As always, I don't own Harry Potter.
Please let me know what you think.
A Study in Scarlett.
The gang of robbers looked at each other, and then back at their boss in surprise at Scarlett's announcement. She was a little bit surprised herself, surprised they hadn't worked out what she'd been planning on saying to them. She could tell they had expected her to say something very different, maybe a cut of the share, something like that. The surprise was like a smothering blanket that had settled across the entire room; even the homeowners had gone quiet, as had their kid, but that was probably because the kids' mother had stopped shouting and whimpering.
"You wanna do what?" The robber said in surprise.
Scarlett raised a brow. Was he deaf or stupid? "I said, I wanted to join your gang," she repeated.
"I know. I heard you the first time," the robber snapped back, startling Scarlett with the force of his reply, and for the first time, she heard the sheathed steel in his voice.
Scarlett had very little experience with people outside of the dump that was Little Whinging, and it was one of the primary reasons why she had murdered the Dursleys in the first place (she made a mental note to herself, not to reveal what she had done to her former keepers; not only didn't she know how they'd react, but it might lead to problems in the future). Scarlett had become heartily sick and tired of their belief they were only people worth living on the planet, but she had also become tired of the narrow-minded views they had, how they backstabbed and gossiped about each other, showing off their new cars, the list went on and on.
Their treatment of her hadn't helped; they were so gullible it was pathetic. No-one really cared or gave any thought about what she was going through, and after a while, Scarlett viewed them with the same apathy. Even when she had fled to London after committing the murders against the Dursleys, Scarlett had kept herself to herself. It was one of the biggest issues she had, and one she planned on dealing with in the future since she had no intention of throwing away her chances of an education, but that didn't mean she didn't want to stop committing thefts.
One of her mistakes was taking her earlier belief she was better off alone and going from there. Sure, she knew for granted she could very well have found a gang of pickpockets, kids like that who banded together for their own survival and she could have finally found something that had grown cold and more or less forgotten within her heart, a want for companionship.
In many ways that was one of the reasons she wanted to join the gang, that and the fact she would have a safety net should things go wrong. However, she hadn't really expected the leader of the robbers to speak back to her as he had. She could not help comparing this guy with her unlamented uncle; where Vernon shoved himself into others personal space, this guy only had to use that tone to ensure silence. In fact, as she went back over the way he spoke, Scarlett realised this guy was different compared to the others, but that didn't mean he was not tough; he needed to be if he wanted to keep this lot under his control.
"Sorry," she replied, doing her best to appear sincere. However even as she carried on speaking, Scarlett knew he wasn't fooled, furthering her opinion this robber was not like the others. "I can give a lot; I'm a professional burglar. Did you hear about the burglary in South Kensington four months ago? That was me."
One of the other robbers, the one-armed with the baseball bat, scoffed. "You can't seriously believe her…"
"I was in the flat the entire time," she interrupted, not taking her eyes off of gang leader, who was giving her a lot of attention even as he looked down at her. "I had shimmied up the drainpipe, slipped in through the window on the hot summer's day. Nobody was in. I hid after looking around the flat because the owners had come in from God knows where. I didn't get the chance to commit the burglary until well after midnight," she finished.
She was more or less telling the truth, although she had bent the truth slightly when she explained how she had gotten into the flat in the first place. Yes, she had climbed the drainpipe, relieved that it was made of metal; she could understand the attraction for using plastic or similar material, but metal was far better for the climb, but she had used her Power to get up there after spending long hours practicing it.
"Hmm, the police did say the owners of the flat had closed the windows slightly for security," the gang leader agreed thoughtfully, although Scarlett could see for herself that he was a long way off from believing her. Scarlett wasn't completely surprised or even concerned about that, she had lived with people who had believed she was a liar, so she wasn't offended.
"They did, but I had gotten in before night. I had to wait for hours before I could finish the burglary, and then get out," Scarlett scowled as she remembered that night.
It was one of those moments where she had very nearly had gotten herself caught out when she had been out committing a burglary. When she had been committing the burglary, only to be surprised when she had heard the scratching of the key; she had been incredibly lucky and she had managed to hide away in a wardrobe before they even got in. It was the best place for her to be given she could stand upright, she could hide behind clothing so she had cover. The only bad news she had was making sure when she did get out no-one was awake, still, she had managed to get out of the flat without being caught, and she had escaped.
Her inner thoughts were clearly showing on her face since the gang leader was looking at her closely.
"You really did that?" He whispered.
"Oh come on, you can't believe her story. It's shit, Gre-!" One of the robbers, the one who was armed with the length of chain spat, but he was stopped from saying anything else when his leader rushed over and smacked him in the face. It wasn't a particularly hard punch, it was enough to make the other guy shut up.
"Keep your mouth shut," the gang leader whispered harshly through his mask.
"Sorry," the chastised robber apologised.
"Mmm," the leader muttered before turning back to Scarlett. "Okay, you can join. But only on a trial basis; I don't know if I can trust you. This job is pretty much done, so there's not a great deal you can do here tonight. Still, there are other jobs."
"Thank you," Scarlett noted that a few of the other robbers didn't look enthused by her inclusion into their gang, but she didn't really care what they thought about it. In any case, she was sure she could impress them. Okay, she knew it would be hard going to persuade them to give them the skills she knew she would need if she wanted to branch out.
The job was finished.
The robbers were just finishing taking all of the things they had chosen to take - the electronics, like the TV, the radio, things like that, were musts, while small pieces of furniture, lots of clothing - were taken to the van. Scarlett knew everything stolen inside would be stored until the gang could sell it.
It did enter Scarlett's mind, especially when she followed the gang out at a distance while they carried the last things they had stolen from the house to their nearby van, there was an opportunity here to make some friends. She wasn't going to be holding her breath; she had learnt the hard way growing up, friendship was not on the cards. Dudley and his little pack had made sure of that, they had scared off anyone who was curious about her, and wondered if she would be a good friend to them or not… And then Dudley would either beat them up or threaten them.
But Dudley was dead.
It made no difference to her now if she did make friends or not, but the problem was Scarlett had quickly become apathetic towards the idea. But these were robbers. Perhaps she could break whatever was leftover from Dudley's "you are a freak, that means you don't deserve friends" crap by making friends with them. In any case, she gathered these guys were far tougher than Dudley's mob. In fact, she was willing to bet if Dudley, Piers, and the others had tried to bully or harass, this gang of robbers, they would lose quickly and they would likely be killed.
As the gang got into the van, Scarlett took a deep breath before she jumped in with them. As she sat down, she felt as if she had just opened a door and stepped through it. Scarlett recognised she had just closed an old chapter in her life, now she would be starting a new one. She honestly didn't know what was going to happen when she joined this gang, but she hoped this trial they kept her on transformed into something more.