you will never fool the cedar carrier
“Er, newbie,” someone calls behind her.
Kai looks up from where she’s been twisting at the gold bangle that sits next to the magic suppression cuffs that had been clasped onto her wrists months earlier — her bangle itself is nothing impressive in appearance, thin and scratched, but she got it as a bonus in one of her first deals with a magical artifacts smuggler and it was charmed to easily change forms. Wonderful for picking locks. Though it doesn’t matter much now — with the cursed cuffs suppressing her magic, she can’t shape her bangle into the simplest key if she wanted to.
In any case, Kai is entirely surprised to see someone addressing her after the shit show that was her first Order meeting. The meeting had ended abruptly after the snob of the pretty boy had declared she wasn’t good enough, which then resulted in him being taken into another room with a grizzly-looking wizard and Dumbledore. They’ve been gone for a while now, leaving Kai to stand and wait as the Order members begin to floo through the fireplace.
When she looks up, she’s surprised to see the boy dressed like a Muggle edging towards her, his brows furrowed in what looks like a furtive, guilty look.
Kai blinks at him expectantly. “Yes?”
Next to him, the girl with the amber eyes and ink hair jabs him in the ribs indiscreetly. He winces a little, before straightening. “I’m sorry for being rude earlier,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck. His curls are so long that they fall past his ears, creeping towards the nape of his neck.
Kai watches in mild amusement as he turns to look at the girl with wide, guileless eyes. He reminds her a bit of a puppy asking its owner for approval after doing a trick. But somehow, it works, because she can feel her earlier irritation with him begin to trickle away.
The girl sighs, surprisingly stoic in the face of the boy’s wide-eyed look. “We’re looking forward to working with you, really. You can really change the tide of the war, heard it from Moody himself,” she says. Something about her expression and tone is earnest enough that Kai feels her sincerity. It’s uncomfortably new — being told that someone was relying on her with such earnestness. She’s been hired for jobs before, but they’ve always been out of vengeance or to make someone’s wallets heavier — occasionally, her own. Never has she worked with more than one person — and that had gone disastrously with her in prison. And never has she worked to change the tide of a war. “It’s just been hard to trust people with everything going on…” The girl motions around them, before finishing, “—war and all.”
Kai nods, though she doesn’t quite understand. She doesn’t even know where to start with thinking about a war — it doesn’t feel quite real, and it doesn’t help that the other witches and wizards in the room seem terribly young for a war. The girl and boy in front of her look to be her age, perhaps a year or two older at most.
“Right, well, a deal’s a deal and work is work,” Kai says with a lift of her shoulders. She hesitates, her gaze flickering between the two of them assessingly. The girl is still looking at her hopefully, while the boy is looking at her distractedly, his gaze a little dark at the mention of trust. Kai makes a small mental note to find out why everyone seemed so paranoid. Other than that, they seem relatively harmless, so she clears her throat, straightening. “So… Are we allowed to exchange names or is it all top secret?”
“Oh, right!” The girl brightens, sticking out her hand. Though caught off guard again by her straightforwardness, Kai grasps her hand and shakes it. “I’m Jade. This is Sirius.” Sirius still seems to be sulking behind Jade a little, but he nods politely enough, his eyes still flickering sullenly to the raven-haired girl.
“Jade and Sirius,” Kai repeats, testing their names out. She watches Sirius in mild amusement for a moment longer, her curiosity getting the better of her. “How long have you been together?”
Jade blinks at her, surprise flickering across her face while Sirius straightens, looking proud. The boy was so dramatic, he reminded Kai of a cartoon character. Or an easily distracted puppy. “Is it that obvious?” Jade asks, her brows furrowing in what seemed to be a mixture of concern and uncertainty, as if she can’t figure out if it was a good thing.
“Almost a year,” Sirius says at the same time, his gaze soft and fond as it flickers to Jade again. “Of course it’s obvious, darling. You know what they say — there are three things you can’t hide: a cough, poverty, and love.”
Kai cringes a little, though she hopes it doesn’t show on her face. To her surprise, Jade seems entirely unmoved and unimpressed by this outside of a good-natured grimace. But Kai notices that a pink flush has settled on the tip of the girl’s ears. They were cute, she thinks grudgingly. Speaking of cute, her mind returns back to the curly-haired boy from earlier. “Who was the boy sitting near you earlier? Handsome, tall—”
“Regulus,” Jade answers easily. Sirius looks a little scandalized, his brows shooting up.
“You think he’s handsome?” He splutters, his gray eyes widening as he turns to stare at his girlfriend intently.
She waves him off, giving Kai an apologetic look as she says smoothly, “Well you two do look alike given that you’re brothers.” She pauses, a beat long enough that it catches Kai’s attention. “Whether either of you admit it or not.”
