"What are you most afraid of? Draco?" Pansy asked, bored, staring blankly at the food in front of her at the Slytherin table. She was already full, so she decided to find some amusement. Soon they would be going to their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class of the semester. According to the Gryffindor students, this teacher was very powerful. The first lesson was about how to deal with a Boggart—a magical creature that could transform into a person's greatest fear, so she decided to ask this question.
"Of course, it's you." Malfoy rolled his eyes at her, giving Pansy a perfunctory answer. "If you want those Boggarts to turn into you in front of me and be blasted into smoke later, you can continue to ask such boring questions."
Pansy immediately shut up. She could tell that Malfoy was subtly telling her to be quiet, but she was still a little unconvinced, and immediately put on a resentful expression, silently looking at him.
"The things we fear will change over time. Today, perhaps you can temporarily overcome fear with a Riddikulus charm in Professor Lupin's class, but more fears will arise in the future." Malfoy looked at Pansy's expression and could only explain helplessly.
"Frankly, I don't think this course is very meaningful." Malfoy picked up the teacup in front of him and took a light sip.
"But I'm still very curious." Pansy changed to a smiling expression again, and then said, "I basically haven't seen you show any fearful expressions. It was the same last time we encountered Dementors."
"Maybe." Malfoy gently put down the teacup.
"By the way, that little fat Gryffindor is said to have turned the Boggart into Professor Snape and then personally beat him black and blue." Pansy couldn't help but laugh at this. Even though Snape always favored the students of his own house, to be honest, even the students of his own house didn't really love him very much.
Because he was indeed a bit unlikeable.
"Professor, I will educate her properly. Please forgive her indiscretion." Malfoy's expression straightened, and he suddenly looked behind Pansy, saying respectfully.
Upon hearing this, Pansy immediately changed her tone: "I will definitely find a chance to teach him a lesson. Who told him to disrespect our respectable Head of House?" Then she dared to slowly turn her head, only to find that there was no one behind her.
Only then did her face turn red, realizing that she had been tricked. For a moment, she was both ashamed and annoyed, feeling depressed that she had been deceived by such a low-tech trick.
"Okay, no more jokes. We should go to class." Malfoy said seriously, "Being late is not a good habit."
"I will blast you into a wisp of smoke."
Pansy said, "gnashing her teeth," looking at Malfoy's back, then closely following behind Malfoy to their Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
But a slight smile couldn't help but appear on her lips.
In private, Pansy had thought about it for a long time, and the conclusion she came to was that maintaining the status quo was probably the most suitable approach for her. She had plenty of time, which was her greatest advantage. She felt that as long as she corrected her shortcomings, Draco would definitely fall in love with her.
It's just that someone walking in front of her now has no awareness of being schemed against.
They arrived at the classroom, and the students were already seated in their places. Malfoy and Pansy also found their seats and settled down.
"Draco, what's in that wardrobe? A Boggart?" Pansy asked in a low voice.
"Probably." Malfoy looked at the podium. Lupin was standing on the stage, looking at the noisy students. He always looked tired, and his clothes were full of patches, which showed that his life was not very prosperous.
It wasn't until the class bell rang that the Slytherin students quieted down.
"I believe everyone has seen me at the welcoming feast, or perhaps even earlier, you saw me on the train." Lupin glanced at the students in the classroom. When he said this, his eyes lingered on Malfoy for a moment, giving a slight smile. He was very impressed with this student. Regardless of whether it was fully formed or not, a student who could cast a Patronus Charm at this age was very outstanding.
"I will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this semester." Lupin's eyes returned, and then he said, "I hope we can have a pleasant cooperation this semester. You can call me Professor Lupin," he gave a smile.
There was some commotion under the stage. In fact, many Slytherin students looked down on this poorly dressed, old-looking teacher, but before that, someone had reminded them that it was best to maintain a certain respect for this teacher, otherwise, the consequences would be at their own risk. These students still maintained the minimum level of respect for him, and there was no booing.
Lupin didn't care about the somewhat awkward atmosphere in front of him and continued to say to himself, "You should also know the content of today's lesson through other channels. Fortunately, I found some new Boggarts elsewhere, otherwise, maybe the class couldn't be held today."
Lupin pointed his wand at the old wardrobe beside him and said, "This is today's protagonist—a Boggart."
"You may already know the content of my class through your Gryffindor classmates, but I still have to go over it again." Lupin cleared his throat and continued, "So please everyone stay focused enough."
"What is a Boggart?" Lupin began to ask, and then quickly answered himself, "It is a shapeshifting creature, and I want to state again that it has almost no offensive power, so everyone doesn't need to be afraid. Yes, the student on the right, you don't need to be so nervous. Your legs are shaking so much that they are about to overturn the table." He made a joke, and the Slytherin students laughed. The somewhat cold atmosphere in the classroom also improved a lot.
"And now, the Boggart in the wardrobe hasn't seen any of us, so it hasn't taken on any image. It doesn't know what can scare the people outside the door. No one knows what a Boggart looks like when it's alone, but when I let it out, it will immediately turn into the thing that each of us fears most."
"Then what if it faces many people at the same time?" The student who had been named by Lupin earlier stood up and asked courageously.
"That's a good question. Sometimes a good question is more important than a solution. Ten points to Slytherin." Lupin took the lead in applauding, and applause rang out in the classroom.
They felt that the unkempt old man in front of them was starting to become friendly and was not as difficult to communicate with as they had imagined.
"For example, like this." Lupin suddenly opened the door of the wardrobe, and the Boggart suddenly rushed out, but its image was very comical, and it was constantly changing, because there were too many people, which caused its appearance to be a pile of mud. Whenever it was about to take shape, it seemed to change its mind again. In short, with its intelligence, it couldn't understand what it would be like for the fears of many people to exist at the same time.
The students saw a ball of black mud swaying and changing on the ground. There were disgusted and abhorrent expressions, but there was no fear at all.
After that, Lupin methodically taught the students how to deal with Boggarts, such as the Riddikulus charm and trying to add some funny imagination to the things you fear most. After spending some time practicing, he began to call the students up one by one to be tested.
"What's wrong? Are you still very scared?" Malfoy noticed that something was wrong with Pansy beside him. One of her hands unconsciously clenched into a fist, her forehead was covered in sweat, and her face was pale. She must have remembered some bad memories. The other hand was also tightly gripping his sleeve.
"Yeah." Pansy nodded. She was actually quite brave. Even if she was afraid of the dark when she was a child, it had disappeared with age. Just now, when Lupin asked everyone to recall the things they feared most, almost instantly, Pansy thought of the phantoms that the Dementors had brought her, and she couldn't help but feel a chill down her spine and all over her body. Even if she had barely learned the Patronus Charm with the help of similar "cheating" methods, that memory could not be erased.
"Then you don't have to go up." Malfoy said indifferently. "Not everyone is willing to tear open their scars in front of everyone. The professor certainly won't force you."
In fact, Malfoy himself was not prepared to reveal what he truly feared. (To be continued.)
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