Theobald watched the third years coming in. This was always a challenging class, not so much for the magic they would have to do, they were well capable of that, but for what it would force them to reveal to their classmates and to him for  that matter. You could often learn a lot about a person by seeing what they most greatly feared and, if you were inclined, use it against them. Of course that cut both ways but any semi-competent villain would know that the best way to secure most people's compliance was to threaten their families so he hardly feared such a revelation.  He only hoped Laurissa would not get teased about it. If she did, he had not made anyone clean the toilets with their toothbrush in a while and they were getting dirty...

 "Quiet! As you remember at the end of the last lesson we talked about boggarts and how one must use humour to defeat them. You also learned the Rikkulus charm to use against them and were given it to practice as your homework. Today we will see how well you have been practising."

 Theobald flicked his wand and the chest he had caught the boggart in with Miss ó Fearghail trundled forward.

 "As you have no doubt guessed in this chest is a boggart. You will each have a chance to defeat him and in doing so to earn points for your houses. Failure will cost you no points but will unfortunately necessitate further practice as boggarts are beloved of  examiners worldwide.

 As you know the boggart will become the thing you most fear. The experience is not pleasant but each of you is up to the challenge magically. That said if there are any of you who have good reason not to want to face their fear in front of the rest of the class come up to the front and let me know now. Otherwise wands out and form an orderly queue. Remember always the importance of  humour though. Courage alone is not enough and even the Elder Wand itself will not help you unless you are able to  laugh."
 
 Once he had heard from any with especial concerns and the class was ready, Theobald opened the chest and the boggart flew out towards the first in line..."

Blake liked DADA well enough. As with all of his classes, he tended to do exceptionally well because he worked hard applied himself quite diligently to pretty much every task set before him. And he tended to surround himself with like-minded individuals, which wasn't that hard to do when one was sorted into Ravenclaw.

On this particular day, he felt good about the upcoming lesson, despite the nature of it at its core. Even though he had spent time mulling over the subject of Boggarts with housemate and good friend, Cait Morrigan, it wasn't exactly his favorite past time. Blake had his share of frightful experiences in his thirteen (almost fourteen) years of existence, but what he feared the most hinged on something he hoped would never happen.

Blake rarely spoke of the other members of his family to his classmates, since for the most part, it was hard to avoid any of his siblings at the school. The Knight reputation spoke for it self and needed little embellishment from him. If there was one member of the family that he might be tempted to mention at length (and in an affectionate manner), it would likely be his mother. She probably was the only one that he had a great deal in common with, but even that relationship was tenuous at times.

Overall, if pressed, Blake would talk about them, but the one member of his family that he absolutely refused to talk about was his father, Fitzgerald Knight.

Many would assume that the person Blake might fear the most would be his older brother, Callum. Or even collectively, his three brothers combined. But they all paled in comparison to the man of might that was their father. The patriarch of the Knight family was not a nice man. And while Blake respected him, he also greatly feared him. 

One of the many benefits of being at Hogwarts for Blake was the fact that it placed considerable distance between himself and his father. And yet, he always felt there was an ever present eye watching over his every move, hence the Ravenclaw's caution when it came to being too open about his fondness for all things Muggles or being too friendly with too many Muggleborns or Half-breeds when his family members were around. His actions--for good or for bad--always managed to get back to their parents and Fitzgerald seemed to dwell on the negatives.

So far, Blake had not been privy to seeing the full extent of Fitzgerald Knight's wrath. He hoped he never would. But being the cause of it and also the target of it surely struck fear into his heart.

As Professor Mainwaring spoke about the goal in class, Blake snuck a glance towards the back of the room where his two brothers were sitting together. Part of him dreaded what was to come, but he quickly became determined to get through his part of the exercise as quickly as possible, so as not to give them any fodder to use later.

Clutching his pale colored wand, he fell in line behind a few other eager classmates towards the front. When it was his turn, he stepped forward with a bit of apprehension still at the fore and took a deep breath.

Blake watched as the Boggart took on his father's likeness, looming above him with darkened features and clear disapproval of everything he was and would ever be.

