A New Life in San Francisco
A/N; I'm going to pre-empt annoyed reviews by saying these simple words. You're not going to get information about Harry's parents by asking for them. If I don't tell you in the chapter then you won't find out in reviews. It will spoil everything. So please don't ask.
Chapter 17; Making a Stand.
Halliwell Manor; 1981
Piper Halliwell walked down her stairs sleepily. She had woken with Leo at her side which wasn't strange at all since the man rarely woke before Chris wanted to get up. She however had always been an early riser even if she spent the first ten minutes walking around in a daze. Her sisters on the other hand were completely different; Paige was always a late sleeper and needed coffee to function properly whereas Phoebe woke either early or late and was always wide awake in an instant.
Piper walked through her living room to open the front curtains to allow the morning sunlight to fill the room, like she did every morning, but because of her sleepy state she didn't notice the young man sitting on her sofa nor the fact that the curtains were already drawn back and the windows wide open.
She didn't realise this until she went to draw the curtains back and stopped as she felt the sun on her face. She frowned slightly but figured that one of her two younger sisters must have risen early for some reason though they were both hopeless at doing simple tasks like opening curtains. She brushed the situation aside and turned to make her way into the kitchen to make coffee to find herself staring at a young man sitting looking at her with an amused look on his face.
He had brown hair and deeply intriguing dark green eyes that seemed to bare everyone of her secrets for all to see. He was watching her with an amused look and it took her several moments of silence before she realised that she had met this man before. He was the one called James that had arrived with her son from the future and had saved herself and Paige in the park the day before vanishing without a trace.
"James?" She frowned wondering why he was still awake. Now that she was waking up she realised that Chris, who had slept on the couch in the attic last night, must still be asleep.
James nodded with a small smile. "I'm sorry, I didn't wake you up did I?"
"Wake me up?" She sounded shocked. "Of course not."
"You always did strike me as the get up and go type of woman in the future." James grinned at her before his face grew slightly more serious. "I apologise for my abrupt departure last night."
"Where did you go?" She asked him.
"I just went to stew over my thoughts for a while. To get over the shock." He shrugged in a rather forced way but Piper let it go. She couldn't imagine what was going on in his head right now knowing that in only a few months his parents would be killed. He snapped her out of her musing. "I hope you don't mind but I helped myself to you kettle and hot chocolate."
"I don't mind." She smiled at him as he stood and stretched his muscles in a movement that reminded her of a predator. "How long have you been up? What are you working on?" She asked glancing at the four mugs on the coffee table and the piles of strewn paper.
James moved forwards and gathered up the papers, hiding the scribblings from her too hastily. "Just a spell. I haven't slept yet." He told her honestly. Chris would realise as soon as he awoke anyway.
"Well," Piper said after deciding to ignore his hasty explanation on his work. What she had seen she hadn't been able to read at any rate. "How about I get started on a cooked breakfast and you go wake up Chris?"
James nodded slowly and turned to leave the room. He paused as she started to ask a question though she seemed to pause half way as if doubting her right to ask.
"Just ask it, Piper. It'll only eat away at you if you don't." James told her with a half smile.
"How do you know Chris?" She blurted out, her protective instincts for her youngest son, no matter how displaced, fighting against her sense of courtesy.
"I work with Paige in the future, I met him that way." James left the room before she could go into what their relationship was. He didn't know what Chris had told them and didn't want to 'out' Chris in front of his parents for a second time. Or first if you wanted to be specific. James shook his head to rid himself of paradoxical thoughts as he walked up into the attic space.
Chris was sound asleep on the rather dusty sofa. He looked rather worn and not just from the new appearance he had taken when they had woken in the changed future. James instantly regretted disappearing last night, it was obvious that Chris had stayed up worrying about it. Even if he felt guilt inside him he also felt happiness bubbling up inside of him. The fact that Chris had cared about him enough to worry so much about him truly made his heart come alive again.
James bent his knees and squatted next to Chris' head and gently gave him a kiss on the lips. "Get off me, Wyatt!" Chris mumbled sleepily as he swiped with his arm randomly. James felt his eyebrows disappear upwards. Chris obviously didn't like being woken up by his brother though he decided that Wyatt didn't wake him up this way. He leant down and gave Chris a rather more solid kiss and knew the exact moment that Chris' mind kicked into gear as his breathing hitched. James leant back quickly to avoid butting heads and Chris bolted upright.
James just smirked at his boyfriend as Chris gave him a glare. "You could have woken me up and then kissed me!" Chris grumbled out.
"And where's the fun in that?" James chuckled but lost the amused tone to his voice as Chris bolted to his feet with a serious expression on his normally clam face.
"Where were you all night?" Chris asked him.
James gulped making up in that instant to leave Chris out of this one personal problem. "I went somewhere quiet to think."
"Where?"
James just shrugged. "I was downstairs most of the night." James told him and saw Chris deflate slightly knowing that James had at least been safe. "I think I've figured out a way to contain the damage. It was hard without access to my tome but I think I've got a spell powerful enough to do it."
"Do what exactly?"
"To make sure that everyone that finds out about us in this time forgets us as soon as we leave." James told him as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"What!?" Chris almost yelped. "Why do we have to do that?"
"As far as I can figure out we are in our actual past. Everyone that is happening actually happened the first time around. Well the second time really since you already changed it once." James grinned at him impishly before continuing. "You mum and Aunts didn't know me when we first me, nor did they know of the Wizarding World which means that we must remove the memory from them or at least look it away."
"And you've worked out a way to do it?"
"Actually, technically I told myself." James deadpanned and continued at Chris' rather annoyed look. "Well, it's complicated. I was writing a Rune sequence last night that would wipe any memory to do with us or Wizarding Magic when I remembered that when I was searching through your parents and Aunts' minds and even Wyatt's mind I found a very small block that I couldn't manipulate."
"And that means?" Chris prompted.
"I didn't understand it at the time but after writing that spell to wipe the memories I began to realise what the block was. It was stopped them from accessing certain memories and also stops me specifically from altering it in anyway." James explained. "I rewrote the spell to match it and it makes perfect sense. Once the Death Eater's are dealt with and before we head back I'll cast the spell on each of them and lock away their memories so that even I can't break into them. I've designed it to release the memories at exactly the point that we went back in time, though it'll hopefully be in the nicer future."
Chris blinked at him a couple of times before slowly shaking his head and starting to tug James towards the attic door and towards the smell of cooking sausages.
"What!?" James stammered. "What do you think?"
"It's far too early for this." James heard his boyfriend mutter under his breath and just grinned inanely at the back of the taller boy's head.
"Um Chris?" James tugged on his arm gently and was rewarded when Chris turned to face him. "What did you tell them…you know, about us?"
"Um, nothing really. Just that you're a friend of the family and that I brought you back with me because you knew how to fight the Wizards." Chris told him seriously.
"Are you going to tell them the truth at some point?" James asked with a quirk of his head to show he didn't mind either way.
"I suppose it doesn't really matter if you're going to lock away their memories." Chris sighed.
"So you're going to?"
"Do you think I should?"
"Well it would make them trust me a bit more." James pointed out but he saw Chris' rather nervous look. "But you don't want to do you?"
"Well, I kind of didn't tell them the first time." Chris winced as a memory came to mind. James just frowned at him and waited for him to continue. Chris went slightly red in the face before speaking very quietly. "When I was sixteen I was doing…stuff…in my room with my school boyfriend and Wyatt walked in on us."
James' eyes widened and he had to fight down the smile that threatened him. "What did he see?"
"Well, let's put it this way. The brotherly wonder over who grew up with the bigger…tool…was answered, for him at least." Chris went bright rage and hung his head. James could help the snicker that came out of him and hid his smile behind his hand. "He ran to blab on me to mom."
James winced slightly but he didn't lose his cheeky smile. "So you're nervous because you'd have to actually pluck up the courage to admit it?"
"Yes, Mr. Psychologist." Chris smirked up at him through his wild fringe.
James checked around the upstairs hallway before leaning forward and pecking his boyfriend on the lips. "I'm only good at children. Let's go downstairs."
James spent the day setting up basic runic protections around the house keyed in against his own Wizarding Magic so that nobody with his type of magic could enter the building with the exception of himself. Chris on the other hand spent the day with Piper and Paige scrying for Wizarding Magic using some of James' blood as a focus as Chris explained everything he could about fighting against the Death Eaters. By the time James had finished the Sisters and Chris had found nothing. When told this James just shrugged.
"I didn't expect you would." James told them seriously.
"What!?" Piper looked really angry as all three sisters squared off against him with annoyed faces. Chris just let his head fall onto his hands in annoyance. "Why didn't you tell us that? We just wasted a whole day."
James gave her a long stare. "I'm the one who knows how they fight." He told her sternly. "If you had managed to find them today you would have gotten yourself killed running in there. I had to have the house warded before you tried something otherwise we wouldn't have a place to hide afterwards."
