A/N: Thank you my four lone reviewers. And since I only got four reviews, you get a short chapter! Actually it's because I can feel the block of the writer settling over my ideas…ah, phewy. Well, anyway, chapter is here. This could be the last one for a while because midterms are this week and the next one too.
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Chapter Thirty-Eight
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Hermione and Harry took turns delivering Pepper's homework at two o' clock (Pepper's time) every day. Once, when it was Harry's turn, Pepper inquired as to where Ron was and why he wasn't helping Harry and Hermione. Harry replied that he was planning something special, but it was confidential. Hermione was planning something as well, Pepper learned. She wanted to tell Ron that she loved him, and that pamphlet she had sent away for was going to help her.
Hermione, at the request of all in the household, magically made their bathtub bigger so MerPhoebe was more comfortable.
Pepper was not able to be part of the Power of Three, much her to disappointment. Two demons had attacked that, luckily, didn't need the Power of Three to defeat them. Pepper and Piper were able to vanquish one on their own and Pepper, Piper and Paige had blown one up together, though they didn't need a vanquishing spell to do it.
Pepper was keeping up on her work, though she missed school. Harry and Hermione told her that rumors were beginning to start about her absence. Some students were now afraid of Professor McGonagall because they believed she had done something horrible to Pepper; some were saying she was suffering a fate much unlike Ivi Spada for elaborate, grotesque reasons; some even said that she was in the Hospital Wing recovering from an abortion from Draco Malfoy's baby. That was a rumor that would undoubtedly reach the ears of Voldemort.
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On Valentine's Day, at seven a.m., three people shot out of the fireplace at the Manor. Pepper was in the kitchen making breakfast for herself and her mermaid aunt, (since Piper and Paige had already gone out with their valentine's), but when she heard the loud crash coming from the living room and the sound of voices, she rushed into the other room, spatula still in hand. "Harry! Ron! Hermione!" she exclaimed, waving her batter-covered spatula. "Ron, I haven't seen you in ages!" She rushed forward and gave him a hug, getting pancake patter on his shirt from her apron. She then gave hugs to Harry and Hermione. Standing in front of them she said, "What are you guys doing here? Why aren't you off with your Valentines?"
She didn't get an answer. Instead, Hermione gave Pepper a look that said she needed to talk, Harry didn't meet her eyes and Ron's ears turned red. "Well!" Pepper said, trying to pass the embarrassing moment along, "I'm making breakfast – obviously – so let's go to the kitchen!"
Harry, Hermione and Ron followed Pepper into the kitchen. She ordered them to sit down and she went back to the stove, dripping the batter into the heart-shaped cookie cutter she was using. "I thought you guys might have been a demon or something," she said, trying to strike up some conversation.
"And if we were you were going to fight us off with a spatula?" said Ron.
"Hey, don't underestimate my mad spatula skills," Pepper retorted, flipping a pancake.
"Any change in your aunt yet?" Hermione asked.
"Nope," Pepper said sadly, leaving her pancakes to book and hastily setting the table for four. "She's more stubborn than I thought. Plus, now she's more comfortable in that larger bathtub you gave her, Hermione." She went back to tend to her pancakes.
There was a little "wooshing" sound as Cole Shimmered into the kitchen, a bouquet of flowers in hand. Hermione, Ron and Harry looked stunned out of their minds.
"Ah, Uncle Cole, you're just in time for breakfast!" Pepper said cheerfully. She had gotten a lot friendlier with her uncle the past few days, as had the rest of the household. "Though you'll have to set a place for yourself at the table." She turned back to her cooking.
"Why are you so cheerful?" Cole grumbled, grabbing dishes from the cupboard and silverware from a drawer. He took a seat at the table with a surprised Harry, an astounded Ron and an apparently scared Hermione.
"Because my friends showed up unexpectedly," she replied. "And you can't forget the fact that it's Valentine's Day." She piled the pancakes onto a plate and brought them over to the breakfast table. Seeing her friends' reactions she said, "Oh, Uncle Cole, this is Harry, Ron and Hermione. You know, the friends I was telling you about from school?" She took a plate of pancakes for herself and sat up on the kitchen counter. "So, I take it the flowers are for Aunt Phoebe."
"Yes, they are. Any luck with her yet?"
"No. I was hoping that we could convince her that she was missing out on a very romantic date just lying there in that boring ol' tub."
"That's my plan," said Cole, taking a bite of his breakfast. "Perhaps one of your friends could help persuade her…" His eyes shifted from Pepper to the people sitting across the table from him. "You know, tell Phoebe how much you miss Pepper, how she's falling behind in school…"
None of Pepper's friends looked eager to do this. "I'll go," said Ron finally, swallowing as if it were some great task he was accepting. Pepper smiled. She had told her friends that her aunt's boyfriend Cole was part demon but she never knew they'd react like this when they actually met a demon. She wondered what exactly Professor Giancarlo was teaching her class.
After they finished their heart-shaped pancakes Ron took Phoebe's breakfast upstairs. Pepper took his seat at the breakfast table. "So are you four going anywhere special today?" Cole asked.
"I'd like to, but I don't know how long Hermione, Harry and Ron are allowed to stay."
"We're here till five," said Hermione.
"Then I guess we can go out," Pepper said. "Especially if someone has a Valentineeee…" She looked pointedly at Hermione, who shook her head. Pepper was disappointed that she hadn't reconciled with Ron yet. "Well, we'll have to find somewhere where neither of my aunts is going to be."
Ron came into the kitchen, looking a little dazed. "Mr.…err…Cole, she wants to see you," he said uncertainly.
Pepper and Cole both jumped out of their seats. Cole shimmered from the kitchen. Pepper beckoned Harry, Ron and Hermione to follow her as she dashed up the stairs.
Pepper pressed her ear to the closed bathroom door. "Why did you want to see me?" Cole was asking.
"I-I love you, Cole," was Phoebe's muffled response. Pepper grinned widely. Hopefully now her aunt would be a human again…
"Pepper!" Cole called from beyond the door. "Grab a spell and a robe!"
Pepper ran into her Aunt Phoebe's room to grab a robe, then she went up to the attic to grab the piece of paper sticking out of the Book of Shadows. She flew back downstairs and banged open the bathroom door. "Ah!" she cried at once, in great horror. She slammed the door behind her as she went into the room. She didn't want her friends to see this.
"Do you have the spell?" Phoebe asked.
It appeared the confession of love had worked to some extent. Phoebe still had her tail but her mermaid attitude was gone and so were the scales covering her. "Aunt Phoebe, put this on!" Pepper exclaimed, throwing her aunt the robe to cover her half-nakedness.
"Say the spell, Pepper," Cole said.
"What? You think I can do it by myself? Do you think it will work without the Power of Three?"
"You've shown enough power in the past few weeks to do it," Cole told her.
Pepper recited the spell, skeptical that it would work because it hadn't done anything before.
Phoebe's tail disappeared immediately, causing Pepper to let out another cry of fright and to turn around to press herself to the door behind her. Still, she was ecstatic that she had done it. "Woohoo!" she exclaimed to the wooden door. She did a happy dance. Cole and Phoebe laughed and Pepper heard her aunt get out of the tub. "Well, since Uncle Cole has seen you like…like this…and I haven't since you used to bathe me, I think I'll leave." She exited the bathroom as quickly as possible. Once she was in the hallway again she gave Ron a rib-crushing hug. "Ron, you RULE!"
"I…can't…breathe!" Ron choked out. Pepper released him from her death grip.
"She's human again!" Pepper beamed. "And now that that's done, we can go." She turned and, once again, shouted to the bathroom door. "We're going out! I'm taking my car, Aunt Phoebe's cell and her money too! We'll be back later! Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"