A New Life in San Francisco

A/N; Please read my profile for information about updates on Fighting the Gods.

A/N2; A rather large chapter but nothing really happens. I'm sorry for it but the information needed to get across. I'm going to update the family tree on my profile for future reference though.

Chapter 13; The Halliwells

Halliwell Manor

James spent the night back at his apartment after being forced by Piper to allow Wyatt and Chris to stay in his flat with him to ensure that he was safe and that he would come straight back to the Manor the next day for breakfast. Paige had also given him the day off since he was supposed to recovering from the attack at the Camp anyway so nobody would expect him to be back to work yet.

He had spent most of the night talking to Chris and Wyatt about their lives though nothing about magic was mentioned since it was better to leave it for when everyone was together. He discovered that they had grown up at Halliwell Manor together and with their parents and two younger sisters. James could tell that the familial bonds were stronger within the family than with most but he could also see a slight tension between Chris and his older brother that he decided to stay out of for the time being. James, in return, told them about what he had been doing in San Francisco whilst at college. He told them all about Sam and Jackie and made a mental note to call them the day after and get together with them.

There was also an unspoken agreement between himself and Chris that nothing would progress between them until the air was cleared where magic was concerned. They'd move forwards only once they knew more about each others magic. They didn't sleep until the early hours of the morning and woke early in the morning.

James allowed Chris to orb him over to the Manor rather than surprising the others with his sudden appearance via apparition. They appeared in the middle of the living room and James felt dizzy for a second though his appearance this time was more pleasant than the last time he had hitched an orb. "You'll get used to it." Chris told him with a smile and James nodded.

"Wait until I apparate you somewhere." James smirked. "You'll never get used to that."

"What's it like?" Asked a wondering Wyatt. James had worked out last night that Wyatt liked to be first in most things. Chris didn't mind really but it obviously was a sore point.

"Imagine being pulled through a straw." James told him demurely and watched as his curious expression turned into a sour one.

"Why would anyone want that?" Wyatt asked.

"Not everyone can orb, Wy." Chris told him using a shortened name that James had never heard anyone call him before.

"How long does it take for you to orb to Europe?" James asked.

"Depends on the person." Wyatt told him. "I can do it in about five minutes but Chris normally takes about six or seven."

Chris' face tightened and James knew then what the tension was. Wyatt was the more powerful of the two and Chris whilst not jealous had a complex about it. "If I apparate from here I'd appear in England without more than half a second of travel time." James told Wyatt firmly and heard Chris snort in amusement as Wyatt looked at him shocked.

"Boys!?" Piper called from the kitchen. "Is that you in there?"

"Yeah mom!" Wyatt yelled and turned to move through the house, covering his embarrassment.

"Don't let him get to you, Chris." James told Chris as soon as Wyatt walked out of the room.

"What do you mean?" Chris asked though it was clear he knew what James was talking about.

"He's no better than you are even if he has more powers than you." James pointed out.

"How do you know he's more powerful than me?" Chris asked with a sad look thinking that James had already seen that his older brother was the powerful one.

"It's written in your face every time he mentions magic." James told him.

"It's complicated." Chris said firmly before walking into the hallway leaving James to catch up.

"Chris!" James grabbed his arm just before they walked into the kitchen. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to pry."

"You wouldn't understand. According to what you said yesterday you're powerful too." Chris frowned as if he was expecting a rejection of some kind just because James was powerful.

"And I hated every moment I was. Why do you think I gave up magic when I came here?" James said.

"Wyatt's always the one saving people." Chris muttered darkly. "He's the Leader of the Light and everyone knows it."

James shrugged. "I didn't know that." He said simply. "Let me just ask you one thing, Chris. Was it you or Wyatt that saved my life yesterday?" With that James entered the kitchen and left Chris staring at the dinning room table in realisation.

"Hey, James!" Piper greeted him. Anna, the youngest daughter, was also in the room chatting with Wyatt. "How are you this morning?"

"I'm better." James told her with a smile. "Did you want any help?" He asked her as she struggled to break more eggs into an omelette mix and cook another omelette at the same time.

"You can cook?" Piper seemed shocked.

"Sure. I cooked for my relatives ever since I was old enough to reach the top of the stove." Piper looked disapproving at this bit of information but let it go as James smiled at her.

