— "YOU'RE STUPID, DRACO. DO YOU KNOW THAT?"
Draco ignored Aurora, clutching his arm in fake despair. The girl rolled her eyes as she shot Blaise a look that mocked the boy, to which he responded back to an overdramatic sigh, mocking Pansy who was all over him.
Weeks had passed by ever since the incident. Nicole, who was sitting in the Gryffindor table could hear every word that came out of his mouth.
"Are you hearing him?" Nicole rolled her eyes, stabbing her fork into the lump of mashed potatoes. "I can't believe he wants to be a quidditch player. With a wuss like him, he doesn't stand a chance." she ranted, looking up to her friends who seemed to have the same look of annoyance.
"He's really laying it on thick, isn't he?" Ron shook his head in annoyance, wanting nothing except to be somewhere else rather than listen to Draco moaning and groaning.
"At least Hagrid didn't get fired." Harry mumbled, looking at the Slytherin table to see Aurora smacking Draco's head with her hand. Nicole saw this too, and let out a soft smile before she faced her friends. "Yeah but my mom said that Draco's father's furious. She sent an owl thinking that it had something to do with me. Apparently, he's really mad. We haven't heard the end of this."
"Your mom knows Draco's dad?" Ron questioned curiously.
"Yes, Ron. Apparently when Mom's family moved here from Ireland, apparently they lived next to the Blacks, which made mom and Malfoy's mom friends. Doesn't matter. I know his dad won't just let this slide." Nicole explained, shaking her head.
Harry was about to say something, about to ask why during their three years of friendship would Nicole only tell them now that she and Draco were family friends, but Seamus suddenly started screaming as he entered the great hall.
"He's been sighted! He's been sighted!" he ran over to the table, slamming his copy of the Daily Prophet.
"Who?" Ron questioned, sliding over to see.
"Sirius Black!" Seamus exclaimed as if it was obvious.
Nicole looked behind her to see her sister trailing behind some of the few Ravenclaws, trying to get a glimpse of the paper. The news of Sirus Black getting sighted was definitely something interesting.
"Dufftown? That's not far from here." Hermoine said worriedly, looking at Harry.
"You don't think he'd come to Hogwarts, do you?" Nevillie's worried voice was heard. Nicole scoffed, placing her now cold mashed potatoes away as she looked at the boy. "There's demetors at every entrance, Nev. Maybe it isn't—"
"Dementors? He's already slipped past them once." Seamus retorted. "Who's to say he won't do it again?"
"That's right. Black could be anywhere. It's like trying to catch smoke. Like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands."
Nicole gave Harry a worried look.
—
"What are you doing here?"
Nicole turned around from the fire once again to look at Harry. Quickly hiding the letter she had in her hand, she faced the boy and showed him a giant smile. "Harry! Hey! How are ya?"
"This is the second time you've been here at dawn. Are you okay?" Harry asked genuinely, taking a seat beside her. His eyes trailed off to her hands which seemed to have a crumpled paper on it.
Nicole sighed; noticing that Harry saw it. Letting out a defeated sigh, she uncrumpled the letter and handed it over to him. "Here. Read it."
Nicole,
I had found your grades that apparently never came. They're in your pillow. If you continue slacking off, your father and I will get Professor Mcgonagall to remove you from the Gryffindor quidditch team. Either you don't keep your grades up and get your broom confiscated or you get good grades and stay on the team.
Mom.
Harry looked up from the paper, a horrified look on his face. "That isn't fair. It's not your fault that you have a hard time understanding things in classes."
"That's exactly what I'm trying to say." Nicole croaked out, gently taking the paper away from him. "They had no problem with Aurora when she couldn't even mount her broom properly. Why would they get mad at me for my shit grades when quidditch is the only thing I can do properly?"
"Hey, you're good in other things too!"
"You're just saying that to make me feel better." Nicole deadpanned.
Harry shifted on his chair, a genuine look on his face. "No, I'm serious! Remember during our first year when you and Hermoine were the only one's to be able to turn porcupines into pin cushions?"
Nicole smiled, nodding.
