Disclaimer: Much to my dismay, and for many others I am sure, the book series Harry Potter does not, and will never, belong to me. So thank you J. K Rowling for allowing us to borrow your characters and books.
The riddles are not mine, as I found them on the internet.
I also borrowed from the TV show Leverage as an inspiration.
Warnings: Hint of slash (because I'm me.), thieving (don't do this at home), and questionable morals. NO gender bending here, only Harry being great at disguises.
AN: I somehow got persuaded to join the Quidditch League Competition so I'll be writing a oneshot every two weeks to try to win this tournament. Every two weeks, I will be given a prompt that I will have to fulfill as Captain of the Kenmare Kestrels. The stories must be T-rated, minimum 1,000 words and maximum 3,000. Wish me luck so that my team and I can win. =)
This week, I have to use a character playing a major role: Lisa Turpin. Little is known about her so I have Writer Creativity just for me. Hope you guys like this.
Summary: QLC. The rich and powerful take what they want. We still it back for you. We provide … Leverage. Ron, the Mastermind! Hermione, the Hacker! Lisa, the Thief! Harry, the Grifter! … And Viktor, the Hitter!
Word-Count: 3, 000 words (including the title).
The Sphinx Job
Leverage. A crew of con artists who help the poor and oppressed citizens against those that have money and power, such as the pure-bloods. Extraordinary alone, they are even more powerful when working together. They are the black knights, as opposed to the white kings.
The crew is:
I appear in the morning but am always there.
You can never see me though I am everywhere.
By night I am gone, though I sometimes never was.
Nothing can defeat me but I am easily gone.
What am I?
Answer: Sunlight (or thief)
Thief: Lisa Turpin. Born to a famous lines of thieves, she was known as the prodigy of the Turpin line. A little bit crazy for those who know her for a while, she could enter any safe she so desired.
Made of ten but two we make,
When assembled others quake,
Five apart and we are weak,
Five together havoc wreak.
What are we?
Answer: Fist (or hitter)
Hitter: Viktor Krum. Famous Quidditch player, he soon left the Bulgarian National Quidditch team in order to join a more appropriate job. Quickly becoming one of the best, he has only one important rule: not to kill unless absolute necessary.
I lack much reason, but often rhyme,
And require logic to pass the time,
To get the words to tell your kin,
Look for clues that lie within,
Though all are different, they act the same,
The answer is practically in the name.
What am I?
Answer: Riddle (or a hacker)
Hacker: Hermione Granger. One of the most intelligent Muggleborns, she was quite aware that all the modern advancements of the mundane world were easily replaced by magic. Hence the advantage to crack any sort of security measure or to put in place fake ids.
Tool of thief, toy of queen?
Always used to be unseen.
Sign of joy, sign of sorrow.
Giving all likeness borrowed?
Answer: Mask (or grifter)
Grifter: Harry Potter had many masks at his disposal, due to his upbringing at the Dursleys then his brief stint at Hogwarts. Donning such masks had become a second nature to him, rendering him invisible to the public eye through his various disguises (muggle or magical).
What is something to everybody and nothing to everyone else?
Answer: Your mind (or mastermind)
Mastermind: Ron Weasley was the youngest in a family of seven. Overlooked among the many (flashy) achievements of his other siblings, that didn't mean he didn't have anything special at all. Quite the contrary, since he had brilliant tactician skills.
Ron Weasley was the one behind this little idea, of creating such a group, after his and his friends Hogwarts' graduation, plus a couple of years of experience.
This is but one of their adventures.
Location: Selwyn's Potions and Apothecary building. Floor 33.
The klaxons were blaring the alert, as red and yellow lights flashed about. A figure, dressed in black from head to toe, face covered, exited from one of the rooms, and looked about with great haste.
Hearing running footsteps, she tried the door to the stairways: closed. She attempted the next one and the next until, finally, she found an unlocked door. A quick glance round, and she slipped inside. The door had barely closed with a soft snick before six men, dressed in fine robes for security, appeared on the scene.
"Did you find the intruder?" the leader asked his subordinates.
