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Paige exchanged glances with Piper as the elevator door opened up before them, revealing the penthouse apartment. It looked like it had last time they had gone to ask Cole for help, sterile, white and very much like an apartment that was on the market. Not a photo or homely touch anywhere.
The balcony doors were open, letting in some bay air, the cool breeze quiet and soothing.
Piper stepped out of the elevator, looking around at the big piano off the corner, the mantle right next to them. “Where’s…”
“Look,” Paige whispered, pointing to the big chair by the opposite corner of the apartment. Her eyes were wide as she tucked her hands into her pockets. The chair was facing them, the man in it intent on the book in his lap.
Piper followed her sister’s gaze to where she was pointing, her eyes widening as well. There was a man sitting down in it, reclining a little bit, a book in one of his hands. His other hand was hanging down, curled around.
Cole was kneeling on the floor, on the man’s left side, his knees on a pillow, his arms behind his back. His head was leaning against the stranger’s thigh, his eyes closed, his breathing even. The few days’ old stubble that had been on Cole’s face the last time they had seen him was gone. Cole’s hair was brushed out, not messy, his skin not as pale as it had been.
The shirt Cole was wearing was black and tight across his form.
The stranger’s hand was curled around the back of Cole’s neck.
Piper stared at the two men, opening her mouth and then closing it with an audible snap.
The stranger peered up at them, drawing their attention. His own dark hair was loose, falling to his shoulders and a little messy. His green eyes were sharp, vibrant, lethal as he stared at them, arching an eyebrow. The scar on his forehead drew Piper’s gaze, making her wonder what had caused it.
The man looked young, looked roughly in his early twenties, maybe younger.
“You two should have knocked,” the man started, clearing his throat but still leaving his hand around Cole’s neck. “Isn’t that what you keep telling Cole to do?”
“Who the fuck are you?” Paige questioned, her eyes narrowing.
The man’s lips twitched and his gaze lowered to where Cole was, his eyes softening a little, before standing up. Piper blinked as a soft whine came from Cole’s throat, the sound putting her on edge. The stranger’s hand trailed up Cole’s neck, slipping into his hair in a soothing manner, before drawing away. They could both see the way a tremor echoed through Cole’s body at the touch, see his eyes flutter open. “You can call me Harry.”
“Harry, okay. We have business with Cole,” Paige said, taking a step forward.
“We need to talk to him alone,” Piper added, her eyes narrowing.
What if this was a trap? What if Cole was… They needed to get the potential innocent out of harm’s way.
“You can talk to me,” Harry remarked, lifting his shoulders in a small shrug. “What. Is Phoebe in trouble again?”
Paige twitched.
“Let me guess. Spin the wheel. She’s been possessed,” Harry tried, his eyes darkening briefly before going neutral again. His hands fell to his sides, one of them landing on Cole’s shoulder.
“How the hell do you know?” Paige asked, taking another step towards the man, towards Cole.
Harry snorted. “It was a guess, oh Charmed One. Seems to happen to you three frequently and more commonly to Phoebe.”
Paige shivered at the way the man said Charmed One . The man’s voice had gone low, with an almost condescending tone to it.
“Cole, we need your help,” Piper said.
Cole just stared up at her idly, his eyes a little hazy.
“Why is it always Cole you turn to when you need help? What about another witch?” Harry questioned, humming in thought.
“He knows things,” Paige retorted, crossing her arms defensively. “Things that we wouldn’t know. Things no witch would know.”
“And why is that?”
“Cause he’s a demon. He’s evil.”
Harry blinked, glanced down at Cole and reached down to cup Cole’s chin, tipping him up to look into his eyes. “Did you hear that, Cole? You’re apparently evil.”
Cole huffed, a corner of his mouth pulling up in a grimace.
Piper crossed her arms. “Look. We need to talk to him alone. Enough of whatever the hell you two have been planning or have got going on here.”