"I'm just rather shocked." Piper said as she gave up the stove for James to cook the food as she prepared it. "You'd think with a qualified chef in the family at least one of my children could cook more than pasta."

James laughed. "You should see Wizards then. They resort to magical kitchens and leave most of the work to House Elves."

"What are House Elves?" Anna asked in confusion.

"They're like Yoda from Starwars." James gave her a look before continuing. "They're slaves to families and do all the work for them."

"That's awful." Anna gasped.

Piper turned to Anna as she finished adding another omelette to the frying pan and taking a cooked one away from James. "Since your Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Coup are taking Patience, Felix and Jason out to her book signing you'll have to help me with the explanations to James." She said sternly to stop any argument. "And you'd better be down here in less than two minutes with Prue or you're not eating."

"Huh!?" James spun to look at Piper and her youngest daughter at this but only got laughed at by the fourteen year old before she faded from view. "What the…?"

"She can Astral project." Wyatt explained. "She was upstairs the whole time. She's been practicing though, she can maintain it for five minutes now I think."

"Ok, that's just weird." James told them all making them both chuckle.

"Wyatt, can you go check on your father. I think he's in the second bathroom trying to fix the shower again." Piper asked and her eldest son just nodded before walking from the room. "Where's Chris?"

James looked at Piper before shrugging. "He was in the dinning room last I saw him." James sighed. "I'm afraid I got all psychological on him and I think I hit a nerve."

"What about?" Piper asked and even though James was worried that she accuse him of hurting her son she didn't seemed angry at him.

"His inferiority complex with Wyatt." James told her as he put the last two omelettes in the oven to keep warm.

"You saw that already?" Piper looked at him with shock. "Paige said you were good at your job but you've only seen them together a few times."

"I have a knack. Plus, Chris wasn't being subtle about it." James told her.

"I don't think it'll ever change, even before he was born it was like that." Piper told him and got another confused look. "I'll explain later. He doesn't show it normally, only when he is being protective over something or when Anna is around."

James ignored the protective part. "What do you mean, around Anna?"

"Anna is closer to Wyatt than Chris so it hurts Chris sometimes when she show it." Piper informed him. "You could say Chris is the odd one out of the children. It's not that he is different in a bad way but he has a completely different personality to the others."

"More reserved and withdrawn?" James asked.

"Yeah." Piper nodded. "Just like you it seems."

James had to laugh at that one. "He was going on about Wyatt always saving people and being the Leader of the Light. So I asked him whether it was him or Wyatt who risked himself to save me yesterday." Piper smiled at him gratefully.

"We knew he'd feel inferior to Wyatt but even then we couldn't stop it happening." Piper admitted.

"Sometimes situations like this have to occur even without magic to interfere." James told her. "It means people help each other. Why is Wyatt the Leader of the Light?"

"Oh, he controls Excalibur and therefore all the light creatures answer to him." Piper explained. "It doesn't mean much really except his almost invincible when he's fighting with the sword, but a lot of creatures and witches come to him wanting help."

"I pity him for that." James sighed remembering his time at Hogwarts. "At least he hasn't run away from it."

"Nobody here thinks you're a coward, James!" Chris' voice made him jump slightly. He'd obviously walked into the room while they'd been talking about Excalibur. "All of us would've done the same."

Piper nodded her agreement before pulling plates from the cupboard. "Chris, grab the cutlery please and yell for your sisters."

Chris yelled at the top of his voice with a smirk at his mother and a grin at James as he laughed before grabbing the cutlery from the drawer. Piper was shaking her head in mild amusement and James watched the scene with a small smile and at the same time an ache in his heart as he wished he had grown up in a home like this. Where your mother shook her head in amusement when you did something you weren't supposed to instead of slapping you.

James pushed the image down as he grabbed the plates to carry them into the other room. That life was over now, his relatives were dead and he had a new home in America.

The two girls joined them first followed shortly by Wyatt and their father Leo who greeted James with warmth. "Paige and Henry are dropping their children off before they go to work in about half an hour so that you can meet them all though you met them at Camp we thought it would be a good idea for them to learn about you and you about their magic." Piper told him and looked happy to see him nod his agreement. "Then we were going to explain what we can about demons and see what you know that is effective against them."

