Defence Against the Dark Arts ((4th-5th Years))

[lacey]

Lacey had entered the classroom quietly and just as quietly had chosen a seat for herself next to a Gryffindor 5th year she knew. At least the boy seemed friendlier than some other people in the class, especially since he was a prefect. Not that Lacey paid very much attention. She had chosen a seat for herself and pulled out the letter she had written to her father previously. Pulling out a handful of colouring pencils from her bag Lacey started to sketch. Her father had always liked her drawing and encouraged her to lay her emotions out on paper. Lacey in return always made sure that he received her very best drawings and always decorated her letters too. A floating owl to the top rightmost corner of the paper where the date and address were. And swinging fairy at the bottom behind Lacey’s name who was offering a heart to the reader of the letter. Lacey colored the wings of the fairy a light color of purple and added white-red striped stockings under her flowing red dress. Smiling at the fairy Lacey turned her head and thought about it for a moment. It looked nice, but yet it seemed as if the picture was missing something. Some life perhaps. Almost as soon as she had thought it Lacey picked up her green and brown pencils and with a few quick strokes the picture had changed once again. The fairy was now swinging happily on a see-saw.

Pulling out her wand Lacey shieldedly tapped the picture making it move before rolling it up and slipping it back into her bag under the table. She would owl it to father as soon as class was over. Speaking of which class was going on right now, wasn’t it? Lacey bit into her lower lip while chancing a quick peek at professor Foxcroft from under her eye-lashes. The man scared her a little. She seemed always so disgruntled and in a bad mood. Didn’t he have anything to be happy for? Luckily the class had just barely begun so perhaps the professor hadn’t noticed Lacey’s lack of attention. Quietly gathering all her numerous pencils Lacey placed them into the bag she had just for this purpose and looked down to the table-cover in front of her as she let her hair fall forward so it was shielding her face a little as she listened to hear what they would be learning about today.

[Kennedy Valak S6]

Kennedy had found a seat among a group of fellow fourth year Slytherins consisting of Fiona, Jack, and Aubree. He sat quietly and half paid attention as class started and Professor Foxcroft's gave instruction on what they would be learning about this year. However, at the mention of dark creatures, Kennedy's eyebrows raised and he gained a sudden burst of interest. Kennedy loved working with magical creatures, especially since his father worked with them everyday as part of his job. Often times, Kennedy would help with his research. This experience gave him much knowledge in the area of magical creatures.

When Professor Foxcroft mentioned boggarts, a smile came to Kennedy's face. He knew darn well what a boggart was. He would never forget the day his dad showed him one, for it turned into a blazing fire. Kennedy was burned once as a small child, and since then he always avoided fire when he could. Feeling confident of his knowledge, Kennedy raised his hand, although he noticed a few others beat him to it. Already in the air though, Kennedy figured he would at least see who Professor Foxcroft chose to answer the question.

[kristianmt]

Konnor sat and watched as the professor went on talking about boggarts and such. She saw as quite a few others raised their hands to answer his question. She could've answered easily but decided to not. Besides, they new the answer. Or they should. Konnor laughed as she watched as some of her classmates carried on their conversations. Konnor smiled. "They lecture more than the teacher.." Konnor thought to herself.

Konnor was chipper as always. Everyday was a good day at Hogwarts. Konnor loved Hogwarts, so she did her duty as a student and paid attention in class. Besides, work is getting tougher considering she is a fifth year now. Konnor quickly got her head out of the clouds, and back into the classroom. She placed some parchment on her desk and took out her quill, and wrote down what professor Foxcroft was saying.

[Professor Julius Foxcroft]

Julius looked at Kris squarely in the eyes, however his voice remained calm and there was even a slight ton of indifference to it when he addressed him. "I'm afraid Graas that I have yet to test Professor Dumbledore's and the council members' patience but I have never done anything to displease them before. Besides, as I'm sure you know, in a school like Hogwarts, where there are so many students trying to learn magic, there is the occasional unfortunate accident in class and you'll find that never has the Professor been blamed." Julius gave Hardwick a small smile. He wondered how exactly she had ended up in this position. One student was playing around with her wand and Julius glared at her before turning back to look at the rest of the class.

