A/N: This is my Christmas present to you, folks. Merry Christmas. Know that this was written totally for fun. There isn't one serious, nail biting moment involved. My entire goal here was strictly to entertain you and, although there are some concepts in here that you may not be familiar with yet, as that they haven't been discussed in other stories yet, they should not confuse you too much. And if they do, feel free to ask questions.

The story is in three parts and will post one chapter over the next three days.

If you're looking for a time line, this is approximately two years after the children came to live with Orion and Katlin.

And as always,

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: The original stuff is mine. Everything else ain't.

BO'S DAY OUT

Chapter One

Katlin scrambled around the kitchen, trying still to sort out everything and get everyone off to their proper destinations.

Summers, she had quickly decided, were designed solely to allow children to get even with their parents for sending them to school for the rest of the year. Payback for those precious, peaceful days parents were allowed while someone else looked after everything under the age of 17.

"Thomas!"

Tall and lankey as any 16 year old boy, Katlin's oldest son lumbered into the kitchen. "Yeah?" Came the standard answer to any summons.

"Where is your sister?"

"More specifics." He grumbled, as any good 16 year male would to the question. "I got two of the nasty things after all."

"Katy!" Katlin specified with a growing lack of patience.

"Oh." Thomas replied flatly. "No idea." He added, grabbing for a piece of bread off the counter. "Not my day to watch her."

Katlin grabbed the boy's hand as he made for the slice of bread. Great Magic, did this child ever stop eating?! "News flash, my eldest pride and joy." Katlin informed him. "Your father and I had a meeting last week. We voted that every day is now your day to watch her."

Thomas glared back at his surrogate mother. "Missed that in the Daily Prophet, Mum." He stated, quickly making a successful grab for the bread slice with his other hand as Katlin released the one she was still holding. "Can't expect me to know what my job duties are if they're not properly posted."

Katlin pointed to the stairs. "Will you just go upstairs and tell her to hurry up, please? I need to get to town today and she's suppose to go with me. Now shake it, mister!"

With a typical 16 year old response of rolled eyes, Thomas headed for the stairs.

Katlin looked up as a horn sounded in the driveway.

"Justin!" She called. "Get Lucy! The Henderson's are here to pick you up for the party!"

A streak of something child-shaped ran past her. "Lucy!" It screamed. "Come on!"

Feet clamored down the stairs and Katlin barely got a locking charm on the door before both kids were out it.

"Mum!" Came the collective call from the foyer in dismay.

Katlin entered the foyer, tapping her wand on her arm. "Inspection." She stated formally.

Both kids immediately fell into a line and looked up expectantly. Justin, dressed in what he considered the height of formal attire, wore a pair of fairly decent pants that were not jeans and a pull over shirt, while Lucy, at 14 and starting to assert her feminine side, was dressed in a...well...dress.

"You have your presents?" She ask.

Both produced brightly wrapped packages for inspection. While the one Lucy, her eldest daughter, held was wrapped with a precision any highbrow retail store gift-wrapping service would envy, the one Justin held out looked more like her four year old daughter had had a go at it. Something that did not escape the teenaged girl's assessing eye.

"What did you do to it, Just?" She ask. "Let Bo wrap it?"

Justin clasp his present protectively to him, out from under his older sister's critical eye. "Robert isn't going to care about no old wrapping paper." He informed her imperiously. "It's the gift inside that counts. Only girls care about something like what the wrapping looks like." He added, putting an significant amount of stress on the word 'girls' that sounded like he felt he would later have to wash his mouth out for the offense of even saying the word.

"It's fine." Katlin assured him as he glanced up at her for concurrence. Quickly tapping the door knob, she just stuffed her wand back up her sleeve and opened the door as a slightly shorter, heavy set woman was raising her hand to knock on it.

"Oh!" The newcomer stated in surprise. "Sorry, Katlin. George thinks sitting in the driveway blowing the horn is the proper way to call people."

Katlin gave her a smile. "It's OK, Marjorie." She assured her. "All men think that."

The woman turned her attention to the two kids. "All ready to go?"
The two were already half out the door, off to join the already filled car of their friends. Lucy demurely as a 14 year old girl could, seated herself in the back seated area with her other female friends, while Justin vaulted the back tailgate section of the station wagon, climbing over several other boys in order to get to where he wanted to be.

"Don't worry a thing about them." the woman stated, noting Katlin's watchful stare. "We'll look after them and have them back before dark."

