A/N: Yes, yes. I'm back.

Sorry for the delay, folks. It's been a hard month.

First I got sick. That took a while to get over.

Then we had that little visit from Hurricane Charley.

You know, I have seen hurricanes. Seen tornados, the no-name storm in the early 1990's, high wind, pouring rain........folks, I have seen it all.

But I have never........never seen the likes of this. The storm itself went right through the heart of my home town. In fact, the eye went right down the main boulevard and right over our house. We lost trees, limbs by the hundreds, moss everywhere. When the storm was over we had an oak tree ripped up by its roots that missed my apartment by literally inches and took down another tree as it fell. You could not see the grass of the lawn in my parents yard because the debris taken down from the trees by the storm was so thick. My poor 16 year old cat, who we thought was safely locked in the utility room, rode the storm out outside. We have no idea where she was. But she came running up to me as soon as it was over, looking for comfort. Poor thing.

My brother had ten friends come over the next day and they worked with us through the weekend to clean up. By Monday night we had a pile in front of the house that is two houses long (about 100 yards), eight feet deep, and in places ten feet high.

We lost power for three days. Some still do not have power.

Yes, this storm was every bit as bad as Andrew.

But we survived, and no one was hurt, and that is what counts in my book.

I appreciate you all hanging in there and patiently waiting for me to post. I will try to get back on schedule, but it will take time before things are back to normal in my area.

So please bear with me,

and as always,

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Not mine. Well.....sort of mine....parts of it anyway. The rest, not.

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE: WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'CAN'T'?

Katlin sat stiffly in the chair in the Headmaster's office. Although she was looking at the papers on the desk before her, she wasn't really seeing them at all., She could hardly, in fact, even concentrate on anything being said to her as the anxiety of what she was facing continued to build within her with each passing minute.

A slight pressure on her shoulder brought her fully back to the present.

"Katlin, are you all right?"

Katlin turned to see Orion staring down at her in concern.

"What?" she asked.

"I asked if you were all right."

"I'm fine." Katlin replied, turning back to the desk and trying once again to focus on what was going on around her.

"Did you hear the Headmaster, Love?" Orion asked.

"Hear.......what?" Katlin's head snapped up to see Dumbledore smiling amiably at her.

"Katlin, are you sure you're up to this, child?" he asked her.

'Up to this'.

The words hung before her.

Was she really ready to have the Memory Charms removed? To see finally what lay behind the spells?

Katlin closed her eyes. Orion had promised she wouldn't go through any of it alone. That he would be there. That he would answer any questions she had. And so far he had kept to that promise.

But to learn it all? And so quickly. That she wasn't sure she was ready for that at all. Some of her memories were coming back already. But they came back in small pieces, and often didn't make a lot of sense to her sometimes. Often she wasn't even sure if the things she remembered were real, or just something her mind created out of the threads of her fragmented memory.

All in all, it was horribly confusing for her.

"Katlin?"

Katlin looked up at the Headmaster again.

"Are you ready?"

Katlin paused briefly, but then finally nodded with a small smile.

"Very well." Dumbledore said. "Now, because the last Memory Charm placed on you was put there by Orion's boggart, we will need him to remove that one first. So, if you would?" Dumbledore stated, turning to the man standing behind Katlin.

Orion paused for a moment, then called "Bo."

Almost instantly the tower of black robes appeared in the room.

Despite the fact Orion had assured her she had nothing to fear from the creature, Katlin still couldn't help but pull back slightly from the boggart.

"Bo," Orion said to him, "you placed a memory Charm on Katlin."

The boggart made a quick series of gestures in the air before him.

"Yes, the one I ask you to do." Orion agreed with what the boggart had said. "I want you to remove that spell now, Bo."

Katlin braced herself to have the first spell removed. But instead the boggart erupted into a series of gestures.

Orion watched the boggart as Bo went through his gestures, the frown appearing on his face deepening with each gesture.

Finally the boggart finished and stood silently in front of Orion, whose frown hadn't disappeared or lessened one bit.

