On a rainy spring day in New York City, Alex Russo was sitting on the bright orange couch in her house's foyer reading an art magazine. She was startled by her older brother, Justin, running through the front door. Alex slowly lowered her magazine as if she couldn't have cared less, but she was actually very interested in what could have put Justin in such a rush. Justin's face was red as a tomato as he explained to Alex what he had just heard.
"I went to WizTech to ask Professor Crumbs about extra- credit so I could get ahead in the wizard competition, but when I came to his door, I heard him talking to some other man. He was saying that he no longer had enough money to fund the school because Dr. Evilini had stolen the school's supply of wizard gold from the vault. He said he had no choice but to advise the students to find another wizarding school, and fast."
Alex raised her eyebrow at the surprising news and then shrugged.
"Yeah, like that's going to happen. If you haven't noticed, I'm already struggling with people school as it is." She folded her legs and pulled the magazine back over her face. Justin just stared.
"Really, you don't care? Because you need to graduate to enter the wizard competition. So that is why I took the liberty to check for the best wizarding schools in a reasonable radius and registered us to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft of Wizardry. It's an overnight school in England and it starts on Wednesday." Said Justin proudly. Today was Monday.
Alex's mouth dropped down and Harper gasped from the kitchen and bar area, where she was making cookies. The tray hit the ground and icing splashed everywhere. Max Russo ran in and tried licking the icing off of the tray. Theresa Russo ran into the foyer at the sound of the crash and gasped at the mess. She shot Harper and Max an annoyed look and then wiped it up with a dish towel. Harper sat next to Alex.
"Justin, I don't even know what this school is! How dare you!" Alex demanded, getting up. She looked at Justin angrily.
"Alex, tuition was hard to come by! We were lucky to find a slot in the registration. And I'm sure dad would fully back me up in this…"
Jerry Russo walked in and looked at Justin. Justin nodded at Jerry for approval and Jerry sat down with Alex.
"Sweetie, I heard what Justin said, and I think it's for the best." Said Jerry.
Alex sighed and nodded.
"Fine. I'll go to the stupid Pigpimples school." She said, defeated. Justin's eyes narrowed and his face got red again.
"Hog. Warts." He said, annoyed. Alex stormed out of the room, followed by Harper, obviously sad too. Jerry rubbed Justin's back.
"That was very responsible of you. Look after Alex, OK?" Jerry said. Justin nodded. He left to his room to pack.
Max smiled and shrugged.
"Well, anything goes." He said and ran upstairs.
NOTE: Alex is 17 in this, Justin is 18, and Max is 13. Mason is cut out of the story just because I want Alex to have a love interest. The characters from the Harry Potter series are not in this book, just the settings and the teachers.
