Riddikulus Notions & Things
MALFOY DIDN’T REAPPEAR in classes until late on Thursday morning when the Slytherins and Gryffindors were halfway through double Potions. He walked into the dungeon, his right arm covered in bandages and bound up in a sling, acting, in Harry’s opinion, as though he were the heroic survivor of some dreadful battle.
“How is it, Draki?” simpered Pansy Parkinson as he sat down heavily, “Does it hurt much?”
“If I'm honest? Yeah,” Malfoy sighed, putting on a brave sort of grimace as Will scoffed beside Harry. “It’s painful as hell and Madame Pomfrey was insisting that I stay in the hospital wing for a couple more days...but I told her I just had to go back. Education is important to me is all...”
Harry shared a look with Freya whose face was in an odd sort of grimace as well, as though she didn’t know whether she wanted to laugh or scowl. Professor Snape then waved for attention. “Settle down, settle down.”
Now Freya really did look irritated. Harry and she both knew that if they’d walked in late talking, they’d be given detention. Malfoy was always able to get away with things, however, being both a Slytherin and Snape’s favorite. Probably because he disliked Harry almost as much as Snape did.
They were making a new potion today, a shrinking solution. Malfoy set up his cauldron right next to Harry and Freya so that they were preparing their ingredients at the same table. Will, who had moved to where Neville was, shot them with equally perplexed looks, but it soon became clear what Malfoy’s intentions were.
“Sir?” Malfoy called to Snape. “Sir, I’ll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm-”
“Weasley, cut up Malfoy’s roots for him,” said Snape without looking up from his notes.
Freya gaped, momentarily just staring in shock at Snape who turned to her with a frown. “I was loud and clear on what I said, Ms. Weasley, and you should have understood unless you’re truly incompetent. Are you truly incompetent?”
“Speaking the hat didn’t sort me in Slytherin, sir, I guess not.”
She responded so quickly that the Slytherins barely had time to snicker before it was the Gryffindors erupting in laughter. They stopped very quickly, however, when they saw the look on Snape's face.
“Twenty points from Gryffindor and you have detention this Saturday, Ms. Weasley.” Freya pressed her lips together but didn’t argue, seeming to have expected it. “Now get cutting.”
“That was brilliant,” Harry muttered to her as she snatched Malfoy’s plant angrily.
“Yes, I must say it was worth it, mostly.” Freya grinned before scowling at Malfoy, “There’s nothing wrong with your arm, you stupid idiot.”
“Hmm, speaking of what you just told Professor Snape, I don’t trust you to know much of anything, Weasley.”
Malfoy smirked before he turned his gaze to Harry, somehow smirking even more infuriatingly.
“Now Potter, speaking about people who don’t know anything- how is your oaf for a teacher friend?”
***
“Stupid stinking Slytherins, the lot of them.” hissed Freya furiously after Snape had dismissed them, “You should have said you didn’t help Neville with anything, William!”
“Yes that, but also there was this weird thing Malfoy was telling us, Will.” said Harry, “he was asking when I was going to look for Sirius Black. He reckoned I should be finding out where he is and-”
“He’s not here, Harry.” Freya interrupted.
“Well, I know that Freya. Why would Black be-”
“No, William's not here.” Harry blinked, turning around as he saw Freya had stopped, looking back too, perplexed. They were at the top of the steps now, watching the rest of the class pass them as they headed for the Great Hall and lunch. “He was right behind us, yeah?”
Malfoy passed them, walking between Crabbe and Goyle.
“I’d ask if you two lost something, but those stupidly confused looks of yours are such common expressions on you Gryffindor’s faces.” Malfoy drawled as he walked, “Honestly, do you lions know no dignity?”
Freya made a move towards him, but Harry grabbed her arm hastily, “Ignore him. There's Will.”
Will was suddenly running up the steps, panting slightly. One hand clutched his bag and the other was tucking something down the front of his robes.
“How did you do that?” asked Freya.
“Do what?” said Will as he joined them.
“One minute you were with us then another you were gone,” Harry said, frowning. “You just disappeared.”
“Yeah, how’d you do it?” Freya pressed.
Will looked momentarily confused before something clicked and he shrugged, walking past them. “I just had to go back for something and-oh, no.”
A seam had split in Will’s bag for at least a dozen very large books were crammed inside of it.
“Why the bloody hell are you carrying all of these?” Freya asked perplexedly as they helped him gather them all, “We only have Defense this afternoon.”
“Oh, do we?” Will asked vaguely, “They're for light reading then.”
Harry blinked, “You have eleven extra books in your bag for light reading?”
“I’m a fast reader,” said Will, though his lip twitched uowards as though he knew what he was saying was preposterous. He strived towards the Great Hall, “Hope there’s something good for lunch. I’m starving.”
“First Percy, now Will with his interesting secrets.” Freya frowned as they followed him, “You really need to give it to the nerds, eh, Harry?”
They finished lunch which had been good-macaroni and cheese with cornbread on the side-and then it was time for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Lupin wasn’t yet there when they arrived, so they began taking out their quills and parchment, curious on how this was going to go. It was the biggest disappointment when they turned at the sound of the door opening, excited to see their new teacher, only to see the Slytherins all arriving just before the bell.
Malfoy met their gazes as they made their way to their seats on the other side, smirking as though he knew just how much his mere presence irked them.
When Professor Lupin finally did come in, he walked into a room much divided, the only thing meeting in the middle of the room were the insults and glares that each house threw at one another.
“Good afternoon,” he said, ignoring the mutterings and snickers from the Slytherins about his shabby robes. Despite his wardrobe, however, Harry noticed, that he looked much healthier than he had on the train. “You may put your belongings back into your bags as today will be a practical lesson, so you’ll only need your wands.”
There were a few curious looks and some exciting murmuring. Unless you counted the lesson containing out-of-control pixies-which nobody did, except for Will who single-handedly stunned all the tiny creatures-they’d never before had a practical lesson.
“Right then,” said Professor Lupin, when everyone was ready. “If you’d follow me…”
Puzzled but interested, the class followed. Even Malfoy and his cronies were silent, Crabbe and Goyle looking happy even. Harry amused himself by thinking they were ecstatic about the chance not to write notes, seeing as most of the time he had to wonder if the two knew how to read at all.
After an entertaining encounter with Peeves that ended with bubble-gum in the trickster's nose and an irritating bump-into with Snape, they finally got into the room they were supposed to where there was nothing but an old wardrobe where the teachers kept their robes.
“Oh, did we come here on a field trip to get the peasant man new clothes?” they heard Malfoy whisper as his cronies snorted. "If I'd known I would have brought some of fathers old robes, charity work at its finest."
The Gryffindor glanced excitedly at Lupin, hoping he’d take points for Malfoy’s comment, but he ignored the Slytherins as he went to stand beside the wardrobe that gave a sudden wobble, banging off the wall.
This was the start of a thorough explanation about Boggarts from both Will and Lupin. Harry even got the chance to answer a question correctly, causing Freya to applaud quietly for him in a joking way for Harry wasn’t a correct answering sort of boy in most of his classes. They repeated the spell they had to use (“Riddikulus”) and then Lupin called Neville up to the front before asking him what he feared most in the world.
Neville’s lips moved, but no noise came out.
“Didn't catch that Neville, sorry,” said Lupin cheerfully.
Neville looked around rather wildly as though someone would save him but finally seemed to realize he had no choice but to reply. Swallowing hard he said in a voice no louder than a whisper, “...Professor Snape.”
Nobody could help it, nearly everyone laughed though the Gryffindors were all quick to stop when they heard the Slytherins laughing - for anything they found funny couldn't be funny at all.
“By God, and here I thought he was going to say his own shadow. This is much better though,” they heard Malfoy whisper, smart enough to not say it loud enough for Lupin to hear it.
Many people looked ready to begin a duel with the Slytherins right then but thankfully, Lupin managed to make it a Gryffindor win. It took a long while for them to stop laughing at Snape when Neville managed to dress him up in his grandmother's ridiculous outfit, it didn’t make it easier seeing Slytherin's expression to the boggart either. Once they were done, they were assigned with the quick task to think of a comical ending to what feared them the most and soon after their time was up, the testing began.
Pavarti went, unraveling a bloody mummy with her spell- Seamus next as he turned the grotesque hand into tap dancing shoes- Freya, who paled at the sight of a six-foot spider as people screamed, but hurriedly turned it into a black puppy with green eyes…
“Mix houses!” Lupin called, surprising Harry for he had just been about to go up, but he backed up regardless, feeling slightly put out.
A boy named Blaise faced a zombie-like a creature that he quickly turned into a stupid looking man- Pansy went and screamed as all the light was sucked out of the room, fixing it by letting light illuminate her wand ("Gosh, I thought my turn was finished," Freya muttered when Pansy's face came back into view as Harry choked down a laugh)- then Crabbe who changed a banshee into a familiar looking witch singer…
“Draco Malfoy!” Lupin called.
Harry watched Malfoy as he walked up to the plate, interested to see what his fear was and eager to see if he could use it against him, but the strangest thing happened when Malfoy came up to look.
There became nothing at all to see.
Malfoy slid his silver gray-eyed stare towards Lupin with a raise of his eyebrow. “It’s broken.”
Lupin looked as confused as everyone else as he stepped up and the nothingness changed to a crystal orb in the sky. Frowning, he backed up, gesturing for Malfoy to look at it, and once again there was nothing.
Then-
“Mr. Malfoy, what are those things on the floor?”
They all looked to where Lupin was pointing, and they saw flat and flimsy things scattered in a neat pile on the floor a little too far for anyone to see. Malfoy frowned and walked over to the paper-looking items until he was standing over them, looking down.
They all saw Malfoy blink, his face turning white which was quite a feat on his already pale features, before his jaw clenched and his grip tightened around his wand as he lifted it- his silver eyes steeling to the cold metal of a sword ready to strike.
Or, Harry found himself thinking at the expression on Malfoy's face, the shining gray of a shield, working to protect its holder.
“Riddikulus,” Malfoy hissed, the sound of water hitting flames, and everyone jumped back as the papers on the ground burned.
“Ah, effective I would say...” Lupin said with a raise of his brows. "But you were supposed to think of something funny, Mr. Malfoy."
“Yeah?” Malfoy snapped, "Well this lesson was a joke enough, wouldn't you say?"
There was a tense silence as everyone waited to see what Lupin would say.
“He has a point, Professor," and Harry started as Freya stepped a bit forward, grinning slightly as she raised a brow at their professor. "I mean, even I couldn't help but notice this lesson was full of people saying such ridiculous things."
The bell rang just as the laughs and amused complaints started from the Gryffindor and the silence had been broken as Lupin smiled at her words himself too, casting a spell that sent Boggart back into the wardrobe as he told the exciting class to make sure to review what they'd learned today.
As they all began to walk out, Malfoy glared over at them, his face still looking ashen. “What was with the idiotic joke, Weasley?”
“You should be thanking her, Malfoy.” Will snapped irritably, “If it wasn’t for her idiotic joke, Professor Lupin might have taken points from you.”
“Um, I beg your bloody pardons?” Freya frowned, raising her hand. “My joke was both brilliant and hilarious, mind you both.”
“That’s beside the point,” said Harry as what Will had just started struck him, “Why did you break the tension? Slytherin could do with a couple of points taken.”
Freya looked at them all with raised brows as all three boys looked at her, even Goyle and Crabbe looking as though they actually thought it weird too.
“Well, I just felt so bad for Malfoy,” Freya stated as though it were obvious, casting Malfoy a mockingly sympathetic look. “It must be so very terrible to have your greatest fear be parchment paper. No wonder you're so mean in class, it's a coping mechanism isn't it?”
Malfoy blinked before his eyes flashed angrily, “I’m not afraid of parchment paper!”
“Then what was it, Malfoy?” asked Harry curiously, the question coming out without malice as he found himself truly wanting to know. "If it wasn't parchment, what could it have been?"
“As if I'd tell the likes of you,” Malfoy hissed before turning around angrily and leaving the classroom as his cronies followed, shooting the trio cold stares.
“Freya, I don’t think it was all that nice of you to make fun of Malfoy’s fear. Though I doubt whatever on the floor was actually just paper.” chastised Will after they had also left the classroom, walking to their common room.
“Oh, Mother of Merlin, I feel just awful,” Freya said, her eyes widening as she mockingly staggered against the wall. “I wasn’t nice to Malfoy? How can I live with myself? After he’s always been so bloody kind to me…”
Harry laughed and even Will smiled as they walked, rolling his eyes.
Harry sighed, looking back at the classroom they'd left behind. “Too bad we didn’t get to have a go, right, Will?”
“Very bad," Will agreed, frowning. "I would have liked a turn."
“Ha, I would've liked you to have a turn to, what a laugh it'd have given us.” Freya sniggered, “A floating image of the only ninety-nine percent William would ever get in his life…”
***
Draco took it upon himself to hide away from the rest of his Slytherin group that night, going to his spot on the bridge as he leaned against the railing heavily, able to now much better now that he was taller than he was last year.
He needed a breather from what he had seen during Lupin's lesson as he rubbed his face tiredly, seeing the image of his greatest fear again as he closed his eyes.
For when he had seen it, what was scattered on the ground, he had seen something so atrocious he had almost cried out in relief when he made them burn-for nobody could ever see what he himself had seen.
I don’t understand, Draco had thought as he looked at the items scattered on the floor, I don't get it.
But Draco, thinking it all over again, realized he had his suspicions.
That his greatest fear may just be…
Riddikulus, he had screamed then, and the stupid boggart had burned away.
Utterly, he thought now as he leaned his head in his hands, the cold night air rippling through his hair, ridiculous.