The three girls got off the plane, tired and irritable, jet lagged and sore from having to sit still on the 9-hour flight. They surveyed the conveyor belt, and the many worn-out passengers that were starting to advance towards depature. The first girl, the tiredest of the trio, was dressed in casual attire, with sleepy eyes and thick, curly brunette hair. The second, was brushing cheese puff crumbs from her dark jeans, and looked extremely annoyed about the fact that she had to approach the belt that was surrounded by commuters from the plane. The third was the happiest of the three, although jet lagged and fatigued, she displayed a more comfortable prowess with proceeding towards the belt, and therefore led them.
The curly-haired girl that followed the leader was Hermione Granger, who was the brightest witch of her age. Extremely logical, and a knack for recognising things that many others missed, she was a reliable contribution to the group. The rather touchy girl that followed behind Hermione was Cherrie Brown. Cherrie was a rather self-sufficient, pretty girl who was stubborn and organised, and planned her future to the nearest detail. The leader, confident and assertive was Melinda Halliwell, who went by the nickname of Linny. It was her family that the trio would spend the summer with before they once again joined Hogwarts for the autumn term.
As they waited for their suitcases on the conveyor belt, Linny searched impatiently for her father. After all, being so tired and sore, they all just wanted to get some sleep. But she knew her father, and when his family had been away for so long, he fussed. And she had never snapped at her father. Even being in her exhausted state would never have been reason enough.
"You know, I think I've seen that suitcase twice before…" Hermione noted, tilting her head sideways.
Cherrie sighed irratibly. "Hermione, does it really matter whether you've seen a suitcase once, twice or even three times before? How are you even staying awake to count? My brain probably couldn't even recognise my suitcase if it jumped out and hit me in the face…"
"Well it won't be doing that because it's not on the conveyor belt!"
"Just because you've seen the same round of suitcases twice doesn't mean that ours isn't on there. They add them as they go along you know!"
Linny spotted her case and, ignoring the bickering took it off the conveyor belt and started to walk off with it in tow.
"Like that Hermione! See! Linny has it now! Now was it there before? No! Did the kind men carry it off the plane and put it on the conveyor belt after the first round? Yes!" Cherrie said, heatedly. Their bickering only stopped after their suitcases had travelled round the belt three times, to which they grabbed them and met a waiting Linny beside the checkpoint.
"God you guys it's only a suitcase," Linny said, lightly.
"When is your dad coming to pick us up?" Cherrie asked, rechecking to see whether her jeans were immaculate of crumbs.
"Any minute now," Linny said, standing on her tiptoes and checking the lobby area to see whether her father had joined the procession of waiting families with placards. It was only five minutes later that Linny saw her father; towering above the rest of the people in the airport. He was without a placard but Linny did not need her father to carry one to recognise who he was. His sandy blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes had not changed throughout their third year at Hogwarts. Linny grinned as she ran across to him and threw her arms around him, to which he embraced her and kissed her hair affectionately.
"Hey sprout!" he exclaimed. "You've grown almost a foot since I last saw you."
Wearily but eager to see Leo, Cherrie and Hermione followed.
"Is it morning or night?"Cherrie asked Hermione, blearly eyed and confused about the tinted windows, which seemed to make the sky dim outside.
"Morning," Hermione said checking her watch. "I think."
"Good Morning, Mr Halliwell," Cherrie said, brightly.
"Please, girls, call me Leo," he smiled.
"Good Morning, Mr Leo," Cherrie said, contorting her face into a smiling yawn.
"You all look shattered girls,"
"Tell me about it Dad. The 9-hour flight was torture! A stewerdess kept coming to check on us every five minutes, which is why we gained like zilch sleep. Plus Cherrie had to sit right next to a fat, hairy guy who was constantly munching on cheese puffs and telling us about his days in the World War 1 trenches. Dad, the guy was about 30. He wasn't old enough to be a soldier in World War 1! Plus the amount he gorges on he couldn't even fit in the plane seat let alone qualify to be a soldier in the first place…!"
"Sounds like you had loads of fun!" Leo interupted, smiling.
"It was totally my ideal night. I had lots of fun, collecting crumbs on my jeans!" Cherrie muttered sarcastically.
"Anyway steering clear of your lovely flight, Wyatt and Chris are waiting for you at home. They are excited to see you again. After all it has been a year,"
"A year of purrr-fect bliss!" Cherrie said slyly.
"Hey?" Leo wondered, raising his eyebrow.
"Cherrie met someone when we were in Hogsmeade! He was from another of the wizarding schools! Ha!"
"I didn't meet someone Linny! We've always known Matt…"
"Yeah but you've made your relationship per-son-al!"
"Linny!"
Leo opened the car, as they approched, he opened the boot and put the suitcases in. Ignoring their arguing, Leo proceded to the front of the Jeep and blocked out all sources of noise. He had his daughter back home. She was safe. And that was all that mattered.
"… So, Dad. How have the boys been? Good as gold I hope," Linny smiled.
"You're starting to sound like you're mother," Leo laughed, his eyes wrinkling at the corners as he remembered his youth.
"Means that she's getting older Mr Leo," Hermione grinned.
"We all are!" he muttered as he started the car and made the slow journey back to San Fransico.
As they pulled into the driveway, memories that Linny had totally forgotten on her trip had suddenly come flooding back. She remembered the hot summers that they shared on the massive front lawn they had, adjacent to a pool. Wyatt and Chris would endlessly splash her with water from hoses and the pool while their parents would lounge on plastic chairs, sunglasses masking their faces.
But this summer she was going to be spending it with her brothers and her two best friends, not unlike the other summers she had ever had. It was the first time that Chris and Wyatt would meet Cherrie and Hermione, the first time that they would meet her brothers. She couldn't even think how either would react!
As they got out of the Jeep, Cherrie took off her sunglasses and surveyed the area.
"Man your house is so… cool!" she had also forgotten that Cherrie had never visited the Victorian Manor that they owned.
"Well… it's… y'know," Linny stuttered.
"And here I am living in boring old London!" Hermione said in shock.
The girls went inside the house; the doors seemed to be fixed again after so many demons crashed through the doors. Leo got their bags.
"Hello-oo," Linny sang as she walked into the Living room. Her mother was sitting in her favourite chair by the fire place. Wyatt who was studying the Book of Shadows, looked up, his eyes brightened as he stood up and hugged his younger sister. Chris seemed to be in the kitchen.
"Mom!" he shouted loudly. "What do I put in after the mandrake root?"
"Pigs feet!" she shouted back. Cherrie walked in to the living room and took a seat on the sofa. Hermione stood in the doorway trying to get a glimpse of the mysterious 'Chris' in the kitchen.
"Hi, Cherrie, Hi Hermione," Linny's mom smiled. "I'm Piper."
"Hello, Piper," said Hermione holding out her hand. As Piper shook it there was an almighty bang from the kitchen and Chris, coughing and waving his arms around his head, stumbled out smoke following him, his hair standing on end and what looked like soot on his face. His ice blue eyes met Hermione's hazel, as underneath the soot he blushed.
"Hi," she said, smiling. "You must be Chris."
"Erm… yeah," he said, then muttered something that sound like "pigs feet" and ran up stairs. Hermione turned stunned to look at Linny.
"Oh… he gets embarrassed easy, I'll go up and talk to him," she said, running up stairs, as Hermione walked into the living room, she saw Cherrie and Wyatt engrossed in coversation with Piper in the back ground trying to get a word in.
Linny knocked on her brother's door.
"Chris," she said, walking into the room.
"Hey, how was school?" he asked.
"It was good," she said sitting on the bed.
"Good," ruffling his dark brown hair to get the dust and dirt out of it. "Never stir the mixture after you've added the pig's feet it disturbs the contents," he muttered, he often spoke to himself.
Linny just nodded at his comment. "You do realise don't you that I didn't come up here to hear how bad you are at potions…"
"Yeah I kind of guessed it was my rudeness downstairs?"
"Well… you know the whole blushing-then-running-off-with-some-pathetic-excuse kind of gives off the wrong impression to my friends,"
"Ah…" Chris looked down at his fingers. "Well I didn't know we had company. And, well I wasn't exactly… y'know looking myself if you get me,"
"I kind of guessed that since I've been at Hogwarts you've didn't suddenly decided to don an unclean image to surprise me for when I got back," she tried to meet his eyes but he was focused on his fingers. "Do you want to come back down and meet them properly? I don't think you even caught their names…"
"Yeah after I've cleaned up and stuff,"
"Ok well I'm probably going to go to bed soon because I am super tired from all this jet lag," she went to walk out of the room but remembered something. "By the way, Chris they're staying here for a month so… try and see if you can gain a reputation that isn't a blushing, inexperienced 16 year old," she winked and walked out of the door. Chris reached under his pillow and pulled out a book which he threw against the door as it closed. Chris stood up and pulled off his shirt, revealing a toned, tanned six-pack as he walked into the en suite bathroom.
Downstairs Piper was in the kitchen preparing lunch. She called everyone in, Linny set the table in the dining room and Wyatt helped his mom put out the food. Chris came down stairs, hair still wet from his shower, there still seemed to be dust on his nose, but no one dared point it out to him. He shook his wet, dark brown hair out of his eyes and grabbed a plate.
Hermione looked up from her chair and saw that it was Chris who had entered the room. He took his plate to the table and sat two spaces away from her. Eventually, through her inquisitve stare, he looked up and smiled weakly.
"Hey, I'm Chris,"
"I gathered that," she returned the smile. "I haven't introduced myself, I'm Hermione. Hermione Granger, self confessed nerd and book worm."
"Nice to meet you," he mumbled.
Cherrie got some food and sat opposite Wyatt. She had pulled her hair into a messy bun to eat.
