CHAPTER 3

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Hermione woke up with a start, tears running down her face. She clenched her blankets tightly as she felt her chest tightening and took several deep breaths. She didn't notice the blue shimmering light or arms wrapping around her. She didn't notice the bed dip and a sweet feminine voice urging her to breathe. What she noticed was the feeling of calm that swept over her. The feeling of wholeness that helped lighten the darkness that was taking over. Soon she was able to breathe easily again and felt her body being urged to once more lay under the covers where she soon fell back asleep. When she woke she would only remember feeling at peace and the scent of Lavender.

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"Alright you two, do you have everything packed?" Piper asked the two teenagers.

"Yes Piper. Harry shrunk everything earlier so it's in our pockets."

"That will definitely come in handy during vacations and shopping trips. Ok, Leo already checked us out, we're going to Orb straight to the Manor. Ready?" They nodded and disappeared in a swarm of bright blue lights. What felt like mere seconds later had them arriving in a conservatory. There were large windows surrounding the room with plants under them and white wicker chairs spread throughout the room. Hermione and Harry were looking around and smiled at each other at the homey feel of Halliwell Manor. The quiet was disturbed by something crashing in another room and a yell. They ran into the kitchen where a young Asian woman was fighting an Asian man. The woman saw them and yelled a warning.

"Look out!" She cried. Piper tried to freeze the man but he was too fast and kicked her in the stomach. She went flying into the table, breaking it. Hermione screamed and went to grab the man and pull him away from Piper, her hand heating up and burning him in the process. He backed away from her and faced the other woman, Hermione noticed her pulling out an ornate blade just as two more people came through a door.

"The dragon blade?" The man said before launching at the asian woman and cutting her. Piper saw the other two and waved at them frantically as she stepped in front of Hermione. Leo doing the same for Harry.

"Phoebe, stop him!" Phoebe jumped up as the asian woman dropped the dagger, and started spinning in a circle, in the air. The man watched her for a moment before grabbing the dagger and vanishing into the water in the sink. Hemrione and Harry were watching the sink in shock as a girl about their age pulled the floating Phoebe down. "Leo can you please, um heal… whoever this is." Leo nodded and headed over to the injured woman as Piper glared at the two girls. "You two, follow me!" The two girls left through the door towards the conservatory, Harry looked to Hermione who shrugged and followed behind. Now that she was able to get a good look at the two of them she realized that they must be her sister's. The older woman wore a pink shirt and jeans. She had shoulder length light brown hair, and brown eyes. The younger girl, Paige, wore black wide leg jeans covered in chains, a white button down shirt and suspenders. She had straight black hair with bangs to her eyes which were brown. "All right! What the hell is going on?" Piper had her hands on her hips as she stared the two down.

"I was soaking some potion pots in the sink and I forgot to drain them." Paige told her.

"That is not what I mean. I smell something witchy. Phoebe, what is wrong with your powers?" Phoebe didn't answer Piper and instead looked away. "Phoebe?"

"I'm over here." Paige said, waving her hand. Hermione looked at Piper confused.

"I thought Paige was my twin?" She asked.

"She is." Piper growled. "Care to explain how I left for only a few days and all hell breaks loose?"

"Don't get mad at her. This is all my fault. I was the one that messed up the potion. I wasn't concentrating. I just guessed." Phoebe told them.

"Oh, my god! You guys switched bodies! Are you out of your mind? What with everything we have going on, you pull a stunt like this?" Piper admonished them. Hermione and Harry backed away slightly and shared shocked looks at Hermione's older sister. Hermione mentally decided not to piss her off in the future.

"It was an accident." Paige in phoebe's body defended. "I went downstairs to train with Cole while she was finishing a potion.

"Accidents like that get people killed. We could have lost an innocent. What if it was the Source that broke in? You could have gotten us all killed! Do you remember what you put in that potion to switch bodies?" Harry looked at Hermione in concern.

"The Source?" He mouthed. Hermione shrugged but knew that would be one of the first things she asked when they figured out what was going on.

" Phoebe just picked up the ingredient we were missing." Paige in Phoebe's body informed them.

"Good. Come on, I'll make the counter potion as you explain to me who those two were and what's going on. Oh by the way, this is our sister Hermione and Harry."

