Chapter 53

Most of the students and staff had returned to Magic School after their fall break. Paige and her two roommates were in their room sitting in awkward silence as a loudspeaker boomed overhead.

"Welcome back, once again students and staff. I'm sure you have seen the new policy flyers in the hallways and the new rules will be enforced. Tomorrow morning your homeroom teachers will explain the new rules which must be followed. Curfew has been changed to seven p.m. which is in ten minutes. I advise you to return to your dorm rooms now." The speaker cut off. The three friends sat in silence until Paige finally spoke.

"So Melanie, how did you convince your parents to let you come back?" she asked.

"I didn't convince them. When I got home last week I was told to go to my room and parents spent the evening talking in one of their studies. The next morning when I went down for breakfast my mom told me I could come back. The house was kind of silent after that. I asked my mom about Peter when my dad was out one day and she dismissed the topic. She refused to talk about him." Melanie swiftly changed the focus onto Paige and asked her what had happened with her.

Paige explained that she had talked a lot with Leo. Her questioned was answered about what would happen if demons were to attack again; Magic School would be closed down… for good. She also told her friends that her sisters found out what really happened on Black Friday.

"Gideon, ratted you out?" Hadley asked.

"Yup, he said, and I quote 'It is irresponsible behavior for a Charmed One'."

"With great power comes great responsibility," Melanie said with a joking tone.

"Shut up, you sound like Prue," Paige said. She then brought out something from her suitcase. It was a dollhouse, one that was an exact replica of the Halliwell Manor. She told her friends that her Grams had made it when she and her sisters were children. Over the rest of the break Phoebe and Piper had helped her redecorate it to look exactly like the Manor did now, so there wasn't a sewing room like before and the attic was not so baron either. The only thing missing was a Book of Shadows, which Phoebe said she was working on duplicating.

"Why'd you bring it?" Hadley asked as she and Melanie looked into the dollhouse.

"We can hang out here after curfew. We won't have to worry about getting in trouble for talking and making potions." At this the two other girls looked up. Paige spent the evening explaining that if there was another demon attack they'd need to be prepared. She told them that Piper had used a spell Phoebe wrote to make the appliances and plumbing functional. 'Who knows we may end up trapped in there or something,' Piper had told Paige. Melanie asked Paige how they were supposed to fit in the doll house.

"We get a little help from Alice," she said smiling as they heard guards march through the hallways of Magic School.

"Do you think we made the right choice? Letting Paige return to Magic School?" Piper asked, as she washed the dishes that evening after Paige left.

"I think Paige would have gone either way," Phoebe said.

"I still can't believe she snuck into her school," Prue said.

"Prue, you and Phoebe both played pranks on the school during Halloween when you were her age! The only difference is, is she broke in to look for information not to fill the principal's office with packing peanuts."

"But there are demons now," Prue pointed out.

"There were demons back then too. The only thing was, we didn't know. Don't you think Grams was worried whenever we left the Manor? It's not like there are protection spells," Phoebe said, "I looked and talked to Leo."

Unknown to Paige, Piper and Phoebe had taken interest in the whitelighter. Prue watched amused at her little sisters' squabble over the man. She had been spending more and more time with Andy but had held off recently because of everything going on.

She had told him a version of what happened at Magic School, explaining that there had been an accident in the chemistry wing of the school, resulting in the deaths of several students and staff. When Andy asked Prue about why it hadn't been in the news, she said that the school and families wanted it to be kept quiet. He had been over earlier that day to bid farewell to Paige.

He was surprised at Prue thinking that she'd keep Paige home until the New Year at least.

"She was going to go back whether or not I allowed it. She loves her school Andy. Not many students do. She'll be okay; the school is taking extra precautions." He accepted it and had left when the sisters said they'd be taking Paige to the train station to return to school.

Andy had told his partner Darryl about what had happened to the youngest Halliwell. Darryl had searched for the school that Andy told him about and found no results. He searched once more for results of a chemistry accident in a high school and again found nothing. When he confronted Andy about it, his partner brushed it off.

"Prue told me that they wanted to keep it out of the media."

"But the school's name doesn't show up anywhere. No old newspaper articles, pictures, academic or athletic achievements, it's like this school doesn't exist. I thought your girlfriend told you this was a prestigious school?"

"First of all, she's not my girlfriend."

"You're going out," Darryl said and then changed the subject, "Look; maybe we should look into this. The school could be paying off the families so that they won't say anything. I don't think Prue would want her sister going there if they were."

"I'll talk to Prue about it in the morning. I probably just misheard the name."

A/N: Who do you think Alice is? Did you like the scene between Andy and Darryl?