CHARMED

"Makeshift Coven"

by J. B. Tilton and Angela Roche

email: aramath@isot.com

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: "Charmed" and all related characters and events are

the property of the WB television network, except for those characters

specifically created for this story. This is a work of fan fiction

and no infringement of copyright is intended.

* * *

(Authors note: This story takes place between season 5 episodes

"Centennial Charmed" and "House Call".)

* * *

When the sisters are suddenly sent back in time, they discover

that a serial killer is stalking a local high school. Without their

powers, they must find out who the killer is and put an end to the

killings.

Part 1: THE GOOD OLE DAYS

While Piper is looking through her high school yearbook a

magical vortex opens propelling the sisters back in time to their high

school days.

* * *

ONE

Piper sat in the attic going through a box of books. Even after

living in the manor for so many years there were still so many boxes

they hadn't gone through. With Cole now permanently vanquished, and

the demons on an apparent sabbatical, she had decided it was a good

time to sort through some of the things. Suddenly, Phoebe and Paige

walked into the attic.

"What cha' doing?" asked Phoebe.

"Just sorting through this," said Piper. "It seems like every

year this place gets more and more crowded."

"You're right," said Phoebe. "I guess its like most attics. A

catch all for things you don't want to get rid of but don't use most

of the time.

"Where's Leo?" asked Phoebe.

"I don't know," said Piper. "He was kind of mysterious this

morning. He said something about having to take care of something or

other then orbed out."

"My mom used to go on a rant every Spring," said Paige. "We'd

spend an entire weekend just cleaning out the attic. The next weekend

it was the garage. Boy, how I hated those weekends."

"Maybe we should do that," said Phoebe. "Just go through and

get rid of all the junk."

"Most of its not junk. This for instance." Said Piper, holding

up a photo album. "Its mom and dad's wedding album. I certainly

wouldn't call that junk."

"No of course not," said Phoebe. "But I'm sure a lot of this

stuff is junk. We can get rid of that stuff."

Well as much as I hated it when I was a kid," said Paige, "I

have to admit I miss it now. I guess I just miss my parents. It was

something we always did together."

"We know the feeling," said Piper. "It was the same with us and

Prue. Sometimes I miss some of the things we all used to do

together."

"So do I honey," said Phoebe. "Hey I have an idea. Why don't

we start our own traditions? We can start with the attic. Once a

year we can all come up her together and clean it up.

"Sounds good to me," said Paige.

"Okay then," said Piper, "lets get started. There's a lot of

stuff to go through up here."

They spend the next couple of hours cleaning through boxes

around the closet. They piled all the junk the planned to get rid of

next to the attic door.

"Hey, whose is this?" asked Paige holding up a book.

"What is it?" asked Phoebe.

"Looks like a high school year book," said Paige. "I'm assuming

this is not junk."

"Let me see that," said Piper.

She took the book from Paige and looked it over.

"It's mine," said Piper. "I got it my junior year. Lets see I

was sixteen. Prue was eighteen and a senior. That's the year she

graduated. And Phoebe would have been fourteen and a freshman."

"The year of hell," joked Phoebe. "I seemed to recall I was

especially troublesome.

"Let's see," said Paige. "That would have mad me twelve. The

year before my parents died. Oh yeah, I remember. I sort of ran away

from home for a couple of days that year."

"Where did you go?" asked Piper.

"Oh," said Paige thinking, "I don't remember. I do know I

caught hell when I got home though."

"Piper wasn't that the year those five girls were murdered?"

asked Phoebe

"Yeah it was," said Piper. "They never caught the guy."

"What murders?" asked Paige

"Five girls from our school were kidnapped and murdered," said

Piper. "Then they just suddenly stopped. Everyone was on edge."

"I can imagine," said Paige. "Did you guys know any of the

girls?"

"No not really," said Phoebe. "But if I remember didn't they

have an entire page in the yearbook dedicated to them?"

"Yeah" said Piper, opening the book. "Let me see if I can find

it."

As soon as Piper opened the book, a wind began to whip around

the attic. Before any of the girls could move, a vortex opened,

drawing them inside. Within seconds, the attic was empty.

TWO

Piper stood looking down a hallway filled with kids. Row upon

row of lockers lined both sides of the hallway. A low roar filled the

hall as all of the kids talked at once each involved in their own

conversations. The sight was unmistakable. She was standing in the

hallway of a school.

But that didn't make any sense. Only a moment ago she, Phoebe,

and Paige had been in the attic. Paige hadn't orbed them anywhere.

And Leo was gone at the moment. How could she just suddenly appear

here? And Why?

"Well, you gonna' let me borrow them or what?"

Piper spun around. Standing next to her was a blonde, about

sixteen. She stood looking at Piper with her hand out. For a minute

Piper didn't recognize the girl. Then, suddenly, she remembered who

it was.

"Melissa?" questioned Piper.

"Don't go spacey on me Piper," said the girl. "If I fail

another Bio test my mom is going to kill me. Are you going to let me

borrow your notes from class or not?"

Piper suddenly noticed she was holding several pages of

handwritten notes. She recognized the handwriting. It was hers. And

the heading on the first page indicated they were from a biology

class.

"What?" questioned Piper "bio notes?"

"Yeah," said the girl, taking the pages from Piper. "Thanks

Piper. You've saved my life. I'll get these back to you after study

hall."

Piper just watched as the girl hurried away down the hallway.

This was crazy. Melissa Stephens had been one of Piper's high school

friends. One of her few friends, she and Piper were the same age.

That would make her about thirty now. But this girl was obviously a

high school student. And she was tool old to have been Melissa's

daughter.

Piper turned and looked at the open locker she was standing next

to. She hadn't seen that locker in almost 15 years. It had been her

locker in high school. It was exactly as she remembered, including

the small makeup mirror hanging on the door.

The reflection staring back at her was her reflection. But it

was her high school reflection, not the reflection of a fully-grown,

Piper. A married Piper who was expecting her first child. Almost

involuntarily, she looked down.

Her stomach was flat as a board. She wasn't very surprised. It

didn't take much to figure out what had happened. Somehow, she had

gone back in time. She was obviously back in high school, apparently,

some time during her sophomore or junior year. As she remembered it,

she had met Melissa, during her sophomore year.

And in coming back to the past, she had appeared in her high

school body which meant, there was no baby, or any powers. Her powers

were still years in the future.

What she didn't know was how she had come to the past. Or why.

Outside of the Elders, It took a Power of Three spell to travel in

time. Could the Elders be behind this? Sending her back to the past

for some purpose?

She had no answers. Nor did she know if Phoebe and Paige had

come back with her. They had all been together when this had

happened. But that was no guarantee they had been affected too.

"Hey did you hear about little sister?" asked a voice behind

her.

Piper turned and froze. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw

Prue standing there. A young Prue, as she had looked in high school.

"She got caught skipping class again," said Prue. "And she was

caught smoking in the bathroom again. Grams is going to have a fit."

Piper couldn't speak. All she could do was stare at her older

sister.

THREE

"You okay?" asked Prue.

"Prue, you're alive," gasped Piper hugging her sister close.

"You're alive."

"Of course I am," said Prue. "Are you okay?"

"What?" questioned Piper, composing herself. "Oh yeah. I was

just so glad to see you that's all."

"Ease up," said Prue. "I know these killings have everyone on

edge but I'm fine."

"Killings?" questioned Piper. "Oh yeah, the killings. Aren't

they terrible?"

"They'll catch the guy," said Pure. "Just don't walk home

alone. And with what Phoebe did today, you might want to spend some

time at the library before you go home. Grams is going to be mad as a

hornet when she finds out what Phoebe did."

"Oh, okay," said Piper. "Do you know where Phoebe is right

now?"

"Where else?" Prue asked. "The Principals office."

"Okay, thanks," said Piper.

"See you at home," said Prue, walking down the hall.

Piper closed her locker and headed to the principals office. At

least she knew a little than she did before. It was some time during

her junior year. Prue had mentioned killings, plural. That mean at

least two of the victims had already died. It should be easy to find

out how many there had already been. It would be all over the school.

But right now she had to find Phoebe and Paige. She had to find

out if they had come back with her or if she had come back alone. She

was going to need help if she was going to figure this thing out.

She stood outside the principals' office waiting for Phoebe.

The secretary said that Phoebe was still in his office but should be

out soon. Piper had no idea how to find out if this Phoebe was the

future Phoebe or the one still in high school.

She couldn't just come out and ask. If Phoebe hadn't come back

with her, she'd sound like an idiot. She was still considering her

options when Phoebe came out of the office.

Piper just stared at her younger sister. She had forgotten how

outlandish the young Phoebe had dressed. She was wearing a pair of

jeans with the knees deliberately ripped out. She was just beginning

to "fill out" and wore a strapless blouse that accentuated her ever-

increasing cleavage. This was topped off with a leather motorcycle

jacket. Piper could only stare at this Phoebe, who was a long way

from the mature responsible woman she would eventually become.

