Russos vs. Wizards

Summary: When an old power targets the Russo kids, Alex, Justin and Max must search the Wizard World for their kidnapped parents. Some Jarper, minimal Mason/Alex

A/N: My writer's block has been pretty bad lately, so I decided to start a new fanfic. More or less, this is my attempt at a movie-like WOWP story. And a chance to reuse some original concepts/ideas I've introuduced in other stories, mostly unfinished ones.

Oh, and for the record, I'm not a fan of Mason/Alex. But since Alex's love life actually isn't important to the plot, I decided to leave him in for convience's sake.

Enjoy!

"Are you sure?" Justin asked. He was standing in the lair, chatting on the wizard video phone with Chancellor Tootietootie. Since tutoring the delinquents turned out to be slightly less challenging than he had planned, he'd decided it wouldn't hurt to start up monster hunting again.

The chancellor shrugged. "Yup. Of course evil never rests, but right now it must be taking a power nap. Our own guys are barely keeping busy."

Justin frowned. He'd thought he'd be able to pick up at least a level with this. "Oh, that's disappointing." He paused. "Good for the world, I guess, but disappointing for me. Let me know if the situation changes."

"Will do." Then Tootietootie disconnected the call.

When Justin turned around, he nearly jumped at the sight of Harper, sitting on a desk in the back row. He hadn't even heard her walk in. "Hey, Harper...wait, how did he not see you?"

"I panicked when I walked in and saw you on the phone," she explained casually. "So I ducked and hid under a desk until you were done."

That's Harper, Justin thought, somewhat amused. Always weird. Even without the creepy-obsessive crush on me. However, he had to admit she looked slightly less weird that day, since she was wearing simple yoga pants and a t-shirt. Since she lived with his family, on rare occasions he got to see her when she was almost...normal.

Realizing that, technically, he was checking her out, Justin coughed and looked away before she noticed. "So, uh, what are you doing here?"

"I'm bored," she announced, frustration in her voice. "Spring Break is driving me crazy. Zeke's college isn't on the same schedule, so he has classes..."

"Um, Harper? As Zeke's best friend, I'm well aware..."

His reminder went ignored. "...and your sister is always out with Mr. Best-in-Show. I'd try designing a new dress but my creativity seems to be on vacation too."

"While I'm honored to be your fourth choice..." Justin began, unexpected bitterness in his words. For a second he wondered why the issue bothered him at all, but quickly decided he didn't want to know. "I'm not really up to anything either, just trying to find...extra credit, so to speak. Besides cleaning out unicorn stables."

Harper scoffed. "How exactly would that prepare you to win the wizard competition?"

"It wouldn't. It'd be punishment for screwing up, I think," Justin explained. Generally, extra credit for the wizard competition turned out to be the nastiest, most unpleasant jobs no other wizard would do, so the theory made sense to him.

Concerned, Harper assured him, "You didn't screw up, Justin. You were doing what you thought was right at the time. No one can blame you for that."

"I can," Justin retorted, the issue still a sore subject. "How could I be so...so...naive?"

"Look, Justin, everyone has flaws. You can't be perfect all the time," Harper replied. Though her attempts to cheer him up sounded a little generic, Justin could sense the honesty, the pure belief in what she was saying. And that was what managed to make him reconsider his self-loathing. At that moment, he also realized that this situation felt familiar, which made him think of when Harper had, for motivations still unclear to him, done her best to help him get over losing Juliet. He wasn't sure whether to find it charming or unnerving that his sister's best friend was the only one who knew how, or cared, to pull him out of an emotional funk.

Finally, he just gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks." She smiled back. In that instant their moment, or whatever it was, suddenly made them both nervous. "Uh, I'm gonna...go..." After she nodded in understanding, they left the lair, inexplicably eager to just not be alone together.

When she had her parents' attention, Alex proudly held up her most recent achievement. By some miracle, she'd gotten an A. On a regular, mortal school assignment. "Mr. Larritate said he wanted a copy to put in a frame," she bragged. Of course, she'd been acing her wizard homework and tests all year long, desperate to catch up in the competition. The combination of that desperation, heightened by her panic over college, was what pushed her to steadily improve her grades in every class. This had resulted in the best grade Alex had ever received on an English essay.

"Oh, mija, I'm so proud of you!" Theresa gushed as she ran over and wrapped her daughter in a suffocating hug. "Jerry, she might actually go to college!" Disappointing rejections from some art schools she'd wanted to attend made Alex apply to schools with late deadlines. Hopefully her rising senior year grades would get her into a state or city college, then she'd transfer to the school of her dreams. She had no specific goal in mind, but anywhere far away from home would be ideal, especially if she lost the competition and her parents couldn't make her magically flash home.

