WHO: Owen Dearborn and Eddie Carmichael WHAT: Stalking and talking WHEN: Today WHERE: Starbeaks and elsewhere
"Uh-DASH-itch?" The barista called out over the drowsy Starbeaks crowd. With one earbud in as he scrolled through news alerts, the name didn't ping Eddie, and the poor barista had to try again. "EAT-a-sick? Eat-a-SICH?"
Finally, Eddie looked up and realized she was calling him. This was why he never gave his full name places. Nobody ever managed to get it right. "Thanks," he said, picking up his coffee and working his way through the crowd and back out the door. It was too early to be around this many people.
Meanwhile, all three attempts at the name had managed to ping Owen, who'd done his own scrambling over the name's pronunciation when doing some research into the boy. No wonder he went by Eddie. Owen had thought he'd looked familiar, recognizing his face from a brief bout of social media searching (and definitely not internet stalking people who had a connection to Rabastan Lestrange), and the barrista's stumbling over his name only confirmed it. He let his sunglasses fall down over his face and watched Eddie leave the Starbeaks, only then grabbing his drink and following him out.
Owen wasn't sure what he had planned as he followed after Eddie. It'd be easy enough to stun him, to drag the guy off to some Order safehouse for his own good and to give Owen a step up for once, to finally have something over Lestrange. The problem there, though, was that was literally kidnapping, and despite everything, Owen couldn't get past it. Eddie wasn't a Death Eater. The man his mother made a mistake with was a Death Eater, and Eddie had Daddy Issues from growing up with an absent father. All things considered, Owen couldn't really throw stones considering his own glass house. "Hey Carmichael. Wait up," he called after Eddie, pushing his sunglasses back up on top of his head and jogging to catch up with him.
Eddie slowed and turned to see who was calling him, eyeing the man warily. He removed his earbud. "Can I help you?"
And that was when Owen realized he had no idea where to go from here. All of his rage-fueled Rabastan Revenge Plots hadn't involved having a conversation with Eddie first, and now that he was pivoting away from that, he wasn't sure what to say that wouldn't make him sound like a nutcase. "Hey. Yeah. I, uh. I wanted to start out by saying that I'm a friend of Alicia's but it's probably more appropriate to let you know that I'm Owen Dearborn. We've talked a few times on the network a while ago. I actually wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help you."
The name put Eddie on edge. He wasn't an idiot. He knew things weren't good between his father and the Dearborns, and he wanted nothing to do with it. (And "a friend of Alicia's" wasn't as comforting as the former Auror probably thought it would be, because if that was code for Order, Eddie definitely wanted nothing to do with it.) His expression didn't change. "I'm good," he said hesitantly.
"I know. I'm sorry. This is weird and awkward," Owen apologized, noting the obvious. "I feel really weird about saying anything. I guess…" he trailed off for a moment, reaching into his pocket to grab a card out of his wallet. "I know I'm not technically an Auror anymore, but if that changes, like… if anything happens where you're not good anymore… I dunno. She and Ang live down the block from me in Tinworth. Or they did. And she's a good judge of character. So just… putting it out there."
Did Owen Dearborn know about him and Alicia? Did everyone know? "Look, thanks, but I don't—I can't have anything to do with—" he waved a hand vaguely in Owen's direction. "Whatever is going on here."
Eddie glanced around, but nobody seemed to be paying any particular attention to them. He didn't think it would go well for either of them if his father knew they were speaking somehow. Still, he felt more than a twinge of guilt, looking at this man who apparently wanted to help him. He lowered his voice. "And I'm sorry about … you know, everything your family's gone through. And all that. I'm not even sure why you'd want to help me after … you know."
"Because I don't want him to hurt anyone else," Owen replied honestly. Rabastan Lestrange, along with his brother, had been responsible for Owen losing people for nearly his entire life, but Owen also knew that the Dearborns weren't alone in that. There were dozens upon dozens of families who had been torn apart because of them, and none of them deserved it. Especially not someone who already had the super unfortunately luck of having him be his father. "I guess like… I've always been a big planner. And I always have found it's important to have at least a couple Outs out of sticky situations. And so, I guess, if you ever end up in one there because of his… stuff, I wanted to make sure you have another one. Does that make sense?"
After a moment, Eddie nodded. It was almost overwhelming, the kindness this near-stranger was offering even after everything that had happened between their families. By all rights, Owen should hate him, or at least not care about him. Instead…
"You warded me," he said. "The first night he ever talked to me. He was asking about my mum and you offered to get her protection. I turned it down but … I've never forgot that." He shifted his weight, unsure why he'd even blurted out such a confession. He offered a half-hearted smile that faded just as quickly as it appeared. "But, um. We probably shouldn't be talking like this. In public."
"I'm glad that she's never needed it." Rabastan's relationships with people's mothers hadn't ended well, at least in Owen's experience. "But you're right. I think I'm technically wanted for questioning right now so I really shouldn't be out and about like this, on top of everything else. I know you've got a drink there but did you want to get a drink that's got some alcohol in it? Or we can pick this up later if anything happens and you want to chat."
As much as he, unexpectedly, wanted to say yes, Eddie thought better of it. He didn't care if the man was wanted for questioning; half the people he knew in Knockturn had been dragged in at some point, and legality wasn't something Eddie was terribly concerned about. What did concern him was what would happen if Lestrange ever found out. Alicia was a big enough risk. "Rain check?" he asked.
"Rain check," Owen nodded, definitely understanding the additional risk for Eddie that might come from them just chatting. Not only did he have to deal with the looming threat that was having Rabastan Lestrange for a father, he had to deal with the looming threat of having Rabastan Lestrange: Head Obliviator for a father. "You know where to find me if anything comes up."
"Cheers," Eddie said, raising his Starbeaks cup. He headed off, feeling even more conflicted than ever.