Reunions

Barbas laughed as he pulled out of his trance. His job was almost complete; the last thing was to give Harry the antidote. The arch nemesis of the Charmed Ones pulled a vial from his black trench cloak. The purple liquid reacted with the air when the demon opened up the vial turning it to a deep blue. Slowly Barbas pored the contents into Harry's mouth. The unconscious Gryffindor swallowed. The potion began to work its magic on the boy and Harry began to have a seizure. Barbas moved to do his magic again but a jet of flames blocked him. The vampire dragon appeared on top of Harry and hissed at the demon.

"No matter." Barbas sighed. "Close enough." He shimmered out before the dragon spewed fire at him. The dragon looked at the Boy-Who-Lived and blinked out.

He was pacing what used to be the British Minister of Magic's office. The office resembled its old self very little. The wooden desk was replaced with an iron desk. All the pictures had been removed with the spell he had used on the night Wizarding Britain fell into his hands. Instead shelves hung on the wall covered in jars of Dark Magic items. The fireplace had a low burning fire in it. Only moments before his visitor had appeared in that flame, except the flame burned black, asking for an appointment to meet the Dark Lord. The new British Minister had immediately contacted him. The cowering Malfoy had for the first time in Malfoy's entire service to him had brought good news. Ash Goth, the demon who had almost ruled the world, wanted to ally himself with the Dark Lord. He had arrived in the office seconds before the black-cloaked demon that reminded him of a Dementor.

"I am glad to finally meet you in person, Lord Voldemort." The demon bowed and removed his hood in an act of respect. There was no visible head only a silver gleam where a crown would have sat.

He looked at the demon before waving his hand. "Replace your hood. We are brothers, Lord Ash Goth." Malfoy gasped, he guessed because Malfoy had never heard him show respect. With a casual wave of his hand, Malfoy was thrown out the door and the door shut. "Forgive my minion. He is a coward, but he has his uses."

"I hope that he is not your best. However, few can match the power and competence of my followers."

Voldemort nodded. "I understand that we have a mutual servant."

"Yes, The Source proved a very useful insider for me last year. He allowed me to plan my attacks to correspond to your advances." Ash Goth motioned. A second later a familiar flare of fire appeared in midair and disappeared to reveal a boy in his upper teens with black eyes, brown hair, and a unmistakable scar. The glowing scar was the symbol of Ash Goth, an 'X' in the center of Eyad's forehead. Eyad bowed first to Voldemort and then Ash Goth.

"How may I help, Dark Lords?"

Ash Goth waved his hand dismissively. "Make sure we are not disturbed." Eyad bowed as he backed out of the shut door.

"Yes, he proved quite effective against that Elder brat," spat Slytherin's heir.

Ash Goth laughed. "I take it you accept my offer."

"I accept your sword to be by my side when we quash the last of the feeble Light…"

People made it a point to keep a great distance between them and the boy with the brightly colored lizard. The boy and his friends seemed to be completely unbothered that the lizard seemed to appear out of thin air. They were in fact admiring the lizard that had scampered its way up the white-blonde British boy and wrapped itself around his neck. Draco was grateful that Dracola frightened the Muggles as it allowed them to talk without being overheard.

"Harry is in trouble." Draco whispered to the group of friends. "A man visited Harry and gave him something that caused him to have a shaking attack, a seizure."

Hermione gasped and Ginny paled. Daelan, Casey, and Caleb stared at Draco with alarmed eyes. Kyle had accidentally blown up one of the jugs of water on the nearby table. Luckily a person had bumped the table at the same time so it did not look suspicious. Wyatt and Chris had disappeared and Draco could only guess they had gone to warn the adults. Dumbledore had disappeared the moment the memorial service had ended without saying good-bye or even talking to any of the family.

"I have to go." Draco pushed his way back in to the chapel.

Hermione grabbed the distraught young man's shoulder. "Wait for Wyatt. You don't have your license, yet."

"I'll channel Harry's blinking ability."

Hermione shook her head. "That might make matters worse." Draco looked the clever witch in the eyes. "Draco, you would not be able to do anything. There is no use in you dying as well."

Wyatt appeared behind Hermione. "Well are you coming or not?"

"Is anyone else coming?"

Wyatt shook his head. "My parents are under strict orders not to leave the families unprotected and Dumbledore is gone. It is just you and me. My dad sent word to the rest of the Order of the situation."

"What about the others?" Draco asked, getting annoyed.

"The Weasley children swore to remain under the surveillance of my parents and we cannot have everyone just disappear." Wyatt said, facing Hermione. Hermione nodded and left them alone. They were the only two people remaining in the chapel and the two pictures seemed to have grown in size. Draco looked at the two images of the friends he knew for such a short time. "Shall we?" Draco took Wyatt's extended hand and they orbed out.

