A New Life in San Francisco
Chapter 20; An Alliance
Halliwell Manor - Present Day
James and Chris looked around the attic. Chris was looking for signs of the screwed up future while James was appraising it for dangers. James glanced out of the window taking in the complete skyline as opposed to the destroyed City he remembered and also the few new buildings built in the last twenty years that stretched above the skyline he had witnessed in the past.
"It's morning." James told Chris simply before stepping away from his boyfriend's side. "Shall we go and see if they're around."
Chris smiled sarcastically. "Yay, all the cousins again!"
James smiled up at Chris' sarcasm with genuine happiness and Chris gave him a sappy smile in response knowing just how much James treasured every single one of Chris' younger sisters and cousins. James led the way down through the house to the kitchen and stopped in the doorway. Chris leaned against the door frame and James leaned into his chest and wrapped an arm around him at the sight. Chris drew his own arms around James and they simply watched as Wyatt attacked Matthew, Paige's ten year old adopted son. Evidently Matt had stolen the 23 year old's slice of bacon.
Around the table sat the entirety of Chris' family, his mom and dad, his older brother and his two younger sisters, Prue and Anna. Paige had obviously paid a visit along with Matthew, who was now wriggling around on Wyatt's lap, Luke and Joshua, her three sons.
James and Chris simply watched the scene, happy to be back where they should be among the people they both loved no matter how recently in James' case. "Wyatt!" Piper complained as Matt's arm almost sent her own breakfast to the floor. "Could you please stop teasing your cousin for two minutes so they rest of us can eat in peace?"
"But mom, he started it!" Wyatt whined.
Evidently Chris couldn't keep his wit under control as he spoke. "Oh, how mature of you!" Chris chuckled instantly getting everybody's attention.
"Chris honey!" Piper sent her chair falling back onto the floor in her haste to get to her son as fast as possible. James dived out of the way to avoid being crushed in the rather Molly Weasley-ish hug. "I can't believe you're finally back!"
"Jeese mom, it's only been a week." Wyatt complained though he was wearing a grin that James had never really seen on his face, a truly proud and happy expression completely full of love for his younger brother. "Uh…mom? He needs air."
James covered his laugh with his hand as the rest of the family group tackled Chris with hugs and kisses greeting him back. Oddly enough James didn't feel left out as he stole Wyatt's recently discarded chair and started picking through his food since he hadn't eaten in rather a long time, or at least it felt like it after everything that had just happened to him. He finally accepted his parents' death, was finally able to let the two Wizards go now that he knew the truth of what had happened. In a twisted kind of way Dumbledore had been right. It was a kind of love that had saved him from the Killing Curse but it hadn't been his mother's love but his own love for his parents. Love had driven him to do unthinkable things with unimaginable power but he knew that such a thing was out of his reach now. Only having so many things in the perfect place had allowed it to work, mainly having two of himself in the same place.
He'd have to ask Chris to teach him how to summon them since they had had twenty years to overcome their death even if it had only happened within the last twenty-four hours for James. He watched the family fawn over each other with a small smile on his face as he slowly finished off Wyatt's breakfast and was joined by Leo after a few moments.
"They seem to have forgotten you." Leo said quickly after James hushed him from reminding them of his presence. "You don't mind? You did save us all after all."
"And how many times have the Charmed Ones saved everybody?" James retorted playfully. "Besides I don't really mind." Leo didn't look convinced so James continued. "Chris really needs this reaffirming of his family. He never admitted it back then in the…er…past, but he was really pained over the screwed up future we saw. Of what Piper had become."
James chocked slightly on the last words and Leo watched him for a moment. "What about you though?"
"Our start was slightly different." James misinterpreted the question on purpose. "I had no recollection of any present other than this one when I woke there but Chris only got the knowledge after getting a premonition from me. He remembers growing up in that twisted world and it's effected him slightly."
Leo looked torn between his desire to know the real answer to his original question and watching his second son in shock. Twenty years ago, James has told them about waking up in a screwed up world and that he and Chris had desired to set it right again but neither had offered the fact that Chris had woken with a completely new set of memories. James just watched as Chris lifted his fourteen, nearly fifteen year old sister, Anna up into the air and hugged her to him before spinning around slightly. Chris caught James' eye for a moment and they exchanged smiles of relief. They were finally home.
They had a party in honour of James and Chris as soon as Phoebe and the rest of the family were told of the two's return. And even though Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Leo had all known as soon as the block on their memories had faded after James and Chris had left a week ago that everything would be ok. It confused James slightly that the two had supposedly left when there wasn't anything to fix but he simply brushed it off as one of the oddities of time travel. James was fiercely attacked with hugs minutes after Piper forced herself away from her second son and James had soon been swallowed in hugs from every member of the family at breakfast and then again by the rest of the extended family when they arrived for the party.
It was getting late into the evening and Gemma, James' Whitelighter who had been distressed when a block on her own memories had been dissolved, had left after coming down to find out exactly why James had vanished into the past for a week even though she hadn't actually been able to sense his disappearance. She had congratulated Chris on his quick thinking in using her to help him find Harry Potter and Chris had gone bright red as James laughed at him.
