 Charing Cross Rd. Mod
St. Mungo's Mod    Niffler
Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Narnia
Posts: 20,039
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Vashti Amstern
Graduated
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Zephyr Amstern
Ravenclaw Fifth Year
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Nathaniel Hensley
Slytherin Sixth Year
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Apollo Finch-Selwyn
Hufflepuff Seventh Year
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Avalon Dane
Gryffindor Fifth Year
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|  Baguette | there is no D in my name | TRAITORclaw | Queenie of Narnia
Penelope wasn't looking forward to this assignment at all. She already had a feeling she knew what her boggart would be, or at least there were a few possibilities. And she didn't really want to see any of them.
She could simply just not do this assignment as she sometimes had a habit of doing...
But she wasn't a coward. She would much rather not choosing to do something because she was lazy, not because she was afraid. It made sense to HER, at least.
She entered the defense room, gripping her wand tightly in her hand. Her eyes only briefly scanned the room before landing on the slightly shaking trunk. So it was in there. Okay. Taking a deep breath, Penelope started making her way toward it, one careful step at a time. And when she was still several paces from the trunk, the lid flung open.
...but nothing came out...?
Puzzled, Penelope quickly took the last few steps toward it - and instantly stumbled backward at what she saw. She tripped over her feet and landed on her bottom, eyes wide and mouth gaping, wishing for air that wouldn't come.
That couldn't have been herself in that trunk, in that....that coffin. Yet it was hardly a coffin with the way she had looked. Not at all peaceful or like she had just fallen asleep. No, she'd looked terrified, blank eyes wide open, and laying there as if she had just fallen or...or if someone had just dropped her there and left. As if...
As if she had just been abandoned.
Abandoned. Alone. Dead.
Her worst fears.
She couldn't look at that again. She couldn't look at herself like that.
Shakily getting to her feet, still struggling for breath, she headed for the door, grabbing the knob with a trembling hand...and then pausing.
Something, somehow, cut into her panicked mind. Did she really want to give up that easily? Was she really that much of a coward?
That thought struck her hard...and slowly...she released the doorknob. Still trembling, she turned back around to face the trunk.
She could defeat this. She would. She was determined. Terrified...but determined too.
Penelope tried to get her breathing under control, taking slow, deep, though still shaky breaths, as she walked carefully toward the trunk.
Deep breath... Step forward... Deep breath... Step forward... Deep breath... Step forward...
And so on until...she was just a few paces from the trunk again, enough so that she couldn't yet look inside again and lose her nerve. She needed to figure out how to defeat this before looking at it again.
Deep breath... Think... Deep breath... Think...
There was...that spell. Ridicu... Ridikul...Riddikulus. That. Yes. Riddikulus. And laughter. The laughter yoga. Ho ho ha ha ha. Yes. That was what she needed.
"H- Ho." Her voice was soft and cracked and she felt like it gave away way too much of her fear. She cleared her throat and tried again.
"Ho." That was a little better. "Ho." Also a little better. "Ha. Ha. Ha." Her voice was humorless and hollow, but it was still supposed to work, right?
"Ho. Ho. Ha. Ha. Ha... Ho. Ho. Ha. Ha. Ha."
She felt a little better. Only a little though. Nowhere near actually laughing, but she felt like she could breathe a little steadier now. So with another deep breath and a tight grip on her wand, she took the remaining steps forward.
And struggled for breath again.
She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to concentrate on defeating the boggart instead of just the boggart itself. Because that was what it was, she reminded herself. Just a boggart. Not her.
"Ho. Ho. Ha. Ha. Ha." She managed to open one eye a little so she could better aim her wand at her boggart self. "R- Rid- Riddi- Riddikulus. Riddikulus. Riddikulus!"
And finally, mercifully, the boggart changed from its Penelope form into several smaller ones - little bunny rabbits in top hats and bow ties.
Tears of relief blurred her vision, and a small, humorless laugh escaped her lips, causing the trunk to shut.
There. She was done.
Choking slightly on her breath as she turned her back on the trunk, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and practically ran for the door, jerking it open and slamming it shut behind her, never wanting to see a boggart for as long as she lived.
__________________ if we fall, we will fall together; and when we rise, we will rise together__________________♥♥♥♥
together we are dangerous; together with our differences; together we are bolder, braver, stronger |