seeking thestral

[occluminous]

Feral goes back to school. Bella goes to Charlie's house for the rest of the summer. She studies her textbooks and does her summer projects and owls her friends.

She thinks about Dementors.

Comments

[occluminous]

"We always all have Charms together," observes Bella.

[sparksflying]

Tony shrugs. "Yeah, guess so."

[occluminous]

And classes ensue fairly unremarkably. Bella is in the second level of Magizoology, which is fun, and of course all the standard courses. They learn a nifty bruise-healing potion; she makes two extra batches on her own time to keep around for when she falls down stairs or otherwise finds it useful but doesn't want to go all the way to Healer Song.

[nobodyelse]

That Friday at lunch, Sherlock sits himself down next to Bella and says, "Boggarts."

[occluminous]

"Gesundheit."

[nobodyelse]

"Ha. No. They're a magical creature that turns into the thing you most fear. You'll be seeing one in Magical Defense today."

[occluminous]

"Oh." Bella frowns. "Are you okay?"

[nobodyelse]

He shrugs. "It was survivable."

[occluminous]

"Obviously, you're alive. Are you okay?"

[nobodyelse]

"You could make a case for it."

[occluminous]

"Which you are conspicuously failing to do."

[nobodyelse]

He shrugs again.

[occluminous]

"What'd you see?" Bella asks softly.

[nobodyelse]

"Tony, dead. And so did the rest of the class. The Boggart's form is not a personal illusion."

[occluminous]

Bella hugs him.

[nobodyelse]

He hugs her back.

[occluminous]

"I wonder what I'll see."

[nobodyelse]

"It varies."

[occluminous]

"Yeah. I guess it could show me myself dead? But since I would be conscious and looking right at it I don't know if that would be scary so much as disturbing."

[nobodyelse]

"Or perhaps it will show you something that you might expect to kill you."

[occluminous]

"If it gives me a Dementor does it just look like one or feel like one too, do you know?"

[nobodyelse]

"It did a remarkably lifelike dead Tony. So to speak. I don't know if it can mimic the effect of a Dementor."

[occluminous]

"Maybe I should ask the teacher ahead of time just in case."

[nobodyelse]

"Probably a good idea."

[occluminous]

"What do you do with them after they turn into things?"