Charmed Wizard

Paige was laying in a lounge chair a few feet from the pool with a pair of sunglasses on to block out the sun. It wasn't often she got to do this. Even without the demons attacking every day, she was still a whitelighter, plus a mother of three, so relaxing wasn't always possible. Of course, she couldn't totally relax now either. She was worried about Phoebe and everything she now had to deal with.

Piper soon joined her sister with two glasses of lemonade in her hand. “Hey. Lemonade?”

“Oh, yeah, thanks,” Paige said as she took the offered glass. “Any word from Phoebe?”

Piper sat in the chair beside her sister. “Not in the last ten minutes, no. They just left. It's gonna be hours before we know anything.”

“You think this will go well? I mean, this kid probably doesn't know he's adopted. I've been there. It is not easy to deal with,” Paige said. She'd been very young when she found out she was adopted and while she leaned to accept it and realize it didn't change much for her, at least then, it took some time, and that was without biological parents showing up to complicate things.

“Yeah, and I've tried to warn Phoebe about that. I think she gets it now, but she's still going to be crushed if he doesn't accept her,” Piper said.

“Life's going to be unbelievably hard for her for a while. Not only does she have a kid out there she doesn't know and might not accept her, she also has to deal with demon ex-husband she thought she'd never have to see again, and find a way to fit all this into the life she's already built,” Paige said.

“Yeah, from what I gather, Coop isn't handling this well. He doesn't want Cole around,” Paige said.

“I don't blame him. I don't want Cole around either,” Paige said, earning herself a look from her older sister. “What? I hate Cole. I'm not gonna deny that.”

Piper sighed. “Okay, I'm gonna say to you what I said to Coop when we first found out. Cole is going to be a part of our lives.”

“Yeah, yeah. Look, I'll do my best to be civil, but I'm always going to hate his guts,” Paige said.

“How about Harry? What do you think about him?” Piper asked. Her sister hadn't been all that excited when Phoebe was pregnant was Harry. Of course, that was understandable with how the kid had used his powers against her while he was still inside Phoebe

Paige took her sunglasses off and looked at her sister. “Look, I'm trying to keep an open mind. I know that a half-demon kid does not necessarily mean he's evil. You know how I felt when we found that half-manicore baby.”

Piper nodded.

“But I remember what happened when Phoebe was pregnant. That kid tried to kill me. I mean, he pushed me out a window,” Paige reminded her sister.

“I know, but like he was a fetus. He didn't have the mind to distinguish good from evil and which one to choose, plus as the Elder said he had been fed pure evil by the Seer,” Piper said.

“Yes, I know, and that's why I'm trying to keep an open mind. I want to be able to love him the same I do the girls and your kids. I just can't help but be a little bit guarded,” Paige explained.

Just then, they both heard Cole's voice as he made his way from the house. “Paige!”

Both woman were up within seconds after seeing him. “Damn it, that was way too quick!” Piper exclaimed as she and Paige rushed to follow Cole into the house.

Leo, who had been standing a few feet away with Wyatt, also followed.

They all made their way through the house and into the living room, where they found Phoebe kneeling beside a teenager who looked badly beaten.

“Oh my God!” Paige exclaimed.

“What the hell happened to him?” Piper asked horrified.

Phoebe looked up at her little sister with tears streaming down her cheeks. “Paige you have to heal him, please!”

“What happened?” Leo asked as he looked at the boy. Someone had used this child as a punching bag. Someone had beat up a fifteen-year-old kid. What was wrong with them? How could anyone harm a child like this?”

“They were beating him! That monster was at least three times his size! He couldn't have defended himself if he tried,” Phoebe cried as ran a hand through her son's hair.

“Okay, Phoebe, I need you to move so I can help him,” Paige said as she moved closer. She felt sick just looking at this boy, her nephew, and knowing what was done to him. The only thing that kept her from being physically sick was knowing that he needed her help.

Cole walked over to Phoebe and pulled her up and away from their son.

“I'm not sure how much you're going to be able to do, Paige. He's half-demon,” Leo said. A whitelighter's healing touch didn't work with demons. It worked to some extent with half-demons, but not all the way.

“Can I help?” a young voice from the doorway asked.

They all turned to see Wyatt. “Wyatt, you should be outside?” Piper said. She did not want her son seeing this. Wyatt had of course seen people hurt before, but this was different. This was not the result of a demon attack. Harry had the crap beat out of him by people who were supposed to love him.

“I knew something was wrong when you all came in here. Please, let me help,” Wyatt said.

“It's a good idea. Remember when Cole was injured years ago? Paige and I were able to heal him together. They might both be able to heal Harry if they do it together,” Leo said.

Wyatt didn't need any other permission than that. He ran to his aunt and new cousin. The two of them put their hands over Harry's body and watched as the golden glow emitted from their hands.

Phoebe and Cole watched with pain in their eyes, both feeling helpless that they couldn't physically do anything to help their son.

Wyatt frowned and looked up at his aunt. “What is that?”

“I don't know,” Paige said, already knowing what her nephew was asking about.

“What's wrong?” Cole asked.

“Is he not healing?” Phoebe asked worriedly. She was pretty sure her son's injuries weren't life threatening, but she still didn't want him suffering anymore.

“No, he is. It's just taking a lot longer,” Paige said.

“Then what's going on?” Piper asked.

“I can feel some kind of darkness in him,” Paige said.

“That's his half-demon side,” Leo stated.

Paige shook her head. “No, that's not it. I can feel that too. This is different. It's like it's him, but it's not. It feels like there's some kind of entity attached to him. It's making it harder to heal him.”

“Like he's possessed?” Cole asked in fear. He knew what possession felt like. It was one of the worst things he'd ever felt in his entire life. The only thing that felt worse was losing Phoebe and Harry. That couldn't happen to his son.

“I don't know. I don't think so, but I've never felt something like this when I went to heal someone,” Paige said.

“If he were possessed, whatever was possessing him would've been able to defend him when he was being attacked,” Piper reasoned.

Paige soon noticed the lightening bolt scar and had a hunch. “Wyatt, keep going. I have an idea.” She moved her hands from her nephew's stomach to his forehead and concentrated on the scar. What she felt before was much stronger there than it had been before. As soon as she tried to heal it, it began to fight her power, so she stopped. It was a bad idea to try to heal it any further right now. “It's the scar. Whatever the problem is, it's rooted in that scar.”

“It's a cursed scar. He got it when he was a baby. The wizard that killed his adopted parents tried to kill him. The curse rebounded and the backlash gave him that scar,” Leo explained.

“Someone tried to kill him? My God, how many people are going to hurt him. He's just a kid,” Phoebe cried.

Paige and Wyatt stopped their healing after a few moments. There were still a couple of bruises and Harry was still unconscious, but there didn't seem to be much more then could do. “We've done all we can. His demon half and that scar won't let us do much else,” Paige said.

“I think he's healed for the most part anyway, except for a couple of bruises,” Wyatt added.

“Why is he still unconscious then?” Cole asked.

“I don't know. Maybe because we weren't able to heal all of him and his body's spent from the ordeal. But there are no more serious injuries that need healing. He'll be okay,” Paige promised.

“Okay, we should get him upstairs then. He could use a bed to sleep in,” Piper said.

“He can have my bed,” Wyatt offered.

“Thanks, honey,” Phoebe said.

Cole went over and picked his son up and carried him towards the stairs. Phoebe followed him.

“Uh, I'll get Henry and we'll round the kids up. We'll take them home with us for the night,” Paige said.

“Thank you. I don't think it's a good idea for them to be around tonight. They'll ask too many questions, plus a full house might overwhelm Harry when he does wake up,” Piper said.

“I wanna stay,” Wyatt spoke. “I could be here in case we have to try healing Harry again, and maybe it'll be good for him if someone his age is here. Then he won't totally flip out when he wakes up in a strange place.”

“He could be right. While having most of the kids go is a good idea, having one might be helpful,” Leo said.

“Alright, you can stay,” Piper agreed.

Wyatt looked towards the stairs. “His family really did that to him?”

Leo put his hand on his son's shoulder. “Some parents aren't meant to have children, buddy. Some see kids as a way to show how strong they are.”

“He won't have to go back, right?” Wyatt asked.

“Absolutely not,” Piper said immediately. Taking their time with bringing Harry home and working with his family was officially off the table. In fact, she was tempted to have Paige orb her to them so she blow them up.

“If I know Cole, they won't even live long enough for that to be an issue,” Paige said. For once, it wasn't a criticism. For once, she'd help Cole if he asked.