Warning, pretties, bit of a long A/N ahead.

Okay, so as the wonderful Village-Mystic made me realize, there may be some people reading this who are familiar with the very popular and decade+ running show Criminal Minds, but not so familiar with the fairly new and not quite as popular book & TV adaptation The Magicians. They pointed out, quite correctly, that the secrecy and security of Del's life and job is a bit much for outside readers. I'm trying to introduce bits and pieces as we go along to hopefully give you some 'aha!' moments, so I don't want to ruin anything, but I think it's important you guys know a few things so everyone can enjoy this to its fullest.

This story is about Criminal Minds characters finding themselves magically transplanted into the world of The Magicians, and finding out that one of them has lived there all along. The Magicians is an adult fantasy series that explores what magic would be like in real life in the hands of real young adults with real problems and real consequences for their fuckups. The book especially notes that it's kept tightly secret, even from closest loved ones, generally with some magic to help it along. I ask that you please keep this in mind as you suspend your belief.

Another thing made clearer on the page than on the screen is the type of student that has the magical aptitude to be accepted to Brakebills. I'll paraphrase the book: separate the best and brightest from the rest. Then, take only the best and brightest of this smaller group. The 1% of the 1%. These are the kind of people that can use magic. When taking into account the necessary brilliance required in the book and the more adult setting of graduate school in the show, all I could think was "Spencer Reid would be in that group. And he does do all that magic. What if...what if Spencer had a stint at Brakebills in between a couple of those PhDs? What kind of Magician would he be?" And I pictured a thousand scenarios. Some from the show, some from the book, a Healer, a Psychic, a Physical, married, unmarried. Del's been dancing around in my head for a while now and fit so seamlessly into this world I couldn't help but include her. Even if no one ever likes or understands this, I'm truly enjoying the exercise in writing and looking forward to more well constructed criticism like I received from Village-Mystic.

Oh, and one last thing to keep in mind, something canon in both book and show - magic doesn't come from talent. It comes from pain.

I don't own Criminal Minds or The Magicians. Consider yourselves disclaimed.

GRAY AREA

Spencer's announcement was met with continued silence from his team. JJ and Derek both wore looks that were a mixture of fear and concern. Hotch was as stoic as ever. Alex seemed to be thinking hard about everything she was seeing, and true to form, Rossi looked around congenially and seemingly unperturbed.

Penelope wore the only expression that looked the least bit excited. "Are you telling me you can do actual magic? Like Harry Potter, potions, animagi, all of that?"

Del, Spencer, the dean, and the two conscious students all huffed in almost perfect unison.

"I can't stand that hedge bitch," growled the female student. "Wand waving? That soul-splitting Horcrux bullshit? That's not magic, that's fairy tales. Fucking amateur sellout."

Penelope's eyes looked like they were trying to bug out of her head. "JK Rowling is a MAGICIAN?!"

"No," Del said forcefully, even as she left Spencer's side to join the dean in checking over Quentin. "She's a hedge witch. Not enough magical aptitude to be invited to attend school, but they can manage a few party tricks - IF they can find a real spell to begin with."

"One offered to blow me for a spell once," drawled the fringed student. "It was almost worth it..." his voice trailed away. Del twisted to glare at him over her shoulder. "Sorry Mrs. Reid."

"I'm not sure how long it will take Penny to bring Quentin back," Spencer said, trying to pull the conversation back on track. "But I'll answer as many questions as I can."

"Are you allowed to do that?" Rossi asked, one eyebrow raised. "You've obviously kept it a secret this long for a reason." Spencer opened his mouth as though to respond, before turning to Del and the dean for clarification.

The dean shrugged, but Del furrowed her brow in thought. "I'm the one who decides if we erase your memories after this, and considering it's my fault you ended up here in the first place I'm inclined to let you keep them," she said slowly. "My husband trusts you, and I have to follow that. Tell them what you want, Spencer."

"Is this real?" JJ asked quietly, distressed. All eyes turned to her. "Am I losing my mind?"

"No, JJ," Spencer said quickly, stepping forward and reaching towards her, but JJ flinched and he dropped his hands, haltingly, to his sides. "I promise you, you're not. Magic is real. It's messy, and dangerous, and unbelievably hard to learn, but it's real. I studied here for three years with Del, in between my last two doctorates. I'm still me, JJ. There's just...more to me than you knew about."

But the blond agent was still visibly distressed. Del looked back over from her examination of Quentin. "He's still the same man that rushed to your hospital bed to meet your son after a devastating realization about his own childhood. The same man that keeps chocolate and gummi worms in his satchel because he knows they're your favorites. The same man that your little boy loves so much he dressed up as him for Halloween a few weeks ago. JJ, I can make sure you don't remember any of this if you want, but this will always be a part of him. He wants you to know, otherwise you'd already be back in DC with no memory of the past twenty minutes. Wouldn't you rather know him and love him for all that he is than forever be in the dark?"

But before JJ could answer, Penny gasped as he awoke from his trance state. Del was immediately at his side, rippling her fingers in the air around his body. Though she seemed satisfied with whatever information she gathered, the dean finally started to look anxious as Quentin still lay unconscious.

"It isn't working," came his rich timbre. "What happened?"

"I don't know, I-I went there, I told him, the Matarese did his thing, and then everything went black." Penny had a vague New York accent.

The dean's mouth drew into a thin line as Del and Spencer exchanged pained looks. From the corner of his eye, Hotch saw the female student slip from the room.

"What are we supposed to do now?" asked the fringed student.

Penny had closed his eyes again, concentrating, and opened them now. "I can't get back in, he's never been able to block me before."

"It's because he's not trapped anymore, he's locked himself in tight, which locks us out," Spencer said. "He refuses to find his way out of the desert."

Del's fists balled up, a gesture Spencer knew to mean she was forcibly restraining herself from releasing a concussive blast at something nearby, probably her desk or a wall. She had a violent temper, but Spencer was confident she wouldn't act rashly with so many people in the room.

"There must be something, Dean Fogg," Del ground out.

"I'm afraid not," the older man sighed. "The only person who can do anything for Quentin now is Quentin."

"Oh God," came a strangled female voice from the door of the office. A lovely young woman with long dark curls and dark circles under her tear-filled eyes entered the room quickly, dropping to her knees beside Quentin's still form. "Oh God, Q, I'm so sorry." Suddenly it was as though an invisible hand had grabbed her by the hair and dragged her away, yanking her up with a scream until her the toes of her boots barely touched the floor.

Finally with a target upon which to take out her aggression, Del's dark eyes seemed to glow with fury as she held her right fist in the air as though she were the one dangling the young girl by her roots. It clicked for the team after a moment that she was the one doing it.

"Who the fuck are you, hedge, and why the fuck would you do this?"

But the girl only screamed and continued to struggle against the invisible grip on her hair. Del rolled her eyes and made a flicking motion with her left thumb and middle finger, and the girl's mouth was suddenly shut tightly, the sounds muffled. Del raised her hand slightly higher in the air, pulling the girl entirely off the floor by her hair as tears poured down her face. Derek moved forward as though he could stop what was happening, but found himself halted in his tracks by an unseen force. Spencer had extended one hand, thumb and forefinger pressed together as the other three fingers curled inward. He was the one holding Derek in place.

"Don't," he said lowly, just loud enough for the whole team to hear. His tone was almost dangerous. "On this campus, Del is the law. This girl played around with something much bigger than she's capable of comprehending, and she needs to be taught that childish actions have adult consequences. There is no black and white with magic. There is no good and bad, or right and wrong. Only cause and effect." Turning back to his wife, Spencer released the magical hold on his friend.

Del had by now lowered the girl back onto her toes and scrubbed the silencing spell, though she still kept a tight magical grip on her hair. "Answer me." But she only whimpered again.

"Her name is Julia, she and Quentin used to be best friends," the fringed student supplied, recognizing her for the first time. Dean Fogg's head turned in his direction.

"Eliot?"

The student, now identified as Eliot, shifted a little uncomfortably. "She practices with a bunch of other hedge bitches in Brooklyn. They, uh...they somehow came to be in possession of a book from the Physical Cottage's library...and Quentin and I went to get it...and they sort of had a yelling match in the street about her slumming it." He said the last part quickly, like ripping off an adhesive bandage.

Del looked back to Julia with disgust, releasing her grip on the girl's hair, who fell to the floor and clutched her head in relief. "You goddamn child. You did this to get back at him for a stupid argument? Did you even think about how a spell like this could affect someone like Quentin? How could you even - Oh! I remember you! You're the brat that told Professor March your failed entrance exam was a mistake - I believe you accused us of only taking 'sheep' who don't ask questions? Fucking arrogance. I don't know how you got caught up with those lowlifes, but if this-" she gestured harshly at the unconscious young man on her couch, "-is a reflection of the quality of your judgement, then that's exactly where you belong."

"I didn't mean for this to happen!" Julia cried angrily.

"Well it happened!" Del thundered back at her, voice too large and too loud for such a tiny woman. "And now he may never wake up, and guess what, hedge? It's your fault!"

Julia had scrambled to her feet now, and was pleading with Dean Fogg, looking for sympathy or understanding. "Look, I can help, I can give you the exact wording of the spell."

But the dean was hard and resolute, though not as anger-fueled as his head of security. "It's too late."

"It was just supposed to be a joke," she sniffed.

"Yeah, bullshit," Eliot said cuttingly. "You did it to get even."

"Fuck you, somebody help him!"

"If I had the exact spell wording one hour ago-" the dean cut himself off, his meaning clear.

"There's got to be something," she cried.

"Do you have any idea where he is right now?" Penny asked her. "Why would you do this?"

"She didn't," the dean answered for her. "Not by herself. Did you?"

Julia shook her head a minuscule amount.

"Who helped you?" Del demanded. When she didn't answer, Del took a menacing step closer. "Tell me or I'll rip it from your mind myself, and I'm no Psychic. It will be messy and it will be excruciating, and I'll probably leave you a vegetable by the time I'm done. Something tells me I'd be okay with that."

The vicious indifference in her tone at the idea of permanently disabling someone gave the BAU members pause, exchanging glances of concern and disbelief. Del was seeming more and more like the kind of person they chased down and put away, not the kind of person Spencer would fall in love with. Only Rossi continued to observe indifferently.

Pale and shaking, Julia was obviously terrified, but still appeared hesitant to answer. Del growled and began to move her hands in another spell, but was interrupted by Quentin shooting up on the couch, the Matarese flying from his throat as he coughed and struggled to breathe. All heads turned to him except Del and Spencer, who shot towards each other and began immediately weaving another spell. In moments, the shimmering lines and script had appeared and faded again, indicating the wards had been successfully reset.

"Hey," Eliot said with obvious relief, sitting on the back of the couch and placing a hand on Quentin's head as the young man tried to orient himself. "Somebody woke up."

"Took your damn time," Penny added.

Quentin could only moan as he gasped for breath.

"Somebody get him some brandy," Dean Fogg said, the barest hint of a smile in his voice.

"Somebody get all of us some brandy," Del corrected.

Eliot shot to his feet immediately, strutting towards Del's wetbar. "Flying in." As he looked back to check how many glasses he'd need for everyone, he stopped in his tracks. "Wait. Where's the hedge bitch?" The entire room turned to where Julia had been standing seconds ago, but she was gone.

This was longer than I wanted it to be, but if I were to cut it in a place that makes sense it would be shorter than I'm happy with, so I went with it.

So Del can be pretty fucking cruel. Is it who she really is, or part of her role as 'the law' of the school? Or maybe a complicated mixture of both?