Author note: This story is part of the Magical Flashpoint Side Story series. It follows "Bad Cop, Good Cop" and comes before "Meeting Dean Parker".

Although all original characters belong to me, I do not own Flashpoint, Harry Potter, Narnia, or Merlin.

"Boy, are you in for a ride here…"

And oh how Ed had been dead on target; the only reason Roy still had a job was the fact that he'd, with help, brought down one of the city's biggest arms dealers. The inquisition started less than an hour after he'd gotten medically cleared and lasted for the next week. As promised, Ed had shown up and put in a good word; another good word had come from an…obscure, but respected division…applauding Roy for bringing down a ruthless killer. Roy suspected that was the, ahem, magical division, but he kept his mouth very, very shut…after taking a spell at point blank range, he wasn't sure he wanted anything more to do with magic, thank you very much.

Roy's punishment – another week of suspension – was honestly a whole heck of a lot better than Roy'd expected; unfortunately, that gave him plenty of time to think…and those thoughts led him straight to several observations and a conclusion that he, at first, fought with all his might.

Observation One: Ed and his team had had wizards watching their backs practically the entire night. Observation Two: Ed and his team had been comfortable with magic being used around them, not even twitching when that 'Auror' Onasi turned the tip of his wand into a magical flashlight. Observation Three: the tracking charms had been, according to Ed, deployed with the tracking device Roy had snatched off the Hummer and slipped into his own car. And most damning, Observation Four: Watson, based solely on the use of the tracking charms, had concluded, loudly, that Team One had to be magical themselves, because no way would 'Muggles' be given 'Auror' status in the magical world.

But Roy knew, from Ed, that Team One wasn't magical at all. Therefore, the only possible conclusion was: Team One had known about magic for years, long before the events at the Sunrise Motel and their wizard buddies had let his partner die. Ergo, Team One had, to a certain extent, let his partner die. His own brother had let his best friend die. Roy hated the very thought…if that was true, he'd never speak to Ed again. But maybe he was wrong, maybe there was an explanation…and Ed's painfully tight hug that night was enough, all by itself, for Roy to pick up the phone and call his brother.

"Hey, Ed; it's Roy. We need to talk…"

Giles Onasi was well aware that Ed Lane was unhappy, to say the least, with him inserting himself into the discussion between the brothers…and he didn't care. Madame Locksley had sat him down right after the debrief and made her stance clear. Namely, that it was time to stop 'living in the past' and 'start thinking about the future'. But if he was going to 'move on', he was going to do it on his terms and, this time, he was going to make the first move.

So the Auror trailed after Ed Lane as the SRU team leader trekked up the steps to his brother's apartment and busied himself with – silently – trying to identify all the Muggle objects in the apartment building. Lane outpaced him as he peered at a broken light fixture, forcing the Auror to scramble after him as he knocked on a plain, unassuming door.

The rap produced a quick response; Roy Lane was expecting them…or, at least, expecting Ed. The Guns 'n' Gangs officer opened his door and promptly frowned at the sight of Giles lurking behind his brother. Still, Roy pushed his door further open, wordlessly inviting them inside. Ed, aware that Onasi would want to secure their conversation, strode past his brother and angled for Roy's bedroom instead of the living room.

"Ed?" Roy questioned, surprised at his brother's direction.

Ed twisted around. "Bedroom's better for this, Roy…less electronics to turn off."

"Turn off?" Roy inquired, not moving to follow Ed.

The team leader shrugged. "Onasi's going to make sure no one can overhear us, but…well, let's just say his methods leave any electronics deader than a doornail."

Roy blinked, but gamely followed Ed as the latter headed to the bedroom and unplugged the clock. Onasi halted him. "Your phone?" he asked and reminded. Roy paused, frowning, then detoured back to his kitchen to leave his phone on the counter. Phone dealt with, the two men joined Ed in the bedroom; Ed did a quick sweep to make sure the clock was the only electronic, even tossing a cocked brow at his brother before giving Giles a 'go-ahead' gesture. "Silencio Locus," Giles cast, his wand flicking at the bedroom's door. Spell done, he shifted back on his heels and moved to be out of the way.

