Author's Note: In all my stories, Henry Jr. is played by Bradley James. Ever since I watched the 'Merlin' episode where Arthur is stuck with donkey ears, the idea for this story has been floating in my head. I finally decided to put it down on paper.

I hope you all enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed or any of its characters except the ones I make up. I do not intend to make profit out of this story.

Junior's Birthday

"… And then Sheila insisted that Bradley was way hotter than both Brant and Mike, the fraternal twin hunks of Hyde High while Kate kept saying that Vladimir, the new Ukrainian exchange student is the most handsome and neither of these bimbos could see the fact that Bradley, Mike and Brant are just bullies and don't see beyond their pectoral muscles. Vladimir seems to be a nice guy but he has a weird accent and not a cute weird either. Then I told them that Rupert was much more mature than any of these meatheads. He may not be all-muscles but he is such a sweet and caring boy. And you wouldn't believe what happened next…" Penny's 'handsome boys of Hyde High' newsletter was interrupted by Junior's sarcastic comment.

"Sound of a gunshot?" he asked with an expression of almost pathetic hopefulness. The expression on Penny's face turned from excited to furious in moments. She turned her glare to her big brother and expressed her displeasure at his interruption while she was in the middle of explaining to Prue why her recent crush, Rupert, deserved the title of 'best boyfriend material'.

"Why so grouchy, Odie? It's your twenty-first birthday. You can legally drink now. Shouldn't you be excited?" Prue asked half amused and half curious. For past couple of days Junior had, for some reason, lost his cheerful mannerism and had become almost as big of a grouch as Chris. She glanced at Patty and Wyatt who were sitting on the couch but both of them, just shrugged.

"Oh, you guys don't know, do you?" Chris, who had just entered the living room at Paige's home and heard Prue's question, said with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Don't you dare!" Junior roared and more or less tackled Chris, trying to cover the half elder's mouth with the palm of his left hand while holding him in place with his right.

"Ooo. This day promises to get better by the minute," Wyatt commented as he walked towards Junior and Chris. Even though Chris could have broken free out of Junior's hold, Wyatt's intervention helped. Within moments, Chris was free of Junior's hold who, in turn, found himself held securely in place by Wyatt.

"So here's what happened about a week ago. I was at aunt Paige's to pick up Junior. We had plans for …" Chris began narrating. Junior couldn't decide if he should try to plead or threaten Chris into silence. He was staring at his big cousin but the expression on his face was indescribable.

About a week ago…

"So am I a burden now?" Emily, Junior's girlfriend hissed as she stormed out of his room. She scowled at him for a moment as he followed her out. She began descending the stairs without another glance at her boyfriend.

"Don't twist my words. I said burden in the most positive sense of the word," Junior said, unable to hear the cracking of thin ice beneath his feet.

"In a positive sense? As in gee, what a wonderful burden?" Emily asked incredulously. And then disaster struck. The girl had stopped abruptly on the third step of the staircase and turned around to face her boyfriend. Unfortunately, Junior, who was struggling to get his ridiculously tight t-shirt over his head, didn't see her halt. He slammed into her and both of them came stumbling down. Chris, who was waiting for Junior downstairs rushed towards the fallen couple.

"Oh o," Chris muttered as he took in the situation. Emily sat up quickly and grabbed her aching jaw. The expression on Chris's face was that of pity while that on Junior's face was abject terror.

"What?" Emily asked before she discretely slid her tongue along the inside of her mouth to make sure everything was where it should be. To her horror, half of her front tooth was missing. That revelation was followed by an ear-piercing scream. Junior hurried to his feet and offered a hand to Emily who promptly slapped it away. She scrambled to her feet and scowled at her (ex?) boyfriend.

"Henry Wyatt Mathews-Mitchel Junior. You're a jackass. You aught to look like one," Emily said before muttering something under her breath. Chris and Junior were sure it was a spell but they couldn't discern the wording. Effect of the spell was immediate, however, and Junior was now sporting long brown and fuzzy donkey ears, and a donkey tail to match sprouted from his lower back. He tried to speak but the only sound that left his throat was a bray.

Current time…

"I cannot believe I missed that. Seriously… cannot… believe," Reese said in between fits of howling laughter.

"Wait a minute, I saw you two just before the Halloween party. You told me the tail and the ears were part of his costume. That was real, wasn't it? And Odie didn't talk to me because the only sound he could make was a bray," Prue inquired, barely able to keep her laughter under control. Chris only nodded. Penny and Patty were laughing so hard that they could have truthfully posted 'rotfl' on their Facebook status.

"I was wondering why he would wear the costume and then not show up at the party. How did you fix it?" Prue asked. Wyatt had released Junior as soon as he stopped struggling. The amusement was evident in Wyatt's mannerism.

"It was a creative spell-work by Emily. Even with the two of us working together, it took us an hour to come up with a counter spell. Part of the reason could have been that every word Junior came up with rhymed with 'eyore'," Chris said as he ducked to avoid the tv remote flung at him by Junior.

"I do not understand what's so funny about it," Junior muttered angrily.

"Let me try to explain it in a way you might understand better. Eyore eyore ee eyore," Wyatt, who was quiet so far, began braying horribly. The expression on Junior's face turned from angry to hurt for a moment before he orbed off to his room.

"Why's he so sensitive all of a sudden? Usually he doesn't take our teasing seriously, no matter how nasty we are. I'd have expected him to come up with some witty retort," Prue asked concerned.

"Long story short, Emily dumped him after the fiasco. In hindsight, we shouldn't have been so mean to him. I better go and talk to him," Chris said grimacing before rushing up the stairs to Junior's room.

