Plot Bunnies

Harry Constantine

John Constantine was sitting around the living room in the House of Mystery and staring at his keys. He had taken to doing so over the last few days because he had noticed something odd.

“John, why do you keep staring at your keys?” Came his girlfriend Zatanna's voice.

“He isn't staring at his keys, he is staring at one of his keys,” Corrected his longtime acquaintance/ friend, Jason Blood.

“Ok, one of your Keys but why?” Zattana asked again.

“Have I ever told you how I got the House of Mystery?” John asked instead of replying.

“I've heard so many different stories over the years but you never confirmed any,” Zatanna said confused, John nodding at her words.

“When I was a kid, I went trick or treating. I was the weird kid. Not many friends, more allies that banded together against bullies. I wasn't afraid of taking a hit, so I sort of became the leader of our little group. Anyway, bullies attacked us, stole our candy and ran into this old abandoned house,” everyone stared at him in shock when he waved his hand to indicate this house. “Everybody thought the house was creepy. I just thought it looked lonely. We followed the bullies into the house. Well, I followed them and my group followed me. The house was lonely. It helped us get our candy back, scared off the bullies and I found a beautiful skeleton key to add to my collection,” John finished matter of factly.

They both stared at him dumbfounded before simultaneously shrieking, “You found the house as a child?!”

“I think she found me. Sort of. You have all met Orchid. Do you believe she is sentient?” John asked.

“Well, yeah,” Zatanna replied confused as to where he was going with this and how it related to why he was staring at his keyring.

“If she is sentient, then she is a person. If she is a person, then she has a people. She can't be the only one,” John mused.

“Why did I never think of that?” both Jason and Zatanna asked again. They were getting a lot of shocks that night. Nevermind those shocks were only the beginning.

“I didn't either. Not until I saw this,” He said, holding up his keyring. The house key was attached to a smaller ring that was itself attached to the main key ring. There was an empty ring attached to the Houses ring.

“See this ring around the House's key ring? It wasn't there when I put it on this keyring and I can't remember when I first saw it.”

“How did that translate to more sentient houses?”Jason asked incredulously.

“Orchid is the spirit of the house. It's conscience. I think the key is her soul. Own the key, own the house... Orchid, can you come here please,” John called out.

He held up the key. “Are you pregnant?” He asked, to everyone's shocked disbelief.

“Once a hundred years, a House can form another. This time it is my turn. The new House will continue to grow until it must separate from me. Or we both will die,” Orchid replied in her soft monotone voice.

“How will we know when that will be?” John asked, worried for his House.

“When the key is formed. The key will be entrusted to a new owner while outside of me. The House will be there when he reaches for it,” she explained in that strangely beautiful, if monotone, voice.

“Who will take the key?” Zatanna asked curiously.

“The next Keeper will be the child, dying on the front step,” she said, expressionless. 

They all stayed still as they absorbed what she was saying, before they all bolted for the front door. They were in what appeared to be a picturesque snow covered village. The house had bent space around itself to fit where the back fence of two backyards would meet. The front of the House faced the backdoor of a house that looked identical to the ones either side of it. They had been in this spot for a while, it seemed. The steps leading up to the verandah were covered in snow.

Curled up beside the doorway was a small rag covered lump. The lump was covered with snow. John stared at it incredulously for a moment before rolling it over to see a tiny boy, not much older than five, turning blue from the cold. Hurriedly he took off his coat, wrapped the boy in it and brought him inside. As he was rushing to the living room and its warm fire, he instructed Orchid to move them to Bruce’s backyard. Zatanna was opening doors for him and he assumed Jason was fetching Batman and whoever usually healed the Bat.

Placing the boy on the couch nearest the fire, he magiced off his frozen rags and wrapped him in a warm blanket.

• Magics off the frozen clothes
• Wraps him in a blanket and puts him on the rug in front of the fire
• Calls Zatanna, Batman and (Doctor)
• Batman cause he adopts kids and should know how to deal with one
• Doctor tells him that harry is malnourished and has some untreated wounds
• Dog bite from ripper not healed and infected.
• How old was he? 7?
• Someone asks where is here anyway and why did the house appear here
• Black orchid - the house - says the boy's magic called her here.
• Finds out his identity as Harry Potter
• They decide that as he was locked out in the snow that the Dursleys are unfit guardians
• Get Dursleys to sign over custody in response to no charges of neglect
• Dursleys say he is only protected as long as he lives with his mothers blood, and they are only protected if he lives with them
• “I want to see that letter”
• “It's about the blood, not the boy. If you take a vial of his blood with you then technically his blood is living with you.” The doctor takes a pint of blood from Petunia and a vial from Harry.
• John takes Petunia's blood and casts a preservation spell on it, putting some in a fancy vial.
• Puts fancy vial on a chain and puts it around harry's neck.
• “There. He will carry his mothers blood wherever he goes.”
• Everyone decides that John needs to be the one to take care of him
• Harry grows up in the house of mystery
• Taught magic by Zatanna and john
• Taught fighting by batman
• Taught estate management by alfred
• Has older ‘cousins’
• The bat kids