First meeting.
The Noble house of Black, a widely known and respected family of nobles. Of course, the house of Black was a rather rich family, the richest in the kingdom except for the royals. The house of Black has been around for decades and had many traditions. One of these traditions was hosting an annual winter ball. Now the Black family weren't the most excepting of the working classes, or any classes below them. So of course, only nobles and the royals were ever invited to these balls. Unless you were well respected, rich, and obviously a noble, you wouldn't be at these balls. The only exception was if you worked for the Black family, and if you snuck in, which was rare since of course the Black family bought the best security money could buy.
Although, no one said the security was perfect all of the time, mistakes happen no big harm, right? Wrong. The security got lazy and made a huge mistake, they let in a pirate, famous for stealing at these events, he was known as James Potter.
3rd POV:
James looked around the ballroom with both awe at the expensive architecture, but disgust at all of the snobby nobles. He paid close attention to the details of the ballroom, all of the high walls which were the color of emerald, green, the textured ceilings, the glossy hardwood black flooring, the huge French windows with beautiful emerald, green curtains with silver detailing, and the highly expensive paintings. Next, he paid attention to the people, the servers walking around with food and drinks, the security at each door, the obvious divide between the more respected nobles and the less respected nobles. The highly respected nobles kept an obvious distance from the lower respected nobles. While the lower respected nobles tried to get closer to the highly respected nobles. As if they thought the highly respected nobles would ever let them be in the same social standings, they wouldn't.
James walked around the edge of the ball, with a glass of champagne. He was trying not to stand out, while also looking for his next target. While he wanted to be bold and try to steal from the higher-class nobles, he knew that it would be a lot harder to get them alone and distracted. So, he mostly abandoned that idea, he looked at the lower-class nobles more closely, trying to figure out who would be the easiest to go for. His train of thought was interrupted when someone clumsily tripped over his foot. He easily grabbed onto the girl's waist; she seemed to be in a hurry before she tripped. He removed his hands as soon as she was steady, he may be a thief, but his mother raised him to be respectful.
"Careful" James said in his deep, and slightly warning tone.
The girl just sent him a smile that looked both wary and forced. She took a step back, and James' eye got caught by her expensive looking dress when it swayed as she moved. It was a dark midnight blue, and it had silver stitching all over it, in the shapes of different constellations. The dress clearly showed she was a higher-class noble, one who had a lot of money to waste, as she also had a silver necklace with an emerald, and a matching set of earrings on.
"Sorry, I was in a rush, and I didn't see you." The girl said, sounding both exhausted and a bit wary.
James just smiled and said in his charming, but obvious working-class accent. "There's no need to thank me, love."
The girl cocked her head to the side at the particular accent, no noble would be caught dead talking in that accent. It was clear the girl was growing suspicious of James, as she narrowed her eyes at him. James caught this action and couldn't help but feel disappointed for two reasons. One, was this very, very pretty girl as shallow as most nobles, if so that was a shame. Two, was his robbery going to end so soon that he couldn't even call it a robbery? James was better than that, that was amateur work. James was practically a pro at stealing now, if he was going to get caught so soon his crew would never let it go.
"Who are you exactly?" the girl asked with suspicion heavy in her tone and facial expression.
James frowned and crossed his arms, thinking about his response first. "Why would it matter?" James questioned.
James desperately needed to know if this girl would turn him in, it was definitely risky, but all good things were. The girl frowned at his response and looked over James closely, taking in his hair style, and outfit. Both were common for lower class nobles, with the curly messy haired style being all the rave, and the clothes that were expensive but not custom made or exclusive. he looked like a noble sure, but as someone who was around higher-class people, the girl wasn't convinced, there was just something about him.
"You're not a noble, so I want to know who you are, and why you're pretending to be a noble." the dark-haired girl said sternly.
James frowned and began to grow a bit more cautious. He checked the exists, there was on that was close to him, he didn't know where it led though. It was also guarded by security. James looked back at the dark-haired girl, she looked determined, and James was pretty confident she wouldn't give up until she got answers.
"I may not be a noble, but you wouldn't want to know my name love." James replied, his tone cool. He was trying to pretend he wasn't at all worried.
The girl raised an eyebrow at this, James hoped she would just take the admission to not being a noble and leave it alone. In best case scenario, she would just tell him to leave right now. Worst case scenario, is she alerts the guards, who, if they are any good, would recognize him.
"That's not going to fly, what is your name. You'll either tell me, or I will be having to let the hosts know." The dark-haired girl stated coldly.
James sighed heavily, of course she chose to be difficult. Was he surprised? No, not even close to being surprised, but couldn't a guy hope? Clearly not. He debated his choices, if he told her who he was, there was about three different scenarios that could happen. One, she doesn't know who he is, (unlikely). Two, she screams for security right here, (more likely, but still unlikely). Or three, she gets scared and runs to alert the security, giving him time to escape somehow, (way more likely). James decided to take the risk.
"Fine, you asked love. I'm James Potter." James said, watching closely for her reaction.
The girl blinked in surprise and stepped back quickly. For a moment it looked like she was going to go get security, but she stopped after thinking about it.
"*The* James Potter?" She echoed, with a hint of suspicion and disbelief.
James couldn't help the small but definitely egotistical smirk from appearing on his face at her expression. While it was definitely a risky move, he did love knowing how well known he was, even if it was for all the wrong reasons. "Yes love, I am the one and only James Potter. Are you going to turn me in now?" James asked with a mocking smirk, but carefully watched for the mystery girl's reaction.
The mysterious girl looked like she was contemplating it, James took that as his cue to leave. however, he was stopped when the girl spoke. "Not if you do something for me." the girl offered.
James looked curious by the offer, although he knew he had to be careful with this, he had been risky for a while, anymore could get him caught early. "What's the offer?" James couldn't help but ask, sue him, he was curious.
The girl turned around and pointed to a man, he seemed snobby, and like he was looking down on everyone else. Definitely a higher respected noble, James thought to himself. The noble had dark slightly curly hair, with a slim and toned face. He could be considered really attractive, if not for the permeant sneer on his face.
"That's Wulfric Mulciber, he's Lord Mulciber's oldest son. He always carries this wallet on him, filled with money, just to show off. But if the rumors are true he has an even bigger prize in his pockets tonight. Apparently, he has an expensive ring with him tonight. If you steal the ring off of him, including whatever else you want, I won't say a word about you being here." The now strange girl told James.
James was surprised, and distrustful. Was this some way to get him caught without involving her? James studied the girl closely; did she perhaps have something against him? Or maybe against his future fiancé. Everyone knew that the Black family was engaging their only daughter, Aurora. The girl noticed his distrustfulness and sighed. "It's not some master plan to get you caught. I just need him to lose that ring, and tonight." She explained seriously.
James couldn't explain why, but for some reason he trusted that the girl was telling the truth. So he sighed and looked at the younger Mulciber and studied him. "How will we get him distracted enough for me to sneakily steal from his pockets?" James questioned with a hint of skepticism.
"I will lead him into an isolated corner and distract him, all you have to worry about is not being heard, seen, or felt. simple enough?" She questioned, a hint of a smile on her face. James nodded, and in the back of his mind he wondered just how important this girl was if she had the confidence in her ability to lure and distract such a high respected noble. Although that was a question for a later date, they had a robbery to focus on.
The dark-haired girl walked off and danced around talking to different nobles for a few minutes, as to not seem suspicious. Once an appropriate time passed, she walked elegantly over to the younger Mulciber. True to her words, she was able to lure him off into an isolated corner and distract him. Mulciber was only looking at her, focused on her, for a moment James thought it was possible Mulciber had actually liked the girl. Until he noticed that Mulciber was only looking at her with lust, and as if she was just a huge paycheck for him. At that moment it was clear the only affection Mulciber had was to money, and maybe a very slim chance of him having affection for his fiancé, Aurora Black, who he had not seen at all yet. James gave the girl a few minutes, but not too much to fully distract him. Once James could tell Mulciber was fully distracted he carefully walked up to the pair, but behind Mulciber's back so the noble would see him. James kept his steps silent and measured, making sure he would not be heard, but not seen as suspicious by other guests. James had acquired this skill after so many close calls and sleepless nights, he was practically a pro now.
James easily snuck behind the noble, and grabbed his wallet, which was practically half-way out of his pocket. the tricker part was getting the ring. It was clearly more important to him than the wallet, as it was fully in his pocket. James waited for the right moment, and when it came, he seized it. Mulciber had shifted, making the ring a bit easier to grab from his pocket, and Mulciber was deep in conversation, bragging about whatever he could. James carefully reached into his pocket and grabbed the ring box. James made sure he didn't touch anything to harshly or for too long. Once he had the ring secured, he turned around and walked off like nothing ever happened. He slipped the ring into his Jacket and walked over to where the dark-haired girl, who he still didn't know the name of first bumped into him. He had questions and wanted answers.
Once it was an appropriate time to step away from the conversation, the dark-haired girl did. She wanted out of the conversation as soon as possible. She turned around and walked to the infamous James Potter, she wanted to see the ring and ask questions.