Ch.4-Magical Training

Alec pushed the sequence of buttons that was his personal passcode to the well-warded MI6 magical training room, alerting Q that he and Severus were using the space. Severus added his own code as he stepped through, averting the lockdown and alert that would have triggered with the sensing of a second magical signature going through the door.

The space looked much the same as it had the last time he'd been there, though the training dummies were new.

"Q left us a toy or two?" Severus asked, shrugging off the long black duster that he'd transfigured from his usual black outer robe, so as to be presentable among the non-magicals.

Alec nodded. "He got tired of coming down to re-transfigure bits and pieces into targets. These will regenerate."

Severus gave a half-smile. "Clever."

"That's my quartermaster; clever as they come, that one," Alec said off-handedly as he removed his own jacket and dropped his wand from his forearm holster into his hand.

"Hmmm," Severus said, noncommittally, dropping his own wand into his hand and stepping into the padded arena in the center of the space.

"Come on, you don't think he's clever?" Alec asked, legitimately curious.

Severus rolled his eyes. "I've known your Q almost his entire life, and served as his instructor for a good portion of his teens. I never saw evidence of the cleverness that's more than obvious now, though I admit I never looked for it, either. I do know, however, that he is a master of magical defense, uncommonly blessed with magic, and a man to have on your side in a fight."

Alec snorted. "Yes, I forgot that the pair of you weren't always on good terms."

"I made him hate me. Deliberately," Severus acknowledged. "And it worked at times, but your Q has a generous heart to go with that clever brain. We've made amends."

"Excellent!" Alec stepped into the arena himself, across from Severus. Thirty feet separated the pair, who now took loose parallel stances, wands at the ready, pointed downward. "Shall we?"

"Let's see how far you've come in the past few months," Severus said, then struck.

Spells flew fast and furious. Alec shielded well, returning fire with a combination of the tried-and-true (a well-placed reducto, a bone-breaker) and the absurd (Severus changed hair color twice before he knew to shield the muttered charm), while Severus attacked with the full fury of a well-trained former Death Eater.

They were both panting by the time Severus called a halt.

"Well done, Alec," Severus said, leaning over his knees to catch his breath, one arm outstretched in a classic "stop" position. "Catch our breaths and we'll see what's next."

Alec blew out a long breath and dropped into lotus position on the mat, taking slow, deliberate breaths. "Why am I so out of breath? I'm in good shape; I have to be. And we're just running around a bit and throwing spells at each other."

Severus straightened up, directing his wand to repair the fractured bone of his upper arm with a quick "Episkey!" "Magic wielding requires energy," he explained. "Want me to heal that cut for you?"

"Yeah, thanks," Alec extended his right leg and raised the pants up to reveal the gash in his calf from a slashing hex, and followed Severus' motions with his eyes. "Is there an incantation for that one?"

Severus shook his head. "Just a nonverbal chant. More of a song, really. Here, I'll speak it out loud." He sang the chant, directing the magic from the point of his wand over the gash as it healed.

"Brilliant!" Alec exclaimed. "That's so much easier that a week in medical."

"Only really works on other magicals, though, Alec, so have a care with it," Severus cautioned him. "It works with the patient's magical core as much as the healer's."

"Got it," Alec said, and stretched. "So, how'd I do, professor?"

Severus snorted. "I happily left 'professor' behind some time ago, as you well know. But as you're asking, I have to say that your defense skills are quite something. The Weasleys have been training you well."

Alec shrugged. "George is a right riot, and Ron's got some moves. He was magical law enforcement for a couple of years before he decided to partner with George, you know."

"I'd heard," Severus acknowledged. "I hadn't thought about the implications, though."

"Well, he's pretty good. Won't say much about his time as an Auror, other than that he realized, after about the 12th injury, that he'd really wanted to build his family with his wife, and his kids probably would like to know their father," Alec explained. "So, he changed jobs. And they're happy. Mrs. Granger-Weasley is a treat for the eyes, too. Don't blame him for wanting that family."

Severus shook his head. "Former students. Always hard for me to see them as adults, frankly."

Alec looked at him knowingly. "That's one reason you have such a hard time acknowledging Q's cleverness, isn't it?"

"Plan to let that go, any time soon?" Severus asked acidly.

"Nah."

Severus rolled his eyes. "My relationship with Q is based in part on the fact that I absolutely detested his father and the little gang of miscreants that ran around with him when we were all in school together. As a teen, he looked astonishingly like a mini-version of his father, and I chose not to look past that to see who he actually was. He's very much like his mother, personally, and he has her eyes."

"Ah, I get it."

Severus raised a brow. "Get what?"

"You loved his mother, and wanted her yourself," Alec revealed with the air of a magician.

"Yes, and it's somewhat of an open secret know, I suppose. Q, himself, knows it, though we've yet to acknowledge that between us. I was in a coma for a few years, you know, and we just reconnected with that first case six months ago," Severus explained.

Alec shook his head. "That's a lot of baggage."

Another voice broke into their conversation. "A lot more than we probably want to address today, gentlemen," Q said.

"When did you get here?" Alec asked, wondering if his situational awareness had been completely sunk in the last hour.

"Oh, I popped in right about the time the pair of you started talking about relationships," Q said, emphasizing the last word. "Really? Alec, if you want to know about me, talk to me, please."

"But Severus must have some good stories, Q, and I simply must get to them. I must!" Alec placed a hand on his chest and gave his best innocent baby blues to his quartermaster.

Q shook his head sadly and mockingly. "I'm afraid any story Severus could tell would be heavily biased by the fact that he was the central authority figure of my young life. I suspect he spent more time trying to keep me in line than any other adult in my entire life, with the exception of my uncle, who liked to lock me in cupboards and starve me."

