Title: Masks

Fandom: Wizards of Waverly Place

Word Count: 2,749 (Chapter 11)

Rating/Content: Jalex, duh. I'm going to say this is PG-13... but more for insinuation than anything else.

Spoilers/episodes: Finale episode, "Who Will be the Family Wizard."

A/N: I cannot believe I've been writing this thing for three Halloweens! I am going to finish this story this year if it kills me... no, I mean it this time, you guys!

"Well," opines Harper, "That was awkward."

Alex doesn't say anything. In fact there's a long moment in which nothing is said. The two exist as if in a bubble of mutual discomfort, while the party fills with guests who drift in the room like bubbles in a champagne glass, and the air seems to grow warm and lively with their conversation. Harper has the grace to look away from Alex, but she's not very good at waiting... and even worse at tolerating unspoken tension for any length of time at all. She fidgets, stealing sidelong glances at her friend as she tries to gauge whether it would be worse to speak or to stay silent. She plans what to say next, her hands worrying the hem of her costume, until Alex snaps, "Harper!" and she stops.

Harper sighs, furrowing her brow at her friend. "Sorry," she whispers. And she means it: she's sorry for fidgeting, sorry for the mess they're in, sorry to miss clog-dancing in the real world. Most of all, she's sorry that Justin and Alex are fighting; when they're fighting for real, the world just seems wrong somehow. Like it's out of kilter, off it's alignment. This is no exception. She's not sure it's ever been this serious between them, the fighting.

She tries again, lifting a hand gingerly to her friend's shoulder. "Alex, if there's anything I can-"

But Alex shakes her off, not unkindly, just brushes her touch and her comfort away, shaking her head a little. "No, it's... it's fine." The brave smile that she covers her face with is awful to see, for a moment. And then the false expression slides into place of the true, and no one who isn't Harper would ever know the difference. Well, Justin might, but that hardly matters right now. Alex smiles her warm, brave, false smile at her best friend. "It's fine. He's just... you know what he's like. But I have something I have to do... the kids should be here any minute. Can you just, you know... stay with him?" A shadow slides across Alex's beautiful features, there and then gone. "Make sure he doesn't.. ask around too much?"

"Sure, Alex, but... honestly, I don't get it. Why is is *such* a big deal?"

Alex grimaces, shrugs. "It's sort of illegal in the Wizard World. Like, not-messing-around illegal, you can go to jail and all sorts of bad things..." she trails off. "But only if they find out. And no one's going to find out... especially not Justin. Right, Harper?"

Harper musters a brave smile of her own, but it's not nearly as convincing as Alex's - she's always been the better liar. "Yeah. Sure. You can count on me!" She tries to snap off a lighthearted, fake salute... but Alex is already gone. She waves in a halfhearted way and with that she's gone, melting into the crowd with an expression that is warm and charismatic, and an utter lie. Alex is good at masks, when she needs to be.

With a lump in her throat and the growing sense that this is all a really bad idea, Harper sets out to find Justin.

He isn't hard to find, and her years of Justin-stalking have prepared her well for this sort of thing. While Alex has vanished into the crowd like some sort of fancy-dress chameleon, Justin has retreated to the back of the room, and is licking his wounds at the mini-bar.

Harper approaches him cautiously.

She finds him posed leaning against the mini-bar in an attitude he probably thinks is cool, a replacement drink in one hand. The pose is only borderline (even by Harper's standards) but the look on his face is completely devastating. Justin's handsome face, normally easy to read and relatively carefree, seems... shadowed. His eyes look weary, and the corners of his mouth have a downward curve. His body droops, as if it's become too heavy for him. Harper's heart aches. First Alex, now Justin... what is going on?

Carefully, as if he were a stray animal that might bite at any provocation, she approaches the sad, sullen man. "Um, Justin? Hi, how are you, I just wanted to say that-"

Lifting his gaze, he tries on a not-very-convincing half-smile... then his eyes widen in recognition. "Harper?" He practically shouts, as he does when overexcited, or surprised by sudden news, "WHAT ARE YOU-" Justin catches himself, coughs into a fist, and lowers his voice hastily as several sets of curious eyes turn in his direction. Taking her by the arm, he pulls Harper toward the relative privacy of the bar, lowering his voice to an urgent whisper. "Harper, what are you doing here? Did Alex bring you here? Does anybody know you're... how did you..."

Before he can begin to hyperventilate, Harper rescues him, resting a gentling hand on his arm, the one he's not holding in a vicelike grip. "Justin, relax! It's fine, Alex just brought me here to-"

"Alex brought you here? Alex?"

