There was a knock on the door and before she could reply her sister happily hopped inside the office. Paige frowned at her happy bubbly face. So, yes, she might be the youngest sister, but she was acting Headmistress now, show a little respect people!

Phoebe either decided to ignore the glare or just didn’t get the message and sat across from her leaning on her desk.

“I’m going with you on Friday! What do you think I should wear? They say it’s cold up there, and I want Chris to like me, but I don’t want him to think I’m too serious. I can be a cool aunt-“

“Phoebe!” Paige cried cutting Phoebe’s babbling. “What are you rambling about?”

“Oh,” Phoebe squirmed excited. “Leo just called. Apparently, Chris is an Empath and he asked me to help him.”

“He’s an Empath?” Paige mused. “Hum, explains a lot. How he knew the right thing to say to get us to do what he wanted.”

“I know,” Phoebe nodded. “Also why he wanted us to take the potion so badly. I mean, there must have been some feelings rolling around there that he mustn’t have enjoyed at all,” she sniggered remembering how horny they had been back then. All three of them having dating issues.

“And some that might have hurt him too,” Paige grimaced. “Does Piper know?”

“Leo said he told her last night.”

“Guess Piper will be needing some sister time then too.”

“Probably.”

“Then it’s good we’re both going, oh, and give up,” Paige looked at her seriously. “I am the cool aunt,” she preened.

“Says who?” Phoebe looked offended.

“Chris! He said I was his favorite!”

“No he didn’t!”

“He said he came to me for money!”

“So! That’s just prove you’re easy to get money from! Not that you were his favorite!”

“It so proves it!”

“Does not”

“Does so!”

And that very mature argument went on for quite a while only to be interrupted by a very amused student.

---

Chris had been trying to hide behind his homework in a corner of the Gryffindor common room. This week had been a nightmare and it wasn’t over yet. The only highlight had been Hagrid telling him he believed in him and of course, seeing Malfoy being dragged around by a Blast-Ended-Skrewt. But other than that, hostility was still running high. And to help his bright week he had been unable to master the Summoning Spell and Professor Trelawney kept predicting his death with even more certainty than usual. Which he didn’t need any help with, Sirius had talked to him at length through the mirror about how dangerous this Tasks would be and how careful he had to be. Sirius seemed to think Karkaroff was the best candidate for having put his name in the Goblet, but Remus, who had joined the conversation later,seemed to think Karkaroff would have tried something more subtle, because he would know he’d be the first suspect. Which just meant that they didn’t know who had put his name in and Remus still thought Karkaroff might try something else. Just peachy!

Then there was his new family, Chris had to be honest with himself and admit he had hid with Hermione for most of the week to try and avoid Leo and Piper. He just didn’t know how to act around them. With Wyatt it had been easier. Or maybe it just had been harder to avoid him because Wyatt would just unceremoniously plop himself next to Chris. How Wyatt always knew where he was was a mystery Chris didn’t know.

But also being honest with himself he didn’t mind much. Wyatt didn’t try to force things. Try to get mushy or look at him like all he wanted to do was hug him to death, which Piper did a lot. She hadn’t yet, but she looked like she wanted it badly. Wyatt just acted like Chris was an old friend, just another one of the guys. And he had to admit that Wyatt and Hermione were making all the school’s hostility much more bearable. He was almost like Ron, almost…but he wasn’t Ron.

And speaking of the blond boy.

“I think Snape is a vampire,” the boy in question said as he fell on a chair next to Chris. Chris just looked at him.

“Many students before you have tried to prove that and failed. He is just a mean, horrible teacher.”

“But he is- He just- Argh! How can anyone learn with him? So okay, I’ve never been great at potions- not like mom is, but I’m pretty sure I’m passable. No teacher has called me an incompetent fool to the extent Snape has!”

Chris looked at Wyatt, “Then why did you decide to attend his class?”

Wyatt scowled, “Mom and dad are being stretched really thin having to teach everything by themselves. If you add that I am a year behind the students that came, that’s two years worth of magical and regular curriculum for them to help us with. So dad made a deal with Dumbledore. The classes that are mostly similar for both worlds we’ll attend with the Hogwarts students. Unfortunately, Potions is one of those. And mom is just left to teaching whatever potion wasn’t covered in Snape’s class, which she admitted, weren’t many.”

“No?” Chris asked curiously. “I thought there would be hundreds of them.”

“No,” Wyatt shook his head. “For Wiccan witches potions are mainly used to vanquish, and there is no way you can memorize every vanquishing potion out there. So we cover the basics so we can understand how ingredients work together, and we can follow the instruction easily when needed and know what we can and can’t mix together whenever we have to create a new potion, we’ll know what could possibly be used. By my grade, that has been mostly covered. The potions that are not vanquishing potions that we use are also used by your world. So actually, by attending Snape’s class we’re learning more than if we had our regular class, which would be mostly revision and going through the most important potions. We also have Herbology with the Hogwarts students, to learn more about the ingredients themselves. In Magic School Herbology is also something mostly theoretical. This hands on experience is new to us.”

Chris nodded. It made sense and made the experience of travelling to Hogwarts more interesting, “Don’t worry, I’m pants at potions too.”

Wyatt looked at Chris and frowned. He had heard from his mother that Future Chris was quite good at potions, “Are you sure it’s not the teacher?”

Chris shrugged, “It could be. Snape isn’t very encouraging.”

“You might need a new one,” Wyatt said already thinking of a way for Piper to bond with Chris, and speaking of Piper he reminded himself, “Oh, we’re supposed to have dinner at o-“ he stopped eyeing the other students in the room, “my parent’s quarters tomorrow. They wanted to invite you. They’ve liked you a lot,” he said brightly, and then leaning closer he whispered, “The Aunts are coming tomorrow and they want to meet you.”

“What?” Chris hissed.

“The Aunts, mom’s sisters. Don’t worry they’re nice,” Wyatt said frowning at Chris but Chris was worried nonetheless. He hadn’t had good experiences with aunts. Who knew how these would be?

“And mom said to dress nicely, you know? She wants to flaunt you around.”

Dress nicely! How was he supposed to dress nicely with Dudley’s hand me downs? Chris groaned, how was he going to survive this?

---

“Your students seem to be fairing well with classes Professor Wyatt,” Dumbledore said pleasantly over the tea they were having in his office.

“Please call me Leo professor.”

“Only if you call me Albus,” Dumbledore said smiling and Leo nodded towards the man.

“Fair enough. Yes they are. I haven’t had much complaints and letting our students have classes with your students has helped a lot. Thank you.”

“I was very pleased when you asked. I hope many of my students take the chance to attend your classes.”

“I’ve had quite a few, from many different years. Mostly Ravenclaws,” Leo smirked and Dumbledore chuckled.

“They are the most academic ones,” Dumbledore nodded and rested his teacup on his desk. He looked up at Leo from across the desk. “Unfortunately Leo, I haven’t called you here only for pleasantries. I’ve called you here to warn you. Tomorrow is the Weighing of the Wands and though your student has no wand to be weighed she will be required to attend,” Leo nodded. He knew this. “The Daily Prophet is sending representative, which unfortunately happens to be Rita Skeeter and she is… how can I put this? She is known for her venomous quill,” Dumbledore warned Leo. “And I hope whatever she might do does not reflect badly on the rest of the Wizarding World.”

“Thank you Headmaster,” Leo said pleasantly understanding Dumbledore’s preventive measure by warning him to be careful around this woman. But then a thought struck him. All the Champions would have their Heads with them, would Dumbledore be there for Cedric and Chris? Would he stop Skeeter? “I hope you gave your champions the same warning.”

“Oh, they know Rita Skeeter well enough to be careful,” Dumbledore said pleasantly and Leo kept the smile while fuming inside. Cedric might, his father working in the Ministry and all but Leo was sure Chris didn’t.

---

“And that woman! The gall! I mean who does she think she is?”

