Chapter Five: Piper Finds Out

After going for a walk to get away from her weirdly acting sisters, Piper decided to go back home and insist that Paris learn about potions from her, not Paige or Phoebe. But, when she got to the kitchen, there was no one in sight. What she didn't know was Phoebe and Paige had gone upstairs to the attic to check something in the Book and Paris was in the basement.

Piper, wondering where her sisters were, and remembering that Cole and Phoebe had been down in the basement earlier, decided that was her best bet. So she made her way down there.

When she opened the door she could see Phoebe trying desperately hard to levitate and kick a punch bag. "Phoebe? Why can't you levitate?" she asked, concerned.

Paris in Phoebe's body jumped at the sound of her voice and immediately started to think about how to explain this. "Piper, I didn't see you there. What's up?" she said as cheerfully as she could, she didn't want Piper to realise that she was not Phoebe.

"Nothing is up I was just wondering where everyone was because none of you were in the kitchen. Have you seen Paris? And why can't you levitate?"

"Right, well, I haven't seen Paris, maybe she went out somewhere with Paige? Do you need her for something?" Paris answered vaguely, still avoiding Piper's question.

"What's wrong with your powers Phoebe? Why can't you levitate?" Piper insisted, growing suspicious of her sister's behaviour.

"I can levitate Piper, what are you talking about?" Paris said slowly, trying not to sound guilty.

All of a sudden Paris' body could be seen from the top of the stairs. "Paris? Phoebe and I have remade the potion so you can be you again!" she exclaimed without realising that Piper was in the basement as well.

"Paige!" Paris shouted, furious that her sister had been so careless.

"Does anyone want to explain to me what on Earth is going on?" Piper yelled, still not sure what she was witnessing.

"Paris can explain," Paige said quickly. Piper continued looking at her and then Paige realised that she was in Paris' body so Piper was expecting her to explain. "I'm not Paris, I'm Paige. That's Paris," she said, pointing at Phoebe's body.

"It was a mistake! I was just adding ingredients to the potion and it blew up and then this happened. I'm really sorry, Piper," Paris said, pleading with her to be nice to her.

Piper looked at her in disbelief. For starters, it was weird seeing Phoebe acting so strangely, the last time she looked so scared was when she had been caught shoplifting and taken home by the police. And that was when Grams was alive. Second, she didn't sound completely like Phoebe. Well, she did, obviously, but now that Piper knew she was actually Paris, she could kind of tell that it was Paris talking, not Phoebe. Basically, the whole thing left Piper very confused. The only thing that it explained was Phoebe not being able to levitate.

Piper noticed that Paris' body and Phoebe's body hadn't said a thing and realised they were expecting a reaction from her. She put her hand to her head in frustration. She had never signed up for this – she didn't want to have to look after and discipline her 14-year-old sister.

"Just… go upstairs, both of you… and fix this," Piper told them. Paris' body nodded and went back up to the kitchen.

Phoebe's body put her head down, not wanting to look at Piper and said: "I'm really sorry, Piper."

Piper looked at her and thought that Phoebe did not suit the scared looked. "Just go upstairs Ph – I mean Paris,"

Paris obeyed and made her way up to the kitchen to be greeted by Paige's body giving her a potion.

"Take this at the same time as us and hopefully we will all be returned to our rightful bodies," she said. Paris nodded in understanding and the three of them drank the potion. They all fell to the floor, unconscious.

After a couple of minutes, Piper went upstairs to see what was happening with her sisters. She saw them all on the floor, waking up. "Are you yourselves again?" she asked warily, she did not want to shout at the wrong sister.

They all nodded once they had realised they had been put back in the right places. For some reason, Piper noted, Paris did not look scared anymore. Maybe that was because she thought she had done all the shouting for the day.

"What on earth were you thinking Paris? What have I told you about messing with things you don't understand?" Piper yelled making Paris jump and Phoebe and Paige look on, surprised.

"I –" Paris started but Piper was having none of it.

"Do you think you're clever or something? Do you think it's funny to play around with things you don't know about? Because you aren't clever and it isn't funny. It's childish and you really need to buck up your ideas!" she continued yelling.

"Piper, it was an accident! I didn't know that was going to happen. I was just bored," Paris tried to explain.

"Of course you were bored and I know it was an accident but I specifically told you not to touch anything. And what did you go and do? Swap bodies with Phoebe and Paige and waste valuable time and ingredients so they could fix your mess,"

"Technically, I didn't swap bodies with both of them; I put Paige in my body and went into Phoebe's. It's not the same thing," Paris said smartly. Piper was furious.

"Do you honestly think this is remotely funny? What if a demon had attacked? None of you know how to use each other's powers so you all would have been vulnerable and no one else is here so you all could have been killed. Is that what you want Paris?" she continued.

"Piper, calm down. It was a mistake." Paige tried to reason with her.

"Paige, you are not helping. We are meant to discipline her when she does something wrong. We can't just let her get away with things like this." Piper snapped at Paige.

"So now you can't even say my name? Do you really hate me that much Piper?" Paris asked her.

"Oh, for goodness sakes Paris, I don't hate you, I just don't understand why you act the way you do," Piper told her.

"Maybe it's because I live with my three stupid sisters who feel the need to tell me off for every single little thing I do wrong?" Paris yelled back

"Just go to your room Paris, I can't be bothered to deal with this right now," Piper sighed in exasperation.

"Whatever," Paris replied angrily. She still had a lot more to say to Piper but that could wait. She went to her bedroom without another word and her three sisters were left in the kitchen.

Just then Cole came in. "Hi, just wanted to let you know that I heard all of that, in fact, I think the whole street did but I didn't want to intrude so stayed out there." He said awkwardly. Paige raised her eyebrows at him in disbelief, Piper sighed heavily and left the room and Phoebe half-smiled at him.

Neither Paige nor Phoebe had been expecting such an outburst from Piper – it was like the past three months of anger had been bottled up inside her and she just exploded. They both wanted to see if Paris was okay but it was probably best not to go to her in case it made Piper even more angry. So instead, the three of them went into the living room where Piper had gone.