But as the fear swelled inside of him, so too did Blake's anger and his desire to overcome all of that. With another breath, he let the negative thoughts go and instead thought of a way his father could never hurt him or make him afraid.

Pointing his wand, he shouted, "Rikkulus!"

The Boggart shifted shape, immediately shrinking down towards the floor. Fitzgerald Knight shrank down to the size of a mouse, looking meek and frail and worried about his lack of size. It mirrored a scene from one of Blake's favorite Muggle cartoons, Tom and Jerry, in which the pesky cat ends up drinking a potion that causes him to shrink so that he is smaller than the Jerry. This allows for Jerry to have the easy opportunity to repay his nemesis for all the times he had been mistreated.

Certain that his brothers would hardly understand the significance of the whole occurrence, Blake stepped back and then turned to the Professor with a bright smile filled with relief.

 The professor was pleased to see Mr Knight deal with the boggart with such aplomb. He was brave to go first and had done very well in dealing with it so quickly. Not doing so only helped one's fears to grow. Theobald was curious as always in this class to see what shape it took for everyone.  What some people were scared of never ceased to amaze him. This fear at least seemed grounded. 

 Unfortunately he was sure he wasn't the only one taking mental notes. Bullies always made use of this particular class to learn how to better prey on their classmates later.  Of course the acute student being so picked on could utilise what he remembered terrorising the bullies in the class in order to turn the tables on them. He supposed it was good practice at defending oneself. It did still trouble him somewhat though. Boggarts were frequently dismissed as minor pests, which they were, but the true bother in dealing with them in a group was the intensely private information they revealed about oneself. That was hard enough dealing with as an adult. It was harder still as a child. Given that the timetable did not allow for private tuition there was no way round it though. The ability to confront a boggart was a skill they simply needed to learn.

Ayla had been patiently waiting for her turn standing behind Blake. She had barely noticed what his boggart had turned into. Half of her mind was concerned with what the boggart might turn into when she approached it and the other half was wondering how she had never before noticed the fact that Blake had a cute butt. She didn't have too many encounters with him being in another house but the few classes they did have together Ayla had always noticed how good he looked. As much as she did keep focus on her studies it was only natural for her mind to wander and so standing here in single file she had little more to do than ponder Blake's butt.

She cocked her head to the side her green and gold eyes focusing on his lower half and how he fit into his uniform pants. She wasn't usually one to check out a guy's butt but since there was little else for her to look at she couldn't help herself.

Before she knew it Blake was stepping aside and she was facing a small confused man that she didn't believe she had ever seen before. She had no idea why Blake was so afraid of this man but had little time to contemplate it. With Blake no out of the way the mouse man shuddered and swirled readjusting itself to take on the shape of Ayla's worst fear. In a matter of seconds the mouse man had more than quadrupled it's size and now stood over her as a giant eight foot hairy monster. Although most in the class weren't likely to recognize the creature Ayla instantly knew what it was.

Her green and gold eyes moved over the rough savage features of the Yeti, from its dark yellow eyes to it's blood covered snout, it's pale blue fur covered most of it's hulking body with only large claws on it's hands and feet sticking out. She could hear it snarling almost feel it's sticky hot breath. She could feel herself shuddering and remembered the many knights she spent as a child waking from a horrible nightmare of a pack of Yeti's ravaging her family.

She raised her wand, nine inches of supple maple with a smooth finish. She didn't have time to contemplate the coincidence in the fact that she was staring down a Yeti with a wand whose core was made from Yeti Heartstring. She did her best to steady her breath and stuck her tongue out past her braces but for a moment the word escaped her.

A surge of panic raced through her veins, a weakness the boggart seemed to be feeding on as the hulking Yeti loomed ever closer. She tried to think of what would be funny enough to calm her racing heart, maybe she could turn him into a teddy bear, that seemed the best solution. She stuck her want out further, "Ri - ri -ri -" She licked her lips and squeezed her eyes shut, "Riddikulus!"

The Yeti made an odd popping noise as it's fur gave way to polyester, it's claws and fangs to plastic and it's eyes to marbles. The hulking presence shrunk down to an oversized plush replica. Ayla looked at the toy and scowled before lifting her eyes to Professor Mainwaring, "I'm sorry Professor. I should have done better."