The third to enter was Seamus Finnigan. Douglas gave him some reassurance beforehand.
After all, Seamus had demonstrated his art of explosions in class more than once. Previously, even a simple Relashio had blown a Grindylow's arm to pieces. If he blew up this Boggart too, Douglas would have to take the remaining students exploring through the Castle to find another one.
As the chest opened, a ghost woman crawled out, her long hair trailing on the floor, her face like a skull and glowing green. As she opened her mouth wide, a strange, terrifying sound immediately echoed through the empty classroom.
The piercing, drawn-out shriek made Douglas's scalp prickle.
Worse still, Seamus let out a strange, terrified cry along with the ghost woman's scream.
Seamus did not disappoint Douglas, either. He raised his wand and shouted:
"Riddikulus!"
Suddenly, the ghost woman grabbed her own throat and made a hoarse, grating sound. Then, with a bang, she turned into a mouse chasing its own tail in circles...
Then came another bang, and the mouse turned into a rattlesnake...
Douglas hurriedly waved his wand, and the Boggart, now a rattlesnake, quickly slithered toward the chest. He worried that if he let Seamus keep playing, the next bang might be the sound of the Boggart exploding.
"Excellent, Mr. Finnigan! Congratulations on passing the challenge."
When Ron entered, the Boggart turned into a huge, hairy spider a full six feet tall and advanced menacingly toward him.
Ron was scared witless. He even completely forgot he was a wizard and took to his heels.
Only when he reached the other end of the classroom and saw Douglas's displeased gaze from the corner did he seem to remember what this thing was.
Then he raised his wand and called out shakily, "Riddikulus!"
Perhaps because he