Rationally, a boggart was unlikely to hurt you. Would they turn into your worst fear and let your own mind take its toll on you? Yes. But physically, from what Remus knew, they wouldn't actually attack or hurt you. He'd done his reading, of course.
However, this knowledge did very little to relief the nervous energy vibrating in his veins. Remus had read a lot about boggarts, but he had very little experience actually dealing with them. And yet, here one was. It was unmistakeable.
The desk jumped forward, as the boggart tried to escape its temporary prison. Remus jumped back at the same time, incredibly reluctant to do anything about this problem. He tried to run through all the events that led up to this moment, to this boggart being Remus's problem, and groaned. It was really his fault, wasn't it?
Damn reputation for being clever or something. Of course, there were better people for this job. There would always be someone better than Remus. Yet, it was often Remus who found himself in binds such as this.
Sighing a very heavy sigh, Remus readied his wand. He knew the spell, of course he did. A spell that would turn whatever was in that desk to be funny, something he could laugh away. That was the entire premise of boggart eradication, after all, even if Remus found nothing about this situation to be remotely humorous.
"Okay. Let it loose, then," he commanded of the poor fourth year who had come to find him. The boy was practically quaking in his boots, obviously terrified. Probably what went wrong here, Remus thought. He was always a pushover when it came to the younger students who needed help.
The boy nodded, opening the desk drawer and then promptly running away. Remus rolled his eyes at his retreating back, but stood his ground.
The boggart seemed to be thinking of its form, which should be a compliment to Remus's bravado, but just made the moment more nerve wracking. A bead of sweat trickled its way down his temple as he waited on the boggart to choose what form it would take.
An eternity later (but was probably only a few seconds to moments), the boggart took the form of... James? Only, it wasn't James. Not the James Remus knows, anyway. This James was pulling a face, as if he had smelled something particularly disgusting. Looking straight at Remus, James's disembodied voice echoed around the room, "Why did we ever spend time with him? He's a monster, and we're better off with out him."
As soon as boggart-James was finished talking, the creature took the form of Sirius, who held a very similar facial expression. He seemed to be agreeing with the boggart James, and added, "He really wasn't even a good friend. Always expecting stuff from us, and trying to get us to follow the rules. It was the worst."
In the blink of an eye, the boggart shifted into Peter, meek Peter who seemed to need friends just as much as Remus did. Boggart-Peter looked around, happily at first, but then took sight of Remus, and his entire countenance shifted. His lip raised in a sneer, and he crossed his arms. "He was only good for copying homework from, but even that was bad most of the time. Really, could he do anything at all?"
His face screwed up as Remus struggled with not taking this situation to heart. In a small part of his brain, he knew this was just a ruse, created by the boggart to get a rise out of him, to feed off his fears. Knowing that, however, didn't mean it didn't hurt, didn't mean that he could separate reality from the boggart-created loss.
Shaking his head, Remus raised his wand. His voice was faint as he muttered, "riddikulus," waving his wand in the accompanying motion.
His spell was all but useless, as the boggart flickered, and turned back into James. Remus tightened his grip, and tried again. His voice was a bit more confident this time. "Riddikulus!"
This time, the boggart flickered into Sirius, but wearing really funny clothing instead of his usual robes or leather jacket. Remus chuckled a bit, and the boggart stumbled.
Laughter! He suddenly remembered that he didn't need just the spell--he needed laughter, too. Remus, with his confidence fully intact this time, raised his wand once more.
This time, the boggart flickered between the other Marauders, a weird balloon-like orb, and settled on a tap dancing version of James, in full swing costume. Remus burst out laughing, vowing that he would get the real James to do this at some point in time, and the boggart flickered once more before retreating back into the desk, a puff of smoke following it.
Remus tucked his wand away, pleased with himself. The boggart shouldn't cause any more trouble, and would probably move on, especially if someone else decided to practice with it today. His heart was thudding in his chest, but a thrill of victory still ran through him as he turned back to the door, to see the fourth year standing there, mouth agape.
"I don't think it'll be bothering you, anymore," he said.
"Th-thank you," the boy stuttered, still in a kind of awe. Remus chuckled, and patted the kid's back as he walked passed him.
"If you have any more trouble, just let me know," he offered, gathering his things, and heading back towards Gryffindor Tower.
That might've been a bit terrifying, but it was liberating, as well. Now he knew what would happen if he were to face off with a boggart somewhere out side of school. Of course, he also was going to seek out James, Sirius, and Peter and make them reassure him that they don't secretly hate him, but eh. He was only human, after all.
Well, sometimes human, anyway.
