For a brief period it was hard to concentrate. The feel of magic coursing through Justin was almost mind-blowing. If he had tried to move, he was sure he would have stumbled a little. He felt like he had been half-awake all his life. Technically one-third awake since he had shared the power with both Alex and Max and he could already hear Alex's voice in his head going "Nerd!" He could see everything clearer. It wasn't a physical thing. His vision didn't magically improve or anything but he suddenly was aware of certain things. It's as if all these things were in his subconscious and his mind was finally making the connections. He finally understood why the etymology of the word wizard came from a root word "wise" as well as "to know." Suddenly he felt wiser than he had his entire life. And with that wisdom came certain realizations.

Like how much of an ass he has been in the last year. When he had been punished for his act of revealing magic to mortals, he had thought he was going to lose the wizard competition and therefore magic forever. So when Zeke and Harper had interrupted what he thought was his last chance to get magic back, he had been willing to endanger their lives. He literally winced as the memories came rushing back to him. How could he have been so stupid? He would have to humble himself to Harper and especially Zeke. Zeke, his best friend who had stuck with him through thick and thin. Alex had been right.

Thinking that thought triggered a whole new set of memories. As much of an ass as he had been to Zeke and Harper, he had been ten times worse to Alex. He had been sure the first time she won the competition had been a fluke. And again when he had been demoted, he had blamed Alex. Every single abrasive and obnoxious statement he had made repeated itself and with each one the guilt settled on his shoulders like the weight of the world on Atlas's shoulder. He had almost been willing to let everybody believe that he had won the Wizard Competition. He had even blamed her because she wanted to go save Harper and Zeke. Every memory hammered at him making him feel worse. He was going to owe Alex for a very long time. And for the first time in his life, he would let her say and do whatever she wanted (as long as it didn't put anybody in danger). And he was going to do it very humbly and quietly. Because know he knew how much he loved her. Not only as a brother but as … more. He would never reveal that latter part to her, though. She deserved better than him. She definitely deserved better than Mason, but he knew he could not say that. He might be smarter than her, but she was definitely wiser than he would ever be. That was probably why the magic had chosen her in the first competition. He would have to let her make her own decisions and trust that she would see Mason for the abusive bastard he was.

He came back to this world in a rush. His family was still hugging each other and everybody was generally happy. Even Max didn't look upset that he was the only Russo child without magic. Even so, Justin felt sorry for poor Max. He would have to find a way to make it up to him. Start off with a silver tray that would magically make whatever Max desired in the way of food and go on from there. He made eye contact with Alex. He didn't know how he knew but he knew that he could see the same glimmers of wisdom in her eyes. She must be making some mental connections in her head but they were a mystery to him. He wished he could hug her right now, but he was afraid if he touched her, he would never want to let go. So he did the wise thing and kept his distance. And then Juliet said the exact wrong thing. "Professor Boo-boo McCutiekins" she said smilingly and all of a sudden it hit him like a freight train. If Alex didn't get him killed, he might live more than three thousand years like Professor Crumbs. He liked Juliet, she was sweet but could he put up with three thousand years of that? He wanted someone who was the exact opposite of him. He wanted someone who would lead with her heart while he puzzled everything out in his mind. He wanted somebody who was lazy, irresponsible, dishonest and more than anything fun. He wanted somebody exactly like Alex. He was going to have to break up with Juliet but not here, not in front of everybody. He would let her walk away with her dignity and if she wanted to say that she had broken up with him, which was quite alright.