"That's fine. I was hoping you'd explain what you could." James admitted.

"You said your spells were in Latin right?" Chris said with a troubled look.

"Yeah, why?" James asked.

"There isn't any books I know of that teach spells like that, only long incantations that don't really do much." Chris sighed. "I just thought you might want to continue your learning since it was cut off."

"Thanks. But I couldn't do any of those spells without a wand and they're light beacons. If you use them you become visible on tracking spells. It wouldn't be too much trouble if I was in London or school but out here without anyone else using wands I'd be obvious." James told them all as he served himself up an omelette. "Could we start with you guys? That way I can remember it all better."

"Sure." Piper sat up slightly with a grin. "As you know my self and my two sisters form the Charmed Ones where are magic basically compliments each others and builds in powers. We can cast spells together that are impossible even for Wyatt and Chris even though they have both grown to be more power than any one of us. I have two powers, the first in molecular immobilisation which I can use to temporarily freeze everything in a room though it doesn't effect good Wicca witches like us and yourself. The other is molecular combustion with is basically blowing things up. Comes in handy when fighting demons. I have to use a hand to trigger it though unless I am really angry."

"Yeah, so don't piss her off. She made my door explode by accident when I slammed it once." Chris muttered and shrunk in his seat when his mother glared at him.

"I make things explode when I'm angry too." James admitted, its like a vent. "I shattered everything in my headmasters office just after my Godfather died." Instead of this making everyone anxious everything laughed at James' wishful look knowing that he wanted to do it again.

"All of their powers are more powerful if they are more emotional since they're tied in directly." Leo explained before moving onto himself. "I used to be a Whitelighter like Gemma after I was killed in World War One. After Titans tried to take over the world I became an Elder which are basically the head of good magic. That's why these four can orb since they are half-Whitelighter, I became human about a year after Chris was born, although my Whitelighter heritage still passed onto Prue and Anna, so that I could spend more time with Chris and Wyatt ."

James gave him an odd look at finding out he was dead or at least was dead at one point. "And because Chris told you to." Wyatt chuckled.

"Huh!?" James frowned again. "You're doing it again with the Chris before he was born talk."

"They're trying to confuse you." Piper told him. "To cut a long story short. A twenty-two year old version of Chris travelled back in time to prevent the world from falling to evil and prevent Wyatt from being turned Evil. It was a rather eye-opening experience for Leo and myself and we change a lot in our lives to fix what could have gone wrong."

"Where is that Chris now?" James asked.

"He died an hour or so before I was born." The current Chris told him. It was obvious in his eyes that Chris felt indebted to the previous Chris. "We've summoned him from the afterlife a few times but the Elders don't allow it for anything but emergencies because of the strangeness of having two Chris's."

James suddenly had an even greater understanding of Chris' problem with Wyatt. "You're going to explain the whole summoned from the afterlife later right?" He asked Piper with a small grin which was returned with a nod before James looked at Prue and Anna. "I know you have Astral Projection because you confused me earlier with it but do you have anything else."

"I can sense emotions though only if they're really strong." Anna admitted. "I get it from Aunt Phoebe but not as strong. I could sense the pain from you when you were attacked by the campfire."

James gave a smile before looking at Prue. "I got the Levitation from Aunt Phoebe but I can only hover at the moment whereas she can almost fly around a room. I can also move small things around if I concentrate."

"Their powers are both still growing. In a few years they'll both be much more powerful." Wyatt told them. "I take after Mom with her molecular manipulation but I can just heat stuff up as well as explode them and I can also blanket a group of people with that exploding power. I've also got an impenetrable shield that I can put up around myself and expand it to cover others." James had to admit that it seemed that Wyatt was the power in the family though he'd never seen them in action.

"I've got my Aunt Prue's telekinesis but I still have to direct it with my hand. She got it down to just her eyes." Chris admitted sheepishly. "I also get the odd premonition but only about the family. I don't get visions of innocents like Aunt Phoebe does."

"Who's Aunt Prue?" James asked realising that they weren't talking about the sixteen year old Prue in front of him.

