Chapter 20: Hermione's Greatest Fear (Edited)

"Seven... one... eight... four" Tom entered the four numbers in order, and as soon as the fourth number was entered, the lock clicked and fell off the chest.

"Come on, don't be shy." Tom motioned for Hermione to put her hand on it, and with a gentle push, the second layer of the chest lifted.

A tall wizard with half-moon spectacles, a long crooked nose, and silver hair and beard that reached his waist stepped out of the chest.

"Professor Dumbledore..." cried Hermione and fell to the floor.

Professor Dumbledore stared at her with an intimidating look, his eyes glittered as if he could see Hermione's deepest secrets.

"I'm not, please let me explain, I'm not.... Please don't send me away!" Hermione was disoriented, almost in tears, fear gripping her mind. She didn't know how she was going to explain to her parents that she had been expelled on her first day of school.

Professor Dumbledore stepped out of the chest, closer to Hermione, and held out a dry, old hand to Hermione....

Suddenly, his movements froze. Tom had somehow managed to reach behind his back, holding a parchment outstretched, and pressing it against his back.

The parchment was only parchment, but it stuck to Professor Dumbledore's back like plaster, and what happened next was very surprising to Hermione: Professor Dumbledore let out a writhing, oozing scream as if he had been splashed with hot water, followed by a sound like the swinging of a whip, and the Dumbledore in front of him shattered like a balloon, melting into a cloud of smoke, flailing wildly, as if trying to free himself from Tom's parchment, but to no avail. The scroll was like a vortex pulling at him and not letting him escape.

Hermione's eyes widened, her mouth slightly open, for what was happening in front of her was beyond her imagination.

"What's going on? what is this thing?", Even if Hermione had no knowledge on the subject, she knew that cloud of smoke couldn't be Professor Dumbledore: the Professor wasn't Voldemort and he wouldn't notice a girl.

"Boggart, a non-human spirit apparition, (also known as a non-being) that changes shape and can transform into anything you are afraid of." Tom looked at Hermione, "So your biggest fear is getting kicked out of school?"

Hermione shouted in annoyance like a child who has been exposed, "Even if I get expelled, it's because of you!".

But the boggart soon got her attention.

"So, it's a magical animal?" Curiosity got the better of her and, driven by it, Hermione let go of what she had just experienced.

"No, it's a 'non-being', they are some sort of magical creature. They themselves transcend life and death, and have no equivalent in the Muggle world, Muggles can only perceive all known No-Beings so far. As Non-Beings transcend life and death, they are neither born nor die; Non-Beings are created by human emotions and feed on them.

Since non-existences cannot really be destroyed, magicians have invented various spells that can drive them away, using positive emotions to prevent them from creating negative emotions in their victims. The key to fighting non-existence is emotion, let's say Bogart, for example, it's about overcoming your fears," Tom said.

Hermione looked thoughtfully at the boggart, "So you wish to acquire one of his traits?".

By this time, Tom had let go of the parchment and watched it float in the air, sniffing a little at the boggart. "To be honest, I wasn't expecting to absorb a boggart at first, I was more interested in a fire dragon or a unicorn or something, but who would have thought someone would seal a boggart in a treasure chest? And it turns out I don't know the spell to chase the Boggart away."

"It's fate," Tom said.

Although Tom knew the pronunciation of many spells, he couldn't cast a spell if he only knew the pronunciation.

Hermione felt guilty, her intelligent eyes were full of apologies, "I'm sorry I made you use up such precious parchment..." Hermione blamed herself: if she hadn't lost her mind, Tom wouldn't have had to use the parchment, would he?

"It must be a blessing in disguise," Tom reassured Hermione, "The person who left this mechanism must have had their reasons for putting the boggart on the second level, perhaps they thought this scroll would be the best to finish off the boggart. After all, what kind of person puts a Boggart in a treasure chest?"

Hermione nodded, and agreed that it made sense. By then the boggart had been sucked in, and the scroll was covered with an unidentifiable puddle of something that looked like a liquid, a gas, and even a bit of solid, and the scroll slowly closed, and the chest slammed shut.

The parchment floated and flew towards Tom, who reached out his right hand and gently took it, it melted in his hand like frost in the sunlight, and Tom felt a warmth run down his right hand to his limbs, followed by a tingling in his limbs and a tingling sensation in his bones.

A few minutes later, under Hermione's worried gaze, Tom opened his mouth and exhaled a large stream of white vapor, and the parchment disappeared, replaced by a silver ring with six sides, the top one set with a black jewel, and a white mist flowing inside.

Exhaling the last of the murky air from his body, Tom was also aware of the trait he had inherited from Bogart: imitation. Tom also realized his predecessor's intentions: the Boggart was indeed the magical creature best suited for the scroll. The Boggart was a very interesting magical creature, powerful because it could take the form of any kind of creature and inherit some of its abilities.

For example, the boggart that Professor Lupin found could become a ghost, a mummy, or even a dementor, and Harry found from his own experience that a boggart-turned-dementor was only slightly inferior to a genuine dementor.

But it seemed that his inherited ability was limited, and Tom stared at the ring in his hand with a sense of understanding.

"What does it look like? what skills have you acquired?", Hermione chimed in curiously.

Without further ado, Tom extended his right index finger and tapped it on Hermione's forehead, and Hermione watched as the boy's hair grew longer and browner, and his body feminized....

Another "Hermione" appeared in front of her, and even the clothes she wore were a perfect imitation.