“I’m not leaving him alone with you two,” Harry remarked, letting Cole go slowly and looking back at them. “So either say what you need to say or leave.”
“What are you doing here anyway? You’re not magical, are you?” Paige argued, gesturing between Harry and Cole. “And why hasn’t he stood up?”
“Ah. I told him to stay put,” Harry offered nonchalantly. “He can be quite good for the right person.”
Piper twitched and exchanged wary looks with Paige, whose nose was scrunched up. She noted that Harry had not answered Paige’s first couple of questions, of whether or not Harry was magical. She didn’t know if that meant Harry was a magical creature or not, didn’t know who they were dealing with here.
“ Right person? ”
“To someone who has earned his loyalty and trust,” Harry explained, shrugging. “He’s earned mine as well. But alas. It wouldn’t do to talk about him like he wasn’t here. So…any reason why you haven’t gone to another witch about this? Or asked a whitelighter?”
“Is this like what they do at the club that’s near P3?” Paige whispered over to Piper, who looked between Harry and Cole suspiciously.
“Eww.” Paige drew back a little, flexing her hands at her sides anxiously.
“Harry, Cole’s a demon,” Piper started placatingly, walking over to Paige’s side.
“Was. Having demonic powers does not make one a demon,” Harry said, his lips twisting in a way that Piper didn’t like. “Also. Being a demon does not make one evil.”
Harry cocked his head thoughtfully, his eyes flicking to the desk in the center of the room. He glanced down at Cole for a moment before sighing and walking over to him. “Cole, sweetheart. I need you up now.”
Cole twitched, his gaze fully on Harry now, his entire body turned to the man they knew nothing about. Cole’s eyes fluttered shut before he yawned. Harry reached over and down, reaching his arms to stroke over Cole’s shoulders, his thumb rubbing circles into his neck.
“Here,” Harry whispered, his other arm reaching down to Cole’s back, clearly doing something that neither Paige nor Piper could see. It took a few minutes but Harry finally pulled back, with. With rope in his hands. A second later, the rope vanished and one of Harry’s hands went to Cole’s shoulder, more of a visible support than anything.
Piper’s eyes narrowed, glancing between the rope in Harry’s hands and the way that Cole rolled his shoulders now, stretching them out. The way he slowly brought his arms in front of them, dropping them to his sides as he stood up. The way that Cole took a deep breath in, letting it out moments later, stretching out his body.
Cole’s arms had been bound behind his back.
Piper stared at Harry, who met her gaze idly, arching an eyebrow as if daring her to comment.
Harry slipped an arm around Cole’s waist, exchanging glances with the man briefly. He whispered into Cole’s ear for another minute, letting his lips linger on bare skin and hearing Cole’s breath hitch. Cole met his eyes, swallowed, and then dipped his head in a nod.
Paige turned away, her eyes wide like a deer in the headlights. Piper rather felt the same, her cheeks reddening as she watched Cole withdraw from Harry and walk over to the desk. She didn’t even notice Harry walking off a minute later, too focused on Cole to really give a shit about the other man.
Piper flexed her hands and brought them up, taking a step back.
“Oh, come on, Piper, this isn’t a trap,” Cole remarked, grinning at her in a way that reminded her of the old Cole but it was too...jagged, too sharp. He leaned against the desk for a moment before turning around to pick up a pen. “I have a gift for Phoebe.”
Piper flinched and she felt Paige stiffen next to her.
“What kind of gift, Cole?” Paige retorted, reaching into her bag for a potion that might work against Cole.
They watched as he flipped through papers on the desk, scribbling things on a few pages. The sound of something opening and closing in the room off the main living room made them both jolt. Made them uneasy. Made them realize that they had turned all their attention on Cole and forgotten about Harry.
“Ah-ah,” Cole spoke, turning around with a group of papers in hand. He glared at them, shaking his head as if scolding them. “If you harm a hair on his head, I’m afraid I’m going to have to kill you.”
