A/N: Sorry about the slight delay. I trust everyone had a good Christmas and/or New Year? I've been an awful lot of places over the last two weeks, it's nice to be home again. Anyway, on with the chapter!

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'I cannot find even a single mention of The Star of Ivy!' cried Phoebe exasperatedly from where she sat, glasses on, eyes scanning page after page of the Book of Shadows.

'Keep looking,' said Melinda encouragingly, as she sat, corking up bottle after bottle of potions. Piper was helping Paige now with a rather difficult potion, one that supposedly would have the power to reveal whether Ben was related through his bloodlines to Phoebe. Bekky sat watching, appearing - by every standard - bored out of her mind.

'We're going to need more than potions, I think,' said Paige quietly.

'You're right,' agreed Piper. 'Melinda, Bekky, go into the conservatory, dueling practice begins now. Just don't hurt each other too badly.'

'Aunt Piper… my powers are bound,' said Bekky.

Phoebe looked up at the mention of said bound-powers.

'What?' asked Phoebe.

'Do you have the potion to unbind Bekky's powers?' questioned Piper.

'Oh, uh… yeah… freezer, I think. It should be labeled,' muttered Phoebe, turning her attention back to the Book of Shadows.

Piper began to hunt around in the freezer, moving various frozen meats and potion bottles around until she came up triumphantly.

'Hah!' cried Piper, brandishing a small potion bottle in her hand.

Bekky squealed.

'I can finally find out what my powers are!' she said, jumping up off the chair and swiftly crossing the room to where Piper was standing. Piper ran the frozen bottle under warm tap water to unfreeze the contents, and then handed it to her niece.

Bekky gulped the potion down in the blink of an eye, not even grimacing at the foul tasting liquid.

'Okay, now go find out what your powers are,' said Piper. 'Melinda, be nice,' she added as the two cousins left the kitchen.

Piper turned to Phoebe.

'Here, give me the book, I'll go upstairs and see if Grams can help.'

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Piper set the Book of Shadows down on the altar with a thud, and flipped it open to a blank page.

'A little help here, Grams?' called Piper, standing behind the book, one hand gripping each side of the altar.

Nothing happened.

'Grams! Show me the Star of Ivy!' Piper tried.

Again, nothing happened.

'Mum? Help?' asked Piper, gazing heavenward, a desperate, almost wild fire burning in her eyes.

The book remained firmly closed.

In a last attempt, Piper yelled out to the only person left whom might be of assistance.

'Show me the Star of Ivy, Prue!'

The words seemed to echo through the attack, Piper's voice bouncing of each wall, echoing through her ears.

Still nothing happened.

With a frustrated sigh, Piper slammed the book shut and stormed towards the attic door, clouds of dust rising at her feet with each heavy footfall. As she reached the door handle, though, a movement in the attic caught her eye. Piper froze.

She turned slowly, forcing herself not to panic, convincing herself she was still alone. The sight before her, however, made her jump. This wasn't quite what she had been expecting.

Piper came face to face with the Book of Shadows.

Hovering in mid-air, the Book of Shadows had risen up off the altar by a good few inches, and turned to face Piper. But that wasn't what had given Piper the biggest scare. The Power of Three symbol - the Triquetra - was no longer centered on the front cover of the Book of Shadows. Instead, the symbol had moved down towards the bottom left hand corner slightly, and up near the top right hand corner of the book was a second symbol.

This symbol was something Piper could only describe as a mix between a star, a circle, and a pile of curves. As with the Triquetra, this symbol had the circle that represented immortality - birth, life, death, and rebirth. But unlike the Triquetra, this symbol didn't have three intertwining arcs. It had five.

Piper found herself gaping like a fish at it, as slowly the book moved towards her. Finally, it reached her, and dazed as she was, all Piper could do was carefully pluck the book out of the air. Blinking, she carried the book back to the altar, her mind confused and on the verge of panicking.

The second the book hit the altar, it seemed to spring into life. Jumping out of Piper's grip, the book fell back against the wooden board, before the front cover flew open and the pages of the book started to turn rapidly, as if a strong wind was willing them to do so.

'Grams?' questioned Piper.

Still the pages continued to turn.

Piper continued to watch the book, the pages turning and turning, faster and faster, until suddenly - they stopped. Piper stared down at the thick page of parchment before her. Quite certainly, it was blank.

'Um…'

Piper stopped speaking, watching in rapt fascination as a vibrant, emerald coloured ink began to work its way across the page, slowly but surely forming words.

The Star Of Ivy

An ancient myth tells of Melinda Warren, and how her magical bloodlines would one day produce the most powerful witches ever seen - The Charmed Ones. The story tells us of these witches three, and their destiny, following in the footsteps of so many before them - protectors of the innocent. It tells of their battle, their ongoing struggle against the evil in their lives, and the lives of so many others, the demons that wage war upon our Earth. But long forgotten was the tale of The Star of Ivy.

Many moons ago, when witches few roamed the lands, their came a Clairvoyant. From as early as nine, Estel was predicting the future. However, this gift soon turned into a curse for the girl, a curse that would plague her for all of her waking days. Her tales of the future went from happiness and peace, to bitter and heart-breaking madness. Dreams and visions haunted her mind, a world full of evil, destruction and loss. Slowly but surely Estel found herself falling from the graces of sanity, clinging onto reality, until one day - she stopped.

The sun broke over the horizon early one morning, and onlookers found themselves witnessing the last insight Estel would ever make. Her prediction came as a shock to some - highly disturbing nonsense - but to others it would come as the light in the dark. The Star of Ivy.

'One day, far from now, the fate of the world shall rest in the hands of magic. Magic alone can save it - magic alone can destroy it. The scales will tip, what is done is done, but just when the battle looks lost, hope shall come. Born of powerful witches four shall come five children. The fate of the world shall rest upon their shoulders, but the decision is theirs alone to make. These children shall be known as The Star of Ivy.'

Estel's voice changed, her eyes glassy, wide open, almost as if she were possessed.

'One child shall be born of darkness, a terror to them all,
Another shall be born of light, pure, undying love,
One shall be born of hope, never giving up,
The fourth shall be born of innocence, but quickly slip away,
The last child holds the key, the magic to unlock them all,
Born of the dead, this one alone can call,
Children five, so close together, yet so very far apart,
Strengths shall be tested, weakness' come to part,
The world hangs in the balance, waiting for the answer,
The time will come to pass, when they have the power.'

Dismissed as a story that would never come to pass, Estel's Star of Ivy was long forgotten, buried away deep beneath the surface of the earth, seemingly unimportant - until now.

Hope lies in their hands.

Prudence Halliwell
2018

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TBC

A/N: What The Star of Ivy looks like shall be left up to your imagination. I do have a rough sketch of it, but my scanner is being its usual pain-in-the-ass self and not letting me scan, so, yeah. Imagine away.

Also, I'm presuming that Prue's full name was Prudence? I'm not sure if I remember it being mentioned in any of the Charmed episodes, but nevertheless.

And on a side note, I know 'Estel' is the elvish name given to Aragorn in Lord of the Rings, but it just seems fitting that the girls name should mean 'hope'.

Review, please?