Alex's eyes peered open as the intense rays of sunlight shone through the drapes and into the lounge area. She rubbed the small build up of sleep from the corner of her eyes and nuzzled down into Mason, who was lay sleeping beneath her. She pulled the scratchy grey wool blanket tighter around their bare bodies as they lay huddled together on the couch, Mason grunted in his sleep and pulled Alex closer to him wrapping his arms around her body. His embrace was warm, and his big, strong arms seemed very protective when wrapped around her petite frame. The world around Alex melted away as she squeezed him back, not wanting the moment to end.

"What time is it?" Alex heard Mason mumbled beneath her with his eyes still firmly shut.

"8:00 am. Did you sleep okay?" she asked kissing him on the head.

Mason nodded and added, "apart from when you made my arm go dead a few times by lying on it, but apart from that yeah I did."

"Well that's what you get for saying we didn't need to go in to the bedroom."

"I didn't actually say that!" He exclaimed opening his eyes and looking at Alex, "it was fun though, eh?"

Alex rolled her eyes and laughed, "I'm going to go and check on Neave," she declared whilst pulling on Mason's t-shirt, "she's usually awake by now. So put some clothes on!"

"Fine!" He moaned pulling on some pants as Alex trotted off in to Neave's room, Mason collapsed back on to the couch and smiled when he heard Alex begin to start talking to Neave who was babbling away happily to her mother. Gradually his eyes began to close again and his arms slumped down next to his bare torso, until a loud bell erupted from Alex's cell which rested on the coffee table. "Alex! You're phone!"

"Can you get it for me please?"

Mason leant over and grabbed the cell before placing it beside his ear, "hello, Alex's phone."

"Mason? Hey buddy, it's Justin, is Alex there?"

"She's just getting Neave up, I can get her to call you back?"

"It's important. Can I speak to her, please?"

Mason hesitated and paused in thought before rising from his seat and walking to Neave's room, "okay," he muttered quietly.

When he reached Alex she span around smiling with Neave hanging off her hip, she gnawed on one of her tattered teddy bears furiously. Her sharp canines dug deeper in to the toy with each bite she took, ripping its fur and starting to reveal the white stuffing within. Alex waited patiently as Mason stared at her in worry before mouthing, 'who is it?'

Reluctantly, Mason stretched out his arm and offered her the phone, "it's Justin he said it's important."

Alex rolled her eyes taking the phone and passing Neave to her dad, "sup dork!" She greeted him, "this better be important we were about to have some family time."

"Sorry Alex but I need you to come to WizTech today, the council have called us for a meeting. I'm guessing they've decided on what should happen to us."

"What should happen to us? Nothing! We did nothing wrong!"

"Alex, we brought a dangerous criminal into the wizard world, he killed somebody!"

"Yeah but… Crumbs was ancient he was gonna die eventually…"

"Alex this is not the time to be making excuse! You need to get to WizTech by two o'clock."

Alex looked over at Mason who was watching her intently while Neave pulled lightly on the hair residing on the side of his head as she playfully patted the side of his face with the teddy bear hanging from her mouth, barely hanging on to the grip of her teeth. Quickly Alex excused herself and made her way to her bedroom, closing the door firmly behind her she collapsed down on to the bed.

"Justin!" She groaned, "I can't, that's when I'm supposed to be going to meet Ana's other parents with Mason, I can't let him go alone!"

"I'm really sorry Alex I wish there was a way we could change it, but we can't. At the moment I don't have any say about any business relating to the wizard council or WizTech. Can't you meet up with them later on?"

Alex gave an excruciatingly loud sigh, "fine! But if anything goes wrong for him today I'm blaming you!"

"Thanks Alex, see you later."

When Justin hung up Alex launched her cell across her bed, groaning loudly as it thudded and bounced across her bed. "Stupid Wizard Council!" She sneered to herself.

The room went quiet for a moment until a soft knocking appeared at the door, "Alex?" Mason whispered, "is it okay to come in?"

Alex slumped over to the door and yanked it open only to reveal Mason stood holding Neave, who was still relentlessly chewing on her teddy bear.

"Are you alright love?"

Whimpering like a sad puppy dog, Alex wrapped herself around Mason and rested her head on to his shoulder, "no! the wizard council have called me and Justin in for a meeting."

"So, what are you worried about? You'd have all of them council members for breakfast, just do what you always do and lie your way out of it."

"I'm worried because it's the same time we're supposed to be meeting Ana's other parents, and I don't want you to go alone."

Mason gave a heavy sigh and held Alex tighter in his arms, "you know, I've been thinking and I actually think I will be okay on my own."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better!"

"No, I'm not," he smiled, "it's just it'll already be abit awkward and just think how worse it could be if I rocked up with my other baby momma."

"Baby momma? Alex chuckled, "Mason I think I'm more than that! And please never ever say that again, it sounds so wrong when its said in a British accent."

"Yeah you are more than that, obviously, but I just think I need to do this on my own."

"Okay," Alex softly gave him a peck on the cheek, "but if you need me, call me!"

"Shouldn't I be saying that to you?"

"Oh please! It's just like you said, I could have them guys on the wizard council for breakfast!"

Justin paced around his office with his long black robe trailing sluggishly behind him. His willowy finger stung as he highered them once again towards his mouth, since his call from the council Justin had continuously nibbled on his perfectly manicured nails to the point where he had past where the skin and nails meets, making the top of each finger have pronounced pink edges, some even had small red slits where his skin had broken. Justin gritted his teeth as pain shot down his fingers when the small droplets of his saliva found its way to the damaged part of his skin.

The fearful thoughts looped around in Justin's mind until there was no room for anything else. The 'loop' played, 'If I tell the council about why we went to Cigam and what he said to us, then they'll see how manipulative he can be. If I don't tell the truth, we'll be in worse trouble than we our already.' Then, a thought popped in to his Justin's head. 'what about Neave? Will they see her as a as a danger? What if they try do something to her or take her for experiments? It'll all be my fault, and I'll be the worst uncle ever!' The thought loop played continuously as it went on it included plenty of fear.

Justin muttered relentlessly to himself as he scuttled around the perimeter of his office, he was completely consumed in his own thoughts, so much that he didn't even notice Helen creep in to his office closely followed by Alex who rolled her eyes when she saw her brother in his current state of panic.

"Is he alright?" Helen whispered to Alex. She watched Justin in concern as he manically chattered way to himself quietly.

"Yeah he's fine, this is completely normal for him. Thanks Helen," Helen shot another look of worry at Justin before edging her way out of the room. Alex watched Justin in amusement until she yelled, "hey face ache! What's eating you up?"

Justin practically jumped out of his skin when Alex's voice bellowed around the room, he rapidly spun around, clenching his fists tightly together and muttering angrily to himself, "Alex! What are you-"

"Oh keep your panties on! We're gonna be fine," Alex launched herself in to the large padded seat residing behind Justin's desk as she used his worktop to rest her feet.

"I'm glad one of us is confident…"

"We have to be! If we go in looking guilty the council will have it in for us."

"We are techincally guilty Alex, we brought a well known criminal back in ot the Wizard world!"

"He couldn't be that well known if even you didn't know about him, I'm sure the council know you wouldn't do something like that."

Justin gave a heavy sigh and sat on a smaller chair facing Alex, "you're right. But this whole situation is just so complicated! What if something goes wrong? I mean, either way nothing good has come out of what we did, surely they'll punish us for something!"

"Wow thanks for the inspiring speech negative nelly! Clearly you're feeling positive."

"Seriously Alex, I think… we need to prepare ourselves."

"Justin! Just relax for once in your life!"

"Alex you haven't thought this through have you? What if I get fired? They'll take away my powers. And what if they take yours too? You and Mason will have to break up and then what would happen? How would you both care for Neave, she practically needs twenty-four hour care Alex and you can't do that alone."

Alex remained silent and looked down at the floor, "I didn't think of any of that stuff."

Justin leant forwards and squoze Alex's hand reassuringly, "don't worry if any of that does happen, you know we're all here to help you. And so will Mason, he'd never walk out on you both."

"Yeah, this isn't how I imagined parenthood to be like…"

"I know, but you're doing great. Both of you are! If I have kids one day I hope they love me as much as Neave loves you guys."

Alex smirked and began to blush slightly in embarrassment, "thanks. Now, why don't we go show the council who they're dealing with?"

Alex and Justin approached the large wooden doors leading in to WizTech's grand hall which was currently occupied by the council. Once they had reached their destination, they both stopped and stared up at the towering panel before them. The intricate patterns on the wood caught Alex's eye, her fingers lightly traced the carvings of various stars and galaxies imbedded in to the wood, feeling the different textures of the artwork.

"How have I never noticed this before?"

"What a shocker, Alex comes to a school and actually learnt something new! It only took you like what five years before you saw this?"

"Hey! I've had a lot going on."

"Clearly," scoffed Justin.

The two siblings turned back to the door and waited patiently, as the moments passed on Justin repeatedly checked his watch and tapped his foot on the hard flooring beneath him.

"So," Alex began, stopping her brother from checking the time for the umpteenth time, "how do we know when it's okay to go in?"

On that note the door roared open, adding more scratches to the already damaged bricked floor and revealing the entire council stood around the lengthy table. Each and everyone of them stood and stared at both of the Russo siblings, who wearily began to take steps into the hall. The only sound that could be heard echoing around the room were their footsteps, they kept their eyes forward as they took the long walk to their seats which sat at the very end of the table all whilst trying to avoid the glares of the council as the large doors behind them gave a loud groan as they automatically closed.

Justin took a deep calming breath and gave Alex's hand a brief squeeze, "like you said," he whispered, "we got this."

They both took their seats but the council remained stood, Alex turned to Justin only for him to shrug his shoulders in confusion. The members of the council remained fixated on them both, they stood staring emotionless until once again the doors dragged themselves open and shown two new figures stood in the doorway.

Justin gasped in shock and shouted in surprise, "Officer Lamp? Goblin? Why are you here?"

The two emergency wizards strolled into the room and towards the council, both of their matching black suits stood out among the councils old and dated velvet robes. Officer Lamp looked sharp and professional in his well-fitted suit and clearly it made him feel superior as he stood looking smugly at the council members. However, this was not the case for Goblin who did not look as clean as Officer Lamp, instead he seemed more jagged than his colleague with his greying hair roughed and sticking up in all directions, he also seemed less confident as he stood slightly behind Lamp, twiddling his thumbs nervously when they stopped at the opposite end of the table. Officer Lamp dropped a large pile of paper work he had clutched in his hands down on the wooden surface and looked up to see Alex and Justin sat anxiously waiting.

"Professor Russo, Alex, it's good to see you both again."

"Yeah, long time no see," joked Goblin as he tugged on to his black creased suit.

Officer Lamp gazed at Goblin who seemed rather pleased with himself and shook his head in disappointment, "not the time Goblin, we have work to attend to. We can save the pleasantries for later."

Alex looked around at her surroundings as Officer lamp began to talk away to the council, already becoming bored as he began to use a bunch of jargon she didn't even want to pretend to understand when an empty place around the table caught her eye. "Hey! Where's Tootie Tootie?" She asked interrupting Officer Lamp.

He stopped midsentence and scowled at Alex, rolling his eye in exasperation. "Good to see you were listening Alex! Clearly, I'll have to start again." Lamp cleared his throat and was instantly copied by Goblin who attempted to take a step forward only to be shamed back to his place when he received a pitiful look from his 'friend.'

"Anyway," Lamp continued turning his attention back to the council, "as I was saying. As part of the Wizarding Act of 1908 over the past few days the emergency wizards have had to take lead of the council due to Professor Russo's suspension and the sudden dischargement of Council Rootie Tootie Tootie."

"Dischargement?" Alex questioned.

"He was fired," Goblin bellowed rolling his eyes.

"What?" Alex turned to Justin who sat in complete shock, "did you not hear about this?"

Justin shook his head in reply and looked up to Lamp, "please, continue."

"As I was saying, he was discharged from his position yesterday morning when his secretary found some pretty damning evidence in his office." He grabbed a file from the mount of paper work from the table and waved it around, "letters, seems he was corresponding with a certain Professor you all may know about. Cigam Dirbyh. We've read all his letters and it seems like they've been in touch since the 28th of August 2014."

"But that was just weeks before Neave was born," Justin informed him, "we didn't know about Cigam at that point."

"Exactly! It seems you two were unexpected pawns in Tootie Tootie's plan."

"What plan?" Alex asked, finally taking an interest.

"In the letters they speak of their mutual hate for Crumbs. Cigam because Crumbs had banished him from the wizard world and put a spell lock on him and Tootie Tootie because Crumbs gave his position of headmaster to you Professor, when he had been waiting for that job for nearly two-hundred years. Together they planned to take down Crumbs, by doing that they thought it would be easy to get to you and take control of WizTech."

"But why not come straight for me? Crumbs was practically powerless, what could he do to stop them?"

"It was probably for revenge, they really hated his guts," Goblin told Justin.

"Yes but before this plan was carried out, you guys showed up!" Lamp continued, "and it took sometime but eventually your actions helped them with their plan, you brought Cigam to the Wizard World and clearly he wasted no time carrying out what he and Tootie Tootie set out to do. But then he was caught, and Tootie Tootie saw this as a way to get you out of WizTech and to get your job."

"So, if these letters weren't found I'd lose my job?"

"Looks like it, but that's not all that was found."

Goblin approached the table and picked up another file and began slowly flicking though it. "When they got in to power they planned for Cigam to continue the work that got him banished all those years ago. Did the Chancellor ever mention Hybrids to you guys?"

"Yeah, a few weeks ago at a council meeting." Alex began, "He talked about involving them more in our communities and making them more known in the Wizard World, but I just thought he was saying that for my benefit because of my daughter."

"Well it looks like he meant it, show them the order," Lamb instructed Goblin who slid several pieces of paperwork down the center of the table allowing nearly everyone on the council to read from an individual sheet. "These are ingredients Tootie Tootie ordered for Cigam so when he was able he could continue his work again."

"Wait," Justin said rising from his seat, "Magia? He ordered magia?"

"Apparently it was an important part of his work…"

"But that is what was found in Neave's system, it was in the potion he gave Alex the night she gave birth. It's what's making her sick."

"What did he actually do to those children?" Alex asked, "apparently its too bad to speak of but if whatever he did is affecting my daughter so I need to know."

"Cigam originally began his work to help families with hybrid children, he'd assist them through the pregnancy and birth. But his main goal was to use these children to see how powerful they could become, to exploit them."

"That's why he used the magia," Justin stated, "to enhance their powers."

"Exactly!" Officer Lamp gave a heavy remorseful sigh, "what happened to those children was awful, most of them, thanks to Cigam's work, became practically mutant. But from what Cigam said in his interview with the wizard cops what happened to your daughter and niece was not intentional, he was waiting to get back in to the wizard world before he began to do that stuff again. But if him and Tootie Tootie succeeded with their plans then who knows what could have happened."

"So what now?" Justin asked, "what happens to them?"

"They have both pleaded guilty to their crimes meaning there will not be a trial and they have both been incarcerated."

"And what about us?"

"Well Professor, despite the fact you helped bring Cigam back into the Wizard World you did not know of his and Tootie Tootie's plans, and you did not have any malicious intentions. All you wanted to do was help your niece, so we have come to the conclusion neither of you will face any consequences and Professor Russo you are free to take back control of your school and your council."

Alex and Justin leapt up and threw each other into each other's arms before jumping around and rejoicing. "Yes, I knew we'd be okay!" Alex squealed in delight.

"I can't believe it!" Justin beamed, he turned to the emergency wizards, "thank you. Seriously, I promise I'll do everything in my power to protect this school."

"You better, I'm done with clearing up the mistakes you Russo kids make!" Exclaimed Goblin earning a roar of laughter and agreement from Lamp and the members of the Wizard Council.

Justin smiled and turned to Alex, "what now?"

"We work out how to help my baby."

Mason strolled down Waverly Place and stopped outside The Late Nite Bite, he felt the butterflies swirling madly in his stomach. All of the reasons not to do this come flooding in, as if his body's chemistry just sent them a blanket invitation. Gradually, Mason felt the soft panic that could grow or fade depending on what he would do next. It would fade if he backed away, but that would make him a chicken and he would achieved nothing. Then he felt his phone vibrate in the pocket of his jeans, he pulled it out and looked at the screen to see a text message from Harper. He opened it up and instantly smiled as he saw a picture of Neave sat on the Russo's kitchen island with a bowl of chocolate cake mix, half of which was spread across her face and hands, tangled in her fur. The picture was captioned 'busy baking' and in that moment remembered why he had to do this, it was for her.

He needed to find a way to make things better for Neave, give her a normal life, a life she deserved to have instead of being hidden away and living in pain. He pushed the heavy door open and made his way down the stone steps. As he got further down the staircase the sound of talking began to get louder, and eventually he stopped on the very last step and watched quietly as Juliet was in deep conversation with Ana's adoptive parents.

They both sat with their backs turned to Mason, but he recognised them straight away, her mom's wild red curls were more tamed now than they were the day of Ana's funeral. Instead of being full of frizz it was now smoother and had more of a neat wave to it as it flowed down past her shoulders. As for Ana's adoptive father, the greys in his hair had continued to grow and they seemed to be illuminated in the dim lighting. Juliet looked up ,spotted Mason stood waiting in the corner and she gave him a warm smile before greeting him.

"Hey Mason, you remember Raymond and Jillian right?"

They both rapidly spun around a gawped at Mason in amazement, he awkwardly smiled and stepped in to the restaurant as he approached them cautiously.

"It's good to see you again."

As if on cue both of them practically jumped from their seats and engulfed Mason in a suffocating hug. Juliet stifled a laugh when she saw how uncomfortable Mason looked trapped between their bodies. When they released him, he stepped back and coolly fixed himself while they both smiled widely at him.

"We're so happy to see you," Jillian beamed in her thick British accent, "we were worried you wasn't going to come."

"I just had to drop my daughter off with a friend."

"Oh the baby of course! How is she? We wouldn't have minded if you brought her, we'd love to see her again! Wouldn't we Ray?"

"Yeah of course!" Raymond nodded eagerly, "we should arrange something sometime so we can see her."

Mason nodded silently, forcing a smile on to his face and Jillian quickly recoiled herself. Gasping dramatically and clasping her hand over her mouth she exclaimed, "oh love, I'm sorry we're coming on too strong aren't we? I'm sorry we were just so excited to finally see you again!"

"It's true, we were the same with Juliet," Raymond sighed. "Right Juliet?"

"Yeah they were," she laughed, "it's fine though, isn't it Mason?"

"Yeah," he lied. They seemed like perfectly nice people but Mason wasn't confident enough to let his guard around them yet, unlike Juliet who seemed completely at ease with them as they all sat back down around the table.

Mason took a seat next to Juliet and looked down at the table nervously. Subtly, Juliet rested her hand on his knee and gave him a caring smile.

"So, how is the baby?" Raymond asked Mason.

"Okay thanks, she hasn't been well lately but she's on the mend now. She doesn't go anywhere without her Rabbit teddy though."

"Aww bunny!" Jillian cooed, "Anastasia was obsessed with that thing! I remember when she dropped him in the park and Ray spent most of the night crawling around-" Both of them began to laugh together whilst thinking back on happier times. But as Jillian looked up she noticed the bitter sweetness of the conversation, while her and Raymond laughed away she saw the pain on Juliet and Mason's faces.

It was that moment that Jillian stopped laughing as guilt overcome her, "I'm sorry, I forgot how hard this must be for you both. You missed out on so much." Slowly, she reached in to her bag and pulled out a thick plastic wallet and placed it in the center of the table. "This is for you both, pictures of Anastasia when she was growing up. We'd thought you'd like a copy of them all."

Juliet leant forward and quickly grasped the wallet before ripping it open, her smile shone brightly as she rapidly flicked through the endless amount of pictures, "this is amazing! Thank you!"

Jillian smiled at her husband while he sat watching Juliet happily, with a warm smile on his face.

"Hey, look at this," Juliet passed one of the pictures to Mason, "who does she remind you of?"

Mason looked intently at the picture, the child's beaming face was the first thing he noticed. Her smile was one of happiness growing, much as a spring flower opens. He could see how it came from deep inside to light her eyes and spread into every part of her. She was beautiful. Mason could see the light from the sun reflecting on to the strands of her mousey coloured hair as she sat in the field surrounded by the colourful daisies. Her red rosy cheeks shone amongst her soft skin and the twinkle in her eye made Mason chuckle to himself.

"God, she looks like Neave on that." He smiled, "how old would she have been on this?"

Raymond scratched his stubbly chin in thought as he hummed to himself, "that must have been 2010 and it was actually on her birthday so she would have been…"

"Three hundred," stated Mason and Juliet in unison.

"What mortals would give to look that good at three hundred," joked Jillian earning a look from her husband.

"I don't it works like that for mortals love, I think they'd be lucky to still be looking good at seventy…"

"Errm, actually what age did Ana start he werewolf phases?" Mason asked, placing down the picture.

Jillian and Raymond shrugged their shoulders, "I don't know about twelve." Ray told him, "the usual age."

"And she didn't show any signs of having powers when she was younger?"

"No, not that I remember," Jillian continued, "everything about her transformations was normal." She looked at Mason who had began to fidget with his nails nervously, "may I ask why you want to know all of this?"

"Well," Mason stumbled fretfully, "we've been having a few problems with Neave and her powers. The doctors know what its been caused by, but I just thought there was a chance it could have happened to Ana and it wouldn't be permanent."

"Why what's happened to her?"

"She's basically a werewolf now, and they don't know if she can be changed back. I thought it might just be a phase werewolf hybrid children go through, but obviously not."

"What caused it?" Raymond asked leaning towards Mason.

"Alex was given a potion when she was pregnant with her and it included something called 'magia' and it's increased the strength of her powers. Which is why she's started having the transformations so early."

"But that can't be healthy for her!" Exclaimed Jillian in horror, Mason silently shook his head as he gave a sigh. Jill turned to her husband apprehensively, "you know, I might be able to help…"

Raymond looked up at Jillian in surprise and instantly began frantically shaking his head, "Jill, you're not trained enough."

"Trained enough for what?" Mason asked.

"I was a doctor on a children's ward in a hospital back in London but I give up the position when we began proceedings to move her. But since we were moving to a new place I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn a new skill so I have began training in caring for children in the wizard world, and I think I know a procedure which could help…"

"Darling, you shouldn't be offering to do something you're not confident in," Ray scolded.

"But I think I am! And Anastasia would want me to try and help her sister," Jillian turned to Mason and smiled, "you need to talk this through with your girlfriend before we discuss this further. But I honestly think I can help, there maybe some side effects but-"

"I'll talk to her!" Interrupted Mason, "I'll talk to her, I'll talk to Alex!"

"Like I said, there maybe some side effects…"

"I don't care! We'll try anything to help her!"

"Mason," Juliet began whispering, "don't you think you should go through everything with Alex before you make any decisions?"

"She'll be fine with it!" He insisted before turning back to Jillian, "we'll do it…"