Chapter 19 of 30
The second Task
Wyatt hated the wait, at least in the first task they could see what was happening. Now they were just left at watching the surface of the lake waiting for the champions to surface. Wyatt of course had an advantage, he knew Chris had a fright when he met a bunch of Grindylows, Wyatt actually had to fake a little hiccup there since he had given a startled gasp and people had looked at him weirdly, and now he knew Chris was waiting for the others, he was worried for the hostages. Wyatt was at the same time proud of his brother and a little annoyed at him for taking the poem so seriously. He looked back at Fleur Delacour who was sobbing her heart out as Madam Maxime reassured the girl that as soon as the champions were back they would retrieve her sister and she was not in danger. Fleur didn’t believe her. Honestly, Wyatt wouldn’t have either.
He smiled as he felt his brothers annoyance at the merpeople for not letting him take the Delacour girl and then determination, he knew Chris was back on route. This bond was very handy, he felt a little bad for not letting Chris know. On the other hand, he thought Chris might have noticed that he had a better grasp of Wyatt’s emotions than others. The other day he had stopped Wyatt before they went to their parents’ quarters.
“You shouldn’t worry so much. I’m sure I’ll be fine, with all the help I’m getting and all. Nothing will happen.”
“I’m not worried,” Wyatt tried to play it cool.
“Yes you are. You’ve been feeling sad and worried towards me ever since Christmas. But you shouldn’t. In the end, I always manage,” Chris gave him a cheeky grin and ran ahead. Chris must have thought he was worried because of the task and not because of the Horcrux, and Wyatt started worrying Chris would start having a better control of the bond and be able to tune it better like Wyatt did. So that night, Wyatt played close attention to his Aunt’s Phoebe’s teaching. He should maybe start learning how to close the bond too. Besides, up till now he and Hermione had just shared a few kisses, but he most certainly did not want his brother privy of anything he was feeling in that area.
Wyatt smiled as Cedric broke surface pulling up the pretty Asian girl Chris had a crush on, Olivia was next with her best friend, and soon Krum came up pulling a little boy that looked like him. He went to congratulate Cedric and started biting his lip as the hour mark grew closer and there was no sign of Chris.
“He was the first one there,” Cedric told him. “I don’t know what he was waiting for. He had his hostage and all.”
Wyatt knew, and silently demanded his brother hurry up. A rush of irritation at some unknown feeling came through the bond and Wyatt quickly started the meditation techniques trying to keep his feelings to himself.
Finally Chris broke the surface and everyone started applauding. Wyatt shook his head and followed Hermione as she ran to her friends. He scowled a little when Hermione hugged Ron a little too long.
He wasn’t stupid, he knew the girl had a crush on Ron, but the other boy was too oblivious to act and Wyatt really enjoyed her company. He’d have fun while it lasted. He couldn’t deny either that when he had arrived and realized Ron was Chris’s hostage he had been jealous. Ron was like a brother to Chris, he was occupying the place in Chris’s life that Wyatt should have had if the Elders hadn’t meddled and this was just one more proof that no matter how close they got it would never be how it should have been. And that made Wyatt jealous and sad to think he’d never get as close to his brother as he would have. That is, until his father pulled him aside and had a whispered rushed conversation with him telling him his name had come out too but they had decided for Ron, and he’d explain everything better later. Wyatt didn’t know if his dad did it on purpose or if he had something else to tell them, but that little phrase “You’re name came out too,” made his day.
He laughed at Chris’s blushing face as Fleur thanked him for saving Gabrielle and envied Ron’s brother, Percy was it? As he fussed over Ron. He wanted to be able to fuss openly over Chris. But he couldn’t. So he casually strolled over, took a glance at his parents who were sneaking longing glances at Chris as they conference with the other judges, and patted Chris’s back, “So, took the song seriously did you?”
Chris scowl, “Don’t even start, I already heard it from Hermione, Ron and apparently even my conscience,” he muttered the last part. Wyatt bit his lips. Chris must have mistaken Wyatt urging for him to be faster as his own feelings. Why wouldn’t he? The other two people with him were in a stasis.
“Yeah, well. Listen to your conscience, it must be real smart,” ooooh, he hoped by the time Chris figured the bond out he forgot that comment.
They turned to listen as Dumbledore gave away the points and Wyatt couldn’t help but cheer as Chris got points for moral fiber. Another task surpassed. Now they were left with the Third Task and the hardest one; finding out how to save Chris.
“So Dumbledore knows now,” Chris nodded. He actually preferred it that way. After hearing the adults’ reasons for not trusting Dumbledore completely Chris understood why they thought it better to live him out of the loop. But even though he had already questioned himself why the Headmaster had allowed those things to happen, Chris hadn’t been able to not see the man fondly. Maybe it was because he was used to not have anyone take care of him so he hadn’t expected it from Dumbledore, or maybe because Chris liked knowing that the Headmaster was human, made mistakes just like any other man. Everyone wanted Dumbledore to have all the answers, be perfect, and then they got angry when he wasn’t. Just like everyone wanted the Boy-Who-Lived to be perfect, and when they were faced with a scrawny kid with glasses, that didn’t have a clue about what he was doing, knew nothing of the Wizarding World and was a parselmouth to top it off, they all got extremely disappointed as if he had betrayed them or something.
