Harry Potter and the Cursed Heart ~discontinued~

Chapter 4

Alice wouldn't consider it cheating, but she did use her abilities to win card games fairly easily. She always knew what cards the other players had and what cards were next in the deck. Technically it wasn't cheating, it was just using a specialised skill set. And it just happened to be a skill set only she had.

It wasn't exactly ethical but Alice was very proud of her skill. She had always gone into a poker game with minimal money and gone out with more than was probably necessary. In fact, it was how she got money back home. She had started when the orphanage had forced them to go to an old person's home as part of some generation mixer scheme, but she had become friends fast with a certain group of elders who liked to play cards in the corner. They had loved having her play and let her join them every week she was there. They played games like blackjack, go fish, and poker, and Alice would take their money every time. She wasn't sure how to play go fish with money but it had been a very informative experience and good for her money balance.

Unfortunately, the programme Mrs Brown was trying only lasted a year as she was 1 of a the few who had actually taken to it and talked to the old people. Of course she didn't tell Mrs Brown what they had actually talked about. She made a habit of going back to them as much as often until Luther tried tagging along so she had to visit less and less until is was a rare occasion.

But then she had found her own games. Some were a little dodgier than others but she had always walked away with money and both her kneecaps so she was doing good. There had been a few scary moments but it had always ended up okay so she never quit.

She often gave Dani some of the money and told her she got it from her job. Of course Dani would question her but Alice never told her anything to keep her safe.

Well now she was going shopping at the end of the week and had no money. So she had gotten Mary to lend her a galleon with a promise that she would return it before the end of the week, and then she set off for a poker game she knew was happening down in the dungeons. It was mostly Slytherins with a few Ravenclaws and even a few Hufflepuff's but no Gryffindors. So you can imagine the shocked looks on their faces when she, a Gryffindor, walked through the door.

Everyone froze and turned to face her. "Who the hell told Gryffindor about this?" A Slytherin boy hissed as he turned to the others in the room.

"Nobody told me. Your little secret is safe. I'm just here to play." She stated, crossing her arms defensively.

The boy went to speak again but a woman with beautifully sculpted features stepped forward. "Let her stay. I'll show her around, see if she's really here to play or not." She came up in front of Alice, giving her a look over. "So if nobody told you about here, how'd you find us?"

"I'm just smarter than people give me credit for." She smiled, shrugging innocently.

The girl smirked back, her dark eyes glittering. "We'll see." She glanced over her shoulder, nodding to the boy who had spoken before, which lead to everyone going back to their games. "After all, how smart could you really be if you came here?"

"I never said I was intelligent, just smarter than people think which is a pretty low bar." The girl looked like she wanted to laugh but restrained it. "I'm Alice by the way."

"Bellatrix Black." She replied curtly, jutting her chin out as she straightened her posture at the name. Alice scanned Bellatrix, cursing the Black genes for making them all attractive. "Come on, I'll show you around."

As they walked, Bellatrix pointed out different people in the room. "Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange. 4th and 5th year. Wealthy and fairly good players." Next she turned to a Ravenclaw boy who was trying his best at appearing charming and it seemed to be working for some but Alice already hated him, "Gilderoy Lockhart. 2nd year with money and no brains. Disliked by most but would do anything for attention."