Marauders - Always - Part One

CCXIII: In the Water

Declan Alectric checked his cell phone the moment he made it into the hall outside of Oliver Kent's room. "Shit," he hissed under his breath, twisting his wrist for the time on the face of his old leather watch. "Shit, shit, shit," he muttered, looking around the room for some neutral space to accept the face time request that filled the screen, his phone vibrating in his palm.

The timing couldn't have been worse for this. What an idiot he'd been, staying like he had when he knew he was on a time crunch.

God, if he found out now his whole plan would be sooo screwed.

Declan hurried down the stairs and out the door of the Inn, ignoring it when Rita Skeeter called his name in her sticky sweet tone, and hurrying 'round the outside of the Inn to the woods just beyond.

The incoming call had directed to voicemail, dropped, and been re-dialed twice now.

Declan skidded into a small clearing of trees, glanced around to be sure there was nothing location specific around him. He screwed up his face, feeling his features change and twist, his hair color drain and he gasped as he became himself again.

He accepted the call with a swipe of his thumb, holding the phone up.

"There you are! Finally! Where on earth are you?"

Declan sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, I'm on my way, alright, something came up is all and --"

"Well where are you now, and I'll come disapparate you home? You're missing the party."

"I'm almost there," he lied.

"Your Gran is really concerned, she thought you were just upstairs, you know. You have to tell people when you leave. This sneaking out business has really got to stop..."

"I know, I'm sorry."

"Later on, can we talk about what's going on? Why you've been sneaking off? I know your Gran can be a little... overprotective... but you're her whole world. She doesn't want to lose you, you know? I don't either, for that matter. We love you very much, and we just want you to be happy. Maybe if we talk about whatever it is that's going on, I can help you. We can talk to Gran together about it."

Declan nodded absently. "Alright, sure. Yeah. I'm almost there, okay? I'm hanging up!"

"Okay but --"

"Byyyyyy-eeee!" Declan slid his thumb over the screen again quickly and shoved his phone in his pocket before he reached under his shirt for the time turner.

The beetle in his pocket was in for a very strange ride indeed.

Viktor Krum couldn't stop thinking about mermish. It hadn't taken long before he figured out the connection between the golden egg and what Fleur Delacor was doing with all those books. The shrieking sound was the way the Mermish spoke - like a dolphin or a whale. But Fleur had checked out every volume on Mermish - there were surprisingly few in the Hogwarts Library, especially since one of the largest undisturbed community of them, protected by the Headmaster of Hogwarts. If anywhere was to have an abundance of information on them, it ought to be here.

Viktor paced. Back and forth and back and forth, a furious classical record playing on the phonograph, his fists balled as he moved to the thunderous music that seemed to match his mood. Through the window, he caught glimpses of the Beauxbaton carriage where it sat out on the grounds at Hogwarts, the students slipping in and out as they went about their days...

He could see the paddock, too, the one where the beautiful winged horses that pulled the carriage stayed, running about and tossing their pale manes. They fascinated Viktor, of course, and he had stood and watched them for hours at a time before. They'd been the only living beings at Hogwarts he'd been interested in spending time with before he met Hermyone. Hermyown, who had shown him the book about the horses that still sat on his night stand, who he fiercely wished he could ask about the Mermish voices in the golden egg... But they'd been instructed to figure it out alone, and if even Fleur wasn't approaching him to help or to encourage helping Harry Potter...