𓏲 . THE BOY WHO LIVED . .៹♡
                                                  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
                            ─── FEARS REVEALED & TALKS WITH LUPIN

Malfoy didn't reappear in classes until late on Thursday morning, when the Slytherins and Gryffindors were halfway through double Potions. He swaggered into the dungeon, his right arm covered in bandages and bound up in a sling, acting, in Charlus'  opinion, as though he were the heroic survivor of some dreadful battle.

"How is it, Draco?" Pansy Parkinson  asked with a sympathetic look on her face,"Does it hurt much?" "Yeah," Malfoy replied, putting on a brave sort of grimace. Adrian and Matthew rolled their eyes while Charlus saw him wink at Crabbe and Goyle when Pansy had looked away.

What a prat, Charlus thought.

"Settle down, settle down," Professor Snape said idly.

Charlus, Harry, Alistair and Ron all scowled at one another at the sound of Snape's voice. Snape wouldn't have said 'settle down' if they'd walked in late, he'd have given them detention. But Malfoy had always been able to get away with anything in Snape's classes; Snape was Head of Slytherin house, and generally favored his own students before all others. Except Charlus and Alistair. He seemed to despise them as much as anyone else in Gryffindor. Just as much as he despised Harry.

They were making a new potion today, a Shrinking Solution. Malfoy set up his cauldron right next to Charlus, Harry, Alistair and Ron so that they were preparing their ingredients on the same table, which was the table behind Hermione.

"Sir," Malfoy suddenly shouted, "sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm—" "Potter, cut up Malfoy's roots for him," Snape replied without looking up from his desk. Charlus went brick red.

"There is nothing wrong with your arm," he hissed at Malfoy. He shrugged his shoulders and with a sly grin, he retorted, "Potter, you heard Professor Snape, cut up these roots."

Charlus seized his knife, almost cutting off Malfoy's fingers, pulled the roots towards him, and began to chop them roughly, so that they were all different sizes.

"Professor!" the Slytherin snarled again, and without knowing what he would say this time, his brother was already rolling his blue eyes again, "Potter's mutilating my roots, sir."

Snape approached their table, stared down his hooked nose at the roots, and then gave Charlus an unpleasant smile from beneath his long, greasy black hair, "Change roots with Malfoy, Potter."

"That stupid, blonde haired prat can cut his own damn roots himself—!" He had spent the last quarter of an hour carefully shredding his own roots into exactly equal pieces."Now," Snape said in his most dangerous voice.

Charlus banged the knife so close to Malfoy's wrist that he actually jumped back in fright. He gave him a sarcastic smile before he grabbed his own beautifully cut roots and threw them to Malfoy's face. Then he grabbed the knife once again to fix his now choppy roots.

"And, sir, I'll need this Shrivelfig skinned," Malfoy continued, his voice full of malicious laughter as he took a small root out of his face. "Potter, you can skin Malfoy's shrivelfig," Snape said and gave Harry the look of loathing he always reserved for him and Charlus.

Harry took Malfoy's shrivelfig as Charlus began trying to repair the damage to the roots he now had to use. Harry skinned the shrivelfig as fast as he could and flung it back across the table at Malfoy without speaking. However, the blonde haired Slytherin was smirking more broadly than ever.

"Seen your pal Hagrid lately?" he asked them quietly. "None of your business." Ron said jerkily, without looking in Malfoy's direction, no one seemed to acknowledge him either.

"I'm afraid he won't be a teacher much longer," Malfoy said in a tone of mock sorrow. "Father's not very happy about my injury—" "I suggest you shut up before I give you a real injury, Malfoy," Charlus snarled. "Maybe this time my knife will land a little more to the left."

"—he's complained to the school governors. And even to the Ministry. My father's got a lot of influence, as you know. And a lasting injury like this—" he gave a huge, fake sigh, ignoring Charlus' threat , "—who knows if my arm I'll ever be the same again?"

"Yes, Malfoy, you're probably going to need to have it cut off."

Right after Alistair said that, Harry accidentally beheaded the caterpillar because his hand was shaking in anger. "So that's why you're putting it on." he  said, "To try and get Hagrid sacked."

"Well," Malfoy said, lowering his voice to a whisper , "partly, Potter. But there are other benefits, too. " He smirked and glanced in Alistair's direction, "Black, slice my caterpillars for me."

"Absolutely not," Alistair mumbled, ignoring the boy next to him. "But -" Malfoy began to protest. "Do it yourself," Alistair huffed and gave Malfoy a hard look, which caused him to stop talking.

