Disclaimer: I do not own Wizards of Waverly Place. No profit is being made from releasing this fictional story.
Disclaimer #2: An excerpt from the article Noble Molecules Found in Space by Douglas Quenqua is mentioned in this story. All rights belong to him and the New York Times publishing. No profit is being made from including this excerpt in this fictional story.
Author's Note: So I'm assuming that, from the lack of reviews regarding the last chapter, everyone is happy that Andy is gone? Haha you guys are so heartless! Just kidding! I tried to give Andy an honorable exit. Hopefully, I succeeded on some level. And now we continue on with Harper and Justin's growing rekindling.
I have to warn you guys, though. This story is almost done. Just this chapter and then an epilogue. After that, sadly, I will have to say good bye to this story.
As always, thank you so much for reading this story and for being so patient with the slow updates. I've been working on this story in between working full time and also being a full time student. Everyone has been so nice with keeping up with the story, despite the fact WOWP ended a long time go.
Anyway… Let's read on!
A Familiar Pattern 32
by genielou
"... they detected strong, mysterious emissions of light in the Crab nebula. Based on the frequency of the emissions, it was determined that they must be coming from spinning molecular ions of argon hydride… Wait… Wha- how did they determine that?"
Justin cursed under his breath as he read the same paragraph for a fifth time. It was very early in the morning and he had been sitting on the desk of his classroom for over an hour, reading through an article to present to his class. No matter what he did, his mind remained distracted and, for the life of him, he couldn't concentrate completely on the task at hand.
He had been like this since five months ago: always distracted and not able to work efficiently. He just could not remain focused because his mind kept going back to her and to that moment when she disappeared. Again.
Justin was not amongst the first group of people to receive the news of the cancelled wedding. After all, he wasn't exactly invited to the wedding so the coordinators of the event had no reason to contact him. It was not until late afternoon of that same day that Max called him and informed him of what had happened and that Harper was nowhere to be found. He, of course, joined in on the search to try to find her or Andy to get answers regarding the very sudden cancellation of the event. Despite the effort of himself, his family, and Andy's family, it seemed like Andy and Harper were determined to stay hidden at least until the immediate shock of the news had worn off. Justin suspected that Andy must have been hiding somewhere in the vast oceans with his best man, and the deduction of this came from the provided information that Andy's best man was also nowhere to be found. Alex had also disappeared, so Justin and the rest of the Russo's had concluded that the same had occurred to Harper. They just hoped that they were both safe, wherever they may be.
It took an entire week for Justin to actually get a hold of Alex, and this was only after finding out that Finky held an impromptu press conference to address the rumors of the failed wedding attempt. The press had blown up with the news that Finky's very non-public creator was getting married, and Finky's fans were more than happy to fuel the fire by demanding that Harper finally show her face. It wasn't until a few weeks later that the hype finally died down. Regardless, Harper stayed hidden and has yet to show herself to the world or to her family and friends.
Justin shook his head in frustration as his mind went back to the morning after the failed marriage. He had spent that night wondering where Harper had gone, stressed himself out until he was too emotionally exhausted to stay awake, and then finally resolved to just waiting for her to reveal herself. During the morning after, he became stressed again and even more agitated as his mind went through possible scenarios of how Andy and Harper had discussed the cancellation of their wedding. Justin wanted to be there for her. He wanted to comfort her and protect her. If only she would show herself to him. To anyone!
Justin felt some form of relief with the knowledge that Alex was with her. His sister had disappeared on that same day and did not reappear until a few days later at the Waverly SubStation, demanding that their parents immediately ready at least five sandwiches for her to take away with her as she packed a bag of clothes. A few hours later, she was gone again, only coming back to the Substation every other day to ask their parents for more sandwiches. As far as Justin knew, Alex was still doing it. He tried asking her how Harper was doing and that he wanted to see her, but she was insistent that he, of all people, should stay away until Harper is able to figure things out. Whatever that meant, Justin just nodded his head in defeat and patiently waited for the time when he would be able to talk to Harper again. He wasn't stupid. He knew that he was likely to have been the reason for why Andy and Harper did not get married. Additionally, Justin had been extra sluggish ever since he…
…
…
… he had been sluggish ever since he left the Power Transfer Room at the Department of Magical Affairs exactly one week ago. It was a hard decision to make. It took weeks to finally settle on it. Despite the lack of support from his parents, he did it anyway; and he hoped that it was enough to make Harper show herself. He had planned it accordingly and made sure that Alex knew every detail of what he had done. Hopefully, Alex took the information back to Harper and that they had a long, thorough conversation over it. Hopefully.
Suddenly, the door at the front of the classroom opened and a few students walked in. It wasn't long until more students started piling into his classroom. He glanced at his wristwatch and grimaced at the time, not realizing sooner that his morning class was due to start in a few minutes. Sighing loudly, Justin finally gave up on the article and set it aside, figuring that it would be better to allow his class to read it in groups and let his students explain the article to him instead. Maybe he could get away with giving them participation points for it. He had told his class previously that today would be designated for an activity module; no one would really notice the difference, he supposed.
The room became noisy as students chatted with each other. The door at the back of the stadium-style classroom also opened and more students entered through it. Justin glanced warily as every seat in the room was taken, and took note of how the classroom's 100-seat capacity was pushed to its limits.
"Everyone, please settle down. We'll start in just a few minutes," he called out to his class, although he doubted that anyone heard him. Justin stared at his watch and waited until the time aligned itself to the very minute that the class was supposed to start. As if a soundless bell went off, the noise in the room dissipated as soon as the clock ticked to 8:00 am. Justin admired the remarkable discipline of his students. It was an asset that most students who attended the community college had. "Good Monday, everyone. I'm glad that all of you made it to yet another day in class."
Groans emanated from every corner of the room.
"Yeah, yeah, stop complaining. I've been here way earlier than any of you," he joked and received chuckles from all around. He proceeded to inform his class of the agenda for the day, starting immediately with the impromptu reading of the article that, for the life of him, he just could not concentrate enough on. Justin was about to tell his students to separate into groups when something, or rather someone, caught his eye.
She was sitting in the farthest row of the class, right next to the back door. The New York Knicks sweater that she wore looked like it was at least three sizes too big for her. She looked like she was drowning in the blue cotton fabric. Her red hair was tied back in a messy ponytail and the thick-framed glasses that she wore hid her eyes. She blended perfectly with the rest of the students and looked almost unrecognizable. Justin had to crane his neck to get a good look at her, and there was no way he could mistake her for anyone else.
She was looking at him as intently as he was staring at her. There was a slight mirth to the way she smiled timidly at him, as if he was displaying the exact reaction that she had expected of him. Justin tried to regain himself to continue with the class, to pick up where he had left off but he found himself speechless and forgot what he had already told his students. He opened his mouth a few times to commence his speech, but his tongue seemed to have gotten stuck to the roof of his mouth and he started stuttering incoherent words like an awkward teenager. She shook her head slightly as a tiny smile appeared on her lips.
"Professor. Are you okay?" one of his students asked.
Justin shook himself from his trance and looked around his classroom. Only ten minutes had passed since his students had walked in, and they were all intently staring at him, waiting for him to proceed with the day's lesson. He really should keep going with the lesson, but an opportunity has presented itself and he would be a fool to just let it pass by.
"Mr. Russo? You look like you might throw up," another of students quipped, earning a few chuckles and giggles from her other classmates.
Justin wanted to talk to Harper. After all, she was a proven flight risk and would likely disappear again, if given the opportunity. His eyes remained glued on the growing mirth in her expression to make sure that she doesn't shy out of the room. He quickly weighed the pros and cons in his mind for a few more seconds before declaring very loudly, "Class dismissed!"
His students looked confused and they looked at him like he had lost his mind.
"But… you said we had a very important module activity today," yet another student provided.
Justin bit his lip. He looked like a deer caught in front of bright headlights. "Uh, it's cancelled."
His short answer was apparently not good enough because his top students (and some of his failing students who needed all the extra credit they could get) bombarded him with questions.
"Cancelled? Your email said it was very important. I don't want this to affect my grade."
"Mr. Russo, I can't miss any more class credits. You said that last week."
"Do we still get attendance points for showing up today?"
"Please tell me you're not gonna make us do the module as homework."
"Um, can I just go? I don't really care, I just want to sleep on a bench or something."
A migraine was slowly forming on the base of his forehead. The questions kept coming at him and he wanted nothing more than to push every single one of his students out of the door himself.
He started regretting his decision to try to dismiss his class until he saw Harper slowly rising from her seat. That was when he lost it.
"All right!" he yelled over the loud complaints in the room. "If all of you clear out right now, everyone will receive an automatic A on the finals."
Murmurs of skeptical comments filled the room. Justin rolled his eyes.
"And if you don't," he continued as an added consequence, "The finals will be essay answers only. Twenty questions… with a two-hour time limit."
The room suddenly became eerily quiet. Justin frowned at his students and waited for a reaction. After a mere five seconds of complete and utter silence, the noise level in the room quickly rose to new levels as his students scrambled to gather their things and rush out of the door. He chuckled momentarily to himself upon seeing the panicked look on their faces brought on by his threats. His students were practically pushing each other to get to the door.
Justin scanned the entire classroom before letting his eyes fall on her again. She was still sitting there, on the same seat, with a wide grin on her face. She looked like she was trying really hard to hold in her laughter. Justin would have been more than happy to laugh along with her, since what he had just done probably violates so many school policies, but the shock of having her appear at such an early hour of the day was still having a strange effect on him. The sound of her giggles brought him back from his deep contemplation to the present situation that he was in.
"I think you just earned yourself a top score on the Rate My Professor website," she said loudly to him.
Justin grinned. "They were all good students. No harm done."
She shook her head lightly as she stood from her seat and made her way to him. His chest tightened as she came closer, and Justin felt his insecurity skyrocket when he realized how beautiful she was, regardless of the comfortable clothing that she wore.
"So," she said as she bit her bottom lip lightly. "Hi."
A slight nod was his only reply. He wanted to greet her properly but he was afraid that his voice would come out as a squeak. That earned a smile from her.
"How are you?" she asked as an attempt to lighten the mood.
It took a few seconds before Justin was able to take control of his vocal skills again. "Good. Okay," he answered. "How are you?"
A distant look quickly passed through her eyes, but Justin caught it. Regardless, "I'm okay" was her answer. It was more of an answer than Justin could hope for.
"This is a really big classroom," Harper continued off-subject as she slowly walked towards his desk. "It's so different from the rooms that I took my classes in. So much better too. This room look so- formally collegiate."
His eyebrows rose. "As opposed to the big giant studios that you worked in?"
Harper shrugged. "Art-sy, sure. Academically formal? Not really. Working in a studio felt more like playing than it was learning."
Justin smiled and shook his head. "I respectfully disagree."
She gave him a skeptical look.
"Trust me. Us Academic-Junkies are more impressed with artists than you are with our occasional scientific babble," he told her. "I think I'd rather have talent than a complicated brain."
She grinned mischievously at him. "I respectfully disagree." Her head nodded a few times in an attempt to control the growing smirk on her face. "I came here for a reason," she declared.
"I know," he answered. "I was expecting it."
"Oh, really?" Harper said, just a bit sharper than she had meant to. "Receiving the news from your brother was definitely a shock. I might get a bit upset during this exchange. I hope you don't mind."
"I'm… expecting it," he said, and then, "Wait, Max knew where you were?"
Harper bit her bottom lip and averted her gaze. "He found me by accident. Absolute coincidence, really."
Justin gave her a stern look and tried to convey his annoyance in it. "How lucky of him," he muttered.
She took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts before continuing. "Shall I start?" she asked, to which he nodded. "Okay. I actually rehearsed this conversation in my head last night. I have come to the conclusion that the best way for us to talk about this is by me asking you questions, and then you answering with a simple yes or no answer. This way, we can avoid unnecessary accusations or, uh, saying other stuff that we both might regret. Agree?"