Nurses and doctors were rushing in and out the room the corridor appeared to be filled with them. All of them looked rushed, flustered, and happy? Draco could tell that all the doctors with smiles were the ones that knew all about the situation. He had been introduced to all the magical personnel who would work with Harry by the Minister when Harry had been given the potion. One doctor walked right up to the two teens.

"He is awake." The female said. "His heart gave out again, but he woke up once we got a pulse back."

"Can we see him?" Wyatt asked.

The doctor frowned. "I thought an Order member would be coming…"

"I was sent by Piper Halliwell and Leo Wyatt to check up on Harry Potter. All adults of the Resistance are on other vital missions and cannot leave their post."

The mediwitch smiled. "I know who you are. You're Wyatt Halliwell. Dumbledore told me all about you and your family." She led them through the mass of medical professionals. "The old man holds you in high regards almost as high as he holds Mr. Potter."

Wyatt blushed. "Next time, I'll ask Dumbledore to tell me his compliments in person." The witch smiled and was about to talk.

"What! You come here to look after me and a lady distracts you. You are a terrible whitelighter, Wyatt." Harry Potter said the second he spotted his two friends in the crowd of white-coated men and women. "Now can you please leave us alone; I would like to talk to Wyatt and Draco alone." The doctors started to protest. "I doubt standing outside the door will affect the amount of time these probes take to assess my situation." The hospital staff filed out the room leaving the three teens alone. "I guess the first thing I have to do is kill that lizard around your neck, Draco."

"What! Why?"

"That thing almost killed me, trying to save me. What is it with your pets and servants and their attempts on my life?" Harry joked.

"…So they are joining forces?" Draco asked once Harry told them about his vision.

Harry nodded. "But that does not sound like either of them." Wyatt muttered aloud. "Ash Goth does not sound like the type of demon to share power and Voldemort certainly is not about to have an equal."

Harry nodded. "But that is not what I'm concerned about. They will probably betray each other once the war is over. I had another vision before the one about Ash Goth."

"What is Vold…"

Harry stopped Draco mid-sentence. "It was different. Voldemort was nowhere in the picture nor was I inside Voldemort."

"Well then how do you know it was not a dream?" Wyatt asked. "I mean you don't have any type of clairvoyant power except your connection to Voldemort."

"It just felt real."

Draco frowned. "It could have something to do with the demon that gave you that potion." Harry and Draco looked at Wyatt questionably.

Wyatt remained silent before starting slowly. "It is possible. There are demons that affect a person's thoughts and dreams. But my question is why would they bother…I mean if he was going to reverse the blocking potion why bother messing with Harry's dreams."

"Never mind that." Harry pushed his way back into the conversation. "You can answer that question when I tell you what I saw. We were back at Hogwarts. Dumbledore and I had gone off to find something; I don't know what. When we returned, the Dark Mark was floating over the castle; we borrowed brooms from Rosmerta and flew to the Astronomy Tower. When we landed I put on my cloak and Dumbledore sent me to fetch Snape, but when I opened the door a total body-freezing spell hit me. Snape burst through the door; Lupin had been the one who hit me with the spell. Snape said that Lupin ducked his spell and fell down the stairs. He said a person called Greyback would finish him off. Snape killed Dumbledore."

Draco paled. "That is not possible. Snape is on our side."

"And Dumbledore has escaped from Voldemort before. Snape should be no match."

Harry shook his head at Wyatt. "Dumbledore was weak from the excursion. He stood no chance against Snape."

"But Dumbledore…"

"Is standing right here." A voice said from the hospital doors.

"Professor Dumbledore." Everyone jumped. Harry especially so; he was not ready to have Dumbledore know the information concerning Snape.

"Relax, I only just arrived." The old wizard said smiling. "However, I must ask that you cut your reunion short at least until I have spoken to Harry. I am very busy and do not have much time here." Wyatt led a protesting Draco out the door.

Harry studied his guardian up and down. "You seem better."

Dumbledore smiled. "I am fine. The only thing bothering me is how much time I have lost."

"Time for what, sir?"

"I will tell you in time." Harry stifled a gasp. "Yes, I believe it is time for you and I not to have any secrets. You come of age soon and I can no longer use the fact that you are child to keep information from you."