Several hands were raised after he asked his question and Julius was glad to see that. "All in good time, Graas, and I see you two have not worked out a way to get rid of those handcuffs? Should you not be worrying about that Graas rather than interrupting the class?" asked Julius with his eyebrows slightly raised. He remembered that a fourth year Gryffindor had been the first to raise her hand and turned to her. "Blackfire, yes, tell us what a Boggart is. When she's done, O'Reilly, share with us your knowledge about Boggarts if there is anything you would like to add." Foxcroft didn't know either of the girls, but that wasn't surprising since Blackfire he knew had lived as a Muggle and the Irish one was a Slytherin, which meant that both of them were unlikely candidates when it came to choosing Muggle Studies as an elective.

[cleo]

Cleo almost absent-mindedly observed how ridiculous it looked that Foxcroft seemed to stare at Kris’s sunglasses. Really, like Kris was ever going to see a stern look? Though Cleo was relatively sure that even if Kris had seen the look, he wouldn’t have been hindered by any way. Really, Foxcroft was grouchy, but such people who used irony as shields and looked like tough guys – though they usually were too tough guys – were really sweethearts deep inside. Cleo had learned to read people over time and Kris was just like that. He was a rather rough guy by his behavior as he didn’t bother to change himself, but though you got what you saw Kris would never harm an animal, a child or never raise a hand against a woman. In some ways Cleo believed the same about Foxcroft especially after the small smile he gave her. Cleo threw back a small scowl, understanding perfectly what would irk Kris about those words.

Cleo threw herself forward even though Kris hadn’t moved a muscle besides growling slightly, ven though Cleo wasn't sure whether or not Foxcroft had heard it, but he had only heard the words, not seen the small smile accompanying them. Cleo had once seen Dana use that trick to get what she wanted out of Kris and it actually did work. Or at the very least it would hinder Kris. Seating herself easily in Kris’s lap, Cleo pulled the wand out of his grasp. It was better to be watchful than have to suffer through the consequences if Kris decided to forget that Foxcroft was a professor. What did surprise Cleo a little was how easily Kris gave up his wand. Most witches and wizards were paranoid about the safety of their wand. Kris was a clear exception of it – why, he wore is wand in his sleeve so it would always be within his reach. He even slept with the piece of wood under his pillow with his fingers holding the wand. How much more paranoid could you get? Yet he gave up the wand without any objections right now which made Cleo send a bit doubtful glance at him, but Kris merely leaned back in his chair.

Glancing at Foxcroft Cleo arched an eye-brow speaking with ease, even though she herself had just now learned about the spell as she leaned back herself resting lightly on Kris’s chest: “Ever heard of the celtic knot, professor? These handcuffs are based on that principle. Luckily Dana,” Cleo almost winced at saying out the name, but moved on smoothly hoping the name would go unnoticed, “The spell doesn’t have enough power feeding it, so it should wear off in about… “ Cleo turned her head curiously towards Kris, who shrugged and added “4 hours?”
Turning her head back at Foxcroft Cleo offered a small quirk of her lips: “The spell will wear off in 4 hours. Or would you rather prefer we interrupted the class even more while getting rid of it the old-fashioned way with a kiss?” Well, the bell had better wear off or Cleo would kill Dana. Well, not kill exactly, but make her squirm for hexing them. Giving a warning poke with her elbow in the middle of Kris’s ribcage, Cleo offered a bit sugary smile: “Kris will behave.” Turning her head lazily Cleo waited to hear what answer would come up from the Gryff and Slyth who had been called upon.