Severus' eyebrows flew up. "Pardon?"

Q looked up. "You didn't know that?"

"That's true?" Severus asked, paling. "I'd heard the rumor about your letter, but I dismissed it. Dumbledore…" Severus trailed off, then his dark eyes blazed to life. "No, Dumbledore bloody well would have left you with those people if he thought you were safer there than away. Which speaks to how very much he feared for your life, damn it."

Q raised an eyebrow. "You knew Tuney. She married a very ordinary, brutish Muggle who wanted nothing but a very ordinary life. I disrupted that. They kept me in the cupboard under the stairs until my Hogwarts letter arrived addressed to me in there. Scared them enough to put me in Dudley's second bedroom, instead. They tried to outrun the Hogwarts letters, too, and I had no clue what was going on until Hagrid broke into this cliff house in the sea that they'd dragged me and Dud to, gave me my letter, told me I was a wizard, and disappeared with me. Took their boat too." Q paused, thinking. "I never did find out how they got off that rock."

"I imagine someone showed up to help them," Severus murmured, and sat down himself, flat on the mats. "I feel I owe you some sort of an apology or explanation, Q."

Q shook his head. "You don't. It wasn't an easy way to grow up, but nothing about my life was easy from the time I was born, I suspect."

"Well," Alec broke in. "I've certainly learned more than I expected to, and I've heard stories from Ron."

Q started laughing. "Only about half of them are true, I swear."

Severus cleared his throat. "Some things, I don't need to know. To me, Q is still a mischievous, but innocent youth." He paused. "I suspect he always will be, in my eyes."

"Sir, Severus," Q reached out to him, and lay a hand on his shoulder. "Of all the adults in my life as I grew up, only you consistently held me to a specific standard, and consistently protected me from all threats you could discern. I know part of that was because of your vow in my mother's name, but I don't think you understand how much I came to rely on that consistency."

"Children need it," Severus said roughly, quietly.

"They do. I did." Q took a deep breath. "So thanks."

"Well, I feel we've come to an important place, a special place, a potentially happy place, as we shared our feelings…" Alec started, then recoiled quickly at the glare from two sets of eyes hit him. "Ah, OK, perhaps not. Shall I go?"

"Not necessary, 006," Q said crisply, and with a quiet wink. "I've come to brief the pair of you and kit you out."

"We're going somewhere?" Alec asked.

"You're going to the States, Alec, assuming 0010 here thinks you're ready to be solo without magical back-up," Q asked in his turn.

Severus nodded. "He is."

"So, 006, pick up your kit from R, because you're heading to Texas. Get your best cowboy on-and no, that's not a dirty joke-because that's your cover. There's a plant there that needs investigating, and the CIA is requesting our special assistance, as they haven't anyone trained up and you're ready to roll," Q explained. "Mission parameters are in the tablet, and an emergency portkey to a suite in the Four Seasons New York is included. You're flying out tonight."

"Got it," Alec said, holstering his wand and getting to his feet.

"Double-oh ten, I have a similar kit for you. We were going to have you back up 007 in Australia, but further analysis revealed a third plant that requires investigation. You're authorized to use any and all of your special skills to infiltrate and recover data-you'll find a cloning memory stick in your kit to use on their server. Are you familiar enough with that technology to find the server and complete your mission?"

"I am," Severus agreed. "Believe it or not, one cannot run a business among non-magicals without a computer, these days. I know enough to recognize a server, find a USB port, and plug in memory stick."

"If you can get that far, the stick will do the hack-and-clone, and once it's run, you'll leave. Your kit includes an emergency portkey to the suite in Egypt you're familiar with," Q explained. "Your target is actually in Mumbai."

"Will there be time built in to visit the magical botanical gardens? I could use some new ingredients from that region," Severus asked dryly, with a quick wink at Alec.

"On your own time, 0010," Q said exasperatedly.

"What about 007?" Alec asked. "Won't he be needing magical back-up?"

"There's too many targets and not enough trained magicals," Q said quietly. "I'll be backing him up."

Alec whistled. "He won't like that."

"That's because he's my bondmate," Q acknowledged. "He'd rather I not go mission at all."

Severus looked at him curiously. "Is he aware of how powerful you are?"

"He is. Doesn't matter," Q said. "He'll never favor anything that might put me in significant danger. Kind of nice, really. I expect we'll row about it when I meet him Sydney, as the subject's already come up."

"I do not envy you there, my friend," Alec shook his head. "He can be exceptionally stubborn about the safety of the people he loves."

"In that, they are peas in a pod," Severus said, looking at Q searchingly. "Q, have you been in the field at all?"

Q tilted his head. "Magical warfare doesn't count?"

"For this purpose, no."

Q nodded. "Classified, Severus, but yes. The former Q didn't want me in the field, either, but it was occasionally necessary."

"Afghanistan," Alec said softly.

"Yeah."

"Afghanistan is a war zone, Q," Severus said sternly.

"Sure is, thanks for pointing it out." Q rubbed his face over his hands. "Point is, I've been on mission, I know what I'm doing, and at this point, there's no one left here to lend magical assistance. We need you two out where you're going. Alec, Felix Leiter will back you up in Texas, but he's not in the know, so he won't be going with you. Severus, you're on your own in Mumbai, but I assume you have your own contacts there."

"I do."

"Well, then, let's be off, 0010," Alec said, extending a hand down to Severus, who took it, and pulled himself up. "We've missions to complete."

"Good luck, gentlemen," Q said.

"You, too, mate-and I don't mean with the mission," Alec called back.