Ed and Roy almost squared off before Ed sighed and leaned back against a bedpost. "How 'bout I take a guess, Roy?"

Roy considered, then nodded, a wary look in his eyes.

"The Sunrise Motel," Ed said flatly, "And the fact that my team's known about magic for almost three years."

"Three years?" Roy demanded sharply. He waved a hand at Onasi, "So how long've you been working with them?"

A shrug. "About the same amount of time," Ed admitted. "Sarge came up with the idea…they weren't too happy that we'd found out about magic. Let's just say they wanted to un-ring the bell on that one and leave it at that."

Roy twitched. "They can do that?"

"Yep." As Roy absorbed that, Ed went on. "You want the details, we can talk about them, but I'm pretty sure you're more interested in what happened after the Sunrise."

Hostility rose at once. "Yeah. Yeah, I am. That long and your little buddies didn't do a thing to help Jerome. Or maybe you didn't tell them at all. Is that it?"

"He did," Giles spoke up, ignoring Ed's glare. "Called me, asked me if we could help, even though you and your partner didn't know about us."

"And?" Roy demanded angrily.

Giles sighed, running a hand through his hair. "By the time the Healers got to your hospital, your partner was already in surgery." Roy stilled. "Between the risk to the Statute and the chance that interrupting the surgery would hurt your partner's chances even more…the lead Healer made the call that they'd wait until the surgery was over to step in. Less risk all around that way."

Roy's jaw dropped and tears welled in his eyes. "You were gonna help?" he managed. When Giles nodded, he sagged, realizing what had happened. "He never made it through the surgery," the mourning man whimpered. "Coded right on the table."

Giles reached Roy before Ed could…he knew, better than the SRU team leader, what Roy was going through. "It hurts, doesn't it?" Giles remarked softly, "But, Roy, even if the Healers had gotten to your partner…they might not have been able to save him." As Roy looked up, Giles looked away. "Magic…magic can't save everyone."

"Who…who did you lose?" Roy asked, his focus on the wizard now.

Ed, at Onasi's warning look, swallowed down a few remarks about Roy not remembering what he'd been told the night Watson had been taken down. "Magical world's a small place," Giles mused quietly, almost too soft to hear, "Most countries only have one or two schools for magic…that's all we need. So, pretty much everyone knows each other, good and bad. I'd just gone from Junior Auror to a regular Auror and this friend of mine asks for confidential Auror information." Roy sucked in a breath. "He was a good friend, we'd been quill pals after he graduated, but I knew my duty. I told him 'no' and said not to ask again." Giles swallowed…all these years and it never got easier. "Two days later…my wife and son disappeared. I got a tip, same as the one that'd gotten me promoted, and I found her." The Auror's head dropped. "I was screaming for the Healers when she died. Never found my son."

Roy shifted back, staring. "Watson," he breathed, "You knew Nick Watson."

"Yeah, I did," Giles admitted, shifting back himself. "I thought I did, anyway. Ed already knows this part, but we went after him hard after my wife died. We lost people, good people. The longer it went, the worse I got. Didn't trust anyone, snarled and snapped; I drove off three partners in less than two months." A half smirk quirked Giles' jaw. "Then they assigned me this rookie, fresh out of the Academy." Roy whistled in the background. "And wouldn't you know, but this guy wouldn't back down…took everything I threw at him and kept trying to get me to trust him."

"Why is whether or not I trust you or anyone so darned important to you? Why…why do you even care?"

"We need to trust each other out there, Giles. If we don't, we're as good as dead…and I'd like to get to know the Giles Onasi who sailed to the top of his class and made Auror two years before most Junior Aurors do. You're a lot more than the guy who just wants to bring Watson down…if you'd only stop snarling at anyone who wants to be your friend and biting their heads off!" A sad, determined look. "I'm not giving up; I'm not going away…no matter what you do to me, Giles. I've got your back, partner, no matter what."

"Did you trust him?" Roy asked, cocking his head to the side.

The smile he got was sad. "Kid wouldn't give up…after a while, yeah, I did. Never told him that…kinda wish I had. But somehow, I sure don't know how, he managed to squirm right in and turn himself into my best friend."

"What happened?" Ed breathed from the other side.

"Revan, I thought you said our informant was meeting us here."

"That's what I thought, Giles," Revan replied, scowling as he scanned the area. "She sounded scared, Giles…really scared."

"They hit us from behind with Stunners; we never had a chance."

Giles woke up in a dark room, tied to a wooden beam. Revan, already awake, was tied across the room to another beam. "Giles," he hissed, "It's Watson."

"Kinda figured that, Revan," Giles hissed back as he straightened and spotted a limp form tied to a third beam. "Um…Revan?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I found our informant."

Both men surveyed the limp, clearly dead woman, then traded looks. Giles blinked at the fierce look in Revan's brown eyes. The Auror straightened as much as he could in his bonds, glaring at the door. Brown hair that fell just past Revan's neck practically bristled in his anger and his form, athletic and solid, tensed for action. His face, normally calm and cheerful, was rigid and, if he'd been standing, Giles bet that Revan would loom even taller than Giles himself, despite being a good centimeter shorter.

"Welcome, gentlemen," was the drawl from the doorway, drawing their attention.

"We'd been getting too close, I guess, and Watson decided to take us out before we could get any closer." A deep breath. "Of course, I was the one Watson hated, I was the one who'd told him 'no', so he decided to…have some fun."

Giles' voice had long since given out as he writhed under the torture curse; Watson roared with laughter as he took in the pathetic wreck of a man in front of him. A knock at the door drew his attention and he made a moue of disappointment before letting the curse dissipate. "Be right back, old friend. Duty calls."

Revan hardly waited for the door to close behind Watson before he squirmed free of the bonds he'd been working at for the past three excruciating hours. He was across the room and at his partner's side in moments. "Giles," he hissed, shaking his friend's shoulders. Giles moaned, but didn't stir. "Come on, partner; stay with me," Revan whispered as he shifted Giles' battered form up and leaned him against the wooden beam. Carefully, Revan started sawing at the rope, plotting his next move as he worked.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Watson roared from behind the young Auror.

Revan's head snapped around; he stared at the arms dealer grimly. One hand gripped his partner's arm, the other gripped a Portkey he'd hidden in a warded pocket of his robes. "Something you wouldn't understand," the Auror spat. "Haven!"

Even as the Portkey activated, Watson's Killing Curse sailed across the distance and hit Revan in the chest. But it was too late, the Portkey spun both men away as Watson howled in rage and denial.

"When they found us, I was half-dead, half-insane; Revan was dead…Watson nailed him with a Killing Curse as the Portkey activated." Giles wasn't looking at the brothers anymore as he recited what had occurred. His fists clenched; he would have preferred to take this particular story to his grave. "After that, Madame Locksley took me off the hunt for Watson; wasn't hard since I flat out refused to have another partner. I floated around, helping here, helping there, but I wasn't given a permanent assignment until…well…you know the rest."

Ed nodded as Roy looked at him, brow arched. "He got assigned as our liaison after our second liaison kidnapped another Auror's daughter and Wordy's daughter. Long story," he added at Roy's expression. Ed shifted back towards Onasi. "Let me guess, now that Watson's dead, you have to get another partner."

A single nod. "Madame Locksley said I 'no longer have a sufficiently good reason for operating solo as I have been doing' and 'nor do I have the rank required to work solo'." The sarcasm in Onasi's voice was etched in every word with acid; that Onasi was unhappy was a severe understatement. Giles stopped, sucking in a deep breath. Tentatively, he turned to look at Roy and fidgeted. "Look, if you don't want anything to do with magic after all this, I get it; wouldn't even blame you after Watson's lovely first impression."

Roy snorted laughter at the understatement, but didn't interrupt.

"But, um…I was thinking…if I have to get another partner…it might as well be someone who knows where I'm coming from…" the Auror trailed off awkwardly, running both hands through his hair, flushing bright at Ed's eyebrow hike. When silence hung, Giles dropped his gaze to the floor, feeling like an errant schoolboy.

He was about to mumble an apology and disappear as much as he could when Roy spoke. "I'm not magic, you know."

Giles nodded at that. "I know."

"You still aren't comfortable in the tech world," Ed pointed out.

"I know."

Roy opened his mouth, but stopped at his brother's signal. "What about Team One?" Ed inquired, "Would anything change there?"

Giles frowned, thinking it over. "I don't think it would," he replied slowly, "But, um, there would probably be a few…problems…at first." The Auror shifted uncomfortably. "I, um, I know I have a ways to go with understanding…your world. I know I still mess up a lot with your procedures and…um…uh, tactics?"

Ed rubbed a hand over his mouth to hide his smile, then he looked at Roy. "Your call, Roy. Fair warning though: you do this and you're in. You might end up on cases that are purely magic-side and even on a few of our calls." He paused, watching Roy. "On both sides of the fence," he added. Roy shifted at that…there was a reason he'd stuck with Guns 'n' Gangs instead of trying to follow his brother into the SRU.

Seeing his hesitation, Ed drove the point home. "Roy, I can tell you the magical world's just like ours, magic notwithstanding; governments, schools, law enforcement," he paused, "shopping malls. But on that side of the line, you're gonna be one of the few who can't use magic…and believe me, there's going to be people who judge you based on that. I can tell you first hand, they're going to look down their noses, sneer at you, and treat you like a second-class citizen."

Roy looked between Ed and Giles, his expression uncertain. Giles tried for a smile; it felt foreign on his face. "Then I tell them off for insulting an Auror and you show 'em your Muggle sidearm and we enjoy the sputtering as we walk away."

"Tech," Ed corrected. "If you want to do this," he continued as Onasi swung towards him, eyebrow lifted, "You might as well drop the 'Muggle' and start using 'tech'." A shark's grin flashed across the distance. "More accurate, less insulting."

"Do I get an opinion here?" Roy questioned, sounding annoyed. Ed glanced at him, then backed off at once. Satisfied with Ed's momentary retreat, Roy faced off with Giles, expression firm. "You still have trust issues?" he demanded.

"Yes." No sugarcoating, no misdirection.

Roy cocked his head to the side. "You know how to use a gun?"

"No," Giles admitted.

Roy stepped forward, right into the other man's space. "You'd have to learn," he said firmly, "And before we hit the streets, I gotta know you have my back, same as I'll have yours." Roy considered the other man. "And we're starting on my side of the fence, got it?"

The Auror visibly quailed at that, but after a second, he straightened his back, meeting Roy head on. "Understood."

The bedroom was silent for close to a minute as the two faced off. Finally Roy let his breath out and offered his hand. Giles blinked, but after a beat, shook Roy Lane's hand. "Guess that makes us partners…partner," Roy quipped.

Ed, observing from the side, considered the pair. Both emotionally unstable, both struggling to move on, and both uncertain of the other…it seemed, on the surface, like sheer madness to pair them up. The SRU team leader quirked a minor smirk. The same sheer madness that had led Sarge to propose that Team One get involved in the magical world and stay, even after all the threats and insults. The madness behind their trip to the Netherworld, behind Spike going after Sam all by himself, and a dozen other insane stunts.

To himself, he mused, You know…this just might work.

~ Fin

Author note: Happy Easter, one and all from the year 2018 (for those of you in the future cruising through old stories).

Well, following up on last year, here's a little Easter treat for all of you this wonderful, glorious, Easter April 1st! The first time, I am told, that Easter and April Fools have been on the same day since 1956...an impressive 62 year gap. I solemnly swear that while I am up to no good, this story is not an April Fools Joke. Yes, Roy is joining our support cast...a decision he may well live to regret...unless he dies first (thank you Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda for that obscure joke).

As a final note, on this Blessed Easter Sunday:

Christ is Risen!

He is Risen, indeed.