DADA for Muggles [Wednesday, January 27]

[siriuslyscarred.livejournal.com]

When students came into the classroom, they'd find that desks were pushed to one side of the room, a smallish cupboard at the other end.

"Today," Remus greeted the class, "you will be facing a boggart -- a magical creature from our world. No one knows what it looks like in its natural shape, because when it's faced with a human, it will take the shape of your greatest fear, though generally in an accessible form -- spiders, ghouls, jack-in-the-boxes. It feeds off your fear. We aren't simply trying to scare you, though. Today's lesson is about facing fear and dread in a very concentrated and raw form."

"And a controllable form," Sirius added. "Professor Lupin and I have faced our fair share of boggarts: they like to take up residence in closets and cupboards and desk drawers in wizard homes. The secret to defeating them is laughter. So take a moment now to think of your greatest fear, and then make it ridiculous."

"And," Remus added, pulling out his wand with a flourish not dirty, "Professor Black and I will be performing a spell when each of you faces the boggart. However, you will need to be envisioning its absurdity, not us. It's not our boggart."

Remus opened the cabinet then, making sure to stand where the boggart would see him first and foremost. What sprang out of the cabinet looked like nothing so much as a crystal ball, or a large, glowing, white orb. Intuitive students could make their guesses, but Remus yelled with a jab of his wand, "Riddikulus!" and the orb popped like a balloon.

If Sirius was at all concerned about facing his greatest fear in a room full of students, he wasn't showing it other than in a slight tightness around his eyes. He let out a bark of laughter at the orb, drawing its attention, and the boggart immediately shifted shape into a black shadowy figure which appeared ready to suck every good feeling out of the room. Sirius glared up at it and waved his wand. "Riddikulus," he snapped, and the dementor was immediately wearing an extremely stupid hat.

Sirius's answering laughter sounded more genuine this time.

As soon as the hat appeared on the Dementor's head, Remus laughed and flicked his wand, and a simple black curtain divided the room, with the cupboard (and the boggart) on one side. Remus followed it with another charm to quickly soundproof a bit, as well. "For your privacy, as our fears are not everyone's business, you'll be facing your boggart over here, and we'll be asking you to wait your turn on the other side of the curtain, if it's quite all right with you," he said, peering around the curtain. "Please form a line, starting with...you." He pointed to a student at random. "This thing won't wait long, unfortunately."

[radio squirrels: les boggarts for the students, they are NFB. ETA: Also Dru and Remus's conversation. TY!]

Comments

Sign in [1/27]

[siriuslyscarred.livejournal.com]

Ready to face your fears!

Re: Sign in [1/27]

[bigbadgunn.livejournal.com]

Charles Gunn

Listen to the lecture [1/27]

[siriuslyscarred.livejournal.com]

Try to think of something exceedingly silly to do to what you're afraid of!

Re: Listen to the lecture [1/27]

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

Jonas didn't know what his boggart would turn into. Despite that, he was trying to think of the silliest things he had a memory of. There weren't many but he had to find something.

Re: Listen to the lecture [1/27]

[futuresmuggler.livejournal.com]

Having been here long enough, thinking of something silly wouldn't be a problem. Mirax was more trying to figure out what her boggart would turn into.

Re: Listen to the lecture [1/27]

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

Hinata was... pretty certain there was no way to make what she was relatively certain was her worst fear silly and sunk a little further into her chair with a soft sigh.

With the gremlins, she'd almost forgotten about this class and this topic.

Re: Listen to the lecture [1/27]

[bitten_notshy]

Jack frowned at his notepad as he considered the lecture. He knew what he was afraid of. He was afraid of a world where there was no Sebastien, where -- if he was still alive at all -- he was poor and ignorant and did anything he had to do to keep from starving. (His sister Rivka had done a bit better for herself, but Rivka had never been sold.) He was afraid of being persecuted for his faith, for who he slept with. He was afraid of the images of World War II concentration camps he'd seen, and of what would happen to him if a war like that came to his own world.

He just had not the least idea how any of that might take a physical form, let alone how to make that form silly.

Re: Listen to the lecture [1/27]

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

Helen... honestly wasn't sure what her worst fear was. Which was rather frightening in itself.

Re: Listen to the lecture [1/27]

[knowsnokungfu.livejournal.com]

Chuck was looking distinctly uncomfortable about this assignment. He wasn't good with scary things, even when they weren't real.

... Unless they were in video games. He was all fine when they were behind a screen and he could shoot them all.

Re: Listen to the lecture [1/27]

[gorka-wolf.livejournal.com]

Right. Makita was...not thrilled with this topic.

Mostly because she wasn't sure there was anything left that actually scared her. You couldn't be one of the wolves and survive as long as she had if you allowed any sort of fear to take root.

Re: Listen to the lecture [1/27]

[svetocha-blooms.livejournal.com]

Dru wasn't so sure about this assignment, mostly because she had no clue what her biggest fear was.

Re: Listen to the lecture [1/27]

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

If you asked her to her face what her biggest fear was, Kennedy might just laugh at you and claim she didn't have one. You'd be absolutely right to think she was full of crap.

But since no one had asked her outright and she was left to just think about it instead, Kennedy was shifting in her chair, hoping she didn't look as uncomfortable as she felt. God, she hated feeling like she wasn't on solid ground; it was stupid and weak and just not right at all.