"Aunt Prue is mom and Aunt Phoebes sister. She died in an attack by a magical assassin just before they found their half-sister Paige." Chris explained. "We've talked to her a few times and she's been to all of our Awakenings."

"Awakenings?" James asked confused again though he figured he'd spend a lot of time confused today.

"It's like a christening. We summon all of the dead family members back along the Halliwell line as well as a few others and we bless the child." Piper announced. "It's tradition more than anything else."

"So what does this summoning mean?" James asked. He remembered his headmaster telling him that no magic could resurrect the dead.

"It's not bringing back zombies. We call the soul of a person back into the world to speak to them. We can do it for anybody." Chris told him. "We use it to solve murders and for the awakenings mainly."

James looked down at the table. "My parents?"

"We could try if you want to." Chris said after glancing at his mother. "It'll have to be later though."

James looked up at him and smiled with thanks. They sat in silence for a while as Piper enlisted her two daughter to help her wash everything up. Leo sent Wyatt on a trip to grab the book of shadows in case they needed it for descriptions and then Chris and Leo led James into the front room. Leo then left to pull the two sofas from the conservatory into the living room whilst Chris went to moved one of the two sofas in front of the fireplace so that they could sit in a square on the four sofas once the others arrived.

"Why don't you move it with your telekinesis?" James offered when Chris looked up at him for help moving the rather heavy sofa. Chris grinned at him before straightening up slightly. He flicked his right hand like he was brushing at an annoying fly and the sofa lifted slightly from the ground and darted across the room before settling down in front of the fireplace. "Useful." James grinned before flopping down onto the just moved sofa.

"What can you do with that power of suggestion?" Chris asked as he sat down next to him on the sofa. James grabbed his hand lightly as he thought to his training that he had almost forgotten over the last few days.

"I only realised I had it after the attack by the campfire." James pointed out. "I had a play with it and got around to lighting a candle, mending a scratch and chilling my drink. But then I learnt that I could see with it and I saw everything like it had white slowing through it."

"What do you mean?" Chris asked.

"I think its both my premonition and suggestion magic together." James explained. "If I did it now, I'd see you and that plant there as white shapes of life and then your parents, brother and sisters around the house. Then your neighbours and so on. I don't know the range yet."

"That's cool." Chris told him. "Wyatt doesn't even have anything like that."

James slapped Chris' knee slightly but ignored the comment on the most part. "It's nothing compared to my other magic. Without a wand it's just going to sit there because I can't access it without a wand."

"We'll work something out." Chris assured him. "Leave that there a sec would you, dad?"

Leo straighten from where he was pulling one of the woven sofas in from the other room. He frowned at his son but waited patiently. "Try and do what I did." Chris told James.

James looked first at Chris and then at Leo who nodded to him with encouragement. James stood so that his view wasn't distracted my Chris at his side and shut his eyes briefly as he called his Wicca magic to the surface. He opened his eyes again and knew that his eyes were glittering again as he reached out a hand and directed the magic across the room and willed the sofa to lift. He felt the magic cushion the sofa and he span his palm up and the sofa shook as it leapt to about half a foot in the air. He curled his fingers slightly and the sofa began to drift towards him.

A crash sounded as the front door slammed open and James jumped and lost control of his magic. The sofa crashed to the ground. "Sorry!" James gasped.

"That's ok." Leo smiled. "That was good."

Chris stood as four children ran into the room and pulled up short at the sight of James stood in the middle of the room. Joshua, their older brother walked in calmly with a bag at his side. "Mum and dad are just finding somewhere to park the car. Sit Kiddies!" Joshua ordered and the two fifteen year old twins, the thirteen year old and the ten year old ran to one of the sofas and grabbed spaces along it. "Sorry about them. Dad told them they could play with magic today and they've got all exited."

He turned and saw the tipped over sofa and frowned. Chris came to James' rescue. "James was levitating it when the door slammed open and he dropped it."

"Mum didn't say you could levitate." Joshua told them as he popped the plastic bag of chocolate on the floor near the door. "Is that a Power of Suggestion thing?"

"Yeah. I'm still learning to control it." James admitted. "Did Paige tell you everything?"

"Yeah she did. She tried to explain it to the twins but they were too excited in your magic then anything else." Joshua smiled. "Why don't you give it another try?"

James was surprised at the seventeen year old's calm attitude but then again he'd noticed it at the camp. He was the eldest of the children if you ignored Wyatt and Chris since they were much older than them all so he was bound to be calmer. James shrugged and reached for his magic again as he faced the sofa. It raised into the air with the same gestures and came floating towards them. James was about to place it on the ground when Piper, Wyatt, Anna and Prue walked into the room and interrupted his concentration again making it fall the last few inches with a bang.

James winced as he looked at Piper apologetically. "Close enough." Leo chuckled before gesturing for Wyatt to help him with the last sofa.

Paige and her husband walked in next but didn't come too far into the house since they had to leave quickly. James made his way through the crowd to meet them along with Piper. "James!" Paige smiled at him. "How are you today?"

"Better, thanks." James smiled. "Are you sure I shouldn't be coming in with you today?"

"I'm sure. It would be odd for you to come in anyway after everyone saw you unconscious at the camp." Paige grinned. "Oh, I almost forgot. I've decided to make Kevin your personal assistant. Once your back we'll talk about making him a proper social worker so he can help on your cases."

"That's great!" James smiled. "How are all the children settling in?"

Paige groaned. "We've found places for them all and only had to split them into three groups. Kevin and I are visiting them all today and I'll book your first appointments with them for the end of the week."

"Thanks. Call me if you need anything wont you?" James asked.

"Sure thing." Paige nodded happily and James walked back into the room to find Chris just as Leo and Wyatt pulled in the last sofa. He sat back where he was along the sofa by the fireplace with Chris on his right and Joshua on his left. The sofa by the window, the one that hadn't moved was still claimed by the two fifteen year old twins, Luke and Pennie, Ashley their thirteen year old sister and finally by Paige's adopted child, Matt who was only ten.

Wyatt, Anna and Prue claimed the couch to James' right after pulling the low table into the middle and arranging the chocolate biscuits and a couple of bottles of coke and lemonade on it for people later. Leo and Piper who were both now talking to Paige and Henry would undoubtedly take the last table.

James took a while to realise that Chris was holding the thick tome call the Book of Shadows on his lap. "What's the symbol mean?" James asked.

"It symbolises the Charmed Ones powers. See the three ovals that make it up." Chris traced the top one in a complete circle. "They symbolise their individual powers and then the whole thing is the Power of Three."

"I thought the book was older than them though?" James asked.

"It is. Melinda Warren was the one to prophesise the Charmed Ones whilst she was being burnt at the stake. The book was started after that and the family took this symbol to signify it." Chris explained.

"Show us something!" James twisted his head up from the book to stare at Ashley who was almost bouncing in her chair. He grinned at her before looking at Joshua for permission since he was in charge of his siblings.

"Go for it." Joshua told him. James concentrated for a moment a reached out to the six candles behind him on the mantle piece and was satisfied when they all lit at the same time.

"Joshua can do that!" Pennie, the female twin announced. James looked at the boy beside him with a raised eyebrow but the teen just shrugged.

"I have to look at them though." Joshua pointed out. "Try something else."

"Any suggestions, something the lot of you cant do?" James asked in the direction of Wyatt and the two girls. It was Leo that came to his rescue as he came to stand behind the empty sofa opposite him.

"Why don't you try to summon a ball of light in the centre of the room?" Leo suggested. "I could do it with orbs but only full Whitelighter can."

James thought about it for a few seconds before he nodded. He focused on the air just below the small chandelier and pushed his magic into the air. He focused on it collect before recalling the image of Fawkes. A glowing image of the bird appeared and although James' head never turned he made it fly across the room and close to the younger children who grinned with pleasure as it winged it's way passed them. James felt himself tiring and with a flick of his magic made the bird explode into flames like he had seen Fawkes do before letting the image fade.

James sagged into Chris' side and heard a gasp from the older man. "Are you ok?"

"That took more out of me than I thought." James admitted. Joshua leaned forward to pour James a cup of coke and he accepted it thankfully.

"More! Please James!" Ashley grinned at him widely.

"Not at the moment, Ash." Chris told her sternly. "That tired James out. Maybe later."

James nodded his agreement and she looked content enough as the front door closed and Piper walked into the room and both her and Leo took seats on the last sofa.