Her plans would change slightly if she won, but she couldn't count on that, since not only was Max in the lead, but surely Justin would eventually get back in the running. Then again, when had her stubborn determination ever let her down?

Tears in his eyes, Jerry also hugged Alex once Theresa reluctantly let go. "I can't believe it. My little girl, an overachiever!"

"Not really. I mean, I did only get my essay back because I had Saturday detention. Again," Alex reminded them. Though she was enjoying her newfound success, she didn't want them to start expecting more of her. She only liked achieving on her own terms.

"Still, we're celebrating," Jerry insisted. "Pancake breakfast tomorrow. You and me, kid."

"Thanks, Dad," she replied, her face red, not used to the praise. Then she turned to Mason and Max, who'd barely looked up from the lunch they were eating at the dining area table. "Well?" she asked, insistently holding up her essay towards them.

Max offered a weak shoulder movement that didn't even pass for a shrug. Naturally, he couldn't care less, but the feeling was mutual on that. Her question had been directed to her boyfriend, the love of her life...who hadn't even been listening, too wrapped up in his meal. "I'm sorry, what did you say, love?"

Annoyed, Alex nearly rolled her eyes, but held back. The way he called her "love" was just so adorable, she could never stay angry at him. However, she'd been reluctantly noticing that his werewolf mannerisms, such as losing himself in a meal, had been getting under her skin more and more. "The grade," Alex explained. "It's the best I've ever done on an essay."

"That's fantastic!" Mason exclaimed. He stood up, swung her around in a circle and planted a kiss on her cheek. And she wasn't agitated anymore, just enjoying the spontaneous affection. "You're amazing, love." He then chuckled. "As I think you Americans say, my girlfriend is now a nerd."

Alex laughed. "Am not," she retorted while she playfully messed up his hair. She glanced at her still-beaming parents. "Where are Harper and Justin? I want to tell them the news."

Shaking her head, Theresa explained, "In their rooms. I called to them for your family meeting, but Justin said he had some research to do, and Harper didn't respond. I'm not even sure she's home."

"I'll go check." Her essay in hand, Alex quickly went down to the basement first and threw open the stairwell door. Right as she was about to hit her head on the pipe, she paused at the sound of her friend's voice. Harper seemed to be in a heated argument with someone on the phone...and it soon became clear, the unfortunate soul on the receiving end of her wrath was Zeke.

Huh? Alex thought, sitting down on a stair quietly so she could listen. What could she possibly be fighting with Zeke about? They haven't been spending enough time together for something to have happened.

Oh. Duh.

Upset for her friend, Alex tried to catch every word of the conversation...

"When am I going to see you, Zeke?...'sometime next week, maybe'? Are ya kidding me?...you've been in college for almost a year now! You should be used to the work...your school has a clogging club?...I don't care if you started it, you can miss a meeting once in a while...but finals aren't for another month, at least..." Finally, Harper snapped, "Fine! Give me a call when there's room for me in your oh-so-busy 'college man' schedule!"

The phone was slammed back on its base.

Though Alex wondered if she should back off and pretend she never heard the personal conversation, the sound of her best friend crying instantly made her rush down the stairs. "Harper?" she began softly. "Are you okay?"

"No," Harper snapped. She was sitting on her bed, knees pulled all the way up to her chest, her arms around them. "Don't pretend like you didn't just hear everything."

Glad that Harper wasn't going to deny the conversation, Alex took a seat on the bed next to her friend. "Yeah, I heard," Alex replied. She tucked the essay under her leg, out of Harper's sight, knowing her news would have to wait. "Are you going to break up with Zeke?"

"Well, shouldn't I? He clearly doesn't care I'm his girlfriend anyway," Harper retorted.

Hopeless romanticism made Alex want to argue, to insist that of course Zeke cared. But the devastation on Harper's face indicated that there had been more problems than this one fight. And...if Alex was being honest, she knew that she would never put up with a neglectful boyfriend. "Don't think about who's right and who's wrong for a second," Alex replied. "What really matters is..do you want to break up with Zeke?"

Wiping a tear from her eye, Harper considered the question for a brief moment, then answered, "No. Zeke is a great guy." Her eyes watery, she turned to lean her head on Alex's shoulder. "I'm just sick of being ignored."

The quiet revelation made everything much more complicated."Oh." Not sure what else to say, Alex put an arm around Harper's shoulders, and stayed with her best friend until the tears stopped.

He'd been avoiding her since yesterday. That moment in the lair...had scared him, made him worry if the impossible could be happening. For so many years, Harper had been his sister's freaky best friend, but...but as cliché as it was, suddenly...

No, not suddenly. This wasn't happening, because she was his best friend's girlfriend now.

That established, Justin started blasting "Jesse's Girl" by Rick Springfield on his laptop, and buried himself in notes for the next delinquent class.

