Disclaimer:
"Charmed" and all related characters and events are the property of the WB television network, except for those characters specifically created for this story. This is a work of fan fiction and no infringement of copyright is intended.
Author's Note:
Will Chris get to Wyatt in enough time; Will Piper be able to sleep with Bianca in the house at all; Will Leo and Paige ever find out what happened at the school and when will everyone's secrets be revealed? Read more and find out on this "episode" of Turning Bianca!
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Chris was trapped in the hallway with his mother… no excuses and no way out. Wyatt was no doubt climbing the walls by now Chris figured and if he didn't get him a reversal spell soon the girls in Libby Hall would be covered in boils.
"Chris?" Piper was mid-grill outside her door.
"Yes. Sorry I spaced. I didn't hear what you said." If he fidgeted anymore he would look as guilty as a thief in the night.
"I said why were you heading to the attic? Are you alright?" Piper thought her son's late night odd behavior had something to do with Bianca sleeping a 100 feet away from his bedroom. She couldn't have been more off target this time.
"Oh, that… yeah, um… nothing, really. Mom everything is cool, never better. I just left a book up there earlier and I was going to get it to read until I went to sleep. Might as well put this insomnia to some use, right?" Chris started backing away in hopes that his mother was buying this bill of goods so he could get on with the business of saving 'Private' Wyatt.
Piper looked at him for a moment longer than usual, and decided to accept it as truth. She was actually too tired to poke holes in his story. Something didn't ring completely true, but with all that had gone on at the Manor tonight this bit of out of the ordinary wasn't worth questioning. Whatever it was he was hiding would surface sooner or later and hopefully it would be something she could handle.
"Okay sweetie, don't stay up too late though." She turned to her door and started to enter her bedroom and then turned back to her son saying, "no sleep walking or roaming the halls once I'm asleep." Entering her room Piper gently shut the door behind her.
That was a freaking close call thought Chris. His mom thought helping Bianca could kill him, but Chris was certain that helping his brother was what would do him in, in the long run.
Racing down the hall and back up the steps to the attic two at a time Chris directed all his focus and energy to the situation at Magic School. He flung open the door and went straight for the farthest bookshelf and grabbed his spell book, which had become a book of shadows addendum, and looked for any spell that could be modified into a reversal spell to get rid of plagues. Forty-five minutes later Chris closed the black-leather bound notebook and orbed out to Magic School to pull his brother's butt out of the fire.
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Chris had reformed in Leo's office and found Wyatt, Holly, Noah, Spring and three other nameless students. Wyatt immediately got up and shepherded his brother out of the office where they could talk.
As soon as they were out of earshot Wyatt started in. "Any reason it took you so long?" He was annoyed and taking it out on Chris, which intellectually he knew was wrong, but he couldn't seem to control his emotions. He and Holly had been interrogating their 'honored' guest for more than an hour and these pranksters truly didn't grasp the severity of the situation. They had gotten the frogs contained. A cloaking spell managed to keep the locust confined and the poor girls afflicted with boils, well they were in the pool staying cool.
"I had to get around your mother and Bianca. If I remember correctly the idea was not to let dad know about this little fiasco. Was I wrong?" Chris was a wee bit smug at this moment, but it quickly passed.
"Alright, what do we have to do? You did come up with something didn't you?" Pulling off the cover story would be difficult enough without the extra burden of having to deal with clearing up this mess.
"Have I ever failed a magical challenge?" Chris was extremely confident in this department. Wyatt was born with far superior active powers, but Chris was the crisis whiz kid. And next to his mom and Paige he was the best at potions and spells.
Wyatt reached over and grabbed at the light blue parchment in his brother's hand. He read it over and then dashed back into the office and dropped the list in Holly's hands. She took a second to process the action, the "company" and the spell.
"This looks like it might work," Holly said.
Chris took umbrage. "It might work… no it will work and if it doesn't, which isn't likely, it sure as heck won't be because me."
"I didn't mean…." Holly was cut off by Wyatt. He was exhausted and couldn't think of anything he'd rather do less than break up a battle between his brother and his "partner".
"Guys, not now okay. She's sorry and he's not offended can we move on now?"
"We have all of these things in the Potion Mixing class lab. And all of the culprits are here, so it's just a matter of mixing and chanting. We should be done and in bed in about an hour." Holly grabbed Spring's hand and led her out of the office. She was the older of the students and would be helpful in bringing all of this to a swift ending. The others shrunk down in their chairs as the office door closed and the brothers Halliwell directed a death stare toward them.
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Holly was right, that was part of Wyatt's problem with the sparkling red head, she was always right. She and Spring got back to the office in little more than thirty minutes. They had stopped off in the dorms to pick up a frog, a locust, and a swollen girl from Libby Hall. Part of Chris' spell called for all of the items to be placed in a circle of new white candles. All of the spell casters and conjured items had to be present together in order for them to disappear in the same fashion. Everything and everyone was hauled into the great hall and Wyatt, Chris and Holly began casting the circle and preparing for the ritual. Chris kept thinking about the time. He had been away from the Manor for two hours now and if his mother hadn't checked on him he was sure at some point, once Melinda fell asleep, Bianca would sneak in for just a moment. He was really starting to wonder about the benefits of helping his brother.
