Boggart

Simon paled visibly. He was never good at magic in general, but hearing what today had in store made his blood run cold.

"Boggarts are shape shifting creatures. No one knows how sentient they are or what their true form is. In fact, there is very little we know about them except that they have the ability to transform into whatever we fear most."

The box behind the professor jumped a little and the students flinched with it. Some took cautionary steps back.

"However," Penny said beside Simon at the same time as the Professor added, "but!"

"Just as we know we can conquer our fears, we also know how to conquer the boggart. Does anyone know--"

"Ridiculous," Baz snapped from the front row. He apparently, was not afraid of the boggart.

Thinking Baz's comment was rather rude, Simon opened his mouth to tell Baz to shut up when the teacher said.

"Yes, correct."

Simon choked on his own tongue and Penny turned to him, patting his back in concern.

Baz glanced over his shoulder just enough to let Simon see his lip curl in disgust.

"The Riddikulus spell effectively stops a boggart. It... well, how about you all try it out for yourselves."

_________

Simon was not in the mood to be ridiculed. Yet, somehow he found himself pushed up to the front of the line. Penny gave him a small shove.

"Why me?" he snapped.

"You'll feel better afterwards."

"But what if I mess up!?"

"Then it's best to get it over with."

The professor knelt down in front of the chest and put his hand over the latch as Simon glanced disdainfully at the line of students behind him. His eyes met Baz's dark ones near the end of the line and he whipped back around, huffing.

"Ready?" the Professor asked.

Simon nodded, taking out his wand as the latch was flipped.

Immediately an enormous puff of smoke leapt out of the box and down to the floor like a slinky falling down stairs. It twisted then rose, seemingly inhaling itself until a figure appeared in the haze.

"Humdrum," Simon whispered.

He knew that would be the case, of course.

The other students muttered in confusion. They hadn't seen the Humdrum before. They only thought they saw Simon. First year. 

The humdrum bounced the ball on the floor and each pound seemed to draw another beat out of Simon's heart. He took an uncertain step back and felt Penny's hand on his shoulder.

"It's not the Humdrum."

Simon shook his head. He knew this, of course, but never could he have imagined how real the boggart looked. It was like how difficult it was to believe that the alien spaceships in action movies were made from computers. They just looked so real. So there.

"Simon," Penny said again and he straightened, raised his wand higher. The Humdrum took a step forward, but Simon didn't rush.

He had to get this right. 

Finally, he took a slow breath and said calmly, "Riddikulus."

Poof. The red ball snapped from the Humdrum's hand and smacked him in the face. For a moment Simon thought he did it wrong. The Humdrum was still there, but then the younger version of himself looked up. The red ball had stuck itself to his nose and as he tried to pull it off it made a horribly clown-like honk honk.