Look, don't give me crap about updating anything. My mom's been sick and trying out various medications, school's hard, and I have too much worrying going on to be worried about my updates. Sorry! I've been working at my stories bit by bit when I can in school. I finally finished this chapter today. It starts off where the first one left off and ends with a revelation from Kayla. Next chapter will include a group heist meeting and a visit to both Uncle Shay and Kayla's dad. Stay tuned and enjoy! Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Heist Society. I just mooch off both here.
Kayla sighed, eyeing the team. She had just agreed to possibly the stupidest heist of her life, and yet she didn't feel nearly as disturbed as she should have. This was the family business, after all, and whether she liked it or not it was in her blood. "So what do we do now?"
Sam smirked. "Wow, you are rusty, cousin," she taunting, her sea-colored orbs gleaming with malice. Kayla gritted her teeth, trying not to let her cousin get under her skin. It wasn't working very well. More than anyone, Sam knew just what buttons to push.
Ellie frowned at her cousin. "Sam, be nice," she scolded. The unsaid words 'She might leave again' hung in the air loud enough for anyone actually listening for them. Honestly, Sam's words bothered her less than Ellie's coddling. Once upon a time, Sam could be brutally honest with her and Ellie wouldn't mind. Now, however, they were a fractured family, and Kayla was to be handled with care. "She's family."
Sam narrowed her eyes. "I'm not the one who's forgotten," she accused. Kayla bit her lip. That one hurt more because of its truthfulness than its malice. In three years, she had not seen any of her family: not her uncle, not her cousins, not even her dad. She had left them with little more than a letter and a half-assed apology. Sam had a right to be bitter.
"Sam, that's enough," Hale interrupted his voice strong and steady. It was all coming back to her now, the things she had missed before. Hale's voice was always one of them. Hale, though never at the top of the Hogwarts hierarchy, had been well-liked amongst his classmates. He was good-looking, smart, and charming, but what really stood about Hale was that when he talked people listened. Kayla had always admired that about him. She never felt like anyone really heard her, especially these days.
"So where are these artifacts?" Silas questioned.
"No idea," Hale answered nonchalantly, a smile quirking at the corner of his mouth. Kayla caught on immediately. He had a lead, but he also wanted to rile Silas up a little bit first.
It did the trick. "No clue?" Silas repeated incredulously, his eyes wide and darting all over the place. "Then how are we supposed to find them?"
Kayla, sparing the brains of the operation a heart attack, intervened. "There's a clue, isn't there?" she asked Hale.
He nodded. "A set of runes were left on the wall where the artifacts were kept. I'm guessing from what I've been able to translate from the photos sent to us that it's a series of directions."
"You haven't cracked it yet?" Ellie asked, her expression betraying her surprise. Kayla didn't blame her. According to various sources, Hale was one of the youngest Runes experts in the world, making his services sought after all over the globe. It sounded exactly like the kind of life he had always said he wanted, the one he had wanted to share with her. She hoped he was enjoying it.
Hale shook his head. "It's six feet long and in about ten different languages all jumbled together. I'm good, but I'm not that good."
Sam pursed her lips, clearly worried. "Can you crack it in time?"
"With some help, yes," Hale responded, sharing a look with Ellie. Kayla's forehead wrinkled. Ellie was at a lot of the same sites as Hale these days, but she was a curse breaker, not a Runes expert.
Ellie laughed. "Jolene's still mad at you, you know."
Hale smiled charmingly, shocking many in the Order to the uncanny resemblance to James Potter. "She won't be for long," he promised.
The big green monster rose up in Kayla's chest. "Who's Jolene?" she asked, trying to appear disinterested.
"A friend of mine in Egypt," Hale replied calmly, not giving out many details. That was how he always was with questions he didn't particularly want to answer.
Sam looked up from her nails, and Kayla knew she wouldn't pass up this opportunity to drive the knife in further. "Is that the girl who keeps your bed warm there? Don't you have one at every site?" she questioned, clearly knowing the answer. Hale gave her a look. "What? Are questions illegal now?" Her eyes flinted over to Kayla for a second.
Lily Potter appeared outraged while James gave his son a discreet thumb up. Sirius Black could be heard exclaiming, "That's my godson." Keegan and Logan both seemed unsure of what to think of their brother's arrangement. Keegan had been in an extremely committed relationship with his girlfriend since 5th year, and while Logan had played the field, he had never had such a causal relationship as was being implied.