"How do you know we'd have to hide?" Piper asked him and the two others nodded arrogantly, though they had good reason to be sure of themselves. They were feared by any in the Demon world.
James just sighed before raising his hand at Wyatt who was sitting in the corner and drew a simple Rune that had a similar effect to the Lumos charm except that it made the target glow. It was useful for lighting rooms by making an item glow or even making an opponent glow in a dark place. Wyatt's blue shield flew up around the three year old as soon as he realised that the young man he didn't trust was doing something that his mother and aunt didn't agree with.
Piper cried out as the Rune glowed with red fire before streaking out. It broke through Wyatt's shield easily and struck him in the chest. Wyatt cried out but calmed instantly as Chris moved over and lifted the now glowing child.
Piper seemed about ready to attack James now but Chris stopped her with a small shake of his head. James decided to explain why he had just attacked her eldest son even as he moved towards where Chris was standing up in a small play pen. James lifted the small boy into his arms and grinned at the happy child. He could easily see the elder Chris in his features.
"I did that with Wizarding Magic. Granted the spell is designed to penetrate almost any shield but the fact still remains, this type of magic is too different to yours for you to go in blind without a proper plan." James told them. "I'm not saying that all Wizards are more powerful than you but it's like an English football player being dropped into an American Football game. He won't know the rules and is an easy target for the opposition."
Phoebe nodded at the explanation and Paige obviously understood but Piper just stared at him warily as he held Chris in his arms easily. "You're good with children." She pointed out with a carefully controlled explanation.
"That's why I became a Child Psychologist." Harry informed her.
"I thought you worked for Paige?" Piper asked suddenly and James looked at a surprised Paige with a grin.
"I do."
"Should you be telling us things like this?" Phoebe butted in before he could be questioned.
"It doesn't really matter, I intend to blank your memories of everything about us and the Death Eaters as soon as we leave this time." James shrugged. They all looked disappointed but they obviously agreed with him. "Right, everyone sit down." James announced before sitting himself on the ground with Chris in his lap.
Chris took the armchair seat with Wyatt in his lap in case Wyatt, who had now been attacked by Harry and was still glowing, decided to raise his shield and send James into the wall again like last night. The three sisters sat together on the Sofa with ready expressions on their faces.
"You know, Chris, you're really cute as a baby." James asked with a smirk on his face. "What happened?"
"Hey!" Chris cried after a second of looking smug while the sister laughed at his expense. With the mood less tense Harry reached out with his Wicca magic and used it to forcibly remove his Wizarding Magic from the three year old brother of his boyfriend.
"Down to business. I'm going to explain to you about a few spells that I know the Death Eater's love then we'll get something to eat before we get ready for their first attack." James told them with a small smile before launching into a brief description of the spells that they may run into with special emphasis on the three Unforgivables.
They broke for dinner but before long they were in the conservatory with Leo and minus the two boys who had been put down to sleep for the night. James found himself facing three waiting Sisters and a rather bored looking boyfriend.
"They'll attack tonight." James told them.
"What?" Piper was shocked, as was the others, even Chris.
"They are used to having a Master who will torture and kill them if they take longer than necessary to complete a task or if they fail it." James explained. "They didn't attack last night because of the slight injuries they sustained when I burnt that woodland, but they'll send a small team with them tonight to attack you. Maybe one of the Inner Circle with perhaps three or four regulars to gauge your skills and whether me and Chris have risked our timelines by telling you about them."
"Inner circle?" Paige questioned.
"They look the same with their cloaks and masks on but they are basically the best of the Death Eaters, personal favourites of Voldemort; their Master." James explained ignoring the hitch in his throat at the name of the man who would kill his parents. "This is what we're going to do. We're all going to go out tonight, except for Leo who will stay to look after the boys."
"Leo can't defend the boys against the Death Eaters." Paige put in.
"He won't need to, no Wizard other than me can enter the house with my wards up." James reassured them all.
"Can't they bring them down?" Piper asked. "We've seen protection spells broken before."
"They can, but it would take too long and I'd know the instant they are affected." James assured them. "We'll go out and wait for them to attack and when they do we'll deal with them."
All three nodded but as they all rose to ready themselves James paused and addressed them again. "They won't give up unless they're dead. Are you able to kill them?"
"We vanquish Demons all the time." Paige told him with a smirk. "Of course we can."
James shared a worried look with Chris as the three sisters walked out of the room to prepare some potions. Vanquishing Demons was one thing but killing a human being, Death Eater or not, was a hard thing to cope with. James knew that Chris had never done it before and he had only killed Quirell by accident. James knew he wouldn't have a problem, he had tried to kill Lucius, Bellatrix and Draco that day on the beach without a second thought.
