Just In Case File # 001 - Fangs For the Memories

Summary: Justin Russo; brother, private eye, and family wizard. Welcome to his hell.

Rating: T for language and adult situation.

A/N: So I was reading one of my mystery books, while having WOWP play in the background. It was the episode where Alex was being mentored by Larritate and she was solving all these minor crimes. That's when it hit me… What-if Justin, akin to Dresden and other hard-core gritty gumshoes, and Alex lived in NYC solving mysteries together? Huh? Anyway, I'm going to give it a shot. The full draft is already halfway done and quickly wrapping up so I figured I'd post the first chapter and see whether or not it'll take. I'll still end up posting the entire thing whether I have an audience, but I do want to know what you all think. So enjoy and read and review!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except for maybe an original character or two. Liberties were taken and toyed with when it came to locale and situations… So yeah.

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Harry Potter got it wrong.

Magical people are not born with spirit animals to guide and protect them (if anything, you mispronounce a word, you'll end up being eaten by the spirit animal you've summoned). There are no glowing bouncy balls (I know they're not bouncy. Sarcasm, heard of it?) that hold the truth to your pre-destined life. There are no ghosts of dead parents that watch over you (maybe nag and moan, but no parental advice given because they're too busy whining about being dead!). There are no such things as flying cars (flying carpets, sure, but those suckers give you wicked rug burns if you get into an accident). And there are no flying broomsticks (seriously, why would you want to hold something that gives you splinters right near to your stuff?).

There. I said it.

Sorry to burst your pretty Technicolor bubble on the awe and enchantment of magic.

Sure you can argue that Harry's seen his fair share of death and destruction and evil doings, so what the hell am I talking about "technicolor" and other bullshit?

And you're right. The lucky bastard has seen his fair share of craptastic hitting the fans.

I don't have a psychotic zombie-looking evil wizard after my thunderbolt tattoo wearing head…

Nor do I have a plucky no-it-all gal Friday helping me with my spells…

Nor do I have a bumbling best bud that has a family I've been dying (heh) to join…

Nor do I even have an owl to carry my damn mail (then again, that's what's emails are for)…

I'm just an average twenty-eight year old male wizard.

… who's mother is in frozen animation the likes of Han Solo.

… who's father "committed suicide" because he couldn't live with the guilt of sending said mother to her icy grave.

… who's little brother is an indie journalist in the mortal world, but a traitor to our wizard secrets in mine.

… who's little sister had been declared a criminal by the Wizard Counsel, and now must make amends by being under "house arrest" under my supervision (yeah, and whose punishment is this?)

… who often get's hired by said Wizard Counsel to work on freelance cases (like the one about some mortal that had been selling Ecstasy-like potions to WizTech students; FYI: it was my sister).

Yep. I got it made compared to Harry.

But then again, I'd like to see Harry try to save his sister (okay, he doesn't have one but theoretically let's give him one!) from a flesh-eating goblin, all the while you've been pined down by some magical force and you've got your dominant arm pulled from its socket and is in a yoga potion you never knew possible!

My name is Justin Russo. Welcome to my hell.