Hogwarts Study Panel

Chapter 479, Section 477: Boggart
Dumbledore remained silent.

The silence continued until they reached the center of the field.

At this point, Sheen will realize that in the face of love, there is no difference between saints and mortals, and that the greatest wizard in the magical world is no different from a Muggle.

"Let's start our first Defense Against the Dark Arts class right here."

It's hard to imagine that I still have students to teach; it's a responsibility I look forward to…

Dumbledore said that he seemed to have returned to the kind and gentle appearance that Sheen remembered.

He waved his wand and conjured an old wardrobe.

Dumbledore walked over and stood next to the wardrobe, which suddenly shook and slammed against the wall with a thud.

Do you know what's inside?

"Dumbledore said calmly."

"I think there's a Boggart inside."

Sheen answered.

“Ah, yes. Boggart likes dark and enclosed spaces,”

Dumbledore spoke as if he were giving a lecture to students.
"Wardrobes, the space under the bed, the cupboard under the sink... Now, the first question I want to ask you is: What is a Boggart?"

"It's a shape-shifting thing; it will transform into whatever it thinks will scare us the most."

Sheen's voice grew softer and softer as he realized how cruel this was.

"Yes, I don't think I could explain it any more clearly."

Dumbledore said,
"So, the Boggart inside this dark cabinet doesn't yet have a concrete form; it doesn't know what the people outside are afraid of. Nobody knows what the Boggart looks like when it's alone, but the moment I let it out, it will instantly become the thing we all fear most. That is to say,"

Dumbledore continued,
“We have a significant advantage over the Boggarts. Sheehan, have you noticed this advantage?”

“Yes, Professor—because we have two of us, and it doesn’t know what shape it should become.”

"Absolutely correct."

Dumbledore nodded.

"It is best to deal with Boggarts in a group."

This makes it even more confusing:
Will you become a headless skeleton, or a carnivorous slug?
I once saw a Boggart make this mistake—it tried to scare two people at the same time, but ended up turning itself into half a slug, which wasn't scary at all.

The spell to defeat the Boggarts is very simple, but it requires a strong will.

What truly ruined Boggart was his laughter. What we need to do is force it into an image that we find hilarious.

Now I'll teach you this spell, repeat after me... Hahaha!

Dumbledore misses that feeling; long ago, his students were Newt and Leta.
Not too long ago, his students were James, Lily, and Severus;
Now, his student is Sheen Green… He likes this student very much, and sometimes he sees his favorite things in his students.

"Hilarious! Hilarious!"

Sheehan seemed quite at ease with Dumbledore's sudden guidance.

“Very well, let’s give it a try now. Step aside, Sheen.”

Sheen retreated to the side of the wardrobe, leaving Dumbledore alone standing in front of it.

A burst of sparks shot from the tip of Dumbledore's wand and struck the spherical doorknob.

The wardrobe door suddenly opened, but no monsters jumped out. Instead, there was only a bewildered but kind witch, who looked timid and quite cute.

But Dumbledore turned his head away the instant he saw her, and Sheen swiftly drew her wand, the cabinet door closing in the blink of an eye. "You don't need to do that."

Sheen frowned.

He had already guessed how the old wizard would get him to see Ariana.

That was to let him see the old wizard’s greatest fear—his Boggart, his sister, the dead Ariana.

"Oh, it's okay..."

Dumbledore sat on the lawn, his beard still trembling slightly.

“Sit here, come here, child. Let me tell you a story.”

A gentle breeze blows, and clouds drift and swirl across the fields.

"There was once a wizard, a wizard we should all despise."

His sister was attacked by Muggles because she accidentally revealed her magic.

This attack made her mentally unstable and unable to control her magic.

His father was furious and, in retaliation, cast a spell on the Muggle boys, which led to his arrest.

He died a horrible death in Azkaban.

But what about him? He was talented; you have to admit he was excellent. So he wanted to escape. He wanted to stand out. He wanted to be dazzling.

Look at what he did; he quickly established frequent correspondence with the most famous magic masters of the time, including the renowned alchemist Nicolas Flamel, the well-known historian Bathilda Bagshot, and the magic theorist Adbe Wolflin.

Several of his papers have been published in academic journals such as Transfiguration Today, Spell Innovation, and Potions Master.

Before graduation, he and another equally talented wizard, Ephias Dorje, planned to travel the world as soon as they graduated.

They were already in Diagon Alley, preparing to leave for Greece, when news arrived of his mother Candra's death—she had died while caring for her sister.

So he had to abandon his plans to travel the world and return home to take care of his younger sister.

Dumbledore's narration was frank and detached. At this moment, his gaze swept over Sheehan's head and looked towards the distant valley.

"So he resented all of this."

After his mother died, he was responsible for taking care of a disabled sister and a willful brother, and he returned to the village full of resentment and pain.

He felt trapped and wasting his time!

But he forgot that his younger brother had always shouldered his responsibilities, and only his brother could comfort his sister when she was emotionally unstable. But he forgot that...

His younger brother was furious because of his selfishness—

Just think about it, he actually wanted to leave this place with another person, to escape from here, to escape this place that trapped him.

He's so selfish, Sheen, more selfish than you, a very selfless person, could ever imagine.

Later... reality appeared in the form of his younger brother, who was rough, uncultured, but far more outstanding.

He didn't want to hear the truth his brother was yelling at him. He didn't want to hear that he was being held back by a weak, unstable sister, preventing him from carrying out his plan, bringing Muggles to submission, and making wizards great!
The quarrel between him, his companion, and his brother escalated into a duel. His sister…after all the tender care and attention she had received from his mother and brother… collapsed and died.

His companions fled, leaving him alone to bury his sister and learn to cope with guilt and profound grief—the price of his shame.

Dumbledore smiled, a smile as bitter as straw in a wheat field, bearing a fragile strength.

That was his entire life, a constant cycle of saying goodbye, running away, trying to forget yet never wanting to forget. In the end, he had nothing in his hands and his heart was scarred.

(End of this chapter)