Chapter One: The Missing Boy

Alex was sitting next to Hermione in the stands, watching proudly as Justin took to the stage. He was beaming with energy. Beside him stood Harry, just as excited that his friend had won the wizard tournament. Dumbledore was praising him, and decided to hand Justin his wand, amplifying the young man's voice.

"Attention please," said Justin speaking to the silent crowd. "I'd like for you to meet my sister Alex." A spotlight blinded her momentarily, and she stood to listen. "This is my sister. Isn't she pretty? Isn't she popular? Doesn't everybody love her? But here's something you don't know: she is a horrible person."
The crowd booed her, and he continued, "She is not just vain, selfish, dumb, and manipulative. What makes Alex truly evil is that people love her, truly and deeply, and all she does is use that love, hurt them, and abuse them until they have nothing left." Mason appeared on his left, nodded emphatically. Harper came from behind Justin, holding his hand.

Her friend was no kinder, "What kind of friend are you anyways? You don't deserve Justin, you don't deserve anyone…." With that, the stadium was empty, leaving Alex alone with Justin. She was in her wizard suit, trying to run to him, when the tornado appeared. As hard as she was running, it was still catching up to her. She reached her brother when it swept her off her feet. She held out her hand to Justin, who simply flinched, and let her go.

Alex was whipped about, falling, falling until… THUD! She collided with her bedroom floor. She panted hard, knowing it had just been another nightmare.

Justin was gone. He had left his little sister alone to go on his round the world wizard trip. It was her fault he left, and she knew it. There was nothing she could do to prove she was not evil, that she was not hurt he had abandoned her, that it was not her problem that he had left. After their disastrous vacation to the Caribbean made it obvious that Alex had learned how to cross lines, the family had turned on her.
The question now seemed to revolve around what to do with her.

She had been grounded pretty severely when they got back. No phone, (so she could not call Harper) no friends over, (Harper was the only one coming over anyways) and no fun of any kind. Alex had been given Justin's shifts. More than four times the work and less than a fourth of the fun made her miserable. Of course, she could not complain. If she had not done all the horrible things she had done, they could have had a nice vacation. Now she had to live with the guilt.

Across the world, Harry was suffering from a similar problem. Although an only child, he too, was suffering from nightmares on the tasks.

But his fears revolved around Lord Voldemort….

Chapter 2 Days of Dilemma

Alex went about her daily routine; get up, abuse magic, abuse magic again, meet up with Harper, avoid detention by abusing magic, get caught doing something wrong, abuse magic to get out of it.

It was boring. Nobody could stop her. Sure, Max would do what their father instructed, but he was not as good at fixing things; Harper was proof as this as she spent the week with purple hands. Luckily, people thought it was just another fashion thing.

Alex could not admit how much she missed Justin. Adding to her sense of depression was the fact that she felt like someone had been watching her lately. There were ways to avoid detection, but she knew from one of her father's rants that wizard homes were protected against outside scrying. Apparently, that meant you could not use magic to eaves-drop on other wizards.

She thought, faintly, that it may be Justin checking up on her. That thought sent the chills on her spine to their proper place; goose-bumps. He cared, he must still care. But then she would hear the Voice, "If he cared so much, why would he leave." It would hiss to her every night as she was going to sleep for a week.
She ignored it, and it had not come back the last few months.

She got home from school, excited like a little schoolgirl. Justin mentioned that today would be the earliest day he could return. Of course, he was probably back already, completely bored after greeting his mother and father, and now dully playing with his dolls. Alex flashed to her room, brushed her hair quickly, and rushed through the house, only to hear he was not back yet. So she laid herself on the couch and waited, and waited. Of course, she had a shift, so she changed herself into her work clothes, threw her hair into a quick ponytail, and sat downstairs waiting for him. As soon as she could, Alex clocked out, took a shower making sure her hair was clean. She thought it funny if he came home and she ran out and tackled him. The idea brought a blush to her cheeks.

She dressed up tonight. Not her usual clothes, no tights, no pants nor peace symbols. A simple dress that flowed nicely, and was a decent length too, so he would not complain about her showing off. She waited long after her family went to bed.

He never came.

The next day, she did the same thing.

Justin entered the trophy room right behind Harry.

"There it is, the famous Goblet of Fire. I've no idea what the second task is, but the third is simple; and always the same; race to the cup," the look in Justin's eyes was just like Cedric's, insanely hungry, like the cup held the secrets of life and death.

Harry felt intense fear. The cup, in his mind, was a source of danger. All these tasks had been assembled to challenge young wizards, and the champions were required to put their lives on the line. Justin was alone for once. This granted Harry the first time in days to talk to him alone. The two had become fast friends. Lately though, the Russo boy had been aloof.

