Lilliana Snape Book Three (Re-written) ON HOLD UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

Chapter 12

"Boggarts" Lupin nods, smiling at Hermione who'd just explained, to the class, what a Boggart is "love small, dark, places; cupboards, the gap under your bed, a drawer..." he looks around at us all before focusing on Neville and smiling a little. "So, today we're going to try and get rid of this boggart; does anybody know-" Hermione's hand shot up before he even finished the question. I rolled my eyes at her eagerness. Lupin, however, doesn't call on her, he calls on me "Lilly, I've been told that you've inherited your father's brains; do you know how to get rid of a boggart?"

"Yeah, Riddikulus" I shrug and then decide that I should probably elaborate "because boggarts inhibit your inner most fears, you have to think of something funny so that, when it turns into your fear, you're amused and not scared; eventually, it'll get confused and that's when you can finish it off."

"Exactly" he beams at me "I couldn't have put it better myself. Exactly" he acknowledges the class again "so, the plan is, for everyone to give it a go. Neville, come up here please?" Neville shuffles forward nervously. "What frightens you most in the world?" Lupin asks, once Neville had reached him.

Neville flushes bright red as he mutters something but not loud enough for anyone to hear him.

"I'm sorry, Neville, I didn't quite catch that."

"Professor Snape" he says, throwing me an apologetic look; but I completely understood, despite my protests, dad relentlessly bullied him. Everyone but me laughed. I felt bad about it.

Lupin went on to ask Neville to imagine dad in his grandmother's clothes before, after making sure Neville remembered the spell, he opened the door.

When boggart dad stepped out, Neville stepped back a little. "Focus, Neville" Lupin tells him quietly as BD looked around for a moment before focusing on the scared boy and starting toward him.

"R-riddikulus" Neville stuttered, pointing the wand at BD. The spell hit its target and, suddenly, he was wearing a long, lace-trimmed dress and a towering hat topped with a moth-eaten vulture, and he was swinging a huge crimson handbag.

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

Seamus was after Parvati, then Dean, then Ron, and then "Lilly!"

I hadn't even thought about what I was scared of, but I step forward anyway. What was I most scared of? I tried to think; spiders, like the one Ron had gotten rid of, came to mind, then snakes and then seeing dad die, before Fred's face came to the forefront of my mind and, suddenly, I knew what terrified me, and so did that Boggart.

Somehow, the boggart split into two people; one, being Fred, and the other being a faceless girl, a girl who wasn't me. They were both older, well, Fred looked older, maybe eighteen or so, and they were kissing, passionately; the kind of kiss that I hadn't even shared with him yet. He was in love with this girl, not with me. They pause their actions for a moment, and, Boggart Fred, looks directly at me and smirks. I couldn't find anything that would make this situation funny because, even though it wasn't real, and I knew it wasn't real, it was breaking my heart.

The entire scene had me rooted to the spot, and I couldn't help but watch. Until, finally, someone stood in front of me, making boggart Fred and the faceless girl disappear. "Lilly" I felt someone tug on my arm and was surprised to find that it was Ron, "it wasn't real, come on" he pulls me over to a chair and pushes me down into it. He was quiet for a moment, before he said, "I'm sorry, I know you told me before about how you felt about him, I guess I didn't believe that someone could feel that way."