"I have a counter-offer," he answered. "Instead of yes or no, how about we take turns asking each other questions? And we can't interrupt each other while we're answering. If you have another question that pertains to the previous question, you have to wait for your next turn."
Harper smiled. "I like that. Agreed," she said with a curt nod. She turned and walked swiftly to front row of the student-desks and settled herself on one of the seats. "I'll start. Max and Alex provided that you gave up your powers; that you are no longer a wizard. Is this true?"
Justin winced. "Straight to the point, I see," he muttered. "Yes. My turn. You cancelled the wedding?"
"No," Harper quickly answered, which earned a very confused reaction from Justin. She quickly took her turn before Justin could add to his question. "You gave up your powers for me. Is that true?"
Justin suddenly looked sheepish. "Yes and no. Andy was the one who cancelled the wedding?"
Harper nodded. "Yes," she whispered as the distant look in her eyes appeared again. It was evident that the pain she felt for Andy had not completely left her yet. "Why did you do it?"
Justin frowned, not entirely sure what she was asking. He remained silent as she elaborated.
"Why did you give up your powers?" she asked with a strained voice. "That's not what I wanted. You knew that. I didn't want it to be this way."
A small smile formed on Justin's lips as he took in the troubled look on her face. "Yeah, I know," he confirmed. "But it was my choice to make. I wanted it this way."
Harper's lower lip curved in as she bit herself and the frown on her face reminded Justin of a guilt-ridden puppy. Guilt was obviously threatening to overtake her and Justin had to move fast before she started blaming herself again for his predicament, and possibly disappear again.
"My turn now. Right?" he asked her, earning a slight nod from her. "I was the reason why Andy broke it off. Am I right?"
The frown on Harper's forehead deepened. "Partly, yes," she answered, and then reconsidered before firmly saying, "mostly, it was you."
His chest felt overwhelmingly warm as her words replayed in his mind. "Mostly, it was you." He speculated for months over it and now he had confirmation. It was because of him. Now, he just had to get her to stop walking away from him.
"No more games, Harper. Let's clear this up right here," he said firmly. "You love me, right?"
"Yes," a whisper escaped her lips.
"Andy noticed and realized that you love me, right?"
Harper swallowed a lump in her throat as she nodded.
"And now," he continued, "you're here because you're ready. You're ready to finally give this, us," he said with a gesture to both of them, "a try."
"I'm here because you gave up your powers!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Which was absolutely illogical and irresponsible, and demonstrates complete disregard to your parents' feelings and mine."
"I don't care about my parents. This is my life and they respect all of my decisions in it, as any parent would," he explained with surprising calmness. "And you… your feelings…" he scoffed. "Did you ever consider my feelings when you disappeared? Did you ever consider how much of a wreck I would become when you left me? Improperly, by the way. Without, at the very least, a good bye. Both times!"
A single tear overflowed from her left eye and quickly slid down her cheek. He was slightly surprised at how immediately and evidently upset she had become. A part of him wanted to stop the conversation and let her dismiss him again, if only it would stop her from crying; but another part of him, a bigger part of him, wanted to make sure that she understood that, no matter how many times she walks away from him, she would always be the only girl that he would pine over.
Justin slowly approached her, while making sure to take very silent steps so as not to startle her. She stared at the floor intently and refused to look at him, even when he knelt on his knees in front of her and placed both of his hands on her knees.
"Harper," he said softly. "Harper, look at me. Please look at me."
He waited until her gaze lifted. Her eyes still refused to meet his, and instead settled on his nose.
"Harper," he started. "I love you. I. Love. You. When you disappeared months ago, I was afraid that it would be permanent. I needed to find you. I was desperate. And I knew that this, what I did, would get you to show yourself."
The expressions on her face contorted as she felt the guilt for causing Justin to give up his powers engulf her entire being. Fresh tears welled in her eyes and a few spilled to her cheeks. She startled a bit when she felt Justin's hand cup her cheek. Her gaze finally met his as his thumb swiped at her fallen tears.