"Aunt Piper." Matt announced with a wide grin. "James made a fire bird and made it fly around the room."

Piper looked at James with a small smile. "And nearly exhausted himself out too." Leo added to his wife.

"Well, shall we sit down and explain everything we can then?" Piper smiled at the group. "But first can somebody please put out those candles." Chris flicked his hand and the candle snuffed out as if fingers had snuffed them. James glanced backwards at them and grinned. He'd never thought of telekinesis as being that malleable but if it would put out flames he could think of dozens of other uses for it. Some not as pleasant as others.

"We'd better continue with the introductions of their powers before James gets confused." Wyatt suggested and slapped his youngest sister's shoulder lightly as she muttered 'Again' under her breath.

"I know all of their names so what about powers." James told everyone and Joshua took the lead.

"As Pennie suggested, I'm what's called a Firestarter. I can call flames from anywhere I want. It's one of the most power of all the abilities you can have and it seems that's why I only have the one whereas most everyone has two. But I don't mind." Joshua reassured him. "I've orbed once before as well but only to dodge a fireball from a demon a couple of years ago. I didn't go anywhere but it was cool."

James grinned at him before Luke, the male twin, spoke up. "Pennie and me both can orb things like our mom can and I can Levitate slightly too." He told James with a small smile, he was obviously the quiet twin though no less energetic.

"I've got Empathy instead of Levitation and I've orbed home before when I was attacked by a Demon after school." Pennie added with a smug grin at her twin brother.

"We think that the four of them can orb if really scared because they are quarter Whitelighter and Luke and Pennie might be able to orb on command because of their orbing powers already." Piper explained to James at his wondering look.

Joshua took on the explanation for his youngest sister since she was too hyper to speak for her self and still have James understand her. "Ashley can Astral Project like Anna can but at the moment she can only do so with line of vision to where she appears. She's also got the same freezing power as Wyatt and Aunt Piper but she's only got lower demons and the like down so far. She'll probably get the exploding power when she's older too since she made a glass explode when Pennie stole her teddy a few years back." Joshua said this all very fast and James had to blink to catch up.

The last was Matt, the adopted son of his boss. James looked at the small black haired boy with a grin. "You'd be the Legilimens then?" He asked and got several strange looks. "That's what Wizards call someone who can enter somebody else's mind."

"Yes then." Piper explained. "Matt's what we call a telepath. He can search memories as well as read thoughts and place thoughts like speech. He can talk to anybody he knows as long as their not more than about a mile away from him."

"I couldn't get into your mind though." Matt said. "I still cant hear anything from you."

"In my world anybody can learn to become a Legilimens. It's one of the only skills that you don't need a wand for although most do. We have to have eye contact to perform it though. We also have a mental defence that we can build against intrusion which we call Occlumency. It's basically a wall around our thoughts." James explained to everyone but particularly to Matt. "Most don't bother with either ability since they are both extremely hard to learn. I was forced to build my own walls when I was with the Dementors since they feed from memories and weaken you."

"Is it permanent then?" Wyatt asked him.

James shook his head. "I've become accustomed to it since it doubles to keep emotions locked inside and calm somebody. I can drop them completely or lower them for just one person when ever I want." James explained before turning serious. "You should be careful around Wizards like me, Matt."

"What do you mean?" Piper asked with concern. "I haven't felt him try to get passed my shields today but I could when he focussed on me. I shoved him out then but I could have used the link he forged to trap him within part of my shields and then backtrack to his own mind and rummaged around as much as I wanted. If I had I would've learnt everything I wanted about your family before he could've chucked me out."

Piper looked at Matt with concern but the boy didn't seem to phased by this news though he probably didn't understand it. "Could all wizards with mental shields do that?" Chris asked.

"No." James assured them. "Most wouldn't even notice a direct intrusion though their shields would block it unless he tried to force his way through them. Only the most powerful Occlumens could trap him and follow him back. Two other wizards, perhaps a few more I don't know about. Unfortunately one would gladly search his memories for his own purposes and the other might trap his mind and possess his body."

Piper went pale and James took pity on him. "I can teach him to build his own shields which will prevent the backlash but they'd be weak until he's older and more powerful." James told them. "For now though as long as he stays with me if there are any Wizards about then I can use my own shields and power to cut the link and send the other Wizard running."

