❝ classroom boggarts ❞

"I trust you all did your assigned reading," Professor Lupin begins his class with the fifth years, offering no explanation as to why they're all standing and all of the desks are missing. "Who can tell me what a boggart is?"

Angelina raises her hand and Carina elbows Alicia's side with a giggle as Remus calls on her.

"It's a shape-shifting creature that will assume the form of whatever most frightens the person who encounters it," Angelina answers, ignoring her friends' antics. "The more generally fearful a person is, the more susceptible they will be to boggarts."

"Excellent," he praises and she smiles proudly, blushing profusely as Alicia quietly makes a joke about it. "And where do they predominantly reside?"

"Confined spaces, or anywhere dark really," Roger Davies, a Ravenclaw, answers without waiting to be called on.

"That's right," Remus agrees, gesturing to a chest against the back wall that no one had previously bothered to pay any mind to. "This chest is the ideal habitat for the boggart living inside. But before I unleash it on you, you must know how to defend yourself."

Carina's excitement flares and she glances next to her to see an equally excited grin on George's face. A dark creature hasn't been in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom since Gilderoy Lockhart let a flock of violent pixies attack everyone last year.

"A boggart's biggest weakness is laughter. When you say the spell to defeat it, you must think of something funny or else it won't work," he explains. "Now, repeat after me. Riddikulus!"

Riddikulus!" The class chants back.

"Riddikulus," he enunciates.

"Riddikulus!"

"I think you're ready."

"I think you're ready," Fred and George chorus, earning a round of laughter and causing the faintest of smiles to cross Remus's face.

He turns around instead of acknowledging them, moving towards the shaking antique. The students scramble over each other to form a line, a mixture of anxious and eager whispers filling the room.

Fred and Carina gain spots directly in the middle of the line while George and Lee somehow end up at the very back. The chest shakes violently as Remus turns the knob with a dramatic flourish and a Ravenclaw girl steps forward with her wand raised.

Fred and Carina start to play a game while they wait, placing empty bets as to what each person's boggart will be. As it turns out, neither knows their classmates as well as they thought considering they're unable to guess a single one correctly.

A variety of fears and jokes play out before them, none of which seem too terrible to the girl. A clown turns into a stuffed doll. A dragon turns into an iguana wearing a bowtie. A miniature thunderstorm turns into a kiddie pool. Before Carina knows it, it's her turn.

As the Gryffindor steps forward, the rest of the classroom fades away. The boggart starts to shift and she waits with baited breath, unsure as to what it could be. She expects it to take the form of one of her childish fears, like centipedes or snakes - which both freak her out equally, because one has too many legs while the other has none.

Instead, a young man stands before her. Carina furrows her eyebrows together, at first wondering if a student had accidentally stepped in front of her before she places where she's seen him before.

It's the man from one of the rare photographs Laura has shown Carina of her father when she would tell her stories of him before bedtime. With Laura being careful to never give his name or show her anything taken after they graduated Hogwarts, Carina only knows what he looked like as a school boy.

The boggart takes a step forward, looking Carina up and down with a mixture of contempt and disgust

"Ri-ridikkulus," she stutters, stumbling over the word as the tears forming start to blur her vision.

"It's no wonder why I've stayed away," he laughs cruelly, stepping closer until his chest hits the tip of her wand. "You're nothing-"

"Riddikulus!"

The man disappears, replaced by the stray dog from the other day now dressed in a silly clown costume designed for pets. Carina laughs and wipes her eyes, ignoring Remus's concerned gaze as she steps to the side to allow Fred to have a turn.

She tries to focus on the class as it progresses, waving off Fred's concerned questions when he joins her and insisting they continue their game.

She hasn't thought about her father in months, though her mother is always eager to talk about him. Laura could talk about the past for days, more than happy to relive moments where her life was seemingly perfect rather than thinking about a future without her twin brother by her side. While the majority of her stories take place before Carina is even born, Laura always ends her tales with a reminder that her father loves Carina more than life itself.

Carina doesn't think her mother would ever lie to her; but if her father loves her so much, why isn't he around?

"That's all we have time for today. We'll pick up where we left off on Thursday," Remus dismisses the classes, earning a chorus of disappointed whines. "Carina, will you stay behind?"

"I'd love to," she lies, grabbing her bag and spinning on her heel to follow the crowd into the corridors. "But I've got Potions and I really don't think I should give Snape a good excuse to take points from Gryffindor so early in the year."

"I'll take care of Snape," he says, latching on to the back of her uniform to prevent her from walking out the door. "But I'd like to talk to you first."

Carina groans, accepting defeat as he pulls her back and shuts the door to prevent others from eavesdropping. She still refuses to look him in the eye, instead picking at her cuticles as he clears his throat.

"Don't act like I don't already know exactly who that was," Remus begins kindly, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Finally, she looks up and tears immediately threaten to make a comeback. "Would you like to talk about it?"

"It's nothing, really. I just don't think my dad loves me like Mum claims he does," Carina mutters, fooling no one as her voice cracks. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm the reason he stays away."

There's a long pause before her uncle says anything, only made better by the fact that he pulls a bar of chocolate out of his cardigan pocket to offer her.

"I certainly don't know your father as well as I thought I did," he eventually says. "But I can tell you, without a doubt, that he loves you more than he's ever loved anyone."

"Then what keeps him away?"

It's a question she's had for years and, every time she's asked, she has received a different answer. She doesn't expect to have the truth revealed this time, but it still doesn't stop her from trying.

"You know I can't answer that," Remus sighs. "It wouldn't be right for you to hear that information from anyone except your mother."

The tense conversation carries on and the corridors are almost completely empty as everyone finds their class. The only students that remain are those waiting for Professor Lupin to allow them inside the classroom and George.

Fred and Lee are presumably already in the dungeons as Professor Snape's class begins, but he continues to wait for Carina to ensure that she's truly okay after what happened with her boggart.

"Mr. Weasley," Professor Mcgonagall startles the boy, suddenly appearing behind him. "Don't you have Potions right now?"

"Yes, but Carina-"

"Can make it there on her own. It's her fifth year, I assure you she knows the way without an escort," the stern woman counters before he can finish his sentence. "Can the same be said for you or should I take house points?"

"I'm going," George says hurriedly, holding his hands up in defeat and backing away. "I'm going!"