The Cookie Fairy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alcesverdes) wrote2007-08-15 01:16 pm
alcesverdes) wrote2007-08-15 01:16 pm
Entry tags:
[The Dresden Files (TV)] Choices
Title: Choices
Fandom: The Dresden Files (TV)
Characters: Bob, Harry, mentions of Justin.
Rating: PG
Length: +1000 words.
Summary: Our choices makes us.
Spoilers: For the episode 1x10 "What About Bob?"
Author's Note: Written for the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
dresdenflashfic 'secret' challenge.
“What do you know about the Spanish Inquisition?” Bob asks in a cold Monday morning.
“That no one expects it,” young Harry says as he begins to laugh.
Bob raises an eyebrow, inwardly wondering how in the world that's so funny. Still, despite of himself, the corners of his mouth twitch upwards. He likes to hear the boy laughing. Harry doesn't do it as much as he should at his age. But, then again, who could at this place?
So, Bob ignores the comment and proceeds with the lesson, getting Harry's attention by clearing his throat. Harry obliges, but he's still smirking.
“The main function of the Inquisition,” Bob continues, “was to secure no opposition for the Church, to stop heresy.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Harry asks. The way he does it makes it clear 'anything' means 'my magic lessons'.
“It has a lot to do. They thought wizards were highly heretical, for example. So they tried to exterminate them—us for centuries.”
“But they didn't.”
“No, they did not. But they did try. And tortured and burned alive many innocents that didn't have anything to do with the Arts just because there was a faint cloud of suspicion over their heads.”
Harry's eyes are wide open. “Why?”
“They thought wizards to be evil, and magic to be a gift by the devil himself. Some of them still think like that.”
Harry finally blinked. “But we're not, right? Magic doesn't come from the devil,” he says, thought it is more of a plead than a statement.
Bob's features soften. “Of course not,” he says, soothingly. “Remember our very fist lesson, Harry? Magic comes from the will and from life itself. Both of those sources are inherently good. If you must have the religious angle, those are God's more precious gifts to mankind: life and free will.”
Harry looks at a curtain at the other side of the room, musing Bob's words. After a couple of seconds, his eyes come back to Bob. “Then, why...?”
“Because they didn't understand and that scared them. Scared people can be very cruel.”
And they're scared also because there are wizards who at the end choose to do evil things, who don't care about who sees them nor who they can hurt, but Bob doesn't say that aloud. Harry is still too young.
Whenever Bob looks into Harry's too innocent eyes, he know that for him he'll always be too young to know about those dark, awful things.
Thus, whenever Bob thinks about the reasons Morningway is really grooming Harry for, a part of him the ghost didn't know he still had begins to hurt.
“My dad used to say the same thing,” Harry says suddenly. “That I'd to keep what I can do to myself, or people would be scared. Now you say scared people can be cruel. I get it now, but I still think it's unfair.”
Bob shrugs. “It most certainly is. Though animals also defend themselves as effectively they can when frightened. It's an universal truth—”
“I don't mean that. I mean, for the innocents that were burned alive. Why did no one helped them?” When Bob looks at them again, Harry's eyes show passion and anger as the ghost hasn't seen in a long time. “Are we really that selfish? What do we want magic for when we just keep it for ourselves? Specially if it has its roots in good things?”
Bob is startled by his pupil's outburst. More than that, he finds himself deeply moved by it.
It was true that most wizards are selfish; they pride themselves to belong to a Secret Society very few chosen ones can get into. They're so delighted to belong to something oh-so-elevated they don't care about the normal people. And when they do something to help the others, and even then they think they're doing a favor to those lowly creatures.
Bob knows all that far too well.
But he can't bring himself to say that to Harry. Not yet. He's too young. He's innocent.
He's a child. Just a child.
“I will do it,” Harry says. “I'm going to learn everything and I'm going to help people. Maybe I'll can even convince him we're not really that dangerous.”
He means it. The boy means every word of it.
The place where the ghost's heart should be aches, despite the impossibility of it.
“You're forgetting about the Council,” Bob manages finally, his voice as stern as possible.
“Screw the Council.”
“Mind your vocabulary, young man.” This comes naturally, but it doesn't make Bob feel any better.
“Sorry,” Harry says, though it's only a formality. “But even if they don't want to, I could bypass the Council, right? If I keep it a secret.”
Bob sighs. “Could be. Either way, that future you want is a very long way from here, and I'd advise you to learn how to walk before you can run.”
Harry smiles sheepishly. “Okay.”
“Very well,” Bob says and smiles back, but his is empty.
Bob wants time to stop. He wants Harry to remain that young and good and kind forever. He doesn't want Morningway to go on with his plans for the boy.
Bob wants Harry to go around helping people as he said he would.
The ghost notices it then; he wants Harry to do it with what he learned from the his teachings. That wouldn't be a proper atonement, but it'd be something. A start, even. Maybe.
Finally, something good could be achieved by Bob though the young boy in front of him.
Bob asks Harry to read the first book the ghost thinks of while he puts himself together.
He's being selfish too, thinking he could use the child for his own personal gain, just like Morningway plans to do.
Bob is revolted by himself. It's not the first time that happens, but it affects him deeply, because he also cares about Harry like he hasn't cared about anyone in a long, long time.
He looks at Harry, who is vehemently reading the book, frowning. They boy's already studying as hard as he can.
Bob decides then that the only fair thing to do is to let Harry to grow up to be his own person and make his own choices. Informed choices.
Harry will have to know everything before he's forced to decide.
Everything.
