Planning world domination, you?
-ARLENE BLACK BURKE
I'd rather not witness this.
SEVERUS SNAPE-
Arlene wished she could stay in the Hufflepuff dorms forever, but unfortunately, they all had classes.
"Be excited," Sage said "the fifth year boys had double DADA with the Ravenclaws yesterday, I overheard them saying he was the greatest teacher to fill the position so far.
Arlene rolled her eyes "Honey, we've had literal two face turban man, and half squib narcissus, a flubberworm would be a better teacher."
But still, Arlene had to leave the Badgers, she honestly couldn't wait for transfiguration, at least she had that with Sage.
Deciding that she could afford to be late, Arlene took a detour to the Slytherin dorm for a shower.
"Arlene, what are you still doing here?" Blaise questioned as she entered the common room.
Again, failing to dry her hair, Arlene frowned "What are you talking about?"
"The classroom is in that part of the castle, you have three minutes to get there."
Arlene's eyes widened, any student knows that there is a part of the castle that, unlike other routes, you have to cross the stairs to get to, which means you gave to memorize the schedule of the stairs, which also meant that in five minutes, the stairs were going to move.
"Shit" Arlene muttered, and then she started running like hell.
"Seriously, I get that it's a magic school and all, but did the founders honestly have to make this place a student booby trap!?" Arlene said to herself as she managed to jump off the staircase at the last second as it started moving away from the floor.
Now that the danger was gone, Arlene slipped into the ground as she caught her breath.
"Arlene?" A voice called out, she turned to see a group of third years with Lupin "What are you doing?"
The class was Gryffindor and Slytherin, it was obvious from how the students had parted into two sides and Draco's plantinum stood out like a fire signal.
Arlene stood up and dusted her shirt "Planning world domination, you?"
Lupin chuckled "We were just about to leave you, it's a practical lesson, we're not taking it the classroom."
"Uh huh." She dismissed what he was saying as she looked at her reflection on the window, putting her semi wet hair into a messy bun.
Lupin smiled in amusement "Right then, if you'd follow me."
A wave of whispers started, everybody started wondering what they were going to do as he led them along the deserted corridor and around the corner, where the first thing they saw was Peeves, who was filling the keyhole of a cupboard with gum.
"Hey Peeves." Arlene waved at the poltergeist, who waved back with a smile that meant mischief.
"Loony, loopy Lupin," Peeves started to sing "Loony, loopy Lupin, loony, loopy Lupin!"
Rude and unmanageable as he almost always was, Peeves usually showed some respect toward the teachers, everyone looked quickly at Professor Lupin to see how he would take this, to their surprise, he was still smiling.
"I'd take that gum out of the keyhole if I were you, Peeves," he said pleasantly "Mr. Filch won't be able to get in to his brooms."
Arlene snorted loudly, as if Peeves was going to obey.
Professor Lupin gave a small sigh and took out his wand.
"This is a useful little spell," he told the class over his shoulder "please watch closely."
He raised the wand to shoulder height, said, "Waddiwasi!" and pointed it at Peeves, with the force of a bullet, the wad of chewing gum shot out of the keyhole and straight down Peeves's left nostril; he whirled up- right and zoomed away, cursing.
Arlene raised an eyebrow at him, unless it was the Bloody Baron, Peeves was rarely defeated by anyone.
"Cool, sir!" said Dean Thomas, expressing the amazement they were all feeling.
"Thank you, Dean," said Professor Lupin, putting his wand away again "shall we proceed?"
The increased respect for Lupin hung in the air as he led them into the Staffroom.
It was empty except for Snape, who sat in his desk correcting some papers.
They made eye contact and he glared at her, as if expecting her to cower, obviously he didn't know her at all, because instead of turning away, she held his gaze, not blinking as she summoned the deadliest 'I will murder you in your sleep' glare.
"Leave the door open, Lupin," Snape said as he stood up "I'd rather not witness this."
At the doorway, he turned on his heel "Possibly no one has warned you, but this class has Neville Longbottom, don't entrust him with anything difficult, unless you have Ms. Black and Ms. Granger holding his hands."