Harper reflects that this may have not been the most calming thing to say. "Harper, nothing that Alex does is ever fine. So, you just tell me what you're doing here, and I'll send you back, and then..."

"No!" Harper cries, loudly enough that the partygoers who had begun to lose interest look at them again. Justin scowls at her, and she blushes. "That is... I... can't... go home?" she offers carefully, the words coming to her one at a time. She can hardly tell him 'Because I have to keep an eye on you', that wouldn't exactly go over well. Damn, it's at times like these that she wishes, just for a while, that she could channel Alex. "Yeah. I can't go home, because, you see Justin, Because Helping Hands, I mean Alex... I mean, I need to be here so..."

Justin's mouth twists, and he lets her go. "Let me guess. Alex recruited you to do her job for her while she's busy acting like this whole thing was her idea and hobnobbing with the magical elite, am I right? To do her dirty work?"

Harper considers this... quickly... and it's not bad, really. It's not even a lie, not completely. "Sure... I mean.. yes?" She flashes him her brilliant, award-winning grin, the no creepiness here, nope. "And, well, she's my best friend, haha, so..." she gives him a what-ya-gonna-do shrug. She hopes she's not sweating under her makeup.

Justin sighs, but seems to relax, content in his sister's wickedness. "I should have known. I mean, you know you're not allowed to be here, right?"

"Well, technically I came with Alex, so I figure I'm like an honorary Wizard, right?"

"Is that what she told you?"

"Not exactly, I just thought that maybe it was sort of on the honor system?"

Justin cuts her off. "No non-magical beings are allowed at the Halloween festivities, Harper. Not here or anywhere. I'm not surprised Alex didn't tell you about this, but you could get in serious trouble just for being here. Have you ever been to Wizard jail?"

Harper thinks about some of the shadier escapes that Alex has dragged her into, but Justin probably doesn't need to know about them. "No?"

"Well, believe me, you don't want to. It's ten times worse than human jail, even in New York. If even one of these Wizards catches wind of the fact that you're human... well, just don't let anyone know. In fact, don't even talk to anyone, if you can help it."

Harper bites her lip... then her face brightens. "It's okay, Justin... Alex thought of everything... she gave me *this*!" From a pocket in her frilly apron, she withdraws the fat training wand Alex had given her... in case she needed to 'pass'. "In case I need to be... magical! Watch!"

"Harper, wait!" But before he can stop her, Harper shows off her newfound powers, pointing the wand at a long-necked green bottle on the shelf behind the bar. "Open... uh... bottle!" she crows.

The green bottle she's pointing at uncorks itself and pops open dramatically, spilling bubbles and froth... and so do the bottles within a roughly one-foot radius, unscrewing or uncorking to pour their contents jubilantly onto the checkerboard floor. The ogre bartender looks daggers.

"Oops," Harper demures, covering her mouth with her hand, her nervous laughter spilling out like the contents of the bottles. "I guess that's just what happens with us magical types, haha... magic everywhere... yep..."

Justin groans. With a few magical intonations (and a few mild obscenities Harper's pretty sure aren't magical), Justin undoes the damage. He the bartender, explaining, "She's my cousin. From New Jersey," as if that explains everything. Apparently it does, because the ogre nods in conciliatory understanding.

None too gently, he directs her toward the dance floor. Normally, Harper would be thrilled, but she has the funny feeling he just wants to keep her away from wizards and potential open-able objects.

On the way there, he confiscates her wand.

They've only been dancing a little while, Justin with a distracted air (he keeps checking the door, for some reason) when a familiar face appears, its owner interrupting their awkward conversation.

"Justin my boy, how are you! And Harper, you're... why, you're Harper!" The new arrival, one Professor Crumbs to be exact, frowns, every inch the curmudgeonly elder of the magical world, with a rulebreaker in his sites. "You're not supposed to be here at all, you're..." here he lowers his voice, as if this is somehow news to Harper, "human!" He informs her in a shocked stage-whisper, which she's only every heard Justin do with such complete seriousness.

"It's okay, Professor Crumbs, Sir. You see, I'm here to help Alex, " she ignores Justin's frantic "stop talking" gestures, "...with her play, and she gave me... gave me..." she's feeling around in her apron pocket, to no avail. "Oh! Justin took it. But she gave me a training wand, so everything's..."

"She gave you a wand?" Crumbs thunders... well, as well as he can in a stage whisper. "A mortal with a wand?" He gives Justin a severe look, as if he's somehow behind this, and Justin pales.

Harper smiles sheepishly. "No? Or, well, she did, but it's okay, because Justin took it."

"Justin Russo! You knew about this?"

"No sir! Well, that is, I only just found out, and... we're very disappointed in you, Harper!" he opines at his most threatening, releasing her hand to shake a finger in her face. Harper hangs her head, guilty...and well, very confused.

"I'm really, really sorry," Harper gulps. "But, I have to help Alex, or... or... the play won't get done, at all! Yeah, that's it. That's totally it. The show has to go on, right?"

The two Wizards eye her suspiciously... but reluctantly, each one nods. "You'll see that you keep an eye on her, Russo." Crumbs says, a threatening tone to his words. It isn't a question. Justin nods, humbled.

"Well, that will have to do, then. We'll sort this out with Alex later." He says the girl's name as if it is sort of swear word. Harper supposes that it's very possible that it is, around here.

"Yes, Sir," Justin agrees.

Crumbs nods. "It seems like there was something else I wanted to talk to you about, young Russo..." he pulls at his beard thoughtfully. "Oh, well. I suppose it will come to me later. Back like a bad habit, eh? " He scans the room, frowning. "Speaking of trouble that comes back to you later. Where IS your sister, Justin?"

Harper realizes, belatedly, that she's been with Justin for almost an hour at this point ...and she hasn't seen Alex once. "Maybe I'll just... check on her," she gulps, moving away from Justin and and the Professor, her eyes already roaming the crowd.

"That's a very good idea," Crumbs says firmly. She looks to Justin, who nods his assent. Harper dashes off to find her wayward friend.

"Well," Justin begins, after they watch Harper make her escape, "if you'll excuse me, Sir, I..." already he's looking around the room for a certain blonde vampire.

"Just a moment, if you please, Professor Russo," the old man insists, his soft tone brooking no argument. "I thought she'd never leave." Justin gapes at him, and the old man drops a slow wink. "I have come upon some information, in my own studies, that I believe may be very beneficial to your research."

Something in his tone checks Justin's flight, and he turns to face the old man. "What? What is it, Sir?"

Crumbs waves off the 'Sir' with an impatient gesture, leaning in close. "Do you remember what we discussed about the, you know... alchemy?" He lowers his voice slightly, as if in fear of being overheard, but Justin knows from experience that the elder wizard is often needlessly dramatic. Justin nods.

"The thing is," Professor Crumbs continues, peering hard at his one-time student, his eyes small and bright over the rim of his glass, "...if that alchemical process we discussed were to be worked on two people at once, just in theory, mind..."

He pauses for effect, and Justin resists the urge to shake him. He does have other things to do. But he reminds himself that this is his beloved Professor Crumbs, his mentor and his friend,and he checks the impulse to violence. "Yes, Sir?" He presses, with just a hint of impatience.

"Well, I did a bit of reading, Russo, and my findings suggest that the chemical reaction catalyzed between the two hypothetical individuals in question.. would have far-reaching consequences." He makes his voice low and growly, being dramatic again: "Far reaching."

"Such as what, Sir?"

"Well, in the process you described... 'alchemy used on two people at once', I believe you said... it all depends on how far along the process was. If the alchemical process were completed, and all the required elements were a part of it... I believe you might be looking at the creation of a pairing of magical elements with almost unlimited power. Unlimited, my boy!" He takes a sip of the punch, coughs in a way that leads Justin to wonder if Alex had had time to spike it, and then continues, "Provided, of course, that they were together. The magic would work together. Wouldn't work apart, oh dear no."

"You mean if they were Wizards?" Justin asks, in a rush. Crumbs looks alarmed.

"Doubly true for Wizards, dear boy. But If they were wizards... I think they'd find their powers a little lacking... not gone, just limited... lacking sparkle, you might say... when apart. And doubled... no, tripled... or more... when together." He pauses to stare into the middle distance, a trick Justin is familiar with. It makes him look wise.

Justin prods, "You said something about the... point in the process?"

"What...? Ah, yes! You see, if the alchemical process was incomplete for some reason... only partly done, or something like that... the two elements.. in this case the people..s or, heavens forbid, the Wizards... would be driven to complete it, no matter what the cost."

Justin feels lightheaded. "Complete it? But... how?"

Crumbs smiles, shrugs, looks vague. "Hard to say. But a magical transmutation, once begun, wants to finish itself. Won't be happy until it is, the magic won't rest. Magic wants what it wants, as you know, Russo. And Magic does what it wants, as well." He frowns. "Are you alright, Russo? You're looking a little pale."

"Fine," Justin murmurs, looking a little pale. "It's fine. I'm... fine. Excuse me, please. I need a little air."

He flees toward the hallway, trying not to run.