“Okay honey! I know! But the boys will be here soon!” Piper tried to make Leo stop pacing and straighten his shirt. It had already been an ordeal to get him to get ready. The man had ranted all throughout his shower and dressing up. Phoebe and Paige, who had arrived a few minutes earlier, were watching him amused from the couch. Piper glared at them. She had managed to calm Leo down, but then Paige asked how their day had been and got Leo to rant all over again.

They had planned to warn Chris about Rita Skeeter, but unfortunately they had not managed to talk to him before class and by the time Leo had left Dumbledore’s office the previous night it had been past curfew. So they decided to be there extra early to be able to catch Chris before the wand weighing. As predicted the students had arrived before the Headmasters and Headmistress. Piper had waited for Chris outside and when she had seen him arriving with a younger blond boy she had smiled at them.

“Oh, there you are,” she said brightly. “Everyone is waiting.”

“Okay, er- thanks Colin.”

“Good luck Harry,” Colin smiled and had just looked at them. Chris had started to go inside but Piper touched his arm lightly and was very glad her son was quick on the intake and stopped.

“Don’t you have classes to get back to Colin?” she asked gently.

Colin looked flustered and dropped his smile embarrassed, “Oh, yes. Sorry! Oh, McGonagall is going to kill me! I was just supposed to drop the message. Not bring you here!”

“I’m sure she won’t. Here,” Piper grabbed the bag she was holding and took out a little pad writing a quick note. “Give her this,” she said giving Colin the note. “Tell her you were just helping C-Harry,” she corrected at the last moment not wanting to seem intimate with Chris.

Colin smiled, “Thanks Mrs. Halliwell,” and ran off.

“Problems?” Chris asked.

“Yes,” Piper answered in a whisper. “There’s a reporter in there that likes her scandal, and I bet she’d like nothing more than a piece of the Boy-Who-Lived. Dumbledore isn’t there yet. So stick with us and if anyone asks we just say you and Wyatt are becoming friends,” which wasn’t a secret since the blond witch had been seen with Chris and Hermione just as much as with the twins and Cedric throughout the week.

Chris had nodded and everything seemed to have been going smoothly until Rita Skeeter was more persistent than they expected and when she had tried to drag Chris away from the room Piper had stepped in and said.

“Mr. Potter is a minor, I’m sure his guardians wouldn’t appreciate him being interviewed without their presence.”

“Well, yes,” the woman had given her a simpering smile. “But they’re muggles. They don’t understand our ways so I just thought I’d-“

“Break the law? I’m pretty sure that even in the Wizarding world interviewing a minor without parental consent must be illegal. Why don’t we go check?”

“Well, I say,” Skeeter had at first been flustered but then her eyes had turned interested. “You seem awfully concerned about young Mr. Potter. Maybe trying to fulfill a motherly role he so desperately yearns for? Trying to replace your lost son for Mr. Potter and diminishing the pain by-“

“Wiccan witches protect the innocent Ms. Skeeter, and I happen to think Harry Potter is an innocent, in much need of protection,” Piper said through gritted teeth.

“Really, so you don’t think young Mr. Potter put his name in the Goblet in a desperate plea for attention due to his lack of a parental figure? How do you feel Mr. Potter knowing that you are a mere child of twelve competing with Champions much more experienced than yourself?”

“I’m fourteen!” Chris had cried indignantly. But Skeeter had not relented. Twisting each word any of them said. Leo had joined in to try and help and she had the gall to ask him if his defense of Chris wasn’t spurred by his own known record of rule breaking by marrying one of his charges.

She had only shut up when Dumbledore arrived, and the fact that he was the last to arrive just let Leo even more certain that he had wanted to let Chris deal with her alone for a while before he swopped in to save him, he just wasn’t sure what he gained with that. All in all the Wand Weighing was a very tense affair especially with Karkaroff and Maxime not liking Rita Skeeter practically ignoring their champions.

A knock came from the door and Paige and Phoebe practically bounced on their seats as Piper went to open it.