Chapter 3. Hard Decisions

The magic instruction began for many children that day, even if for three certain kids it wasn't really the first time they studied such topics.

The time passed and Harry, Hermy and Henry quickly became known as a trio, even when the last of them belonged to a different house they were seen together most of the time. To the point where sometimes Henry could be seen in the Ravenclaw Common Room, and those from that house didn't really seem to mind.

But there was another trio that quickly became famous, and that was maybe because one of the members was the famous: Harvey Potter, the one all the Magic Community called 'The Boy Who Lived'; the other two were Ronald (Ron) Weasley and Lavender Brown, both who had quickly become his best friends.

Those from Ravenclaw quickly discovered that even if the Potter in their House wasn't the famous one, he still had a lot to offer, as well as his friend Hermione. They both demonstrated to be quite clever, being always the firsts to get most of the spells right; when they weren't hanging out with their Hufflepuff friend, Henry, they could be found each reading one book or another while sitting next to each other in companionable silence.

.---.

So the time passed, in Halloween appeared a troll, Lavender was attacked by it and fainted at the sight of the monster. Harry and Hermy arrived right then and used their own powers to defeat the creature and make sure the other girl was alright; then left when Henry told them teachers were approaching.

The three children uncovered the mystery, at the same time the Gryffindor trio did, and went after them into the secret passages. Henry was the one who healed Ron's injury after the chess game, while Harry went ahead to fight the evil Quirrell after his twin brother fell unconscious and Hermy sent a message to Professor Dumbledore so he would know there was trouble in Hogwarts and he needed to return.

Still, after the whole ordeal was over, Harvey, Ron and Lavender were the ones rewarded for what was done, while what the other three had done remained unknown to them all. But they didn't care, they hadn't done it because they expected something in payment, or even a thank you, just because they were used to helping others with their powers; it was what they had learnt to do their whole life.

.---.

The next year there was a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who seemed to love the attention he usually got, and loved to fawn over Harvey as well. Harry could only thank God it wasn't him instead.

When the roosters died and the first student was petrified the Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff trio took it upon themselves to resolve the mystery. It was quite a difficult one, and matters definitely took a turn for the worse when Hermione ended up petrified too one day.

Harry was very hard upon himself because of that, constantly berating himself for not having been there for her, insisting that she was his charge and should have taken better care of her. So Henry told him that then the only way to correct his mistake would be to get Hermione out of the petrified state. That was enough to get Harry to work even harder than before in finding the one responsible for everything.

And when Henry's words weren't enough to easy Harry's mind, something else was. One morning he found a semi-transparent Hermy floating next to his bed. For a second he feared she had died, until he understood he was seeing her astral-self. Apparently her body had been petrified, but thanks to her being a white-witch she could still use that power to contact Harry; it didn't last forever, and she still had to return to her body once in a while to get a rest, but at least it helped Harry.

So, they found out about the Chamber of Secrets, the Heir of Slytherin, the basilisk and all the other little mysteries in between. Henry was seriously considering getting some help from one of their parents or at least the older children when they got notice Ginny Weasley had been kidnapped by Slytherin's Heir; they were running out of time.

By the time the Gryffindor trio solved the mystery and found their way into the Chamber of Secrets, Tom Riddle and his basilisk had both been defeated by Harry, Henry had completely healed Ginny's injuries (as well as the ones Harry had attained during the fight), and they both left to return to their friend's side in the infirmary before anyone could know it had been them down there.

And once again Harvey and company were congratulated for something they didn't do, things they didn't even know how they had happened.

.---.

Third year came, and thankfully it wasn't as nerve-wracking as the previous ones. Even with the troubles there were due to a certain hippogriff and several other minor things, there was nothing too worrying.

Even when Hermione took so many more classes than his two friends they didn't comment on it, Harry had easily found out how she was doing it and promised to keep the secret for her, and Henry thought it was Harry's duty to take care of the girl, not his.

The only bad thing was when Harry informed his two best-friends of the prophecy Professor Trelawney, their Divination Professor had done one night; about a servant returning to his Dark Master, which certainly seemed to be warning them about Voldemort. Even when Henry had tried to insist that that Professor wasn't truly a prophetess, Phoebe's girls had soon backed up the prophecy, which only served to make the adults insist the kids to be careful, none of them wanted to see them hurt.

.---.

Fourth year was an entirely different matter. Beginning with the fact that most of the students got a great surprise when they saw a girl join the third year, her name was Melinda Halliwell and she was sorted into Hufflepuff. As hard as it may have been for Henry to accept it, he knew Mel's powers would definitely come in-handy if they had as much trouble as they feared there might be.

