A/N: Sorry I missed the last time, folks. Just been very busy.
But as always,
Enjoy.
Disclaimer: Once more, all the characters are mine, the story, plot, and ensuing action, are mine, all things related to the Harry Potter series, no matter how trivially referenced, are not mine.
BO'S DAY OUT
Chapter Three
"You shoun't have ought to done that, Bo." Young Katy was chastising her would be rescuer. "Daddy's gonna be real mad you did magic on a muggle."
Bo sat on the steps Katy had previously occupied, a low trill coming from under his hood as he stared at the four year old standing before him, hands firmly planted on her hips and a stern stare in her bright blue eyes.
"You gonna be in trouble somethin' awful when we get home."
Bo gave another soft trill.
"I'm sorry you're gonna be in trouble, Bo." Katy tried to soften the blow. "And I'll tell daddy that you only sent that man away because you thought he was going to hurt you. If I tell him that, I'm sure he won't be nearly as mad, OK?"
Bo wasn't so sure his Channeler would understand or care about circumstances.
"Maybe we outta start for home now." Katy added. The truth was, she had missed breakfast and it was now getting on towards lunch time and she was getting very hungry.
But Bo, having listened to all the wise four year old had to say, was not the least bit keen on returning to home just yet. From his experience, people tended to be very angry at something to start out with, which, according to the young child, was currently him, but over time would become a good deal less angry. So going home right now was definitely not a good idea.
And things were fine now. The adult female had only told him to 'find' the child. She hadn't said anything about when to return. And he had found the child, and she was with him, and he could simply watch over her for a few hours and then take her home, when things were not likely to be quite so...angry.
This, to Bo, sounded like a perfectly good solution to his present problem.
A tug on his hand brought his attention back to the small female.
"Bo, 'm hungry!" Katy complained when the boggart didn't make any immediate move towards taking them home.
Hungry children, Bo had learned long ago, were insistent things. And the hungrier they got, the more insistent they became. Leaning down, Bo opened his robe covered hand. In his palm sat a small, plain donut.
Katy's eyes widened and she jumped with delight. "Chocolate!" She cried happily.
Bo closed his hand and opened it again. A chocolate donut now sat in his palm which Katy quickly grabbed and stuffed in her mouth.
"Fhank you, Bo." She said past a mouthful of chocolate donut.
One problem solved, Katy quickly moved on to the next.
"It's cold here." She stated, grabbing the boggart's hand. "Let's find somewhere warmer."
But seeing the direction she was headed in, Bo quickly pulled back on her hand.
Outside the alleyway there were a lot of people.
A lot of non-magical people.
Katy looked back at the boggart. "Whatza matter, Bo?" She ask.
The boggart shook his head quickly.
"Oh, come on." Katy stated, pulling hard on his hand. "It's OK."
The pull met with firm resistance.
Katy turned back to Bo, who again shook his head.
The four year old quickly assumed the position of hands on hips again as she stared up at her rescuer. "Bo! Your not acting like much of a boggart!" She stated. "You're suppose to frighten people, not be afraid of them."
Be that as it may, Bo had some very definite ideas about leaving the alleyway. Gesturing to his young charge to follow him, Bo lured her back in the alleyway a bit further. Then, standing her so she faced the back wall, he raised his hand and instantly a small play house, much like her one at home, appeared in the alleyway, complete with a small cozy fire inside.
With great flourish Bo waved to it.
Katy studied the small, brightly painted blue house for a moment, but then turned back to the boggart. "It's very nice, Bo." She stated sincerely. "But mummy and daddy are gonna be really worried. Maybe we should start for home. And I ain't got no more powder, and ap'ratting makes my tummy feel funny, so we hafta walk. And it's a really loooong way home."
The boggart gave a quiet sigh, then nodded. There was simply no way around this for him. Turning back in the direction of the small playhouse, it instantly vanished.
Bo sighed quietly again as Katy took his hand and led him towards the alleyway. This was not going the way he had planned at all. But she was right. She had no Floo Powder and he knew all to well what Katy meant by something making her tummy feel funny. That would most likely ended in a great deal of unpleasantness, especially seeing as the child had just eaten a large donut.
But there was still that situation of how angry the adults would be. So, in fact, he was in no hurry to get back to the house. And his Channeler's female had not said 'when' to bring the child back. Only to find her, which he had done.
Bo started to look at the 'walking' thing from a whole different angle. Maybe walking wasn't such a bad idea after all.
Plus, as a large bonus as far as he was concerned, he was outside! Something he rarely got to do. He almost never got to go outside the estate on his own. And when he did go outside the estate grounds, it was usually to do something connected with his Channeler's work, so he didn't have a lot of time to look around at things. But now he was outside, on his own, and all he had to do was watch over the little one until they were home.
