Well here is Chapter 6. So sorry for the wait. I want to say thank you again to my wonderful Beta Blacktag189, thanks J. If you haven't, read her story Ghost of You, please do it's a prequel to this story. Not only is it brilliant but very heartfelt and romantic. I take a lot of small moments and references so in order for some things to make sense, read her's first. Also want to thank my French friend Entropist. He's doing something very special for this story and I hope to show you guys in the future. His stories are amazing he's the author of the Hogwart's series and are brilliant and fantastic. He has also allowed me to use some characters that are original. They are not canon with his series but a nice Easter Egg nonetheless. At last I want to thank a new person and that is D18LifeMusic and has graciously allowed me to use some names that were made up for D18's stories Harry Potter and the Elder Mistake and sequel Harry Potter: The Dragon's Revenge and as with Entropist they are not canon with their stories just nice Easter Eggs. Read the stories! Ok on with the Chapter. This one introduces my OC for my story. I hope you like him. Please leave reviews and or PM me, thanks!
If YOU WANT BLOOD (YOU GOT IT) -AC/DC
It's criminal, There ought to be a law
Criminal
There ought to be a whole lot more, You get nothin' for nothin'
Tell me who can you trust, We got what you want
And you got the lust
If you want blood, you got it
If you want blood, you got it
Blood on the streets, Blood on the rocks
Blood in the gutter, Every last drop
You want blood, You got it
Chapter 6- Mcfarland and Dawlish Walk into A Bar
Gabriel Mcfarland was fidgeting. He was usually very patient when it came to most things, but he was bouncing his left knee up and down, causing the table to shake a little.
"Would you please stop shaking the bloody table." Dawlish said annoyingly under his breath to his young American partner.
"I'm sorry Dawlish, but the sooner we find these friggin' weapons the faster we can get back to finding out who's killing these witches." Gabriel said as he starting to drum on the table with his hands.
"Yes, but knocking over everything on the table isn't going to help. It's only going to draw more attention to us, Gabe." Dawlish said has he placed his hands over McFarland's to stop his drumming. "Our Irish friend will be here, eventually."
"Oh alright!" Gabe said as he took off his New York Yankees hat, scrunched his face and rapidly scratched his scalp. He then put his hat back on and took a sip of his butterbeer. "Can't we get something a little harder, like Firewhiskey while we wait?"
Dawlish rolled his eyes and ignored him. Gabriel just looked at Dawlish and gave him a childish laugh.
Dawlish stared at his young partner's long sleeve Star Wars T-shirt. "Can I ask you a serious question?"
"Uh Oh, Dun Dun DUN!"
"Can you be serious for 5 minutes please!" Dawlish insisted as he adjusted his grey robes over his red dress shirt.
"Ok I'm sorry," Gabe look at his wristwatch and help up his index finger on his right hand. "Ok serious mode now!"
Dawlish rubbed his eyes, shook his head, leaned closer across the wooden table, and looked around to make sure no one was listening in. "Gabe, this case about the witches, I know you're upset about it, but it's almost like you're taking it too personal."
Gabe stared at Dawlish and then looked around the Leaky Cauldron. He noticed some families enjoying lunch. He noticed friends enjoying each others companies laughing and drinking. He gestured with his right hand and looked at his partner.
"Dawlish look at all these people, tell me what do you see?" Gabe asked.
Dawlish looked around and turned back to Gabe and shrugged. "I see people eating, drinking, talking."
"Their enjoying themselves John, without a care in the world. I seriously doubt any of these people have someone at this moment that is missing or feared dead. I'm thinking about all those people who aren't here and have lost someone like that. That's why I take it personally." Gabe exhaled after his declaration and took another drink. "Then we find two days ago the Reynolds girl in that abandoned farmhouse near Surrey. She was just eighteen, John."
John decided to let it go, knowing there was probably more to it then that. He just nodded his head.
"Alright McFarland, your point is made."
Dawlish was just as concerned about the murders, but they had their orders and from what Gawain Robards was allowed to tell them, which wasn't much, he did stress that the consequences could be disastrous.
"Thanks, can I stop being serious now?" Gabriel smiled and snickered. "I've got about thirty seconds left" He showed his partner his watch to prove it. Dawlish just exhaled and rolled his eyes. 'Why me?' he thought.
"Anyway Dawlish who's this guy were supposed to be meeting?" Gabriel stretched, putting his hands behind his head and interlocked his fingers.
"His name is Enoch Underwood, he's a sneaky, nasty little git. Always got his fingers in something illegal. If there is something big going on he more than likely knows who it is or where it is." Dawlish explained.
"Do you think…" Dawlish cut him off before Gabe could finish his question.
"I don't know. I wasn't able to find him until now. Unfortunately the missing Muggle weapons are our priority."
"Ok, but…" Gabe started again.
"No Gabe, we cannot ask about…"
"Old timer, I was going to ask how well this guy knows you?"
Dawlish glared at his partner, not sure where he was going with this. "I've been crossing paths with him for years. He knows me. Why?"
Just as Gabriel was about to answer. The door to the Leaky Cauldron opened and a shady looking wizard walked in. He was in his mid thirties. He was dressed in dark blue robes, black pants, and black shoes. He had brown curly hair and a scraggly beard that had patches missing. His face was dirty and full of pockmarks. As he walked in he headed towards the bar and sat down.
Dawlish started to get up to approach the man. "That's Enoch, just stay here and I'll…" Gabe grabbed his arm and stopped him before he could walk over.
"Dawlish...wait a sec. This guy knows you right?"
"Yea"
"He thinks he's meeting a contact, right?"
"Yes, what's your point?" Dawlish was starting to get impatient.
"My point is this douchebag doesn't know me, he knows you." Dawlish glared at his young partner 'What's a douchebag' Dawlish shook the thought from his head and realized where he was going with this.
"No, absolutely not!" Dawlish adamantly exclaimed. He tried to remove his arm from the young man's grasp but realized he was very strong.
"John," he hardly ever used the man's first name. "I can do this, he's expecting a customer, not a Auror, he sees you he will either leave or clam up."
"Not if we arrest and interrogate him."
"C'mon dude, let me try and talk to this guy and see what I can get out of him. I know I may not act it sometimes, but I do know what I'm doing." Gabe pleaded. He was almost bouncing up and down like a kid at Christmas. He was just excited to actually be doing something rather than waiting. "If my way doesn't work then by all means step in and arrest him. I can get this asshole to talk."
Dawlish looked at his young partner for about a minute. He was struggling with his decision. Everything he was feeling was to not let him do it, but he did want to try and trust his partner. He may not like the guy but he did need to learn to trust him. He took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. He put his hands behind his back and look at his shoes and then back up and and glared at Gabriel.
"Ok….Go. I'll give you ten minutes and then I'm stepping in." Dawlish finally relented. Gabe's eyes lit up with excitement. "Please do not make me regret this." Gabe removed his robes and threw them on his chair.
Gabe just swatted his arm, grasped his bicep, and smiled. "Hey...it's me!"
Gabriel walked up to bar and sat down on the empty bar stool next to Enoch. He slapped the bar to get Tom's attention. Tom looked at him befuddled. Gabe gave him a wink and jerked his head towards his target. He the put his index finger to his lips and gave him the shush sign. Tom nodded his head in understanding. Enoch paying no mind was staring at one of the pretty barmaids that was serving a family near the bar.
"What can I get ya, son?" Tom asked.
In his best cockney accent Gabe could come up with. "Oh let me clock govna! 'ow's 'baht a firewhiskey." Tom looked at him like he was a three headed dog. He shook his head in disbelief. He grabbed a shot glass from under the bar and grabbed a bottle of Firewhiskey and began to pour the shot.
"Hey how's 'bout 'oo pour one fer me friend here. I'm feeling generous today!" Gabe said as he put his hand on Enoch's shoulder. The criminal jumped and looked at Gabe in annoyed surprise from being interrupted from his ogling.
"Do I know ya, boyo?" Enoch said as he sneered at the newcomer. Tom then placed the drinks in front of the two men.
"Leef the bloomin' bottle Tom." Gabe said as he picked up his shot and held it up. Enoch, never one to turn down anything free, followed suit.
"Here's to gettin' everything 'oo want in life 'ithout having to work fer it!" Gabe toasted as he threw the drink down past his lips. He immediately felt the familiar burn in his throat.
"Amen ter dat brah'der!" Enoch responded and did the same. The both slammed their shot glasses down on the bar. "So waaat is de occasion dat yer decided ter include me. ?" Enoch smiled showing mostly black teeth.
" 'eaven and 'ell mate, i's abaht ter close on a deal that's gonna fill me vault stuff full of galleons!" Gabe answered as he pour both of them another shot.
"And what kinda deal is it then? What are you gonna be doin?" Enoch asked as he accepted the next shot.
"Ah ya know. Just doin' me errands, floggin' me wares." Gabe answered as he took another shot. Tom almost dropped the glass he was holding as he had to turn around to keep from laughing. Gabe snuck a peek over his left shoulder to look at Dawlish sitting in the back corner. He could tell his partner was getting restless.
"Yea so i'm waitin' fer me contact ter sha ter make a deal for the bloody weap…. " Gabe stopped himself suddenly hoping that Enoch wasn't as dumb as he looked. Enoch almost choked on his drink.
"Ah…ack…. waaat ye say you're waitin' for?" Enoch asked as he tried to recover from choking on his whiskey.
Gabe turned and looked at Enoch. "Well mate I'm waiting fer me contact so I can buy some weapons. You're the bloke aren't ya?" Gabe smiled at the man.
"I am, I'm Enoch Underwood boyo," Enoch said as he extended his right hand. Gabe shook it firmly.
"Hiya I'm Han, Han Solo." Gabe said before he could stop himself. He mentally cursed himself and winced hoping that Enoch, like most wizards, have never heard of Star Wars or Han Solo.
Enoch looked at Gabe's shirt and the looked at Gabe. "Dat's a gas lookin' bucket av dirt Star Wars, waaat is dat, 'an? "
"Um it's a muggle films I fin', anyway ya wanna do business, mate?"
"Erm...yea, so waaat are intrested in?" Enoch asked quietly so has not to arise suspicion.
Gabe leaned in closer and propped his left elbow on the black painted bar. "I 'eard there may be sum muggle weapons that 're recently available. i'd rightly be interested in that if ya can 'rrange it?"
Enoch's eyes shifted slightly to the left. To the untrained eye it would have not aroused suspicion, but to an Auror or someone you was trained in the art of interrogation, it was a classic tell that the person was about to lie. "Oi 'enny 'eard anythin' aboyt any muggle weapons 'ot." Enoch said he he looked at his empty shot glass.
Gabe gave a slight smirk. "C'mon mate, we're aw friends 'ere. I 'ave a Hoppin' Pot of gold ter spend and I can make it worf your while."
Enoch shook his head and looked at Gabe. "Luk yer daft langer, oi towl ye once oi don't nu anythin' 'boyt any muggle weapons! nigh if yer want ter chucker business let's chucker business!"