Chris liked Dumbledore, he was fond of him, and he wasn’t going to shun him because he made mistakes. But he wasn’t going to be stupid either and think everything Dumbledore said was law, do it without questioning. He had passed that stage after he found out how Sirius had spent twelve years locked up without a chance to defend himself. No, that naïve Chris that entered the Wizarding World at the age of eleven thinking it would be perfect was gone, replaced with a realistic one. The Wizarding World wasn’t perfect, just like the Muggle World or any world wasn’t, he had to learn to live in it and make the best and maybe, who knows, help change what was wrong. And why did he have to give up one world for the other? Why not take the best from both. He had been thinking about that a lot since he realized that Magic School taught Muggle curriculum too. He had studied a little during summers, before it was interrupted by his usual drastic departure from the Dursleys. Dudley had needed summer lessons with a tutor to make up for his grades, and to make Dudley feel better and keep appearances to the neighbors, the Dursleys had ordered Chris to study too, making it sound as if Chris was the one in need of remedial lessons and Dudley was being generous and helping him. Chris didn’t mind. It allowed him to keep up with his Muggle studies. He thought about talking to his parents and maybe making it a permanent thing. He knew Hermione did. She had summer lessons and during the year she had her books with her and a study course. But that was Hermione, and well, it was quite self-explanatory.
“Yes,” Leo confirmed bringing Chris back to the topic. “But we still don’t want others to know so Voldemort won’t know. This way you’ll have an advantage since he won’t be expecting you to have any Wiccan or Elder powers.”
Chris nodded, not that he had seen any Elder power besides orbing anyway, but maybe one day he’d have some. He did find out a new Wiccan power the other day. And when he’d come to tell Piper and Leo Piper couldn’t help stop gloating, in a very classy way mind you. But she couldn’t. Wyatt confided in him later that the fact that she had seen that future Chris had powers that came from their Aunt Prue and Paige but she hadn’t seen one from her had always made her jealous. So when Chris came and told them about how earlier in the day Ron’s full vial of potion slipped from his hand, after Chris had already emptied the cauldron they were working in, and when Chris saw it and panicked it froze in mid air as he made for it, she had a smile that reached from ear to ear.
“No one saw it,” he assured them. “They were all busy with their own potions and I was quick to pluck the vial out of the air. Whoever might have seen something must just have thought I acted as if it was a snitch.” They hadn’t cared anyway. Piper was extremely happy and had already decided that the time Chris had previously dedicated to training his orbing would be used to fine tuning his freezing with her help and Wyatt’s. It turned out Wyatt could both freeze and blow things up.
“Do you think Wyatt and I will have the same powers?” Chris asked since Leo brought the subject up again. So far the new active powers he had shown were the same as Wyatt’s, and he’d wondered if they would be the same.
“I don’t know, probably not. I’m not an Empath,” Wyatt said. And he wasn’t, the only person whose emotions he could read was Chris. “And mom and the aunts don’t have the same powers. Dad says that because mom and the Aunts were the Charmed Ones and wielded the Power of Three for a while before they had us that opened their magic in a way that made all of the offspring more attuned to our heritage and therefore we show more active powers than they did. According to dad it’s the same principle of why Wizards nowadays need wands. They conditioned their magic to this. Every Halliwell has the potential to develop any of Melinda Warren’s active powers, but magic also works with emotions, so the active powers we end up developing have to also be in tune with our character. For instance, many say mom has the most fire power of the three sisters, but if you look at her mom is also the most explosive.”
“And that means?” Piper said in a voice that promised a good grounding. Wyatt smiled sheepishly but was saved by Leo.
“That you don’t spare anything to protect your family,” Leo saved him and Wyatt mouthed ‘smooth’, “Phoebe on the other hand was always more attuned with her emotional side. She’s the romantic one, she’s the one who is always worried about how everyone is feeling, so developing Empathy was quite a natural step for her. From his Wiccan side Wyatt can freeze and blow, he has telekinesis and telekinesis orbing that is his Wiccan magic mixed with his Whitelighter side. Then from his Whitelighter side he can orb and heal and has his shield. And last but not least he wields Excalibur. If you notice he has some quite aggressive powers. And Wyatt was always one for attack as the best defense,” Leo gave Wyatt a scolding look at which his oldest son smiled sheepishly at him. When Wyatt was younger he had gotten in more than one brawl with other students thanks to his short temper until the sound groundings he got made him understand that such behavior would not be tolerated. “I’ve noticed that you, on the other hand prefer to try and handle things before you’re left with your last resort. You are more attuned into considering how things affect others. Which is why I think you developed Empathy and freezing. But at the same time I also think that you aren’t as passive, that if there is no choice you will attack, so I think you’ll have some kind of firepower too, just maybe not the same as Wyatt or in the same quantity.” As a matter of fact Leo was quite sure he knew which firepower Chris would have and if he was right it came from his Elder side.
