Author's Note: Written for…

10 Characters, 10 Prompts. Prompts: Blaise Zabini, weigh

Russian Roulette Challenge. Prompt: Hermione/Blaise

AU Battle Competition. Prompts: Superhero!AU, petite

Open Category Competition 2. Category: AU

Fifty Shades of… Challenge.

Summary: Superhero!AU

Blaise Zabini is a rising star in London's criminal underground. Hermione Granger is a mild-mannered curator. Both are hiding life-changing secrets that are revealed when a robbery goes wrong.

The Wrong Side

Blaise always loved visiting the Museum of London. As a boy, he'd go there every weekend with his mum. It was their special time together, but that changed when she married Devon. Blaise hated him, and that hatred tended to bring out … some unusual talents that eventually landed him his current title of best up-and-coming thief.

He loved going to the museum even more since the new curator began working there the previous year. She was pretty and smart and young. She couldn't have been older than twenty-one and already in charge of Egyptian artifacts, Blaise's favorite collection.

He sighed as he looked at a priceless vase in its glass case. He would miss coming here every day and enjoying the way the light shone on its golden surface. He looked around and the other visitors to the collection, aimlessly wandering around, and thought of how none of them truly appreciated this vase's beauty. Neither did the man in whose private collection the vase would soon be sitting.

"Just one big score," Nott had said. "That's all you need to rocket you into the big leagues."

Blaise agreed, because he was sick of doing petty home robberies, and muggings weren't really his style. So Nott had found a man who was searching for priceless collectibles, and was willing for pay more for them than Blaise would make in an entire year of working at the diner.

He waited until nightfall to return. The lock was easy enough to get passed, and then he was in the museum entrance. He tried to be quiet, gently closing the door behind him. He knew there was at least one security guard around somewhere, and he didn't fancy being caught – not that the guards could see him if they tried.

Blaise had the habit of being overlooked when he wanted to be. He called it skill, but it was more than that. If he kept to the shadows and wished it hard enough, no one would see him. It worked just as well on security cameras, there was pretty much nothing that could stop him.

He skulked along in the darkness until he reached the collection of Egyptian artifacts. It would be risky, he knew, to step into the light. Riskier still to stand under it and set the alarm off, but it was the only way to get the vase.

But he hadn't even stepped out of the dark corner when a wrench was thrown into his plans when she walked in – the new curator. He stood completely still, closing his eyes and willing her not to see him. Surely he could wait until she was gone before stealing the vase…

"What do you think you're doing?"

He'd never heard her speak before, and he was a bit surprised by how gentle it was, especially considering she'd just discovered him trying to steal from her collection.

He opened his eyes and frowned at her. The petite woman stood maybe twenty feet away, and he couldn't see the doorway at all from his position so it was possible she was talking to someone in the hallway, but her eyes were focused on him.

"I've seen you in here before, haven't I?" she asked, stepping slowly closer. "You come here almost every day."

"Er, yeah. I'm a huge fan of the collection." He came out of the shadows, quickly thinking up an excuse. He held out a hand to shake hers. "Blaise Zabini. I might have, uh, stayed after-hours to tell you how much I admire your work."

She raised an eyebrow. "Hermione Granger. I appreciate your compliment, Mr. Zabini. But tell me, how did you know I'd be working so late?"

"Intuition?"

"You're here to steal something, aren't you?"

Blaise laughed. "What gives you that idea?"

"I'm a pretty good judge of character. Also you were hiding in a dark corner in a museum after closing time … it doesn't exactly take a genius, which I am."

"Well, aren't we full of ourselves."

"I'm really not."

"Why aren't you running? Sounding an alarm?"

She smiled at him and showed him the phone in her hand. She already had the police dialed, all she had to do was press call.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Waiting for you to give me a reason to call the authorities."

"Isn't attempting to steal from you enough cause?"

Hermione shrugged. "You got passed the guards, and the security cameras. They're all top of the line. I want to know how you did it."

"What's it matter," he asked, annoyed. He'd just messed up his life-changing score and he was going pay severely for it. By the time they let him out of prison, Nott and his other contacts wouldn't want anything to do with him.

"Humor me," Hermione said, taking a seat on one of the benches that lined the museum. "I'm a very curious person, you know."

He didn't see the point in lying to her. His talent wouldn't do him any good in jail.

"I have this … ability. I can blend into shadows, go unseen, if I want to."

She didn't react like he expected. He'd never told anyone about his abilities – not even him mum, but he always assumed someone would be pretty skeptical if he did tell them.

Hermione seemed too calm. She stared at him unblinking, as if he was telling her something she already knew.

"This works on cameras as well?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever thought of using it for another purpose?"

"How could this possibly be useful?"

"Police, for starters. Spies. Probably better pay than whatever you get for stealing worthless vases."

"It's not worthless … wait. How did you know I'm after the vase?"

She smirked. "Can you keep a secret?"

Blaise rolled his eyes. "I'm a thief. I have plenty of secrets of my own, you know."

"Fair enough." She nodded her head in the direction of the vase. "It's a fake."

"You're lying."

"I'm not, actually. The real vase was stolen three months ago, just before I got here. That's why they hired me."

"So, what, you're some sort of detective?"

"I could be, if I wanted to be. I'm more like a guard. I look out for any potential thieves. I marked you as a suspect weeks ago. That's why I'm here now."

"You're not a curator?"

"Not really. I did a little research to take on the job though." She stood and walked over to case containing some old clay bowls, putting her phone away as she did. "I can tell you anything you want about any item in this room." She smiled at him. "You have your talents and I have mine. I'm incredibly clever, or so everyone keeps telling me. That's probably why I can see through your ability."

"Do you do this often? Guard stuff, I mean?"

She shrugged again, returning to the bench. "Sometimes. It pays well. Most of the time I take care of things before people ask me to – before they realize their belongings have been stolen."

"Sounds interesting."

"I could use a partner."

"I beg your pardon?"

"You have a choice. Either you stay here while I call the authorities, or you join me. We'd make quite the team, I think."

"You've got to be joking."

"What's the problem, Blaise? Do you want to be a thief your whole life?"

He bit his lip, weighing his options. His career as a criminal was basically over and he knew it. The other route didn't seem so bad, really. Getting to use his abilities and work with a pretty girl all day?

"Okay, I'm in."

Hermione grinned. "We're going to be unbeatable."