Hogwarts: Becoming the White Lord from Breathing

Chapter 191 Snape in drag

Neville's face flushed red again at Snape's sarcasm, but surprisingly, his expression was not one of frustration; he even stared intently at Snape with great courage.

His gaze made Snape feel very uncomfortable, and he felt even more disgusted.

Damon didn't rush to speak; he knew Lupin could handle everything.

"despair."

Professor Lupin placed his hand on Neville's shoulder and patted it.

“I’m planning to have Neville as my assistant for the first phase of the operation, and I believe he will do a good job.”

Neville clenched his fists even tighter until he met Snape's gaze, at which point he lowered his head.

Snape pursed his lips, slammed the door shut, and left.

“Now, like this,” Professor Lupin said, gesturing for the class to walk to the end of the lounge. There was nothing there except an old wardrobe, where the faculty kept their spare robes.

Professor Lu Ping walked to the wardrobe and stood still. Suddenly, the wardrobe began to shake and bang against the wall, as if a giant beast was locked inside.

Many people remembered what happened to Hagrid yesterday and jumped back in fright.

"Don't worry, it's a Boggart inside."

"Boggart likes dark, enclosed spaces."

Wardrobes, gaps under beds, cupboards under sinks—once I encountered an old clock hidden in my ancestors' possession.

This one was moved in yesterday afternoon. I asked the principal and the teachers if we could leave it undisturbed so that my third-grade students could have some hands-on experience.

"So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a Boggart?"

Hermione raised her hand.

"It is a magical creature that can shapeshift and take on any form it deems most frightening."

"I couldn't have explained it better myself."

Professor Lupin nodded in approval, which pleased Hermione.

"So, the Boggart sitting in the darkness inside the wardrobe has not yet revealed any form."

It doesn't yet know what could frighten people outside the door. Nobody knows what Boggart is like when it's alone, but once I let it out, it will instantly become everyone's greatest fear.

"This means that we had a huge advantage over Bogut before we even started."

"The best way to deal with Boggart is to have a lot of people around him, and he'll get confused."

What should it become? A headless corpse, or a carnivorous slug? I once saw a boggt make that mistake—trying to scare two people at once, it turned itself into half a slug, which wasn't scary at all.

As Damon stood in the crowd listening to Lupin's introduction, a sudden chill ran through him. He seemed to truly know what he feared: a deep, dark well.

Harry and Ron both noticed Damon's silence and wondered what someone like Damon could be afraid of.

"The spell to defeat the Boggart is simple, but it requires willpower. You know, what really frightens the Boggart is laughter. All you have to do is force it into what you find laughable."

"Let's say this spell without using wands first. Say it after me... Hahaha!"

“Hilarious! Hilarious!” the whole class exclaimed in unison. “Good, very good, but just mastering the spell isn’t enough. You must also have enough courage—that’s up to you, Neville.”

Neville's body was trembling uncontrollably, but his expression was resolute, his fists clenched tightly, making Malfoy's eyelids twitch in the crowd.
"Okay, Neville, first thing—tell me, what are you most afraid of in the world?"

Professor Snape.

When Neville gave the answer, the Gryffindor students gasped, while the Slytherin students' faces darkened—they didn't like anyone insulting their headmaster.

Lupin ignored the students' commotion and asked gently:
"Neville, do you live with your grandmother?"

“Oh—yes,” Neville said nervously, “but—I don’t want Boggart to become like her either.”

“No, no, you didn’t understand me,” Professor Lupin was still smiling. “I don’t know, could you tell us what kind of clothes your grandmother usually wore?”

Neville seemed quite surprised, but still replied:

"She always wore the same hat, the tall kind with an old eagle specimen on top. She also wore a long green women's dress, usually. Sometimes she would also wear a fox fur scarf."

"And handbags, right?" Professor Lupin encouraged him to continue.

“A large red handbag,” Neville said.

“Good,” said Professor Lupin, “Can you describe these clothes in great detail, Neville? Can you see them in your mind?”

"can."

"When Boggart bursts out of the closet, Neville, and sees you, it will look like Professor Snape."

You should pick up your wand—like this—and yell 'Funny, funny'—and try to concentrate on thinking about your grandmother's clothes.

If all goes well, Professor Boggart Snape will be forced to transform into a man wearing a hat with an old eagle specimen on top, dressed in green, and carrying a large red handbag.

The whole class burst into laughter.

The wardrobe shook even more violently.

“If Neville succeeds, Bogut will likely turn his attention to each of you in turn.”

They couldn't laugh anymore.

"Is everyone ready?" Professor Lupin asked.

Damon felt a little nervous, but he quickly thought of something and hurriedly pulled out his wand, transforming it into a makeshift magical camera—his Transfiguration wasn't powerful enough to create a magical camera on the spot, but he could use Transfiguration to create a shell and then use a spell to replace the required functions.

“Neville, we need to back off,” Professor Lupin said. “How about we give you some space?”
I'll call the next person forward. Now, everyone step back and give Neville a clear space—”

Then Damon saw the menacing Snape, and Neville screamed "Funny, funny!" and transformed Snape into a drag queen—he was dressed in a long, lace-embroidered dress, wearing a top hat with a worm-eaten old eagle specimen on top, and carrying a huge scarlet handbag.

"Click, click, click—"

Amidst the class's uproarious laughter, Damon captured the moment perfectly.

"Not bad, I'll show it to Snape after class."

Damon blew a breath onto the cross-dressing Snape in the montage spell, quite pleased with himself.

(End of this chapter)