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

[pythbox]

...He gives her an incredulous look.

"Yes? And even if I wasn't, why the hell should I risk it?"

[occluminous]

"Okay, okay," says Bella, "skip if you want, it's the terrible memory charm teacher, goodness knows I wish I were comfy skipping classes. I'll tell you how it went after."

[pythbox]

"Great," he says. "See ya."

[occluminous]

Bella goes to Theory. She goes to Magizoology. She goes to Potions.

About a minute after Defense is due to start, she pounds on Feral's door again.

[pythbox]

He opens it almost immediately.

"Huh?"

[occluminous]

"He says boggarts can do the thing but he doesn't believe I've seen a dementor," Bella says desperately, "and he wants me to go in front of the boggart anyway."

[pythbox]

"...Fuck," says Feral. "And I'm supposed to what, back you up?"

[occluminous]

"If you don't I have to skip and I don't want him to flunk me. He saw me, he knows I'm not sick, and he already doesn't like me from the memory charm incident since Mrs. Stark didn't get him fired."

[pythbox]

"Okay," sighs Feral, "I'm game."

[occluminous]

"I'm sorry," says Bella apologetically, and she heads back to Defense with him.

[pythbox]

Feral follows. He's pretty sure that him setting a bunch of things on fire would do less damage than a Dementor showing up in the middle of the classroom, so he doesn't hang back when they get there.

[occluminous]

"I did meet a Dementor over the summer and Feral can confirm," Bella says, "and the boggart might well turn into one if you throw it at me and you can't do that to a whole room full of people."

[alicornucopia]

The teacher looks skeptically at Feral. "Were you even planning to show up? Miss Swan should not have had to fetch you."

[pythbox]

"I wasn't, actually," he says. "I have this problem where when I get scared things catch fire."

[alicornucopia]

"You use that excuse to get out of a considerable amount of work," snaps the teacher, "but you've had more than enough time to grow out of infantile accidental magic. If you do the exercise correctly you will experience scarcely a second of actual fear - the incantation is Ridikkulus, you must think of a way to render your fear humorous, and if Miss Swan cannot then she at least has the history of classwork to conceivably make up for it. You on the other hand -" He flicks his wand, and Feral scoots forward in front of a cupboard, and the cupboard opens.

[pythbox]

A man steps out of the cupboard - somewhere between forty and fifty, well-dressed by Muggle standards, with a passing resemblance to Feral and an expression of cold anger on his face.

Feral flinches back.

The Boggart goes up in flames with an unearthly scream. The cupboard does likewise, unearthly scream not included.

And Feral spins around, snarling, to give the teacher a venomous glare.

[alicornucopia]

The teacher puts out the fire with a slice of his wand, expression unreadable.

[occluminous]

"Feral," warns Bella in his ear, putting a hand on his elbow.

[pythbox]

There is not much left of either the Boggart or the cupboard; of the former, a cloud of nasty-smelling smoke, and of the latter a charred frame and a pile of ash.

"Do you fucking believe me now?" Feral growls.

[occluminous]

"Feral," pleads Bella.

[alicornucopia]

"You've ruined the lesson for everyone. I don't have another boggart," says the teacher. "What is wrong with you? You are fourteen years old! Accidental magic is for children!"

[pythbox]

Feral takes a deep breath, shakes off Bella's hand, and stalks out of the room.

[occluminous]

Magical Defense's exercise having been ruined, it lets out early.

Bella knocks quietly on Feral's door.

[pythbox]

After a few seconds, he opens it.

It is fairly obvious that he has been crying.

[occluminous]

Bella hugs him.

"That teacher is horrible and he should have been fired in first year," she mumbles into his shoulder, "I'm sorry."