*So this idea has been in my head for a few days. I grew up with Charmed. It has been my favorite show since I was about ten years old. I'm going to let this all out of my brain before it explodes…

"Charm Morris?" Professor Benet called from the roster, and I looked up from where I was drawing a perfect set of hands on the back of my new French notebook. The first name had caused a jolt in my chest and I immediately began to think about my mother and my aunts; the Charmed Ones.

"Is there a Charm Morris in this section?" Professor Benet called, looking around the lecture hall. A girl sitting five rows in front of me waved her hand and then stood up.

"Are you the note taker for this section?" I heard the Professor ask as the girl approached. I stopped drawing and watched a caramel coloured young lady walk up to him, nodding. The rest of their conversation was drowned out by the continuous flux of students into the lecture hall. I wasn't sure why, but I couldn't stop looking at this girl, curiosity overcoming me. I closed my eyes for a second and tapped into my powers to intensify my sense of hearing, until I could hear her voice. She sounded…sweet, much like the caramel her skin reminded me of. She had long hazel braids, which were held up in a neat ponytail, swinging at the middle of her back when she nodded her head, speaking something in French to Professor Benet. All I understood was, "Yes, sir," before he thanked her in English and she turned to walk back to her seat. I stopped intensifying my hearing, as I was beginning to fall out of focus and get a headache from the myriad of conversations going on around me. I rubbed my temples and winced; I was still trying to learn how to master that power. I sometimes had trouble turning it off.

"Wyatt!" said my roommate, walking up the aisle and pausing when he saw me.

"Ty," I said, motioning to the seat beside me. He slid in past me, thanking me for saving him a seat.

"Meet any hot girls yet?" he asked me. I chuckled.

"Day one, Ty, and you're already on the prowl?" I asked. "Day one, first semester of college. You're unbelievable," I laughed. He'd been my buddy since high school, and was now rooming with me at the University of San Francisco. I couldn't believe I'd been sitting in a jam packed lecture hall for ten minutes straight without having to worry about a demon attack, but then again, I don't know why I was so surprised, the hall was jam packed. I could see Charm sitting down front just five rows away from me. I hadn't taken French since seventh grade; I was going to need those notes.

"Dude, you need a haircut. You look like a lion," Ty said, bringing my attention back to him. He playfully pushed his hand through my hair and I backed away.

"Hey, I'm not a dog," I said.

"You sure? 'Cause you really look like one to me now." That was Ty, the joker. I laughed anyway. It was still hot, not quite the end of summer, and I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. We'd had Labor Day off, but already I couldn't wait for the weekend so I could take a visit to the beach.

"Hey," Ty whispered, as Professor Benet finally started speaking, asking the class to settle down.

"Do you think you could cast a spell so I can finally get a decent girlfriend?" Ty asked me. I laughed, though I knew he wasn't joking.

"I'm serious," he whispered. He was that good of a friend, enough that he'd known for almost a whole year that I was a witch. He'd never turned his back on me or been reluctant to stay friends because of it, something my mom, and aunts, had always tried to warn me about, to make me careful of how much I reveal myself to others. I knew they never meant to discourage me from having what my parents always called "a normal life," but at times I felt so alone and so limited. It was nice having a little brother like Chris to practice magic around, or use magic on, but I wanted someone my age to talk to about it; someone to enjoy the experience of growing into my powers with. But I had Ty and he didn't mind, so it wasn't all bad.

"Personal gain," I said, looking ahead at Professor Benet and finally giving him my somewhat undivided attention. I heard Ty complain.

"How is it personal gain?" he whispered furiously, causing the girl in the seat in front of us to look back for a second.

"Hi," he said. The girl smiled and waved.

"Hi," she said.

"Well, there you go," I whispered from the corner of my mouth. I tried to pay as much attention as I could, believing that college would be the most difficult task I'd ever taken on, not that vanquishing demons from my crib was that big of a deal. But all the professor talked about was his background, that he had been teaching at USF for two years, he went over the syllabus, explained his expectations from us as a class, and then sent us on our way, but not before letting us know we were starting right on chapter one by the following class. As soon as I was done putting my notebook in my backpack, Ty was having a conversation with the girl who'd been sitting in front of us. I rolled my eyes, imagining him dumping her within the first week of dating her. I walked down the aisle, stuck behind tons of students. When I finally got to the front, I paused and went up to Professor Benet, who was once again speaking with the girl who'd approached him at the beginning of class. They were having a conversation in French. Something told me the girl was too fluent for French 100.

