Professor's Chamber

A lone wardrobe was placed in the middle of the chilly chamber. It was dark and faded, made of what looked like once beautiful walnut. Time had worn away it's glimmer, but it was a still beautiful piece of furniture. Still, a wardrobe in the middle of the teacher's chamber was still an odd location for one. What was this teacher thinking?

Though fall hadn't properly began the entire castle felt drafty. A small fire crackling in it's grate did little to warm the room. Rachel tugged on her scarf, and pulled on it tightly around her neck. Out of the corner in her eye, she noticed the Potion's Master pouring through today's copy of the Daily Prophet. She felt a bit grumpy. Why did this new professor have to drag them in this old, freezing classroom?

Libby was partially seated on a table, legs kicked out and crossed to provide balance as she hunched over a parchment, scribbling out some sort of vague and "poetic" love-note to her boyfriend of nearly a month. Once finished, she folded it crookedly and stuffed it into her bag so that it was wedged in between her astronomy and history of magic textbooks.

Rachel was paying attention to her teacher, and a uncomfortable shiver ran up her spine. Your biggest fear manifesting before you, huh? That sounded...

Unconsciously, Rachel stroked her cheek, and frowned deeply at the shaking wardrobe, and whatever it's contents may be.

~

Max turned around, and frowned at his friend, Nick.

"What are you afraid of?" he whispered.

Nicolas shrugged, and thought about it for a moment. "Hmm. I'm not sure." He'd never really given much thought to what his greatest fear was, but some material things squicked him. Like cockroaches. Ewww. "What about you?"

"Uh... I don't really know." Max shrugged a bit. So many fears would be hard to visually manifest in an entity.

"Maybe death..." Death was a typical answer. "Or uh... drowning? I guess we'll know what it really is when we face it."

Nicolas shrugged. "I suppose so." He was pretty scared to go up in front of the class in itself; it would be really embarrassing for everyone to know your deepest, most personal secret.

The Professor surveyed the class, with a smile. It gave him a sense of satisfaction to see his group of pupils looking so frightened. Clearly, they weren't used to a Defense Against The Dark Arts class that had them actually perform practicals.

His eyes shifted around the room, until they fell upon a tall and lanky girl.

"Ah, Libby is your name, isn't it?" he asked her politely.

"Yessir!" Libby said, getting up from her seat on one of the tables. "So, let me get this straight. What you're saying is, is that we have to get up in front of the class and show everyone our worst fear? Isn't that a bit personal?" She raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"Well, in this class, we must begin to grow used to revealing our fears to each other, won't we? This is a Defense Against The Dark Arts class. Now, step forward to wardrobe, and when the Boggart appears, perform the charm that I have instructed for you to use." Professor Lupin said all of this breezily and casually.

Mel burst into a fit of giggling at that smartass redhead. She got worked.

"Well, perhaps you would like a turn to go up, instead." Professor Lupin turned towards Mel, with a small smile curled up by his lips.

Mel shot up a hand. "Yessss!" she pridefully shouted, shouldering to the head of the cluster.

"Go on then," Lupin pointed towards the wardrobe with a smooth flick of his wand. "All you need to do is walk up to it, and the Boggart will open the door on it's own. Just cast your spell on it, and see what happens."