A/N: This chapter has been edited. Wizards of Waverly Place belongs to Disney and Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Alex's POV
Let's be clear on one thing. Going to some wizarding school was totally not my idea. So, anything that happens here is undoubtedly Dad's fault. I mean, maybe that prank did go awry and blow up in everyone's faces, but Dad's the one choosing the punishments here. So, yeah. That Friday did not start off great for me.
"But Dad!" I whined from my spot on the couch in our lair. "I don't want to go to some wizarding school!" I groaned as my form further slumped into the couch.
"Alex, I have no choice but to send you to Hogwarts. You almost exposed magic to mortals, and it's obvious that Wiztech has absolutely no effect on you." Dad argued. I rolled my eyes. Honestly, if there is one thing that the Russo family should be used to, are my screw ups.
…
Did I hear the name of the school correctly?
"Hogwarts!" I shout. "You're sending me to a school called Hogwarts! Dad, that name's even more stupid than Wiztech!" I groaned again.
"See, Dad?" Justin said, exasperated. Justin was my geeky older brother, by the way. "She doesn't even want to go to the best wizarding school in the entire world!'
Ugh. The best school? Didn't that usually mean high expectations, stuffy teachers, stuck-up, know-it-all students, and actually doing work? Ugh. For people who were saved by me a week before, they weren't showing a whole lot of appreciation.
"Yeah, Dad," I said sweet as I straightened myself on the couch. "Justin should go to Hogwarts. I mean, look at him, he's totally willing to."
"Yeah, Da- wait," Justin stopped, and he swivelled around to face me. "You're just doing this to escape your punishment." He accused. Oh, great. Can't the boy make up his mind? Does he, or does he not want to go to this oh-so-amazing school?
"It's okay, Justin. I wasn't planning to let her skip anyways." Well, isn't that just great? A plan somewhat formulated in my head, and I hoped to God that it worked.
"Wait." Max chimed in. "Is Alex going to a school named after a pig with warts, or are we getting a pig with warts?" he asked with squinted eyes, as he scratched the back of his head.
"No, Max. Alex is going to a wizarding school." Dad explained. I watched as Dad continued to explain the situation to Max. Ah, God bless Max. Without him, those two would never have been distracted enough. I smirked.
Grabbing my wand from my boot, I waved a spell, "Rain on, chain on." At the end of my enchantment, a flash of white came and went. After the light had dissipated, Dad, Max, and Justin, all laid on the ground bound in bronze chains tightly. Satisfied with myself, I skipped out the lair with pride. At this point, I think I needed the comfort of my werewolf boyfriend.
"Mason!" I wandered the streets as I yelled his name. A few passers-by's looked at me really weirdly, but as long as they weren't Mason in disguise, I didn't care. Anyways, where was that werewolf? It was in the middle of the afternoon, so he shouldn't have wolfed up already. I went to visit his house, but to my demise, the only thing that was there was his baby brother, who proceeded to chase me out of the house. He wasn't at his favourite places either!
After a few more rounds around the city, I sighed in frustration and stood angrily in the middle of a random street.
"Ugh!" I exclaimed frustrated, stomping my foot on the concrete. At my shout, more than a few onlookers spared me a glance. Well, excuse me for having the worst time of my life. I mean, here I am about to go to a place where I really had no business going to, and my boyfriend isn't here for me to complain to. My frustrations are justified. I sighed and just went back to the Sub Station. Maybe Harper would be there.
I was wrong. When I entered the sparsely populated Sub Station, the only thing that greeted me were a few costumers and the male trio from my family. Oh, great. I had really hoped that they would be wound up for a few more hours, but it was already a bad day. What did I honestly expect?
Anyways, as I made my way to the counter, I noticed that Justin's smile was way too wide for my liking, and Max's excited tapping didn't help my case. What was going on?
"Hey, Alex, we need to talk." Dad greeted. He patted the counter top and gestured to the stools. "Sit down." Oh, no. Didn't we already have a talk earlier?
I sat down cautiously, and threw an irritated glare at Max. Honestly, this boy just goes tap, tap, tap all over the place. "What are you two dorks so happy about?" I asked.
