Hearing Professor Lupin's words, the surrounding students all cheered, and quite a few couldn't help but look over at Link's side.
Because Link really had guessed it correctly.
And Professor Lupin continued explaining, "Boggarts are a type of black magical creature skilled in shapeshifting. No one has ever seen their true appearance."
"Because they possess the ability to sense human hearts and then transform into the thing buried deepest in another's heart that they fear most, feeding on that fear!"
"At the same time, they also like living in dark and narrow places, like drawers and wardrobes. There have been many sightings of them in the Muggle world, and because of the above two traits, they are often called by Muggle children 'the monsters under the bed.'"
"Even for wizards, they are a rather tricky black magical creature, after all, not everyone can conquer their fear. But today, I'm going to teach you two tricks!"
Lupin shook his wand and said, "First, even though boggarts have mind-reading ability, their intelligence isn't very high. So as long as there are many people for it to read minds from, it gets confused."
"To give an example, the thing I fear is a floral dress, and you fear Professor Snape. So, if we both appear in front of the boggart at the same time, then it won't know whether to become a floral dress or Snape. So, most likely, it'll hide in the wardrobe like now, unwilling to become anything."
"Of course, there's also a possibility that this boggart is especially greedy and wants to scare both people. Then it'll become a Snape wearing a floral dress! Such a transformation naturally can't scare anyone, so I recommend that you go in pairs when facing a boggart."
The crowd burst into a wave of laughter; everyone pictured Snape in a floral dress in their minds.
Seeing this, Professor Lupin also laughed. After everyone had laughed enough, he continued, "Besides the method I just mentioned, boggarts are especially afraid of laughter. This makes them feel ashamed and causes them to hide."
"We can make use of this! When it comes out to scare you, all you have to do is strongly imagine the funniest form that thing could take, and then cast a simple transfiguration spell to finish it off. And that transfiguration spell's incantation is 'Riddikulus!' Come, say it with me…"
Lupin led everyone in reciting the spell a few times, and finally walked up to the wardrobe with a smile, "I've already taught you how to deal with boggarts. So now, is there anyone who's willing to come up and give it a try?"
As soon as Lupin said this, the crowd that had just been extremely excited instantly quieted down.
Although Lupin encouraged them a few more times, still no one volunteered.
This was easy to understand.
Everyone found this class interesting only because the method of 'facing one's inner fear directly' allowed for lots of gossip and would give them more conversation material.
But when it came time for them to step up themselves, not many were willing.
After all, being teased doesn't feel so nice, let alone being the first to go.
The scene was completely silent. After a while of struggling, just as Lupin was about to grab someone to be the first, John finally couldn't hold back anymore.
He looked in the direction of the Ravenclaw girls, gritted his teeth, stood up, raised his hand, and said, "I'll go!"
"Very good! You're Link's friend, John, right?" Lupin clapped excitedly and said, "For your courage, 5 points to Hufflepuff!"
There was another wave of playful clapping in the crowd. With everyone's encouragement, John wasn't so nervous anymore.
He took a deep breath and finally stood in front of the wardrobe.
"Do you remember what I just said?"
Lupin pressed his shoulder and reminded him, "Don't be afraid. That's just a fake created by the boggart! All you need to do is imagine the funniest scene and then raise your wand and say 'Riddikulus!' to it!"
John nodded.
Seeing this, Lupin grinned, pulled out his wand, and pointed it at the wardrobe.
"Ready? Begin…"
Under the crowd's tense gaze, firelight shot from the tip of Lupin's wand and struck the wardrobe handle.
Immediately after, what walked out from it wasn't some weird-looking monster, but a pretty Ravenclaw girl.
Everyone who had already covered their mouths, ready to scream, froze. That girl carefully walked up to John, crossed her arms, raised her head, and said in a disgusted tone, "You? Want to be my boyfriend? Ha! Why don't you take a piss and look at yourself!"
"Uhh!~"
John stood stiffly in place as if struck by lightning.
The crowd burst into an uproar.
Especially among the Ravenclaw girls, one girl screamed extra loudly.
Link turned his head and saw that the girl looked exactly the same as the boggart's transformed appearance.
This made Link instantly understand what was going on.
'That must be the girl John likes!'
For a moment, everyone who realized this burst into waves of laughter, while that girl covered her face and collapsed to the ground. Judging from her shaking shoulders, she seemed to be crying.
Lupin was clearly at a loss too, having never encountered this kind of situation before. He stood there, not knowing what to do.
And at this moment, John moved.
At this moment, he was clearly so entranced that he ignored his surroundings. He pulled out his wand, then pointed it at the boggart in front of him.
Link's expression changed drastically. If John really used "Riddikulus" on that boggart, that Ravenclaw girl would suffer social death.
Whether John could overcome his fear, Link didn't know, but he knew for sure that John's love would be dead.
As expected, the students around Link, eager to stir up the scene, started chanting loudly together, "Riddikulus! Riddikulus!"
Link gritted his teeth and was about to step up to stop this.
After all, John was his little bro, and if he could help, he should.
But before Link could take action, John suddenly threw away his wand and cried out while holding his head, "I can't do it! How could I possibly do something like that to Lillian!"
The Ravenclaw girl that the boggart had turned into responded coldly with disdain, "Knew it, you're trash! Can't even do something like this! A rat like you should just stay in your sewer! Don't come out and embarrass yourself again!"
Upon hearing this, John's body trembled violently once again.
Clearly, the boggart had just read his mind again and spoke these heart-piercing words.
But the eruption Link had expected didn't happen.
John simply took a deep breath, then choked as he said, "No matter how you hit me, curse me, look down on me, or even refuse to accept me, it's all okay. I will never hurt you."
John paused, then roared, "Because I love you! Lillian!"
"Whaaa!~"
Now the classroom truly exploded.
Many boys were cheering loudly with "Oh oh oh!", and the girls had long been screaming with their faces covered.
As for that Ravenclaw girl, her face turned red and she ran out of the classroom.
For a moment, the classroom was in total chaos.
In the chaos, Link and Lupin exchanged a glance, and then both couldn't help but burst out laughing.
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