A/N: Well, according to R/R, I can still put these in, they just can't be longer than the chapter itself.

So, with that said, and that this is somewhat short chapter, let me just say,

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 SEVENTEEN: AFTERMATH

Orion entered the Headmaster's office to much the gathering he expected when Dumbledore had called the meeting. To one side of the room sat Hershel Bennett, his chair situated as far from anyone else's as comfort dictated. In his injured state Hershel wasn't as capable of reigning in his Dementor abilities as he usually was. So certain precautions were necessary.

Next to him, likely the only other person who could have tolerated the man's close proximity, was Orion's father, sitting defensively next to his former partner. Despite all that had separated them, Talon was still unfalteringly loyal to his one time partner. And as one of the side effects of his own inherent status as Host to the 'Power', he could tolerate the unsettling effects of what Hershel had acquired from the Dementor side of his nature.

Next to his father was an empty chair, presumably for him. Not that it mattered how close or far the chair was from Hershel. Orion knew for a fact that Bo could shield him with little trouble from Hershel.

In the next chair, set further apart from the empty one, was Arabella. Next to her sat Voldemort, and finally Snape.

"Please come in, Orion." Dumbledore gestured to the vacant seat. "We were just getting started."

Orion took the offered seat without a word, sitting down slowly as he felt out Bo's presence. But when he didn't sense any, he quickly turned to his father. Surely Talon had to be employing Bo on some level to be able to sit so close to Hershel without any ill effects.

But it was Hershel who answered his stare. "Do you honestly think I would allow that creature in this room?" he ask, never once turning his full attention to the younger man. "Or allow it even anywhere near me?"

"That fails to explain how anyone can be sitting in this room." Orion pointed out. "You're not strong enough yourself to reign in your powers."

"Mr. Bennett explained the...problem...to me." Dumbledore answered. "Setting up the necessary precautions was not difficult."

Poor Bo.

Orion often wondered if Bo honestly understood Hershel's feelings towards him. If he felt them as a simple unpleasantness or the downright hatred the man harbored for the boggart.

And of course, Hershel wasn't exactly sitting in the clear with Bo, either. As Orion had explained to Harry, Hershel was the only person Orion knew of for who the boggart had expressed a direct dislike.

"As we are all aware," Dumbledore cut into his musings, "last night Mr. Bennett was attacked by parties yet unknown. But if the evidence is correct, it points directly to this having been the work of the wizard in the north. That being the case, Mr. Bennett is in the unique position of being the only person to have ever survived such an attack."

"Because they were careless." Hershel put in. "They came with the intention of killing me. Black's arrival stopped them. They made too much of a sport of it. Took too long. I'm sure when they returned to their esteemed master," Hershel added with the barest trace of a smile, "they had some very serious explaining to do."

Orion quickly turned his attention tot he man to his right. "What do you mean my 'arrival stopped them'?"

Hershel gave a slight shrug. From the look that briefly crossed his face, it was more from pain then anything else that he cut the action short. "More Katlin's arrival than yours. I did not, after all, call you. I called to her."

Two chairs down a new voice joined the conversation. "You called her?" Voldemort stated. "What do you mean, you called her? No insane, deranged, half-Dementor controls my Deatheaters."

"I didn't call one of your useless Deatheaters. My object was to survive, not bring in more help to get me killed. I called your Elite. Specifically the one Elite I knew could and would help me."

"You have even less control over my Elite." Voldemort pointed out sharply. "And slim to none I would wager over that particular one."

Hershel was now leaning his left elbow on the arm of his chair, his head casually resting against his left hand. "Would you care for a demonstration?" he ask in an almost bored manner.

Talon attempted to bring the verbal sparing match to an end. "Hershel, this is getting us nowhere. Our time to find and stop this wizard could be very limited."

Hershel seemed to consider his former partner's words, then nodded slowly. "It could have been interesting though." he pointed out. "Perhaps another day, Mr. Riddle." he added, turning to face Voldemort. "Perhaps I shall pay a visit to one of your lairs."

"Your presence would be a minor irritation to me. Nothing more." Voldemort sneered back at the man, snapping back at what he considered the improper use of his name.

"Really?" Hershel actually smiled at the taunt, something Orion knew was a warning flag with Hershel. "I suppose we'll just have to see then. But tell me, how much use will it be for you to be the leader of a pack of screaming lunatics?" The smile slowly spread. "Or, as I have heard tell, are you already?"

"And you are more than welcome to try, you sad, pathetic excuse of a creature. My Deatheaters would make even better sport of you than these others did, with the sole exception they will be sure to finish the job."