"Chris does it matter the order we stand in and do we help with the chanting of the spell or not?" Holly wanted to make sure this thing was done perfectly, because like she had told Wyatt before his brother's return if this incident didn't go away without a trace she would have to come clean with Paige and Leo in the morning.
Thinking about where he'd rather be at this moment instead of the cold, dark, uninviting Hall Chris was taken out of his daze by Holly's question. He answered in a most succinct fashion. "Their magic created this mess and their magic has to clean it up."
"Alright you little deviants get over here and hold hands. Read the spell exactly the way it's written." Wyatt turned away from the motley crew and stood between his brother and Holly. Looking back at the students holding hands and waiting for the go ahead he added… "You better pray to the Goddess that this works!"
Conjured here for no go reason
Run amok by student treason
Reverse these spells
Eradicate these plagues
Cease these yells
Make it all go away
Go away, go away, go away
On each 'go away' a plague written on a slip of paper was burned by a student and placed in the cauldron. When the last one landed a swirling cloud of smoke rose and then immediately dissipated. The students dropped hands and when everyone looked in the circle surrounded by candles there stood one lone girl wrapped in a towel looking less than congenial. But she wasn't itching or on fire… her boils visibly gone. She remained still until all the candles were extinguished and the magical circle broken. As soon as she got the all clear she fled the great hall. The others stayed put waiting to be dismissed, the junior Halliwells were obviously in no mood to have their authority overlooked.
Holly was the first to address the group. "Ladies come along we're going to discuss you weekend plans and how much cleaning they're going to involve."
Spring and the two other girls followed Holly out with their heads hung down low.
The boys were next. Wyatt just looked at them with all of the disgust he could muster. "Just get out of my sight! Get that third floor back in order and I don't care if it takes the rest of the night. And no spells to do it!"
"Wow, way to channel dad." Chris had finally spoken up and was smirking at his brother.
"I know. Where the hell did that come from? If I wasn't the one who would go down for all of this I probably would find it funny. By the way that was a kick-ass spell and potion brother, good work." Wyatt flopped on the leather couch.
Chris sat next to him. "Glad you liked it. It'll be all I think about as I doze off in my morning Chemistry class. You owe me, big time. I'm thinking total use of the car this weekend and you have to be nice to Bianca."
"The car is yours I'll be here all weekend babysitting hooligans and studying. And as for Bianca, I was a jerk earlier, I got your back. As far as being nice is concerned it's all good until she gives us a reason to believe otherwise."
"And she won't." Chris stood back up preparing to leave.
"Whatever, I'm cool with it. Now you better get back before mom runs a bed check and nails us all to a wall." Wyatt stretched out on the couch covering Chris' spot with his long legs.
"You're not coming?"
"No, I have to make sure things here are in order and by the time I do dad will be up and moving and I don't want to deal with him. I'll be home when I'm sure he's here. Later bro." With that he closed his eyes and Chris orbed out.
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Chris reformed in his bedroom and quickly changed out of his clothes. Leaving everything in a heap on the floor he knew it was a mess he'd deal with in the morning of hear about at dinner. His mother frequently reminded him that he was not living in a hotel with maid service. Walking toward the door Chris pressed his ear to it when he got close and when he heard silence he cracked it open and made his way to bathroom. He did not want another hallway exchange with Detective Piper.
At that exact moment the universe was conspiring to confirm his mother's suspicions. Piper heard the bathroom door close, as gentle as Chris had been. Getting up and grabbing her robe she headed to her door. At the same time, not being familiar with the sounds of the Manor, Bianca began to stir and decided to see if Chris was asleep. Listening for confirmation of her new roommates slumber she slid out of bed and headed for the door. As all three doors opened Chris found himself stuck between a Bianca and a hard place… Piper Halliwell.
Bianca was facing Chris' bedroom door as was Chris and Piper was facing them both.
"Going somewhere?"
"I thought I heard a noise. I'm just used to staying a far smaller environment." Bianca looked more afraid of Piper then of whatever it was she thought she heard.
"I didn't even know she was up." Chris threw his arms up in surrender. Piper looked at them both and didn't respond. Turning around she went back into her bedroom and closed the door. She would have to deal with this in the morning after a long talk with Leo.
Chris went to hug Bianca and then they both went into their respective rooms. Just because Piper hadn't screamed and thrown a fit in that moment Bianca and Chris knew better than to push their luck. Bianca dozed back off easily and settled in listening to the sound of Melinda's breathing. Chris too fell asleep quickly, but his was less peaceful.
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He woke up in a cold sweat and couldn't make heads or tails out of the nightmare. This had been going on for weeks and he was starting to wish he never had to close his eyes again. He wanted to run into his parent's bedroom like he did when he was a kid and crawl into bed between them just to feel safe. But Chris knew he couldn't do that. Something had to give though because with all that was going on he couldn't afford to be off his game. If he didn't find out what was causing them or how to deal with them he would have to divulge the situation to his mother and pray that she had the answers.