Piper grinned at him in gratitude. "Urm, I think we got sidetracked." Leo pointed out.

"Oh, right." Piper smiled and leaned over to muse up Matt's hair getting an irritated 'Hey' from the small boy. "He can also sense power and steal it with contact though it only works for smaller powers like his sisters at the moment. He cant handle the older ones powers yet."

"What about Paige?" James asked. "What can she do?"

"Paige can Telekinetically Orb like the twins can and also since she is half Whitelighter she can orb where she wants to go like Chris and Wyatt can." Piper explained. "We'll leave Phoebe's family alone for now. How about we take the children out to the park and you, Wyatt and Chris go through the book and they can explain things to you."

"Can I stay too?" Joshua asked as if the prospect of going to the park with six children younger than him was the worst thing on Earth. Piper gave him an amused look before nodding her agreement.

"No rhyming, Wyatt, Chris." Piper ordered. "Understand?"

"Yes mom." They both chorused before Chris turned to explain it to James. "We've got active powers like my levitation and Anna's Empathy and so on, but then we've got spells that we can cast. We don't actually have to rhyme them but we do anyway. They spells can backfire if you don't word them right and you have to be sure they're not for personal gain or something always goes wrong."

"Yeah. Wyatt once turned himself orange when he cast a spell to attract some girl a few years ago." Joshua whispered and James and Chris burst out laughing.

"I wish I could see that again!" Chris laughed.

James stopped laughing to think about it. "I could probably turn his orange." He said with all seriousness and the other two looked at him calmly before they all burst into laughter again.

The others all left and Wyatt, oblivious to their conversation at his expense went about pouring them all drinks and handing out chocolate biscuits as Chris planted the Book of Shadows squarely on James' lap. Wyatt settled onto the edge of the low table opposite James so that they could all see the book clearly.

James flicked through the book and listened to their descriptions of all of the Demons, monster, ghosts and other horrors within the book and whether they had killed them or whether they were still around. James reciprocated by comparing them to beings in his own world like Boggarts, Dementors, Ghosts and even Dragons which shocked the group. They spent until lunch pouring through the book and discussing their lives with magic before they reached a page near the back where handwriting he recognised as Chris' filled a few pages.

"Perhaps you should read that and see what could've happened." Wyatt suggested sadly. In the corner of the page rested a passport photo of a slightly altered Chris. His features were the same, from his hair to his darkened chin but James could see from the person eyes that they had their differences.

"My past counterpart write everything he knew of his bad future in there and spelled it so that our mom and Aunt couldn't read it until he left that time to return to his or until he died." Chris told him.

James scanned the text that described Wyatt as ruler of the world and evil to boot. How Leo had remained an Elder and neglected Chris. How Piper had died when Chris was fourteen and how Paige had died before Chris was even born. It was a shocking description of events that James shuddered to think could've happened. He could tell that remember this Chris saddened both the present day Chris and his older brother Wyatt but James figured that it served as a reminder to them that things were better and that they were all together.

James smiled at Chris with understanding. "I wonder if I would have done the same as him if the Wizards had spells to go back so far in time." James muttered but shrugged it off. He couldn't do anything about it and there was no telling what could be unwritten now if he tried to change anything.

"That's the problem with time travel." Wyatt pointed out as if he knew James' thoughts, "Who knows what the changes could be?"

"It's something we only do in real emergencies or when someone dies that shouldn't have." Chris told James.

They four chatted away about magic for a few more hours before they were interrupted by two small groups appearing out of thin air in a red glow. Phoebe's husband, Coup, appeared with his wife on his arm whilst their three children appeared with the eldest, Patience, in the centre and her two younger brothers on her arms.

James controlled his flinch at the sudden intrusion and even though he didn't notice the air in the room thickened with magic as he unconsciously delved into it. Chris placed his hand on James' to calm him and the air returned to normal. What none of them knew what that a symbol had been forming in front of James but since they were all focused at the new arrivals nobody noticed. Nor did they notice that it wasn't James' Wicca magic that he had delved into.

"That was strange." Phoebe shook her head at the strange feeling of the magic. "Was that you, James?"