Harry grew mad. "You told me at the end of my fifth year that you had no more secrets. No more prophesies to spring on me…"

"Harry, I did not at that time have anything to hide. Now before I continue, do you have anything to tell me?" The headmaster looked Harry in the eyes and Harry felt like so many times before that he was being x-rayed. He knew that Dumbledore was using Legilimency. Harry placed a barrier around the dream with Snape killing Dumbledore. There was no point in Dumbledore knowing about that particular vision yet. "You have become rather the expert at Occlumency."

"When I realize that someone is probing, yes. But I still cannot stop my connection with Voldemort; even Leo's help did not change anything."

Dumbledore nodded. "I have had time to study your scar more in depth since my decision to have you learn Occlumency in you fifth year. I believe that the scar is tied directly to your magic. That is why you cannot block it and why you have visions only when you are magically drained. Even everyday magical strain affect it so that explains why you have visions at night, even when you have not had one of your adventures."

Harry nodded. "That makes sense. Anyway, I had a vision."

Dumbledore held out his hand. "I thought that you were given a blocking potion that shut down your magic."

Harry nodded. "I was, but a demon gave me the antidote to the antidote. I saw Voldemort have a meeting with Ash Goth; they are banding together."

"That changes things." Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "That makes time ever more of the essence. Yes, I must leave immediately. Minerva and Severus will have to wait until I return."

"Return from what?"

Dumbledore looked up. "I need to visit the elves. They have information and important artifacts that they are keeping safe for me. I need to regain possession of the artifacts. I will see you soon, Harry." Dumbledore brought out a brooch in the shape of two leaves lying on top of each other so that only half of the bottom one was visible. The brooch was made out of gold with two emerald stones set in it to mimic that color of the leaves. Dumbledore clipped the brooch onto his robe. "Harry do not mention anything I told you to anyone. And do not speak of what is about to happen or of the brooch." Harry nodded. "Thank you, Harry. Entulesse mar." Dumbledore disappeared in a flash of the two emeralds.

"Well, Mr. Potter everything seems to be in order. Your temporary license will just be a moment." The witch waved her wand over the piece of paper Harry had recently filled out. The necessary information was printed onto an ordinary Muggle diver's license with the address of the Granger's house instead of Harry's unknown for the address. Harry's picture appeared in the appropriate spot and the witch mumbled at spell to freeze the picture. "Now remember to obey all the Muggle rules and to update the freezing spell everyday. Your requested car is waiting outside and we hope to see you again."

Harry took his driver's license from the witch. "Thank you." He walked out side to door to an anxious group of teenagers. "You can all relax; I passed."

Hermione jumped up and down while Ginny screamed. Draco leaned against the chosen car, a black Honda Pilot and gave Harry a smirk. Kyle smiled and began a conversation with a nearby Wyatt about the car. The overseeing adult, a female Asian Order member handed Harry the keys.

"I have to report back to headquarters. Ginevra, you are to accompany me back to San Francisco and Wyatt you are to return within the hour." She took Ginny's reluctantly outstretched hand and apparated.

"So shall we take it for a spin?" Harry asked. Everyone was inside the car before he even finished the sentence. "Everyone place safety spells on and buckle up." Harry closed his eyes and turned the ignition on; his heart thumping he released the parking brake and drove out of the parking lot. He turned onto the main street and headed toward what he hoped was Hermione's house. They pulled up the driveway and Harry stopped next to an unknown person's car. Wyatt told Harry that he needed practice before orbing back to his house.

Harry smiled timidly. "So was I bad?"

Hermione grinned, Draco smirked, and Kyle laughed. "You better be kidding, Harry. I have yet seen a person who followed every single law to the letter." Draco nodded. "I have ridden in a car very rarely, so this may count for nothing: LIGHTEN UP POTTER! You take this driving thing way too seriously."

"I should hope he does with my daughter in the car." Mr. Granger smiled at the four teens. "I see you passed the test! Excellent, Harry." Harry smiled. "Hermione, your mom needs help with dinner and Draco, if you don't mind, could you set the table?" Both headed into the house very quickly. "Kyle, your dad phoned and said that you were going to sleep at the Jacobs' tonight but they had to cancel. He said that you can either sleep here or the Rhodes offered."

Kyle nodded, "Thank you, sir." He felt his pocket and cringed. "I'll have to take up the Rhodes on the offer. I forgot my antibiotics at home and I know that the Rhodes have some from the night before last." Harry frowned and Kyle stared at his feet.

"Ok, Harry could you drive him to the Rhodes?"

"Certainly," Harry answered. Mr. Granger nodded and entered the house again. Harry climbed back into the driver's seat while Kyle walked around and found his seat. "Ok, what was that all about with the medicine?"

Kyle gulped. "I still have my secrets just like you do."

"What secrets do I have? My entire life is published in the newspaper ever since I vanquished the Dark Lord."

