Lesson One (Third Years)

Cobalt sat on the edge of his desk, humming a happy tune as he ate an apple. The old wardrobe beside his desk, locked and spelled shut as it was, rattled and rocked occasionaly and Cobalt sent it an annoyed look,

"Shush you."

Kathy rushed towards the room.
Seeing she was the one to arrive early she smiled.
It was a great relief for her to be the first one in class. She thought she would be late on the first lesson of the year which would be embarrassing for her.
"Good Day Professor" Kathy greeted cheerfully as she walked near the Professor.

Diane hurriedly went to class. There was somewhat a good aura around today. And she felt that professor Smith would have an exciting day prepared today.

"Good Morning Everyone!" she took a seat beside Kathy and took out her quill. Ahh.. good to be back at Hogwarts again...

Karma took two steps into the classroom and inwardly groaned. Two Gryffindors AGAIN. Really? She offered Professor Smith a smile and sat as far as physically possible from the two. Gryffindors annoted her immensly since the train ride. Even when she tried to be nice to them.

"Good day, Professor." She said, her cheerful mood dropping into her stomach. Trust gryffindors to ruin her day.

She eyed the shaking cabnet and smiled. She'd had plenty of time with creatures such as these in Grimmald Place, and usually she just played with them until one of them got bored and left. She guessed now she'd be able to fend them off.

Lacey slid into the room quietly, glancing at the vacant spots and choosing one near the middle where she would be relatively close to her fellow Gryffindors in case of emergency, yet far enough away to have her own space for work. She eyed the Slytherin before turning to look at the Professor, narrowing her eyes.

"Morning Professor." she mumbled as she placed her bag atop her desk.

Arsen strolled to his next lesson, he never took this lesson at Durmstrang so he was eager to find out what the lesson involved. As he entered the classroom he had a quick glance around before making his way over to the seat in the corner.

Cepheus rolled his eyes as he walked into the classroom, turning to smile at everyone "Morning!" he said happily. It wasn't unusual to see him in a mood like this on the first day of classes; he was home. He wasn't with his parents who always judged him and instead, around people who he could call friends and family. He was happy. Moving to a seat at the back of the class, he dropped his bag lightly and sat down, smiling.

Aireon walked into the classroom. He scanned the area seeing a few seats at the front, so he walked up to a seat. He sat down and said hello to Professor Smith.

"Hello, Sir."

He noticed the shaking cabinet and immediately got out his textbook. he flipped to the correct page and paled.

Some secrets never stay buried for long.

Lucy rushed into the classroom. She nodded a general hello to everyone and sat down hurriedly, she was excited for this class, and most certainly didn't want to be late.

Jack slipped in through the door, late as usual, and slid into a seat next to a Hufflepuff boy, sending a nod toward the Professor. "Miss anything?" he asked, barely glancing at the boy to which he was talking to, distracted by the shaking cupboard at the front of the class.

Cobalt gestured to the shaking cabinet,

"As you may have guessed, this cabinet contains a boggart." he told his class, all the while staring at them with a cold gaze, "It takes the shape of you worst fear."

He pointed to his desk,

"I want you to come up here and put your wand on my desk." he told them forcefully, in a tone that told them there was no arguing, "You will receive your wand again at the end of the lesson."

He pointed to Karma,

"How about you first my young apprentice?" he asked with a ghost of a smile, "Let's see the lion's bravery in the blackest of snakes."

Karma shrugged and stood, placing her wand on Colbalt's desk. She wasn't scared in the least. It was just a bloody boggart. She didn't see what the big deal was. The same thing always came out anyway, and it was pretty boring.

She stepped in front of the cabinet and waited for Colbalt to open it.

Cepheus watched as Karma moved to the front of the classroom and shrugged to the Ravenclaw boy sitting next to him. "Nothing except this." He muttered to him, paying close attention to the cupboard holding the Boggart.

Cobalt moved over to Karma, standing behind her. Deciding that a little less of his cruel self would be a good thing, he rested a hand on her shoulder as they both stared at the cabinet,

"It's not weakness to be afraid." he told her quietly, "Just to let it win."

He walked up to the cabinet, gave Karma a single nod and then opened the cabinet, letting the boggart out.

Karma looked up at Colbalt with a small smile before turning back to the opening cabinet. Out stepped the same thing that always did.

Karma watched as a mirror image of herself, yet older, taller, leaner, and slightly paler, stepped out of the cabinet. It was dressed in form fitting black, and every single on of the daggers Karma knew she had hidden on her were displayed in hilts. It smiled at her with a mouth full of fangs. Karma looked into its glowing red eyes unflinchingly. She was used to this un-her. It walked out of many places in Grimmald Place, and she was used to it.

