FicWad

A/N: I forgot about the whole time zone thing when Paige talked about orbing home every night. So, she won't orb home every night. She might, however, orb home on the weekends. We'll just have to see.

Also, Billie is not going to be in this story. I was originally going to have her in here, but she just didn't fit in the story the way I wanted her to.

I had meant to get this chapter up much sooner than now, but I started this chapter several different times before I was satisfied with this version. Plus, I'm now at technical college, which just started on Aug. 14, so I'm now at school a lot. I'll try to get the chapters up quicker, but we'll see how things work out.

For Paige's son and husband... I've decided that when both of them are together, I'll call Paige's husband Henry, and his son, Henry Jr., but when they're not together, like when Henry Jr. is with his cousin's or sisters, I'll drop the Jr. part. Otherwise it would be too confusing and too annoying to have to type 'Paige's husband' all the time when I'm talking about older Henry.

This chapter takes place a few days after the meeting with Dumbledore.

Oh, and I have absolutely no clue on how long flights from San Francisco to London last, so please forgive me if I got it wrong.


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Chapter 2:

A Magical Vacation


It was late in the afternoon by the time the entire Halliwell family arrived in London. Since Piper, Phoebe, Paige, and their husbands agreed not to go to London by orbing, they caught a very early morning flight that got to London by mid afternoon the next day. From the airport, they spent roughly an hour to get from the airport to the market where the entrance to Diagon Alley was located.

Now, the magical group was walking down Charing Cross Road, with their luggage. Charing Cross Road, according to instructions Dumbledore had left them, was where the wizarding world entrance, from the muggle world, was located. Everywhere they looked, there were normal shops on both sides of the street. Everyone except Leo (who'd been there before) was a bit confused at how normal the street was; there was no sign of anything or anyone magical anywhere.

"How are we supposed to get there again?" Melinda Halliwell asked as she looked around the street. When she and her cousins got back from camp and were told of the existence of a hidden wizarding world, she couldn't help but be excited. A whole secret society full of wand wielding witches and wizards? Who wouldn't be excited, or at least curious? Now, she saw no sign of anything magical. All Melinda saw a clothing store, a music store, a restaurant, and other normal stores on both sides of the street, but nothing that would indicate that there was a hidden magical community somewhere nearby. Melinda had to admit that, so far, the wizarding world hid the entrance well, especially if she, the daughter of a Charmed One, could not see it.

"Through a pub called The Leaky Cauldron," Leo answered. Paige looked diagonal across the street from where she stood, and saw a, between a bookstore and a music store, dark store on the corner of the next street. The sign above the door said 'The Leaky Cauldron'. It even had a picture of a leaky cauldron on the sign.

"Is that the one?" She asked, pointing in the direction of the store. The others looked in the direction she was pointing.

"Yep," Leo said. Henry, Paige's husband, looked in the direction his wife pointed, and didn't see any building called The Leaky Cauldron.

"I don't see it," he informed them. He wondered if the reason he couldn't see it was because he was a mortal. Not for the first time, Henry felt out of place in this group of magical people. He was the only mortal of the group, as Paige had also passed her magical heritage onto their children. Even though Coop, Phoebe's husband, wasn't a witch or whitelighter, he was a magical being. Being a Cupid meant he could also see what the others were seeing.

"It's a glamour, honey," his wife said, confirming his suspicion. "I guess since I can also glamour, I can see other glamour objects or people. I'll help you through." Paige took his hand.

"We're staying at that place, right Uncle Leo?" Phoebe's eldest daughter, Patricia, asked her uncle. She hoped the place looked better on the inside than it did on the out.

"That's right," Leo said. "Along with being a restaurant and a bar, the Cauldron is also an inn."

By the time Leo got done talking, they had arrived at the Leaky Cauldron entrance. The children of the Charmed Ones couldn't help but be somewhat disappointed at the appearance of the Leaky Cauldron. Though Wyatt and Chris could see that it was hidden from the mortals by a glamour, what they (and their cousins) saw wasn't all that impressive to their eyes. Instead of looking bright, the pub was dark.

"This is the entrance?" Penelope asked, unimpressed.

"Apparently," Phoebe replied. The group walked inside the entrance, with Paige holding her husband's hand to help him through.