The next surprise was when they were told Hogwarts would be hosting the great Triwizard Tournament that year. One champion from each magic school: Hogwarts, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons was to be chosen. The real problem came when along with Viktor Krum from Durmstrang, and Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons, two champions were chosen by the Goblet of Fire to represent Hogwarts: Cedric Diggory and Harvey Potter.

After that the quartet took it upon themselves to help both Hogwarts champions as much as they could. So Henry and Mel would often offer Cedric some help with one topic or another saying that they knew more about it because they read about such things at home. The other two helped Harvey, though they didn't let the boy know it; Hermy usually astral-projected into his dreams to teach him new things, and every once in a while Harry would send a book about a specific topic; that way they helped Harry's younger twin without him knowing.

In the winter holidays came the Yule Ball, it came as a great surprise when Viktor Krum came forth and invited Hermione, explaining he had seen her in the library and admired her great dedication to her studies, this flustered the girl, who shyly agreed to go to the ball with him. Harry was a bit overprotective of Hermione, but preferred not to say a thing, after all, it was only a ball, he himself would be going with Mel, as she was really the only girl besides Hermy with whom he felt comfortable. Henry, in the other hand, had invited a very pretty looking Hufflepuff to be his date.

The first two tasks of the Tournament passed without that much of a trouble, the real trouble came with the third task. The four friends had been waiting in the last row for the students to come out of the maze. They had worried when seeing the red sparks and then seeing a teacher bring out Fleur, and then Viktor as well, meaning that only the two Hogwarts's champions remained inside the maze.

Suddenly Harry could feel the presence of his brother vanishing, that made him panic almost immediately, something had gone wrong…really wrong.

"Harry, Harry listen to me." Hermy called to him, shaking him by the shoulders. "You've got to calm down, ok? I know you're worried for your brother, but you need to have a clear mind if you want to help him, alright?"

Hermione's words seemed to ring a bell in Harry's mind and he finally reacted, he knew she was right. He needed to have a leveled mind or his magic wouldn't work properly.

"Very well." Hermione said. "Now concentrate and locate Harvey, then we can get there and do what we can to help him."

"We?" Henry asked raising his brow.

"Yes." Hermy nodded without doubt. "I'm going with Harry to help him. It'll be your own decision if you come as well or stay here."

That was more than enough. Being a silent and subtle as they possibly could all four of them left the bleachers and hid behind a wall.

Harry easily located his brother and then with some help from Henry they all orbed to the location, a creepy graveyard some miles away from Hogwarts.

As soon as they appeared, behind some headstones Harry could feel a dark presence he had just felt twice before in his life: the most recent on his first year in Hogwarts, when saving his brother; and the first, when he had been just one-year-old.

"Kill the spare…" They barely heard a creepy voice say those words.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Stop!"

The dreaded spell had been shot by a Death Eater, barely half-a-second before the youngest white-witch raised her hands and cried out, activating her inherited power just in time.

Being immune to the 'temporal-ecstasies' Mel provoked the teenagers quickly approached the scene, they were able to see the green-light suspended in mid-air, just some inches in front of the older champion, Cedric.

Hermy didn't wait for someone to tell her, she just concentrated for a second and the magic-shot flew up and lost in the night-sky.

"What now?" Henry asked.

They really had no idea.

"You better think quickly because even if these people aren't like us they're still wizards, I doubt my power will hold them much longer." Mel warned them.

"We need to get them out 'a here, but how?" Hermy asked. "If we just orbed them back to Hogwarts it would look too suspicious. I don't think we can afford blowing up our covers, at least not yet."

"The Elders definitely wouldn't be too happy if that were to happen…" Henry commented, and then as a second thought added. "Though it's not like they're helping us, either."

"Very well, if we can't get them out, then I'll take his place." Harry declared.

"What?!" That shocked them all greatly.

"What you heard." Harry replied simply. "Voldemort wants a fight with the boy-who-lived, he'll get it; even if not with the one he had been expecting."

"But…" Hermy began.

"No buts…" Harry interrupted them. "I want you to hide, and take my brother with you. The moment this whole thing unfreezes I want you, Henry, to summon Cedric to you, then I want you all to orb back to Hogwarts, I'll catch up with you as soon as I can, ok?"

They all knew it wasn't ok, but they really didn't have time to argue.

Henry used a simple spell to put Harvey to sleep and then they pulled the boy behind a big mausoleum so they could hide.

The moment the whole thing 'unfroze', as Harry put it, he saw how Cedric disappeared in the blue light of Henry's powers; thought, regretfully, his distraction was enough for the Death Eater that was there to send him against a tall tombstone and immobilize him.

It was when Harry was trying to clear up his thoughts that he could sense a presence was still in the graveyard.