"No sir," one of the underlings replied. "But he shouldn't be far. We cornered him on this floor and up."
"Find him immediately and quietly. We don't want news of a possible break-in to leak to the public."
"Sir!" The guards spread out, checking the doors as they went. They didn't see the air vent being softly closed by black gloved hands.
Meanwhile, high above on the top floor, Mrs. Clarissa Selwyn, Chief Potion Mistress, along with the head of security, Aster Malfoy, were watching SPHINX doing its job with thin smiles. The intruder would be caught in no time.
Location: 12 Grimmauld Place
Ron and Hermione were enjoying a nice breakfast for their fourth anniversary. Harry and Viktor had left for the day, wanting to enjoy some time together as well, far from the lovebirds at home. Lisa was also gone for some reason or another, the thief being as tightlipped as usual as to what she did during her day off.
The couple were about to kiss when all of a sudden, a familiar silver crow patronus appeared and Lisa's voice sounded. "Hi guys. This is a pre-recorded patronus meaning that I am not back in time to cancel the spell. You'll find all the info at my safe house. Cheers." It disappeared, much to the dismay of Ron and Hermione whose morning was officially ruined. What had Lisa done now?
Hurriedly, they gathered their gear and went to the safe house, sending a message to the other two members of the team explaining briefly what happened. They arrived before a non-descriptive building, in a different address than marked in the employment form.
"How did you know that it was here?" Hermione asked Ron.
"Because it's Lisa." That explained so much, if one knew the personality of the thief.
"She still doesn't trust us?" Hermione couldn't help but be exasperated. In front of them was a numerical keypad. "Wait, since this is Lisa's, then Lisa picked the code." Hermione smiled and put in the correct code, hiding it from Ron. It worked on the first try.
"What's the code?" Ron asked curious.
"Her best friend." Hermione answered, evidently pleased to know something that Ron didn't. It showed that Lisa trusted her a bit, somewhat.
They arrived in a dark room that lit up all of a sudden. It was kind of creepy since there was only a bed, surrounded by a bookshelf (filled with bowls and cereal boxes), three boards (filled to the maximum capacity of pin-up papers) and a rack (from which hung various climbing equipment). Scrutinizing the boards, Hermione realized that they were similar to Ron's planning when preparing a con.
As she was about to say it, the door banged open as Harry and Viktor rushed in, ready for combat.
"What took you guys so long? You should have arrived before us." Ron stated, not impressed at all. "You didn't go to the fake Central Park address, did you?"
Both Harry and Viktor shivered, recalling as to what they found there. Trying to think of something else, Viktor looked around him, before hissing in surprise. Dashing forward, he practically ripped from the central board the blue print where the letters SPA were written on a building. "Please tell me that she didn't try to break into a SPHINX."
Hermione's and Ron's winces answered for him. Viktor sighed, not liking that Lisa tried to do something so big without warning them.
"A what now?" Harry asked in wonder.
"A SPHINX, one of best wards in the world." Hermione informed him. "How can you not know this?"
Harry sent a deadpan look. "I am a grifter. If I'm doing my job right, then the mark just …," he made a small gesture, "turns of his wards."
Viktor decided to answer his boyfriend. "A SPHINX has its namesake's intelligence, a dragon's ability to adapt, all while having the rotten personality of a cerberus. That's a SPHINX. For the past three years, no one has been able to get in or out of such a building."
Ron looked pensive. Turning to Hermione, he wondered if she could crack the wards. "Give me a year with the best materials and yes, I can." She blustered. "But like this one the fly? Not a chance!"
"For Lisa, could you do it?" Ron insisted. After a couple more seconds, Hermione agreed. "Alright, let's go steal a Lisa!"
The whole crew set out, but not before gathering all the material that Lisa had at her disposal. They would need it if they would want to save her.
Meanwhile, Lisa was crawling through the ducts to find an escape. Turning right, she suddenly stopped, her senses tingling. Taking out her wand, she whispered a revealing spell. In front of her were beams of lights. "Trip spells, … in a ventilation shaft?!" This was overkill, in her personal opinion.
