Dresden Files/Bob/#34. Garden
Title: Daydream Believer
Fandom: The Dresden Files (tv-verse)
Characters: Bob, young Harry
Prompt: 34. Garden
Word Count: 745
Rating: G
Summary: Bob introduced young Harry to a different sort of magic.
Disclaimer: The Dresden Files do not belong to me; just passing through.
Table: Here There be Ghosts.
"Now then," began Hrothbert of Bainbridge as he inscribed a series of glowing letters upon the air on his own ethereal chalk board. "Today's lesson touches upon the benefits and consequences of one's actions. Cause and effect. Sit up, Harry. You're slouching again."
Harry looked at the ghost's ramrod-straight back in surprise. How does he do that? Can he see through the back of his head?
Reluctantly, the boy sat a bit straighter in the desk chair and tried to focus his attention on the magical formulae his teacher was preparing. A very long, detailed, drawn-out formulae.
As the ghost's cultured voice resumed its preamble to the lesson, Harry's gaze drifted once more to the study's high windows and the world beyond. It was a beautiful summer afternoon out there, just beyond the glass. Butterflies drifted by on radiant, multicolored wings while fat bumblebees droned and lazed about the myriad flowers in the estate's formal garden.
Chin drifting down to rest on his palms, Harry's imagination began to wander. He imagined himself outside on the thick green lawn, running barefoot on that silken carpet under the bright summer sun. As the shadow of an airplane glided by, he envisioned himself a mighty sorcerer, robed in black and silver, raising an ornate staff of power to the sky and commanding the Terrible Dragon to be gone from his valley and trouble his people no m---!
"HARRY!"
Harry jumped, nearly toppling backward out of his seat at the voice so close to his ear. Looking up, he found Bob towering over him, arms folded across his lean chest, his expression stern.
"Am I keeping you from some pressing engagement elsewhere, Master Dresden?" he asked in that silky, dangerous tone that all teachers excelled at.
"Yeah. I mean, no! No! I just thought …" Harry sighed, withering under that piercing blue gaze. "Um … no."
Bob arched a pale eyebrow. "No?"
"No … Sir," Harry amended.
Bob frowned slightly. The honorific was not what he had meant. In honesty, he could not fault the boy's daydreaming. Given the choice, who wouldn't prefer to be out enjoying a sunny summer's day rather than find themselves confined to a gloomy study being droned at by a stuffy old ghost?
"Today's lesson," he reminded his student, albeit a bit more kindly.
With a sigh, Harry reached for the heavy leather-bound tome that had been set out for him.
Bob extended a cold, spectral hand, staying him before he could open the cover. "Not that one." Raising his gaze to the nearest bookcase, he nodded and said, "The second volume from the left. Fourth shelf, if you please."
Without enthusiasm, Harry slipped out of his chair and went to retrieve the requested volume. It was a much lighter book, bound in soft worn leather and inscribed with gold lettering.
"No, don't sit down," said Bob before the boy could resume his seat. "You may take the book outside and read it there. Chapters one through five, if you please, by tomorrow afternoon. More if you feel so inclined." The ghost narrowed his eyes at the startled boy. "There will be a discussion. And a quiz."
"You want me to go outside?" Harry looked at his mentor with suspicion. "You're giving me the afternoon off?"
"I am giving you an assignment. Chapters one through five. Outside was merely a suggestion. How slow or how fast you read them and where are entirely up to you. Just as long as they are completed by the morrow."
"I can take it outside? Really?"
"If you would rather remain here-?" began Bob, as if he would change his mind.
"No! No, I'm good!" Harry tucked the book under his arm and fairly ran toward the wide study door. An afternoon off! In the sun! And all he had to do was read a couple of stupid chapters?
But of what?
For the first time, it occurred to Harry to actually read the title. The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of la Mancha, said the book.
Puzzled, Harry turned back toward the room. "What kind of magic is in here?"
Bob stood at one of the windows, pale hands clasped behind his back as he gazed out upon the sunlit garden beyond. "The kind that can transport you to places far beyond any that you have ever experienced." He glanced briefly over his shoulder at the boy and the book. "It is called literature, Master Dresden."
