Puppet Strings (Hogwarts x Reader)

Chapter 4

She'd just have to be quick on her feet, then.

"Everyone ready?" said Professor Lupin. Everyone else was nodding and rolling up their sleeves.

"Val, we're going to back away," said Professor Lupin. "Let you have a clear field, all right? I'll call the next person forward. . . . Everyone back, now, so Val can get a clear shot —"

They all retreated, backed against the walls, leaving Val alone beside the wardrobe. She looked a bit pale, but had pushed up the sleeves of her robes and was holding his wand ready.

"On the count of three," said Professor Lupin, who was pointing his own wand at the handle of the wardrobe. "One — two — three — now!"

A jet of sparks shot from the end of Professor Lupin's wand and hit the doorknob. The wardrobe burst open.

Thousands of spiders skittered out, then combined to take the shape of a large, towering black widow.

"Riddikulus!" said Val, voice strained.

There was a noise like a whip crack. The spider stumbled; it was now wearing roller skates. It slipped and fell on its back, legs waggling helplessly in the air.

There was a roar of laughter; the boggart paused, confused, and Professor Lupin shouted, "Solene! Forward!"

Solene walked forward, her face set. There was another crack, and where he had stood was a blood-stained, bandaged mummy; its sightless face was turned to Solene and it began to walk toward her very slowly, dragging its feet, its stiff arms rising.

Y/n felt a surge of panic. How was Solene supposed to defend herself if she couldn't say the spell....?

But Solene waved her wand without a word. A bandage unraveled at the mummy's feet; it became entangled, fell face forward, and its head rolled off.

She can do nonverbal magic, Y/n thought in wonder. Already, at this age? She supposed that Solene had had to adapt, but still....this meant Solene was very, very talented with magic.

Professor Lupin took notice of this and beamed before calling another student forward.

Crack! The banshee turned into a rat, which chased its tail in a circle, then — crack! — became a rattlesnake, which slithered and writhed before — crack! — becoming a single, bloody eyeball.

"It's confused!" shouted Lupin. "We're getting there!"

Another student hurried forward. Crack! The eyeball became a severed hand, which flipped over and began to creep along the floor like a crab.

"Riddikulus!" yelled the boy. There was a snap, and the hand was trapped in a mousetrap. "Excellent! Draco, you next!"

Draco leapt forward. Crack!

The class went quiet as the boggart took the shape of a taller man with long hair the same pale blonde as Draco's.

Draco went very red. "Riddikulus!" he shouted, raising his wand. His father was then put into a very flowy, very feminine green dress with a floral hat. The class burst into laughter.

Draco retreated back into the throng of students, muttering to himself.

I didn't even realize that the boggart advanced on me. I raised my wand, ready.

Another whiplike crack.

The entire class screamed in a panic as Lord Voldemort materialized. But that wasn't all—Harry was there, too, cowering before the Dark Lord.

Y/n watched, paralyzed in fear, as Voldemort raised his wand towards Harry and bellowed, "Avada—!"

"Here!" shouted Professor Lupin suddenly, hurrying forward.

Crack! The scene had vanished. For a second, everyone looked wildly around to see where it was. Then they saw a silvery-white orb hanging in the air in front of Lupin, who said, "Riddikulus!" almost lazily.

The boggart exploded, burst into a thousand tiny wisps of smoke, and was gone.

Silence.

Y/n was shaking. She felt sick. Her boggart....it had....she had almost watched Harry die....

She didn't even realize there were tears on her cheeks until Val handed her a tissue from her pocket.

"Thanks," she whispered, dabbing at her eyes.

"Your mascara's smudged. Here, let me." Val was pale, too, but she still helped, wiping away the makeup from under Y/n's eyes.

Lupin was talking to the class. "Excellent," he said, though his voice was a bit strained. "Well done, everyone. . . . Let me see . . . five points to Slytherin for every person to tackle the boggart. Homework, kindly read the chapter on boggarts and summarize it for me . . . to be handed in on Monday. That will be all."

Y/n moved to leave with the rest of the class, but stopped upon hearing Lupin's voice.

"Miss Potter, will you stay back a moment?"

Y/n waved goodbye to an apprehensive Val and Sol. When the room was empty, she turned to Lupin.

"Yes, Professor?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were alright." Lupin's voice was kind, but she could see that he was shaken up by the incident too.

"I'll be fine," Y/n said. "I just...I didn't expect it. I couldn't pinpoint a single fear when you asked us to, so I guess that...." She thought of Harry's terrified eyes, looking up at Voldemort. "I guess the boggart just chose something for me." She didn't add that it chose correctly.

Lupin nodded thoughtfully. After a moment, he said, "You're very protective of Harry, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Y/n said. "He...well, he gets into trouble easily." She hesitated. "Did Harry's boggart turn into...." She swallowed. "Did it turn into Voldemort, too?"

Lupin didn't balk at the name, strangely enough. "No. Harry didn't have a chance to face it."

"Oh."

"Please, there's no shame in not being able to face a boggart. Especially one as frightening as yours."

Y/n nodded and let Lupin show her out. "Professor?"

"Hm?"

"What was your boggart?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Lupin said with a pained smile. "Best be off now. You don't want to miss your next class."

Y/n almost argued, but nodded and took off, exiting the room.