Ignoring Sam and the now buzzing speculation about his love life, Hale addressed Silas. "I need you to identify all seven pieces in the collection," he said, handing Silas something Kayla recognized as a flash drive, an item foreign to most wizards. "Consult Professor Stein if you need to."
"Professor Stein?" Kayla repeated, remembering a kind face from her childhood and hot chocolate cooled down by snow.
Hale nodded. "He's a good man," he said. "We have coffee sometimes, and he helps us when he can."
Kayla couldn't help but throw a little dig at that. She wanted to get some kind of reaction, anything, out of him. He had been too calm, too professional, so far for her tastes. "An art professor assists art thieves?"
Hale's eyes held an angry glint, one familiar to her, and she mentally crowed victory. "Unlike some people," he stressed, his voice low and dangerous, "he understands that there are grey areas between right and wrong." Kayla had no doubt Hale wasn't just talking about stealing art as his eyes flashed over to his family. Hale's increasing closeness to the Vazzoli had been a sore spot with his parents, and when James brought up their lifestyle, Hale asked if it was any different than the Aurors getting extra compensation for valuable dark artifacts collected during raids. That had been the one and only time James Potter had raised a hand to his son, but it had completely destroyed their relationship. Kayla remembered Hale sitting in her uncle's kitchen that night, looking more lost and vulnerable than she'd ever seen him. For once, Uncle Shay actually said something kind to Hale. "You deserve better than that man, kid," her uncle had said.
The tension in the room was palatable. Hale turned to Sam. "Stock up on supplies. We'll need all the usual stuff and whatever else you think would be useful." He gave a warning look to Hade and Andruis. "Easy on the explosives, guys."
Hade gave out an obnoxious fake cry, flaying his arms, while Andruis got on his eyes and started to plead like a beggar, proclaiming, "Hale, oh, Hale, why have you forsaken us?" To make matters worse, the Weasley twins looked like they were considering joining the protests.
Hale held up his hands. "I said easy on the explosives. I didn't say no explosives."
Hade sighed loudly, exaggerating his relief. Andruis got on his hands and knees and pretended to kiss Hale's feet. Hale rolled his eyes. "Get out of here," he ordered.
"Yes boss," they chirped unanimously, getting up and stepping into the Floo. Silas and Sam followed, leaving only Ellie lingering.
"See you at Shay's?" Hale nodded. "Okay then. Good luck with Jolene," she teased much with a smile, winking as she stepped into the fireplace.
"Don't need luck," Hale replied. "I have charm on my side." You could hear Ellie laughing as she Flooed away.
Suddenly, the room felt much stiffer, and Kayla vaguely wondered if it felt this way all the time. Trying to ease the tension, she quipped, "You have charm?"
Hale smirked. "A lot changes in three years. I acquired charm, Silas got another degree of something I can't spell, Andruis and Hade have been to Swedish prison at least a dozen times, and Ellie broke up with at least five douchebags." He glanced at her for a moment. "Not that you'd know any of that, of course."
Kayla swallowed back her guilt and sorrow, reminding herself of the very valid reasons she had left everything behind. "That's not fair," she stated softly.
Hale smiled sadly. "No, it isn't, is it?" For a moment, Kayla realized what she had put him through. Graduation night, he'd told her he loved her, a feeling she'd reciprocated because Merlin it was true, more than anything else in her life. But Kayla had wanted more than love; she had wanted a whole life, and so after a completely perfect night she would never and could never regret, she left him and her family with little more than a goodbye note. The blow was probably harder on him than her family, she realized now, because Sam knew what she was doing and Ellie probably suspected, which meant everyone else knew, but Hale was completely blindsided. She hadn't bothered to write even one letter to him in three years.
Before she could say anything to explain or alleviate her guilt or even make Hale smile again, he shut down on her. "Well, I should probably leave before I end up having to sleep on the floor at Shay's," he stated. "Or worse, sharing a room with Andruis and Hade."
"You don't keep an flat in the city anymore?" Kayla couldn't help but ask. When they had graduated, Hale and Ellie had both agreed to share a place since they'd both be traveling so much for work anyway. Or so she had heard. Kayla had been long gone by then.
Hale shook his head. "Neither of us were there long enough. Ellie has a room at your uncle's house, and I usually crash with friends if there's not room for me there," he said. "I pretty much live out of suitcases these days."
"You could stay with us," Lily suggested eagerly, wanting to have her son back home more than anything. She had never quite understood his wanderlust. Lily liked routine: the same places, the same people, the same experiences. It comforted her. She couldn't understand why Harry (and Harry was the name she had given him and so it would be the name she called him) felt so suffocated by it.
Hale made a face that accurately summed up his feelings about that offer. "It's okay, Mum," he replied. "I should stay at Shay's so that I can do more of the planning. We're sort of crunched for time." And also spending an extended time in your home would be as pleasant as drinking Skel-Gro, he mentally filled in.
"Well, you can at least stay for dinner." Hale started to protest, stating things he needed to do and people he needed to see. Lilly held out a hand. "We haven't seen you in three years, and there's enough food in the kitchen to feed an army. Who knows the next time you'll be back in the country again."
Mother and son stared at each other, emerald eyes meeting emerald eyes. Finally, Hale nodded. "Fine," he agreed grudgingly, causing Lily to smile. Kayla suspected it wasn't the reaction his mother had hoped for, but she also knew that Hale was being more polite than usual as it was. Asking for more would be pushing it.
Dinner was fairly pleasant. The Weasleys stayed as well, and Bill, who had heard of Hale from friends still working in Egypt, asked about the sites Hale had visited. Though he had given up the dangerous curse-breaking jobs to work full-time for Gringotts, Bill still revealed in the stories. Hale told story after story of his travels, amusing anecdotes that left everyone laughing. Eventually, the laughter died down.
"Are you based in Egypt?" Bill's wife Fleur asked, her French accent lingering, as she took a sip of her wine.
Hale shook his head. "No," he answered. "I mean, I have friends at those sites, and I consult there frequently, but I'm kind of a wanderer right now. I go wherever the best job is."
Molly Weasley clucked. "Don't you want to have a stable home? Don't you want to be near your family?"
Kayla could tell Hale wanted to roll his eyes. "I like the travel," he replied. "I like waking up in one country and going to sleep in another. And I'm not lonely often." There was no mention of his family at all.
Kayla laughed to herself. Hale raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny?" he asked, his emerald eyes skimming her face.
She shrugged. "Nothing. It's just that you always said in school that you were going to be a Runes master and have to travel the world because everyone would want your help. We all thought you were crazy sometimes, being so confident in those dreams." She looked at him, smiling slightly. "I'm glad you got everything you wanted."
Hale's eyes connected with hers, and Kayla felt a tingle go down her spine. "Not everything," he said quietly. He didn't look away until a small ringing sound filled the room. Hale's hand went into his pocket, pulling out a small cellphone. The Purebloods in the room looked mystified at the device.
"Potter," he said, answering the phone, "Hey! What? You did? Okay, I'll be there in five." Flipping the screen of his phone down, Hale turned to his mother. "Sorry, I have to go. Thanks for dinner." He headed towards the Floo, Lily anxiously standing in his way.
"Can't you stay for dessert?" she suggested.
Hale shook his head. "Silas has a lead. It's important." He stepped into the Floo, not sparing a glance for Kayla. She remained frozen in place for a while before she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Lily's quietly sympathetic face.
Unsurprisingly, Sirius was the first one to speak up. "What was all that about? Harry was so… cold. It's not like him."
Kayla restrained from laughing. It was exactly like Hale to be cold to his family. At this point, the relationship between them and him was nonexistent. They hadn't respected the house he had been sorted into, his chosen profession, or his friends. He had hated his name, their house, and anything tying him back to the family besides his last name.
Lily's stare was growing uncomfortable on her. "I deserved it," Kayla admitted.
"Why?" questioned Keegan, ever the respectable Potter. "You were perfectly polite to him." He didn't know that was part of the problem. She had never needed to be polite to Hale before.
"I started it," Kayla said wearily, starting towards the door. It had been the longest day she could remember in the last year, and she wanted nothing more than to curl up in her bed in her own apartment. "I broke his heart." She didn't stick around to see their reactions. As Hale would say, she was good at that.