"What do you mean 'you can't'!?" he stated sharply.

The boggart launched into another series of gestures.

Orion watched him carefully, then sighed quietly as he shook his head.

"Bo, I never asked for that." Orion replied. "I misunderstood what you were asking."

The boggart only stood silently before him.

"All right." Orion stated, realizing Bo wasn't going to give any further explanation unless prodded. "'Why' can't you remove it?"

The boggart answered with a few gestures.

Orion's face fell at the answer. "I never ask for that." he repeated quietly.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Black?" Dumbledore's voice broke the silence that settled in the room.

Orion slowly turned to the old wizard. But it was Katlin on who his gaze finally fell. "Bo says he placed the Memory Charm, but that it was a 'special spell', designed to do what I.......what Bo thought I ask. He thought I wanted a spell that would allow Katlin's memory to slowly come back over time."

"Come back over time?" Dumbledore ask. "Why would anyone want a Memory Charm that would fail over time?"

"So they could come back." a quiet voice answered.

Dumbledore turned to Katlin. "Miss Griss?"

Katlin looked up at the Headmaster. "I remember," she stated, "I went to meet with Bo...just before I came to see you."

"Meet with him why?" Orion ask.

Katlin turned to him. "I'm not sure." she replied. "I only remember meeting with him. And he ask me, if I could come back, would I want to? I told him 'perhaps'. Then he reached out and touched my forehead. The next thing I knew, I was outside the grounds of Orion's house. I didn't think anything more of the incident and went home. But that must have been when he placed the spell on me to make the Memory Charm fail."

Orion turned to the boggart. "Bo, is what Katlin said true?"

The boggart paused, then made a small gesture in the air before him.

Orion rested his fingers against the bridge of his nose. "All right, so what we have is a Memory Charm that can't be removed."

"At all!?" Katlin ask with a slight rise in her voice.

Orion sighed to himself. "Bo says if the Memory Charm is forcibly removed, that it could damage the person."

"Damage?" Katlin ask. "Damage how?"

Orion gave her a small, humorless smile. "Bo doesn't understand death as such." he explained. "He refers to it as 'damage'."

"Then what are we going to do?" Katlin replied. "If we can't remove either of the Memory Charms, what can we do?"

"Well, Bo says the Memory Charms will fail by themselves over time."

"How much time?"

Orion cringed slightly. "Well, that's a bit harder of a thing to nail down with Bo. He's not real good with the concept of time."

"Can't he estimate?"

"He just says 'over time', Love. He doesn't give any particulars. But you're already remembering things. So the Memory Charms must be starting to fail even now."

"Well then, "Dumbledore stated, "I suppose all we can really do then is wait."

"Wait!?" Katlin exclaimed. "But....what am I suppose to do in the meantime?"

Dumbledore gave her a comforting smile. "I would suggest 'learn'."

"Learn?"

"About your past. And I suspect Mr. Black will be a most willing and excellent teacher."

Q&A

Nessie:

Well, sorry for being late as well, Dear.

I am glad I fail to disappoint you. Thank you.

Is one of the reasons Sirius and Orion don't get along because he is dating (?) a Deatheater? Well, that is certainly contributing to the problem, yes. But you're circumstances aren't quite right. In other words, Sirius isn't upset because Orion is 'dating' a Deatheater.

Well, she's angry, yes, dear. But more than anything, Katlin is confused by all that's happening around her. she knows there are things she doesn't know, 'pieces of the puzzle', as it were, and the only people who can fill in those blanks are the very people she was taught most of her life to distrust and hate. Gotta cause some problems for her.

Tricking Bo is not the hardest thing in the world to do.

I simply could never get into Tom Felton, sorry.

A lot of people see peter as just another version of Neville. I never saw him as that for some reason. I always saw him as just the 'last in line' of the Marauders. I mean, everyone seems to keep forgetting Peter was a Marauder. He was James, Sirius, and Remus' friend. They trusted him enough to entrust their lives to him. People conveniently forget that.

And it is for that reason I hated how he was portrayed in the movie. They seemed to go out of their way to make him look evil and untrustworthy.

