The next day, when they arrived in the classroom of Professor Lupin's first Defence Against the Dark Arts class, Professor Lupin was not there. They all sat down, pulling out their books, quills, and parchment, and when Lu Hu finally entered the classroom, they were talking. Lupin smiled and placed his tattered suitcase on the lectern. He was as ragged as he had come, but looked healthier than he had been on the train, as if it had been due to the fact that he had eaten a few meals solidly.

"Good afternoon," he said, "please put all your books back in your bag." Today is a practical lesson, and all you need is a wand. ”

The class put the books back in their bags, and several students exchanged surprised looks. They had never taken a Defence Against the Dark Arts practice class before, except for the memorable lesson from last year, where the original teacher had brought a cage of leprechauns and released them all.

"So," said the professor, seeing that everyone was ready, "will you follow me?"

He led them into the second hallway, where he stopped, just outside the faculty lounge.

"Please come in. Professor Lupin said, opening the door and taking a step back.

"Now, in this way," Professor Lupin said, beckoning the class to the end of the lounge. There was nothing there, only an old wardrobe, where the faculty kept their surplus robes. Professor Lupin walked over to the closet and stood still, the closet suddenly swayed and slammed against the wall.

"Don't worry. Professor Lupin said calmly, as several of the students jumped back in fright. "There's a Boggart in there. ”

"Boggart likes dark, enclosed spaces," says Professor Lupin, "the closet, the space under the bed, the cupboard under the sink, and once I came across an old clock hidden in my grandfather's clock." This one moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the principal if the faculty could leave it alone and give my third-graders some hands-on opportunities. ”

"So, the first question we have to ask ourselves is, what is a Boggart?" Hermione raised her hand. "It's something that morphs," she said, "and it can be presented as whatever image it thinks scares us the most." ”

"I couldn't have said any better," Professor Lupin said, Hermione was smug that Phoenix didn't raise his hand, knowing that Lupin couldn't have asked him to answer, because he knew his level, "and so, in the closet, the Boggart sitting in the darkness hadn't yet taken on any form." It doesn't know what scares the people outside the door. No one knows what Boggart looks like when he's alone, but when I release it, it immediately becomes the thing that each of us fears the most. ”

"That means," Professor Luhu said, deliberately ignoring Neville's slight voice of terror, "that we had a huge advantage over Boggart before we started. Have you found that advantage? Harry?"

Hermione sat next to Harry, tiptoeing up and down. Her hand was raised again, and in this case, it would be embarrassing to answer the question, but Harry couldn't help but answer. "Oh—because there are so many of us, it doesn't know what to become, is it?"

"Not bad at all. Professor Lupin said, and Hermione put her hand down, looking a little disappointed. "The best thing to do when dealing with Boggart is to have a lot of people. It's confused. What should it become? Is it a headless corpse, or is it a carnivorous slug? I once saw a boggett make the mistake of trying to scare two people at the same time, so he turned himself into a half-slug. Not scary at all.

"The spell to fight off the Boggart is simple, but it takes willpower. You know, what really scared Boggart off was laughter. All you have to do is force it to turn into what you think is a ridiculous image. ”

"Let's talk about this spell without a wand. Please tell me - funny funny!"

"Funny funny!" The class said in unison.

"If Neville succeeds, this Boggart may turn his attention to each and every one of you. Professor Lupin said,

"I'll count to three, Neville," Professor Lupin said, pointing his wand at the closet, "one-two-three-start!"

A burst of sparks shot from the end of the Professor's wand, and the sparks struck the handle of the closet door. The closet door burst open. Professor Snape, with a hooked nose and a threatening expression, stepped out, staring at Neville with blazing eyes.

Nacheng stepped back, his wand raised, his mouth stammering, speechless. Snape pressed at him menacingly, reaching into his robes.

"Funny-funny!" Neville screamed.

There was a noise, like the sound of a whip. Snape stumbled as he wore a long, lace-embroidered gown, a tall hat topped by an old carved specimen that had been moth-eaten, and a large scarlet handbag dangled in his hand.

The class burst into laughter, the Boggart paused, bewildered, and Professor Lupin shouted, "Parvati, come forward!"

Parvati stepped forward, grimacing. Snape walked around her. There was another crack, and where Snape had stood was now a bloodied, bandaged mummy, whose sightless eyes turned to Parvati and began to walk towards her, slowly, slowly, shuffling, stiff arms raised. "Funny funny!" Parvati shouted.

The bandages on the mummy's feet were untied, and it stumbled from the loose bandages, its face fell to the ground forward, and its head rolled down.

The class lined up and the students faced Boggart one by one. The Boggart changed into something feared by the students, and the line moved rapidly.

But when Harry walked up to it, Lupin rushed up and stood in front of Harry, and Boggart turned into a moon. He lazily waved his wand, and the moon turned into a deflated balloon and flew around.

It was Slytherin's turn, and Phoenix was first.

When it was his turn, the entire classroom was pitch black, with some faint light sources illuminating the surroundings. Some dark shadows kept moving around, as if something terrible was approaching them.

"Funny funny!" he lazily waved his wand, and the boggart exploded into a thousand wisps of green smoke and disappeared.

"Hey, well--I look like that's all I have to do today. Lupin shook his head with a wry smile, and the Slytherins weren't very happy. "Let me see—add five points each to Harry and Hermione, and five points to Phoenix. ”

"But I didn't do anything. Harry said.

"You and Hermione both answered my question correctly at the beginning of the lesson, Harry. Lupin said lightly, "Good, everyone's good, great lesson." For homework, read the chapter on Boggart and write a synopsis - to be handed in on Monday. Without. ”

"What are you afraid of?"

"Why did you just kill it, I haven't fought it yet-"

"I think it's acceptable to prevent the Boggart from turning into a Flober caterpillar in front of you—" Slytherin began to talk, and Phoenix felt a few hundred more birds in his ears.

"If you're imaginative, it's still scary. Sometimes imagination can be bad, too. Phoenix shrugged.

They left the faculty lounge.