12 Chapter Eleven: The Boggart

It was rainy when Namora woke up and really she didn't have a good night's rest. She kept having these terrible dreams. The one that kept her up was the dream that she feared the most: people finding out that it was her that did it. She killed that witch in Knockturn Alley. She killed someone.

The next day everyone was talking about the "Deaths of Knockturn Alley". At least, that was what everyone was calling it now. The Headmaster had not been pleased when the news leaked that the crime had been committed in Knockturn Alley by on of his students. Some students said that they saw journalists at the school in disguise, others said that the Headmaster knew who it was, and a few of the older students began telling rumors about the crime and who did it.

Namora kept her head down most of the day and didn't say much besides a nod or so every now and then. The last class before lunch was Defense Against the Dark Arts which she dreaded. Today they would be doing boggarts again. Last year, the class had dealt with the creatures, but Namora had been sick that day and had missed out. She had some kind of Frobbers Cough that made her croak like a frog and turn a slight green color. It was horrible, but she felt like it would be worse now after the vents in Knockturn Alley. What if the boggart turned the man with the skull teeth? Or the witch with the bloody nails?

It would be her first time. She went through multiple scenarios of how she would approach the boggart and what it would transform into. Namora hated the fact that their usual professor (Professor Aerodren) wouldn't be teaching the class today. Instead it was the most hated substitute of the Ravenclaw's: Professor Michael Labronski. He had dark hair with equally dark eyes that matched his stern face. The reason why the Ravenclaw's disliked him so much was that he had a way of forcing the students to do what they didn't want to do. The last time he was at the school, he had made Piper cry which took a lot. Even though Piper had been mean to Namora, she still felt bad for her. Of course, they were starting to get somewhere now and Namora thought that maybe, maybe by their seventh year, they might become friends.

Today he had the some of the fourth year Ravenclaw's, Hufflepuff's, Gryffindor's, and Slytherin's gather into a long line. Since there were so many students, two more professors were there. Professor Baldemor and Professor La'Bront. Professor La'Bront was a professor from Beauxbatons that had traveled over to watch the tournament-and his students. He was known for tutoring especially talented witches. In fact, a witch named Margot Lichelle' was chosen to play in the tournament from Beauxbatons. The Ilvermorny and Durmstrang students watched with interest as one by one, the students went up to face the boggart. The Beauxbatons students stood in a corner and were talking in a large group about the tournament and how upset they were that it was cancelled until someone confessed.

Namora was behind Sarah who was watching closely at the wand movements of each student and how they pronounced the spell. In front of her was a boy named Jack who had blonde hair and was a chaser for the Ravenclaw quidditch team. He was a natural prankster, but he was also smart. Namora remembered that he had scored a lot of points for Ravenclaw in the quidditch match against Hufflepuff. Although, Hufflepuff wasn't too good at quidditch anyways.

She hated Professor Aerodren not being here. Sometimes he might be a little hard, but from what she had heard last time this happened, he didn't do it in front of all the students! He didn't embarrass anyone publicly like Professor Labronski. A few of the Gryffindors had tried asking him about Professor Aerodren, but all Professor Labronski would say, in a monotone voice, "Business, ministry business." You could imagine that the Gryffindors were quite mad at this. Usually the professor was an open book and shared his adventures and travels with them. Then Jakob and his gang of Gryffindors had tried to let Albus convince him about Aerodren's wearabouts since he was "the favorite", but that tactic didn't work any better than theirs had. In fact, it got him so upset, the professor casted the tongue-tying curse on the Andron, Jerome, Jakob, and Crom. Namora and the Ravenclaws held back a laugh as the boys tried to speak, but no sound came out.

First up was a mix of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students while the Slytherin and Gryffindor's stood on the sidelines, watching. Namora purposely headed towards the back of the line, she did not want to be first, and it didn't help that the professor had something against her. It was in her third year that they first had the substitute, Professor Labronski. He was an older man that rarely talked to students, more as he talked at students. Albus and some of the Gryffindor boys were always joking about him behind his back, calling him "looney Labronski". The entire Gryffindor class had been sent to detention that day after Professor Labronski heard them chanting it through the hallways.

He didn't seem to have anything against the Ravenclaw class at first, but the one day that they practiced dueling, had set him off to hate both the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws...It was a brisk morning and it was a sunny day at Hogwarts. It was almost noon and the students were ready for lunch, but had been exceeding through the trials and tribulations of dueling quite good with the help of Professor Aerodren. The Ravenclaws met the Gryffindor class walking down the stairs to the lower floors of the castle where the classroom lied.

They were joking about how Albus had "defeated the mighty Aerodren" last week on the dueling stage. The Ravenclaws rolled their eyes at this as one girl argued back, "No, that's not what happened." "Yeah!" said a boy with blonde hair called, Gary. Jakob rolled his eyes at Gary's remark. "Gary do you even know what we're talking about!?" Gary opened his mouth, "Actually, Actually, I don't, I do not know." The three boys that usually hung around Jakob (Andron, Cromwell, and Jerome) "Oooed" at this and hollered, waving their arms up and down dramatically. One of them, Andron said "That's right Gary, you don't know". He was the biggest of the group and the tallest which even some of the Slytherins were intimidated by. Crom nodded, adding "Yeah, Gary. He doesn't even know anythin'. He's just back there agreein' with anythin' we say!" Crom who was shorter with red hair and freckles had the habit of talking so fast, that he would run his words together. Jerome, who was quite thin with brown hair nodded his head along, making his long hair flip back and forth. The laughed as they pushed through a group of girls to where their prefect was, leading them down the steps.

The Ravenclaws shook their heads, "Dramatic.." "Soo dramatic..." " What do you think Professor Aerodren has planned for us today?" A girl from Gryffindor with short, shaved hair asked aloud. "Maybe dueling practice again?" another Gryffindor answered. " Ye-yeah!" hollered Andron. "Albus will definitely beat him again!" 'Yeah" they all nodded. "Are you going to Albus?" Jakob hollered behind him. Albus wasn't quite sure how to answer, but he hollered back, "We'll see what happens." Jakob and his group laughed and recalled the whole story aloud as they reached the end of the stairs and their prefect led them down the hall and then to the right where the classroom was. The Ravenclaw prefect, a girl with glasses and blonde hair, crossed her arms and said annoyingly: "Another day of this class."

The Gryffindor prefect opened the door and the students flooded inside the cool classroom. Everyone could feel the temperature drop down there. There was no windows, just lamps that magically lit up when class was in session. The light shined on the dueling stage and the students stood on either side of it, waiting for Mosertera to appear. "I bet it's dueling," a Gryffindor boy said and bounced excitedly. "Dueling again?" A Ravenclaw girl sadly said. "Dueling?!" Myra's shrill voice echoed around the classroom. Jakob, Andron, Jerome, and Crom cringed and covered their ears. "Myra!" They yelled at her from the other side of the duelling stage. Namora looked back and saw Myra slink down to sit on the floor. The Ravenclaw's were used to this teasing from the Gryffindor boys and they talked much of how some of them should have been put into Slytherin.

There was a loud sound like the rapping of a stick on something and the students looked towards where the noise was coming from. A figure stood in the shadows with a long staff in hand. The figure stepped forward and some of the Gryffindors groaned as they saw who it was. The Gryffindor prefect ran a hand through his greased hair, straightened his robes, and elbowed Andron who was already making faces at the professor. Myra was shaking and whimpering somewhere behind their prefect. Vanessa and her group were smirking and giggling maliciously. And all the while Namora slouched and Hemley sighed beside her. "Not again.." The figure stepped into the light and said in a raspy voice "Now, now everyone. Who's ready for some dueling?"

That day, Namora had used the spell "Incendio" which her opponent had dodged and she ended up setting Labrinski's robes on fire. Of course he got the fire under control after a moment, but he was very angry at her. He called her out on it too in front of everyone. The Ravenclaw prefect had stood up for Namora and Her and the professor ended up dueling in which Labronski won by a hair, but none of the Ravenclaws like him since that day and since that year, the upper classmen would tell the first years of Labronski.

Professor Labronski always put students in pairs that would match their particular skills and level of magic. Jakob was towards the top of the line along with Jerome, while Crom was in the middle and Andron towards the very back. His bony fingers shoved and pushed students this way and that as he tried to get everyone in order with their opponent.

"Go on," Professor Labronski said to a girl with poofy, black hair. Namora let the thoughts drift away to the back of her mind as she watched the girl. She stepped forward and the boggart immediately changed into a watermelon. She held her ground, but everyone could tell that she was afraid. "Riddikulus!" The watermelon changed into a fruit with a rainbow afro with two eyes and a googly mouth. She laughed and then it was another student's turn. "Well done, Miss Hickory."

The next student was a boy with freckles and brown hair with yellow robes. He confidently strode up to the afro watermelon. It changed and formed into three people: a woman with dark brown hair, a man with red hair and freckles, and a teenage boy with orange-red hair (also with freckles) and then three coffins. "What Mr. Scamander fears most is... losing a...family member." The professor seemed a little annoyed as he said: "Go ahead Mr. Scamander." It looked like the boy wanted to lurch, but held back and yelled, "Riddikulus!".....

Namora scanned the Ilvermorny students to try and find Percival or Queenie, but she couldn't see either of them... "What Mr. Griffin fears most is...." the boggart changed and formed into a tall man with dark hair and scowling eyes. "...the headmaster!..." "Riddikulus!" It changed and Phineas Black was wearing a dress with a wig and flowers. The boy named Jack laughed aloud as the boggart said "I'm a pretty, pretty princess!" The classroom bursted into laughter and Sarah shook her head playfully as the boggart disappeared.

Namora was nervous. After Myra, it was Sarah's turn and then hers. If it was the woman in Knockturn Alley... she breathed in a deep breath. I wonder if I can manipulate my thoughts, my mind, my fear into something else?" Namora didn't see what had happened to Myra, but she ran past her, hands clasping her eyes as tears streamed down her face. Some of the Slytherins laughed and pointed at her. "There she goes again." "Weeping Myra, she looks like a toad!" "Snob-face!"

Namora scanned over the Slytherins and looked for someone. Striking green eyes glared at her from dark shadows. Namora squinted and saw that it was a boy. He leaned against the wall, shadows covered his face. He looked familiar. It came to her. The boy's name was Thomas. She had first met him in Diagon Alley.

Namora shook her head as Jakob and his group started to chant, "Ugly-faced Myra!" over and over, filling the room with echoes. All the while Professor Labronski sat in his red velvet cushioned chair, intrigued by it all. The Hufflepuffs were horrified at this and a few girls ran after Myra, shooting looks over at the Slytherins and Gryffindors. "Good show, Ms. Dowling," Professor Labronski said and she smiled as she made her way to a group of Ravenclaw's. Namora hadn't even noticed that it was her turn. "Ms. Ren," Professor Labronski said, almost saying it curiously.

Namora lifted her chin as she strode forward. The boggart changed and it took a moment, but the room darkened menacingly. "Here we go..." she mumbled. The boggart took the form of five different people: Albus, Queenie, both of her parents and... herself. Please, please, please don't be that woman Namora screamed into her mind. She didn't know what to do for a moment, she just stood still as she watched the figures slowly disappear until it was just herself left standing. Shivers ran up her arms and she gulped, here it is, she thought.

Namora looked at herself, the boggart her anyhow, and it grimaced at the sight of her. The boggart had dark underlines underneath her eyes. She wore a dark blue, silk dress and a black overcoat. Namora was confused because the boggart looked older, much older. The imposter Namora raised up her wand and cast a spell without saying anything. Namora watched fearfully as a streak of blue fire lashed out and the Professor came to a stand. "What is this? "He asked her. Namora looked into her own self's eyes before raising her wand before Professor Labronski could say something dumb and mumbled, "Riddikulus." Professor Labronski didn't say anything for a moment, but she heard him mumble as she passed by him, "...interesting." She hated him for that. She wished she could just curse him right there with a babbling curse, but no, she couldn't.

From somewhere within the Slytherin group a boy yelled "Are you going to cry?" She whipped around. Suddenly, all conversations stopped and all eyes were on her. She hadn't noticed that her eyes had teared up in the process of defeating her boggart. Sarah mumbled something like "Oh no...". From the corner of her eye, she saw Hemley with a worried look on her face. There were whispers among them all. Even among the Ravenclaw's. "What is her fear?" "What was that fire?" "How did she do that?"

Namora breathed quickly and gulped down a sob and kept walking. "Ren," Professor Labonski called form behind her. There were so many voices in her head though. So many whispers. Namora needed to get out. "Ren!" He called after her a little louder. She shook her head as she pushed past some Slytherin students to get to the door. "Ren come back here!" He yelled at her. By that time, Namora had rushed out of the door.