I'm just grateful fourth years didn't have to go first! on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Professor Pye

January 08, 2017 2:12 AM

Riddikulus is as Ridiculous does (Int. Defense, Years 3-5) by Professor Pye

Alfie watched as his Intermediate students walked in bleary-eyed and full from breakfast. It was a wonder that more of them didn’t cause each other injury seeing as the class started at 7:30am. His dark eyes, almost black, followed the prim, blonde head of his brother. Over the break, Alfie had dropped by for his usual Christmas visit—it hadn’t gone as innocently as previous visits had since there were pressing matters he’d needed to take care of, but there really hadn’t been much for it. He’d heard a commotion elsewhere in the house—likely one of the intruder charms Father had set up, and made a hasty exit. There was still a lot more Barnaby had to tell him, but Alfie wasn’t about to risk meeting while at Sonora. He knew that he was skirting the edge of morality—it was one of the main reasons he had been pulling away from the girls as of late, as though he would somehow sully their consciouses just by being around them, and he wasn’t going to bring any more of that Pye VOOODOO to the school. Not if he could help it, anyway.

However, as much as he was afraid of turning into his father, today was not one of those days where he could really spend much time worrying about his problems. In a classroom—especially one that started this early in the morning, one had to be alert and fully engaged. While Alfie still thought that learning from mistakes was probably the best way to learn, he also realised that a lot of the students at the school came from rich, influential families who would likely be very upset should Priscilla or Dortmund come home from school having been dreadfully disfigured or injured in a badly monitored Defense class. And besides, the students would have their own worst fears to worry about momentarily.

“Over the weekend, I asked you all to familiarise yourself with the spell, Riddikulus. In the past, I know it’s been briefly mentioned, but I had never been able to actually get ahold of a Boggart. Until today!” He smiled and lifted the silencing charm he’d placed on the rocking cupboard in the back of the room and loud thumping could be heard from the Boggart he’d managed to acquire in one of the more shady areas of wizarding Pheonix. Having his intermediates students challenge a Boggart was probably one of the best ideas he’d had yet. Composed of three different years, the intermediate students were by far the largest class at Sonora which mean that there would be more fears for the Boggart to pick up on and be confused by.

“Lining up with the fifth years in front and third years in back,” this way the younger students would be dealing with a Boggart who was sufficiently weakened, “we’ll take turns practising Riddikulus.” Alfie waited for the students to clear away from their desks and he waved his wand, vanishing them so that the room was now empty aside from himself, the students, and the Boggart in the closet. “Now, remember, your arm moves like so,” Alfie demonstrated in front of the class, “and you must think of something very funny,” he cast the spell at a chalkboard, causing an explosion of sparks and a large crack which might have made a more nervous person than himself jump—especially as the chalkboard came careening down off the wall a moment later.

He had originally thought to take the first go at the Boggart, but since he’d encountered a fair number of them in his day and he didn’t think this was a particularly old one, he was worried about vanquishing it before any of the students got to have a go. “I’ll give ten points to the House of the student who offers to go first, and then we’re off!”

OOC: Class rules apply as usual, sorry for this being so late! Also, apologies if I’ve done a Boggart lesson recently, I tried to look at the more recent ones but didn’t seem to see any.

Subthreads:

I'm up first? I should have skipped. by Jax Donovan (Aladren) with Barnaby Pye, Aladren, Kyte Collindale, Pecari

I'm just grateful fourth years didn't have to go first! by Laila Kennedy, Crotalus with Arne Reinhardt, Crotalus, Dustin Newell, Aladren, Fabian Brockert, Pecari

10 Professor Pye Riddikulus is as Ridiculous does (Int. Defense, Years 3-5) 30 Professor Pye 1 5

Jax Donovan (Aladren)

January 08, 2017 6:28 PM

I'm up first? I should have skipped. by Jax Donovan (Aladren)

Jax had been dreading this lesson since the moment Professor Pye had sent them homework to study the Riddikulus charm. He didn’t want to come face to face with the Boggart. He didn’t want to know what his greatest fear was and pretty much believed it to be something that had to do with his werewolf infliction. He was terrified more about the fact that there was a strong possibility that his class would find out what it all meant and figure him out (if they hadn’t already).

He and his sister had sat down for a long time after they had finished their homework and discussed at length what to do about the lesson. Gia had no worry over her own fear as she was not afraid of werewolves (and why would she be? Jax knew his sister loved him and knowing him influenced her thoughts about them but she also hadn’t been there the night of the attack and hadn’t seen what it was that they could really do) but without knowing what his exactly was, there was still the chance of exposure.

For a while, Jax considered simply skipping the lesson altogether. He figure that Professor Pye would understand why he felt that it would have been necessary for him to need to do that. Jax did not skip lessons. He always did his work, he did well on his exams, and he was always punctual. There was no reason to doubt him as a person or a student. So skipping a lesson was purely for self-preservation. Gia didn’t like the idea of him missing the lesson, but she was also supportive of him. He knew this was a stress on her even though she never indicated it as that. She would just smile and tell him everything would be okay. Really, he knew she was petrified of what would happen if everyone knew. She had friends here. She felt that they were family. He didn’t want to be the reason she didn’t have that anymore.

In the end though and after a long night of little sleep, Jax came to the lesson. He realized that his fear wasn’t himself but rather, it was the werewolf and anyone could be afraid of a werewolf. Gia and him had spent some time trying to work out ways in which to insight laughter. Gia’s was more difficult being that it was spiders and Jax really didn’t know how someone made those things funny. But he did have an idea for his so when asked for volunteers, he moved forward and raised his hand. “I’ll go first.” Jax specified.

Taking out his wand, Jax hesitantly made his way towards the closet and gave Professor Pye a nod to show he was ready. He wasn’t really ready. His palms were sweaty and he was breathing a little heavier than normal, but it was now or never and he would rather have credit than none at all. Before Jax could even blink, the door was open and a werewolf was standing in front of him growling. It was the one from the forest. The one that had killed his father. The panic that had surged through him when he was five came back now at sixteen.

