Chapter One: All Parents Welcome

Author note: This story is part of the Magical Flashpoint Side Story series. It follows "Be Strong and Very Courageous" and comes before "Blessings".

Although all original characters belong to me, I do not own Flashpoint, Harry Potter, Narnia, or Merlin.

"Did you guys hear?" Shawn asked loudly, ducking around a crowd of first years as he caught up to Lance and Alanna. Lance turned to look at the younger boy, his red hair a mess and pale gray, almost silver eyes flicking between the siblings. The fourth year had been one of the first to welcome Lance and Alanna to the school back when they'd first moved to Toronto.

"Hear what?" Alanna inquired, tossing her head to get an errant lock of hair out of her eyes and hefting her backpack up to sling it over her shoulder. "We were out of town this past weekend."

Lance snorted in the background at his sister's dry understatement.

Shawn, not noticing the look on Lance's face, grinned at her, a faint hopeful look in his eyes that Alanna carefully ignored; she liked Shawn as a friend, but not as anything more. "We're organizing a dueling tournament for the whole school," he announced, fairly bouncing in his excitement.

"The whole school?" Lance echoed, a doubtful expression on his face. "What about the first years?"

"Huh?"

Alanna frowned, glancing between Shawn and her brother. "Wouldn't the first years be outmatched?" she cautiously clarified.

"Ooohhh," Shawn realized. "Oh, no, every year has its own bracket."

Twin confused looks were cast at Shawn.

"Didn't Hogwarts have a Dueling Club?" Shawn asked, one slim brow going up.

Lance cocked his head to the side. "I think they had one the year before I started, but not really." A shrug. "Not enough teachers for clubs like that." Sapphire eyes focused on Shawn. "Never gone to the club here, but I've heard you talk about it."

"So have I," Alanna agreed. "But I've never heard of a school-wide tournament before."

Shawn nodded vigorously. "They did one three years ago, but the year you guys moved here, we didn't have enough people in the club to set things up for another tournament. Same thing last year, but this year, the Defense teacher volunteered to help out and get a new tournament rolling." A wide grin crossed the redhead's face. "We're hoping to get enough people interested in dueling so that we can do this again next year."

"Good luck," Lance drawled, checking his watch.

Shawn's face fell a little bit. "You guys aren't coming?"

The siblings traded looks. "We'll see," Alanna decided. "It sounds fun, but, well…we'll see, okay?"

The redhead brightened. "Okay!" Almost bouncing again, he added, "See you guys later!" and arrowed off to class. Behind his back, the siblings traded amused looks; Shawn's enthusiasm reminded them of Uncle Spike, though he sported a temper worse than the pair had ever seen from Uncle Spike.

"See you later, brother mine," Alanna murmured, giving her brother a small grin as she veered off as well.

Lance smirked at Alanna's back, making a mental note to find out a few more details about this…tournament. It did sound like fun.

Alanna appeared after school, waving a flyer she'd gotten from the school's Defense teacher. "Got the details on that tournament Shawn was telling us about," she chirped.

"Is it like he said?" Lance queried as he tried to get a look at the wildly waving piece of parchment.

"Pretty much," Alanna replied, shoving the parchment at her brother. "He left out the best part though."

Lance's eyes lit up as Alanna pointed to what she'd seen. " 'Parents welcome'. That means Uncle Greg can come!"

Alanna paused, a wistful expression crossing her face. "Hey, Lance?"

Looking up from the flyer, Lance cocked his head to the side at the look on his sister's face. "Sis?"

"Did Mom and Dad ever come to Hogwarts to see you do stuff?"

The older teen shook his head. "No, they didn't," he replied, a sad note in his voice. "Sis, Hogwarts isn't like here; there aren't enough teachers for all the clubs and other things we have here." A thoughtful look crossed Lance's face. "Not sure if there are enough students either…never thought about it when I was there, but they really only have Quidditch and a few other small clubs."

"And Hogwarts only teaches magic?"

Lance made a face. "That's right," he agreed unhappily. "Remember when we first got here and Uncle Greg almost had to get me a tutor?"

Alanna grimaced. Lance hadn't been the only one who'd almost had to get tutoring in techie subjects; he'd just been further behind than her. Team One – along with Aunt Sophie and Aunt Shelley – had stepped into the gap and helped the two get up to speed that first summer. "Anyway," she hastily changed the subject, "I was thinking, we could do the tournament and maybe show Uncle Greg around the school after we're done. I mean, I don't think he's ever gotten to see the whole school."

Lance tugged the parchment out of his sister's hand, reading it over again. "Friday, Saturday, Sunday…well, that makes sense if they're inviting the whole school. Would we be on the same day, do you think?"

Alanna craned her head and Lance held the parchment so she could read it. "We could ask," she offered, a note of disappointment in her voice when they saw that the parchment didn't list any details.

"Maybe they haven't decided yet," Lance pointed out. "They probably only just started advertising." The teen folded the parchment and swung his backpack down to tuck it away. "We can at least tell Uncle Greg about the tournament and see if he wants to come."

"A dueling tournament?" Uncle Greg asked in some surprise when the kids brought up the tournament over dinner. "Couldn't the students get hurt?"

Lance and Alanna traded looks; Lance took the lead. "The Dueling Club does formal dueling, so there's rules on which spells can be used and limits on how far a duel can go. Plus, Shawn's told us that at least one of the school Healers comes to every meeting, so I bet they'll all be at the tournament, just in case."

Partway through, Uncle Greg started nodding. "So, it's a bit like a karate competition, am I right?"

The siblings considered. "Close enough," Alanna decided. "I mean, it's not exactly the same, but…"

"Easy there, mia nipote," Uncle Greg teased. "I get the idea." Their uncle idly twirled his fork through the risotto dish he'd taught the kids to cook a few months prior as he thought. "You two want to do this?"

"I'm not sure I want to join the Dueling Club," Lance admitted. "But the tournament sounds kind of fun. Since it's the whole school, I don't think we'll be outmatched or anything like that."

His sister giggled. "I want to see the first years," she snickered. "They don't know enough magic yet to really duel for real, so their matches are going to be hilarious."

Lance choked on his own laughter. Taking on a dramatic tone, he announced, "Disarmament, Wingardium Leviosa (1) style!"

Alanna gave into gales of laughter, grabbing onto the table to keep herself from falling. "Maybe you should be the announcer," she teased. At their uncle's bemused look, she added, "It's hard to duel when you haven't even learned the basic dueling charms yet."

A snort erupted as Uncle Greg got the picture. "Creative spell use time, then?" he offered, earning more laughter from his charges. As the laughter died away, he observed, "That does sound like a sight to be seen. Which days is this going to be again?"

Lance darted away from the table, retrieving the flyer and bringing it back. "Mostly over the weekend," he reported. "Less school disruption that way."

"Understandable," Uncle Greg agreed, taking the flyer. "Hmm, not many specifics on here, are there?"

Alanna cleared her throat. "Shawn said each year gets its own bracket, but I can see how the champion of, say, the first years might get to join the second year bracket. So, um, probably the first and second years at the very least on Friday and the sixth, seventh years on Sunday. Almost certainly the fourth, fifth years on Saturday, but I'm not sure about my year."

Uncle Greg nodded thoughtfully. "So, possibly late Friday, early Saturday or both," he clarified, arching a brow.

The siblings traded looks, then looked back and nodded once.

Uncle Greg nodded again, almost to himself as he studied the flyer and tapped his fingers on the table. " 'Parents welcome, tickets available' …hmmm." After a minute of thinking, he looked up and asked, "Could you two get tickets for the rest of Team One?"

Wide-eyed looks were traded. Tentatively, Alanna asked, "What about Aunt Sophie and Aunt Shelley?"

A regretful return look. "I don't think the Wordsworth girls are old enough to come to something like this and Clark still doesn't know about magic."

"We can ask," Lance offered, though he gave the flyer a doubtful look. Greg understood. School event, with parents galore milling around…there might not be room for 'extended, semi-adopted' family.

"Well, give it your best shot and if they say 'no', they say 'no'," Greg soothed. "I'll keep quiet until you two get back to me, all right?"

"You got it, Uncle Greg," Alanna replied, her enthusiasm restored. Her brother simply nodded his own acknowledgment, a scheming glint in his eyes.

The next day, Lance waited until after class to approach the Defense teacher. "Professor Gregson?"

Professor Gregson, a mild-mannered middle-aged teacher with a faint scar across one cheek, dark blond hair, blue eyes, and looks that had most of Lance's female classmates sighing after him, looked up. "Can I help you, Mr. Calvin?" he inquired.

"Yes, sir," Lance replied, pulling out the flyer for the tournament; Professor Gregson lit up at the sight of it, beaming at his student. "I was wondering if my sister and I could get a few extra tickets if we sign up for this?"

"Extra tickets?" Professor Gregson questioned, curiosity flaring across his face. "For more than just your parents?"

Awkward now, Lance brushed his hair back. "Well, we live with our guardian, but we've got a couple family friends who might be interested in coming…"

"Ahhh, say no more, I understand," Professor Gregson broke in, beaming once more. "Certainly, all your family friends are welcome to come." The congeniality fell away as he leaned forward. "Of course, I assume your guardian and these family friends are our kind of folk, yes?"

Caught off-guard, Lance blinked, tilting his head to the side in unspoken query.

A serious expression crossed the professor's face. "That is to say, they do have magic, don't they?"

[1] Latin for 'lift up high'