Lupin is Ever So Evil, Part One -- The Prank (LONG)

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 130260

Pippin wrote: 
> In response to Potioncat, I sure hope Lupin had some contingency
> plans in case somebody conjured an inappropriate boggart and their
> imagination failed them, ala Molly...but there's more than one way to 
> skin a boggart.  Lupin forces one back with his wand, and makes
> another explode without using riddikulus. He could have shown 
> Neville how to do one of those techniques instead.

Potioncat:
I've had to remind myself that this is fiction, and JKR or any author, 
could ignore certain possibilities, but I've thought this too. 
Neville's fear of Snape is played for humor in this chapter, but what 
if it had been a real, more personal fear? What if the biggest fear was 
being hurt by a parent? Or being afraid of a parent, or a classmate? I 
thought that before OoP, and once we saw Molly's Boggart I wondered to 
myself, how could you possibly Riddikulus that away! 

Suddenly I have the answer. Lupin should have spoken with each student 
privately before class. And possibly worked with students privately.  
Of course, that's from inside looking out, as if these were real people.

I think JKR wrote this chapter to cover several things at once. We saw 
how to counter a Boggart, JKR got to stick it to Snape without really 
sticking it to Snape, and she created some comic relief, for us and for 
the characters.