Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Basically: It's her sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a little bit.

VV - Hurrary! School is back in session and the internet here isn't busted!

o-0-O-0-o

Chapter Fourteen – Three Generations, Chris and Knowledge

If anyone had told him five years ago that he would be spending his eighteenth Christmas with his grandparents, father, and boyfriend he would have said that he would have had to have been dead first. Three years ago, he would have said that he used the Resurrection Stone. Last year, he would have asked how long did it take for him to make the calculations.

But now it was different. Now he was actually experiencing it. He was learning that half of him wasn't here - the half that loved potions, had a killer memory and had a devious sense of humor that could only be found in the Evans family line or even just in his mother.

Sophia noticed her grandson's slight sadness and longing and frowned when she did not understand what was going on. Of course, she knew that it might be something of a future influence but she had her doubts about that still.

She followed him into the kitchen while James, Gideon and Sirius were watching a film on their old fashioned movie projector that she and Gideon had procured in the late 30s - it was an old favorite, Gone with the Wind that they were indulging her by watching.

"Are you alright?"

Gryffin nodded and then shook his head, "I don't really know."

"You feel like something is missing, don't you?"

He nodded, "I just wanted things to go a certain way and for me to live my life in a certain way. I've seen war and I know it's atrocities and I feel that if I allow myself to indulge in something as simple as a holiday that I'm betraying everyone I've ever fought with."

"You've fought for so long you don't know what to do with yourself now that you're actually being given the opportunity to partake in peace - or at the very least a time out."

Griffin nodded, "I suppose that that would sum it up better than anything that I could ever say."

She smiled lightly, "Life is always complicated and is always changing. When it does change it is better to just let it change rather than try to fight it. It is a useless endeavor when one tries to stop the flow of change."

Griffin frowned, "It would be different if I couldn't sense your worry for me."

"Sense it?"

"I'm an Empath."

"Naturally?"

Griffin shook his head, "I wasn't that lucky. I got cursed shortly before I turned sixteen."

Sophia shook her head, "I know of no such curse."

Griffin shrugged, "It was war and everyone wanted something up on everyone else. Curses were invented overnight to suit the needs and requirements of those in the battlefields." he explained.

"Do you know many Empaths?"

Griffin nodded his head, he really did if one were to consider that he didn't know any wizards with his gift but the ones that he knew were of Wiccan heritage. Namely, Chris Halliwell and Phoebe Halliwell. "Two actually, only the elder one of them had the sort of control that I had to fight for almost overnight. The younger hadn't been pressured into learning how to control the emotions he was getting from others and from himself."

Sophia nodded and put the requested popcorn onto the stove. "Are they Wizard or Wiccan?" she asked before she noticed the confused look on his face. "Gideon told me about your unique history. I did some research and I was hoping that your Empath ability was from that side of your family."

Griffin shook his head, "Sorry. They are Wiccan."

"Never apologize for something that is out of your control. Offer condolences or congratulations if appropriate but never apologize." she said sternly.

Griff grinned as the popcorn finished popping on the stove.

"Come on, I want to see the rest of my movie." she said and grinned as he held out his arm to escort her. "It's good to know that some people have developed good manners." she said as though relieved.

Griff wasn't about to tell her that Piper Halliwell was not a witch to be crossed when she was teaching one manners. She'd stuck him to his chair until the lesson was concluded - and then she tested him everyday for the next month that they saw each other about what he learned. He'd passed and he'd never been more thankful for his mother's memory that she'd passed down to him … although that could have been from both of his parents now that he thought about it.

The movie was everything Sophia said it would be - a classic.

The next few days, while Sirius and James spent time on their own - evidentally trying to figure out how to use the voucher for everything it was worth - Harry, Gideon and Sophia spent as much time as they could together. Talking about anything and everything that they could think of.

Then Harry proposed they visit the Halliwells of this time period - soon.

Never before had the two Potters so quickly agreed and they agreed to make plans for Easter.

Harry would call Leo - maybe.

Harry sighed as he sat up late in the living room of Godric's Hollow. He'd been forced to have a test right before the vacation as he knew how "well" students studied when they had better things on their minds. Now, he was stuck grading the tests.