"Oh, James." Paige suddenly jumped into the conversation about their newly unlocked memories. All of the adults, Piper, Leo, Phoebe, Coup, Paige, Henry, Wyatt, Chris and James, were there slowly relaxing. "I wanted to thank you for making sure the knowledge of Chris' preferences stayed buried."
James frowned slightly with a quick glance at Chris as they both tried to work out where this was heading. James worked it out after a moment but Chris was still oblivious. James decided to play along. "Why's that, Paige?" He asked with a smirk on his face.
"You were right, the first time we found out was far more hilarious for us then just being told." There was a strange glint to Paige's eyes and everybody but James and Chris simply stared at her in shock. James was too busy trying not to laugh and Chris was simply trying to blend into the back of his chair. Eventually a pitiful whimper escaped Chris' lips which turned into a groan as everyone burst into laughter and Chris went bright red. James laughed softly and turned glittering eyes onto his boyfriend and gripped his hand in his own.
"Paige!" Phoebe finally managed to get out. "That's incorrigible!"
"And mentally scarring." Wyatt muttered from James' left hand side. James burst into laughter properly at the pitiful comment that simply sent Chris further into his own seat as he too heard the quiet comment.
James turned to Wyatt and said in a voice that only carried to the two brothers. "Oh, I don't agree, Wyatt. I think it would be fun." He said with a smirk at Wyatt's shocked face before Wyatt succumbed to laughter too along with Chris after he got over the shock of what James had just said.
The group drank and chatted for a few more hours before Piper seemed to build up the courage to bring up something that everybody but Chris and James seemed to already know. "James, dear, we received a letter on Tuesday requesting a meeting 'at our leisure.'"
"'At out leisure?'" James asked with raised eyebrows. "Who was it from?"
"He said in the letter that he was a Wizard." James tensed so fast that Chris was surprised and flinched himself.
"Name?" James croaked out losing his mood surprisingly fast.
"Albus Dumbledore." James blanched violently and set his glass down on the table with shaking hands. He fidgeted for a few moments before standing. Unsure what to do with himself he thought about walking around the garden, then thought about sitting down, then of reaching for his glass. Eventually he just reached for Chris who seemed to have expected the move and caught him as he slid down into his chair. Chris was on the arm of the deck chair in an instant and James settled his head into Chris side.
James knew he was trembling ever so slightly. "My old headmaster." James told them in a surprisingly controlled voice that surprised them with it's underlying tone of hatred. "Did he mention me?"
"No." Piper told him soothingly with a concerned expression. James sighed out.
"What did he want?" Chris asked in irritation. He'd only seen James act close to this when confronted with the man in P3 when they had first met. He had later discovered that it was because the man had reminded him of the same Wizard that had tried to arrest James in Seattle.
"He wants to form an alliance." Paige told James slowly. "Wicca and something called the Order of the Phoenix against Demons and Death Eaters." She shuddered at the last thought and James knew that they all remembered the raid on the family of Mortals now so freshly replaced in their minds.
"He also formally apologised for his expeditions actions when they were here before." Phoebe put in. "The letter said that his Phoenix, Fawkes, would reappear tomorrow at noon, our time, to take back any reply."
"We were thinking about having him meet us here, since he obviously knows where we live now, to discuss it." Piper put in. "We know we shouldn't just reject his offer, the only reason we haven't just agreed to accept the alliance is because we don't know enough about them. You said that some of them were good after all."
"We thought it right to put it past you before we did anything though." Paige finished off.
"I don't think he's even listening to you." Chris told them rather more harshly then was strictly necessary. He had good reason to think that since James had turned his face into Chris' shirt and shut his eyes when they started talking about his request for an alliance.
"No, I was listening." James voice was weak this time and he was still shaking. He turned his head to look at the others and they could see that his eyes had taken on a red tint as if he was hiding tears. "We knew that they wanted an alliance since that's what Charlie told me."
"So what do we do?" Wyatt asked.
"We could summon Charlie again." James suggested. "Find out if this is legit."
"Are you sure?" Chris whispered to him though they all heard him.
"I trust Charlie." James told him. "We should do it now."
"Really?" Piper asked shocked. "Do we need anything to prepare?"
What she really meant was do we need a crystal prison, potions or other such defences. James just shook his head and stayed where he was. "Might as well stay comfortable." He muttered to Chris without moving as Wyatt stood to help his father move the low dining table out of the way.
"Should we really be doing this out in the open?" Henry asked being the only true mortal there. The others all seemed to realise this and seemed to agree they should do it inside in case one of the neighbours was watching.
"We can do it out here." James stopped them all quickly. "The wards are like a magical bubble, they'll stop anything magical being seen from the outside. It's a side affect of concentrating magic like that, though not a bad side affect."
"So it'll just look like we're some sort of cult standing in a circle?" Wyatt raised his eyebrows at them.
"Wyatt." Chris told him sternly and the others agreed that it would be safe to cast it out here. "Are you going to need out help?"