A few cauldrons away, Neville was in trouble. Neville regularly went to pieces in Potions lessons; it was his worst subject, and his great fear of Professor Snape made things ten times worse. His potion, which was supposed to be a bright, acid green, had turned --

"Orange, Longbottom," Snape said, ladling some up and allowing it to splash back into the cauldron, so that everyone could see. "Tell me, boy, does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours? Didn't you hear me say, quite clearly, that only one rat spleen was needed? Didn't I state plainly that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand, Longbottom?"

Neville was pink and trembling. He looked as though he was on the verge of tears. "Please, sir," Hermione began to say, "please I could help Neville put it right—"

"I don't remember asking you to show off, Miss Granger," Snape said coldly, and Hermione went as pink as Neville. "Longbottom, at the end of this lesson we will feed a few drops of this potion to your toad and see what happened. Perhaps that will encourage you to do it properly!"

"That's animal cruelty," Adrian stated oudly. Snape, who had already started to go back to his place, stopped walking and turned to him, "What did you say, Malfoy?"

"I said that your suggestion is considered animal cruelty," he repeated, not as loudly as before, but still confidently. "If he doesn't manage to fix the potion it could kill Trevor."

"In that case he should stop being incompetent and make the potion correctly." Snape replied before he moved away, leaving Neville with a horrified expression. "Help me!" he moaned to Hermione.

"Hey, Charlus," Seamus said and leaned over to borrow Charlus' brass scales, "have you heard? Daily Prophet this morning — they reckon Sirius Black and Daniel White-Riddle have been sighted."

"Where?" Charlus, Harry and Ron asked in unison as Alistair's eyes had widened. On the other side of the table, Malfoy looked up, listening closely.

"Not too far from here," Seamus replied, rather excitedly. "It was a Muggle who saw them. 'Course, she didn't really understand. The Muggles think they are just ordinary criminals, don't they? So she phoned the telephone hotline. By the time the Ministry of Magic got there, they were gone."

"Not too far from here... " Ron repeated and looked significantly at Charlus and Harry. He turned around and noticed Malfoy watching closely. "What, Malfoy? Need something else skinned?"

But Malfoy's eyes were shining malevolently, and they were fixed on Charlus and Harry. He leaned across the table, "Thinking of trying to catch Black and White-Riddle single-handed, Potters?"

"Yeah, that's right,"  Harry said offhandedly. Malfoy's thin mouth was curving in a mean smile. "Of course, if it was me," he said quietly, "I'd have done something before now. I wouldn't be staying in school like good boys. I'd be out there looking for them, and with him." He nodded in Alistair's direction, "I wouldn't want to talk anymore."

"What're you talking about, Malfoy?" Ron said roughly. "Don't you know, Potters?" Malfoy breathed, his pale eyes narrowed. "Know what?"

Malfoy let out a low, sneering laugh. "Maybe you'd rather not risk your necks," he said. "Want to leave it to the Dementors, do you? But if it was me, I'd want revenge. I'd hunt them down myself."

"What are you talking about?" Charlus said angrily and slammed his hand on the table, but at that moment Snape called, "You should have finished adding your ingredients by now; this potion needs to stew before it can be drunk, so clear away while it simmers and then we'll test Longbottom's..."

Crabbe and Goyle laughed openly, watching Neville sweat as he stirred his potion feverishly. Hermione was muttering instructions to him out of the corner of her mouth, so that Snape wouldn't see. Charlus, Harry,Alistair and Ron packed away their unused ingredients before they went to wash their hands and ladles in the stone basin in the corner.

"What did Malfoy mean?" Harry muttered to  Alistair, as he stuck his hands under the icy jet that poured from a gargoyle's mouth. "Why would we want revenge on your uncles. They haven't done anything to us - yet." "He's making it up." Alistair replied savagely. "He's just trying to make you both do something stupid..."

The end of the lesson in sight, Snape strode over to Neville, who was cowering by his cauldron. "Everyone gather around," he said, his black eyes glittering, "and watch what happens to Longbottom's toad. If he has managed to produce a Shrinking Solution, it will shrink to a tadpole. If, as I don't doubt, he has done it wrong, his toad is likely to be poisoned."

The Gryffindors, Charlus, Alistair, Adrian and Matthew watched fearfully. The other Slytherins looked excited. Snape picked up Trevor the toad in his left hand and dipped a small spoon into Neville's potion, which was now green. He trickled a few drops down Trevor's throat.

There was a moment of hushed silence, in which Trevor gulped; then there was a small pop, and Trevor the tadpole was wriggling in Snape's palm.

The Gryffindors, Charlus, Alistair, Adrian and Matthew burst into applause. Snape, looking sour, pulled a small bottle from the pocket of his robe, poured a few drops on top of Trevor, and he reappeared suddenly, fully grown.

"Five points from Gryffindor," Snape said, which whipped the smiles of every face. "I told you not to help him, Miss Granger. Class dismissed."

