VOID, harry potter

iii. from my deepest darkest nightmares

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CHAPTER THREE

from my deepest darkest nightmares

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JULIET HAD BEEN ANTICIPATING her first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson ever since her mother had told her that her Uncle Remus was going to be teaching there. Waiting for him to arrive in the classroom, she and Callum were talking excitedly about their predictions on what he was going to teach them. They had already taken out all their supplies by the time Lupin came into the room.

Lupin smiled vaguely and placed his tatty old briefcase on the teacher's desk, he looked healthier since the last time Juliet had seen him.

"Good afternoon," he said, "Would you please put all your books back in your bags. Today will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."

A few curious looks were exchanged as the class put away their books. They had never had a practical Defence Against the Dark Arts before, unless you count the memorable class last year when their old teacher had brought a cageful of pixies to class and set them loose.

"Right then," said Professor Lupin, when everyone was ready. "If you'd follow me."

Professor Lupin led them to the staffroom after earning the class' respect immediately after using magic to force gum into Peeves the poltergeist's nose. The only teacher there was Snape, the Potions professor, who immediately got up to leave, not before giving Juliet one of the dirtiest looks that seemed to only be reserved for her. She had to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

At the doorway Snape turned on his heel and said, "Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear."

Neville went scarlet. Juliet and Callum glared at him.

"Isn't it bad enough that he berates students in his own lessons, he has to do it in front of other teachers?" Callum muttered under his breath, and Juliet nodded in agreement.

However, Professor Lupin merely raised his eyebrows.

"I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation," he said, "and I am sure he will perform it admirably."

Neville's face went even redder. Snape's lip curled, but he left, shutting the door with a snap.

"Now, then," said Professor Lupin. He beckoned the class to the end of the staffroom, where there was only a large wardrobe, which jolted suddenly and banged against the wall.

"Nothing to worry about," Professor Lupin reassured the class, after some people jumped back in alarm, "There's a boggart in there."

Juliet cringed. She hated boggarts – they reminded her of everything terrifying in this world: everything from her deepest darkest nightmares.

"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," explained Professor Lupin. "Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks – I've even met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the headmaster if the staff would leave it to give my third years some practice.

So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a boggart?"

Hermione put her hand up immediately.

"It's a shape-shifter," she said. "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," said Professor Lupin, and Hermione glowed. "So the boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears.