HP:[" the Illithid Inquisition"]

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"He doesn't belong here Potter." Draco shot back. "He had his wand broken, he doesn't understand how our world works, he's an oaf and a fool. He's only got a job because Dumbledore takes some weird delight in making fun of the old ways and trampling over traditions. Well Dumbledore won't be able to keep him safe from this."

"His wand was only broken because he was framed for a crime he didn't commit." Harry shot back. "And that fool knows more about magical creatures and beasts than any ten other wizards you care to name. He walks calmly through places you couldn't even take three steps into without pissing yourself in fear. God I swear it's like you don't think anyone other than you and your family are even real people."

Draco looked like he was ready to shoot something back but the both of them were interrupted by Professor Snape coming down on Nevil in a way guaranteed to make the poor boy too nervous to do his work properly. Nevil had somehow turned his potion yellow so it was probably already a write off. That was no reason for Snape to threaten to poison Nevil's pet toad though with his own potion. Luckily it looked like Hermione was going to help him set it right. Dean Thomas interrupted Harry before he could go back to arguing with Draco.

"Did you hear there's been a sighting of Sirius Black?" He asked while Snape was distracted. "Some poor muggle woman saw him not too far from here. She called the hotline and so it took a while for the ministry to hear about it and by the time they got there he was gone."

"You don't think he's coming here?" Ron wondered.

"He would have to be mental with all the dementors around the school." Dean said.

"Have you got something to add, Malfoy?" Harry asked when he saw the other boy looking at him.

"Are you planning to try and capture him, Potter?" Draco casually inquired.

"Yeah sure." Harry said sarcastically.

"I would." Draco pressed on. "If he had done something like that to me and mine I wouldn't rest until he was brought to justice. In fact I might have done something about him while he was still in Azkaban.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, Draco was going on like there was something personal between Harry and Black.

"Don't act like you don't know." Draco said infuriatingly. "Still if you want to leave it to the dementors that's all well and good. But I wouldn't have thought that was a very Gryffindor kind of thing to do."

Before Harry could press for more information Snape called their attention back to the front of the class. Hermione had indeed saved Nevil's potion which Snape actually deducted points for after accusing Hermione of showing instead of leaving a friend's pet to die. After class Harry asked her and Ron what they made of Draco's strange belief that Harry should be the one to take Black down. They both dismissed it thinking that Draco was just hoping Harry would go off and get himself killed. Harry supposed they were right. Honestly nothing about Black should have anything to do with him.

Harry's last new class wasn't really a new class but rather a class with a new teacher. Every defense against the dark arts teacher they had had approached the topic in a different way. Quirrel had been quite knowledgeable but very technical and with the bad stutter he affected it was very hard to follow him. Lockhart had mostly taught about himself, there were a few useful things he had sprinkled in amongst his lessons, but not many.

Lupin it turned out, put a fresh spin on their defense lesson by actually being a good teacher. Rather than a boring lecture he gave them all a chance to confront a dangerous creature for his first lesson. He had captured a boggart in the staff room. Boggarts were a kind of shape shifter that kept itself safe by instantly transforming into whatever a person around it most feared to scare them away. This could be quite startling and dangerous but they had an advantage in how they approached it.

"Since there's a group of us, the boggart will be confused, it can only become one of our worst fears at a time and it won't know which one to focus on." Harry said in response to a question as Professor Lupin skillfully drew the knowledge he wanted out of the class.We also know what our own fears are." Hermione pointed out. "So if we consider it carefully we won't be surprised."

"That is correct." Lupin agreed. "Now the spell that best deals with a boggart is riddikulus and it's cast with a motion like this." The professor demonstrated. "But the real trick to the spell is to imagine the boggart either looking funny or acting funny. Not only will this help you overcome your fear but it will confound the boggart and make it panic. If the boggart fails to scare us enough times it will burst apart into pieces and flee away from us. Eventually it will reform in some dark and forgotten place but it will do so far away from you."

"Now you there, Nevil, tell me what do you think that boggart will change into if it comes after you?" Lupin asked, moving the lesson along.

"Probably…." Nevil said hesitating before he settled on being honest. "Professor Snape. It will change into Professor Snape."

Harry wasn't surprised. Snape hated Harry but he seemed to delight in tormenting Nevil. The fact that Nevil was absolute pants at making potions didn't help.

"So what you need to do is imagine Professor Snape in a way that makes him seem laughable instead of looming and dangerous. Can you do that Nevil?" Professor Lupin asked and when Nevil eventually nodded he turned to the rest of the class. "Take a few moments to practice the spell and think about what the boggart might turn into for you. Don't worry about the boggart itself. While boggarts possess some of the abilities of what they change into they are never as powerful as the real thing. Plus I will be here to help if anything goes wrong. But I'm certain all of you can do this."

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