A/N Hi! I wasn't going to write this, but then I saw Max's Secret Girlfriend and I just ended up at the computer writing this. I've always thought that there's more to Max and Harper (not as a couple, but personality wise) than let on, so I thought it would be interesting. Also, this is a bit of practice towards my other story 'Beginning of The End' and so if you like this, and darker angst, as well as humour and romance mixed in… stay tuned! Hopefully, I'll get that updated soon. So anyway, enjoy!

One-Shot

He's not an idiot.

He's not an idiot, although his family wants him to believe that. They want to believe it so badly that they don't pay attention to him, so they don't have to face up to their lies. To face up to the truth. They want to believe he's strange and weird and not quite right in the head, so that they don't have to look deeper, at his thoughts, at his personality, at him. So then, eventually, he just gave up. He pushed down any thing that was taboo, anything that was not aloud or accepted, and tried to live normally. Goddammit, he tried. He woke up and stared at himself in the mirror, whishing to be normal, to be right, to be approved of by his family. He tried being extra weird, to grab their attention. He tried to think about achievable careers like being a pilot. When the new principal came, he wore the uniform like he was told, to show that he obeyed rules, like his family wanted him to. He tried to hint it when he told them he wanted to conform to the rules of society. They should have understood. The Max they wanted doesn't even know the word conform. 'He' doesn't get society (not that he should, as it was a metaphor for them), and he most certainly does not wear sweater vests.

They didn't notice. Or maybe they did, but tried not to show it. Of course, Justin noticed, and tried to point it out, but he was bustled out of the room by Alex to go 'find' Mr Laritate.

Mr Laritate wasn't the one lost.

That was what his mom told him once. That he was lost. Confused. Unsure and unstable. It was all part of being a teenager, she told him. That it would soon pass. His mother's sense of time must have been wrong, because to him 5 years was not soon. He thought he was okay. He thought he was normal, just like every other kid. But he wasn't. He was a wizard. He was going to be the family wizard. His family had fought for him not to be, but it was already too late. He was going to be the family wizard ever since he first levitated. He knew. He read the egg.

He knew that Alex would take it from him and crush it, to try and crush him and his chances too. He didn't blame her. She wanted to win 'for Mason'. So that she and Mason could be together. He knew she knew, and he knew she was just counting the seconds she had left with him. She never left the house without him. he felt bad for her at first, for losing her love. But then he is reminded of Nancy, and he feels cold again. Like she must have been, to have taken away the one thing that was his and the one thing he loved, and just thrown it on the floor and stood on it. On his heart too, it felt like sometimes. But that was just Alex.

And mom and dad too, he got. But Justin and Harper were meant to be his friends, and the ones he could rely on. Max wouldn't make that mistake again. He would act stupid, but all the while he would be secretly studying. He was going to win the competition, and he was going to enjoy every single minute of it. He'd already started. They all thought he was on Level 3, but in about 3 spells and a secret test, he'd be ready to start Level 5. He had watched Justin learn new spells, and all the while he had learnt them too. He needed to win. He wanted to win. He was going to win.

After all, Max wasn't an idiot.