A New Life in San Francisco

Chapter 19; Facing the future

Halliwell Manor; 1st November 4am

James slid into the hallway in his panther form, a form he hadn't taken in this time yet and he slinked silently along the hallway towards the stairs but he was stopped by a shocked gasp at the top of said stairs. He swung his head around and looked at Paige with bright eyes before he launched himself at her and pinned her against the floor. He was working out whether to change into his human form so that he could use his powers of suggestion against her when he realised that the fall had knocked her unconscious. He slunk off down the stairs after checking that she'd wake up in a few hours with nothing more than a headache.

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7am

Chris had been very solemn for the last day knowing what was about to happen and had tried to keep James in his sights throughout the day. Things had gone quiet in the last two weeks and apart from James' assurances that two members of the Inner Circle were still out there with one minion they believed that they were out of the woods. He pushed himself up but didn't find James on the bedding on the floor that they kept up for the sake of hiding Chris' and James' relationship but it hadn't been slept it yet again.

Chris sighed before pushing himself out of bed and pulling on a change of clothes and brushing the sleep from his eyes. He made his way down from the attic before receiving a shock. First he saw her hand and then her arm before finally his unconscious Aunt Paige's head. He dashed to her side even as he called out.

"Mum! Aunt Phoebe!" Chris yelled as he felt for a pulse and no sooner started healing her when the two others ran out to join them. Paige gasped as her eyes shot open and she bolted up fast enough to nearly butt heads with Chris. "What happened? Did something attack you?"

She frowned at them all before glancing around to get her bearings. "I could've sworn…" She trailed off.

"You could have sworn…what?" Chris ushered her along getting a worse feeling with every moment that passed.

"A Panther attacked me." Chris almost yelped in shock.

"Why would James attack you?" Chris asked as if they knew what he was talking about.

"What are you talking about, Chris? I said a Panther, not James." Paige asked.

"James can turn into a Panther. He must have been sneaking out and you found him." Chris told them before helping her up. "Did you see where it went?"

"No, he just pounced on me and I hit my head. I must have been knocked out." Paige sighed. "Why would he do that? We've all gotten on fine for the last two weeks."

"I don't think he meant to." Chris staggered as he remembered the date, or more importantly the date it still was in England. Everything slowly clicked into place all the way from his first disappearance, his drunken return, his hoarding of random potions that the sisters had used against Demon's since their arrival and more importantly his dead eyes and his blatant refusal to give Chris a straight answer about what he was doing. "Oh god, Mum, what time is it in England?"

"What…? Chris?" Piper stammered before frowning. "About eleven pm. It'll still be Halloween over there."

"Oh god, he's trying to save his parents!" Chris almost collapsed right then and there with that confirmation of his fears.

"What?" His mum gasped. "How?"

"He's going to use everything he's learnt to try and kill Voldemort before he can kill his parents." Chris gasped and in an instant he thought of everything that would be forced to change for the good and the bad. "We've got to go, now!"

"Let us just change and grab some potions and we'll go." His mum vanished into her room to speak to Leo and change even as the others did the same. Chris wrung his hands together as he waited in the hallway picturing everything that was happening to his boyfriend right at that moment. As soon as his mum came out of her rooms he grabbed her and hoisted her forward. "We have to hurry!" He yelled down the corridor not caring if he woke either himself or Wyatt.

"Why are you so worried, Chris?" Piper asked. "James can handle himself, we all know that."

"But not against Voldemort, I promised I wouldn't let him face Voldemort alone. James will be too scared and he'll get hurt." Chris told her with tears pooling in his eyes. "I promised him."

"Chris." Piper forced her son to look at her. "Tell me the truth. Why do you care about him so much, why promise him something like that?"

"I love him, mum." Chris gasped out as he sagged slightly. "I can't let him get hurt. I wanted to give him dad's promise ring."

"Oh, Chris." His mum hugged him and Chris found himself wondering exactly why he had been so worried about telling them all he was gay when James had asked him about it before. He figured that James had never had to face parents with that sort of problem but he knew he'd take having parents over ease any time.

