Face your Fears (( Professor Foxcroft))

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Cassandra tossed and turned in bed as dreams of a stalking predator in tattered black robes chased her in her dreams. Its skinny fingers kept brushing her back and neck as she barely evaded his grasp. Death was a stubborn pursuer. He had all the time in the world while your time was running out. Cass sat up in bed, straight as a board, drenched in sweat. The dream had been haunting her almost every night since the last DADA class. However, the sequence didn’t end with the creature slipping on his robe and falling to the floor; it ended with Death’s cold hands taking Cass away to her reward.

Cass looked around the dormitory and saw that all of her dorm mates sleeping peacefully. She was pretty sure that none of them noticed how her rest had been interrupted since many of them could sleep through a Death Eater raid. Slipping her feet into her slippers, she walked out the door and down the stairs to the Common Room to get a drink of water. Cass’ thoughts swirled. Why couldn’t she sleep? Well, she knew why she couldn’t sleep. Ever since the episode with the boggart, her thoughts had been plagued by her fear of death. Shadows creeped her out, little squeaks in the middle of the night sent shivers up her spine, and her poor cat, Ringo, still had not recovered from being thrown off the bed when his claws found their way into her foot.

Still, Cass felt helpless. After retrieving her drink of water, she headed back up the stairs in the same silent manner. Reaching her dorm door, she squealed as a strong gust of wind crossed her cheek. Out of her mind, she rushed back in the dorm and dove back into her four poster, determined that something had followed her up the stairs. After hiding under the covers for a few moments, Cass peaked her head from underneath her comforter. Looking down at her floor, Ring mewed at her in confusion. Throwing of the sheets, she stood up and grabbed her wand off her bedside table. Pulling on one of her school robes, she proclaimed, “This is ridiculous, Ringers!”

Ringo followed at Cass’ heels as she marched out of the dormitory and straight out of the common room. She was breaking a dozen school rules, but she had to confront this fear. If she didn’t she would never be able to sleep decently again. The trip to the DADA classroom was uneventful, but she remained silent until she had shut the door securely behind her. Turning around in the darkness, she could vaguely make out the outlines of the wardrobe. It shook violently as she approached. Stopping about ten feet in front of the chest, she took out her wand. “Alohamora!” The lock swung open, allowing the door to swing open. Cass saw the Death boggart slip out into the open to confront her. Cass took aim at the creature and commanded, “Riddikulus!”

[Professor Julius Foxcroft]

"It's probably just a student up to no good," thought the irritated professor as he rushed as quietly as he could down the corridor towards his office. Julius thought the student in mind must be rather stupid to think he or she wouldn’t get caught. Security measures were tight on the castle these days and Julius had placed special charms on his own classroom to make sure it couldn’t be broken into without his knowledge. The moment he'd discovered there was someone in it he had risen from his bed his first thought that there might be Death Eaters in the castle or something equally horrible before common sense kicked in and he realised it was probably just a prankster. Julius had always been a light sleeper and these days his sleeping patterns had been worse than usual with all that was going on, but he had been enjoying a few hours of sleep which was rather unusual when the Alarming Charm sounded in his room and he knew someone was inside the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.

The troublemaker had not even bothered to close the door behind them. Julius stood on the threshold and watched in amazement as he took in the sight before him. Cassandra Blackfire was attempting to battle the Boggart she had just faced this morning and had failed to conquer. Afraid of what he had seen that morning Julius headed straight for the Boggart, his wand at the ready. There was the sound of several high-pitched screams from two young students being tortured which Julius quickly turned to laughter by a casual flick of his wand and he pushed the Boggart back into the cupboard and slammed its door shut and turned to the girl behind him. His hair was ruffled and his eyes were red and he looked a different person than he did when he was teaching but the no-nonsense reproachful tone of his voice was more than enough to remind Cassandra who she was going to have to explain herself to.