"And charms too? Professor Flitwick told you that he thinks that you might be able to do non verbal spells in our fourth year. Do you not realize how advanced that is?"
"Well, I suck at potions. And Herbology. Even if I am good at charms and transfiguration, I suck at memorizing things." Nicole deadpanned back, throwing the paper into the fire. "I'm useless."
"You're not useless." Harry said sternly. "All you need to do is focus a bit. You're a brilliant witch, Nic."
The girl smiled again, facing Harry. He held his hand out to pat his hair with a growing smile on his face. "Love your hair, by the way. It's cute."
Nicole giggled, removing the rope that tied her bangs together upright.
—
"Good afternoon." Professor Lupin greeted. Nicole looked at him intently, curious as to why he looked really shaggy. There was nothing wrong with that, of course— it was just unusual for a Proffesor to look like that.
"Would you please put all your books back into your bags? Today is a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."
This was Nicole's favorite class already. Happy that Snape's class had just ended, she shoved her books into her bag with no hesitation whatsoever.
"Right here. Look this way. Please, if you will." he told the other students, who were whispering quietly.
There was a wardrobe in front of them. It was shaking slightly.
"Intriguing, isn't it? Would anyone like to venture a guess... as to what is inside?"
"That's a boggart, that is." Dean's voice announced.
"Very good, Mr. Thomas." Lupin smiled. The wardrobe jolted with a loud thug, which made Aurora jump a bit.
"Now, can anybody tell me what a boggart looks like?"
Aurora raised her hand proudly, which made Lupin delighted as he chose on her.
"I should've raised my hand first." a voice mumbled from beside Nicole. The girl shot Ron and Harry a frantic look, wondering why their friend had suddenly appeared out of thin air.
"No one knows. Boggarts are shape-shifters. They take the shape of whatever a particular person fears the most." Aurora said proudly.
Lupin smiled, taking a look at the wardrobe once again. "Correct, Aurora." he said, making sure to not say Hwang since there was two of them. The girl smiled in pride.
"Luckily, a very simple charm exists to repel a boggart. Let's practice it now."
Nicole went into her pocket to reach for her wands.
Seeing that the whole class were about to do the same, Lupin shook his head "Without wands, please."
"After me. Riddikulus!"
"Riddikulus!" the class echoed.
"Very good." Lupin smiled, meeting Nicole's eyes first and then Aurora's. The man gave a knowing smile, before looking back at the class.
"A little louder and very clear. Listen: Riddikulus!"
Now clear, the class screamed again. "Riddikulus!"
"This class is ridiculous." Malfoy mumbled.
Aurora rolled her eyes, punching him. "Shut up, Draco."
"Very good." Lupin didn't pay Draco any mind. "So much for the easy part. You see, the incantation alone is not enough.
What really finishes a boggart is laughter.
You need to force it to assume a shape you find truly amusing. Let me explain." his eyes trailed around the classroom. "Uh... Neville, would you join me, please?"
Neville looked around the class nervously.
"Come on, don't be shy." Professor Lupin said softly. "Come on."
Neville walked between Nicole and Harry slowly and walked towards the front beside Professor Lupin.
"Hello. Neville, what frightens you most of all?" Lupin gave him a comforting smile.
Neville said something above a whisper. The class didn't hear it at all, but from the looks of it, neither did Professor Lupin. "Sorry?"
"Professor Snape."
Laughter filled the room. Even Neville gave a small smile.
"Professor Snape.." Lupin chuckled. "Yes, frightens all. And I believe you live with your grandmother."
"Y-Yes but I don't want that boggart to turn into her, either."
Nicole started to laugh again.
"No... it won't." Lupin assured with a smile. "I want you to picture her clothes. Only her clothes, very clearly, in your mind."
"She carries a red handbag..."
Proffesor Lupin shook his head. "We don't need to hear.As long as you see it, we'll see it. Now, when I open that wardrobe... here's what I want you to do. Excuse me." Lupin bent down and whispered in his ear. "Imagine Professor Snape in your grandmother's clothes. Can you do that?"
Neville nodded.
