fandomhigh | DADA for Muggles [Wednesday, January 27]

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!]

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Edited 2010-01-27 13:52 (UTC)

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

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.

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.

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

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?

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.

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

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.

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.

DADA for Muggles [Wednesday, January 27]

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