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Ch15: THE BOGGART
"Show us your arm!" said Zacharias suddenly.
Harry jolted back on his feet. "Why?" he demanded, not believing what he had heard.
"Show us your arm," repeated Zacharias, "just to be sure."
Harry looked helplessly at the other DA members, but they provided no help at this point.
"You got nothing to worry about," said Hermione quietly, looking up at him.
Gritting his teeth, Harry started to take of his jumper so everybody could see that he had no stupid Dark Mark. Harry could practically feel all the girls in the room peering at him and that left him quite uncomfortable. Some of them started to giggle and Harry, deciding that enough was enough, took the jumper back on.
He didn't sit down again, however, he was too angry. Too angry to notice that one of the shelves shook slightly, making a small book fall down to the floor. He could, however, feel his arm throbbing again and he realized he had to calm down. Luckily nobody had noticed anything odd.
Growling to himself and his pathetic attempts to calm down, he began to pace back and forth on the floor to get rid of some nervous energy.
"What do you want for your birthday? Another book?" Ron asked Hermione with a mocking tone. Hermione scowled, but poked his arm teasingly as though to pretend that it didn't offend her. That seemed so out of character for Harry that he was able to stop his pacing for a moment before he began to walk around again.
"What about some condoms?" asked Dean Thomas and rolled over in laughter.
Harry stopped, horrified. "What?!"
"Honestly!" said Hermione, glaring furiously at Dean, "condoms for heavens sake! There's plenty of other ways to-"
"What do you need that for?" asked Ron questionably, he had never heard of muggle preventions. Several students had to put a fist in their mouth to prevent themselves from laughing. Ron looked at them incredulously. "What?"
Nobody bothered to answer him, however, to Harry's great relief. However, he had gotten a new thing to worry about... what in the name of Merlin was he going to give to Hermione on her birthday?
-
-
The following night ended with a new nightmare. This time Harry saw Cedric, Sirius, Hermione, Ron and his parents tied up against a wall, and Harry had to decide which one he wanted to live the most.
Harry woke up before he had made a decision.
Even though it was an ordinary nightmare, he still felt exhausted when he got up from bed, as though he hadn't really slept at all.
It was going to be a long Wednesday, and one day closer to Halloween. Harry shook his head in an attempt to stop himself from thinking that. He had plenty of time to wade in self-pity later.
-
After a rather quick breakfast the trio walked to the first class that day; Defense. Harry wasn't really looking forward to it though, since he had made a complete fool of himself last time and he had a feeling that he would do the same again.
McClaggan greeted them with a curt nod as they walked into the classroom and found their seats. The bright light in the classroom stung Harry's eyes.
"Morning," greeted McClaggan, in a way that made most of the people in the class on guard, "today we are going to have a little… ah, shall we say, interesting lesson…" McClaggan tapped a closet beside him, which shook slightly. "A boggart! Yes-" he said before anybody could moan their displeasure, "I am aware of that you studied boggarts your third year here. However, that is exactly the point in this and we are not going to practice the counter curse."
The professor went over to his desk and grabbed a list over the students. "Mr. Longbottom!" he cried, "what is your biggest fear?"
Neville blushed with embarrassment, but spoke loudly and clear: "Professor Snape, sir."
McClaggan raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. "And that is the form your boggart take when you face it?" he asked.
Neville nodded.
McClaggan's eyes studied the list once more. "Ms. Granger?"
Hermione's head snapped up. "Yes! My form took McGonagall's shape in our third year, telling me that I failed in an important test-"
"Indeed," interrupted McClaggan dryly and continued to ask the rest of the class what form their boggart took. He saved Harry until the end.
"Mr. Potter?"
"Dementor, sir," said Harry warily. McClaggan smirked.
"All right," he said, "I assume - because I am not going to tell you if you do not - that you are qualified enough to remember the incantation for getting rid of a boggart, even though you are not going to use it. This is simply at test."
Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged a look. What were they going to do?
