Barry shifted his bag further up his shoulder as he hurried up the stairs to the lab. He was so late and this time he didn't even have the excuse of a Flash-related emergency, he'd just simply overslept. Barry was about to barge in, an apology ready on his lips when he heard shouting coming from the room. Curious, Barry slowed.

"I said no Potter!" Julian snapped.

Tentatively, Barry tip-toed towards the door. He knew eavesdropping wasn't a particularly heroic thing to do but Barry's morals only remained up to a certain point and he couldn't help but want to know who could get Julian so riled up as to actually yell. Pressing himself against the wall beside the slightly open door, Barry listened in.

"Come on Draco, everyone really wants to see you."

Draco? Barry's forehead crinkled in confusion. Was there someone else in the room or was this guy, Potter, calling Julian Draco? He sounded British as well so maybe he was a family member? A childhood friend?

Barry heard the steady tap of shoes against the floor indicating that Julian had started pacing, something he was accustomed to do when frustrated.

"I'm sure," Julian sneered and Barry could just imagine those intense, grey eyes narrowed in a glare. Having been on the receiving end of it enough himself, Barry almost felt sorry for the other guy. "Look how well poor Draco's doing for himself. Living just like a muggle. The irony. I'll have you know I've fought for my life here, to keep it completely separate from my old one, and I will not have anyone, especially Saint Potter, ruin it."

It felt like Barry had stepped into the twilight zone. What the hell was a muggle? Was it a British word or something?

"No one wants to do that. I definitely don't want to do that," Potter soothed. "I only thought, since I was over here, that I would see if you wanted to come. It would be nice, just for the anniversary."

"Like I want any reminder of that god-awful time. I'm shocked you do."

"It's not supposed to be a sad event. It's going to be a celebration and it won't be an open event either, it's only for students who were at Hogwarts at the time. A few professors will be there as well. It's supposed to be the opportunity for a catch up; it's not like I'm asking you to do a speech."

"Just as well. I told you Potter, I'm not interested in going to an event where I'm not wanted."

"You're not hated Draco, far from it. I heard Parkinson's going."

"You always were delusional Potter," Julian scoffed. "Most likely she said that to stop people pestering her, like you are me. You've heard my answer and I'm not changing it so you may as well leave."

"Oh. Well, I'll pop by again. I'm here for the next few days, consultancy work and all that."

"Joy."

Even though he was still incredibly confused, Barry couldn't help but think how satisfying it was to hear Julian's sarcasm directed at someone other than him.

"I'll see you around Draco."

"Hopefully not."

Worried about getting caught, Barry flashed out of the building. With his mind replaying everything he'd just heard, he was too caught up to look where he was going and so abruptly collided with a body leaving the same door he was trying to get through. Only a firm grip on his arm prevented him from falling to the ground.

"Oops, sorry mate," came a thoroughly British apology that had Barry's head snapping up, his eyes wide. His first thought, staring at the man in front of him, was that he definitely was not related to Julian. They were polar opposites. Where Julian was fair and impeccably put together, this guy was tanned and had messy black hair and glasses framing bright emerald eyes. He already appeared much friendlier than Julian, wearing the sort of smile that was endearingly awkward. Suddenly, Barry wondered if Potter was an ex and his stomach churned uncomfortably.

"Er, no, my fault," said Barry after realising he'd been staring a bit too long. He stepped to the side and allowed the mysterious Potter to pass him, only heading back up to the lab once he'd disappeared from sight. Inside, Julian was still pacing and it was testament to how distracted the conversation had left him that he didn't automatically reprimand Barry. Relieved, the speedster put on a puzzled expression.

"Everything alright?" He asked and Julian paused, his spine straightening. He turned his head and glanced at Barry, a frown on his face.

"Fine…fine," he muttered. Seeming to realise his behaviour was odd, Julian slumped into his chair which, even if Barry hadn't heard a thing, would've seem weird since Julian never slouched. He had perfect posture, with everything he did being done with a certain precision and grace that Barry could only envy. A bit like a swan.

Barry didn't think Julian would appreciate being compared to a bird.

"You sure? You seem a bit…stressed."

"I said I'm fine Po-Allen," Julian snapped, his mood souring further from his near mistake. He took a deep breath and in a calmer voice said, "I'm alright so do you fancy finally getting some work done or are you just going to stand there?"

Barry held up his hands in surrender. Clearly he was going to get nothing out of Julian. "Okay, I'm sorry for asking."

Still keeping an eye on Julian, Barry started on his own pile of work. He desperately wanted to know who Potter was, why he had called Julian Draco, but he doubted he'd be able to get anything out of the blonde without revealing he'd eavesdropped which would then probably undo all of his work at attempting to improve their relationship. Sighing, Barry opened up his laptop and began to type. With luck, Potter would show himself again.

As it turned out, Barry didn't have to wait long at all for Potter to show up again. They were working on a new case (a warehouse had been burnt to the ground with no obvious cause or culprit) and Barry was leaning over Julian's shoulder to look at his computer (not breathing in his nice, expensive cologne) when a knock sounded at the door. Without waiting for a reply, it opened.

"Hey Draco, I was wondering if-oops sorry!"

Beneath him, Julian tensed.

"Etiquette really does go over your head, doesn't it?" Julian greeted tersely and Barry straightened up, offering Potter a smile.

"Uh, hi, I'm Barry Allen, the guy who knocked into you yesterday," Barry introduced, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. He ignored he glare that Julian sent him as he stepped around the desk and held out a hand. Potter took it cheerfully.

"Harry Potter, pleasure to meet you."

"This is all very lovely but as you can see Potter, I'm busy and if you could please-"

"So how do you know Julian or uh, Draco, I think you called him?" Barry interrupted before Julian could send away Barry's one shot at getting some answers. Behind him, he heard a sharp intake of breath.

Harry flushed a little, scratching the back of his neck. "Oh, uh, that. Well I-"

"A silly nick-name from when we were children," Julian interjected smoothly. "Harry and I went to school together. He's in the States on business and intent on bothering me it seems." He finished that with a glower that seemed to brush right off Harry. Even if he did happen to be an ex, Barry couldn't help but like the guy.

"Draco likes to pretend we're not friends," Harry said conspiratorially and Barry laughed at the disgusted eye roll from Julian that provoked.

"Honestly Potter, we actually have jobs to do so you ought to run along now."

"Okay, fine. I was going to ask if you wanted to go get lunch but if you're so busy then I'll leave you to it."

"You go to lunch," Barry said quickly. Even if there was some obvious animosity, Barry thought it might do Julian some good to talk to someone from home. During the night where they had ended up getting drinks, Julian had been great at telling Harry little anecdotes without going too in depth. Something had clearly gone on when he was younger and Barry just had a feeling it might help Julian to be around people he used to know. From what Barry had seen, he didn't appear to have many friends. Although, he was beginning to think he might be wrong considering the death-promising look Julian was directing at him.

"Really Allen, trying to get me to leave just so you can skive off again isn't going to work," Julian said, incredibly unimpressed, and now it was Barry's turn to roll his eyes.

"I wasn't going to skive," he argued. "I just thought it might be nice. You rarely speak about your friends and your life in England so this is a rare experience."

"Why don't you both come?" Harry suggested. "I'd love to learn more about what Dra-Julian's like here."

Julian let out a frustrated sigh. "We really don't have the time to-"

"Sounds great," Barry grinned and Julian shoved his face into his palms.

They decided to go to the little independent café around the corner. Barry often stopped by there when he needed something quick and recently he'd started bringing Julian snacks from there back with him which had done wonders at getting the speedster in his good graces. Barry had hoped with the prospect of food that Julian's spirits might have improved but he was beginning to feel bad as he realised that Julian still looked genuinely uncomfortable. Why though, he couldn't really understand. Harry seemed like a good guy and surely he wouldn't be worried about the other man bringing up any embarrassing or traumatic stories from school?

"So Barry, are you a CSI too?" Harry asked before taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Obviously he is," Julian muttered. Barry ignored him.

"Yeah. We started working together, uh, when was it?"

"A year," Julian supplied bluntly. Oh yeah.

"A yeah, that's a long time. How do you find working together?"

Seeing that Julian wasn't going to jump at the chance to answer, Barry said, "It was difficult at first but I think we understand each other a little more."

It was true. After the incident with Frankie, the dynamic between Barry and Julian had shifted. In fact, Barry might even dare to say they could be called friends. Which was both great and extremely bad because with Julian's transformation into a decent guy came Barry's startling realisation that this made him really, very, attractive. It didn't hurt that one stray comment that night had all but confirmed he was bi. However, despite this, there was still the lingering tension that arose from the two of them being tight-lipped about certain parts of themselves. Barry had hoped this lunch might ease some of it but it wasn't looking promising yet.