He had written Alex a letter which would reach her soon. He was baffled by Justin's lack of desire to return home hit close to his heart. They had discussed Voldemort often lately. Generally Justin would use the same phrase over and over, "You understand him so well, but there is so much you still don't understand everything." He sounded so much like Dumbledore, it drove Harry nuts.

Justin would go to the trophy room and stare at the cup for hours. He would skip meals, even sleep, obsessing on the next task. Cedric was worse. The other two champions seemed too confident to drop by. Viktor was busy trying to convince someone to be his second, but everyone was too afraid after what happened to the first. Fleur did not seem to require anything from anybody, and was barely ever seen not criticizing everything. Hermione mentioned she even whined while in the girl's bathroom. Harry focused on his own problems though. Justin was champion since Ronald had his eye gouged. He would name his second.

Harry, was of course wondering what was in the package Justin gave him to send to Waverly Place.

The Yuletide Ball was approaching, and Harry was as underprepared as ever.

Chapter 3 Arrivals

Tonight was really bad. Justin was supposed to have been back by now. The parents had taken Max out to distract him. Of course, they could have done that by giving him a shiny penny. Then again, he would likely sallow that penny, so maybe taking him to see an aardvark singing about togetherness was a better plan. Harper had a date of with Zeke, which left Alex alone, in the dark, again.

It was okay, though. She was finishing up some work on a couple of her schemes. It was so boring though. She had gone through absurd amounts of trouble to keep him with her, but it seemed as though he was making her grow up. Had he not promised to stay here, to never leave her, only to break that promise when he was sucked away?

Deciding that she was officially out of things to do, she finished her homework and headed to the lair. She could not believe she caught up on her schoolwork. It was a bad sign. Of course, it gave her time to work on something she had wanted to do for a long time.

She knew which spell she wanted to practice, "Expecto Patronum!" She yelled angrily, nothing resulted from the memory of pulling a prank on her dad. Okay, she thought to herself, happy thoughts, happy thoughts… but nothing happy would come until her brother got back.

Then the power went out.

She sighed, "Lumos," And checked on the power box. If the lair was malfunctioning, how could she keep her wand lit?

The feeling of being watched came upon her again. Justin would know what to do. His answer would restore power and bring order to her life. Alex could almost hear his voice in her head, 'what does logic tell us?'

Logic was his devoted girlfriend, and would never betray him. The power is not working, so magic would not fix this. The lights were out, but her powers were not, so…. Someone had shut out the lights, likely a form of magic, which meant someone was trying to sneak in.

Or she was being paranoid. She used magic to change into her pajamas and crawled into Justin's bed. She had made a habit of creeping into his room when she could not get to sleep. It made her feel safe, and she needed that right now.

Justin could be dead, or captured by someone evil. Maybe he was angry at Alex, did not care about her, or even think about her anymore. She tried to get herself to stop going down this path, but the silence condemned her. If he still loved her, he would be there right now, tell her she was wrong.

A creak behind her jump-started her weary heart, a flash of red eyes adding to her fears.

"Alex… are you okay?" Came Justin's soft voice. He was there, flesh and blood. She ran to him, and through her arms around him. He squeezed back, but gently. She was crying a load of complete nonsense angry she had been abandoned, happy he was back, scared he did not love her, and just waiting for him to reassure her. His smell flooded her nose like she had inhaled under-water. It was overpowering. He tasted like wild woods, wizard homes, faintly of feathers, foreign villages and foods. Underneath all that was what she knew. He was there, really there.

And he did so perfectly. He clutched her to him, and whispered his love, kissing her on top of her head, and whispering more. It was exactly what she needed, that, and a huge pile of gifts.

But Justin was different. His hair was combed to the side, and he was wearing a suit under his black and green travel robes. There were some new scars across his face, and he was wearing a ring. It was like a stranger in her bedroom. Then he told her everything would be okay, and that things would go back to the way they were before. Justin petted her hair the way she liked, and carried her back to bed.

She felt sweet relief sweep over her. He was back, they were safe, and their family was whole. He would stay with her. He tucked her into bed, and promised to set by her side. Alex cuddled against him, listening to his promises of remaining with her no matter what. He told her he thought about her every night, dreamt about coming back every day, and he would never let her get hurt.

Too bad he was lying.

Harry was ecstatic, Justin, Alex and Max were back. He ran up, giving two of them a big hug. Then had come in from a fireplace, and were excited to come back. The Yuletide ball was the next night, and Alex promised to go to the Vanity Room with Ginny and Hermione.

