118: A vivid lesson and thoughts

118: A vivid lesson and thoughts

Suddenly, the old wardrobe began to shake.

Lupin, expecting this familiar scene to frighten the students, was surprised to see them all remain calm. This puzzled him.

With a composed tone, he explained, "There's no need to be afraid. Inside is a Boggart."

After speaking, he looked around the room and asked, "Can anyone tell me what a Boggart is?"

The chance to earn points had arrived. Two hands shot up simultaneously.

Lupin glanced over. Naturally, one was the ever-knowledgeable Hermione, and the other was John.

After a brief moment of thought, Lupin called on, "Miss Granger."

Hermione beamed with delight and quickly responded, "Boggarts like dark and confined spaces. They usually hide in wardrobes, gaps under beds, or cupboards under sinks."

"A Boggart is a shape-shifter," she continued confidently, "It transforms into whatever it thinks will frighten us the most."

"I couldn't have explained it better myself," Professor Lupin praised, which made Hermione, who always worked hard in class, positively glow with pride.

Lupin then approached the trembling wardrobe and continued, "So the Boggart inside this dark cabinet doesn't have a fixed shape yet. It doesn't know what the people outside fear, and no one knows what a Boggart looks like when it's alone."

At this point, John couldn't help but smirk.

He had some authority on the subject because he knew exactly what a Boggart looked like. Through his own research, John had learned that if you used Occlumency to shield your mind, the Boggart wouldn't be able to see into it. If you also used a Disillusionment Charm, the Boggart wouldn't even know you were there.

Once, he'd spent time with a Boggart in a wardrobe, observing the formless black cloud it resembled when it couldn't figure out what to transform into—just a mass of swirling black smoke.

Meanwhile, Professor Lupin continued his explanation.

He tapped the wardrobe with his wand and said, "The moment I let it out, it will immediately turn into the thing each of us fears the most."

"But that means we have a significant advantage over the Boggart," Lupin added, looking around.

Hermione, standing on her tiptoes, raised her hand high, and John also raised his. But Lupin glanced at a pair of familiar green eyes and decided to call on Harry instead. "Harry, have you realized what that advantage is?" Lupin asked.

"Ah!" Harry, caught off guard like a student who'd been daydreaming and suddenly called on in math class, hesitated. Glancing nervously at Hermione, he tentatively answered, "Uh... because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape to take?"

You had to hand it to Harry—he had the instincts of a born Auror.

His intuition was spot-on, and he nailed the key point right away.

"Exactly right!" Lupin praised loudly.

Hermione, looking a little disappointed, lowered her hand. John also lowered his, quietly observing Lupin.

'You cheeky boy, I'll dock your pay when you get back,' John thought to himself.

Of course, that was assuming Lupin would ever go back to work. Lupin, clearly pleased with his old friend's son's performance, gave the wardrobe a casual pat and said, "I once encountered a Boggart that tried to scare two people at once. It ended up turning into half a slug—not scary at all."

Each student took a turn. When it was Ron's turn, predictably, the Boggart turned into a massive spider. With a quick incantation, Ron made the spider's legs vanish, leaving it to roll around on the floor helplessly. Eventually, it tumbled over to Harry's feet.

Harry was about to deal with it when the Boggart began to change again. Just as it was about to take shape, Lupin dashed forward in an instant, intercepting it.

"Harry!"

The Boggart immediately transformed into a silvery-white orb that floated in front of him.

But shortly after, the silver ball that Lupin had turned into a balloon floated toward John.

When it reached John, the balloon hesitated, and the Boggart quickly began to shift. As everyone wondered what John might fear, they were stunned to see the Boggart spiraling out of control, changing frantically.

It cycled through all the forms it had previously taken before finally settling into something unrecognizable.

"This..."

Everyone, including Professor Lupin, was left speechless. Lupin, in particular, had never seen a Boggart react like this.

A sudden thought popped into John's mind: What would happen if he imagined the Boggart's true form? Even Lupin had never seen its original shape. John didn't mind giving everyone a glimpse.

He began to visualize the Boggart's true form in his mind. The Boggart's chaotic shifting stilled for a moment.

Then, in a flash, it darted back into the old wardrobe and slammed the door shut, locking itself inside.

The entire room was left dumbfounded. Why had the Boggart retreated on its own?

John, was in deep in thought 'Looks like even a Boggart, capable of probing others' fears, can't bear to face its true self.'

He looked up at Lupin, silently asking, So, how do we score that?

Lupin was equally puzzled. How could they call that a failure when the Boggart had scared itself and fled?

But if they were to call it a success, John hadn't even used his wand.

Lupin was stuck in a dilemma, though the class soon ended, sparing him from having to decide. He awarded Gryffindor five points, with Hermione, Harry, and Neville all receiving additional points.

After assigning homework—an essay on Boggarts—Malfoy loudly began to conspire with his fellow Slytherins, claiming that Lupin was blatantly biased toward Gryffindor. He grumbled that even when John raised his hand, Lupin deliberately ignored him, giving all the credit to the Gryffindors.

This sparked agreement among the Slytherins, who felt that John had clearly been the most outstanding in the class.

While they were busy being indignant on his behalf, John's mind was elsewhere.

"Boggarts peer into the depths of one's heart, while Dementors suck out souls and happiness. What if I combined the two...?"

His eyes gleamed with excitement, as if he had stumbled upon a new idea. He felt he might have found a method worth trying.

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