Substitution
Title: Substitution
Author: Izzi,luvmeanddespair
Rating: PG
Book or TV-verse: TV verse.
Characters/Pairing: Bob/Harry Preslash… Justin Morningway.
Summary: Some things can't be replaced.
Warnings: Unbeta'd. Morningway being bothersome.
Disclaimer: So not mine. Jim Butcher and SciFi.
Word Count: 569
AN: Continuation into that little verse started by Company and followed by "By any other name...", and The Hunt is Up!.
“…and so that was how the salts ended up all over the floor.”
Justin’s eyebrows remained raised and Harry shifted one foot to the other.
“Harry, you seem to have a very impressive skill of manipulating the things you come into contact with, but you won’t try this particular experiment again, yes?”
“Yes, Uncle Justin,” he murmured. “I was just curious because of all the talk of alchemic stuff Bob was going on about. And I-”
“Bob?”
Harry blinked and flushed. “Hrothbert.”
Justin grinned, shaking his head. “Well, Hrothbert did become Robert later on. And how does “Bob” take to his new name?”
Something twisted in Harry’s gut and he had trouble meeting Justin’s eyes.
“He…doesn’t mind that much.”
“How nice. Well. Off you go then.”
-----
“It’s an entirely different spell, Harry. The usage of that stone in its place will produce different results,” Hrothbert trailed off staring at the board.
“I know but, according to the book, it’s just another type of the same kind of thing, right? So why couldn’t we just substitute it for Emerald and-”
“One doesn’t just substitute, Harry Dresden, the sheer amount of danger switching elements like that in a spell is incredible. You won’t try it,” he added firmly.
“It’s a simple spell! What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Oh, I think we’ve already gotten wind of that-the cellar?”
“That was different! It wasn’t even the same element. This is. It’ll work, Bob!”
“For the love of all-”
“Harry…Bob,” added Justin sauntering in, looking amused. “What’s all the commotion?”
Hrothbert blinked in surprise and Harry shifted uneasily. Had their argument really traveled that far?
“Unbalanced substitutions,” Hrothbert replied after a moment.
“They aren’t unbalanced,” argued Harry, frowning. “It’s the same kind of element; it’s the intensity that’s different, so theoretically-”
“Theories can be built from straw but that doesn’t mean they’ll hold up in reality,” snapped Hrothbert. “It’s far too danger-”
“Oh, and you’d know all about things holding up in reality-”
There was a thick silence in which ghost and boy stared crossly at each other.
“Perhaps it’s time to take a break. Dinner, Harry, happens to be ready.”
Harry tore his eyes away from his teacher and nodded. “I’ll wash my hands.”
Justin turned to the ghost. “I think it would be best for you to return to your skull, Bob.”
“That is not my name,” muttered the ghost before promptly vanishing.
----
“Will you come out, Bob?” Harry asked the skull sitting on his bed. “Please?”
There was a stony silence. Harry sighed, laying down and looking up at the ceiling.
“I didn’t mean it…”
“You most certainly did,” snapped a slightly muffled voice.
“I didn’t mean it, mean it,” Harry tried again. “We’re still friends aren’t we, Bob?”
“I think that name is a bit ruined, now.”
“It doesn’t count when he says it! He doesn’t understand it. You’re only Bob to me,” Harry declared, sitting up and fixing the skull with a frown.
“You’ll always be Bob to me.”
A ball of fire floated out of the skull and Bob rematerialized at the side of the bed. Harry looked up and over at him happily.
“Hey, Bob.”
Bob rolled his eyes heavenwards. “Hello, Harry,” he conceded. “Now, why don’t you put Bob’s skull in its place.”
And so Harry did-on the desk to the right of his bed.
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