Chapter Two: Potion Practice

It had been two days since Paris had officially moved into the Manor to live with her sisters. And, now that the Charmed Ones no longer had to worry about the Source, Piper had decided to give Paris a lesson in potion making so that she was fully prepared for any other demon attacks.

"So, after mixing your potions, what's the best method to preserve any unused sea slugs for future use: A) Pickle them, B) Sugar them, C) Smoke them or D) Freeze dry them?" Piper asked.

Paris didn't answer. Instead, she was telekinetically rearranging all the jars on the kitchen table, bored of learning about the basics of potions.

Piper, on the other hand, was getting bored of Paris' low attention span. "For goodness sakes Paris! Concentrate!" she snapped, catching a bowl of powdered mushroom in mid-air and putting it back on the table.

"What? It's not like I need to know any of this stuff. You and Paige always make the potions." she argued.

"But what if, for whatever reason, Paige and I can't make the potion? What would you do then?" reasoned Piper; not actually saying what she was thinking out loud for fear that it would come true. But what other reason, apart from them dying, would mean they couldn't make a potion?

Paris, sensing what Piper was getting at and trying to make light of the situation said: "Ask Phoebe?" half-heartedly, not really in the mood to be sarcastic and witty.

Piper tried to smile at her youngest sister's comment but couldn't get the thought of her and Paige dying out of her head.

~~PO4~~

Meanwhile, Phoebe was in the basement with Cole, who was trying to teach her the basics of martial arts so that she would be prepared for whatever evil may come knocking at their door.

"Why did you never teach me any of this stuff before? It probably would have been more useful when the Source was a danger, but we vanquished him already." Phoebe insisted after beating Cole in another combat fight. "Are you just letting me win?" she asked with a smirk.

"Stop talking, you'll get distracted." Cole ordered.

"Look," Phoebe started. "I really appreciate you teaching me all of this honey, but I don't need to know it."

"You never know when you'll need to fight or who you'll up against; it's good to be prepared." Cole replied.

"So why aren't you teaching the rest of us?" Paige asked suddenly from behind them, making Phoebe jump at the sound of her voice.

"Jeez Paige! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Phoebe asked, turning round to face her sister. Paige didn't answer.

Instead, Cole replied: "Piper told me she didn't want to learn how to fight as she's already at an advantage with her active power. Phoebe, on the other hand, only gets premonitions which aren't particularly useful in the actual fight against a demon. Plus, her levitation gives her an advantage when fighting." Cole quickly explained to Paige, eager to get on with his fiancés training.

"But what about Paris and me?" Paige asked, not satisfied with the ex-demon's answer.

"Paris doesn't even know how to make a simple potion so Piper wants her to learn the basics of witchcraft and get to grips with her telekinesis. It's a hard power to control but probably harder for her because she's just a kid. For the past 3 months, she just copied what you did because there wasn't enough time to properly train her before the Source came but now, there's plenty of time." Cole explained. "And anyway, like you, she may not ever develop the ability to fight without her powers because of her Whitelighter half. You're both half-pacifist so there's no point in me ever teaching you how to fight because you probably wouldn't learn anything."

Paige looked annoyed at what Cole had just said and turned around to head straight back upstairs but before she left she added: "I guess I'll just have to teach myself how to fight." And with that, she orbed off.

~~PO4~~

Piper and Paris, who were still in the kitchen, were arguing once again.

"Come on Piper, this is so tedious! Why can't I practise orbing with Paige or learn how to fight with Phoebe?" Paris begged her oldest sister.

"Because, knowing how to orb is completely pointless if you have no potion because in order to orb to a demon, you need the potion to vanquish it. Besides, Paige already knows how to orb so you don't really need to." Piper repeated for the third time in 15 minutes.

"But all of you already know how to make potions so why do I need to know?" Paris asked again.

"We've already had this conversation Paris and I'm not telling you again: you're learning all of this stuff because I said so and next week you're going to have a test on it so you'd better start paying attention." Piper said.

"But –" Paris started to argue but was cut off by the telephone ringing. "I'll get it!" Paris yelled, too loudly for indoors, as she quickly stood up, desperate for any excuse to stop learning about potions.

"Stay." Piper ordered, pushing her back into the chair. "Read through your notes and don't touch anything." she continued as she left the kitchen to answer the phone.

"You're no fun!" Paris shouted after her.

Already bored of waiting for her sister to return, Paris picked up a bunch of random ingredients off the kitchen table and started adding them to a pot. Just as she picked up the powdered toadstool, Paige orbed in and Paris couldn't help but say: "I wish I knew what it was like to be Paige or Phoebe." As she added a big handful of powdered toadstool into the pot.

"No!" Paige yelled. But it was too late: suddenly, there was a cloud of grey smoke coming off of the pot and Paris and Paige collapsed onto the floor.

Paris woke up with a pretty bad headache which she guessed was from landing on the kitchen floor but when she opened her eyes, she realised she was no longer in the kitchen but in the basement, with Cole standing right over her.

"I must have orbed here." Paris thought out loud. Cole just looked at her, confused.

"What are you talking about Phoebe? You can't orb." he said.

"Did you just call me Phoebe? How did I get down here?" Paris asked.

"You must have hit your head pretty hard, Pheebs." Cole said, sounding slightly worried for what appeared to him to be his fiancé but was, in actual fact, his fiancé's youngest sister.