He really should have just made it for extra credit for as well as they'd done on it. Abysmal.

Gideon and James had been up talking when they noticed that the living room light was still on. The two Potters frowned as they walked into the room to see Micheals sitting at the small desk with a large pile of papers around him. His hair was standing on end and he had smudges of ink over his face when he'd evidently tried to cover up a yawn.

"Professor?" James asked almost hesitantly as they walked over to him.

Harry looked up, "Oh, hey."

"Tired?" Gideon asked with a smile.

Harry nodded, "Yeah. Brats did absolutely pathetic on the test too."

James frowned, his year had been the only one that he knew of to have been tested right before Christmas. "Wait, us?"

Harry couldn't contain his grin.

"I've never failed a test and I didn't start on the 19th!" James insisted as he ran over to the stack of graded papers. "An A! I've never!" ***** - see AN below

"Continue that statement and you'll find yourself on the receiving end of a prank, Mr. Potter." he said as he sighed, thinking about Chris and what all he must have put up with when he'd come back into the past.

"But! Extra Credit! You do extra credit right?" James asked, almost desperately. He prided himself on few things in this life and his DADA perfect score was one of them.

Harry shook his head, he had no idea how like Hermione James could be. Not that he'd ever wanted to know. "You will be able to make it up."

"Evans! My beautiful Lily Flower! You didn't even spare her the cruel fate of an "A"! Merlin must be rolling in his grave by at this injustice!" he cried as he looked through the papers again.

"Perhaps if one had taken my warning seriously, then maybe even one of you would have beaten Severus Snape's "EE" for the exam."

James looked at him in anguish. "Beaten by Snape! You had to save the worst news for the last, didn't you?"

Harry sighed, mentally wanting to scream for his whitelighter. "You will cease and desist for your attitude Mr. Potter."

"But… Snape!"

"James. Bed. Now." Gideon said with a tone of voice that did not call for one's argument.

James grunted and went to bed, mumbling something about 'stupid teachers'.

Gideon looked at him sheepishly, "Sorry about him."

"It's ok, James can be a handful. I understand."

"Yeah, hopefully his own children won't be like him." Gideon said sighing as he revealed the one clue that Harry needed - Sophia hadn't told him.

Harry couldn't help but nod agreement, "Children, at times, surpass a parent's expectations."

"We only expected him to be healthy. He's definitely surpassed anything we could have hoped for. It took us so long to have him… we were nearing our seventies, you know."

Harry nodded, "Sophia mentioned it."

"Hopefully, we will get to hold our first granddaughter."

Harry nearly winced at the term "granddaughter", he was definitely male. He'd had the girlfriends (and boyfriends) to prove it. The worst part was that he could sense Gideon's longing for his eventual grandchild and that just made it hurt worse.

He briefly wondered if Chris had ever had to deal with these sort of expectations. 'I don't know what would be worse, feeling my grandparents longing or feeling my aunts' sex drives.' he thought while he mentally shuddered as he yawned violently.

"Well, I suppose that I shall have to bid you a good night. May tomorrow bring you a greater promise for the future."

"And you." Harry said before he went back to grading his papers.

He finished about three AM, not wanting to go to bed beforehand and collapsed on his bed, not noticing that it wasn't his bed or that he'd awoken a startled James who quickly realized that the big lump on the end of his bed was his Defense Professor. He shrugged, dragged Micheals to the floor (who didn't even awake for that) and put a pillow under his head and threw a light blanket over him.

It was eerie how similar they were when neither of them wanted to wake up.

Gryffin awoke the next morning with a crick in his back and staring at the wall. He groaned, "The Hell?"

"Good morning Professor!" James said cheerfully from his position on his bed.

"James? What are you doing in my room?"

"Er, my room Professor." James retorted.

Gryffin looked around himself. "The Hell?" he repeated. "Ow." he said as he tried to pop his spine back into place.

"Prof, you take the cake."

Griff glared at him, "What?"

"Yeah, you didn't even wake up after I shoved you off my bed."

"Never be a teacher… again." he muttered as he sat up from the floor before arching back and popping his spine back into its proper position.

"Thank Merlin no amount of money on the planet could ever get a Marauder to become a teacher." James said with a grin.

Griffin shook his head, as he crossed his legs and sat Indian Style. "Yeah… and you really think that teaching was my first idea?"

"It wasn't?"

"I made a promise. One year of teaching. Then I am gone before Moldy shorts finally decides to make good on his promise to rid the earth of me."

"You think he will?"

"I'd rather take him with me… but if he gets the chance. Hell, I'd do the same." he admitted, not saying that Voldie had tried to take Harry with him when he'd kicked the bucket. He'd had been legally dead for nearly three minutes before Wyatt's CPR had finally kicked in and started working. Afterwards, the White lighter / EMT / Medical School Student had taught several people how to do CPR correctly - if it was good enough to save their hero's life then it was good enough to learn it.

James nodded pensively, "I guess. Anyway, go back to your own room before my mom asks if you're sleeping with two boys in this house."

Griffin all but ran out, he REALLY didn't need THAT mental image. 'Chris had it worse. Chris had it worse. Chris had it worse.' he repeated over and over in his head. 'This isn't working!'

He grabbed his sweats and went out for a run.

MEANTIME… In San Francisco…

(Because I just had to do this, and YES I do know that the timelines are F'd Up with me doing this. Just pretend that it all makes sense.)

Chris Perry looked around the Golden Gate Bridge as he orbed around the past. He'd only been here for a few hours but already he knew that he would have to get ready to save his Aunt Paige from her death. Unfortunately (or Fortunately depending on one's point of view) he'd arrived with about five months to spare before that would happen. He had gained valuable time through his mistake in calculations.

It was about then that he began to feel the ringing in his head that came from one of his charges being in some sort of mental distress. He shook his shaggy brown haired head, that didn't make any sense. None of his charges were even alive in this time period (at least as far as he knew. He knew that he was about two years older than his oldest charge - Harry Potter - but Harry had been born in 1980 and this was early 1977! He still had another few years before that happened.

'This isn't making sense.' he thought as he orbed again.

He could still remember how he and Harry had first met. The idiot had crashed his motorcycle - literally crashed it - and Chris had gone to try to help in whatever capacity he could. The Empath had said two words that made Chris smile "Fucking Angel". It reminded him that there was still some good in the world, even if Wyatt had turned soundly evil by that time.

He'd had to use potions and a Phoenix Bird to heal his charge. His Dad had been going to teach him how to heal but then the Heavens locked up… Leo hadn't cared anymore. Wyatt was his failure.

Harry had quickly declared his neutrality but that all changed when Wyatt went after Ginny Weasley (Harry's girlfriend of several years). Harry had died when he took away Wyatt's stolen immortality. Using his own mortality as a weapon.

Things would change.

Wyatt would be good.

BACK TO GODRIC'S HOLLOW

Sophia smiled as she saw her grandson return to the house, "Have a good run?"

"Yeah." he said as he moved over to the sink and stuck his head under the faucet, cooling himself down by a few degrees. "Thanks for the ward around your property by the way."

"Ward?"

"On the paths. The snow repelling ones." he said as he removed his head from underneath the faucet before leaning down to drink a couple of swallows of water before he turned off the water and turned to face his grandmother. He made no move to dry it as not only was he quite warm but the kitchen was as well.

Sophia nodded her understanding, "Ah yes. That's Gideon's handiwork for you. The man hates walking through snow if he doesn't have to."

Harry grinned, "Guess my grandfather is something of a selfish genius. Are you planning on telling him?"

"That you're from the future?"

Harry nodded.

"I'm not sure to be honest. I love him, Merlin knows, but … he's set on having a granddaughter. I don't think I want to break his head."

"You mean his heart."

"No, his head." she said seriously.

Harry hugged her, "I love you Ma-Mere." he whispered into her ear before he ran past Sirius who looked to be just entering the kitchen - instead of having heard the entire conversation.

**** = for those that don't remember the grading system.

O - 100% to 91%

EE - 90% to 81%

A - 80% to 71%

P - 70% to 61%

D - 60% to 51%

T - 50% and below

AN: It's short but I'm a little tired of this chapter. It took FOREVER to pull out. The last one came out like water from a spigot and this one was like pulling teeth. GRR!