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At this time I have no further Dresden Files stories planned, but that is not to say I won't write anymore. I am a self proclaimed Bob fanatic and I enjoyed doing this story. However, if you wish to ask a question, please feel free to do so. I try to answer questions whenever possible.
And as always,
Enjoy.
Disclaimer: Where as I do not own anything dealing with The Dresden Files, I do own this plot.
CHAPTER ONE : FAULT (PART ONE)
Bob felt that, as far as houseguests went, he was a fairly easy one. He did as he was told, and in return ask only to be left in moderate peace.
Such did not seem to be the case this evening.
No sooner had he settled into his skull for the night than a jarring nearly sent him flying across the abysmal blackness that was his earthly prison.
'What does Morningway want now?' He thought, waiting for the summons that usually followed any movement to his skull.
Justin's usual way to get his attention these days seemed to be to give his skull a good rattling before summoning him.
Fool.
All that did was guarantee they'd both be in a bad mood. Bob for being shaken up before he was summoned and Morningway for having to deal with a foul tempered spirit the rest of the day.
Bob waited, impatiently tapping his foot as he ran a hundred good lines though his head, all, in his opinion, quite suitable for greeting his 'master' after such a rude start to his summons.
And so he waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Well, if Morningway through that keeping him waiting was going to improve his disposition, he was in for a rude awakening himself.
Settling back, Bob did the only thing he could do. Wait. And see what new game Morningway was up to now.
Ever since he had come into the possession of his new caretaker, Bob had wondered what he had done to displease his former one so badly that he was bequeathed into the hands of Justin Morningway. His former holders had been of a wide enough of the wizarding spectrum of personalities to keep his long sentence somewhat less than boring. But this one...Morningway was definitely in a class by himself. Mostly, Bob felt, because no one else cared to be in it with him.
But as things would happen, Morningway found a solution to his isolation. If no one wanted to be in his class with him, he'd just adopt a few new members. Starting, apparently, with his young nephew, Harry Dresden.
The boy had come to live with Morningway after the death of his father just a little over a few months ago. Now just having past his tenth birthday, the boy summed up everything Bob was sure his keeper never desired in a young ward. The child was highly intelligent, which he was sure didn't bother Morningway. But he was also inquisitive, headstrong, sometimes brash, other times downright rude, and moody.
In other words, he was a ten year old boy.
Bob had found the child a refreshing change and found the majority of his antics amusing.
The boy himself had taken to the cantankerous spirit without the a slight initial reserve. But once a few ground rules were ironed out between them, in what seemed like no time at all the boy had latched onto the surly specter as a sort of surrogate father. Whereas his uncle was less lenient and tended to criticize at the drop of a hat, Bob was more apt to indulge and offer reason in place of flat demands.
Once Morningway had explained to Harry what his true inheritance was, the man had just as quickly dropped the boy into Bob's hands to begin his magical education.And it wasn't long before Bob began to relished his time with the bright and inquisitive Harry, who took to his magical studies with, while not always the greatest enthusiasm, a natural talent.
He doubted there would ever come a time when he would regret having had the boy as a student.
That was until tonight.
"Hrothbert of Bainbridge, I summon thee!"
Bob reacted to the summons with a slight hesitation. The voice was not Morningway's. But it pulled him from his earthly prison just the same.
Materializing outside of his skull, Bob made a quick survey of his present surroundings, his gaze finally coming quickly to rest on his wide-eyed pupil sitting before him on the steps of an old dilapidated building in what looked like an even more dilapidated alleyway.
"Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden!" The spirit demanded. "Explain yourself!"
The ten year old looked up at the man as though he had never seen him before.
"I summoned you!" He suddenly cried with uncontained delight and excitement. "I really summoned you!"
Bob stared down at the boy in dismay. He knew well enough that whenever Harry got excited he had more of a chance of getting the High Council to admit they had made a mistake and release him from his curse with a handshake and a 'We're really sorry' than getting any immediate answers to questions.
So instead he fell to his old standby. Run with it until the thrill lost its effect.
"Did you now?" Bob inquired in a far less enthusiastic tone. "My, but aren't you the clever one. Won't the high council be impressed?"
"That's suppose to be really good!" Harry went on with his same bubbling enthusiasm. "You said it takes a really strong magic to summon a spirit! And I summoned you!"
Bob pointed to the skull Harry still held seated on his knees. "Well it doesn't take that much ability when the spirit you're summoning is sitting in your lap." He pointed out.
The boy fell silent as he considered the implications of the statement.
"Now," Bob continued, feeling he had successfully dealt the hard blow of reality to the boy's impression of his achievement (A good dose of reality did wonders for the boy's attention span.), "do you think you could explain where we are and why?"
Harry brightened again almost immediately. "We've run-away!" He stated proudly.
If it was possible for a spirit to pale, Bob was sure he did just then. "We've done what?!"
"Run away." Harry replied as though Bob had done nothing more than inquire about the weather.
Bob achieved a remarkably relaxed pose, considering everything inside of him was clamoring for a good, quick homing spell that would take them both safely back to the Morningway estate before Justin got wind of anything being amiss. Like his nephew having run away in the middle of the night and stealing a valuable magic artifact to boot.
"Harry," Bob inquired as placidly as he could manage, "why did you run away?"
The boy shrugged. "Uncle Justin doesn't want me. So I thought I'd make it easier on both of us and just leave."
"And my presence is because...?"
"I wasn't going to leave you behind, Bob!" The boy stated with utter confidence that he had done the right thing. "Uncle Justin treats you worse than me. He's always ordering you about like...like you were just some servant."
