28 AUGUST - SPINNET FAMILY HOME, BATH ENGLAND
The rain hit gently against the stone walls, leaning against the kitchen table, Alicia Spinnet stood with a carrot in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. She’d stopped at home to talk to her parents about something or another event that she wanted them to come to for her rescue foundation. They usually indulge her, but when she showed up, there was a note on the kitchen table telling her that they weren’t going to be making it home in time to see her but to get the chilling white wine and some fresh carrots just picked from the garden.
“Okay,” Alicia said, having read it and promptly followed the instructions. Grabbing a glass and opening the bottle of wine the muggle way she poured a glass smelling it. There was no label on the bottle, but Alicia knew right away. It was a Cortese grape. Last years vintage.
A big wine book was spread out in front of her as Alicia took down notes of the wine she was drinking and what she would pair it with, the flavours she noted in her tasting, and how it tasted with carrots - among other things.
“My parents should be out, and my siblings are all busy with their own lives.” Alicia heard the unmistakable gravelly honey voice of Elle Spinnet. “Don’t worry love. This is the perfect place to talk.” The voice carried on with a giggle.
“If you are very sure.” Elle’s current boyfriend Trenton Bambar responded, his voice typical tight and lightly accented words floated towards the kitchen.
Shit. Alicia mouthed as she quietly shut the book and grabbed the bottle, her glass and the carrots she had sitting on the table. Skirting her way to the door that went out to a beautiful patio, Alicia opened the door as quietly as possible sneaking out and dropping to the cold stone slab as she heard their footsteps in the kitchen.
A moment of fear ran through her as she tried to remember what happened to the note, but remembered she’d stuck in the wine book and knew Elle wouldn’t think anything of it, it wasn’t dated. Suppressing a sigh, she tried to think how best to get out without being seen. The last thing Alicia wanted was to get into another argument with Elle. The last one had caused a rift between the family, and Alicia knew she was the one most likely to be blamed for not keeping the peace.
She heard the sound of paper and couldn’t help herself as she very carefully looked through the window. It looked as though they were looking at some kind of blueprint. “This.” She heard a squeak in Trenton’s voice hinting to excitement. “This is our best chance to get in and get it.”
“I don’t know, I think we need to keep our options open,” Elle responded, her voice silky in jest.
“You tease me, my love,” Trenton said. Alicia couldn’t see the smile, but she could hear it.
“Let’s go over this again.” Elle sounded as though she couldn’t wait for whatever it was. “They’ll be moving the cargo from Gringotts into this apartment for the private showing at 2:30 pm, we’ll get in here, and we’ll wait for a moment to dive in. Before the showing even starts, that starts at 4 pm. You have the-”
“Of course, already got.”
“And the-”
“I have the lock bag. You talked to the buy-”
“This morning, we are going to have enough to set ourselves up forever, get out of here.” Elle finished. “Who knew some paintings and a couple of rocks was all it took.” She giggled.
Alicia’s heart was racing as she started to put together what she was hearing. There was no doubt in her mind that this wasn’t the first time Elle had done something like this, she just always liked the idea of not actually knowing what her sister was up to. She could hear them kissing and chatting about how much they would make. The number rivalled a couple of years of her Quidditch contract and then some.
“Did you make sure your sister gave you the information correct?” Trenton asked, at that Alicia’s racing heart turned to anger.
“Oh, Emilia? She’ll tell me anything. I just told her I loved the art and wanted to know if she needed help with her little catering gig. I even managed to convince her not to tell Alicia.” Elle explained, clearly pleased with herself.
“We have the potions to knock out and render-”
“Did you hear that?” Elle cut him off, leaving Alicia hanging in anticipation. “I think I heard something.” She heard footsteps come towards the door she was hiding behind but stopped just short.
Her father’s voice rang out. “Alicia, are you here?” She could tell he was heading for the kitchen and the sound of paper rustling and being hidden overtook anything else.
“Elle. Trent. We weren’t expecting you until tomorrow, Callie is with her music tutor.” There was a slight annoyance to Tristan Spinnet’s deep voice.
“Hi, Daddy!” Elle said as he switched to her baby voice, for the eldest, she always did play the baby girl better than either Alicia or Emilia. Alicia rolled her eyes.
“Did you see Alicia?” Her father asked. “She said she might stop by this afternoon.”
“Alicia? Oh, no, I haven’t seen her in ages, you know how she is.” Elle said as if this was a conversation they always had. “She’s just so busy being famous she must have forgotten.”
“Elle, be nice to your sister,” Tristan said in a voice Alicia had heard much too often when she herself was ranting about Elle. “We might have just all missed her.” He added as if he genuinely believed it.
“Doubtful.” She heard Elle huff.
“You two can come help me get the dining room ready. We have guests tonight,” Tristan said, Alicia heard footsteps leading away from the kitchen, she got off the cold ground and looked inside, no one was there. She knew exactly what she had to do next. Find those papers.