Orion was sure the taunt would strike home with Hershel. But the man instead merely took to studying his nails for a moment. "Or perhaps I'll end up doing the Ministry a favor," he replied. "Once I'm done with your Deatheaters, it shouldn't be much trouble for them to herd a pack of mindless, drooling idiots to Azkaban."

"If your so sure of your abilities, Bennett," Voldemort shot back, "you'd have come long before now. You were once an Auror, weren't you?"

Orion could practically feel the air in the room drop several degrees. Knowingly or not, Voldemort had pressed the wrong button with Hershel.

"An Unspeakable even." Voldemort went on, unheeding of the look Orion gave him to veer off his present course of attack. "But it seemed the Ministry had issues with keeping you in that position, didn't they? My understanding was that they couldn't control you any better than you could control yourself. So they dismissed you from your post."

Orion waited for the explosion, sure as he was it was coming. But after several seconds he chanced a quick glance at Hershel. The man was still sitting in his chair, apparently making no move at all in retaliation to Voldemort's taunt.

That was worse.

One thing Orion knew all too well about his father's former partner, he never forgot or forgave a slight against him. In the room, Orion would have had a chance of heading off any attack Hershel threw at Voldemort. Not knowing where or when it would come made it that much more difficult to deflect.

"Gentlemen." Dumbledore spoke up. "Fighting among ourselves gets us nowhere. To defeat this wizard, we must stay united. If we are not, we will undoubtedly fail in our goal."

"Your goals are your own, Dumbledore." Hershel commented in a low tone that echoed his physically well masked emotions. "I am no part of this venture of yours."

Orion turned to the man. "This wizard's people came to your house and nearly killed you. You're telling me you have no feelings about that one way or the other?"

Hershel slowly turned towards the younger man. "I will deal with these vermin in my own way." He replied with a deceptive calmness. "And in my own time."

"Then why are you here?"

"I am here at Dumbledore's request."

Orion tried to hide his surprise, He was sure it had been his father who had coaxed the man to help them. To his knowledge, Hershel owed nothing to Dumbledore. And Hershel Bennett was not well known for trading favors for free, as he himself could well attest.

But Dumbledore was eager to get the meeting back on its track without further delays. "As was already pointed out, Mr. Bennett is the only victim of one of these attacks to have actually survived it. He, therefore, is an invaluable source of information about them. He has agreed to help us by describing as much about these people as he can. Something that may prove very useful to us later on."

"I'm afraid you over-estimate my contribution, Dumbledore." Hershel replied. "Most of my time during the attack was not spent taking notes. I was fighting for my life against these people, not interviewing them."

"Anything at all you can tell us may help." the Headmaster prompted. "Please."

Hershel sighed as he settled back in his chair, fixing his attention on some area behind Dumbledore's desk. "They came near nightfall, but it was still light out. So they had little concern of being seen. Either that or they didn't care. Either way, they were not lacking in confidence in their attack. Nor was it a poorly planned assault. My attackers knew what they were up against and they came well prepared. They countered most of my defenses and eventually managed to breech all of them."

"Why didn't you call the Dementors?" Orion ask.

"I told you. These people were well prepared. First they caught me off guard by a direct frontal attack. They then isolated me from any help. They cast a spell that prevented me from calling for any help. The only call I managed to get past the ward they constructed was the one to Katlin. How, I don't know. I didn't even know if she heard me until I suddenly realized my attackers were beating a hasty retreat."

"Wait a minute." Orion put in. "They were leaving as we arrived?"

Hershel gave a slight nod. "Katlin came in the front door almost as the last of them left."

"Why?"

Hershel's head turned to the younger man. "What?"

"Why?" Orion repeated. "Why would they leave just as we arrived?"

Hershel seemed to consider the point. "I had never thought of it that way." he admitted slowly. "But as soon as you arrived, from my calculations, they knew you were there. And the leaders of the group sounded an instant retreat. They couldn't, in fact, get out of the house fast enough that night."

"But why? That makes no sense. We were just two people. It couldn't have been fear. If they weren't afraid of you, why would they fear us?"

Hershel's brow furrowed deeply across his forehead as he considered the question again. Finally he turned his eyes back to the younger man.

"I don't know." he replied finally.

"Well we'd bloody well best find out." Orion stated. "Because whatever it was they were afraid of, it may be our one weapon against them."

Q&A

FAMILY LIFE

AJ-PlayswithFyre:

Several reviews here.

Personally, I'm surprised not more people caught that one. It was one of my better lines in this story.

I loved writing that chapter. It was purely for fun and I had a lot working on it.

I don't know what it is about my stories and computer classes, but they seem to be read in there a lot.

Thanks for reading.

FAMILY RELATIONS

MoonyPadfootJr:

Great chapter, as per usual, but I was wondering and maybe I missed it... What are the kids names that you mentioned earlier in this chapter, and are they Kaitlins and Orions? Sorry I'm a bit slow.. lol

Whose the children actually are hasn't come into the story yet...or better, that story hasn't been posted yet. It's a semi-cute little piece called In The Family Way.

As for the children themselves, they are Thomas (the oldest at the grand old age of 16), whose sole goal in life seems to be to teach Orion and Katlin that raising a teenager really is the same as trying to nail Jello to a tree.

Then comes the first girl, Lucy, who is 14 and is everything a teenaged girl should be. In other words, she is moody, temperamental, believes most boys are carries of some horrible disease and should be avoided at all costs, does not have nearly enough cloths, has parents who will simply never understand, and needs a larger allowance and the right to date by next Friday or the world will likely end.

Next comes Justin, who is 13 and idolizes his older brother. If Thomas is in the middle of it, Justin isn't far behind.

Then there is Vincent, who is 8, and is basically happier sitting in a corner with a book than just about anything in the whole world. Of the five, it is Vincent who takes to Bo the best, and vice-versa.

Lastly we have the baby of the group, little Katy, who is all of three and very proud of it, thank you very much.

I hope that helps you out, Dear.

Skahducky:

What happened to Hershel? Is this part of the plan to kill Orion? The Death Eaters probably know about Katlin's opinion of Hershel, and since they know that Orion and Katlin are together on some level and Orion considers Hershel an uncle, they might figure that Orion would come with Katlin to help him. Perhaps the plan is wait until they leave with Hershel so they can attack while Orion is distracted with keeping Hershel safe? Did the wizard from the north cause the attack?

Also, why isn't Voldemort telling Katlin his plan about Orion? He doesn't know that they're married and really in love with each other, so why would he hold back?

It was nice to get to see Orion and Katlin's kids. Anyway, this is a great chapter. Please update soon!

What happened to Hershel? I thought that was obvious, Dear. He got the you-know-what kicked out of him. And in all honesty, it wasn't a fair fight. It was fifteen to one. To be fair, Hershel should have let them go find a few more, then come back. I mean, it did take them the better side of an hour to get him down.

Was the attack on Hershel part of Voldemort's plan to kill Orion? No. Voldemort had nothing to do with that, as this chapter showed. That attack was planned and carried out by the wizard in the north (to answer your second question), not the Deatheaters. Liked your reasoning though. Very well though out theory.

Actually, very few people know about Katlin's connection to Hershel (Well, a few more after this chapter, but what they hey!). Until this chapter, they were Hershel, Katlin, Orion, and Dumbledore. No one else.

Why is Voldemort holding back? Well, that's actually due to a little background that probably slipped by. It was in the story, but not in any bold type or anything. More of one of those 'between the lines' things. The point is, Voldemort doesn't trust Katlin right now. HE isn't sure where her loyalties lay and hasn't for a very long time. At this time Katlin is more of a 'free agent' than anything. She still leads the Elite and the Deatheaters in Voldemort's stead, but she has a few issues with Voldemort's policies as of late. In the past few years since his attack on Harry as a baby, she has watched the man she loved and admired so much slowly change. (Surely being hit by the backlash of a killing curse has got to scramble a few brain cells, no?) She has watched him become a cold, ruthless man bent on one goal. To kill what to her is an innocent child. And so to occupy her time while she watches to see where this goes, she stays with the Deatheaters, watches out for Voldemort, tries to keep him a bit more in line, raise her family, and still have dinner on the table by seven, even if it is take-out that night.

Glad you liked the kids. For a more detailed listing, see the answer above.

CelticHeiressFiona:

Thank you, Dear.

MasterLupin:

Yes jumps for joy I out thought you hahahahah. Ok now that I have that out of my system. As it is we don't have enough info on who attacked Hershel. So I am going to asume that it play to the bigger plot of the misteries man in the north. I will need the next chapter however to make another prediction.
About the authors notes. FFN stated awhile ago( back in the summer I think, ahh summer...) that authors may nolonger creat chapters of just authors notes. I belive that they are still alowed in a chapter however.

Fair is fair, Dear. You earned your gold star (). Wow! Haven't given one of those out in ages!

OK, you have your next chapter. Let have that prediction.

Well now, that's what confuses me. I have never put up a chapter of just Author's Notes. I did do one once of just review answers and got my hand slapped for that. What buggers me is I ask for why my account was frozen and FFN never answered, so I have no idea what I did wrong. It was suggested my Author's Notes ran long in one chapter and someone complained. I suppose I will never know exactly what the infraction was since FFN won't tell me.

All reviews are as of 03/12/2006.

And remember;

You know that indestructible black box on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?