"Don't close the door, Lupin."
Professor Snape said coldly, "I think I'd rather not witness this spectacle."
After saying this, he swept past the students like an old bat with long strides.
Watching Snape's disappearing figure, the little lions all showed expressions of disdain.
"What's he showing off for!"
"I must remind you, Dean, that speaking ill of professors behind their backs is wrong."
"Ah, sorry, sir."
"It's alright," Lupin smiled gently. "I just hope that someday you won't talk about me like this behind my back."
"That would never happen! Sir, you're nothing like Snape—your performance just now was brilliant!"
"Before we officially begin class, I must thank one of your classmates. It was upon his suggestion that I prepared today's practical lesson."
Everyone was curious about who had given Professor Lupin the suggestion, but he gestured for the students to look toward the other end of the room.
The students' attention was immediately drawn to an old wardrobe that teachers used for changing their robes.
When Professor Lupin approached the wardrobe, it suddenly began shaking violently.
The movement was so intense that it started banging against the wall with loud thuds.
Seeing this, several young wizards were frightened and immediately backed away.
Professor Lupin frowned slightly upon seeing this, but remembering what Sherlock had told him about Lockhart's first class, he calmed himself and said peacefully.
"Don't worry, it's just a boggart."
However, his words didn't have the desired effect, especially on Neville and Seamus.
The situation was too similar to their first class in second year.
Neville was naturally timid, and as for Seamus, he had been grabbed by the ears by pixies and hung from the chandelier last year—an experience that left an indelible impression on him.
"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces—wardrobes, gaps under beds, cupboards beneath sinks are all places where they commonly appear.
I was originally wondering where to find one, but yesterday one just happened to move in.
So, I asked the headmaster to let the teachers keep it here for my third-year students' practical class.
Now then, the question is..."
After giving a brief introduction, Professor Lupin's gaze swept across the entire class: "Who can tell me what a boggart is?"
With a series of whooshing sounds, several hands shot up throughout the classroom.
Harry's glasses nearly got knocked off, but fortunately, he had developed quick reflexes from training with Sherlock and managed to dodge aside.
Remus was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected these little lions to be so eager and proactive.
"Miss Brown."
Not being called upon, Hermione was clearly disappointed.
"I don't understand," she whispered to Sherlock. "What's gotten into everyone today?"
"Professor Lockhart's last lesson," Sherlock replied.
Hearing Sherlock's words, Hermione immediately remembered.
Before Lockhart was completely controlled by Voldemort, he had mentioned bringing a spirit-type magical creature to class—the boggart.
Although that lesson never took place, it seemed everyone had indeed gotten advance preparation.
"A boggart is a shape-shifting creature that takes the form of whatever it thinks will frighten us most," Lavender answered.
Hermione frowned, Lavender's answer was too colloquial and wasn't the standard textbook response.
But Professor Lupin nodded, "I couldn't have put it more clearly myself."
Lavender was so excited she almost jumped; this was the first time she'd received such high praise from a professor.
Previously, this kind of treatment had been almost exclusively reserved for her roommate Hermione.
"As Miss Brown said, the boggart currently has no definite shape because it doesn't know what the people outside are afraid of.
In fact, nobody knows what a boggart looks like when it's alone.
But as soon as you let it out, it immediately transforms into what each of us fears most."
"Professor, I have a question."
Seeing Sherlock voluntarily raise his hand, not only Lupin but all the other students in class were stunned.
What was going on?
Except for that period at the beginning of first year, the Lion King hadn't actively asked questions in ages, had he?
"Since boggarts transform into the most frightening form of whoever sees them, could we observe them without contact?
For instance, by maintaining distance and using telescopes to observe their true form?"
"A very interesting question, Sherlock."
Professor Lupin smiled as he said, "I just mentioned that boggarts prefer dark, enclosed spaces, so achieving the conditions you describe wouldn't be easy to begin with.
