(m a x pov)
You're turning eighteen tomorrow.
In exactly 8 hours, 33 minutes, and 29, 28, 27 seconds, you will be eighteen.
And everything will change.
7 hours, 21 minutes, 54, 53, 52 s e c o n d s
Alex arrives.
This is the first time she's been home since she left for college, the first time she's consented to be in the same room as her family since The Incident.
Her hair is all cut in choppy layers, her face framed by wavy fringe. There are deep red highlights in it that you can only see in the right lighting, and every once in a while you catch a glimpse of faded purple as well. She's wearing surprisingly subtle clothing, no loud colors or bold patterns, just a black v-neck and charcoal skinny jeans. She's got on heeled boots and a silver necklace, and only one ring.
On her left hand.
On the third finger.
There lies a glimmering silver band, a diamond in the middle and emeralds the shade of Justin's favorite color set on each side.
You don't want to think about what it means.
"Alex," you start, not completing your sentence once her cold gaze locks on yours. Her regularly sparkling brown eyes are shuttered and so dark they're almost black.
You can't look at them, so you turn back to the ring on her finger.
You stare it as your mom cries and your dad stands there stoically and Alex just looks back at the three of you, not one trace of emotion in her eyes.
6 hours, 52 minutes, 43, 42, 41 s e c o n d s
You sit on a dull orange couch next to your father, your mom on his other side. Regret churns in your stomach and guilt tightens your heart and you just want it to be over, you just wish you could take it all back.
But you can't.
So you sit there, shoulder to shoulder with the man that kicked out your siblings, staring at the sister that you no longer recognize. The clock ticking in the kitchen is the only sound you can hear, the silence ending when someone knocks on the door.
Justin.
He walks in, no smile on his face, and a bag tightly clenched in one hand. He's wearing a dark red t-shirt and blue jeans, his hair longer than it used to be. You haven't seen him for longer than you haven't seen Alex, exactly three weeks and two days more. When he shifts his grip on the bag in his left hand, you notice a glitter of silver and you close your eyes before you see anything else.
You swallow tightly, uselessly try to make the lump in your throat go away, and reopen your eyes to see a silver band on his left ring finger, unadorned except for a dark sapphire that's Alex's favorite shade of blue.
Your mom cries more and you can feel your dad get so tense that you wonder how he hasn't yet snapped in half. He strides further into the room, easily sliding into the space that Alex left open behind her on the armchair opposite the couch.
You don't even bother saying his name.
5 hours, 29 minutes, 11, 10, 9 s e c o n d s
You like to think that you're a good person. You imagine yourself to be forgiving and open, completely judgment free and honest all the time.
That isn't how you were when The Incident took place.
You really hope that that's how you are now.
Because maybe, if that's how you are now, then things like The Incident won't happen again. The family won't be torn apart and you won't forget what Justin's smile looks like or what Alex's laugh sounds like.
Maybe, now, you can do things better.
Maybe you can fix it some how.
There has to be some way to fix it.
Right?
The Incident. (Or the beginning of it, anyways.)
You wake up to the sound of people screaming.
The floor beneath you is unsteady with a wizard's rage, and you wonder what happened as your mother's voice echoes ominously up the hallway.
You climb down the stairs, yawning and rubbing your eyes, to be met with a confusing sight. Justin is shirtless, standing by the bright orange couch, glaring in a way that you have never seen before. Alex is in from of him, mouth open in a snarl that makes you take a step back and wearing nothing more than what you believe to be Justin's missing shirt.
Your mother and father are standing in front of them, your dad looking confused and your mom looking furious. She's spitting out words in Spanish, her rage seeming to make her forget that no one else in the room knows what she's saying.
You aren't sure what's happening.
All you know is that Alex and your mom are angry enough to hiss and that the way Justin is currently staring at Alex looks a lot like the way your dad is looking at his wife.
5 hours, 11 minutes, 39, 38, 37 s e c o n d s
Alex and Justin have left the room.
They went downstairs, strode through the substation with their hands interlocked, and slammed the lair door shut behind them.
Neither you nor your parents are brave enough to say what the three of you are thinking, and instead your mother makes sandwiches and gives the not-a-freezer door a wide berth. Your father takes orders and you clean tables and you really aren't surprised when a girl with dark red hair and strawberries on her shirt comes whirling through the doors.
Harper Finkel.
She hasn't been here since Alex left for college either, even though she went to college at NYU. She nods to your dad and glares at you and refuses to even look at your mother as she knocks loudly on the door.