"Excuse me?" Charlus exclaimed loudly. "You should be giving Hermione points for being so brilliant that she fixed a potion! I bet if it was a Slytherin you would've done so!" "Is that so?" Snape said slowly. "Very well then. Detention, Mr. Potter." 

Charlus simply scoffed before he followed Harry, Hermione, Alistair and Ron as they made their way through the castle towards Professor Lupin's classroom for Defence Against the Dark Arts.

The light brown-haired boy took notice of Hermione struggling with several books in her hands. So, he walked closer to her, took majority of the books from her hands gently, and gave her a small smile. She reciprocated his smile instantly, "Oh, thank you for that, Charlus."

Ron rolled his eyes before he asked, "Why are you carrying all these around with you?" "You know how many subjects I'm taking," Hermione replied.

Ron peered over Charlus' shoulder at the books, looking at the covers. " But you haven't got any of these subjects," he said. "Defence Against the Dark Arts is our last class of the day." "Again," Hermione said with an unamused look, "It isn't any of your business, Ronald."

Charlus sighed as his friends began to bicker. The light brown-haired boy quickly walked a little further to walk alongside Harry and Alistair instead; he couldn't bare the constant arguing between Ron and Hermione, and it somehow has gotten worse over the years.

However, as Charlus turned back around to see if they had stopped before entering the classroom, Hermione wasn't there standing next to Ron. "Where is she?" he asked with a furrowed brow and looked around.

The ginger shrugged before he said, "She got cross and stormed off. Mental, she is lately. I reckon she'll meet us in the class eventually."

Professor Lupin wasn't there when they entered the D.A.D.A classroom with a couple minutes to spare. They took the same seats as they had last year when Lockhart was teaching. Charlus sat at the front next to an empty seat that he saved for Hermione, while Alistair, Harry and Ron sat behind him. Upon arrival, the fout boys noticed a strange cupboard-like structure with a black cloth covering it completely, stationed in front of them.

Professor Lupin arrived as the bell rang, dressed in his infamous run down robes. He welcomed everyone to the room before he walked to unveil the mysteriously covered figure.

For some reason, the large cupboard began to shake violently as it was revealed, and the whole class looked it suspiciously. Lupin quickly asked the students to get up from their seats to take a closer look, but still, the kids were hesitant

Professor Lupin was amused by his students' reactions, "Intriguing, yes? Would anyone like to venture a guess at to what's inside?"

In a hushed voice, Charlus spoke up, "That's a boggart, that is." "Very good, Mr. Potter!" Professor Lupin congratulated the boy with a smile before he continued, "Would anyone like to explain what a boggart looks like?"

Charlus was about to answer, but to his absolute shock a familiar voice rang throughout the classroom, "No one knows."

Charlus jumped slightly and when he looked to the left, he saw Hermione Granger standing next to him. However, just like in Divination, she hadn't been there just five seconds before. How the -

Apparently Ron was just confused as Charlus was because he turned to him and asked, "When did she get here?"

Charlus shrugged as Hermione ignored his questions and continued to talk to Professor Lupin. "Boggarts are shapeshifters," she explained. "They take the form of whatever a particular person fears the most. That's what makes them so terrifying."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Professor Lupin said with a smile and Hermione glowed. "Luckily, a simple charm is more than enough to counter a boggart. Let's practice shall we? "

The class nodded vigorously as the wardrobe shook once again. "Say it with me," Lupin said proudly, "Riddikulus." "Riddikulus!" The class said together.

However, Draco, who stood in the corner of the room with his gang, could be heard muttering, "This class is ridiculous."

Your face is ridiculous, Charlus thought.

Lupin apparently didn't hear him as he addressed the room, "Good very good.! That's the easy part. You see, the incantation alone is not enough. What really finishes a boggart off is... laughter! You need to force it to assume a shape you truly find amusing."

He turned towards Neville, holding out an encouraging arm for him. "Mr. Longbottom! Come up here, will you? Show your classmates how it's done!"

The wardrobe shook again, though not as much as Neville, who gulped before he walked forward as though he was heading for the gallows.

Professor Lupin shot him a comforting look. "Hello," he greeted. "Now, Neville, what frightens you most of all?"

The Gryffindor stammered something the rest of the students couldn't hear. "Didn't catch that, Neville, sorry," Professor Lupin said cheerfully.

Neville looked around rather wildly, as though begging someone to help him, then said, in barely more than a whisper, "Professor Snape."

Nearly everyone laughed, except from Hermione, who gave Neville sympathetic looks. Professor Lupin, however, looked thoughtful. "Professor Snape? " he  reaped with a chuckle, "Yes frightens all. And I believe you live with your grandmother?"

