"Intriguing, isn't it? Would anyone to venture to guess as to what is inside?" Remus spoke, the cabinet shaking with a rowdy occupant as the class watched it. The dark arts teacher circled the class.
"That's a boggart, that is." A classmate of Vanitas spoke. Vanitas was a quiet as always, not the type to speak up in class.
"Very good. Now can anybody tell me what a boggart looks like?" Remus asked, yet again a rhetorical question to prompt that class.
"No one knows." Hermione spoke and Vanitas heard mutters from Ron. "Boggarts are shapeshifters. They take shape of whatever a particular person fears the most. That's what makes them so-"
"So terrifying. Yes. Yes yes yes." The cabinet shook more as if to agree as well. The whole concept sent Vanitas into a small spiral. What was it that he feared the most? And if it was a concept, how would it play out?
If he feared abandonment, but from no one in particular, who would appear before him and what would they say? What if he feared something he'd never seen before? If he feared genuine endlessness, the kind only existing in concept because even space and ocean depths ended, what would appear? And how exactly did the boggart rank fears?
Any situation can make one fear spike higher than the others. In a moment of being robbed he may fear death higher than anything else, when he would otherwise not give it a second though. Those and dozens of other questions filled his brain.
"Luckily, a very simple charm exists to repel a boggart." The cabinet shook harder this time, but went unacknowledged by Remus and the class. "Let's practice it now. Ah- without wands please."
The class left their wands put away, to avoid casting a spell that did not carry the needed intention or experience. Misfired spells were always the worst.
"After me, 'Riddikulus'."
A chorus of "Riddikulus" filled the classroom, sounding out the word for the first time. Vanitas was sure everyone had a bit of relief over the pronunciation being easy.
"Very good. A little louder, very clear. Listen, Riddikulus."
Another chant of the spell spilled from the class, as well as mutters of the class being ridiculous from a snarky voice Vanitas knew well.
"Very good. Well 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, uh Neville would you join me please?" Neville looked uneasy, eyes all turning to him which Vanitas guaranteed only made the boy's unsureness worse. "C'mon don't be shy."
With that and a bit more prompting, Neville walked forward, understandably uneasy. Vanitas could only be selfishly grateful it wasnt him.
"Neville. What frightens you most of all?" Remus questioned. As Neville let out a broken mumble, Vanitas filled in the gaps and roughly bit the inside of his cheek to stop an amused smile from crossing his face. Curse his good hearing and his spot standing at the front of the slytherins in the class.
"Sorry?" Remus likely understood, but prompted Neville to speak clearer nonetheless.
"Professor Snape." Neville spoke louder, and laughter broke out from several students of the class. Understandably so, snape had a small place of fear in all their hearts.
"And I believe you live with your grandmother" Remus prompted and Vanitas failed to see the correlation between the two.
"Ye-yes but I don't want the boggart to turn into her either" Neville sounded near pleading, more amused laughter filling the class.
"No. It won't. I want you to picture her clothes, only her clothes, very clearly in your mind."
"She carries a red handbag.." Neville began, and Vanitas was a little curious if the woman paired her clothes together well.
"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." Remus walked to Neville and whispered in his ear, Vanitas now cursing his hearing for not being sharp enough to catch it. "Can you do that?"
Neville looked unsurely between Remus and the cabinet, Remus pulling out his wand and prompting Neville to do the same. Remus counted down when Neville's wand was out and prepared, flicking his wand on three. The sudden twist of the nob pulled the smallest jolt from Vanitas, quiet mocking coming from behind him and having him wonder why Draco had had eyes pinned to him so aggressively as to see the flinch.
His eyes stayed focused on snape existing the wardrobe as Remus stood behind Neville, encouraging him. He'd think more about Draco later, he was curious about this.
He didn't put any effort into hiding the sneer that crossed his face at Neville's grandmother's choice in clothing. That woman seriously needed a lesson or two in fashion. Laughs filled the class before Remus commanded the class to form a line, Vanitas happily situating himself in front of Harry and rolling his eyes as Draco shoved himself into the spot behind the scarred boy. He was always tempted to give Draco little teases back about how the blonde was clingy or how he noticed he was a little nicer to Vanitas than others. But he didn't for fear of upsetting Draco, they simply weren't that close even if it felt like it.
Ron started, and fear after fear Vanitas was a bit annoyed by the repetitive laughter. Draco's remarks voicing his own annoyance did make Vanitas's mood a bit brighter, enjoying his classmate's creativity.
After Pavarti turned her snake into a clown jack in the box, Vanitas walked up. He was admittedly a bit uneasy, not knowing what his own worst fear was and much less if he wanted the class to see it. Although when the boggart transformed, it didn't take but two seconds for the class to shut up dead silent and for the adrenaline to hit Vanitas's heart right as blood drips hit the stone floor.
Before Vanitas.. stood himself. Although he looked quite different, not one person in the room could doubt that Vanitas's own fear seemed to be some morphed version of himself.
The boggart Vanitas stood the same age and height as the student, but wore an altered timeturner necklace proudly around his neck. His hair was untied and roughed up, falling down his back unlike the student's which was tied into a lazy bun. He wore a blood-soaked white yukata and a deadly smirk with bloodlusty eyes, a sight Vanitas despised. Both of the boggart's hands were beaten and bloodied as if from a fight, and one gripped tight onto a very bloody katana.
The form seemed unstable, as if the boggart could hardly perform it's own nature. It flickered in and out, appearing invisible between flickers.
"Ridd-" the student began to speak only to be cut off by his personified fear.
"When will you learn? You're being punished, you aren't allowed to have fun in this. This isn't going to be easy or sweet." The boggart's voice, horribly mimicking his, was doubled over itself and rough. The boggart didn't even seem to have an interest in attacking, and Remus's eyes were wide but part of him told him he could only watch.
"Shut up." That was the most aggressive the class of third years had ever heard the student get.
The boggart's smirk split into a crazed grin. "You aren't allowed to take the easy road. You bet more than you had and now you have a debt to pay." The boggart laughed, mocking Vanitas.
Vanitas clenched his jaw. This was his fear huh? A lie the gods wove to twist the truth into their favour and punish him?
"I had plenty. No. I had infinity. And I will have it again." He snapped, pointing out his wand. "Riddikulus." He smiled as he spoke it, knowing exactly what he was imagining.
The boggart transformed before him, an male who looked like a literal angel with the white wings an all. At first the class couldn't place what was so amusing that Vanitas was scrunching his nose and biting the inside of his cheek.
"Shut your fricking mouth. You ruffle my feathers Vanitas, you know that?" The scolding tone, so seriously upset, was absolutely ruined by the boggart angel trying so hard not to swear. Vanitas snorted, covering his face to hide the grin spread across his cheeks.
Something he found eternally amusing? People, especially the angel Luke who's boggart copy stood before him now, trying so desperately hard not to swear. He would never not find 'fricking' 'meanie' and similar words and phrases the funniest shit in the world.
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A/N:
Thats all for now lmao