After a few seconds had passed for their eyes to adjust to the darkness, they looked around the room. Since it was suppertime, the place had a reasonable amount of people eating at the tables in the large room. To his left, Chris saw, was where the bar area was. It also looked like it was where potential guests checked in and out. The others realized this, too, and made their way towards the bar, choosing to ignore the glances they were getting. Chris assumed it was because it was obvious they were either: a) lost, as they had their luggage with them, or b) mortals, or muggles as they were called in the wizarding world. Piper, Phoebe, and Paige (with Piper in the middle) stepped up to the counter, setting down their luggages. The others followed suit.

"How can I help you?" The bartender asked who looked like he was most definitely a hunchback.

"Hi," Piper said, "we have reservations under Halliwell." The bartender got out a record book and began to look through the pages.

"Halliwell, Halliwell," he muttered, his finger sliding down the names in the book. "Ah, yes," he said when he found when he found the correct name. "You'll be renting six rooms?" He asked Piper.

She nodded. "Correct."

"You all will be in rooms 1-11 on the odd side." The bartender (whose nametag said Tom) handed Piper the keys for the room. "Your rooms are up that stairway," Tom said, pointing to the staircase near a long table. The group made their way up the stairs. The odd numbers were on the right side of the hallway and the even were on the left. Once they were all on the landing, the adults (who were leading the group) stopped.

"Okay," Piper said to the children. "Does everybody know who they're rooming with?" The kids nodded, with several of them saying "yes".

"Okay," she said, handing out the keys to the correct people, and they went to the room numbers on their keys. Chris, Wyatt, and their cousin Henry, who were all rooming together, crowded around room 11. Wyatt put the key in the lock and opened the door.

Inside the room, there were two beds and a cot that fit in the room comfortably, and there was also a fireplace, which did not have a fire in, since it was summer. On the left side, there was a large, round mirror on the wall next to the dresser. Chris, Wyatt, and Henry walked in the room and set down their suitcases by the foot of the beds.

"Why is there a fireplace in a motel room?" Henry asked looking at the fireplace.

"I saw on a sign before we walked in," Wyatt said, walking looking around the room, "that this place was built in the 1500's. Back then people didn't have any indoor electricity, or anything, so they used the fireplace to warm up their rooms and houses."

"That's true," Chris said, "but I also remember hearing Dad saying that the Wizarding World doesn't use electricity, or basically anything that we consider modern, and take for granted."

Wyatt was about to say something in reply, but a new voice beat him to it.

"That's correct, young sir," said a new voice. Wyatt, Chris, and Henry looked in the direction of the voice, but they only saw a mirror beside a dresser.

"Who said that?" Wyatt asked, looking around the room.

"I did," said the mirror. The boys stared at the mirror in surprise.

"Wow!" Henry exclaimed. "A talking mirror!"

"Cool," was all Chris said.

"You're a talking mirror?" Wyatt asked. "Like the one from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the mirror said. "Are you muggles?" It asked.

"No," Wyatt said.

The mirror sighed in relief. "Good. I'm supposed to keep silent if there are muggles staying here."

"Why?" Chris asked.

"Because muggles, most likely, don't know that talking mirrors, such as myself, exist. And Tom, the bartender, would prefer that visiting muggles, with no close relation to any muggleborn witches or wizards, know as little about this magical community as possible."

The conversation was interrupted when someone orbed in.

"Hi," Paige greeted the boys when she finished orbing into the room. "How's it going in here?" The boys turned to face Paige.

"Good, heavenly father!" The mirror exclaimed. "A Whitelighter!"

Paige looked around in confusion. "Who said that?" She asked.

"Mom!" Henry said, excitedly. "We've got a talking mirror!"

"Really?" Paige asked. "Are you sure it's not evil?"

"Of course I'm not evil," the mirror said, insulted. "How could you even think of such a thing?" Paige looked at the mirror and softened just a little bit.

"I'm sorry," she apologized to it. "Its just, my previous experience with a talking mirror wasn't all that great."

If it had a facial expression, the mirror would have looked intrigued by what Paige just said.

"Really? You know of another talking mirror?" The mirror asked. Paige nodded.

"The Keeper of the Tales keeps a talking mirror safe; that is the same mirror that was made famous by the classic tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." She said.

"Huh," the mirror said. "I thought I was the only talking mirror in the world."

"Apparently not," Paige said. She turned to face her son and nephews. "I'm taking a vote from everyone about what they want to do now. You can choose between either eating here, and then going shopping in the morning, or going shopping first." She told them.

"I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not that hungry now," Chris said. Wyatt and Henry agreed with him.

"Everyone else feels the same," Paige said. "So, then meet us downstairs in five minutes and then we'll head out."

"Okay," Wyatt said. Paige then orbed out.

As soon as everyone was downstairs, they headed, along with the bartender, Tom, who was going to show them the entrance, down to the entrance of Diagon Alley. Chris was somewhat confused when Tom led them into a small courtyard where the only way in and out was through the door for the Leaky Cauldron.

"What are we doing here?" Melinda asked Tom as he walked up to the brick wall, which they were facing. "I thought you were taking us to the entrance for Diagon Alley."

Tom chuckled. "This is the entrance." He said and raised his wand and tapped it a few times on different bricks, and then, suddenly the brick wall started to shift and move away, leaving a clear path for the group to walk in. The Halliwell family looked around in amazement at the sight before them.

Though Chris had been surrounded by magic all his life, he had never been to a mall (strip mall or regular) where only magical people, or people who knew about magic, could hang together and talk openly about magic, and other stuff that mortals knew little about. The closest place Chris could compare Diagon Alley to was Magic School.

From what Chris could see, Diagon Alley had a variety of stores that a regular, non-magic, mall would have, only these stores were magical. In addition to those types of stores, it also had bookstores, where they only sold magical books, a potion store, clothing (robes) store, and there was even a place where they, apparently, sold flying broomsticks.

"Where can we go in first, Mom?" Melinda asked her mother, looking around with wide eyes and excitement written on her face. She was not the only one, as all of her cousins, and even the adults, felt some sort of excitement. It was like the excited feeling Melinda had felt when they went to Disneyland for the first time.

"First," Piper said, "we need to go to the bank."

"Why?" Natalie asked. "We have money, right?"

"But we don't have wizard money," Paige explained to her daughter. "We need to exchange our British currency for the wizard currency. Plus, I want to open an account since I'm going to be working in the Wizarding World." The group then headed to where Gringotts, the wizard bank, was located.

It didn't take that long to exchange money, but it took longer for Paige to open an account. One could say the goblin behind the counter was extremely surprised when he heard Paige's name. Though the goblins worked and interacted more with wand using witches and wizards then with the magical world the Charmed Ones belonged to, they still heard, and knew about, the legend of the Charmed Ones. Since she was a Charmed One, Paige figured, opening the account took a shorter amount of time than it normally would have, especially since she didn't have to make an appointment to open it.

After the bank, they decided to split up into smaller groups. Since of the adults wanted their kids (the ones 13 and under) to wander off on their own, they were told to stay with either Wyatt or Chris the entire time, and to not wander off on their own, and to stay in only Diagon Alley.

As Wyatt's group (which consists of Melinda, Patricia, and Penelope and Wyatt himself) went off in one direction, Chris turned to the remainder of the Charmed kids.

"So, where do you guys want to go?" He asked Natalie, Nadine, Henry, and Portia.

"Can we go to that joke shop?" Natalie asked, excitedly, as she pointed to Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop, a few stores down from where they were standing.

"Sure, why not." Chris said shrugging his shoulders. They headed towards the joke shop. In truth, he was somewhat curious to see what jokes they sold, to see if he could try some on his brother, and possibly cousins.

After they were in there for fifteen minutes, they all left the store, carrying their purchases. Chris had gotten a few practical joke items, which included a fake wand. It was tempting to buy Dr. Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks, but he figured since it was magical it probably wouldn't be wise to set it off with mortals nearby. Each of his cousins had also gotten a couple of trick and practical joke items, as well.

After the Gambol and Japes, they decided to go to Flourish and Blotts, located near the joke shop. Flourish and Blotts was a large two-story store that sold a variety of magical books. Chris and his cousins walked in the store and walked around the store, going their separate ways, though Chris told his cousins not to leave the store unless he was with them and to stick to the buddy system.

