Chapter 22 of 30
Magic
Wyatt started making his way towards the top box with Remus and Padfoot. Something was wrong, very wrong. He couldn’t sense where Chris was anymore. He could still sense Chris and there was fear, but he couldn’t pinpoint his location. Something was very wrong and getting to his parents was being made difficult by the crowd. Why did they have to sit so far from the top box?
Chris hadn’t thought much when he heard the cold voice saying kill the spare and heard the other voice say “Avada Kedrava” he didn’t think twice, he used his Telekinesis to shove Cedric out of the way making him land on the cup and disappear. There had been a cry of rage and a rough hand grabbed him. Chris tried orbing out but there was something stopping him. He could feel his magic trying to orb him and being blocked from doing so. The man that grabbed him shoved him forcibly towards a marble head stone. He tried kicking him with one of the moves his Aunts had taught him but the man was faster and cried a Petrificus Totalus and then tied him to the headstone that said.
TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE
Cedric reappeared at Hogwarts grounds, lying on the floor, gripping the cup and staring shocked at the dark sky, he had seen the green light of the killing curse fly just inches from his head. He was suddenly surrounded by a crowd congratulating him and pulling him up.
“The champion! My son is the Champion!”
He heard his father say.
“M’ not,” he mumbled but no one heard him. Dumbledore was trying to get to him. He saw the Halliwells and Professor Lupin approaching. He knew why, Harry was one of them, the son everyone thought dead. Not Harry, but Chris, the name he preferred.
“My son!” His father yelled once again thumping his back and lifting one of his arms. Cedric yanked it back down. He was no champion.
“I’m not!” he suddenly yelled. “I’m not!” he sobbed. “Harry was there first. He is still there,” he was getting hysterical when Dumbledore turned him towards him.
“What happened Cedric? Where is Harry?”
“Portkey, the cup was a portkey. I told Harry to take it together, a Hogwarts win. It took us to this cemetery we thought it was part of the task…but then…there was this man with a bundle and he fired at me…the killing curse…but I was shoved out of the way, I don’t know how and I fell on the cup and it brought me back and Harry is still there…they’ll kill him…we have to save him!” by now he was hysterical and Dumbledore ordered his dumbstruck father to take him to the infirmary. He turned towards the Halliwells and Remus and jerked his head towards the castle. They followed him leaving the audience behind.
When he was confident he was alone he asked, “Chris must have used his powers to shove Cedric out of the way, can he orb yet?”
“Yes, but he’d be here already if he could. There must be wards around,” Leo said.
“There are, I can’t sense him anywhere, it’s like he fell off the face of the earth,” Wyatt said desperately.
“How would they know?” Piper asked.
“They wouldn’t but they probably expected you to go save him thanks to Rita Skeeter’s articles about you getting close to him,” Dumbledore said pensively and turned to Wyatt. “You said you can’t sense his location but can you sense him? With you being brothers-“
“I can, I can feel him. He’s still alive and pretty scared but I can’t pinpoint where he is.”
“Maybe we can use that to find him. Without orbing and without the portkey he has no way out,” Remus said worriedly a whine of agreement coming from Padfoot.
“What is going on here!” a voice demanded coming close. “What happened? Didn’t the Diggory boy win?”
“No Cornelius. It was a trap and they have managed to kidnap the Boy Who Lived. I need your help to get him back,” Dumbledore explained calmly even though he was feeling anything but. They were wasting time and Fudge would probably just get in the way.
Fudge looked flustered, “The Boy Who Lived, kidnapped from under our noses? This looks bad Dumbledore! We need to find him. I’ll contact Amelia and Scrimgeour at once. They’ll send their best. I’ll use your floo,” he nodded going straight to the stairs without waiting for an answer.
“Well, at least that’s help,” Remus sighed.
“Yes, but that means you need to go to Hagrid’s hut,” Dumbledore looked pointedly at the dog. “Don’t argue, we don’t have time to worry for both of you. Stay there until one of us calls you.”