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Cass' eyes widened in surprise as Professor Foxcroft called on her. Putting her jumbled thoughts together, she constructed a pretty good answer from her knowledge about the creatures. " Boggarts are shape shifters that like to live in dark places such as wardrobes or closets. They take the shape of whatever the person fears most." Cass struggled to shape the rest of her answer. " Nobody actually knows what a boggart looks like. Boggarts are house spirits that feed of fear. So, the more frustrated the family becomes, the more intense the boggart. Muggle children normally encounter this creature as the "monster under the bad." I had one of those as a child, Cass thought amusedly to herself.

The snickers behind her didn't come as a surprise though because of her know it all answer. Grimacing to herself, she wasn't sure if she left anything for Fiona to answer. Not that she wanted to though. Every point for Gryffindor should be well earned, and she had wanted to leave no vacancies in her answers in class.

[Professor Julius Foxcroft]

"Since I shall not be doing any kissing, Hardwick, it is entirely your decision what to do, or should I say, which you think is the lesser of the two evils," said Julius, his tone indifferent. He didn't like the idea of two students kissing in his classroom, but then that was the thing about the celtic knot principle, you waited or you kissed. When Hardwick mentioned Coran Julius realised he should have known all long it was her. She was always good at carrying out tricky charms like this - he wondered for a few moments what exactly her motive had been.

"Thank you Blackfire, 10 points to Gryffindor, that is indeed an accurate description of a Boggart. I daresay few of you might have actually come in contact with them, but have probably been too inexperienced totry and battle them. I have one here in class that you all shall be dealing with a few minutes from now, but first things first. I'd like you all to take out a piece of parchment and think of what you fear worst fear is – what is the first thing that comes to mind that scares you very badly? Write it down. Then, we shall work together on making that thing seem funny – yes, even ludicrous, for that is the only effective way to battle a Boggart," instructed Julius. "Raise your hand once you've written down on the paper what scares you most."

[Kennedy Valak S6]

Kennedy listened to the Gryffindor student demonstrate her knowledge of a boggart. Blah, blah, blah, he thought. He knew she was just striving to gain as many house points as possible for the pathetic Gryffindor house. Fiona didn't even get a chance to say anything as Cassandra had covered most of the basics. Kennedy let out a sigh of disgust as Professor Foxcroft awarded Cass ten points. He then convinced himself that ten points were no big deal and that Gryffindor was still the worst house as far as points were concerned.

As Foxcroft instructed them to think of the thing they feared most, Kennedy had no trouble as he already had his in mind, knowing that boggarts focus on this fear. Quickly, he jotted down his answer on a spare piece of parchment- fire- and raised his hand high. He normally wouldn't have been willing to expose himself in front of such a large group of people, but who wasn't afraid of fire? Nobody had to know just how extreme his fear was. Sure he was only raising his hand to get credit for participation, but somebody had to represent for Slytherin- it might as well be him.

[lacey]

Lacey listened to the Gryffindor girls explanations and bit down on her lip nervously. She didn’t like being confronted with her fears. Fears were meant to be accepted but why would anyone think that confrontation with your biggest fear might actually be fun! None the less Lacey picked up a pencil and scribbled heights on the paper. She had always been afraid of heights sometimes. She didn’t even like quidditch very much because of it. Maybe it was the muggle part in her that spoke of this but brooms were originally just something you swept the floor with. It just looked so unstable and flying up and down at height from where falling might even kill you if you really were unlucky… With a shudder Lacey stopped herself from thinking about it anymore. Lacey glanced around the room not wanting to be the only one to raise her hand but luckily some Slytherin already had their hand raised so Lacey wouldn’t be the first one. Glancing at professor Foxcroft while biting into her lower lip a little Lacey raised one of her hands but let it down as soon as it was obvious that Foxcroft had seen it.

Looking down at the word heights Lacey noticed that she had already started to draw it. There was a sharp cliff-edge with rocks standing out form the wall here and then and the bottom of the gorge wasn’t visible. Staring at the rough sketch she had done without really even thinking about it Lacey gave the picture a sad smile. What would be fun about fearing heights? As her pencils were still out Lacey took a few her hands moving quickly as she added a figure standing on the side of the rock looking almost as if she was leaning on wind as the figure balanced on the edge.