Alicia snuck back into the house and put the wine bottle away but kept the glass in her hand as she snuck around. She caught sight of the papers hanging out of Elle’s boyfriends jacket. Carefully she called the papers to her with a wordless spell and quickly took snaps of it. As she heard footsteps again she pushed the papers so it looked as though they’d fallen out of his pocket.
“You made it!” Tristan Spinnet wrapped an arm around her.
“Yeah, found the wine and everything.” She heard more footsteps bringing her sister and her boyfriend. Trenton quickly picked up the papers with a worried expression, but neither he nor Elle said anything.
29 AUGUST - ROCCO'S KITCHEN
“Hey, Roc, what do you know about some event Em is catering?” Alicia asked as she sat down in his restaurant kitchen, eating the pasta dish he’d put in front of her.
“She’s got a few,” he commented with a curious expression.
“An art thing?” Alicia prompted.
“Oh, yeah, it’s an art fundraiser, I guess it’s supposed to be a pretty big deal,” he answered but narrowed his eyes. “Why do you want to know?”
Alicia took another bite of the pasta and didn’t answer right away. Instead, she shrugged and took her time chewing. “I guess,” she started, “I just heard Mum and Dad talking about it and was wondering is all.”
Rocco didn’t look like he totally believed her but seemed to decide to tell her about it. He launched into explaining it was happening on September 13th and about the way the art had been found, some muggle, some not and the importance of it. Alicia listened carefully memorising all the details and making a note to take a look at the pictures of the blueprints she’d snapped at their parents’ house.
31 AUGUST - AUROR OFFICE
“I need to speak with--” Alicia repeated again.
“Auror Derrick is right there, and I’m sure he’d love to speak with you!” The woman snapped at her. Derrick looked over with a raised eyebrow.
Alicia had mentioned to him before that she sometimes wondered if her sister was part of a crew that was known for wizarding art heists around Europe. It’d mostly been a casual conversation, and while it wasn’t usually what he did, he didn’t mind listening.
Perry took Alicia into a private office and sat down. Alicia wasted no time launching into what she knew and what she suspected. She had the blue prints, she had the conversation she’d overheard, she had the fact that there was an easy way in, she’d done her research on the event and even picked out which she thought her sister would be going after. Perry didn’t say it, but he was mildly impressed.
“You’re right,” Perry said, interrupting Alicia as she bombarded him with questions. “Think your sister and her partner are the art thief pair.” He told her, getting Alicia actually to shut up.
Alicia left the Aurors office with instructions to let them do their jobs but Alicia wanted to know more.
01 SEPTEMBER - SPINNET HOME IN BATH, ENGLAND
Alicia apparted outside the protection spells and took the long path up to the house. She saw Elle and her partner talking near the pond, she watched as they broke off their conversation abruptly. Alicia raised an eyebrow as she got closer.
“What? Afraid I might overhear something?” Alicia asked. There was nothing strange about her asking that kind of question, she’d done it a number of times over the years.
There was so much riding on this job, and Elle knew that she and Trent had to have the plan set and all factors accounted for in order to come out clean on the other side. They could be set up for life after this, but only if they were able to finish the job.
She saw Trent’s eyes flick off to the side, and he stopped speaking just as Elle heard her sister’s annoying and accusing voice. She half rolled her eyes before turning around to face her. “Am I not allowed to have a private conversation with my own boyfriend?”
“I need to leave to go pick up Callie,” Trent said before Alicia could answer. He leaned over and gave Elle a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll text you when we get home.”
Elle gave him a smile and within a few moments he was gone, and she turned her attention back to Alicia. Always the person she wanted to be alone with, especially now. “Getting to see you twice in one week. Lucky me.”
“Always with the dramatics, I’d think you’d have more than enough time to have private conversations with your boyfriend with all the times you drop Callie off here,” Alicia responded back casually with a disinterested shrug.
“Oh, I highly doubt you’d call yourself lucky, besides, last I heard I’m pretty sure I’m allowed to stop by our parents place when I want to.”
“Heaven forbid we give our daughter the opportunity to spend time with her grandparents,” Elle said with a roll of her eyes. “And a nice twist of my words. I don’t recall saying you weren’t ‘allowed’ to go anywhere you like. You usually do.”
Elle wasn’t sure why she always let Alicia get under her skin, but she did every single time she saw her younger sister. Sure, she usually went right back at her especially during moments like these when they were alone. Neither sister had ever been very subtle about their distaste for the other.
“As always, it’s been such a pleasure seeing you,” she said and started towards the path that would take her off outside the wards. She wasn’t going to bother waiting to hear from Trent before leaving.
“I’d believe that if she wasn’t here more than she was with you lot,” Alicia commented with a shrug ignoring the rest of what Elle said. She wasn’t going to admit it but Elle was right, Alicia did usually go wherever she wanted to damn anything else.
She watched as her sister walked away before turning to head towards the house.