Of course, extreme situations aren't impossible—for instance, due to environmental changes, it might happen to be in a location where we can observe it.
But what I want to say is that even if you're very far from the boggart, that doesn't mean the boggart hasn't detected you."
Seeing the students' surprised expressions, Remus continued with a smile,
"Simply put, a boggart's existence is entirely built upon the materialization of fear.
When it senses human presence, it instantly reads the deepest fears of the observer through magical resonance and manifests them physically.
To put it more extremely, you can think of a boggart as blind—it doesn't 'see' us with eyes.
This instantaneous transformation mechanism means that whenever someone is present, a boggart always appears as the observer's embodied fear.
Because of this, no one has ever been able to witness its true form in its natural state.
I must emphasize that even using invisibility cloaks or disillusionment charms, boggarts can still potentially detect an observer's presence through magical fluctuations or emotional residue."
Sherlock nodded. He understood now.
He was still thinking about the problem from a non-magical perspective.
"Seeing" didn't necessarily require using one's eyes.
"Sherlock's question was excellent, and I hope you'll all learn from him—not just passively accepting knowledge, but actively thinking.
Now for my second question: we have a significant advantage when facing boggarts. Has anyone noticed what this advantage is?"
Hermione once again raised her hand high, jumping up and down on her tiptoes.
This made both Sherlock and Harry, who were beside her, somewhat uncomfortable.
Fortunately, a strong hand pressed down on Hermione's shoulder, preventing her from bouncing anymore.
"Calm down, Hermione."
Hermione's face immediately turned red, though it wasn't visible due to her complexion.
This time, only Hermione had raised her hand, so Professor Lupin gave her the opportunity.
"Because we have many people here, the boggart doesn't know what form it should take."
"Excellent. This is indeed the best way to deal with boggarts—travel in groups.
This way, it becomes confused about whether it should become a giant skull or a tiny centipede.
I once encountered such a situation where a boggart tried to frighten two people at once and ended up becoming a caterpillar with a skull head—which, of course, wasn't frightening at all."
The entire class burst into laughter.
Next, Professor Lupin taught everyone the method for dealing with boggarts and had them practice together.
The spell was quite interesting.
"Let's practice the incantation without wands first. Please repeat after me—Riddikulus!"
"Riddikulus!"
After having the entire class practice several times, Remus was satisfied with everyone's performance.
"Of course, this is only the simplest part. The incantation alone isn't enough, we also need strong willpower.
Traveling in groups to deal with boggarts is also a temporary solution that doesn't address the root cause. What truly defeats them is laughter, genuine, heartfelt laughter.
So, when facing a boggart, you need to force it to transform into something you find amusing.
Now then, let's start with..."
Professor Lupin's gaze swept across the class again and quickly locked onto one student.
"Neville Longbottom."
"Huh?"
Neville tried to shrink behind Sherlock's tall body but was still called out.
"Neville, you're shaking too violently," Harry kindly reminded him. "So, hiding won't help."
Thanks to Harry, Neville finally understood why Professor Lupin had chosen him.
Unfortunately, he realized this too late.
Under Professor Lupin's encouraging gaze, Neville reluctantly walked step by step toward the wardrobe.
When he stopped in front of it, the boggart inside seemed to sense something and began shaking violently again.
Amazingly, Neville was shaking even more violently than the wardrobe—how he managed this was anyone's guess.
Seeing this, Remus knew that Neville couldn't complete this practical lesson on his own, so he said in the gentlest tone possible,
"Neville, first tell me something: what do you fear most in this world?"
Neville's lips moved, but no sound came out.
"Sorry, Neville, I didn't hear that."
Professor Lupin remained patient, maintaining his pleasant demeanor.
Neville looked around frantically, as if pleading for someone to help him.
When he looked toward Sherlock, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he stared directly at Sherlock.
Remus was somewhat surprised. "Sherlock, do you know what Neville fears most?"
All the students looked curiously toward Sherlock.
"Sorry, Professor, I don't know."
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