He tightened his hand around his wand and tried not to look at the blood that stained the werewolf’s teeth. His father’s blood. His blood. “Riddikulus!” Jax nearly shouted and was surprise to find that when the wolf tried to howl or bark, it meowed like a small kitten instead. It was a strange thing to witness and the wolf/boggart seemed equally confused. There was some laughter and feeling somewhat satisfied (even if it wasn’t perfect), Jax moved quickly away and took a few breaths to try to calm his nerves.

OOC: Received permission from Professor Pye’s author to have him open the closet.

6 Jax Donovan (Aladren) I'm up first? I should have skipped. 296 Jax Donovan (Aladren) 0 5

Barnaby Pye, Aladren

January 10, 2017 12:45 AM

We all should have skipped. by Barnaby Pye, Aladren

When Alfie announced the lesson for the day, Barnaby felt sick to his stomach. The thing he feared most was probably his and Tarquin’s plans being discovered before they could come to fruition. And now, it seemed, these things were about to be on display for the whole class. He didn’t think he had ever hated his brother more in that moment, it wasn’t a very charitable thought, but would it really hurt anyone if something terrible were to happen to Alfie that just made the lesson…go away?

But, it seemed, no one was going to be crashing through the windows for Alfie to sacrifice himself to today because the desks were cleared and everyone lined up. Part of Barnaby felt like hiding in the back somewhere where he could be looked over when, in the rush of things, he found himself standing behind Jax. Barnaby felt his heart stop as his former roommate’s subtle, clean scent washed over him and his cheeks coloured. Unfortunately the moment of peace was soon interrupted when Jax raised his hand and offered to go first.

His previously stopped heart started racing again for another reason. If Jax went first then, as the person standing behind him, Barnaby would go next. Tarquin was berating him for having let emotions get the best of him. See, this is what having feelings does, Tarquin was saying. This is why I said you couldn’t get close with them, this is why I cautioned you to distance yourself. But then Alfie was opening the wardrobe and a snarling werewolf with blood dripping from it’s teeth was climbing out of it.

And once again, Barnaby’s heart stopped. Because he had only ever seen a werewolf in pictures and books and instinctively he wondered just how scared Jax was or whether or not he’d ever seen a werewolf in real life (because this one was more realistic than anything Barnaby had ever seen in any book). He was certain his face had turned white, but then Jax was casting the Riddikulus spell and the werewolf was…meowing? Barnaby’s face flushed as Jax stepped to the back of the line and he stepped forward, determined to prove himself despite his fears.

The werewolf in front of him cocked it’s head a little and began to change shape. The fur shrunk in-wards and various bits whizzed about, the boggart didn’t seem to be able to decide on a fear and as Barnaby glanced at Alfie, wondering just what his older half-brother was thinking of all this, the boggart stopped changing shape and a bloodied man crumpled in a heap on the floor, reaching out a hand to Barnaby, groaning as the blood ran out of his mouth. Barnaby wasn’t sure if boggarts could smell, but it was so realistic, he almost could taste the metallic scent of Alfie Pye’s blood in his mouth.

The dying Defense professor in front of him gurgled as Barnaby raised his wand. He felt even more sick to his stomach than he had before. He tried to cast the spell but his mind was blank to anything that could make this death funny. His arm made the correct movement before flopping to his side as the spell fell from his lips in a breathless sigh like he was forcing all the air from his lungs. Barnaby didn’t think he could even breath. He wasn’t even sure if he could move.

He felt someone pull him aside and he rested his arm against the wall, his head falling to lean against it as he tried to breathe. His chest hurt, and more than any confusion he felt about what it all meant was anger, anger towards Alfie for humiliating him like this in front of the whole Intermediate class.

10 Barnaby Pye, Aladren We all should have skipped. 298 Barnaby Pye, Aladren 0 5

Caelia Lucan, Crotalus

January 10, 2017 12:45 AM

You're telling me... by Caelia Lucan, Crotalus

Caelia Lucan did not like the idea of fighting with a boggart, she found the whole thing kind of distasteful and unladylike. Confronting one’s worst fears in front of the whole class? Caelia was afraid of a lot of things. She was afraid she really was an idiot, she was afraid people laughed at her when she turned her back, she was afraid of marrying below her status, she was afraid of losing her brother and her comfortable lifestyle. She was afraid of Matthew being exposed to the world and loosing her friends. She was afraid of spiders and other creepy crawlies and she was afraid of mongooses because for whatever reason she really liked snakes.

Werewolves did not cross her mind until Jax Donovan volunteered to go first and a snarling, evil looking monster appeared. It meowed and Barnaby Pye stepped up next. And then, a curious thing happened. The boggart did not seem able to make up it’s mind and Caelia wondered why that might be. Surely Barnaby Pye, someone who had never quite struck her as a person with very many fears, wasn’t afraid of that many things! She then started to wonder why Barnaby didn’t try to cast the spell then, as the boggart was shifting? That would certainly be a better thing to do than to wait for the worst fear of all to materialize.

But for whatever reason Barnaby was frozen and, as the person standing behind him in line, Caelia clearly saw the prone form of their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, dying on the floor in front of them. She had always known that Barnaby and Professor Pye had the same last name. She was sure that she had also known that they were related. After all, there weren’t that many people with the last name Pye. But it had never fully clicked in her head until that moment. Professor Pye was too young to be Barnaby’s father, Caelia thought. So what were they then cousins? Brothers? She thought about losing Wesley and then about losing Emrys and her heart went out to him.

She grabbed his arm and moved him out of the way of the boggart, leaving her place in line. But now that she had stepped out she didn’t know what to do. She and Barnaby weren’t friends. In fact, she had heard of his reputation and was certain that she was exactly the kind of witch that he didn’t like. Privileged and silly, just a pretty face with no brains. If she tried to talk to him, he might snap at her and embarrass her more than anything. She swallowed guiltily and abandoned him, sneaking back into line, waiting for the person who had been behind her to finish their spell before stepping forward, rather bravely, she said to herself, and waited to see what her boggart might be.

