Phoebe

Darkness surrounded me. I was getting closer. It was freezing, and it was getting colder. The cold didn't bother me, though. I was only aware of my goal. A wave of malevolent vibrations went through me. "There's no need for that, Cearbhall. I'm not here to vanquish you," I called. "Show yourself."

"Why are you here? You are a Charmed One. Why do you venture into the darkness of the Underworld?" His presence was all around me. His voice echoed through my head. I would have to keep him out.

"I have a proposition for you."

"Perhaps the Queen has returned?" He placed his hand on my shoulder. "No. I sense no evil in you. Evil intent, perhaps… But your soul is still pure. I could change that…"

"Don't even try it. I'm not here to get turned."

"Then what is your proposition?"

"Show yourself and I will explain." If Cearbhall kept his current form, it would be far easier for him to manipulate my thoughts. I needed him solid.

"Fine." A torch flared up and revealed Cearbhall. He looked mostly human, save for his horns.

"What would you say if I told you that I was willing to give up my powers as a Charmed One?" I asked.

He considered me. "I would say that you're setting a trap."

"This is no trap. I will give you my abilities as a Charmed One in exchange for your service."

"And what service might that be?" Cearbhall was interested. This was going well, but I still had to be careful.

"I want you to bring back someone from the dead."

"Who?"

"Sirius Black," I said. "I have a few conditions."

"Name them."

"You are not to attack my sisters using my powers. You will bring back the real Sirius and you won't force him to be evil. You get my powers and nothing else. Do we have a deal?"

"Well…" He put on an air of disinterest. "It is rather difficult to bring people back from the dead. Your powers aren't the greatest. Levitation, empathy, and premonitions, after all, might not even be worth the effort. Something more might encourage me."

I was immediately suspicious. "Such as what?"

"Such as, oh, I don't know… Your firstborn child?"

"What are you, Rumpelstiltskin?"

"Well, in order to bring him back to life, I'll have to find his soul, get it away from the Elders, and restore his body. It's a risky operation. If I get caught, I will be executed. Promise me the child and I will bring Sirius back to life."

"Deal." I had no intention of really giving up my child, but he didn't have to know that.

He waved his hand and a piece of paper appeared. "I'm afraid I need more of a guarantee. If you'll sign this, I'll be able to begin my work."

A quill flew into my hand.

"Sign it."

My hand hovered above the parchment. "I, Phoebe Halliwell, hereby promise the demon Cearbhall that I will relinquish both my powers and my firstborn in exchange for the life of Sirius Daniel Black." I looked up at Cearbhall. "Why do you want my firstborn? Once you gain my powers, he won't have any special abilities."

"I have my reasons. Do we have a deal?"

Phoebe Ha—

Someone orbed me.

"No! Leo, stop it!" I screamed and flailed wildly. "Let me go!"

I dropped down to the ground. "You could have at least been a little more gentle!" I yelled. "Might as well get to work," I grumbled and got up.

"I did not!" I yelled.

"Yes you did!" Snape called back.

"Did not!"

"Did!"

"Not!"

"You did too!"

"Prove it!"

"Both of you shut up! Wyatt's fussing," Piper hissed as she tried to calm Wyatt down.

Harry was watching us with great amusement.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Wyatt." I kissed him on the top of his head. "But I am not lying."

"You went to see the demon Cearbhall," Snape accused. "He is a follower of the Dark Lord."

"Snape, be a man and call him Voldemort," I said. "And you're one to talk."

He flinched.

"Voldemort. Voldemort!"

"Do not say his name!" Snape growled.

"If you're going to yell, you two had better take your discussion into another room. The meeting is going to start soon, and it is only for adults," Piper said coolly.

"Phoebe, did you go down to the realm of Cearbhall?" Prue asked.

"No." I knew that Prue would be able to sense that I was lying. However, I couldn't admit that I had done something so desperate, so stupid, especially not in front of Snape. I would never live it down if he found out.

Prue looked at me closely.

Please don't tell Snape, Prue. I did it. It was stupid. Just don't tell him.

"If she says she didn't do it, I believe her," she declared.

Thank you, Prue.

"Good evening, all," Dumbledore said as he walked in.

"Dumbledore, I'm sorry, but Leo couldn't baby-sit and today's the nanny's day off."

"Perfectly understandable. I assume you'll be needing one of these." He conjured a crib.

"Thank you," Piper gratefully said. "I don't understand why Leo's so busy all of a sudden."

"He's training a new whitelighter," Paige said.

"Do you know who?"

"No. When I asked, Leo got all vague. It was like get didn't want me to know."

"Which means that it probably involves us," Piper concluded.

"We do not think we're the center of the universe, Snape," Prue said suddenly.

"Prue, please refrain from reading minds while we meet," Dumbledore lightly said.

"Sorry, sir."

The others started to arrive. The truth of what I had nearly did was now dawning on me, which made me feel really, really terrible. I had almost betrayed my sisters. I had almost given up my son before he was even conceived. What the hell was wrong with me?

"The demon Cearbhall is claiming that he almost snatched the third child," Dumbledore announced.

Because of me.

"Therefore, we believe that it would be best if the Charmed Ones moved to England immediately."

"Sir, we still have to find a house," Paige pointed out.

"Your old house just went up."

"We still need to buy it. That will take a long time," Piper protested.

"Everything has been arranged."

"The moving?" Prue asked.

"Magic."

"I love the magical world."

Oh, God, was I losing my mind? Had the grief made me lose my sanity? Would I have to be chained up in a mental institution to keep others safe? Several more possibilities flashed through my mind, and I began to feel a bit sick. My own actions were making me feel sick to my stomach.

All of a sudden, something connected with the back of my head. I slumped forward, then rose up into the air. "Dumbledore, do you remember me?" My voice was not my own. I was someone else, yet I was myself. "I am reborn in the four. The medium, the mother, the master, and the mystic… You must remember my forms. The Elders did not realize how much power they would need. They gave them too little. That is why I have come." I threw my arms up toward the sky.

My sister rose up next to me. Their eyes had changed color, and as had their hair. Their essence was the same, though.

"Open your mind," we all said.

Everything went black.

Laughter was ringing in my ears.

I can't breathe… Can't breathe…

I gasped and air filled my lungs. My eyes flew open as I sat up. I didn't recognize my surroundings. "Hello?" I felt like I was forgetting something. It nagged at the back of my confused mind. I had to remember it, though I didn't understand why.

I looked around. "This looks like a morgue," I commented to myself. Then I realized what I had said. "A morgue!" I jumped off a table and found that three other things were on the table. I slowly slid off the sheet covering three other somethings. Please, please don't be bodies…

The sheet was covering the bodies of my sisters. They were breathing, though. Why were we in the morgue? I took a deep breath and yelled, "Wake up!"

"Jesus! You don't have to yell. We can hear you just fine," Prue grumbled and sat up. Horror filled her eyes as she looked around. "Phoebe, we're in a morgue!"

"Morgue? Don't be silly," Paige said.

"This is a morgue…" Piper said, rubbing her eyes. "We're in a morgue."

We all screamed. A woman came running into the room. She screamed when she saw us. "Oh my God, you're dead! Why are you walking around? You're dead!"

"We're not dead. There must have been a mistake," Piper responded.

"You've been dead for days," the woman said as she backed away.

"We have not!"

The woman fainted.

"Okay, that was screwed up," I said. "Let's get out of here." We apparated home.

The sound of screaming was the first thing to greet us.

"This is getting annoying," Piper muttered. "Molly, calm down. Chris, get that look off your face. Leo, what is that look?"

The three of them stared at us unbelievingly.

"Leo," Prue slowly started, "why were we in the morgue?"

"You're dead," Leo said. "Well, you were dead."

"What? We were not dead." I wasn't sure whether to laugh or to scream. Why did everyone think we were dead?

"At the meeting, you… well, died," Molly said. "Phoebe, you changed and gave a message to Dumbledore. Then all of you rose up into the air."

"What do you mean by changed?" I asked.

"Your eyes changed color. Your hair turned black and you all went pale. Then you fell down and…. died."

"Oh. Well, we're not dead."

"I think Dumbledore has some explaining to do," Prue said.

Paige

"So no one knows why we died? There was no cause, no reason…. We just died?" I asked. We had been talking with Leo for a long time. Apparently we had been dead for five days.

"Yeah. You weren't supposed to die. We have no idea why this happened," Leo said.

"Don't the Elders control this stuff? What happened?" Phoebe and Prue had given up on asking questions and had slipped into their own worlds. Piper was spending time with Wyatt. He had been most upset when she had died.

"We really don't know. We have an idea, but we can't be sure."

"What's your idea?"

"We think that our time path was changed when you left the wizarding world," Leo explained. "You weren't meant to leave the wizarding world. Something was changed while you were still there. That affected everything."

"Interesting. Do you know what that event is?"

"No."

"So, should we try to figure it out?" I questioned.

"Yes, for your own safety."

"Great. You going now?"

"Yeah. You should get some sleep."

"I've been dead for five days. I think I've gotten enough sleep."

He orbed out.

"I am so tired of this bag of riddles. Why can't we just be normal?" I complained.

"Well, Phoebe seems to know a lot," Prue said.

Phoebe arched her eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"You went into a trance and said some weird stuff. Do you remember, Paige?"

I shook my head. "No. All I can remember is going to the meeting. Everything else is just a blank."

"The medium, the mystic, the mother, and the master," Prue said. "Those are our titles. At least, that's what I think. That's the only part I remember."

"I'd really rather not think about this," I said. "I was dead. I think I'll take a break right now."

"Yeah, I think I will too. Pheebs?"

"Yeah. Coming back to life sure makes you feel weird. I'm not sure I'll ever feel normal again."

"How normal can you be?"

"Hey!"

"Paige, watch out for that vase!" Piper called.

"Ow!"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine," I said as I rubbed the back of my head. Things were flying around, all trying to get into the box first.

"Now cut that out!" Piper called. "You're not competing!"

"Is this your spell?"

"No, it's Phoebe's. She always makes them competitive. She thinks it's entertaining. Of course, almost everything ends up broken." She put extra emphasis on the last words, but Phoebe was nowhere to be found. "She said something about being a terrible mother. Do you know what that's about?"

"Nope. She isn't even a mother yet. Speaking of that, who do you think is going to be the father of Phoebe's son?"

"I don't know. It's probably Jason."

"Are they really that serious?" I wondered.

"I didn't think so, but after that vision… It seems more likely. Stop beating up the teacups, you stupid teapot! Mora!" The tea set froze and turned to Piper. "Now, get into the box." They obediently did.

"Good morning," Harry yawned as he came down the stairs. The sight of everything flying around was enough to wake him up. "Packing?"

"Yup. Prue will be taking care of the bedrooms once she gets up."

"That might not happen for a while," Piper said with a smile.

"Ah," I said knowingly. "What's his name?"

"Kingsley Shacklebolt. I'll make breakfast. Paige, make sure everything gets packed."

Harry followed Piper into the kitchen, leaving me alone. A frying pan or plate would occasionally float out. Other than that, it was a quiet morning.

Then Prue got up.

"Oh mother!" Prue sang as she descended the stairs many hours later.

"Are you referring to me?" Piper asked. "If you are, what is wrong with you?"

Prue's face fell. "You don't remember either?"

"Remember what?"

"Phoebe's trance."

"I'm drawing a blank," Piper said.

"Piper," Prue said and rolled her eyes. "You're the mother."

"Fascinating. And you are?"

"I'm either the mystic or the master."

"You're the master," I said. "So I must be the mystic."

"Phoebe's definitely the medium," Prue said.

"Where is she? She came back for five minutes, then left again."

"She took Harry out for a lesson."

"It is a nice day. Plus, the house is empty and so depressing." I motioned towards the bare walls.

"We're getting off the subject," Prue said.

"You're right. We should be talking about Kingsley," I said. "When did you start dating him?"

"We need to do some research," Prue continued.

"On what?"

"The great witches of our past. We have to find one with four aspects. Her name is likely going to begin with 'm'."

"You have fun with that," Piper said.

"You're not going to help?"

"I have a wedding to plan and we have to move."

"Oh please. It'll take us two seconds to move."

I scanned Piper. She was looking a little paler than usual. "Are you feeling okay, Piper? You don't look so good."

"I'm feeling fine. It's probably just a result of coming back to life."

I didn't think so. She seemed rather sickly. In fact, she had seemed like that for a while. "Piper, maybe you should go to the doctor."

"I feel just fine," she protested.

The front door opened. "We're back," Phoebe called and came into the room. "I see you did the packing. Has everything been sent over?" A peculiar look overcame Phoebe. "Piper, are you okay?"

"Why does everyone keep asking…" She stopped. Suddenly, she covered her mouth and ran from the room.

"Oh baby."

"You nailed it."