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Harley Potter: The Black Cat.

The Witch of Asia.

She disliked hotels. She didn't trust them; ever since she had caught a glint of a camera lens filming her as she undressed to get into the bath, she preferred using lets from the places she travelled to, or she rented holiday homes from various countries months in advance so when she arrived in a country, she would only have to pick up the keys, let herself in, and she could enjoy her holiday.

It was a bit pricey, but it was worth it.

Okay, granted, she did worry about security from time to time, but she liked being in holiday lets rather than hotels since there was a weird vibe from hotels you didn't get from places like this. Besides that, some hotels frowned on her pets. But she couldn't live without them, and she found some of their policies cruel.

And besides all of that, she preferred the more homey feel and being able to do her own washing and cooking so then she wouldn't get messed up room service. This time she was spending a holiday in Asia, in the Chinese capital of Beijing. It was something she would learn to regret…

X

There were thousands of things Harley loved about Asia when she flew towards the apartment gently, reflecting on the last few years while she held on to the handle. She had discovered a fascination with Manga and Anime, and while she wasn't religious and she found it very hard to believe in any kind of supreme higher being, she had discovered Buddhism and their desire for enlightenment was something she actually found uplifting since there was none of that crap you got from other religions. Dragon Ball Z, Seo Taji and Boys, Cosplay, were things that Harley was going to enjoy over the years. Ever since she had disappeared from Britain a few years back, Harley had viewed things like that as a great way to discover what kind of culture was out there. She shivered a little, and with a gentle flick of her fingers, she cast a low-level heating charm.

Not far to go now.

X

In the apartment, the dog had been given a small meal, the sounds of the dog eating mixing with the distant and muffled sounds of a bath running, while the woman wrinkled her nose gently at the stench of dog meat although she was more than used to the varied smells after 30 years of caring for dogs. The dish was essentially a consolation prize after spending hours sitting in a theatre production. Although she had been travelling much of her life, the woman sometimes had problems separating the differences between American culture and the cultures she visited.

Once she was finished with her dog, she went to her bedroom and got undressed before she went to the bathroom to check on her bath. Her legs were aching and her muscles were tired. She wanted to rest them before she got to bed.

X

Harley smirked to herself as she guided her broomstick closer to the apartment. Ever since her escape from Hogwarts during that mess with the Chamber of Secrets and when Snape tried to kill her cat, and the simultaneous escape to Japan where she entered one of their magical schools which offered courses into muggle education and offered a greater standard of magical studies, and the sudden end of Voldemort and his followers - Snape's death when his magic was drained was perhaps a moment of poetic justice for Harley - she had changed her approach to committing crimes. In the past, she would never have even contemplated committing a burglary like this, but ever since she had gotten out from Dumbledore's thumb she had learnt a great deal about magic.

In Magical Britain, Hogwarts's educational standards were extremely low in comparison to the other schools, but when she had arrived in Japan, Harley had discovered how the Japanese wizarding community were more ahead of those in Britain. She had needed to work really hard just to catch up with their level, and stay there. In Hogwarts, Harley had planned to covertly become a great and powerful witch but because of Dumbledore's never-ending scrutiny, she had needed to do it quietly. In Japan, Harley was abler to sign up for numerous courses. Invisibility and notice-me-not charms and other related forms of magic had great possibilities to a thief like her.

With a strong disillusionment charm around her and her broomstick, none of the muggles in the apartments would know she was there flying outside, and as long as she didn't use too much magic then the magical authorities in China wouldn't even know she was here breaking and entering. There was also no guarantee they wouldn't do anything. In their minds, breaches of the Statute of Secrecy involved revealing the existence of magic to the muggles and they would punish anyone severely for those kinds of offences. But tonight she had needed to risk it; she had planted a number of tracking spells to the various rich people attending a theatrical production after quickly skimming their minds, and discovering if they had anything worth stealing.

The tracking rune was starting to glow red with brighter intensity. She was nearby. Guiding the broomstick in the direction the tracking charm was reacting to, Harley leaned back on the broom.

X

The dog realised something was wrong. It thought it heard something outside, but when it looked there was nothing there. But it was sure there was something there. It watched as a window began to open, and it began to growl as the long, lean shape of a black cat appeared.

X

In her cat form, Harley froze momentarily when she heard the growl of the dog. She turned her head and found it looking at her, growling threateningly; she knew in a moment it would be barking and chasing her around the apartment. That was the last thing she wanted to happen, if she wanted this burglary to be mysterious and unsolvable by the standards of the Chinese police, there should be no damage whatsoever.

The dog jumped on the spot and it began to bark at her. Harley's cat form winced; she had always loathed the barking of dogs, the sound had the effect of a localised cannon blast and the sound just went through you. In her animagus form, especially since she hadn't taken the usual Merlinian animagus methods but something that allowed her to become the cat instead of just forcing herself to become a cat, the sound was even worse.

"What're you barking at, Princess?" The woman's voice was muffled through the walls, but the suddenness of the cry was enough to make the dog stop, but then it started up again, more urgently this time. The dog knew it had its owners attention and now it was trying to get her to come out into the room and fast. It knew something was wrong. It was smart enough to know cats couldn't reach this floor, and it wanted its owner to deal with the problem.

At least that was what Harley believed.

But all it did was make the woman more frustrated. "SHUT UP!" The American muggle yelled, silencing the dog, but only for a moment because Harley transformed into her human form and waved her hand. Smirking when the dog was silenced - it kind of amused her when the dog opened its mouth rapidly to emit barks, only for nothing to come out of its mouth barring specks of spit - Harley gently walked over to the vanity table. She opened a few drawers and she chuckled when she found a thin jewellery box.

Opening it up, revealing inside a gold and silver necklace with what looked like a fine filigree of platinum, what caught Harley's eyes were the jewels. In a few months time, this necklace would sell for a very high price. Hearing a Harley swiped the necklace in a flash of her hand, resulting in the dog opening its mouth frantically as it tried desperately to bark at its owner, but Harley flicked her hand and removed the spell with her wandless magic before she transformed back into a cat when the door to the bathroom started to open in response to the dog's frantic barking.

The rich muggle woman stepped out of the bathroom, steam from the hot bath, looking down in confusion at her dog as it barked frantically. "Princes, what's going on? Why are you-?"

Suddenly the woman spotted the open jewellery box, and she saw that her necklace was gone.

She let out a scream. She didn't notice the black cat as it slunk out the room and boarded a broomstick, which silently slipped off into the night.