If possible, Justin's smile got wider. "Well, Alex. Max and I, are going to Hogwarts with you!" he exclaimed gleefully. My eyes widened in horror and my jaw dropped. I turned to Max and Dad for confirmation. Both of them nodded.
"No!" I exclaimed, and put my head into my hands. It was bad enough that I had to go to some first class school or whatever, but to have Justin and Max there with me? They would never leave me alone! How would I survive?
Obviously seeing me in despair churned some sympathy in my Dad because the next thing he said totally brightened up my day. "You know, Alex. Professor Crumbs said if you, uh, graduate from Hogwarts, it could, um, help you in your standing for the Wizarding competition."
I looked up, totally paying attention now. Was he serious? Could I seriously increase my chances of winning this competition by just going to school? I looked at Dad to see if he was kidding. I saw that he was looking at me to see if I would take it. Oh my God. He was honest to God serious. For the first time that day, I smiled.
"Well then, Dad. I think we need to go buy supplies for school, right?" I said, standing up and clapping my hands together. Was I excited to go to this Hogwarts? No. Was I totally willing to put up with it so I can be the family wizard? Heck yes.
Dad sighed in relief, and rubbed his hands together. "Alright guys. Let's close up for today and go buy your stuff." He said. And with that, we made all preparations and stood in front of the window portal. Dad opened it and let us through. I hoped that I wouldn't regret this decision.
The further we travelled, the less I recognized where we were going. Why didn't we just go to our regular shop and get everything done and over with?
"Hey, Dad?" I called out.
"Yes, Alex?"
"Where are we going?"
"We're going to Diagon Alley." He replied. I stared at my Dad's back, bewildered. Dia-what alley?
"It's where we're going to buy your school supplies." Dad explained further.
"But couldn't we just go to our regular shop?" Max asked, voicing my thoughts from a few minutes ago.
"No, Max." Justin said. "Hogwarts has a list of supplies that can only be bought at Diagon Alley."
"Justin's right, Max." Dad replied.
"Well, that stinks." Max huffed, crossing his arms against his chest. Wow, Dad was honest to God, willing to spend money for special supplies. Hogwarts must be real special for that to happen.
As we walked, the fog that usually signified the portal diminished a bit, which gave us a blurry view of our path. That was cool. Unfortunately, the walk was really, really, long. I had better lose a pound or two from this. My legs ached, and this was the farthest I had ever walked my entire life.
Fortunately, my saviour came in the form of a rundown building, that a lot of people seemed to pass by. It looked like one of those rutty bars you would expect a lot of drunks to come in after the sun had gone down. So, of course, that's where we were headed.
As a wizard myself, you would expect me to not trust appearances. Yeah, well, that was never my thing. So, in this one instance, I was pleasantly surprised. It really did look like a bar, granted a bit more sanitary, but that's beside the point. People were seated on stools by the counter, and some climbed up the winding staircase to the second floor. The bar tender busied himself by wiping the mugs clean. Why he didn't just use magic, I didn't know.
Anyways, we approached the bartender. The bartender was middle-aged with a scruffy beard. When he saw us, his lips turned up into a welcoming smile, and waved for us to sit down. Wow, what a friendly bartender.
"So, I haven't seen you folks 'round here before." The bartender commented in his gravelly, deep British accent, "Welcome to the Leaky Cauldron." He said, as he flourished his wand, creating sparks. That was cool. His wand looked so old-timey, as in it was wood, not metal, and it didn't seem to run on electricity.
"The Leaky Cauldron?" Max asked. "What kind of a name is that?"
Dad was quick to turn around to scold him, but the bartender stopped him. He looked at Max curiously, as if he was a weird, new species.
"Hm. Are you lot American?" he asked us.
"Yes, actually." Our dad answered. "We were looking for a Diagon Alley."
The bartender's eyes widened, in surprise, before he exclaimed, "Diagon Alley? Why are Americans concerning themselves with Diagon Alley?"
"That is, because we're going to Hogwarts." Justin answered. The bartender's eyes widened to the size of saucer plates, if that was possible.
"Blimey! But, are you really? You're attending rather late, aren't you? And why concern yourself with Hogwarts when Salem is right in your neighbourhood?" The bartender asked, like the questions just spilled out of his mouth.
Though, he did have a point. Why weren't we going to Salem, or even Ilvermony, instead? I mean, they had less ridiculous names, for one thing. Two, well, they were in America.
"Oh, that. The headmaster was gracious enough to enroll my children into Hogwarts."
With that, the bartender nodded in understanding. "Ah, I see. Well, that's rather kind of the old codger. Guess that means you lot must be off. You're welcome to come here anytime! Now, follow me and I will open the entrance to Diagon Alley for you." So, the bartender walked around the counter and made us follow him to a brick wall at the side of the room.
He then tapped a specific brick and the wall began to unravel. Like, unravel. Solid brick pushed outwards to create a doorway, and oh my gosh, it was actually genuinely amazing. How did they do that? Can I do that for my own room? Imagine if I was the only one with access to my room just by tapping that one brick? Woah.
Beyond the doorway was actually quite a busy scene. People rushed up and down the cobblestone streets, and went inside and out of the many stores and buildings that were set up at sidewalks. My eyes gazed at the scene in front of us, trying to take everything in. It felt like we were back in the olden days, which I do have first-hand experience in, except there was a less Texan feeling, and a more genuinely ancient one.
I could hear Justin's gasps of wonder and awe at everything around us, and for once I really couldn't blame him. This place was actually cool. Although, what was with the robes? Honestly, didn't people here have style? Whatever.
"Come on kids. We've got to get to uh…Gringotts?" Dad said, as he read off a sheet of worn out paper. What a weird name.
"That's the white building at the end of the street, can't miss it. That's where you exchange your Muggle money into wizarding money." The bartender told us. What was a Muggle? When I asked, Dad said it was their word for mortals. Okay then. Like the saying goes: "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."
"Alright. Thanks." Dad grunted, and off we went.
Gringotts was a huge white building, that seemed to tower the rest of the shopping centre. At the front doors was a really grim poem. Like it was right down sadistic. Basically, it was like this,
Enter stranger, but take heed,
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So, if you seek beneath our floors,
A treasure that was never yours.
Thief, you have been warned, beware,
Of finding more than treasure there.
Like, I said, really grim, right? And if that wasn't weird enough, inside the pristine, white room were a bunch of goblins. Goblins. These wizards let goblins run their banks. And it wasn't like the goblin that I was familiar with, no. These ones were short, in really expensive suits, with pointed ears, beady eyes, and hooked noses. Plus, they looked less prone to joking than that Officer Goblin we had ran into a couple of times.
"Woah! This place is so cool!" Max shouted. This earned us a few glares. Whoops. Only a minute inside, and we were already creating a fuss.
Dad ignored them, though, and walked up to the clerk at the other side of the room. The goblin stared at us with suspicious eyes.
"Are you here to withdraw, or to make a transaction?" The goblin drawled. It didn't take its eyes off of the document he (she?) was reading.
"Uh, we'd like to make a transaction please," Dad said as he took out a huge, whopping amount of dollar bills and laid them on the counter in front of the goblin. Woah. Hogwarts must be a pretty big deal, if Dad was willing to spend that much money for us to go. Wait, I think I saw him shed a tear.
The goblin looked up, and peered at us through their specs. He took the wad of bills, and handed it to another goblin, who proceeded to go to another goblin. In a matter of minutes, there was a sizable pouch of coins on the counter. Dad took it, and we exited the building.
Once we were outside, Dad led us to a bunch of stores to buy our stuff. In one store, we bought all our textbooks, and some of them were honestly so cool. There was one hex for Bat Bogeys, like what? How come Americans didn't have a spell for that? And there was this one shop with a bunch of cauldrons, but sadly, we could only buy the pewter ones. Why we could only buy those ones, I didn't know, but at the same time, it wasn't too much of a bother. We also bought a bunch of the standard scales there.
As we shopped, I noticed so many differences with us and these wizards. These wizards seemed laxer in their attitudes than I originally thought. Maybe it was because we were in a shopping district, but still. Also these wizards took their magic seriously. There wasn't any cootie catcher magic here. No, it was all done with their wands, unlike us, who could sometimes do spells without them. Also, this place seemed to pop right out from a fantasy novel. I felt the tingling sensation of magic with every step. For once, I was speechless.
After we bought our uniforms, we walked to a run-down store just a corner away from our previous location. The store's display window presented a single wand upon a cushion. According to the sign in front of it, it was Merlin's wand.
"Woah." Justin whispered, as he stared at the display window. "I never thought I would actually be able to see Merlin's wand."
I grabbed him by his collar and tugged. "Come on, let's get, already." I grunted.
"Just wait a moment, Alex." He dismissed, as he carried on with the staring. I sighed and left him there to his starry-eyed moment. It wasn't worth my effort, anyway.
Inside, Dad and Max were already seated on the wooden stools. I sat beside Dad and asked, "We already have wands. Why do we need another one?"
"Because, Alex, our wands run on electricity, and electricity doesn't work at Hogwarts." He answered.
Oh that makes sense. Wait. Did he say what I think he said?
"D-Did you say that-?" I stuttered, but thankfully, Dad knew what I was going to ask.
"Yes, Alex. I did say that electricity doesn't work at Hogwarts. So you will leave all electronic devices at home."
It was that sentence, that I knew that I was doomed for the rest of the school year. How would I survive without my daily music? Or texting Harper? Hogwarts suddenly seemed like the worst place on earth.
I was spurned from my self-destructive thoughts by a raspy voice, "Good afternoon. Are you all here to buy a wand?"
I looked over at the desk, and behind it was an old man with silver hair that seemed to go all over the place. He beckoned us over, and Max, Justin (who had come in a few moments before), and I followed.
He looked at us under a scrutinizing gaze. "Lift your wand arm." He commanded. Justin and Max lifted their left arms. I lifted my right. The man nodded. He went towards us with a measuring tape and started measuring random body parts. Arms, legs, necklines, even our noses! What this crazy dude was doing, I couldn't guess, but he left to the back and returned with three boxes. He handed one to each of us.
"It seems you have your own wands, but require another to enroll into Hogwarts. To find the right wand for you, you must flick every wand, until we find a compatible wand. After all, the wand chooses the wizard." He told us. He was probably crazy, I concluded. We had gotten our wands through magazines. It's not like they chose us. Right?
I took out the wand from the box, and flicked it. Nothing happened. Well, that was anti-climatic. The old guy took the wand away from me, and handed me another. Again, nothing happened. This happened a few more times for me and Max. Justin, it seemed, got his on the third try.
"Ah!" The old guy exclaimed. "Your wand is marvelous indeed. This wand is made from elm wood, you know. Its core is dragon heartstring. Marvelous, indeed. You must be very adept at magic, for this wand to have chosen you, young sir." Justin only gave a smug grin in response.
The next one I received, I flicked hard in anger. Unlike the others, I felt the familiar tingle in my hand, and blue sparks shot out from my wand. Like with Justin, the old guy took my wand, and inspected it carefully.
"Hmm. An interesting combination. Made of ebony with dragon heartstring. We must expect many, rather unique spells to come from this wand."
Well, that was an interesting analysis. Anyways, he handed the wand back to me, and watched Max thoroughly. Max hadn't found his wand yet. The pile of incompatible wands grew and grew, just like the old man's satisfaction did. At last, after an eternity later, Max flicked a wand, and created an explosion similar to fireworks.
"Very curious, indeed. Combined with dogwood and a phoenix feather, am I right in assuming that your expertise lies in charms?" The wand maker asked Max. Max stared at him dumbfounded.
"Uh, I guess so." He nodded. The wand maker nodded in response. After we paid him, and exited the shop. After browsing for a few more hours, we returned to the Leaky Cauldron, and back into the foggy white portal. Man, Hogwarts better be worth it.
A/N: I used the Wands section in Pottermore to come up with their wands. Also, the plot has changed a bit more than I planned, along with a bunch of details. Hehe, sorry about that.