Flint in OoP?

[Caius Marcius]

No: HPFGUIDX 153393

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at ...> 
wrote:
>
> So Len opened his big yap and said:
> > 
> > The boggart scene on OoP bothers me in that when Lupin
> > appears and casts ridikulus at the boggart, it turns
> > into a silver orb. We've seen the boggart as moon
> > thing before, in Prisoner of Azkaban.  But the moon
> > was the fear, not the ridikule.
> > 
> > So did I miss something in my reading of OOP, or is it
> > just an oversight by the continuity department?
> >
> 
> The logical but not obvious explanation of this particular
> incident is that the spell failed. It may have failed in 
> PoA also, when the boggart became a cockroach. Cowards
> cannot laugh at their fears, and Lupin has confessed to
> cowardice.

Another possibility: Lupin was in the company of Harry, Sirius and 
Moody. Remember that in PoA, Lupin said that there's safety in 
numbers when it comes to dealing with boggarts: "It's always best to 
have company when you're dealing with a boggart. He becomes confused. 
Which should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I 
once saw a boggart make that very mistake -- tried to frighten two 
people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not remotely 
frightening."

The spell that Lupin uses in OOP results in the boggart vanishing in 
a puff of smoke, so it seems to have worked. Its transformation into 
a silver orb may only reflect the boggart's confusion.

   - CMC (who is also known to become confused at times)