Neville went scarlet, giving Snape the stink eye, Arlene stepped forward and put a reassuring hand on Neville's shoulder, using all her will power not to raise her middle finger.
It was obvious Lupin wasn't happy with how Snape was talking to the boy "Actually, I was hoping he would help me with first step, and I'm sure he'll perform it admirably."
Snape sneered then turned and closed the door behind his with a snap.
Arlene rolled her eyes at his childlessness as a loud bang was heard.
The cupboard in the middle of the room was shaking, and Neville gave Lupin a look of pure terror.
"Nothing to worry about," he said "just a boggwart."
The cupboard gave another bang and they all jumped back, it was obvious that there was something to worry about.
Boggwart, that sounded familiar, Blaise was probably talking her ear off about them at one point, she racked her brain trying to remember what he was saying.
"So, what is the boggwart?" Lupin said, voicing their thoughts.
Almost immediately, Hermione's hand shot up "It's a shape shifter," She explained "it takes the shape of what you fear the most."
"Correct, the boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form, he does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door, nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears."
He tried to ignore Neville whimper of terror "So we have an obvious advantage, can you spot it Harry?"
Harry, who was standing between Ron and Hermione, looked deep in thought "There's too many of us?"
"Exactly, when facing a boggwart, it is best to have company, it becomes confused," Lupin explained "but what truly finishes it is laughter, what you need is to force it into a shape you find amusing, using the riddikulus spell, say it after me, riddikulus!"
"Riddikulus!" They repeated in unison.
"This class is ridiculous." Draco muttered.
"Good, very good," he praised them as the wardrobe shook once more "but that's only the easy part, I'm afraid, that's where you come in Neville."
The poor boy looked like he was a lamb to the slaughter as he moved forward.
"Now Neville, what terrifies you most in the world?"
Neville looked at them, as if begging them for help "Professor Snape." He whispered.
A dark look passed over Lupin's and Arlene wondered if he knew about what happened to the Longbottoms as well.
"Professor Snape . . . hmmm . . . Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?" Lupin asked, confirming her suspicions.
"Er...yes," said Neville nervously "but- I don't want the boggart to turn into her either."
"No, no, you misunderstand me," said Professor Lupin, now smiling "I wonder, could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?"
Neville looked startled, but said, "Well... always the same hat, a tall one with a stuffed vulture on top, and a long dress... green, normally... and sometimes a fox-fur scarf."
"And a handbag?" prompted Professor Lupin.
"A big red one." Neville agreed.
"Right then," said Professor Lupin. "Can you picture those clothes very clearly, Neville? Can you see them in your mind's eye?"
"Yes," said Neville uncertainly, plainly wondering what was coming next.
"When the boggart bursts out of this wardrobe, Neville, and sees you, it will assume the form of Professor Snape," said Lupin "and you will raise your wand, cry 'Riddikulus' and concentrate hard on your grandmother's clothes, if all goes well, Professor Boggart Snape will be forced into that vulture-topped hat, and that green dress, with that big red handbag."
Arlene started laughing with the rest of the class, the mental image alone was hilarious.
"If Neville is successful, the boggart is likely to shift his attention to each of us in turn," said Professor Lupin "I would like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you most, and imagine how you might force it to look comical...."
Arlene frowned, she liked to believe she was fearless as she could walk right up to Satan and tell him off, she wasn't afraid of heights or insects or blood and no magical creature came into mind when she thought about scary.
Then again, maybe it wasn't a literal object, but then how would the boggwart take the shape of that? Maybe Hermione not liking her back? But oh god she hoped that wasn't it, then Hermione was going to know about her crush,
Suddenly she realized it.
"Everybody ready?" Lupin asked, and everyone started to roll up their sleeves.
No, no she wasn't ready, she knew what she was afraid of and it wasn't spiders or banshees, it was something much darker.
"Neville, we're going to back away," said Professor Lupin "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."
They all retreated, backed against the walls, leaving Neville alone beside the wardrobe. He looked pale and frightened, but he had pushed up the sleeves of his robes and was holding his wand ready.
"On the count of three, Neville," said Professor Lupin, who was pointing his own wand at the handle of the wardrobe "Now!"