Kyle looked up and Harry knew that this was going to be a heated conversation. "That is not true. You had those ten years with the Dursley."

"Oh, you want to know about those years? Well, let's see: I was hated, despised, picked on, forgotten, beaten. I was lied to and was never allowed to be myself." Harry whispered dangerously. "Should I go into moredetail?"

"No, that's not what I meant." Kyle bit his lip. "I was just saying that you hardly ever talk to me. All of last year we spoke and had conversations but we never talked. We always had someone around or talked about school and had 'how's this weather' type of chats. Sure, I could go read about your defeat of Lord Voldemort and your adventures at school but…"

Harry frowned. "We never spoke to each other about each other. We never became anything more than friends."

"Yes, I feel like Brendin and Casey are more of my family than you are." Harry flinched. "You confided in Wyatt, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, even Brendin, but never me. So why should I have confided in you?"

"So Casey and Brendin know your secret?" Harry asked.

Kyle shook his head. "I never told Brendin; I was afraid about how he would act. But Casey knows, he found my medicine."

Harry glanced at his cousin now concerned more than annoyed. "Do you want to tell me now?"

Kyle gazed levelly at Harry. "Do I have a choice?"

"Of course you do." Harry turned right onto a street.

Kyle sighed deeply. "I have AIDS. I was infected by the HIV virus about four years ago and it turned into fill blown AIDS just before I met Brendin, so two years."

Harry gasped; he never dreamed that this could be the secret. "How?"

"My dad was the top prosecutor for Chicago, Illinois. One of the criminals he prosecuted abducted me after getting out of prison for raping and murdering a young girl. He held me captive for a week and raped me multiple times over the course of my captivity. He was killed when the police tried to capture him after rescuing me. I never told anyone about the rape and still have never told anyone, except for you and Casey. About a month later I had a blood test done for a routine check-up and the doctor informed my parents that I had HIV. My parents immediately got me on medication and grounded me for a month because they thought I had had sex with my girlfriend. But they lifted the grounding when my girlfriend's test came back negative. And there you have it."

Harry nodded and parked the car outside the Rhodes' house. "Do you still have nightmares about...?"

"All the time," Kyle answered honestly. "I am just grateful that the man is dead and he can never hurt anyone else."

Harry could not find his voice. Eventually he asked. "But what about you?"

"Oh, the doctors believe I have a fighting chance to live until a graduate college, but after that it gets a bit iffy." Kyle smiled although the Dumbledore-like twinkle had disappeared. "I try not to dwell on the negative."

Harry nodded.

"I'll see you around, Harry." Kyle jumped out the car. "And next time, you get to spill your guts. Oh, and please don't tell anyone."

"It is a secret between cousins." Harry struggled to keep his voice level. He simply could not believe that something as normal as AIDS could affect anyone he cared about. Witches and wizards in his opinion were supposed to be above such things as non-magical illnesses. Of course we could be infected by the same things as muggles, what was I thinking? We are no better or worse than Muggles. "Bye, Kyle."

"Goodbye Harry." Harry pulled off once Kyle reached the door. He forced his brain to concentrate on driving, as he did not believe he could deal with this new knowledge. At least not while he was driving.

True to his word, Harry kept Kyle's secret although he struggled to keep Wyatt out of his mind. Occlumency was not all that helpful when it came to the Twice-Blessed's mind reading abilities. Kyle remained oddly silent around Harry which Harry could not quite understand but did not push the subject. The week following the funeral and Harry's awakening was full of hanging out and catching up. Harry spent most of his time with Hermione and Ron when he came down, but made a point to go see Daelan's basketball game and took his four American friends to supper afterwards.

They had their good days where they made it through without feeling utterly depressed and the bad days where they just wanted to curl up and die. All the teens felt the stress of the losing war and the adults did very little to alleviate the feeling of dread. The Resistance members carried on with their duties to which Dumbledore had assigned them and were hardly ever seen except for Wyatt's family. Ron and Ginny had told Harry on the Friday that they had seen their mother and father only in the morning after they got back from the funeral and they had not seen or heard from Bill, Charley, Fred, or George. Dumbledore's absence was not going unnoticed and McGonagall had looked as old as Dumbledore the last time Harry had seen her.

"I do not think that we are going to last much longer if things continue the way they have." Harry told Hermione as they watched the muted TV after supper. "Our morale will not survive another blow and our courage is all but destroyed. What do we have left?"

"We have you." Hermione whispered.

"A big fat help I am going to be. I barely escaped my last encounter with Voldemort and now he has this Ash Goth helping him."