She's inside with a flash of what you recognize as Alex's magic, and you almost start to cry when you hear raucous laughter seeping through the door.
Your mom keeps making sandwiches and your dad keeps taking orders and you keep cleaning tables.
Now, all three of you avoid looking at the door, as if staring directly at it will lead to something bad. Like you'll turn to stone if you look straight at the door or arrows will come out to pierce through your heart.
Kind of like the joyful laughter makes you feel like something is hitting your head with a large, blunt object.
You don't think you can take much more of this without snapping.
You're going to break in half before you even get to the Wizarding Competition.
4 hours, 2 minutes, 41, 40, 39 s e c o n d s
Mason Greyback looks the exact same way that he did last time you saw him, the same as the first time you met him.
He glides through the doors and you want to ask if that's a werewolf thing and do something absolutely ridiculous like howl a hello, but you can't.
You aren't that person anymore.
And besides.
He probably wouldn't respond anyways.
He disappears behind the lair door in a bright flash of Justin's magic and you're almost impressed with the way your mother seems to not even notice his very existence.
The laughter grows louder.
So does your urge to cry.
The Incident. (Or the middle of it, anyways.)
Alex and Justin were sleeping on the couch together.
And they totally weren't wearing clothes.
Your mind really can't comprehend anything and you can't stop wondering, is this what happens every time your parents go out of town?
You really just don't understand.
It's Alex and Justin.
Justin dates monsters that aren't really monsters and Alex dates bad boys with good hearts.
They don't date each other.
Because that's illegal and immoral and they're fucking related.
So, you don't really understand what's going on.
You just cannot comprehend this.
You do not know what's happening.
You will not try and understand this.
2 hours, 56 minutes, 33, 32, 31 s e c o n d s
The substation is all closed and all the tables have been wiped down and all the floors have been swept and all the sandwich ingredients put away.
Intermittent laughter is still coming from the lair, and you're still trying to erase the loud congratulations you heard from Mason and Harper as soon as both of them were in the room.
You still don't understand how they're okay with it. Harper loved Justin and Mason loved Alex.
So shouldn't they be not alright with the whole, Justin and Alex are apparently married thing?
Shouldn't they be not okay with this?
2 hours, 14 minutes, 8, 7, 6 s e c o n d s
"Now, Max, don't be nervous about the competition. You'll do fine. I can't tell you what spells you're going to have to know, but I'm sure that…" his voice trails off as he notices your lack of attention.
You've been staring at the front door since you sat on the couch.
Are Alex and Justin going to come up? Are they going to stay down there until the competition? Are Harper and Mason coming with them? Are they still laughing?
None of the questions are something that you can answer.
They're questions that only Alex and Justin can answer.
And neither one of them are speaking to you.
Not that you blame them.
The Incident. (Or the end of it, anyways.)
Alex and Justin were together together.
Your mother wasn't okay with it.
Your father, while not accepting, still doesn't seem to be disgusted and angry the same way that your mother is.
Alex's snarl has gentled, and now she's just leaning backwards into Justin. It's the first time that you've ever seen her completely trust another person.
His arms are tight around her and their left hands are intertwined. Their faces are expressionless and their eyes are closed off and they aren't the people that you know.
They aren't the brother and sister that you know.
They stand there and stare at the three of you, eyes unreadable.
You feel like they're waiting for something, but you aren't quite sure what. You glance to your left and see your mother's disapproval, and then you look to the right and see your father's potential acceptance.
Oh.
You're the deciding vote.
You side with your dad, and they're okay. Alex can continue to live at home and Justin can continue to visit from college and they can still be together, just a little subtler about it.
You agree with your mom, and they're finished. Your mother will issue threats and they'll split up and not see each other anymore for threat of legal repercussions. And they won't be together, at least not until Alex is eighteen and never with the approval of the family.
And that's when it happens.
The thing you regret.
You take one step closer to your mother and cast your vote.
It's the wrong one.
1 hour, 8 minutes, 38, 37, 36 s e c o n d s
Hindsight's a bitch.
After The Incident, Alex was confined to her room and your mother took away her wand. She took Justin's wand too and sent him back to college, where he was told to stay unless he wished to be arrested.
They took their sentences quietly and unresistingly. They didn't argue or fight. They just glared. These anguish filled glances directed at you and your mother before Justin walked out the front door and Alex locked herself in her room.
She left as soon as she was eighteen.
You weren't even slightly surprised when your mother announced that her and Justin's wands were also gone.