The being drew twin daggers. That were an inverted version of Karma's daggers. Instead of a ebony hilt and jagged onyx blade, it was onyx hilted and ebony bladed. It irked Karma in a way it probably shouldn't have.

Well this was new. Karma found herself mirroring it. Who knew what it was capable of? It was a monster. The being dropped into a ready stance. Karma had sparred with this thing many times, and had the scars to prove it.

But what if it killed her? She kept the daggers lifted, dropping into a defensive stance, ready to defend herself. What exactly was she supposed to do? She waited for instruction from Colbalt, knowing that what she was feeling wasn't fear, but excited anticipation. To her, the boggart was like an old friend.

Cobalt smiled a little as he regarded the boggart's form from just to it's side. He chuckled,

"Well well well..." he muttered with a smile, "It appears that Karma fears herself in some part."

He gave Karma a reassuring smile,

"Quite wise if I do say so myself." he nodded to Boggart-Karma, "A person faces no greater opponent than themselves. Five points to slytherin... for having a reasonable fear."

He glanced at the class for a second,

"Well... not that it wouldn't be entertaining to see you beat yourself up..." he chuckled before he moved, faster than his easy attitude suggested. Taking the boggart by surprise he grabbed the side of the older Karma's head before spinning, slamming it's forehead hard against his desk. When the boggart tried to move again, Cobalt gave it an open palm thrust to the base of the neck.

The neck snapped.

Heaving the momentarily stunned Boggart (in the shape of a now dead older Karma), Cobalt threw the creature back into the cabinet and closed the door,

"Don't be distressed children..." he began coldly, "You'll see more than that in my class before the year is out... Turrow! Get your ass up here, you're next!"

Karma shrugged and stowed away her daggers. Well, at least she was wise, appearantly.

Lucy watched in shock as Black, but not Black stepped out of the cabinet. What was she supposed to do? Fight herself? Lucy frowned, seeing this other girl's boggart made her think of her own worst fear. Or rather, wonder what it was. She had never faced a boggart, so she had no idea what to expect.

Was in things that scuttled, like scorpions? She shuddered at the thought, no, sh wasn't scared of those, just disgusted by them. Maybe it was fear of failure, no she didn't like failure, but it wasn't the worst thing. Maybe it was being attacked in an alley, like her mom– no. It wasn't that. She wasn't scared f things like that, she would beat anyone who attacked her. Finally a thought came to mind and she shuddered, wondering how the boggart would display that.

Much more is right, Aireon thought. The fear he held in himself, was one of pure horror. He vaguely wondered what part of that experience he feared the most. The only person who might know what that was, well, he didn't know what happened to her.

Was it them asking and taunting him as to why he didn't save them? Or was it the fear of not being able to survive something similar again? Either way, it was time for his secret to come to the light.

Cepheus jumped up quickly, moving towards the front of the room. He put his wand where instructed and moved to in front of the wardrobe, swallowing thickly - Hufflepuffs weren't known for their bravery.. He stood in a slight defensive stance and waited for the wardrobe to be opened.

Cobalt looked at Cepheus coldly,

"Master yourself or lose yourself Mr Turrow." he told him firmly as he opened the cabinet.

Cepheus watched as a leg came out of the wardrobe, and then a whole body. It was an ugly looking thing, and looked as though it was dead - because it was. It was an inferi, like the one his parents had shown him in a pensieve.. How they got it, he didn't know. He winced slightly, but stood his ground.

He didn't expect this.

Karma narrowed her eyes at the Hufflepuff. He stole her Boggart. Really? A Dark Version of himself as well? Well, it wasn't an older version, so she supposed it didn't count, but really, she liked the Zombie Boggart better.

But if it was between the Hufflepuff and the Boggart, the Boggart would win hands down. She liked the Boggart more anyway.

Cobalt rolled his eyes in Karma's direction with a small smirk, he too noticed that this was becoming a bit of a theme. He clapped his hands together,

"Well boys and girls... that's enough of that." he blurred into motion again, sliding up behind Cepheus' boggart before it could move. Grabbing hold of the boggart's chin with his right arm he twisted the head savagely to the right, twisting it round as he snapped it's neck, "Good, Turrow. Sit down."

Throwing the dead body into the cabinet he closed the door and looked out over the class,

"Mmm... let's see if someone else has a different fear." he paused, "Thiren! Front and centre."

Lucy cursed mentally. She had a momentary hope that he would stop them from facing the boggart, but her hope was dashed when he called up the next person. She tried to make herself shrink in her seat. An idea for what her boggart might be had formed in her mind, and the idea was bad enough.

She pushed the fear away, paying attention instead to what the other students boggarts were.