Thank you for the reviews! Here comes the spell's aftermath...


IV. "Spiderman is stronger than Harry Potter"

It was around 5 o'clock in the manor. Leo kept pacing around the kitchen, occasionally looking at the clock. Paige should be on her way home with Wyatt right now – but this pacing around kept making Piper, who was trying to bake a special dinner, nervous.

"Honey, don't you have any charges to tend to?"

"Piper..."

"OK, if you don't have any urgent calls, can't you at least sit down? You are making me nervous..."

"Well, you should be nervous. I mean, until he is back and we know for sure that everything is fine..."

"Leo..." she smiled, as she put her arms around her husband. "Honey, you have to calm down. Everything will be fine, you will see. Wyatt was so excited this morning to meet the other kids, he must have spent the whole day just playing with them, and shortly he is going to tell us what a great day he had. I bet he is already telling Paige all about it."

Leo smiled. Paige was by far Wyatt's favorite aunt, the one he would share all his secrets with. In fact, more than once they had to resort to her to get out of Wyatt what was bothering him. Maybe half-whitelighters shared a special bond, a magical bond that sometimes made even Piper jealous. The fact is though that Paige could get to Wyatt in a way that none of them could. Leo was secretly happy about that – he hoped that it could act as an insurance in the difficult years ahead, when Wyatt would evolve into a fully mighty magical teenager...

As if she could read his thoughts, Piper started to comment on that bond...

"And, well, even if he doesn't tell us, rest assured that he will tell auntie Paige about whatever happened at school..."

Yes, maybe half-whitelighters could understand each other better, or it was just Paige's open personality... as opposed to Phoebe. Leo tried to shake this thought off... As Phoebe's whitelighter, he had the responsibility to guide her... and he knew the bitterness that she hid behind the career-woman facade. The fear, the pain... The Elders had said that Phoebe would always carry some of the darkness of the Underworld within her, since she had chosen to become its Queen. And, let the truth be told, she had evolved into a true bitch. Always ready to advise others what to do, but never really dealing with her own problems – and with a long series of failed relationships in the last few years. Jason was the one to last longer – just three months... But, that bitch was an all-powerful witch as well, really boosting the Power of Three, so the Elders were happy. But, deep inside he knew that she was just a time bomb waiting to explode.

His train of thoughts was interrupted by a happy, singing Wyatt entering the house.

"Mommy, daddy," he cried, as he ran towards them.

"Hi sweetie," said Piper, as she took him in her arms. "How was school?"

"Oh, mommy, it was wonderful! I met all that children; Nicole, and Lizzy, and Ben, and Dave, and Kate, and Johny – he likes Pokemon – and Joyce, and the other Joyce, and Paul. Paul said fairy tales are for girls," he said, remembering the earlier incident. "Auntie Paige, are fairy tales only for girls?"

Paige, who had of course heard the story in the car, smiled, trying to figure a good answer to that.

"There's nothing wrong with fairy tales, baby. They all hold a truth and a message in them; so, we can all learn from them. And I think that it was very sweet what you said. But, if it bothers you, next time tell them that you like Batman or Spiderman."

"Ben likes Spiderman. He thinks that Spiderman is stronger than Harry Potter... is he, mommy?"

How come that I always get the tough questions? Piper didn't really know what to answer to that.

"Well, being a superhero is definitely cool", came the answer from Phoebe, who had just entered the kitchen. "But I'd choose being a witch anytime."

"I agree with that," said Piper, commemorating their experience as superheroes. "Just don't tell that to your friends – you know, magic no-no."

"Yes, mommy, no magic..." said Wyatt, dutifully.

"So, what did you do the whole day?" came the question from Leo, who still had not calmed down.

"Oh, daddy, I had such a great time! Mrs Smith had us play with so many toys that were there, and then we went out and played in the garden, then we had lunch and nap afterwards, and she read us stories... Mommy was right, I had a great time!"

"Well, honey, mom is always right" murmured Piper, mostly to Leo. He heard that, and smiled. Apparently, the first day in kindergarten had passed without any magical incident.


Back at the kindergarten classroom at the Woods Academy, Mrs Smith was holding a Spiderman and a Harry Potter figure, thinking over and over what she had seen. Wyatt, a well-known child in the magical world, had cast a spell using the Harry Potter figure. She was sure of it, since she had seen the power emanating from the figure's little hand. Wyatt and the other kid – Ben, wasn't it? - might not have noticed, but, no, she was experienced in that stuff. The power left the Harry Potter figure, and tried to go to the Spiderman figure, but somehow it didn't manage to. Was Wyatt already capable of such fine control over his powers? Or had the Charmed Ones cast some protection spell to keep him from exposing himself?

"Spiderman is stronger than Harry Potter" was what Ben had said after Wyatt did not succeed in turning the figure into a pig. Kids' nonsense, she thought. But, a careful examination of the figures could yield useful information about what kind of magic was in play there. If nothing else, they could serve as a probe of Wyatt's powers.

Information her bosses would be very interested in.


Well, what do you think? Reviews, ideas, suggestions, flames – all welcome!