"You look lost, tall sir," said Professor Benet, who was just a bit taller than me at around 6'8".

"Oh, uh no. I just wanted to ask about note taking. I think I'm going to need some help in this class. I haven't had French since middle school and I'm minoring in it."

"Oh of course!" said the Professor, gesturing to the girl.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Charm," she said, extending her hand to shake mine. I took it, smiling genuinely. When I looked down into her eyes, they were a warm honey brown that made me feel like eating chocolate. She was sort of small, svelte like a dancer, but her handshake was firm and confident, the hand so small in my own.

"I'm taking notes for this class. I'm a freshman, but my mom is half French so I can pretty much teach it myself," she explained, although she didn't sound like she was trying to brag by saying so.

"Ah, you've come to the right place, sir," said Professor Benet, shifting the beret he was wearing with a warm smile.

"Oh, I'm a freshman, too," I explained, placing my hand over my chest. Charm looked like she didn't believe me for a minute as she gazed up at me. I had a tendency to be taller than other people.

"Tu es très grand!" Professor Benet exclaimed, and I didn't need a refresher in my French to know he was talking about my height. I laughed, and then Charm laughed and it was, in fact, a charming sound.

"I know, I get it from my dad," I said.

"Well done. I don't think you'll need those notes as badly as you think," said Professor Benet, crossing his arms with a satisfied look on his face.

"Oh, I'm just kidding," he said, waving a hand nonchalantly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you…" he trailed off, shaking my hand.

"Wyatt. My name's Wyatt Halliwell," I said.

"Well, Wyatt," Charm began, "I'll be putting the notes up on the website daily after classes. So if you do need them, they'll be there. The address is in the syllabus."

"Thank you," I said. Charm smiled and nodded as I walked away, the lecture hall suddenly stark empty. There was something about that girl that was familiar. I couldn't quite place it…

By Friday, it was sweltering. It never really got too hot in San Fran, but this summer was unique. I was in my car, on the way home for the weekend. I knew my mom was going to be angry with me for coming back after barely a week, but I missed my dog and my little brother, and I wanted to go to the beach. Not to mention, my dorm room was on the top floor and it was painfully uncomfortable to sleep in that room some nights. Ty had stayed back; he had a date with that girl who was sitting in front of us. I shook my head and laughed at the thought of him. I knew what he'd be up to while I was gone for the weekend. As I got lost in my thoughts, I wasn't paying as much attention to the speed limit as I should have been, and the next thing I knew, there was a cop car blowing its horn behind me, the lights flashing.

"Shit," I said to myself, slowing down and pulling over. I sighed with frustration and let my head fall back against the seat as the cop car parked behind me and a guy got out, approaching slowly. I rolled my window down, letting the AC out to allow the officer to speak to me.

"How are you doing this fine, sweltering day, young man? Do you have any idea how fast you were going, son?" said a black guy with sunglasses on which made him look reproachful and dangerous at the same time.

"I'm sorry sir," I said politely, trying not to get bothered. All I wanted to do was go home for the weekend.

"I'm gonna have to give you a ticket," he said, finally pulling something out of his pocket.

"License and registration please," he said in a bored manner. I went into the dashboard and all of these receipts and mail fell out. I rolled my eyes.

"Hang on, I have to get through this mess," I said, opening the door. The officer backed up a bit so I could get out of the car. As I started to walk around to the other side, I noticed someone sitting in the passenger's seat of the officer's car. It was Charm, the girl from my French class. She looked through the window. I wondered if she'd remember me. She smiled and then I knew she did. She stepped out of the car.

"Oh, hey," she said casually.

"Oh," she said, looking over at the police officer whose back was turned to us as he wrote me a ticket.

"Wait, why are you in a cop car?" I asked randomly, wondering if she'd been under arrest.

"So you were speeding," she said, pointing to the police officer.

"That's my dad," she said, grinning. He turned around and found us talking there. He walked up to us.

"Charm. Why'd you get out of the car? I just gotta give a ticket really quickly then we'll go home," he said, looking from his daughter to me and back again.

"Oh, daddy, he's in my French class. He's a freshman, too. Don't you think you could let it slide?" she asked. Her father took his sunglasses off and looked at the doe eyes his daughter was giving him. He then sighed and couldn't fight the grin that made its way onto his face. He then turned to me.