Yes, walking seemed like not just the only way to get home, but the best.
Problem was, Bo had no idea where home was from there.
Oh well. It wasn't like he would get tired any time soon, and if the smaller one did, he could always carry her.
As they approached the front of the alleyway, Katy suddenly stopped and turned back to her protector.
"Bo, you're gonna have ta' do somethin' about the way you look." She stated, her four year old wisdom coming to the forefront again. "We can't go out on the street with you looking like you do."
Bo gave another soft sigh. Glancing out at the street he watched as a young man of about twenty walked past the alleyway opening, taking no notice of the two figures still standing in the shadows. A dark light suddenly enveloped the boggart's form and when it faded, a perfect duplicate of the young man stood in its place.
Katy gave the change a nod of approval. "That'll work better than your real form." She stated. "People might stare otherwise."
With a brief pause to look over his new form, Bo finally dutifully allowed himself to be all but dragged out of the alleyway and onto the sidewalk.
The boggart instantly cringed. People! And lots of them. And not a magical one in the lot that he could sense. And they were jostling everything around them, including him.
Bo quickly directed the small one to the side, closer to the buildings where less people seemed to be.
Katy turned to look up at him. "I'm sorry, Bo." She apologized. "I know you don't like to be touched very much. We'll stay near the buildings and that way you won't get bumped into too much."
Bo looked down at his small ward, a small frown creasing his borrowed brow. Well now, if she understood his aversion to touching, why did she insist on doing it so much? But he simply shook his head. The smaller ones were impossible to figure out. His best course of action had always been to simply wait for them to get older. Things were much easier then.
Katy tightened her grip on the boggart's hand as Bo allowed himself to be directed where they should go. But that, to Bo, wasn't such a bad thing really. Now that he had found the little one, he didn't want to risk losing her again.
The walk down the street proved to be very enlightening. It was very different from when he went out with his Host or his Channeler. There was nothing specific for him to concentrate on other than the small child pulling at his hand and observing the things around him for a change. And it was all terribly interesting, walking down a street...or more accurately, being pulled down a street, with no agenda past trying to get to a place he had no idea of how to get to.
Lost in his observations of the things around him, Bo nearly stumbled over Katy as she stopped in front of a store window.
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhh!" Came the small cry of delight. "Look, Bo!"
Bo turned his attention to whatever had attracted his young ward's attention. In front of them was a window with an array of toys prominently set up for display. But the part of the display that had Katy's attention was a small plush toy bird, colored a brilliant blue color.
"Isn't it pretty, Bo?" Katy inquired, her two small hands plastered against the glass of the store window. "I wish I had one of those!"
Bo stared at his young ward for a few seconds, then turned his attention to the toy in the window. Well, this was an easy problem to solve.
An instant later the little bird disappeared out of the display and Bo gave a short, happy trill as he held out his hands, holding the newly acquired plush toy out for examination.
If he expected his act to get any sort of praise, Bo couldn't have been more wrong. Hands once again on hips, Katy looked up at him with a serious stare.
"Bo!" She stated. "You can't do that. That's stealing!"
The boggart looked startled for a moment, then quizzical, then finally shook his head and held the plush toy out again to his young ward. But Katy remained as she was.
"No, Bo." She stated firmly. "It's not right. You have to put it back."
The boggart gave an exasperated sigh and crouched down in front of the young child, meeting her firm stare with his own questioning one.
"Daddy says if you get things by magic, that's wrong." She explained. "And ap' rating things out of stores without paying for them is the same as stealing. You have to put it back."
With one more sigh, the toy disappeared from the boggart's hands, reappearing inside in its former spot.
Turning back to the store display, Bo seemed to consider the situation for a moment more before turning back to his young charge. Holding out his hand, he opened it before her, displaying another chocolate donut.
With lunch time approaching, and having been walking around for what seemed like forever, Katy immediately reached for her favorite treat, only to have the boggart snatch it back at the last minute and with his other hand, ticked a finger back and forth in front of her.
Katy considered the meaning with a deep frown, watching as the boggart pointed to his hand, then to the display window, then wagged his finger in front of her again.
Understanding lit the little girl's expression. "Oh, I see!" She stated with a giggle. "Bo, that's not the same thing."
The boggart gave her a very puzzled stare.
Katy laughed again. "You didn't steal the donut." She said with a happy, expectant smile. "You just made it. If you made it, that's not stealing."
Bo remained crouched in front of the child for several minutes, working the problem out in his mind. But finally he gave her a satisfied nod.
"Good." Katy replied, looking at his closed hand. "Can I
have my donut now? I'm hungry."
Bo held the donut out to her
again, which in the blink of an eye went from his hand to her mouth,
nearly the whole thing stuffed in in one bite. Standing up again, Bo
turned his attention again to the window display. For what seemed to
the small child to be an impossibly long time, he simply stood
staring in the window until the little girl tugged insistently on his
hand.