"Yes. Wand at the ready. One, two, three." Lupin pointed his wand and the boggart came out, now in the form of Professor Snape. "Think, Neville, think."
Snape started to walk forward menacingly.
"Riddikulus!" he casted the spell, and Snape fell backwards. Suddenly, Snape was dressed in a green skirt and coat, with a really large hat. He was even wearing the red handbag that Neville had mentioned earlier.
"Wonderful, Neville, wonderful! Incredible! Okay... to the back, Neville. Everyone, form a line!"
No one wanted to go first, but the Slytherin's forced the rest of the class to the front of the line so that they would go first. Nicole was behind Parvati, and had Harry behind her.
Lupin moved over to his records and started to play some music. "Next! Ron!"
Just as Nicole had expected it to be, his boggart turned into a large spider. It reminded her a lot of Aragog, but a bit smaller.
Ron reached over to his robe to grab his wand, but the spider that was approaching him took his attention instead.
"Wand at the ready, Ron, wand at the ready." Lupin reminded.
Ron seemed to go back to his senses as he let his wand out, pointing at the spider with a frightened smile.
"Riddikulus!"
"Yes! You see?" Lupin laughed. "Very good, very good! Marvelous! Absolutely, very, very enjoyable!"
Ron high fived Nicole and Harry as he walked by.
"Parvati! Next!"
Nicole patted her friend's back, pushing her over so she could stay in front of the room. Parvati looked at the boggart curiously, getting taken aback when it turned into a giant snake. Not as big as the basilisk, but it was still huge.
"Show us what you see. Keep your nerve. Steady." Lupin encouraged.
"Riddikulus!"
The snake turned into a massive jack in the box, which made the whole class errupt in laughter.
Proffesor Lupin smiled as he motioned for Nicole to step up infront next. "You're next, Nic."
Nicole sighed, slowly stepping up. In all honesty, she didn't know what she would expect since she never really thought of what scared her the most.
The smile on her face slipped off when the boggart transported into her father. He had a stern, angry look on his face that he had only seen in her mom's.
The whole class turned silent, the laughter now gone. Everyone knew who Nicole's dad was. He was a Quidditch legend that joined the English National team only at 17. No one expected him to show up as Nicole's boggart.
"Are you really my daughter?" he hissed out, walking towards Nicole. "Why can't you be more like Aurora?"
Aurora felt some of her classmates eyes now go on her. The girl shifted uncomfortably, hiding behind Zabini to get their attention off her.
Lupin was watching in shock, unable to move.
"Do you know that you're a disgrace to this family? You aren't like me. You aren't like your mother. You're dumb. Stupid. You bring absolutely nothing to this family."
Nicole knew that this was just a boggart— that it wasn't real. But it felt too real and she couldn't make herself get her wand. Even the small mannerisms were on point.
"Try being in my shoes, Nic. How do you expect people would react when they hear that a Hwang is failing her classes?" the boggart taunted. "We are a noble and respected family. You are ruining our name."
The boggart stepped towards her, a hand out as if it was going to slap her across the face. "You're stupid. You're a disgrace. You're an idiot. I wish you weren't born. I wish you aren't my daughter!"
Nicole felt her heart drop. She felt like she was about to burst into tears at any moment.
With that, the boggart was about to hit Nicole until Harry stood infront of her. The image of her father started to shake and turn into a dementor. It dove towards Harry before he even fully registered what was happening.
Proffesor Lupin stood infront of Harry, and the boggart shifted into a ball of white light surrounded by clouds. A full moon.
"Riddikulus!"
It turned into a white balloon that flew around the classroom until he finally made it go back into the wardrobe.
"Right. Sorry about that." he said quickly. "That's enough for today. Collect your books from the back. That's the end of the lesson. Thank you!"
A lot of students groaned.
"Sorry!" Lupin apologized. "Sorry, you can have too much of a good thing."
Aurora turned around and saw Nicole who was rushing out of the classroom, even rushing past by her friends. She eventually got a hold of her robe, but the girl snatched it back in time.
"Nic, wait—"
"Leave me alone." Nicole snapped, turning around to run away from the eyes trailed on her.