[X] Read from Invisibility Book
[X] Read from Invisibility Book
[X] Read from Invisibility Book
As was rapidly becoming something of a habit, Shinji continued to read from his not-so-invisible tome of Invisibility, though he continued to struggle with selectively making parts of a page or other item invisible. Somewhat annoyed by his lack of progress, he did flip forward to the latter half of the book, and was heartened to see that it contained some chapters on how to make himself invisible - or at least let him disguise himself like a human chameleon, though this was supposed to be very difficult, so few learned it.
'Which probably means anyone who has any ambition or subtlety knows it, of course,' the boy interpreted, not being foolish enough to simply take what the book said at face value, unlike a certain other Slytherin he would not name. At least he had the room to himself for the moment, with Malfoy being out in the library working on his homework, and Weasley...apparently playing a game of chess, much to his surprise, as he did not think the talking ape had the intelligence for such an...intellectual game.
Granted, it likely wasn't an excessive amount of intelligence, given that the redhead had been losing when last he saw, but it was more than he'd expected, at least.
As for Zabini...he actually didn't know what Zabini was up to, though he knew the other boy didn't seem to spend time with any group in particular. He'd have to try to find out more.
The next morning, Professor Quirrell mentioned that since the class had shown him such...unexpectedly interesting happenings during their troll fights, he would give them one more day without having to do much reading, much to the farmgirl's disappointment - almost as if she believed everything worth knowing was in some book.
"Today, you will learn to confront one of the most dangerous things anyone can face, be one a muggle, wizard, or Squib," the Defense Professor. "Something which can paralyze you, freeze you on the hottest of days, destroy your will, unmake you utterly. The mind-killer. The little death that brings obliteration." He chuckled. "Can anyone tell me what this might be? Mister Weasley, perhaps?"
"Hunger?" the redheaded boy asked, with Quirrell taking a moment to consider the response.
"No, though that is also a grave threat, particularly for large armies," the Defense Professor responded. "As wizards, we often fail to take logistics seriously, believing that we can source whatever we need from the land, perhaps taking advantage of things left by Muggles, but...this is incorrect, as we will discuss later in the term. Have a point for Slytherin, Mister Weasley."
Ron looked...well, proud that he had been recognized so, while the bushy-haired girl just looked annoyed that an answer that was wrong had earned someone points.
"The answer, my friends, is fear," Quirrell stated. "More than any spell or creature, fear is a threat, for even when you are safe, even when a battle is over, it stays with you, claws at you, wears away your mind and soul. For instance, if I were to say, oh...Voldemort--"
He paused as most of the class shared a collective flinch.
"The vast majority of you react in just that manner," he finished, a slight smile on his face. "The man himself is long dead, and yet the specter of him remains, ingrained in your minds as this nigh unbeatable evil who no one can face and live, a bogeyman you cannot quite rid yourself of no matter how you try."
He chuckled.
"Those of you who are Muggleborns or foreigners won't understand why your peers are so afraid of a name, especially when the person it names no longer walks this earth, but before you belittle them for their terror, remember - fear is not a rational thing, and you too fear things none would rationally have a reason to flinch from."
His eyes looked at the farmgirl.
"Fear of being thought a fraud, that all the knowledge you have gained will come to naught. That the night is dark and has many terrors - and that if you are not careful - you will one such become."
At Miss Noel.
"Fear that in gaining a new world, you will lose everything you value, with everything that made you special paling before the allure of magic."
And then at him.
"Fear that this world will find you wanting, and that you be thrown away, replaced with someone more capable."
Shinji found his back pressed against his seat when the man said this, his breath coming fast as the scene of the worm pit and the usurper came to him....
"Fear of...oh, even something as innocent as worms, or the other things hidden in the pale moonlight," the man said almost innocuously, with Shinji realizing that somehow, the man knew.
There was a long, pregnant pause, as the students gathered themselves, trying to put their masks back on, to pretend that no, they were not afraid of anything, that things were fine.
"Thus today, you will face your fears, confront the enemy lurking in your heart of hearts," Quirrell stated. "Today, you will see whether you have what it takes to grow beyond your fears, or whether you will be held back by them forever. Today, you will learn that the first step to fighting against the dark is not to learn a mighty spell, or to attain a legendary wand, but to let your fear pass over you and through you, so that before the enemy, only you remain.”
He smiled, ever so slightly.