Her lovely, friendly, sandy haired big brother smiled his wide dimples at her, hair falling in his face. He was wearing a dirty, tan colored dig suit, a white wife beater smudged with dust and sweat on top with the arms of the suit tied around his waist. His boots looked heavy as he clumped forward, leaving a trail of footprints. “You’re useless,” he said to her, his dimpled grin becoming sinister. “You’re completely useless and you’ll always be useless. You’ll never amount to anything because there’s nothing in your head. You stupid, simple, silly little gir—”

“Riddikulus!” Caelia shouted, trying her hardest to think of the time when Emrys, scared out of his mind when a grandfather clock in their living room chimed, accidently smeared their mother’s lipstick across his face, despite the tears that were biting at her eyes. They’d been chatting at the kitchen table and he’d been fiddling with some of the things that had fallen out of Mother’s purse and he’d only just opened the tube.

The Emrys in front of her copied that startled look, bordello-red across his lips and making jagged lines up his face. “The clock,” he uttered and Caelia let herself laugh a bit before hurrying back to join the others who had finished the trial by boggart.

10 Caelia Lucan, Crotalus You're telling me... 307 Caelia Lucan, Crotalus 0 5

Laila Kennedy, Crotalus

January 10, 2017 1:23 AM

I'm just grateful fourth years didn't have to go first! by Laila Kennedy, Crotalus

At first, Laila thought that she would have been able to handle the boggart. She didn’t think she was actually afraid of that many things. There were the general fears that most people had like spiders or the dark or public speaking, but spiders only made her feel mildly uncomfortable and in the dark she would just light a candle or flip her cell phone open when seh was at home. Public speaking had never really been an issue for her as she kind of liked attention sometimes.

But then the fifth years started to go and as they went, Laila felt less and less confident. Some of them had personal fears—like Caelia Lucan’s of being told she wasn’t worth anything, others had more graphic ones like Jax’s werewolf and Barnaby Pye’s dead Defense Professor. The werewolf had frightened her a little bit, the snarling and blood was certainly terrifying, but it was also intriguing in a way—it was like her beloved Blood Moon Rising series come to life in front of her and the prickles that ran down her spine scared her only because of how much of her wanted to step forward and examine the werewolf-boggart closer. The dying Professor Pye, on the other hand…

Laila was still shaking as the last of the fifth years finished up and she, as the first fourth year in line, was required to go. It was a horrible, scarring image to see someone you know dying such a gross, graphic death. She wondered how Barnaby was doing, feeling a little sorry for him even though he was persona non grata amongst her friend group. That was when her mother with her dark, curly hair and loving eyes appeared in front of her shaking that wooden stirring spoon for all she was worth.

“Laila Maria Kennedy!” her mother scolded, “Vergogna! You’ve brought shame to the family with your—” she sprinkled her hands about. “Il Papa himself called the house. You’ve been excommunicated, bambina, how to explain that to Nonna, hmm? Now when you die, you’re going to hell!”

Laila blushed red, squirming uncomfortably as her mother scolded her in front of her classmates for being excommunicated. Maybe they didn’t know what that meant, but it was a big, big deal. People didn’t just get excommunicated for nothing. And for the pope to have gotten involved? Shameful. And then she remembered it wasn’t real, it was just a boggart.

“Riddikulus,” she cast, imagining her mother roller-skating through pizza sauce until the slippery floor made her fall. She giggled at the image and moved to the back of the line, shooting Arne a glare when he laughed at her boggart and called her a goody-two-shoes. She’d like to see his face if the pope himself ever called his mother directly to tell her that he’d been excommunicated!

OOC:
-Vergogna!, shame on you!
-Il Papa, the pope

10 Laila Kennedy, Crotalus I'm just grateful fourth years didn't have to go first! 318 Laila Kennedy, Crotalus 0 5

Arne Reinhardt, Crotalus

January 10, 2017 2:32 AM

I second that! by Arne Reinhardt, Crotalus

Arne Reinhardt liked to put on a brave face. He liked to think that he was invincible and that nothing scared him. This was completely untrue. Arne Reinhardt was actually kind of afraid of a lot of things and the fear of people finding out about these things made him put himself in situations in which he was confronted by these things so that people would think that he was brave. Maybe it was vanity or maybe it was true bravery, but whatever it was, since he was a young child he had become quite adapt at getting over fears by the close proximity to spiders, snakes, the dark, and heights among other things he had put himself in.

There were other, more deep rooted fears that he had like the fear of loosing his parents and his family, the fear of the house burning down, the fear of an earthquake destroying the town. But these were things that he calmly was sure the boggart wouldn’t pick up on. They were big fears, but were they his worst fears? He didn’t think so because he thought he knew how he would act in those situations. He had been taught how to protect himself in an earthquake in elementary school and similarly how to escape a burning building. He was afraid of those things, but he didn’t think he would be…what was the phrase? Paralysed by fear. He would grieve over the loss of a family member, but he knew that eventually he would figure out how to move on with his life? He would owe it to them to do well.

So he wasn’t quite sure he knew what it was that would shake him so down to the core that he wouldn’t be able to do anything, because if he ever encountered a boggart, he was certain that was the fear it would pick up on. After all, a monster wasn’t scary if it’s only purpose was to frighten you. A monster was scary if it frightened you in order to then do something to you, and a fear which immobilised a person was clearly the perfect fear to use in order to eat them. Or whatever it was that boggarts did with their victims. Arne wasn’t really sure, he couldn’t remember much from his weekend reading since he’d neglected it to practice Quidditch on his own outside of Alistair’s training regime. But eating them sounded about right. After all, what else was there besides murdering? But senseless killing didn’t seem like a very boggart-y thing to do.

It was Jax Donovan, a classmate which Arne couldn’t really understand why so many girls seemed to like (the other wizard was certainly surrounded by enough of them) who helped Arne realise his greatest fear, however, because Arne was so terrified by his classmate’s boggart that he forgot to step forward until someone behind him pushed the line and he was forced to move. So scared was he that he didn’t notice Barnaby Pye’s mishap and only heard about it afterwards in gossipy whispers toned with pity and condescension. He came to a couple classmates later, even after Caelia Lucan brisked by him, her floral perfume distracting him enough that he turned his head to watch her walk to the back of the line. Dang, she was pretty.

When it was finally Arne’s turn (he poked fun at Laila’s fear of being told she wasn’t holy enough as she walked to the back of the line because how else was he supposed to defend himself from people who would laugh if he froze up again?) he took a deep breath and went over things that might make a werewolf funny. The boggart began to shift from Laila’s sauce-covered mother into, just as he’d predicted only moments before, a nasty looking werewolf with shining teeth dripping with blood, snarling and clawing bloodied paws as it lunged forward.

