Marauders - Always - Part One

Summer 2015: Me and Declan share a plate of scotch eggs

Delan sat sideways in the booth seat across from me at a table in a pub he'd brought me off to in London. I was still shaking with shock or excitement or disbelief or something. There were way too many emotions filling me up so that I felt a bit like I was going to swell up with them like Aunt Marge.

At least I knew Declan Alectric would be able to get me retrieved and deflated should it really happen.

I stared at him.

He ordered two drinks and a plate of scotch eggs and I didn't even bother asking how he knew what my drink order would be or if I liked scotch eggs. He'd just say he'd been ordering them for me for years or something and I'd get even dizzier with confusion.

(For the record, yes, I found out that day that I love scotch eggs like so much and there's pretty much only one place in America, or at least in Nashville, that makes them and I hate you Declan for introducing me to something I love so much but can't get on a whim when I'm craving them.)

He was stared at the table after the waitress walked away, running his fingertip over the woodgrain.

"Okay, start at the beginning," I said finally. "How do you know me?"

He looked up. "Originally, I inherited your address."

"Inherited my address?"

Declan nodded. "It was in the vault."

"The vault. What vault?"

Declan stared at me for a long moment and then he said, "I inherited the remaining contents of Alphard Black's vault."

"Who the hell is Alphard Black?"

"Sirius Black's uncle." Declan smiled, "You'll meet him. You love him. He's pretty great. But he's gone now. All the best people are. Even time travellers eventually catch up with themselves." A worried expression came over his eyes then, and he stared for a moment at a knot in the wood.

"So how did you inherit Alphard Black's vault?"

"For now, suffice to say that I did," Declan said flatly. "It's very complicated and I don't really want to go into it right now... I've told you before so don't worry, you'll find out, but right now... just - it's too much, you'll go mental."

"Alright," I said slowly. He was right about me feeling overloaded so I let it go. Except, "Wait, is that the money that Sirius inherited from his rich uncle or something? He mentioned it in POA, didn't he?"

"Yes and originally, Sirius then left it to Harry Potter but Harry didn't need it and through the convoluted events previously alluded to, it found it's way into my name when I came of age."

"How old are you?" I asked.

"Rude to ask, isn't it, darling?" Declan's eyes twinkled with mischief.

I decided not to press it and jumped backward, "Also, like, I read about this stuff in a fictional kids book about wizards, okay, like - millions of people have read this series, there are frickin' theme parks and a whole movie franchise and even a Broadway show, okay, like... How? How does all that connect to the - to - to you?"

Declan laughed, "Yeahhhhh," he drew that out and shook his head, licking his lips as he thought about how to answer me.

I stared at him, waiting.

"They're marketed fiction, of course, because of the statute," he said, shrugging, "I thought you might have worked that bit out for yourself by now."

"So... so what? J.K. Rowling is a witch?"

Declan's mouth twitched. "Some of us know her by another name in the wizarding community, but yes."

I felt like my stomach had been flipped over itself for the hundredth time and drew a deep breath, running my fingers over my notebook's rings for the sensory grounding. "I mean you understand why I feel like I'm going crazy, don't you?"