James nodded in amusement. "Compared to you lot I'm weak." James told them truthfully. "I can't summon somebody from the other side of the planet. I'll focus it if you all do the spell. It took everything I had to overcome his natural defences before but hopefully he'll realise what's happening this time but all the same if he's in Hogwarts or a similar protected place it'll take a lot more to pull him out."
"And your Ward's will let them through?" Chris asked remembering that they were supposed to ward off evil but he wasn't sure how far James had got in defining that.
"It is only a really smart bubble of magic at the moment that can tell the difference between magical and non-magical. I haven't gotten around to given it the ability to detect incoming magic or harmful spells or curses or anything like that yet."
"I'll pretend this is all making sense." Henry chuckled from behind Paige as they all stood up. James reluctantly stood at Chris' urging and he was still shaking liberally as he joined the circle with Chris's arm wrapped around his shoulder and Wyatt's hand in his own left hand. The others continued the circle with only the three husbands standing out of the circle though they were directly behind their wives.
Together they chanted the spell as James focused on Charlie and nothing else, he didn't even say the words.
"Power of the Witches Rise,
Course unseen across the sky,
Come to us, we call you near,
Come to us and settle here."
They didn't have to say it again since they all felt that it had worked and after a rather long minute a cloud of orbs appeared in the centre of the circle and when it fade James staggered backwards as a flash memory hit him, of Hermione sobbing against Charlie in the courtroom. Not only had they dragged Charlie across the Atlantic Ocean but they'd pulled his wife, Hermione, with him too.
"Harry!" Charlie gasped as soon as he got his bearings.
"Harry!" Hermione's rather high pitched shriek followed a few seconds later as she followed her husbands gaze to one of the nine people surrounding her. She stepped forwards and James felt Chris tighten his grip around his waist and Wyatt step to the right to block James ever so slightly from the two Wizards.
"It's ok, Chris." James glanced at his boyfriend with a small, though shaky smile. "Thank you, Wyatt." He let go of the other man's hand and place the hand on Wyatt's arm to guide him sideways. Hermione looked ready to launch herself at James and James' half step forwards seemed to be enough for her to do just that. In an instant James found his face in Hermione's rather more tamed brown hair and found her arms crushing his own. Even so he couldn't bring himself to hug her back. That was an old life, a painful one and he couldn't bring himself to love Hermione like he used to, it was just too painful for him.
James saw both Chris and Wyatt move towards him to free him as they noticed that James wasn't enjoying the hug like he did with their family. Charlie evidently noticed James' nervous posture as he too moved forwards and it was him that pulled Hermione off of him with soft words.
James took a moment to calm himself against Chris' side before drawing him self up and meeting Hermione's crying eyes. "Everyone, this is Charlie Weasley and Hermione Granger…er…Weasley I suppose now. Congratulation by the way."
Hermione managed a small smile as she grabbed Charlie's hand in his own. "Guys, these are the Halliwells and the Matthews." It was a bit odd to James that Paige's children took her surname even though Paige but Paige had decided to honour the family tradition of passing along the female surname and evidently Henry hadn't minded since he had four brothers to carry on the Mitchell name. "The Charmed Ones. The girl that your little expedition attacked was Anna, Piper's and Leo's daughter and Chris and Wyatt's little sister."
James had gestured to each of Chris' family as he mentioned their names and saw that Charlie was looking rather nervous all of a sudden as Wyatt glared at him with a nasty expression.
"Mom! What's going on?" Joshua suddenly interrupted the silence as he appeared beside his father Henry.
Paige glanced at him with a smile or assurance. "We're just talking to a guest, we'll explain everything later. Go make sure everyone is alright and keep Anna away from the window for the time being."
Joshua narrowed his eyes at the two Wizards before his eyes flitted to the wands held loosely in their hands and then to James with realisation as Paige's clue fell into place. He glared at the two Wizards but turned on his heal and headed in to make sure that his younger cousin didn't know that two of her attackers were outside and that Matt, or Jason, Phoebe's youngest son, who could both read peoples surface thoughts, hadn't realised either and told her.
"I'm hoping you didn't summon us here to hurt us for attacking your daughter." Charlie directed his words at Piper seeing the nasty glare in her eyes. "I really am sorry for what happened. Not all of our Order think that it was necessary to employ tactics like that but Snape was put in charge and by the time Hermione, Bill and I could argue it she had vanished. We made sure that Snape, McVare and Cabe were properly reprimanded by Albus Dumbledore for what they did."
"Reprimanded?" Wyatt asked in irritation. He probably wanted nothing more then to blow up all three of them. James decided it was time to get down to business and help his two old friends out.
"To get Dumbledore to even reprimand that greasy bat is a feat in and of itself." James told them. "We summoned you here to find out what you know about a letter that Dumbledore sent to ask for an allegiance."
"He sent it then?" Charlie looked at Piper seeing that she was the oldest of the three sisters that were supposed to be the most powerful Wicca Witches in the world. "He's desperate to get help against the Demons. Everything we have tried fails, their attacks are too strange for us to defend against and we've already found out that they can walk straight through the doors of Hogwarts without the wards stopping them."
