Chapter 4 - Rules and how not to follow them
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A/N:
W.I.P.S. = Wizard Instant Parcel Service.
(Wizards of Waverly Place s01e13 Wizard School - Part 1)
The instant mail from Wizard School Part 1, the one they use by opening a portal with an old key mid-air. It's that thing Alex uses to wipe clean the living room in the first part of the Wizard School two-episode story, what makes her parents enroll her in WizTech with Justin.
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Next day comes and the students arrive to occupy the school. Justin and Alex spend the last day before classes with more instructions, this time as to how she should treat the kids. Or that would be how not to treat them.
"It doesn't matter what happens…" Justin starts. "You can never… EVER… use spells against the students." He emphasizes.
"What if one gets turn into a brick?" Alex interrupts him.
"The kids are not guinea pigs. You cannot just play with them as you like." Justin retorts.
"So I leave the kid as a brick?" Alex completes.
"No, you turn him back." He tells her, aggravated.
"That would be using a spell on him." Okay, now she is just trying to annoy him.
"Just turn the kid back." Justin raises his voice. "I mean you can't use spells AGAINST students, like use it as punishment, or one of your pranks."
"Why would I prank a kid?" She asks, with clear confusion.
"I stopped trying to understand how your mind works a long time ago." He replies.
"It's not fun pranking a kid. …Seeing them screw up, on the other hand…"
"That's exactly what I'm talking about!"
"Fine! I'm not gonna use the kids as guinea pigs!" She responds with vexation.
"AND you're not gonna use…"
"…spells against them. I get it. And just so you know, when I asked, I didn't mean I was the responsible." Alex completes.
"Yeah! Right!" Justin replies, earning a sarcastic eye-squeeze from Alex.
That is mostly the content of their session throughout the day. Despite the fact that Justin has to wake Alex up a few times, they get through it unharmed. Well, that on Justin's side. But, at least Alex got to catch up on her sleep.
Justin is done with the instructions for the day. Finally! The sun is setting down and now Alex has some time to take care of her own things. So she makes a quick stop in her room to get some snack and a little purse she will use for something, later. She goes out again, crossing the school to the next wing. She quickly walks down the hallway while it is still empty, getting to the isolated corner where Fiendl's classroom is. He really shouldn't leave his classroom open while he is away, it makes things too easy.
Alex peeks in the room and there is no one inside. Great! She comes in, right away looking for the supply cabinet. And she finds it, two of them. She stares at the twin cabinets, side by side against the wall. She chooses the one on the left. The moment she opens the doors and the light hits what is inside, an animal screech startles her.
"SHHHH!" Alex shushes the miniaturized hippogriff trapped inside of a jar. "I'm trying to be sneaky here." She whispers and the animal surprisingly complies. Damn! Wrong cabinet. This is the one with live animals for ingredients. It's not what she needs. Second try on the other cabinet.
She opens it and runs her eyes over the items searching for what she needs. First one she finds is the horn of unicorn glue, and promptly she takes the horn-shaped container.
Time to put that tiny purse to use. She grabs it, barely big enough to cover her hand and aims the ingredient at the opening of the much smaller purse. She drops the item and it impossibly disappears inside. Yeah, about that. The spell Justin once used when Alex tried to steal the Book of Forbidden Spells, the one that ended up trapping her inside his purse? Yeah, she finally got that spell figured out.
Oh, and it's similar to the one she used to make her walk-in closet.
Alex takes a few more components she needs: some potion diluent, because she doesn't want the potion to be permanent, also some more technical potion items, because for once she studied. She stuffs everything inside the small purse, closes it then the cabinet, and she is ready to leave.
Alex quickly walks away, and straight to her quarters. She has some cooking to do.
A lot later, far after everyone was done working, a bright glow comes from outside the door to Justin's office, instantly illuminating the empty, dark room. The door slides, opening a small gap, then a hand pushes it a bit more.
Alex sneaks her head in to peek inside. "Perfect!" Justin is not in. She smiles to herself for the perfect opportunity.
Of course she would know exactly which spell to use to break into Justin's office, the one that would cancel any protection he put there. After years around him she knows exactly how he thinks.
She walks in, closes the door behind her and turns the lights on. Okay! Now, let's get to work.
Alex looks around, so many possibilities in every corner. It has to be the perfect place. The only problem is that she cannot just use the potion anywhere, like the chair. What would be the fun if Justin undid it easily. She knows exactly how good he is. He can probably undo any spell she can cast. He only has to take his wand and…
…AND … if he couldn't catch his wand…!?
That's it!
She looks to her side and there it is, the big shelf full of books that she knows he uses often, most of them very big. Actually, they are so big that there is a reading stand beside the shelf to use them, too big even to catch it with one hand. And the biggest of them lies on a separate, lower shelf. A mischievous smile forms on her lips.
Alex puts her hand in her pocket and pulls out a small flask. Inside, a glittery dust, the potion she cooked just before. She opens it and drops a little bit on the big book on the separate shelf. The dust disappears as it touches the book. Uhm! Maybe a little bit more! … And another sprinkle just to be sure.
Then she looks at all the other books in the shelf, and at the flask that is still half-full. She considers it for second. To hell with it! She spreads the rest of the potion on all the books. Yeah! That's gonna work.
Alex smiles. Now that it's done, she just has to wait. If everything works out alright, tomorrow is going to be a good day. She turns off the lights and comes out of the office. Oh, the spell on the door! "Whatever Justin did to keep me out, cast it back on this door, now!" She whispers, waving her hand.
Yeah! Apparently it worked.
Now, Alex has to sneak back to her room. She walks around the hallways, careful not to make any noise. She even picked the right pair of sneakers for it.
She makes her way through the hallways, back to her room. One more turn and…
Alex practically stumbles against Professor Fiendl. Again! It takes a few seconds for the adrenaline rush to settle. Then Alex stares at him with a suspicious look.
"You again! What are you doing out here so late?" She asks him with a completely intentional accusatory tone.
"Well… I was… making a round…" He stammers while backing up from Alex's menacing stare. "You know, to see if there are any students out of bed. Apparently, some time ago, one student tried to escape from here. Looks like the kid even tried to use the W.I.P.S. I mean, who would try something like that?" He laughs.
Alex stares at him for a second, wide-eyed, taken aback. "Oh, really? I think that is a genius idea!" Yeah, that was totally her.
"That spell was not made for people." Fiendl answers. "It's not safe. The mailing could go wrong."
"It's never gone wrong with me!" Alex says, absentmindedly.
"'With you'?" Fiendl asks.
"Uhm! … I mean FOR me. Like… when I send some package to somebody." Alex corrects. Well, more like dissimulates.
"Oh! Sure. Honest mistake." Fiendl understands.
"But, back to where we were. I thought kids here were too nerdy to try something like running away?" Alex talks with obvious suspicion.
"We like to think that our kids know better than trying to escape." Fiendl agrees. "But we prefer to be safe. I mean, if they tried once…"
"Good to know my big brother learned something!" From her, that is what she means. "Anyway… Just so you know, I still got my eye on you." She says then starts walking away, her eyes fixed on his with a suspicious stare.
Then she goes straight back to her room. The day has been long and full of excitement. She really wants to go to bed.