The three of you went through your lives as if it had always been that way. You didn't mention your brother and sister and you didn't talk about the decision your mother made, the decision that you supported.
It was only after the shock wore off, when Alex moved out and you started to realize just how much you missed you siblings, that you began to think that your decision was the wrong one.
That maybe, just maybe, they really did love each other.
And it was okay that they had the same blood and the same family.
Because they were Alex and Justin, and it was always going to be them anyways.
But like you already said, hindsight's a bitch.
And you didn't realize it until it was too late.
It was way too late.
33 minutes, 12, 11, 10 s e c o n d s
Loud clattering up the stairs makes your mother flinch, your father close his eyes, and you clench your fists.
Mason pulls the door open, a laughing Alex perched on his back, her diamond ring sparkling clearly on his shoulder. Harper walks through the door behind them giggling, and Justin comes in last with his eyes as bright as the silver on his ring finger.
The four of them pause slightly when they see you, but then they just proceed forward as if you don't exist.
You wonder if this is how Alex felt during the months she had to remain home after she was forced to split from Justin.
They all pile on to the couch in a laughing heap, not one of them even glancing at you or your mother.
The burning in your eyes comes back.
You close them so that they can't see the tears and bury your face in your hands.
Your throat is so tight you can't swallow and your hands are clenched so tightly over your face that it almost hurts.
Just almost though.
The guilt hurts more.
2 minutes, 37, 36, 35 s e c o n d s
Your standing in the middle of the living room in front of your father, Alex to your right and Justin on her right. Mason and Harper are still on the couches behind your father and you can hear your mother moving around nervously upstairs.
Your father is saying something about the three of you being transported back as soon as the competition is over with and your holding your wand so tightly you think that the imprint may always be on the inside of your palm.
Alex is standing beside you, slightly leaning into Justin, and completely relaxed. The two of them are standing there calmly, their wands dangling loosely from their fingers.
You can't breathe.
1 second
Bright magic swirls around you and the siblings you no longer know.
It obscures your vision and it feels like your underwater, your hearing all echoes and muffled words.
This is it.
The Competition
You arrive at some castle, all alone in a room. You run down the hallway and you hear your father's voice telling you that you can only use spells that have to do with the elements.
You run out into the field and see Justin and Alex, both slowly moving towards the large ball of magic in the middle of the field.
You sprint.
They walk.
You win.
The Aftermath
Another swirl of lights brings you back to the apartment you just left and you feel too shocked to be happy.
Alex and Justin move away from you and Mason and Harper stand up from the couch, the four of them heading for the front door.
Your father stands silently beside you, but you seem to have lost all control over you mouth and you can't stop yourself from saying it.
"I'm sorry," you choke out, the words sticking in your throat and hurting when they come out. "I am so sorry."
Alex turns back to look at you, her hand twined with Justin's and her eyes finally readable.
They look sad.
Harper and Mason keep going, opening the door and walking through without a glance backwards. Justin is halfway through the door when he realizes that Alex stopped moving. He turns back to look at her and she tugs her hand free of his grasp.
She walks to you and cups your face with her hands and the cool metal on her left ring finger sears against your skin. You close your eyes and wish with all your might, you wish that you never had to grow up and that you didn't make the wrong choice.
You wish that you would have gotten to see your siblings' wedding and that you could have been there to help Justin pick out the ring. You wish that you could still make werewolf jokes with Mason and talk to Harper about completely random things.
But when you open your eyes, none of your wishes have come true.
You still made the wrong choice.
And they still suffered for it.
Alex's eyes lock on to yours and a faint smile curls her lips. She presses cool lips to your forehead and you choke back a sob when her hands drop from your face.
Justin nods to you from the door way and reaches out an arm automatically to curl around Alex's waist when she's next to him at the door.
Your father's hand settles on your shoulder and you can still feel metal on your cheek.
They close the door behind them and you finally notice the thrum of magic singing through your veins. It pulses under your skin and the feeling is amazing but you can't appreciate it.
You won the competition.
But you feel like you lost.
Alright. I hope no one feels that Max is too OOC, but I think that if he did something that he regretted so strongly then he would mature faster and the guilt would change his personality. I wasn't trying to make him to angsty, so sorry if it came off that way.
As for the Mason and Harper thing, the way that they're written makes it so they could either accept Jalex because they loved them, or they could reject them for a myriad of reasons. I chose to make them accept. For this oneshot, at least.
Please review. Disclaimed. Kay, thanks.