That is one of the reasons why, years later, Bob doesn't remind Morningway he's wearing the ring that belonged to Harry's father the day the boy comes back from his world trip.
Fandom: The Dresden Files (TV)
Characters: Bob, Harry, mentions of Justin.
Rating: PG
Length: +1000 words.
Summary: Our choices makes us.
Spoilers: For the episode 1x10 "What About Bob?"
Author's Note: Written for the
dresdenflashfic 'secret' challenge.“What do you know about the Spanish Inquisition?” Bob asks in a cold Monday morning.
“That no one expects it,” young Harry says as he begins to laugh.
Bob raises an eyebrow, inwardly wondering how in the world that's so funny. Still, despite of himself, the corners of his mouth twitch upwards. He likes to hear the boy laughing. Harry doesn't do it as much as he should at his age. But, then again, who could at this place?
So, Bob ignores the comment and proceeds with the lesson, getting Harry's attention by clearing his throat. Harry obliges, but he's still smirking.
“The main function of the Inquisition,” Bob continues, “was to secure no opposition for the Church, to stop heresy.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Harry asks. The way he does it makes it clear 'anything' means 'my magic lessons'.
“It has a lot to do. They thought wizards were highly heretical, for example. So they tried to exterminate them—us for centuries.”
“But they didn't.”
“No, they did not. But they did try. And tortured and burned alive many innocents that didn't have anything to do with the Arts just because there was a faint cloud of suspicion over their heads.”
Harry's eyes are wide open. “Why?”
“They thought wizards to be evil, and magic to be a gift by the devil himself. Some of them still think like that.”
Harry finally blinked. “But we're not, right? Magic doesn't come from the devil,” he says, thought it is more of a plead than a statement.
Bob's features soften. “Of course not,” he says, soothingly. “Remember our very fist lesson, Harry? Magic comes from the will and from life itself. Both of those sources are inherently good. If you must have the religious angle, those are God's more precious gifts to mankind: life and free will.”
Harry looks at a curtain at the other side of the room, musing Bob's words. After a couple of seconds, his eyes come back to Bob. “Then, why...?”
“Because they didn't understand and that scared them. Scared people can be very cruel.”
And they're scared also because there are wizards who at the end choose to do evil things, who don't care about who sees them nor who they can hurt, but Bob doesn't say that aloud. Harry is still too young.
Whenever Bob looks into Harry's too innocent eyes, he know that for him he'll always be too young to know about those dark, awful things.
Thus, whenever Bob thinks about the reasons Morningway is really grooming Harry for, a part of him the ghost didn't know he still had begins to hurt.
“My dad used to say the same thing,” Harry says suddenly. “That I'd to keep what I can do to myself, or people would be scared. Now you say scared people can be cruel. I get it now, but I still think it's unfair.”
Bob shrugs. “It most certainly is. Though animals also defend themselves as effectively they can when frightened. It's an universal truth—”
“I don't mean that. I mean, for the innocents that were burned alive. Why did no one helped them?” When Bob looks at them again, Harry's eyes show passion and anger as the ghost hasn't seen in a long time. “Are we really that selfish? What do we want magic for when we just keep it for ourselves? Specially if it has its roots in good things?”
Bob is startled by his pupil's outburst. More than that, he finds himself deeply moved by it.
It was true that most wizards are selfish; they pride themselves to belong to a Secret Society very few chosen ones can get into. They're so delighted to belong to something oh-so-elevated they don't care about the normal people. And when they do something to help the others, and even then they think they're doing a favor to those lowly creatures.
Bob knows all that far too well.
But he can't bring himself to say that to Harry. Not yet. He's too young. He's innocent.
He's a child. Just a child.
“I will do it,” Harry says. “I'm going to learn everything and I'm going to help people. Maybe I'll can even convince him we're not really that dangerous.”
He means it. The boy means every word of it.
The place where the ghost's heart should be aches, despite the impossibility of it.
“You're forgetting about the Council,” Bob manages finally, his voice as stern as possible.
“Screw the Council.”
“Mind your vocabulary, young man.” This comes naturally, but it doesn't make Bob feel any better.
“Sorry,” Harry says, though it's only a formality. “But even if they don't want to, I could bypass the Council, right? If I keep it a secret.”
Bob sighs. “Could be. Either way, that future you want is a very long way from here, and I'd advise you to learn how to walk before you can run.”
Harry smiles sheepishly. “Okay.”
“Very well,” Bob says and smiles back, but his is empty.
Bob wants time to stop. He wants Harry to remain that young and good and kind forever. He doesn't want Morningway to go on with his plans for the boy.
Bob wants Harry to go around helping people as he said he would.
The ghost notices it then; he wants Harry to do it with what he learned from the his teachings. That wouldn't be a proper atonement, but it'd be something. A start, even. Maybe.
Finally, something good could be achieved by Bob though the young boy in front of him.
Bob asks Harry to read the first book the ghost thinks of while he puts himself together.
He's being selfish too, thinking he could use the child for his own personal gain, just like Morningway plans to do.
Bob is revolted by himself. It's not the first time that happens, but it affects him deeply, because he also cares about Harry like he hasn't cared about anyone in a long, long time.
He looks at Harry, who is vehemently reading the book, frowning. They boy's already studying as hard as he can.
Bob decides then that the only fair thing to do is to let Harry to grow up to be his own person and make his own choices. Informed choices.
Harry will have to know everything before he's forced to decide.
Everything.
That is one of the reasons why, years later, Bob doesn't remind Morningway he's wearing the ring that belonged to Harry's father the day the boy comes back from his world trip.