“Please Padfoot, please. I know you want to help, but imagine how Chris would feel if you’re caught,” Leo begged. And maybe it was because since the start, for all their camaraderie Leo and Sirius had been a little bit jealous of each other, and for him to be the one begging he knew he was thinking of Chris, Padfoot nodded. He brushed Remus’ legs and whined as if saying:
“Be careful, bring him back.”
“Maybe they warded it against Whitelighters, but maybe we can scry for him,” Paige took control. “Wyatt go up to the dorm and get something of Chris’s to scry with. Meet us at Dumbledore’s office.”
“Fudge is there,” Dumbledore reminded her.
“Fudge will want all the help he can get,” Piper said firmly. “You heard him. This looks bad for him.”
“We also need to send someone in the maze to retrieve Olivia,” Phoebe added. “We found both Krum and Fleur stunned. Maybe Olivia was too.”
“I’ll send Alastor in,” Dumbledore nodded. “With his Magical eye he’ll be the fastest. Go to my office and start preparing to scry. I’ll alert Alastor and ask Minerva to get the students back to their dorms.”
Okay, this was bad, really bad. Bad times infinity bad. Voldemort had just been resurrected and to add injury to insult called all his Death Eater buddies. Then he’d gotten into a monologue. Why did bad guys always loved to explain their evil deeds? The Death Eater groveled at his feet; Lucius Malfoy especially had been emitting a terror at seeing Voldemort back. Who would have thought? Chris always thought he’d be ecstatic, but most Death Eaters weren’t. Apparently they had been enjoying a megalomaniac psychopath free-life.
And of course, after his speech and groveling it was time to kill Chris, with a little bit of torture before. Why not? Chris was currently panting from the round of Cruciatus he had been treated to. How lucky of him.
“A little break,” Voldemort said, “A little pause, that hurt didn’t it Harry?”
“Nah,” Chris panted. “You Crucio like a girl,” he honestly didn’t know why he did it but he instantly regretted it as he was hit by another wave of the curse and dropped to the ground in agony wishing he could disappear. Suddenly the pain left as Voldemort lifted the curse and yelled enraged.
“Were did he go?”
“Uh, what did he mean?” Chris thought bewildered as he stared at Voldemort who was staring right back at him.
“I don’t know Master- he couldn’t have Apparated- the wards, only those Marked can Apparate in here,” Wormtail squeaked terrified and Chris frowned. What the hell was he talking about?
“He obviously vanished Wormtail,” Voldemort cried hitting Wormtail with a Crucio who withered in the ground.
Chris meanwhile got up bewildered and waved his hand in front of Voldemort. When he did so he jumped startled, his hand wasn’t there. He looked down and he smiled, his whole body was invisible. Well, this was new, and handy. Chris looked around, there was no way he could take all these Death Eaters on his own. On the other hand they were all now running around as headless chickens looking for him.
“Come on Harry. This isn’t hide and seek. Come out and die like a man,” Voldemort taunted. “Don’t be a coward.”
“Well, there was being brave and being stupid,” Chris thought. And right now, running away to live and fight another day seemed like the best option. He picked up his wand that turned invisible as soon as he touched it and walked slowly away from Voldemort, trying his best not to make any sound. There were wards, Wormtail said. But where did they end? If he could just get past them he could orb back to safety. He was halfway to the cemetery’s gate when he stepped on a dry twig and one of the Death Eater cried.
“Over there! There was a sound over there!”
The Death Eaters and Voldemort all started shooting spells and Chris forgot all about stealthiness, he started running as fast as he could, trying to dodge the curses sent his way. Funnily enough none of them were green since Voldemort had yelled, “Capture but don’t kill. He’s mine to kill!”
After he was hit by two nasty curses, one burning his leg and another slicing a deep gash in his arm that was bleeding profusely, Chris’s control over whatever was keeping him invisible faltered and the Death Eaters could see him aiming better at him. He got hit by a bone crushing hex in his other arm but didn’t stop. He fired a few curses of his own without looking. He just thought that if he got past the gates he could orb, he just had to reflect those curses. And then something else happened out of the blue, and he was surrounded by a blue bubble and most of the curses where bouncing off of it.