"Really?" James gasped. His shock and horror made the seriousness of the situation clear to all of the others. "Magical transport is impossible in Hogwarts, I doubt you could even orb in or out of there. Though I think summoning like we just did would work as long as there was enough power behind it."
"You pulled us out of the new Order Headquarters. I doubt anybody saw it though, a meeting just ended and everyone else had gone." Charlie told them.
"Everyone else? What hadn't you left?" James asked.
"We live there." Hermione and Charlie both looked extremely nervous before Charlie got up the courage to keep talking.
"When you were imprisoned, Dumbledore began looking into your estate. As the last and only legitimate guardian named by your parents he received access to everything. In his defence it wasn't his fault, in fact he's been very good about it." Charlie told James as James glared. "Remus wasn't allowed to inherit, even though he was just after yourself and Sirius on the will. Dumbledore split your gold between all of the members who used to know you. Hogwarts has a lot of it but I doubt you mind that since Minerva is keeping an eye on who uses it and she still believes in you. He wrote the deeds to Godric's Hollow over to Bill since he and Fleur were married and they are rebuilding it. He wrote over Potter Manor to Hermione and me. He said that the Good you before you killed your relatives would have wanted it that way."
"We've cleaned it up and Dobby is working there with Winky, being paid of course, but if you don't want us there…?" Hermione trailed off in a shaky voice.
"I can't use it and I think my parents would have approved." James assured them. "I can't see Chris wanting to live in England anyway even if it is a big house."
Chris jumped slightly at suddenly being involved in the conversation. "Not in England anyway, though the big house part is tempting."
"Harry hasn't seen the house. It has almost sixty rooms and the grounds surround a forest lake and half a mountain." Charlie put in with a smirk.
"In that case…" Chris stopped as James elbowed him in the stomach.
"It's you house now. I don't want to live in the Wizarding world any time soon, maybe after this is all over we can use it but it'll still be your house as well." James told Charlie and Hermione who cheered up slightly after receiving proper permission to own the house.
"Moody was going out of his mind about using a place that you, being the only magical heir of the Potter, could apparate in and out of." Charlie laughed. "He was paranoid about every little shadow."
"You mean it still recognises me?" James asked.
"The wards recognise their own laws, they wont reject you just because the Ministry and Dumbledore have seized the Potter Estate. It'll recognise new Wizards like myself and Hermione as the owners and the Order if we let them in but even the owners cant stop you from entering or leaving." Charlie admitted before pondering another question. "I really should ask whether you still want the Order using the place. I mean there isn't many other places open to them at the moment with Grimmauld Place closed off since you left."
"Nah, they can use it." James surprised them all. "Means I can kick them out if they really annoy me."
"I think we've gotten sidetracked." Leo put in with a raised eyebrow though none of the spectators had minded James, Charlie and Hermione's conversation. "The allegiance?"
"For what its worth, we really need help." Charlie put in. "We cant stand against the Demons without help. I think Dumbledore wants the Charmed Ones to come to Hogwarts this year and either teach the children about different Demons and also help defend it in an attack as well as helping with the Order. He'll probably want to initiate you into the Order though I'd suggest against that part since it's a one way membership."
"So you think we should accept this meeting and alligeance?" Phoebe asked him and James knew she was concentrating on him.
"I really hope you do." Charlie told her seriously. "And I promise there isn't anything dark and sinister about it."
"He's telling the truth." Phoebe announced. "As he has the whole time."
Charlie and Hermione looked to James in confusion. "She's an Empath, she would have known if you were even lightly lying." James informed them. "I guess we'll be seeing you soon then."
"You coming back too?" Hermione half sound worried and half hopefully.
James chuckled. "You think I'm letting my new family anywhere near Wizards without me around to protect them from betrayal?" Hermione seemed to accept this.
"Dumbledore isn't expecting a Rune Master but he'll welcome it all the same and Bill would love to meet a Rune Master, he's been obsessed with any detail about them since we were kids. It's what made him become a Curse Breaker. It's the closest he could get to Rune Magic." Charlie smiled properly.
"He could probably learn something from me then." James mused. "Don't tell him though."
Charlie shrugged. "Are you able to send us back?" He asked eventually.
"We just need to release the spell and it will return you to the exact place that you left." Paige told them.
"See ya, Charlie, Hermione." James smiled at them, finally not shaking after their long conversation.
"Bye Harry." Both said just as Chris' family released the summoning spell and they both burst into orbs.
"Perhaps somebody should have told them that wasn't your name anymore." Wyatt pointed out to ease the silence that followed.
XOXOXOXOXOXOX
Harding Park Orphanage
James had a very busy week ahead of him and he winced internally as he walked up to the front door of one of San Francisco biggest and in his opinion best run orphanage with Kevin on one side and Chris on the other. He and Chris had only arrived back the day before and after their meeting with Charlie and Hermione James had spent now less than four hours working on the wards. The two had eventually found their way into bed and their unconscious decision to take their relationship to the next level had meant that James hadn't gotten much sleep at all but he had woken up happy curled up against a naked boyfriend in said boyfriend's bed in the man's rather messy apartment.
James smiled at the memory of the night before. Ever since Azkaban he had only ever really trusted Sam and Jackie completely until Chris had come along and allowed him to trust somebody in a way that while heading for Azkaban after the trial he had never thought possible would be possible for him.
