Remaining Summary for More than Magic
* There were supposed to be a few more fights against the DE. A few small ones that the aurors win thanks to the new alliance with the wiccans. Which makes them grow complacent. Then a big fight where it seems like they're winning, until suddenly someone new enters the battlefield and turns things around. A lot of aurors and allies die very quickly. The last few fleeing to save their lives. Amelia Bones stays behind to cover their escape (sacrificing her life). She sees the new arrival and knows she's seen him before, tries to call to him, only for him to scoff at her and hiss that he's nothing like his 'weak counterpart'…
* During one of those fights Cedric almost gets killed. He feels regret at not being able to marry Cho, only for a rock to suddenly appear in front of him, blocking the spell that almost killed him. It's one of the times Harry and co help save the Order. Only, when they're about to leave, Cho (who's been with them for a couple of missions now), decides she wants to stay. So she hands her robe and mask to Henry, and stays back. She reveals her status as conjurer, when asked who trained her, she gives the name Samuel (which is the name Tonks, Remus and several others have heard, like those of Prudence, Evan, Patricia, etc.).
* Tensions grow as the Order, the aurors and everyone else realize Voldemort has a new ally, someone extremely powerful. Rumors run rampant that it's a traitor of the light. The 'Shadow Lady' (Christy) goes as far as teasing several people with that fact during one of the battles. Severus is the one to reveal the secret eventually, debating long and hard about what to do before eventually choosing to tell Billie first. He sees it as warning her that one of her assistants is a traitor. Billie refuses to believe it. Eventually coming to realize the truth: that Dark Wyatt is in their reality now.
* Dark Wyatt followed Jade, wanting to get his slave/lover back. Also, upon realizing that Melinda's there as well, he finds great 'fun' in 'playing games' with her. That causes great tension, as the wizards fail to understand the idea of there being two Wyatts, who are and aren't the same person. Until eventually the two end up in the same battle. That makes things clear for all of them.
* Harvey is the one to kill Nagini eventually. To save himself and Ginny. With the death of the snake all horcruxes are officially gone, which means Voldemort has been made mortal. (The fact that he's the one to kill the last makes Dumbledore believe he's been right all along about the 'boy-who-lived').
IMPORTANT NOTE: In this verse there's no 'accidental horcrux'. Neither of the twins ever held a part of Voldemort in their scar. The connection was one forged accidentally when the magics clashed the night of the attack. Also, no Deathly Hallows, or Master of Death either.
* Dark Wyatt eventually kills Voldemort. This is first shown as happening because he's been flirting with Christy, she beds him; then Voldemort tries to 'punish' him, claiming Christy is his… that's when Dark Wyatt decides he has no more use for him and kills Voldemort. Christy just cackles, caring very little about things either way as long as she gets to 'have fun'. Wyatt decides to stay in the new universe, as his own reality is too bleak and he's become 'bored' of it. Upon finding that out the Charmed Ones go nuts, as they realize that their reality will collapse eventually, because there cannot be two 'copies' of the same individual existing in the same universe for long. In the past, with the time-travel there wasn't much issue because Bianca didn't stay long, future-Chris died before his other self was truly born; and since Melinda didn't exist in their reality, she's not a danger either. Wyatt is another matter entirely, especially with how powerful each of them are.
* Eventually Draco manages to convince his mom to leave Lucius. Only, when she doesn't arrive when he's supposed to pick her up. Instead he gets a message that if he wants to get her back he'll have to go himself to Malfoy Manor. Knowing it's a trap, and still knowing he cannot just abandon his mum, Draco decides not to tell Mel and go alone to the manor. It truly is a trap, Narcissa's already dead. Draco is captured and interrogated/tortured by Lucius himself, and Bellatrix. They don't kill him because he's supposed to be a 'gift' for Voldemort. Mel finds out what's going on and she snaps, she teleports to Malfoy Manor, where she unleashes all the powers she possesses as the Golden Avatar (many of which are dark). She eventually makes it to where Draco is being held, killing Bellatrix viciously on the spot and almost doing the same to Lucius. Until Draco calls to her, bringing her down from the brink (she came extremely close to turning into a truly Dark Witch). Then, when Lucius tries to take advantage of the moment to kill her, Draco intervenes, killing him.
* Billie tries a number of times to connect with Severus, to talk to him about what happened that rainy night, but he refuses, always pushing her away, or walking away himself. Until eventually Billie decides it's enough, she won't keep humiliating herself. They'll find a way to end the war and then she'll go back to SF and put England behind once and for all.
* It all comes to a head with the Potters when Wormtail tries to assassinate them in their beds one night. They all believe Wormtail to have been tortured to death, his body never found, since the night of the attack on the Potters (he's the one who was supposed to be babysitting the twins that night). When first being found Wormtail tries to make up a story about being kept prisoner for years. Until, unexpectedly, Harvey reveals that he remembers the man from the cemetery. Turns out Harvey was awake when first arriving there, he fainted when Wormtail fired the Killing Curse (since Cedric was standing so close, he almost thought the curse was going for him, the fright was such he fainted on the spot); afterwards he was too embarrassed about that, and the fact that he knew nothing else… he pretended to not knowing a thing. James hesitates to believe him and Wormtail taks the opportunity to injure him badly. Then, when he comes close to killing Lily, as a last resource Harvey yells his brother name. Harry and Hermy show up in a shower of sparks and things go absolutely insane.
* In the end Wormtail isn't that good a fighter. What he is, is a coward, and good at fighting dirty. Which is how he managed to injure James and Lily. Harry and Hermy deal with him pretty quickly. The problem is when Sirius, Remus, and many from the Order arrive (called by a special spell when James was badly wounded). They initially believe, for some bizarre reason, that Harry just tried to kill his own family. When Harvey tries to defend him he's treated like a child who knows no better. In the end James is the one who makes them stop (after being healed).
* When things calm down the Potters gather together, James is extremely disturbed and Lily won't stop crying. Apparently coming so close to death broke the spell on them (the one that made them 'forget' Harry, see him as unimportant). They feel so bad about it all, no matter how much Harry insists on it not being his fault. The worst is trying to explain to them that they cannot change the way everyone else acts. The spell is too strong, too entwined with everyone. It's a miracle they got free. Lily promises time and time again she'll do better, and while there's a part of Harry that likes that, the bigger part of him cannot help but feel that it changes nothing. He's an adult now. And what's more, he already has a family: the Halliwells.
* At one point Severus is finally discovered as a spy. He braces himself for death, but in the last possible moment a man orbs in and rescues him. At first Severus thinks it's one of the Halliwells. And then he identifies the man: Roy… Turns out, that because of how he died, and how he lived, Roy was offered a chance to become a white-lighter upon his death, and he took it. He's the 'guardian' of several of the older wiccan in Britain, and he made some sort of deal which is what allowed him to interfere to save Severus. He cannot stay, he has another life now, and since Severus isn't wiccan… they're not really part of the same 'world' anymore. The current war might have given them an excuse to 'meet' but still. Just before leaving Roy tells Severus to not be stupid, to not let fear take the best thing, the biggest opportunity, he's ever had…
* Billie eventually discovers that she's the reason Christy is back. Her sister is 'leeching off' from her, so-to-speak. Hooked up to Billie, as if the younger witch were some sort of magical battery. It's a connection that cannot be broken, as it has existed their whole lives, it's part of what makes them so powerful, what made some believe they might surpass the Charmed Ones one day (they might have, had they not ended in opposite sides). At first Billie gets very fatalistic and a tad suicidal, believing that it's the only way to stop Christy once and for all. In the end the Halliwells manage to calm her down enough for her to realize the issue's not her life, but the magic. So a spell is created, a variant of the same spell that bound the sister's powers for many years, only this one seals them for good. Billie's more than willing to give up her magic in order to ensure Christy won't be able to hurt anyone ever again. They decide to wait to do the spell during the next big battle, hoping that whatever happens to Christy will provide a distraction and an advantage to their side.
* The plan works, better than any of them could have ever expected. There's one huge attack on Hogwarts, and right as Christy and Dark Wyatt are giving orders for all their minions (DEs and demons) to attack, the Charmed Ones and Billie do the spell. As Billie's magic vanishes, Christy's consumed by a fire that seems to come out of nowhere. That makes many on the dark side extremely nervous. Some even try to flee, only to find themselves killed by DW, who claims not to tolerate cowards. In the end, whether due to fear or a true desire to cause death and mayhem, DW manages to regain control and the attack proceeds.
* It's an epic battle all around. The Charmed Ones stay out of the fight, instead offering themselves to shield the children. So all the children are gathered in the Great Hall and the Charmed Ones recite a spell to raise a shield and keep them all safe. Those from the DA who've passed their OWLS, but aren't yet off-age, and want to help are sent to patrol the castle, just in case. The DA members who're seventeen and older join the Order, and all the others who're there to fight. Harry and the others don't bother with robes and masks anymore, fighting openly with all their powers (most people are focused enough on their own fights to not really pay them much attention).
* DW goes after his counterpart. Wanting to secure 'his place'. They have the same powers, the problem is that DW is ruthless and vicious in a way the good Wyatt isn't. He injures Wyatt badly, and when Chris and Bianca intervene, he comes very close to killing them. In the last moment Jade sacrifices her life to protect them all, managing to kill DW with her most powerful technique (in a sacrificial move) (If anyone has seen Chrono Crusade, the final battle between Satella Harvenheit and Fiore, imagine something like that, with Jade in Satella's place). DW dies instantly, his body disintegrating as he doesn't really beong in that universe; and Wyatt manages to catch Jade as she lays dying (there's nothing any of them can do to save her, even the best healers cannot undo a sacrificial technique). She tells Wyatt that it's how it's supposed to be, she doesn't belong in that world. Then she starts babbling, about how she wishes they could have met in different circumstances. How maybe in a different world, one where she was free, and he was happy, where there was light, they could have met, she surely would have fallen in love with him and maybe, just maybe, he could have loved her… Wyatt holds her until she dies, and then she too disintegrates.
* With Wyatt and Christy, and all the most vicious DEs and demons dead, the remaining ones try to flee. The battle is won fairly easy after that. It's absolute pandemonium when the wizards realize they've just won. It's perfect really, until Dumbledore goes nuts for seemingly no good reason. He starts making demands, calling for explanations. Harvey Potter is the boy-who-lived, he's the child of prophecy, the one destined to defeat the Dark Lord! And he hasn't. Dumbledore insists that means Voldemort isn't dead, despite the fact that Severus, among many others, can remember quite clearly DW killing him (and Lavender 'saw' it, same as several other precogs). Dumbledore refuses to accept it. Insisting that the prophecy must be fulfilled, the Dark Lord must be vanquished. And then comes a voice: "Which Dark Lord…?" It's Hermione.
* And that's just it. They all remember Lavender's prophecy about the Dark Lord and the Shadow Queen. Originally that had been Voldemort and Christy. Yet when DW killed Voldemort, that didn't cancel the prophecy, no, instead Dark Wyatt took Voldemort's place as the Dark Lord. The prophecy remained in effect. Also, as they've discovered, prophecies are fickle at best. Who truly is the White-Angel of the Fates' Prophecy? The most likely candidate is Harry, especially if paired with Hermione as the Lady of Light. But the thing is, Chris and Wyatt are both angels as well, same as Henry (he has charges and everything!) and even Melinda… who technically also qualifies as a Lady of Light, due to both her title, and how Draco has referred to her more than once. In the end, they don't really care which of them, if any, or even if all of them fit the prophecy. Prophecies only have true power when others give them it. Like Dumbledore when he chose to set Trelawney's prophecy into motion… Which brings them all back to Hermione's question. Because Dumbledore's actions, in wanting Voldemort to learn of the prophecy, seeking for the Potter's to be attacked, and everything else; especially with his own belief that one of the twins would become the child of prophecy at the cost of the other's life… All of it put together makes the supposed Leader of the Light, look quite dark indeed…
* Dumbledore seems to just, snap. He goes to attack Hermione, only for Harry to step in to protect her. And then Harvey goes to protect his brother, he uses his power, to manipulate energy, to send Dumbledore's attack right back at him. None of them even know what the spell was, though when it hits Dumbledore there's nothing he can do to protect himself from it. He dies. It all happens so fast… everyone else can only watch in shock. Behind Harry, Hermy whispers the words of Trelawney's prophecy, making it obvious how it fits what just happened… just like it also fit Harry's own actions while hunting for Voldemort's horcruxes, or even Harvey's when he destroyed one of them himself. In the end, was it really about the prophecy, or about their own choices? Does it really matter?
* That night Harry holds Hermy tightly and whispers that he loves her (he came close to telling her during the battle, but didn't want to be that cliché).
* An attempt is made to keep Dumbledore's actions secret by some of the adults, arguing that the revelation will affect their society too much. In the end it's impossible, too many people saw and heard everything that happened. What surprises some, but not many, is the way Harvey's hailed as a hero, again. He goes to Harry to complain about it, saying it's not fair. To which Harry points out Harvey most definitely deserve the praise, it was he who stood up to Dumbledore. Harvey insists that even if that might be true, Harry has done so much and never been praised for it. Harry assures him he doesn't care, never has. Truth be told, he's much happier without all that attention.
* Days after graduation, Lily and James watch silently as Harry packs what few belongings he still has in his bedroom at the Potter place. Lily keeps opening her mouth to say something, then closing it again. Neither of them really know what to say. Then, right as Harry's about to leave, he turns back to them, offering them an envelope, explaining he's getting married at the end of the month. They're invited. Harvey, his fiancée and some of his friends too, they have their own invites. If James and Lily want to attend, they'll be welcome. Then he leaves. Lily holds tight onto the envelope, what she sees as their last chance to have some sort of relationship with their son.
* At the wedding, Lily and James ask all sorts of questions to the Halliwells, wanting to learn as much as they can about both Harry and his bride. Hermy gets an idea to help them and insists that her new husband ask his mother to a dance (it's only right, since he already danced with his godmother and aunts), then she does the same with James. Who thanks her for the gesture. Hermy tells him it won't solve everything, and while it's not really their fault, they need to understand that they cannot act like it never happened either. Harry doesn't feel like he needs them as parents. He probably never will, but that doesn't mean they cannot be family… The Potters are more than willing to embrace the chance.
* One particular night Wyatt is walking around after patrol. He's been having trouble sleeping since the final battle, nightmares invading his dreams. When suddenly he hears a voice cursing. He runs towards it, finding a group of thugs trying to mug a young man. 'Trying' being the operative word as she fights back. And she definitely can fight. He can tell she has magic but keeps it tightly leashed, not wanting to kill any of the thugs accidentally (they're human). When it's all said and done she turns to him, and he's left breathless when he realizes he's looking at Jade… or their universe's counterpart. He eventually manages to ask her if she's alright, and when she says she is, he stammers a vague response before turning to leave. When she calls to him, says that she almost expected him to ask her out, with the way he was looking at her… he blurts out an invitation to dinner. She laughs at him (a laugh that Wyatt cannot help but find so similar, and at the same time so much better than the other Jade's ever was), and tells him "How about we start with coffee and see where it goes from there?" He agrees immediately and leads her to the closest coffee shop.
* A year or so later Severus shows up at Billie's door. She's shocked enough by his presence there that she fails to close the door on him. Then he's the one shocked, as he hears a baby crying… Billie rushes inside, Severus goes inside, and finds her picking up a baby boy, her son: Roy Jenkins… Severus reveals he wanted to find her before, but after all the crimes he committed as a DE, he wanted to atone, so he did his best to help, to restore some of what he broke. It's taken a whole year for them all to be fairly certain that things are better now than they were before, and that their society won't fall back into the same things that allowed someone like Voldemort to exist in the first place. As soon as that was done Severus presented his resignation and went looking for Billie. It took him forever to convince the Halliwells to give him her address, but eventually he managed. Then he apologizes for waiting so long, loosing his chance, he starts to wish her the best… when she interrupts him, blurting out that the baby is his (from that rainy night…). She explains to him what happened in the final battle, the fact that she isn't a witch anymore. She still went to college, and she has her job overseeing P3, and has been teaching some self-defense classes in the youth center… Severus asks her to marry him. Billie's jaw drops in shock. Then she asks him if he's crazy. After the way he avoided her, and turned away from her, and everything else?! She tells him no. She won't keep his son from him, but she won't marry him when he doesn't really love her, it wouldn't be fair to either of them. Severus doesn't try to gainsay her, he just promises himself to show her, through his actions, that he does love her (Years later he finally manages to propose again, with an actual dinner and ring and everything this time, and she says yes).
* Years pass. Some things change. Some don't. And life goes on…
Of the two stories I never finished (well, there are actually three, but the other one I got to a point where most can see it as an ending, and it had less than a handful of readers so... a lot less people left wanting, I suppose) I think this might be the one I regret most leaving like this. I had so many plans for this fic, some I might have actually forgotten by this point. I had so many issues... I wrote this fics before I even learned there were Charmed comics (though let me tell you, I'm not a fan), so the names don't really fit with the ones favored by most of the fandom. Also, before the seventh book came out, which explains by the Ravenclaw heirloom is so different, and the situation with the Hufflepuff cup, among other things.
There are other things too, like, I always planned on bringing Dark Wyatt into the picture, but once I actually pictured all three bad guys I realized that there's no way someone like DW would ever play second to someone like Voldemort. Killing Riddle was easy, doing it while not undoing everything I'd set up at that point, that was harder. Also, at the time when I started this fic I loved the Potter family, saw them as some sort of ideal (which is why I requested the change from the original challenge, making it so they forgot Harry, instead of hating him), yet once that was all written... I cannot just write that the spell is broken and suddenly they're all a happy family, because I don't believe that anymore. I'm not the person I was when I started this, and I think that's part of what made it so hard, and eventually impossible, to continue. I was already changing while still writing this. That's how Melinda got the background story she did, and the plan for Narcissa's death and what followed, that was part of the plan even back then. Jade's own story is incredibly dark, a sickly, twisted love that I have trouble even picturing nowadays, yet it wouldn't have been fair to just ignore her existence altogether either.
So... in the end I tried my best to do justice to the story I began all those years ago and hope I've managed, at least to a point. I hope you, if not like it, at least like knowing how this story was supposed to end.
If anyone's interested on adoptiing the story, on actually writing what's missing here. Feel free, I have no issue with it, just respect what's already been written and let me know so I can go read your work (and if possible let everyone know about it too!).
Thanks so much to all who've been so infinitely patient with me, who've waited this long to find out how this story ends. I apologize for any and all disapointments and wish you all the best!
P.S. Nowadays, like I said, I'm not into these fandoms anymore (though I do like to include Charmed in the background while writing fics in other fandoms, like Teen Wolf), but I write in a lot of others, if you're interested. I promise I've made a point not to post unfinished works unless I actually have a date for finishing them (a close one), one that guarantees no more fics will be getting abandoned.