A/N: Well, folks, here we are. At another one of those ' I just had so much darned fun writing this' chapters.
Some of you may debate the concept of 'fun' here, but mostly I just enjoyed doing this chapter solely because of the subject content. You see, I really like Hershel. He's a very intriguing character, and I hope after reading this chapter, you'll agree. He's got such great potential as a character, I have a lot of plans for him. But I felt that before I throw him into too many stories, perhaps I ought to explain him a little better. A bit of background, as it were, so that you can understand a little better who he is and where he came from and how he ended up as he is. And to also explain why, out of a whole planet full of people, Hershel is the only one who lays sole claim to the characteristic of being the only person Bo actually, personally, physically, dislikes. (A feeling Orion often mentions borders on 'hates', which is a near non-existent emotion for Bo.)
And if you think Orion is playing fast and lose with the truth in this chapter, well, he is...sort of. It's the same story as you heard in Enemies, with just a bit a new twist added in. It adds a few missing pieces to the story from Enemies, like why Bo was in the cellar to begin with. What Orion told Katlin wasn't the whole truth.
Also, due to length, you're getting this as a two part chapter. So, part A tonight, Part B next time.
And so, without further delay, past the disclaimer, dear readers, I give you Hershel Bennett.
And as always,
Enjoy.
Disclaimer: All characters of the Harry Potter series (hereafter known as 'legal property') are the sole ownership of J.K. Rowling (hereafter known as 'owner of said legal property'). No infringement on any copyright of owner of said legal property of the legal property is knowing intended. Published by author (hereafter known as 'other') for entertainment purposes only. No monetary or personal gain was knowingly made by other with the publication of this story, which was based on ideas and characters created by owner of said legal property as they pertain to legal property. No plagiarism of legal property or of any ideas of the owner of said legal property was knowingly intended by other. This statement is fully transferable and is legally held binding for all chapters of the story Family Relations as they are presented under different chapter headings and titles for individual chapters.
CHAPTER NINE - PART A: HERSHEL BENNETT
Orion sat in his study staring over a piece of parchment. But his mind was anywhere but on the paper before him.
Harry had only been with him now for several days, and already the teenager had managed to almost completely upend his otherwise stable, ordered life.
He was a good father. He handled children well enough. So why was one teenager driving him right up a wall?
"Orion?"
Orion shut his eyes as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. But he finally turned about in his chair to face his ward.
"What is it, Harry?"
"I'm not bothering you, am I?"
"No, Harry. Of course not. I'm just doing some work. What did you need?"
"Well, I was wondering..."
Whatever Harry was curious about, Orion never found out. Suddenly an alarm began to ring throughout the house. It wasn't loud, but Orion paid it very close attention. It rang for a few seconds, but then shut off abruptly as another sounded off in its place.
Orion quickly grabbed his wand off the table and drew a quick circle in the air with it as he spoke a spell.
Instantly the circle flared to life and became a glowing sphere that hung in the air before him.
Harry tried to move closer to see what the glowing orb showed, but Orion dispelled it before he could see.
"What in the name of Magic is he coming here for?" Harry heard the Unspeakable whisper as Orion grabbed his arm.
"Come with me, Harry." He stated quickly, dragging the teenager behind him.
Harry followed, but none too compliantly. Not that it seemed to matter. With the grip Orion had on his arm, he was going to follow whether he wanted to or not.
Abruptly Harry found himself out in the foyer. "Where are we going?" he asked quickly. "What's happening?"
Orion directed the boy towards the cellar door.
Seeing where he was headed, Harry instantly dug his heels in. He remembered the cellar all too well, and he wanted no part of it or it's sole occupant.
But all his physical protest went without notice as Orion opened the door and shoved him inside.
"I need you to stay in the cellar, Harry." Orion stated as the teenager turned about to face him. "Use your wand to illuminate your way to the bottom. The stairs will disappear as soon as you reach the ground. You remember how that works."
Indeed he did. And he didn't like it one bit.
"But Orion, the boggart...!" Harry stated with alarm.
"...is the reason I want you to stay in the cellar." Orion quickly explained. "Bo will take care of you. But you need to stay in the cellar. And you stay there!" Orion emphasized. "This is no game. You do as I say. All right?"
"But why? What's going on?"
Three more alarms had gone off. Each one louder than the one before it.
Harry suddenly felt something brush against his skin. Or more, settle right over it. Like a cold, wet blanket. He gave an involuntary shudder as he looked around the foyer.
"I can feel...it feels like Dementors are close by." Harry turned a panicked stare to his guardian. "What's happening? Are Dementors attacking the house?"
"That would be preferable." Orion answered as he glanced over his shoulder.
"To what?"
Orion turned a steeled stare to him. "To who is coming." he replied in a stoic tone. "Harry, you stay in the cellar until I come to get you. Bo can shield you. But you must stay in the cellar. You understand me?"
"But who's coming?" Harry asked. "Is it Voldemort? The Deatheaters?"
Harry barely caught the answer as the door slammed shut.
"My uncle."