"Er — yes," Neville said nervously. "But — I don't want the Boggart to turn into her, either." "No...it won't," Professor Lupin said, now smiling. " I want you to picture her clothes. Only her clothes, very clearly, in your mind."

Neville looked startled. "She carries a red handbag," he started to explain, but Lupin interrupted him. "We don't need to hear. " he said. " As long as you see it, we'll see it. Now, when I open that wardrobe... Here's what I want you to do. Excuse me."

Professor Lupin walked up to Neville and whispering something in his's ear so that the rest of the class wouldn't be able to hear. "Now, wand at the ready!"the teacher said loudly and pulled out his wand.

Neville looked pale and frightened, but he had pushed up the sleeves of his robes and was holding his wand ready. "On the count of three, Neville," Professor Lupin said, who pointed his own wand at the handle of the wardrobe. "One — two — three — now!"

A jet of sparks shot from the end of Professor Lupin's wand and hit the doorknob. The wardrobe burst open. Instantly, Professor Snape walked out with his famous scowl plastered on his face.

Neville backed away in fear slightly, his wand up, Snape was bearing down upon him, reaching inside his robes. "Think, Neville, think!" Lupin muttered, loud enough for the boy to hear. Neville stuttered, "R-r-riddikulus!"

Suddenly, Snape began to stumble backwards and in the next moment, there was a flash of light. As it faded away, Snape reappeared, but this time, he was wearing a long, lace-trimmed dress and a towering hat topped with a moth-eaten vulture, and swinging a huge red handbag from his hand.

The crowd roared in applause and laughter almost instantly. Neville blinked in amazement before he gave himself a small grin and returned to the crowd. Lupin put some music on as more students went up to try their luck at the incantation.

They all went very similar. From fearful boggart to a ridiculous perception of humour.

Ron went next; and his greatest fear was, of course, a giant spider, six feet tall and covered in hair. It was advancing on him, clicking its pincers menacingly. For a moment, Charlus thought Ron had frozen. Then —

"Riddikulus!" Ron bellowed, and every single leg that the arachnid had was now accented with roller skates, causing it shuffle crazily in place.

Parvati Patil was next. For a few moments the boggart kept spinning, until it finally came to a stop and formed into a giant king cobra.

"Riddikulus!" " she shouted and with a loud crack and a whooshing sound, the snake suddenly took the form of a huge jack-in-the-box.

Student after student had tackled the boggart, but still, Lupin looked into the crowd before choosing another volunteer, "Charlus! Wanna give it a go?"

Charlus thought for a moment. What could possibly scare him the most in the world? One of his greatest fears was losing the people he loved. There were a lot of people that he loved; Alistair, Hermione, Harry, the Weasleys . . .Harry. He was the person Charlus loved most, he realized.

As he took a reluctant forward with his wand in hand, the jack-in-the-box suddenly began to spin. It went faster and faster, and then in a dizzying blur, it reappeared as his brother.

 At first, Charlus didn't understand why he was afraid of it. That was until he saw the blood that streamed out of a rather big wound on his brother's chest. After checking that Harry stood indeed behind him, he raised his wand.

"Riddikulus!" he shouted, and the flash of light reappeared. With a loud swoosh; the boggart had changed from his brother into a chocolate statue. The statue of Harry was smiling in happiness as he took a bit off a chocoball.

Charlus laughed and looked  at Professor Lupin, who grinned at him. "Ah, I love chocolate," he commented before he urged the next forward, "Well done, Charlus! Now you, Harry!"

Charlus stepped back into the crowd as  Harry  hurried to the front. As he did so, Lupin watched him with the utmost curiosity.

With Harry stood in front of it, the boggart began to transform, and in a few short moments, the boy was faced with a dementor. Harry began to raise his wand, but then, he froze; transfixed. The dementor was about to charge at the boy, who failed to move.

But Professor Lupin was faster. With his arms outstretched, he jumped in front of the boy, The dementor quickly vanished, and in roiling mist, the boggart reappeared as clouds accented with a white, silvery, and round figure that kind of looked like the full moon.

"Riddikulus!"

With a loud popping sound, the orb quickly deflated like a punctured balloon that whizzed crazily about the room before returning into the wardrobe. Lupin quickly turned to address the class, "Right, right. Sorry about that. That's enough for today. Collect your books from the back. That's the end of the lesson. Thank you! Sorry!"

As the students began to exit the room, Harry still had yet to move from his position; he was the utmost curious as to why Lupin hadn't let him tackle the boggart on his own.

 Trying to leave with Alistair, Hermione and Ron, Charlus took notice that Harry wasn't with them. So, the  light brown-haired boy walked back into the room, and pulled Harry from his thoughts by nudging him a little.

"Are you all right?" he asked while he placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry didn't take his eyes off of Lupin, who was vigorously cleaning up from today's lesson. "Yeah."

Charlus nodded as Harry had finally picked up his bag.  With that, they left the room and  walked over to their best friends.  "That was the best Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson we've ever had, wasn't it?" Ron said excitedly, as they made their way back to the common rooms.

"He seems like a very good teacher." Hermione said, and Alistair nodded approvingly, "But I wish I could have had a turn with the Boggart —" "What would it have been for you?" Ron said, sniggering. "A piece of homework that only got nine out of ten?"

                               ────────⊹⊱🐍⊰⊹────────

It wasn't long until Defence Against the Dark Arts quickly became everyone's favourite class, including Charlus, who enjoyed the subject a lot.

Potions was an absolute nightmare lately because for some reason, Snape was particularly moody. Maybe it was because the story of the Boggart assuming Snape's shape, and the way that Neville had dresses it in his grandmother's clothes, had travelled through the school like wildfire, who knows.

Yet, imagine Charlus' disinterest during his unnecessary detention where he had to sort through potion ingredients with Snape standing over his shoulder the entire time. Dare he say it, that detention might've been worse than signing Lockhart's fan mail.

As for Divination, Charlus dreaded the hours he spent in that class as well. Especially since both him and Harry couldn't even step foot in that class without Trelawney looking at them with enormous, tear-filled eyes.

When it came to Care for Magical Creatures, everyone seemed to lose interest since the action-packed first class, which made Hagrid lose his confidence. They were now spending lesson after lesson learning how to look after Flobberworms, which had to be some of the most boring creatures in existence.

Luckily enough, after the boggart lesson in D.A.D.A, nobody questioned Harry's boggart well except for the times where Draco and his friends would blatantly poke fun at him, but every time Alistair,Ron and Charlus were quick to intervene.

The boy with glasses didn't want to talk about his boggart for a reason; he was afraid of what admitting it would mean. However, Harry had every intention of questioning Lupin about stepping in front of him, but never got the opportunity.

Not to mention, Hermione and Ron had been rather cold to one another. Especially since Crookshanks had attempted to go after Scabbers again during a study session in the common room. Long story short, it resorted in this very heated row between the two of them as ever since they came back to school, Crookshanks had been trying to get at Scabbers with any chance he could.

At the start of October, however, Charlus and Harry had something else to occupy thrm, something so enjoyable it more than made up for theunsatisfactory classes. The Quidditch season was approaching, and Marcus Flint , captain of the Slytherin team, called a meeting one  Thursday evening to discuss tactics for the new season.

Full of determination, the team started training sessions, three evenings a week. The weather was getting colder and wetter, the nights darker, but no amount of mud, wind, or rain could tarnish Charlus' wonderful vision of finally winning the huge, silver Quidditch Cup.

On Halloween, it was time for the first visit to Hogsmeade. Everyone had prepared the night before in the common room, well everyone except for Charlus and Harry, who still wouldn't be able to go because of their unsigned permission slips.

"We'll bring you lots of sweets back from Honeydukes," Hermione said, looking desperately sorry for Charlus and Harry.

"Yeah, loads," Ron said. He and Hermione had finally forgotten their squabble about Crookshanks in the face's of Charlus and Harry's disappointment.

"Don't worry about us," Harry said in what he hoped was at, offhand voice, "We'll see you at the feast. Have a good time." "See you three." Charlus said and gave them a half hearted smile.

Charlus and Harry accompanied  their best friends to the entrance hall, where Filch, the caretaker, was standing inside the front doors, checking off names against a long list, peering suspiciously into every face, and making sure that no one was sneaking out who shouldn't be going.

"Staying here, Potters?" Draco shouted, who was standing in line with Crabbe and Goyle. Adrian appeared behind him, rolling his eyes at the blonde boy. "Scared of passing the Dementors-ow!"

Adrian jabbed his brother in the ribs to shut up before making his way over to where Matthew and Neville were standing. Charlus and Harry ignored him and made their way up the marble staircase, through the deserted corridors, and back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Password?" the Fat Lady asked, jerking out of a doze. "Fortuna Major," Harry replied listlessly.

The portrait swung open and they climbed through the hole into the common room. It was full of chattering first-and second-years, and a few older students, who had obviously visited Hogsmeade so often the novelty had worn off.

"Charlus! Harry! Charlus! Hi,Charlus, Harry!"

It was Colin Creevey, a second-year who was deeply in awe of the Potter twins, and never missed an opportunity to speak to them.

"Aren't you going to Hogsmade, you two? Why not? Hey"—Colin looked eagerly around at his friends—"you can come and sit with us, if you like!"