"Harper," he continued. "None of this is your fault. I wanted this. I made it clear to you, more than once, that this is what I wanted. You already knew that I would do this. You knew it was just a matter of time."
Justin lifted his other hand and placed it on her other cheek. He held her face gently and aligned her gaze to his. "Yes, it was because of you. But, you have to understand, Harper, that I wanted to do this for you. For us."
She hiccuped slightly as she fought the urge to turn away. She kept her eyes sincerely on Justin and tried to listen to every word that he uttered, despite the ringing in her ears from hearing his confession.
"I am so, so sorry that so much has happened to you. I am so sorry that you had to feel so much pain with me, with Andy, and with everything… but, damn it, Harper. Damn it, just please, please," Justin pleaded. "Please, stop running away from me. Every time you turn away from me, a part of me dies. I don't know if I can survive if you do it again."
Harper's shoulders shook as her eyebrows furrowed. Her lips quivered uncontrollably as Justin held her face firmly in front of his.
"Harper, I love you. And I am not going to disappear just because you insist that a life as a Wizard is better than a life with you. Because it's not. I'd rather be completely mortal and have to brew my morning coffee the normal way, with you by my side, than be the strongest, most powerful Wizard in the world, but not be able to see you, to kiss you, or to hold you every day."
Harper hiccuped again. She lifted a hand to take off her glasses and cleared the tears that had blurred her vision.
"You know, I am getting better with making coffee. I just recently starting using flavored creamer," Justin joked, earning a giggle from an emotionally-overwhelmed Harper. "So, what do you say, Harper Anna Finkle? Stay? Please? Let's stop doing this dance and just... just be together."
She remained silent for what felt like forever. Only the sound of her hiccups and her sniffing filled the air. Suddenly, when it seemed to Justin that he had failed, Harper threw both arms around his shoulders and tackled him to the floor. Justin was so surprised that it took him a few seconds to recover.
Harper lifted her head and smiled at him. "How about you leave the coffee-making to me, and you just be your wonderful self?" she quipped before leaning down and pressing her lips firmly onto his.
It seemed like an entire universe exploded in Justin's chest as he wrapped his arms around her waist and savored the kiss. He felt his nose sting and his eyes start to water as his emotions threatened to overtake him. When she pulled away from him, he couldn't help himself from crying with happiness as his eyes appreciated the sight of her wide smile. Justin grinned and even laughed as he lifted a hand to wipe away her almost-dried tears. She giggled at this and sat up to fuss over herself, all the while muttering, "I must look terrible."
She was about to stand when Justin's hand held onto her hips determinedly and kept her situated on his lap. He looked at her with absolute admiration and had to fight to control his contentment.
"I love you," he said.
Harper smiled widely and said with sincere assurance, "I love you too," before leaning down and kissing him again. They remained like that for a long time until Justin suddenly pulled away from her.
"Did you plan this?" he asked her. Harper just frowned at him. "You know, to make up and have your way with me?"
Harper mocked a hurtful expression and playfully slapped his shoulder. "Actually, I planned to yell at you. A lot," she said, while finally being aware of how stuffed up her nose had become from crying so much. "But, eventually, yeah. I wanted to just… make up. I was ready. I wanted to give this, us," she said with a gesture, "a try. Bad coffee and everything. Oh!" She exclaimed as she pulled away from his embrace and dug her hand into the pocket of her sweater. When she pulled out her hand, Justin could see that she was holding a balled up scrap of fabric. She unraveled it to reveal the ring that he had given her months ago, the same ring that he crafted from her Nana's old brooch. He frowned when she held it out to him.
"When we're ready," she started. "Give it back to me. And ask me properly."
A wide grin formed on Justin's face. "On one knee and everything?"
Harper smiled and nodded. "On one knee and everything."
Justin pulled her towards him and they kissed loudly for who knew how long. Harper kept her hand enclosed around the precious brooch as she giggled and laughed with him. She couldn't remember a time when she was happier in her life.
They continued kissing with no care for the rest of the world… until three hours had passed and the doors were unexpectedly opened by the next class period's students, to which Justin had to yell "Class cancelled!" again.