How the hell you gave a physical form to the day it was too late for her to ever have a chance at being the Slayer, she had no idea, and she didn't really care beyond the fact that admitting it at all was just going to suck. How did you make that look silly?

Re: Listen to the lecture [1/27]

[wwiii]

Warren was going to just sit there. Quietly. With his hands in his pockets and his coat buttoned up and his harness strapped on extra tightly underneath.

He wasn't freaking out. Much.

Re: Listen to the lecture [1/27]

[make-the-shot.livejournal.com]

Proto was pretty sure he was beyond fear by now. Because, seriously, he'd been at war for too long for that.

Re: Listen to the lecture [1/27]

[wantstodirect]

Tony noticed the globe of light and wondered what Remus could be so frightened of.

Waitaminute. Light? Like those creatures this weekend? Was Remus secretly... (dun dun dun!) a were-gremlin?

Tony considered that a moment, then dismissed it. Nah, probably not.

Re: Listen to the lecture [1/27]

[pyroliz.livejournal.com]

Liz had a pretty good idea as to what her worst fear was and she had no idea how she was going to make it silly.

Face the boggart!

[siriuslyscarred.livejournal.com]

Behind the curtain, in addition to the cupboard, was a record player piping out jaunty music. Remus assured Sirius that this had a point. Sirius felt that Remus just wanted to inflict his terrible old-man-taste music on another group of students.

[OOC: Have your character tag in with a comment of what the boggart would turn into for them. One of the teachers will reply to "riddikulus" at it, then your ping gets to be the old Snape-in-a-funny hat, or whatever. If you have any questions, shoot us an email or ping us on IM at BunchofFHChars or fireballoffry.]

Re: Face the boggart!

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

When Jonas stepped up for his turn, he'd really begun to dread this. Still, he took a few deep breaths and prepared to face whatever was going to confront him.

Of course, he wasn't counting on seeing his father holding an infant again. Really, not expecting to see that. He almost felt immediately.

Re: Face the boggart!

[bitten_notshy]

Jack almost expected to see himself in some dreadful condition as he stepped up for his turn. He was prepared for that; he just wanted it over with.

What he wasn't prepared for was to see two men who had -- "cared for" was too strong -- had physical responsibility for Jack in his years as a child servant. They'd been indifferently kind at best, and cruel in a creative array of ways far more often than Jack ever let himself remember.

They leered at him in an unmistakable way. Come to play with us again?

Fear and fury shot through Jack in equal measure, and he glanced to the teacher.

Re: Face the boggart!

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

Helen's father stepped out, brandishing a knife and screaming at her. "Abomination! I should have killed you when you were born! I will kill you now instead, Hand of Uquar or no!"

Re: Face the boggart!

[gorka-wolf.livejournal.com]

Makita stepped forward, fully convinced that nothing was going to happen.

She was not prepared for the boggart to split into two forms: Proto, laying unconscious on the ground, and a woman (http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp24/Mixdup27/Art/Fire.jpg) made of liquid fire standing over him, raising her hand in an ominous manner.

It was how Makita had pictured the Red Fleet's warkasters when she was little, the first time she had seen a blast-wave rain fire down upon a city. Of course she knew better now, but it was a creature of which childish nightmares had been born.

Snarling slightly, her eyes flickered to the teacher, waiting for him to kast the spell that would let her stop the unfolding tableau.

Re: Face the boggart!

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

The jarring thing was how completely unthreatening the scene looked when Kennedy stepped up (hating the whole time that she could feel her heart pounding so hard it echoed in her ears) and the boggart took shape. There was nothing that looked intimidating or even slightly worthy of concern about a middle-aged British woman of African descent looking down at a clipboard in her hands, then over to Kennedy with a solemn, apologetic expression.

Dammit, it was too real.

"Constance?" Kennedy asked, irritation flashing through her eyes at how tiny and uncertain her voice sounded.

The boggart wearing Constance's form shook her head sadly, then held a hand out to Kennedy as if waiting for her to hand something over.

Kennedy clenched her jaw. "No. No freaking way."

Re: Face the boggart!

[wantstodirect]

Tony expected to see a shadow or a demon or maybe a more mundane horror. What he didn't expect was to see himself looking back at him. Almost like looking in a mirror...

...until he spotted the Hunger in his eyes. He - it - grinned, showing off a set of sharp fangs. Tony knew before looking down that its hands were covered with blood. As he watched, the boggart lifted a finger to his mouth and languidly licked it clean.

Tony shuddered and took a step back.

Talk to the Teachers [1/27]

[siriuslyscarred.livejournal.com]

Who are here before and after class for your convenience.

Re: Talk to the Teachers [1/27]

[lycanthromoony.livejournal.com]

Remus was looking drawn and tired, but he was available to students during and after class.

[NOTE TO MY SUPER-SLEUTHY SMART STUDENTS! If you want to figure out that Remus' boggart is a full moon, that is cool! Pls to be emailing me with a heads up if your character's connecting the dots all the way to werewolf, though, pretty please!]

OOC

[siriuslyscarred.livejournal.com]

Yay, boggarts!

And Snape's hat will never not be awesome.