"Er—no, thanks, Colin," Charlus said. He wasn't in the mood to have a lot of people staring avidly at the scar on his forehead. "We've—We've got to go to the library, got to get some work done."

After that, he and his brother had no choice but to turn right around and head back out of the portrait hole again. "What was the point of waking me up?" the Fat Lady called grumpily after them as they walked away.

Charlus and Harry wandered dispiritedly toward the library, but halfway there Charlus changed his mind and dragged Harry with him; he didn't feel like working. They turned around and came face-to-face with Filch, who had obviously just seen off the last of the Hogsmeade visitors.

"What are you doing?" Filch snarled suspiciously. "Nothing." Charlus said truthfully and Harry nodded in agreement.

"Nothing!" Filch spat, his jowls quivering unpleasantly. "A likely story! Sneaking around, why aren't you in Hogsmeade buying Stink Pellets and Belch Powder and Whizzing Worms like the rest of your nasty little friends?"

Charlus and Harry simply shrugged. "Get back to your common rooms where you belong!" Filch snapped, and he stood glaring until they had passed out of sight.

But after a nod from Harry, the two of them didn't go back to the common rooms. Charlus didn't really know where they were walking to, but as they passed another corridor, a familiar voice from inside one of the rooms said, "Charlus? Harry?"

Charlus sighed as he recognized the voice and the two of them doubled back to see Professor Lupin, looking around his office door. "What are you doing?" Lupin said, in a very different voice from Filch. "Where are Alistair, Ron and Hermione?"

"Hogsmeade," Charlus and Harry said in a would-be casual voice. "Ah," he replied. He considered them for a moment. "Why don't you come in? I've just taken delivery of a Grindylow for our next lesson."

"A what?" Charlus and Harry asked at the same time before they followed Lupin into his office. In the corner stood a very large tank of water. A sickly green creature with sharp little horns had its face pressed against the glass, pulling faces and flexing its long, spindly fingers.

"Water demon," Lupin said, surveying the Grindylow thoughtfully. "We shouldn't have much difficulty with him, not after the Kappas. The trick it to break his grip. You notice the abnormally long fingers? Strong, but very brittle."

The Grindylow bared its green teeth and then buried itself in a tangle of weeds in a corner. "Cup of tea?" Lupin asked and looked around for his kettle. "I was just thinking of making one."

"All right," Harry said awkwardly while Charlus just nodded. Lupin tapped the kettle with his wand and a blast of steam issued suddenly from the spout. "Sit down," he said and took the lid off a dusty tin. "I've only got teabags, I'm afraid – but I dare say you two have had enough of tea leaves?"

The two of them looked at him. Lupin's eyes were twinkling. "How did you know about that?" Harry asked. "Professor McGonagall told me," Lupin said, passing them a mug of tea.

"Of course. Minnie is such a gossiper,"Charlus said and chuckled. Professor Lupin smiled sadly and then said, "You two are not worried, are you?"

"No," they said at the same time, but Charlus could tell Harry was lying. He drank a bit of tea and watched the Grindylow brandishing at him. "Yes," he suddenly said, putting his tea down on the desk. "You know that day we fought the Boggart?"

"Yes," Lupin slowly said. "Why didn't you let me fight it?" Harry asked abruptly, making Lupin raise his eyebrows. "I would have thought that was obvious, Harry," he replied, sounding surprised.

Harry, who had expected Lupin to deny that he'd done any such thing, was taken aback. "Why?" he said again "Well," Lupin began to explain, frowning slightly, "I assumed that if the Boggart faced you, it would assume the shape of Lord Voldermort."

Charlus stared at him, his eyebrows furrowing in wonder, as his fondness for the man increased. This was the first time he had heard someone say Voldemort's name besides Dumbledore, Harry, and himself.

"Clearly, I was wrong," Lupin said, still frowning at Harry. "I did think of Voldemort first," Harry admitted. "But then I remembered that night on the train... and those dementors." "I see," LLupin said thoughtfully. "Well, well . . . I'm impressed." He smiled slightly at the look of surprise on Harry's face and Charlus' raised eyebrow. "That suggests that what you fear most of all is — fear. Very wise, Harry."

Charlus noticed that Harry didn't know what to say to that, and instead of replying back, he drank some more of his tea.

"So you've been thinking that I didn't believe you capabel of fighting the Boggart?" Lupin added shrewdly as Charlus drank some more tea. "Well . . . yeah," Harry admitted. "Professor Lupin, you know the Dementors . .."

He, however, was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in," Lupin called. The door opened, and in came Snape. He was carrying a goblet, which was smoking faintly, and stopped at the sight of Charlus and Harry his black eyes narrowing.

Charlus glared at him, as usual. "Ah, Severus," Lupin said, smiling. "Thanks very much. Could you leave it here on the desk for me?"

Snape set the smoking goblet down, his eyes wandering between Charlus, Harry and Lupin. "I was just showing the both of them my Grindylow," Lupin said pleasantly, pointing at the tank.

"Fascinating," Snape said, without looking at it. "You should drink that directly, Lupin." "Yes, yes, I will," Lupin replied.  "I made an entire cauldronful," Snape continued. "If you need more." "I should probably take some again tomorrow. Thanks very much, Severus."

"Not at all," Snape said, but there was a look in his eye Charlus didn't like. He backed out of the room, unsmiling and watchful. From the corner of his eye, he could see Harry looking curiously at the goblet. Lupin smiled.

"Professor Snape has very kindly concocted a potion for me," he said. "I have never been much of a potion-brewer and this one is particularly complex."

He picked up the goblet and sniffed it. "Pity sugar makes it useless," he added, taking a sip and shuddering." "Are you sure he didn't poison it, sir?" Charlus asked, frowning. "I can assure you he did not, Char," he said, amused.

"Why —?" Harry began, making Lupin look at him and answer the unfinished question. "I've been feeling a bit off-colour," he said. "This potion is the only thing that helps. I am very lucky to be working alongside Professor Snape; there aren't many wizards who are up to making it."

Professor Lupin took another sip and Charlus had a crazy urge to knock the goblet out of his hand. "Professor Snape's very interested in the Dark Arts," he blurted out.  "Really?" Lupin said, looking only mildly interested as he took another gulp of potion.

 "Some people reckon –" Harry hesitated, then plunged recklessly on, "some people reckon he'd do anything to get the Defence Against the Dark Arts job."

Lupin drained the goblet and pulled a face. "Disgusting," he said. "Well, Charlus, Harry, I'd better get back to work. I'll see you at the feast later.""Right," Harry said as he and his brother put their empty teacups down. The empty goblet was still smoking.

"Wait, Professor," Charlus said and got up from his chair. "Hmm?" Lupin hummed and looked up at the boy. "Before I fainted, I heard something," Charlus began to say. " A woman....screaming. Harry heard screaming as well."

Lupin furrowed his eyebrows at the Slytherin's confession. There was a moment's silence, then he explained, "Dementors force us to relive our worst memories. Our pain becomes their power." "Could it - could it have been our mum?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"You know, the very first time I saw you two I recognized you almost immediately," Lupin began to say, joining his hands together on his desk. "Not by your scars, but by your eyes. They're your mother's. Lily's."

At those words Charlus simply stared at him, stunned into silence. For a moment he struggled to find the words, "You, um, knew our mother?"

"Oh, yes. I knew her." Lupin said with a wide smile, "Your mother was there for me at a time no one else was. Not only was she a singularly gifted witch...she was an uncommonly kind woman. She had a way of seeing the beauty in others....even, and most especially, when that person could not see themselves. "

Charlus and Harry grinned from ear to ear. In a weird way, the young boys felt a sense of happiness as they heard something so personal about one of their parents. It was perhaps the closet they 'd ever felt to them.

"And your father, James, on the other hand...he had a certain, shall we say, talent for trouble." Lupin continued, "A talent, rumor has it, he passed on to the both of you."

"Especially him." Harry said and pointed accusingly at his brother. "Won't deny it." Charlus replied and shrugged. Lupin grinned at them before he said, "You're more like them than you know, Charlus. You too, Harry. In time you'll come to see just how much."

"Thank you, professor," Harry said with a smile. "If you ever want to talk about them, I'm always around," Lupin said, reciprocating his smile. "Just not today, that potion has made me feel sleepy." "We'll let you get some rest, Professor," Charlus replied before he and Harry left the room and headed back to the Gryffindor tower.

                               ────────⊹⊱🐍⊰⊹────────

"There you go," Ron said to the Potter twins. "We got as much as we could carry."

A shower of brilliantly colored sweets fell into Charlus and Harry's lap. It was dusk, and Alistair, Ron and Hermione had just turned up in the common room, pink-faced from the cold wind and looking as though they'd had the time of their lives.

"Thanks," Harry said, picking up a packet of tiny black Pepper Imps. "Yeah, thanks," Charlus grinned while unwrapping a chocolate frog. "What's Hogsmeade like? Where did you go?"

By the sound of it - everywhere. Dervish and Banges, the wiz-arding equipment shop, Zonko's Joke Shop, into the Three Broomsticks for foaming mugs of hot Butterbeer and many places besides.

