Hogwarts in the shadows

"I need to give you homework." Hagrid tried hard to remember what Hephis had said, but he had forgotten most of it.

"It's about... about..."

Hephis secretly started the voice transmission mode. He said one sentence and Hagrid imitated it.

"Okay, seven inches will do. I believe this won't be difficult for you." Hagrid looked at the little wizards with a smile, "get out of class is dismissed now."

Draco chose to stay, he wanted to stay with Buckbeak for a while longer.

The other young wizards were still excitedly discussing this unique lesson on protecting magical creatures.

"Hephis, the Hippogriff is too dangerous, what if something goes wrong?" Hermione said worriedly.

Hephis patted her shoulder and said soothingly, "Hermione, wasn't this a good lesson?"

"But isn't this too aggressive of Hagrid? We should first learn..." Hermione frowned.

Hephis looked at the castle in front of him, "Hagrid is very strong, and he knows much more about magical creatures than we do. He has the ability to control the situation."

"Of course I believe in Hagrid's ability, but I'm afraid..." Hermione was still a little worried.

Hephis held Hermione and looked at her seriously: "Don't worry! We have to learn to trust him."

Hermione took a deep breath and nodded.

Draco has become completely famous this time.

The young wizards talked about his heroic figure riding Buckbeak with great relish.

Draco finally enjoyed the treatment of being the center of attention.

Of course, Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class is also famous.

The young wizards above the third grade are all looking forward to the next lesson.

Recently, Hermione would disappear inexplicably after class, and then reappear from a corner.

Of course Hephis knew what was going on, but since Hermione didn't mention it, he pretended to be clueless.

He really couldn't stand watching Hermione running between classrooms with her heavy schoolbag on her back.

So he forcefully stuffed a small package with a traceless stretching charm cast on it into Hermione's hand.

As long as Hermione dared not use it, he would get angry, the kind that was hard to appease.

Hermione had no choice but to accept it, thinking of it as an early Christmas present from Hephis.

They arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, but Lupin was nowhere to be seen.

The little wizards gathered in groups of three or four to chat.

It can be heard from their words that after two years of devastation, they have lost hope in this course.

Lupin walked into the classroom as the bell rang.

"Good afternoon, everyone." He smiled.

"Please put your books back into your bags. Today we will have practical lessons, so you only need to bring your wands."

The young wizards all showed surprised expressions. They had never had a practical class in Defense Against the Dark Arts before.

Uh......

Last year’s Cornish Pixie doesn’t count, that was an accident.

"Okay, everyone follow me." Lupin waved his hand, motioning everyone to follow him out of the classroom.

The little wizards immediately became interested and followed suit.

They walked along the empty corridor and suddenly saw a figure.

Peeves was floating upside down in the air, inserting a piece of chewing gum into the keyhole.

He also heard someone approaching and looked up to see Lupin.

Peeves immediately started singing: "Stupid, stupid Lupin, stupid, stupid Lupin..."

Lupin smiled at Peeves, "If I were you, Peeves, I would take the gum out of the keyhole. Otherwise Mr. Filch won't be able to get in and get his broom."

Peeves ignored Professor Lupin's words.

He glanced at the young wizards behind Professor Lupin, and when his eyes fell on Hephes.

His pupils dilated instantly and an expression of horror appeared on his face.

"Devil! Devil!" Peeves screamed, and escaped through the wall.

What was left were the little wizards looking at each other in bewilderment and Lupin, who looked surprised.

"Ahem... Actually there is a little spell that is quite useful." Professor Lupin sighed and put away his wand. "Let's keep going."

The little wizards were talking behind him, all wondering who the "devil" that Peeves was talking about was.

Lupin led them down a second corridor until they reached the door to the faculty lounge.

"Come in." He pushed the door open and took a step back to make way.

The teachers' lounge was a long room filled with an assortment of old chairs.

Snape was sitting in a low armchair. When he saw Lupin come in, a hint of sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"Leave the door open, Lupin," Snape said coldly, "I'd better not look at it."

He slowly stood up and walked past the little wizards, his large black robe fluttering behind him.

He glanced at Hephis, said nothing, and left.

"Come this way now." Lupin beckoned the students to the back of the common room.

There was only an old wardrobe standing there.

Lupin walked to the wardrobe, only to see it suddenly start to shake and bang.

A few little wizards were so scared that they quickly ran to the back of the crowd.

Neville looked at Lupin in horror, his eyes filled with fear.

"Don't worry, everyone." Lupin said calmly, "There's a Boggart in there."

"Boggarts prefer dark and enclosed spaces," Professor Lupin explained.

"In closets, in the cracks under beds, in cupboards under sinks. I once came across one in an old family wall clock."

"This Boggart was just moved in yesterday afternoon. I asked the principal to let it stay here for a while to give my third grade students a chance to practice."

He paused, looking around the class, "The first thing we need to understand is, what exactly is a Boggart?"

Hermione quickly raised her hands, "It's a shapeshifting creature. It changes into whatever it thinks will scare us the most."

"You're right," Professor Lupin nodded approvingly.

"So right now the Boggart in the closet has no form. It doesn't know what the people outside the door are most afraid of."

"No one knows what a Boggart looks like when it's alone, but when we release it, it instantly becomes the thing we all fear the most."

He turned to Harry, "Harry, have you found our advantage?"

Harry racked his brains and answered, "Because there are so many of us, and it doesn't know what it's going to become?"

"Absolutely." Lupin nodded with a smile.

"The spell to repel it is simple, but the key is willpower."

"Remember, what really scares a Boggart is laughter. All you have to do is force it to become something you find funny."

"Let's practice this spell first without using the wand," he cleared his throat and continued.

"Please repeat after me... funny funny!"

"How ridiculous!" the whole class shouted in unison.