"Do any of you think that your Boggart is going to be different?" asked McClaggan, eyeing them suspiciously.
Some people in the class raised their hands hesitantly, however, Harry did not. He was still afraid of Dementors, that was one thing that hadn't changed the last time he checked.
McClaggan ordered them all to stand in a line. Harry was the fourth to go and was already preparing himself and gathering his happiest memories, so he wouldn't faint in front of the whole class. McClaggan insisted firmly that Ron was to try first and the red-head had little choice but to follow his orders.
With a flick of his wand McClaggan opened the closet and a huge spider came out. Ron raised his wand, ready to defend himself, but McClaggan held up a hand, ordering him to let it be. McClaggan counted to ten and then yelled "NEXT!"
Lavender's boggart was a dark haired boy, telling her he wanted to break up with her. She cried out and began to wail, totally forgetting it was a boggart.
Hermione was next, but her boggart wasn't McGonagall telling her she had failed… no, the image that appeared was a dead Harry. Then a dead Ron. Then her parents. Harry shivered at the sight of their mangled bodies. Hermione's eyes swelled with tears, and he was left with a desperate need to comfort her. He didn't even recognize that it was his turn until McClaggan shouted "NEXT!"
Harry furiously tried to find his happy memory again, but he had completely forgotten about it when he saw Hermione's boggart.
Knowing it was too late he braced himself for the cold feeling the Dementor was sure to provide, however, the boggart wasn't a Dementor anymore. It was Voldemort.
The effect from Harry's boggart was instant: the people in the classroom panicked and ran away as fast as they could in every direction. Harry, however, was frozen to the spot, unable to move.
"I kill everybody you love, Harry," Voldemort's cold, evil voice clang through the room and something in Harry clicked and he lost his head completely.
"STUPEFY! EXPELLIARMUS! IMPEDIMENTA! INCENDIO!"
A huge ball of fire, larger than Harry had ever conjured - even with his lessons with Dumbledore - shot from Harry's wand and exploded at the boggart with such force that Harry was thrown backwards. An ear-splitting screech filled the room, making the few people that were left drop their wands so they could cover their ears instead. For a moment Harry could swear that he saw Voldemort's snake Nagini again, but as the scream subsided so did the fog and the snake. Harry opened his eyes and everything came back into focus.
The boggart was gone.
Hermione instantly jumped to his side and pulled him into the most bone-crushing hug Harry had ever received, even from Hagrid.
"You're alright, you're alright! I was so scared… for a second I thought- oh Harry!" Hermione sobbed on his shoulder. Harry patted her shaking back weakly.
"I'm okay… nothing to worry about. It was just a stupid boggart." Harry tried to comfort her as well as himself. Ron limped over to them.
"Bloody hell!" he groaned, rubbing his leg. "That was a nasty boggart!"
Harry rolled his eyes mentally, "Yeah, I noticed..."
"Everyone!" bellowed McClaggan. "Come back here! The class is not over yet!"
The students that were close enough to hear him came back hesitantly, holding their wands so hard their knuckles whitened.
"Who is next?" asked McClaggan, as though nothing had happened.
Nobody dared to answer.
The professor sighed angrily and turned to the closet. The open closet. The boggart was nowhere in sight.
"Mr. Potter!" he barked, "GET UP!"
Alarmed, Harry got up from the floor he was sitting on and Hermione followed, holding his hand so tightly he was starting to feel numb.
"Yes, professor?" asked Harry, holding his breath for the explosion he knew was coming. Somehow McClaggan reminded him slightly of Vernon, or even Moody.
"Stay after class."
Harry nodded and mumbled "yes, professor," before sitting down again on a chair.
After McClaggan had listed of whom was still present in the class, (not very many,) they continued on taking notes from the Stupefy curse, everyone except the Trio. Harry - because he knew enough of it already, having studied it in fourth grade before the Triwizard tournament, Ron - because he was too lazy and Hermione - since she was too busy clinging on Harry's arm.
He doubted he would ever get the feeling in his hand back.
The class ended rather quickly for a change, but Harry and Hermione remained in their seats as everybody else got up.
"Uh, see you later, guys," said Ron and trailed away, eager to get out of the classroom but hesitant to show it. Harry turned his attention forward again, where McClaggan was looking at Hermione intensely.
"Whatever you have to say, she can hear it too," said Harry quickly. Hermione shot him a grateful look, loosening her grip on him a little. A little sigh of relief escaped him.
McClaggan raised an eyebrow at Harry, but didn't object.
"Alright," he said, "that was a very bad performance on a simple boggart-"
Harry bowed his head in embarrassment half wishing Hermione had left after all. "I know," he mumbled.
"-but understandable. Speak up!" ordered McClaggan.
"Yes!" said Harry loudly. Hermione shot him a glare.
"-Professor," he added.
"The boggart was not, however, what I wished to talk about."
Harry stared dumbly at him; he had expected a rant. "What then, professor?"
"About Voldemort and his threat."
"Oh," said Harry and frowned. Great.
"Dumbledore and I were talking yesterday and we both agreed to that you need more practice than you get in class."
Now Harry was listening. "Really?"
"Yes. Every day, precisely six o'clock in the evening."
"Every day, sir?" asked Harry. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. How could he get time for that with everything else that was going on? He was even gladder that he hadn't taken the job as a Quidditch captain now. McClaggan gave him a sharp look.
"Yes. E-v-e-r-y d-a-y."
Hermione's grip on Harry tightened again and he could feel her hair in his neck, tickling him.
"Alright," he answered and McClaggan nodded.
"Meet me tomorrow."
Harry agreed and they were dismissed. As soon as they were out from the classroom Hermione squealed.
"I can't believe it! He's going to tutor you daily! I'm SO jealous!"
Harry grinned. "Watch out then, I'm going to give you a run for your money soon!"
"I'm still jealous."
Harry suddenly remembered why he had to be tutored. "Don't be," he said.
Hermione said nothing, realizing just what Harry was thinking.
-
Transfiguration was okay. They still took notes, but on the bright side McGonagall promised them that they were going to begin transfiguring animals into other creatures the next lesson before eventually trying on each other. Then they were going to see which of the students that had the ability to become an Animagus.
The students didn't keep much attention, no matter how interesting the subject was. They were still shaken up from what had happened in their Defense class and some students were still hiding somewhere.
Harry could hardly blame them, but he got a bit annoyed about how fast the rumors were spread. Most of the school already knew what had happened and treated him like a was made of fragile glass more than ever before.
-
When Harry and Hermione got back to the Common room Harry got a surprise that he wouldn't forget easily; Mrs. and Mr. Weasley were waiting for him. His jaw dropped, but before he had the chance to say anything Mrs. Weasley had captured him into a hug.
"My dear, dear, dear," Mrs. Weasley chocked out, close to tears. Harry blushed.
"Whoa- Mrs. Weasley! What's the matter?"
"What's the matter?" cried Mrs. Weasley, ignoring the fact that Harry had called her by her surname. "WHAT'S THE MATTER? What - haven't you heard? Oh, I'm going to kill that old-"
"I've heard the threat alright... how could I not?" Harry mumbled, realizing why they had come to see him in the first place.
It seemed to take Mrs. Weasley a while to take in what Harry had just said. "You've heard?" she asked incredulously.
"Yeah, from where everybody else did, The Daily Prophet." Hermione piped up, exactly the same time as Ron and Ginny emerged through the Portrait of the Fat Lady. They stopped dead in their tracks, eyes widening.
"Mum? Dad? What are you doing here?" Ron asked, looking from Molly and Arthur and back to Molly. Molly gave Ron a stern glare.
"To ask how Harry's feeling, of course!"
Harry stifled a groan. No matter how much he liked the feeling that somebody cared, he wanted to go and hide somewhere... it felt like he had stepped into Ron's territory somehow and he probably had. Ron's ears were red, from what Harry could only suspect to be anger or worse; jealousy.
Harry steeled himself for Ron's outburst, but strangely he said nothing. Without giving them a second glance Ron disappeared up to the boys' dormitory, leaving them alone.
Ginny didn't seem to know what to say, and after some seconds in silence she settled down in a chair in front of the fire, picking up some of the hats that Hermione had knitted, looking at it as though it was the most interesting thing in the whole world.
Mrs. Weasley turned her attention back to Harry, but before she could say anything Harry spoke up:
"Don't worry, I'm alright. Really, I'll manage. Professor McClaggan even offered to give me extra lessons in Defense. Thank you for coming here though, it means a lot to me - more than you can imagine. But I think you should talk to Ron and Ginny too, after all, you're their mother," said Harry emptily, not mine, mine's dead, "-I'll just go for a walk or something," he finished and turned to leave.
"You're a part of this family too," he heard Mrs. Weasley call after him, and Harry shot her a grateful look. Nonetheless, he left the common room and the people in it.
After walking in the halls aimlessly for a while he decided to go out. He felt bad for the way he had treated Mrs. Weasley. After all, she only cared about him...
But they're not my family, he reminded himself again sadly, as he walked down towards the lake. He sat down exactly at the same spot as he had right before the summer started, after Sirius had died.
Harry's throat tightened, he really wished his Godfather could be alive again, but there was no way around the fact that he was dead.
Some part of him wanted to hate Ron for ruining the chance he had to feel that he belonged to a family, but for some reason he couldn't. He knew that Ron felt he got everything.
"But I didn't want any of it!" said Harry angrily, tossing a stone into the lake. "I don't want it! I don't want a bloody maniac wizard after me that kills everyone I care about thanks to a damned Prophecy!" Hermione's right... as usual, he thought to himself. The prophecy was just like a curse: if the prophecy hadn't existed then none of the horrible things would've happened to him. He would have a normal life.
Some yelling interrupted Harry's train of thought. He turned his head and saw Lavender storming back to the castle and a furious looking Parvati glaring after her. Parvati seemed to sense that Harry was looking at her, and started to walk towards him swiftly. She sat down beside him and for a long time they just sat there, without saying anything.
"What happened?" asked Harry finally.
"With Lav and me?"
He nodded.
"Well..." Parvati shifted slightly, "she didn't like how I've changed this term."
"What?" asked Harry, certain that he had heard her wrong. How could Lavender, Parvati's best friend through the whole school be mad at her when her whole family had died a short time ago? Surely Lavender couldn't ask Parvati to stay the same after something like that?
Parvati shook her head. "We've fought so much this last days... she doesn't understand..."
"What happened, Parvati?" asked Harry before Parvati could burst into tears. "Where were you when it happened?"
It took some time for Parvati to start talking. "I was there alright... the whole time. I hid under the bed with Padma when I heard dad call up that they had found us. The horrible female Death Eater reached out under the bed and grabbed her, but she didn't see me... and I didn't dare to move! I was so scared... so pathetic!"
"You're not pathetic," said Harry, in what he hoped was a comforting tone.
Parvati sniffed and looked up at him briefly, before looking down again. "Yes, I am," she insisted. "Look at you, you're so brave, so smart... so good."
Harry shook his head. "No, I'm not. I just do what I have to do, too dumb to find easier solutions. There's a bunch of people that have died because of me," said Harry bitterly.
Parvati didn't argue and Harry was grateful. Some part of him would always blame himself - no matter how many times people told him he was not responsible.
-
-
Harry avoided the Weasleys the rest of the day. Instead he used a lot of time thinking about what he should give to Hermione on her birthday. He didn't find any solution, however, and in frustration he wrote a letter to Lupin, asking him for help.
Hedwig was delighted to have some work to do and flew off immediately.
Harry watched her until she was completely out of sight before heading back to the common room, praying that Ron was asleep.
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