Bat-Bogey Hexers

46

Ava stood there with her curls hanging in her face and she continued to snuffle and sob.

"Ava, what's wrong?" asked Ginny, in a firm but comforting tone.

Ava only started to cry harder. Viola looked at Ginny in panic. Viola could handle a upset creature, but emotional people were far from her range of expertise. However Ginny did not seem bothered. She put an arm around Ava.

"Come along Ava. Let's go down to the great hall and have some tea," Ginny said to Ava.

Viola didn't see how tea was going to help the matter, but Ginny seemed to think otherwise, so Viola followed her out the door.

No sooner had the three girls sat down at the Gryffindor table, and Ginny placed a cup of tea in front of the tearful Ava, then Hugo popped up.

"What's wrong with Ava?" he asked loudly.

"Hush and sit down," Ginny whispered to him.

Hugo sat beside Viola and peered at Ava with concern along with the rest of them. She had her face covered by her hands. She continued to cry for a good five minutes, before finally she brushed her hair, which was normally in neat, golden ringlets but was now frizzy and messy, out of her face, then took a sip of tea.

Suddenly she turned to them. All signs of tears were gone. She met their eyes directly.

"It was a boggart," said Ava, with a small choke.

"What was a boggart?" asked Hugo, frowning in confusion.

"The thing," said Ava.

"What thing?" said Hugo.

"Why don't you start at the beginning?" Ginny urged.

Ava swallowed. After a moment of staring down at the table for a moment, she spoke.

"I went back to our dormitory to get some of my school books. One got stuck under my bed so I went under to get it and then . . . " Ava choked.

"Then what?" asked Viola eagerly.

"Then I saw him," said Ava, she rubbed away a tear.

"Who?" asked the other three in unison.

Ava looked up at them, her eyes dark. "You-Know-Who," she whispered.

Viola stared at Ava blankly. Then there was a sound Viola had last expected to hear: laughter.

Viola and Ginny both turned to look at Hugo in indignation, but his attention was on Ava.

"Wow! You-Know-Who in your dorm? That's quite the honor!"

Hugo saw Viola and Ginny's expressions. "What?" He demanded, "There's no way You-Know-Who was really in her dorm! He's vanished as far as anyone really knows!"

"That's true," started Ginny, "but-"

"No. Hugo's right," said Ava, "at first I was terrified, and I scrambled out from under the bed, hitting my head in the process. You-Know-Who followed me, then I realized, how could You-Know-Who really be there? Then it hit me that it must be a boggart, so I tried the spell Professor Lupin told us about, riddikulus and he turned into a baby, on the floor sucking on a pacifier."