“Try it, Cole. I’m indestructible,” Piper argued, reaching her hand down to her belly, to where her daughter was. “It appears my daughter wants me safe.”
“So am I,” Cole said, holding out the papers to her. “Here. These are for your sister.”
Harry reappeared in the doorway of the other room, a glass of water in hand and a…glass sphere in the other. His gaze was amused, fond even, as he walked over to Cole, handing the glass over to him. “Here. Drink.”
Paige twitched and turned around again, staring down at the papers in Cole’s hand.
“Did you even tell them what the papers were?” Harry asked, rolling his eyes and tossing the glass sphere over to Piper. “Drama queen. And the sphere is for you also. That’s the one and only time I’m helping you three before we leave.”
“Sphere,” Piper echoed, nudging Paige towards Cole hesitantly. She watched as Paige grabbed the papers out of Cole’s fingers and then shuffled back, flipping through them. Cole took the glass of water from Harry and began to drink slowly, watching them intently as he did.
“Put it over Phoebe’s chest,” Harry offered, shrugging and elbowing Cole. “It’ll pull out the soul of whoever is possessing her.”
“But we need--”
“Piper, these are signed divorce papers,” Paige interrupted, her eyes narrowed. “What’s the catch?”
“There’s no catch,” Cole said, only a little hint of pain in his voice at the words. “She and I are done. Harry and I are leaving.”
“Leaving?” Piper repeated incredulously. “But--”
“You guys need to either let him go or let him die,” Harry interrupted, his eyes darkening. “I heard Phoebe’s words two weeks ago. ‘ Yeah, but on our terms, not yours. We won’t help you commit suicide.’ I have never heard of a sentence that pisses me off more than that.”
The lights flickered in the living room and the window glass behind them and in front of them cracked in various spots.
“How could you have heard Phoebe’s words?” Paige asked, her eyes wide as the gentle breeze from outside became less gentle and more of a hard wind. “You weren’t there!”
“You don’t decide who gets to live and who gets to die,” Harry said, something black flickering in his eyes. “I was there for Cole’s soul.”
Piper winced and took a step back, her eyes going wide. “You mean…you’re…”
“I’m Death, darling,” Harry offered, winking at her cheekily. “We are leaving to go to my home world.”
“And I’m going to properly find myself,” Cole added, glancing at Harry thoughtfully. “Who knows. I might end up teaching.”
Paige sputtered.
Piper opened her mouth and then closed it a minute later.
“You’d make a good teacher, love,” Harry said, smiling over at Cole. “I suppose you could be my advisor too, if you didn’t want to teach. They did elect me Minister after all.”
“But…what about his powers?” Piper finally got out.
“Which powers? The ones he has now or the demonic ones?” Harry questioned, tilting his head and grinning.
“Umm.” Paige grimaced and swallowed, pointing at Cole. “The demonic ones?”
“I ate them,” Harry said, his attention now all on Cole.
Paige blinked and then blinked again, confusion etched into her face, her mouth open. “You ate them.”
“Yep. Tasted like chicken.”
Cole laughed, making Harry’s eyes light up, and walked right into Harry’s arms. Harry easily wrapped his arms around Cole, fitting his head on Cole’s shoulder and waved at them. Shadows wrapped around them both one minute and then they were gone the next.
Paige spluttered a moment later. Piper just stared at the spot where both men had been.
“We are soooo not telling Phoebe about this,” Paige finally spoke.
“Why did Death have an English accent?” Piper wondered, glancing down at the sphere in her hands.
Cole landed with a soft thud in the tower that he had become familiar with over the years. Harry was still in his arms, his chest heaving with laughter.
“And what, may I ask, is so funny?”
“Do you think they know?” Harry asked, pulling back a little bit, his eyes crinkling with laughter lines. The quarters of the headmaster of Hogwarts spread out around them, cozy and home.
“Know what?”
“Piper’s spawn isn’t a girl.”