"The post office, Charlus, Harry! About two hundred owls, all sitting on shelves, all colour-coded depending on how fast you want your letter to get there!" "Honeydukes have got a new kind of fudge, they were giving out free samples, there's a bit, look -"

"We think we saw an ogre, honestly, they get all sorts at the Three Broomsticks --" "Wish we could have brought you two some butterbeer, really warms you up—" "Tastes delicious too! I downed like four!"

"What did you do?" Hermione asked, looking anxiously. "Did you get any work done?""No," Charlus and Harry said in sync. "Lupin made us a cup of tea in his office. And then Snape came in. . ."

Charlus and Harry told their friend's all about how Lupin thought Harry's boggart would turn into Voldemort, before telling them how Snape gave Lupin this weird-looking goblet that looked very strange. Ron's mouth fell open, Alistair raised a brow, and Hermione looked puzzled.

"Lupin drank it?" Ron gasped. "Is he mad?" "My exact reaction," Charlus replied. "I asked him if he was sure Snape hadn't put poison in it."

Hermione checked her watch, "We'd better go down, you know, the feast'll be starting in five minutes..."

The five of them hurried through the portrait hole and into the crowd, still discussing Snape. "But if he - you know -" Alistair dropped his voice, glancing nervously around, "If he was trying to - to poison Lupin - he wouldn't have done it in front of Charlus and Harry."

"Yeah, maybe," Harry said, as they reached the Entrance Hall. It had been decorated with hundreds and hundreds of candle-filled pumpkins, a cloud of fluttering live bats and many flaming orange streamers, which were swimming lazily across the stormy ceiling like brilliant watersnakes.

The food was delicious; even Alistair, Ron and Hermione, who were full to bursting with Honydukes sweets, managed second helpings of everything, and Charlus kept glancing at Lupin every few minutes to make sure he wouldn't drop dead.

The feast finished with an entertainment provided by the Hogwarts ghosts. They popped out of the walls and tables to do a spot of formation gliding; Nearly Headless Nick, had a great success with a re-enactment of his own botched beheading.

It had been such a good evening that even Charlus' good mood couldn't even be spoiled by Malfoy, who shouted through the crowd as they all left the Hall, "The Dementors send their love, Potter!"

Charlus and Alistair decided to follow Harry, Ron, Hermione and the rest of the Gryffindors along the usual path to Gryffindor Tower, but when they reached the corridor which ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady, they found it jammed with students.

"Why isn't anyone going in?"Ron asked curiously. Charlus frowned and peered over the heads in front of him as Harry did the same. The portrait seemed to be closed.

"Let me through, please," came Percy's voice, and he came bustling importantly through the crowd. "What's the holdup here? You can't all have forgotten the password -- excuse me, I'm Head Boy --"

And then a silence fell over the crowd, from the front first, so that a chill seemed to spread down the corridor. They all heard Percy say, in a suddenly sharp voice, "Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick!"

People's heads turned; those at the back were standing up on their tiptoes. "What's going on?" Ginny asked as she had just arrived.

A moment later, Professor Dumbledore was there, sweeping toward the portrait; the Gryffindors squeezed together to let him through, and Charlus, Harry, Ron,Alistair and Hermione moved closer to see what the trouble was.

"Oh, my -" Hermione exclaimed and grabbed Charlus' arm to steady herself. The Fat Lady had vanished from her portrait, which had been slashed so viciously that strips of canvas littered the floor; great chunks of it had been torn away completely.

Dumbledore took one quick look at the ruined painting and turned, his eyes somber, to see Professor McGonagall, Lupin and Snape hurting towards him.

"We need to find her," Dumbledore said. "Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."

"You'll be lucky!" a crackling voice said.

It was Peeves the poltergeist, bobbling over the crowd and looking delighted, as he always did, at the sight of wreckage or worry.

"What do you mean, Peeves?" Dumbledore said calmly, and Peeves's grin faded a little. He didn't dare taunt Dumbledore. Instead he adopted an oily voice that was no better than his cackle.

"Ashamed, Your Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape up on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between trees. Crying something dreadful," he said happily. "Poor thing," he added unconvincingly.

"Did she say who did it?" Charlus asked quietly from the front of the crowd. "Oh, yes, little Char," Peeves said with the air of one cradling a large bombshell in his arms. " They got very angry when she wouldn't let them in, you see."

Peeves flipped over, and grinned at Charlus and his brother and his friends from between his own legs, "Nasty temper they have got, these Sirius Black and Daniel White-Riddle."

Charlus shared a nervous glance with his brother and his three friends before he turned to Professor Dumbledore, who was looking particularly taken aback.

Well, this can't be good.

━━ AUTHORS NOTE

So, Charlus' greatest fear is losing the people he love, especially his brother.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please, don't forget to vote and share If you did, and if you want, comment too ! I'd really appreciate it <3

Thank you for reading this far.

Until next time, much love to you all!