Katlin gave her another small smile and nodded as she watched the woman head down the stairs and back to the car to presumably rescue her husband from several of the kids trying to climb into his lap to drive.

'Probably told them he'd let them, too.' Katlin mused as she watched the woman climb back into the car.

Paul and Marjorie Williams were as natural at being parents, Katlin felt, as she was at being a witch. They just seemed to know instinctively what to do, whether it was with their own six children or someone else's.

While for her, having had the children for just into the second year, each day seemed to be a new day of just how hard raising children really was, she thought with a small frown as she stepped back inside.

'And it's another new day', she contemplated as she was greeted by her oldest coming down the stairs looking anything but happy.

"Where's your sister?" Katlin ask.

"She's not in her room, Mum." Thomas replied as he hurried past her, headed in the direction of the kitchen once more.

A hand grabbed his collar and held him in place. "Did it occur to you to check anywhere else?" Katlin ask.

The teenager stopped with a loud, exaggerated sigh. "No, ma'am."

"Well, now it has." Katlin replied sweetly. "Go look in the other's rooms. You know how she likes to roam."

"Mum!" Thomas wailed. "I haven't had breakfast yet and the guys are waiting!"

"Then they can wait a little longer. Since they've already started they should be getting pretty good at it. Now go look, please."

Thomas trudged up the stairs with an air that matched his disgruntled state.

Five minutes later, Thomas was back in the kitchen, rushing up next to Katlin as he grabbed several slices of bread.

"Nope." Came the report as he began layering the first slice with jam.

Katlin looked down at him. "What do you mean 'nope'? What sort of answer is 'nope'?"

"A pretty good one considering you didn't ask a question."

"Thomas, do you want to see your friends at all today?"

The 16 year old turned a seriously questioning stare to her as he gauged the authenticity of the threat while still managing to slap another piece of bread on top of the one in his hand and shove a large portion of it in his mouth.

"I fooked roun' upfairs ike eww tol ma too." Came the muffled response. "E's ot fair."

Katlin grabbed the sandwich out of his hands and leaned down to face him. "Can I have that once more?" She ask. "In English this time!"

Thomas swallowed hard. "I didn't see her." He replied, coughing slightly as he reached for a glass of milk left on the counter.

"Oh for magic's sake!" Katlin stated, giving up in frustration. "I'll go look myself. And you'd best be here when I get back, young man!"

Thomas simply rolled his eyes in answer as he quickly reached for another piece of bread, happy to be left alone to continue his feeding frenzy for the morning. And like any good 16 year-old , he ate like he knew he wasn't likely to see food again until at least noon, a good three hours away, and he wanted to remember what it looked and tasted like until then.

Several minutes later Thomas heard footsteps hurrying down the stairs. "Sommmmebbbbody's in trouble." He chimed happily, imagining Katlin had found Katy hiding somewhere upstairs and the toddler had been sent scurrying by Katlin.

With a broad grin on his face, Thomas turned to the kitchen door, ready to meet his errant sister.

"So, where's she find ya', squir...?" But he stopped short as he met his mother's anxious face instead.

"I didn't!" Katlin stated. "I looked all over the floor. In every room. I called for her...everything." Katlin looked about the room quickly. "Did you see her at all this morning?"

"Mum, she's around somewhere." Thomas answered, taking up the role he had become so familiar with of the older man looking after those under his care. "Now, I saw her in the hallway earlier, so she's in the house somewhere, surely?"

But Katlin was already heading for the foyer. "Bo!"

Instantly the tower of dark robes appeared in the foyer. Looking about, it quickly settled its attention on Katlin, beginning to make several gestures when Katlin grabbed his hand to stop him.

"Bo, where's Katy?"

The boggart stopped abruptly and stared down at the anxious face before him. Pulling his other hand up, he made a quick gesture.

"If I knew, would I be asking?!"

"Mum!"

The shout from the other room sent Katlin running. What else could possibly go wrong this morning?

Katlin entered the room to find her eldest son staring at a corner of the room. She almost ask what was wrong until the scene answered the question for her. A large jar of Floo Powder lay on its side on the carpet, and a thin line trailed from the open jar over to the fireplace.

"Ohhhhh, not good." Thomas muttered.

Katlin was already heading back to the foyer at a run.

"Bo! Bo, come here. Right NOW!"

The boggart reappeared immediately, stopping Katlin as she nearly ran into him in the doorway.

"Bo, Katy got into the Floo Powder..."

"...again." Came the helpful insertion as Thomas crossed over to them. Fortunately, the last time the whole scenario had ended with them finding Katy in the corner of the same room, playing with her new-found toy.

But such did not seem to be the case this time.

"Bo," Katlin started again, "Katy got into the Floo Powder and used it on the fire. Can you track her?"

The boggart considered the request for a moment, then made a quick gesture in the air.

"What do you mean you can't leave the house?" Katlin stated, trying to control her voice with little success. "Bo, my daughter is,,,,,,who knows where...alone! She's barely FOUR YEARS OLD! I don't particularly care about territorial issues, I just want her found! Now!"

The boggart pulled back slightly, then abruptly vanished.

Thomas walked up to his anxious mother, staring still at the overturned jar of Floo powder.

"Maybe we ought to call dad?" He offered. "Maybe the guys at the ministry can help find her."

Katlin stood for a few seconds more staring at the last clue to her daughter's whereabouts, then turned and headed back to the foyer.

-----------------------------------------------------------

A few minutes later Orion was standing in the front foyer, trying to make sense out of the whole story and his wife's subsequent actions in response to it.

"What do you mean you sent Bo to look for her?"

Katlin paused. "Just that." She stated finally. "I sent Bo out to find her."

Orion stared back at his wife in disbelief. "You sent a three year old out to look for a four year old?"

Katlin paused again, giving her husband's words serious consideration. "Well," she stated slowly, "I hadn't thought of it that way."

"But that is in essence what you're telling me." His previous anxiety over his youngest child's apparent disappearance doubling at the thought.

"Now, he's not completely incompetent, Orion."

"And he's rarely been outside of the walls of this estate either, Katlin. And to my knowledge, he's never been sent out on his own before without a specific destination."

A sudden thought struck Katlin. "Wait a minute. Bo can't have left the estate on his own. You told me so yourself. He can only go out with someone else."

"Unless I tell him he can go out or he is ordered to leave."

"But I can't order him." Katlin defended quickly after a moments thought.

"Yes, you can." Orion countered. "I told Bo when you moved in here he was to obey you. It was a way to help you feel a bit more comfortable around him if you felt you had some control over him."

"But you never told me that!"

"Well, it didn't seem necessary after that one time. You two got along just fine."

"Well, can't you just call him back?" Katlin ask.

Orion shook his head. "If he's found her, I would rather he not leave her alone again. And I don't want to risk his trying to apparate her back to the house. Bo still isn't that good at apparating small objects that move around a lot. And if I call him back, he may not understand I want him to come back with Katy. He may think I want just him and leave her behind."

Katlin sighed quietly as she stared up at her husband. "He's not an idiot, Orion. And I feel better at least knowing he's out there looking for her, or that he may have already found her and she isn't alone."

Orion started to say something to try and explain to Katlin again why her feelings of confidence in the boggart was seriously misplaced, but quickly cut the thought off. Thinking things were well in hand with Bo out looking for Katy was keeping her calm and focused, which is what was needed at the moment.

"All right." He stated instead. "I'll go back to the office and explain the situation to Orin. I'm sure the department can lend a hand in trying to locate her. Shouldn't take too long." He promised, kissing her quickly on the forehead before he disapparated.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Several miles inside London, in a small back alleyway, a small child sat huddled on a stairway leading to the back door of a local store.

Katy had absolutely no idea what to do. She hadn't expected the floo dust to send her here...wherever 'here' was.

She had just wanted to go to the Williams' party with Justin and Lucy. The two had talked about nothing else for days now. Katy had sat leaning over the table as she watched each wrap their presents, trying to imagine all the things the two older children were chattering about. Games, cake, food, cake, lots of other children to play with, cake, ice cream, and cake.

It sounded like heaven to a four year old. Cake, cake, and more cake. And not a parent in sight to say 'That's enough now'.

What did grown-ups know anyway?

But somehow something had gone very, very, very wrong, and now she was sitting not at her fabled table loaded down with several delicious, brightly decorated cakes for her to choose from, but in a dim, cold, wet alleyway, seriously wishing she had put her plan into action after her mum had fed her breakfast.

The child gave a small sniff not only from the fear that was threatening to overwhelm her but against the cold that was nipping at her exposed face and hands.

What was she suppose to do?

"All I want is to go home." She quietly whispered a fervent prayer to the sky above her.