Seeing that she wouldn't find an exit, she decided to leave her current pathway and mingle with the workers. Stealing a stray work-robe, Lisa quickly put her hair up in a wild ponytail, before covering part of her face with some stolen glasses. Keeping her head low, she sat down in an unoccupied cubicle and pretended to work. A good thing too since those security wizards passed by her, stopping every worker that was on his feet checking their eyes and voices with a crystal.
Checking her compact-mirror, Lisa saw that there wasn't any magic-bars to call her friends. Deciding to risk it, she used the work-mirror on the desk to call Hermione. The hacker would know what to do.
"Lisa?" Hermione's face reflected back. "From where are you calling me?"
"One of the empty cubicles. The building is blocking my compact. I'm alright, they won't find me."
Hermione's face grew pale. "Lisa, listen to me. SPHINX will trace your call in thirty seconds." Checking her watch, she corrected herself. "Sorry, twenty seconds. Get out now and find cubicle twenty-seven. I'll be sending you one of our comms so that you can contact the rest of the gang."
"Wait, you mean you're here?" Lisa was amazed that the team would act so fast to help her.
"Yes. Now get out!" Hermione ordered. "You'll explain everything later." The brunette shut down the mirror as Lisa slinked off somewhere. Barely seconds later, the security wizards arrived at an empty cubicle.
Lisa was already slinking off to her destination, trusting her friends to get her out of this. Which was true, in a way.
Ron was on top WWW, his brothers' shop since they were directly in front of SPA. His vantage point gave him the ability to think fast and coordinate his team. He had an inkling behind Lisa's client, as the blueprints given were the original ones. Something quite hard to get for a company that had a SPHINX security ward.
Harry and Hermione had entered the building, using the excuse of being accounts. The lie was credible since SPA was in the red for the past year, hemorrhaging money through bad business deals. Since they were short on time, Harry was the one to create the front door for the both of them. Two witches entered the building.
In order for Hermione to work without be bothered, Harry (or Harriet in this case), provided a quite effective distraction. He revealed to the upper echelon that they were all fired, unless they could somehow persuade her that their job was essential to the company. Everyone was panicking by the lay-offs. Everyone, except Potion Mistress Clarissa Selwyn. Something wasn't right about her, Harriet was certain about it. But what was it?
Meanwhile, Viktor was patrolling the area in order to find a potential exit for Lisa. She couldn't leave through the front door, evidently, so they had to create a side one.
As Hermione found a way to save Lisa from the terrible danger she was in, the thief, at the very last second, refused and wanted to finish the job. The worst part? Lisa was only ten meters from the window, where Viktor was waiting with a flying cart for window cleaning.
The reason for such a thing? Ron had figured out that Mistress Selwyn had ordered the theft of an experimental potion that would work on an extinct, exotic sickness. The Potion Mistress had spent 1588877 galleons, 14 Sickles and 15 Knuts (or sixteen million US dollars) on the creation of a useless potion. Something that her company wouldn't forgive her if it got out.
Hence why she ordered Lisa Turpin to steal the strain of the virus in order to release in in Europe. Then, when everyone was desperate, SPA would reveal that they had the cure and sell it at high price, gaining back all that they have lost. This was confirmed by the perpetrator herself when confronted by Harriet.
"I have to go back," Lisa exclaimed once she heard the whole diabolical plan. "SPA has a record of my break-in. All that Selwyn has to do is sneak the strain out herself and blame it all on me. I have to go back and steal it before she does."
"LISA!" Viktor was exasperated by his colleague's stubbornness. "We don't have anything to be able to do such a thing."
"No, no. She's right. Unfortunately," Ron told them over the comms. "Hermione, do you still have access to SPHINX?"
"Not much. It finally figured that I was in the system and it's trying to lock me out. I have an elevator, a staircase and three doors." Hermione was tapping furiously on her enhanced computer that allowed her to interact with magic. When she heard Ron's next instructions, she nearly bit his head off.
Fifteen minutes passed by before Hermione and Harriet provided a distraction. They let slip to Malfoy's ears and eyes (that is to say magical surveillance devices) that they had intruders in the building. The SPHINX went to Level 2 (out of the four. Level Four being a magic-hazard problem), as it searched for the thief and the two intruders.
Before those fifteen minutes were up, Hermione had planned to the second the opening of the doors and the use of the elevator. As for Harriet, she went fishing for the ID of three diverse employees. Five minutes before the slip, Harriet met Lisa and Viktor at the staircase to give it to them. The latter was serving as the muscle so that no one could touch Lisa.
The pair started to head down to the basement where all the important documents were being held. Just before the meet with Harriet, Viktor and Lisa had encountered some security wizards at the top of the staircase. In a flourish of movements, Viktor disarmed the wizards before either knocking them out physically or magically.
"Lisa, Viktor, you better hurry up." Ron told them. "Hermione's door won't be open for more than three minutes. You've got twenty floors to go down."
Lisa took out, from her bottomless back, her climbing gear and attached it to the rail two floors above. Jumping over, she started to slide down to Viktor's floor. "You coming?"
"I am certainly not going with you on that. I'll take the stairs."
Lisa shrugged. "Suit yourself." She started to slide down. "Oh! And bring one of those crystal thingies."
"Argh!" Sometimes Lisa was infuriating, still, Viktor obeyed, before rushing down the stairs.
Once they reached the basement, Lisa used the crystal to bypass the iris security feature. Rushing to the right area, she quickly deactivated the small security code (provided in her initial information from Clarissa Selwyn) and took out the protected vial where the strain was held.
The alarms grew in sound, the wailing louder than ever. On one of the crystal screens were the words "SPHINX: LEVEL FOUR".
Clarissa Selwyn was furious. That dolt of a Malfoy had not done this simple little job. She had hired Crow, one of the best magical thieves, to break in SPA, but had arranged it so that the thief would get quickly caught. Then, she would have smuggled the virus out of the labs, before continuing with the rest of her plan.
It was brilliant. It was perfect. However, she had not anticipated for Crow to have allies. Allies that were trying to escape using the LEVEL FOUR alert, as all wizards were forced to wear protective gear that covered from head to toe. Which would let the group slip out through the front door with no one being any the wiser.
Except, they forgot one simple thing: she would recognize the giant, glowing vial anywhere. On one of the monitors, a group of four people were climbing in one of the elevators with that vial in full view.
With a nod, she gestured for Malfoy to follow her. They hurried to the elevator where those four individuals were. At wand-point, Malfoy gestured them to stay there as Selwyn brought them to one of the top floors in one of the abandoned offices.
"We had a deal, Crow." Selwyn said coldly.
The headgear went off to present Harry Potter. "We had a deal Selwyn. You would show me the labs and, if I liked them, I would donate to this company. I didn't sign up for one of your henchmen to force me," the indignation was heard clearly, "to carry this potion vial!"
"Cut the act, Crow. You can't fool me with the illusion. With this vial, SPA will gain thousands as the only company to have the cure. Now, you and your associates are going to die by Mr. Malfoy's hand. Which spell would you prefer? He is very flexible."
"Neither." A feminine voice called out. "Selena Zelarest, Daily Prophet. Care to expand on your evil plans? As well as trying to frame our hero? You are live on our Radio channel." The journalist was accompanied by her micro-wizard, who was broadcasting live.
While Selwyn was occupied, the rest of the team slipped out from the front door.
Ron had planned such an exit by having Hermione activate SPHINX LEVEL FOUR and by calling the journalist. That way, Selwyn would be comprised and Lisa saved from any future retaliation.
The team was euphoric for they pulled off the impossible. They defeated a SPHINX, with barely anything and lived to tell the tale.
The End
Incidentally, Lisa had a dressing down from Ron for going off on her own.
AN:
Hope you guys like this. I based this story on episode 3 of season 3, "The Inside Job" of the TV show, Leverage.
Check out this awesome TV series. It's worth all five seasons. =-) =-)
SPA = Selwyn's Potions and Apothecary.