Roses Under Cypresses

Chapter 14

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked grinning at the sight of Robin Walker, looking like he wanted to embrace him like old friends. He didn't, and neither did Robin move to do so, Robin straightened up, smoothed out his jacket and shirt, a minor show of nerves, either that or discomfort. "You here for me?" Harry asked, cocking his head to the side, observing Robin intently, smacking him on the shoulder in a show of camaraderie, "Excuse me," he said, once again reminded that Will had done too much too soon as always.

Robin's gaze migrated towards Will, before giving a nod, "Of course," and he stepped aside, but made absolutely no move to enter the property. Property he knew belonged to William Graham; it would be different if it belonged to Harry since they were at least moderately familiar with one another.

That added the fact he genuinely didn't know what spells were up on the property to protect it. Legally there couldn't be anything too harmful, since it was smack dab in the No-Maj world. Not only that but this was a known address of a federal agent, and other Federal Agents would come and go. Or rather what was an Ex-federal agent now.

Although, from what the rest of the team thought, it wouldn't be for long.

A few moments later, Harry returned out onto the porch, "You're not here for old times sake, or for me," was the first thing out of Harry's mouth. Robin wouldn't be this discomfited otherwise, and that was all without reading his mind, not that he could. Robin, while a squib, had grown up in the magical world until he didn't get his Hogwarts letter. He knew the ins and outs of the world, including how to protect himself and his mind.

"No, I'm not," Robin agreed, a little tense but nowhere near as troubled as he could be which eased Harry's worries considerably.

"What do they want?" Harry asked, narrowing his eyes speculation coursing through him, and each speculation was probably highly likely. Nowadays Harry actually used the smarts he had been born with, but hidden just to make his life better, easier.

"Are you legally still Will Graham's conservator?" Robin asked professionally, authoritative, most definitely not asking as a friend.

Harry responded in kind, a mask falling over his features, as he stared Robin down, if that was the way he wanted it then so be it. "No, it was a temporary measure to protect him from Jack Crawford." The conservatorship was already defunct, he added that much to Robin.

Robin blanched; he hadn't seen that look fall over Harry's face in the time he knew him. Admittedly it had been a while since they saw each other last. He nonetheless waited on an answer, and the smell of breakfast began to waft out the slightly open doorway. Which he had no doubt, Will Graham would be listening intently to everything they were saying. He knew he would be should someone show up at his door uninvited. He was also not surprised by Harry's answer, he had known Will's Conservatorship had been a temporary thing. "Then I would prefer to speak to both of you, when you have a moment." Hoping to do so now, but not expecting it. To ask or expect anyone to just drop everything they have planned was just not done.

Hopefully he hadn't just pissed off Harry Potter.

"Well, Will, do you want to talk? Do you feel up to it?" Harry didn't even bother raising his voice, merely stared upwards, to the sky, waiting on a reply. Harry hadn't thought for a second Will would stand idly by and just leave him to his conversation.

Robin smothered his amusement, glancing out at the field's lips twitching madly, so much for remaining professional.

"Fine," came the muffled reply, sounding as if he had a mouthful of food perhaps?

"You heard the man," Harry stated, his amusement obvious, "Do you want to join us for breakfast?" knowing without a doubt, that same as him, that most times they didn't bother with breakfast before going in for the day. There was no doubt that Kreacher had made more than enough for three people and then some.

"I'd appreciate that," Robin agreed, extremely pleased to see some of Harry's former warmth beginning to return to his voice. He was very intimidating when he had his professional mask on, and he wondered if the wizard even realized it. Then again, he summarised, it was probably done years ago, to curtail being approached by the United Kingdom's magical wizardkind.

"Come on in then," Harry said, opening the door and holding it open, Will was eating breakfast in his favourite chair – which had survived the Crime scene Investigators searching. There was at least a real kitchen, but no kitchen table for them to sit at.

Or there hadn't been, as Harry flicked his wand and a fancy circle table enough to sit four appeared, along with chairs.

"Doctor Graham." Robin said, inclining his head, making no move to actually shake the man's hand, well aware of his social reclusively. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me today." It had nothing to do with the fact that he was eating, and not in any ill-mannered way.

Harry gave Robin an amused look, "Whatever you want must be big, I haven't seen you sucking up so much in a while." he teased the older man, who gave a bark of laughter, not at all bothered by Harry's teasing, it did help him relax a little, the atmosphere was much too tense for his liking.

The only thing they didn't really know was how the two had met. Will Graham is a loner. It's not exactly easy to coalesce and see where their lives had intersected. He found himself unendingly curious about that, and hoped to one day actually find out where their lives had intersected.

Harry set their plates down, not bothering with formal seating or dining. Kreacher hadn't brought anything like that here anyway. He was very pleased though when Will stood and made his way over and joined him. Harry smiled at Will, thanking him silently. He knew this was a little bit difficult for his brother.

They ate breakfast in relative silence and comfort, enjoying the spread that Kreacher had made for him and Will. It was by no means an American spread, far from it, it was a British fry up. Will, like Harry, had gone hungry a lot too much to ever be too terribly fussy. Robin had done enough travelling that eating something that he didn't normally consume on a day-to-day basis wasn't too odd.

"It's been too long," he said in satisfaction as he drank the remains of his coffee.

"It has," Harry agreed, "It's been a while since I sat down to a home cooked meal." He'd been on the road near constant for years hunting down the last of the Death Eaters. Now he was going to be using his skills he'd utilised to find the Death Eaters to hunt down the world's most wanted.

Will shifted his cup around absently, leaving Harry to do the whole social thing. Or tried to, but the muted emotions told him the guy was here for him. "What do you want me for?"

Harry just smiled in amusement, observing them with sharp green eyes, behind that observation was curiosity.

Harry was just as curious as Will was about what this was all about.

"Refill?" Harry asked, having refilled his own cup, and with an enthusiastic nod, Harry refilled all of them.

"You want something from me," Will stated, confident and assured of his own deductions, and he had a right to be. Everything was so crystal clear that it was almost breathtakingly amazing. He could see and feel things with startling clarity. Of course, it might have something to do with the fact he was in his own home as well.

Arching his brow, Harry's attention solidified on Robin, "What does the magical sector want with Will?" suspicious to the extreme.

Will straightened from his slouched position, "Magical sector?" he questioned cautiously.

"Robin Walker is a squib as you know, and works as the head of the M/BAU but primarily BAU he's above even William Clyde in terms of rank and hierarchy." Harry told him, "He mostly works within the Magical Behavioural Analysis Unit but is known in the BAU."

Will nodded, "I recognize his name," he was an avid reader, even if his home didn't showcase that at the moment. "You've solved a few of the biggest cases." By biggest cases, he meant the serial killers with the highest body count. "The Bone thief amongst them." grimacing a little at the god-awful name, journalists were truly the worst of humanity he thought darkly.

Robin flushed a little, "Been a few years since then," he hadn't done anything even remotely half way as public since then. Not that he was doing what he did for publicity. He was in the wrong sector if fame had been what he wanted. He just didn't expect anyone so young to know who he was, let alone his second most public case, even if it involved a serial killer, not all of them ended up sensationalised by the media thank Merlin.

"I am getting impatient, Robin, you're stalling, badly." Harry stated, his tone dry.

Will snorted his amusement into his coffee cup. This man respected Harry, a lot, but also had a healthy dose of fear for him. He wondered if it stemmed from his ability to defeat Voldemort or if it was just something picked up elsewhere.

Robin inhaled sharply, before digging his entire arm into his inner jacket pocket. Will watched with fascination, sure he knew about the magical world, had saw his share of magic performed, but it was still fascinating. "I need you both to sign this non-disclosure agreement for anything spoken about in this meeting to anyone outside of this room. It's active for exactly six months." By then he should have a good case that any rumours or warnings would be for naught.

Harry took both copies, and read through them as Robin drank his second cup of coffee. It was really good, but given that it belonged to a Lord he wasn't surprised it was the good stuff. Harry didn't just do a quick read, he read everything slowly and deliberately. Thank Merlin it was a very, very simple NDA. "Here," Harry said, content that there was nothing concerning, he didn't tell Will what it said, he let him read it himself.

"What are you up to, Robin?" Harry asked suspiciously, as he signed his name, the magic in the NDA flared to life, binding him to his word. "Are you after a Muggle?" it was the only way his and Will's life intersected, and better still, Robin was here mostly for Will but knew he was here.

"I am," Robin declared, unsurprised by Harry's quick deduction.

"You're after Jack," Will deduced, leaning back.

"Yes," Robin surprise flaring within him, it would seem that Harry's friends and acquaintances were just as sharp as he was. "But please, sign the NDA."

"I'm not magical," Will pointed out, signing it, "Will it even affect me?"

"You are magical," Harry told him, "You have the rarest sort of magic, one of the most coveted." Outside of actually having active magic of course, which goes without saying. The flaring of the magic from the NDA proved that.

Both of them were handed back to Robin who was quick to spirit them away as if expecting Harry to set fire to them. which to be fair was a big possibility, Harry had done it in the past after getting the information he sought. The smile on Harry's face as he moved proved that Harry still vividly recalled it and still found it funny. He huffed a little, but there were no grudges held, Harry had kept silent on the matter.

"Blaise put you on to him, didn't he?" Harry asked, realization sinking in. "What did he find?" that would lead to an actual investigation into Jack Crawford? He personally didn't like the fucker, but it was personal. He'd arrested will, the case wasn't exactly thin but he'd known Will…Crawford had too, but no.

"I cannot comment on an ongoing investigation, you know that," Robin sighed, "I do have some questions I need to ask you, but the question is…are you too biased to answer honestly?" deliberately winding Will up, just to see how he'd react, whether he'd be pissed at the assumption on his person or whether he'd get defensive of Jack.

"Jack isn't a serial killer," Will said, "I would have known." And he would have.

"No, but he is the reason that potentially dozens of people are dead," Robin declared, eyes darkening, showing he was no longer kidding around.

Will stiffened, the urge to say 'Impossible!' very strong, but he didn't feel it, it was just some remnant of an emotion from the past that had suffused him. "Ask your questions." He said, running his hand through his messy curly hair, a show of anxiety. Which surprisingly was entirely his own, and tolerable compared to how he usually felt.

"How would you describe Jack Crawford as a boss?" Robin asked, as he set the Quick Quill up so that it wrote down everything they said.

"He was my boss, demanding, angry, determined, right now he's under a lot of strain his wife is dying." Will said it utterly blankly. "He's good at what he does." Not elaborating on what exactly Jack 'did' at the end of the day.

"You were sick, did you ever get time off?" Robin asked, well aware, he had a copy of his medical history.

Will laughed, it was bitter and sardonic, "No, any attempts I made to take the day off, I was all but dragged out of my bed being told that 'the deaths would be on my hands'."

Harry inhaled sharply, baring his teeth but remaining silent, seething furious over what he was hearing.

"So, you were blackmailed." Robin prompted.

"I guess that's a good way of putting it." Will nodded, finishing his coffee off, looking tired and wary now.

"Emotionally and mentally abused," Robin said quietly, "I don't think there's something he hasn't done all for the greater good." Wincing at the verbal growl Harry let loose, oh yes, he definitely didn't like that word whatsoever.

Will smacked his hand on Harry's arm, squeezing in reassurance, "I'm alright,"

"Would you be willing to give examples, memories of these incidents?" Robin asked, continuing despite how hostile Harry seemed to be at the moment.

"Are you familiar with the name Carver Clunes?" Robin asked, shifting to the next question.

Will frowned, "I have Eidetic memory, I have a vague recollection of it, but I cannot recall in which capacity it was bought up in." by vague it must have been raised once or twice, but not interesting enough for him to keep it in the memory banks and discarded it as useless.

"How about Raymond Grimes?" Robin questioned.

"I think I'm a little more familiar with him, he was an up-and-coming agent, he was killed, he's a hero," Will said, one of the rare ones with a star on the wall, despite not being officially an agent he had died for his country.

Robin nodded, smart man, he was surprised, not many actually remembered these ones. "How about Stella Bradley?"

"She decided against being an agent, even now there's a few in the department that said it was a shame, she would have done really well." Will said, his remarkable mind able to recall who was what and what he remembered at the drop of a hat.

Robin scoffed, unprofessionally showing his own biased, but given what he had read, it was no surprise. "Miriam Lass?"

Will blinked, a sinking feeling began to circle his gut, "Um, she went missing, she was missing presumed dead. It's said she went off the reservation investigating the Chesapeake Ripper with authorisation or backup."

"And Clarice Darling?" Robin gave Will a pointed look.

"Pretty much the same," Will said the sinking feeling becoming like lead in his stomach.

"Those are only the names that I've dug up as of yet, you have no idea how lucky you are, do you, Doctor Graham?" Robin said seriously, "Stella Bradley was very difficult to track down, she didn't want to talk at first, but she eventually did, and what she had to say, she felt sure she wouldn't be believed due to Jack Crawford's reputation." Unimpressed.

"How is she?" Harry asked sympathetically.

"Well of the grid," he stated, "Let's not get started on the mass number of complaints that have been routinely and blatantly buried monthly. The verbal abuse complaints take up an entire box, and those are only the written ones, if I had access to the electronic one's I'd find thousand more."

Will cringed, yeah, there would be a lot of verbal abuse.

"Most recent one I read was the one where an agent was verbally hollered at for entering the men's room with the demands, they use the female toilets if it was true." Robin said, lips entirely pursed, if the agent had he could have been sued, seen as a deviant sex offender. It was disgraceful, it truly was that a team leader could do that. To act in such an unprofessional manner was abhorrent. To ignore that unprofessional behaviour was worse.

"It's true," Will confessed, clenching his hand into a fist, "Jack was pissed that he didn't understand my analysis of the crime scene. I told him that Garrett Jacob Hobbs wasn't a psychopath that he loved these women and wanted to consume them…it wasn't what he wanted to hear." He was always right, but Jack nine times out of ten wanted someone else to tell him what he already had. He shrugged his shoulders, showcasing it was a normalised occurrence that he hadn't really thought much of it.

Robin nodded solemnly, "Utterly disgraceful behaviour."

Harry crossed his arms and continued to listen; this wasn't the only reason Robin was here, otherwise he wouldn't have come personally. There was still something he wanted to ask Will, and he had a sinking feeling he knew exactly what Robin was going to ask of Will.

"Has Jack ever…encouraged you to act outside of protocol?" Robin ventured on.

"He…encouraged me to see a therapist to keep me 'straight in the saddle' and encouraged that therapist to sign me up as able to work without even an hour conversation." Will said, a wicked gleam in his eye, he'd like to see how Hannibal got himself out of this one.

Harry's mouth screwed up in a 'o' moue as he supressed his exasperated amusement. That wasn't leaving Hannibal Lecter alone, but it also wasn't attacking him so fair enough.

"Can I have their details?" Robin asked, unimpressed with what he was hearing, but lately it felt like that all the time when it came to getting information about Crawford.

Will easily gave the details over, having long since memorised them.

"He has a sick daughter at the moment, try going at a decent time," Harry commented.

"Any other incidents?" Robin asked, giving Harry a nod of understanding.

"He always tells us to get 'it' done and he doesn't care how that we're 'just to do it'," Will commented, his stomach churning at the thought of Jack purposefully putting people in danger like Miriam and Clarice.

Harry's eyes steadily got narrower and narrower as Robin continued to ask questions that had basically already answered. He was either trying to catch Will in a lie – unlikely to ever happen – or he was stalling. "Enough. What do you want, Robin?" he demanded when Robin was half way through asking for any incidents with Crawford while he was teaching.

Robin sighed, nodding resignedly, "I apologise for the run around, I wanted to see how amendable to the idea you'd be."

"You want me to report to you about Crawford's coming and goings." Will spoke, it was overwhelming how easily he could read him. He wasn't used to being able to read someone so thoroughly, it was genuinely quite terrifying. Or would be if he wasn't used to it.

"You are having trouble with evidence?" Harry asked him somewhat aghast.

"I need time to collect all the evidence, and you would only be going back in for a few weeks a month at most." He reassured him immediately, as if somehow it would make Will agree much easier.

"And what exactly do you expect Will to do? What's the point?" Harry stressed out, narrowing his eyes, there was more to this than met the eye. He was sure of it.

A/n – I feel much more comfortable writing with a plan in motion 😊 and it's thanks to a few folk that I got my ass into gear with those plans 😉 Tiff, Vanessa thank you 😊 they've helped me a lot these past few days in getting these chapters out! So, Will will actually go back to work for Jack for a few weeks? Will they be able to get evidence? Will Jack go to court over the allegations? Or will he go 'mysteriously missing' just before he could be arrested and be presumed on the run?

And it's came to my attention I've been spelling Mischa's name wrong :O I've been spelling it Misha yikes and oops! I'm going to start spelling it the right way starting now since it's not too badly wrong I'm going to leave it unless I really do need to give it an edit then I'll fix it too x