A jet of sparks shot from the end of Professor Lupin's wand and hit the doorknob, the wardrobe burst open. Hook-nosed and menacing, Professor Snape stepped out, his eyes flashing at Neville.
Neville backed away, his wand up, mouthing wordlessly. Snape was bearing down upon him, reaching inside his robes. "R-r-riddikulus!" squeaked Neville.
A loud CRACK was heard, and suddenly, Snape was wearing a lace trimmed dress with a long hat and a red bag.
"With that memory, I can finally die in peace." Arlene announced as others started to laugh.
"Parvati, forward!" Lupin told her, and Snape turned into a mummy.
"Dean!" The mummy turned into a banshee that was screaming, then she made a rasping sound, her voice was gone.
CRACK it turned into a mouse CRACK it became a rattlesnake CRACK it was a bloody eyeball.
"It's confused!" Lupin shouted "Draco!"
Only Draco didn't move, he just stared warily at the boggwart with a frown, Lupin took it as as sign that Draco won't be participating and called for Pansy to step forward but she, like Draco, was frozen in place.
Arlene knew better than to think this was them hating on Lupin.
Paloma's childhood memories were anything but happy, and Arlene knew for a fact that any child raised within the Tojours Pur circle, no matter how spoiled, was afraid of things much darker than Banshees and Crickets.
She had said it a billion times before, she didn't like Draco and his likes, she tolerated them, but like McGonagall said, your house is your family.
Arlene stepped towards them and put a hand on Draco's shoulder "You guys okay?"
He looked startled, like he was surprised to see her, Pansy cleared her throat "Yeah, we're okay."
Arlene nodded and gave them a reassuring smile, she knew how they felt, if her guess about her fear was correct, she didn't want to face that boggwart anymore than they did, or at least, not in front of an entire class.
She was afraid of her mother dying, she knew for a fact after overhearing a howler at the owlery in first year that Pansy was terrified of her father, and Draco, like every other kid raised with purist believes in the Sacred Twenty Eight, the idea of slipping up and getting disowned was a nightmare.
Before she could dwell on it any longer, Arlene was broken out of her thoughts when Lupin yelled "Ron!"
The redhead stepped forward and the boggwart turned into a six foot spider that crawled to Ron CRACK its legs fell off and it rolled over, again and again until it came to Arlene.
"Arlene!" Lupin said, and as Lavender backed away, she moved forward, holding her breath.
Instead of a scary monster like the others, the boggart turned into a paper.
Arlene frowned as she noticed it was a newspaper article, everybody had turned quiet, wondering what was scary about a paper laying on the ground.
But it wasn't the paper, it was what was in it.
Arlene gasped she saw the headline, 'PALOMA BURKE KILLED BY MASS MURDERER, SIRIUS BLACK'.
There was in image under the headline, her mother was on the floor and her throat was slit, and Arlene felt the urge to vomit.
The professor looked at it and frowned, others started to approach it too when Arlene raised her wand.
"RIDDIKULUS!" She shouted at the boggwart, causing it to turn into a paper airplane that started to fly around the room.
Harry stepped forward and Lupin moved in front of him, causing the boggwart to turn into a large shiny orb.
"Ridikulus!" He said, and the orb turned into a red balloon "Neville, finish it off!"
"Riddikulus!" Neville yelled at the boggwart that turned into Snape in a dress again.
Once it retreated to the cupboard, people started to chatter excitedly, Arlene felt a large hole in her chest start to warm up again.
"The homework will be to summarize the chapter about boggwart, to be handed on Monday."
Arlene took a deep breath as she tried to steady her hands that were still shaking, she was surprised she managed to force it out of its form, it was a wonder how she was still conscious
As she left the classroom, she gave Lupin one last look, they had all just faced their greatest fear, she wondered if that was his plan.
He finished gathering her things as he turned and gave her a warm smile.
She smiled in return, yes it definitely was.
■■■
I almost wasn't going to update, but I needed an outlet for my anxiety, what anxiety you ask? We found a nest of wasps infront of one of our windows.
So now I'm extremely anxious because I'm starting school this week and I'm convinced the wasps have ragged war on us and will attack the moment I step into the street.
Anyways, thank you for reading :)