I am back for another update. Thank you so much for all of the GREAT ideas. You guys really know your Charmed episodes. Here we go!
A/N: Just a reminder, Phoebe's premonitions will be in italics. But just so you don't get confused, she has a dream in this chapter that is also in italics. The first italics you come across are her dream, the second is her premonition. Hope that cleared it up!
Disclaimer: Well, we'll get on with it after this pointless thing. You know the drill…and if you don't then here's a reminder…I own NOTHING. Sadly yes I know.
Chapter 8
"Headmaster are you sure this is a good idea?" said a very disgruntled Snape who was sitting in a chair across from Dumbledore.
"Yes, Severus. It is the only thing that will stop Voldemort from gaining further information on the sisters," Dumbledore explained again.
"I understand that but is it really necessary for me to attempt to teach Potter again?" Snape prayed he could get out of this.
"You know as well as I do that Harry is still vulnerable to Voldemort's tricks."
"But he made little if no progress the last time I tried," said Snape through gritted teeth. "He didn't even try."
"You don't know that. I am sure that he tried his best. Just remember, Severus…Harry is not James." Dumbledore said these last words almost warningly.
"Very well," said Snape as he got up to exit the office.
"Oh, and Severus? It would help if you tried to be a bit more…understanding. Keep in mind that you are seeing their worst memories. How would you feel if the situation were reversed?"
Snape visibly paled and Dumbledore was satisfied that he had at least gotten through to him somewhat, so he turned back to a piece of parchment that he had been working on before Snape had arrived.
"Phoebe are you sure you want to go through with this?" Paige asked concerned.
"How can you even ask that? Of course I'm sure. It's the only way to keep us safe. Who knows what Voldemort has already seen."
"Yeah but Phoebe, you heard Dumbledore. You'll be reliving some of your worst memories. What if you see Mom or Grams or P-"
Phoebe cut Piper off. "I have to do it…for our own safety."
At that moment, Leo orbed into the room with Wyatt.
"Leo? What's going on? Is something wrong? Is it a demon?"
Then Chris orbed in. "And you guys call me paranoid."
"Ha ha, very funny. Now what's going on?" said Piper.
"Nothing," Leo assured her. "Wyatt just misses his Mom. Don't you big guy?"
He put Wyatt on the floor and he walked to Piper who picked him up and held him tight. "Don't worry honey, Mommy will be home soon."
"You really think so, Mom?" said Chris hopefully.
Piper looked at him thoughtfully. "You called me 'mom'," she said with a small smile.
"Well you are my mother," said Chris smirking.
"Don't smirk," said Paige annoyed, "You remind me of Draco."
"Who's Draco," asked Leo.
"Phoebe's boyfriend," said Piper who was playing with Wyatt.
"Piper!" said Phoebe embarrassed when Leo and Chris gave her a look.
"What?" said Piper innocently.
Phoebe had a very restless night. She had a lot of nightmares that she hadn't had in a long time. She tried to clear her head before going back to sleep but it wasn't working. The same nightmare kept haunting her dreams. Only now it was different. He was in the school.
Why is it so dark here at night, Phoebe wondered as she walked through the deserted halls. She happened upon the teachers room and walked inside.
Despite it being the middle of the night it there were several people inside. There was Snape, McGonagall, Sprout, Sinistra, even Trelawney. There was one person who she didn't recognize. All she could see was the back of their head. They were wearing long black robes and a hood was covering their head.
She walked cautiously towards the group of teachers and cleared her throat.
'Excuse me, but can someone tell me what's going on?'
The hooded figure turned slowly and with a gasp, Phoebe realized who it was.
'Phoebe honey, we were wondering when you would show up. Come join us.'
'N-no…it can't be. You're dead.' Phoebe gave another gasp as she realized that there were now demons where the teachers had been. Barbus (the fear demon), Tempus (who controlled time), Oren (the gypsy hunter), and even the vampire queen.
'But you're all dead! This can't be happening. Noooooooooooooo!'
Phoebe woke in a tangle of bed sheets, cold sweat covering her body.
"It was just a dream, it wasn't real…Cole's dead, they all are."
Phoebe was unusually quiet at breakfast the next morning. She jumped nearly a foot out of her seat when Snape started talking to her.
"Your first lesson will be tonight after dinner in my office…with Potter be sure to tell him," Snape said not even trying to hide the misery in his voice.
"Try not to sound so excited," said Phoebe equally as miserable. "And his name is Harry."
Snape went back to his breakfast looking especially sour.
After breakfast, Phoebe decided to tell Harry the news.
"Phoebe, don't forget we have class in fifteen minutes," Piper called out.
Phoebe made her way through the mass of students vaguely wondering why she didn't just wait until they had gotten to class to tell him.
"Harry," she called. "Harry!"
As always he was with Hermione and Ron. He turned around and looked almost afraid at what she was about to say.
"Just so you know, Snape is expecting us in his office after dinner for occlu-thing."
Ron and Hermione looked at Harry questioningly but he merely nodded and said, "See you in class, Professor."
Phoebe arrived in class to find a cauldron on each desk and a worried looking Piper at the desk while Paige was trying to comfort her.
"Sweetie, calm down you'll do fine," said Paige.
"But what if they hate me? And what if I screw up? I'll never be able to show my face here again."
"Phoebe a little help here," said Paige.
"Paige is right, Piper. They'll love you. There's no reason not to. Besides, you're doing a lesson on Cole…that's always interesting." Phoebe was now looking down at the floor, always a sign that something was up. They would have asked if the students hadn't started to come in.
One by one they all put a piece of parchment on the desk in front of Phoebe. It was a second before she realized that they were the essays she had asked for.
They all sat down and looked curiously at the cauldrons. Neville, not surprisingly looked a little scared so Piper flashed him a small smile and he calmed down a bit.
Phoebe and Paige started to look over the essays while Piper began her lesson. "Okay, is everyone here. Good. Today we are going to be working on a vanquishing potion for an upper level demon named Belthazar."
"Phoebe maybe you should leave while she talks about him," Paige whispered to Phoebe.
"I'm fine. I promise."
Piper explained to the class what Belthazar looked like and the different powers that he had. She walked around the class showing everyone the picture in the book. Most of the girls gasped at the red and black skin and some of the guys even grimaced.
Piper continued. "Now, I made a list of all the ingredients we'll need and the exact procedure you need to do. The ingredients are in the cupboard over there and you can break yourselves up into groups of three. Just a warning, when you add the flesh there tends to be a small explosion so you might want to back away."
"Excuse me professor, did you say flesh?" Hermione asked looking like she was about to be sick. Piper nodded. "Belthazar's flesh?" she asked. Piper nodded again.
"Blimey, how'd you get it?" asked Ron in amazement.
"We cut it off of him."
Everyone was looking at the sisters in amazement.
Piper walked around and gave everyone a sheet of parchment with the ingredients and the proper procedure on it. They all hurried to get the ingredients and set to work. As they worked Piper gave them tips for any potion. One of them was to add ice to help the potion to thicken. Hermione was mentally coping down all of the notes as she worked.
After about half an hour, an explosion was heard that made nearly everyone jump. Not surprisingly it was Hermione, Ron and Harry who had finished the potion first. Draco glared at the trio from his cauldron.
"That reminds me, when you're all done we will test each of your potions to see if you did it right," Piper said.
"And just how are we going to test it if Belthazar is dead," came Draco's drawling voice from over his cauldron, for Piper had told them all that they had vanquished Belthazar a while ago.
Piper gave him a look that rivaled McGonagall's. "We are going to test it on a piece of his flesh. If you did right, then the flesh will blow up. No messy clean up."
Piper walked back to the desk and Phoebe looked at her curiously. "Piper, how did you get so much flesh? I thought we only had a small piece."
"Well, I told Dumbledore what I planned to do and he did a spell to make the piece bigger. I think he called it an engorgement charm."
Within another half hour, there had been several more explosions which signaled that every group was done with the potion. Piper told them all to put a small amount into a vial and come up to the front of the room. One by one they did so and there was soon a circle of students with Piper in the middle holding the flesh. For each group she put a piece of the flesh in the middle of the circle and stepped aside. One by one a representative of each group threw the vial at the flesh, and bit by bit it exploded into nothingness. Piper took note of what each group's potion did and gave each group a grade. She was impressed at how good each of the potions turned out.
When everyone had gone Piper dismissed the class. Everyone left except for Harry, Ron and Hermione who had volunteered to help clean up. Piper and Paige left to return some ingredients to Snape while Phoebe supervised the cleaning.
They used a few simple spells to clean the cauldrons and put them away. When Phoebe had collected all of the essays they headed for the door.
"Oh, wait, I almost forgot the book. Piper would kill me." She handed the stack of essays to Ron and went to get the book. When she went to close it she gasped and it fell on the floor.
They saw her reach for the book and when she touched it she gasped, closed her eyes and went very still.
It was the teacher's room. She walked inside and was nearly blinded by the light streaming through the open window. When her eyes focused and she was able to see, she screamed at the sight.
'Cole, NO!' she screamed as he sent an energy ball straight at McGonagall who caught it straight in the chest and crumpled to the ground.
'I'm sorry Phoebe. He told me I had to do it…for us.'
Phoebe gasped as the premonition ended. She found three very wide-eyed and concerned students staring at her.
"Professor, are you okay?" asked Hermione worried.
Phoebe stared at them. For a second she had forgotten where she was.
"No…I'm not."
She grabbed the book and headed out of the door with the trio following her. They followed her all the way to the corridor where they lived. They recognized it as the corridor where the Room of Requirement was and they were surprised to see it closed off by a portrait of a house and the three sisters sitting on the front steps.
"Book of Shadows," she said impatiently. She had completely forgotten that the three were following her.
She went to the door and opened it.
"Piper! Paige!" she yelled.
Harry, Ron and Hermione walked in hesitantly and gasped at the house they were in.
Piper came from the kitchen and Paige came down the stairs. Piper spoke first. "Hey guys, what are you-"
"Piper, I had a premonition," Phoebe cut her off.
"What'd you see?" asked Paige who was now at Piper's side.
"It's Cole…he's back."
"Who's Cole?" asked Harry thoroughly confused.
