https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-453-The-Forbidden-Forest-Expedition/13685510/
Chapter 452: Boggart and the Fish Tank
The students scattered in panic, shrieking and running wildly around the classroom.
The Boggart wasn’t a real ghost—every time the person closest to it changed, it would freeze for a split second.
As a result, the ghostly figure flickered like a faulty signal—now terrifyingly monstrous, now utterly confused—switching states so rapidly that the poor creature seemed utterly bewildered by the chaos.
But since its appearance hadn’t fundamentally changed, the terrified students barely noticed.
Only Wade remained perfectly still, standing where he was. He glanced at the Boggart, then at Troke Professor, who was completely losing control of the situation.
Then he noticed something: the professor’s expression was slack, as if he’d never imagined such a scene could happen in class—his mind, for a moment, had short-circuited and failed to respond.
After a chaotic flurry, the crowd in the classroom had split into two groups.
Most students had ducked behind Troke Professor, while a small number cowered behind Wade.
Wade: “….”
He exhaled quietly, took two steps forward.
He was honestly curious—what exactly was the thing he feared most?
At the same time, he knew that even if Voldemort himself—or the body of some relative—had suddenly appeared, he’d still be aware it was magic. He wouldn’t lose his composure.
The ghost lunged forward.
Crack!
With a sharp snap, the horrifying centipede-faced ghost vanished—replaced by something no one could have predicted.
“Ah… ahahah—!”
Daphne turned pale, pressing her eyes shut and burying herself into the corner of the wall, as if trying to squeeze her entire body into the crack.
After screaming for a while, she suddenly realized the noise had stopped. She snapped her mouth shut, then cautiously opened one eye.
There was no ghost. No blood-red maw.
Instead, there was…
“A Fish Tank?” Malfoy voiced the question everyone else was thinking, raising one eyebrow. “Gray, your worst fear is a Fish Tank?”
He tried to sound casual—acting as if he hadn’t been the first to bolt behind Troke Professor after the transformation.
But then he let out a snort, glanced around, and half-expected the others to join in the laughter.
Even Crabbe just stared blankly ahead, his face a mask of confusion, no amusement at all.
Malfoy glanced again at the center of the room.
Well… now that he looked closely, the Fish Tank was strange.
Inside the transparent glass tank, only one small fish drifted slowly through the crystal-clear water. Nothing unusual there.
But above the tank, a dense ring of pinkish flesh extended outward—seeming at first like decorative petals.
But upon closer inspection, each tip ended in a round, staring eye.
And all of them—lifeless, dead-eyed—were fixed downward, watching the fish below.
The sheer, Lovecraftian horror of it made Malfoy realize too late.
A cold shiver ran up his arms, a sense of something vast and invisible—something terrifyingly real—pressing down on him.
He rubbed his arms, whispering to Pansy beside him:
“Which movie is this from? Have you seen it?”
Pansy shook her head, murmuring:
“It’s… so weird. What kind of stuff does Gray even watch?”
The murmurs of confusion and disbelief spread through the room—until they finally snapped Wade out of his daze.
He stepped forward, wand pointed at the Boggart.
“Joke-Joke!”
Snap!
The Fish Tank vanished. In its place stood a man in black, a vintage camera mounted on his neck. He took one step forward—then thump!—fell flat on his face, limbs flailing like a fish out of water.
Malfoy’s sharp eyes caught the faintest upward curve at the corner of Wade’s mouth.
He really was amused.
He leaned toward the person beside him.
“Gray… is there something wrong with that guy?”
“What? No,” said Goldstein, still hiding behind Troke Professor. He offered a plausible excuse for his housemate:
“You find this strange? Maybe he watched some weird old cartoon as a kid. Left a little psychological scar.”
“Lucky,” Terry sighed, envious. “He’s had access to all kinds of movies and cartoons since he was little. I only had mud puddles at home to play in.”
—When did being a Mudblood become something to envy?
Malfoy rolled his eyes, about to retort, but then glanced at the Ravenclaw students nearby, then at the towering back of Troke Professor.
He swallowed his words.
Finally, Troke Professor snapped back to attention.
With a flick of his wand, he hurled the fallen Boggart back into its box.
Clearing his throat, he surveyed the class.
“Other than Wade Gray, I am extremely disappointed in how everyone reacted just now!”
He emphasized the words, watching as the students who had fled in panic lowered their heads under his gaze.
Satisfied, he exhaled slowly, pretending the chaos had been exactly what he’d intended.
With another wave, he summoned the scattered wands, books, crystal balls, and other items back to their places.
“Now you should all understand—running away is useless. Throwing down your wand is sheer stupidity!”
“The correct way to face a Boggart is with the Joke-Joke spell. But if your mind is scattered, your will weak—standing with others can be just as effective.”
He paced the room, repeating the incantation in a cold, steady tone, reinforcing the method.
Only after several repetitions did he allow the students to try again.
By then, more than half the lesson had passed.
This time, the students formed a neat line, one by one stepping up to face the Boggart.
The classroom finally felt orderly.
Yet every time the centipede ghost appeared, a ripple of quiet gasps still spread through the room.
…
As Wade had expected, the story of the Fish Tank spread quickly—among the small circle of the school.
At dinner, the SSC Members sat near him, eating with visibly restrained expressions—half-finished sentences, eyes flickering with curiosity, mouths opening and closing as if they wanted to ask but were too afraid to.
The Weasley Twins, however, showed no such hesitation.
They marched over dramatically, holding a Fish Tank aloft, inside which swam a small fish, probably plucked from the Black Lake.
“Look, Wade! The most terrifying thing in the world!”
Fred grinned, winking.
“Face your fear, man! If you’re scared, we’ll help you overcome it!”
George chuckled, slapping the tank on the long table in front of Wade, then sat down opposite Theo and Liam.
The two Hufflepuffs acted fast, scooting the plates out of the way.
“Hey, you lot!”
Hermione stormed over, ready to scold—until Wade casually poked the Fish Tank and said:
“Who said I was afraid of this? Just put that dogfish back in the lake. It needs a very specific living environment. It’ll die if you keep it here.”
The twins exchanged a puzzled glance.
“Wait… we heard the Boggart turned into a Fish Tank in front of you?”
A few nearby students leaned in, ears perked.
Wade took a breath, then spoke calmly:
“The universe is vast. Every star could be a sun, or even an entire galaxy. We live in the Solar System. The outside world is unimaginably large—so big it has no edge.”
“Uh…” Harry blinked. “What does that have to do with a Fish Tank?”
Wade continued:
“A Muggle scientist once asked: If there are countless alien civilizations out there, why haven’t we found any signs of them?”
“Like… why is there only one fish in such a huge body of water?”
“Either the water is full of danger—so all the other fish died, and this one survived by sheer luck.”
“Or…”
He tapped the glass of the tank.
“…the entire universe is just a tiny Fish Tank. This fish is being kept here—by someone who only wants one.”
“The fish thinks it’s free, swimming wherever it wants. But in truth, it’s trapped for life. It never leaves. It doesn’t even know… there are eyes watching it from outside.”
His voice was calm, but something about the way he spoke—whether it was his imagination or his sensitivity—sent a shiver down several spines.
“I… think I understand why you fear that,” Harry murmured.
He pictured himself as the single fish in the tank.
Suddenly, even staying with the Dursleys seemed preferable.
“But what if the ocean is just too big? And this fish is too small, too slow? Maybe it just hasn’t met any others yet.”
A dazed voice came from behind.
Wade turned—and saw Luna, who had silently appeared, her eyes distant.
She spoke seriously:
“And besides, you’re wrong. There are creatures beyond Earth! Someone once flew to the Moon and brought back a bag of shiny, glowing Moon frogs. If we could fly to the Sparks, to the Sun—maybe we’d find even stranger life!”
“Oh, Luna! Don’t say such nonsense—it’ll make you look ridiculous,”
a girl from Luna’s dormitory groaned, covering her face and pulling her away.
Wade smiled.
“Maybe you’re right. I’ve never seen beyond Earth. I can’t say for sure that no other life exists. But… if one day, that small, slow fish did meet another…
Would they live in peace?
Or would it be instantly eaten?”
Luna blinked slowly.
“…How would we know?”
“Exactly,” Wade said. “That’s the problem.”
Silence fell.
Especially in Ravenclaw.
Several students stared into space, lost in thoughts about: What if the universe is empty?
Who’s watching the fish?
Why do we even exist?
Luna was gently led away, her expression even more dazed, as if half-asleep.
When Wade turned back, he found the giant Fish Tank had been moved—no one knew by whom.
Theo had, however, piled food onto his plate.
Just as Wade looked up, a thick slice of toast landed right on it.
“Theo, what’s this?” Wade asked, puzzled.
“Hunger makes people pessimistic,” Theo said, frowning. “Wade… eat more tonight.”
Wade looked at him, then at the plate.
He turned to Liam.
“Is he implying I’m being moody?”
Liam bit back a laugh, adding another potato to the plate—silent support.
While the others stayed quiet, the two Hufflepuffs thought: Why bother thinking about this? You’re just scaring yourself.
…
Malfoy fumed.
He’d carefully spread the rumor—Wade Gray is scared of a Fish Tank—only to see it vanish, replaced by grand, abstract questions.
Even in Astronomy class, Professor Sinistra had added a white Fish Tank pattern to her hat.
As they gazed at the stars, she told stories of constellations—then concluded:
“All of them are just human inventions.”
In History of Magic, Pansy suddenly sighed:
“If our world is just a giant Fish Tank… I’d still love you, Draco. I don’t care if someone’s watching us.”
Malfoy’s usual thrill at such a confession vanished.
He frowned.
Why are you all taking this seriously?
That kid’s been thinking too much—lost in his own head. He even made the Boggart turn into a Fish Tank. And now you’re all acting like it’s profound?
And why did the Boggart actually become a Fish Tank with eyes?
It’s not like that’s scarier than a centipede ghost.
Malfoy couldn’t explain it, but something felt… off.
Strange.
But he didn’t care.
He didn’t want to understand Wade’s thoughts.
After a moment, he shrugged it off—his mind now fixed on one thing:
Please, let afternoon come soon.
Last term, when Hagrid first taught Care of Magical Creatures, he brought in Hippogriffs.
Malfoy provoked one—was scratched by it, along with Harry Potter.
Later, under pressure from “certain people,” he’d had to swallow his pride and refrain from pushing his father to get Hagrid fired.
As a trade, Hagrid promised to take him to see a Fire Dragon.
But every day since, Malfoy had been stuck serving detentions at Professor Snape’s request—due to an earlier incident where he’d nearly killed Crabbe.
He couldn’t find a single chance.
Only recently, after relentless pestering, Hagrid had finally managed to steal a detention slot from Snape—just for Malfoy.
Now, with time ticking, Malfoy marched toward Hagrid’s hut, barely suppressing a skip.
But as he neared the hut, his face darkened instantly.
—Why are those annoying idiots here too?
(End of Chapter)
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