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They were all in the kitchen, Piper, Leo, Hermione, Harry and An-Ling were watching Phoebe and Paige put together the potion. Leo had just gotten back from speaking with the Elders about the current situation. Piper looked at Paige in Phoebe's body and crossed her arms.

"All right, what else did you put in this?" Piper asked.

"Just the powdered toadstool." Paige in Phoebe's body told them.

"All right soul sisters, back in your own bodies." Piper ordered.

"I want to be me again." Phoebe and Paige chanted at the same time that Paige threw in the powered toadstool and they switched back. Hermione waited anxiously with the others. She was amazed at the types of magic she was seeing, not having seen it before.

"Oh, it's nice to see you Paige." Phoebe joked lightly.

"It's nice to be seen, Phoebe. My god, what did you have for dinner?" Paige moaned as she grabbed her stomach with her left hand.

"Kung Pao Chicken. Sorry." Phoebe shrugged.

"Okay. Not to cut this reunion short, but we don't have a lot of time. So the only person who knows how to enter Limbo is in Limbo himself, correct?" Piper asked. Phoebe, Paige and An-Ling nodded. "And since we can't get him to An-Ling's father down there, my plan is to bring him up here. Or at least his soul."

"Wait, you want to swap souls with An-Ling's father?" Leo asked.

"You said he's the only one who knows how to get in, right?" She asked, again the three nodded. "Besides, it's the best way to surprise Yen-Lo."

"It's too risky. There's gotta be another way." Leo argued.

"Did the Elders have any other ideas?"

"No."

"Then there's not. Okay, before I do this we should reconstitute the power of three." Hermione, Paige, Phoebe and Piper held each other's hands, as they did so the lights flashed brightly above them and wind whipped around them before easing away. "Perfect." Piper said before she took the powdered toadstool from Phoebe. "I want to be the Zen Master." She threw the powdered toadstool in the potion and switched souls with the Zen Master. Piper (Zen Master) looked around at the large group.

"You have a very brave sister." She(He) said.

"Father?" Asked An-Ling.

"Yes, An-Ling, I'm here. We don't have much time. Where is the dragon blade?"

"I used it to fight Yen-Lo, but he knocked it out of my hands. Phoebe, did you pick it up?" Phoebe shook her head.

"Yen-Lo grabbed it before he…melted." Harry told her.

"Uh-oh." Paige said as they all shared a concerned look before Phoebe urged them to head to the Attic. Piper(Zen Master) saw the puddle on the ground and waved her(his) hand over a puddle to see inside of Limbo.

"It appears he used it to capture your sister's soul." Piper(Zen Master) said.

"What does that mean? How do we get Piper back?" Leo asked. Hermione sat down on a large box and put her head in her hands as she took several deep breaths. She just got her family, she couldn't lose another so soon after losing her parents. Harry put his arm on her shoulder as he watched the adults.

"We need to get the dragon blade away from Yen-Lo." An-Ling said.

"Okay, so what are we waiting for? Show us the way." Phoebe urged.

"I should go alone. Piper did this for me to save my father's life." Hermione picked her head up and glared at An-Ling.

"No, she's our sister. We'll all go." She told her, Paige and Phoebe nodded.

"Is that what you were fighting to save? My life?" Piper(Zen Master) asked his daughter.

"Of course, father. When we bring you back their whitelighter can heal your wound. He's a miracle worker. I've seen him."

"You are right. We should all go, but it is a different realm down there with new rules. Yen-Lo has had time to learn and adjust." She(He) agreed.

"Fine, then let's go." Leo said as he stood next to Harry and Hermione.

"If you go, you risk being pulled into the vortex. Who would heal our injuries?" Piper(Zen Master) pointed out. Hermione looked at Harry and shook her head.

"We don't know how your magic would react either so please be careful ok?" She held his hand and joined her sisters by jumping in the puddle after them. They quickly landed in Limbo. "Is that what Mary Poppins felt like?" She joked to Harry as she looked around.

"Piper!" Phoebe cried as she ran over to an elderly Asian man's body, Hemrione assumed this was the Zen Master.

"Where is the dragon blade?" Harry asked.

"Quiet." Piper (Zen Master) ordered.

"Look out!" Phoebe cried as Yen-Lo attacked Piper (Zen Master). Hermione watched in horror as her sister's body was kicked to the edge of a vortex. She watched as An-Ling and Harry raced to save Piper.

"Welcome to my turf." Yen-Lo taunted.

"Look! Yen-Lo's belt." Paige pointed to the dragon blade on his hip and it orbed into her hand. "I didn't even call for it. It just happened."

"Our powers must be expanded here. You two get Piper's soul out of the dragon blade. I'm going to keep Yen-Lo busy." Phoebe ordered as she went towards Yen-Lo.

"Hermione, what do we do?" Paige asked her. Hermione looked at the blade when an idea struck.

"If your powers are amplified here, maybe mine are too. Grab my hand and let's focus on sending her soul back, I don't know how to orb yet but if we hold hands we can center our powers." Paige nodded and closed her eyes as she and Hermione focused on orbing Piper's soul out of the blade. Hermione watched in shock as a bright white pulsing light came out of the blade and floated in front of them.

"Now what?" Paige asked.

"Now we put it back in the body." Hermione told her. They pushed their hands out and sent the soul into the Zen Masters body.

"Thanks for the lift. Untie me." Hermione watched as Paiged untied the Zen Master (Piper).

"We've got to do something." Hermione said.

"What? I don't have the power in this body." The Zen Master (Piper) told them. Hermione panicked when she saw Phoebe fall and threw her hands up. Suddenly time slowed down and everyone except for her was moving at a snail's pace. She looked around and grabbed the Dragon blade from Paige and ran towards Yen-lo, she was able to absorb Yen-Lo's soul just as time sped back up. She smiled at her sister as she watched as Limbo changed into a beautiful garden and the vortex turned from a spinning tornado into a cloud like image.

"Oh my god, it's so beautiful. What happened?" Paige asked.

"Beats the hell out of me." Piper said as she walked over towards them.

"Piper?" Phoebe asked.

"Hello!" She joked back. Hermione smiled and hugged Harry who was looking at the vortex strangely.

"Does anyone else hear that?" He asked. The girls looked at one another before facing him and shaking their heads no. "It's coming from the vortex, it sounds like whispering, like it wants me to join it." Hermione gave Piper a concerned look.

"The natural order of things has been restored. Including our souls. But it seems that there is a soul here that does not belong. A parasite that has latched itself onto another. The Vortex is calling to the parasite. If you allow me I can remove the extra soul, it is a broken fragment, not a full soul so when I do so it will remove the other fragments, only leaving the original form they came from alone." Hermione grabbed Harry's arm.

"This must be the piece that connects the two of you, if he removes it then you won't be connected to him anymore, those fragments must be how he keeps coming back, without them maybe he can be truly defeated." She faced the Zen Master. "Please remove it." He nodded and used the dragon blade to absorb the dark sticky soul fragment that came out of Harry's scar.

"We need to get you home and heal your wound." An-Ling told her father. Hermione hugged Harry tightly, Happy he was free of that horrible connection to Voldemort.

"No. I was mortally wounded. It is my time to die, to be reborn." The Zen Master informed her.

"Their whitelighter can heal." An-Ling urged, desperation in her eyes.

"An-Ling, you know better than to cling to the physical world. The way you clung to my hand on the bridge." The Zen Master said. Hermione felt sorry for the young woman, tears filled her eyes as she watched the father and daughter.

"But you're my father." An-Ling begged as she reached for his hand.

"I'm no greater or less than anyone facing death. That's the only lesson that keeps you from being a true Zen Master. Death is a part of life. A transition, a rebirth, something that your young friends here have learned recently." The Zen Master looked at the dragon blade. "Yen-Lo must be reborn, the other soul will be reborn once the original has perished, all the fragments will wait for the original. It is the natural order of things." They watch as he heads towards the vortex, his daughter stopping him halfway.

"I love you." She tells him.

"And I'll always love you, An-ling." They watched as he walked with the dragon blade through the portal. Disappearing on the other side.

"Does anyone know how to leave here?" Harry asked.

"I think I know how to do it now." An-Ling: said, she had them all join hands in a circle and An-Ling and Phoebe levitated them up.

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Hermione, Harry, Leo and Phoebe were all sitting on a blanket in the park, a basket of food in the middle. Hermione waved over Piper and Paige as they came closer.

"She got every answer right." Piper informed them, Paige bowed dramatically.

"Yeah!" Phoebe and Harry cheered as Hermione and Leo smiled.

"So, uh, what inspired the turn around?" Leo asked as they sat down. Hermione handed them each a bowl of fruit.

"Well, I kind of liked the power boost I had in Limbo so it kind of made me want to work harder faster." Paige responded.

"It was nice seeing what our powers can advance to. I know it was only some of them, but it was still nice, plus now I know what my charmed power is." Hermione added before she popped a piece of melon in her mouth and chewed.

"The ability to slow time down will come in handy when Piper isn't around, that's for sure." Phoebe said.

"We just have to get you training soon. You've used some of your powers but we need to focus on control. Same with Harry, especially since he's experienced a boost in power since having that partial soul removed. You told Amelia what happened, Piper?" Leo asked.

"Yes, she's adding it to her case as it would have been discovered had he had a magical examination as a child, at the very least it should have been found during the mandatory school physicals." She replied.

"I want you three to not just spend all your time training. Trust me, you want to fight like hell to keep life separate from magic." Phoebe recommended.

"Here, here." Piper said as she raised her cup of juice in a toast.

"Well, here comes your personal trainer from hell." Leo informed Phoebe as they saw Cole Shimmer in between two trees. Hermione watched as Phoebe ran to him and shimmered away as they kissed.

"So she wants a life separate from magic but dates a Demon?" Hermione asked in confusion. Piper shrugged.

"Half-Demon, he has all the emotions and morals of a human, but powers and life span of a demon." Piper told her.

"So you're married to an angel, Phoebe's with a Demon, is it a requirement for a charmed one to date magical beings?" Harry asked innocently, this in turn had Piper laughing and Leo grinning.

"No it's not." Paige added. "Although when Piper was first gaining custody of me my boyfriend was possessed by the source of all evil." She popped a grape in her mouth while Harry and Hermione stared at her dumbfounded. "Tried to turn me evil and everything, but it didn't work."

"Wow ok so yeah I can do without a demonic boyfriend thanks. I've got too much on my plate now anyway." Hermione commented.

"So what about you Harry, any broken-hearted girls left in England?" Paige asked. Hermione looked at Paige and hid a smirk at the blatant flirting Paige was doing. Looking up she caught Piper's gaze and smiled as Piper winked, letting her know that she noticed it too. Harry blushed and looked down.

"Nope, I was too busy trying to not get killed every year to date." He said.

"Well now that's changed, maybe you'll meet someone here." Piper added.

"Have you thought more on what you'd like to do for school, it's in two months but we'll need to get everything to catch you up." Leo inquired as he looked around for the strawberries, groaning in frustration when he noticed Piper eating the last one.

"I don't think homeschooling would work out well for me, I'd keep getting distracted. If I can catch up to Paige's year group in time I would really prefer going to school with her. I think going to a normal school where no one knows me would be nice."

"I got a response from Sirius, last night, he'll be here by the end of the week so he can help keep up your magical schooling at home. Amelia said she can set up something with the American schools here and have you set up for a self study so you can take your N.E.W.T.s at the Ministry by the end of the year. We already did our O.W.L.s this year." Hermione told him.

"I'm glad you pushed me to study them this year, Ron kept telling me I was crazy to study for my tests when the tournament made them optional for competitors."

"Well in this house I want you three to understand something." Piper made sure she had all their attention. "School comes first, then magical training. You may have magic but your schooling will help you get a good education so you can get a good job. Learning about your powers and how to control them is important but it is second to coursework. Am I understood?" The three teens nodded their heads. "Now I want to hear more about this tournament you were talking about." As Harry explained to Piper, Leo and Paige, about what he went through this year, Hermione leaned back and smiled. She knew not every day was going to be this calm, but today felt great, it felt like the start of a new beginning. She could relax today and just be, tomorrow would be a day she could worry, today she decided, would be a day of peace.