A/N: This is a Muggle!AU
The Gentleman Thief
Blaise strolled through the halls of Malfoy Manor, the hubbub of the party falling quieter the further he explored. Draco was throwing a typically extravagant party in order to celebrate his thirtieth birthday. It was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the ill-advised lack of security.
How he loved it when security guards were too busy pulling apart two sprawling drunkards to do their jobs properly. And if it was Blaise who had mentioned to Pansy, who'd undoubtedly pass on to Astoria, who wouldn't have been able to help herself from sharing with Theo, that someone had seen Victoria Nott with her hands down Ernie Macmillan's pants, well, no one would have to know.
Lining the corridors, portraits of Malfoy's long dead glowered down at him, each of them with platinum blonde hair and pointed features. Perhaps it was a requirement for a Malfoy to have his portrait painted as if he were in a rictus of pain. If it was meant to intimidate guests, it sorely failed.
"Aha," Blaise murmured, coming upon the door he'd been after at the end of the hall. Glancing both ways, he knelt down and withdrew his lock picks from the inner lining of his suit jacket. The tumbler was stiff, but he persevered, and in less than two minutes he sprung the lock. The door clicked open. Blaise smiled, donning a pair of black leather gloves that by now felt like a second skin. He stepped into Lucius Malfoy's office and closed the door behind him.
Blaise had been inside this office dozens of times. He recognised the polished wooden furniture, the forest green velvet armchairs, and the pièce de résistance, the marble fireplace that dominated the room. He'd often done business with Malfoy, pleasant discussions of insider trading on the stock market and comparing the contacts each of them had within various multi-million pound businesses and governmental departments. Blaise was the kind of man who liked to make money and had very few scruples. He was not ashamed of it; his outlook was not uncommon amongst the very rich.
Perched upon a gleaming mahogany bookshelf, displayed on a bronze mount, was Christie's Diamond Necklace. It was a rivière necklace made from fifty-two separate diamonds, each cut to the highest quality and clarity so that each diamond sparkled with an intense fire. It took Blaise's breath away.
Malfoy had arrogantly displayed this masterwork of jewellery in his study for anyone to see. Every time Blaise had visited, he'd barely been able to tear his gaze from the diamonds to the man in possession of them.
No longer would that be a problem.
From his breast pocket, Blaise withdrew an exact replica of the necklace, made from finely cut crystals instead of diamonds. He stepped closer to the Christie, tilting his head to one side. It looked as if there was no hidden alarm, no security, just as it had the last few times he'd glanced at it while doing business with Malfoy. Had Malfoy trusted that the lock on his door would hold, or that the security guards would do their jobs sufficiently? With a shrug, Blaise lifted the necklace from its stand and wound it around his left wrist, shutting the clasp with a snap. He then arranged the fake, draped exactly as the original had been.
He stepped back from the bookcase, not bothering to suppress his smile. The Malfoys were idiots for leaving such a piece unguarded.
Glancing around the room, Blaise nodded to himself and strode toward the door. Malfoy wasn't foolish enough to keep video footage of a room in which he completed legally questionable dealings. Instead, he was just about foolish enough to let Blaise disappear with his diamonds. As the path he'd taken to Malfoy's office had led him through all of the camera's blinds spots, Blaise only had to return to the ballroom, and he'd be off, scot-free.
Exiting the office, Blaise pulled the door shut behind him, smoothing his face expressionless. He knelt down to lock the door once more, wrestling with the spring mechanism of the lock.
"Blaise?"
Surprised, Blaise bit back a yelp and looked down at the floor to gather himself. He palmed his picks, and placed his hand on the laces of his brogues, fiddling with it as if he were tying his shoe. As he stood, he turned to see who'd found him.
It was Draco, of course, as handsome and pointy as ever.
"Draco, darling," he said. "What a delightful party you're hosting."
Draco was staring at him, eyes narrowed.
"Thanks," he said, tone flat.
Blaise smiled, slipping his hands into his pockets, his lockpicks tucked up his sleeve. He raised his brows.
"Are you okay?" he asked when Draco continued to frown at him.
"Were you in my father's study?" Draco asked, blunt, to the point. He'd never been one for subtly, not when money could pave his way far more easily than manipulation.
Blaise much preferred to lace his words with honey.
"His study? No. Why? Is everything alright?"
"You weren't?" Draco's brow furrowed in confusion, the poor dear. He wasn't an honest man, couldn't be with a father like Lucius Malfoy, but he wasn't much of a liar. He wasn't much good at telling when other people were lying, either.
"Of course not," Blaise said. "Why would I be?" He began walking back toward the party. "Are you coming, Draco?"
"One moment," Draco said, sounding distracted.
Blaise continued ambling away, risking a quick look over his shoulder. Draco was testing the door handle, rattling it to ensure that the door was locked. Blaise released a low sigh of relief when the door held and took the opportunity to stow his picks back into the inner lining of his jacket.
"Are you sure, Blaise?" Draco said. Blaise turned back and affected a frown. Draco was peering at his phone. Perhaps there had been an alarm that Blaise had missed, whether it was on the door or the diamonds themselves.
"Of course I'm sure. Why would I have gone into your father's study?"
The diamonds were a heavy weight around his wrist.
"I don't know," Draco said. He really did look puzzled. Blaise was aware that Draco was sheltered; Lucius Malfoy was the dangerous one of the family. He might not even know that his father conducted dealings on the shadier side of the law. He certainly had no idea that Blaise walked the knife edge of morality.
"What were you doing all the way out here, then?" Draco asked, moving closer. He looked a little less suspicious now. "The party's back in the ballroom."
Blaise leaned against the wall and smirked at Draco.
"If I tell, will you promise to keep it a secret?"
Draco chewed on his lip, then nodded.
"Well, let's just say this… Olivia Smith is one fiery little minx," Blaise wiggled his eyebrows, "if you know what I mean. We needed to find somewhere quiet in order to get to know one another better."
"Blaise!"
Blaise grinned at Draco's scandalised expression.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Should we have invited you along? You are the birthday boy, after all." Blaise winked, drawing closer, smoothing down the lapels of Draco's suit. It was a rich, royal blue; it suited him handsomely. "I'd like to get you out of this splendid piece of tailoring and into your birthday suit.."
"Blaise!" If anything, Draco squeaked even higher than he had before, brushing Blaise's hands away. Blaise noted his cheeks had turned a delicious pink.
"Only joking, darling," Blaise drawled.
"And Olivia? Is she around here somewhere?"
Olivia was back at the party and had likely never left it.
"She had to powder her nose," Blaise said. "Messy business, becoming aquainted so intimately. I'm sure you understand.
Draco spluttered, mouth gaping like a fish. Smug as a cat, Blaise gestured down the corridor.
"Now, if you've finished interrogating me on my sexual escapades, perhaps we ought to return to the party before anyone misses us."
"Yes, yes, you're right," Draco said, hurrying back toward the ballroom, his shoulders stiff.
Blaise grinned and lazily followed, and wondered if it wasn't just diamonds that he could steal from Lucius Malfoy.
Christie's Diamond Necklace: /the-worlds-10-most-expensive-necklaces/#scarlet
Word Count: 1371
QLFC Round 1 Captain Prompt: Write about a character talking their way out of a situation.
Hogwart's Auction D17/1. Emotion - Smug [1371 words = 27 coins]