Much to her surprise and delight, the answer to her prayer came in the form of a tower of tall dark robes that materialized miraculously out of thin air right in front of her.

Her brilliant blue eyes lit with a delight so stunning it practically drove away the dimness of the alleyway.

"Bo!" The four-year-old cried in delight and worshiped thanks. "You found me!"

The boggart braced himself as the tiny body threw itself headlong into him.

For centuries, Bo had always held to one solid rule in his existence. Touching was to be kept to a strict minimum! And absolutely only when necessary! Surely that wasn't too much to ask for.

But as hard as he tried to impress this on those he was connected to, these creatures seemed to have an inborn need for physical contact. And to them, the more, the better.

His current family was certainly no exception to that rule, and every exception to his own.

The two adults were bad enough. Put them in a room together and it was a physical contact festival.

But the smaller ones!

They were impossible! Try as he might, he had finally resigned himself to the fact the smaller creatures simply couldn't grasp the simple concept of his rules. Passing by him in the hallway the older ones would always slap him on the arm in greeting, as though it was necessary for them to physically acknowledge him by way of simply saying 'hi'.

The older female child was something of an enigma to Bo. She was forever seeking him out with some tale about herself and another of her kind, almost always male, and some problem between them. And for Bo, although the stories were usually quite entertaining and a source of interest for him, they unfortunately usually ended in tears and required a lot of physical contact.

But over the past few years, he had actually, surprisingly, found himself not minding the contact quite so much. The older creatures usually kept to the rules and kept the touching down to the 'only when necessary' standard, with a few rare occasions when Bo couldn't discern any 'necessary' in the contact. For some unknown reason, out of the blue, one of the adults would simply grab hold of him and lavish praise on him for some simple task he had preformed. (He had already resigned himself to an overindulging display of such eager touching upon returning with the child, if the female adult's emotional state was anything to go by. He had long ago discovered that the more emotional these creatures were when they made a request of him, the more touching was likely to be involved upon completion of said task.)

And for the most part, as stated, the adults were fairly reserved on this matter.

But the smaller ones had no concept of personal boundaries that he could discern. For them, a day couldn't seem to go by that at least one of them wasn't trying to corner him for a good long hug.

He had tried to no end to impress on his channeler that this, to him, simply was not necessary behavior.

All he had ever gotten for his efforts was a shrug and the comment, 'They love you'.

They needed to do a lot less of this 'love' thing, as far as he was concerned.

But, as said, over the years, he found touching not to grate on him quite as much. It wasn't the same as joining with his host or with his channeler, nor did it bring with it the same level of satisfaction for him. But the contact was interesting, and it seemed to translate into a certain level of caring, depending on the contact, how it was delivered, how long it lasted, who instigated it, the occasion, and if the creatures involved were of the same sex or not.

Currently Bo was beginning to wonder if the smallest creature of his family was ever going to let go of him, or if he would have to apparate her home still clamped tightly about his lower half.

Bo gave the creature a small soft trill to get her attention. A sound that always elicited a smile from her for some reason.

Dutifully, Katy looked up at her hero. "I'm so glad you came, Bo." She stated quickly. "I was beginning to think I would be lost forever!" She added with a four-year-old's simple belief in what 'forever' encompassed. But a frown quickly took over her features as she tilted her head slightly, still looking up at him. "Are Mummy and Daddy really mad?"

Bo shook his head.

"No?"

Bo made a quick gesture in the air, already knowing the futility in it, but willing to try anyway.

But the result was much what he expected.

An angry foot stomped the pavement. "Ohhhhhhh! Why can't daddy make it so you can talk! He can do anything. Why can't he let you talk!?"

Bo simply shook his head.

"Well then," the four-year-old reasoned out, well knowing she had to keep her questions 'yes' or 'no' when talking to the boggart, "am I gonna be in trouble when we get home?" She ask tentatively.

Bo paused for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders in response.

"I understand." She stated in a grown up sounding voice. "This is like the tree thing with Justin, when he had that acts-dent. Mummy and daddy were real worried. But when they saw he was OK, they got real mad, cause daddy said he wasn't 'pose to climb that tree. So I'll bet they're real worried right now."

Bo quickly nodded.

"But as soon as I get home, they're gonna be real mad."

Bo nodded again, but much slower this time.

Katy reached up and took the boggart's hand. "Ok. Like daddy always says, 'might as well face mummy head on. Best to get it over with'."

"My daddy used to say the exact same thing." A voice stated from the front of the alleyway.