FOUR

"Don't say anything," snapped Phoebe. "I've already been read

the riot act by Principal Michaels."

"Busted again, huh?" asked Piper.

"Yeah," said Phoebe. "Grams is going to go ballistic. He

called her and she persuaded him not to kick me out of school. But I

am not looking forward to going home."

"Well don't cut class or smoke in school, and you wont have to

worry about it," said Piper.

"I know, I know," said Phoebe. "Uh, Piper, um, have you seen

Prue today?"

"Yeah," said Piper. "She told me where you were at. Why?"

"Just curious," said Phoebe. "I uh, just haven't seen her since

I, uh got to school."

"I think she went to class," said Piper.

"Oh, okay," said Phoebe. "You haven't seen my friend, Paige

have you? Paige Matthews?'

Piper's heart skipped a beat. Neither of them had known Paige

until AFTER Prue had died. If Phoebe was mentioning her, it might be

her way of seeing if this was the future Piper.

"Not since I got to school," said Piper. "Have you seen Leo?"

"You said he went to a meeting this morning," said Phoebe.

"Piper?"

"Mrs. Turner?" questioned Piper.

"Oh thank goodness," said Phoebe. "I was afraid I was here by

myself. Piper what's going on? One minute we're in the attic, the

next I'm in there getting my butt chewed out."

"I don't know," said Piper. "Come on. Let's find some place

private where we can talk."

They went to one of the girls' bathrooms. With everyone in

class, it was deserted. Piper locked the door after they were inside.

"Look at me," said Phoebe, looking at herself in the mirror.

"I'm a kid."

"You're fourteen," said Piper. "Prue mentioned the murders.

That would make this my junior year, and your freshman year."

"And this outfit," said Phoebe. "Ugh, didn't I ever dress

normally."

"No you didn't, sweetie, " said Piper. "Remember you dressed

that way just to piss Grams off."

"Oh, right," said Phoebe. "Piper, what are we doing here? And

how did we get here?"

"I don't know," said Piper. "I just opened my yearbook and the

next thing I know, we're back here. I wonder where Paige is."

"She probably ended up in herself, too" said Phoebe. "If she's

only twelve, she would be at a different school."

"If she came back at all," said Piper. "It might just be you

and me."

"So what do we do?" asked Phoebe. "If we're still teenagers, we

don't have our powers. How do we figure out what's going on?"

"If we could get to the Book of Shadows, it might give up some

answers," said Piper.

"Good luck," said Phoebe. "Grams always kept the attic locked

and wouldn't let up go up there. I'm betting she's put a spell on it

so we can't open the door. Remember after she died? You and Prue

couldn't get the door opened until I got there."

"I remember," said Piper. "We'll just have to see if we can

figure this out without the book."

"That's not going to be easy," said Phoebe. "No book, no

powers, maybe no Paige, this is going to be difficult."

"We'll have to think of something," said Piper. "I'm betting

its no coincidence this happened when I opened my yearbook. Maybe

some mystical force used it to bring back here."

"We can't change the past you know that," said Phoebe. "So why

bring up back?"

"I don't know," said Piper. "That's one of the things we have

to figure out."

Suddenly they heard the lock on the door turn. They watched as

the door opened and a woman walked in. It took both of them a moment

to recognize the woman. At almost the same instant, they both

remembered who the woman was. It was Mrs. Logan, the schools' vice

principal.

FIVE

"I trust you both have a pass to be here," said Mrs. Logan.

"What?" asked Piper "Oh no we don't. Uh actually, Phoebe wasn't

feeling well. We thought we should get her out of the halls."

"Oh yeah," said Phoebe. "I uh, felt like I was going to throw up."

"Cigarettes will do that," said Logan. "You seem to be feeling

better now."

"Yeah, I am," said Phoebe. "I'm feeling a lot better.

"Then I suggest you get to class," said Logan

"We were just heading there," said Piper.

"That was close," said Phoebe as they headed down the hallway.

"I thought grams was going to get another call on me today."

"You forget," said Piper. "I was almost never in trouble in

high school. In fact, most of the teachers liked me."

"Why not?" asked Phoebe. "Almost straight A's. Never late to

class, never missed a class and always did your homework. You were a

teachers dream student."

"Come on," said Piper. "We have some work to do. First, we

have to find Paige. We have to see if she was brought back with us.

Then we have to figure out what's going on."

Finding Paige proved to be harder than they had imagined.