"We have ta' go, Bo." She said. "Mommy and daddy are probably past the mad part by now and they'll be just worried."
The boggart turned to her, then took one last look in the window. Pulling his hand free, he crouched down again in front of her. Holding out his hands out, palms down, he slowly turned them over, and in an instant the small plush toy bird appeared in his hands.
Katy gave him a very disapproving stare. "Bo...," she stated, turning back to the display window. But her reprimand died on her lips as she stared in the window at the small plush toy bird still sitting in its place among the other displayed items. Turning back to the boggart, Katy considered the offered toy again, then quickly grabbed it out of his hands and hugged it to her with a soft squeal of delight.
"You are SO clever!" Katy praised him. "I didn't know you could do that!"
The boggart gave a soft questioning trill.
"Oh, I knew you could make some things." She replied. "Like making donuts appear. But I never knew you could make things like you make donuts...out of nothing."
The lips curved into a small smile.
Katy beamed up at him as she squeezed the toy tightly to her chest. "Thank you, Bo." She praised him again. "I love it sooooo much." She added, squeezing the little toy tighter.
The smile remained as Katy reached out again and took his hand. "Come on then. Maybe we can find someone who knows how to get home."
Bo gave a small sigh, but the smile remained as he followed his ward down the street again, doing his best to avoid any potential collisions.
Several more blocks down the street, Bo suddenly stopped in mid-stride. Something pulled at him. A familiar feeling that made him want to positively run after it, trilling for joy.
Pulling at Katy's hand, Bo gave an insistent tug as he pointed down a side street.
Katy turned to the boggart with a questioning stare. "What is it, Bo?" She ask. "Did you find the way home?"
The boggart quickly nodded. If this feeling wasn't the way home, it would at least take him to the person who could get them there.
Katy gave him a broad smile. "Oh good. I was getting awfully tired. Come on then." She stated, pulling on Bo's hand and leading them off in the direction he had indicated.
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Three hours into the search, on a trail that had led them down what he felt certain was nearly every back alleyway and street in Mid-London, Orion suddenly heard a tiny voice cry out from behind him.
"Daddy!"
Orion never thought he's ever be so happy to hear that word as he turned about. But his delight instantly dissolved as he met the scene behind him.
Standing behind him was four year old Katy, tugging insistently on the hand of someone he didn't at first recognize at all. But as he watched, the figure paused as it approached the three Unspeakables, then instantly shifted to first a werewolf, then a rather stern looking woman with her hair pulled back in a tight bun.
"Oh bloody hell." He whispered. "What's he doing walking around doing things like that?"
Thankfully the street they were on wasn't overly crowded. And no one seemed to notice as two wands covertly, but instantly came up behind him.
"Here, don't worry, mate." Morton stated. "Just an old boggart. Easy enough to sort out."
Panner had his wand already trained on his target. "Here! And that's a blasted good turn out of my fifth year Magical Practicals teacher, that is." He stated with a frown. "Right old cow, she was."
Orion's hand snapped about the wand before the man even said the first word of the spell.
"Panner! That's Bo."
Both wands snapped back down without further prompting.
"Here!" Morton stated, a slight stutter in his words. "Bale didn't say nothin' 'bout us having to bung about with you're crazy boggart."
"Come on, Morton." Orion stated with a small smile. "It's just an old boggart."
"No it ain't." The man replied, pointing his wand at the figure. "That's you're crazy family pet. Heard stories 'bout him, we have."
None of this surprised Orion in the least. It was common enough knowledge his family had a boggart in the house. The given story was that the boggart was something of a pet and rather harmless, if not just a slight bit eccentric. Neither man had any clue as to the true nature of the creature they were about to deal with, but each was just as equally uneasy about facing it.
"Now look here, Black," Panner stated, "what sort of fun and games do you think we here for?"
Orion tried to stop the man from making the comment, but it was too late. Instantly the boggart let go of Katy's hand as he clasp his hands together in front of him.
"Bo, wait!" Orion called.
But it was too late. Bo quickly grabbed the child's hand next to him and both instantly disappeared.
"Now what?" Morton asked as Orion sighed, dropping his head to his chest, shaking it slightly.
With another, louder sigh, Orion raised his head again and met the other man's questioning stare. "He thinks its a game." He replied dismally.
It was going to be a very, very, very long afternoon.
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For the next three hours Orion used every tracking spell he had ever learned, coerced two more agents into helping in the search, and eventually had to resign himself to the fact that he had definitely not 'won' the game.
Where ever Bo had disappeared off to, he had done an excellent job of covering his tracks. And as he knew from many of the boggart's 'sulks', when Bo didn't want to be found, he wasn't going to be.