Eventually, though, his mother called him downstairs for dinner. Since he'd been holed up in his room all day, he figured he should at least make an appearance, before she started bothering him with questions like "Are you all right, mijo?" and "Do you feel sick?" Besides, he figured he'd need to be around Harper at some point, so at least he'd be safe with his family around them.

A complete family dinner had become rare in the Russo household, so Justin was surprised to walk downstairs and see everyone there. More often than not, Alex was out with Mason, and Max was out...doing whatever he did. Most days, Justin himself would rather work on his lesson plan or call more contacts to see if they had work for him. But Theresa had whipped up some enchiladas, so they were all taking seats at the table as Justin walked down the stairs. He happened to notice that Mason wasn't there, suspicious since Alex usually invited her boyfriend to stay over for dinner if they weren't going out on their own.

"Wow, smells good, Mom," Justin remarked as he took a seat between his brother and his father. "You haven't made enchiladas since...Alex got her driver's license, I think." The burrito-like specialty of their Mexican heritage was one of his sister's favorite dinners.

Theresa smiled as she set the large casserole dish full of cheesy goodness in the middle of the table. "Alex, do you want to tell him?"

"I got an A, Not an A-, a full A," Alex bragged, pointing to her essay, proudly displayed on the fridge. "On my essay. We're celebrating."

While he could tell she wanted him to act all jealous, Justin actually was proud of her. Even though her increasing smarts made her more of a threat in the competition, he just couldn't be nothing but happy that his sister was finally taking responsibility for her grades. "That's great, Alex!" he replied, "What was it about?"

"Well, we had to write about something important to us," she explained, her mouth already full of tortilla and cheese. "So I wrote about Mason, and Harper, and you guys. Mr. Larritate totally bought all of the mushy sentimental junk I put in there."

Surprised, Justin laughed. He would've expected Alex to write about something trivial, like tabloid magazines or the minimal selection of pudding in the school cafeteria. "Wow, I'm impressed," he remarked. "I'll have to read it later."

"You don't have to," Alex replied, but her flattered tone contradicted her words.

The family dinner turned out to be...nice. Of course, he and Harper didn't directly speak to each other, as he could tell she was uncomfortable too. But he chatted with his family, catching up, listening to Max ramble on about a video project he and his friends wanted to do over the summer. "My friends have a blog," he explained. "And they want me to help them make cool videos since I posted all those extreme stunts a couple years ago." Then... "I may need to buy a new helmet."

When the meal was over, Justin ran back upstairs. He really did have a lot of notes to prepare for the next day's class.

Soon after dinner was over and the table cleared, Jerry and Theresa settled down on the couch to watch a baseball game. Since the kids went off to do...whatever they did...the loft was always quiet at night, and Jerry enjoyed the alone time with his two loves, his wife and the Mets.

But his mind wasn't focused on the game that night. He barely paid attention to who was up to bat, and his shouts of, "Are you blind? That ball was out!" only half-hearted. He'd heard some...grumblings, in the wizard world, and grumblings were never good.

When he'd been quiet for a while, Theresa glanced over at him, looking up from the romance novel she was reading while reclined on the other end of the couch. "Honey? You haven't shouted at the TV in an hour. What's wrong?"

"I don't know..." he answered honestly. "And that's the problem."

Her curiosity piqued, she closed the book, folding down the corner of the page she was on. "Jerry?"

"Wizards have been...talking," he explained. Her expression instantly twisted into one of distaste, brow wrinkled, annoyance already in her eyes. "I know, you hate Wizard Council business," he assured her. "But...but it might be important. None of my sources are talking to me, and me only. Crumbs won't even say a word. It's...unsettling, to say the least."

The implication quickly dawning on her, she sat up and took his hand in hers. "What could this mean?"

"I don't know," he repeated, careful to keep his alarm to himself. "It's never happened before. But...but maybe I'm overreacting."

Doubtful, Theresa sighed. "Maybe."

Since he'd never be able to concentrate on the game, he decided to put his nervous energy to good use, and stood up from the couch. "I'm going downstairs. Clean up the lair a little bit. I've been meaning to sort through some old stuff for a while."

Theresa hesitated, then stood up as well. "I'll go with you."

For a moment, Jerry wanted to point out how much she hated the lair, how he wanted to be alone...but now, he could see his anxiety on her face as well. "Okay." She shouldn't be left alone anyway; he probably shouldn't be either.

They made their way downstairs, grabbed some empty boxes out of the freezer, and went into the lair to start cleaning. Before long, the tension fades just enough for them to talk lightly again, about Alex's incredible grades, Max's new project, Justin's choice to put off college for the competition. As the boxes became full, Jerry was reminded of when they'd first moved into the loft, spending all night just like this, alone and chatting about everything as they unpacked or painted rooms until early morning.

Hours after midnight, the portal door violently swung open, a gust of cold air...and then, nothing.