"I am a servant." Bob replied, crouching in front of the boy. "And currently I am his. And you are currently his ward and under his protection. Now, whatever you're reasons, Harry, they aren't right." Bob added. "Running off into the night was both thoughtless and dangerous. You have to go back, and you have to return me to your uncle's study."
The boy quickly shook his head. "No, I don't."
Bob sighed as he lowered his head. It was going to be one of those nights.
Time to fall back on the reality thing.
"Harry," Bob stated calmly, "now listen to me very carefully. How exactly do you expect to survive out here on your own? You're only ten years old. You need shelter, and money, and food. How are you going to get those things?"
The boy considered the information. "I'll go to the council." He stated finally. "I'll tell them they made a mistake to send me to my uncle's. He doesn't want me. But if they'll find us a place to live, I can stay with you."
Bob smiled to himself at the statement. It had been a long time since he had been looked upon as anything other than a burden by those forced by the council or inheritance to shelter him. Now he had someone who actually wanted to be part of his existence. Who was, in fact, choosing him over a lifestyle that, while not perfect, was certainly not lacking in physical comforts.
Sadly, once again, he was going to be forced to deal out a hard dose of reality on the child's idyllic dreams.
"Harry, the council will no more let you live with me than they would release me from my sentence. Now, you need to forget all this business of running away and come home."
Harry turned down to the skull resting comfortably in his lap. "But I don't want to be there, Bob." The child intoned all his misery in the statement. "Uncle Justin doesn't want me there."
"How do you know that?" The spirit ask. "Did he say that to you?"
"He doesn't have to." Harry replied. "Every time I come near him, he all but runs from the room. He can't get away from me fast enough. If I make any noise at all, he tells me to be quiet. If I ask questions, he just ignores them and tells me to go find something useful to do. If I try to show him something new I've learned, he isn't interested. He doesn't want me living with him, Bob."
Bob gave the boy an indulgent smile. "Harry, I'm sure to your eyes it seems that your uncle doesn't want you there. But try and see it from his point of view. Justin Morningway has never had a child to take care of. Now suddenly he finds himself caretaker to a ten year old boy. He was never around you growing up. He doesn't really even know you. It's only been a few months. You need to give him some more time to adjust."
"You've adjusted." Harry was quick to point out.
Bob's smile deepened. "Some people are better relating to ten year olds than others." He replied. "Your uncle simply isn't comfortable around you yet."
Harry thought over the information for a long moment before turning back to his mentor.
"Is Uncle Justin ever going to send you away, Bob?" He ask.
Bob gave a short, sharp laugh at the question even as he saw the reasoning behind it. Having lost his father so suddenly, the boy didn't see any adult in his life as a permanent situation. "The choice isn't his, Harry." The spirit tried to reassure him. "Only the High Council can order my removal from his possession."
"Will they?"
Bob saw opportunity knocking long and loud. And he practically fell over himself making it to the door.
"Not if we don't give them cause." He replied conspiratorially. "But having my first student run away from his home isn't exactly going to impress them, Harry, now is it?"
"You'd get in trouble because I ran away from Uncle Justin?" The boy ask in dismay at the thought.
"It's possible. And they may relate your actions to my influence and decide I shouldn't be teaching you after all. Then you'd still be at your Uncle Justin's house, just without Bob."
Harry considered the possibilities, and Bob smiled to himself as he saw the frown that announced the boy not having come up with one he liked.
"So, what will it be?" He ask. "Life at your Uncle's house with me or without me?"
Harry got to his feet. "I don't want to get you in trouble, Bob." He stated firmly. "And I really didn't think the council would blame you for something I did. So I guess I have no choice but to go back."
Indeed." The spirit readily agreed. "So why don't we head back. We can't be too far away."
"We're in town." Harry replied, seeming to miss Bob's small smile at the statement.
It was all Bob could do to not come out with, 'So that would explain all the buildings' replied. But with Harry, sarcasm usually met with sarcasm. And he was already simply too worn out to enter into a battle of wits with the boy at this hour.
"All right, then." Bob answered instead. "Let's be on our way, shall we?"
Harry hopped down off the steps and took his place at the spirit's side as they walked off towards the main avenue.
Bob almost made the mistake of wrapping his hand over the boy's shoulder. A simple, affectionate gesture he still hadn't quite gotten himself out of the habit of.
Part of his sentence was that, as a spirit, he could no longer interact with the physical world physically. At first he was sure this one particular aspect alone would be enough to drive him mad. But over time he learned to stop trying to pick things up, or to open doors, or even take comfort from laying in a soft bed. One surface felt pretty much the same to him as any other.
But the one tactile sensation he still missed, still longed for, and still remembered, was the simple act of human contact. And he regretted its loss dearly.
Especially when Harry had first come to stay with Morningway.
The boy was positively starved for love and affection. Dresden must have been a very loving father indeed. And to suddenly go from feast to famine in the affections department, the boy was looking for whatever warmth he could get. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be forth-coming from his uncle. And whereas Bob would have gladly given the boy all the parental love he could have wanted for, the high council had done a secure job of robbing them both of that pleasure.
Thankfully, the walk back to the Morningway estate was uneventful, and Bob filled the hour's time by discussing past lessons with his young pupil. Harry took a cursory interest in the discussion, but as always for the boy, the spirit could have been discussing the menu at a local restaurant and Harry would have joined in the discussion. In short, it didn't matter much to Harry what the topic was, it was the net results that were important to him. In this case, getting to spend time with his mentor.
But the moment the two arrived back at the estate, that time was quickly cut short by the image of Justin Morningway waiting for the two on the front step.