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Cass couldn't help but smile as Foxcroft awarded ten points to Gryffindor for her answer. Her big head finally popped once the teacher stated that he wanted them to write down their biggest fear. Cass could only stare down at the blank parchment without a single thought in her head. Honestly, she didn't know what she feared most. Truthfully, so many bad things had happened to her over the past year that nothing seemed to bother her anymore. True, the first visit to her new home had been pretty bad, and her family dying had been pretty momentous.

Biting her lip, she wracked her brain to finish the assignment. What did she fear? Looking around at her classmates, she saw many of them jotting down answers on their slips of parchment. Watching Kennedy, she couldn't help but wonder what his fear would be. She would of never thought that a Slytherin would come out with that information in a public environment. Slytherins....Of course! That was it! Cass jotted down the word Snakes on the paper and then put down her quill. Cass had always been terrified of the creatures. She even remember running around crying after finding one in her mother's garden as a child. Leaning back in her back, she waited anxiously to see what her peers would put down as their greatest fear.

[darien]

Dare was dressed into the Hogwarts uniform. His pants didn’t have creases, his white blouse was spotless and his black shoes were shining and the black cloak didn’t have any pieces of dust on it as the red and gold Gryffindor badge gleamed proudly. The only thing out of order with Dare’s uniform was the fact that the tie wasn’t knotted around his neck but merely hanging from it. He had thrown it around his neck only to have it along but ties were so restricting. It stopped you from breathing and if some pretty girl wanted to teach Dare how to do the knot into his tie properly then who Dare to deny the girl such pleasure? Stepping into the DADA classroom Dare smiled widely at all the girls that were in here. Such beauty gathered into one room. It was enough to make any man weep with joy.

Choosing a seat next to a pretty dark-haired Hufflepuff girl Ray bowed over to whisper a “hi” into her ear as he slid into the seat next to her. Giving the girl one wide smile Dare didn’t have any options to engage into a deeper conversation with her as the class began. Paying only half a mind to what Foxcroft was talking to the blind boy Ray found much better use for his time as he admired the girls in the classroom. All young, smart, pretty and without wedding rings meaning they were all free to be charmed. At profesosr Foxcroft's words Dare's head snapped around to look at the him however.

“Confort our fears, really now professor, is it truly the most correct study-plan? We would not want the pretty eyes of the ladies here shimmering with unshed tears as the bite back the sighs coming from wounded hearts, do we? It’s the smile and laughter and joy of a woman that makes this world worth fighting for. Do you really want to rob the world of the bliss of the pretty ladies gathered into the classroom today?” Ray called out over the classroom as he smiled at the girl sitting next to him gently. He might not know her name but that made Ray decide even more that she wanted to get to know the girl while she was laughing happily not hiding tears with courage the world had never known before.

[Charles Driscoll H7]

Charles was not at all comfortable with sharing his worst fear with the rest of the class. He'd never really liked snakes – they reminded him too much of his family and their heritage and everything he had been trying to run away from for all his short life. For a long that had been his worst fear – not just any snakes, in fact – but basilisks. But then something worse came to mind, something he'd had to endure for only minutes but had seemed like days. Last year when the Death Eater had said that single word with nothing but evil in his voice – Crucio! Simply that and he'd been writhing in pain, helpless, in agony, and wishing even for death just to rid himself of that incredible pain. And so that was what he wrote down on his paper. Crucio. He didn’t know what exactly his Boggart would be, that is, how his fear would manifest itself, but he raised his hand anyway, apprehension in his eyes as he waited for Professor Foxcroft to come to him.

