Elizabeth Kane and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Chapter 5

"Indeed. It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a boggart. He becomes confused. Which should be become? A headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a boggart make that very mistake- tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not remotely frightening. The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing."

People looked around, a bit nervously. I noticed that Ernie was quite pale and I wondered what his greatest fear was.

"We will practice the charm without wands first. After me please. . . Riddikulus."

"Riddikulus!" The class echoed.

"Good, very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. Now, then, Susan, perhaps you would like to help me?"

Susan walked up to face the wardrobe. She seemed pale too. I closed my eyes, trying to figure out my fears but ended up in a vision of Neville in the same room, facing the same decision. The boggart for Neville turned into Snape and then, when he thought of something funny, Snape was wearing his grandmother's clothes.

I was back in the room. Everyone had filed into line, me at the back. Susan had already gone. My mouth twitched as I fought the urge to laugh. Professor Snape in that dress though. . .

I realized that dad had no intention of letting me near the boggart, at least not in front of the other students and so, I watched the others from the back of the class. When class was over, Dad awarded Hufflepuff 5 points for each student and 10 for me for answering his questions correctly.

I stayed behind as the other students filed out of the classroom.

"What is it, Elizabeth?" Dad asked, putting his wand in his bag.

"I want- I want to try." I whispered.

Dad hesitated. "I was afraid it would be a werewolf."

"Please." I whispered, my legs didn't want to move.

"Very well." Dad said.

I found the strength to walk forward, a twisting feeling in my stomach and dad opened the door and then backed out of my line of sight.

Dad walked out of the cupboard too. Of course, I knew it was a boggart and my fear dissipated and I frowned. I wasn't scared of dad. Then, boggart dad began to speak.

"Waste of space, waste of money, that's all you are to me. Money I spent on you as a kid, that was more food that would've been on the table."

I froze, my wand stiff in my hand. The words sliced through me like hot knives.

"Do you know how glad I was that you went to Hogwarts, all the money I was saving?" The boggart came closer, and I forgot that it wasn't dad behind me, but instead, it was dad in front of me. It was dad who was saying these things to me.

I trembled where I stood. I felt dizzy, sick.

"There were days I regretted not putting you on another doorstep. There were days where I wished you could at least help around the house you know! But you were lazy and dumb and stupid."

My knees started to tremble and sweat broke out on my forehead. "I-"

Dad snorted, taking another step towards me. The eyes were different, I noticed randomly. Black tunnels. How had I never noticed that his eyes were so cold? I had always thought they were brown, like mine. He must've hidden the back when he lied about loving me. He hated me. "I only kept you because of your parents, of course. What a stupid thing to do. I had enough trouble to deal with without you." Another step. "I do not love you. You are not my daughter. I wish you had never come into my life. You are not my daughter, understand?" Another step. "I. Do. Not. Love. You. I never could and I never will."