Orion stood alone now in the foyer as a black cloud of wind arose from the floor. It circled about like a small cyclone, effecting nothing else in the open area and not so much as disturbing the air around it.
When the cyclone calmed and the wind faded, in the aftermath of the entrance stood a tall man dressed in black. But it wasn't just black. It was as though any light around the man fled from him, and the darkness left behind formed the cloths about his body, but left no clear lines. His face was angular, without a single curve to soften its appearance. The jet black hair was short and contemporarily styled. His overall build was of a man who took good care of himself. But the look on his face was anything but pleasant.
"Always a nice entrance, Uncle Hershal." Orion commented.
The man made no reply, but instead looked about the foyer before his two coal black eyes settled on the younger man before him.
"You've been keeping secrets, Orion." he spoke finally, his voice filling the foyer like black velvet. "That isn't like you."
"I'm an Unspeakable, Uncle Hershal. That's exactly like me. Now, did you have a specific one in mind or should I just start listing them until we come to one you like?"
The figure looked about again. "You are keeping young Harry Potter in your house."
Orion kept silent. He knew from experience it was always a far better route to take with Hershel Bennett than actually trying to argue with the man.
"Well?"
"You sound like you already have your mind made up on that, Uncle Hershal."
"I know he is here."
"So he is. What interest that is of yours is my interest."
"Who gave custody of that boy's keep over to you?"
"My brother. The boy's legal guardian."
"Why?"
"Harry needs watching for a few days."
The man took a long, slow breath, sounding like someone who was fighting just to breath.
"Why does the boy need protecting?"
"Because Voldemort has issues with his being alive right now."
"Issues?" the man questioned, tilting his head slightly in curiosity.
"He finds it annoying, and he'd like him to stop doing it."
"If the boy needs protecting, he should have been given over to me. I can protect him far better than anyone."
"He's fine where he is, Uncle Hershal."
The man reached out a hand. "Surely your brother must realize..."
Abruptly a tall, black, cloaked figure appeared behind Orion. Two robe covered arms draped over the man standing in front of the tower of black robes.
The older man took a quick step back. "What is that creature doing here?" he stated in a tone that sounded very much like alarm...or severe dislike.
"You know how Bo is, Uncle Hershal." Orion commented without otherwise moving in the slightest past a slight shrug. "He was probably curious as to what was going on."
The man's agitation was clearly growing at an astonishing rate. "Take that thing away! Now!" he demanded.
Orion set a hard stare on the man before him, completely unperturbed by his tone. "Bo is my friend, Uncle Hershal." Orion stated calmly, but leaving no room for discussion on the matter. "He is allowed anywhere in this house he pleases to go."
The man set a solid stare on the younger wizard. "And you would do well to stop treating that thing like it was some...pet! Has life taught you nothing about it? Experience?" The man gestured to himself. "Look at me! I am this thing because of that creature. Because of what it did to me."
"Oh, stop it." Orion stated in disgust. "You are what you are because you've chosen to remain that way. Bo offered to undo the spell. You refused."
"Let that creature experiment on me further?"
"Bo did what you ask." Orion answered stoically.
The taller man slowly turned to the creature behind Orion, who had never once made the slightest move to relinquish its protective stance. "You think you are immune." he stated in a low voice. "You think you have power. But you are nothing. And the day will come when I will have my vengeance on you, creature. And that is a day I live for in my misery."
Orion noted silently that Bo's only reaction to Hershel's warning was to tighten his embrace around him slightly. He wasn't processing the words as a threat to himself, but to the man he was protecting.
Instantly the black cloud rose up again, engulfing the man, and just as quickly dieing away again.
In the aftermath Orion stood still draped by the boggart's protective arms. But as soon as the man was gone, Bo flew into a flurry of action. He quickly spun about until he was standing in front of Orion, flying through a series of wild gestures.
Orion faced the whole onslaught with a bemused smile. Finally he just shook his head.
"Why do you always go on so about him?" he asked the boggart.
The tower of black suddenly stopped and leaned forward slightly. If he had had a face, he would have been eye level with Orion now.
"Father and I both understand what happened, Bo." Orion pointed out for the hundredth time. "And neither of us blame you. It was Hershal's own ambition that got him into this. You did just what he asked. Good boy."
The boggart quickly shifted to the shape of a large black dog sitting before Orion, happily thumping his tail on the foyer tiles.
"Oh, stop it." Orion lightly chastised him. "Sirius has the family pets covered."
"What did happen to him?" A small, soft voice ask.
Orion turned about to see Harry poking his head cautiously out of the cellar door.
"What did I tell you?" Orion stated firmly.
"But he's gone." Harry reasoned. "And Bo's out here."
Orion sighed to himself. He was too tired to fight a curious 15 year old's reasoning skills.
"So who was that?" Harry asked.
"I already told you that." Orion answered, crossing the foyer with the black dog following closely at his heels. "That was my uncle. My Uncle Hershal, to be exact."
"But you said you didn't have any uncles." Harry replied, hurrying after him as Orion headed down the hallway back to his study.
"Well, I don't really." Orion gave the dog an irritated stare. "Will you do something else, please?" he ask.
The dog paused, then shifted into a small black cat.
"Oh right. That's better." Orion commented as he continued into his study with the cat and Harry at his heels. But as he took a seat at the desk, Orion noted that Harry kept a respectable distance from the cat.
"You don't need to be afraid of him, you know." Orion pointed out. "Bo won't hurt you."
"Just like in the cellar?" Harry asked warily, keeping his eye on the small animal, which had, upon entering the room, launched itself into Orion's lap.
Orion scratched the animal under its chin absently as he turned his attention to his nephew. "Did he hurt you?"
"He scared the daylights out of me! And Ron!"
"He's a boggart!" Orion protested for his friend. "That's what he's suppose to do!"
Harry studied the cat for a moment. "He doesn't seem very scary right now." he commented curiously.
Orion picked the cat up and looked it over for a moment, then turned it around to face Harry. "It's black." he stated imperiously. "What more do you want?"
"What's he even doing in the house?" Harry ask. "I mean, why have a boggart?"
Orion had gone back to scratching the cat. "I told you. He's sort of a family pet."
"He just doesn't seem like much of a boggart now. Shouldn't he be trying to scare you instead of purring in your lap?"
"Well," Orion replied carefully, "Bo isn't your average boggart. He's...a bit more sophisticated."
"Sophisticated?"
"That's all you're getting, Harry." Orion warned gently. "Subject closed. Just don't feel you have to whip out a banishing spell around him. It'll just irritate him." he added with a mischievous smile Harry was none to comfortable with.
"What of he tries to scare me again?"
"Tell him to stop."
Harry gave his uncle an incredulous look. "Just like that? Stop?"
Orion nodded. "Just like that."
"And if he doesn't?"
The mischievous smile came back in an instant. "Tell him you'll rat him out. He'll stop."
"Rat him out?"
"To Bo that means you'll either tell me or my wife. Either one, he knows he's in a mess of trouble."
Harry seated himself on the arm of the large, plush sofa. "So what did happen to your uncle?" he ask.
Orion sighed to himself as he considered answering the question. He would like to have just dismissed the subject and been done with it. But Hershel had shown an interest in Harry. That was bad. And he knew where he was. That was worse. The boy needed to know what he might be up against one day should Hershel pursue his whims to get his hands on the boy.
"Actually, it's a very long story, Harry." Orion began. "One that, oddly enough, involves Bo."
Q&A
Family Relations
Hug-me:
Well hey, the man ain't an Unspeakable for nothing. Staying one step ahead of peple is his job.
Glad you enjoyed it, Dear.
Althea:
when are we meeting the family?
Which family, Dear? Orion's? Not in this story. You don't get to meet his family until a story called In The Family Way. As for Orion's parents, ditto. Not in this story. That is in a one shot called (oddly enough), Meeting The Parents.
MasterLupin:
Well if you insist, I'll give a psychological prediction. I believe that while Harry is sitting in the jail cell (his room) he will wonder 'if Sirius' stay in Azkaban was similar to his current situation, in this room, just more dank and longer.'. This will lead to him thinking about Sirius and how he might be feeling right now. In turn resulting in Harry feeling bad for Sirius and wanting to see him or contact him again to reasure him that he is alright. He will then formulate a plan involving the use of the spell he learned from Ron and the motorbike. The plan may or may not involve trying to make Orion relax his now oversenistized gard, by asking to learn about hs new famliy. The plan almost works but just as he starts the bike the house elf being his usale spy self cast somespell and blows out the tires of the bike resulting in a minor acsadent, mainly Harry falling off the moving bike and scraping the side of his body baddly. Leaving Orion realising that Harry 1. has to much free time to be doing stupid thing 2. needs to learn first aid because he endsup patching up Harry; Harry having poorly implemented muggle means of first aid. THATS MY GUESS AND I'M STICKING TO IT.
You put serious thought into that, didn't you, Dear?
I'm very impressed.
And even though it's not stated in the form of any sort of a question, I'm still putting it in here because I'm just so darned impressed with the thought process, I wanted to share it with others.
However, ummmmmmm...no. Actually, since I never delved into what Harry was thinking about while he was in his cell (room), I can't say that part of your theory is totally wrong. However, from the part where he leaves the confides of the four walls of his cell (room), yeah, you're pretty much right out.
Sorry.
fwuzzfwuzz:
Actually, I have mentioned (warned) several times that Sirius is not in this story very much...sort of.
And I'm pretty sure you'll be shocked, Dear.
Fever
SBR:
Dear, you are very easy to please.
But thank you just the same. I am glad you liked the story and I appreciate the review, even if the main part of it was simply to vent your excitement. I'm pleased to see that finding one of my stories gets anyone that excited. Sort of how I feel when I find that Susan Krinard has put out a new book.
All reviews are as of 08/21/2005.
And remember;
Surgery - August 25th.
Expect delays and save yourself the disappointment.