Fandom: The Dresden Files (tv-verse)
Characters: Bob, young Harry
Prompt: 34. Garden
Word Count: 745
Rating: G
Summary: Bob introduced young Harry to a different sort of magic.
Disclaimer: The Dresden Files do not belong to me; just passing through.
Table: Here There be Ghosts.
"Now then," began Hrothbert of Bainbridge as he inscribed a series of glowing letters upon the air on his own ethereal chalk board. "Today's lesson touches upon the benefits and consequences of one's actions. Cause and effect. Sit up, Harry. You're slouching again."
Harry looked at the ghost's ramrod-straight back in surprise. How does he do that? Can he see through the back of his head?
Reluctantly, the boy sat a bit straighter in the desk chair and tried to focus his attention on the magical formulae his teacher was preparing. A very long, detailed, drawn-out formulae.
As the ghost's cultured voice resumed its preamble to the lesson, Harry's gaze drifted once more to the study's high windows and the world beyond. It was a beautiful summer afternoon out there, just beyond the glass. Butterflies drifted by on radiant, multicolored wings while fat bumblebees droned and lazed about the myriad flowers in the estate's formal garden.
Chin drifting down to rest on his palms, Harry's imagination began to wander. He imagined himself outside on the thick green lawn, running barefoot on that silken carpet under the bright summer sun. As the shadow of an airplane glided by, he envisioned himself a mighty sorcerer, robed in black and silver, raising an ornate staff of power to the sky and commanding the Terrible Dragon to be gone from his valley and trouble his people no m---!
"HARRY!"
Harry jumped, nearly toppling backward out of his seat at the voice so close to his ear. Looking up, he found Bob towering over him, arms folded across his lean chest, his expression stern.
"Am I keeping you from some pressing engagement elsewhere, Master Dresden?" he asked in that silky, dangerous tone that all teachers excelled at.
"Yeah. I mean, no! No! I just thought …" Harry sighed, withering under that piercing blue gaze. "Um … no."
Bob arched a pale eyebrow. "No?"
"No … Sir," Harry amended.
Bob frowned slightly. The honorific was not what he had meant. In honesty, he could not fault the boy's daydreaming. Given the choice, who wouldn't prefer to be out enjoying a sunny summer's day rather than find themselves confined to a gloomy study being droned at by a stuffy old ghost?
"Today's lesson," he reminded his student, albeit a bit more kindly.
With a sigh, Harry reached for the heavy leather-bound tome that had been set out for him.
Bob extended a cold, spectral hand, staying him before he could open the cover. "Not that one." Raising his gaze to the nearest bookcase, he nodded and said, "The second volume from the left. Fourth shelf, if you please."
Without enthusiasm, Harry slipped out of his chair and went to retrieve the requested volume. It was a much lighter book, bound in soft worn leather and inscribed with gold lettering.
"No, don't sit down," said Bob before the boy could resume his seat. "You may take the book outside and read it there. Chapters one through five, if you please, by tomorrow afternoon. More if you feel so inclined." The ghost narrowed his eyes at the startled boy. "There will be a discussion. And a quiz."
"You want me to go outside?" Harry looked at his mentor with suspicion. "You're giving me the afternoon off?"
"I am giving you an assignment. Chapters one through five. Outside was merely a suggestion. How slow or how fast you read them and where are entirely up to you. Just as long as they are completed by the morrow."
"I can take it outside? Really?"
"If you would rather remain here-?" began Bob, as if he would change his mind.
"No! No, I'm good!" Harry tucked the book under his arm and fairly ran toward the wide study door. An afternoon off! In the sun! And all he had to do was read a couple of stupid chapters?
But of what?
For the first time, it occurred to Harry to actually read the title. The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of la Mancha, said the book.
Puzzled, Harry turned back toward the room. "What kind of magic is in here?"
Bob stood at one of the windows, pale hands clasped behind his back as he gazed out upon the sunlit garden beyond. "The kind that can transport you to places far beyond any that you have ever experienced." He glanced briefly over his shoulder at the boy and the book. "It is called literature, Master Dresden."