Disclaimer : Not mine. All JKR's.

A/N : I thought about this fic, based on book 5's Boggart scene with Molly Weasley.

-THE INVERTED BOGGART


"Oh please Severus! You just do it out of grudge against Gryffindor!" said a furious McGonagall.

"Well, I resent that implication!" said Snape sarcastically. "If I did it it was because they deserved it, you know how Gryffindors can be... cheeky."

With that, he looked at her as if implying she was the number one cheek of all.

McGonagall shot him the coldest and most disgusted look. Her lips thinned and her nostrils flared. She felt she could kill him!

Snape had, in just one day, taken 500 points from Gryffindor and to top everything, he was walking around with that smirk on his face, after Slytherin had defeated Gryffindor at the Quidditch match that morning.

She couldn't stand the man!

'If he says one more thing, I'm going to wipe that smirk off his face!' she thought.

They were in the staff room and when the few teachers there saw the argument coming, they just left as fast as they could. It was an ordinary thing to see McGonagall having these rows with Snape and the best thing was to stay out of the way.

At that moment Filch entered the room followed by Mrs. Norris, in his usual bad mood.

"Professors, there seems to be a problem in the girls bathroom on the second floor!"

"What problem Argus?" sighed McGonagall impatiently.

"It seems they found an entertainment and I'm having trouble keeping them out of there! After the rumor spread throughout the school, the bathroom is swarming with them bloody students!" said Filch.

"What rumor?" asked Snape now getting interested.

"An inverted Boggart."

"A what?" said both Snape and McGonagall in unison.

"It beats me! Never heard of anything like it, but the blasted thing is turning the second floor into a circus. I can't keep them out of there all by myself, you know?" said Filch getting even more nervous.

"What on earth are you talking about?" asked Snape scowling .

"The students are having fun with the thing! It seems it turns into something you desire instead of something you fear. I was hoping you could get rid of the thing, Professor."

"Ok, let's see what this is all about," said Snape standing up from his chair.

McGonagall started going with them when Snape stopped and said, "You can leave that to me. I am perfectly capable of getting rid of a Boggart."

"Oh, I'm sure you are, but apparently this is not an ordinary Boggart and we don't know what we are dealing with," she said.

"All the more reason to leave it to me. What with your age and being a woman," he said with a smirk.

McGonagall opened her mouth but no sound came out, she seemed to be looking for words, her eyes were bugging out and she closed her hands into fists. "How dare you... you ... get out of my way, you greasy git!"

She fumed out of the room leading the way to the second floor. "I'm going to show him... who does he think he is... the nerve ..." she was muttering all the way to the girls' bathroom as a very amused Snape followed.

As she arrived at the bathroom's door she could already hear the giggles. She pushed the door and saw a group of giggling excited girls making a circle around something. McGonagall approached them to see the girls staring at who appeared to be Malfoy.

She was about to ask him what he was doing in the girl's bathroom when there was a loud "Poof!" and he turned into Harry Potter. More giggles.

By this time Snape and Filch had arrived and were watching in disgust as the girls got more and more excited with the Boggart's appearance.

"Poof!"... Gilderoy Lockhart... "Poof!"... the Weasley twins... "Poof!"... Dean Thomas... "Poof!"... Colin Creevey... "Poof!"... Potter... Malfoy... Lockhart... Lupin...

"Lupin??" spat Snape annoyed. "Alright, enough! Everybody out!"

There were disappointed groans across the room as the girls left reluctantly.

"Argus! Stay outside and don't let any student come in until I sort this thing out," said Snape.

McGonagall crossed her arms with a skeptic look on her face and waited to see what he could do.

Snape stood straight and prepared to point his wand at the Boggart when "Poof!" it turned into an "Order of Merlin award".

McGonagall snorted. "Wow, is that your deepest desire? How predictably dull."

He looked at her and sneered. "Ha - Ha!" Then turned to the Boggart and said, "Riddikulus!"

The award shook a little bit but nothing really changed.

"If the Boggart is inverted, it's obvious that the spell has to change! We have to find the opposite spell," McGonagall said pleased at his failed attempt.

"Well, then it's all yours," he said stepping aside and extending his arm in the Boggart's direction.

McGonagall thought for a while and then confidently stepped in front of the Boggart and was about to cast the spell when... "Poof!"

She gasped.

Snape's eyebrow shot way up as an wicked grin appeared on his face.

Still smiling he said silkily, "Oops... is that your deepest desire? How unexpected."

McGonagall's cheeks grew terribly red. She couldn't move for a while and then, with a shaky voice yelled, "Gravis Agrimoni!"

The Boggart swirled a bit and then disappeared.

McGonagall turned slowly and not facing Snape, finding it better to look at the tip of her shoes, said, "See, I told you I could... now If you'll excuse me, I have a class."

She headed fast for the door and almost bumped into Filch.

Snape chuckled and said to himself, "That ought to keep her out of my skin for a while."

McGonagall ran down the stairs to her class. She was going to try and avoid Snape as much as she possibly could, and hopefully he wouldn't ask her about it.

Because she had no idea how she would explain why the Boggart had turned into... Severus Snape.