"Yeah, Draco was always a little difficult in school," Harry said good-naturedly and again, Julian stiffened next to him.

"Probably top of the class though, right?" Barry asked, hoping to lighten the mood a bit more. Praising Julian seemed like a good way to do that.

"Nearly," Harry replied. "My best friend Hermione was tough competition."

Barry caught the sneer that was threatening to form on Julian's face and wished Harry could at least have played along.

"Ah well, he's one of the smartest guys we have," Barry said, clapping Julian on the shoulder. "Not much gets past him."

If Julian noticed how Barry might have been going slightly over-board with the compliments, he didn't seem to mind. "We can't all be you Allen, otherwise how would anything get done?"

If it weren't for the slight upwards quirk of Julian's lips, Barry would have been offended. As it was, he couldn't help but smile at the blithe insult because this was the kind of easy banter Barry wanted. This was the real Julian that lurked beneath a frosty exterior and Barry wanted to continue to bring him out. He wanted to remove the mask Julian had in order to keep people at a distance.

"I'm not always late," Barry said with a grin. "So Harry, what do you do back in England?"

"I'm actually part of the force back home. An…officer. I'm in America for a little while to see how things work over here."

"Oh, cool. You might have met my foster father then, Joe West?"

"Um, no. Can't say I have," Harry answered, a weird expression on his face, but Barry didn't have time to question further as his phone began to buzz in his pocket. A quick look informed him that there was a new meta on the loose.

"Sorry about this," Barry said apologetically. "Something's come up. I'm gonna have to leave."

"Wait Allen, should I come with-"

Barry flew out the door before Julian could finish.

"What kind of power does this woman even have?" Barry yelled into the comms, struggling to hear over the sounds of the alarmed public. "Is she some kind of witch?"

"Spell Caster's what we're calling her," Cisco replied in his ear. "And we don't know- incoming on your right!"

Barry dodged the sparkling blue spell that came his way. He had to admit, whoever this woman was, she'd created the perfect character. Instead of ordinary clothes, she wore a long, sapphire cloak and upon her head sat an elaborately decorated witches hat. Not only that, but she carried a wand on her which she somehow managed to direct her powers through, something Barry had never seen before. To finish it off, with every 'spell' she cast, she yelled out some gibberish before it. Barry was quickly learning that 'confringo', something Spell Caster was trigger happy with, meant nothing good judging from the number of explosions that had followed its call.

Barry sped out of the way of a light red blast, a bang sounding behind him. "Why are you doing this?" Barry shouted to her. Back in the labs, no one had managed to find a record of the woman yet so Barry didn't even know her name.

"Are you kidding? I've never had so much fun!" Spell Caster laughed and rattled off another spell, this one turning a set of traffic lights into stone. Barry didn't even want to think about if that had hit a person.

He ran forward, intent on snatching her 'wand' off her and putting her in cuffs but just as Barry almost had her in his grasp, Spell Caster vanished. Literally vanished into thin air.

"For a muggle, you're pretty good!"

Barry didn't even have the chance to move before he felt something strike his back and his limbs seized. Just before consciousness left him, Barry repeated the word again in his head.

Muggles.

"I don't know man, this is like nothing we've ever seen before," Cisco said as Barry rotated his shoulder, Caitlin watching in concern. Fortunately, the paralysis hadn't taken too long to wear off but he was left with a lingering stiffness in his joints.

"It's as if she has multiple powers," Iris said with a frown, tapping a pen thoughtfully against the table.

"Is that possible?" Wally asked.

"Maybe?" Barry answered doubtfully. "I mean, it's not as if she's a real witch. Maybe she can steal other metas powers and is able to channel them into a single beam?"

"A possible hypothesis but that doesn't explain how the spells actually seem to come from her…wand," Harry muttered, still searching the database for a trace of Spell Caster's identity. So far they still hadn't come close to finding a single thing on her. It was like she didn't even exist.

"Special effects?" Jesse theorised. "Maybe the lady's so into this whole illusion thing she has going that she made the wand herself."

"I don't care how she's doing it, I just want her stopped," Joe grunted. "Do you know how much property damage she's done?"

"We'll get her next time," Barry said confidently, just as his phone vibrated. He knew who it was without looking. "Uh, I'd better get back to work. I've taken a pretty long lunch break."

"Julian checking up on you?" Iris guessed, a knowing smile on her face. Barry fought back a blush. Ever since Barry had confessed his attraction to Julian to her she'd been trying to get him to ask the other CSI out on a date.

"Is he still on your case? I thought things were better," Joe said concernedly, misinterpreting the situation entirely.

"They are," Barry assured him. "I just sort of left him in an awkward situation. I'll see you guys later."

With that, Barry flashed away, running back to work, immediately faced with an extremely disgruntled Julian.

"So, where did you gallivant off to this time?" Julian asked and Barry tried not to feel like a kid facing the principle.

"Uh, family emergency." Barry winced at the flat stare that earnt him. "Sorry about running off."

"As well you should be, considering it was your entire fault in the first place."

"Again, sorry. So, um, did you hear about that new meta?"

"What meta?" All of a sudden, Julian was on high alert, Barry's infraction all but forgotten.

"There was some witchy-looking woman on the streets. I hear she's being called Spell Caster."

Julian paused for a moment, his face paling, before he shook his head with a sigh. "Spell Caster. Of course." He pinched the skin between his brows. He probably ought to never mention to Cisco what Julian thought of his nicknames for metas. "Elaborate on her power?"

"I heard she kept saying random words, spells I guess, and each one had a different effect. One caused explosions and another caused stuff to turn into stone. She even teleported! Weird right? I can't figure out how she could have all those different powers."

As Barry spoke, Julian scrunched further into himself and wearily sat on his chair. Seeing him do this reminded Barry of Harry, which then reminded him of that word again. Muggles.

Both Julian and Spell Caster had said this and Barry still had no idea what it meant, apart from Spell Caster apparently casting him as one. There was no way that Julian was Spell Caster but there had to be a connection. Did he dare ask Julian? Or would the man bring it up himself?

Barry knew what the answer to the first question was. There was no way, at least not yet, that he was risking Julian's outrage at him. He really rather preferred it when Julian liked/tolerated him.

"Have there been any casualties?" Julian asked, bringing Barry back out of his thoughts.

"No, a couple of injuries but nothing life threatening I think," Barry answered. Julian relaxed minutely.

"Good," he sighed.

"It'll be okay though," Barry felt the need to reassure. "The Flash will deal with him."

Julian made a non-committal noise, fingers pressed over his mouth in thought. Abruptly, he stood.

"I need to go out. I presume you won't snitch on me?"

Bemusedly, Barry shook his head, wondering when Julian had suddenly turned into him.

The next morning, Julian was still following Barry's trends since he was even later than Barry. He flew into the room in a barely controlled rage and slammed his bag down on the table.

"Do I want to ask?" Barry questioned and Julian huffed.

"No."

"Alright then." Hoping to get a teasing vibe going, Barry added, "Draco."

It had the opposite effect. If looks could kill, Barry would have been a pile of ashes. "Don't. Call me that."

"Oh, sorry. I won't." Barry's plan of getting Julian to like him was turning out to be much harder than he thought. It seemed Harry's appearance had set them way back.

Suddenly, Julian deflated. "Apologies Allen. There's just…a lot going on."

An apology from Julian? Maybe they were on the right track after all. "It's okay. Is there anything I could, you know, do to help?" Barry offered hopefully but Julian shook his head.

"Thank you but no. This is something I need to deal with myself."

"Something to do with Harry?" Barry risked asking.

Julian looked ready to deny this but then hesitated before reluctantly saying, "Yes. As you can probably guess, Potter and I didn't have the best relationship in school. I'd really hoped to put my life back in England behind me and his appearance has made it rather difficult."

"Did he bully you?" Barry asked with a frown.

Julian sighed. "The opposite I'm afraid. As I've said, I had a…troubled childhood and I did end up taking some of that out on Potter. Not to say he was completely innocent but to put it juvenilely I did…start it."

"Oh." Barry chewed on that for a moment. "Well, you've changed," he ended up saying decisively. "We were all stupid when we were kids."

Julian snorted. "That's one way to put it I suppose. I can't imagine you'll reveal you were secretly a bully however."

"Uh, I guess not," Barry rubbed the back of his neck. "I did have a crush on my foster sister though." He immediately regretted the words once they'd left his mouth, as Julian's eyes widened. Damnit Allen, this is not what you tell the guy you're attracted to! "But I don't now, in case you were wondering. Just proving we're all stupid, right?" He gave an awkward laugh and Julian slowly shook his head.