"One by one, I will ask you to come to the front of the room. There you will confront your fear, whether on your own, or with the aid of your wand. Perhaps you will be successful today. Perhaps you will not. I care not. But know this: unless you manage this much by the end of this year, you will have no place in this world."
When Shinji faces the Boggart, does he take his wand?
[ ] yes
[ ] no
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[x]No
[x] no
[x] No
Well, if it were to be done, perhaps it should be done quickly...or should it?
[ ] Volunteer to go first
[ ] Go...oh, fourth, after the others who had beaten the troll
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[x] Go...oh, fourth, after the others who had beaten the troll.
[x] Go...oh, fourth, after the others who had beaten the troll.
Last edited by Skull Leader; August 17th, 2019 at 03:21 PM.
[x] Go...oh, fourth, after the others who had beaten the troll.
[x] Go...oh, fourth, after the others who had beaten the troll.
[x] Go...oh, fourth, after the others who had beaten the troll.
The first one to go was Ronald Weasley, who passed out cold at the sight of an acromantula appearing in front of him, fangs dripping with venom. Quirrell sighed at this, using a rope of light to pull Mister Weasley away, leaving him as the closest person to the boggart. The beast of fear shifted then, turning into something like a wraith, something cold and terrible that--
But in the next moment, the entity vanished as Blaise Zabini came face to face with...
"Mother?" the boy whispered.
...a devastatingly beautiful woman, whose appearance instantly drew the attention of every boy in the room, and not a few of the girls either.
"It's too bad you know," the woman said almost gently as she stepped forward, her fingers reaching out to brush Zabini's cheek. "You were a good project of mine, but you could never be enough. Not to be my successor, Blaise. I suppose I'll have to adopt, given how your...accident of birth has left you...unsuitable for my needs."
"Why?" the boy demanded, swallowing. "Why can't--"
The woman laughed, a beautiful, sorrowful sound as terrifying as it was alluring.
"Silly Blaise, you're a boy," she whispered."And you know what happens to any boy who lingers around me too long."
Blaise Zabini was rooted in place, his jaw chattering, his limbs trembling.
"You know what it is, don't you?" she asked, almost sweetly, as she leaned in closer, closer, closer still.
"I...they..."
"They die for me."
She kissed him on the nose, and Blaise Zabini collapsed, screaming in terror, shriveling up into as small a ball as could be.
Quirrell's response as to silence the boy and pull him back, with a frown, as the boggart shifted form again in the wraithlike -thing that seemed to amplify all terrors, all shadows.
"Given the reactions, I'll need someone to get Madam Pomfrey. Do I have any volunteers?"
Does Shinji volunteer?
[ ] Yes - after what he's seen, he doesn't want to face the boggart right now
[ ] No, let someone else volunteer
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[X] Yes - after what he's seen, he doesn't want to face the boggart right now
Plue its Zabini we at least owe him this amount of help, for what help he has given Shinji. Not to mention Shinji is one of the few people I think can related to Zabini's fear.
[x] Yes - after what he's seen, he doesn't want to face the boggart right now.
[X] Yes - after what he's seen, he doesn't want to face the boggart right now
[x]Yes-after what he's seen, he doesn't want to face the boggart right now
[x]Yes-after what he's seen, he doesn't want to face the boggart right now
After seeing one person faint from terror, and another person collapse into a screaming fit at the sight of their greatest fears (both of which hit fairly close to home, given that aside from worms, Matou magecraft could command things like insects and spiders, and he really didn't like the thought of someone like oh, a family patriarch asking him to die for them), the boy thought it best that perhaps he delay his encounter with a beast that could take the shape of what he feared.
And now Quirrell had given him the perfect excuse, as no one would call him a coward for wanting to assist his...associate. So he volunteered, and went to the infirmary, where he informed Madam Pomfrey about this whole mess and she came back with him, just in time to catch Quirrell in the middle of a lecture on responses to fear, and how one either fought, fled, or froze.
"For prey animals, there was sometimes a use for flight or freezing, just as you may sometimes have a use for these," Quirrell noted. "These responses are tools for survival, but it is the wizard who should control the tool - the tool should never control the wizard." He shook his head. "Yet often enough, you will be in situation where you cannot run, where holding still and hoping you will not be seen is foolish. In those cases, you must fight - you must defend yourself against your enemy. This class is, after all, Defense against the Dark Arts, not Flight from the Dark Arts, or Freezing in the Face of the Dark Arts."
He paused to let that message sink in.
"Unless you learn that, internalize it, make it a part of you, you don't belong in this world," the man stated flatly. "I don't care if you are a muggleborn new to magic or a pureblood with centuries of tradition. If you are unwilling to stand and fight when you have to, to do what is necessary, you are less than the meanest ghost, less than the very dust of the earth, less than nothing."
The silence that followed was deafening, as none of them had ever had a teacher who outright called them nothing before.
"I hope that over the course of the year, you will prove to me that you are not trash or less than trash, because I will not hesitate to fail you if you do not. So, now that you know what I expect, we will return to our lesson on fear. Once I sort out Misters Zabini and Weasley, you will once again come face to face with what you fear. Remember, let the fear pass through you, if you can. If not, then turn that fear into something useful - let fear turn to anger, anger turn to hatred. Let the hate flow through you, let it make you strong."
With that said, he left the podium and walked over to Matou and Pomfrey, where he explained the situation as the two having gone into psychogenic shock.
"Nothing is physically wrong with them, though I would like you to keep them in the infirmary for observation, lest they end up damaging themselves further," he noted.
With that...
"There is about enough time in today's class for one more to face the boggart," he noted. "Mister Matou, since you volunteered to retrieve help for our unfortunate duo, perhaps you can help us make a decision."
"...yes?"
"Who should the last one be today? You - or someone else?"
[ ] Shinji will go
[ ] Shinji volunteers...Miss Granger
[ ] Shinji volunteers...Miss Noel, since she did more in killing a troll than he did
Last edited by alfheimwanderer; August 18th, 2019 at 01:37 PM.
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[x]Shinji will go
[x] Shinji will go
I don't really want Shinji to lose face here. And I think sharing misery is not so bad, just have them (after they recover) make a pact to never mention what happened in DADA first lesson ever again and we're good.
[x] Shinji will go
Anything else leads us towards the path I don't wish to see in this quest.
[x] Shinji will go
Knowing how the first cases went, Matou Shinji was not exactly free of trepidation as he walked towards the shroud of darkness that was hissing at Quirrell, amplifying his fears, its very presence seeming to whet his anxieties, to eat away at his will.
'No...I won't let it.'
It was obvious he wasn't about to become some Buddha and purge all worldly passions and emotions, but at least he could follow the path of the Asura, to turn fear into anger, anger into hatred, hatred into power. Wand in hand, he stepped forward, wondering what exactly he would see. The pit of worms, perhaps? The usurper who had come to take everything from him? The contract he'd signed with Tohsaka? A plate of that dreaded Mapo tofu?
Another step forward brought him close to the spirit of fear, close enough for it to begin to shift, to change into....
"No..."
It was...it was the usurper who stood before him, with worms crawling up her naked form. And in one hand, she was holding...holding...
'That contract...'
Fear...yes, there were things he feared, but then, the things he feared were also things he hated, things he wished to see destroyed, as his face twisted into a snarl.
"Begone monster," he cried out, raising his wand. "You don't belong in this world!"
Unfortunately for him, since he had been out getting Madam Pomfrey, he did not know the incantation for the spell to battle the boggart, and yet perhaps it didn't matter, given that all he needed was Incendio, to set the usurper and the contract alight in flames, watching hair blacken and skin burn, watching eyes sizzle and pop in the flames, watching the contract crumple and shrivel into a black mass as he laughed, and laughed, and laughed!
The boggart's true weakness being laughter, it soon puffed out of existence, while the class looked on, rather horrified at what they had just seen. Matou had...he'd set a young girl on fire and cackled as she was consumed by the flames.
"You may have stolen everything else from me, sister," he whispered, his words deafening in the silence that fell once his laughter finally came to a halt. "But you do not hold my chains."
"...right then," Quirrell remarked. "Class dismissed."
There was a pause of a few moments, before...
"Oh, and five points to Slytherin for that lovely display of what I meant by turning fear into hatred, Mister Matou."
In History, Leonardo was discussing the Houses of Hogwarts and their origins once more, only this time, he wasn't concentrating on any particular Founder.
"Does anyone have thoughts on the House System, and whether it has been beneficial or detrimental to Hogwarts over the centuries?"
Does Shinji...
[ ] Speak up
[ ] Wait for a good moment
Last edited by alfheimwanderer; August 18th, 2019 at 05:13 PM.
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[x]Wait for a good moment
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