Gabe knew if he pushed any more he would lose him so he put up his hands defensively in front of him. "ey mate, I met no offense, I met nah offense, I just 'eard a rumor is aw, blokes says yor da geeza ter clock 'baht things 'ike 'at. I 'ust thought…."
"Wat ye tink boyo? dat oi wud be dishonest witcha. oi knows lashings av wat goes on an' scon are tellin' yer dat dere are naw muggle weapons for sale. so if yer want ter buy sum magical merchandise den let's git on wi' it. if not oi nu sum people dat cud go after yer an' yisser family." Enoch was getting closer and closer to Gabe's face as he was trying to look intimidating.
"Hey you want to back off?" Gabe asked calmly. "I don't think I want to do business with a bloody wanker like yerself then." Gabe then started to move away, when Enoch grabbed his shoulders and spun him around to face him again. His face showed a menacing sneer and his black teeth were on full display. The gesture happened to attract some of the other patrons. Gabe quickly threw his left hand back to stop Dawlish from coming up. Dawlish noticed the gesture and let out a deep breath and stopped.
"Yer langer, yer waste me time comin' 'ere. if you're not gonna buy somethin', den 'ow's aboyt jist givin' me al' de money yer 'av." Enoch then pulled his wand out and stuck it under Gabe's chin.
"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa mate….." Gabe stammered.
"Shut it, gie me al' yisser money or oi 'ill end yer. den i'll fend yisser family, mot, struggle an' strife - whatever an' make sure they end up loike al' dohs other murdered witches! " Enoch said as he flashed his black smile.
Gabe's eyes went wide and before Enoch could register what was happening, Gabe hit his forearm with his right hand and his wrist with his left hand at the same time causing Enoch's wand to fly out of his hand and hit the floor a couple of feet away. Before Enoch could even recover his wand or even speak, Gabe grabbed him by the throat and pulled him until they were face to face.
"What did you say?" Gabe asked in his regular accent.
" (gasp) yo r a bloody ank!" Enoch strained to say as his neck was being slowly squeezed.
"Tell me about the witches!" Gabe growled. He lessened his grip on his neck.
"Go fook yourself!" Enoch yelled. Gabe then slammed his face into the bar and held him down. Dawlish had seen enough and came running over. He stopped and picked up the arms dealer's wand off the floor.
"Tell me about the witches, now!" Gabe screamed and lifted him up and slammed him into the bar again. Blood shot out of Enoch's nose and splattered across the bar and Gabe's clothes. Dawlish grabbed Gabriel's arm to let Enoch up off the bar. As he did he put Enoch's wand on the bar.
"That's enough McFarland!" Dawlish yelled at his young partner.
"John! He knows something about the witches!" Gabe pleaded.
"The witches! Were supposed to question him about the weapons. I knew I should have done it my way. Last time go against my instincts." Dawlish shouted back. There were starting to attract the whole bar as a crowd starting to get closer to see what was happening. Dawlish glared at Gabriel, "did you even ask him about the weapons?"
"Yes, and he said he doesn't know, but he was," just before Gabe could finish his sentence Enoch regained his composure, noticed his wand on the bar and grabbed it. He pointed it at the two Auror's and shouted a curse.
"Stupefy!"
Gabriel was able to dodge the spell, but Dawlish was not so lucky and took the full curse straight in the chest. He flew a few feet and crashed into the far wall and crumpled to the floor. Enoch then turned and ran out of the pub.
Gabe ran over to Dawlish to make sure he was still breathing and shouted. "Dammit Dawlish you left his wand on the counter….Tom Floo call St. Mungo's! Now where did that shit brick go?"
"He ran out the door, young fellow," an elderly wizard said as he pointed towards the front door. Gabe's eyes lit up.
"Oh how I love it when they run!" He then jumped over a table and burst through the door that led into Diagon Alley.
HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP
Gabriel skidded to a halt facing the front of Weasley's Wizards Wheezes. He looked left and then right.
"Where did that ass clown go?"
"Oui! You looking for that ugly bastard that tore down the street?" A tall, lanky, redheaded wizard called from the entrance of the joke shop.
"Yeah, he left rather quickly and I wasn't finished with our conversation." Gabe yelled back.
"Well, he went towards Gringotts." The man responded in the same moment that a loud commotion started to come out of Ollivander's. Gabe looked and saw Enoch trying to force his way through the crowd.
"Thanks bro!" Gabe yelled as he took off at full speed towards Enoch. The redhead just smiled and waved him bye.
Gabriel was slowing down to avoid the crowd when he saw a flash of red and then an explosion in front of him. He dodged out of the way, slamming into the outer wall of Ollivander's. Patrons of Diagon Alley immediately scurried for cover as people screamed.
"Oww," Gabe grunted as he got to his feet. "That son of a bitch is shooting hexes at me!"
Gabe shook his head to clear it and then twitched his right arm slightly so that his wand was launched out of his right sleeve and he caught it before it flew away.
Once Gabe had release his spruce 12 ⅓ inch wand. He immediately started towards his prey. He saw Enoch hiding behind a wooden cart selling fruits and vegetables near the entrance of Madam Malkin's. He was crouched down trying not to reveal himself. Gabe thought to himself 'Idiot'. Gabe starting to stalk forward wand at the ready. Enoch snuck a quick glance and saw Gabe walking towards hi. He immediately raised and pointed his wand forward.
"REDUCTO!" Enoch screamed.
Gabe immediately yelled. "PROTEGO!"
The red curse slammed into Gabe's shield and pushed him back a little. He recovered enough to avoid a another reducto curse being hurled towards him. He saw Enoch raise up again and hurled another reducto curse towards him and he saw an unlucky witch in its path. Gabe's reflexes hurled his body at the unsuspecting victim as he tackle her to the ground before the devastating curse could hit her. Enoch took the opportunity to run in the other direction.
"Ma'am are you o….." Gabe started to check for injuries when he looked down at the gorgeous and well endowed blonde haired witch he'd saved. With two beautiful blue eyes sparkling back at him and a pair of ruby red lips smirking, Gabe said, with a smolder, "Well hellooo."
"Hi, gorgeous." She responded. "I'm Lana"
"I'm Gabe, I….." Gabe shook his head and remembered what he was doing. "No time for love Dr. Jones!" Gabe said as he got up and started running towards his attacker.
"Wait!" Lana yelled after him, then pouted as he kept on running.
Gabe spotted Enoch through the chaos of wizards and witches running to and fro to escape the confrontation. Enoch saw Gabriel charging at him at full speed like a herd of Centaurs. He raised his wand and starting flinging Reducto curses.
Curse after curse was flying towards Gabe. Like a madman he blocked curse after curse with a wave of his wand, but he kept running as fast as he could. Enoch aimed his wand and blasted a fruit cart into oblivion just in front of Gabriel. Gabe barely had enough time to react before he threw up a quick shield and was blown thrown the front entrance of Flourish and Blotts bookstore. He landed in a heap of broken wood and glass. He gingerly started to stand and shook the cobwebs from his head. The shield did help to protect most of the impact but he still felt like he was just trampled by a Hippogriff.
"Ok….again Oww!" Gabe said to no one in particular. He dusted himself with his hands, found his wand and picked it up. The employees and patrons of the bookstore just stared in disbelief still trying to process what they just saw. A older wizard walked up to him.
"Son are you alright, you took a messy spill there?" The older gentleman asked as he grabbed his arm.
"Yea thanks, I'm good. I…...ah slipped." Gabe said as he ran his hand through his hair and realized one that he felt wetness and two his hat was gone. He lowered his hand and looked at the wet red color that covered his palm.
"You need to see a healer son, you're bleeding." The wizard said.
Gabe smiled and looked at the man. "I ain't got time to bleed." He then turned and ran out into the street. He looked in the direction that Enoch was and saw he was gone. "That asshole better not have left!"
He then heard a shriek and saw that Enoch grabbed a small boy as a hostage and had his wand pointed at the boys head. Gabe stared at the scene and wondered why hadn't he just Apparated away. The thought left his head just as fast as it had come.
"Back off Solo!" Enoch shouted.
Gabe snickered for a moment and retorted. "Hey fuckstick as much as I would love to be Han Solo, that's not my name."
"Oi don't care waaat yisser bleedin' name is, jist back aff yer." Enoch yelled back. "Shut it child" He yelled as the child starting to cry that he wanted his mum. He couldn't be more than seven years old. His mother was pleading with Enoch to let her son go. "Quiet you muling quim." He said to the mother.
"Hey Enoch ok, enough of this bullshit. Let the kid go." Gabe yelled as he slowly started to move closer to Enoch. Enoch saw him moving and grabbed the child by the throat and pressed his wand harder into the boy's temple.
"Stay roi wha yer are boyo, an' yer bitch shut it or i'll gie yer back yer fella in pieces." He spat at the boy's mother.
Gabriel stashed his wand in his back pocket and raised his hands in front of him to show Enoch he was unarmed. He looked Enoch Underwood directly in the eyes. "Look Enoch, you don't want to kill a child. Just put him down and we can talk about this."
"Oi 'av nathin' ter say ter yer! If yer leave nigh naw arm 'ill come ter de lil basterd!" Screamed Enoch. He started to look left and right to see if there was a way to escape. When he realized the only way to go was backwards, he started to back up. He was slowly backing up towards Gringotts. Gabe started to slowly follow him and then he noticed another tall redheaded wizard in dark robes and long hair. He was pointing his wand at Enoch and muttering spells under his breath. He was joined by a tall dark skinned wizard who was a little younger. The younger wizard was also pointing his wand and muttering spells.
'Well that explains why he hasn't apparated.' Gabe said to himself and made a mental note to thank the two wizards. "Wait is this Alley filled with helpful redheaded wizards?" Gabe snorted. "Enoch! Look you're cornered with nowhere to go. Give it up dude. Let the kid go, give yourself up now and I promise to do all I can to help ya out, OK?"
Enoch ignored him and realized he was running out of room. He turned his head back and noticed two wizards pointing their wands at him. He quickly turned around to face them. He noticed one of them was sporting red hair and the younger one had dark skin."Drop yisser bleedin wands or i'll kill de wane ye bastards!" Enoch threatened. He was sweating profusely. Then about five Gringotts security guards took up position behind the two curse breakers. "Oi said ter back down!" Enoch screamed again.
"Alright, everyone lower your wands." The red headed wizard ordered. All of the men lowered their wands.
"Drop dem on de groun', nigh!" Enoch yelled. "Or I'll do 'em!" He raised the boy up by the scruff of his neck.
All of the Gringotts staff that came to help dropped their wands. Gabe slowly moved forward. He just needed a few more seconds of Enoch being distracted to sneak up on him. When he was about twenty-five feet away, one of the Gringotts security guards looked up at Gabriel and Enoch didn't miss the man's gaze and quickly turned around to see Gabe almost on top of him. He quickly picked up the boy over his head and threw him to the left to cause a distraction. The boy screamed as he flew through the air towards the hard steps of the bank. Just before he hit the ground the boy stopped and floated down softly. The redhead wizard in charge had managed to retrieve his wand and catch the boy with 'Wingardium Leviosa' before he landed and split his head open all over the white marbled steps of Gringotts bank.
Enoch was then tackled to the ground by Gabe. Gabe rolled and jumped to his feet in one motion. Enoch got up and leveled his wand at Gabe.
"Avada Kada...oopf!" Enoch grunted. Gabe had roundhoused kicked Enoch in the face before he finish the incantation of the killing curse. Enoch went flying towards the ground. He slowly raised up and noticed his nose had started to bleed again and blood flowed down the front of him. He went to grab for his wand and noticed he had landed on it and was broken in half. Enoch gave out a blood curdling scream and ran forward and tried to rush Gabriel. Enoch came forward full force and threw a right hook. Gabriel in one fluid motion dodged the follow through, kneed him in the gut, and then drove his right elbow in the back of Enochs back to drive him to the ground.
"C'mon you prick! Get up and fight me!" Gabe yelled. He picked up Enoch and pushed him hard into the wall. He threw a right hook into his face. "You like to kidnap and murder women?!" He threw another punch to his face. "You like to threatened little kids?!" He then punched him a third time in the face which broke open his lip and nose and even more and blood sprayed all over the wall of the bank.
"MCFARLAND!" Dawlish screamed from behind Gabriel. A large crowd had gathered around to watch the spectacle and Dawlish had to fight his way through the curious mob. Gabe either didn't hear his older partner or he chose to ignore him. He just saw red and stared intently at Enoch. Enoch looked up enraged and half-heartedly tried to throw a punch which Gabe dodged easily and grabbed Enoch's arm and yanked Enoch forward and twisted his arm around behind him and with all his force yanked hard and drove his other elbow down hard and snapped Enoch's arm at the elbow. Enoch screamed in pain and fell to the ground in agony. The crowd gasped in shock. The two wizards who came to Gabe's aid stared in disbelief.
"GABE! You stupid bastard!" Dawlish had finally reached his partner and knelt down to check on Enoch. "Are you bleeding mental?" Dawlish demanded. He then pointed his wand at Enoch's arm and muttered some spells that would numb the pain until he could see a healer. He then did the same to stop his face from bleeding. He then stood up and rounded on his younger partner and grabbed him by the arms. Gabe just kept staring at Enoch, breathing hard.
"Gabe! Gabe!" Dawlish started to shake his partner to get his attention. He also noticed he was bleeding from his head. "Look at me dammit. Are you injured?"
Gabriel finally looked at Dawlish and tears started to flow from his eyes. He stared into space but let the tears flow. Dawlish was taken aback for a moment, the last thing he expected from his hot headed partner was to see him shed tears. Gabe stared at Dawlish for what seemed like an eternity, he snapped out of it and wiped his face with his sleeve.
"I'm fine John." He then twisted away from Dawlish's grip and walked over to the young boy who was being comforted by his mother. He knelt down to the boy's face and gave him a big smile. "Are you alright, buddy?"
The boy looked at his mother and then back at Gabe. "I'm alright, mister." He then hugged his mother tighter and his mother looked at Gabriel.
"Thank you sir." Gabe gripped the mother by her shoulder gave her small squeeze and nodded his head.
He then stood up and started to walk towards the two wizards in front of Gringotts bank. "McFarland!" Dawlish yelled. Gabe didn't look at his partner but just held up his index finger to show he needed a minute. He approached them with a nod.
"Thank you both. I was glad you were here stopping him from apparating away." Gabe said has he shook both of their hands.
"Our pleasure. I'm Bill. Bill Weasley. This is my young assistant Dean Thomas. We are Curse Breakers for Gringotts." Bill gestured towards Dean.
"Pleasure to meet you….McFarland is it?" Dean asked.
"Yea, Gabriel McFarland formerly an Auror of the MACUSA. Now a proud one of the Ministry of Magic. People call me Gabe." Gabe answered. "Can you Floo St. Mungo's and ask them to send a Healer to the Auror office at the Ministry. I better get this son of bitch off the street. Excuse me fellas." Bill nodded his head and turned and walked back into Gringotts with Dean closely behind him.
Gabriel then walked back toward Dawlish and Enoch. Dawlish without hesitation pointed his wand at McFarlands head to stop the bleeding.
"Ok show's over folks, nothing to see here." Gabe said as he helped Dawlish pick up Enoch. "Let's get him back to HQ and see what he knows." Dawlish just stared daggers at his young partner and with a loud 'POP' all three were gone.
HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPPHPHPHHPP
High above Diagon Alley on top of one of the rooftops Bane Florint stared down and observed the entire scene unfold. He took in a deep aggravated breath and slowly let it out.
"Mr. Underwood must be removed from the equation," Bane said aloud to himself. He then reached into his jacket pocket and removed a small circular device. He tapped it three times with his wand and spoke.
"Two Auror's are bringing Enoch into custody at the Ministry, you know what to do." He then pocketed the device and turned around and slowly left his place on the rooftop.
HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP
Gabriel and Dawlish apparated into the Ministry approved Auror safe zone. Which was located on the second level. Dawlish had Enoch in custody. Despite Enoch having a broken elbow they had him in restraints that bound his wrists in front of him. Dawlish had a grip around his left arm and was guiding him to the Auror office for processing, Gabe was following closely behind. He looked straight ahead and had a big smile on his face. The bullpen area had two areas that housed all of the Aurors cubicles and desks and was separated by a walkthrough that lead to Gawain Robards office at the end. To the right of his office were the interrogation rooms and processing. To the left was the potions lab and training and workout rooms.
As the trio walked through the bullpen where the other Aurors had their desks they took one look at the condition of the suspect and Gabe and most just shook their heads. Gabriel wasn't very popular with his other colleagues he usually rubbed most of them the wrong way. Most of the Auror's didn't care for his carefree attitude or maybe it was because he was a American. The only one who gave him the time of day was his partner and that was because he didn't have a choice. Most of who were present had already heard of what had happened in Diagon Alley.
"Bloody fine mess you made of things, McFarland." Proudfoot, a veteran Auror, said to Gabe. Gabriel didn't even bother to even look at Proudfoot and just raised his hand up and gave him a middle finger as he continued following Dawlish to processing.
"Bloody Yank." Proudfoot muttered under his breath and returned to his desk to finish the paperwork he was working on.
Just as they were about to turn left to head to the processing station, Robards emerged from his office with such a force it took all three of them emerged from his office with such a force it blew the smile right off of Gabe's face. "McFarland! Get in my office NOW!" Robards screamed and glared at Gabe. Gabriel looked at his superior cautiously. "Dawlish take this criminal to processing and and put him in interrogation 3." Dawlish nodded his confirmation and proceeded ahead with Enoch.
Robards then violently turned his head and glared at Gabe again and spoke, and yelled so intensely that droplets of spit flew from his mouth. "DO YOU HAVE A HEARING PROBLEM, I SAID GET YOUR BLOODY BACKSIDE IN MY OFFICE, NOW!" Robards was red in the face and was slightly shaking with anger.
Gabe nodded his head. "Yes Chief, I heard you."
There was a little bit of a attitude in his response as he brushed past Gawain into his office. That only seemed to infuriate Robards even further. He followed Gabe inside and slammed his door shut which caused a few pictures and various items on a bookshelf to fall on the white tiled floor.
"Sit down," Gawain told Gabe.
Gabriel took a seat on the left facing the desk and waited for Gawain to rip him a new one. Robards sat down behind his desk and pinched the bridge of his nose and gave it a small massage before he looked Gabe in the eyes. "First and foremost, are you injured, do you need to see a Healer?"
"No, sir."
"Alright, then." Gawain paused and then looked at Gabe. "WHAT IN THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING? YOU SINGLE HANDEDLY DESTROYED A LARGE SECTION OF DIAGON ALLEY! THEN IN FRONT OF DOZENS OF WITNESSES YOU BRUTALLY ATTACKED THE MAN AND BROKE HIS ARM! " Gawain face turned a dark shade of purple and he slammed his fist down on the desk. Gabe winced.
"Boss, you gonna give yourself a coronary." Gabe said nonchalantly. There was no secret that, like his fellow co-workers, Gawain Robards had no affinity of kindness towards his young American employee.
"DON'T YOU BLOODY TELL ME TO CALM DOWN, YOU ARE BY FAR THE WORST AUROR I HAVE EVER HAD!" Gawain shouted and then tried to calm himself down has he had given himself a headache from shouting. He took a couple of deep breaths and continued in a lower, but still heated tone. "Do you know what trouble you caused today?"
"Boss, let me explain…." Gabe started to say.
"Do you really think I care what story you have come up with to weasel your way out of this." Gawain retorted and pointed his finger at Gabriel. "What I want to know is why did Dawlish let you out of his sight, I have a few choice words for him when he arrives…"
"Boss, it wasn't John's fault, I talked him into letting me talk to Underwood. I figured…" Gabe started to explain what had went down.
"I TOLD YOU….." Dawlish took another deep breath. "I told you I wasn't interested in your fabrications." Gawain looked down at his desk and picked up what look to be some parchment in a file folder. "This is your file McFarland….."
Gabe interrupted Robards. "Look Boss, I know you don't like me, I know most people in this office don't like me." Gabe looked dead into Robards stunned face. "I don't really give a shit, either way. I know one thing, you said I was the worst Auror you've ever had, well I have to disagree, I think….."
It was Gawain's turn to interrupt. One thing Gawain Robards was known for was being a rule follower and adhering to the procedures and policies that were set in place. One of the biggest things he couldn't abide was insubordination and Gabriel McFarland was treading dangerously close to pushing Robards over the edge. "Excuse me, but one thing I will not abide is to be interrupted, especially by the likes of you!"
"Sir, I apologize, would you please let me explain what happened?" Gabe said in a low calming tone and looked his superior in the eye.
"Well if you repeatedly don't seem to understand that I do not want to hear your lies, if you must continue then by all means spew your diatribe." Gawain placed the file down on his desk and folded his hands on top of it. He gave Gabe a small condensing smirk and motioned for him to continue.
Gabe look at him skeptically, but nonetheless continued. "Well when Underwood entered the establishment, I asked Dawlish how well the suspect knew him. He told me that he knew him well since they have crossed paths numerous times." Gabe took a breath and continued. "I convinced him that I should be the one to talk to him since he had never met me before. I have done numerous undercover assignments in America. Dawlish relented and I approach the suspect. We had a few drinks and I let on that I was there to meet someone to make a deal and buy some weapons. He slowly came around and mentioned that I was there to meet him. We talk for a few minutes before I asked him I had heard some Muggle weapons were stolen and that I was interested."
Dawlish blinked. "Ok, so what happened that caused the destruction of half of Diagon Alley?"
"He said that he knew nothing about them, but I knew well enough to read the signs that I knew he was lying." Gabe said.
"Wait, wait, wait you read signs?" Gawain asked skeptically.
"Yes sir, I was trained to look for tells in a person being interrogated, such as eye movement, nervous movements, stuff like that."
"That has to be the most absurd thing I have ever heard!" Gawain said with a sneer. "I know for a fact that the American Auror training mirrors our own and we do not teach that rubbish!"
"I didn't…." Gabe said under his breath.
"What was that?" Robards glared. He leaned forward.
"I said...nevermind." Gabe said and leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling.
"Come on spit it out."
Gabriel looked at Robards and stood up. "I'd rather not talk about it," he stood up and started towards the door. Robards jump up quickly for a man of his age.
"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING? I DIDN'T GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO LEAVE THIS OFFICE!" Gawain screamed in Gabriel's face. He was visibly shaking with anger. Gabriel stared at Robards and blinked.
"Sir I have nothing left to say. You have it already in your head that I was in the wrong so I give up." Gabriel raised his voice a little louder. "It's obvious YOU don't care that he threaten a child, he threaten to come after me and my family. OH NO! That shit doesn't matter in your world. At least have the balls to get my back!" Gabe started to walk forward and get into Robards face.
"HOW DARE YOU! THIS IS MY…" Gawain took a step back.
"SHUT UP, YOU HAD YOUR SAY NOW IT'S MY TURN." Gawain was too shock to respond. Never in his life had he been subject to this kind of gross insubordination. "THAT ASSWIPE KNOWS ABOUT THE WEAPONS, ALSO KNOWS ABOUT THE MURDERED WITCHES."
Gawain held up his finger and with a little bit of surprise to Gabriel, he spoke in a quiet even tone. "This is what this about, isn't it? The witches?"
Gabriel shifted his weight and blew out a breath. "It's not all about that, I..we started talking about the weapons, he threaten me and mentioned that my wife or girlfriend would fall victim to the same fate. I reacted and….."
"You reacted." Gawain said as more of a statement then a question. Gabe just nodded. "You don't even have wife or a girlfriend! You're through. Get out of my office. You have until the end of the day to clear out all of your personal belongings. I will see to it that your Visa is revoked and your deported back to America. I told you that these weapons were number one priority, but you think you're special and can investigate what ever you want. GO NOW!" Gawain said.
Gabe just looked at Robards and turned to walk out of the office. He grabbed for the brass doorknob, he then turned his head towards his ex-supervisor. "Hey Robards, let me ask you a question. What sets off the anti-charm alarms first? The lead in your ass? Or the shit in your brains? Dumb fuck!" Gabe said as he slammed the door and left the office.
He heard Gawain yelling again, but couldn't make out what he was actually saying. Gabriel walked towards his desk. He stopped put his hand on the nearest wall sucked in a deep breath. He chastised himself for going over the line. He knew that the amount of hardship he had endured in his short life he should have known better. He slammed his fist into the wall. "Damint!"
"Oi!" a veteran Auror named Linder yelled out. "It's not enough you broke someone's arm, but know you have to try and break the wall."
"Kiss my ass, Linder." Gabe retorted and walked towards the training rooms. He had a lot to vent and the best was to hit a bag instead of a wall.
HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP
Harry and Hermione recognized Gabriel from the picture in his file has they walked into the bullpen area and witnessed Gabe hit the wall, curse a fellow Auror, and walk away.
"Charming. Harry are you sure you want him?" Hermione asked as she shook her head disapprovingly. "He doesn't seem the right sort."
"Yea, I'm sure. Kingsley gave a glowing recommendation. Despite what his performance file says. He's definitely the sort."
"Alright Harry," Hermione said as she looked at her friend and gave him a smile. "I've trusted you all these years, not about to stop now."
Harry patted her on the back. "Come on let's go talk to Robards first." They walked towards Robards office and knocked on his office door.
"Who is it?" Gawain asked with a hint of irritation.
"It's Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, sir." Harry responded.
"Come!"
Harry opened the office door and walked into the office with Hermione behind him. He closed the door and walked towards the desk. Gawain was writing on some parchment and hadn't even bothered to look at them. They both noticed that some of the pictures and knick-knacks were still strewn on the floor. They chose to ignore it.
"May we sit?" Harry asked. Gawain motioned towards the chairs with his left hand without breaking his concentration on what he was writing. Harry and Hermione both sat in the seats and stared at Gawain. Hermione looked over at Harry and Harry returned her look and simply shrugged his shoulders.
Gawain finished his report, calmly put his quill back in the inkwell, blew on the parchment to dry it and put it back in the file folder and closed it. He put both hands on top of it and finally looked up to see the two young people sitting at his desk.
"Potter. Granger. What can I do for you? You don't work for me, anymore. So I'm not sure what you are doing here?"
Harry looked at Hermione and then back at Gawain. "Well, I….we," Harry looked at Hermione again. "We wanted to talk to you about a Auror in your charge that we think would fit in with Phoenix Division and wanted to have your permission to speak to him about it."
Gawain stared at them for what seemed like an eternity. He knew that they didn't need his permission to ask anyone, Kingsley had already made that very clear, but he had to admire the young man's manners on asking him for his permission. He twitched his mustache slightly. "Who is the Auror? Linder? Proudfoot? Dawlish?"
"Mcfarland. Gabriel McFarland." Hermione answered. Robards look at Hermione and then back to Harry.
"That's right, sir. Gabriel Mcfarland." Harry said.
Gawain Robards did something he didn't normally do a lot in his life - he started to laugh out loud. His face was turning red and shaking from laughing so hard. Harry and Hermione looked at each and then back at the hysterically laughing head Auror.
Gawain started to calm down and took deep breaths to calm his laughter. "He's all yours. If you can find him. I fired him you see. So of course by all means take him and do whatever you like. He's not my problem anymore."
"Erm...ok, thanks" Harry said not sure of what to do.
Gawain just waved them off and was still trying to take calming breaths. Harry motioned to Hermione that it was time to leave. They both got up and exited the office. After the door was shut, Harry looked at Hermione and ran his hand through his black unkempt hair. "That is the first time that I've seen that man laugh. I never even seen him smile."
"Bloody mental, that one." Hermione retorted. Harry just looked at her and laughed.
"Ron is definitely rubbing off on you Hermione."
Hermione swatted his arm. "Prat!" They then headed in the direction they last saw Gabe walking towards.
HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP
Gabriel was sans shirt and wearing his work out sweat pants and trainers. He was in the workout room, hitting a punching back he conjured and hung from the ceiling. Both of his hands were taped up and he was hitting the bag with all of his strength. He had placed a charm on the bag so it would give but not be able to be knocked off its chain that was attached to the ceiling. He was concentrating so hard on his workout that he didn't care that he had two spectators that quietly entered the room.
Harry and Hermione just watched Gabe punch the heavy bag with all his strength. Hermione was doing a little more than watching actually and it didn't go unnoticed by Harry. He hip checked Hermione lightly to break her from her gaze. She quickly composed herself as her face went red.
"Really Hermione, tsk tsk what would Ron say?" Harry said with a chuckle. Hermione just looked at Harry annoyingly.
She then noticed that Gabriel had a tattoo on his back of a symbol of some kind of bird. Surrounded with small circular designs with three leaf clovers. There was also upside down black triangles around the neck of the bird, that grew bigger and spread out from the neck. In the center was a black interlocking design and two identical designs under each wing. There was also was a peculiar tattoo on his upper left arm of what looked liked an eagle hovering over a trident and anchor. He was also sporting various scars that are not uncommon for a Auror. There was also three small round scars on the right side of his upper back.
"Look, Robards said I had until the end of the day to clear out. I'll go without causing a scene. He didn't need to send you two to escort me out." Gabe said as he continued his workout. He then turned to look at the two strangers. He was still upset but was feeling a lot calmer since he was able to take out most of his frustration on the bag.
"I can assure you that is not why we are here." Harry said. "This Hermione Granger and I'm Harry Potter."
Gabe stopped punching the back and slowly turned to face them. "You're Hermione Granger?"
"Yes I am." Hermione smiled.
"That means you know…..wait? What?" He glanced over and looked at Harry. "You're Harry Pot…" Gabe eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. He had a smile that one would categorize as goofy. He immediately went and shook hands with Harry.
"No, its Harry Potter, actually." Harry said with a chuckle.
Gabe laughed back. He paused for a moment just to process who he was meeting. He he then turned toward Hermione and gave her his best flirtatious smile. "Well hello, How you doin'?"
Hermione blushed and looked at the floor to hide the redness in her cheeks. Harry looked at Hermione and frowned. He then looked at McFarland. "Look, I have something I want to discuss with you."
"Sure," he replied never taking his eyes off Hermione. "Just so long as she can join us in the discussion." Gabe said while smirking.
"I am involved with…" Hermione began to say.
"I don't see any ring," Gabe said as Hermione raised her left hand. "And there it is."
Gabe straighten up. He then moved to pull his shirt on over himself. "Sorry, Granger, I didn't know. If I had…." Hermione waved him off.
"It's quite alright." She said with a sympathetic smile.
Gabriel then looked at them as he waved his wand and banished the punching bag back to the supply closet. "Ok, what can I do you for? I only have until the end of the day until I probably have to leave the country, thanks in no part to that asshat Robards. I don't really want to go back to States. There's noth…...nevermind. So?"
"Well, we may be able to help you with that predicament." Harry stated as he pulled a file from his robes.
"OK?" Gabe asked. "I just assumed that Robards is going to shoot down any other opportunity that I may get."
"I've already talked to Robards, he said I could talk to you and if you accept, well let's get to it first." Harry continued. "Gabriel McFarland. Born December 25, 1977...Christmas baby?" Harry looked up at Gabe. Gabe gave him a smile and nodded. Harry then went back to reading.
"Attended Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1989 to 1996. Doesn't say what house….." Harry raised his eyes.
"Thunderbird. I was in house Thunderbird." Gabe said.
"Explains the tattoo." Hermione noted.
"Joined the MACUSA Auror corp as a student trainee in 1994 while still attending school." Harry looked up. "Bloody convenient that is."
"Yeah I had enough O.W.L.S to start, so in the States they consider classes at school to be part of Auror qualifications. Instead of taking standard N.E.W.T six year classes you take a different set of classes dealing with Auror training. Trust me though, before they started fast tracking you guys into service your country's Auror's were and are the gold standard."
Harry smiled and continued. "After you graduated you finished your third year of training and served as a full fledged Auror until the beginning of 1998. Then there is a two year gap where you returned for three months and then transferred to England." Harry put the file away and looked at Gabriel.
Gabe stared at Harry while he put his hands behind his back. "Is there a question?"
"Yeah, what happened? Where'd you go?" Harry asked.
"That's a story for another time. So how can you help me?" Gabe asked quizzically.
"Well, it's more about you helping us." Harry looked at Hermione and then back at Gabriel. "I want to talk to you about the Phoenix Division."