Indeed, they left a lot out by never explaining the Shrieking Shack and what it's real use was. And true, they never did explain how Lupin knew what the map was or how to use it.

Gary Oldman does little for me and always has.

If they don't shave that mustache by the Sixth movie I think I'll scream. I never saw anything in the book that ever indicated the man had a mustache. And Rowling was very good at describing her characters.

Yeah! What was with all those tattoos!?

I thought by the end of the ride, in the book, he was actually getting comfortable riding Buckbeak?

I'm still trying to figure out the horse and carriage snow scene in the second movie.

OK. Questions. Where is Voldemort and what is he doing? I'm proud of you, Nessie! No one else even seemed to look at that twice. And I tried to make it a point of the chapter. Unfortunately, as that that is a part of the story coming up, I can not tell you if you are right or wrong. But I will say this, if he is off doing what you suspect, consider the 'why'. It figures a great deal into the story as well.

Yes, we are close to the end. Then on to Runaway, then Family Relations.

Ah, Wisconsin. Where they still do things the old fashion way.

Silverfox:

Not as cute as you might think, Dear. Aside from Talon, Dumbledore probably has the next best idea to exactly who and what Bo is and what he is really capable of. For this reason, Dumbledore keeps a close eye on the boggart whenever he's around.

What does Dumbledore really think of Orion's boggart? See above. Dumbledore knows the potential of the creature, and he is weary of it. But he also knows that potential could go either way, being used for good or evil, all wrapped up in the mind of a child. So he treats the boggart much as Orion does. As a friend when possible, and with caution always.

Yes, Dear, there is, in fact, a 'Bo story' in the works. But don't look for that until next year sometime.

Hershal is indeed an interesting character. He is an immensely powerful wizard, and the one-time partner of Talon Black. However, Hershal's notoriety isn't due so much from who he is, as from what he's become, which was courtesy of Bo. Hence, the two are irrevocably tied to each other.

But yes, Bo immensely dislikes the man. One of the few people ever to claim that dubious honor.

And it is not for what Hershal has done that Bo dislikes him. It is for what the man is.

When it comes to thinking ahead, Charley is definitely the front running horse in the race between the two partners. But lets give Orion a break here. He's in love, and that can tend to make one a bit short-sighted.

I doubt you would mercilessly harass one of my characters with no reason, Silverfox. I'm just saying poor Katlin can't possibly have the big picture. She's missing too many of the pieces.

(PAR lays out a trail of blueberries leading to her review page.) Yeah, that should do it.

Skahducky:

Yes and no, Dear.

'Yes', there is more to what Treaks is planning than Katlin knows, and 'no', that has not been told to the reader yet.

It isn't that Katlin is or isn't aware of all that Treaks is up to. The main point in the last chapter was that she was guessing about most of it. The fact that she got lucky was based on 1) coincidence, and 2) the fact she based those guesses mostly on what Orion told her.

Is Katlin going to tell Voldemort everything? She has to find him first.

You think it would be that easy? Just remove the Memory Charms? That would be way to easy for Orion. Now, not only does he have to sit and wait, he has to explain things to her. And yes, the conversation, which comes next chapter, runs both sides of the street. It is both funny and sad in places.

Your question about Voldemort I can't answer directly due to that being part of the story.

FAMILY RELATIONS

James and Lily 4eva:

Please don't explode, Dear. It's so messy.

Family Relations should be up before the end of the year.

But no promises.

FAMILY LIFE

ZanyXany:

The story is being sequeled, Dear. Should be out before the end of the year, although you can't really hold me to that.

FEVER

TeenTitansGirl:

Well, you were in the minority, Dear. Not many people caught on to the cookies.

so far, Harry is still going by Harry Potter. Adding 'Black' to his name, as Sirius pointed out, was merely a formality and to afford him a certain amount of protection.

I am glad you enjoyed the story, Dear, no matter how cliche it might have seemed.

All reviews are as of 08222004.

And remember;

I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was going to blame you.