Hermione frowned. "You shouldn't talk like that. Dumbledore trusts you; he believes you will defeat Voldemort." The TV showed images of England. It looked like Germany did after World War II.

"He can make mistakes." Harry mumbled morosely. "Look what happened to Sirius."

Hermione sighed. "Sirius died protecting you, Harry. Nothing Dumbledore did could have stopped him from doing that. Nothing! And what would Sirius say of he saw you giving up hope?"

Harry smiled. "He would be extremely disappointed. He would say that my father and mother would have carried on fighting to the end. But Hermione, they did. And look where it got them: dead."

Hermione rubbed Harry on his back. "They helped defeat Voldemort and empower you with the ability to destroy him."

"He did that." Harry said without thinking. "He chose me; he knew that I would fail."

Hermione stood up. "Harry you are not going to fail. You have the power to destroy Voldemort and whatever other evil stupid wizard enough to challenge you. You have Dumbledore, McGonagall, Lupin, and the rest of the Order behind you; you have your friends. You don't have to do this on your own; you can ask for help."

Harry looked Hermione in the eyes. "Who can help me? Dumbledore is too old to duel Voldemort. Nobody in the Order is powerful enough and all of you, my friends, are students. We haven't even learned enough to be anywhere close to match Voldemort."

Hermione sat down again. "So we don't defeat him with superiority. We defeat him with love, with everything that is good and pure in this world…"

"Write an essay explaining the following quote by E.H. Gombrich: 'Anyone who can handle a needle convincingly can make us see a thread which is not there.' Do you believe that the quote is true? Why or why not?" Caleb just stared at the prompt for his latest homework assignment. Unwanted, his hands glowed the eerie red that meant his power had been activated. He carefully moved his hands away from anything that he did not want to burn and started a breathing exercise he had seen on TV to calm himself. His hands slowly stopped glowing and he placed them back on the keyboard and began typing the essay.

He was alone at home. His dad was at work somewhere on the other side of Los Angeles and his mom had taken his sister Ashley out to buy Ashley a new outfit. He had refused to join his mom using the excuse that he had homework to complete. So he had spent the first hour after she left watching TV and reading a book on demons he had rented from the library the day before. He then decided to do his homework so that he did not get into trouble when his parents got back. He completed his math, science, and history homework quite easily. In fact he barely spent ten minutes on his math, basic algebraic problems. Math came to him quite easily and he was a few years ahead of everyone else in his grade. Algebra I was a usual class for the smart eighth graders to take and he was busy completing the class for his sixth grade math.

Brendin had never been good at math or science. He had always been the athlete. That was not to say he sucked in his classes; he did average an 'A-' on his report card every year. He was an adventitious on his soccer and running teams. His teammates averaged a low 'B' to high 'C' on their report cards. It was just he had to struggle to obtain those grades while Caleb simply had to do his homework in order to acquire the top marks in his year. Caleb by no means was a 'nerd'. He played soccer and volleyball. He belonged to the so-called popular crowd at school although a lot of his usual friends were avoiding him of late.

He just could not get the prompt. That was one thing Brendin could do quite easily; he could whip up a tip-top essay in half an hour no matter what the topic.

"Tough prompt." Caleb's breath caught in his throat. He looked around not willing to believe his ears. There, standing in the doorway, stood his dead brother…besides the dead part. Brendin with his now long blonde hair, it would have reached his shoulders if it was not wavy, and enthusiastic hazel eyes. "Well? Aren't you going to say something?"

"Y-yo-you a-ar-are alive?" Caleb barely uttered.

"I am." Brendin smiled. Caleb stood up but fell straight back into his seat. Brendin walked down the passageway into the living room and halted looking around. "Nothing has changed."

Caleb choked up a laugh. "Were you expecting it to?"

Brendin looked at him strangely before smiling again. "No, no. I was just talking to myself."

"So how are you?"

"Never mind that. Where are the rest?" Brendin questioned, his voice gaining an authoritative feeling to it.

Caleb frowned. "I don't know. Harry, Kyle, Ron, and Hermione asked me if I would like to join them for a drive down to the beach but I refused. I don't know if they asked anyone else. Daelan I know has a basketball thing all day so he is there. Wyatt and his family along with the Weasleys and Draco are all up in San Francisco."

Brendin smiled but this time Caleb did not like the smile. "Good, good. We lost track of Wyatt but I see that the Fates are in our favor yet again." Brendin's eyes turned pure black and Caleb screamed. He could do nothing as his brother touched him and they both disappeared leaving nothing but a scorch mark where they were standing.

Beta held the wand, a gimcrack for her, pointed directly at Caleb's heart. "We aren't going to kill you yet. So relax, small fry."

Caleb looked at the only female Avatar with pure hatred and a modicum of fear. "I am not afraid. I'll kill you and your partners for killing my brother."

Beta laughed and walked out of the chamber of the cave they used to immure Caleb. The main chamber of the cave itself was empty except for an old wooden table. On the table sat two glass cylinders with faintly glowing lids sealed. Inside the cylinders floated gleaming orbs, a gold and a blue. The fetid smell that filled the entire cave wouldhavemade any mortal sick. Beta moved to another side chamber were Alpha and Gamma were staring at an image projected from a prism. Her male counterparts were talking in lowered voices and waved their hands to change the image.

"They are stronger than we thought. The closeness of the brother could ruin our plans." Beta spoke in order to make herself known. Alpha and Beta already knew all the information she knew and vice versa. It was part of the downsides to sharing a collective power.

"His disappearance has not gone unnoticed. Our plans may have to change. Alert the demon; we still have some use for him." Alpha spoke to the two other Avatars, directing the last statement to Gamma. Gamma nodded and shimmered out of the cave. "How much longer will the spell last?"

"It is difficult to say. It should last for another day but with the collective low and the two being so powerful I would estimate we have less than an hour."

Alpha nodded and turned back to the prism. A picture of a high school appeared and touched the prism and began speaking in Latin. The picture began to grow dark and then a demon appeared in the picture. The demon threw a single fire ball, which hit a girl. The demon blew up seconds later before the person whose memory it was rushed over to the girl. The person checked the girls pulse before collapsing. Alpha let go of the prism and the image deliquesced. "I need more time. Strengthen the spell as best you can and then distract Wyatt should he arrive before I am done."

Kyle walked out of the changing room wearing the third outfit Hermione had picked out for him. He looked at himself in the mirror before turning around and facing Hermione, Ron, and Harry. "So what do you think?"

"Too much green – ouch!" Ron rubbed his shoulder where Hermione hit him.

"The jacket is a bit much, but I like the shirt." Harry took a step away from Hermione.

Hermione shook her head. "I like this outfit the best out of the three. You just need shoes to go along with it." Ron rolled his eyes and Harry waved Kyle back into the changing room.

"Hermione I think you have tortured my cousin enough." Harry said evenly, with a huge grin. "That outfit is already going to cost a hundred dollars without adding on a pair of new shoes."

Hermione muttered "boys" before nodding her head. "Ok, I'll allow him to keep his old shoes if he buys the jacket."

Kyle joined them carrying the jeans, shirt, and the jacket. "Deal." They joined the crew for the checkout. Their turn came and Kyle handed the lady the items along with his father's credit card. The cashier rang up the items, swiped the card, bagged the items, and wished them a good day. Kyle took the keys from Harry and headed to the car while the other three went to the ice cream shop.

"…and then Dean got a hot pepper flavored one and he took one bite. His eyes began to flow like the Niagara Falls…" Ron stopped his story as the door to the shop opened. Wyatt appeared in the doorway looking hot and sweaty.

"What's wrong, Wyatt?"

Wyatt took gulping breaths of air. "Caleb has disappeared." He said once he semi caught his breath.

Kyle jumped up from his seat. "What! When?"

"I am guessing a half an hour ago. That's when I lost his signal."

"And you only tell us now!" Kyle gripped Wyatt's collar. "We have been wasting time shopping for useless clothes while Caleb…"

Wyatt brought just enough power up to shock Kyle's hands open. "I was busy trying to find out what was happening. It would not be the first time he slipped off my radar for an innocuous reason."

Harry stood up and placed a comforting hand on Kyle's shoulder. "Have you found anything yet?"

"I sensed a strange aura; I could not distinguish it as it was cloaked." Wyatt answered quietly. He subtly cast an Ignore-me spell on the group. "Which means it had to be an extremely powerful demon or witch. The only time I ever heard of this type of aura cloaking was in one of Chris's history books it was used by an ancient cult obsessed with finding their original leader. But my mom and aunts vanquished the group when I was about one."

Wyatt's eyes unfocused for a second. "I felt him." Wyatt held out his hand and grabbed Harry's shirt before orbing out.

"Hey, wait for us." Shouted Kyle but the orbs carried on disappearing through the roof. "Can either of you follow them?"

Ron and Hermione shook their head sadly. "We can only apparate to them if you can sense them, but Harry is cloaked. And we have never been able to sense Wyatt."

Wyatt and Harry appeared outside of a large cave mouth. There were scorch marks all around them along them some bones of dead animals and people. They entered the cave and came to a pit filled with giant brown rattlesnakes. They snakes reared up ready to strike but Wyatt motioned with his hand and they flew out of their way. Continuing further, deeper into the cave, Harry wordlessly lit his wand. The walls were seeping a gooey, green liquid that sizzled when it touched the ground. A drop landed on Harry's shoe and dissolved the leather and burned the foot before Harry could magically remove the droplet.

"Acid?"

Wyatt shook his head. "A potion made with dragon's blood. Can't you smell it?"

Harry could indeed smell the familiar scent that reminded him of Hagrid's hut during his fifth year. He extinguished his wand to perform a repealing charm on himself but his wand was ripped out of his hand by an invisible force. Wyatt pulled up his shield so it covered both of them and the light allowed them to see where they were stepping.

"What could have done that?"

"The demon." Wyatt whispered. He seemed to have fallen into a semi- trance.

"Not used to using you powers?"

Wyatt smiled. "It is a bit more draining than I remember."

The cave tunnel came to abrupt and thankful end. The chamber was empty besides for an old wooden table. If Harry thought that dragon blood smelled bad, it was nothing compared to the smell in this chamber. The stench forced him to double over because he felt so sick. The odor threatened to overcome him but then he sensed movement and he forgot the smell for a moment.

"It is about time you arrived." A familiarly mild voice rang out behind them. Wyatt and Harry turned to see a smiling Brendin walking to them from where they had just entered the chamber.

"How are you here?" Wyatt asked skeptically.

"I was captured by the demons that live here."

Harry frowned. "Where is Ethan and your brother then?"

Brendin looked around. "They are somewhere."

Wyatt brought down his shield slowly and the torches in the room sprang to life. Wyatt took a step forward and raised his gold wand to chest height, not pointing it at anything. "You're signature has changed."

Brendin nodded. "I have gained a few more powers during my stay in captivity."

Harry closed his eyes and allowed his magic to locate his wand. It was lying in the back chamber near a magical void. Harry focused his magic on Brendin and felt the subtle yet drastic changes in his signature. 'There is no way that new powers did that.'

Wyatt nodded. "Do you take me as a fool?"

Brendin smiled. "No, just a hopeless whitelighter. You allowed them to capture me and then could not protect my brother from them."

"You did not seem overly concerned with your brother a few moment ago." Wyatt countered.

Brendin's eyes flashed angrily. "How dare you say that." In a tenth of a second Brendin held a wand in his hand. "Reducto."

Wyatt failed to block the spell and he burst into thousands of tiny blue orbs. Brendin moved his free hand and the orbs froze. "All alone…hey, Harry."

Harry took a deep calming breath, adamant not to show fear. This was the first time he would be battling since the battle at the Ministry. He raised his right hand in front of him and calling on his connection with Wyatt and orbed his wand to him. His wand at the ready he silently cast a Stunning Spell. Brendin merely caught the spell and threw it harmlessly to the floor.

"You have to be better than that. The great Harry Potter, defeater of the Dark Lord Voldemort, hope to all that is good." Brendin sneered.

Harry motioned subtly with his hand and Brendin flew into the opposite wall. "All bark and no bite, Brendin. We taught you better than that."

Brendin stood up and ran his hand through his hair. He looked at the hand to see it covered in blood. He grinned and licked it before throwing Harry into the table causing it to shatter. The two glass jars landed on the floor and rolled away, forgotten, into the shadows. Harry's wand reappeared in a swirl of black orbs in Brendin's hand.

"Better luck next time, hey Harry?"

Harry stayed on the ground. He knew that nothing was broken; he just did not know what to do. This was Brendin, the boy who he grew to love all of the previous year. Sure they had fought, but only in a mock duel. This was completely new to him. He knew that if he didn't defend himself then Brendin would kill him, but he did not want to hurt Brendin. Harry sensed the fire ball form in Brendin's hand and then it hit him.

Harry waved his hand focusing hard on the feeling he felt when he unfroze objects. Wyatt's orbs slowly began to move again. Harry casually redirected the attack straight back at his attacker. Brendin ducked but it did not matter. Wyatt's energy ball was there to meet him in the head. Brendin flew backward and into the wall, again. This time his shape distorted slightly.

"Shape shifter!" Wyatt hissed. "Should have known."

Harry, wand in hand, moved to side next to Wyatt. "Not just any shape shifter, Wyatt. I believe we are going to meet at least one of the elusive Avatars."

Wyatt threw another energy ball at the demon and the visage of Brendin Will fell away. In its place remained a Latino woman in her mid thirties she had pitch-black hair to that reached her mid back. She was quite beautiful and Harry and Wyatt felt somewhat sorry for her.

Beta awoke for her unconsciousness in a matter of seconds and warned her counterpart that time was running short. "I see that you saw through my disguise. I am impressed it takes a lot of magic and willto see through that much power. Perhaps we are not wasting our time."

"I learned from the best." Harry aimed his wand at the female Avatar. "Where is the rest of your group?"

"The last I checked, Alpha was busy brainwashing Caleb. Gamma was rounding up some help for us. We can't be everywhere at once."

Wyatt's shield flew back up just in time to block an electric whip. Alpha appeared out of the shadows smiling. Wyatt turned to face the new comer. "I'll take him, you fight her."

Harry stepped through Wyatt's shield and fired a Stunning Spell at Beta. Beta levitated over the spell and threw a hex at Harry. Harry raised his wand and brought it straight down on the hex. The hex turned purple and blew up, sending both Harry and Beta flying.

Wyatt easily threw Alpha across the room with a flick of the finger. The old man stood up and a staff appeared in his right hand. Wyatt flicked his wrists, but Alpha's staff deflected the attack. Wyatt telekinetically blocked the resulting explosions but the heat from the blast singed his hands. Distracted by the pain, Wyatt did not notice Alpha throw a dagger at him. The dagger hit him in the shoulder and Wyatt knew immediately that the dagger was tipped with darklighter poison.

"Harry, I'm hit!"

"I'm coming."

Beta knocked the wind out of Harry. Then without warning, both Avatars disappeared. Harry pushed himself up into a sitting position with some difficulty. He knew that something was broken, most likely a rib. He kneeled and inched forward to where Wyatt was lying down with an ashen complexion.

"Are you alright?"

Wyatt pointed at the knife still lodged in his shoulder. "Darklighter…"

Harry placed a hand on Wyatt's shoulder and tugged on the dagger. The knife flew out of the wound causing Wyatt to scream in pain. "I have never dealt with…"

"My dad," was all Wyatt could articulate. Harry understood that Wyatt needed to be healed. The only problem was Harry had no clue where Leo was or where they where. His gut told him that the cave was cloaked as well, which meant that Leo could not sense them and the sisters could not scry for them.

The sound of footsteps bought Harry out of his reflections. He turned to see where the sound was coming from but before he could even move a heavy metal object struck him in the back in of the head. Harry drifted off to unconsciousness but not before seeing a grizzled hand cover Wyatt's fearful eyes.

"How much longer will it take Barbas?" Alpha grew impatient. The Charmed Ones would be looking for their son and the last thing they needed was a run-in with those witches.

Barbas removed his hand from Harry's forehead. "If you want the job done properly, then it is going to take awhile." Barbas waved his hand and a potion appeared out of nowhere. "This should calm your nerves."

Alpha did not miss the irony of the situation. The Demon of Fear handed him a potion that would nullify his powers. Their plan had to work. It was the only way they would gain control of the world that they owned so many centauries before. Before the time of the Grand Design, the balancing act that controlled the universe. Before the rise of the Source or Dark Lord; before the tear between the magical and Muggle communities; before the start of the endless and useless battle between the light and dark powers. Those damn Egyptian wizards and their belief in free will. All this suffering, all this death, all this war would never have happened if it were not for them.

Barbas stood up after finishing the last of his job. "The thoughts are implanted. Now, it is just a waiting game." He smiled at the three Avatars and flamed out.

"Time for us to leave." Beta announced. "We best leave before they wake up."

Alpha nodded. "Summon the demons, Gamma. Beta, erase their memory of fighting us. Our existence must remain a secret for awhile longer."

Three demons appeared in the entrance to the chamber just as Alpha and Beta disappeared and Gamma never returned. Two of the demons formed energy balls while the third produced a Darklighter crossbow. They aimed their attacks at their helpless victims and fired.

Harry's flew wide open as the searing pain in his leg reached his brain. Harry looked down to see what had caused the pain; protruding out of the right calf was a long black arrow. Harry turned in time to see the two energy balls flying at him. Without thinking he threw his hands widely in the air and the attacks went off course. They hit what sounded like glass. Harry passed out from the exhaustion of deflecting the attack.

Two orbs zoomed out of the shadows on the chamber. The demons were momentarily distracted by the appearance of the two balls of light, one gold the other blue. The orbs flew directly at the demon with the crossbow and the darklighter burst into flames. Out of the flames, like phoenixes, emerged two pissed off teenaged boys. The other two demons did not even have a chance. The blonde haired boy raised his hands and both of them blew up.

AN: Yet another eventful chapter with loads of important information. I am working on not overloading each chapter with information.
Next chapter:
The promised beach trip
Order meeting
And a romantic meeting
Thanks for reading and please review. HP21