But it had been several hours since he last apparated home to check with Katlin, and he had best return to give her an update before she started hunting him down.
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Orion returned home expecting to have to calm down a frantic Katlin. He decided to start with telling her that Katy was still with Bo, and therefore in no immediate danger. But even so, despite that night coming on and Bale had turned out ten additional agents to go looking for the small child through London's streets, Katlin was sure to be fit to be tied by now.
Apparating into the front yard instead of the foyer as usual, Orion started up the steps, getting his story ready to reassure Katlin as quickly as possible. Fourteen agents were currently working to find the two, and as soon as something turned up, they would let them know.
But as soon as he opened the door a jubilant Katy came running into the foyer.
"Daddy! Daddy!" The four-year-old cried with joy, launching herself into her surrogate father's arms.
A perfectly calm Katlin followed a few seconds later.
"We're suppose be getting ready for supper, poppet." She reminded her daughter.
The small child slid reluctantly out of Orion's arms and headed off to wash up for supper.
"How long has she been back?" Orion ask as soon as the child disappeared.
"A few hours."
"A few hours?"
Katlin favored him with a small, knowing smile. "Well, Bo said the game was very boring, even by his standards. They waited for their new playmates to follow them, but they never did. So he finally just went ahead and brought her home."
Orion stood for several moments simply staring at his wife. "But why didn't you call into the office and let Orin know?" He ask.
Katlin just shook her head. "Because Bo said that would be cheating. Telling you were they were. And he was very insistent that you were having fun, and that you had brought a lot of others in to play as well. And he didn't want to spoil your fun." She added. "It was really very considerate of him. Not to want to ruin the game for you."
Orion clenched his teeth behind a small, tight smile. First he would call in and let Orin know to call off the search.
Then he was going to have one very serious talk with a certain boggart.
Q&A
Silverfox:
LOL! Bo sure knows how to keep the police happy.
I
did consider that he's originally pure magic, but somehow expected
him to have been in 'our world' long enough to have become used to
tough. Besides what level of consciousness, if any, did he have
before? Was he a power or an actual entity? (Oh dear, this is going
much deeper into who Bo is than I expected when I originally
asked.)
I don't have much first hand experience with that age
group either. Most of the children I've interacted with were at least
six years old. Still, I got the impression that anything below that
is cute and cuddly when not being 'independent'.
Maybe I should
explain here that Christkind (verbatim Christ-child) is who we get
instead of Santa. She's usually depicted as a blond girl, though
unlike Santa she is never actually seen. She also doesn't have
reindeer and doesn't come through the chimney ... most likely. It
isn't actually explained how she gets into the house.
As mentioned in the story, Bo likes 'police'. But then, Bo likes most of his family's muggle friends. He especially likes Charlie, because he knows him best.
He's used to touch to a degree, and he does tolerate touch from his Host and Channeler fairly well. But remember that Bo has only had a corporeal body for a few years. Orion's father gave it to Bo back when Orion was only ten or so. As that Orion is now pushing the backside of forty, Bo has only been 'corporeal' to the rest of us for about 30 years. Not much time to a being that marks time by waiting for his problems to 'grow older'. And also, Bo doesn't actually interact with people a lot. Even in Family Relations, he never really interacted with the group. He guarded them, watched over them, protected them, and rescued them when needed, but he didn't 'socialize' a lot.
Oh! There's a good question! What level of consciousness did he have before?
Well, fast and simple, Dear, (because this is actually dealt with in depth in Family Ties), Bo was a sentient being before Orion's family called him, and he had self-awareness. Was he an entity or a power? Depends on how you look at it and how you define each. If by 'entity' you mean 'corporeal', then no, he had no physical form before he was called.
Sorry. If it isn't over the age of 16, can communicate fairly well, and has some sense of independence, I generally have no contact with them. (I would like to emphasize the word generally to all of my readers below the age of 16!)
Always happy to learn something new about other cultures. And here I thought Santa Clause was universal. Shows what I know. But I'm also the first to stand up and say Americans, for being a country of immigrants, are woefully ignorant of anything outside their own borders.
But it is a lovely custom, Dear.
MasterLupin:
I didn't know Bo didn't like to be touched, I wouldn't have guessed it from him running out as a dog and playing catch with children. Hmm, what will Bo do now?
Well, as pointed out before, there was a lot more to that 'game' than it appeared. The children saw it as a friendly dog playing 'catch'. To Bo it was 'let's see what this all about without actually allowing ourselves to be touched'. Bo's jumping and dodging about, while appearing to just be part of the game, were actually his very real attempts to avoid being touched. The fact he let them ever touch him is simply his seeing no way out of it.
What will he do now? What he thinks is best, Dear.
All reviews as of 12/29/2007.
And remember;
My life has a superb cast. But I can't figure out the plot.