Although they knew a lot about Paige's childhood they soon found out

there were a lot of specifics they didn't know. Like her parents

names or her address. Or what the names of the schools she had

attended had been. Matthews was a pretty common name. There were far

too many in the phone book to call all of them. And without some idea

of what school she had attended, they had no idea where to start

looking.

"I never realized just how little we know about her," said

Phoebe.

"We've only known her a year and a half," said Piper. "You

can't learn everything over night."

"Actually its closer to two years now," said a voice behind

them, "and from the sound of it, I'm not the only one doing the H.G.

Wells thing."

Piper and Phoebe turned to see a very young Paige standing

behind them. She had straight black hair, and braces. And she looked

to be about twelve years old."

"Paige?" questioned Phoebe.

"Its me sis," said Paige. "It took me a while to get oriented

but I got here as quickly as I could."

The three sisters hugged, glad to all be together again.

"How did you find us?" asked Piper. "I don't remember ever

telling you what high school we went to."

"I sensed you," said Paige. "As soon as I knew you were alone,

I orbed here."

"You orbed?" asked Phoebe.

"Wait a minute," said Piper. "How can you orb? You wont be a

Charmed One for more than a decade."

"I may not have my witch powers," said Paige, "but remember,

I've always been half White Lighter. I just didn't know it or how to

use my powers. That's not a problem for me as an adult. And since

I've always had my White Lighter powers, I can use them even if I am

only twelve years old."

"That might come in handy," said Piper. "At least one of us has

our powers."

"So you guys don't know what's going on either?" asked Paige.

"No," said Phoebe. "We think it might have something to do with

the murders. But that's only speculation right now."

"We need the Book of Shadows," said Paige.

"That's not going to be easy," said Piper. "Grams keeps the

attic door locked. Probably so we don't find the Book of Shadows."

"No problem," said Paige. "I can orb all of us in. A locked

door is no hindrance to me."

"That's a good idea?" said Phoebe. "But we better wait until

Grams is gone. We don't want to make her suspicious."

"Good idea," said Piper. "Lets get home. Maybe there's

something there that can give us a clue as to what's going on.

SIX

"Phoebe, what were you thinking?" Grams asked back at the

manor. "Skipping class again, and smoking. Do you have any idea what

smoking will do to you? Especially at your age?"

"I know grams," said Phoebe, "and I'm really sorry."

"That's what you said the last time," said Grams. "And the time

before that. Every time you get in trouble and every time you're

sorry. But you keep doing it. The principal wanted to expel you this

time. Honestly, Phoebe, I just don't know what I'm going to do with

you."

"This time I mean it, Grams," said Phoebe. "I really, really am

sorry. I never wanted to hurt you. I just wasn't thinking."

"Are you okay?" asked Grams.

"Yeah, why?" Phoebe asked.

"You seem different, that's all," said Grams.

"Oh, uh, I think she's learned her lesson Grams," interjected

Piper. "Principal Michaels really read her the riot act. I think it

sank in this time."

"You do?" asked Grams, looking at Piper. "Well, you're still

grounded for a month. Straight to school, and straight home, and no

television. You can spend the time catching up on all that homework

you've missed."

"Okay," said Phoebe.

"What, no crying or complaining?" asked Grams. "Not even an

argument?"

"I screwed up," said Phoebe.

"Okay," said Grams. "So who's your friend?"

"Paige Matthews, Grams, Uh, I mean Ms Halliwell," said Paige.

"Oh, go ahead and call me Grams," said Grams. "They do."

"Okay, Thanks," said Paige.

"Do I know your parents?" asked Grams. "You seem familiar."

"No I don't think so," said Paige. "I go to a different school.

I don't think you've ever met them."

"You just look so familiar," said Grams. "Oh, well dinner will

be ready in a little bit. Paige you're welcome to stay if you want."

"Thanks, Grams," said Paige. "I'd like that."

"Girls," said Grams. "Prue is leaving on her class trip

tomorrow. Tonight, I'd like a nice, peaceful dinner without any

arguing if you don't mind. Let's just see if we can all be civil to

each other just this one time."

"We'll be on our best behavior, Grams," promised Phoebe.

"Both of you," emphasized Grams, looking directly at Phoebe.

"Word of honor," said Phoebe.

Grams walked to the kitchen door. Just before she walked into

the kitchen she turned and looked at the three. She had a strange

look on her face. Then she turned and walked into the kitchen.

* * *

Dinner went just as the girls had promised. Instead of arguing

over some silly disagreement, they had a nice peaceful dinner. Prue

was more than a little confused when Phoebe didn't lash out like she

usually did when Prue made her snide remarks about Phoebe's actions.