"We're ready!" Phoebe announced. "How are we going to find him?" Chris went rock stiff in panic, he hadn't even thought beyond going. He didn't know how to find him.

"Oh god, he's still protected from scrying!" Chris gasped before he thought of something that in his wildest dreams he wouldn't have thought of if it wasn't so serious a situation. "Gemma! I know you can hear me! Get down here!"

"Wait, Chris, who's Gemma?" Piper asked him.

"James' Whitelighter in the future." Chris told her.

"But why are you calling her?" Paige frowned, "He told us he was protected even from his Whitelighter."

"Because his younger self isn't." Chris told them before yelling out again just as orbs filled the middle of the hallway.

"The Charmed Ones." Gemma looked around at the three sisters before looking at Chris. "Why did you call me?"

"I need you to take us to Harry Potter." Chris told her uncaring to her shocked look. Not even the other Whitelighters knew of the name of that charge.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Godric's Hollow; Midnight

James hid in the same bush as before as Voldemort appeared with a crack on the front lawn of the small two story cottage. He instantly began walking towards the door and James felt his blood boil. He was about to push himself out of his cover to confront the man when a hand clamped down on his shoulder and spun him around. He fell onto his back in shock as he came face to face with Chris, Piper, Phoebe and Paige.

"How did you…?"

"Gemma brought us to Harry Potter as soon as we found Paige on the floor this morning." Chris explained quietly as he sunk onto his knees next to James. "Why did you come here?"

"I have to help them." James' voice cracked and he flinched so much when the sound of a door exploding met their ears that two potions fell from his hand.

"Lily!" A man's voice cried from inside the house. "Take James and run! He's here!"

James tried to stand but Chris just forced him down with his hand. "Please, Chris, let me do something!" James' pleading almost had the sisters helping him. Tears were streaming down James and Chris' faces at the sounds of a battle inside the house.

"You can't James. Think of what you'll change." Chris sighed.

"I'll have a family!" James snapped as he threw out his hand and sent Chris twisting up in the air as Wicca magic tossed him away. James stood up and all four Halliwells could feel the magic rolling off of him in waves of hot energy. "I'll have a normal life. I wont be beaten by my relatives! Betrayed by my friends!"

"James." Chris stepped right up to James ignoring the magic rippling around him. "What about everything else? I hate what happened to you, you know that, but what will happen to everyone else without you there to help us. He'll still come back and he'll still join up with the Underworld but you wont be there to help us and we'll all die."

"I'd help you still." James sobbed as he realised it was fruitless, he might be emotional but he wasn't clueless.

"No, James, because we'd never meet, we'd never have fallen in love." Phoebe and Paige gasped at his words but they all saw the magic collapse back into James. Tears were pouring freely from James' eyes and he was shaking. He nodded very slightly as he resigned himself to what was happening.

"Avada Kadavra!" The sound of rushing air met their ears and the sound of a body hitting the floor. Chris was forced to watch the life fade from James' eyes just like the life had faded from James' father's body. Forced to watch as a piece of James' soul and determination died away as his worst memory was lived in front of him and not just replayed.

"James, please look at me." Chris begged as he tried to get James' eyes to focus on him but it was like he was dead to the world as he was drawn to what was happening to the world within the house. His eyes took on a white glint and his vision shifted to that of the Life Stream as he had called it and with his Premonition Powers and Power of Suggestion he found his mother standing over his cot with himself in it and the man that he hated beyond all things.

James didn't even hear the series of three pops as three Death Eaters appeared on the lawn in front of the house but it tore everyone's attention off of himself. Chris glanced between the three new arrivals who weren't even wearing their masks and to his boyfriend trying to decide.

"We can deal with them, Chris." His mom told him before moving passed Chris and his frozen boyfriend with her two sisters. "Just get him out of here before more damage is done. Nobody should have to live through this more than once."

Phoebe obviously agreed with her remembering the memory of this very event that James had shown her that first time to prove his loyalty wasn't with the very man that was now no more than twenty metres from them. They stepped out to confront the three Death Eaters with a resolve they had never felt before. They could kill these especially after that family had been so brutally tortured two weeks ago. Piper would make sure they died for the shell of a man that her son loved. The man that had forced himself to listen to his father's death in order to save her future family.