Ron, thanks to some prodding from Justin, had asked the bushy haired girl to the ball. There was already a great deal of interest in the next task. Mr. and Mrs. Russo had come along to keep an eye on Alex. To Harry's surprise, she was determined to stay with Justin, who was called to the headmaster's office with Viktor. They were both informed that they needed partners to compete

The champions seemed to find one another amongst the struggling crowd. They stood in a circle the seemed to project a field repelling admirers. Then Dumbledore announced the champions one by one and summoned them to the front.

There was some interest in who would step in as Viktor's second, but even more over who would be Justin's. The champions stood at the bottom of the steps, awaiting their dates. Ginny looked stunning. She was accompanied by Justin, who bowed to greet her. He took her hand following Cedric. Alex drew a great deal of wolf-whistles. She kept herself focused on her date.

They danced for a few minutes before realizing that they would both rather be with someone else. Harry thought the American Girl was a bit too aggressive, and Alex found Harry disturbingly polite. It did not take very much to convince him to help her break up the dance. Threatening him with a hicky was surprisingly effective.

Harry dipped her, allowing Alex to draw her wand from her boot. His hand went into the right sleeve of his robe, drawing his own.

"This static is too mild, with a shock, let's get wild," Alex zapped Cedric, who glowed bright red, then shocked Fleur upon grasping her. Of course, everyone wanted to dance with the champions, so the zapping continued, though obviously losing its strength.

Alex grinned. Her plan would work once one of the many boys interested in Ginny touched her. She turned to see the girl pulling Justin's wand out of the back of his dress robes. Although she could not hear him, she knew from experience that he was using the counter spell. Positive and negative energy was rippling through the party with increasing strength. Dumbledore was conscious of it, but clearly enjoyed the show of magic.

Destruction ran rampant, Alex's specialty. Being careful to avoid those charged, Harry and Alex made their way to Justin and Ginny. Of course the counter-spell was affecting those it hit.
It had started with Viktor's new partner, a masculine-looking girl who, upon getting zapped, flung herself into his arms, flailing wildly. Harry shook his head in empathy, but pressed towards his red-headed goal. Apart from the chaos, fights, and undesirable touching, which was typical of teenagers in any setting, things were going according to plan.

Then, as always, the situation took a drastic turn for the worse. It began with Max, who realized that he could build a current using different charge people. He used a quick charm to separate the crowd, which quickly became energized. The positive and negative halves, which happened to be people, came crashing together at the end of the song. Max stood on top of the pile, boast that he had won the dance.

Harry and Alex did not have the heart to tell him otherwise, or the strength.

Chapter Three: the Finest Wizard

"The second task," Boomed Dumbledore, "will now commence." The champions, and their seconds, were standing in a row. The crowd was shocked to see Justin's second, Alex.

She beamed at the crowd from the rows of cheers and boos. She ignored her troublesome mind, which brought to the forefront her nightmare. Justin is here, and he won't hurt me, she thought to herself. Her brother stood beside her and went through the plan again. Her heart pounded in her ears. Amazingly, he was speaking as plainly as possible, letting his geek bone take a rest.

"Alright, we have to open the obelisk," A look of confusion crossed her face, "The big rock building is the obelisk," She nodded, he continued, "according to the clue from the last task, there is a orb of some sort at the top that will help us find the Cup. It looks like we need to use magic to open it. I have to be the one to deal with the other champions, you have to be the one to get the obelisk open. I trust you Alex, you can do this. Whatever you do," He said, crouching at the starting line, "Don't expose yourself to any unnecessary risks."
Of course, Alex ignored him. She sped up the incline next to other participants. Luckily, there were between Hogwarts and Beauxbatons, who both relied more on getting their objective taken care of than making life more difficult for their opponents. Alex leapt to the stone wall. There was a wand engraved on the side. To her left, Fleur was pressing her wand to it, concentrating hard. Alex mimicked the poster, but nothing happened. Behind her, Justin was standing vigilant to defend her. Nothing happened, so she called for her brother. He averted his gaze and studied it for a moment.

He came to a conclusion quickly. Turning back, he told her she could do it, and nothing else.

Thank you, Justin, for reminding me that I have no idea what I'm doing, nerd.

Of course, if he was right, and she figured he was, then she could do it. But, just because she could do something, did not mean she would. But this time, she would do what she did best, make it up as she went along.

What did Justin always say about being a wizard? She closed her eyes, focused all her powers, the pops of curses sounded around her. Nothing else came to mind but the task in front of her. She fell into Justin's role just like when he became a monster hunter.

