Chapter One: The Loneliest Number

Author note: This story is the twenty-ninth in the Magical Flashpoint series. It follows "West of the Moon".

Although all original characters belong to me, I do not own Flashpoint, Harry Potter, Narnia, or Merlin.

Previously

The explosion roared like nothing Roy had ever heard before, not from a movie and not on the job. A second explosion followed the first, a shockwave of sound and thunder that pounded at both men, echoing into the night. Debris rained down around them, deflected by Onasi's hasty shield spell. Around them, the grass lit, fire glowing an instant before going out. Roy's ears rang as he pushed himself up, staring in shock at the building – or rather, what was left of it. Fire raged in the shell, licking at the jutting timbers and jagged walls.

As the world blurred around the Narnian Knights, gunshots rang out and they saw the Unspeakable fall. Several bullets also flew through where the Knights were standing, but Time itself had already pulled them away. When the blurring stopped, the Knights found themselves in the men's locker room at SRU Headquarters.

Submachine guns came up over the barricade, their owners checking their aim for the briefest of moments before opening fire. In less than twenty seconds, it was done; the Death Eaters were down and the last of the threat to both worlds halted in its tracks. Team One moved, Wordy and Sam taking down the barricade to let their teammates through and the rest of the team heading down the stairs with yells of, "SRU! Don't move!" and "Weapons on the ground!"

Lord Malfoy's smile was so triumphant and cruel that Greg felt his heart sink in dread. "So…you are the new Head of the House of Lestrange." Lord Malfoy leaned in, his eyes dancing with anticipation. "According to your records, you are nothing more than a Squib. A Squib, such as yourself, cannot be the Head of a magical family. As the legitimate proxy for the House of Lestrange, I charge you with line theft, Kevin Lestrange!"

Now

The day I end up working with a Lestrange is the day I turn in my badge, Miss Skeeter!

What a way to eat his words, even if Skeeter didn't remember him saying them. Giles felt his jaw drop in shock and horror. Wordy…a Lestrange? No way, no how…it was impossible. Everyone knew who the Lestranges were, what the Lestranges had done. Except…Wordy wasn't arguing, wasn't protesting…

"Wordsworth," Wordy snapped, his shoulders bunching with fury. "Not," he sneered right back at the arrogant aristocrat, "Lestrange." Teeth flashed in a parody of a grin. "I changed the family name, remember?"

What? He…is a Lestrange?

"The Lestranges are their closest remaining blood relatives…"

"Unfortunately, without you and your, shall we say, preeminent blood claim, the Heirs Calvin are left vulnerable to the same elements that made them orphans."

Greg reeled in shock, the idea that Wordy was not only related to the kids, but was closer to them than he was…it hurt, felt like an almost physical blow. What was even worse was that neither Wordy nor the kids looked surprised, just angry at the pale haired aristocrat.

"The names of families cannot be changed on a whim," Lord Malfoy observed silkily.

"And it wasn't," Wordy snapped. "As I'm sure you already know; my family name was changed magically, after I took Headship." The husky constable stepped forward, deliberately getting in Lord Malfoy's personal space. "Since you're a member of the Wizengamot, you should already know that both my Headship and my family name change were certified by Gringotts."

Another ripple of shock ran around the room.

"Hey, Ed, you want to come in and meet my family's new proxy?"

"Since when does your family have a proxy?"

A verbal shrug. "Has to do with the inheritance test I had Claire take right after everything with that louse, Anderson."

Oh. "I'll be right there, Wordy."

Proxy. He'd had all the pieces, but he hadn't put them together…hadn't realized that his best friend was suddenly up to his neck in British magical politics. For crying out loud, he'd even met Lord Neville Longbottom, Wordy's new family proxy.

Lord Malfoy didn't even twitch. "Indeed," he agreed, "The documents submitted to the Wizengamot were certified by Gringotts. However," his gaze raked the constable. "Given your clearly documented status as a Squib, it is impossible that you could take the Headship of the House of Lestrange legally. Only a wizard may take the Headship of a magical family."

"Hey, Sam?"

Sam looked up at his teammate, surprised by how uncertain Wordy looked. "What's up, Wordy?"

Wordy shifted, still uncertain, but plunging forward. "We, uh, we took Claire to get an inheritance test at Gringotts."

The sniper's brows hiked and then he realized where Wordy was going. "You?"

"Both of us, actually," Wordy admitted. "But, um, turns out my family doesn't exactly have the best reputation."

Well, that was one way to put it, Sam decided, struggling to keep from gaping. He knew, better than the rest of Team One, what the history of the Wizarding Wars was, knew what the Lestranges had done. Wordy was…a Lestrange?

"Therefore," Lord Malfoy continued, triumph in his voice, "you must have manipulated the ritual to take the Headship and the subsequent ritual to alter your family name."

"And how would I do that?" Wordy asked sarcastically. "Not to mention, since I did both rituals at Gringotts, how, exactly, do you think I tricked the goblins?"

Jules walked into the workout room to see Wordy and Sam deep in discussion; when she walked over, both men jumped and gave her guilty looks. "Hi guys," she greeted, ignoring the guilty expressions. "What's up?"

Wordy drew in a breath, looking like he was bracing himself. "Well, found out where Claire gets her magic from."

The brunette constable cocked her head to the side. "Shelley?"

A sheepish look. "Both of us, actually. Afterwards, 'Lanna quipped something about Romeo and Juliet."

Jules' laugh rang out. "I'm sure it's not that bad, Wordy," she reassured her teammate.

Now she wasn't so sure; Sam looked like he'd just been hit with a sledgehammer, Sarge like he'd been betrayed, and Giles like he was about to be sick. Ed was staring at Wordy like he'd never really seen him before and Roy clearly had no idea what was going on. She had her back to Spike and Lou, so she couldn't see how they were reacting, but she was betting they were just as shocked as she was.

Lord Malfoy stroked the top of his snake headed cane. "I'm certain your young cousins helped you trick the goblins into believing you were a wizard…their family's status as Goblin-friend would make such quite easy to accomplish."

Wordy laughed, short and bitter. "I bet you'd love to prove that, but one little problem: you're dead wrong. I didn't lie to the goblins and neither did Sarge's niece and nephew." He crossed his arms, leaning back on his heels. "Besides, I'm not stupid enough to try and trick the goblins…unlike my half-sister-in-law."

Half-sister-in-law?

"Hey, Wordy," Spike called, pulling his locker open. "How's everyone holding up?"

Wordy grinned back. "Well, Shelley's finally calmed down; I think she took it the worst. Claire's already trying to capitalize on her 'just-got-kidnapped' status, so Lilly and Ally are officially jealous. Might have to have a talk with all three of them, keep Lilly and Ally from thinking getting kidnapped is a good thing."

"Hey, better you than me," Spike joked. He leaned back, his uniform shirt in hand. "Is she magical?"

His teammate hesitated an instant. "Yeah," Wordy admitted, "All three of them are, actually…'Lanna 'fessed up that's she's known about their magic for awhile."

Had 'Lanna known about Wordy's family, too? Judging by the look on her face, indignant and distressed all at once, Spike was going to guess 'yes' on that one. Oh, boy, the fallout on this one was gonna be bad, he just knew it.

"And what, precisely, are you insinuating?" Squib, rang loudly, even if it went unsaid.

Wordy smirked, a look in his eyes that none of his teammates had ever seen before: angry, bitter, and resentful. "Well, turns out she had a Black Art squirreled away in her vault; you should've seen the goblins when they found that out. So," he drawled, "I guess you could call it goblin justice, the family going to me and the name getting changed."

Lou jostled Wordy's shoulder, trying to get a smile out of his teammate. "Talk to me, man; what's wrong? You've been down the past couple of days."

Wordy tried to smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Just…" He stopped, then started again, "Just something I found out; I'll get over it."

"You want to talk about it?" Lou offered again.

The brunet constable stilled, his eyes going distant, pain racing over his features. "Some family history I didn't know until now," he finally said. "Something I kinda wish I'd never found out."

Lou rested a hand on his friend's shoulder, wishing he could do more than that.

Angry, bitter, resentful, with an edge to him that Lou had never seen before; Lou was starting to get a real sinking feeling about what that mystery 'family history' might have been. He didn't think that had occurred to any of his teammates; they were too busy wrestling with the bombshell of Wordy's family heritage.

"Such an interesting interpretation of events," Lord Malfoy sneered. He waved one of the Aurors behind him forward. "I wonder if the Wizengamot will agree with you."

"What are you talking about?" Wordy questioned, rocking back on his heels, his expression turning confused as the stone-faced Auror advanced.

"…you are not, in fact, a Wordsworth. You are, instead, the third son of the late Lord Lestrange."

"…believe me, Kevin, we never blamed you for a thing and I don't regret you for an instant."

"…young Lady Calvin considers him family, as does her magic."

Part of him was still reeling that A) his team knew about his magical family and B) Lance and Alanna were his cousins, too. Did that make Sarge a distant cousin of his, too? The rest of him was furious that this pale haired jerk had the complete and utter gall to call him a Lestrange. Hadn't he made it clear that he was a Wordsworth? Heck, he'd even, with Alanna's help, magically changed his name to Wordsworth. Wordy eyed the advancing Auror with confusion and a touch of dread; this was suddenly feeling like an arrest.

His dread was fulfilled as the Auror grabbed one wrist and used that leverage to force Wordy around and to his knees; rope wrapped around his wrists, pulling tight too fast for Wordy to even struggle.

"Oy!" Giles yelled, moving forward; the Unspeakable who'd been about to leave looked equally outraged. "Auror Wordsworth is a Canadian Auror, a Canadian citizen, and this is Canadian soil; you have no authority to arrest him!"

It was Lord Malfoy who answered. "As the son of the late Lord Lestrange, Kevin Lestrange is a British citizen, regardless of his," a sneer, "mother's heritage…" Wordy snarled at the insult to his mother and struggled to get loose; the Auror behind him held him fast. "As his legal name is not and never was Kevin Wordsworth, any claim he has to the status of Auror is null and void. Good evening."

Wordy was dragged to his feet by the two Aurors; he looked back at his team, hurt and confused that only Giles had spoken up. "Sarge," he pleaded, but no one, not Sarge, not Ed – none of them even looked at him. "Guys," he pleaded again as the Aurors grabbed his shoulders and forced him out of the briefing room. And still, his team, his friends, his family didn't do anything, didn't say anything. Distress shone on the kids' faces; they at least looked at him.

As Kevin Wordsworth was dragged out of SRU Headquarters towards a very uncertain future, he could really only process one thought. I'm all alone now…

Author note: We're finally working! It won't be easy and I kinda wish we'd been given something a bit easier for our first project, but we shall rise to the occasion and get it done. Enjoy and have a great week all!