Sirius seems satisfied with this, his expression neutralized. If anything, a smug smirk is starting to curve across the corners of her lips. Before he can ask Jade to elaborate on his looks — Kai has a growing feeling that he would — she interjects, picking at the latter statement that Jade had added tensely, “Brothers?” So she was correct in thinking that the two bore some sort of resemblance to each other.
To her growing curiosity, the dark-haired boy grimaces a little. She catches the look that the two exchange. “It’s complicated,” Jade says after a beat with a shrug, though her gaze remains on Sirius.
A myriad of complicated emotions seem to flicker across his face, but Kai has trouble understanding any of them as he mutters, “Everything is complicated when it comes to Regulus.”
Next to him, Jade gives Kai another apologetic look. “He defected recently,” she explains. “The Order’s been keeping it under wraps because there’s a… Well, let’s just say only a few of us know about it.”
“Why did he defect?” Kai asks, her gaze darting to catch the warning look that Jade shoots Sirius.
“Reckon he got tired of committing war crimes, that’s got to do something to a person. Or maybe he’s gotten himself tangled in a double cross—” Sirius mutters, letting out a sharp bark of a bitter laugh.
“Sirius,” Jade cuts in, but Sirius continues, his expression darkening.
“I’m just saying, the Order has a leak just as the perfect son of some Pureblood fanatics decides to defect?”
“He’s changed,” Jade retorts, her expression tightening.
“Regulus doesn’t change. He never has—” His gaze darts past her. “Speak of the devil.”
Kai turns to follow his gaze, her mind scrambling to make sense of what Jade and Sirius had been alluding to. The pretty boy — Regulus — has just emerged from the side room following the grizzly wizard. His face is drawn into a taut and sour expression as he takes long strides after the older man. “Why must I be the one to chaperone—”
“This is not up for debate, boy,” the older wizard growls. Now that they’re closer, she can see that the man has a slight hobble and a thick gnarled walking stick. “Now, piss off, Black. I already have to deal with one of you at work, and he’s already a little git.”
Next to her, Sirius straightens with a look of seeming pride. “That’s Moody, Head Auror,” he supplies helpfully. Kai nods distractedly, still watching the scene unfold with mild interest. Regulus’s mouth has clamped into a thin line, his expression twisting into a displeased scowl. Before she can look away, he turns abruptly, his gaze roving across the room until it lands on her. Surprised that she’s been caught staring, Kai ignores the strong urge to look away as he stalks towards her.
“Well, it was a pleasure meeting you,” Sirius says sharply, turning away from her. Kai glances in his direction, but he and Jade have already stepped into the fireplace that the other Order members had been flooing from.
“You two really ought to have a heart-to-heart—” Jade is saying when they disappear into a burst of green flames.
“Your cuffs,” a voice behind her growls. Kai turns to see Moody nodding down at her wrists. Behind him stands Regulus, his expression still pinched as he pointedly looks away from her. “You know very well not to do anything foolish that would jeopardize your role,” he says gruffly.
Kai nods, hoping she’s portraying the perfect image of obedience before she pulls up her sleeves eagerly to reveal the glowing cuffs. Even if her magic was middling at best, she’s excited to have the ability again.
“Relashio,” the grizzly wizard murmurs, pointing his wand at her wrists. The cuffs dissolve with a soft hum. Reflexively, she rubs at her wrists, feeling the invisible weight lift from them. “Right, boy,” the wizard says with a note of finality as he turns back to Regulus. “You know your job.” With that, he turns on his heel and steps into the fireplace, disappearing with a green flame.
“Here. Let’s go.”
Kai turns back to see Regulus staring down at her, his hand proffering a piece of parchment. Up close, unfairly, he looks even prettier than she’d initially thought. Hauntingly handsome. Long, dark lashes curl and fan against his cheeks, framing brooding, pale eyes the color of mercury. He’s definitely the prettiest boy she’s ever seen. The only thing is that his handsome features are marred by the way he’s scowling down his nose at her.
“Oh,” Kai blurts, caught off guard by how indisputably handsome he is and the way his high nose has begun to scrunch in delicate disdain. “Alright,” she says belatedly, grabbing the parchment from his hand. Without another word, Regulus turns on his heel, stalking towards the door. She surges after him, following each of his long strides with two of her own. “Er, wait, where are we going?”
“What does the parchment say?” Regulus asks, an impatient edge to his posh accent.
Kai decides to ignore the fact that he was the one to give it to her and instead squints down at the parchment. “Ollivander’s,” she says slowly, testing the word on her tongue. Sounded fancy, though she isn’t entirely sure what it refers to. “Eeylops Owl—” She continues, cutting off when she nearly rams into Regulus’s back when he stops suddenly.
“Ollivander’s,” he repeats, his voice thick with disbelief.
