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“Let me guess…”
Brian smiled over at Mia, watching her as she turned to him as he walked in.
“Tuna sandwich, no crust,” Mia offered, rolling her eyes in amusement.
“Got it in one,” Brian said, grinning at her and winking.
Mia laughed and turned to wash her hands.
Brian grinned and glanced over to the backroom of the market, raising an eyebrow as he saw Dominic Toretto and that same man. Toretto was reading over something, a newspaper or a letter or something that Brian couldn’t really see from here, a bottle of beer right next to him. Toretto’s white tank top had a new grease stain in it and Brian swallowed at the bare skin and muscle that it showed before he shrugged it off, filing it away.
The other man was pointing at something on the paper or page, talking quietly. The other man… whom Brian didn’t know a thing about. Not his name, his age or where he was from. The guy was clearly in close with the Torettos, sharing smiles with both Mia and Toretto. Medium length messy black hair that fell down past his ears and bright green eyes. English accent. The guy had walked past him once or twice on the way to the backroom, to talk with Toretto about… something. Brian never was close enough to overhear what they talked about but they seemed close.
Friends, definitely.
And that scar. The scar on the guy’s forehead. That stood out like a freight train but Brian hadn’t been able to find any criminal in the Los Angeles area with a scar like that. Maybe he would talk to Tanner about it or maybe Bilkins would know. The guy was an FBI agent. They’d probably have a better criminal database.
“Here, Brian,” Mia finally said, clearing her throat to draw his attention.
“That the white boy?”
“Vince ain’t nervous about you,” Dom remarked, giving Harry a pointed glance. “He knows you’re good.”
Harry’s lips twitched up into a small grin, seeing today’s edition of the Daily Prophet on the table out of the corner of his eyes. Their reporters had more or less given up in following him a year after the war but there were still some… junior staff who got the occasional photo of him. The paper that showed up on the doorsteps of witches and wizards in the US was quite different though still a little intrusive.
“He’s pretty,” Harry said, turning to look behind them, catching those vivid blue eyes. After a few seconds and watching as the guy and Mia talked for another minute, he turned back to Dom.
Dom snorted. “Don’t let Vince hear you say that.”
“What? Vince have something for the guy?”
Dom laughed and Harry smiled at the sound, his heart skipping a beat. “Nah. Vince is just worried about his standing with Mia.”
The roar of finely tuned cars filled the street in front of the market and Harry grinned a little.
“Dom, you want something to drink?” Letty called out as the rest of the family streamed in. They could both hear Jesse and Leon chattering amongst each other, talking about how they could improve that one part of their car. Vince was for once, quiet, and Harry’s eyes widened a little. Vince was never this quiet. He shared a glance with Dom as the other man held up his beer.
He heard Mia yell over to Vince, wondering if he wanted something, and then sucked in a sharp breath as his eyes caught on a headline. It was one headline, one that threw his day right off the tracks.
“What?” Dom asked, raising an eyebrow.
“It’s…” Harry trailed off, idly listening into what was going on in the main part of the store. He heard the newbie stand up to leave, dropping some cash on the counter, chair scraping against the floor, and then Vince yelled. Harry was too focused on Vince blowing up, on Mia yelling for Dom to intervene in the fight that he almost didn’t hear the quiet cracks. The tell tale cracks of apparition.
“What’d you put in that sandwich?” Dom questioned, standing up and looking out at the street behind them.
Harry’s eyes narrowed as he followed Dom’s gaze, seeing Vince go at it with the outsider. His eyes narrowed further as he saw an unfamiliar man and woman walk over to sit calmly at one of the picnic tables outside of the market. They were both dressed like non magical people, suits and ties, but they were quite clearly not. It looked like they were uncomfortable in their clothing, possibly more comfortable in robes and cloaks and pretty fabrics.
Dom stepped through the door of the backroom and headed out to break up Vince and the other guy, his eyes flashing. Harry followed and veered over to the table, half his attention on Dom and Vince.
“Mr Potter?”
“Yeah?”
The woman stood up and held out her hand, flinching a little as Dom bodily tore Vince away. The other guy started to go for Vince again only to run into Dom’s other outstretched hand, breathing hard and his bright blue eyes lit up. Harry snorted in amusement, licking his suddenly dry lips as he watched Dom stand between the two men.
“Real subtle. You’re clearly not with them,” Harry remarked, shrugging.
“You’re right. We’re with the local branch of MACUSA. We’d like you to come with us.”
Harry raised an eyebrow, hearing Dom ask Jesse for the guy’s ID, hearing him read out the information.
“Brian Earl Spilner? That sounds like the name of a serial killer,” Dom offered, voice deadly low, the threat of violence still near the surface. “That what you are?”
“And why would I come with you?” Harry asked, turning to face the two entirely. “I sent MACUSA my papers. Besides, that law that prohibits magicals from befriending nonmagical people--”
“No-Maj’s.”
Harry frowned, listening to Brian say that he wasn’t a serial killer. His lips twitched even as he dropped his arms to the back of the chair he was standing in front of. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“No-Maj. It’s what we call them here. Best know that.”
Harry grimaced and then sat down, crossed his legs and stared at the witch and wizard across from him. “ We ? It’s not what I call them. And please… we all know I could totally kick your asses here so I won’t do us all the disrespect of calling a duel. There’s no reason to--”
The man and woman both paled a little bit, their own power combined only the size of a lake compared to his.
“These two bothering you?”
Harry shivered at Dom’s voice and knew the man was standing behind him, even if he hadn’t heard him walk up. “Nope. We’re only having a disagreement on terms. Casual, friendly even.”
“Mr Potter, please. I don’t wish to start anything. Our office would like you to come in however.”
Harry raised an eyebrow. “Your office? To what? I sent in my papers when I arrived in the US. I’m fine.”
“We’d like to question you.”
“You didn’t do anything, did you?” Dom questioned, a hint of something in his voice. Something that rather sounded a lot like protectiveness. Or it could have been amusement. Amusement with a tinge of protectiveness.
“No. Not to my knowledge,” Harry answered before standing up. “That law is not in effect anymore. I don’t even know where the local office is besides. You’re too well dug in. It’s like you guys are ghosts in this country. I know there were the Salem witch trials. I know.”
The woman let out a strangled sound at him mentioning the witch trials. “You told this man about--”
“He knows,” Harry remarked, jerking a thumb to where Dom stood next to him. “And if you have a problem with that, you let me know. I’m here for a year. Then I’m heading back to England.”
“He needs to be--”
“He doesn’t need to be anything,” Harry cautioned, his eyes narrowing, his voice raising just a little bit. “You touch anyone here, behind me in the market, I’m going straight to the president’s office in New York. Or not. I’m fully capable of… things that would give you nightmares.”
He heard Dom inhale sharply next to him but the man didn’t comment otherwise.
“But--”
“But nothing. The Torettos are under my protection,” Harry said, raising an eyebrow and swiftly turned around, meeting Dom’s eyes.
Dom’s eyes narrowed and then his lips quirked up into something that wasn’t quite a smile but wasn’t quite a frown. Harry saw Letty, Jesse, Leon and Mia watching them, most of them not even pretending not to be. Vince was nowhere to be seen and neither was Brian. Harry flipped them off and Mia laughed, her brown eyes sparking with amusement. Jesse grinned and Letty snorted, her shoulders loose and her eyes narrowed in what might have been a hint of worry.
The witch and wizard finally stood up and walked out into the street, probably heading to apparate out. Dom sighed and nudged Harry back towards the market with a sun warmed hand on his shoulder.
“Get your point across?”
Harry snorted, feeling the heat that came from Dom’s fingers. “I should hope so.”
“That what you meant by getting yelled at?”
“That? I’ve had worse,” Harry said, shrugging. “I suppose I shouldn’t have raced with you two weeks ago. I shouldn’t have filled you in.”
Dom stared at him as Harry sat down on one of the stools at the counter.
“Are you a spy?” Jesse questioned, walking over to sit on the stool next to him. “MI-6? Were those your handlers?”
Harry blinked and then cracked up, smiling widely. Dom smiled faintly, something dark in his eyes that Harry couldn’t decipher. Not yet but it made his heart skip a beat or two.
“No. I’m not MI-6,” Harry finally offered, raising his voice so that the others could hear him. “They did question me though in June of 1998. That was an interesting afternoon.”
“Interesting?” Letty asked.
“Yeah. Didn’t expect to get kidnapped by MI-6 and then meet the queen all in one day,” Harry remarked wryly.
Mia blinked. “You met the queen?”
“Yeah. She’s… I’m kind of a big deal in a few circles over there,” Harry offered hesitantly.
“You got kidnapped?” Dom questioned, his eyes narrowing.
“More or less. One minute I got stuffed into an anonymous car, blindfolded, and then taken to their secret lair,” Harry said, grinning at the memory.
“MI-6 has a secret lair?” Leon echoed, his eyes widening in disbelief.
“I think the company line is that they don’t,” Harry offered, shrugging in bemusement. “So… Vince and Brian…”
“Brian’s working for Harry, the one who owns the repair shop,” Dom explained, frowning in thought. “He said he just started working. Jesse, mind doing a lookup on Brian Earl Spilner?”
“Sure, Dom.”
“Did his ID say anything unusual?” Harry questioned, looking between Letty and Dom.
“No. Just said he’s from Arizona,” Dom said, his shoulders curling and uncurling. His eyes darkened before he shrugged. “I’m gonna go back to the garage.”
“My computer’s over there,” Jesse said. “I’ll go with you.”
Harry took a minute before standing up. He quickly strode into the backroom and scooped up his pack, slinging it over a shoulder. “I’ll come with. Need to grade some papers anyway. I like listening to you guys work.”
Dom nodded and Harry fell into step with him, sliding right into the passenger seat of Dom’s car.
“There’s a race tonight if you’re interested,” Dom remarked as they drove off.
Harry turned in the seat as the car rumbled underneath them, as they drove through the streets of Los Angeles back to the Toretto garage. “Yeah? Am I invited? There a special password that I need to know or something?”
Dom grinned. “Nah, nothing like that. I’ll just say you’re my bonus plus one.”
“Won’t Letty say anything about that?”
“We’re not together right now,” Dom remarked quietly, stopping at a traffic light. Harry watched his fingers flex and curl tighter around the steering wheel.
“Shouldn’t have told Jesse or Leon about MI-6 and a possible secret lair,” Harry said, glancing out the window.
Dom turned to look at him as the light turned green.
“I totally know where it is,” Harry added, smiling faintly. “Courtesy of magic and all that.”
Dom laughed, his eyes crinkling up at the corners. “So you’re not really MI-6 then?”
“Nah. I’m my own man right now aside from the teaching job.”
“That same guy was there today,” Brian muttered over the phone.
Tanner was silent for a minute. “Black hair, green eyes?”
“Yeah. In the backroom with Toretto. Could be worth looking into.”
“You think he’s the one doing the truck heists?”
“I don’t know where or who his crew is,” Brian said, shrugging as he wheeled himself under the Eclipse. It was already painted a bright green that almost matched the strange man’s eyes, almost. The guy’s eyes were as intense as Toretto’s were, bright and lethal. And yet… Brian had seen a little heat in them as he had looked over at him. “But it’s possible. You go looking through the database yet?”
“We did. I was just about to look through the state database for him. That scar you mentioned should be easy to match.”
Brian nodded and didn’t say anything as he screwed the bottles of NOS into the car. He could hear a phone ring and then Tanner muttered under his breath, probably picking up the other phone on the desk.
“Shit.”
“What?” Brian asked, peering out into the late afternoon sun. He wondered what Toretto was doing, where his team was. Wondered if they were the ones stealing from trucks. They didn’t seem like it though. Toretto was calm, for the most part, protective of his own. He had seen Toretto walk over to where his friend had approached the two suits, after dealing with him and Vince.
“It’s a number from England.”
Brian blinked. “The guy was approached by two suits. Don’t know which agency they were from but they were clearly there to question the guy.”
“You’re telling me this now?”
“Yeah. I thought it wasn’t relevant.”
Tanner swore. “Let me take this call and then I’ll call you back.”
“So… O’Conner, that was MI-6.”
Brian twitched and stood up to lean against the car in front of him. “MI-6?”
“Yep. They told me to stay away from their guy.”
“Their guy? As in...”
“They didn’t outright say anything explicitly but…”
“Did they at least give you a name?”
“Potter. Harry Potter. He’s from England. Born in 1980.”
“So he’s an MI-6 agent.”
“They didn’t say he was.”
Brian laughed into the phone and Tanner stayed silent.
“Why the fuck is MI-6 interested in the Torettos?”
“Brian, they didn’t say Potter was an agent.”
“He’s undercover then. Ah fuck. That complicates things a little bit.”
“You think?”