Piper felt her magic bubble up inside her and threw in every emotion she had into her magic from the memories she hated to remember like finding Prue dead and hearing of Chris' death to the good memories like Wyatt and Chris' birth. She threw it all into one attack at the back of the nearest of the three that had come back in time to kill her family and the explosion took out the windows of the first floor as a scream rended the air in two. For the first time a Wizard exploded to her powers and his ashes scattered to the air as the other two span around on their heels with wands out.

"No!" The scream from the upstairs window sent chills down the three sister's spin and Piper couldn't imagine what listening to his mother's last scream of despair was doing to James.

"Avada Kadavra!" Another body hit the floor and Piper felt her heart break hoping that Chris had gotten James out of here so he hadn't heard his mother's death.

"Sectumsempre!" Piper was ducking even as the man in front of her tried to cast a spell at her and tossed an explosion at his feet. She knew she didn't have time to draw up enough emotion to explode him like she had with the other. He staggered backwards and all three tossed the three parts of the potion that had destroyed the Source of all Evil. His face showed pain for the instant before he too exploded.

"We call the power of all before us,

channel to us all of your power,

so that we may scour this enemy to dust,

And never again be forced to cower."

Piper let her own love for her sons chose the words as she spoke them drawing not only on the power of three but all of their line. Magic snapped through the air before pummelling into the woman before them who simply burst into flames and exploded just like a Demon.

"Avada Kadavra!" Piper, Phoebe and Paige all stared up at an upstairs window as another rushing sound met their ears before a sharp green flash. A bright white light flowed from the window and burst through newly formed cracks in the top floor of the building. It seemed to build up before it flashed green and the upper portion of the building exploded outwards in all directions.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

A few moments before

Chris grabbed onto James' arm as soon as he saw his mother explode one of the Death Eaters. He'd come back to help his mother and aunts kill the last of the threat but for now he couldn't let James hear anything more. He turned to orbs but as soon as he tried to take James with him a sharp jolt ran through him and he found himself appearing again just as he struck a tree.

He groaned as he realised that whatever James was doing was stopping him from moving. Magic flared again around James at the distant sound of another Killing Curse claiming his mother and Chris felt the pain tear into him. "Please, James!" Chris pleaded as he came up in front of his boyfriend. "Let me take you somewhere away from here."

Chris looked up into James' eyes just in time to hear the last Killing Curse, the one that would strike Harry Potter.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

James was oblivious to Chris' words as he watched his mother vanish from his sight, her life didn't even fade but rather vanished. He focused on the smaller form of himself and felt it in his core what he had to do. He knew what had happened all those years ago. He started pushing his magic into his small form, using this sight to guide it into Harry Potter's very life. He didn't hear the words from Voldemort but he knew the second he was hit by the Killing Curse as his sight was washed out by his own magic as it forced the killing curse away from himself and straight back into Voldemort taking the top of the building with it.

He slammed back into his own body and felt himself crumple as his world blacked out.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Halliwell Manor

James woke up feeling like he had lost something dear to him and unfortunately a moment later he worked out what that thing was. His parents. Once again they were dead but and he felt the sudden urge to speak to them and find out if there was anything he should have done to save them. He did realised that he couldn't do it now since it had only been a few hours since their death and it wouldn't exactly be good for them to be confronted with him now.

James looked around the empty attic before sliding his feet off of the chair. He didn't particularly feel tired but a part of him felt like they had won a victory. He stood and headed for the kitchen since he could hear voices coming up from there. Stares greeted him as soon as he stepped through the door and he didn't even notice as he passed Wyatt standing against the door with Paige and the boy didn't bring up his shield. He mindlessly lifted a watching baby Chris from his playpen and the boy hugged his arms around James' neck making him smile ever so slightly.

"Good morning, James." Piper greeted him though there was a worried edge to her voice. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired but I'll be ok."

"They took out the last of the Death Eaters and Paige and Phoebe helped me whip up the return potion to get us back to the future." James sat in the seat opposite Chris as he spoke and watched his lined features silently.