“Riddikulus!” he said a little breathlessly, jumping backwards. The werewolf let out a little yelp and shrunk in size to an adorable puppy whose feet were too big for it’s tiny body attempting to maul him.

Pleased with his work, he stepped back to let the next fourth year take a crack at it.

10 Arne Reinhardt, Crotalus I second that! 319 Arne Reinhardt, Crotalus 0 5

Kyte Collindale, Pecari

January 14, 2017 7:28 AM

Nah, you showed that awful beast! by Kyte Collindale, Pecari

Face the fear and do it anyway. Kyte had a lot of mottoes to live by. His family was fond of sayings, and the more abstract, meaningless but generally uplifting and inspirational the better. Thus he lived in a near constant swirling vortex of cliché and inspirational fridge magnets. But that one was a good one. It was pretty apt in the circus. He'd gotten over the idea of 'fear' at a pretty early age. The main fear he had to encounter was the fear of falling and hurting himself, and his mum and dad were pretty good at patching them all up. Fear usually also meant he was about to do something kind of awesome, and it had more or less been entirely replaced with adrenaline, until the trace amounts he felt were fairly indistinguishable from the more positive rush.

He bounced into Defence class fairly unconcerned. Partly because he lived in the moment and, whilst other classmates might have worried about what the reading they'd been assigned might mean, and might have spent their weekend sweating and fretting over facing their darkest fears, he had merely done it as quickly as possible to get it out of the way, so that he could go outside and juggle or ride his broom. Now, as the prospect of the boggart became what was in the here and now, he was more curious and pumped up by the thought of the challenge than scared. It wasn't real anyway. Defence class was like flying with safety spells on you, and he'd got over feeling scared of that when he was tiny.

As a third year, he was sent to the back of the line, which made for a long and boring wait, although he did get to see everyone else's boggarts, which was definitely interesting. He knew what his own would be, even without having given much thought to the reading. His biggest fear was definitely werewolves. Kyte was not a prejudiced person. His mother had taken care to instil tolerance and understanding in him. He knew that werewolves were people most of the time and that was why you didn't shoot to kill with them. But spending a lot of time in the outdoors, sleeping most nights in tents, attack by werewolf seemed a real and practical fear. His parents' assurances that most everyone with the condition took wolfsbane and that their tents were well encircled with protective enchantments was not enough to reassure a small child's irrational fear of the dark, and what might be lurking in it. This natural, child-like fear was most definitely not helped along by having a lot of older cousins, who took great delight in telling the scariest stories they could possibly imagine, about crazy murderous werewolves that loved to eat little boys.

He was amazed when the first boggart out of the cupboard mirrored his own, and watched, keen to see how Jax dealt with it. He gave a hearty laugh when the werewolf reared back its head and mewed. When the older boy moved back, Kyte grinned at him.

“Hey, good job,” he grinned. “I think we have the same boggart. I was trying to imagine what to do to mine. I was kind of thinking like when it howls to try and have all the air hiss out and it deflate like a balloon,” he added. Kyte had a pretty good imagination, and so it had been easy for him to think of something comical. “Man... they're creepy things, right?” he sympathised, unaware of the affect his words might be having on the older boy, assuming instead that this shared fear was a source of camaraderie, something they had in common and could share in. “Right brutes. Imagine one of those crunching through your spine... eugh!” he shuddered.

13 Kyte Collindale, Pecari Nah, you showed that awful beast! 335 Kyte Collindale, Pecari 0 5

Jemima Wolseithcrafte, Teppenpaw

January 14, 2017 8:21 AM

This got really morbid, really fast (tag Owen) by Jemima Wolseithcrafte, Teppenpaw

Jemima was usually a fairly sunny person. She always had been by nature, just a little... lighter somehow than the rest of her family. Not so serious. More prone to smiling and to trying to see the positives and to be a positive. Ironically, this had been something of a source of... if not exactly unhappiness then definitely uncertainty in her youth. She had not fit in well. She was something of a black sheep. In a very likeable way. Her family didn't look down on her for how she was, but she simply was not like the rest of them. At Sonora though, she had found her feet. She had found people like her. Whilst she was sure that all Teppenpaws, and a lot of non-Teppenpaws, were very nice people, she was quite convinced that fifth year Teppenpaw was the best group of people there could be.

She had done her reading for today's class, and knew full well what would be coming up. She supposed she was a little bit afraid but a larger part of her was morbidly curious. What was she afraid of? Certainly, she could think of creatures she didn't want to cross paths with, and scenarios that she found deeply upsetting, such as losing her friends, her family or Owen. But was she afraid of any of those? Whilst she certainly didn't want them to happen, she didn't exactly lie awake at night worrying that they were going to. She didn't actively fear it. Though did people who were scared of spiders sit there worrying about them appearing? Was it more the thing that, deep down, would get you squirming if you did see it? It was odd to think of a creature that could see deeper inside her than she really could herself. The thing that came closest to making her worry was maybe Owen's asthma. She certainly had been afraid of it when she'd first met him and hadn't really understood it, and had just thought that he might stop breathing at any given moment, which was definitely a scary thought. And she didn't like it when it seemed like it was bothering him, and like it might get worse. But she was sort of used to it now. Nothing really bad had ever happened as a result of it. She was even planning to ask him to dance with her at the fair.. She knew he thought he couldn't, but she wasn't convinced. It wasn't like Owen couldn't get slightly out of breath or he'd die. Plus she'd been looking at Samba instructions and it seemed like it wasn't as fast as some Latin dances. The first description she'd read had begun 'Slower than the salsa. Admittedly, that wasn't a lot to go on, given that she'd never done salsa dancing, but it was encouraging. And if they had to do a slightly slower samba, that was ok too. She just wanted to dance with Owen, not some random second year boy.

Perhaps she would ask him after they'd tried the spell. After all, this class was all about facing their fears. And she had been putting it off because she was worried he'd say no, or that they'd have a fight over it, and she didn't want that. She took her place in line, waiting to do the spell. She watched Barnaby Pye fail and she couldn't say she blamed him. What would she do if she ended up with a dead family member, or Owen's face going blue in front of her? How could you make that funny? She ran through ideas... if it was a balloon head and it went pop? But then that was like his head exploding, and that wasn't good...

She had until Caelia finished her turn to think, but then before she knew it, Caelia had pushed Barnaby out of the line and gone with him, with Jemima up next, still not totally sure what her biggest fear was, or how to make it funny. Perhaps because it had been the last thing on her mind, or perhaps because it was the possibility that crossed it most frequently, the boggart took on the appearance of Owen, blue in the face and choking (Jemima didn't exactly know what a full blown asthma attack looked like but she knew it meant he wouldn't be able to breathe).

“Riddikulus!” she squeaked, trying to just think about it being funny, though with no real plan as to how, and equally to focus on the fact it wasn't real. The fake Owen stopped choking and grinned.

'Just kidding, it said.

It was a bit literal, and really not actually amusing, but at least he wasn't dying any more, and Jemima scurried to the back of the line. When the real Owen was done and had joined her, she hugged him.

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to nearly choke you,” she apologised, referencing the boggart. She knew it wasn't real and that she hadn't really done anything but she still felt vaguely guilty and upset about the whole thing, even though she knew it was silly. And definitely didn't feel like bringing up dancing right now...

13 Jemima Wolseithcrafte, Teppenpaw This got really morbid, really fast (tag Owen) 304 Jemima Wolseithcrafte, Teppenpaw 0 5

Jax

January 16, 2017 6:48 PM

Yeah, I sure showed that beast... by Jax

Jax was working on calming himself down after dealing with his Boggart, the very beast that had killed his father and taken away any form of normal life that he would have had when the third year approached him. Jax was not in the mood for congratulations nor was he in the mood to listen to a kid try to talk about how terrible werewolves were. People like Kyte were the reasons why Jax had to keep who he was secret. Kyte and people like him were the reasons why his mother had to flee her own home after just burying her husband because people could not stand the thought of a werewolf living in their town.

Werewolves were not what frightened Jax so much as the person behind the one that killed his father. Jax did not know what the man looked like so the wolf form was what he saw when he thought about it. Over the summer, his mother had revealed to him that the wolf had been purposefully sent to attack and kill his father and him but obviously failed at the latter. The reason behind the plot had nothing to actually do with Jax or his father, but with his Great Uncle who was known for criminal activity and making deals with other criminals. Apparently, he made the wrong sort of deal with the wrong sort of men that fell through and as a result, Jax and his father paid the price.

When Jax had left the Boggart and walked away to calm down, he had seen his sister’s face. She had looked terrified and tortured because she knew what it had meant. She knew whose blood had been on its teeth. Knowing that he put his sister in pain like that upset him. He was already on edge and listening to this third year talk about werewolves like he even had a clue was only making his mood worse.

He knew that he would have to endure these types of ignorance someday but he didn’t think it would have been on a day that he had to face the one creature that he hated most in this world. “I think you misunderstand my Boggart.” Jax replied, looking at the twin of Raine, a girl he didn’t mind having to work with. “I am not terrified of werewolves.” Jax stated, her voice void of emotion as he tried to keep his anger in check. “I am afraid of the man hidden in that particular one. I do not know what he looks like, only his wolf form.”

6 Jax Yeah, I sure showed that beast... 296 Jax 0 5

Owen Brockert, Teppenpaw

January 19, 2017 2:14 AM

And absolutely mortifying by Owen Brockert, Teppenpaw

Owen disliked Defense more and more all the time. He absolutely could not wait to drop it next year. Not only did he morally object to certain aspects-such as dueling-it made him feel weak and pitiful. Like he was being judged against his male classmates-and probably his female classmates-even the ones two years younger and found lacking. His asthma limited him, he could do things but had to do them slower and take rests if it got to be too much.

In Defense, though, that didn't exactly work well for him. One had to be quick on their feet which he'd never been. Even without the asthma, the Teppenpaw probably wouldn't have been much of an athlete with his mother always guiding him away from competitive activities. She didn't really believe in them and then when he'd developed his condition, that had been it.

The class always had a way of making Owen feel inferior, bad about himself. Like a total wimp. And the fact that Ingrid Wolseithcrafte was there, possibly ready to tell her family how Owen was totally unfit to be with Jemima did not help matters.

Knowing today was boggarts did not help matters. He understood the educational value of the lesson, boggarts weren't limited to far flung countries that he was unlikely to ever visit but could be found in dark corners and wardrobes in ones house. The thing was, Owen had a pretty good idea that knew what his was. And it was humiliating. It wasn't werewolf like Jax or anything. Something people could find a legitimately scary and understand. Plus, Jemima might hate him for it and that was something Owen truly could not bear.

Of course, Caelia's was more along the lines of what his was going to be, what with the her older brother telling her she was useless. The Teppenpaw's heart went out to her as he was afraid of being told something along those lines. Just not by his own family. He imagined that was worse in her case.

And then there was Jemima's which was a bit disconcerting and a few years ago, would have likely been exactly what his was. For just a second his heart warmed both at their sameness and at the fact that she cared so much about him that she worried about his illness.

Unfortunately, he didn't have much time to feel touched, because it was his turn. He braced himself for the inevitable. And there he was, Theodore Wolseithcrafte staring at Owen with complete contempt. "You're not good enough for my sister and you never will be." The Aladren alum snarled as the fifth year began to feel sick to his stomach. "She needs a real man, not an asthmatic weakling like you."

Owen took a deep breath. This was humiliating beyond belief, happening not just in front of Jemima but Ingrid too. Not to mention all the guys in their class who were all so much tougher than he was. He was pretty certain that the only guys he had an advantage over in the eyes of the Wolseithcraftes were the ones not in their social class.

Still, he had to succeed at this-he already knew he'd be bested by at least one fourth year and a girl at that-and that meant he had to find a way to make Theodore funny. It would not be an easy task as he'd never gotten the impression that the older boy was a particularly humorous sort and while the idea of losing Jemima in some way-this being what his subconscious believed was the most likely way-was what scared him, this was more humiliating than anything. And it could possibly make Jemima hate him. A thought that sickened him beyond all others.

He remembered something once though that his cousins had mentioned on the wagon which was liking to dress their uncle Seth, the school's former groundskeeper, up in silly hats. Of course, Owen had a feeling he'd need the whole blasted costume. " Riddikulus "

And then before him, before all of them, stood Theodore Wolseithcrafte wearing a full on chicken costume. His girlfriend's brother attempted to continue berating him, but instead all that came out was clucking.

He joined Jemima at the back of the line and she hugged him. "Um that's okay. I'm, uh, sorry I turned your brother into a giant chicken. And that my boggart turned into him in the first place." Please don't be mad at me. Owen silently begged her.

11 Owen Brockert, Teppenpaw And absolutely mortifying 300 Owen Brockert, Teppenpaw 0 5

Ginger

January 19, 2017 10:59 AM

And creepily quiet by Ginger

As Ginger did last night's reading about boggarts, she couldn't help wondering what her worst fear was. She didn't think of herself as a particularly fearless person, but when faced with the question "What is my biggest fear?" her mind just went blank and she couldn't really come up with anything she was afraid of.

There were the usual suspects of course. Spiders creeped her out a bit, especially since she lived outside in an area with poisonous varieties of them. Scorpions could get her climbing up on top of things and shrieking for someone to come get rid of it. But these were more cases of 'I don't want to die because I didn't take common sense precautions against things that can venom me to death' than serious paralyzing fear. She supposed rattlers would come closer to getting that kind of response, but again she wasn't sure that exactly qualified as Worst Fear Ever.

When she was very small, she'd heard stories of Child Protective Services investigating her family, and that had been pretty scary, but they were just stories by the time she'd been born, and as long as she went to school, the state seemed satisfied that her family was qualified to raise their kids without interference. So that was neither a real issue nor a real fear, even if the idea of being taken from her mom still sounded quite terrible whenever the stories resurfaced around the campfire at night.

She had too much close contact with the shade of Regina Pierce to consider ghosts scary, and dragons were just too beautiful and lacked enough close contact to really frightened her.

Early in her time at Sonora, she worried she'd get Jemima in trouble for being friends with her, but that had never happened so that had faded. More recently, the conflict with Mom over Jake had given her nightmares, but she felt that too had been satisfactorily resolved for now. The situation still wasn't ideal, of course, but she didn't think it was boggart fodder at this point.

So, in short, she was actually kind of excited to learn they'd get to face a real boggart today, if only to see if a rattlesnake was really the worst thing she could imagine. If it was, she wasn't sure if that meant she was pretty darn brave after all, or if it just meant she lacked imagination.

She raised a hand to go first, but Jax got there first, so she just filed into line after Owen. Werewolf for Jax; that was definitely not something she wanted to run into on a full moon night, and she jumped back as it appeared, hiding behind Owen a little bit until it mewed, but she didn't really think werewolves were her fear. They were kind of like dragons; she just didn't have enough personal stake in them to really think of them as a threat to her. They were just normal people most of the time, after all.

Then Barnaby saw the professor dying and that was quite awful and she felt bad for the Aladren as he had to be escorted away. She expected she'd be similarly unable to cope with seeing someone she cared for dying. She hoped that wasn't hers. She didn't think any of her family was in immediate danger of that though, except Uncle Joshua, but he was like a million years old and he'd been sick a long time, so nobody was going to be too surprised when he passed. So death just wasn't something she worried about too much.

Apparently Jemima did, though, but Ginger guessed Owen's asthma made that a more prominent concern than it might have otherwise been. She squeezed Owen's hand and gave him a little hug, in case her roommate's boyfriend and her own friend needed some support seeing himself dying. And she maybe wanted to make sure he wasn't dying right now for herself, too.

Then Caelia came back and got berated by someone Ginger guessed was probably her brother, and while Ginger felt bad for the girl she was pretty certain that wasn't going to be her fear, and not only because she didn't have an older brother. Alistair telling her to stop playing Quidditch had come close to that level of rebuke and it had felt awful when he did it, but getting that kind of censure wasn't a thing that scared her. It just made her cry.

Then Owen was up, getting the you're not welcome in this family speech that she fully expected from the Mangers some day, but again, not a fear. That was a near certainty, and one she was resigned to. She did have to laugh at seeing Jemima's brother as a clucking chicken though. It was just so unexpected and completely not like the elder Wolseithcrafte!

And then the Boggart set its sights on her and she faced it down, not with bravery, because bravery required fear and she didn't feel any. She was just eagerly curious, and still chuckling a bit over Chicken Theodore.

The boggart flinched back from her, loosing its Theodore shape, but not immediately morphing into anything else, then abruptly, it vanished all together and the room got darker and somehow quieter.

Ginger began to feel nervous. The noise of her classmates lessened further. It got harder to see the edges of the room. Ginger's heart pounded, not sure exactly what she was afraid of, but definitely afraid now. "Ridikkulus!" she cast, waving her room to make a spotlight come down on Pye's desk and a clown popped out from behind it, and squirted her with a water flower on his lapel.

She laughed, loving clown acts, and headed to the back of the room to join her classmates who had already gone and the ones who were still waiting their turn. "Uh," she shuddered, once she was safely away from the bogart and the next fifth year was facing it. "I still don't know what I'm afraid of, but apparently that thing does."

1 Ginger And creepily quiet 302 Ginger 0 5

Dustin Newell, Aladren

January 20, 2017 2:09 AM

I third it! by Dustin Newell, Aladren

Walking into a lesson on boggarts claiming fearlessness was not exactly productive. Not pondering the options left one woefully unprepared for the reality of the actual face-down. It was not smart, not good strategy, but it was what Dustin was doing. He was certain he was fearless, considering fear the way of lesser men. After all, no way could a boggart frighten him. For one thing, he wasn’t afraid of anything, and for another, even if he was afraid of something, this boggart was not actually it, just a cheap impression. There was no way something like that could bring rise to any actual fear.

But as he stood in line, watching the fifth years go in turn, the Aladren began to doubt his previous assessment. Barnaby Pye’s bout with the beast was particularly traumatizing, not that Dustin personally had any attachment to Professor Pye, but watching such an accurate depiction of one’s teacher mortally wounded and near death was troubling to the psychological well-being of any developing teenager. Maybe this lesson wasn’t really such a good idea.