"So, you work at your mom's restraurant?" she said.
"Uh-huh," he nodded mouth full of food.
"Wyatt don't talk with your mouth full," Piper said. Cherrie laughed, as Wyatt scowled at his food.
"This is really good, Mrs Halliwell," she smiled, cutting up a piece of meat.
"Thank you, Cherrie," Piper smiled.
"Mom runs her own restraraunt," Linny grinned.
"Really, that's really good!" Cherrie exclaimed.
Suddenly there was a crash and the door flew across the room. Piper rolled her eyes, Chris had disappeared, Wyatt carried on eating, and Linny flicked her hands without getting up from the table or looking at him and the demon disappeared in flames.
Cherrie and Hermione just sat, mouths gaping open.
"Ooohkay, I didn't know that were doing re-runs of demolition destruction in your house," Hermione said. "And where did Chris go?"
Just as she said that Chris appeared in a flash of white blue light and had a small bottle in his hand.
"Damn, did I miss all the fun!" he moaned. Chris was the youngest boy in the house and being half whitelighter and not the twice blessed child, he didn't have the power to fight.
"OMG!" Cherrie said. "What are you?"
"You havent told them?" Piper asked.
"Yeah… you havent told them?" Wyatt repeated.
"Yeah… you havent told us?" Cherrie chipped in.
"Told us what?" Hermione asked. Everyone looked from Linny to Cherrie to Hermione. Wyatt raised his eyebrow.
"Yeah… told them what?" Wyatt echoed.
"Well I was going to… but I never got round to doing it…" Linny said slowly.
"Yeah… she was going to but never not round to it!" Wyat repeated.
Linny turned to him so quickly it made him jump, her eyes slits.
"Do you want me to vanquish you?" Linny hissed. Wyatt mimed zipping up his lips.
"Maybe we should take this into the living room," Piper said, calmly. The family followed Piper into the Living Room, leaving their food on the table.
"Erm… yeah… so my family are desendants from Melinda Warren… who I was kinda named after, and well my mom and two aunts are the charmed ones and they fight demons and warlocks. My brother Wyatt is the twice blessed child who is half witch half whitelighter and meant to be the most powerful being the world has ever known… basically…" Linny said.
"Woah… wait a second. Twice blessed what?" Cherrie asked confused.
"Child. There was a prophecy many years ago, saying when the planets align and the lights burn as one, magic will rest on a holy day to welcome the twice blessed child," Linny explained.
"So basically, you are all demon fighters and regulary have random demons waltz in… well more like appear, and then you subject them to a whole poofing session and that is the end of them. They just go… poof. In a big plume of smoke. Never to be seen ever again. Never ever. Like dead but not quite…"
"Yes Cherrie. Quite like that. I think everyone's got the idea now you've simplified this for us," Wyatt joked.
"So, what do you mean… kinda named after?" Hermione asked.
"Well my real name is Prudence Melinda Halliwell," Linny clarified. "But everyone calls me by my middle name or Linny."
"Oh, I didn't know that," Cherrie breathed. "So, what about Chris, how come Wyatt is the twice blessed child and you have cool powers… what does Chris do?"
"Chris? Because he isnt a twice blessed child and because he half whitelighter means he's a pacifist, so he can telekineticly orb things, and himself but he hasnt developed the power to fight like us yet, and he may never do, so he uses potions and things," Wyatt said, while Chris sunk deeper and deeper into his chair.
"Cool," Hermione smiled appreciatevely, again trying to search underneath Chris' dark hair for his eyes. Why the hell was he so embarrassed all the time? She remembered Linny talking about her 'outgoing' brothers. Was he just shy in front of new people? She hoped so because she didn't want the awkwardness to continue for a whole month. Plus he was hot!
Another demon appeared in the hallway, interupting Hermione's mental ranting.
"Erm… guys…," she said, pointing at the tall dark haired, stranger in the doorway. Linny stood up, raised both hands and the demon froze, Hermione looked up and stood quickly as Linny stood poised to blow him up.
"No!" Hermione cried running over to him. "That's my brother, Damien!"
"Could this get any more surreal? This is like a damn drama for crying out loud!" Chris cried. It was the first thing that he had probably uttered in the last hour or so.
"What? How can you be related to a demon?" Wyatt asked.
"Well, my dad was with this woman and they had a kid, but then she tried to eat him, so he took their son and ran off, then he met my mom and had me," Hermione said. "Now please can you unfreeze him?" Linny rolled her wrists and the demon unfroze.
"So basically we all have whacked up families," Linny laughed.
"Erm… except me," yawned Cherrie. "So… er sorry to cut this reunion short, demon boy nice to meet you, but I'm gonna hit the sack or otherwise I'm gonna be cranky and you wont like Cherrie when she's cranky."
"Me too," Hermione said, as she hugged her brother. Linny showed the girls to the spare rooms. They all just lay on their own beds and as soon as the girls' heads touched the pillow, they were asleep.