"It's your lucky day, young man," he said, ripping up the ticket.

"Ah, what the hell, it's a Friday and everyone just wants to get home. I'm sure you'll pay more attention to the speed limit from now on, won't you," he said a bit imposingly.

"Yes sir," I said respectfully. I then turned to Charm.

"Thank you," I said out of the corner of my mouth. The officer laughed.

"I'm Officer Morris," he said, "I didn't catch your name."

"Wyatt," said Charm, remembering my name before I could say it. Somehow it made me feel good that she did. The smile slowly faded from the police officer's face as he looked at me.

"Halliwell?" he asked, creasing his eyebrows a bit.

"…Yeah. How'd you know?" I asked. And then my senses kicked in and I was preparing to use my powers if I had to. It would have absolutely sucked to find out that this guy was a demon, whose "daughter" was actually an assassin waiting to gain my trust and steal my powers, and then take my life. I quickly relaxed when the officer took a step back from me.

"Is something wrong?" Charm asked, interrupting the silence and staring at her father and then looking at me. I may have been a tall guy, but I wasn't out to hurt anyone without reason.

"Get in the car, Charm," said the officer.

"Dad?"

"I said, 'get in the car,'" Officer Morris repeated a bit harshly. Charm looked at me for a second, quietly apologizing before hurrying back into her seat on the passenger's side and closing the door. The officer just looked me up and down for a moment. I looked at him strangely. I didn't have a weapon on me or anything but he was looking at me like I was a criminal. I could see Charm asking her father what was wrong when he stepped back into his car, slammed the door and sped off past me, no doubt breaking the speed limit he'd pulled me over for.

"That was weird," I said to myself, slowly walking back to my car and driving the rest of the way home under the speed limit. I could've just orbed from my dorm, but I wanted to give "normal life" a try. Plus I just wanted to drive the car I'd worked two summers to save up for during high school. I couldn't take Charm's face out of my mind as I pulled up the driveway where Chris was sitting on the front porch with our dog. He smiled when he saw me and started to walk down the front steps.

"You're back already?" he asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Mom's gonna be mad," he said. I punched him in the shoulder playfully before greeting our Welsh Corgi, Ames, as he ran over to me. I picked him up and he started to lick my face. I laughed. My mother came running out of the house, holding a wooden spoon. I knew she'd been cooking dinner. She smiled but her voice was reprimanding when she spoke to me.

"Wyatt Halliwell, I told you to stay at school! You're supposed to spend at least one month away before you come back home. I don't want you getting so used to being around here. You're growing up, you need to learn to live on your own," she said. I put the dog down and hugged my mother. She hugged me tightly and I knew she'd been missing me all week.

"Piper, what's—?" my dad started when he came to the doorway. He smiled when he saw me and came down the steps to give me a hug next.

"What're you doing here, bud?" he asked me.

"He missed the dog," my mom said. She'd known all along why I wanted to come home.

Ames was jumping up on my legs.

"The weirdest thing happened on my drive home," I said.

"I got pulled over by a police officer and—"

"What did you do?" my mother asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"N-nothing, I just went over the speed limit a bit," I confessed. Chris laughed when he realized I was in trouble with mom. My father cocked a brow.

"You could've just orbed home, saved some gas." Mom hit him in the chest with the spoon.

"Don't tempt him. Remember what we said about sending them off to college? That was going to be a normal experience," she said in her familiar sarcastic and cynical tone. I laughed.

"Not funny, young man. You're paying that speeding ticket," she said, brandishing the spoon at me.

"But mom, that's the thing," I began, "he didn't give it to me. It was strange; his daughter, her name is Charm, actually. She's a note taker in my French class. She convinced him not to give me the ticket. He totally freaked out when he realized what my name was. I told him my first name and he already knew my last one. He told his daughter to get back in the car. He looked at me like I was dangerous—well, I am, but I'm not," I said, bragging a bit, "And then he sped right off!"

"Huh, that's strange," said my dad.

"Did he say what his name was?" my mom asked curiously.

"Yeah, Officer Morris."

At the sound of his name, my mother's face went pale.

"Mom?" I asked. It was the same reaction that Officer Morris had had upon hearing my name. Something told me there was something going on. It wasn't going to be the last time I'd seen Charm.