[Duel Victory: Based on the opponent's strength, a random ability is drawn.]
[Drawing…]
[Draw complete: Obtained Fear Transformation]
[Target species differs from host; full inheritance impossible. Screening solutions…]
[Screening…]
[Solution selected based on host's personality.]
[Ability adjusted to match host's species and physical condition.]
[Obtained: Shadow of Boggart LV3]
This time, Sean had extracted the Boggart's only innate ability.
However, because a Boggart was a non-human creature and Sean was fully human, the panel modified the raw ability, transforming it into a new third-level spell: Shadow of Boggart.
At Level 1, this magic allows Sean to appear as the thing the target fears most — just like a Boggart — but the transformation is purely an illusion, not a true physical change.
At Level 2, Sean can affect multiple targets at once, projecting multiple illusions of different fears simultaneously.
At Level 3, Sean's current mastery, the spell can summon illusions that not only create the feared form but also generate corresponding fearsome scenes, turning the area into a nightmare. This effectively makes Shadow of Boggart a large-scale illusion spell.
Against people with weak willpower or deep psychological flaws, this magic can be devastating. Against those with strong minds, it will only confuse and distract — its direct impact will be much weaker.
Even so, for Sean, it was a remarkable and versatile ability. He could already think of plenty of ways to experiment with this magic — and whether those ideas would work or not was another question entirely. But with Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black both lurking somewhere in Hogwarts, Sean now had excellent test subjects for his new spell.
As for the Patronus Charm, being able to summon even a vague Patronus shadow was incredible progress. Sean glanced at his panel: Patronus Charm LV2 — not enough to drive away a whole swarm of Dementors, but enough to hold his own against one or two without immediate help.
What he needed now was more practice — constant practice — until he could fully transform his deepest, brightest memories into pure magic and call forth a corporeal Patronus.
And Lupin, standing beside him, obviously believed the same.
"Sean, you've almost mastered the Patronus Charm. Even I can't say I could do better than you at your age. I've taught you everything I know about it — whether you want to push it further is up to you now."
"Thank you, Professor. This is a small thank-you gift."
Sean took out the Wolfsbane Potion he'd brewed before the start of term — the one made with the substitute ingredient.
Regardless of the tensions between Lupin and Snape, Sean felt that Lupin's patient guidance over the Patronus Charm deserved real gratitude. He had been the only truly dedicated Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Sean had seen in three years — so giving him this potion felt right.
The moment Lupin saw the crystal bottle — its familiar color and faint shimmer — he knew exactly what it was.
Lupin sighed, a wry smile tugging at his mouth. The last time Snape had asked Sean to deliver this potion, Lupin had already guessed that Sean must know his secret. Seeing Sean now openly hand him Wolfsbane confirmed it completely.
He parted his lips, wanting to say something — a warning? A request? Pretend not to understand? But none of it made sense. So he said nothing.
Seeing Lupin's struggle, Sean didn't press him. He just said calmly, "Professor Lupin, you're the only competent Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've had in three years. As long as you take the Wolfsbane Potion on time, you're no danger to anyone. So whether you're a werewolf or not makes no difference to me.
And I'll keep your secret — but there are many clever people at Hogwarts. You won't be able to hide it forever."
Lupin's shoulders eased, and he gave a quiet, heartfelt answer: "Sean… thank you."
"You're welcome, Professor. If there's nothing else, I'll be going now."
"All right." Lupin nodded seriously. "Goodbye, Sean."
"Goodbye, Professor."
After leaving Lupin's office, Sean headed straight back to his room, picked up his book, and made his way to the library.
Last year, Sean had planned to ask Snape about keeping the Duelling Club going, but when he came back to Hogwarts this year, he quickly realised he simply didn't have the time to maintain it.
Besides, without a professor attached to it, the Duelling Club just couldn't draw enough interest. Even if he could duel a few times a day, those students' skills didn't match his at all — the panel wouldn't extract anything useful from them anyway.
So when term started, Sean weighed the effort against the results and decisively dropped the plan.
Now, with the Quidditch season approaching fast, training for all four Houses had grown more intense by the day.
At this critical moment, Hogwarts' weather had taken a turn for the worse. First it was just overcast, then the wind came in, and then — a few days before the season was due to start — a steady rain settled over the castle grounds, drenching everything.
In the wind and rain, Sean sat in the Great Hall eating his dinner.
Blaise sat beside him, scowling.
"Blaise, what's with the face?"
"Sean, our House Quidditch team is changing the match order because our Seeker, Malfoy, 'hurt his arm.' Originally we were set to face Gryffindor in three days, but now it'll be Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff instead!"
Sean frowned. "Malfoy's arm injury could really affect the match — changing the schedule makes sense."
Blaise let out a cold laugh. "If the arm was actually hurt, sure. But everyone knows that's just an excuse. His arm is perfectly fine. They're scared the bad weather will mess up their performance and they'll lose to Gryffindor — so they pulled out this pathetic story.
Gryffindor and Hufflepuff don't care about a bit of wind and rain, but Slytherin does. And don't forget — Slytherin's the only team with every player flying a Nimbus 2000. No other House can match our brooms. And yet they're scared to fly against Gryffindor in bad weather.
It's humiliating for Slytherin!"