She hands him the parchment and he takes a cursory glance at it, his brows arching higher and higher before he looks back at her to stare at her hard. The full weight of his attention is a little unnerving. “You need a wand?”
“I can acquire these things myself,” Kai sniffs, taking the parchment back. No matter how pretty he is, her patience is quickly waning.
He snorts at this, his nose wrinkling a little in disdain. “Yes, and I suppose you’ll steal it all, hm?”
Kai glares at him, but decides not to retort because he isn’t wrong. “Just floo me there and I’ll deal with the rest.”
Regulus just scowls, tight-lipped and clearly displeased. “We’ll apparate,” he says finally, pulling out his wand from the depths of his robes.
“Fine,” she snaps back, despite the fact that she has no idea what he means by apparate. But she’s never appreciated feeling like a burden, and Regulus is acting as if she’s the one asking him to do all this.
“Fine,” he agrees coolly. When he clears his throat impatiently, Kai turns to see him holding out his elbow in a manner that’s strangely reminiscent of a little gentleman, added to his perfect posture. Frankly, she has no idea what he’s on, but she doesn’t want to admit that, so she warily reaches forward to slip her hand around the crux of his elbow. Regulus sighs again, as if she’s being unbearably dumb, before he suddenly tugs her against him.
The sudden and unexpected motion has Kai stumbling, but his other hand slides firmly around her back before she can fall. “What are you doing—” She’s saying, mortified and embarrassed by this new proximity, before the world dissolves into a swirl of color.
It’s the most disconcerting feeling she’s experienced — it feels as though she’s being squeezed into a tight rubber tube that’s spinning in a dozen different directions all at once. The force of the movement has her feeling like she’s being nauseatingly stretched, but distantly she can feel Regulus’s firm grasp on her arm and her back. And then suddenly, the ground is beneath their feet again. The second she can feel it, Regulus’s steady grasp disappears immediately and Kai finds herself tumbling to her hands and knees painfully.
“Shit, fuck,” she gasps, swallowing back the rising nausea with great difficulty.
“Do you always use such language?” Regulus asks, sounding miffed.
Kai chooses to ignore this, mainly because she thinks she’s going to be ill. Even on all fours on the ground, the floor is somehow still spinning. “What the fuck was that?”
Once the spinning begins to slow down, Kai spares a glance up to see Regulus watching her with an irritatingly impassive expression. “Apparating,” he says finally, his brow arching. “Was that your first time?”
“Does it look like I’ve done that before?” Kai snaps, though it comes out as more of a grimace as another wave of nausea rolls over her.
A flash of concern flickers across his face as he takes a step back. “Are you going to… be ill?” He says delicately, eyeing her warily now through his lashes. “Most people vomit their first time—”
“I’m fine,” Kai forces out, teetering to her feet out of sheer stubbornness. As much as she wants to throw up all over his expensive-looking shoes, she doesn’t think it would serve either of them any good now with how rough of a start they were already having. She could be professional. Either this or prison, she reminds herself as she dusts off her robes.
“So you don’t have a wand and you’ve never apparated before,” Regulus observes, his lips twisting into a deeper scowl.
Kai chooses to ignore him again as she looks around. She had landed on all fours in the middle of a cobblestone road in some sort of small village. “Where are we?”
“Diagon Alley.”
Around them are small, quaint shops and a bustle of witches and wizards. For some reason, nearly everyone looks to be dressed as if they’re in the seventeenth century with formal robes and stiff-looking dresses. Suddenly, Kai feels very glad that Dumbledore had had the sense to give her a robe when he first recruited her. Tugging it closer around her, Kai glances around, hoping she looked inconspicuous enough, especially after her ungraceful landing. She clearly didn’t though, because a group of boys nearby are imitating her fall. Kai glares at them, but all they do is laugh. Before she can say anything though, Regulus speaks up.
“Let’s go.” Without waiting, he turns and steps into a shop behind them. Kai follows him quickly, but not before glancing up at the shop’s sign. Makers of Fine Wands Since 382 BC.
The shop is dimly lit and rather disorganized — curiously long boxes line the walls and sit in piles on the counter and ground around them. For a moment, Kai thinks the shop is unmanned, but then from behind the counter, a frazzled looking man pops up, his spectacles slightly askew and his white hair standing up in tufts. “Oh, hello there!” The old man chirps as he straightens and sets a few long boxes down on the counter, sending some parchment fluttering to the ground. “Albus sent an owl, but I wasn’t expecting you so soon!”
“Ollivander.” Next to her, Regulus dips his head politely, the perfect image of a gentleman. Kai stifles the urge to roll her eyes as she gives the old man an uncertain smile. Fortunately, before she can say anything, the old man’s eyes slide to Regulus, his brows furrowed in thought.
“Ah,” he says after a beat, recognition lighting up behind his spectacles. “Mr. Black, it’s been quite a few many years since I’ve seen your family. You’ve grown to be the spitting image of Sirius. Ah, what was his wand again?” Ollivander pauses, his brows furrowing. At the mention of Sirius, impressively, Regulus’s expression hasn’t changed in the slightest — a stark contrast to the way Sirius’s face had soured at the mention of his brother, Kai notes. “Right! Ebony. You know what they say about ebony wands, hm?” Ollivander asks, looking at Kai now.
“Er, not exactly,” she admits, her gaze darting to Regulus who still has the same expression of polite dispassion.
“Ebony is happiest in the hands of those with the courage to be themselves,” the wandmaker rattles off, rummaging through a box. “Non-comformist, highly individual, an ebony wand’s perfect match is one who will hold fast to his or her beliefs, no matter what the external pressure. Now…” When Ollivander turns to her, he’s holding a box open. Kai peers inside to see a wand with polished black wood nestled inside. “—would you consider yourself any of those things, Miss Dao?”
Non-comformist, highly individual. Hold fast to his or her beliefs. Kai pauses, thinking back to a deal she took a few years prior, when she had kept the Probity Probe she had been tracking after she had found out her employer had more nefarious intentions. Of course, she had also realized she could pawn it off for more than she was being offered. “Yeah, I’d say so,” Kai says with a shrug.
“Give it a wave then,” the wandmaker urges, nodding down at the box.
Kai lifts the ebony wand carefully, but before she can even give it a twirl, the shelf next to them explodes, sending boxes scattering around them.
“No, no, maybe not,” Ollivander says hurriedly, snatching the wand from her hand and dropping it back into the box before she can do any other damage. Next to her, she can hear a little huff. When she turns to look, Regulus is watching her with an irritatingly bored expression, save for the slight smug gleam in his gray eyes.
“Non-conformist and highly individual, hm?” Regulus hums quietly under his breath, just loud enough for her to hear.
“What wand does he have?” Kai asks sharply, turning to the wandmaker as she jerks a thumb unceremoniously back at Regulus.
Ollivander pauses, squinting at Regulus in deep thought. “Cypress, isn’t that right, Mr. Black?”
Regulus nods once, stiffly.
“And what does that imply?” Kai asks eagerly, her gaze darting from Regulus to the wandmaker.
“Cypress wands are associated with nobility.” Clearly seeing Kai’s unimpressed look, the wandmaker continues hurriedly, “My great grandfather, Geraint, wrote that he was always honored to match a cypress wand, for he knew he was meeting a witch or wizard who would die a heroic death.” For the first time since they’ve stepped in the wand shop, Regulus’s expression flickers, though it smoothes out just as quickly as Ollivander continues, “Wands of cypress find their soulmates among the brave, the bold and the self-sacrificing: those who are unafraid to confront the shadows in their own and others’ natures.”
“I am not particularly interested in a heroic death,” Kai says, giving Regulus a smug sidelong glance though he ignores her coolly. Heroes always died young, and Kai intended to live a long life. “And I have plenty of shadows that I would rather not confront,” she adds lightly.
Ollivander laughs at this before turning to survey the wall of wands. “You’re very honest,” he observes thoughtfully.
“Yes,” Kai lies.
“Perhaps black walnut,” Ollivander murmurs, pulling another box from the wall and handing it to her. Nestled inside is a wand with a gleaming black surface.
“Oh, it’s very beautiful,” Kai murmurs, her eyes tracking over the polished wood.
“Good eye,” the wandmaker remarks. “It’s easily mistaken for ebony.”
Kai studies it thoughtfully. “Ebony didn’t have the same markings. This one is much prettier,” she muses decisively.
“Yes — a very handsome wood, but not the easiest to master.” It’s alluring to look and Kai finds her hand already grasping it as Ollivander continues. “It’s abnormally attuned to inner conflict and loses power dramatically if its possessor practices any form of self-deception. If the possessor is unable or unwilling to be honest with themselves or others, the wand often fails to perform adequately—”
As if on cue, a jet of blue flames shoots from the tip of the wand as Kai levies it, singing a row of boxes nearby. Alarmed, she drops the wand quickly back into the box, where Ollivander snaps it shut hurriedly.
“Perhaps not,” the wandmaker says apologetically, swatting at the burning patch on his robes.
“Sorry,” Kai murmurs, rubbing at the nape of her neck in embarrassment. Next to her, Regulus’s smug look has widened into a smirk. Irritating.
“No matter, no matter,” Ollivander says kindly as he ducks behind the counter again. “It’s quite unusual to match a witch at this age, but I’m certain we’ll find the perfect wand.”
A slight uneasiness begins to creep through her as she watches Ollivander disappear into the back room. Maybe it really was too late for her to have a wand. Kai twists at the gold bangle around her wrist as she turns to survey the room, taking care to read some of the labels on the boxes. Ash, cherry, dogwood, chestnut, fir… In the corner of the room sits a pile of empty boxes. Kai squints at it for a moment as Ollivander returns with two more boxes.
“What about rowan?” She suggests as he sets the boxes on the counter.
“Rowan?” Ollivander repeats, before turning to fish one out from the shelf and proffering it to her. Kai hesitates, thinking about the flames and the other explosion, before grasping the wand. She holds it away from her body just in case and waits.
But nothing happens. A few beats pass and Kai gives it a cautionary swish. Still nothing.
“Did something attract you to rowan?” Ollivander asks as he takes the wand and places it back into the box.
“Not particularly,” she admits, scrubbing a hand over her face. “I just figured since it was the most popular one, perhaps it would work.”
“Most popular? How do you figure?” Ollivander asks, his brows furrowing.
Kai glances at the pile of boxes. “Well, there are half a dozen rowan boxes there, and I reckon wizards have no use for the box after getting a wand.”
“Hmm,” the wandmaker hums, before turning abruptly and grabbing the two boxes he just brought out. He disappears back behind the counter. She can hear the sound of boxes being rummaged through and the wandmaker muttering thoughtfully under his breath. As she waits, she gives Regulus a quick glance to see his attention fixating outside the window, a bored expression of disinterest on his face.
“Did yours take awhile to match?” She asks conversationally, breaking the silence between them.
Regulus looks at her briefly, his expression as unimpressed as ever. “No,” he says shortly.
Charming, she thinks wryly to herself. She doesn’t know why she even bothered asking.
“Here we are!” Ollivander’s voice breaks between them before Kai can shoot Regulus a dirty look. Kai looks inside the open box to see a rather plain-looking wand of pale wood. It doesn’t look like much, if she’s being honest. “Cedar,” the wandmaker declares proudly, nodding down at it for her to take.
Best to get this over with. She reaches in and grasps the wand. For a moment, the wood is cool to the touch, but as her fingers clasped around it fully, it begins to warm, a deep, yellow glow emitting in the space around it. Kai feels a thrill of energy run from her fingertips, thrumming deep within her as she lifts the wand in awe. Something in the air shifts, as if it becomes easier to breathe.
“Oh,” she whispers in astonishment. The room is lit in a warm glow, energy pulsing from her hand.
“Brilliant!” The wandmaker proclaims, clasping his hands together. “Cedar with a dragonstring core.”
“What does that mean?” To her surprise, it’s Regulus who speaks up first. He’s staring at the wand in her hand with furrowed brows and a frown, as if he can’t quite make sense of what he’s seeing. It’s as if he really hadn’t expected her to get matched with a wand, Kai notes smugly as she returns her attention back to the wandmaker.
“Whenever I meet one who carries a cedar wand, I find strength of character and unusual loyalty,” Ollivander begins. At his words, Kai straightens, though inwardly, she isn’t sure if this description very much resonated with her. She’s loyal to the coin, she supposes. Or to whoever pays the most coin, rather.
“My father used to always say, ‘You will never fool the cedar carrier,’ and I agree: the cedar wand finds its perfect home where there is perspicacity and perception. I would go further than my father, however, in saying that I have never yet met the owner of a cedar wand whom I would care to cross, especially if harm is done to those of whom they are fond. The witch or wizard who is well-matched with cedar carries the potential to be a frightening adversary, which often comes as a shock to those who have thoughtlessly challenged them.”
Frightening adversary — Kai likes the sound of that. Biting back a giddy grin, she slips her new wand carefully into the pocket of her robes — she’s always wanted to do that, after watching the others do so. But wands back home are not readily available and only affordable to the upper echelon. And she’s learned that stealing a wand doesn’t mean one tamed it and could use it — that could only be done in a duel, which was hard to do without a wand.
“Thank you, Mr. Ollivander,” she says with a bright grin, turning back to the wandmaker.
He offers a kind smile as he waves them out. “It was my pleasure. Send my regards to Albus.”
When they emerge from the wand shop, Kai fishes out the piece of parchment from her pockets. She feels great — exhilarated even. She has a wand that matches her! Excitedly, she unfolds the parchment paper. “What’s next… Eeylops Owl—”
“Did you steal your magic?”
The question is so bewildering that Kai thinks she’s misheard him. She glances up from the parchment. “What?”
Regulus straightens, looking impatient now as he squares his shoulder into his perfect posture. “Did you steal your magic from another wizard?” He asks again.
She can’t help but let out an incredulous huff of a laugh, but at the baleful look that he gives her, she realizes that he’s being serious. “No,” she says, bewildered now and a little offended. And then she remembered what Sirius had muttered hotly. The perfect son of Pureblood fanatics. “Of course not. That’s impossible.” After a moment, she adds loftily, “Even if you’re as good a thief as I am.”
Regulus chooses to ignore the last bit as he looks away from her sharply, his brows furrowed. For the first time since she’s met him, he doesn’t look irritated — instead, he looks a little disgruntled and confused, which just makes her equally as confused. Did he really think that people could steal magic? Maybe this Pureblood propaganda runs deeper than I thought, she thinks to herself, watching the way his brows crumple. “Any other burning questions?”
“Then why don’t you have a wand or know magic?” He asks sharply, though his expression is carefully fixed into one of disinterest.
There it is. Kai pauses, considering what might be the easiest answer. “It was never necessary,” she says finally. Or within reach, she thinks wryly. The truth was that she had just never learned, but if she told him that now, she would just be giving him more reasons to send her back. Despite the look of dissatisfaction on his face, Regulus doesn’t press for more and instead settles into a stony silence. But Kai is a little relieved he’s at least talking to her now — perhaps they could build some kind of peace, especially if they were going to have to work together. So carefully, she prompts, “What else did your parents say about non-Pureblood folk?”
To her surprise, Regulus actually answers. “They burn magical people at the stake. Mud—” He cuts off abruptly, turning away from her sharply.
“Well, I bet you’re the perfect son,” Kai mutters, a bit in disbelief. Perhaps it's unfair, but she’s reeling a little. “Seems as though you were happily spoonfed that rubbish.”
Whatever she said must have gotten to him because a flicker of clear resentment glimmers across his face, marring his pretty features. This time, he doesn’t bother schooling his expression as he turns to her haughtily, his posh English accent sharp and cold. “You know, I don’t actually want to work with you,” he bristles, glaring at her openly.
She glares right back at him. “And I don’t want to work with you,” she snaps, scowling back at him. Regulus has been nothing but irritating and difficult to work with and Kai is not a patient person — forget working relationship, it’s only a matter of time before they explode on each other.
“Then don’t,” he says shortly. “Go and tell Dumbledore that you can’t get involved.”
So that’s what it was. He didn’t want her involved at all. “I can’t,” Kai snaps.
“Why not?” For the first time, Regulus looks frustrated as he scowls down at her. “This isn’t your war — you don’t belong here.”
“I don’t exactly have a choice here,” she huffs in exasperation. They’ll send me to prison and I’ll spend the rest of my days rotting in a cell waiting for a trial that will never happen, she wants to say. But it seems as though she doesn’t have to because Regulus just eyes her coolly, his previous expression of vexation smoothing into one of pure contempt. She’s been looked down at before, but she’s never experienced this level of scorn. It’s unnerving, but it’s only because Kai is stubborn and growing angry that she doesn’t wilt beneath it.
“Yeah? And who’s fault is that?”
Kai’s irritation boils over and she lets herself dip into her pool of thrumming anger as she barks out a sharp laugh. “That’s rich coming from you. I’m perfectly capable at doing my job. In fact, they need me. You’re only here because you’re trying to make up for some sorry little war crimes you committed,” she seethes, remembering what Sirius had disclosed to her earlier. She straightens, drawing herself up to full height. Even then, Regulus is still towering over her, but what she said must have gotten to him because satisfyingly, a muscle in his jaw jumps as he glares down at her. “Who’s the real criminal here?”
“Fine,” he says in a tone that’s chillingly even. “If you’re so perfectly capable, then do it yourself.”
“My pleasure,” Kai hisses, but before she can finish, Regulus just gives her one last look of contempt before he apparates away in a fast blur of colors. “Brilliant,” she mutters to herself as she looks back down at the parchment paper. In their argument, she had gripped it too tightly and crumpled it. There were still three more items she needed from the list. “Just brilliant.”
She could find her way around perfectly fine without that snob of a wizard. “Eeylops Owl Emporium,” she murmurs out loud, taking a deep breath before making her way down the small street and squinting up at the shop signs.
It doesn’t help that there were so many shops, and that each shop has a few levels of other shops on top of each other. She makes it down four roads when the thought that she wouldn’t be able to apparate back occurs to her. Then the second, perhaps more concerning thought surfaces— even if she could apparate, she doesn’t know where to go. Dumbledore never gave her a location of where she was staying.
Underneath her breath, she curses colorfully as she pinches the bridge of her nose. It’s fine, she thinks reassuringly to herself. You’ve made it out of worse. As if on cue, her stomach growls. Then the third realization hits her. She has no money. That wouldn’t be much of a problem though. But it does do something to her morale to know that all she has to her name are her clothes, a piece of crumpled parchment, and a wand that she didn’t know how to use. And potentially a life sentence if she can’t figure out her way back — or where back even was. “Brilliant,” she mutters, closing her eyes for a moment.
“Kai?” When she turns around, for a moment, she thinks that Regulus has come back for her. But upon second glance, she sees that it’s Sirius — slightly shorter and less haughty looking than his younger brother, though the resemblance is clear enough to throw her off for a moment. “What are you doing here?”
“Sight-seeing,” she says wryly.
“I don’t believe we met properly earlier,” a man behind Sirius says. Man may be a generous term — though he looks perhaps only a year or two older than her, the mussed up nature of his hair gives him a rather boyish look. He sticks his hand out to her. “James Potter.”
Kai shakes his hand warily, though he looks rather guileless. “Kai Dao.” She glances between the two of them, but they’re both looking at her expectantly. “So, er, what are you both doing here?” She asks, in an attempt to buy herself more time to figure out how to ask for help. If this is her first task, it can’t reflect well on her if they go and tell Dumbledore that she had already failed.
“We’re doing our patrols,” Sirius says, nodding around at the shops.
“We’re Aurors, in training that is,” James adds, gesturing down at their robes. They don’t look particularly different from any other wizard’s robes, Kai thinks, but James is puffing his chest out with clear pride, so she just nods uncertainly. “Moody told us to patrol around and see if anyone needed help today.” Judging from his mood earlier, Auror must have also wanted a break from the Black brothers, Kai thinks to herself. She can’t blame him either.
“Say, as Aurors-in-training…” She begins reluctantly, pulling out the piece of parchment. “Do you know where to get an…” She pauses to squint at Dumbledore’s cursive. “...owl?”
“I thought Regulus was supposed to take you around,” Sirius says, his brow crumpling as he scans the area around them. At the reminder, Kai can’t bite back her irritated scowl. Sirius clearly notices because a shit-eating grin spreads across his face. “Got into a tiff already?”
“Something of the sort,” she says dryly, forcing her expression to smoothen back out. Now, to ask them how to get back. Back to where, exactly? Dumbledore and Regulus hadn’t exactly cued her into where she would be going after Diagon Alley. Was she supposed to figure out her housing herself? “Forget it,” she mutters, shoving the parchment back into her pockets. She’s already tired from dealing with Regulus, she doesn’t want to have to deal with his bloody brother, who seemed irritating in an entirely different way.
“We can help!” James speaks up suddenly, lurching forward. Kai pauses to look at him warily as she catches the look that he exchanges with Sirius.
“But you’ll have to help us with something as well,” Sirius says slowly, his gaze darting back to his friend.
“If you’re as good a thief as you say you are,” James adds, a glint gleaming in his eyes. They must be twin flames, she thinks, because they can’t stop finishing each other’s sentences.
“Fine,” Kai mutters under her breath, straightening the sleeves of her robes. If this is what would get them to shut up about her credentials, then she would do it. And because she was proud — she was going to do better than they asked. “I help you and you help me.”
“Great,” Sirius beams, looking pleased at her agreement. James nods, though he still looks clearly skeptical as he moves to the side. “So you’ll just have to grab a dungbomb,” Sirius was saying when she tunes back in. “We used to steal those all the time from Zonko’s down in Hogsmeade, but the shop here has anti-theft wards.”
“If you’re as good as you’re supposed to be, then you should be able to get a dung bomb with just that information,” James adds on challengingly, his expression openly dubiously as he regarded her.
“Well,” Kai begins, moving behind them slowly as she regards the shop. “What exactly does a dungbomb look like?”
“It’s small, brown, and round,” the fluffy-haired boy supplies. “You’ll know it when you smell it.”
“Hmm,” Kai hums thoughtfully as she comes to a halt next to James, her hands sliding into her robes deftly. She surveys the joke shop again. A few teenagers in a mix of Muggle clothes and that seventeenth century fashion enter the shop, touting little coin pouches. Seems simple enough. “If you’re Aurors, isn’t it illegal to commission me to steal?” She asks with an arched brow, moving towards Sirius slowly. Unlike James, who had fastened his robes surprisingly neatly despite the contrasting state of his hair, Sirius had his robes wide open and unfastened.
“We’re not commissioning—” James splutters, just as Sirius says, “We’re not Aurors yet.”
“Fair enough,” Kai murmurs before she enters the joke shop.
The shop is brightly lit and adorned with dozens of flying airplanes charmed to zoom dangerously close to the customers’ heads. Kai ducks quickly out of the way as one darts past her. Fortunately for her, the shop is fairly busy with students perusing the newest products. Small, brown, and round, she recites in her head as she surveyed the shelves. But like James had suggested, she smells the dungbomb before she sees it. Even in the encasing, a faintly putrid smell wafts out of the pouch on the shelf.
Kai takes a cursory lap around the shop first before heading towards the shelf, focusing her interest on the product next to it though she knew no one was watching her. The shopkeeper seemed to have entrusted the safety of his products to his anti-theft enchantment. A simple inventory ward, but difficult enough for a student to break — anyone who attempted to take a product out of the ward without the replacement of money would trigger the ward. But Kai has worked on jobs that had much more difficult enchantments and much higher stakes than a dungbomb.
What to do, what to do, Kai muses to herself. She could conjure something of similar weight and shape as a dungbomb and make the switch. A ball in a cloth bag would have to do — she doesn’t have the time for anything more detailed, and she doesn’t think that if she tried to conjure up an undetailed dungbomb, it would take shape for long enough. As she considers the logistics, her eyes snag onto a familiar group of schoolboys. Change of plans.
Without breaking her stride, Kai slides two dungbombs and a vial of Gigglewater into the pocket of her robes before pulling out the parchment from the same pocket. The first thing she had learned years ago was to always take something out of her pocket when stealing. Kai squints down at in, before levying her gaze around the shop as if she were searching for something. Now, all she had to do was wait for the right timing.
Kai loitered around the counter of the shop, squinting down at her parchment while watching the group of schoolboys out of her peripheral vision. As they began to drift towards the exit, she turned to one of the shop attendees. “Say, do you have…” She made a show of squinting down at the parchment. “...Slug spawn soap?”
“No, sorry, ma’am, I’ve never heard of that,” the attendee says apologetically.
Kai sighs, shoving the parchment back to her pocket and nodding. “Right, it didn’t sound real to me either,” she murmurs, frowning. “I better check with my brother.” With a polite smile, Kai turns and walks to the entrance, taking care to move behind the schoolboys.
If I was in a better mood, perhaps I’d feel sorry, she thinks as she slips the Gigglewater into the pocket of one of the boys. She breaks her stride for a moment, letting another customer pass in front of her just as the boys exit the shop.
A howler alarm screams as the boys step out. “Hey! You boys—” The attendee shouts, hurrying after the boys just as Kai slips around them in the chaos of the screeching howler.
Across the street, she spots James’s bedhead peeked around the corner of an alley, his eyes wide.
“You set off the alarm,” James whispers harshly, tugging her into the alley. He looks like he's ready to flee.
“No, I didn’t,” Kai says, trying hard to stifle her laughter at the pure panic on the boy’s face. “They did.” She nodded in the direction of the schoolboys that had begun emptying their pockets. They were staring down at the Gigglewater in confused panic as the attendee, red-faced, pushed them back into the shop.
“Why set off the alarm?” James asks, relaxing slightly now though his gaze darted back to the shop.
“I was feeling petty,” Kai says, feeling rather pleased despite herself when she catches the look of begrudging respect that the two exchange. It disappears just as quickly though.
“Well? The dungbombs?” Sirius demands, casting a nervous glance over his shoulder that made them look all the more suspicious. Merlin, if these were the people she was supposed to fight the war with, it was no wonder they were losing. Kai tosses a dungbomb pouch to each of them, crossing her arms over her chest expectantly. To his credit, James looks impressed as he inspects the dungbomb.
“Well, it was just a joke shop—” Sirius begins, the words faltering on his lips as she starts emptying her pockets. She expected this much from him, so she had prepared for it.
“Dear Sirius,” she reads aloud from a carefully folded piece of parchment. “I’ve missed you and Hogwarts dearly—”
“What— How did you—” He splutters, his hands immediately going to the pockets of his trousers in search of the wallet she had nicked when she had been surveying the joke shop earlier. It had been particularly easy with his robes open.
She ignores him as she folds up the letter and slips it back into the wallet smoothly. Kai tosses it at his feet before making a sarcastic revelatory sound as she fishes around her pocket again, pulling out a small, velvet box.
“Who’s the lucky lass?” She muses, opening the box to inspect the glistening jeweled ring inside.
Next to Sirius, James goes very still. Sirius, on the other hand, springs to life.
“YOU’RE PROPOSING?” Sirius all-but-shouts at James. A violently red flush creeps steadily across the latter’s face as he gapes at his ring in her hand. At Sirius’s outburst, he seems to snap out of it, turning to the other boy frantically.
“No— Well, yes, that’s always been the plan, but I’ve just been figuring out the right thing to say and the right time and Lily and I have talked about it a bit and we figure there’s a whole war going on now and—” James prattles on, wide-eyed, until the curly-haired boy interrupts him, as if remembering she was standing there.
“When did you get those?” He demands. James quiets and stills, clearly remembering she was still holding his engagement ring.
“Before the dungbombs,” Kai says shortly, tossing the ring box back to James. He scrambles to catch it, clasping it firmly as he slips it carefully back into his pocket. She straightens, casting them a withering look. She really was feeling petty. “If there are any more questions about my ability, it’ll be your wands next time. And no thief is very keen on returning what they’ve taken. Now where can I get a bloody owl?”