"Everyone ready," Professor Lupin asked.
Amisty nodded, as well as the rest of the class.
"Neville, we're going to back away. Let you have a clear field, all right? I'll call the next person forward... Everyone back, now, so Neville can get a clear shot -- "
The class backed away, pressing against the walls as Neville stood in front of the wardrobe. He was pale, but the sleeves of his robes were pushed up and his wand was in hand.
"On the count of three, Neville. One -- two -- three -- now!" Professor Lupin counted down, his own wand pointed at the wardrobe.
A jet of sparks showered from the end of Professor Lupin's wand right on the doorknob of the wardrobe. It shot open and Professor Snape stepped out, his dark eyes flickering over to Neville immediately.
He backed up, his mouth forming words that couldn't be heard as Snape came closer.
"R-R-Riddikulus!" Neville squeaked.
There was a resounding crack and Snape stumbled. When he straightened he was wearing a long, green dress with lace lining the bottom, a tall hat with a stuffed, ratty old vulture perched atop it, and a massive scarlet handbag hung from his arm.
The class burst into a loud bout of laughter.
"Parvati! Forward!" Professor Lupin shouted.
Parvati took a step up, her face focused as Snape turned toward her. Another crack and it became a bloodstained mummy, inching toward her.
"Riddikulus!" Parvati shouted.
The bandage around his feet unraveled, entangling him and it's head rolled off when it hit the ground.
"Seamus!" Professor Lupin yelled.
He sidestepped Parvati and with another crack, the mummy turned into a banshee.
Amisty watched in confusion as it opened it's mouth wide but no sound came out. That is until she saw Professor Lupin's wand trained on her.
He nodded, smiling, and then the banshee turned into a rat chasing its tail and she could hear once more. A rattlesnake slithered around the floor, and then a bloody eyeball.
"It's confused! We're getting there! Dean!" Professor Lupin bellowed.
Dean rushed forward, the eyeball turned into a severed hand that crawled toward them creepily. Very disturbing.
"Riddikulus!" Dean shouted, and the hand was trapped in a mousetrap.
"Amisty!" Professor Lupin ordered.
She stepped forward, eyes narrowed in concentration as another crack echoed in her skull. The hand turned into what she had expected, the towering, tangle furred wolf with the long fangs and burning gold eyes.
It bared its teeth, a low, bone-chilling growl erupting from its throat. The eyes were wilder than she had thought they'd be, the gold a shock against the thin rim of green along the edge of the iris.
She could almost feel the hot, damp breath of the wolf as it came closer to her, the fangs an ugly shade of yellow. The fur along its back spiked up, making it seem bigger than it actually was, and one glance at its paws told her its claws were almost as big as its fangs.
She heard a gasp from behind her, it sounded like Hermione.
"Is that -- " Harry had started to whisper, but the wolf leaped forward and his voice cut off.
"Riddikulus!" Amisty pointed her wand straight at it, and the silver wolf appeared and bounded toward it.
They circled each other and the silver wolf stepped forward, pressing its muzzle to the black wolf's cheek.
The black wolf disappeared in a cloud of dark smoke, the silver wolf standing in its place with its tail high.
"Excellent! Ron, you next!" Professor Lupin yelled.
Ron stepped forward, another crack, and the wolf turned into a massive spider. Many people screamed at the sight of it.
"Riddikulus!" Ron roared, and the legs of the spider vanished so it could only roll around on the ground.
It stopped at Lavender's feet, but she ran out of the way so it was in front of Harry. He raised his wand, face set when Professor Lupin rushed ahead of him.
"Here!" He shouted, the crack, and there was an orb floating in the air. It almost looked like the moon... "Riddikulus!"
He didn't sound very concerned and the orb turned into a cockroach.
"Forward, Neville, and finish him off!"
Neville looked incredibly determined as Snape reappeared, he raised his wand, eyes narrowed.
"Riddikulus!" He bellowed, and they got a second of Snape in a dress before Neville laughed and the boggart burst into a puff of smoke.
"Excellent! Excellent, Neville. Well done, everyone... Let me see... five points to Gryffindor for every person to tackle the boggart -- ten for Neville because he did it twice... and five each to Hermione and Harry," Professor Lupin decided.
"But I didn't do anything," Harry protested, confused.
"You and Hermione answered my questions correctly at the start of the class, Harry. Very well, everyone, an excellent lesson. Homework, kindly read the chapter on boggarts and summarize it for me... to be handed in on Monday. That will be all," Professor Lupin smiled.
Amisty, grinning brilliantly as they left the staffroom. The entire class was buzzing.
"Did you see me take that banshee?" Seamus cheered.
"And the hand!" Dean grinned, raising his fist in the air.
"And Snape in that hat!" Neville added.
"And my mummy!" Parvati smiled.
"I wonder why Professor Lupin's frightened of crystal balls," Lavender wondered aloud.
Ah, so it was a crystal ball, not the moon.
"That was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson we've ever had, wasn't it?" Ron beamed as they headed back down to the classroom to collect their things.
"He seems like a very good teacher. But I wish I could have had a turn with the boggart -- " Hermione started, nodding.
"What would it have been for you? A piece of homework that only got a nine out of ten?" Ron chuckled.
