Closed face your fear they said

[Eurydice Nightray]

Eurydice had problems. Quite a number of them really. Some of her problems however had popped up when a certain Slytherin that she did not want to think about had entered her life. Eury didn't really see much of them anymore, her brothers had said that they'll handle it. She didn't know how Tizi-nii or Kael-nii planned to handle the issue with Morrie but as long as the older girl stayed away from Eury, she didn't really care. There was one issue however that was difficult to handle. Mostly because it hadn't really been a problem before. Her fear of snakes. Ever since that time in the corridor, Eury had found herself terrified of snakes - so much so that in the last year, realistic pictures of them had sent utter terror into her being and even Morrie's - and she knew it was Morrie's - crude drawing from one of the roses she received last year as well. It wasn't usually a problem. It was rare to randomly come across a picture or a realistic drawing. The Slytherin crest, thankfully, wasn't nearly enough to send her into a panic but even then, she avoids looking at them. The problem now is that their Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson was to literally face and sort of defeat an embodiment of their fear. Eury didn't think she was going to be able to do a thing if she did it now in a classroom filled with her classmates - most of whom she didn't even get along with. Which is how she found herself standing anxiously outside of Professor Waldgrave's Adler's office after knocking, Tizi-nii standing behind her. Hufflepuffs don't falter Eury, her brother whispered to her which only made her swallow and grip her wand tighter. Merlin they weren't even in the office yet.

*GM approved in all Eurydice posts in this thread for @Tiziano Edogawa ​

 

[Professor Geovanna Adler-Cade]

Facing one's fears wasn't something to be handled lightly, and Professor Adler had known that when she'd introduced her third years recently to a boggart, it would illicit some of them finding the idea of more challenging than others. Of course that was nothing be ashamed about, but it did mean that Geo had made a point that any student who wanted to speak to her ahead of the class, had the chance to do so. The blonde had popped next door to her husbands classroom to speak to him about their son, and on her return she spotted Eury with the man she could only assume was her brother. No doubt by the time her temporary position was up, she'd had learnt the names of her colleagues.

"Eurydice!" Professor Adler approached the pair, giving a smile to them both before moving past them to unlock her office, gesturing them inside. "Tizi?" She asked the man, making sure she knew the company she kept before inviting Eury to face her fear. "Please come in. Make yourselves comfortable," She had no problem with Eurydice inviting additional support to the session, after all that was what this was all about in the first place. "How are you feeling about the boggart Eurydice?" she asked, moving further into the room.

 

[Eurydice Nightray]

Eury stiffened when she heard her name before forcing herself to relax. She shouldn’t be so tense. She knew this. It would only make her spellwork slower. She knew this. “Ah, my brother, Tiziano,” she said hurriedly despite her older brother already nodding at the name. Entering the office did not make Eury any calmer than she had been previously, if there had been any calm in her body at all. It’s okay. She could do this. Tizi-nii was here in case anything went wrong. “I… I think I know what’s going to come out,” she said softly, her free hand in a tight fist while the other gripped her wand tightly.​

 

[Professor Geovanna Adler-Cade]

Although Geo didn't mind that Eurydice wanted to bring her brother, it wasn't Tizi she was going to be giving her attention to. "What do you think it will be?" she asked the Hufflepuff, curious if it would be something that she was nervous for the rest of the class to witness too.

 

[Eurydice Nightray]

There was no use in hiding it really, the professor would see it anyway once the boggart comes out. "A snake," Eurydice said, avoiding looking at any of the adults in the room. If she could grip her wand any tighter, she would have. As it was, she was already trying her best not to tremble at the thought of what might come out. She didn't know what it would look like when it came out, but she had no doubt that's what it would be. It's okay, Tizi-nii was in the room, it'll be alright.​

 

[Professor Geovanna Adler-Cade]

Professor Adler nodded, "a perfectly reasonable fear." There were plenty of people that would have the same response, although the professor made a mental note too that if any of the other students in their future class had the same Boggart, she'd look out for Eurydice while the student defended themselves against it. "Do you know how you'd like to turn it into something that will make you laugh?" she asked. She wouldn't let out a Boggart if Eurydice wasn't prepared to use the spell and transform it into something funny.

 

[Eurydice Nightray]

Eury didn't think it was, especially since she didn't really fear them before. Wary, possibly. Half of her family was in Slytherin - it didn't make sense to be so scared of the reptiles. "Give it a funny hat?" she said, unsurely. Her brother's suggestion. She had an idea for the funny hat. A big feathered one. One so wide and circular. Like a sunhat. "Or turn it into a balloon that deflates noisily?" Like the long ones from the zoo and carnival. ​

 

[Professor Geovanna Adler-Cade]

Geo moved a little closer to the wardrobe that had been set toward the back of her office. "Why not both?" she offered. "Perhaps it turns into a balloon animal, wearing a large hat?" The funnier it was, the easier Eurydice would find it to pop the Boggart back into the wardrobe. "Okay, now I want you to come a little closer," Geo beckoned the Hufflepuff, "you don't need to tell me why this is your fear, but if a snake is about to come out of here, you need to make sure the visual of the balloon snake with a hat is strong. Stronger in your head than any other thought. You'll need to be picturing it in your mind and repeat after me. Rid-ik-ul-lus," the professors own wand was now raised, making sure Eurydice knew exactly what she needed to do. "Remember, it's not a real snake. A Boggart just wants you to fear it, but you're stronger than it ever will be."

 

[Eurydice Nightray]

"Y-yeah, okay," Eurydice wasn't sure that doing both would make a snake funnier, but it couldn't hurt to try. She didn't want to come closer either, not while she knew what was going to come out of that wardrobe. Still, even with Tizi-nii silent in the room, she could hear him. Hufflepuffs don't falter. Balloon snake with a hat. Balloon snake with a hat. Balloon snake with a hat. She nodded and took a few steps closer, her wand barely a comfort in her hand. "Riddikulus," she said just as clearly, her eyes trained on the wardrobe. Not a real snake. Balloon snake with a hat. Not a real snake. Balloon snake with a hat.​

 

[Professor Geovanna Adler-Cade]

Geo could see in the way that Eurydice was moving that she was nervous, her body stiff as a board. "Remember to breath Eury," she told the Hufflepuff, watching as she moved a little closer. "Once the Boggart comes out, you only need to give it a couple of seconds. Once it transforms, I'll push it back into the wardrobe." She didn't expect the students to close it off on their first try, being able to get it to transform was a feat enough in itself. "If you struggle, or the fear becomes too much, I'll step in. Otherwise it's on you to cast the spell. Are you ready?" Geo moved her wand to the lock of the wardrobe, and in a single wave, the door began to swing open.

 

[Eurydice Nightray]

Right. Breathing. She needed to do that. Okay. Yeah. Eurydice needed to breathe and listen. Boggart comes out and then transform and step in. Right? Yeah, that sounds about right. Her heart was pounding even as she tried to remain calm. She could do this. Was she ready? Of course not. She didn't think she ever would be. She could do it. She had to. She gave the professor a nod.​

 

[Professor Geovanna Adler-Cade]

The blonde glanced to Eurydice's brother, hoping that he wasn't going to step in even if his sister did struggle. It would be good to have him there as a comfort to her later, but for now, this was her challenge to come up against. As the door of the wardrobe opened, Geo took a few steps back, allowing the Boggart to focus solely on Eurydice, and Geo's attention flickered to the Hufflepuff to watch how she dealt with it.

 

[Eurydice Nightray]

Eurydice wanted to claim she was ready when the door to the wardrobe opened. Breathe, she reminded herself. Breathe. Balloon snake with a hat. Balloon snake with a hat. She kept chanting it in her head even as she stared at the darkened inside of the wardrobe. She heard the boggart first before she saw it, and it made the hairs on her arm stand on end. Ballon sna-... hat sna-... balloon hat... It was large, way larger than she remembered, and she would have wondered how it fit in the wardrobe if she could think. It was taller than her. But she couldn't think the moment she saw the red, black, and white scales. It was hissing and slithering towards her, and it made her whimper as she tried to step back. She didn't know she could both be so stiff and tremble like a leaf. "O-oni-," she tried to call out - as softly as she could - the same way she almost did that day, but the snake opened its mouth menacingly at her, baring its fangs. She had completely forgotten that this was only a boggart as she stared at it in utter terror. She was going to die.​

 

[Professor Geovanna Adler-Cade]

Even though everyone in the room was prepared for it, watching a student unable to move when faced with a Boggart still wasn't the easiest thing to witness when it happened. Geo stood her ground, giving Eurydice a moment to try to collect her thoughts, but the noises that were coming from the Hufflepuff made the professor think she needed additional support. She had to be honest, as far as snakes went this one was looking at the brunette incredibly menacingly. "Picture it in your head, balloon snake, wearing a hat," she reminded her, unmoving from her position near the wardrobe. "Raise your wand Eury, and repeat the spell." Her voice remaining calm as she hoped she'd focus on more than the snake in front of her, "It's not real."

 

[Eurydice Nightray]

There were no thoughts aside from utter terror filling her mind. She couldn’t even remember that she was facing a boggart instead of a snake from her memories. A way, way, way worse version of the one from her memories. She couldn’t even hear the professor - had forgotten she was there - in the face of the snake before her. The pounding in her ears was so loud. She wanted to call out to her brother, her mum, her daddy, anyone, but it felt like she barely had any voice, if she even had one at all. Her lips parted and closed minutely but no sound came out, afraid that if she made one the snake would attack. And then it happened. A choked whimper escaped past her lips and the snake began to lunge menacingly, and all Eury could do was scream “Onii-san tasukete!” and crouch to the floor, curling on herself to make herself as small as possible.

*Onii-san, help me​