"I'm really sorry about what I did last night, Chris. I wasn't thinking properly." James apologised. Chris' head flew up to look at him.

"That's not what I was thinking. It isn't your fault that you wanted to save your parents!" Chris cried out. "I just regret stopping you like that. I should've noticed earlier. I should've paid more attention to how you were feeling instead of focusing everything on my own family. It was selfish of me."

"Selfish of you?" James frowned. "Chris, it was me that wanted to write a happier future for myself without caring about what it would do to everyone else. Including me and you."

"What happened exactly last night?" Paige asked to break the silence as Chris just stared at James across the table.

"I saved myself." James sighed. "That Killing Curse was going to kill me, no matter what ancient spells my headmaster fantasised about. I fed my life into that of the younger me and it saved him from the curse and forced it back. By making the killing curse flee instead of the life."

"But shouldn't that of killed you?" Leo asked from Chris' side and James realised that the man had probably been comforting Chris for most of the day.

"Well, normally it probably would but I wasn't feeding my life into somebody else, it was going into me. One big cycle over twenty years." James told him with confidence.

"Ouch, that's confusing." Paige pointed out from her corner with Wyatt.

"Well I wouldn't worry about it since you won't remember any of this after we leave." James tried to smile at her but couldn't manage it. He was only coping because he knew that what had happened had to have happened.

"Ah!" Paige whined. "Are you sure you couldn't leave us with a tidbit?"

"Like what?" James asked honestly actually considering it.

"Like our baby nephew is gay?" Paige smirked at Chris who banged his head on the table rather loudly.

"Oh, you know I would but the way you eventually find out is so much more interesting." This time the smile was evident especially as Chris' head snapped up to his and he tried to launch himself across the table to silence his boyfriend. James just jumped backwards and held baby Chris up in front of him. "Save me from yourself, Chris!"

The sisters laughed at his joke and after a while Chris settled down though the glare on his features was still there. "Sorry Paige," James told him. "I can't leave any weaknesses in the spell otherwise I might work a way through it in the future before the right time. Don't worry, by the time we get back to the future you'll have remembered everything about this."

"When are you going back to anyway?" Leo asked.

James glanced at Chris who chose to explain the potion to him. "It works by us concentrating of when we want to go to. There might be a slight variation though."

"We'd better aim for a week before your cousins go back to school then, August 21st. That way if he undershoot we won't overlap with ourselves and it will give these guys time to sort through the memories without us there to comment on anything." James told them all.

"I've already removed all trace that we were here and I have the potion to create the portal and a spare in case we screw it up but apart from that there isn't anything else to do." Chris told them.

James nodded and surrendered baby Chris to his father so he could begin the spell that he had memorised so carefully over the passed five weeks. He started tracing Runes into the air over the table only half listening as Chris said his farewells to his parents, his aunts, his toddler brother and baby self. James sighed as he finished and after giving Chris a nod he activated it with a click. The Rune Matrix he had created burst out in all directions absorbing into firstly Leo at the table, then Wyatt, Paige, Phoebe and finally Piper before it went out even further to ensure that James hadn't missed anybody.

"They'll be like that for a while so let's go before they wake up." James moved off towards the door letting Chris leave a slightly worrying baby Chris in his playpen. They went up to the attic of the suddenly silent house and Chris chucked the potion bottle at the wall where he'd already drawn out a Triquetra in chalk. The space filled with the familiar blue portal. "I can't believe we actually did it."

"Of course we did, I just wish it hadn't cost you so much." Chris sighed sounding utterly defeated.

"I've gained so much more than I could ever lose just by knowing you and I'm sure my parents would agree that you should have stopped me." James told him before grabbing his arm. "I love you, Chris, and I'd do it again just to stay right where I am."

Chris leaned down slightly and James leaned up to steal a long lingering kiss. James' right hand found the small of Chris' back even as Chris' spare hand found the back of his neck. "I love you too, James." Chris told him with a smile and another peck on the lips before the two walked through the glowing portal and back to their actual reality completely repaired of the damage done by the Death Eaters.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter