Hi! I just want to apologize for the delay. I am soooo sorry this chapter took longer than usual to put up, I've been out of town. Anyway, thanks for reading and here's chapter 7... hope you like!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything copyrighted!

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Justin opened his eyes in the early morning, right before the sun was about to rise. He was still lying in Alex's bed, holding her and wrapped up in her comforter. Her alarm clock read 5:44 am, and he decided now was probably a good time to go back to his room before anyone woke up and noticed anything strange.

He kissed her forehead sweetly before carefully sliding out of her bed and exiting her room. When he got back to his bed, he fell back asleep almost instantly.

Later that day during magic lessons, Justin found himself hardly able to pay attention. Alex, of course, was cool as a cucumber, chewing her hair characteristically and zoning out. Fortunately for both of them, Jerry was only able to teach class for a few minutes before being called away to help the swamped sub station. The kids had been assigned a brief lesson followed by chapter reading and a short question-answer lesson sheet, none of which required complete attention.

Alex and Justin stole glances at each other the whole time. Max was seated between them, as usual… and totally oblivious, as usual. When the lesson was over, Alex had to go help in the restaurant, so Justin took that opportunity to start planning something devious.

Justin's newfound closeness with Alex, combined with the fact that what Dean had done to her was causing her to have nightmares (and who knows WHAT other potentially permanent issues) had really lit a fire under Justin to plot a little retribution.

Of course, vengeance was something Justin was usually firmly against. He was of the mind that in a world full of people who are only out for instant gratification, it was up to him to rise above that kind of nonsense. He always wanted to be the bigger man, the guy who was tough enough to walk away from a fight. Although Justin had always been fairly inflexible about his principles, he was obviously willing to make exceptions… and he didn't think twice about breaking the rules when it came to the guy who tried to violate his sister and steal her virtue.

What Justin wanted to do to Dean would definitely involve magic. He knew that normally, when it came to being up to no good, Alex was the go-to person. Yet, he also knew that he did not want to involve her in any payback plans. He certainly couldn't go to Mom or Dad, for obvious reasons; this left only one person.

Max wasn't always the brightest crayon in the box, but perhaps his creativity and out-of-the-ordinary ideas were exactly what Justin needed. He felt fairly sure that he couldn't tell Max exactly why he wanted to do a terrible magical deed to Dean, so all he could hope for was that Max wanted to get back at the jerk for hurting their sister, just as badly as Justin wanted to.

"Max!" Justin called out before Max could leave the lair, "hey buddy, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Well… better make it quick, cuz I have a date with a banana suit and a flock of pigeons…"

"What?" Justin asked, still looking to make sure Alex was officially out of earshot. He decided to ignore Max's comment and continue. "Listen bro, I need you to help me with something."

"Wow… YOU? Need ME to help you? That's different," Max replied with a quizzical look on his face.

"Yeah, I guess you could say I need your special brand of scheming to get back at somebody."

"Oh cool!… who are you planning to get back at? OOH! I hope it's whoever is always putting gum under the restaurant tables… man, I hate that…"

"No, Max… it's Dean."

"WOAH!" Max said, shocked. "Dean has been putting the gum under the tables?? First he messes with Alex, now this…that dude can sink no lower!"

"NO! Max, he isn't… ah, never mind." Justin gave up, exasperated. "Yeah, it was him. He's a dirt bag and I want to get back at him. Will you help me?"

"Yeah, man! Let's do it! But first, I gotta hit Central Park with my banana suit. Wanna come with?"

"Max, forget the banana suit and come with me." Justin lightly grabbed his brother's arm and walked him over to the magic bookcase.

Justin sat with Max in the lair, brainstorming and looking through magic books for revenge spells and other ideas. Justin found himself becoming increasingly more frustrated, not only with Max's obliviousness, but with the lame spells he kept coming across. Most of the spells involved whimsical, harmless things that no one could actually learn a lesson from. Just when he was about to give up and just use some spell that would make Dean puke frogs, Max said something that sparked an idea.

"Man, this is bunk. Why can't we just go find him and knee him in the balls?"

"Nah, Alex already did that…" Justin said, before pausing and suddenly sitting upright. "WAIT! That's it, Max!"

"SWEET, so we get to knee him?" Max said, excitedly.

"No… what would you do if you woke up one day and your nuts were missing?"

"Ew. I guess I'd be really freaked out and confused."

"Exactly. And you'd feel too bewildered and embarrassed to want to bring it up to anyone, right?"

"Probably. I dunno, Justin… that's pretty messed up…"

"Not if it's just temporary. Like, what if it's just for 3 days or something?"

"Well I guess that's definitely the best way to ruin a dude's day…"

With that, Justin and Max spent the rest of the afternoon putting their heads together to find out how to make this spell a reality. In addition to making him temporarily less of a man, Justin wanted to figure out a way to give Dean horrible dreams that would haunt him.

After several exhausting hours, the two brothers settled on a spell they both agreed on. The wording was simple and vague, but the power behind the spell was going to turn Dean's world upside down, and hopefully teach him a lesson about not thinking with his junk.

The sun was beginning to set, and soon the rest of the family would be back from their shifts. Justin double and triple-checked the spell before deciding it was time to make it happen.

He took his wand, and as he waved it in a fancy flourish, he said the incantation: "With Alex Russo you thought you could play, but Dean Moriarty, now you must pay!"

The tip of Justin's wand flashed blinding white, and a stream of light shot from the wand and out of the lair as if it were fired from a gun, presumably headed toward Dean's house.

"Did it work??" Max asked immediately.

"I think so…" Justin replied softly. "If everything goes as it should, Dean will be spending tonight, and the next 3 days, having the worst dreams of his life… and he will wake up tomorrow with no balls."

They looked at each other with a sense of worry, and yet also excitement. Justin had never done something so wrong before. He was temporarily removing a part of someone's body… this action defied nature's design itself. However, Justin couldn't actually bring himself to feel guilty about it. Dean had done something truly low and disgusting, and Justin felt that his actions were warranted. Good citizen or not, Justin does not mess around when it comes to his family, and especially Alex.

Suddenly, Justin heard footsteps coming toward the lair.

"Max, quick!" Justin exclaimed. "Hide everything!"

He and Max frantically put the books away and hid them under couch cushions, and swiftly positioned themselves to look as though they had been relaxing in the lair, studying.

Jerry walked in, looking slightly disheveled from the long day of work.

"Hi, boys…" Jerry said, looking at the two boys curiously. "I thought I heard you talking in here… What are you still doing in the lair?"

"Oh, just making up some study time," Justin said quickly. "The lesson earlier felt so cut off, so I decided that Max and I could use a little extra learning!"

Max nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

"O…K. Well, your Mother wants you to come up for dinner soon, guys." Jerry said, as he headed out of the lair and up to the house.

Max and Justin looked at each other and sighed. That was close…

That night, when Justin and Alex had their typical "date" together (this time playing trivial pursuit, but only asking the trivia and not actually playing the board game), Justin acted as if nothing had happened. He held her in his arms, gave the occasional adoring kiss… and as per usual, they teased each other and Alex tried to cheat by reading Justin's answers, and Justin did not mention anything about what he had done.

He was not completely sure how Alex would feel about him hexing Dean with such a reprehensible curse. He knew that if it were involving anyone else, Alex would probably find the whole thing hilarious, and she would wish that she had been involved. But it was so out of character for him to do such a thing, and Justin worried that she may look at him differently. Plus, given how personal it was and how deeply she had expressed her desire to move on from the situation, Justin wasn't willing to risk telling her and possibly angering her. At least, not yet…

More apologies, this time for the lack of Jalex in this chapter... just gotta set the stage!

-L