Hermione rolled her eyes as Harry and Amisty laughed as well.
"Amisty, what was it that the boggart turned into for you?" Harry asked, swinging his bag over his shoulder.
She blinked, trying to find the right words to explain what it was.
"Losing control," She replied at last, once the words left her mouth it did seem to fit.
"You know we'll make sure that doesn't happen, right?" He whispered softly, not wanting to draw attention to the two of them.
"I know, I know," She smiled slightly, nodding as she picked up her own bag.
"Hey, c'mon you two, we're going to be late for dinner," Ron urged, waiting impatiently at the side of the desk.
"Right, let's go," Harry nodded, handing Amisty one of her textbooks as she finished putting away her belongings.
She shoved Ron lightly, laughing, and the four of them headed down to the Great Hall. Definitely one of the best Defense Against the Dark Arts classes they'd ever had.
-=+=-
Amisty was sitting at the foot of her bed, surrounded by a pile of crumpled up parchment. All failed attempts at an apology.
It had been a few weeks since the argument.
Classes had kept her distracted, with DADA being very interesting with all the classes Professor Lupin. No one seemed to dislike him, except for Draco, but that was to be expected.
Unfortunately, Amisty barely had the will to care when he would, in a very loud whisper, say "Look at the state of his robes. He dresses like our old house elf."
It did give her some satisfaction to hear old house elf because Dobby was free.
Potions, however, had gotten even more miserable. Snape wasn't very happy with the story of Neville's boggart.
Divination was starting to get on her nerves as well, the stifling heat felt like a cage and the heavy scent of whatever candles Professor Trelawney was always burning attacked her nose whenever she entered.
Lavender and Parvati spent most of their lunches with the Professor, coming back down with their chins high and superior expressions. It wasn't very enjoyable.
And not to mention how utterly boring Care of Magical Creatures had become. Hagrid, terrified of what had happened with Draco, had toned down his lessons... a lot.
The most interesting thing that happened now was when they got to feed their flobberworms a new type of lettuce. Ron made his distaste for the state of the class very apparent with, "Why would anyone bother looking after them?"
Of course, Transfiguration and Charms had remained the same, the only hard part is the amount of homework they had received.
She looked down at the slip she had been working on and crumpled it as well, throwing it to the ground with a frustrated sigh. Hermione looked over at her over the top of her textbook, eyes sympathetic.
"You know, it might be better if you would just do it in person," She offered lightly, giving her a small smile.
"But would he even talk to me?" Amisty stressed, running her hands through her hair.
"Amisty, you're putting too much thought into this. He's probably not even expecting an apology, just for you to realize... well, you know...." She gestured randomly, pulling a laugh out of Amisty.
"Yeah... I guess, but how would he even know that I have?" Amisty replied.
"Just go talk to him," Hermione rolled her eyes and focused her attention more on the textbook she was reading. "What's the worst that could happen?"
"Thanks, Hermione," Amisty smiled, getting up from her bed and scooping up all her parchment crumples and dropping them in a trashcan.
"You might be able to catch him if you go now, he's usually down at the library at this time," Hermione commented, not looking up from her book.
"How do know that?" Amisty asked teasingly, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, don't start. Go on, before curfew gets too close," Hermione laughed, making a shooing motion with her hand.
"Right. See you in fifteen minutes, then," Amisty adjusted her robes and crept out of the dormitory.
The common room was still chattering with life, the fires roaring and flooding the room with light and warmth. She slipped through the crowds, going by unnoticed as she crept through the portrait hole and into the semi-deserted hallways. A few students were walking by, carrying books or other supplies as they headed back from wherever they had been before.
She hurried along, her footsteps soft against the staircase as she headed down toward the library. Her eyes scanned the corridors.
"Oh, would you look at who it is," A familiar drawling voice sounded just behind her.
She turned around, coming startlingly close to Draco.
She stumbled backward, struggling not to trip over her own feet, "H-hi, Draco. I thought I'd be seeing you here."
He just stood there, in his stupid little sling still -- it took all of her self-control not to tear it off -- waiting for her to speak.
"You were right. You were very, very right, Draco. I can be broken, I know that, and I'm going to try to work on asking for help. I will try, I don't know how well it'll go, but I will try," Her gaze had shifted to the ground when she had first started talking, now she was making eye contact with him.
"Nice to see you've finally come to your senses," He smirked, starting to walk down the corridor.
"And I was starting to think you could be serious," She sighed overdramatically, following after him.
"I can be serious, I just don't like seeing you not being sarcastic and fiery like usual," He replied with a shrug, glancing over his shoulder at her.
"Oh, wow, thanks," She rolled her eyes, speeding up her pace and jabbing him with her elbow.
"See? Just like that," He gave a small smile.
"So why do you spend so much time down at the library?" She asked nonchalantly, looking at the paintings as they passed.
"School work," Was his short, slightly tense answer. Her gaze shifted over to him, concerned.
"Is something -- " She started.
"I'd rather not talk about it right now," He cut her off, shaking his head. She nodded, not pressing any further. They reached a break in the corridor.
"Good night, Draco," She smiled up at him.
"Good night, Amisty," He replied, a flicker of something in his grey eyes.
And they parted ways. As she walked up to Gryffindor tower, it felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Cliche as it was, she felt better.