"Blackfire, sit down right now. If you were trying to do what I think you were don’t you think you should've talked to me first rather than creep out of your dormitory in the middle of the night showing all the good judgment of a brainless first year rather than thinking about your behaviour first? Don’t you read the papers girl?" he reprimanded her. He tightened the knot on his dressing gown belt as he waited for her to say something. He was more concerned than angry for her, but it did annoy him how some of the students just didn’t care about their own safety, just as much as it annoyed him that they had to go to school in such conditions. But that was the way things were and they all had to learn to make the best of it.

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Cass jumped as she heard Professor Foxcroft's voice behind. Spinning around, she turned to see him standing in the doorway looking particularly unhappy. Cass stared up in horror at him with her black curly hair covering one of her large hazel eyes. Gripping her wand in both hands, she did as she was ordered too. Sitting down in the closest desk, she looked at her feet since she was unable to meet the gaze of the Professor. " Sorry, Professor," she mumbled. Releasing the tight grip around her wand, she placed it absent mindedly on the desk. The sight of Foxcroft's fear had unnerved her a bit. Actually thinking it might be real for a moment, she had prepared to send a jinx at the horror. Unfortunately, good sense had finally kicked in and she had realized that this had to be the most stupid thing she had ever done.

" Yes, I read the papers, sir..." Damn, she had worked so hard to earn all those points too. She was probably about to lose them in one very stupid moment of indiscretion. Cass looked up and saw Foxcroft's angry face. She looked down again. Foxcroft was on the three teachers she looked up to, and to have him glowering down at her like that was worst than any punishment. " I'm sorry, sir. I just wasn't thinking. I've been sitting up in the common room thinking about it all day. You know, what happened in class," she looked at the wardrobe sheepishly. Cass wiped her face on the sleeve of her school robes that she wore. Tears were beginning to stream down her face. " I'm not supposed to be scared of things like that, Professor." Her sentences begin to run together in a frantic attempt to get her excuse out. " You just don't know what it's like! I mean, after being attacked by those Death Easters last year, and then mum and Craig dying." She sniffled. " I can't be afraid of something as stupid as a Boggart! Pyro and his insane mania with those Death Eater's last year! Living with my Uncle and Aunt who are surely wrapped up in Voldemort somehow! Then, I got attacked in Diagon Alley..." Cass trailed off. " I just felt that I had to it myself."

A long silence followed her last sentence as she shuffled her feet. " I mean, I'm a Gryffindor for God's Sakes."

[Professor Julius Foxcroft]

He was wide awake now; he hadn’t known this had affected Cassandra this much even though he had been planning on talking to her a bit before their next class. His words hit home and it seemed it did register that what she had done had been extremely foolish, and he was not going to pursue the point any further. Late as it was and uncomfortable as he did feel in the unfamiliar and unorthodox conditions in which they were meeting Julius took a seat on the chair next to Cassandra and his voice was much lower and kinder when he spoke. “You’re right, it is wrong to surrender to our fears. But we have to be ready to face them, and there are several factors involved in facing a Boggart, the most important those of being the actual fear. You can be afraid of a spider because you hate the way it looks and scuttles over the ground; the fear is completely different if you’ve had spiders scuttling over you. Your fear is more complex and much more real and therefore difficult to face. Cassandra, you've had a lot happen to you in the last year, a lot of experiences that have affected you more than you know. Do you think all those in this class have had similar experiences? I should be very surprised if the answer to that question is yes. Their fears are less disturbing and complex, and therefore easier to conquer. You’re on the first step to conquering your fear, you just have a longer road to walk, and you're determination to walk it is an example of why you're in Gryffindor," he explained.

"You need to talk about this with someone. Perhaps you could tell me more about your fear and about the attack?” he suggested. "You need to really understand the roots of your fear – you weren't even expecting what you would see to be able to prepare yourself to face it. And I'm here to help you to conquer it when you’re ready, and I'll get you as many Boggarts as you like, but only when I think you’re ready," he said reassuringly. “You must understand that it does not make you any less of a Gryffindor,” he said finally.