A/N: You do remember back when I first started posting stories, I swore never to do these things, then I swore they were addictive, and now they just seem part of the story for me.
Also, I would like to extend congratulations to my brother and sister-in-law, who, after a seemingly endless parade of females into the family, just got word from the doctor that they are having a baby boy. So, Coonner (yes, I am told it is with two 'o's') William, welcome to the family.
And I need to give you a piece of information here you may have forgotten as to characters. Mostly because he's mentioned and you may not remember who he is. Lawrence Olivers is the man who founded the Department of Mysteries Unspeakables. Short, sweet, and too the point, he is not a man to mess around with.
Anyway, thanks for all the additional theories. I love reading those things. The best one rolling in this week was from whitemudfounder, who I agree with completely. Book V seemed more to lean towards Rowling just seeing how much she could shock her readers. I mean honestly! What was the woman doing? Just standing about staring at her typewriter one day thinking....'I'm bored. I think I'll kill off a highly popular, positive character for absolutely no good reason'?
Oh well.
So here's to JK Rowling, last seen looking very bored. And to Remus Lupin, last seen looking very nervous.
As always,
Enjoy.
Disclaimer: Although Enemies is in and of itself an original story, and the writer made all the right sacrifices on the alter of The Great Guru Of Writing to get this thing finished, she is still required to report that anything even remotely Harry Potter belongs to JK 'I'm bored, where's Lupin?' Rowling and her mercenary publishers.
Chapter Thirteen: Truth And Lies
The morning after his dinner with Katlin, Orion arrived at work looking for Charly. Not only was he looking for a good sounding board for how things had gone the night before, but his partner was due back from his mission today and Orion was as eager as ever to hear how things went. He hated when Bale sent them out alone. He always felt like he was missing out on half the fun and it usually guaranteed him being stuck with desk work until Charly got back.
When the end of the day rolled around and Charly hadn't returned, Orion tried not to make much of it. It was difficult to set any clock by one's missions. One of a thousand different things could crop up to delay a mission or speed it up. Orion knew that better than anyone. But Charly was usually fanatical for checking in. At least with his partner.
The next morning Orion arrived at work only to be almost immediately escorted to his Department Head's office. Never a good start to any day.
Sitting in the office, Orion had practically memorized the man's walls by the time Bale showed up.
"I hope this isn't going to take long." Orion stated as Bale seated himself behind the desk. "I probably have a fire full of messages from Charly asking why I haven't messaged back yet."
Bale looked up at his agent with a grim expression. "I don't think so, Black."
Orion caught the man's look immediately. "Why? What's going on?"
"I just came from St. Andrews. Charly Misser was brought there last night."
"Charly?" Orion as out of his chair in a second, leaning over Bale's desk. "My partner!? Is he all right? What happened? Has he said yet?"
Bale let the man in front of him vent off a tidal wave of questions before even bothering to try an answer so much as one. For any of his agents, the news their partner had been injured was something that was always met with shock and a flood of questions. But Black and Misser always seemed to take it more personally than most. As close as the two were linked, he was actually a bit surprised that Orion wasn't already aware of the situation.
"Misser was attacked coming off his mission." Bale explained when Orion finally settled back into his seat and looked a bit more like he was ready to listen to him again. "At least that's the most we got out of him the other night. Department de-briefers are with him right now sorting the whole story out."
"De-briefers?" Orion sneered. "Can't those jackals even give him one day's rest?"
"That's not procedure, Black, and you know it."
"He's a muggle, Orin!" Orion stated, coming to his feet again in front of his office head. "He needs a bit more time to recuperate before facing the department's friendly interrogators."
"They're not interrogators, Orion. And they have a job to do. Questioning someone right after an incident gives us the best recounting of what happened. Even Charly, as a muggle, will tell you that. And I wouldn't be so fast to try and sell that 'muggle' line on Charly Misser either. I'd stand that man up in front of Lawrence Olivers and defy him to call the man that anymore. Misser's every bit as good a wizard as most in this department. So stop coddling him every time he has to submit to the same procedures as everyone else. I won't allow it and he wouldn't want it."
Orion switched the line of questions as quickly as if he hadn't heard one thing Bale had said. "Who?" He asked in a low voice. "Who attacked my partner?"
Bale paused for a minute. He knew how well the answer would be taken. "Deatheaters." He finally replied.
Orion's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Deatheaters?"
"Misser claims they caught him in an ambush. From the sound of things, Misser was lucky to get out of it alive. He had a Tag left from the mission. Used it to apparate to the Department."
Orion was already out the door before Bale could say anything more to him.
Charly gave a loud, disgruntled moan as he fought off the effects of the sedative they had given him. All he knew for sure at that moment was that his head hurt and the rest of him didn't feel much better.
"Well, that proves you're alive." A voice came from the side of his bed, trying desperately to sound cheerful.
Charly shifted his gaze to where the voice had come from. Sitting next to the bed, looking as worried as he ever remembered seeing him, was his partner.
"Merlin's Beard!" Charly exclaimed, closing his eyes tightly. "That's it then! I died. And I know just where I went."
"Now is that any way to greet your faithful partner?"
Charly rolled back over on the bed with a grimace of pain. "What I can't understand, Black, is why you aren't at my house right now cleaning out my liquor cabinet while you have the chance?"