“What the hell is that?” One of the Death Eaters yelled but Chris paid him no mind as his foot touched the outside of the gates and as soon as his body passed through it entirely he could feel his magic being freed and orbed away just in time to hear one more enraged yell.
The scrying crystal fell on the map after hours of scrying uselessly. Scrimgeour and Amelia Bones had sent their best Aurors and Scrimgeour had come with them. They were waiting for orders right outside the Apparating wards so they wouldn’t waste time. It had been his idea to move the scrying from Dumbledore’s office to the Hogwarts’ gate. They had quickly conjured the tables and maps needed outside. They had also been trying to find out where the portkey was keyed to but had had no luck so far. Flitwick had already warned them, to break up the spell enough to find the location could take days. Scrying was their best option. But they had been losing hope. When the crystal fell they wasted no time and Scrimgeour yelled for his Aurors and they Remus and Dumbledore Apparated at once. The Charmed Ones and Wyatt orbed after them. That had been a shouting match between Wyatt and his parents and his parents lost. He had a point, he was strong and he had picked Excalibur up from their quarters. He’d be an asset in a fight. They appeared in front of a cemetery’s gate when one of the Aurors yelled.
“It’s You-Know-Who!”
“Attack!” Scrimgeour yelled but all they had time as they ran forward was to see Voldemort wave and say, “See you Albus,” at them as he and the dozen robed figures Apparated away.
“MOM!” Piper heard Wyatt yell. He was rooted to the front gates. “We gottta get back! He’s at the gates!”
Piper didn’t think twice and backed up as she saw Wyatt disappear in a cloud of orbs. As soon as they stepped through the gate again Paige grabbed her and Phoebe and orbed away just in time to hear.
“Oh my God! It’s Peter Pettigrew!”
Chris reappeared at the front gates and his burned leg gave out on him. He felt light headed from the amount of blood he had lost through the gash in his arm and fell on the floor. He vaguely though that Wyatt could heal him.
“Where are you?” he heard in his head and thought he was going crazy.
He saw the front Gates of Hogwarts and Leo running towards him before darkness took over him.
Leo had just seen everyone disappear in front of him and could only start praying as he took one of the conjured chairs in the path that led to Hogwarts’ gates when he saw orbs forming. His head shot up, that couldn’t be, they just orbed out. But instead of the girls and Wyatt the bloodied form of his youngest son formed.
“CHRIS!” he cried and ran towards him dropping next to him just in time to see him close his eyes.
“Hold on buddy!” he urged. “WYATT! PAIGE!” he cried but didn’t have to wait much as his oldest son materialized falling next to Chris and hovering his glowing hand over each of his injuries starting with his arm. The gash closed, color came back to his face and the other arm that had been at an odd angle and limp straightened. Chris’s eyes opened and he yelled in pain.
“What?” Leo asked.
“His leg,” Wyatt answered as his mother and Aunts materialized. Wyatt ripped the leg of Chris’s pants up and saw that his leg had what looked like third degree burns all over it. He quickly ran his healing hand over it restoring the skin.
“Ouch. That hurt,” was Chris’s comment as he fell back on the floor disoriented. “I can become invisible,” he said looking up at the sky lost, “Oh, and Voldemort’s back. Not good,” he shook his head.
“I think he’s in shock,” Paige said worried helping them get Chris up.
“The others?” Leo asked.
“The Death Eaters and Voldemort fled, but somehow they caught Peter Pettigrew. I guess they’re sorting that out. Let’s get him inside to the Hospital Wing,” Piper explained.
Chris didn’t respond as he let himself be led inside.
They were almost at the Hospital Wing when their path was blocked by Mad-Eye Moody.
“Where’s Dumbledore?” the Auror asked gruffly.
“Back at the scene of the crime,” Paige asked. “Where were you?”