XOXOXOXOXOXOX
Golden Gate Park
The five of them had been wandering around the wooded park for two hours now, it was almost midnight and the place was utterly dark and spooky with only the city lights glowing around them. James was the first to hear it, a small cracking sound, almost like that of a burrowing animal. James paused in his walking and heard a small hiss from within the forest to the right.
"Piper, blow up the tree." James ordered her. She only hesitated for a split second before her hands twitched and the side of the tree closest to them exploded in a flurry of wood chips. James noted dimly that two decades obviously changed their magic since in the future he had seen Piper do far more damage than that.
A cry of pain echoed in the woods and instantly the five found themselves surrounded by ten Death Eaters. James didn't waste any time before releasing one of his pre-drawn runes and letting a wave of fire erupt towards the first Death Eater who couldn't bring up a shield in time to protect himself. The fire completely engulfed him shocking everyone there into a brief period of inaction as the man screamed as his body was turned slowly into dust.
James also did nothing but only because he was evaluating his feelings. This was the first time that he had ever intentionally killed somebody and he hadn't felt any thing at all. James caught Chris' eyes and saw shock there and a slight bit of fear before they were all distracted.
James fought alongside the others as they battled against the nine remaining Death Eaters. James drew several Runes throughout the battle to do serious damage while Chris made sure that nobody got the upper hand against any of them. There was a main difference between this battle and the ones he had faced against Death Eaters before. Nobody was shooting to wound, it was kill or die trying.
James took out another three Death Eaters with the same Rune that he had used at the start of the battle and another with a stab of lightning that blinded them all as it tore apart one of the Death Eaters' chest and killed him instantly. The sisters were having less luck than James though since most of their active powers could be blocked by the Wizard's shields. Piper did manage to blow up a few of their wands but it wasn't till there was only four of them remaining after Chris crushed one of their hearts with his telekinesis that a joint attack from the three sisters using potions blew a hole in the side of one of the Death Eaters.
The Inner Circle member that James knew was Lucius Malfoy and the last two Death Eaters apparated away leaving their wounded comrade on the ground. James made his way over to the wounded Death Eater who was scrambling for his wand which was lying just out of reach. James picked the Ebony wand up with two fingers and crouched beside the man. He toyed with removing the mast from his face but figured that there would be no point in the end.
"Contundu!" James hissed with venom as he focused on the man already damaged ribs and knew when he heard the sickening crack that the man's ribs had pierced his lungs and heart. He saw the life fade from the man's eyes and stood again.
"You didn't tell us that they were mortals!" Piper seemed rather shaken. Chris was giving him a serious look while other two were looking at the two dead bodies with sick looks on their faces.
"What did you expect?" James said calmly as he set fire to the three bodies with the wand and watched as they turned to ashes.
"Demons." Paige choked out. "We're not murderers."
James' eyes turned hard and he saw Chris brace himself slightly. He'd never seen that look before but his Aunt Paige had seen it when dealing with the parents who abused their children. "We're not murderers!" James snapped. "These men torture, rap and kill innocent people. Children, women even babies! They deserve this death."
"So that gives you the right to decide whether to kill mortals or not?" Phoebe stepped forwards but James just backed away from her.
"We gave those five a quicker death then they have given their own victims!" James told them seriously. "They'll keep coming for you until they are all dead, they have no way to return to the future so have nothing to lose. I'll kill all of them one by one if I have to."
"James they didn't mean to call you a murderer." Chris stepped up to his side with a stern look at his mother and aunts and spoke to them in their turn. "Remember I killed one too."
"I can feel your pain at having to do it though, Chris." Phoebe put in with a careful look at James. "I only feel a need for revenge from him and it worries me."
Chris looked at James with the same careful gaze that they had shared after he had killed the first Death Eater. James shook his head slightly before disappearing with a crack.
XOXOXOXOXOXOX
San Francisco Bay
James sat on the edge of a low cliff that looked out across the Bay mouth across the Golden Gate Bridge and to the brightly lit spires of down town San Francisco. He'd been sitting there for a good half an hour staring out across the rough seas. His mind was racing like it hadn't since escaping Azkaban. There was so much turmoil in his mind; killing those Death Eaters, being accused of being a murderer in front by the Sisters and even the stare that Chris had given him that had caused the only regret he had felt for killing them.
He really wished that things wouldn't only get worse from here on in.
XOXOXOXOXOXOX
End Chapter
