And just like that, the Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson came to an end.
With the Boggart destroyed, Lupin was left with nothing to demonstrate. Even the cleverest witch could not conjure rice out of thin air. Finding another Boggart on short notice would be no easy task.
The students who had not yet taken their turn felt a flicker of disappointment, though most accepted it without much complaint.
Tom, however, found it regrettable for a different reason.
He had been rather curious to see what Daphne and Hermione feared most.
Now, though, their curiosity had shifted elsewhere. What exactly had happened moments ago? Why had a spell descended from above to obliterate the Boggart? And who, exactly, was that woman Tom seemed to fear?
Carrying those questions with them, the students left the staff lounge and returned to the Defence classroom.
Once seated, Daphne leaned closer and whispered insistently. Tom merely shook his head.
"That woman… is actually someone long dead. Don't ask anything more. Be good."
"Oh."
Daphne nodded obediently.
Listening was one of her greatest virtues. If Tom told her not to ask, she truly would not. It also helped that he had said the woman was dead. If she was already gone, there was no point worrying about her.
Hermione, on the other hand, frowned deeply.
There had been something about the woman's attire and bearing that felt strangely familiar… yet she could not place where she had seen it before.
There was little time left in the period. Lupin allowed the class to read freely, and when the bell rang, he dismissed them.
"Remus," Professor McGonagall called, clutching her own stack of books. She had clearly just finished a lesson herself and had hurried over. "Dumbledore would like to see you in his office."
Lupin paused briefly, then nodded. "I understand, Professor McGonagall."
He headed upstairs, pondering along the way. Had the disturbance earlier drawn Dumbledore's attention?
As it turned out, his guess was correct.
"Remus, do sit." Dumbledore had already prepared tea and gestured invitingly. Once Lupin settled across from him, Dumbledore spoke mildly, "It seems you conducted a rather interesting lesson just now. Would you tell me how it went?"
Lupin knew exactly what Dumbledore wished to hear. Skipping over trivial details, he went straight to the crucial moment, describing Tom's encounter with the Boggart in careful detail. He spoke of its prolonged hesitation, the woman it ultimately transformed into, and the sudden magical strike from above.
Dumbledore listened intently, nodding from time to time, the light glinting off his half-moon spectacles.
When Lupin finished, Dumbledore remained silent for a long while.
"Mr. Riddle possesses everything he has ever desired," Dumbledore said at last, smiling faintly. "And in the future, he will likely possess even more. To be honest, I cannot imagine what he might truly fear. At the very least, it would not be me.
"If he does not fear me, then there are very few things in this world that could make him afraid."
"And you?" Lupin blurted out before he could stop himself. "What do you fear?"
The Gryffindor curse of speaking before thinking had struck again. He regretted the question the instant it left his mouth.
Dumbledore's eyes flickered with something unreadable. Instead of displeasure, there was a trace of amusement.
"Remus, the next time you happen upon a Boggart, perhaps you might bring one to me. To be honest… I, too, would be curious to know what I fear most."
"I'll try," Lupin said awkwardly, rising to his feet. "I have another class. I should be going."
"Of course."
After Lupin closed the door behind him, Dumbledore leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes.
A Boggart?
If he were to face one, he already knew what he would see.
Ariana.
...
But why would Tom fear Rowena Ravenclaw?
From Lupin's description and the castle's violent reaction, Dumbledore had already guessed the woman's identity. That was precisely what puzzled him most.
He would not question Tom about it. Everyone had secrets. The more powerful the person, the more numerous those secrets became. He could reflect privately, but to pry would be to offend.
Hogwarts had no true secrets.
Especially when they involved a figure as prominent as Tom.
Before long, what had happened in class spread throughout the castle. Word traveled swiftly that Tom Riddle feared a woman, and that the strange tremor shaking Hogwarts had been tied to the Boggart.
Students from other Houses treated it mostly as gossip.
But in Ravenclaw Tower, after the initial excitement faded, the little eagles began to sense something amiss.
"Isn't that Rowena Ravenclaw?" one girl exclaimed suddenly.
"Are you sure?" asked a Hufflepuff girl who had been relaying the story. "Why would Riddle be afraid of a Founder? And your Founder at that?"
The Ravenclaw girl nodded firmly. "If your description of her appearance and clothing is accurate, then I'm certain it was her. There's a statue of her in our common room. She looks exactly the same. We see it every day. I just didn't make the connection at first."
With that reminder, more and more Ravenclaws began linking the two together. Before long, the rumor spread across the entire school once again.
Tom, however, did not care in the slightest.
After placating Daphne and the other curious witches, he returned to his private space and recounted the incident to Ravenclaw herself in an almost joking tone.
"It seems I was at fault. I frightened you."
Rowena Ravenclaw's smile remained elegant and serene. Yet Tom could clearly sense the faint undercurrent of schadenfreude beneath it.
He was used to it.
These legendary witches and wizards, even those hailed as monarchs of their century, were never simple. Cut them open, and none were truly pure.
"That magical strike that destroyed the Boggart," Tom asked, "was that your doing?"
Ravenclaw shook her head slightly. "It was merely the castle's defensive mechanism. A Boggart attempting to manifest my image would trigger it. Not just me. If it had tried to take the form of any of the other Founders, the result would have been the same.
"In another place, perhaps it might have succeeded."
"A castle forged by four legends together…" Tom murmured thoughtfully. "If it were ever turned into a weapon, I wonder how powerful it would be."