Disclaimer: If you have heard any of the ideas or characters they're probably not mine.

Chapter 6: Hope for the Future

A young teen orbbed into the manor and raced up the stairs. Suddenly his surroundings started to move in slow motion. Piper moved in front of him in a fast speed, looked at him, smirked and flicked her hands at him. And everything moved normal again. The teen looked around and looked at the grinning woman.

"I thought your powers don't work of good witches," Christopher Halliwell muttered to his mother. And to that his mother grinned.

"Ah…but you see, my powers have grown. I like to call it 'selective freezing'." Piper said flicking her fingers mimicking her freezing power. "You see," she continued as her son sighed and made his way to his room, "I am now able to freeze any kind of evilness or badness in anyone. And since you're still human…well, let's just say you're not perfect."

"Good for you, Mom," Christopher said unemotionally. He quickly went around his room and gathered some items and placed them in his bag.

"What, may I ask, are you doing?" Piper asked innocently. When no response came, Piper moved in, "put the bag down, son." At that tone, Christopher automatically looked up, but didn't put the bag down. Instead he placed it on his shoulder. "Christopher…" Piper warned.

"Come on, Mom. I'm just going to the park to do a project," Christopher tried to slip out of the room, but his mother wouldn't budge.

"How about you explain first the late arrival home?" Piper stood with her arms crossed over her chest. The young witch sighed.

"I kinda had to stay after school…for detention." Christopher whispered the last part and waited for the explosion.

"Detention! Christoper Perry Halliwell. That is the fourth time this month," Piper exclaimed. "What in the world did you do?"

"Well, the skeleton in the lab started to dance and then some chemicals flew around, exploded, and made really cool colored smoke. And of course Mr. Winston thought I had rigged some mechanical thing up and gave me detention. Which by the way, was completely unfair since I did not set up a mechanical machine to do all that. I'm not that smart." Christopher explained know full-well that no way in the heavens or hells would his mother believe him.

"But you were the one who made everything 'fly' around! Christopher, how many times do we have to go through this? No magic outside this house unless it's a life or death situation." Piper threw her hands up at her son with an enraged face.

"But no one knew it was me, they all thought I set something up. Its not that big a deal, Mom."

"And what about the chemicals? Huh? You could have created something completely unstable and blew up the whole school!"

"Mom, we make potions powerful enough to level the city and deal with ingredients that put some of those chemicals to shame. We do all of this on a daily basis. I know what I'm doing. I would never have put my friends in danger on purpose."

"I know that but Christopher, the risk of exposure…"

"The risk of using magic for personal gain, risk of attracting a demon, risk of losing control…yes, I know all of it. I've known it since I was born." Before Piper could say anything more, a bright light of blue and white orbs flowed in as Leo materialized in the middle of the charming mother-son moment.

"Hey guys," Leo said as he made his way to his own room, but Piper blocked his way. "Piper, I got someone to fill in for me. And I really want to change out of these robes." Indicating the gold and white Elder robes he was wearing.

"Ask your son here how his day was, dear," Piper said to Leo in a tight voice. Leo sighed and turned to Christopher and raised an eyebrow.

"I got detention for pulling a prank in Mr. Winston's class."

"Again?" Leo asked. And when his son nodded, Leo turned to his wife who now was tapping her foot in annoyance.

"He received detention for doing magic in school, Leo."

"Wait, he did…they know he can do magic?"

"No, I just made some things fly around the room and Mr. Winston blamed me." Christopher muttered with his head bowed low.

"Christopher, you know the risks. I know you do. Why? Why do magic and risk the good life we have now?" Leo asked his somber son.

"I just wanted to have fun, ok? I just don't understand why we are 'gifted' with these powers if we have to always struggle to keep them a secret," Christopher murmured.

"There you see, all fixed." Leo turned to go to his room but once again Piper stopped him. "Piper, he won't do it again. Now please?" Piper only shook her head, glanced at Christopher, then looked back at Leo. And Leo understood immediately. "Oh come on, Piper." Piper shook her head again. "Alright, fine. Christopher, I'm sorry. But I…er…both of us, think that the regular punishment won't suffice this time." At this statement, Christopher's head shot up.

"What do you mean?"

"We mean, that you're taking it for granted, magic that is," Leo explained, "And now we feel that the only place where you will learn control is—"

"No." Christopher said in a low voice, "Not magic school. You said it was only for the summers and we were trying to live normal lives." Christopher looked at both his mother and father but found no lenience. "I don't like that place. Not since that one Elder—"

"Stop right there," Piper cut her son short. "That was taken care of a long time ago, besides both your Aunt Paige and father will be there supervising. And you can come home on summer, fall, and winter vacations."

"How long?" he asked seeing there was no way out.

"Four years," and seeing his son jaw drop, Leo continued fast, "look you already know a lot of the people there, you know the place well, so, it'll be just like high school…just with a twist." Christopher sighed but never got to say anything else on the matter because of loud yell.

"MOM! DAD!" a voice yelled from downstairs. Christopher automatically orbbed down to see what was going on.

"Hey, you're grounded from magic, remember!" Piper shouted to the air.

"Hey look! It's a girl!" Christopher's voice echoed through the hall. "Wyatt's brought home a girlfriend!"

"Shut up!" and the two parents heard sounds of hitting and fighting, they sighed and Leo orbbed them downstairs. There they found Wyatt and Christopher standing over an unconscious Lorae lying on the couch.

"Wyatt, what happened?" Piper asked as she went to Lorae's side.

"We were attacked by three demons. They just appeared and started throwing energy balls at us. We ran into the school, but since it was after hours no one was there. We hid in a classroom and then I guess Lor took a hit." Wyatt explained as he sat with huff.

"You guess?" Leo asked.

"I was trying to open a window so we could get out. One of the demons spelling the air around us to where we couldn't orb out. I tried healing already. I healed the cuts and scrapes, but she hasn't woken up yet."

"Well, keep trying to wake her. Christopher, go get the Book of Shadows. No magic," Piper told her sons looking specifically at Christopher who gave her an innocent look and ran up the stairs. "Leo with me."

"Wait, where you going?"

"Private conversation," was all Leo could give his son as he followed Piper into the kitchen and down into the basement.

Down in the basement, Leo checked the stairs to see if anyone was listening then he nodded to Piper.

"Chris," she called. And at the call, a young man who looked to be young Christopher's person in about eight or nine years.

"So, Mom. Ready for some demon hunting?" the older version of Christopher said in a cocky, arrogant voice.

"You asked me that earlier and I blew you up as the response," Piper said somewhat irritated. "usually that means 'no and don't bring it up again'."

"Well, how are we ever going to find the demon that corrupted Wyatt?"

"Chris," Leo interjected, "that's kind of why we called you here. Wyatt and a friend were attacked at school." Chris looked at his father and seemed to contemplate the matter.

"Was he with a friend?" When he received a nod in response, he continued, "Was it Lorae Swift?"

"Yes," Piper answered, "Chris, is this attack something of importance you forgot to mention?"

"No…yes…um…" Chris stuttered under his mother's glare.

"Chris, what is going to happen?" Leo asked his son. But Chris remained silent and the silence remained for a moment until Wyatt's voice came through the manor.

"Hey! People! She's waking up!"

"I'll go," Piper said, "Leo, see if you can talk some sense into your son here." Piper turned and went up to the stairs.

"Chris—"

"Dad, no listen. This attack…yes, it is somewhat important. But not something I want to change. This attack is the start of a whole chain reaction that will lead up to Wyatt's corruption, but it's a good thing."

"Could you at least tell us what's going to happen?"

"I would but, I shouldn't. I really don't want to mess this up. Last time I messed up, I died."

"Yes, I remember. But Chris, I gave you a whitelighter's immortality so you can't die this time."

"I know, but I don't remember any of the first coming back here. If you don't remember me the Christopher Halliwell standing here now is the fourteen year old upstairs. And…its just that…you know how the first time I came back, you told me that I had said that Mom died when I was fourteen?"

"Chris, you're fourteen now. You're not saying…"

"No, not that…but she is dead in my time. And not just her, all of you. Aunt Phoebe, Aunt Paige, you…I know Wyatt is the one who did it, but I just don't know who the demon is…he disappeared before I came into the room."

"So everyone died and you weren't able to get into the room?"

"Not exactly, see I was coming home from a graduation party…graduation from Magic School."

"So the demons were wearing suits and looked like business men?" Piper asked again.

"Yes, but one was really short and really ragged," Lorae added as she sat on the couch leaning against Wyatt's shoulder.

"He looked like he had been the mill a couple times," Wyatt put in. A loud slam caused everyone to jump as Christopher slammed the Book of Shadows closed.

"The descriptions are too vague," he complained. "The demons could be anyone."

"Demons?" came a voice from the front door. Phoebe Halliwell walked into the manor pulling in a small girl around the age of six and a few shopping bags.

"Hey, Pheebs," Piper said and she got up to help her sister.

"I heard the word demon I hope its not something the Power of Three have to do because I have to meet Jason in about an hour for a some big meeting in Spain to talk about a merger with France and Germany, then I have to get back to Hong Kong in order to finish my column for tomorrow's edition, so, I'm going to need one of you two boys to orb—and there's someone new here," Phoebe ranted on for awhile until she realized that Lorae was sitting in the living room.

"Hi, I'm Lorae Swift, a classmate of Wyatt's. And don't worry about talking about magic, I'm a sorceress." Lorae said waving to Phoebe.

"Ah…you mean like a being whose magic is kind of a cross between demonic and witchy, right?"

"Yes, but we have more pressing matters than gathering information," Piper said as she picked up the small girl. "Come on, little lady, we'll go get something to eat while these people talk about magic stuff."

"So, where are we at with research?" Phoebe asked as Piper took her daughter to the kitchen.

"We have three demons that could be anyone with their descriptions," Christopher muttered.

"Hey, not my fault if I was busy trying to get both Lor and I out of a life and death situation," Wyatt said getting ready to pounce on his brother.

"Well, maybe you should have tried to identify them," Christopher fired back, "So that way we could go and vanquish them and be done with the whole matter."

"Hey hey! Lets cool the brotherly love and just do the basics. We get the basic stunning and exploding potions as well as spells." Phoebe interrupted.

"Your aunt's right, guys." Leo said as he walked into the living room. "Lorae, I suggest that you stay here until we figure this out."

"I agree, but I would like to go back to my apartment to get some of my own things," Lorae said.

"Why?" Christopher asked.

"Familiarity…plus I know all the stuff so it's somewhat like a security blanket," Lorae answered.

"Fair enough. I am going to add you as one of Paige's charges. It makes sense since you're one of her charges at social services." Leo told Lorae as she got up.

"Here," Wyatt said standing up, "I'll take you." Wyatt then slipped his hand into Lorae's and looked at her, who looked back and smiled softly. And with that they orbbed out.

"Ok, is it just me or is there something else besides just friendly friendship?" Phoebe said looking up at Leo who shrugged.

Behind the wall in the next room, Chris from the future leaned against the wall looking somewhat apprehensive.

"For the hope of the future, there better be something else."