Unfortunately, it was too late now, and apparently even seeing himself bleeding out on the floor wasn’t enough for Professor Pye to call off the activity. Dustin knew the man had been an auror before he was a teacher, but still, that took a real stomach of steel to withstand. He knew all at once that if anyone in this room was without fear, it was the professor, and, oddly enough, he respected him for it.

Soon enough, the fifth years finished, and it was onto the fourth years. Laila was first, and the boggart turned into a woman who yelled about excommunication or whatever. Dustin could only assume it was her mother. That was awkward. Then Arne went, and the beast was back to the wolf it had been previously, and the Crotalus dispatched it with some haste. Then it was Dustin’s turn.

The werewolf puppy contorted and transformed into, perhaps, the last thing Dustin was expecting to see. Or, more accurately, the last person.

“She’s mine!” The voice that came out of the image of Tobi Reinhardt sounded nothing like his actual voice. It was mean and demanding, sinister, with a sneer that didn’t belong on his face. “Why be a Newell when being a Reinhardt’s so much better?”

Makenzie had spent midterm with him. Who knew what went on then? Who knew what would follow? Dustin, for all his faults and shortcomings, his ignorance and prejudice, loved his cousin dearly, feeling more akin to siblings. And he did not want this boy to take her away from him. “Riddikulus!” Tobi shifted, his head turning to a balloon and then launching into the sky as it deflated, leaving behind a stack of empty clothes, to which the balloon would return for the next person’s interference. Dustin moved to the back of the class, completely mortified not only by the boggart himself, but by the fact that Arne Reinhardt, Tobi’s brother, had seen it all.

12 Dustin Newell, Aladren I third it! 312 Dustin Newell, Aladren 0 5

Fabian Brockert, Pecari

January 20, 2017 8:02 PM

Actually, it wasn't all that bad. by Fabian Brockert, Pecari

Usually, Fabian found DADA to be an incredibly fun class. For example, he enjoyed dueling enough to join Dueling Club. However, today they would be doing boggarts, which was decidedly not fun. What was fun about being attacked by your worst fear and having it on display in front of all your classmates whom could use it against you or at the very least tease you mercilessly about it later?

Of course, turn about was fair play after all and he would likewise have equal ammuntion on them. Not that Fabian was inclined to really torment people, even the ones he didn't care for much and would only likely use this information against someone if they struck first, particularly himself or Kira. Granted, of course, his cousin easily hex the crap out of someone, but he knew full well she wouldn't. Instead the Pecari would play the role of protective cousin.

Though quite frankly, as far as Fabian was concerned, not all boggarts were created equal. Some people were afraid of legitimately scary things. As far as he was concerned both his cousin's boggart and his own fell under that category. Unless hers had changed and his wasn't what he thought it was.

Fabian watched as the fifth years went. Jax Donovan was afraid of a werewolf-perfectly reasonable thing to be afraid of. Barnaby, Jemima, and Owen seemed to have variations on the losing loved ones theme, given Barnaby was picturing their professor dead-Fabian knew they were related, the same last name was a dead giveaway-and Owen and Jemima seemed to fear losing each other unsurprisingly but had very different ideas of how that would happen. The fourth year gave a genuine laugh at the sight of Theodore Wolseithcrafte in chicken costume though. That had to be up there with the time Serena's class did this and her boggart turned into Carrie and his sister had turned his cousin as ugly outside as she was said to be on the inside. Fabian didn't remember much about her other than pictures and horror stories.

And Caelia's just made him shake his head. Figures she'd worry about her Aladren brother thinking she was useless just because she wasn't the brightest bulb out there. Fabian didn't know her well, but he knew that she was pretty and more importantly, a good person. She'd been kind enough to reach out to Kira and now they were good friends,whether or not Kelsey initially put her up to it as Kira suspected. This was far more important than being smart and he didn't feel Caelia was useless at all.

Then there was Ginger's and he couldn't figure out for the life of him what hers even was. Maybe the dark? There was a clown involved but that seemed to be the funny thing that she turned the boggart into. Very puzzling.

After the fifth years finished, it was his class' turn. First up was Kira's roommate, Laila, who seemed to be afraid of some woman, probably her mother? Fabian could understand that, his mother was a wonderful person, but he was pretty sure both Ryan and Chaslyn were terrified of theirs. Not that he blamed them. And excommunicated? Was that what Muggles called disowned?

Arne's boggart produced a very familiar looking werewolf and then Dustin Newell went. He was afraid of Tobi Reinhardt ? Huh? Being afraid of Theodore Wolseithcrafte or Emrys Lucan Fabian could understand but Tobi was a Teppenpaw . Being scared of a Teppenpaw was like being scared of newborn kitten! Okay yes, Tobi was a beater but Dustin didn't even play Quidditch. Boggart-Tobi said something about someone being his and that being a Reinhardt was better than being Newell, something probably up for debate at the moment since the Reinhardts were tradesmen-very skilled ones at that, his family owned plenty of their work-and the Newells were embroiled in some sort of scandal that Fabian didn't know the details of because he had zero interest in paying attention to the news.

Okay, the Pecari could only deduce the Tobi and Dustin had a thing for the same girl and was only slightly curious about who as he'd never really given a crap whom his classmates liked as long as it didn't affect him or anyone he cared about and as there were currently no girls he liked at Sonora, he went with continuing not to give a crap. After the Aladren turned Tobi's head into a balloon-he didn't really think about how it might affect Arne after Owen turned Theodore into a giant chicken in front of two of the alum's sisters-it was Fabian's turn.

What had once been Tobi's clothing was now a raccoon. But not just any raccoon, a crazy raccoon that was thrashing around about to attack, foaming at the mouth. Yup, a rabid raccoon, and it was coming right for him,ready to rip his face off!

How in Merlin's name could this be made funny? Rabies was not funny and there was literally nobody, not even the Aladrens, he would wish it upon.

Although..."Riddikulus " Fabian made the motions with his wand and the raccoon became Kelsey, all made up for a ball, though her make-up borrowed heavily from Ginger's clown and screaming at him about ettiquette, while still foaming at the mouth the way the raccoon had been.

