Foyer----

Class had been dismissed. Most of the students trotted out of the classroom, all aglow from their first real Defense Against The Dark Arts lesson. People were chatting about defeating the Boggart with their newly learnt spell, and how they planned on conquering their fears in real life.

Rachel was not. She walked out of the classroom slowly, with her usual pout on her face. Her skirt was mussed up, and her school sweater was all frumpy. Typical.

But she was upset. The Boggart had manifested itself as her father. And she was force to decorate him in a harlequin's outfit. Even that was a fleeting feeling. People after her asked her, why it had not appeared as something else. Like a spider.

Well, why not have the Boggart appear as her father.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid..." she mumbled. Truthfully, she felt rather humiliated of this whole ordeal. She wasn't sure how she felt about Professor Lupin. Maybe they would have been better off with Lockhart, instead.

Elroy happened by, one of many fish in the current. He was kicking an imaginary rock, or something similar, with his eyes down and brow furrowed. Overall, he looked particularly standoffish -- more so than Rachel could recall ever seeing him, even through their primary years. The rather pudgy lass he had been so infatuated with had just broken things off with him not yet 24 hours ago; it had been the first time he'd ever felt something he could dub "love", even though it likely wasn't.

Rachel glanced over at Elroy. Ah, at least she had someone that she could vent to. Or, at least have a nice chat with and forget her problems. She jogged up to him, so they were walking side by side.

"What's eating ya?" Rachel asked him, the pout still plastered onto her face.

Elroy let the pebble fall by the wayside, opting to instead count cobbles on the hallway floor. He shrugged his shoulders, giving a slight grunt. "I 'unno."

"Um, can I ask you something?" But Rachel just continued talking, without waiting for an answer.

"Look, are you afraid of something?-Something that chills you right down to the bone? It's something serious, but you can't help but feel embarrassed about it? Because of others?" Rachel asked him, creating a giant run on sentence.

For a moment, Elroy didn't answer, considering whether or not to answer. "I 'unno."

"...Can't you say anything else?" Rachel demanded in a biting tone. "Or do you just not care? You can admit to that."

"No. I seriously don't know that one." He wasn't phased by her tiny-powerhouse exertions.

"...Oh, I suppose that's okay, too. Do you like Professor Lupin, or have you had him yet?" Rachel demanded this time around.

"Uhh." He let this single vowel trail briefly. "No. Last hour."

"Well, he had us defeat a Boggart in this old wardrobe." Rachel said.

"The hell is a Boggart," Elroy asked in a rather ambiguous tone.

"What! You're a pureblood!-But that's okay, I've never heard of them until now. But anyway, it's this thing, that transforms into your biggest fear or something." Rachel explained to him.

"Oh." He flicked his hair out of his eyes. "That thing. We had one in our attic for a bit."

"Did you defeat it? I helped, a little bit in class."

"No." The bangs fell back. "Me? No. Ari did. It was, like, a bunch of years back though."

"I hope you don't have to." Rachel said rather grimly.

"The Boggart turned into my father." She said suddenly. She wasn't quite sure why she was telling Elroy this, when she hadn't even told her so called "closer" friends about this.

El scoffed. "That's... kind of... not good."

"I guess you're right." Rachel's shoulders slumped considerably.

"Like, kind of intruding; like, you know." Every last punctuation mark carried the weight and pause of a thousand meteor showers.

"Do you think he wanted to shame us or something?" Rachel suggested.

Elroy shifted his shoulders slightly, hunching himself further. "I kinda doubt it, unless he's some kind of... crazy... sadist, or some shite."

"I bet he is. That long trench coat of his, covered in patches... he's trying to make himself feel better about his poverty by making the rest of his feel like arses." Rachel replied to her friend rather bitterly.

"Whatever," he said, dismissing the subject.

"Well, what do you want to talk about, then?" she inquired.