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"Of course Mr. Dursley was flawless. Nothing frightens him at all."
A young witch spoke in sincere admiration, and her words immediately gained agreement from the other students.
"I have never seen Mr. Dursley afraid of anything."
"Whether it was a troll, a basilisk, or the Dementors outside, Mr. Dursley handled them all calmly."
Listening to the students' generous praise, the members of the disciplinary group instinctively straightened their backs. Anyone who did not know better might have thought they were the ones being praised.
Lupin could not help glancing at Dudley again. Even he had things he feared.
No wonder Dumbledore had emphasized this student so many times.
"A Boggart is a transforming creature. It changes according to what you fear most."
Dudley slowly repeated the Boggart's traits. His speech was slow, but his voice was loud enough for every student to hear clearly.
The Boggart on the ground still maintained the form of a trap, as if it could not sense Dudley at all.
"Professor Lupin, the spell you taught is truly ingenious. It can solve the trouble of a Boggart immediately."
"However, as far as I know, there are two other methods that can prevent a Boggart from transforming."
"One is to be fearless. If there is no fear in the heart, naturally it cannot transform. The other..."
Dudley pointed at his own head.
"Occlumency. It can isolate any mental probing ability, including that of a Boggart."
Lupin nodded in agreement.
"That is correct. Just as Mr. Dursley said, those two methods can also be used against Boggarts."
"The problem is that ordinary wizards generally cannot do either."
The students all nodded, indicating that they had learned something. Quite a few Muggle-born students began asking the classmates around them what Occlumency was.
The first method needed no explanation. As for Occlumency, that was not something just anyone could learn.
In the entire wizarding world, there were only a few wizards who knew Occlumency.
"Professor, I have a bold idea."
"Can a Boggart transform according to what I want it to become?"
The red word above the Boggart's head had already tempted him.
Tameable.
Whether the Boggart's transformation was illusion or substance, it would be very useful.
If it was illusion, then it would be the lord of illusions, Zoroark. If it was substance, then it could be used as an ever-changing Ditto.
"What do you mean?" Lupin did not quite understand Dudley's question.
Dudley took out his wand and lightly turned it in a circle.
"For example, like this."
A moment later, the Boggart, which had been lying on the ground as a trap, began to transform.
"A very impressive Confundus Charm." Lupin nodded, recognizing the spell Dudley had cast.
A high-level Confundus Charm was also one way to deal with a Boggart. It could make the Boggart misread the caster's intention.
In a certain sense, Riddikulus was also a branch of the Confundus Charm.
But very soon, Lupin could no longer remain calm, because he saw the Boggart turn into a person.
A man in black robes with a conspicuous bald head.
"Who is that? Is he a professor? Why does he not have a nose?"
The moment one student saw the man, he said exactly that.
The other students also looked amused and began commenting on the man's appearance.
"Whoa, he is ugly."
"His skin is frighteningly pale. It looks like he was rolled in flour."
"His teeth are rotten."
"Do you smell garlic? He stinks."
"Really. That smell reminds me of fermented herring."
The students were not afraid, because they knew this was only something a Boggart had turned into. Forget a man. Even if the Boggart had transformed into a dragon, they could still have discussed it calmly.
Compared with the students' ease, Lupin's expression grew much graver. He gripped his wand tightly, his gaze fixed on the figure, not daring to relax even slightly.
He knew who that was.
The impression was far too deep.
He had once seen him. He had even fought against him, together with James and Lily Potter.
Not only him. Harry and Neville's eyes also widened. That face had left too deep an impression on them. They had seen it before, on the back of Quirrell's head.
Voldemort.
Or rather, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
If the truth were spoken aloud, it would definitely cause panic.
The students only knew Voldemort as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. How could they possibly know what he actually looked like?
Even parents who had seen Voldemort would never deliberately describe his appearance to children.
"Danger. Everyone, step back."
Lupin signaled for the students to move away from the Boggart. He believed he could not sit back and do nothing, so he cast the spell directly.
"Riddikulus!"
Even if this was only a Boggart's transformation, its danger level had risen sharply. It was far more frightening than the Dementors outside.
However, the figure reacted extremely quickly. At the same time Lupin released his spell, the Boggart immediately turned and pointed.
Green sparks bloomed from its fingertip, blocking Lupin's spell.
The spells canceled each other out.
"Look! He is so strong! He blocked Professor Lupin's attack."
"Does a Boggart have that much power?"
The students cried out in surprise. The Boggart they had faced earlier had not been nearly this strong. Not to mention counterattacking, it had not even been able to dodge.
"Why did Mr. Dursley make the Boggart turn into that? Who is he?"
The Slytherin students clearly thought a little more deeply than the students from the other Houses, but none of them guessed his identity.
No one would imagine that Dudley had directly produced an imitation of Voldemort.
"I see. What a fascinating creature. It gains a certain amount of power, but not completely." Dudley pinched his chin and nodded in evaluation.
After transforming, a Boggart could possess some of the traits of the creature it imitated. For instance, if someone feared Dementors, it would imitate a Dementor closely enough to display certain Dementor-like traits, perhaps even a faint imitation of a Dementor's draining effect.
That was why the Ministry of Magic treated this thing as a dangerous Dark non-being.
However, its danger level was difficult to determine. It depended entirely on what you feared.
If you feared a pile of dung, then even if a group of Boggarts turned into thousands upon thousands of piles of dung, they would at most disgust people. They could not cause actual harm.
The Boggart looked at its own finger. The joints were scorched black. Even so, on that boiled-egg face without even eyebrows, it looked almost pleased.
Boggarts possessed a certain level of intelligence, but how intelligent they were also depended on the creature the other person feared.
Using dung as an example again, even if they turned into countless piles of dung, they could only stay obediently on the ground. They would have no intelligence, could not move, and certainly could not become airborne dung.
The Boggart turned its head toward Lupin. Its mouth split open, and it gave a shrill, unpleasant laugh.
"Hehehehe. You are afraid of me!"
A Boggart fed on fear. When it absorbed enough fear, its power would grow stronger.
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