He laughed and went to the back of the line, not even glancing at the real Kelsey who was surely glaring a Headmaster Brockert worthy glare at him.

11 Fabian Brockert, Pecari Actually, it wasn't all that bad. 321 Fabian Brockert, Pecari 0 5

Kyte

January 21, 2017 1:52 AM

No need to be like that about it by Kyte

“Huh?” Kyte frowned in confusion at Jax’s explanation, “But, surely the wolf is the scary part. It’s the part with like… the teeth and stuff that can hurt you. A person’s just a person. And how would you know what someone looked like as a wolf but not a person?” he queried. Raine and Kyte were noticeably dissimilar in the way they talked. Raine’s thought process was intricate, usually beautiful, but mostly self-contained - what was visible, the parts that were spoken, were always only the tip of the iceberg. Kyte, however, tended to have no internal monologue, which lead to rambling and doing most of his thinking outloud. “Unless…” he stopped. Whilst Kyte’s family weren’t acquainted with many laws, scientific or legal, there were a few they believed in. Betteridge’s law was one of them - any time a newspaper headline asked a question, the answer was always no.

'Are werewolves involved in latest gang violence?'

'Was campus bite girl asking for it?’

'Are gay immigrant werewolves driving up house prices?'

Entirely the wrong penny dropped. He could picture the headlines - New wolf terrorising down town! Is now the time to panic? the blurry images of the creature, reported to be stalking through Jax’s neighbourhood. But them not knowing who the unfortunate individual was. Not being able to ruin his life. He still thought the wolf was the scary part but he guessed the idea that it could be anyone amongst them, that they couldn’t go and meat out their vigilante justice, had scared Jax’s small, small-minded community.

“I guess you read a lot of newspapers, huh?” he glared at Jax, his tone cold - a most unusual register for Kyte’s voice. “You know,” he added, raising his voice a little, because heck, if Jax believed these things, he probably wasn’t the only one, and he wasn’t going to let the take home message from today’s class be that it was ok to be prejudiced against the people behind the wolf face. “Werewolves are just perfectly nice, ordinary people, for the most part. People like you and me. There’s no ‘certain type of person’ that becomes a werewolf,” he informed him.

13 Kyte No need to be like that about it 335 Kyte 0 5

Jax

January 22, 2017 11:14 AM

To be like what, exactly? by Jax

“No, the werewolf, even if it does have sharper teeth, are typically just people waiting in some dark isolated place for the moon to go away because they have taken the potion that keeps their human mind intact.” Jax replied, explaining why a werewolf wasn’t that scary to him without getting into too much detail as to why a person would be. His fear was personal to him so he didn’t feel like he really needed to defend himself to it the way this kid was making him.

The conversation changed suddenly as Kyte asking him about newspapers and his tone became rather stony. Jax’s confusion was evident on his face as he asked, “What newspaper?” The sudden change caught Jax off guard as the third year suddenly decided to start lecturing him rather loudly about being prejudice against people who were werewolves. Jax almost wanted to snort loudly at that, but didn’t. Instead, he became even angrier over this whole lesson. This kid who was just telling him how terrifying werewolves are, thus continuing the stereotype of them being frightful beasts was now telling him that it was wrong to think anything negative about them at all?

Jax’s glare became icy and his hands curled into balls at his side. He was acutely aware of how tightly his fists were as he was afraid of snapping his wand (that was not an expense he wanted his mother to have to go through again simply because he couldn’t calm himself down). “I think you have misunderstood me, again.” Jax said, his tone matching that of the third year as well as in volume. “I do not have anything against anyone who happens to be cursed with that of Lycanthropy. On the contrary, I know they are people doing what they can to get by despite the prejudices that they face every day of their lives.”

Because of his anger, his accent was thickening his words and he struggled for a moment to try to find the right ones to say. “I am only afraid of one man. Just one. The one who uses his lycanthrope as a source to kill. The one man who is the cause for people to fear werewolves. He murdered my father and many other innocent people back in my native home and possibly in other countries all for money. He is who I am afraid of. And because I do not know his face, it is his wolf form that I see. A face that I fear will come for me and for my sister and for my mother. A face that frightens all of us. Not because he happens to be a werewolf, but because the man behind it enjoys what he does and how he does it. No mercy, just torture and death.”

Jax took a breath, his anger boiling over. “Learn to bite your tongue before you make such accusations and assumptions about someone else’s personal fears.” He knew he had said too much but he was angry and to have someone say that he was prejudice against a group of people (whether he was a part of that group or not) set him off. He did not care if Professor Pye failed him after all of this. He did not care if people whispered about his reaction to it. He just needed to get out before his anger lashed out. He moved away from the third year and grabbed his bag. Being careful to not look at his sister, whom he knew would be mortified, concerned, confused, and all around rather Gia like, Jax headed for the door.

6 Jax To be like what, exactly? 296 Jax 0 5

Jemima

February 05, 2017 3:04 AM

Actually, slightly funny by Jemima

Jemima wondered what Owen was afraid of. She thought they generally were pretty open with each other, but it wasn’t exactly a cheery subject… She knew his hopes and his dreams, but not their opposites. Maybe not being able to write any more? It was what he loved to do most. But she couldn’t really picture how that would happen, and - as she had thought when trying to work out her own - there was a difference between an idea you didn’t relish and something that you were actively afraid of happening. Why would Owen have any reason to fear that?

When the Boggart morphed into Theodore, she was even more confused. Ok, he wasn’t exactly the warmest person, but she had never thought of him as ‘scary.’ She wasn’t even aware that Theodore and Owen had ever really spoken. Thought perhaps that was why… Sometimes things were scarier the less you knew about them. She was sure if Owen had ever talked to her brother, he’d know that he didn’t think like that. She had to laugh though, at the way he dealt with it, and heard another chuckle which she recognised as Ingrid’s.

“Don’t be - when will I ever get the chance to see that in real life?” she grinned, when he apologised about turning her brother into a giant chicken. “And, um, you know he doesn’t think that, right? I mean, I know fears aren’t always rational, but you really have nothing to worry about.”

13 Jemima Actually, slightly funny 304 Jemima 0 5