"Yeah, sorry." James muttered. "I guess I'm not used to people appearing out of thin air lately and I've never seen you do that before."

"I cant, they get it from their father." Phoebe explained. "Though only Patience can do it so far with any reliability. Felix and Jason are learning fast though."

The three children grinned in agreement as they dived for the chocolate biscuits and fizzy drink. "Everyone is out at the park. We were just taking James through the Book of Shadows." Joshua told them. "He's a quick study."

"He did do a psychology degree in two years." Phoebe pointed out.

"How did your book signing go?" Chris asked when he realised the comment had embarrassed James.

"Oh, it was great!" Phoebe told them cheerfully as Coup rolled his eyes.

"Boring!" Whispered the fifteen year old Felix to Wyatt making the four young men laugh.

"What's the book about?" James asked to avoid an argument. He knew that Phoebe wrote an advice column in a local paper and the occasional national paper as well as the odd talk show. A book she wrote could be interesting.

"It's an advice book for families with trouble with their children." Phoebe explained as she and Coup took the left sofa and their children took the right one. Wyatt retreated to kitchen to make some tea for Phoebe and her husband.

"Can I get a copy of that?" James asked with a thoughtful look. "You never know in my job when something like that could be useful."

"Sure thing, James!" Phoebe said with a happy grin.

Chris took control of the proper introductions so that James could learn their magic before the others got back. "Phoebe can Levitate, she gets premonitions about innocents and families and she's an Empath and can use that power to attack an enemy's mind to kill them or put them in a coma."

James raised an eyebrow at her but asked the question anyway. "Can you feel anything from me?"

"No actually, you're a blank." Phoebe muttered.

"You have gotta teach me how to do those shields!" Chris muttered in James' ear. James looked at him before nodding his agreement. "Uncle Coup is actually a Cupid. That's where some of their children's powers come from."

"You make people fall in love?" James asked shocked.

"Well not really." Coup laughed at his expression. "I help people recognise that their in love, or could be in love."

James gave a sigh of relief and a small grin at the older man and let Chris continue the explanations. "Patience can Disillusion herself, but she's getting better at it so she'll probably manage complete invisibility in a few years. She can also shapeshift."

"Into what?" James asked the sixteen year old.

"At the moment I can do most inanimate objects that don't have any internal parts and are about my size." She admitted. "Supposedly I should be able to do animals too when my powers are fully grown. Mom said you can turn into a Panther, is that true?"

James smiled at her before standing up. Chris let go of his hand and James was shocked that the man was still holding it when he hadn't even realised it. He smoothly changed shape and in a second collapsed onto his front paws with a soft thump. He grinned like only a Panther can to show all of his teeth.

He felt a hand scratching behind his right ear and turned his large head to face Chris who had an admiring grin on his face. James couldn't help the purr from escaping his throat which made everyone in the room laugh. James twisted his head further towards Chris and snapped his jaws together just short of the older man's hand making him snap it back to himself. James pushed off from his front paws and shifted back to his normal form and took his seat again.

"Cool." Was all Patience said.

"Moving on." Chris grunted as he protected his hand against his chest with a small glare at James. James reached over and grabbed the hand and held onto it. He noticed Coup's small smile and glared at him good naturedly. "Felix can sense what people greatest desire is just like his dad and can slow down time to an almost stand still tough he's getting better at that. It's almost like Piper and Wyatt's freezing power but it effects everything unless he pulls them out of it."

James nodded at the fifteen year old to show he understood and then turned to Jason, the youngest. He felt a brush against his shields and grabbed hold and tugged on the link and saw the young teen's eyes widen.

"Another Telepath?" James asked.

"Yes Sir." Jason muttered thinking he was in trouble. "But I'm not as good as Matt. I cant search for memories only speak to people. That's what I was just trying to do. Sorry."

"No need to apologise. I'll have to teach you to block what I just did to you in case you meet another Wizard like me." James told him before looking at his parents. "I'll explain later but it's important he learns it as soon as possible."

They nodded but were obviously slightly worried. "How about you boys go into town for a while?" Phoebe offered to the four older men before turning to her children. "We'll stay here and wait for the others to come back. Piper said something about a meal later so make sure you're back by five."

XOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter