Chapter Ten - The Varia's Hairdresser

Harry was shocked when, on his third day of working in the tiny salon, Alberto pulled him into the tiny back room. He caught a glimpse of the customers who had just walked in as the door closed behind him. He wondered what the problem was; normally, Alberto would be jumping at the chance to style such interesting people.

"We're leaving now," Alberto told him, as he pushed him towards the back entrance.

"What? Why?" This was just too bizarre.

"Those people are crazy. We'll be lucky if we're just out of business tomorrow, their last hairdresser disappeared completely," Alberto explained frantically, nearly in tears. Alberto was prone to dramatics, but Harry had never seen him this honestly scared. These people must be something special Despite himself, Harry grinned. He had been looking for a challenge. When he saw Alberto look at him in horror, he realised his obvious glee was probably inappropriate.

Hearing the frantic voice of Daniela, and the raised voice of one of the customers, Harry decided to intervene. Stepping out of the back room with his best smile fixed in place, Harry spoke gently to Daniela.

"Why don't you take a break?" As she rushed, not to the back room but straight out the door, Harry turned to the customers. They certainly made an impression. There was a long-haired blond and well-built man with half his hair long and green and the other half shaved. Behind them was a boy who looked about twelve, with hair covering the top half of his face. Harry wasn't sure which one of them was the customer – they all looked like they could use some help. The blond soon answered his unasked question.

"The princess needs a haircut. Can you handle that, scum?" Had the blond never heard of an indoor voice? Or conditioner? His hair was halfway down his back and an absolute mess.

"The prince does not need a haircut," the teenager with bangs covering his eyes said with a pout.

"Why don't we talk about what you want before we start then?" Harry steered them to the sofas in the little waiting area, and then called to Alberto. "Can you flip the sign to 'closed' before you take your break please, Alberto?"

As Alberto took the opportunity to leave, casting worried glances over his shoulder as he went, Harry sat down with the customers.

"My name is Harry,"

"Voi! We don't care what your name is!"

"And I'll be looking after you today. So," Harry decided to address the teenager directly, since it seemed to be his hair that he was supposed to cut, "what do you want doing to your hair?"

"The prince doesn't want anything doing." The boy was definitely sulking.

"But Bel, sweetie," the man with half his head shaved cooed, "you know that you need…"

"No!" Bel yelled. "The last one who cut my hair saw my eyes! No one is allowed to see the prince's eyes." The boy sounded genuinely distressed.

"I don't have to see your eyes," Harry told the boy before he could start crying or something. Ever since Cho, he had nursed a huge dislike for crying people. As soon as he finished speaking, the attention of all three was fixed on him. It was rather like being stared at by a mob of fan girls just before they charged. Gathering his courage, he continued.

"I can trim your bangs just enough to even them, so they're still well below eye level. I can thin the hair to make it easier for you to see, or I can leave it, whichever you prefer. And I can add some layers and texture to the rest of your hair, so it looks more stylishly messy. Will that work for you?"

Bel smiled the second-creepiest smile Harry had ever seen. "The prince likes him! I will allow you to cut my hair." He giggled happily, his mood apparently lifted. Harry chose to ignore how disturbing the sound was, and guide the boy into a chair while he was still cooperative.

"Don't try to see my eyes. Just trim the bangs," Bel ordered. Now that he was in the chair, some of his distress seemed to have returned.

"Of course. Would you take the crown off," Harry wasn't able to get any further than that. It was only his war-trained reflexes that allowed him to duck out of the way of the knife that buried itself in the wall behind him.

"I won't!" The boy had knives in both hands and a scowl on his face. Harry mustered up every bit of experience he had commanding reluctant teenagers.

"Prince Bel. You will put those away and you will take your crown off now. You are far too old to be throwing tantrums like this, and I won't have such immature unprincely behaviour in my salon." Harry kept his voice calm and focussed all of his attention on the shocked boy, ignoring the presence of the older teens behind him. After a strained minute, the knives disappeared into hidden pockets and the boy sat down, removing the tiara and clutching it tightly in one hand, as the other went to an inside pocket of his jacket. From behind him, he heard a whispered "Voi!"

Harry got to work quickly. It didn't take long to get the bangs evened up. He trimmed them so they hit halfway down his nose, a length that seemed to please the self-proclaimed 'prince'. Once the bangs had been approved, the boy relaxed and let go of whatever he had been gripping so tightly in his pocket. For his own peace of mind, Harry chose to believe that it was only a comfort object, and the boy hadn't been planning to stab him.

His two friends relaxed as well once Harry started trimming and layering the rest of his hair. The loud blond huffed and stalked over to the sofa, where he flung himself down and started flipping through one of the magazines. The one with the green hair started offering commentary.

"That looks so much better now!"

Or "You see how much nicer it is getting it done professionally than trying to do it with your knives, Bel?" