Chapter 6
A few days later, for once Holly was sitting not in her office, but in the teachers’ lounge, unfortunately in the company of only Snape, who was every now and then looking up to glare at her as she stood at one of the tables, preparing something for her lesson that afternoon, when the door opened and Remus ushered in his students, smiling warmly when he saw her. The students looked around curiously, much to the very obvious displeasure of Snape, who, when Remus made to close the door behind himself once everyone was in, rose, sneering,
“Leave it open, Lupin, I’d rather not witness this.”
He strode past the class with his usual arrogance, but halted when he reached the door, turning to Lupin again, “Possibly nobody’s warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions into his ear.”
Poor Neville blushed violently. Holly’s knuckles turned white around the book she was gripping, anger barely concealed in her eyes. This was exactly why she despised Snape as much as she did. How could he be this cruel to a child? What kind of power trip did that man’s ego need for him to bully his student so relentlessly. Sure, he had once been bullied too. Holly was the first to admit that James and Sirius had at times been pricks, especially to Snape, whom they had taken a strong dislike to. But they had grown out of it. And even if they hadn’t, nothing, absolutely nothing could justify his behaviour towards these children. He was their teacher, for merlin’s sake, he should protect them from bullying, not be the one to bully them!
Remus, still standing by the door, just raised his eyebrows, somewhat quizzically, “I was hoping that Neville would assist me with this first stage of operations.”, his voice was mild as always, but Holly could hear an edge to it, telling her he felt the same way about Snape’s comment as she did, “And I am sure he will perform it admirably.”
Neville’s face went even redder. Snape’s lip curled, it was obvious to Holly that he was annoyed he hadn’t gotten the hoped-for response, but he left anyways, shutting the door with a snap.
“Now then,” Remus beckoned the class towards the end of the room where there was nothing but an old wardrobe, giving Holly a little wink as they passed her by. For a few minutes, as Remus gave the class an introduction into what they were about to expect, Holly returned her attention back to her own work, but quickly got distracted again, as Remus addressed Neville, asking him what he was most afraid of. It didn’t come as much of a surprise that his answer was no other than Professor Snape. For a moment, Holly wondered if it was worth the trouble she’d undoubtedly would get into if she jinxed Snape, but dismissed the thoughts immediately, although with a smile, as it reminded her of James.
While she had been lost in thoughts, Remus had advised Neville on how to deal with the boggart and was now telling the class to step back, giving Neville some room, before freeing the boggart.
The wardrobe burst open and Snape crawled out, looking no different than the man that had just left, stalking towards Neville, malice shining in his eyes. The poor boy backed aways, his wand up, but unable to get words out. Then he tried again, stammering and squeaking, but good enough. There was a loud crack and Snape was wearing a lace-trimmed dress, a hideous hat and a disturbingly red purse. The students erupted into laughter. Remus, with a broad grin, looked up, meeting Holly’s eyes, both chuckling quietly, enjoying this more than they probably should. The next student stepped forward, then the next and Holly and Remus watched them. Until suddenly, the boggart found himself in front of Harry, who raised his wand. But he never got to see his own worst fear. Both Remus and Holly had leapt up, but Remus was closer to Harry, reached him first. Drawing the boggart’s attention to himself, he raised his wand as Ron’s legless spider turned into a silvery white orb, a full moon, before Lupin, almost lazily, chased the boggart away.
“Forward, Neville, and finish him off.”
With a crack, Snape was back, but this time, Neville stepped up to him confidently. Laughing at him freely as he was back in his grandmother’s dress. With one last crack, the boggart turned into a puff of smoke and disappeared. Which was the end of the class.
Once all the students had left, Remus let himself drop into the armchair next to Holly, sighing heavily.
“For a second there, I thought my class was going to be visited by Voldemort.”
So had she, if she was being honest, which would not have gone over well.
“Instead the students will now spend a considerable amount of time trying to find out what exactly you worst fear means.”
Petting his arm in mock compassion, Holly grinned at him, as he tried to muster a smile.
“Then again, they got to see Snape in a dress twice today, so I think they might be busy with other matters.”
“He’s going to hate me even worse if he ever finds out about it.”
“Oh Remus, you can only hope.”
Shaking his head, Remus chose to leave this uncommented. He had already noticed that Holly loathed Snape more than Snape despised either one of them. He hadn’t quite figured out how that had come about, but he also preferred not to get in the middle of that, if it could be helped.