When Leo had gone on his vanquishing demons rampant he had found out that he wasn’t the only one that had used lightning bolts against demons. They seemed to have already been wary of them. Elders are pacifists and Gideon, for all his craziness had no reason to go vanquishing demons. There was just one other person that could have these powers and did vanquish a whole lot of demons, and that was future Chris. But as he said, he didn’t think Chris would have other attack powers, such as blowing up. He got to know future Chris better in those last months and as he got to know this one his suspicions were confirmed. Leo always felt that future Chris didn’t like the way he went after demons, attacked them before they could attack the sisters, but he did it because he had no choice. Because he came from a future where it was attack first or die. The Elders lightning bolts where exactly that, a power that beings that were predominantly pacifists and that would try to deal with the situation first had, but if left with no choice, as a last resort, they would do what they had to do. And he always thought that defined Chris quite well.
Of course, just like anyone, Chris wasn’t perfect, and he had the Halliwell’s mighty temper, so if his buttons were pushed you didn’t want to be near him, but Leo was sure that his limit line was a lot farther than Piper’s was for example, that he withstood a lot more before he blew up. The months of patience with the sisters his future self handled was a good indication of that, and so was the fact that the Dursleys were still alive and with no injury during all the years Chris was with them.
Chris didn’t like talking about them, but a little comment here, something he found surprising that was natural there, and Leo could pretty much guess pretty well what went on there. There was also the way Chris had withstood the taunting he received from the whole school before the first task. Yes, he had almost punched Malfoy once and then he and Ron ad drawn their wands at Malfoy again later, but it was mostly to defend Hermione and because Malfoy had offended Remus, other than that Chris mostly tried to ignore what was happening. He knew Piper, or Wyatt wouldn’t have. There would have been a lot of bloody noses running around. He liked to think that even though Chris resembled his mother so much, that was something he got from him.
“Well, this is all very nice and good, but we mister, have work to do!” Piper said motioning for Chris to get up from the couch. “Let’s go train.”
In the end choosing Ron so no one would find out Wyatt had been chosen as a hostage too had been for nothing. Somehow, and for the life of them none of them could find out how, Rita Skeeter found out, and she published it, in an article that was mainly directed at attacking Hermione. She basically talked about how Hermione, who she had previously said was dating Chris, had decided to dump the younger boy for someone older and still famous. The Slytherins had shown the article to Chris, Hermione and Ron in Potions class. Which led to one horrible class with Snape threatening him, accusing him of stealing ingredients, which he later remembered he did steal once to make Polyjuice Potion and related it to his parents, whoever might have put his name in might be the one stealing the ingredients, and also told them about Karkaroff coming in the class and Snape and him having a hushed conversation. Piper and Leo told them what Piper had overheard about Karkaroff. After class they had come to show the article to Piper, Leo and Wyatt. Because this could be bad.
“I’m an international bonbon?” Wyatt snorted as he read the article.
Skeeter had elaborated in the friendship that was flourishing between Chris and Wyatt and mused on the fact that the young which was trying to bring discord between the friends.
“Losing his family in such a tragic way young Harry has found solace and guidance in the Halliwells, looking up to their son, the Twice-Blessed, Wyatt Halliwell as a mentor, friend and why not older brother, in such a way that the Twice-Blessed was one of young Harry’s possible hostages for the Second Task. With no pity whatsoever to what this young boy has already lost, Hermione Granger pits friend against friend in a dispute for her.”
“Mentor?” Chris spluttered.
“This is bad,” Hermione worried and looked up to see Piper and Leo frowning over the article. What if someone read more into Skeeters inflaming words and realized Wyatt was Chris’s older brother.
“Do you think they’ll figure it out?” Wyatt asked.
Leo sighed, “No. She is so scandalous that no one will make the connection, besides, she never once referred to him as Chris, I’ve noticed that most people don’t even know you prefer to be called Chris or that it’s your middle name. Most people think of you as either Harry or Potter. What I want to know is how she found out. Only Dumbledore knew and he wouldn’t tell, and everywhere else we talked about this were warded places where she couldn’t have spied.”
“You told me by the lake, but there wasn’t anyone within earshot,” Wyatt frowned.
“And I thought Dumbledore banned her from the grounds,” Chris added.
“She wasn’t there,” Piper agreed. “She’s hard to miss and I paid attention on everyone on that task. I didn’t want anyone trying to drown Chris or something.”
“Well, I don’t know how she did it. But I for one will find out and then she’ll have to deal with me!” Hermione grumbled and the others looked at her with a little fear for what the girl had in mind.