan felt extremely overconfident about this rendezvous.

Upon reaching the classroom, he opened the door slowly and noticed that the room was empty. Well. This just made it easier for him since he didn't have to wait for his turn or have other students gawking at his boggart...whatever it might be. Now that he thought about it, actually, his mind started to fathom the kinds of things that scared him. He wasn't scared of much except...being alone, obviously. But that wasn't something the boggart could portray, could it? He was about to be answered.

Gulping and feeling slightly edgy since the first time he had thought about this assignment, Ryan gripped his wand and walked towards the trunk in the corner of the room. Oh, there was something inside alright. He watched it rattle and his nerves overtook him. What if the boggart made it seem like he was the only person left in the world? WHAT IF?

Biting his lip, he held his wand at the ready, murmuring the countercurse under his breath, though there was no need for it yet. C'mon, c'mon!, he thought , I haven't got all day. Finally, the trunk opened and out popped...

Himself. He was staring at a clone of himself, so perfectly matched that he was having doubts about his own identity. But then Ryan noticed the one feature of his boggart!clone that made it different and oh-so-terrifying-- IT WAS BALD.

Completely and utterly bald. Not a wisp of hair on his head. And what was worse, the boggart!Ryan wasn't even OLD. He was as young as Ryan looked now, his skin perfect and wrinkle-free. Ryan's grasp on his wand slackened; he didn't know what to do. The countercurse, which he was muttering only seconds before had magically left his brain and instead, his mind was filled with anxiety about losing his perfectly curly hair at such a young age. WAS IT POSSIBLE?

Trembling, he pointed his wand at the boggart. What was the spell?
"Rid--"
"Riddikulus."

Nothing happened except the boggart looked at him mockingly, rubbing his own bald head. Ryan gaped and dropped his wand.

"I can't be bald. I CAN'T." He reached up to his own head of smooth curls and felt them as a reassurance. They were still there, granting him a sigh of relief. He took way too much care of his hair for it to fall out that early and the boggart was obviously a lie. Right? RIGHT?

Anyway. He grabbed his fallen wand and gripped it tighter once more, aiming it at the bald boggart, that disgusting rogue.

"You're a liar! You lie! You see this?" He pointed at his own head of hair, his face screwed up in concentration. "This is MINE. And I'll always have it. ALWAYS." And with that, his thoughts landed on the perfect way to bring laughter into the scenario, enabling him to use the countercurse.

"Riddikulus!" He yelled and the boggart's bald head erupted in a rainbow colored wig, his nose turned huge, red, and squishy, and his shoes elongated several feet.

He had turned himself into a clown.

Ryan snorted at himself with that color hair and painted face and then chuckled. At least he had hair now.

And with that, the boggart popped and disappeared back into the trunk, ready for its next victim. Meanwhile, Ryan stuffed his wand back into his pocket and walked out as fast as he could, running his hands through his hair over and over again.

Eliza had been putting this off for a while now. She already knew there were a lot of things in the world to be afraid of, so why did she have to plant herself in a room with one? And what happens if I can't make the boggart go away? What if the thing that frightens me gets ahold of me? What then? Has anyone ever tried it? Does the boggart disappear or is it really really really that thing and it really really attacks you? She hadn't been overly nervous when she first entered the room, but those questions that kept resounding in her mind along with the rattling of the unlocked trunk were starting to freak her out.

She took a few steps further into the room, clinging to herself in her over-sized sweater for comfort. Maybe I should have asked someone to come with me just in case I couldn't do it. What if I can't do it? What if it really gets me and I...what if I die? Would our homework really, literally, finally kill me? And with that thought the boggart sprung from its dwelling and transformed instantly.

A large, looming dark shape was coming straight for her. The thin black cloak swirled in a wind that Eliza could neither see nor feel. The blackness of the lethifold unnerved her to the her core. She gasped, her breath making a sharp scraping noise against her throat as she registered what was in front of her.

A lethifold, no! Nonono. She started backing away from it and drew her wand. She knew she could not fight off the strength of its enveloping form if it got near enough to her. I don't want to die, no, no... She continued to move backwards, the fear of being suffocated and eaten growing stronger with every inch the lethifold advanced on her.

Just breathe...breathe...remember where you are. Remember what you're doing, she coached herself, now circling the room with her back to the walls, protected on at least one side. The lethifold slowly came closer, circling around the room with her, facing her though it had no face of its own. Only darkness was underneath its hood. She did not know how a lethifold came to be, or how it consumed its prey, but she knew that it could and it would if she did not do something.

Lethifold, lethifold, she thought over and over. Patronus...can't do that. Can't...um...but, but it's not a lethifold really, or maybe it is I don't know...physics...of...this....what....boggart. Boggart. She changed directions and began to lead the creature back towards its trunk, side winding around the room. And a boggart...likes fear. Laughing...laughing from class, remember? She continued giving herself a pep talk, forcing a small chuckle with each step she took. If the laughing didn't lighten her mood, maybe it would at least trick the lethifold into thinking she was deranged and diseased and obviously no good to smother and eat alive.

"Ha..." Side step. "Ha, ha..." Step. Step. "You're not real," she hissed at it defensively. Although she may have been trying to convince herself more than she'd been trying to insult it. "Ha...ha..." She stepped back again. Think of it as something else...think of it as....a Halloween costume. Think of it as...the Headmistress in a Halloween ghost costume! Yes! Smirking to herself for a moment, before feeling the icy chill of fear running down her spine again, she raised her wand and pictured the red haired woman who was always so precisely put together and pink. Always pink.


But just then the lethifold lurched towards her, making her cry out. "Riddikulus!! Riddikulus!" she shouted and fell backwards to the ground. But it did not work. And the impact of the fall made her drop her wand. She scrambled for it frantically as it rolled further from her. She could sense the deadly shroud hovering just over here when she finally grabbed her wand again, spun towards the lethifold and screamed out, "RIDDIKULUS!!!"

She heard the CRACK of the spell and immediately the lethifold spun in a tight cyclone and changed into the Headmistress dressed in a pink ghost costume with holes cut out for her eyes. Herself still on the ground, the red head was towering over her and looking rather confused. "Trick or treat," Eliza snickered with an eyebrow raise, and pushed herself away from the BunzBoggart as it retreated back into its trunk.

Laura had put this off for long enough, she had been putting it off ever since she had gotten the homework, she didn’t want to do it surely someone else could do it for her, but she knew that she wouldn’t get any credit if she didn’t do it herself or copied someone else’s work, she still wasn’t convinced that she should do this because she was really frighten about what would happen.

Laura took a deep breath trying to tell herself everything would be okay but she was panicking now, what if she couldn’t stop it, what if the Boggart was too strong for her and made it so she couldn’t do anything to get rid of it, what if it found her most deepest and darkest secret one that she hadn’t told anyone before, no she didn’t want anyone to find out about that, the Professor was normally nice to them why was she making them face a Boggart when she wasn’t ready to face one surely the Professor could have thought of something else.
Laura looked at the box and could see that the Boggart wanted to come out, it was now or never, she knew she would have to do it and she knew that she would have to do it now, she slowly opened the box and waited, this was going to be torture she just hoped that she could get things right, she didn’t want anyone to know about this because she knew it would be torture.

