A/N: Here's the new chappy! It's longer than usual…well, what I've been writing recently, anyway, and it's mostly Charmed. Thanks for all the reviews. Lady Emerald Black: Your reviews amuse me to no end. And again I ask: am I really so unpredictable as to make her a vela? Sweety: Sorry, no Prof. Giancarlo and Ron in this chapter. I think you agree with just about everyone (but me) about Pepper and Harry. Meera: You need to watch more Charmed, person!
Those of you who don't know the outcome of the episode, you'll learn it. Or you can watch it. The reruns on TNT (those of you who get that station…) are almost to that episode I think. Or you can get the amazing book of all knowledge: The Book of Three. It explains every episode of Charmed ever and has the Book of Shadows and everything. My brother got it for Christmas and on the inside cover my mom wrote "Adam, share this with your sister. The Power of Two."
And now here's the longer chapter! I just had a burst of inspiration on this and BANG! here it is!
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Chapter Thirty-Seven
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"What do you think that was all about?" Harry asked his best friends, Ron and Hermione, as they walked back to the common room. "Professor McGonagall looked so rushed, and Pepper's still not back."
"I'm sure it was nothing serious," said Hermione. "Professor McGonagall probably just wanted her for something and Pepper's already back in the common room waiting for us to go to Potions."
"How did Malfoy know so much about Pepper?" Ron asked, puzzled.
"He does research," said Hermione.
"Remember that midnight meeting with him, Ron? He said he'd researched Pepper's family line," Harry reminded him.
"It's still weird," shrugged Ron. "I mean where the—Acid Pops—heck do you get that sort of information?" The portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and the three friends entered the common room, where there was no Pepper in sight. "Well, you should know, shouldn't you Hermione?"
"There are books in the restricted section about Witches like Pepper," admitted Hermione.
"Hermione! You broke into the restricted section?" Ron said, shocked.
"No," said Hermione, sitting down on the crimson sofa, Ron sitting beside her and Harry placing himself in an armchair. "I actually did a project on the other half of the magical world, which is how I know so much. Malfoy was in that class too, and we both chose the same topic…I don't know too much about Pepper's aunts – the Charmed Ones – specifically, but they're mentioned in a lot of the texts. That's how Malfoy knows about her as well, and I'm sure he's done more research into the Charmed Ones specifically to see if Pepper could help him with the Indirect Imperius Curse. Speaking of which…is she going to help him?"
"I think," said Harry.
"Yeah, she owes him after the pregnancy scare, apparently," said Hermione. "Well, at least that's what he told her. And I think I agree with him; that was a big thing he did for Pepper."
"Why has Malfoy suddenly gone so soft?" Ron asked, leaning heavily against the back of the couch.
"He's getting strong enough to fight the Curse, I guess," Harry said.
"Why, Ron, do you miss the old Malfoy?" Hermione raised an eyebrow at him.
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"Take me back!" Phoebe shrieked. Leo, Paige and Pepper attempting to carry her into the filled bathtub but she wouldn't have it, she was moving around as much as possible in protest.
"Stop - umph - squirming," Leo ordered through gritted teeth. "Put her down on the count of three," he told Paige and Pepper. "One…two…THREE!"
Phoebe let out a yelp as she was dropped into the bathtub, some water spilling from the tub onto the floor. Paige wiped her hands on her jeans. "Ug, you feel like a fish, Phoebe," she complained, scrunching up her nose.
"Take me back!" Phoebe shrieked again.
"You have that interview today about your job, remember?" asked Piper, stepping into the bathroom with the rest of the family. "The news crew's coming and everything, so you'd best turn back into a human before they arrive."
"I don't care about my job; I just want to get back to the sea!" Phoebe told her big sister. "You can't keep me here forever, you know. I'm not a common goldfish. I cannot ignore the call of the sea."
"I'm sorry, but the call of the bathtub is just gonna have to do," Paige said, earning a scowl from Phoebe the Mermaid. (A/N: I didn't make up the last things spoken by Paige and Phoebe, they were in an episode.)
"Why do mermaids wear so little?" Pepper asked in horror. "Aunt Phoebe, aren't you ashamed to be wearing just that? You have, like, eight scales over each boob! I mean, come on, can't you put a shirt on or something? Your chest is too big for you to do that." Piper, Paige and especially Leo were amused by their niece's comment.
"I'm not ashamed, Pepper," replied Phoebe. "Why would I be? The only beings who see me are—"
"The Mermen, right?" Paige smirked. "Yeah, I bet they love that you're so revealed, Phoebe. Moving on… Piper, do you have the spell?"
"Yes," Piper replied, reaching into her pants pocket and pulling out a folded piece of yellow notepad paper.
"A spell?" Phoebe laughed that new, bubbly laugh. "I can't transform back into a human with a spell," she told them, but there was fear in her eyes.
"Oh yea, well we can try," said Piper, praying that this spell would work so she could get her human sister back again. "Pepper. Paige."
Pepper and Paige walked over to stand beside Piper and read the spell that Pepper's aunts had revised while the girl was out."Resist the call of the ocean, / Ignore the sound of the sea, / You're really a witch, a human, / Come back to us Phoebe.
"Forget the now-large part of you, / That's a mermaid abductee, / Scales, tail, fin all change back, / So you can again be sisters three." The three witches recited, watching to see if Phoebe would change at all.
Pepper was very excited. She had just written her first spell…perhaps she could help Malfoy, then. She watched her Aunt Phoebe (who looked slightly bored) with bated breath, fidgeting as she waited for a change.
There was a second in which the golden scales adorning MerPhoebe disappeared and her tail turned back into legs (leaving Leo very uncomfortable) but then the scales and tail returned. The witches and their Whitelighter furrowed their brows and the mermaid smiled contentedly. Pepper sighed. "Why didn't it work?" she asked.
"Well it worked for a second…" Piper said, pursing her lips.
Suddenly, a blur appeared in the room and Cole shimmered into the bathroom, causing the occupants of the room to let out yells of surprise. "Cole," Paige said, none too friendly. "How nice of you to drop by."
"I figured that you all would need some help with turning Phoebe human again," he supplied. The human women in the room glared at him. "And it would appear that I was right." He tried to smile brightly at them, but his smile was suppressed by the death glares he was receiving.
"Do you have a better idea than a spell to change her back, then, Mr. High-and-Mighty?" Paige inquired.
"Phoebe has to admit her love for me," Cole said matter-of-factly. He apparently thought that this was the most obvious answer in the world.
"Well, I doubt that's going to happen," said Phoebe from the bathtub. Cole turned to face her.
"Why do you want to stay a mermaid forever, Phoebe?" he asked her. When she didn't answer he raised his eyebrow at her.
"I don't love you, Cole," said Phoebe defiantly, though no one in the room was convinced.
Ding…dong, came the sound from downstairs. "So you want to be a mermaid for your interview, Phoebe?" Piper scowled. "Fine then, I'll go answer the door. Cover her up with bubbles or something."
Piper turned on her heel and walked out of the bathroom, still scowling. She was getting sick of not having her sister. She missed Phoebe and wanted the negative MerPhoebe to go away so they could get on with their lives. Piper and Paige had managed to have a week without demons while Phoebe was a mermaid, but Piper didn't know how much longer that would go on. Demons would have to attack sometime, and it would probably be some time soon. She didn't want to have to pull Pepper out of school to help them, but she just might have to if Phoebe didn't quit this nonsense.
Stepping off the last stair, Piper crossed the foyer and answered the door. There stood the woman from the eleven o' clock news and her cameraman. Piper welcomed them in and, after offering them coffee, which they declined, led them upstairs. "Phoebe says she thinks best in the bathtub, is it all right if you give her the interview there?" Piper asked, feeling rather stupid. She hoped that Phoebe was covered with bubbles when she arrived in the bathroom, otherwise there might be a little explaining to do.
"Um…yes, that's all right," said the newswoman, obviously confused.
When the two arrived at the bathroom Piper opened the door and let her guests in. Phoebe was in the bathtub, everything but her head covered by bubble bath. Paige, Pepper, Leo and Cole were standing off to the side, everyone but Cole looking rather nervous.
Piper ushered everyone out of the bathroom and left Phoebe to her interview. (A/N: The interview really happened in the episode as well.)
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"This would never have happened if you hadn't come back into the picture!" Paige fumed at Cole as she paced the attic floor. "Why can't you just let Phoebe go?"
"Why didn't the spell work?" Pepper muttered to herself, passing her Aunt Paige as she paced as well.
"Don't doubt your spell-writing abilities, Pepper, the spell was wonderful," Piper assured her. She was flipping through the Book of Shadows for the millionth time to see if there was an answer to their mermaid problem. "I think it would have worked if Phoebe wanted to become human again, but she doesn't, and that's the problem."
"No, he's the problem," Paige said, stopping her pacing and glaring at Cole. Pepper, who was looking at the floor, slammed into Paige because she had stopped walking.
"Oomph!" Pepper cried before she fell on her butt. Paige gave her a hand up and she rubbed her behind before commencing pacing.
"Pepper, will you stop pacing? It's giving me a headache," Piper said, but Pepper didn't seem to hear her. As Pepper walked by the chair Leo was sitting in he grabbed her arm and sat her in his lap to get her to stop pacing. She pouted with great resignation.
"What are we going to do?" she wined. "Adan!"
"Pepper, please speak English in our presence. We can't understand that Elvish stuff," Paige said.
"Uma, nin bereth," Pepper replied, smiling. Paige glared at her.
"Pepper…" Leo said warningly.
"Cole may be on to something," Piper said, slamming the book shut and running a hand through her hair. "There's no answer whatsoever in the Book of Shadows." She came to the middle of the attic, standing by Cole and Paige. She looked towards Cole. "Now the question is how to we get her to admit her love for you?"
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Hermione had been wrong: Pepper wasn't in the common room waiting for them to go to their next class. Nor was she in Potions, nor was she at dinner. "It's getting late, I'm worried," Hermione sighed, sitting down at a table and pulling some books from her bag to get down to doing her homework.
"I'm sure it's nothing," Harry assured her, following suit of Hermione.
"But she missed classes! Don't you think that means that something's wrong?" Hermione said.
"If you're so worried why don't you owl her, Hermione?" suggested Ron.
Hermione seemed to think this was a good idea, for she ran up to her dormitory. "I'd like to know where Pepper is, too," admitted Harry, chewing on the end of his quill.
"Like you said, I'm sure we've got nothing to worry about," said Ron.
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"I may have to get pulled out of school!" Pepper cried in dismay. Piper had just told her the good news while Leo, Paige and Cole were working on Phoebe. The two of them had gotten frustrated and had left the bathroom. They were currently sitting on the hall floor, listening to Paige's futile attempts to convince Phoebe she was still in love with Cole. "But Aunt Phoebe has got to become a human again! She's just being selfish right now, but I'm sure she'll come to her senses!"
"I'm hoping that's what will happen too, Pep, but you never know. Phoebe can be very stubborn when she wants to be."
"Ah!" Pepper yelled, standing up and bursting into the bathroom. "Aunt Phoebe you BETTER change your ass BACK into a HUMAN right NOW!" she bellowed at her aunt, who looked a little scared at her niece's sudden outburst. "I am NOT being pulled out of school to save innocents because you're being selfish and you're in DENIAL about loving Uncle Cole! I don't really care if you don't want to face all the problems of life! I'd say your life is pretty damn good so you'd better get your legs back if you know what's good for you! I do NOT under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES want to replace you! So admit your stupid LOVE AND GET ON WITH YOUR LIFE!" She stared at her aunt, her eyes narrowed.
Pepper's aunts and uncles were thoroughly stunned. With a last glare, Pepper turned around and walked from the room.
Hermione came back down the stairs and into the common room. "What am I thinking? An owl won't get from here to America in a few hours. I want to know where Pepper is now!" There was a slight pause where Hermione thought of what to do. "I'm going to Professor McGonagall," she decided. "If anyone wants to come with me, they're welcome. I mean, we deserve to know what's going on with our friend, right?"
Harry and Ron both knew that was a rhetorical question so as an answer they stood and followed Hermione from the common room to see Professor McGonagall.
Pretty soon they were knocking on the door of the Transfiguration room. "Come in!" called Professor McGonagall. Hermione, Harry and Ron entered the room. The professor was sitting at her desk, apparently grading papers. "What is it you want?"
"Professor, we were wondering where Pepper is. We're worried that something's happened to her," Hermione spoke up.
"Nothing's happened to Miss Halliwell, I assure you," said Professor McGonagall. "She just had something to tend to at home. If that is all then I bid you all goodnight, I have many papers to attend to."
Not quite satisfied, the three Gryffindors left their Head of House to her work. "Well, that told us about nothing," said Ron as they walked the corridors of Hogwarts.
"At least we know nothing's wrong with her," Harry said, but Hermione wouldn't let it go.
"Harry, you should have some idea of what it's like at her house," Hermione reminded him. "'Something to tend to at home' could mean something's terribly wrong."
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"I DON'T LOVE YOU COLE! NOW TAKE ME BACK TO THE SEA!" Phoebe screamed, grabbing the nearest thing – a bar of soap – and throwing it across the room at Cole. He was the lone soul in the bathroom, besides Phoebe, and had been talking to her for the past two hours. Trying to persuade her to admit her love for him was not an easy task. It was very clear that she wanted to stay a mermaid forever, but no one in the house would have it, much to her great dismay. They had threatened to keep her in the house forever if she didn't turn human again, but she wouldn't listen to them. She knew they would eventually need to take a shower. Or they would grow tired of her. Or they wouldn't be able to stand having her in the house any longer. Any option worked for Phoebe, she knew it was just a matter of time. She just hoped she wouldn't get blown up by a demon before one of these things happened.
Pepper was already tired of her Aunt Phoebe's screams. Her uncle was having little success, that much she could tell. Phoebe hadn't listened to Pepper after she had screamed her head off about her aunt being selfish in denial, and that made Pepper mad. It was evident that becoming a mermaid made her aunt more selfish. At this rate she would never be going back to Hogwarts.
She wandered downstairs in a pair of her Aunt Paige's small pajamas since there was no way she could sleep with Phoebe screaming profanities at Cole all night. It was still early, but Pepper had planned on getting to bed early because she was mad at her aunt, but that didn't seem like a possible thing to do. Scuffling her slippers along the hardwood floor of the foyer, she went into the kitchen to make herself a cup of hot chocolate.
Paige and Piper were in the sitting room, but she passed them undetected and headed into the living room with her hot chocolate to watch some television. As she was searching for the remote under the couch there was a sound behind her. Turning around she saw the head of Headmaster Dumbledore in the fireplace. She quickly tried to pull the low-riding pants up and the small shirt up and down at the same time. "Erm, hi, professor," she said, wondering if anything in her life would ever be normal.
"Are your aunts here Pepper?" asked the head of Dumbledore.
"The ones that aren't mermaids? Yes, hold on, I'll get them." Hurrying into the sitting room Pepper said, "The head of Professor Dumbledore is in the fireplace and he wants to talk to one of you!"
It took her aunts a minute to register the statement before they got up and headed into the living room. Pepper took this opportunity to go grab a robe that turned out to be her Uncle Leo's. On her way back downstairs she caught the tail end of the adults' conversation. She stopped on the stairs to listen.
"So it's fine that her work's sent here? You can do it by Floo?" That sounded like her Aunt Piper.
"Yes, that's perfectly fine, Mrs. Halliwell. Pepper can stay home as long as she is needed," said Dumbledore. "We'll keep your house connected to the Floo Network until she returns to Hogwarts."
Pepper ran down the stairs and into the living room, the robe not doing much good as it flew open. "You're keeping me here?" she panted. "I don't get to go back to Hogwarts?"
"Not until Phoebe comes to her senses and decides to become human again," Piper said. "I dislike the idea as much as you do, Pepper."
"Yes, your situation seems very unusual, Miss Halliwell," Dumbledore said to Pepper. "However, I understand the point of your aunts completely and you will receive all your work at home until you can return to school. In the meantime, I have some people here who would like a word with you."
Dumbledore's head disappeared from the fire and for a moment it seemed as if two people were struggling for control before Hermione's head appeared in the green flames. "Pepper! Hi!" Hermione cried, smiling.
"Hello Hermione," Pepper said, sitting down on the hearth, preparing to be there for a little while.
"Are you all right? Is anything wrong?"
"I'm fine, Hermione, I just can't come back to Hogwarts yet." When Hermione inquired as to why this was so Pepper replied, "My aunt is currently a mermaid who doesn't want to become human again. So I have to stay here and take her place in the Power of Three until she comes to her senses and admits her love for my uncle…well, it's a long story. The short version is that I have to stay here in case a demon attacks and my aunts can't defend themselves. At any rate, I'm stuck here as long as my aunt has got a tail."
"So you're going to miss more classes than you did today?" Hermione asked, eyes wide in something like horror. Pepper smiled at her reaction and nodded. "I trust Professor Dumbledore will have your work delivered to you, then?"
"Yeah, I think that's what he said, though I'm not exactly sure how he's going to do that since we're in totally different time zones. What time is it over there? Because it's only seven thirty here."
"It's half past midnight over here. (A/N: That is the right time, by the way. My cell phone of all worldly time knowledge told me.) We really all should be in bed but we wanted to see you to know what's going on and Professor Dumbledore said we could so…here we are. Well, here I am, anyway. And now here's Harry."
Hermione's head left and Harry's appeared in its place a second later. Pepper saw that her aunts were sitting in chairs rather far from the fireplace, having a quiet discussion.
"Hey Pepper," said Harry, getting her attention. He eyes her attire with a raised eyebrow. "Nice pajamas…" he commented, smiling slyly. Pepper closed her uncle's robe. "What's going on? When are you coming back?"
"My aunt's a mermaid, so I could be here for a while," she said.
"What?" Harry said in shock. "Your aunt is a mermaid? How did that happen?"
"Well apparently my Aunt Paige was trying to find this Sea Hag to save an innocent and when she cast the spell my Aunt Phoebe got turned into a mermaid…you can ask Hermione for the rest of the story, I guess."
"So you don't know when you're coming back?"
Pepper was glad that not everyone's mind was on her schoolwork. "I'm hoping it's soon but, no, I don't know," she told him.
"Well, Dumbledore said Hermione, Ron and I could bring you your schoolwork if you'd like."
"That sounds good to me, we'll just have to arrange a time when both sides of the world are awake at the same time."
The two shared a smile before Harry said, "We've got to go. I'll see when we can contact each other next."
They said their goodbyes and Pepper told Harry to say thank you to the headmaster before his head disappeared from the fireplace and the green flames were gone.
Pepper spun herself around on the hearth to face her Aunt Paige and Aunt Piper. She was a bit miffed at them for making these plans without her, but she knew that when it came to something as important as being a part of the Power of Three she didn't really have a choice anyway. "So I take it you plan to have me stay here for a while," Pepper said, hugging her knees.
"Well unless Cole can get her to change back today then, yes, I think you'll be here for a bit," said Piper.
"But I'm sure it won't be too long," Paige assured her. "Pretty soon she'll get tired of that tiny bathtub. I'm just wondering when Cole will start threatening her…"
"Perhaps it's just that I can't be a part of the Power of Three," Pepper sighed, rocking back and forth on her butt.
"I know you can, honey," Piper said. "I think the spell just wasn't strong enough. Phoebe's being a mermaid isn't a demon so we can't vanquish it—"
"—But it's a problem we should be able to fix with a spell," said Paige.
"Not everything can be fixed with a spell, Paige," Piper reminded her.
"Do you think it didn't work because it's personal gain?" Pepper suggested.
"I don't think so…" Piper said. "We need the Power of Three to save innocents, so I'd say it's for the greater good."
"What if the Elders are punishing us or something? Like they know the Power of Three can be complete with me or something and they didn't want me going off to school…"
There was a shattering sound from upstairs. With a grimace, Pepper got up and ran upstairs. She opened the bathroom door and walked in, immediately jumping back out into the hall because she stepped on broken porcelain before anyone could warn her about its being there. She looked back into the bathroom. Her Uncle Cole was sitting on the sink, his hair sticking up in all directions. MerPhoebe was sitting up in the tub, her arm still up in the air from launching something at the wall. The small table lamp was on the floor, broken into pieces. Pepper guessed that what she had stepped on was the soap dish.
"Uncle Cole you look like hell, get out," Pepper ordered.
Cole happily obliged, shimmering from the room.
"So I take it you like that tiny, tiny bathtub, Aunt Phoebe," Pepper said, taking a seat on the edge of the sink as Cole had done.
"You can't keep me here forever," Phoebe said, lying back down in the tub.
"I know you love Uncle Cole, Aunt Piper and Aunt Paige know it, Uncle Leo knows it, Uncle Cole knows it and you know it so why don't you just say it out loud so I can go back to school and you can go back to saving innocents and we can all be happy?"
Phoebe didn't answer; she just turned on the water taps to fill the bath more.
"Fine, if you don't want to speak then I will. I think you're being really selfish to me, Uncle Cole, Uncle Leo, Aunt Paige and Aunt Piper by staying a mermaid. How would you feel if a demon killed them because you weren't there to be the Power of Three with them? Or what if a demon killed you? That would suck. Now I know you're not normally this stubborn, I think it's just the mermaidness getting to you. I'm not going back to school, by the way, because you still have a tail and no shirt on. So I'll leave you alone to think on all of that. Okay? Alright, have a nice mermaid sleep." Pepper left the bathroom, closing he door behind her.