Chris walked along the rows, looking at several of the books before putting them back on the shelf. He did, however, get the books on the list that was from his tutors (it was rather startling to hear and see an owl knocking on the window, wanting to get in the house). He was supposed to get the Standard Book of Spells (grades one through six; The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self- Protection, Magical Drafts and Potions, (He'd have to tell his teachers he already knew how to do Potions, so it was unnecessary to tutor him in it), and three Transfiguration books.

By the time Chris was done getting his books on his list, his twin cousins were also done looking around. Both Natalie and Nadine had picked out something to buy; they both had gotten a lot of different books. Some were about the history of the magical world, Transfiguration, some about curses and defense against the dark arts, and other types of books.

"We're done," Nadine told Chris as they set their pile of books on the floor, in an aisle by a bookshelf.

Chris took one look at the pile of books in each of their arms and saw that the twins had gotten too many books.

"We can't get all of those books," he informed the twins. "That's just too much." The twins looked sad at the news. They both liked to read, a lot, and had been looking forward to reading all of the books they picked out.

"But we already put several books back," Natalie told him, hoping her cousin would let them keep all of the books they picked out.

"That's great," Chris said, "but that's still too many books." The twins looked at his stack of books, also now on the floor.

"You have more books than we do," Nadine said, stubbornly.

"Yes," Chris said nodding, "because my tutors told me to get all of these books." That was true, plus there were also a couple that Chris picked out because they looked interesting. "Plus, your mom didn't give me all that much money." Before the group had gone their own ways, Paige had given Chris a fair amount of money to pay for anything her children might buy. With Portia, Phoebe had told Chris that she would reimburse him for anything her daughter got.

"Oh," Nadine said. She and Natalie reluctantly began to sort through the books that they decided they didn't really need. While they were doing this, Portia and Henry showed up to where the twins and Chris were sitting on the floor. Portia only had two books- Quidditch Through the Ages, and History of Quodpot. Henry held several issues of a comic book series in his hand.

"What're you guys doing?" Henry asked his sisters as he watched them move some books from one pile to another.

"Separating the books that we don't really need," Nadine answered her brother as she moved another book to the discard pile.

"There," Natalie said at last, straightening her back. The pile was incredibly short now. Chris looked at the titles of the remaining books - Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century, Hogwarts, A History, Modern Magical History, and Magical Draughts and Potions. There were also a couple of wizarding novels in there.

Chris nodded. "All right," he said standing up and picking up his pile of books. "Let's go pay."

They headed to the checkout counter.

"Did you find everything all right?" The assistant asked Chris as he checked out the books.

Chris nodded. "Yes, we did."

"That's good." The assistant said and then told Chris the amount. "Do you want a weightless bag, or would you prefer a non-magical bag?" he asked Chris.

"A weightless bag?" Chris asked.

The assistant nodded. "You can put as many items in there as you want, and you won't feel any weight from the items," he explained.

"Cool!" Henry exclaimed.

"It's like Mary Poppins' bag!" Portia added, looking at the bag with an awe expression on her face. When she was younger, Mary Poppins had been her favorite movie; she had thought the bag that Mary had was very cool. "That's awesome!" The assistant, however, looked confused at Nadine's statement.

"Who's Mary Poppins?" he asked.

"A fictional character," Chris replied. "We'll take the weightless bag, then." The assistant nodded and put the books in the bag.

"Have a good day," The assistant said to them when he was done.

"Thanks," Chris replied, on his way out. Outside the shop, Chris looked at his watch. "We'd better head to Ollivander's," Chris informed his cousins. "It's almost the time we agreed to rendezvous there."

"Right," Natalie said. They headed to Ollivander's.

By the time they got to the entrance of Ollivander's, it was the time they had agreed to meet there. Chris and his cousin's weren't the first ones to get there, though. Wyatt and his group were already there, as were his parents, and Phoebe and Coop.

"Hi," Piper greeted Chris as he approached the all ready large group. "We're still waiting on Paige and Henry."

"Yeah," Chris said. "I noticed." The truth was, they really didn't need to wait for Paige and Henry before going into Ollivander's, especially since Paige wasn't going to get a wand. Paige had, and still does have, the option of purchasing a wand, but she turned it down. Paige had figured that since she wasn't teaching a subject that required the use of it, nor was she going to use it for personal gain, then why bother paying the money to get one? But she, and the rest of his family, wanted to see what it was like getting a wand.

"There they are," Phoebe said, pointing in the direction that Paige and Henry were walking in. "About time," she said to Paige as they approached the group. It was obvious that Paige and Henry had, sometime during their shopping time, gone to Flourish and Blotts since the bag she was carrying said Flourish and Blotts on it, and it was weightless.

"We aren't too late, are we?" Paige asked, glancing at her watch.

"No," Piper said. "Some of us just got here early."

"Ah," Paige said. "Hey, Portia," she said to her niece. "Did you get a weightless bag from the book store?" Paige knew that Mary Poppins was one of her niece's top favorite movies. Portia nodded.

"Yep!" she said, "They're awesome!"

Piper looked at her watch. "We'd better get going to Ollivander's," she told the group. "Before it closes." With that, they walked into the wand store.

Ollivander's was about half the size that Flourish and Blotts was. Since it was a wand store, the items Ollivander's had the most were wands. The store itself was empty except for an old man with white hair, who was standing behind the counter, which was facing the door. Chris assumed the old man was Ollivander.

The man looked up as the group walked in. "Good evening," he greeted them as he looked at the group. "You must be the Charmed Ones," he said to Piper, Phoebe, and Paige when he was finished looking at the group. Piper, Phoebe, and Paige looked startled, as did the rest of the group.

How'd he know? Chris wondered.

"How'd you know?" Piper voiced Chris' thought. Ollivander smiled.

"I know a lot of things," he said mysteriously. "The majority of the Wizarding World wouldn't have heard of the legend of the Charmed Ones," Ollivander informed them. "However, there are those who do, and a few of them might even believe the legend."

"And you do?" Piper inquired.

"My family doesn't limit itself to only wand-wielding magic's," Ollivander explained to them. "Now, which one of you is getting the wand?" He asked them, getting back on track.

"I am," Chris said.

"Please hold out your wand arm," Ollivander instructed Chris. Chris held out his right arm. After he did so, a tape measure magically measured arm length. When the tape measure was finished, Ollivander seemed satisfied with the results, whatever the results were.

"Every Ollivander wand is different," he said at last. Chris got the feeling he was speaking more to him than to the rest of the group, who were watching what was going on with interest. "And each wand has a powerful magical core substance." Ollivander pulled a thin, narrow box out from behind the desk. "Your wand's core is of the only kind there is."

"What is it?" Chris wondered, very curious now. What could it be? He wondered. Ollivander opened the box and held the wand with both hands.

"Your wand is 11 and a half inches, made with mahogany, and..." Ollivander paused, "... with the hair of a powerful Whitelighter."

A Whitelighter? Chris knew of only one possible Whitelighter who Ollivander could have gotten the hair from. "Aunt Paige?" He said turning to his aunt. The others also looked at Paige.

"Paige?" Piper asked her sister in surprise.

"When Dumbledore asked me," Paige admitted, "I could hardly say no."

"Thank you," Chris said to his aunt.

Paige smiled at him. "Anytime."

"Here," Ollivander said, holding the wand out to Chris. "Give it a swish." Chris did as he was told. As soon as he took the wand, he felt his hand go warm. When he raised his wand to swish it back and forth, blue and white sparks came out of it.

Ollivander nodded, satisfied. "It's really the wand that chooses the wizard," he told Chris. "As I suspected, this wand is a perfect match for you. It's excellent for any spell."

"Thank you," Chris said, looking at his wand. His cousins gathered around him to see it better.

"Can I see it?" Portia asked. Chris held the wand so his cousins and brother could see it clearer.

"Cool," Henry Jr. said as he looked at the wand.

Piper smiled at the attention the wand was getting. She turned to face Ollivander. "How much?"

"It's on the house," Ollivander replied. When he saw it looked like Piper was going to object, he added, "think of it as a 'thank you' for all of the times you saved the world from evil."

Think it over, Piper finally nodded. "Thank you."

"Anytime," Ollivander said. "Good night," he said as they left the store. He was rewarded with several "good nights" and "good bye's".


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Several minutes after the Halliwell family left, the door to Ollivander's opened as someone stepped through the door.
"How can I help you, sir?" Ollivander asked wizard, who had the hood of a cloak covered around his head to hide his face.

"You can start," the visitor began, pulling out his wand from his robes, " by telling me the names of your last visitors."