Alex on the other hand had made some decisions and now was following through quite loudly. Alex started off with "You know Mason, I've been thinking…" Mason made the unfortunate mistake here of looking incredulous. Normally Justin would be incensed about the facial expression because even if she didn't show it, his sister was an evil genius but in this case, he remembered his earlier wisdom of keeping quiet and just let it pass. Alex however caught the expression and her eyes went from disgusted to enraged in a heartbeat. She continued on in a normal voice, with the only expression of her ire being the increase in her volume. "Alex, I'm starting to get a little worried and embarrassed rooting for you? I'm so surprised you actually have a chance? I HAD NO IDEA THAT YOU COULD DO THIS? NO REALLY IT'S A MIRACLE? ARE YOU CHEATING?" Her voice had steadily increased until she was shouting the last parts. "I DIDN'T REALIZE YOU HAD THAT LOW AN OPINION OF ME." Mason tried to interrupt, to no avail. Justin would have felt sorry for the mangy werewolf but he was too busy doing a dance of joy on the inside. Didn't the fool realize you never interrupted Alex when she was this angry? "YOU'VE STALKED ME FOR THE LAST COUPLE OF MONTHS. YOU LIED TO YOUR PARENTS ABOUT ME BEING A WERWOLF BECAUSE EVIDENTLY I'M NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR THEM. YOU ATE AN EX-BOYFRIEND BECAUSE YOU WERE JEALOUS OF HIM, WHILE YOU TOLD AN EX-GIRLFRIEND THAT YOU LOVED HER. EVER SINCE I'VE KNOWN YOU, YOU'VE BEHAVED LIKE A JACKASS. " Everyone except Max and Harper looked shocked at Mason's actions. "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN. AND IF I DO, I'M GOING TO TURN YOU INTO A CAT, HAVE YOU NEUTERED AND THEN LET LOOSE IN A DOG PARK." Alex raised her wand menacingly at him, baring her teeth in a grimace.

There was a sudden smell of urine and a stain appeared in front of Mason's pants. Justin finally took pity on him and teleported him back to his apartment. Alex turned and glared at him and hissed "Unless you sent him to Antarctica, you should have kept out of this." Justin was more impressed she knew about Antarctica than anything but he kept his mouth shut. She whirled and pointed her wand at Juliet. "As for you. If you don't win, I'll leave you? Get your head in the game, or I'll VAMPIRE UP AND TAKE YOUR EAR OFF?" There was a sudden shaft of light from Alex's wand and immediately Juliet was replaced by a small bat.

Justin felt compelled to say something at this point. "Alex, please! Let me deal with Juliet." Alex muttered something under her breath that Justin pretended he didn't hear turned around in a huff. He raised his wand and Juliet was back in her vampire form. She looked a little shaken as well as awed. She quickly pleaded with Alex, "The quickest way to get Justin to be his very best self was to treat him the way you do. I learned that from you." Alex turned around and was on the verge of doing something rash, well something else rash. Justin quickly positioned himself between Juliet and his sister's wand. He said, "I think you should go. Now. And Juliet? I'll call you when I want to talk to you." She looked into his eyes and there was a sudden recognition in hers as if she knew it was over between them.

Alex was still seething, so he raised his wand and teleported his family as well as Zeke and Harper back to the lair. He quietly spoke to his parents who realized it would be better to let him calm Alex down. Everybody but Alex headed towards the door connecting the Lair to the Sub Shop.

When they had all left he turned towards Alex still expecting her to be seething. But there was a different expression on her face, one that he had never seen before. Before he could say anything, she suddenly asked him "Do you have an office at Wiz-Tech?" Confused by the non-sequitur he responded with "I guess I'll take over Professor Crumbs office. What does…" Before he could finish the sentence, she had raised her wand and they were in Crumb's office. Well technically it was Justin's office now.

Crumbs was there, waving his wand about and as he did so various books, painting and … objects, that even Justin had no clue what they were, disappeared from the walls. Crumbs said happily "Just picking up some of my personal belongings. I've already informed all the staff about the change but you should have a few days to settle in before they start bothering you. Good luck and you can always contact me if you need to. I'd prefer if you didn't though." With those last parting word, he disappeared in a whirlwind, leaving behind a half-bare office. There wasn't even a chair behind the desk; presumably it had been one of those personal belongings.

Alex seemed to take all this in stride. She wandered around, poked a few things with her wand and was generally inscrutable. He watched all this baffled as to why they had come here. After a few minutes, she pointed her wand at the door and started whispering under her breath. He heard enough of what she said to realize she had put a heavy-duty locking spell on the door as well as a spell lock on that. It would take either a dozen giants or at least a couple of really powerful wizards working in unison to get through that door.

After that she waved her wand at the desk and it floated out more towards the center of the room. Another wand wave and behind the desk appeared the biggest leather chair he had ever seen. It made their Dad's comfy recliner in the Lair look like a kid's chair. She turned to him and said "My gift to you. Congratulations, Professor Russo." He smiled at that but stated "Alex, thank you. However it's a little large isn't it." Her expression never changing, she replied "Go try it out."

Remembering his earlier vow to listen to her, he walked over and sat in the chair. It was too large for him. Another person could fit in this chair next to him without it being a problem. He opened his mouth again to ask her to make it smaller, when she climbed into his lap. Straddling him, she pushed him backwards as the chair reclined. All of a sudden, he was almost lying on his back and she was on top of him with a very strange expression. Justin was completely confounded her. He had no clue what was going on, which should have been comforting because that was his usual mode of operation around Alex. She was moving her body evidently trying to get into a comfortable position, though how she could find one, situated as she was, was beyond him. Suddenly parts of her came into contact with a certain part of him and his body reacted very, very emphatically. She smiled a quick smile at that, and all of a sudden her lips were on his.

Finally things were starting to make sense. If he had been a cartoon, a light bulb would have gone on over his head. Obviously he was still in the competition, had tripped trying to remove his foot from that damned root and knocked himself unconscious. He was dreaming all of this, the perfect future, one where they were both wizards and at least some of the obstacles in his way had been eliminated. It was a little sad that he would have to wake up from this but he was determined to enjoy it while he could. Kissing the dream version of Alex aggressively, he began roughly yanking the clothes off her, tearing the ones that didn't come off easily, all the while devouring her lips before moving his mouth down to her magnificent breasts. They were the perfect size, small enough that they fit comfortably in his hands. He went back to kissing her, enjoying the feel of her nipples brushing against the palms of his hands. He moved his lips reluctantly from her mouth. The taste of her had been intoxicating, like the best chocolate liqueur he had ever tasted. He moved his lips along her cheek, breathing in her scent until his teeth came to her earlobe. He bit down, just gently enough for her to feel it. Her moan in response made him harder than he had ever been with Miranda, Rosie or even Juliet. He again started to move his mouth down to the valley between her breasts, smelling the perfume she had used there, mixing with her own personal scent to create the perfect fragrance.

He fully intended to work all the way down between her legs, wanting to enjoy this dream to the fullest extent. He had been thinking about this particular fantasy ever since he had broken up with Rosie. Another reason he had kept Alex at a distance. So she would never find out about the perverted fantasies that involved her naked and writhing over him. He quickly shook his head. This would be over soon enough and reality would soon disappoint him so he wanted to enjoy this as much as he could. Before he could continue, she stopped him from moving down and positioned her hot core right above him. "Don't worry, I'm on the pill." Of course she was, his mind had to make the dream perfect. She misinterpreted the expression on his face as something else. "And don't worry, I've never done this with Mason. Or anybody else for that matter." He would have laughed. This dream was literally perfect. When she slowly inserted his penis into her, he groaned in response. The sensations were so real. He knew he was going to mess his pants in real life. He hoped that when he woke up, he would still have his magic and have a chance to clean up his pants before he left the Tunnel of Mist because otherwise it would lead to a very embarrassing situation.

Concentrating on the dream again, he threw back his head and moaned in appreciation. She was so snug around him. He knew he could not take much more of this. He moved his fingers between their bodies, searching for the spot between her legs. Even in this dream, he was determined that she would finish before him. Stroking her gently, he heard her shout his name and at the same time felt her tighten around him. That was all that was needed for him to lose control and empty himself inside her.

He awoke as satiated and satisfied as he had ever been in his life. He kept his eyes closed, trying to remember every detail of the dream so he could save it for next time. That was until, he felt something or more accurately someone moving on top of him. He opened his eyes in shock as he heard Alex whisper his name. He looked about confusedly. Was he still dreaming? Maybe he had brained himself and was in coma. If so, that was okay as this was the best coma dream he could have imagined. Alex was now looking at him. "Got what you wanted and now you're ignoring me?" He looked at her and asked the question he could have not even imagined, "Is this real?"

Her expression flickered between confusion and disbelief before settling into amusement again. "You thought it was a dream?" As he slowly nodded yes, a large grin appeared on her face as she replied "Do you normally dream about this, dork?" She broke out into howling laughter as his face heated up from embarrassment.

He watched her giggle for a minute, not wanting to interrupt her. Besides which her giggling was causing her body to move in interesting ways. When she stopped laughing, she didn't look at him. Instead she looked around the room and said, "We're going to have to do something to adapt this room to you. You just don't fit in yet." She looked at him and said "It's the whole Professor Russo thing. You really don't look like a Professor. Maybe with…this?" She grabbed her wand from the desk and waved it and suddenly a long white beard sprouted around his mouth and chin. She broke into fresh laughter at the look on his face. He grabbed his wand retaliated causing round spectacles to appear on her face. She looked at him with a wide grin and said the magic words. "Want to play Teacher and Student?"

"Oh, yes!"