"Been there. Done that. Got more?"
Charly looked him over, thinking hard. "But your sober. How long have I been here exactly?"
"A fortnight. The whole Department had a party at your place, by the way, to celebrate."
"Wouldn't put it past the Blighters. Seriously," Charly sighed, "how long have they had me here?"
"Bale says you were brought in just last night." Orion replied in a good deal more somber tone. "Said you got attacked by Deatheaters and used a Tag to apparate back to the Department. They brought you here from there."
"That sounds about right."
Orion's expression shifted back to concern. "What happened, Charly?" He asked.
"Where have you been? You just told me, for pity's sake! Pay attention, Black!"
But Orion continued to stare at him past a worried expression. "I expected to come in today to a bunch of messages about where we were going to go tonight to celebrate your putting another notch in your wand, and spend half the night listening to you tell me a bunch of lies about how many Deatheaters you put away. Not coming into find my partner is in the hospital because he was ambushed by said Deatheaters."
"Things happen, Orion." Charly replied quietly.
"I know things happen, Charly. They've just never happened to you before. Not like this. Alone, for magic's sake! What was Bale thinking!?"
"No one expected the Deatheaters to be tracking this mission, Orion. We didn't even think they knew about it. It was very low key, for heavens sake. Nothing they should have even taken notice of. So don't go blaming The Idiot Bale for this one. The Deatheaters had a tip-off, that's all."
"A tip-off?"
"We have informants. They have informants. That's how the game is played, partner. Theirs were better than ours this time."
Orion sat silently staring back at his partner for a few moments. "I suppose so." He finally replied softly, getting to his feet as Charly tried to stifle a yawn. "All right, the nurse said I wasn't allowed to stay long. I just wanted to check if I needed to put in a requisition for a new partner."
Charly only gave him a half-hearted wave as Orion slipped out the door.
As Charly walked down the corridor on his return to the Department a few days later, he was subjected to a good deal of back slapping and light-hearted ribbing by other agents, all aimed at proclaiming how the 'great Charly Misser had single-handed taken on the Deatheaters and got his arse thumped one good'.
By the end of the day Charly swore that if he had heard that line once he had heard it a thousand times, with the same people repeating it a couple of hundred times on their own. In addition he would have sworn his back was sorer than the night he had been brought into St. Andrews.
The only person who hadn't joined in the fun throughout the day was the man who now stood at the end of the corridor waiting to see him home.
"So," Charly asked as he walked up to his partner, "why weren't you joining in the festivities today? Or are you just waiting till everyone else was done?"
Orion directed him to the doors. "For one; I didn't find it funny, and two; I didn't think you looked like you could take one more person slapping you on the back."
Charly grimaced at the thought. "And my back thanks you."
"I thought it might." Orion replied. "All right then," He added, landing his hand across his partner's back, "ready to go home?"
Charly practically fell forward. But Orion managed to grab him just in time.
"Couldn't resist?" Charly asked, righting himself.
"Something like that." Orion answered with a slight grin. "Ready to go?"
"Go?"
"Bale asked me to put you up for a few days. Until you were feeling more stable......physically."
"Orion," Charly protested, "I'm fine. Really."
"That's why you nearly kissed the floor back there?"
"I wasn't expecting it."
"And oddly enough, Charly, that is how most accidents happen. Now let's go."
"Orion, my house elves can see to me."
Orion gave the comment a derisive snort. "The only reason you have house elves, Charly Misser, is to have someone to play poker with. Those little buggers of yours would walk right over you if you fell down in front of the refrigerator."
Charly gave him a wistful smile. "God bless 'em. I've taught 'em well, haven't I?"
"Corrupted them, is more like it." Orion rubbed his fingers over the bridge of his nose. "Charly, house elves are suppose to be....well, like Tets."
"Tets! That miniature green James Bond impersonator you have living with you? I'll take my drunken poker buddies any day of the week to that one, I will."
"He gets the job done."
"Been meaning to ask you about that, mate. Where does the little blighter hide the bodies?"
Orion took hold of Charly's arm. "Will you just come on. Tets will love to have you."
Charly pulled free. "For what?"
"According to Bale, about a week."
"Orion," Charly protested again, "I'm fine."
"No, you're not. Charly, you spent more time today sitting at your desk than you have in the entire time I've known you. Now, you still in pain. You need to be somewhere that you'll have someone to pick you up off the floor instead of walk over you....."
"My back hurts." Charly replied indignantly. "They'd walk around me, not over me."
"How considerate of them. Just the same, your coming home with me."
"Shouldn't you be trying to get me drunk first before you try to take me home?"
Orion gave a slight pull on his arm, directing him to the doors. "Will you just come on."
"What about your fluff?" Charly asked. "I'll be crimping your time being there."
"Fluff isn't around right now." Orion stated, mentally wondering if 'fluff' would ever be about again. "And it wouldn't matter anyway. Fluff is fluff. Your my partner."
"Probably wouldn't matter." Charly replied.
"How's that?"
Charly dug into his pocket and pulled out a small bottle. "They gave me these at St. Andrews. Said something about alcohol increasing the sedatory effects." He replied with a smile. "I figured I could take them at bedtime with a bottle of scotch."
Orion snatched the bottle out of his hand. "What are they going on with giving you pain pills?"
"Had to see a muggle doctor." Charly replied. "All the Medi-wizards were tied up. He gave me those."
Orion quickly pocketed the pills. "I'll brew you up a nice potion at the house. All right?"
"Long as it has scotch in it, fine." Charly replied, following his partner out the doors.
Late in the evening, after having sent Charly off for a mid-evening nap, Orion heard the anti-apparation alarms go off. He had put additional blocks in place to stop anyone from being able to apparate into the house while Charly was there. The last thing he needed was Katlin apparating into the foyer right in front of Charly.
Based on how she had left a few nights before, Orion wasn't sure when he would see her again, but he certainly had not expected it to be so soon. What he was certain of was that her mood was likely not going to be a good one. And matched against his own at the moment, it did not have the makings of a pleasant evening.
Orion waited at the front doors, certain the anti-apparation spell wasn't going to put Katlin off. He kept a close watch on the stairs while he waited. But just shortly after the alarm had sounded, he opened the front door to a peevish knock.
Before she so much as could say anything, Orion grabbed Katlin by the hand and pulled her out of the front foyer and into the back of the house. But once they got into a secluded room, and quite tired already of being dragged about without one word of explanation, Katlin quickly pulled her hand free. But the scowl she met as Orion turned to face her tempered her own anger a little bit.
"What's going on?" She asked, trying to keep her voice sounding level and not betraying any of her own annoyance at her reception as she tossed her cloak onto the back of the sofa. "Why wasn't I allowed to apparate inside?"
"Charly's here." Orion answered her in a slightly curt sounding tone. "I couldn't risk your apparating into the foyer when he might happen to be passing through."
"Charly?" Katlin questioned, her annoyance from the other evening losing ground to the new situation. "What is your partner doing here?"
"Currently? Recovering."
Katlin gave him a puzzled look. "Recovering? From what?"
Orion's scowl deepened considerably. "He was attacked a few days ago. Ambushed. By Deatheaters."
Katlin's expression shifted rapidly from surprise to complete neutrality. How dare he throw this up at her!
"That's business." She stated flatly.
"That's my partner." Orion fired back in a heated voice.
"He's an agent." Katlin replied. "An Unspeakable. That comes with certain risks, Orion."
"He's my partner!" Orion repeated.
"It's business." Katlin tried to remind him. "And you know the rules, Orion. You made them."
"This has nothing to do with 'rules'. This is my partner!"
"So because he's your partner that should grant him some special immunity? It doesn't give you any. Why should it be so for him?"
"Your people did this!"
Katlin physically drew back at the accusation. It wasn't just what had happened, or that it had been Charly, or that the Deatheaters had been involved. He was angry at her. He was blaming her for what had happened.
"What do you want from me, Orion?" She asked. She was pushing the words across to him now. "You want me to say I'm sorry? I wouldn't be. He is our enemy. He is my enemy."
"Then I'm yours as well."
Katlin was struggling now not to let her anger get the better of her. "This has nothing to do with us, Orion."
"It has everything to do with us."
"And what then?" She asked, a bit of her growing irritation showing through in her voice. "Every time your partner gets injured, I'm going to get held personally to blame for it? I wasn't there, Orion. I had nothing to do with this."
Orion stood silently before her, but Katlin could tell that none of his anger had dissipated in the least. If anything, he was growing angrier by the minute. His hands were held rigidly at his sides and his jaw was firmly set.
"Fine." Katlin stated, picking up her cloak from the back of the couch. "I'm not going to stay here tonight just to be the target of your anger. You enjoy your evening, Mr. Black. And I can see myself out, thank you."
Orion watched her go without moving an inch to stop her. Though every part of his body screamed at him to go after her, his pride kept him firmly rooted to the spot. He heard the front door slam shut, echoing his own anger. She hadn't even stayed to discuss the matter. She had walked out. On him!
Charly came walking into the room just as a large vase went sailing across the room. He watched it meet an untimely end against the far wall before venturing any further into the room.
"Better now?" He asked.
Orion stood leaning against the mantle of the fire place, his head resting on the small shelf.
"Not really."
"That was quite a show." Charly said.
Orion looked up. "Show?" A frightening thought suddenly shoved his anger aside for the moment. "You didn't see....?"
Charly quickly shook his head as he held his hands up. "Hey, mate, I know when not to come into a room. I only got the sound track."
Orion breathed an inward sigh of relief. He had enough to sort out. He didn't need Charly's having seen Katlin added to the mix.
Orion managed a small smile for his partner. "Sorry we disturbed you, Charly. Little 'lovers spat' is all."
"Lovers spat?" Charly questioned. Directing his wand at the shattered vase, he quickly repaired it and sat it back on the mantle next to Orion, who eyed it with irritation. "Sounded more like a flat out row to me, mate. And I was upstairs and down the hall."
Orion sighed loudly.
"Look," Charly offered helpfully, "I don't want to be an imposition here. I can just clear out, really. Go back to my own place."
"Charly, the fight wasn't about you being here." Orion put in quickly past a weary sigh. "It was about.....something else."
Charly paused for a moment as he watched his partner staring silently into the fire. Unfortunately, he had been too far away to hear much of the argument. So he had no real idea what had started it. But the tone had spoken volumes, literally. Apparently things between his partner and his fluff weren't as smooth as he thought. And that was indeed good news.
"Care to talk about it?" Charly offered.
Orion only shook his head.
Charly gave him a few moments to change his mind. It wasn't unusual for Orion to insist he didn't want to talk about something, and then abruptly launch off into an hour long dissertation on the matter. But this time he remained silent.
"All right then, mate." Charly said finally. "I'm off to bed. But you let me know if you change your mind."
"Good night, Charly." Orion replied as Charly headed for the door.
A small smile played across Charly's lips. But he quickly masked it behind a concerned stare as he stopped at the door for one more glance back at his partner. "Good night, Orion." He answered before slipping back off to his room.
Charly spent the next three days at Orion's house before finally convincing his partner that he was well enough to return to his own home, swearing he would let the Department's Medi-wizard come by at least once more to check on him before releasing him back to work.
On the fourth night Orion answered a knock on his door late in the evening to find Katlin standing there.
"I took down the anti-apparation barriers." He told her simply, walking back into the front foyer without bothering to invite her in.
"That's not what I was worried about barring me from the house." Katlin replied as she followed him inside.
Orion stopped short. He took a deep breath before he turned to face her. There was no anger in her expression at all. If anything, she looked deeply concerned about something as she stood carefully fingering the small diamond pendent around her throat. A habit Orion had learned usually meant she was very nervous.....or worried.
"If I didn't want you here, I would remove the spell from the pendent." He replied.
Katlin didn't answer him. Instead she simply stood silently in front of him, still fingering her necklace.
"All right," he sighed finally, "you have something on your mind. Out with it."
Katlin paused for a moment, then slowly turned her eyes back to him as she seemed to steel herself up. "Orion, I did some checking.........on Charly's story about the ambush."
Orion narrowed his eyes slightly, but said nothing.
"I want you to hear me out." Katlin put in quickly.
"All right." Came the short, sharp answer.
"Orion, I checked with every group in this area, and a few outside this area, and I went through every report turned in within the time span that Charly claims the attack took place."
"Why?"
"Because his story didn't ring true to me."
"Why not?"
"It was too random, Orion. What? He was just walking home and they attacked him? We don't operate that way."
"He was on a mission."
"Not one that we knew of."
Orion stared at her for a minute. Suddenly he didn't like where this was going. "So, you checked. What did you find?"
Katlin took a short, deep breath. "Orion, there were no reports of any attacks on any Aurors during that time period. In fact, there haven't been any attacks at all in the past month. No attacks, no talk, no rumors. Nothing."
"So they didn't report it and they're not talking about it."
"Orion, if any Deatheater attacked Charly Misser and injured him that badly, they'd be spray-painting it on the walls of the lair for the others to see. It would be a badge of honor for them. A very LARGE badge."
"Charly survived. Voldemort would likely not be very pleased."
"That one of us not only put your partner on the injured list for several weeks, but in doing so sidelined you as well? He'd be thrilled!"
Orion stood staring silently at her, his mind working furiously for an answer.
"Orion," Katlin said softly, "he is your partner. If he was in that serious of a situation, why didn't he call for help. Why didn't he call you?"
Orion fixed his gaze on her. "You're suggesting he didn't tell the truth about the attack."
"I'm saying he outright lied about it." Katlin answered carefully, watching her lover's expression for any reaction before making her next statement. "Orion, it never happened."
The reaction was exactly what Katlin expected. For the briefest moment a look of confusion crossed her lover's face. Then outright denial. Then the ever passive, emotionless stare.
"Then tell me why." Orion stated. "Why make up such a story? It served no purpose whatsoever."
Katlin looked thoughtful for a moment. "I'm not sure." She said eventually. "But if he lied, Orion, and about something like this, there had to be a reason."
"One would hope so."
"We know something happened." Katlin said, working through the problem. "That much is a fact. What he doesn't seem to want anyone to know isn't that something happened, but 'what'."
"And the next question," Orion continued, "is 'why'."
Katlin turned her eyes back to him. "He's lying to you, Orion. Plain and simple."
"He's my partner." Orion shot back. "You don't understand what that means. And all I've heard is your side of things. I haven't heard his yet."
"It should prove fascinating." Katlin replied dryly. "Do let me know what other lies he comes up with to tell you." And with a small 'pop' she disappeared.
Orion stood for several minutes in the foyer. If everything Katlin had said was true, then Charly had indeed outright lied. And not only to him, but to the Department as well.
But why? What could have been so important that he lied about it?
But Orion's thoughts quickly shifted over to the other possibility. One he didn't like thinking about any better than the first. What if Katlin was the one who was lying? What if a report had been made? What if she had lied about that?
But for what reason? Sowing dissention in the ranks? Getting him to not trust his partner? To try and persuade him over to the side of the Deatheaters? What was she planning on trying to do? Convert the whole Department one agent at a time?
But Orion hadn't felt any lie in her.
That brought him back to Charly.
Orion shook his head and headed for the stairs. It had been a long day and he wasn't in the mood to try and sort things out just then. He would have to wait until he heard Charly's explanation.
Q&A (Yay!)
(PAR just felt like making a little rhyme.)
Roll: Ohhhhh, PAR is sorry, Dear. I did not mean to miss you! But Dear, when you're just a little roll on the dinner table of life, it is easy to be overlooked. Poor Semmel.
Don't glare at your computer, Dear. It wasn't it's fault what silly Fanfiction.net does.