[Nasser Salah G6]

Thinking about his worst fear was not at all difficult for Nasser. There was not much that rattled the sturdy fifth year, yet there had been a childhood illness he had lived with for a long time and that never failed to scare him. Nasser hadn’t had an asthma attack since he'd come to Hogwarts, but the fear was always present, like a shadow lurking in the darkness at the back of his mind. He'd come to worry about it less and less, but it was certainly his biggest fear. Nasser wasn't just afraid of how unpleasant an attack was – and that was certainly unpleasant¬ for it was like someone had cut down on your supply of air and every breath was painful. He was afraid of the state asthma left him in, helpless, weak and unable to do anything for himself. He was always afraid he would get an attack in the middle of something very important and not be able to deal with it, for he never knew how long exactly an attack would last even though he'd had learn how best to control his disease until he'd finally seemed to have gotten rid of it. But he knew it could come back and he hated the thought of that, and though he didn’t waste his time thinking about it, he was definitely thinking about it now after he wrote it down and raised his hand.

[Professor Julius Foxcroft]

"Fletcher, last time I checked, it was I giving this class and not you, so kindly keep any ideas you have about how this class should be run to yourself. And if you don’t have a worst fear, then maybe after one of my classes you will," said Julius, who was beginning to lose his patience. First handcuffs and kissing students, and now another student openly criticising the way he ran his class? And then people said he favoured his former house, Ravenclaw. It was just that they were the least tiresome students, and they certainly respected their teachers.

Julius strode over to the group of students that had written something down already, excited about getting down to some real work. He headed to the first person who'd raised his hand, a fourth year Slytherin. "Ok so what would exactly would you see? I mean would you see a burning building, or just a huge fire coming towards you? And also any ideas on how you could make that less scary? Or would you like a suggestion?" Julius always encouraged his students to think for themselves, but that didn’t mean he pushed them too hard or tried to give them tasks that were too advanced for them. It was his opinion that they were at Hogwarts to learn how to learn and how to be independent, not just be spoon-fed the information in their books.

[Kennedy Valak S6]

A half-grin lined Kennedy's face when Professor Foxcroft chose him first and asked a few questions concerning the boggart. Recalling his previous encounter, Kennedy answered, "Well it would most likely be an open fire that fills the surrounding environment." He didn't want to mention the fact that he had encountered a boggart before, because he thought his knowledge might make him look a little more intelligent than assumed by the rest of the class. He hadn't actually faced the boggart, as his father preformed the spell against it. Kennedy was too young as well as he had never been taught the correct spell. He did remember however that it sounded something like 'ridiculous,' but he wasn't entirely sure. Either way, if he was about to face a boggart, this defensive spell would be something new for him. "A giant rain storm would make the fire less threatening," he continued, remembering the large storm cloud that his father conjured against the boggart. Hoping this would be enough to answer the questions posed, Kennedy didn't much like his fear being the central topic of attention. He was however inclined to face the boggart if this was what Professor Foxcroft had in mind.

[Professor Julius Foxcroft]

Julius wondered if the boy was hiding something or it was just his Slytherin nature that made it seem so. He wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of the classroom being filled with fire as that might frighten some of the students who were weak of heart but then he'd dealt with Boggarts so many times he knew he could intervene if need be. "You see the Riddikulus Curse is supposed to work by making your fear seem funny rather than actually finding a way to obliterate it so to speak, but you can try that if you like and see if it works," said Julius with a shrug. "It's your fear and it's you who needs to decide what you think would be the best way to conquer it."

The next person Julius headed towards was a fourth year Gryffindor. He looked at what she had written down and almost raised his eyebrows. Instead he spoke in the same steady encouraging voice after a moment of thought. "Is there a Slytherin in particular who scares you, Blackfire? Or might you see a group of them trying to curse or jeer at you? And how do you think you'll make that image seem funny?" he asked, his eyes looking into hers.

((I'm sorry I didn’t make it clear in my previous post but actually Julius is supposed to be working with each student individually and speaking in a low voice so anyone who isn’t that close to him and whoever he's speaking to wouldn’t really hear them.))

[sammy]

((I know I didn't post Cathy before class, but I'm just going to say she was here this whole time. I wanted on of the Dumas twins in here, and since Giselle is not attending Hogwarts any longer, I thought I should get Cathy involved. I hope that's okay with you. ))

Cathy had kept her hand down this whole time, not bothering to put her miscellaneous thoughts together. Sitting in the back wasn't a problem for her; in fact it was just an easy way to slip by looking like she was paying attention for class. Although Giselle was sitting up front, and her twin would direly like to join her, Cathy had just managed to slip into a seat before the bell had rung. And she was never tardy. So she had sat in the back against the wall, all alone and with no one to talk to. With a sigh, she leaned against the desk and put her chin on her hand, looking interested. In fact, this class seemed extremely interesting. What with the two up front having a good bicker and getting the Professor involved with magical hand-cuffs, Cathy felt like she could divide her attention to different things instead of the class. Even the lecture was tiresome, no matter how much she tried to listen. But no, her mind just slipped away.

Boggarts. Magical creatures. That's what they were going to study this year? Cathy didn't like animals that were cruel. Boggarts especially. Who would like the things that form into your worst fear? Cathy had never encountered a boggart, probably for the better too, after hearing what Blackfire had to say. Cathy hadn't caught her first name. She seemed highly intelligent, and Cathy felt a shot of jealousy slip into her veins. Maybe she should start participating, getting those needed points for Gryffindor. They did need them, after all. With a sigh, Cathy ran her fingers through her hair and straightened up her posture. Might as well try, eh? The Professor's next request was not to Cathy's liking. Must they write down what they feared most? A more important theory lingered in her mind however. Were they going to try out a run in with a boggart? Stiffening, Cathy stared at the parchment before her. What did she fear?

The conclusion to this question was something so simple, she was surprised she hadn't thought of such a thing right away. Death. Any normal person feared this, did they not? She stifled a snort at Dare's remark to the Professor, catching herself when she noticed his face. She wasn't sure if she was amused by it, or rather annoyed. Either way, she had to react to it. Death. Again, she focused on the project before her. Death seemed too wide-ranged; death could mean anything. But what... aha! Cathy crossed out the word she had put before on the parchment and wrote a new one, one that specifically clarified her fear; The Dark Mark. It signified death, fear, everything no one wanted to experience. Especially Cathy. With a deep breath, she looked up around the classroom. Professor Foxcroft was going around the room, talking in an under tone to each student in turn who had raised their hand. Was she prepared for this? Cathy's hand raised into the air with more force then what she had intended, but at least it was up there. She smiled in relief and let it flutter there, anxious for her turn to arise.

[Fiona O'Reilly S5]

Fiona didn't bother opening her mouth after Cassandra gave her little spill about boggarts. Fiona didn't care at the moment either. She didn't want to deal with boggarts today. She didn't have anything to fear, for she had seen the very thing that had cared her. She was lost in thought for a few moments before Professor Foxcroft interrupted her thoughts with an assignment. Write down your worst fear... As if my life wasn't bad already. This is all I need. For everyone to see that a Slytherin fears something, Fiona thought to herself. She didn't want anyone to see her fear. She had no way of dealing with her fear and no spell could stop it. It would be there no matter what. She would see it everyday for the rest of her life. It would never leave her alone and she knew it.

Fiona reluctantly agreed to do the assignment. She didn't need to lose more points for Slytherin anytime soon. After all she had already gotten in major trouble for the last one, she didn't need to get a bad reputation in her own house. She pulled out a piece of parchment and carefully dipped her quill into her ink. As the words were scratched on the paper, Fiona already felt herself fall into the fear. She could see the very images that she hated. If she closed her eyes they would be there, if she had her eyes open they were still there. She couldn't rid her mind of them and she knew there was nothing she could do to save herself from the pain they would bring her. She glanced down at the piece of parchment and sighed at the words: What I fear most is the image of my father's death and my mother's suicide.

Fiona turned the parchment over and raised her hand as Professor Foxcroft told the students who finished to do. She didn't know how anyone could help her with this. It wasn't something that was entirely scary, but it was the one thing that made her fear her own mind. She was afraid of those images and she didn't want to see them ever again. She waited patiently to see what Professor Foxcroft was going to tell her about her fear. She half didn't want to listen to him because he love mudbloods, but on the other hand if he could help her with her fear, even if it was designed for boggarts, than just maybe she wouldn't have to live in fear of the images any longer.

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Cass felt the Professor Foxcroft's presence hover over his shoulder as he quietly asked her about what she had written down on the paper. " Well, it's not really referring to Slytherins. I've just always hated snakes..." Cass' head drooped. She really didn't want to explain the fear to the professor. As a little girl, she had seen a small garden snake rooting around the dirt among her mother's rose bushes. Curious, she had advanced upon the creature trying to explore the new oddity. Upon inspection, she watched as its body undulated in the loose dirt making little waves. It's soft hissing sounds made her nervous, and the slimy creature scared her for some unknown reason. She just remembered screaming and running back to her mother in alarm.

" I don't really know any Slytherins that I..." Cass trailed off in thought once again. Slytherins as a whole didn't scare her. She found that most of them were absurd; holding onto ideals that many found old fashioned and outmoded. One such example of this was her Uncle, Charles. He hated muggleborns with a passion,and looked down upon her because she felt that they had every right to be in the wizarding world as she did. Her thoughts about Slytherins continued to jumble around in her head until she realized something about herself. She was afraid of Slytherins, but in an indirect way. She was afraid of what their way of thinking might do to the wizarding world.

[cleo]

“I’ll risk getting a detention in order to not kiss this snake here, however much I do like snakes,” Cleo muttered moodily as she sneered at Foxcroft slamming her elbow into Kris’s chest with quite a bit of force as she heard the low snicker coming form the boy, “Don’t say it out loud.” Cleo warned and reaching out picked up a parchment and her quill from the front of the seat she had chosen previously. Shifting a bit Cleo moved herself into a bit more comfortable position not making any movement to get away from Kris’s lap however. Scratching her chin with the tip of the quill Cleo tried to think out the biggest fear she had which in reality wasn’t that easy at all. She had never claimed to be brave, so she had tons of fears. But which one was the worst?

Cleo let out a yelp as the quill and parchment between her fingers were burned. Droping the ashes remaining from the parchment Cleo stared at her once beautiful quill in horror before turning sideways and glaring at Kris furiously. “You great PILLOCK! You don’t go around burning people’s quills! One would think that with all your good breeding you would have acquired some good manners as well!” Cleo ranted furiously no even caring if Foxcroft would get annoyed enough to actually slam both her and Kris in detention. But hey, she didn’t have milliards to buy new quills whenever she wanted to!
“Look who’s talking. Your breeding is nearly level with mine,” Kris drawled in response plucking the burned quill from between Cleo’s fingers and throwing it carelessly on the table, “It’s no use writing your fear down. When you face a boggart it won’t be what you wrote in theory, it’s whether you in reality are able to control yourself to understand it’s just an illusion, not your biggest fear coming true. When you face a boggart you just have to improvise and work on your first association or hunch. And you may run off with my wallet to Hogsmeade and get yourself a new quill to replace this one.”

Cleo stared at Kris for a few moments before deciding it was a good enough deal and nodded even though Kris wouldn’t be seeing it. “Fine. I think I know my greatest fear now as well,” Cleo muttered with a sigh letting her head drop forward as she shifted again leaning her head on Kris’s shoulder as she observed Foxcroft walking around and working with other students. Maybe Kris’s suggestion would work better for her. She would have to improvise as right now she didn’t even know if her boggart would take the shape she thought it might take. But for now Kris’s warmth and the strength of the shoulder her head was leaning on were oddly comforting so for now Cleo curled up and felt rather content as she waited for Foxcroft to give any signal as to what he expected them to do for the ending of the class.

((He-hee.. *snickers and huggles* I adore annoying your characters. ;D))