"The less I know the better I think," he said with a growing smile.

"Probably best."

"Well, thank you for that Allen. Shall we get on with some work now?"

"Please," Barry said gratefully.

Spell Caster didn't show herself that day and neither did Harry so Barry and Julian actually managed to get a full day of work done. Not that they accomplished much apart from theorising that the burnt down warehouse was most likely due to this new meta. That evening, Barry went to Star Labs to find they also hadn't made much headway.

"The only thing we've got on her is what the cameras picked up that day. Thanks to her teleportation we can't figure out where she went from there," Cisco said glumly.

"You said you think she's responsible for the fire," Caitlin directed to Barry.

"It makes sense," Barry shrugged. "After all, if she caused explosions it wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume she can cause a fire."

"So the fire and then the public exposure. All this for fun?" Harry said.

"Maybe she's building up to something," Jesse suggested. "Think I could come out with you next time she shows up? That way even if she teleports one of us can flash to where she is."

"Sounds good to me," Barry said, looking at Harry out of the corner of his eye. The older man let out a long exhale.

"It makes sense for you to go."

"Great, we'll catch her when she shows up again," Barry said positively and Jesse offered him a fist bump.

Barry was eating a wrap sat at his computer when his phone buzzed. Broadcasted on the screen was a location with 'SPELL CASTER LOCATED' written beneath. Swallowing, he glanced up at Julian who was busy typing away himself.

"Hey, uh, I'm not really feeling this for lunch. I'm gonna go out and grab something else. Be back in a bit."

Julian looked up, eyes narrowing. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, fine. See you."

Barry flashed out and saw that Jesse was already busy dodging spell that the woman was firing with a manic laugh. However, there wasn't just Spell Caster there but three of them. Jesse was currently trying to take down Spell Caster while the other two men looked to be firing spells at each other.

"Spell Caster has friends?!" Barry asked to the comm, speeding forward just in time to pull Jesse out of the line of fire of a yellow streak.

"Looks like it," Caitlin said. "Be careful."

"Got it!" Jesse said, nodding in thanks to Barry before attempting to hit Spell Caster once more only she teleported out of the way just in time. Meanwhile, Barry saw that a spell coming from the other two…wizards who were fighting had just rebounded off a light blue, shield like, spell and was heading towards one of the crowd. He quickly rescued the woman before it hit her, dropping her off far, far, away.

"Hey! Stop what you're doing!" Barry called out to the wizards, managing to distract them long enough to take one of their wands (which he still wasn't used to thinking of them as).

"Hey, I'm on your side," the man yelled and Barry was about to tell him that it didn't matter, that he was still endangering people when all of a sudden, the wand disappeared, reappearing in the man's hand. "Move!"

Barry got shoved out of the way just as a spell, the same shield one as before, was put up where he had been standing.

"Bloody lazy American Aurors," the wizard grunted as he dodged another spell.

"Dude, I think these guys are on drugs," Cisco said.

"Should I trust him?" Barry asked as he ducked from an incoming red light.

"He did save your life."

"I guess. Keep firing your…spells," he directed to the guy who was still throwing up defensive spells. "I'll get him from behind."

"Go for it."

Barry flashed forward towards the new wizard who looked the worst out of all of them, wearing a ripped and stained red cloak and hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in years. He saw the 'good' wizard throw out a maroon spell that forced the other man to side step and that's when Barry took the chance to attack. He almost had him in his grasp when another voice rang out.

"Arresto momentum."

And all of a sudden, Barry wasn't fast anymore. In fact, it felt like he was trying to run through quicksand. He looked up and found himself face to face with Spell Caster who was holding up a defensive spell of his own. Seeing his spells were futile, the other wizard teleported towards them but he heard Spell Caster call out another spell that had him frozen where he reappeared. Barry couldn't even see Jesse anymore.

"You know," the wizard purred, showing Barry his crooked, yellow stained teeth. "I've always wanted to try this one. May as well use it on you. Crucio!"

Pain like nothing Barry had ever experience before engulfed him. His blood felt like it was liquid fire, burning him from the inside out and his bones kept snapping over and over again. He fell to the ground, distantly hearing his friends screaming in his ears, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. The last thing he was aware off before the agony abruptly ended was the sound of a familiar voice calling out, "Expelliarmus!"