Laura didn’t have long to wait to see what the Boggart would change into as soon as it fell on her it turned into her father, well sort of her father, he looked like her father but well he wasn’t looking happy and he was sort of looking through her like she wasn’t there, like she had betrayed the family name and been sorted into Hufflepuff instead of Ravenclaw.

“You’re a disappointment to me.” He snapped at her. “Your useless, Your nothing more that a common person, your nothing like our family, we are proud and we achieve things, your sister got perfect in her exams.” He snapped at her and Laura felt the tears coming down her face, she was trying to stop them and say something back, “I tr..” Laura couldn’t speak through the tears.

“Your useless, You’re a nobody.” He snapped at her, as he took out her exam results,

Laura was shaking her head now, no it wasn’t possible, she hadn’t done them yet, surely she had time to change, surely she could make things better without him doing this, she was crying really bad now, it just wasn’t possible was it?

“YOU FAILED EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR EXAMS!!!!!!” He snapped at her.

Laura was shaking really bad now, this just wasn’t happening, she knew that but she felt week like she couldn’t do anything to stop the man in front of her snapping at her

“YOU ARE NO LONGER MY DAUGHTER” He growled at her. “From this day forward I have just one!” He just stared straight through her.

Laura was really really getting upset she knew she needed to do something about this and fast otherwise she wouldn’t be able to do anything at all, the Boggart was making her really upset.

“Riddik.” Laura was crying too much to even say the spell, she took a deep breath before trying again. “Riddikulus!” Laura almost screamed the spell out she wanted the thing gone it had upset her like crazy and she gave a small smile when the spell worked.

Laura looked at the new person in front of her it was her mother smiling at her and doing a silly little dance, she couldn’t help but give a small smile as she watch the weird dancing but she still was upset, she wanted to go and get some ice-cream or better still go and give someone a big hug to bad DJ wasn’t there, maybe she could find someone else, whatever she did decide on, she knew that she would never ever ever ever want to face a Boggart again they were just too mean, she some how managed to get the boggart back to the trunk and shut it, she hoped the next person would have a better time than her with the stupid thing.

Was that Laura? HI. The girl had looked pretty shaken when she came out; she hoped nothing really terrible lied in wait inside, she .. wouldn't be able to deal with that. She'd rather spend time with a bunch of sharks than have terrible things happen. Logical, right? Reluctantly, she headed inside the classroom to face the Boggart, but not before giving her cousin a wave. They both needed it, it would seem.

Heh. One step. Two step. WAIT. There would be a teacher, or something, right? Waiting in the wings to become a hero and rescue her? That's what teachers probably ... don't do. Shame. Probably cos they 'didn't get paid for it'. Pshhh. Wellllll, she was a big girl, she could deal with this. She just had to not think. Simple enough.

Hi, Boggart's box.

Nice little box.

Nervously, she edged forward, turning her head slightly to the side as not to have to see the Boggart. Good plan, yes? Squeezing her eyes shut, she attempted to kick the box open, GENTLY, mind you. Bliss was no hooligan. Um, was there was a latch or something on it or something? It was hard to open. The Hufflepuff frowned and opened her eyes to see where she had to open the box and -- "MERLIN! NOPE. No. Nulla. Nu. Nie. NO." .. That was all the languages she knew, soo .. time to look.

In front of her stood two people. Two people kissing. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Isn't that funny!? NOT. Bliss' hands trembled as she stared at Boggart!Alice and Boggart!West. There was something she should be doing right now, but she just couldn't keep her thoughts straight to remember. Spell. Laughing. Not important right now. ALICE was kissing HER bo-- ex boyfriend. She glared at nothing in particular; hating Alice, hating West and most of all, hating herself. Something was .. off, though. As much as she hated seeing this, something inside her told her it wasn't real. West would never kiss Alice so soon after Bliss had broken up with him, especially not in front of her. Then, without warning, just as the fear drained away from inside her, the boggart!Alice and boggart!West also melted away.

HEY. That wasn't the way in was supposed to work, she thought, frowning. She closed her eyes and concentrated on figuring out what had just happened. The Boggart couldn't just .. disappear. That meant - GULP - that it was still there. Of course. Fantastic. "Peek-a-boo, Boggart, I'm ready for you," she whispered, her voice shaking as she inched opened her eyes. Darkness? Everywhere? ... "HEY, SOMEONE? ISN'T THIS AGAINST THE RULES?" She yelled-ish, hoping someone could hear. She'd had two Boggarts for the price of one and she'd had enough!

The small 'Puff turned in a slow circle, taking it all in. Not that there was much to take in, there was darkness all around her. How was that possible? The boggart wasn't THAT big, surly. "Um, hi? Boggart? Could you .. turn on the lights?" PAUSE. No? What a rude boggart. "You can't? That's .. that's cool, I'll do it myself." If she could find them that is. Suddenly, Bliss got a bright idea. Her wand. "Lumos," she muttered, praying silently to herself that that would work, but ... of course not. The omnipotent Boggart strikes again. Lights; her only hope. Bliss stumbled backwards into the wall. That's one way to do it, she thought and felt along the edges of the classroom for a switch. HEY, WAIT. Did Hogwarts even have lights? It didn't, it had candles. How could she possibly forget that.

Genius. That was what she was.

"Think, Ryans, think." She needed to think of the facts and right now, she wasn't doing that. Right now, her head was WAY too full of Alice and West and unwanted fears. Bliss shook her head violently, and shut her eyes, in the hope that that would help and it did. She could remember what she'd been supposed to do. Go in. Face Boggart. Say the counter spell. Well, she'd done steps one and two and now she was facing upto a maze. A really, really dark and scary maze.

Feeling helpless, she sunk to the floor. Every direction she looked in, she could see a new direction to head in, a way out. Some of those ways, though, lead to darker places or just, places she didn't want to be. Get. A. Grip. It was just a maze, she'd got through one before, she could do it again. She stood strong again and headed t'wards the nearest path and straight into a wall. Seriously? As if a maze and a ... other thing wasn't enough. Bliss rubbed her nose and focused again, there was another thing she was forgetting. OH, the spell. "Riddikulus!" .. "Riddikulus!" Any time now, spell. "Don't tell me there's something else, too," she mumbled and sighed. Of course there was, if only she could remember.

If this was a normal maze, she'd be fine. It she closed her eyes and she kept following along one side of the maze, but nooo, had to be a Boggart. Her mind flipped back to her last two maze encounters. The first with her family, when she'd been young and she'd lost her family in it. Traumatic, obviously. Then .. with West. It had been such a good time. First kiss and all. Now, no more, because she was an idiot. A stupid, little idiot. "Why did I let him go?" Of course, she knew the answer to that, but the question still needed to be asked. RIGHT. B-Back to the Boggart. Her thoughts; she was stuttering in her thoughts. Bliss wiped her hand across her cheek. Funny, she hadn't even realised that she'd been crying, but her breaths were coming in short little gasps now and she was reduced to sobs.

Better get a move on, a voice inside her told her.

It was a stupid thing to do, but she thought it would help. With everything that had happened, she needed him and she knew exactly where to get it. West. What would he say? He'd say something like, "it's simple, just think happy thoughts; laugh, be cheerful." BOOM. "Gotcha," she cried out happily, tears still streaming silently down her face. How could she possibly make this funny? She took out her wand again and pointed in forward. In her mind, she pictured this darkness with holes in it and through those holes, she could see clowns dancing and being fools. A small giggle escaped her lips and the darkness faded ever so slightly. "Riddikulus!" A clown falling. "Riddikulus!" A clown pulling a funny face. "Riddikulus!" Finally, a clown crushing a pie to his face. "RIDDIKULUS!"

The darkness faded completely. From black, to brown, to grey, and back to the normal classroom. Glaring at the Boggart, she forced it backwards, back into it's box. "Good riddance," she muttered and turned on her heel to leave. There was, of course, still part of the homework to complete, but she could do it, no problem. Bliss wiped at her eyes, getting rid of any tear stains, even though her eyes were still red and puffy. She had no sense of accomplishment at all, but still, she'd done it and that must count for something.

Bliss, out.

Mo wiggled impatiently in the corridor as he waited his turn, shuffling from one foot to the other in a sort of pseudo two-step that occasionally had him kicking the wall and occasionally had him kicking the door. It was while he was sort-of-but-not-really kicking the door that he was nearly run over by a very red-eyed Bliss, who must have just been finishing up ahead of him. Erm... crying women. What DID one say? "Maybe you can hold this for me and give it back later, okay?" Mo offered in that gentle tone one used in coaxing souffles not to fall as he handed over a clean, pressed handkerchief.

And then he ran away, into the Defense Classroom. Better to face a boggart than a woman's tears. He shut the door behind him and turned to face the rattling trunk. Funny... he wasn't really scared. Not yet. It probably helped that he wasn't sure what was going to come out of there, so he couldn't really worry over it yet. Instead, Mo stepped forward and offered himself up to the trunk. Gave it a nod and waited for the boggart to assume a form when it emerged.

Mo wasn't fearless, but he just wasn't sure how to put a face to things he worried about. It would be so much easier if he didn't think rats were friendly and spiders were the most charming crawly things in the garden (after lizards, obviously). It would be really easy if he was terrified by 'monsters' instead of enamored of them. That meant that whatever popped out of the trunk was going to be pretty mundane instead of a bleeding mummy or a rabid yeti or something exciting. Sigh. Lame.

The lid opened, and Mo immediately took a step back as the brightly-clothed figure unfolded from inside the trunk. Straggling red curls, a wicked painted-on smile, a maniacal laugh that SOME might find amusing, and a red ball nose. It was a clown, nearly identical to the one he'd seen at a circus when he was quite young, although this version had pointy teeth and fingernails that seemed to be GROWING and he was carrying a rope. Those didn't seem very festive and in the spirit of fun and frivolity. Mo gulped and set his jaw, deciding to be brave and manly and...

"You're staying with me," a soft voice hissed from between those pointy teeth, and the clown lifted the rope again. "You're staying with me forever. No one else wants you, but Iiiiiiiii want you."

Mo screamed like a four-year-old girl. LOUDLY. It was possible that he tried to run away too, because he seemed to be kicking at the door again, only this time he was kicking from inside the room. And the clown was still coming, still holding up that rope, still threatening to keep him forever. It wasn't at all like last time, when he'd seen the clown from across the circus tent and Vivi had leaned over to quietly inform Mo that he belonged to the circus now. They'd traded him for an elephant and sold his bedroom furniture. They didn't want him and he had to stay here forever. His parents never had understood why he'd sobbed through the rest of the show and refused to stay to see the animal tricks.

Okay. OKAY. This wasn't like that, and Vivi had been joking anyway, and he needed to pull himself together. Laugh until you mean it. "Ho. Ho. Hahaha," Mo informed the floor, since his hands were on his knees and he was having trouble catching his breath. "HO. HO. HAHAHA." The clown wasn't moving toward him anymore, and it had closed that terrifying mouth. Mo raised his wand with a shaky hand and stumbled through, "R-riddikulus."

The clown seemed to expand and shrink and expand again, blowing up suddenly until it was replaced by an enormous balloon animal dog, six feet tall and rocking gently in place. Now that... was actually funny, and even funnier... Mo jabbed the balloon dog with his wand, and it exploded. Mo grinned fiercely at it, and the balloon hissed with a rude noise as it spun round and round the room over head. It didn't take any additional effort for the balloon to fly into the trunk, the lid snapping shut behind it. Mo managed shaky laughter as he made his way out the door. He didn't really feel the funny yet, but at least he wasn't screaming anymore.

The moment of truth. The young lion stood there awaiting his turn to face his fear, that's not what he had in mind when he woke up this morning. Troy Maurice Hawthorne despised the feeling of fear, or helplessness. He always wants to the brave and strong one and if he's scared there's no way he can protect himself or anyone else around him.

There it was a tall shadow turned in to a slim, long, taller figure with long tentacles, flowing towards him trying to grab him and anything in its path. His face pale and white with no facial figures, there was nothing there just a round head and plain face. Troy's legs were shaking, heck his whole body was shaking. He was feeling sheer pain and couldn't do anything at the moment, his heart was beating so fast, he could have sworn someone in the crown could have caught it.

”Rid...rid-” he tiny hands were trembling just like the rest of his body.

The Slender Man's tentacles felt like they were getting a little too close for comfort, according to Troy. ”I don't want to do this anymore.” Troy shook his head and pouted, his lips quivered and started breathing faster. He could feel his eyes sting, with some liquid called tears but he wasn't going to let people see him cry! No sirrr-eeh Bob!

The Slender Man began speaking and Troy covered his ears ”Stop! Stop it!” the young lion was so close to start yelling mommy please help me! MOMMY! however he knew that wasn't going to help him face his fears. ”Riddi-” the Slender Man was creeping him out more than he had imagined. He's heard so many stories about this monster and he could have also sworn he saw him once back when he lived in Greece.

"I gots to be brave...I gots to be brave!" Troy muttered to himself, looking down at the floor clutching his fists. The arms of this evil creature surrounded Troy and he gasped! Along with having a little accident occur. He whizzed himself, so embarrassing! He actually wet his pants thanks to this repulsive boggart ”oh shut the front door, no you didn't! Look at what you did to my pants!” That's when he had enough! Troy furrowed his eyebrows and first he was terrified and now he was angry, these were new pants his sister paid good money for!

”Riddikulus!” Troy's voice had so much control. Next thing he knows the Slender Man turns into his Sister's pug, Caesar. Who according to the Kid, the dog looks a lot like a pig with his face smash into his head and a tail that looks like a curly fry. Troy giggled and did a little “happy dance”.

He did it! He actually did! Troy took control of his fear and stood up against it, 'course it cost him quite a lot of energy and a small accident but he succeeded. Grinning he turned around shot his hands up in the air and walked. Looking at the people around his he held his head high ”With the dignity I still have left...I'm going to go change my pants, now.” he marched along, with a lot of brave pride.

As Bliss emerged from the classroom, her plan had been to make a hasty escape so no one would see her tears. She should have known better than to think that that would actually work successfully, though. Bliss looked up from her eye rubbing, to notice someone - Mo - looking at her like he was going to run over. Since when was anybody in a hurry to get in there? He must be nuts and now he was offering her a handkerchief. She didn't really have time to refuse it, because he was already off, but not before Bliss could give him a small, shy nod and said, "thank you, okay."

Well ... might as well make use of it, she thought and dabbed gently at her sore and puffy eyes.

Hopefully, he'd come and find her, because she had no idea when 'later' was.

Walking into Defense classroom, Peyton tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. She then clasped her hands behind her back and teetered on the balls of her feet. Was she supposed to wait for the boggart to just appear? Or did she actually have to go and open the trunk? Seeing that nothing was happening Peyton walked up to the trunk and then stopped short when the trunk lid flew open.

Many times she's tried to imagine how it would feel like to be in front of a boggart. What her biggest fear would be. She could think of a few, but she'd been too busy being happy to actually think about it.

Peyton tilted her head to the side at the shape.

Out came the last person Peyton would imagine to SEE here. This boggart was silly. Broken even. She wasn't scared of her big brother Johnathan. "JOHNNY!" Peyton chirped, completely forgetting that it wasn't actually him. IT WAS HER BIG BROTHER. HER MOST FAVORITE PERSON IN THE WORLD.

John smiled, stretching his arm toward her, palm up. Peyton didn't hesitate. She stretched her hand toward him, but paused when she noticed something strange. There were dark brown and red smudges on his hand. With questioning eyes she looked up at him. John's smile was gone, his lips set in a straight line, his once brilliant hazel eyes hallow, and his skin a scary color of pale white.

Peyton gulped. "Johnny?" Was it his Diabetes that was acting up? Did he eat too much sugar? She's told him not to. It was bad for him!

Her eyes caught something on his chest. He was in his navy blue Air Force uniform. The top left of his chest was an odd color, though. Her eyes widened. There was a puncture there. The size of a Galleon and it was oozing red. He was bleeding.

Memories of two summers ago raced in Peyton's mind. How her brother had disappeared for a while and no one told her. And when he came back it turned out he had been held captive and had been injured right in the same place where he was bleeding now. She'd almost lost her big brother.

Peyton took a step back and shook her head furiously. "It's not real, it's not real," she told herself. But this, two years ago, had been real. Looking up at John, he smiled faintly, his skin white. And then, just like that, he fell to the floor in a heap.

She screamed. Loud and hard.

"It's not real, it's not real," she told herself again and again, feeling really small in the room. Brandishing her wand out she pointed it at her brother's body. It wasn't real. Her brother was too much of a Gryffindor to go down like that, and too cunning. She took a deep breath. "Riddikulus!"

John's body suddenly turned into a unicorn. And none other than her daddy was riding it. She burst into a fit of giggles. THIS was much better. Even if her dad didn't like unicorns all that much. It made it comical. A big man on a pretty unicorn. Hahahaa! The unicorn galloped, it and her daddy disappearing into the trunk.

She felt a new kind of confidence spark within her. She blew at the tip of her wand as if she had accomplished something big. There. Unfortunately, now she knew what her real boggart was and she felt a bit shaken, but not enough to feel sad. It was nothing ice cream couldn't fix. Yep.

The redhead turned and exited the room, bubble wrap in her mind. She wondered how Johnny would feel about that. Or a bubble. He could live in a bubble. ^_____^

OH MERLIN!

Ivy Knox would hate this classroom, really. Look at how dirty it was! And for a moment, Lottie wanted to do it some justice and practice the spells Ivy Knox taught them, but that was not the purpose of her visit. Nope.

Fears, eh?

That was an interesting thought. Fears. One might consider losing her pygmy puff bestie, Mags, as one of her fears, but...she knew Mags wouldn't live forever, so she understood. She didn't fear it, at least not now.

So, what else, what else?

That was probably her only fear, and it wasn't anymore. OH, WELL. Nice to not meet you, Mr. Boggart.

Or...something yellow and kind of silky began to come out of the trunk, and she frowned sliiiightly. What was this? Lottie was eyeing the advancing fabric suspiciously. She wasn't afraid of fabric. And she wasn't afraid of advancing yellow things. This was no boggart, this was madness. SOON enough, the fabric tensed around her, and her breathing became uneven. Her wand was tightly held between her fingers, and she straightened up. There was something that screamed DANGER, but she couldn't understand. More and more yellow kept surrounding her, UNTILTHEREWASNOTHINGBUTYELLOWALLAROUND! YELLOW! It was as if she was inside a yellow box, with no way out, a dead end, and YELLOW. And she couldn't get out, there was literally no way out, she could see no exit. Exit, exit, exit. Her heart was definitely racing and her eyes were looking EVERYWHERE. It was maddening. Being trapped in yellow. YELLOW! She was on the verge of tears and she simply wanted to scream for help...until she remembered...Airey...the black hole assignment...the Hufflepuff curtains...

...BUTTHEREWASSOMUCHYELLOWANDSHECOULDN'TFOCUS. ;______;

She dropped her wand. "NO!" no, no, no, her wand, she needed her wand, and she was lucky enough to get the wand before it actually touched the floor. Focus. This isn't real. This is a boggart. Thisissoscary. Shewantedherpygmypuff. This was homework, where was the yoga?! Geez, Lotus Acacia Wisteria pull yourself together! Airey, right? What was it that she was reminded of? Black holes. Vacuums. Heh.

This may be a bit far fetched, BUTTHEYELLOWNEEDEDTOGOAWAY! She's done this once with the real thing, she could do it again. It was all blinding, actually, this color was wrong for everything, eyesight included. So she took her wand, breathed many times, and put a CLEAR thought in her head. Vacuums were the start, it was only ONE vacuum, though. "Riddikulus!" NOOOOOTHING WAS HAPPENING. "RIDDIKULUS!" All. At. Once. One vacuum was beginning to suck all the fabric away, TRYING, and succeeding. Lottie, very slowly, started to smirk a bit. The vacuum was not really a vacuum, though, it was sucking the yellow fabric but turning it into a very gold glitter. SHINYYYY!!!

Which was making Lottie giggle a bit. She liked shiny stuff, you know? BASICALLY, thanks to Airey, Lottie was shredding the fabric away and making her own glitter? SERIOUS GIGGLES, RIGHT NOW. She was liking the glitter shower, by the way. Wasn't gold one of the Gryffindor colors?

POOF!

Nothing.

Suddenly, Lottie was alone in the classroom again, entirely laughing at...NOTHING. Wow, thank you. How very rude of you, Mr. Boggart.

She was probably still shaking from fear, because that was seriously terrifying, but she still backed away, and also tried to leave the classroom quickly. A few cleaning spells were probably performed on her way out, probably not, we can't be sure.

So Elise had been procrastinating this long enough. Why? The answer should be obvious enough. She was supposed to encounter a boggart and she simply didn't think herself ready enough to do it and remain emotionally stable. She still didn't think herself emotionally stable enough but the report was due the next day and she had yet to open the cupboard. So with heavy feet and a pounding heart, she made her way to the Defense classroom and made sure that it was absolutely empty before she entered. She didn't need everyone else in the school knowing what form her boggart took.

Her fingers gripped the wood of the trunk tightly and against every fiber of instinct telling her not to open it, prised the lid open and stepped away from it. Elise made sure to keep her eyes on the ground as she pulled her wand out of its holster and went over the incantation in her head. Riddikulus.

“Elise.” said a cold voice, sending a chill up her spine as it registered almost immediately. No, no. Anything but this. Biting her lip, she kept her eyes trained on the ground and tried her hardest to block out the sound and the picture that was starting to form again in her head. It couldn't be him. He couldn't be here. He was supposed to be dead, the healers said so!

“Look at me, you useless child.” His voice was almost a sneer, she could hear it before she foolishly looked up. Her fingers gripped the wand tighter, shakily raising it to the level of his chest. It was him, there was no denying it anymore. He was her greatest fear and somehow, the Ravenclaw wasn't all that surprised. She'd known, subconsciously that he would always terrify her. The things he'd done to her and her mother, they would never go away. They'd simply haunt her and she didn't know anymore if it would ever get better.

“It's your fault, Elise. All your fault. You did this to our family.”

“Riddikulus,” she said, her voice close to a sob, cracking and a lone tear streaking down her cheek. Her lower lip trembled so violently that she had to bite it to keep from all out sobbing. “It wasn't me. It was a backfire! You know this!” It wasn't her fault her mother had died, it wasn't! All this wouldn't have happened anyway, if he hadn't been so absorbed into a bottle that he couldn't be bothered to help. She was done blaming herself, even if everyone else in her family still blamed her. Maybe she should try that laugher yoga that Professor Romanos had taught her. “Ha, ha.” Clap, clap. “Hohoho.” Clapclapclap.

“Lies,” he sneered, nostrils flaring slightly as he drew nearer. “You liar.”

“You're the only one who's lying!” Her wand hand finally steadying, she tried to visualize what the spell would do. Though, anything would work now. Anything. She just wanted him to leave, to never come back to haunt her past the grave. “Riddikulus!”

“Me? Ridiculous? Never. I don't joke, Elise.” Another step closer to her. Even wandless, he was terrifying.

“NO.” She wasn't going to let him hurt her like he had all those years. He was dead now, and this was nothing but a boggart. Just a boggart. Boggarts could be defeated and she was not going to be scared of a dead man. For now, at least. “Ho, ho.” she tried. Laugh until you mean it. “Hahaha.”

“Riddikulus,” she all but shrieked, finally convinced that she could beat the boggart. Conquering her fear. She'd semi-successfully done it during her DADA OWL and she could do it again. Just watch her.

And with that confidence, the Boggart's hair started to grow out a little, changing from a sandy blonde to bright blue, nose reddening and his clothes growing baggy and colourful. Then, her clown!father!boggart started to dance, putting his arm in and out and shaking it all about. What in the name of Merlin?

“Ho, ho” she said, actually giggling this time. “Hahaha.” After a few more giggles, she was alone in the room. Well, at least she'd conquered the boggart, eh?

Now, it was time to write her report.

West actually hadn't intended on coming to do this. He'd figured he just wouldn't and would say he did. Who wanted to be traumatized by fears anyways? Maybe if he knew what he'd have to confront it might be different but West couldn't even think of what it could be. Sure there were things he found unsettling or whatever but there wasn't anything he could think of that made him sweat with fear and his heart speed up and all of that sort of thing. No phobias.

Right?

If it was boring he'd just make something else up. Like... hmm. Clowns maybe. Mo had a fear of clowns, West knew that. He wasn't sure he could fake a fear of spiders or snakes or lizards or anything creepy or crawly. Nobody would believe it.

So he was kind of skeptical about how it would all work see? He couldn't think of any fears, nothing that actually terrified him off the top of his head. Wand at the ready though, West went ahead to the trunk thing and eyed it up. With nigh-contempt he kicked it open and stood back, WAITING for something to happen.....


......


Nothing?

.... really what was going on? Nothing? Was there even a boggart in there? Nothing was happening. West looked around in confusion and then back at the trunk... except it wasn't just a trunk anymore, it was his father and his sister! Well, it was them from behind, their backs. Just standing there with their backs to him.

Puzzled by this West shifted uneasily from foot to foot. He knew that was a boggart there and not Aspen and his dad... but...

... he took a step towards the boggart!family, unable to help the instinct that propelled him.

.... and they, in unison, took a step away.

West's heart started speeding up, and even knowing it was a boggart he swallowed roughly and took another step forward.

They stepped away again.

He broke and darted after the Boggart!family, and it moved just as fast as he did, away, always away.

"...no....no-nonono.." His voice cracked and he wasn't sure if the voices were just the memories in his head or if they were out loud...

... Westie, mummy isn't coming back...

...I have to go away for work...

....I'm going to Hogwarts, you have to stay here...

...The Wizarding World needs me, I have to go undercover...

....I'm going to Brazil...

"DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!" It was pure anguish. He tried to run around them but what should have been their fronts were their backs too. Panicking now, West triedtriedtried to bring his wand to bear, but he couldn't and the boggart!family was moving further and further away....

The fourteen year old collapsed to the ground arms around his knees and sobbing. He just couldn't do it.

Blue just didn't get why everyone seemed so sad coming out of the Defense classroom. This homework was exciting. The practical part was, anyway. The essay wasn't exactly something she was looking forward to but showing the boggart who's BOSS...now that was something she was ready to DOMINATE. She twirled her wand absentmindedly and tapped her foot, waiting for her turn to go in and be awesome.

And then Elise was coming out looking like...a crazy person. She was all blotchy and tear-stained and laughing. Blue blinked and gave her a small wave. "You okay, cap'ain?" But she didn't really wait for an answer. She was standing up to go in when...West just went in and took her go. Blue shrugged and slid down the wall into her seated position. She was good at waiting. Sometimes. One of her many WONDERFUL traits. Little pretty purple sparks were coming out of the top of her wand which was....worrying. Doxy eggs, how do I stop it? She just kind of batted them out of the way, like a cat when she heard it.