O.K.. Because I missed you, Roll, I will answer what you asked even through it goes against one of my almost written in stone rules not to foreshadow in my Q&A (But what am I if not flexable, hey? Rules are so restricting, after all. No?)
First, no, Charly is not evil. He has a very good reason for what he is doing. And as the story goes on, long before you judge him (aka Aaron Reynolds, people. We ALL remember that little scenario, don't we?) keep that in mind. Good! Reason!
Next, NOT jealous. Has nothing to do with that.
Finally, he's not trying to save Orion's heart from being broken. He's trying to save his life.
Now, to the dragon. That dragon, Dear, is so important to this story, it's well beyond anything anyone even came close to. Trust me, he will be back, and he plays a VERY important part in Orion's life.
On to Book V.
I don't think she was out of her mind exactly. As I said, I think the whole 'incident' was a glaring misprint that they just haven't caught yet and will be corrected in the second printing. *PAR goes merrily skipping down to her local book dealer to get the a copy of the second printing and quickly scans the pages.* Dang! Still haven't caught it. O.K.. I'm sure they'll catch it in the third printing. These things take time. I understand.
18 hour reading marathon?! Good heavens, Roll! Did you know your own name at that point or were we at the 'relying on some form of personal identification' point?
Yes, indeed, I find the way other people show no respect for others to be annoying. I mean, yes, I understand the need for people to purge their souls of troubling things, and thank God for giving writers such a wonderful way to do it (we write). But people, would it have hurt you to have written your stories/eulogies/ poems/farewells/alternate ending/explanations/general ranting sessions disguised as stories/Book V rewrites and spell checked them for a week or something? Oh, well.
We are extremely close to the when Charly finds out about the 'Katlin is a DE' business. Actually, you get a little closer each week. Funny how that works out.
Werepup: I understand preoccupied, Dear. That's O.K..
whitemudfounder: Well, thank heavens we now know who discovered white mud!
Anyway, I believe I've seen the name before, Dear. Nice to hear from you again.
Dear, PAR certainly does not object to another 'I love you, PAR'. I'll take all I can get.
And just for clarification (and credit), I did not coin that term, FairyTale did. Credit where credit is due.
DEAR?! With all the chat rooms, sites, people on the street who DO know what Harry Potter is about, why would you waste time ranting at someone who knows nothing at all about it?
By the way, where is that rock your sister has been living under?
O.K., points for your side. I will give some credence to the possibility that in the end Harry will use all his pain/grief/humanity to overcome Voldemort. However, I would like to point out that the kid didn't appear terribly grief-stricken to me at all. Angry? Yes. Upset? Maybe. Grief-stricken. Still waiting.
His whole reaction to me was more of a 'I trip and fell over in the mud and now I'm all dirty, dang' sort of reaction. I think, quite frankly, that JK Rowling wrote that having lost touch with what someone would ultimately feel in that situation. Yes, when some dies, people feel angry, upset, betrayed, and even resentful. But where was the grief? She got all of the first emotions in there and left out the last one.
As for complicated, yes, PoA probably had one of the most complicated plots I've seen in a long time. But also, unfortunately, I felt it was her last good book. She really hit her stride with PoA. GoF was long, but a bit 'plot simple' in my opinion. You could see a lot of it coming. I just see the woman going the way of Anne Rice. She wrote a few really good books, but by The Tale Of The Body Thief, she should have quit and sat on her millions. After that it was sort of a 'I'm bored, I think I'll write a book' thing. Her other books were very lackluster next to the original series.
Now, I'm not saying that JK Rowling should have stopped at PoA. Of course she couldn't. But she needs to stop relying on shock tactics to get our attention and get back to just writing a good, suspenseful story.
As for her having balls. Perhaps. But she needs to learn how properly display them.
Skahducky: Well, if you want to rate this by who has a point, we'll be here all day. They both have valid arguments for where they do (or do not) think the situation should be headed. Orion, bless his little black heart, feels that staying the way they are is a bit pointless, while Katlin feels that adding anything more to the situation is equally as pointless. So currently it's a bit of a tug of war. Who wins I guess depends who pulls hardest for their side.
What?! That one armed thing? You call that a hug? Boy! Are you a cheap date!
So glad you liked the chapter.
Silverfox: Thank you for the condolences, Dear. And to my knowledge, no, she did not suffer.
Tets actually got quite a good vote from the readership. And he is quite an interesting fellow. But Tets has many interesting talents. Mostly....being annoying. And like the dragon, he will be back. He is, in fact, in Family Relations briefly. Poor Harry.
Stupid Austrian? I've never heard of an Austrian referred to as stupid. Quite the contrary. 'Plead the fifth' is an American term used in court. It means (basically) 'I could say something, but if I do, I'll only end up confirming what you already know is the truth, so why bother?'
Everybody's waiting for when Charly finds out. Heavens! I hope that chapter lives up to expectations!!!!!!!! Especially with what comes before it.
Sailor Sol: Thank you, Dear. My birthday, spent mostly in bed or at my computer, was very nice.
Oh, and the confetti was a nice touch. Thank you.
Actually, Orion treats Tets exactly like what he is. An annoying little green house elf who is WAY too sophisticated.
Your comment was very good. That's why I stol.......BORROWED it for my disclaimer. Sometimes my readers just come up with things that are way better than anything I could think up.
Actually, there is a nasty little rumor out there that said that Rowling simply browsed fanfiction sites, gathered a bunch of stuff together and wrote the book. Certainly reads that way. However, I'll go with whitemudfounder on one thing. The woman seems far more interested this go round in how much she could shock us than in writing a story with even the remotest amount of similarity to the first four books.
Actually, my little apartment is quite nice. I have all I need here. Books. Computer. A 'Favorites' connection right to a ton of stories that either theorize why someone isn't dead or outright deny it. Boy, I love this place!
Nicky: Oh, indeed! What would the story be if you didn't get some idea of what makes the characters tick. But yes, indeed, there is a whole chapter dedicated to our dear Katlin and her past and what brought her to where she is as well as what makes her such a good little Deatheater.
You LIKED it?! You're a person in need of help, Dear.
Grief better come later, or this kid is headed for 'snippering from the rooftops' on the eleven o'clock news.
In regards to your feelings on Harry's acting out of character, yes, I felt it was a bit over- exaggerated. But where were everyone else's ragging hormones in all this? Ron and Hermione barely showed any change at all let alone from one very awkward kiss. And if I remember right, that was only on the cheek.
I totally do not agree with the Sirius being off his rocker theory. I think throughout the story the man acted actually somewhat in character. One of the few. But I would like to read these reviews. They sound terribly amusing.
As that I breezed through this book at a rate that broke most land speed records, I can not comment on the next two things you pointed out as that I do not remember reading them. However, I will say that what I read of Molly Weasley's comments to Sirius throughout the book, I thought most were uncalled for (can you say OOC?). And no one ever claimed Sirius and Snape had a good relationship. But I do think the way Snape badgered Sirius about it without Dumbledore ever really stepping in was a bit strange. I would have expected Dumbledore at some point to have stepped up and basically slapped Snape on the nose with a rolled up newspaper.
The bubblegum wrapper.......it was nice, but it failed to do much for me.
Sirius' loneliness at the end of the Christmas holidays? I have to go back and read that part.
I stand solid on my Sirius theory. In regards to the 'incident', I simply can not believe anyone would do that to a character who was so well developed and loved for absolutely no good reason. The whole scene was so pointless it still irks me. But I hold tight to my belief we have not seen the last of him.
The whole Umbridge thing I agree with you on, but with the added comment that for me it just continued to help slant the book ever further away from the original idea and made it harder and harder for me to remember what story I was reading.
The Harry/Cho chapter was one of those I looked at briefly, said 'Why bother?', and moved on. From what I have heard of it, I did not miss much.
As for awarding points at the end....applause, applause. I couldn't agree more on everything you said. I'm sorry to all the Harry fans out there, but the kid needed to take his share of the blame this time around, not points.
Harry and Sirius spent one month and the Christmas holidays together, and they didn't have but two small scenes alone............or any type of real interaction........one good heart-to-heart talk.............ever come even near breaking through that superficial at best relationship they had...................show one real emotion towards each other (well, Harry had that whole 'hate the world' thing going, but that doesn't really count)............and I still haven't gotten one good hug from either one of them. Oh, well.
I can see Snape getting angry over Harry intruding into his Pensive. Pensives are very private things. Like reading someone's diary. But I agree. To stop the lessons was a bit strict. And where was Dumbledore for this. Surely he knew Snape stopped the lessons.
Harry has to kill Voldemort. Yeah. Knock me over with a feather, folks. Didn't see that one coming. Although there is a lot of confusion it seems about the prophecy from what I have read in reviews. Some believe that Harry has to kill Voldemort. I side with those that say according to how Rowling wrote it, they both have to die. That one can not live without the other and vice versa.
The bit on house elves was Canon. And yes, I think Hermione should have known it since I think Dobby said it in front of her. Another such errors are already being listed on Mugglenet.com and are quite interesting.
I don't tend to feel bad about the character that died. It is, after all, only a story. *PAR repeats that a few hundred times to self. Fells better. Goes on.* What annoyed me so badly about it was that the scene seemed to contribute nothing to the overall plot of the story. And this is my basic gripe of the whole book. It seemed very loosely put together, characters were very 'out of character', we were given very little lead in to these drastic changes in personalities, and every dramatic happening seemed more written to shock the readers than to help move the story line along. All in all, I am not awaiting Book VI with the same eager anticipation I awaited the others.
nessie: Poor nessie. I'll let you hold onto an arm of the un-named character plushy that I stol.....borrowed from Whisp if it'll help.
I never considered Sirius to be arrogant, or snobbish, or anything Rowling portrayed him as in Snape's Pensive. Granted, he was fifteen then. But I also thought he would have been handling himself with a bit more decorum than to come off as simply a boring, waspish putz.
Not one tear, not one word about it really to anyone but Hagrid afterwards, no deep feeling of regret or grief. I mean, did the kid care at all? All he did was get angry that someone he leaned on wasn't there for him anymore. Spit! Life is hard!
I think Dumbledore cried because he read the book. *Ohhhhh, that was just cruel!*
UnrepentantReader: 'Somehow Charly's advice isn't going to go quite the way he thought it would'. And sometimes you people get so close to the truth it scares me. This statement is going to play itself out in ways I doubt you're expecting, Un. Just wait and see. You think Orion and Katlin are in deep?
Again, I'm not so much upset over the death as I am over the fact that for one, it seemed utterly pointless to the story other than to shock the reader, and that Rowling seems to be teasing us with it. Both things I find completely annoying. I don't like being played with by a writer or treated like I am simply a few extra dollars in her bank account. Basically, I have lost a tremendous amount of respect for the lady and her work.
Tets is without a doubt a good little character. I basically needed him for some comic relief because I felt the story was beginning to drag and needed a little lift. So Tets was invented to fill the void. I also thought Orion needed someone to keep him on his toes when he's at home. Sort of like Peter Seller's Pink Panther character and his houseboy.
I love writing Orion and Katlin's dialogue. They definitely have some good discussions.
The relationship is definitely a train running a greased rails. Whether or not either of them can get a handle on it remains to be seen.
Thank you for the congratulations.
And thank you for the condolences.
Good heavens! You and Nicky need to get together on your opinions of Sirius and Mrs. Weasley! She has many of the same issues with those two!
I'm not sure about Hermione becoming a Mary Sue, but she is getting more annoying by the second. And there were very few characters in this story that I couldn't wait to get away from. Every character below the age of eighteen (with the exception of the twins) seemed to have lost any spec of lovableness they ever had in them. They most all came off acting like teenagers with bad-ass attitudes. I found the whole hormone thing way over-played and, in essence, seeming to run the whole story. It was different at first. Then it just got annoying.
I think the interaction that threw me the worst, and pretty much set the tone of the whole story for me was Harry talk with Dudley. I don't know why exactly, but that really threw me.
Throughout this whole story, I felt Dumbledore was essentially made out to be some doddering old fool right up to the end who couldn't see the forest through the trees.
As mentioned, I was tired of bad-ass Harry by the first chapter.
I agree. I find the actions of the victim of the incident on the whole to be....stupid. He was always a 'get in, get the job done, and get out' sort of person. Here he was some stupid idiot flying about, taunting his opponent, who took perfect advantage of his arrogance. I'm sorry. That's so out of character for that person I can't even accept it.
I simply had far too much trouble accepting the 180 Rowling did on Sirius and James. I agree, it seemed to serve no other purpose than to shock us. For four books we have listened to everyone from Hagrid to half the wizarding world population telling Harry how wonderful his parents were. Well, apparently James was a jerk, Sirius was an arrogant snob, and Lily hated her future husband so much he had to try to bribe her to go out with him. Sure. After four books to the contrary, I can accept that. No problem.
Pffffffffffft!
Ohhhhhhh, I liked that, Un. 'The only good popular kid is a dead one'. Being popular, smart, or good looking does seem to target you as wand fodder in Rowling's world. I wonder how long before we find out Cedric was an undercover Deatheater who sold drugs?
Actually, the plot holes and errors already found by readers and listed on Mugglenet.com's web page are pretty good. But I agree about the Hermione and the house elf issues. In this story she acted like she had never even encountered one before.
I'm sorry. I found very little in this book that not only didn't enchant me as the others had, I was so bored by it I read it in four hours flat. Someday I may go back and dedicate more time to it, but right now I'm of the opinion, 'Why bother?'
Sadly, I agree. Ron went from being my least liked of the trio to being my favorite here. Why? He was the only one of the three that stayed the most in character from Book IV.
There was a lot that Dumbledore did here that I either read or heard about later that I have to wonder 'why' or 'where was he'. All in all, I felt he came across more as a doddering old fool in this book than any other.
Rowling keeps saying that what happened in Book V, especially the 'incident', had a reason. Well, she certainly has her work cut out for her in my opinion if she's going to try and pull all this together and have it make any sense at all, let alone be justified.
sweets: Thank you for the condolences, Dear.
And the birthday wishes.
Well, I have no intention of dumping poor Sirius in the RIP bin. And the writer poll out there seems to be split 50/50. Half are writing Canon while the others are explaining away the 'incident' as not being what it seems. If I acknowledged it at all, I would be in the latter category.
Good heavens, they've killed Spock, Kirk, and McCoy off so many times....and lets face it, if you wore a red security shirt, you were just phaser fodder.
Whenever Starship Enterprise sees danger,
When Klingons from the treaty go astray,
Whenever there's a slightly hostile stranger,
What is it Captain Kirk will always say?
Get....me...se----curity,
Those guys you always see,
They fight and die in almost every scene.
They fight and always loose.
That is the life they choose,
So Shatner's uniform stays nice and clean.
(To the tune of 'Those were the days my friend' for those of you who are interested. And my apologies for massacring someone's filk song. It's been a while since I sang this one. Don't remember all the words right.)
Why can't you go to Nimbus, Dear?
I would hesitate to call Orion clueless. A little single-minded maybe. The man knows what he wants and he's out to get it. (Over and over and over again.)
Men!
Pffffft!
FairyTale: By the way, FairyTale, I just got done with 'A day.....'. Review on the way.
Yes, Dear. De-Nile is a river in Egypt.
Yup. Four hours. And if you think you're confused, try reading the thing in four hours!
Ohhhhhhh! You got a playground? All I got in AU land was a hut with a computer in it! I want a playground!
Ahhhh, yes. The good old days of the first four books. Where we merrily let ourselves be led and deceived and we liked it that way! It was all harmless, child-like fun (well, with the exception of the ending of Book IV).
I'm with you. I felt the book was horribly predictable. The character 180 shifts were just annoying. Bad-ass Harry was irritating after just the first few pages, and the 'incident' was utterly pointless. All in all I got the feeling the Rowling decided from page one she no longer wanted to write a children's book and took off into dark literature with wild abandon.
She really did seem to go out of her way to make us dislike Sirius. Maybe she was setting things up so we won't feel so bad for him in the end. But again, as it has been said so many times, why bother creating, introducing, and developing such a wonderfully unique character only to........well, have the 'incident'.
The extreme she took it to to seemingly try to make us dislike Sirius' character in this book was indeed way overdone. One of the main reasons I waited so eagerly for this installment in the series was to get my 'Sirius fix'. And what do I get instead? A character I barely recognize, barely like, and totally don't understand. Personally, she can take ten years to write Book VI. It makes little difference to me at this point if what I have to look forward to is more of this.......stuff.
The slant on James' character was just right out. I'm sorry. For four books we have been spoon-fed what a wonderful person he was. I look over Kristen's pictures and THAT is how I picture James Potter. A good student who was well liked by his classmates, a hard worker, standing up for his friends, and a bit of a mischief maker. But according to Rowling's picture of him in Book V, he's a snobbish, stuck-up bore who enjoyed bullying anyone he felt he could get away with doing it to. And, according to Rowling, he had to practically bribe Lily to even look at him. Oh, yes, I understand all this.
Rowling does a wonderful job of hiding ANY emotion with Harry. You're right, I utterly missed the single tear, and the one armed hug could have been left out entirely and effected me just as deeply. I think the woman had an absolutely wonderful opportunity knocking her door down to establish one of the best relationships I've seen in books in a long time. And what does she do with it? Well....., you know. The 'incident'.
As for your opinions of my theories, I am steadfastly rejecting them. Sorry. They simply do not fit in with my hardcase denial right now.
Good heavens! You have faith in the woman. You think she could make this jumbled mess any MORE confusing than it already is? Personally, I feel she was reading too much of Audiaa 2's work. And that is by no mean a slant at Audiaa 2. I have read her stuff, and I think she produces some of the most plot intricate stories out there. But I expect to be confused by her stories. It's one of the things I like about them. The difference is that in the end she EXPLAINS things. And it makes SENSE.
Luna just sort of left me sitting there going 'What?' This was, in truth, one of those parts of the story I looked over briefly and moved on. What I know about her I have learned from listening to the rantings of others. But I'm still confused by her. Indeed, where did this new protagonist come from and why introduce her better than half way through the series? That just so does not work for me.
True, I never said you were right about Orion's children. But also, I never said you were wrong. I think I refused to comment.
Orion's children come up in a story titled (appropriately enough) In The Family Way and will likely be out after Family Relations. It is already in production and is partially in outline form.
Orion's boss isn't as bad as Voldemort? Don't put it past Orin Bale. The man did not get to his position by winning a popularity contest. Orin Bale could put the fear into any Deatheater and for him, morals just get in the way.
Ummm......I'm not sure what Charly being a muggle has to do with him not wanting Orion having a girlfriend either, Dear. Where did that come from?
Actually, Charly doesn't have the same view of what being partners means as Orion does. At least not the way I see him. Keep in mind Charly IS a muggle. He never will and never can see things the way Orion sees them. Now don't get me wrong. Charly does care about his partner. Probably a lot more than Orion realizes. (NO! Not that way. Get your minds out of the gutter. Honestly!) And he truly does see whatever is going on in Orion's personal life as becoming very distracting to him. A very dangerous thing in their line of work. And Charly is none too happy that whenever he asks Orion about it, his partner takes him for a few laps around the proverbial bush.
Nope. Sorry. It was always 'Katlin'. And what do you mean, '...how Orion will react to the last meeting with Katlin'? Are you talking about their dinner together?
Indeed, Orion has fallen and fallen hard for Voldemort's top Elite agent. Does Katlin feel the same? That's hard to say. You have to understand, and I'm giving you a little preview here, but based on her past, you are looking at a woman, likely in her early to mid-thirties, who has never once, in her entire life, been in love with anyone. And she has likely only loved three things in her life. Her parents, Voldemort, and that pendent. Men, to her, are a means to an end. Use them, abuse them, and loose them. That's pretty much her motto.
Ha! You're all waiting for Charly to find out who Orion is seeing? Have you considered the other side of that coin? What will Voldemort do when he finds out who 'daddy's little girl' has hooked up with? Poor Orion.
Tets is very cute. And a great deal of fun to write. I felt he was the perfect house elf for Orion. As you'll see in later chapters, and in Family Relations especially, anyone living with someone like Orion is bound to get corrupted eventually. So is it with Tets. He is far from your typical house elf.
The dragon is coming back soon, as will he be explained. No one so far is even close on that one for ideas. But then, if you were, I would be highly suspicious of my computer's security. Because you have next to no information on him as yet.
Yes, yes. I'm late. I know. Hard weekend. And I'm a year older. I'm slowing down after all.
Thank you, Dear. It was a very happy birthday.
Oh, well. Still disappointed with the book. *Sighs.* Truly the two greatest letters in the alphabet are AU.
Reviews are as of 07082003. If I missed you, you posted late or I just am not paying attention. Please let me know.