Harry Potter and the Charmed Ones

Chapter 2

-Leo-

When I awoke the following morning, I stretched out my arm to Piper's side of the bed and was met with only air and cool sheets. I blearily opened my eyes and sat up to find that, aside from me, the bed was completely empty. Yawning, I threw my legs off the side of the bed and stood up. I padded barefoot down the hall and peaked into Piper's old bedroom, which had been renovated to house Chris and Wyatt. The two boys were still sleeping – it was nine in the morning, but during the summer, they tended to sleep in until noon. I then checked up on Melinda, and she, too, was still sleeping.

I was just about to go downstairs – if there was any place that Piper went when she couldn't sleep it was to the kitchen – when I heard footsteps above me. Thoroughly curious, I jogged up the stairs and into the attic. Piper and her sisters had not spent much time in the attic over the last few years, and I was bewildered as to why she was up there so early.

Piper was sitting on the couch in the basement, the Book of Shadows open on her lap. She was staring at the entry that she and her sisters had written in the Book after they defeated Billie and Christy.

She glanced up when I walked in. "I thought we were done," she mumbled. "We defeated the Ultimate Power and fulfilled our destiny. We should be done. They told us we were done."

I sat down next to her. I picked up the Book and placed it on the ground, and put my arm around Piper's shoulders. She leaned into my embrace, and I cupped my hand over the back of her head. "I know, Piper, I know," I said quietly. She was silent as I held her, and after a moment, I added, "But, you know... things change. We've seen that many times."

Piper pulled away and narrowed her eyes at me. "What?"

"Your destiny has changed before," I reminded her. "How many times has the future changed?"

Piper stood up slowly, staring at the ground. She took a few steps away from me, and then turned around. "That's your excuse?" she asked. "Is that our destiny randomly changes without us knowing? Leo, if that's the way the world works, then I am pissed. What, they can just tell us we fulfilled our destiny and fifteen years later say, oh, just kidding, you have to save the world, AGAIN!"

"I get that you're mad," I said, standing up too, "but maybe this wasn't foreseen, because the magical worlds weren't ever supposed to meet. Maybe this wasn't even supposed to happen."

"So since some demon didn't follow his life plan, we have to pay for it?" snapped Piper.

"Okay, I really think you're overreacting," I said calmly. "We don't even know what you're going to have to do. Maybe this demon attack was a one-time thing and we'll never have any contact with these people again."

Piper shook her head. "No, no, no. That would be too good to be true. I just know that we're gonna have to pick up and move to freakin' England to protect these people. I just know it."

"If you had to," I said, "would you go?"

It was a moment before Piper responded. "I don't know."

I leaned on the arm of the chair and sighed. "After you left last night, Phoebe and Paige talked the situation over," I said, "and they said that they didn't want to go either. But they also know that they have to."

"Oh, well, that's great," Piper snarled. "Let's just talk even more about what amazing, super witches Phoebe and Paige are. They're so noble, willing to give up everything to save a bunch of strangers. And me, I'm the one who bitches and complains about everything, right?"

"No, Piper –" I started, but I was cut off by the ringing of the doorbell.

"I got it!" Wyatt shouted.

"He's gonna wake everyone up!" Piper said through gritted teeth as we descended the steps of the attic.

"I think the doorbell already did it," I said, nodding toward Melinda's wide open door. Through it we could see the thirteen year old sitting up and wiping sleep from her eyes.

Piper groaned. "Great."

-Wyatt-

"Uh, Mom?"

My parents jogged down the steps to the first floor and saw me standing away from the front door. My mom gasped as she noticed that Harry Potter was back – however, his robes were torn and scorched.

"Harry!" she cried, stepping forward, and I moved out of the way. "What the hell is –?"

"You have to come with me," he panted. "The Ministry – it's being attacked by demons."

My parents' and my jaws dropped. "It's what!" my mom exclaimed.

"At least four or five of them," Harry explained. "Get your sisters, we gotta go."

"Go?" Mom repeated. "Go where?"

Harry blinked. "We're no match for these demons! We need you and your sisters' help!"

"Well, they're not here," Mom said.

"Where are they!"

"Where do you think?" snapped Mom. "At their homes."

Harry swiped at his hair. "Fine, then just you come. Can you fight off a handful of demons?"

"I –" I could tell she wanted to protest, but she knew she had to go. She couldn't stand back and let a bunch of Innocents die just because she didn't want to go to England. Turning to me, she said, "Wyatt, come with me." My heart leapt. My mom and aunts may be over fighting demons, but I had a thirst for it.

"Grab onto me," Harry ordered. "I'm going to take you there."

"But Wyatt can orb."

Harry shook his head. "I don't know what that means, but it'll be faster this way. You won't accidently go to the wrong place."

Piper and I both, hesitantly, seized Harry's left arm as he held his wand up in his right. Harry turned quickly on the spot, and suddenly I felt like my body was being squashed between two walls. The pressure increased the longer we were moving, and I couldn't breathe. A thought briefly crossed my mind that Harry was really a demon that had tricked us in order to kill us, when –

I could suddenly breathe again. My feet touched solid ground and very quickly I was sitting down after losing my balance. My mom was next to me, looking dizzy. She grabbed my arm and lifted me up and just then I took note of my whereabouts.

Harry had taken us into a large building. The ceiling was so high that it looked like it never ended, and the room where we were in – which I could only deduce as the entire ground floor – could fit multiple Manors inside of it.

I had no time to observe any longer as Harry suddenly pushed my mom and me out of the way as a fireball rocketed toward us. "There's eight demons here," Harry said, breathing deeply again.

"Please, we can handle them," Mom scoffed, standing up. The floor was flooded with activity – upwards of five witches or wizards were fighting each demon, and the rest of the people were running away from the scene. Many of them jumped into fires, which I didn't even have time to question.

"Be careful, Wyatt," Mom warned me as we joined the fray.

"I will." I rolled my eyes. Demon fighting was almost second nature to me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my mom blow up a demon after making her presence known. A few wizards who had been trying to run stopped at the sight and stared at my mom. I approached a demon from behind and blew him up and the wizards who had been battling him turned now to stare at me, their wands held up in midair, their mouths slightly open.

Another demon took notice of his companion being blow up and turned to look around for the source. His search took too much time, however. I materialized an energy ball and threw it toward him – he turned around in time to catch sight of me before the energy ball penetrated him and he vanished.

I glanced at my mom, craning my neck over the crowd of wizards. She had blown up another two demons and I watched as she blew up a third from afar. The wizards battling it glanced around in confusion, but most of the people in the large hall had caught on to the two wandless figures defeating all the attackers.

I located the second to last demon, flicking my hands and blowing him up as well. By this time, the entire crowd on the floor – around a hundred wizards – was watching, standing on tiptoes to get a good look. "Everyone out of the way!" I yelled. Without needing to be told twice, all the wizards scurried away, leaving the final demon and I facing each other in the middle of a ring.

The demon sneered. "I always wanted to go up against you, Wyatt Halliwell." He looked me up and down. "Most powerful witch in the world, they say. The Twice Blessed child that saved magic. How powerful can you really be?"

I was undeterred by the demon's words and held my ground. How many times had I heard this? Demons probably think I get nervous hearing that, but why would I? If anything, it should make the demons nervous. What they're saying is true, after all. The demon smirked and materialized an energy ball, holding it in the palm of his hand. Gasps rippled through the crowd, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a few people kneel down. I clenched my fists at my side, waiting.

To the whole room's surprise, the demon did not hurl the ball at me, but instead at my mother. It was so sudden that my mom did not even have a chance to freeze it. The ball collided with her left shoulder and sent her flying.

"Mom!" I shouted. A handful of wizards approached her, holding out their wands, but she swiped them away, sitting up and supporting herself with her good hand. In the split second that I let my guard down and took a step toward my mom, the demon was able to conjure up another energy ball and throw it toward me.

My mom lifted her injured hand and froze the ball in midair, even though the act caused her to yell out in pain. I waved my arm fiercely, and sent the energy ball flying back to the demon. The demon erupted into flames and then vanished.

I was already by Mom's side. With an entire Ministry of wand wielding magicians watching, I bent over and placed my hands over my mother's wound, healing the cut in seconds. I helped Mom up and we were met with shocked gazes all around.

"What was that?" a short witch finally asked.

"Coming through," Harry's voice floated through the crowd. He pushed past all the gaping wizards to reach Mom and me. He seized our wrists and then pulled us back through the crowd – they all just watched the three of us go, not moving except to turn their heads so they could stare a bit longer. "That was great," Harry complimented once we were out of the claustrophobic crowd. "I didn't know you were so powerful."

"Yeah, well." Harry led us into an elevator-type contraption that was empty except for about fifty paper airplanes hovering above our heads. "It's not all it's cracked up to be when the whole world always needs your help." Mom raised her eyebrows at all the paper airplanes. "What the hell are these?"

"It's a communication system for the Ministry," Harry explained. "There's usually not so many, but everyone's so frenzied about the attack."

"Why do you use paper airplanes?" Mom scoffed.

"It's not like we have phones."

"What's wrong with phones?"

Harry blinked. "Well... nothing," he said. "But we don't have to use electricity. Everything is magic."

Mom glanced around. "So, you guys have your own world and lifestyle based upon magic?" She sighed. "It must be nice to live in a place where you don't have to hide your magic from the world."

"What do you mean?"

"No one knows we're witches," I said. "We have to keep it a secret from everyone we know."

Harry shook his head. "I don't understand."

"We don't live in a magical world," Mom said. "We live in a normal world. We don't know any other witches besides ourselves. You guys have a good deal here."

"How do you use your magic without anyone finding out?" asked Harry, perplexed.

"It's not easy," Mom grumbled. "People have found out. We've gotten in trouble with the police a lot. We've exposed magic accidently. It's not easy," she said again.

The doors to the lift opened on the top floor, revealing a long hallway with wood floors.

"Where are we going?" I asked, leaning forward and peeking down the hall.

"The Minister was going to owl you," Harry said. "But he didn't get around to it. I think it would be beneficial for you to meet with him now, since you're here."

Mom turned to me. "Honey, I want you to orb and get Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige, okay?"

I frowned. "I wanna stay."

But Mom said firmly, "I need you to get Phoebe and Paige because you can orb them here. Then, you can stay. Also, stop by the Manor and tell your father that we're fine."

I sighed. "Okay." I promptly disappeared in a swirl of blue and white lights, wanting to get back as soon as possible.

-Piper-

Wyatt's orbing caused Harry to stare.

"What was –" he started, but I cut across him.

"It's a brighter and less painful version of what you guys do," I said.

Harry still looked slightly confused, but he said no more, leading me down the hallway to a large wood door. He knocked twice and we waited in silence for about a minute until the door opened. A large, black man stood in the threshold, fastening his robes. "Harry," he said, with slight surprise. "I was just on my way out. There's a lot of chaos at the moment." His gaze slid over to my face. "Can this wait?"

"I dunno, you tell me," Harry said. "Kingsley, this is Piper Halliwell, one of The Charmed Ones."

Kingsley froze. He stared at Harry and then looked over at me. I smiled. "Hello."

Still surprised, Kingsley gazed at me. "Are you the woman that defeated all the demons in the Atrium?" he asked. "News is spreading all over Britain about the brown haired woman and her blonde son that saved the Ministry."

"Already?" I asked, surprised. "It happened three minutes ago."

As if on cue, a paper airplane zoomed through the hallway and into Kingsley's office. "News travels fast here," he said.

"If it must," Harry said, "it can wait."

"It can what?" I repeated. "What am I supposed to do? You realize that San Francisco and England are eight hours apart, right? I don't want you guys showing up to my house at three in the morning."

"I'll only be gone for up to a half an hour," Kingsley said kindly. "I need to visit The Daily Prophet – they're gonna run a story on The Charmed Ones and let the world know what's going on. And then I –"

"Wait, what?" I interrupted again. "Your newspaper is gonna run a story about me and my sisters? Do we get any say of what goes in it? And you're gonna tell your whole world that demons are after them and that they're defenseless and that, what, we're gonna come down to England to save them every day?"

"No," Kingsley said patiently. "The story they're running is just who you guys are and what you do. It's not a tell-all about your lives. And we're not aiming to worry the community, but after Voldemort, we learned not to lie."

I furrowed my brow. "Voldemort? What?"

Not responding, the Minister turned to Harry. "Why don't you show Piper around? Well," he paused, "to all the people that are still here. I think all the Weasleys would be pleased to meet The Charmed Ones."

"Weasley? As in, Ron Weasley?" I said, and Harry nodded. "All of them? What are they, a cult? And, how do they know who we are? I thought only, like, five people knew."

"Ron told his wife," Harry said, "and I told mine. And Ron told his father and brothers today at work, and my wife told her mother. It spread quickly."

I blinked. "My head is spinning," I confessed.

"I should be back in a half an hour," Kingsley said again. He slipped past Harry and me and strode toward the lift.

"We can't leave yet, you know," I said to Harry. "We have to wait for my sisters. So, while we're here, why don't you tell me about this massive family you have."

Harry cleared his throat. "Erm, okay." Leaning against the wall, he said, "Well. Ron and his wife, Hermione, were my best friends in school. Still are. Ron has four brothers and a sister. He and Hermione got married and I married his younger sister."

"So the three best friends ended up being related," I said, nodding. "That's gotta be a dream come true." I paused for a few seconds. "So six siblings, and you all have kids, then? That's quite the brood."

Harry nodded. "I never thought I'd be a part of such a large family." He glanced up to see me watching him, clearly waiting for him to elaborate. "I'm an only child and my parents died when I was one."

I gasped. "Oh, wow. I'm so sorry." After a moment, I said, "A demon killed my mom when I was four. I barely remember her. And my dad left when I was really little. He came back into our lives later but…" I shook my head. "He missed our childhood. My sisters and I were raised by our grandmother, who died when I was twenty-four."

"I guess we have a bit in common when it comes to losing people," Harry said.

"I guess so." I leaned back against the wall opposite Harry and folded my arms over my chest. There was still so much I wanted to know about this world and I didn't know where to begin. "So, who's this guy, Voldemort? What was this war?"

Harry shrugged. "It's a long story... he was basically a dark wizard that wanted to take over. He was defeated in 1998. We haven't had any huge problems with evil since then. Well," he grimaced, "until now."

"Ah, we've dealt with someone like that, too." I nodded. "A few, actually. The Source of All Evil, the Triad, the Ultimate Power. It's fun saving the world, isn't it?" I said with mild sarcasm.

Slightly confused, Harry tilted his head and stared at me, but was distracted by Wyatt, Phoebe, and Paige orbing in.

-Paige-

"Well, it's about time!" cried Piper, standing up straight. "What took you so long?"

"Well, when Wyatt orbed in, I was still in my PJs!" Phoebe said defensively, folding her arms across her chest. "I had to get dressed, do my hair, and put on my makeup."

"So did I," I said.

Piper threw her hands up in the air. "Are you kidding me? Why does it matter so much what you look like?"

"Piper!" I exclaimed. "We are about to meet an entire world of wand magic people. We have to make a good impression!"

Rolling her eyes, Piper said, "Okay, whatever. We have to wait, like, a half an hour for the Minister to get back, so Harry's gonna introduce us to some people."

"Oh?" Phoebe inquired. "Like who?"

"My family, first of all," Harry said. "Although that might take the full half hour." He took a step toward the lift and said over his shoulder, "This way."

There was so much that I was trying to wrap my mind around, so much to process. Being told about another magical world was another thing, but actually being in it was another. We are in a world filled with magic, one very different from our own, and I wasn't sure how to feel about it. There were about thirty violet colored paper airplanes floating above us as we entered the lift and I eyed them with immense interest.

The weird elevator stopped at the level below the Minister's office and Harry led us through a much busier hallway, filled with more flying airplanes than ever and wizards bustling about every which way.

"Harry! I saw you in the Atrium during the –" a witch started to say, but then stopped when she saw Piper and Wyatt. "You! You guys defeated the... creatures!" she gasped. "I saw it!"

Harry led my sisters, Wyatt, and I past her and attempted to usher us as quickly as possible to the back. "They're not going to be answering any questions right now."

The witch, however, did not seem to hear him. She called out to some of her companions that Piper and Wyatt were the two that saved the Ministry and people began craning their heads over the walls of their cubicles to see.

Harry practically pushed the four of us into his office, which had a small plaque on it that read: "Harry Potter – Head Auror." Underneath it read, "Ronald Weasley – Second in Command Auror."

As soon as Harry shut the door behind him, the other wizard in the room – Ron – yelped in surprise. "Harry!" he exclaimed, jumping up. "Where'd you go? And – where did they come from?"

"I went to get them," Harry said. He waved his wand, and four very plush armchairs materialized out of thin air on the other side of the office.

Phoebe, Piper, Wyatt, and I sat down as Ron said, "Ginny's worried sick! You disappeared right after those demon things attacked and then no one could find you!"

"I'm sorry," said Harry apologetically. "But it was obvious that what Kingsley told us last night was true. These demons are more powerful than we can handle. I thought it would be best to get the Charmed Ones here as soon as possible." After a small hesitation, he asked, "No one died, right?"

Ron shook his head. "No. A couple people are injured, though, and they were taken to St. Mungo's. The Healers are really puzzled at their injuries, apparently. No one's ever needed healing from a, er... big ball of blue light."

"An energy ball," supplied Phoebe.

Ron and Harry turned to her. "A what?" Ron asked weakly.

"Energy ball," she repeated. "It's a common demon power. Oh, but Wyatt can make them too. You know, most powerful witch ever type of thing."

"Aunt Phoebe," mumbled Wyatt in protest.

Harry turned to Ron. "Kingsley wants to talk to The Charmed Ones -"

"You can call us by our names, you know," I offered. "But if 'Piper, Phoebe, and Paige' is too long, 'the sisters' would suffice just fine."

"Yeah, 'The Charmed Ones' is too formal," added Phoebe.

Harry chuckled. "Erm, okay. He wants to talk to the sisters but he's out for another half hour, so I was thinking of introducing them to the family. Could you –"

"Send them all messages? No problem." Ron sat down at his desk, took out his quill and ink bottle, and hurriedly began to write.

"Is that a feather?" Piper asked in surprise. "And ink? You guys really are old-fashioned. I know you're all magic all the time, but a pen would be way easier."

Ron chose to ignore her. "Hermione went home," he said to Harry. "I dunno for how long but she wanted to check on Rose and Hugo. Didn't want them to hear about the attack from their friends first and think we were dead or something," he said casually. He finished writing the letter and waved his wand so that the letter multiplied itself. Another wave of his wand folded them into airplanes and a final one sent them out the door.

"Geez, that was a lot," I said, watching the paper fly out of the office. "Does your whole family work here?"

"No, just five others."

"They have a big family," Piper offered.

I beamed. "Oh, really? So do we!"

"Theirs is bigger," said Piper.

"How big?" asked Phoebe curiously.

"Big enough," said Ron.

Phoebe flipped her hair behind her shoulders and asked, "So, does your family know about us or something?"

Ron grinned sheepishly. "Yeah. We kind of told our wives and it spread quickly. Hermione went to Diagon Alley and bought all the books she could find on The Charmed Ones and she brought them to work today and everyone just sat around studying up during lunch." He shook his head in disbelief.

"Even though we'd told them everything we knew," Harry said.

"Die-gone Alley?" repeated Phoebe.

"Yeah, you lost us there," I said.

"They have books about us?" Piper asked.

Harry half-shrugged. "I suppose. I think they're mostly, like, fairytale books and you have your own section."

Phoebe looked highly affronted. "Fairytales? You're joking."

The door flew open without a knock preceding it. "Ron? Are the –" the man who entered started, but stopped at the sight of Piper, Phoebe, Wyatt, and I. "The Charmed Ones," he breathed. The man was almost completely bald and wore glasses and very sleek maroon robes. The four of us stood up and the man thrust out his hand to shake Piper's. "It is so nice to finally meet you."

"Dad, you only heard about them this morning," Ron said.

Ignoring his son, the man said, as he vigorously shook Phoebe's hand, "So you're Muggles that can do magic?"

Phoebe blinked. "Um, excuse me, what?"

"I thought Muggle was a clothing brand," Piper said.

"Dad, they're not Muggles," Ron said exasperatedly. "They're witches."

Ron's father moved down the line to shake my hand. His grip was vice-like and his handshake very firm. "Yes, but they can't use wands!" he said excitedly. "They never got letters for Hogwarts and yet they're still witches! It's fascinating!"

"And you are?" I asked, a little apprehensively as he shook my hand for a full minute.

"Oh, my mistake, I'm Arthur Weasley. Ron's father, Harry's father-in-law." He went on to shake Wyatt's hand and then froze. "Who are you?"

"This is my son, Wyatt," Piper said and Wyatt scowled at her.

"Thanks, Mom, I can introduce myself."

Arthur stared at Wyatt for a long minute. "Wait. Are you Piper's oldest son?"

"Um... yeah." Wyatt cast a side-long glance at us, and we shrugged.

"When were you born?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

"February second," said Wyatt slowly.

Arthur's forehead wrinkled and he said, "2003?"

"How did you know that?" asked Piper suspiciously.

"That was the day of Aurora Borealis," Arthur said. He turned to Ron and Harry and asked, "Do you two remember that day?" When they looked at him perplexedly, he elaborated, "The Day Magic Died. We couldn't use any magic – nothing was working. The entire magical world was in shambles. It came back sometime in the middle of the night. One of the Unspeakables told me that the magic returned with the birth of a Twice Blessed child, but The Daily Prophet reported it as a myth. They said that Aurora Borealis happens every thousand years and it serves as a magical recovery day. I never believed it. I never told anyone what the Unspeakable told me, but I always wanted to meet that Twice Blessed child. In one of the books Hermione bought about The Charmed Ones, it said that the eldest sister's first born son was a Twice Blessed child and I wondered if he the child."

There was a short silence as those in the room digested the information. "Well, he is!" I said cheerily.

"You guys got hit with that, too?" Piper asked, surprised.

Arthur could only nod before the door opened again and a redhaired man with glasses – he resembled his father, except he was taller and thinner – followed by a brunette woman stepped inside.

"The Charmed Ones are here?" the man asked.

"Over here." Piper waved.

The man and woman strode over to them, and the two began shaking their hands as well. "Percy Weasley and my wife, Audrey," the man introduced. "So very nice to meet you."

The door opened a third time and a very tall, beautiful girl with white-blonde hair walked in. Behind her was a shorter woman, with curly brown hair, who was holding a very thick briefcase.

"I met Fleur in the lift," the brunette woman said to Ron. "She told me –" She caught sight of the sisters. "Oh, my God. I am –"

"So happy to see us?" Piper guessed. "Yeah, we know."

Phoebe and I glared at Piper. "Sorry, she's just a little cranky," Phoebe said apologetically.

"Well, it is, like, ten our time," Piper said. "And I woke up early." She gazed around. "Is anyone else coming? I'd like to get all the introductions done at once."

Harry stood up. "No, this is everyone."

"Good!" Piper said cheerfully. "I'm Piper. This is Phoebe, Paige, and Wyatt. And we're The Charmed Ones! Well –" She paused. "Not Wyatt. He's my son. But he's all-powerful too."

"Eet iz so great to meet you," the blonde woman, Fleur, said in a throaty French accent. "Ron an' 'Arry 'ave told us so much about you!"

"Can we see your magic?" Arthur asked eagerly. "Please?"

"Sure!" Wyatt said happily.

Piper shot him a glare. "No!" At the blank stares, she added quickly, "I just… don't think it's a very good idea. Maybe later."

"I saw her use her powers, Dad," Percy said loudly. "I was in the Atrium fighting one of the creatures when they came." He pointed at Piper and said, "She blew them up."

Arthur, Fleur, and the brunette woman gaped at Piper. My sister smiled hesitantly. "You blew up a person?" gasped Audrey.

"Oh, it wasn't a person," Piper laughed. "It was a demon. They're evil and the only way to stop them is to kill them."

"You couldn't've just put it in Azkaban?" Audrey asked.

My sisters and I exchanged puzzled glances. "Well, we don't know what Azkaban is..." I said slowly, "but, we doubt it. Demons are evil by nature. They're not born neutral; they're born evil and the world is better off with them all dead."

"Look, we don't need any lectures about the way we do things," said Piper with mild annoyance. "We've been doing this for over twenty years."

Arthur stepped forward excitedly. "Doing what? Wandless magic?"

"Well... yeah," said Phoebe, "that. But also fighting demons, protecting the innocent, all that good stuff. Look, warlocks and demons, they're meant to be vanquished."

"I have a couple questions," the brown haired woman said with breathless excitement.

Piper interjected, "Hold up a second. Your name?"

"Oh, sorry." The woman flushed. "Hermione."

"Hermione. That's a name you don't hear every day," Piper said to Phoebe and me.

"Neither is Piper," Phoebe said.

"Fair enough." Piper turned back to Hermione and smiled. "Go on."

Hermione smiled timidly and said, "Well, there are a lot of stories about you three in various books about mythical creatures and fairytales, and some of them have conflicting information. One says that within The Charmed Ones, the oldest has telekinesis, the middle can freeze time, and the youngest can see the future. Another says the oldest can freeze, middle can see the future, and the youngest has telekinesis. Are either of those true?"

"Well –" Piper began, but I cut her off.

"Mythical creatures?" I repeated. "We're in books about mythical creatures? Um, hello, we are most definitely not mythical creatures."

Piper turned to me and said through clenched teeth and a sarcastic smile, "Paige?"

Scowling, I folded my arms over my chest. "Fine."

Glancing back at Hermione, Piper said, "Well, both of those are true, actually. When we first became The Charmed Ones, it consisted of me, Phoebe, and our oldest sister Prue. She could move things with her mind. She died about three years after we got our powers and not even two weeks later we found out about Paige, a sister we didn't know existed. She has telekinesis too. A different kind but... that's another story."

"By the way," interjected Phoebe, "I can see the past and the present too. Not just the future."

"Wait, Percy," Fleur said, "I thought you said zat she blew up a demon." She pointed at Piper.

"She did!" Percy cried indignantly.

Hermione furrowed her brow. "The books didn't mention anything about blowing up."

"Well, I can freeze and blow up," Piper said.

"We saw her freeze yesterday," Ron said quickly. "It was wicked."

His wife turned around to stare at him, open-mouthed. "You saw it?" she whispered. "What was it like?"

"It's nothing special," Phoebe said. "It's actually pretty ordinary."

"But not to us!" Hermione said with breathless excitement. "Being able to perform magic with just your hands –"

"Is what we do every day," I interrupted. "Now, being able to do magic through a stick of wood – that's impressive."

The door to Harry and Ron's office burst open before another word could be said and Kingsley stepped inside the office, his robes slightly askew.

"Kingsley, I thought you said a half hour," Harry said, checking his watch. "It's only been –"

"A demon is at Hogwarts," Kingsley said in a rush.

The Weasley family were all immediately on alert, but us Halliwells were rather confused. "How did it get in?" Percy asked seriously. "All the charms surrounding it –"

"— have no affect on a demon," Kingsley said. "I need to bring The Charmed Ones there now. Professor Ulvaeous can't hold it off for that long."

"Excuse me, but, did you say... Hogwarts?" Phoebe repeated, standing up. "What kind of name is that?"

"It's the name of our school," Arthur said. "The best wizarding school in the world, actually."

Piper snorted. "And you call it Hogwarts?"

"There's no time," Kingsley said urgently. "We must get there as soon as we can. We have to Apparate outside the grounds and then –"

"Why outside?" asked Piper. "It would probably be faster to appear-ate right to the demon, wouldn't it?"

"We can't," said Hermione. "You can't Apparate inside the grounds. One of the protection spells."

"Well," I said, "show me a picture of the school. I can orb there."

"Orb?" repeated Ron.

"But you can't –" Hermione began again, but Phoebe cut her off.

"If your protection spells didn't work on the demon, then they won't work on us either."

Harry opened one of his desk drawers and rummaged through it while Piper turned to Wyatt and said, "Wyatt, why don't you go on home?"

"What? No!" he protested immediately. "I wanna kick some demon ass."

"Watch your mouth!" Phoebe scolded immediately and Wyatt scowled.

"You might need me, Mom," Wyatt tried.

Piper smirked. "Sorry, kid. You might be the most powerful witch in the world, but we're the second most powerful. Go home, now. And don't worry," she added, "we'll tell you everything."

Wyatt sighed deeply. "Fine."

As he disappeared in a swaddle of orbs, I called after him, "Tell Henry, Coop, and Leo that we're fine!"

Wyatt's disappearance placed a look of wide-eyed shock on everyone's faces except Kingsley's and Harry's. "That's how you guys Apparate?" asked Audrey.

"It's called orbing," Piper said, "and yes."

"Here." Harry thrust a picture of Hogwarts under my nose. It was a photo of Harry, Ron, and Hermione when they were teenagers. They were smiling and posing in front of a large castle-sort of building, with huge double doors that were probably taller than the entire Halliwell Manor. The biggest surprise, however, was the fact that the picture was moving. In it, Hermione kept turning to snap at Ron about something and the two would argue. Harry's smile would become forced until he eventually yelled at them.

"What the hell?" Piper exclaimed. "The picture – it's –"

"No time," Kingsley said. "You need to orb." He crossed the office with two swift steps and added, "Harry, Ron, and Hermione, I think you three should come along, too."

"Everyone, hold on," I said. Piper, Phoebe, and Kingsley each gripped one of my arms, while the other trio hesitantly reached for a part of Piper or Phoebe to grab on to. I closed my eyes, concentrating on imagining the castle from the background of Harry's picture, and the seven of us were transported nearly instantly to the front steps of Hogwarts School.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Kingsley stumbled a bit upon arriving. "I feel light-headed," Hermione said, gripping Ron's elbow.

Phoebe wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, that's kinda how it's like the first few times." She looked around at the massive school and its acres of land. "So... where's the demon?"

A few stories above them they heard the sound of shattering glass. Glancing up, they saw a figure falling from a broken window, waving his arms like crazy. We ran toward him and before the wizards had time to draw their wands, Piper waved her hands and froze the man mid-fall.

Hermione turned to gape at Piper. "Whoa."

"Okay, Paige, do your thing," Phoebe said.

With a scrunched up face, I held out my arms. "Um... old wizard!"

The man disappeared in a plethora of orbs and reappeared in my arms. However, I could not support his frozen weight and fell backward with a loud "Oof!" The movement unfroze the man, who jerked in surprise at suddenly finding himself sprawled on top of a woman on the ground.

"Old wizard?" scoffed Piper.

Scowling, I grunted, "Well, it worked, didn't it?"

"What!" the man cried.

Kingsley pulled him up easily and said, "Professor, these are The Charmed Ones."

"Where's the – the thing?" he asked fearfully.

"The thing?" repeated Hermione with a furrowed brow.

In answer to her question, a demon shimmered onto the ground, his back to the group. "Where are you, old man?" he growled.

Hermione beat the sisters to the punch by whipping out her wand and shouting, "Stupefy!" Her wand emitted a jet of scarlet light. It rocketed toward the demon and struck him in the shoulder, sending him flying. He hit the wall and crumpled.

"Did I kill him?" she asked nervously. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Piper, Phoebe, and I jogged over to it.

"No, because he's still here," Piper said.

The demon stirred and opened his eyes, catching sight of the sisters. Snarling, he jumped up. "You!" he cried.

Piper waved her hands to blow him up but it only caused him to stumble.

"Crap," she murmured.

The demon sneered and conjured up a fireball. He threw it toward them just as Harry, Ron, and Hermione declared in unison, "Protego!" A shield erupted before them.

"Fireball!" I shouted. The fireball appeared in my hand, and I threw it back at him.

"Wait!" Piper waved her hands, and the demon and fireball both froze.

"What are you doing?" I demanded, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared.

"Maybe we should ask him a few questions," Piper said. "Ask him what all the demons are doing here, and what their plan is."

Phoebe and I exchanged glances and nodded. "Good idea," I said.

Smiling broadly, Phoebe said, "That's why you're the oldest."

"Yeah, yeah." In one motion, Piper used her right hand to blow up the fireball and the other to unfreeze only the demon's head.

"What –" the demon snarled. He looked down and saw that his body was still frozen. "Unfreeze me, witch!" he demanded.

"I don't think so," said Piper. She took a step toward the demon. "Why don't you tell me what you're doing here, and what your friends were doing at the Ministry, and why you went to Agatha Puggle's house. Then we'll talk."

I murmured to Piper, "Too bad we don't have any crystals."

"I'll never tell you anything," the demon snarled.

Piper sighed. "Look, we've been at this for a long time, so don't think that that's gonna work on us. You're frozen, remember. I could blow up your arm if I wanted."

She held up her hands to do so, but the demon cried, "No! Wait."

We looked at him with interest and the other trio stared aptly.

"The Source sent us," he said, breathing heavily.

Three jaws dropped. "The Source?" repeated Phoebe. "As in The Source of All Things Evil!"

"This cannot be happening," I groaned.

"So The Source knows everything?" Piper asked. "About this world?"

The demon nodded. But before he could say anymore, he erupted in flames. His body unfroze and he screamed as the pain overtook him; a few seconds later he exploded and disappeared.

"What did you do?" Ron asked weakly, staring at the spot where the demon used to be.

"Nothing," Phoebe muttered. "It was The Source. He killed him before he could say anything else."

"The Source?" reiterated Hermione. "What's he?"

"The Source of all Evil," Phoebe said glumly.

"And he's –"

"A demon," finished Piper. "The most powerful one in the Underworld. One whom we've actually vanquished. Twice."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged worried gazes. "And he's back?" Ron asked.

"A different one, yeah," said Phoebe. "But we know as much as you do."

Kingsley and the old wizard approached us. The old man had a very scraggly gray beard and mustache that was about three inches long. He was bald, which he most likely hid beneath the pointed black hat clutched in his hand. He was four heads shorter than Kingsley and his knees were shaking.

"What... was that?" he asked, gasping.

"That was a demon," said Piper bluntly, smiling sympathetically. "Sorry," she added, as Phoebe and I sent her glares.

"A demon?" the man repeated.

"Are you Professor Ulvaeous?" Phoebe asked.

The man nodded. "Yes. I'm the Headmaster of Hogwarts. How did you guys – do that with your hands?"

"I'll explain it to you later, Antonius," Kingsley said. He turned to the sisters and said, "As you can see, our world is not safe against these demons."

Piper nodded, staring at Kingsley as if daring him to say what we all knew was coming. "Yes. We can see." This time, she ignored the looks Phoebe and I gave her.

"I think you know what I'm about to ask of you," Kingsley said.

Frowning, I said, "What, that you want us to move here?" I wish I could say that my heart sunk at the thought, but truthfully, it didn't. While Piper and Phoebe no longer fought evil, I still watched after my charges, and – as awful as this might sound – the job was getting dull. I enjoyed being active in the magical community, something my sisters and I had always chalked up to me being newer at the job than they were, but after twenty years, I still liked it. Sure, moving to England would mean leaving my friends behind, but it would only be temporarily. It would be kinda cool living in England. My only worry was about Tamora, Kat, and little Henry. Would they come too?

"We need protection," said Kingsley carefully. "And you three are the only ones that can give it to us. As you've seen demonstrated today, twice, we do not have what it takes to defeat these demons, and there will be more coming."

Piper shook her head. "Sorry. No."

"Piper," said Phoebe, but our older sister did not listen this time.

"Sorry, but no. You cannot expect us to move to England. You can't. Do you understand that we aren't just demon killing machines? We have lives, you know." Piper glared at the Minister. "Not only do I own a restaurant, but I have kids and a husband. I can't just pick up and leave them for an undetermined amount of time. And Phoebe and Paige, they have jobs too! And we also have friends, and relatives, and – and – we were supposed to be done! Fourteen years ago the Angel of freakin' Destiny told us we were DONE. So you can't wave your wands and appear-ate, or whatever the hell you guys do, into our lives and tell us that we have to drop everything to save your asses!"

"Piper," growled Phoebe. "Stop it. This isn't their fault."

"I know it's not their fault!" shouted Piper. "But I have to blame someone!"

"So blame The Source!" yelled Phoebe, turning on her sister. "Take it out on the bastard that started it!"

"Well, I can't!" Piper growled. "Because he's not here, and he is," she pointed to Kingsley, "and he's telling us to move across the world, so I'm gonna blame him right now."

I turned to Kinglsey and asked calmly, "If we do move here, where would we live? What would we do?"

"I need to talk it over with Antonius first," Kingsley said, seemingly undeterred by Piper's speech, "but I was going to propose having you, and your families, live here." He gestured to the school around him. "Hogwarts will need the most protection. Young wizards need to be educated, but if demons are popping up everywhere, we won't be able to open the school. If you three are here, the school will be safe. It would also be a good idea for your kids to join the students, live in dormitories and go to classes with the rest of the school. And, I would ask you to perhaps teach a new class."

"We live in the real world," snapped Piper. "My kids are going to need jobs some day, and they can't put Hogwarts Wizard School grad on their applications."

"What kind of class would we teach?" I asked, ignoring Piper. The more I heard about this plan, the more interested I was becoming. I understood Piper's concern about our kids leaving school, but the way I saw it, we wouldn't be here forever. My kids are younger, so if they had to leave school and attend magic school for a few months, I didn't see many, if any, long-term effects. And maybe – just maybe – our kids would decide to immerse themselves completely in this all-magic community.

Kingsley shook his head. "I don't know. Perhaps a class about Wiccan magic. Again, though, Antonius and I would need to talk it over."

Professor Ulvaeous, however, was nodding feverishly. "I think it's a brilliant idea! The students will need to be protected and in the meantime they'll need to learn how to protect themselves."

"We haven't said yes," Piper spat.

"Your husbands can come as well," Kingsley said. "It's a big castle and we'll be able to find nice, spacious living quarters for you and your families."

"Paige's husband is a parole officer," said Piper. "I don't think they'd give him a paid vacation for a year to move to England and live in a magical school. And Phoebe is an internationally known advice columnist, so she can't leave either. And, like I said, I own a restaurant!"

"I understand, Piper," Kingsley said gently. "And I don't expect you to agree right away."

"I'm never agreeing," Piper said firmly.

"However, I want you to consider it," continued Kingsley. "The children –"

"Don't make me feel guilty," said Piper. "It's not gonna work."

I turned to Piper in exasperation. "Okay, Piper, you need to stop. You're not the only sister here. They're asking Phoebe and me to go, too."

"What, and you actually want to?"

I decided it would be a bad idea to share with Piper my true feelings on the subject, so instead I said, "I might not want to, but I really don't think we have much of a choice! Do you really think that we could sit at home, knowing what was happening here?"

Piper scowled but did not say anything else.

"Of course, you don't have to let us know right away," said Kingsley. "The school year doesn't start for another month. However, Mrs. Molly Weasley – mother of Ron, here – owled me and asked me to pass along a dinner invitation for your family on Saturday night. I really hope you decide to join them."

"We'll think about it," said Phoebe.

"Can we go now?" Piper asked irritably.

Kingsley inclined his head. I held out my arms, Phoebe and Piper each grabbing one, and I orbed them home.