After they woke up mid morning they had headed back to the Halliwell Manor with the knowledge that they would be together for life. James hadn't voiced that knowledge, or hope, to Chris but he could see love in his boyfriend's eyes just like he had in the Manor garden when they were in the past and when they were having sex last night. It frightened James a bit but he knew he would become as comfortable with it as he was with Chris. With the reply sent at noon to Dumbledore and a meeting set up for Wednesday evening James had thrown every ounce of his concentration into building the wards on the Manor and by the time he had been forced to finish for the day the wards had teeth, rather blunt teeth but teeth all the same. He had used his own memories to determine what evil was to a Wizard and Piper's, Leo's and Chris' memories to determine evil in Wicca magic whether it was Witches or Demons or any other power. He'd even used Henry's memories of numerous criminals to determine evil in mortals since after seeing what Ian McKay was willing to do to his own son, Josh, and what Gellam had done to the children in the Orphanage he wasn't willing to take the risk.
The wards could now determine malicious intent and prevented anybody with such intent from entering the grounds through the wards. They didn't yet prevent such people from magically transporting in or out but that would come tomorrow evening after work. After that it would be a different layer of the wards to prevent people being summoned out of the wards through magical means on Tuesday and then just before Dumbledore arrived he'd layer them so that nobody could detect magic done in the house and that would prevent anybody from being able to scry any magical person within the wards. Thursday would be a day to set the warnings on the wards so that the family members like Chris, Wyatt and the three sisters, and the mortal adults would be able to find out what was happening if the wards were triggered. Finally on Friday he'd place the exceptions with personal Runes so that not only would the wards recognise certain members of the family but also allow them to slide around the normal rules like being able to scry through the wards if a family member was in danger.
The final stage was tricky since it required actually making the wards aware of what was happening within the wards. They'd begin to learn from what happened to the extent that it would let others enter through magical means even if they weren't cleared to normally if it was for the good of a family member. Like a Whitelighter other then Gemma, who Piper had agreed to let James add to the ward, trying to come to their help. After Friday though he planned on sleeping away the weekend with Chris at his side.
He rang the door bell on the right of the large red painted front door of the Orphanage. He'd been here twice to visit children before he'd gone back in time. Since he knew the place was supposed to be the best, and had lived up to that evaluation, he'd sent the older children from Golden Marina Orphanage her so that they had the best environment to recover from. Kevin tilted his head at his side and James turned to take his assistant in. Neither was there on business and all three were their at the invitation of the Warden and the ten children from the camp that lived there.
The door opened and a woman that James recognised as one of the resident social workers called Anise smile at the happily. "Nice hat, Anise." James smiled back at her with a flick of his eyes at her bright orange party hat. "I see festivities have started."
"Very funny, James." Anise told him. "Hi Kevin…um…" She trailed off looking at Chris who hadn't had the chance to visit this orphanage yet.
"This is my boyfriend, Chris. He was at the camp so all of the children know him." James introduced her. "Chris this is Anise, the resident social worker. How about we go and find the others?"
Anise shook Chris' offered hand before leading the group to a large hall type room. As soon as they walked into the room the noise hit them. Music was playing at a moderate level to one side of the room but most of the noise came from the children of all ages running around playing games, chasing each other, or simply running for the sake of it.
"James!" A voice on their right called and they turned to face Michael, the Orphan that this party was all for.
"Happy eighteenth, Michael." James announced and Chris and Kevin followed suit. Michael limped over to them on his still slightly bad leg and hugged Chris and Kevin briefly before pulling James into a slightly more heartfelt one.
"Thank for coming." Michael told him quietly. "When Paige told me you couldn't come to our session on Thursday and Kevin said you had personal things to deal with I was worried."
"Don't worry about it Michael." James assured him with a smile, "I'm glad to be able to come."
"Chris!" A small girl's voice screamed from behind them and all of the jumped around at the demanding tone of the small girl who felt that she was being ignored.
"Jessica." Chris crouched down to greet the eight year old that had taken a deep and unyielding liking to the man. She threw herself on him and hugged him even as Chris tried to stand and only found himself stuck. James grinned evily as he spotted Alan and Jazz whispering conspiratorially with a large group of children that were both from Golden Marine and from this one. In an instant the children were darting across the room and ploughing in Chris and eventually Kevin dragging them across the room with hugs and bribes while James nimbly dodged them by hiding behind Michael who simply laughed at the action and sent the rest of the children to aid the children wrestling with the two adults.
"So, how does it feel to finally be responsible for yourself after all this time?" James asked as he let Michael lead him passed the struggling forms of Kevin and Chris to the drinks table.
"I don't think it's hit yet." Michael answered honestly. "Mrs. Matthews came to explain my options to me on Thursday. She offered me a grant to complete and physiology or social services degree at a college of my choice."
"Really, that's good." James smiled at him.
"Don't you start playing dumb, this has you written all over it!" Michael glared playfully at him. "Can I ask you another personal question?"
