"Riddiculus!"
The entire class spoke in unison.
"Very good!" Dumbledore nodded with a smile. "But that alone is not enough... The spell for repelling a Boggart is very simple, but it also requires a wizard's willpower. What truly frightens a Boggart away is laughter. You must force it to take on a form that you find ridiculous!"
"A ridiculous form?" At Dumbledore's instruction, the entire class lowered their heads and began to think.
Jon pursed his lips slightly as well.
A Boggart became whatever form one feared most. What would it be for him?
A Basilisk?
That was impossible. The only time he had faced a Basilisk, he had kept his eyes shut the entire time and never even saw what it looked like... If it really transformed, it would only become some strange black lump.
Or perhaps a report card with a zero on the college entrance exam?
It had been so many years since the college entrance exam. Even if the Boggart transformed into something extraordinary, it could not scare him!
Or would it become an AN-602 Tsar Bomba whose detonation sequence had already been activated?
Well... could something that big even fit in the classroom? And if such a hydrogen bomb openly appeared before so many students, would that not have a rather bad influence?
As Jon let his thoughts wander, Albus Dumbledore stepped forward two paces and said:
"Very good, everyone may give it a try now... Miss Selwyn, would you be willing to go first?"
Selwyn, a first-year Slytherin girl, bravely stepped forward two paces. Trembling slightly, she drew her wand and pointed it at the wardrobe.
"No need to be nervous," Dumbledore reassured her. "Imagine something you find funny... The rest of you, step back a few paces and make some room for Miss