It was one of those noises that would make anyone's heart break. Followed by sobs. Blue jumped to her feet and shoved open the door. "West?" She did this sort of jerky movement of holding out her arms to help him or something but stood frozen. The boggart was already changing. Growing. At least, it was for her. Getting scales. Her mouth went dry and her tummy did a back flip. Dragon. Okay. Sorry West. You're gonna need to get someone else to comfort you.

Airey had been scoping out the competition - so to speak - when he had passed by the Defense Classroom. Medea had warned professors that there may be strange and frightening noises coming from this place given the nature of the assignment so he wasn't all that alarmed when he heard screams of anguish. Quite the contrary really. He was intrigued and decided to peek his head in and see just all that was going on in there...

________________________and then he wished he hadn't.

Or he sort of was glad that he did considering that is WAS his job to protect Hogwarts' students...but he had to admit that this particular one was the last student he ever expected to see like this.

Charging into the room with his wand at the ready, the Astronomy professor saw Miss Gracae trying to assist her friend and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll take it from here," he said with a faint smile before he stood between the two students and the boggart. With a loud rawr, he drew its attention away from both students to himself and waited until it began to morph into a single being with dark hair and almost feline features.

"You'll never be ----"

"Riddikulus!" he SANG before the being could finish its sentence. Instantly the boggart turned into a pet rock resembling Pebbles - only wearing a ghastly pink tutu - that began to roll around on the floor making honking noises until it rolled itself right into the box. With another flick of his wand, Airey shut the lid on the box and then ran over to the Slytherin curled up in practically fetal position.

"Mr. Odessa? Mr. Odessa?" he said while placing a hand on the boy's shoulder and giving it a small shake.

Sweet solstice why didn't he always carry chocolate on his person?

He WAS alone. Rightnowalone. Allalone. Aspenwasn'thereanymoreandhisdadwasworkingallthetim eandMowasn'thisfriendanymoreandBlisswasn'thisgirlf riendanymoreandhehadnomum.

Clearly West was very much lost in his own fear, a palpable thing that had been until this point too abstract for him to recognize on his own. He vaguely heard a familiar voice but was too lost in himself to match it to Blue and respond. He opened his eyes, still sobbing quietly, and through the blur of tears it seemed as if he could see Professor Romanos. Except that she was a cat. Or something. It couldn't penetrate his fear and he squeezed his eyes shut again and next thing he knew his shoulder was being shook, and he could hear his name...

... West opened his eyes and saw Professor Flamsteed.

He sniffed a little and unfurled, immediately looking around warily. "Wh-where did it go?" Sniff. "I c-couldn't do it... I c-couldn't..."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tegz

He WAS alone. Rightnowalone. Allalone. Aspenwasn'thereanymoreandhisdadwasworkingallthetim eandMowasn'thisfriendanymoreandBlisswasn'thisgirlf riendanymoreandhehadnomum.

Clearly West was very much lost in his own fear, a palpable thing that had been until this point too abstract for him to recognize on his own. He vaguely heard a familiar voice but was too lost in himself to match it to Blue and respond. He opened his eyes, still sobbing quietly, and through the blur of tears it seemed as if he could see Professor Romanos. Except that she was a cat. Or something. It couldn't penetrate his fear and he squeezed his eyes shut again and next thing he knew his shoulder was being shook, and he could hear his name...

... West opened his eyes and saw Professor Flamsteed.

He sniffed a little and unfurled, immediately looking around warily. "Wh-where did it go?" Sniff. "I c-couldn't do it... I c-couldn't..."

Attention fully on the boy now, Airey did what his mother used to do to him when he had had nightmares as a small boy - he rubbed the young man's shoulder up and down slowly. He avoided looking the boy directly in the face because, well, the man was horrible with tears and tended to panic and become short of breath. Wouldn't do either of them any good if both were having panic attacks. So, eyes on the ceiling it was for now.

"It's back in its box now, Mr. Odessa," he explained, still rubbing the boy's shoulders up and down. Hopefully he wouldn't think of himself as less of a man or anything since he was receiving comfort for this sort of thing. He remembered what it was like to be a teenager and how much he despised people seeing him as weak. "No, you couldn't," he said in a sort of dazed deadpan tone followed by a long pause. "But Miss Gracae attempted to help you before I stepped in. Sometimes you don't have to do these things on your own."

To be honest, Melanie didn't want to enter the defense classroom. She had a million reasons not to enter the room and every single one of them were poking at her brain telling her she ought to turn around and head back to the dormitories. But then that would've been a waste of a trip, wouldn't it? Plus, she was a lioness from the great house of Gryffindor and Gryffindors were brave. That meant she would have to do the same. Standing outside the classroom, waiting for something to happen though, frightened her. She had remembered the OWL and how difficult it had been for her then to cast the spell. Melanie supposed this was her way of getting a second chance to beat the boggart properly. Melanie fiddled with a loose thread on her shirt, absentmindedly twirling it around her finger then releasing it as she watched people enter and leave the room.

Then it was her turn.

Melanie entered the defense room slowly, her wand held tightly in her hand. Her brown eyes darted around the room, waiting for the clown to start attacking her. No, she couldn't think about that. That wasn't an option. Her eyes were then drawn from the cobwebs to the trunk in the back of the room when she heard a rattling sound. The sixth year froze for a bit, unable to approach it before shaking her head. "You can do this Melanie, it's just a boggart, it'll be fine," Melanie muttered to herself quietly. One step, two step... she was in front of it now.

"Just breathe, Melanie, you can do this," she muttered to herself again, shaking the dreading feeling off before she let out a sigh. Closing her eyes and counting to ten in her head, Melanie raised her wand. She gave it a little flick and watched the top of the trunk pop open. There was a knot in her tummy as a pale white hand grabbed hold of the edge of the trunk. The second hand rested on it and Melanie took a deep breath in. She held it as she waited for the boggart to come out revealing itself to her. She already knew what it was an waiting for the thing to come out was painful.

It was like sitting in a movie theater and watching a horror movie. You knew something was going to happen and it was going to happen soon but you didn't know the exact time. She was holding her breath as she waited for the boggart to show its face.

"BOO! GUESS WHO!"

Melanie let out a scream and covered her eyes. There had been a flash of colors that she had seen right before her hands had covered her eyes. Slowly, Melanie parted her fingers a little to peek through the gaps to see the clown there. He stood there, shocking frizzy red hair sticking out in all directions, wearing a frilly costume in all sorts of colors but what bothered Melanie the most was the face. Melanie had caught a glimpse of the white face with makeup splattered on and sharp teeth shown in the clown's smile before covering her face again. She wanted nothing more than to run out of the room screaming.

But the clown just stood there in his floppy shoes, smile still on his face though that may have been because of the red smile that seemed to have been painted on.

No. She couldn't do this. She refused to go through what she had done during the OWL. Nope. Not now. "Ri...ri... ri..d..." Melanie stammered, pointing her wand at the clown. The clown ignored it, instead giving a laugh, showing more of the sharp teeth and reaching into its pocket and pulling out a shiny horn. Normally, Melanie would've been excited to see a shiny object like that but this was no normal situation. It wasn't ordinary. The clown squished the black rubber at the end of the horn and it let out a loud honk causing Melanie to jump. "C'mon girlie," the clown said, cackling.

Melanie's legs suddenly felt like jelly and her voice seemed to have disappeared. "Ri... r...ri..." Melanie mumbled weakly, her arm shaking slightly as the clown cackled and skipped around cackling. Whimpering, the Gryffindor shook her head. Would it be acceptable to curl into a ball and cry in a corner? Melanie wanted to do that. But that would just be a repeat of what had happened in the past and she couldn't go there anymore. Nope.

She was Gryffindor. She was from the house of the brave. She was stronger than this. Gryffindors were not supposed to cry when they saw something they were afraid of. No, they faced it and conquered it. So why was it so difficult to do? Melanie was seriously starting to doubt the sorting hat and her mind sort of wandered from the clown to the sorting hat. How dare the hat say she was a Gryffindor, all ready to charge into battle at the whatnot? That was unacceptable. A lie. "Happy thoughts, Melanie, you can do this," she said, shaking her head again.

Clearing her voice, she looked at the clown in the eye. She could do this. All she needed to do was think happy. "I'd like to take over your job, Mister Clown... but your shoes aren't really my style," Melanie said to it before closing her eyes and taking a breath. She raised her wand and pointed it at the boggart. " RIDDIKULUS!"

A giggle escaped her lips as she watched the clown turn into something slightly more amusing. The clown had suddenly seemed to have bloated into a balloon and gone were the sharp teeth. " RIDDIKULUS!" Melanie said again and watched the clown start to float away. Grinning, Melanie turned on her heel and walked out of the room. She was relieved she didn't have to go back and she had no plans to turn back and look either. No. She was going to be a strong Gryffindor - brave in the face of battle and the whatnot. Like an amazon. ... or well, maybe not because that was just a website too wasn't it?

West rubbed at his eyes with the backs of his hands almost fiercely, trying to get rid of the dampness still there and feeling angry about it, and about not being able to deal with the boggart. He wasn't SCARED of boggarts it wasn't that, and he knew about the spell and could cast it and all of that, it was just that he hadn't been prepared for what that was.

Flammy being there and stuff was a relief though and the sheer anguish of the encounter was gone now, much of the tension seeping out of him with each comforting shoulder rub.

He wasn't saying much but he was listening and processing and West looked up at the professor at mention of Blue. She had? He had heard her, now that he thought on it. But also, now that he thought on it, it meant she'd seen him completely lose his nerve. That was embarrassing. Would she think less of him?

"It was for h-homework though." He said. "We kinda d-did have to." And he'd failed. And now he'd have to write about why he failed, and that sort of made it even worse.

"P-people might laugh." West added quietly, still tripping over his words in miniature, more subdued sobs.

Penelope wasn't looking forward to this assignment at all. She already had a feeling she knew what her boggart would be, or at least there were a few possibilities. And she didn't really want to see any of them.

She could simply just not do this assignment as she sometimes had a habit of doing...

But she wasn't a coward. She would much rather not choosing to do something because she was lazy, not because she was afraid. It made sense to HER, at least.

She entered the defense room, gripping her wand tightly in her hand. Her eyes only briefly scanned the room before landing on the slightly shaking trunk. So it was in there. Okay. Taking a deep breath, Penelope started making her way toward it, one careful step at a time. And when she was still several paces from the trunk, the lid flung open.

...but nothing came out...?

Puzzled, Penelope quickly took the last few steps toward it - and instantly stumbled backward at what she saw. She tripped over her feet and landed on her bottom, eyes wide and mouth gaping, wishing for air that wouldn't come.

That couldn't have been herself in that trunk, in that....that coffin. Yet it was hardly a coffin with the way she had looked. Not at all peaceful or like she had just fallen asleep. No, she'd looked terrified, blank eyes wide open, and laying there as if she had just fallen or...or if someone had just dropped her there and left. As if...

As if she had just been abandoned.

Abandoned. Alone. Dead.

Her worst fears.

She couldn't look at that again. She couldn't look at herself like that.

Shakily getting to her feet, still struggling for breath, she headed for the door, grabbing the knob with a trembling hand...and then pausing.

Something, somehow, cut into her panicked mind. Did she really want to give up that easily? Was she really that much of a coward?

That thought struck her hard...and slowly...she released the doorknob. Still trembling, she turned back around to face the trunk.

She could defeat this. She would. She was determined. Terrified...but determined too.

Penelope tried to get her breathing under control, taking slow, deep, though still shaky breaths, as she walked carefully toward the trunk.

Deep breath... Step forward... Deep breath... Step forward... Deep breath... Step forward...

And so on until...she was just a few paces from the trunk again, enough so that she couldn't yet look inside again and lose her nerve. She needed to figure out how to defeat this before looking at it again.

Deep breath... Think... Deep breath... Think...

There was...that spell. Ridicu... Ridikul...Riddikulus. That. Yes. Riddikulus. And laughter. The laughter yoga. Ho ho ha ha ha. Yes. That was what she needed.

"H- Ho." Her voice was soft and cracked and she felt like it gave away way too much of her fear. She cleared her throat and tried again.

"Ho." That was a little better. "Ho." Also a little better. "Ha. Ha. Ha." Her voice was humorless and hollow, but it was still supposed to work, right?

"Ho. Ho. Ha. Ha. Ha... Ho. Ho. Ha. Ha. Ha."

She felt a little better. Only a little though. Nowhere near actually laughing, but she felt like she could breathe a little steadier now. So with another deep breath and a tight grip on her wand, she took the remaining steps forward.

And struggled for breath again.

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to concentrate on defeating the boggart instead of just the boggart itself. Because that was what it was, she reminded herself. Just a boggart. Not her.

"Ho. Ho. Ha. Ha. Ha." She managed to open one eye a little so she could better aim her wand at her boggart self. "R- Rid- Riddi- Riddikulus. Riddikulus. Riddikulus!"

And finally, mercifully, the boggart changed from its Penelope form into several smaller ones - little bunny rabbits in top hats and bow ties.

Tears of relief blurred her vision, and a small, humorless laugh escaped her lips, causing the trunk to shut.

There. She was done.

Choking slightly on her breath as she turned her back on the trunk, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and practically ran for the door, jerking it open and slamming it shut behind her, never wanting to see a boggart for as long as she lived.

Dylan...pretty much knew this was going to traumatic. The assignment itself had all the makings of a real emotional breakdown. He'd heard of others having a hard time...and the Slytherin wasn't so proud to think he'd be any different. In fact, he predicted his might be a smidgen worse.

He kinda knew...what his boggart was going to be. If it wasn't...what he thought it was going to be...then the Captain didn't know himself at all...It wouldn't be about the zombies he'd pseudo-faced with his peers in dream world. It wouldn't be about Quidditch or anything related...considering that wasn't what he wanted to do in life. It wouldn't be about anything happening to his family...because they were all strong and healthy...

As Dylan entered the Defense classroom, he dropped his bag and mentally prepared himself. This was going to be...hard.

Then he was getting his wand ready and turning to face the trunk...There was no preamble as the lid swung open...and the Slytherin froze in place. His heart began racing painfully fast in his chest...waiting for stuff to appear. How long did it take for boggarts to take shape, really?

Dylan only thought this for a moment, though...because in the next...something did appear. His breath caught in his throat. There was ZERO surprise...as he glimpsed the figure lying on the floor. It was her...Of course it was her...and from what he knew...it was going to be her in just a few short years...

The Captain knelled to the ground, feeling so emotionally moved that he needed to collect himself.

Time would never be his friend. Time was the enemy. Time would take Beezus away. She'd told him as much. Dylan would never be ready for that, though...He hated to be rushed...but of course that's exactly what was happening.

Rushed, upset,....and scared.

Slowly getting to his feet again...he attempted to reign in his emotions as he slowly raised his wand. How...could he make this cheerful? Like...was that even a possibility? The spell was on the tip of his tongue...but he couldn't say it. All he could do was stare down at her...

Yea, he might have been close to tears. That might have been legit happening.

With heaving, deep breaths, Dylan put his determined face on. He couldn't look at her like this...because this wasn't really her. Not right now. Not in this moment. She was still somewhere in the castle...Very much alive...and very much in love with him. So, for right now...

Breath.

"Riddikulus!"

Instead of laying dead on the ground, not breathing...Beezus' form shifted...and was replaced with a Beezus-balloon look-a-like. Blinking at it...he might have laughed just a bit because the proportions of balloon-Beezus' body amused him. Heavy up top with nothing below...Not like his Honey Bee at all...And then he laughed some more. Laughed SO much...

In fact, there was so much laughing...that Dylan wasn't sure when the laughing changed from amused...to semi-hysterical.

Either way, the boggart must have felt it's effects because balloon-Beezus popped...and then there was nothing.

Slowly putting his wand away, Dylan moved to collect his bag and left the room. All he wanted to do was find her...and touch her. Make sure she was still breathing...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tegz

West rubbed at his eyes with the backs of his hands almost fiercely, trying to get rid of the dampness still there and feeling angry about it, and about not being able to deal with the boggart. He wasn't SCARED of boggarts it wasn't that, and he knew about the spell and could cast it and all of that, it was just that he hadn't been prepared for what that was.

Flammy being there and stuff was a relief though and the sheer anguish of the encounter was gone now, much of the tension seeping out of him with each comforting shoulder rub.

He wasn't saying much but he was listening and processing and West looked up at the professor at mention of Blue. She had? He had heard her, now that he thought on it. But also, now that he thought on it, it meant she'd seen him completely lose his nerve. That was embarrassing. Would she think less of him?

"It was for h-homework though." He said. "We kinda d-did have to." And he'd failed. And now he'd have to write about why he failed, and that sort of made it even worse.

"P-people might laugh." West added quietly, still tripping over his words in miniature, more subdued sobs.

Stammering...or stuttering...or both...

Whichever it was the boy was doing it and that was usually followed by tears. Tears were just not something that the astronomer did and he could feel his insides squirming already at the thought of how to handle the fourth year is he were to start actually crying. So it was probably a good thing that he was still looking everywhere but at Mr. Odessa's face.

He did keep rubbing the boy's shoulders though. "Do you think you can stand?" He could stay here too, if he wanted. There was no rush and obviously the boy was traumatized.

Yes yes. He was well aware about this being an assignment. "I doubt Med--- Professor Romanos will give you failing marks for your efforts, Mr. Odessa," he said while giving the boy an awkward sideways hug. He really meant his words too. If he knew Medea, which he was rather confident that he did by this point, she wouldn't fail a student simply because they could not overcome their worst fear. "First time facing this particular boggart?"

He wasn't asking for details here either. Just curious.

Ah yes. Boyish pride. "They shouldn't." Didn't mean that anyone wouldn't because kids could be cruel, but they shouldn't. "Anyone that does you send them straight to me, alright?" Unless Mr. Odessa was against being called a tattletale.

West nodded and squared his shoulders, then stood up, a little shaky but determined. He didn't wanna just stay where he was and with Flamsteed talking to him it made it a whole load easier to not think about the boggart thing.

"I never faced any boggart before." he confirmed. It wasn't like he couldn't DO it... it was just.... just... unexpected.

He did hope nobody would give him a hard time, but he guessed it wasn't like many people saw... Blue did, but she definitely wouldn't spread bad things. Sniff. "Alright." He wouldn't but he appreciated the sentiment. Actually if anyone did give him a hard time he'd punch them in the FACE.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tegz

West nodded and squared his shoulders, then stood up, a little shaky but determined. He didn't wanna just stay where he was and with Flamsteed talking to him it made it a whole load easier to not think about the boggart thing.

"I never faced any boggart before." he confirmed. It wasn't like he couldn't DO it... it was just.... just... unexpected.

He did hope nobody would give him a hard time, but he guessed it wasn't like many people saw... Blue did, but she definitely wouldn't spread bad things. Sniff. "Alright." He wouldn't but he appreciated the sentiment. Actually if anyone did give him a hard time he'd punch them in the FACE.

Helping the boy stand a bit - but also letting him do it mostly on his own because it was sort of an empowerment thing to pick one's self up after such an ordeal - Airey moved to the side a bit to give him some breathing room.

"There you have it then," he said while shifting his hand's movements from rubbing his shoulders to patting him on the back. "Can hardly expect yourself to defeat a boggart on your first go. Not to mention that doing so also requires you getting over your biggest fear at the same time." It may be a bit unfair of him to say so, but he personally felt that those who did so really were not as terrified of that fear as they thought. Not unless they had entertained it and attempted to reconcile their fear in their own time.

"You ought to get yourself some chocolate," he suggested.

"I didn't think I h-had any fears." West said with a frown. "Not proper ones, nothing what I couldn't deal with on my own." And he didn't know that something like that could become a boggart. "I thought boggarts could only be like.... things."

He was definitely calmer now and the tall boy nodded. "Yeah. Chocolate." Probably should.

Breathe.

"... thanks Flammy."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tegz

"I didn't think I h-had any fears." West said with a frown. "Not proper ones, nothing what I couldn't deal with on my own." And he didn't know that something like that could become a boggart. "I thought boggarts could only be like.... things."

He was definitely calmer now and the tall boy nodded. "Yeah. Chocolate." Probably should.

Breathe.

"... thanks Flammy."

The astronomer wasn't sure if that was naive of Mr. Odessa or just very Slytherin of him. Or maybe it was a combination of the two. "Well, then you learned something else today," he said in a feeble attempt at comfort.

"To the kitchens then. I think I saw some chocolate there that Toddles hasn't touched. Should be tastier than the new Hogwarts norm at least," he said with a small chuckle as he lead the two out of the classroom, not even bothered by his nickname.