After a couple of remarks, Prue let the matter drop.

"I have my women's meeting tomorrow," said Grams, "so I'll be

late getting home. But you still have to come straight home from

school, Phoebe. And remember. No television.

"Understood," said Phoebe. "Straight home from school."

"I'll make sure she does," said Piper.

"You're helpful all of a sudden," said Prue. "Usually you don't

volunteer for something like that."

"Just trying to help Phoebe prove she's changed," said Piper.

"Well," said Grams, "Paige you want me to take you home? It's

dark out. Not very safe for a young girl this time of night."

"Oh, uh, no," said Paige. "My dad's meeting me down the street.

He's probably already there. I guess I should be going."

"Stop by again sometime," Grams said.

"I will," said Paige

"She's a nice girl," said Grams. "Well, big day tomorrow.

Guess I should be getting to bed. Don't stay up too late."

"We won't" promised Pure.

The three sisters stayed up talking. Although she was perplexed

about it, Pure found it refreshing to just talk with her sisters

instead of fighting with them.

SEVEN

"Morning," Piper said to Paige.

"Morning," said Paige. "Feels kind of strange having to sneak

into the manor. Lucky for me I can get in unobserved."

"Well, you need to get out the same way," said Piper. "We can't

have Grams catching you here. Too many questions we couldn't answer.

We'll meet you at school."

Paige orbed out of the bedroom. After leaving the manor the

night before, she had orbed back to Piper's room. She had stayed

there the night. Now, she waited at the school for Piper and Phoebe.

In uncharacteristic fashion, Piper and Phoebe saw their oldest

sister off at the bus. They both knew that whatever they had come

here to do would probably be finished before Prue returned from the

trip. At lest they had the opportunity to visit with her again.

Piper and Phoebe met Paige at the pre-arranged location. Their

plan was simple. Paige would orb them into the attic while Grams was

at her women's meeting. She attended the meeting every week. They

would be able to look through the Book of Shadows without being

disturbed.

"I don't see why we can't just tell her," said Paige. "She is a

witch, after all. I'm sure she'd understand."

"We can't change the past," said Piper. "Which means,

presumably, that we can't give her any idea of what her future is

going to be like."

"Besides," said Phoebe. "She'd want to know why Prue didn't

come back with us and you did. Remember, no one knows about you yet.

And I for one don't want to tell her about Prue. No sense in

upsetting her like that."

"Right," said Piper. "Now, she'll be at her meeting for several

hours. It should give us enough time to look through the book. So I

guess its time for you to do your thing"

Paige took hold of Piper and Phoebe and orbed them into the

attic. It looked exactly as Piper and Phoebe remembered it looking

when they had first opened the attic door.

"She kept the Book of Shadows in that footlocker under the

window," said Phoebe. "I wonder why she didn't keep it on the podium

like we do."

"Probably in case we ever got in here,' said Piper. "At least

this way there was less of a chance of us finding it."

Phoebe pulled the book out of the locker. In all the centuries

it had existed, it hadn't changed a bit. Except it got progressively

larger, as succeeding generations of Halliwells added to it.

"To bad we cant make a few entries," said Phoebe, "It might save

us some heartache."

"I know, sweetie," said Piper. "But you know the rules."

Phoebe opened the book and they began to look through it. Most

entries they just skimmed over. They knew those entries would have

nothing to do with their current situations.

"What about that one?" asked Paige. "A Woogie?"

"It might be possible," said Piper. "But somehow I don't think

so. The Woogie didn't strike me as having the power to move anyone

through time."

"What about Tempest?" asked Phoebe. "His specialty was time

manipulation?"

"He was destroyed when," began Piper, "before the Source was

vanquished. Unless he reached into the future for us, I think we can

count him out as well."

"You're right," said Piper. "There just doesn't seem to be

anything that fits. I was sure we'd find something that would help

us."

"Maybe I could help," said a voice from the attic doorway. "I

have some experience with that book."

The sisters looked up to see Grams standing in the doorway to

the attic. Her arms were folded across her chest.

"Apparently," said Grams. "Phoebe isn't the only one who cuts

class."

To be continued . . .

Be sure not to miss Part 2: Serial Killer. Forced to tell Grams

the truth, the sisters enlist her aid to find out why they've been

brought to the past. What they discover sets them on the trail of a

killer. A killer who is hunting witches.

If you've enjoyed this story, you can find more "Charmed"

stories at my website, www.geocities.com/killeenmale/ . You can also

post your own "Charmed" stories if you like to write fan fiction.