"I suppose so, and since you are technically not under my care anymore I can actually get away with answering." James grinned at him to show that he really didn't mind.
"What did you do before you started at the college?" It was a rather loaded question.
"You mean how did I end up here doing that course and this college?" James asked knowing what the boy, or man, really wanted to know. Michael nodded. "You sure you want to know this today? We could talk about it during the week some time."
"No, I want to make a decision as soon as I can." Michael assured him.
"My Aunt, her husband and my Cousin always thought I was a freak ever since my parents were murdered when I was a baby." James told the truth feeling the connection of mutual experience between himself and Michael. "I lived the first ten years in a small cupboard under the stairs being starved or beaten for any supposed bad behaviour. Nobody that noticed their hate for me or noticed my appearance at school did anything about it and eventually when I turned sixteen I left them and spent almost three years trying to find my way again. Eventually I ended up here and some advice from a new friend made me decide to take up child psychology which was something I had always thought of doing."
"Because nobody had helped you when they saw the signs when you were younger?" Michael asked.
"For the most part I think, plus children are better then us adults as a whole." James told him with a small smile looking at Kevin and Chris now playing properly with the fleet of children.
"Why did you wait until you were sixteen?" Michael asked. "I mean, what happened then to change your mind?"
"I was sent to a boarding school, or I suppose you could say my place at the boarding school came around and since it had been paid for by my parents when I was born, my Aunt and Uncle could stop me going." James admitted. "I went for ten months a year and it became a home to me but every year they too ignored the signs, and I know they saw them, and every year they sent me back there. Each year I'd go back to school half the size I left previously but they never really took in what that meant. When I turned sixteen things turned bad and the Headmaster expelled me for something I didn't do and that there was no real evidence for. Barely anybody I knew stuck by me and that's when I left for good."
"You don't regret not staying and fighting for the truth?" Michael asked as he took all of this in.
"Not once since I left." James told him forcefully. "Back there I was just a person they could use when they wanted to and discard when they didn't. Here I can really make a difference to people that will use the opportunity I give them to do something good in turn."
"Do you think I will?" Michael asked unsure of himself.
"In a way it is the other way around. You owe us nothing before it was you that kept the rest safe in that place while we failed you completely." James told him. "In a way, me freeing you and helping you talk about it all is my own way of thanking you for that. The grant is simply Paige's way of doing the same since she thinks you'll be an essential aid to helping children."
"I admit I agree with the people that left us there without checking on us owe me and everyone else a lot, something they could probably never repay us for." Michael sighed. "But not you, or Kevin. Neither of you owe us anything."
"Maybe we should call it even then." James smiled a half smile. "So what are you going to do about that grant?"
"I'm going to go to college and get my degree in Child Psychology so that I can carry on the chain." Michael grinned cheekily for a moment. "It's all part of the Greater Plan for the world. You helped me, I'll help some other kid somewhere, and they do the same, and so on."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
His timetable for working on the wards went off without a hitch and by Wednesday it was no longer possible to travel through the wards with any form of magical transport nor was it possible to summon somebody out of the manor which they had tested by trying to summon Piper from the Manor to Wyatt house in the north of the city. It also wasn't possible to scry anybody within the Manor but James could monitor every piece of magic cast within the Wards if he wanted to check the Rune Matrix. It wasn't without it's flaws since not even the family could travel in or out of the Wards and it was harder for any of the family members with Whitelighter blood to sense anybody they knew within the Wards unless they were already inside though it was possible with a lot of concentration. Those particular problems would be solved once James sorted out the loopholes on Friday.
He finished the Wards and lay back on the bathroom floor to relax. Chris stretched out his legs with a small groan of relief as the blood rushed back to them. Chris had yet to miss any of the Ward building sessions and James knew that his boyfriend was tired, not just from boredom but because neither of them had had much in the way of a proper sleep that night. James was always too energised as his Wicca magic filled the void left by using up his Rune Magic and Chris was always willing to help James get rid of his excess energy.
Chris glanced at his watch and winced. "I better change your appearance again." He sighed. "Aunt Paige and mom should be back with him any moment now."
James just sat patiently as Chris concentrated and he briefly felt a tingling around his head. A spell cast by all of the Wicca adults in the family had been cast on his curse scar to hid it and it as soon as they arrived back in their own time. It would take magic more powerful then the six of them combined to break through the glamour. Even Alastar Moody's eye wouldn't be able to see through it, or at least that's what James hoped. James stood and helped his boyfriend up off of the floor as he tried to relieve the pain in his knees from sitting cross legged for so long. One glance in the mirror showed that his hair was slightly shorter, better controlled and a light brown that also helped to hide the strange green colour of his eyes. No longer were they a bright emerald colour but Azkaban caused forest green but they were still a strange colour and almost seemed to see through a person to their secrets, but that was just James' unnerving ability to see what troubled people.
"Are you going down as the 'Rune Master?'" Chris asked. James lowered his head slightly. "You know that mom told you that she didn't mind you skipping this meeting. You could just stay up here or we can slip out and orb to my place, or yours? We could go out with Sam and Jackie again."
James stopped his suggestions with a kiss on the lips before he smiled against Chris' lips and pulled back. "Thanks for the offer, love, but I should be here in case he tries something underhanded. But I might go down as the family pet like Paige suggested earlier."
"That'll give him a shock." Chris chuckled. "Should I find you a collar to make it more realistic?" Chris teased.
"Keep your dirty fantasies for the bedroom, Chris." James teased back and laughed as Chris blushed a deep red. The sound of the front door opening stopped their playful banter from turning into anything more pleasurable and Chris almost leapt at his boyfriend as he went rigid. James knew who was only a few metres from him and it scared him more than having to face off with all the Dementors under Alcatraz Island.
James summoned the Rune Matrix in the centre of the room and pulled it around in circles for a few short moments before tapping a short sequence with the end of his finger. It expanded and enlarged as it moved away from the sphere. "It's definitely a powerful Wizard. Can't tell more than that though."
"We'll just have to go down and find out then." Chris told him. "That thing tell you anything else?"
"He's not using any magic, so there isn't any illusions as far as I know." James told him before the sphere vanished into thin air.
"I'll let mom know." Chris said. James nodded before he concentrated on turning into his Animagus form and soon the floor was rushing up at him and he was a Black Panther. He stretched his muscles before looking up at Chris who had a small smile on his lips as he watched James before reaching over and scratching behind James' ear. James let a purr rumble through him to show that he was grateful. Chris opened the door to find Wyatt pacing up and down the hallway.
"Are you finished?" Wyatt asked anxiously as Chris stepped out followed by the Panther. Wyatt looked down at James before his anxiety turned to relief. "Mom and dad, Aunt Paige, Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Coup are in the conservatory with Dumbledore."
"What's he like?" Chris whispered as they followed James slowly down the stairs into the front hall. James flattened his ears to show he didn't care to listen to this.
"He's a right weirdo, bright yellow and orange robes with what looks like hippos flying around them." Wyatt rolled his eyes. "It's a good thing mom told him to wait in a secluded place or who can tell how many mortals could have seen him."
James could smell the mentioned people in the conservatory. He recognised all but one of the scents since he hadn't smelt Dumbledore before as a Panther. He slunk through the kitchen and the dining room and into the Conservatory taking in the scene with one sweep of his head.
Dumbledore was sitting with his back to the window facing the Dining room door and had easily seen James' appearance. "Oh my, and who is this beautiful feline?" Dumbledore spoke in much the same tone that he used when offering sweets.
Piper, Paige and Phoebe craned around the backs of their chairs but were saved from answering as James' growl rumbled through the room. Chris spoke up from behind James knowing that it wouldn't be long before James pounced and bit through the old man's neck. "This is Shadow, a family friend."
"A family friend?" Dumbledore didn't looked all that convinced but Chris cut him off.
"Mom, James told me to tell you that the wards didn't detect any magic currently being used. As far as he can tell our visitor isn't using and illusions or glamours." Chris whispered quietly into his mother's ear so that Dumbledore didn't have a chance to hear his words.
"Shall we get down to business?" Piper asked Dumbledore after turning back to him.
"Would anybody care for tea before we start? I could conjure something up to save you the trouble." Dumbledore offered but everybody shook their heads. He shrugged cheerfully before pulling his wand and waving it over the table top. A flowery tea set appeared out of thin air and began pouring tea for him which he lifted to his lips and took a sip before beginning again. James noticed that the group were shocked by the magic, he hadn't bothered to tell them about transfiguration or charms beyond what could be used against them in battle. "I would like to once again express my deepest apologies for the way that my expedition team acted when they were here before and I can only hope that you can accept that it was never my intention to harm any member of your family. I truly do wish to begin some kind of alliance with you."
"I believe that you should apologise to Anna, our daughter, more than to us." Leo pointed out. "It was her that your team tried to capture."
"Of course, of course, I will apologise to her personally as soon as I see her." Dumbledore promised. James, seeing that Dumbledore wasn't going to started cursing them at any moment, sat on his back legs between Piper and Chris' chair. Chris began lightly running his hand up and down James' ever so slightly trembling body and James found it extremely helpful in deadening the flashbacks that had been flashing in front of his eyes since the beginning of this meeting.
"So what exactly do you hope to gain from this alliance?" Paige asked.
"Your help in countering the Demons that are helping a Dark Wizard from overcoming the forces of Light." Dumbledore told him.
"Voldemort?" Piper asked shocking Dumbledore with her knowledge of their war. "Let us be plain here, we are well aware of the war between the Wizards and the many factions."
"How can that be?" Dumbledore looked a little less sure of himself after losing the upper hand.
"We have our own friends who have taught us about your magic." Piper told him. James, happy in the knowledge that he and Chris' family had Dumbledore at a disadvantage prepared to turn back into his human form.
"Your friend would be the Rune Master that helped you overcome my best fighters." Dumbledore concluded before his eyes widened and his wand sprung to his fingertips as James appeared in between Chris and Piper. James instantly sat on the arm of Chris' chair to cover the trembling in his body.
"Headmaster Albus Dumbledore." James spoke simply and the others all seemed to respect his place in this conversation. "I can't really say that it is a pleasure to see you but for the 'Greater Good' that you seem to spout about so often I condoned this meeting."
"Have we met?" Dumbledore asked.
"You have never met me." James emphasised the last word though it told nothing of what the words really meant. It was true really, Dumbledore had never met the real him. He knew Harry Potter, the boy that had died in Azkaban. "My name is James Evans, the wards on this house are mine, though incomplete."
"We are all for an alliance." Piper butted into the conversation, "But we are a package deal, if you want our help then you must prove yourself honest to both us and to James."
Dumbledore was obviously struggling with which questions to ask but he finally landed on a leading comment. "As far as I know, no Rune Master has entered the Wizarding World in centuries."
"How is it that I know so much about it then?" James would have chuckled if it wasn't for the fact that he was currently having to concentrate on stopping himself from crying and crumbling into Chris, he'd never had to hide so much emotion before. This was the man that had put him with his relatives, ignored his neglect and abuse and then sent him to Azkaban without a chance at proving himself innocent. "Let's just say that early in my training I stumbled across a piece of your world in the form of a boy my age that had been wrongly accused and locked away in Azkaban."
"You met Harry Potter?" Dumbledore almost stood but in the same movement James felt Dumbledore's mind brush his own as their eyes caught each other. James violently slammed the Headmaster from his mind and narrowed his eyes though he didn't deem to mention it. "He is a murderer that killed his own family."
"Harry had long since chosen to give up any hope of convincing your world of the truth, I will do the same. Think what you will but until you can show me unequivocal proof of his guilt myself and those here remain in the belief that he is innocent." James told him but cast a worried glance at the others wondering if they all did believe him innocent. Evidently they did since all of them met his eyes with determined looks. "My meeting with Harry Potter has nothing to do with this conversation though except to prove that I know of your World's most serious failings. If we agree to this alliance what do you want from us?"
"I had hoped that the Charmed Ones would come to Hogwarts to teach and watch over the students, to teach the Order of the Phoenix in recognising and combating your magic." Dumbledore told them all. "A Rune Master, even half trained, would be of brilliant help to us. Hogwarts is in dire need of having her Wards looked at and I am sure that any Rune Master would appreciate the chance to look into the most complex protective Runes in the history of magic. Impressive as these wards are they are nothing compared to Hogwarts."
"That is probably true though with so long without a Rune Master to purge it, the schools wards will be seriously complex." James said though internally the thought of returning to the only place that he had called home before coming to San Francisco only caused more grief to rise in him.
"What about our families?" Paige asked. "We all have children at school."
"Your children are more than welcome to attend the school either as students or as guests though I think that he would be a wonderful experience for them to take part in classes along side the other students." Dumbledore seemed to perk up as the conversation started leaning in favour of a positive ending. "I am happy to put you up in a separate wing of the castle which has its on pass worded entry so you will be able to be together without being disturbed by the other students at all hours of the day and night."
"What about their normal education?"
"Gemma used to be a school teacher." James spoke up before thinking but shrugged when they all looked at him. "She could easily keep them in line with their studies."
"And our Muggle Studies Professor would be happy to help out." Dumbledore said but didn't deem to explain to them exactly who or what that was.
James took at everyone in term and saw agreement there. James turned back to Dumbledore and nodded. "We'll come to Hogwarts and help you but the earliest we can do that is this Sunday. We all have things that we need to do before we can leave for any length of time."
"I would be happy to organise transport for you." Dumbledore smiled happily and James felt himself feeling nauseous.
"That won't be necessary." James said rather harsher then necessary, his fist were clenched and he could feel blood on the insides of his palms where his nails were digging in.
"We can get there ourselves. James knows the way." Piper told them. "We shall see you on Sunday then."
Piper stood and led Dumbledore to the front door but everyone else simply sat in silence trying not to look at James who was shaking rather violently. Chris reached up and placed his hand on James' shaking back but in his daze, James flinched away from the touch and darted up. Chris followed instantly but didn't try to reach out again as James hugged his arms around his chest. Tears were welling in his eyes before he sagged down onto the chair Chris had just vacated. Wyatt had been sitting on the other end of the chair and when Chris sat down slowly, James found himself wedged between them.
He sat there trembling for a while only realising with half of his brain that everybody but the two brothers were creeping from the room.
As soon as the first tears crept from James' eyes he lost control of his tightly wound emotions and sagged into the back of the chair pulling his knees up to his chest. Chris had an arm around him in an instant whispering words into his ears and James even realised that Wyatt was rubbing circles in James' back to try to sooth him. James tilted ever so slightly into Chris who leant back to let his boyfriend head lie on his lap. James turned his back on the world and curled up on the couch grasping Chris t-shirt too him as sobs racked his body.
After two minutes of this Wyatt stood up and pulled a blanket over James before leaving Chris and James in the room alone as Chris stroked James' hair and tried to sooth him even as the emotional outburst turned into a full on panic attack that only subsided when he felt into a restless sleep filled with nightmares.
By the time morning came, Chris was exhausted having been unable to sleep with James constant nightmare even after he had decamped them up to his old bedroom and gotten him to bed.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
End Chapter
