"So, the first thing I want to tell you is: that Boggart sitting in the darkness within the wardrobe has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door... Nobody knows what a Boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us fears the most."
"This means," said Professor Lupin, "that we have a huge advantage over the Boggart before the practical work begins... does anyone know what that advantage is?"
"I think... it's because there are so many of us here," said a student.
"Yes, exactly!" Lupin smiled. "It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a Boggart. He becomes confused. Which should he become?"
"The charm that repels a Boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a Boggart is laughter! What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing."
"We will practice the charm without wands first. After me, please... Riddikulus!"
Marcel was obviously unimpressed by this. In fact, Boggarts were almost harmless. Even if they turned into what you feared most, they wouldn't cause corresponding harm—they would only bluster and try to scare you.
"Good," said Professor Lupin. "Very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough..."
Lupin asked everyone to line up and take turns dealing with the Boggart in the wardrobe.
In this regard, Lupin's choice of course content was undoubtedly much better than Hagrid's. Although Boggarts looked scary, they were not capable of hurting people, making them very suitable for the first lesson.
Everyone seemed happy. After all, such an interesting class was really rare.
Of course, occasionally students would faint from fright, but at least no one had experienced this situation so far.
Soon, it was Marcel's turn.
"...Oh, good! Excellent!" Lupin praised loudly, then continued, "Next!"
Marcel stepped forward, facing the Boggart that had previously turned into a Yeti wearing a Santa Claus outfit, and waited quietly.
He was also curious about how the Boggart would react when facing him.
The next moment, the Yeti twisted and spun, making a crackling sound—this was the sign that the Boggart was about to transform.
But the crackling sound continued. It spun faster and faster, but it just couldn't complete the transformation.
Everyone's face showed a puzzled look. Professor Lupin also looked at the Boggart in confusion, not knowing what it was doing.
You know, everyone has fears. No matter how small, the Boggart will detect it and transform itself into what the other person fears.
So Lupin didn't think about anything else. He just thought there was something wrong with this Boggart.
But Marcel knew exactly what was going on. He looked at the Boggart twisting and spinning in midair, seeing that it didn't seem to have any intention of stopping, and couldn't help but extend his wand.
Originally, Marcel wanted to use a Freezing Charm, but after a little consideration, he gave up.
"Riddikulus."
Marcel turned the spinning Boggart into a large ball of yarn, which bounced on the ground a few times and rolled aside.
"Maybe because I'm more afraid of dizziness, it tried to make me dizzy by spinning non-stop," Marcel explained dryly.
"Um..." Lupin spread his hands and said, "Oh, well... maybe that's right."
The other students were puzzled, but when they heard Marcel's reason, they couldn't help but laugh.
Overall, this class was a great success. If possible, everyone hoped that Professor Lupin could break the curse that "Defense Against the Dark Arts professors only last one year" and stay forever.
The students all loved his Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.
Perhaps only Draco Malfoy and his gang of Slytherins were badmouthing Professor Lupin.
"Look at the state of his robes," Malfoy would say in a loud whisper as Professor Lupin passed. "He dresses like our old house-elf."
But apart from them, no one cared that Professor Lupin's robes were patched and frayed.
His subsequent classes were as lively and interesting as the first one.
After Boggarts, they studied Red Caps, nasty little goblin-like creatures that lurked wherever there had been bloodshed: in the dungeons of castles and the potholes of deserted battlefields, waiting to bludgeon those who had got lost.
Then, the content of the class changed from Red Caps to Kappas.
These were creepy water-dwellers that looked like scaly monkeys, with webbed hands itching to strangle unwitting waders in their ponds.
Everyone looked forward to every class. Defense Against the Dark Arts had not brought this feeling to everyone for a long time.
However, compared with Defense Against the Dark Arts, Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class seemed terrible.
After the action-packed first lesson, the class became very dull.
Although Marcel had made a good start for Hagrid, the rumors spread by Malfoy made Hagrid lose confidence. Now they spent lesson after lesson learning how to look after Flobberworms, often stuffing shredded lettuce down their slimy throats...
In the eyes of the students, they must be the most boring creatures in existence.
Marcel couldn't help with this either.
Although he didn't mind being an unofficial "teaching assistant," since Hagrid had lost confidence, he wasn't the kind of person who would force himself to help.
What's more, he had a lot of things to do!
For example, tonight, he had to take time to go to Hogsmeade to pick up something from his partner Tyrande.
Because Hogsmeade was located above the snow line all year round, it was always covered in white. Marcel had long been used to this.
But the recent Hogsmeade was a bit different from usual—there were searching Dementors everywhere, and wizards rarely went out.
The escape of Sirius Black had indeed caused quite a stir. After all, since Azkaban began operating as a wizarding prison, there had never been a prisoner escape!
Marcel walked alone in the Hogsmeade village at night. Every once in a while, he would pass one or two Dementors, but they invariably ignored Marcel's existence.
Facts proved that they really couldn't discover Marcel.
And Marcel didn't have time to pay attention to those monsters. He hurriedly bypassed those tall and thin big guys and quickly arrived at the back door of an inconspicuous shop in an alley.
"Knock, knock."
Marcel knocked gently on the wooden door, the sound particularly abrupt in the silent night.
Soon, the door was opened a crack from the inside, and a face covered in bandages appeared behind the door.
"Oh, it's you... come in quickly." Tyrande opened the wooden door halfway, waved his hand, and said hurriedly.
Marcel walked in sideways, and the door was quickly closed again with a creak.
"It's terrible! Those damn... cough cough... damn Dementors!" Tyrande huffed. "They've scared away all the... cough cough... business!"
"So I'm here to bring you something good." Under Marcel's disguise, that rasping voice still made people want to pick their ears.
He took out a small bottle and placed it on the table in front of Tyrande.
"This is a little gadget with a similar effect to the Patronus Charm. Although the effect is much worse than the Patronus Charm, at least anyone can use it..."
"How... cough cough... how do you use it?" Tyrande picked up the small bottle and looked at it. It seemed to contain a ball of milky white floc, glowing with a faint light.
"Just pull out the cork," explained Marcel. "It will burst out a burst of white light, keeping the Dementors out. The effective duration is about one minute."
"Oh! This is really... cough cough... good stuff." Tyrande looked very happy. "How much of this stuff is there?"
"Unfortunately, not much," Marcel spread his hands. "At least don't expect it to be mass-produced... but the price can be set higher, right?"
"Cough cough... Yes, I think... cough cough, yes!" Tyrande nodded repeatedly. "Oh, right... cough cough... your thing is ready."
He stood up, took a flat box from the shelf behind him, and placed it in front of Marcel.
Marcel opened the box gently and lifted the contents out.
It was a set of dark clothes, from shirt to trousers, to a long cloak with a hood, and even a pair of boots and a pair of gloves.
They looked very exquisite. At first glance, they seemed black, but if you looked closely, you would find a hint of dark green in them. And on their surface, there seemed to be fine scales, reminiscent of snake skin.
Yes, this was a good thing made by a craftsman Tyrande found, using the snake skin that Marcel had spent a lot of effort to peel off from the basilisk as raw material.
In addition, there were still a lot of materials left from the basilisk, enough for Marcel to slowly arm himself.
Especially that basilisk horn, Marcel planned to handle it himself. If nothing unexpected happened, a powerful homemade wand would become one of his powerful aids in the future.
Having done what he wanted to do, Marcel sat at Tyrande's for a while longer, learned about the recent rumors, big and small, and then got up to leave.
But what he didn't expect was that in Hogsmeade, which was full of Dementors, Sirius Black was boldly running around in his Animagus form.
"...He's really bold."
Just as Marcel walked out of the back door of Tyrande's shop, he caught a glimpse of a black dog flashing past deep in the alley.
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