'Hermy…' Harry thought. 'Why didn't she leave?'

"I can't leave you Harry, you should know that by now." The astral-Hermione next to him told him concerned. "You know I would be now fighting these guys if you would just let me."

"No." Harry mumbled in a low voice. "My battle…not yours…"

Harry knew he couldn't talk much, out of fear of being heard by his captor.

"Why don't you just orb out of your binds?" Hermione asked. "The more you stay there, the more in danger you'll be."

"I know…just…trust me…" Harry whispered back.

Due to his talk with his charge he hadn't heard the talking the chubby man before him, whom most called Wormtail, otherwise known as Petter Pettigrew, had said.

He did felt when a knife cut through a vein in his arms, making him bleed. That hurt, though Harry didn't let any sign of it show, he wasn't going to show any weakness in front of those evil men.

Everything passed in a blur from then on. Harry was conscious of seeing a man step out of what looked like some kind of cauldron, Lord Voldemort no doubt, and then the Death Eaters came, and he had to duel with the Dark Lord.

It was after almost ten minutes dueling that Harry knew he had to get out of that place, the problem was he didn't know how.

Right then he could see Hermione's astral-form somehow materialize in between some DE, causing great uproar. She vanished just a second afterwards and the real Hermy jumped from behind a tombstone, using her telekinesis to send Voldemort and the closest DE backwards.

"Lets go!" She yelled to Harry.

He didn't even wait a second more, he immediately took hold of her hand and orbed them out of the graveyard and back to Hogwarts.

Back in Hogwarts there was a great commotion regarding what had just happened. Henry and the rest managed to leave Cedric and Harvey where they could be seen by everyone while they themselves appeared in a hidden area.

Everyone had been quite relieved that there had no been any casualties; though the relief didn't last long. They soon found out that their 'Professor Moody' was in fact an impostor, a DE that had been sent to spy on Harvey and was the one responsible for the two boys having ended up in that graveyard.

Dumbledore and some others heard the man talk about what had happened in the cemetery, before sending him off to Azkaban. The problem was that when they questioned the young boy he said he didn't remember a thing.

That is explained easily because he wasn't there, but no one knew that, and eventually they got to the conclusion that as the whole even had been a truly shocking experienced the boy had blocked all the memories of it. At least they had the story from the DE's lips, otherwise they wouldn't even know such a thing had happened.

.---.

After the whole disaster had ended (at least for the moment being) the quarter had a late secret meeting to discuss what had happened, and the measures that should be taken from that moment forwards to ensure their safety and everyone else's.

"What are we going to do now?" Hermione asked.

"What do you mean?" Henry asked. "Why should we do anything at all?"

"Because we can, that's why." Hermy replied. "We have the power, if not to stop that evil man, at least to help others fight him. It's our responsibility, remember? 'Protect the Innocent' That's what we were told always."

"You're conscious this is not our battle?" Henry asked her.

"But it is." Hermy insisted. "It is 'cause we're here. Harry and I were called to this school…"

"And my brother is involved in this as well." Harry interfered right then. "My brother is being targeted by a man who believes him to be responsible for what's happened in previous years, especially what happened that night thirteen years ago. We all know that wasn't really my brother's doing, but my own. Yet I've let them believe it was him, because I never really wanted to be famous, and because I thought I had enough with being a white-lighter and having to fight off demons once-in-a-while. But I can't continue ignoring the fact that what I did that night had consequences; some good, some bad. The real problem is that those bad consequences are now hunting other people, especially my little brother. I can't let that happen guys. I can't have him suffer just because I didn't want to accept my responsibility in all this. I won't have him hurt because of me."

"You mean you'll tell everyone you were the one who defeated that evil man that night?" Mel asked, slightly confused as to what Harry meant.

"No, who would believe me if I did?" Harry asked. "I was only one-year-old. With the powers I have as white-lighter I know what happened, but I can't possibly tell that to others without getting in some trouble. No, I will continue doing things the way I have until now. I will continue protecting Harvey and his friends from the shadows, even if he doesn't know it is me, as long as he's alright…"

"But it's not fair." Mel complained. "I mean, he's always taking the credit of what you do. I remember what you told me of the Philosopher's Stone, and the Chamber of Secrets, and then during the tasks of this Tournament."

"That's alright Mel." Harry assured her. "I already told you I never wanted the fame, I'm fine with being someone anonymous, with helping others from the shadows; very much like your mother and aunts do. I like that kind of life. And even if I really don't like having to fight, I will do it to protect those I care about."

"I'm with you." Hermione declared right then. "And before anyone tries to object. Harry, you may be my white-lighter, but that doesn't mean you have to approve of my every decision, I already said it before. I won't leave you. I was invited to this school as well, and I believe it was for some reason. This may just be it. To protect this school from that Dark Lord and his DE. No matter what the dangers may be, I seriously doubt it'll be worse than us fighting demons back in San Francisco. And I'm absolutely sure, my parents would approve of this, and if not completely, at least they would understand."

"You're right there Hermy." Henry nodded. "I'm not backing now. You can count me in. I'm all ready to fight whoever may get on our way. Be it demon or DE."

"Ditto." Mel stepped forward as well. "I know I haven't proven to be the best with a wand this year, but I will do what I can."

"Don't underestimate yourself Mel." Hermy told her. "You're having trouble with a wand, but that's normal, you've been trying to learn three years in just one. And still, you're the best one of all of us in Potions. You just need to practice more in the others."

Mel nodded.

"Then it's all decided?" Harry asked.

They all nodded.

They were children, or more like teenagers, that's right; but that didn't mean they didn't know what they were getting themselves into. The dangers they would be facing, and still they were willing to face them.

.---.

Even if the four had made up their mind easily that night, it wasn't that easy to explain it to the Charmed Ones and the rest of the family. Harry had decided not to say a thing to his own family, he didn't believe it to be a good idea for whatever-the-reason.

Though at first most of the adults seemed to be renitent of the four facing that kind of dangers on their own (and Paige did her part by worrying over both Harry and her own son); in the end they knew there wasn't much they could do about it.

"Why can't we take this matter in our own hands?" Piper asked heatedly, once the kids had retired to their bedrooms.

"Because it's not our place to do so." Phoebe was the one to answer. "I know this is hard Piper sis, you'll probably say I don't know what you're feeling because my daughters aren't in the middle of this mess, and you're right. But I can tell you what my daughters said that night, when the kids began their classes in that school, they declared that Destiny had been set into motion. I'm sure you know what that means."

"They were destined to be a part of this 'whole mess'." Coop stepped in, using his wife's same words. "Not just Harry and Hermione, but Henry and Melinda too. That's why even being part of another magic-society they found their way to that school, and at this time too. I don't think any of this is a coincidence."

"They're right." Paige surprised everyone by speaking.

"What do you mean?" They all asked her.

"The Elders had told me, but I didn't understand it until now." Paige explained. "They all have great destinies to fulfill, just like we do as the Charmed Ones. The difference is that while our own destiny laid here, in San Francisco, theirs lays in England."

"Destiny…" Leo repeated. "Why does it all always fall there? Is it really all set up in stone?"

"No." Phoebe denied. "Fate isn't about something that was said would happen, it's just about a goal that must be reached. The goal will always be the same. What can be changed is the path that takes us to that goal. We have proven that the paths can be changed no matter what, we can choose an unexpected route and still reach the goal."

They knew what she meant, what had happened with Leo, during their last 'big battle'.

So that was set, the only thing they could do was wait…


Here I am once again. My thanks to all of you who have read and reviewed this fic of mine. As you can see, I'm taking things a bit fast right now, that's because things are staying basically the same thus far (even if some do them, and others get the credit for them). I'll slow done once I reach the seventh year.

You must have noticed also I have added another character of the Charmed universe to the main part of the story: Mel. That was planned that way since the beginning, she'll be a very important character in the long-run, just you wait and you'll see.

Oh, someone asked me about the white-lighter's power of 'regeneration'. I'll explain more about that power, as well as Harry's power over the 'pure-energy' later on, when also some other characters will show special abilities.

Someone also commented about Henry being white-lighter to one of the Hogwarts' students, I'm not sure I'll be doing that; the story is complicated enough without adding that.

For those who may be wondering about the rest of those from Charmed, the Charmed Ones will be just secondary characters in this story, while some of their children will play an important part of the story, some, like Mel, Henry, and later on Billie, Wyatt, Chris and Bianca can be considered as main characters, just as much as Harry and Hermione.

You all may give ideas, but I can't promise you to use them all, though I'll try to use at least some of them; those that don't take me too much apart from my own idea. Right now I'm upon to suggestions mainly regarding the future of characters like Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, Cho Chang, Viktor Krum, Percy and Charlie Weasley; and some others than are mostly secondary and I could give them a more important participation.

Well, as you already know by now, the next chapter shall come as soon as you've left enough reviews (about six or seven will do, at least for now).

On the next chapter: Harry grows even more apart from his family when his brother is moved to a 'safer location'; the Charmed Ones bombard the teens with training so they're ready for the war against Voldemort (as they themselves chose to be part of it); a new DADA professor causes disaster in Hogwarts; and Harvey changes more than anyone would ever believe possible (it's time for the true him to rise).