"Odie, please open the door. Look I'm sorry, OK? I wouldn't have said anything if I knew it would hurt you so much. Please?" Chris pleaded outside Junior's door. The door was partly open but Chris didn't dare enter. Intruding in Junior's room right now was not going to help. He hadn't orbed to the room for same reason.

"Odie?" Chris gently pushed open the door when he didn't get any response. Junior was on the floor vigorously doing pushups. Strenuous workout was his way of venting anger and frustration.

"I hate you Christopher Perry Halliwell!" Junior yelled before slamming the door in Chris's face.

"We screwed up big time," Prue said grimacing. Chris nodded solemnly in agreement.

"How do we make it up to him?" Wyatt asked sitting on the sofa besides his baby brother.

"May be I should talk to Emily and get her to talk to him. I'm a girl, and part cupid, after all," Prue said thoughtfully. The expression on Reese's face was that of disbelief mixed with horror.

"Oh for goodness' sake no! Prue, you're as good at being a cupid as mom is at keeping secrets. No no no no no. This needs a professional touch. I'll be the one to talk to Emily," Reese said before teleporting away without giving his sister an opportunity to argue. Prue didn't even get a chance to glare at her baby brother indignantly.

"Wait for me!" Chris yelled before orbing after Reese.

"What do you two want?" Emily said as soon as she opened the door. Judging from the way she was hiding her teeth carefully behind her lips when she talked, they knew that the dentist hadn't yet fixed the broken front tooth.

"We just want to talk. But first, would you let me try and heal your tooth?" Chris asked with hesitation. Emily scowled for a moment but then turned away.

"It won't work. My own white-lighter already tried," Emily said after a minute of awkward silence.

"But I'm a half elder. My healing power's got to be more potent than a run-of-the-mill white-lighter," Chris said with a charming smile. Emily rolled her eyes but gestured for him to proceed. The two stepped inside her house. Chris muttered a spell before attempting to heal the broken tooth.

Restore the beauty of this gorgeous princess,

Repair her tooth like nobody's business.

And to remedy my cousin's miserable state,

Would you please go with him on another date?

The golden glow appeared and Emily's tooth was fixed. A genuine smile appeared on her face.

"That was a charming spell, Chris. But that last part is not going to work. I'm not taking him back. I hate him," Emily said as if trying to convince herself.

"No you don't. You like him. I can sense it. You cannot trick a cupid when it comes to matters of the heart. Emily, He's truly miserable. He misses you and I know you miss him too. Deep down you know he never meant to hurt you," Reese said to her.

"You don't know how insensitive he acts sometimes. Last time we …" Emily began but then stopped abruptly, not wanting to discuss the intimate details of a private argument.

"Look, I know he can be a bit daft sometimes and speaks without engaging his brain. I can only imagine him putting his foot in his mouth. And I have no doubt he said something wildly inappropriate to piss you off the other day. But underneath all, he's a nice guy. You trust that don't you?" Reese asked sincerely. Emily was thoughtful for a moment.

"And why isn't he here? Why are you two talking on his behalf?" Emily asked raising one eyebrow.

"That's my fault. I convinced him that you needed some time to calm down and if he had rushed after you the way he wanted to, you both would have ended up saying something you both would have regretted," Chris said earnestly. Emily exhaled a sigh.

"I'll think about it," she said finally. Chris and Reese nodded. There wasn't anything more they were going to achieve at the moment.

"One more thing. I need the spell you used on him," Chris said as the two reached the door.

"What for? I know you're brilliant at spell-work, Chris. I'm sure you've already fixed his ears and tail," Emily asked with raised eyebrows but gave Chris the spell anyway.

"Odie, would you please open the door?" Chris pleaded one more time. Junior had calmed down considerably by now. Slowly, he opened the door. All his cousins and both of his little sisters were standing outside the door. Chris appeared to be their leader. Junior's jaw dropped in surprise as soon as he took in the scene. All six of them were sporting the same kind of donkey ears and tails he'd been wearing two days ago.

"We acted like jackasses. We deserve to look like ones. We're truly sorry," Chris said with a slight pout. No matter how hard he tried, a small smile crept up on Junior's face. He could never stay mad at his family for too long.

"Oh alright. You are forgiven," he said finally, rolling his eyes.

"We've one more surprise for you," Chris said as all of them moved aside. Behind them, was Emily. The grin on Junior's face rivaled that of the Cheshire cat.

"We should talk," she said as the two stepped into Junior's room.

"So, how'd it go?" Reese asked excitedly as soon as Junior and Emily came downstairs.

"As if all of you weren't eavesdropping," Junior said rolling his eyes. The happiness on his and Emily's face was proof enough that the two had kissed and made-up. Prue, Penny and Patty pulled Emily to the conservatory with them where Piper was putting finishing touches on Junior's cake. Junior shook his head and turned to Chris and Reese.

"Thank you, you two. Emily told me what you guys did for me. This was the best birthday present ever. Of course that doesn't mean you two can be cheap and not give me a real present," Junior said as he pulled his cousins in a three-way hug. He sneezed violently as Chris and Reese's donkey ears tickled his nose.

"And get rid of those ridiculous ears and tails, would you? You've already been forgiven," Junior said before muttering the counter spell himself.

"Thanks," all the cousins said in unison as the spell took effect.

"And Kit, I'm sorry for yelling at you too. I don't hate you. I could never hate you. You're my best friend," Junior told Chris as the two walked to the conservatory.

"You're my best friend too, Odie. I know you well enough to realize that you didn't mean it. So don't worry about it," Chris said ruffling Junior's hair.

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