I can do this…..

I can't do this! Harry screamed silently in his head, deflecting curses. Cedric was focusing on his wand, and the glow that connected it to the obelisk. The stone shuddered.

Durmstrang and Beauxbatons were already farther ahead, and Alex let out a shriek as her side started to glow. Viktor bellowed as his burst opened. At first, it sounded like a triumphant yell, then Harry realized that something bad had happened.

Not dragons again, he thought to himself. It was something much more exotic. Colorful creatures on four legs crawled out, alarming each of the champions. They were a rainbow of colors, with round heads, long necks, and flailing limbs.

Harry turned to Cedric, "Do you have any clues what those things are?" He did not. It appeared as though Viktor had no clue either. It was a bad sign when two of the champions did not know what they were dealing with. To Harry's surprise, Alex squealed with delight.

"Bountiful!" The French champion shrieked happily. Gabrielle launched herself into the oncoming flood of creatures with glee.

Justin recited an entry from some book about 'bountiful' liking girls and children and girls. "Innocence attracts them," He muttered nervously, looking at Alex, who could not understand what he was saying, "Guilt and darkness…" Viktor's partner was swarmed by the Bountiful, tossing her up in the air with significant force. They snarled at the champion himself, who blasted curse after curse to protect himself. Apparantly all the dark arts taught at Durmstrang attracted their fury.

The Beauxbatons had reached the inside of the obelisk, and were being helped up graciously by a line of eager Bountiful. Harry saw how far they were ahead, and told himself to find something good and wholesome inside himself. That voice from the imperious curse told him to start blasting away, but he ignored it.
"Expecto Patronum," He screamed. The Bountiful horde screamed with delight. They followed the stag, chattering happily.

"Justin, help!" He heard Alex shriek. Harry glanced back to see Alex take the ring off her brother's finger, and hurtle it away. The angry bountiful followed it with savagery. Then, seeing what Harry had done, cried, "Expecto Patronum!"

Chapter 4

A beautiful wolf burst forth, produced from the tip of Alex's wand. She saw harry using his stag to clear a path for himself and Cedric. Not one to be out-done, Alex crowd-surfs the Bountiful to the Obelisk. She climbed inside, joining the race to the top. Harry was joined by Cedric, who followed by Justin. The inside started to shift, making it difficult for anyone to get anywhere. Alex ran as quickly as possible, noticing that the top of the spire was glowing. Gabrielle was inches from it, when suddenly, she flew backwards. Her sister leapt from her handhold, grabbing the smaller girl. Alex passed them in the mess of rungs, sore from her climb already. She sighed, reaching for her goal. She removed the glowing object. It was warm, ball-shaped, and looked just like the cup. She removed it from its stand, and took off. Her brother was dueling Viktor and Fleur both. All three seemed determined to hex the other, and nothing but a small war could deter them.

Harry appeared in front of her, spouted, 'expelliarmus' and collected the object. He started running down the side of the rungs, which was incredibly dangerous. Viktor's second came barreling towards the boy, crushing him against the side of the building, leaving Gabrielle to grab the object and race to the bottom.
Thinking quickly, Alex used the 'pillows for feet spell' and jumped. She used the summoning charm to call the ball to her while racing to the judges' stand. She was determined to get there first, only to have Harry beat her. Following came Cedric, who looked tired beyond all belief, followed by the Durmstrang team.

Justin and Fleur came in last. Due to the fact that they were last to have their own team assembled last, points were deducted. Alex, though, thought it was great. She had gotten the ball, and Justin was getting screamed at in French.

"I saw you, monsieur, you attacked Gabriellle!" the older sister screamed. Alex could not believe her. Her Justin would never attack a little girl. Besides, she was sure that he had enough imagination to know how to deal with the situation that did not have to do with attacking anyone. It bothered her she could not remember what he had been doing at that moment.

Justin had left. He had run off to find some Bountiful smashed his ring with a rock. He looked at his sister sourly, slipped it back on, and left. Gabrielle glared at him, and Alex noticed that the Bountiful in the tower did not help him. May he did curse the girl….

Alex shook her head, knowing there was no way Justin would go all dark side on her. Harry tapped her shoulder, inviting himself to the victory party.

The standings of this round were:

Wiztech

Beauxbatons

Hogwarts

Durmstrang

Of course, the numbers were so close this round, that the American school was the rival to the English one. Alex knew that the coming weeks would be filled with tension, that the two of them having fun together would be frowned upon, and that Justin and Cedric would spend more time than ever in the trophy room. There was the chance that she could convince Justin to drop by, but what incentive could she use…?