32By the end of the day, I was about ready to kill Phoebe. "How can she cause so much trouble in one day?" I complained to my best friend, Marie.
"Phoebe seems to have a knack at it," said Marie. "She has such a talent for magic. If she just buckled down, she could do some amazing things."
"I know," I said. "I've tried everything to get her to take life seriously, but she simply refuses. I don't know what to do with her."
"She'd better be careful. If she keeps this stuff up, the headmaster will expel her," Marie said. "Professor Dumbledore may have a lot of influence, but he's not headmaster."
"I wish he were. He'd make the best headmaster."
An explosion sounded and the hall filled with smoke. Coughing, I took out my wand and cleared the smoke. "Somehow, I know Phoebe's behind this." I gritted my teeth and ran towards the source of the smoke—Professor Angelo's room. I went in, clearing the room. From the gray mass emerged the figure of Piper.
"I don't know what happened!" she squeaked. She seemed ready to cry.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
Piper pointed shakily at the ground. Sitting there, looking most unhappy, were four small toads.
"I turned them into frogs!" Piper wailed.
"They're toads. They sure are ugly." They all croaked at me. "Sorry. Who are they?"
"Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter. I was just trying to remove the silencing spell. They're going to kill me!"
"Calm down," I told her. "Phoebe must've put a secondary curse on them. I'll probably be able to take it off."
"Probably?" Piper repeated, her eyes widening. "If they don't get turned back, I'll lose my position, and then I'll never have a good career. It's going to go on my permanent record, and I'll be known as the one who turned the Marauders into frogs!"
"Toads. They're toads."
She burst into tears. "I'm really, really sorry, guys. I'll understand if you hate me."
They croaked at her.
"They hate me, like everybody else," Piper sobbed.
I did not need a hysterical Piper on my hands. "Please, quiet down so I can perform the spell."
Piper, thankfully, obeyed.
"Finite Incantatem!"
The toads began to grow. However, they didn't change. They simply became bigger. "Oh, my. This is not good. I think I should go get Professor Dumbledore."
Piper grabbed my arm. "You can't! He'll expel me on the spot!"
"He won't," I responded.
"Yes, he will! Please, Prue," Piper begged. "Try one more time. Then you can get him."
"Fine. Abrogatio!"
Nothing. "Piper, do me a favor and say the spell with me, okay?"
She nodded and raised her wand. "Abrogatio!"
Four grown boys appeared. Four naked boys. Piper and I turned around as quickly as possible.
"Um, vestis," I said, pointing my wand over my shoulder. "Did that work?"
"Yeah. Thanks, Prue," Sirius said.
We turned back around. "Well, that was an adventure," I said. "Where is our wonderful sister? I have to go and banish her to a remote island!"
"She has detention with Professor Stanton," Piper replied. She was much calmer now that the boys were in their right form.
"Then she'll have detention with me tomorrow," I said.
"You can give detention?" Remus asked.
"Yes. It's a new addition."
"Well, have fun. We certainly will," James said.
"That's not a smart thing to say in front of the Head Girl."
James flashed his famous smile.
Professor Dumbledore walked in. "I heard quite a bit of commotion. What happened?"
Piper's mouth dropped open, and she fainted.
"We were trying to reverse a silencing spell, sir." I went over to Piper and shook her awake.
"Miss Halliwell, are you all right?" Dumbledore asked.
"Fine, sir."
"She just stressed herself out over Phoebe," I said.
"That certainly is understandable. Here, have a lemon drop. I find they can be helpful."
"Prue, that is not fair," Phoebe whined. "I just had detention."
"It is fair," I said. "You put double curses on them."
Phoebe became very business-like. "How'd that go? How long did it take you to undo it?"
I sighed. "First Piper turned them into toads. Then I made them grow into huge toads, and then we returned them to their original forms, but they ended up naked."
"Fantastic!" Phoebe giggled.
"Phoebe, focus. I just gave you detention."
"I get detention at least once a month," Phoebe said. "A personal best was—"
"It's only the first day of classes," I interrupted. "You can't act like this. Don't you want to have a future?"
"School is boring."
"So challenge yourself. Not everything is going to be handed to you on a silver platter."
"Curses are very challenging," Phoebe protested. "It took me a while to master that particular spell."
"You are an inch from expulsion! One more detention and you're out of here forever."
"That won't happen."
"Yes, it will. You may have a lot of people on your side, but that can't hold out for the rest of your life."
"I'm tired, Prue," Phoebe said. "I'd better get some sleep."
I knew that she was only tired of the conversation. I started to say something, but she was already gone. "Lord, give me strength."
Paige
"Paige, wake up." Something tickled my face. "Time to wake up."
"It's too early," I moaned and rolled over.
"We have an hour before classes."
"I could get ready in half an hour. Leave me alone."
"I didn't want to do this..."
Freezing cold water poured onto my face. I screamed and jumped up. Callie laughed like crazy.
"That is not funny!" I said crossly.
"You should've seen the look on your face," Callie snickered.
I stuck out my tongue at her. "As long as I'm up, I guess I'll get ready."
"Good idea. but before you do that… I just heard that something's going to go down this morning."
"Oh yeah? Who's involved?"
"Likely Phoebe Halliwell's gang and the Marauders."
"Great," I said. "This should be entertaining."
"Want to know what else I heard?"
Callie was the queen of gossip. She knew everyone's business, and I could find out anything about everyone from her. "Sure," I replied, intrigued.
"I heard that Piper turned the Marauders into toads."
"Wow. I didn't realize she had it in her."
A few minutes later, we were down eating breakfast.
"Oh is that so? Bring it on, Marauders, if you can." I turned to see Phoebe facing James. They both had their wands drawn. They were calm and looked rather eager to duel.
"Are you challenging me, Phoebe?" James questioned.
"Yes, Potter, I am."
He smiled. "I have a special spell for you, then." He pointed his wand at Phoebe and, before she could do anything, called, "Amorus!"
Phoebe's face contorted oddly, and then her look softened. Her eyes fell upon the person closest to her. That person happened to be Sirius. She stared at him lovingly. Then she kissed him, long and hard. He seemed to enjoy it. He was a player, and Phoebe was rather beautiful.
Professor Dumbledore chose that moment to break in. "Enough of this. James, detention."
"It was worth it," I heard him mutter.
"That was a nice display, wouldn't you say?" I asked Callie.
"Yes," I agreed. "I think he made her fall in love with Sirius. Look at her."
Phoebe was talking with Sirius. Well, talking wasn't exactly the right word—groping was like it. Her hands were all over him. While Phoebe liked to use any guy she came across, Sirius was a Marauder. He was also the one Phoebe hated most.
"She is going to be so pissed when that spell wears off," Callie said.
"Most assuredly."
Halfway through the day, the spell still hadn't worn off. Though I liked Phoebe, I couldn't help but find this situation hilarious, especially now that Sirius was sick of Phoebe. He was currently running away from her.
"Sirius, wait for me," Phoebe said in her extra-silky voice.
"Phoebe, go away!" Sirius said as he weaved through the crowd of students in the hall.
"Playing hard to get? I'll get you eventually…" Phoebe sped up and finally caught him.
"Prongs, how could you do this to me?" Sirius said to James, who was still amused by the spell.
"Got you," Phoebe purred as she ran her hand through Sirius's hair.
Sirius pushed Phoebe away. "Phoebe, do not touch me—ah!" Sirius yelped as Phoebe's hand went down into lower territories. "D-don't do that!"
Phoebe moved her hand away. "Well, can I kiss you?"
"No, you can't kiss me. Would you—no!" Phoebe had begun to kiss his neck. "Stop it! Get off of me!"
Phoebe begrudgingly moved her mouth away. "Why do they call you Padfoot?" Do you want to know what they call me?"
"No!"
Phoebe ignored him. "I'll give you a hint. It doesn't have to do with grades. Something about my appearance, but it's what you can't see. At least, not right now. Would you like to see?"
"For the last time, no!"
Phoebe giggled. "I know what to do. Amo—"
James at last took pity on Sirius. "Santius."
Phoebe suddenly regained her sanity. "What happened?" She blinked, and it all came back. "Eww! I kissed you! Gross! I'll get you for this. Peeves! Start now!"
I looked to the right and saw Peeves appear. He launched ink bombs at the Marauders. Phoebe, who had created a bubble of protection, was untouched.
"Look forward to a week of battle with Peeves." Phoebe walked away laughing.
But that stopped when Remus uttered, "fera!"
I watched in amazement as Phoebe shank down and became a rabbit.
"That's for turning us into toads," Remus said.
They all ran to class with Peeves hot on their heels.
I went up to the rabbit. I wasn't particularly gifted at transfiguration, but I was lucky to have transfiguration next. I scooped her up and took her to Professor McGonagall. "Professor, this is Phoebe Halliwell. Remus turned her into a rabbit," I explained as I placed her on McGonagall's desk.
Professor McGonagall sighed. "Do you know what he said?"
"He said 'fera'."
"This will be easy to fix. Class, pay attention. A young woman was turned into a rabbit using the fera spell. In order to reverse the spell, you simply say 'relus'. Relus."
Phoebe appeared on the desk.
"Miss Halliwell," McGonagall said, "I believe you have a class to get to."
"Uh, yeah. I'll be going then." Phoebe picked up her bag and left.
I ran into Phoebe again later that day.
"Did you bring me to Professor McGonagall?" she asked me.
"Yeah," I said. "I saw your little battle."
Phoebe shook her head. "I can't believe their nerve."
"I can help you really get back at them."
"How?"
"I made up this sweet little spell," I said. "I'll show it to you later."
"Okay."
I had never really talked withPhoebe before. Phoebe was an extreme student. I was the kind of student that was just there. Yet I had always had an interest in the Halliwell sisters. From my adoptive parents, I had discovered that my mother's last name was Halliwell. It was probably nothing, but I still wondered. Sometimes I thought I saw a family resemblance between Prue, Piper, Phoebe, and I. It was probably just wishful thinking. But how I often wished.
Following the end of the day, I met with Phoebe.
"So what's this little spell all about?"
"I call it the say the wrong thing spell," I said. "It makes the recipient say the exact opposite of what he wants to say. It destroys relationships and causes a lovely amount of trouble." I jotted the spell down. "Just say this while maintaining eye contact. It doesn't take long to take affect."
"Perfect. Thanks," Phoebe said. "Here, take this bad boy spell as a token of my gratitude."
"Thank you. I'll be sure to use it soon." I paused. "I have a question, Phoebe. Why do you hate the Marauders so much?"
"In the first year, Sirius cursed me with a control spell. Of course, it was too advanced for him to handle alone, so they combined their efforts."
"He just randomly cursed you?"
"That's the gist of it," said Phoebe. "Sirius is my main enemy. James prefers to bother Lily. I personally think he's got the hots for her. I'd say she's interested too."
"Quite likely. Two people rarely ever hate each other with such a passion unless they're in love."
"Sirius and I are in the rare cases category."
"But of course. I could hardly believe my eyes when you were making out with him."
Phoebe shuddered at the memory. "Yuck. I used three different cleaning spells on my body, but I still feel dirty."
I laughed. Then I caught a glance of the clock. "Blimey! Is that the time? I've got to go. This was really fun, Phoebe."
"Ditto. Let's trade spells again soon."
Up in a private area of a corridor, I met with a certain fellow and partook in a long make-out session. It ended too soon.
"Bye, Cole," I said and stumbled up to my bed. I was starting to fall for him, that wonderful Cole Turner.