“Dumbledore sent me to fetch your student didn’t he?” he answered gruffly. “You ought to go see her. She was stunned in the maze. Her parents aren’t happy at all. I’ll take Potter.”
“No,” Leo said as he felt Chris instinctively get closer to him. “We’ll take him. We’re taking him to the Hospital Wing and I expect Olivia is there too after all.”
Leo could swear there was a twitch in Moody’s good eye. He knew Dumbledore trusted Moody, to the point that Dumbledore had told them to let Chris use his Wiccan Powers inside the maze even if Moody would be able to see it with his eye. He said Moody wouldn’t breathe a word to anyone but him and if Dumbledore asked him he’d keep the secret no questions asked. But Leo, somehow, had always felt uncertain near the Auror.
“He’s my student Professor, not yours.” Moody said calmly.
“Yes, but we’re taking him to your Hospital Wing,” Piper gritted out. “So I don’t see the problem here.”
Moody looked at her and smiled eerily, “Protective of your little cub aren’t you? I didn’t know. Not in time to warn my Master, but as soon as I saw what he did with that Acromantula I knew. So did he orb away? Is that how he escaped?”
“What?” Piper spluttered confused but Moody had his wand drawn and was pointing it at Leo’s chest who was the one holding Chris and cried, “Reducto!”
Leo hadn’t had time to think but Chris apparently had because he cried, “NOT MY DAD!” and threw both of them to the ground raising his shield over them as Wyatt quickly slashed Excalibur, that had been in his hand, down by instinct only thinking he had to get Moody away from that wand and had sliced the Auror’s hand out in one swift move.
“MY HAND!” Moody cried in pain as Chris’s shield grew bigger to protect all his family from the mad man. Moody dove with his other hand for his wand when Paige cried.
“Wand”, though nothing happened due to the anti-orbing wards, seeing that Wyatt used his telekinesis to shove the wand further at the same time that a shout of “Incarcerous” came from behind Moody and ropes appeared around him binding him up as McGonagall’s enraged face appeared followed by Madam Pomfrey and Snape. With another swift movement of Madam Pomfrey reattached Moody’s hand that had been on the floor to the stub that was gushing blood.
“I can’t guarantee it will be perfect since it would have worked better in your true form,” Pomfrey sniffed.
“Mr. Halliwell you can put that down,” McGonagall said to Wyatt and Wyatt realized she thought the shield was Wyatt’s doing since it was well known he had one.
“Hum, yeah, right,” Wyatt said a little bit nervous. He closed his eyes and thought “Wish the shield away Chris.” He felt Chris’s surprise and realized Chris hadn’t realized that earlier he had communicated with Wyatt telepathically. “We’ll think about this later little brother. You’re safe. You don’t need the shield anymore. Just think that.” He felt Chris trying to calm down and opened his eyes to see the shield disappear. As he looked to the side he saw Chris staring at him from the floor. Piper had crouched down to check that he and Leo were fine and was frowning at Wyatt too.
“What did you mean by his true form?” Phoebe asked.
“That can’t be Moody,” McGonagall said. “Albus told Alastor to find Olivia and guard her and the other champions. The real Alastor would have never left his post. When we heard the yelling we came straight away. Now we need to find the real Moody. He has to be stashed somewhere near so he could get what he needed for a Polyjuice Potion. Search his office,” she told Snape who nodded and billowed away without a word. “We’ll also have to wait to see who he really is.”
“No need,” Piper said walking to him and eying the man who was smirking at them. “Barty Crouch Jr. Aren’t you?” Moody tried to wiggle from the ropes but Piper raised her hand “Uh, uh. I wouldn’t do that if I were you. I didn’t use it before because I don’t kill humans but I might just make an exception for you.”
Moody spat at her face and Wyatt and Chris cried.
“HEY!”
Paige and Leo held them back with a warning look. Piper wiped her face and sneered at the man, “I guess this time there is no mommy to get you out of Azkaban.”
“My master will. He has been reborn. He will rule-“
“Silencio,” McGonagall waved her wand. “They really do get annoying with their propaganda,” she rolled her eyes.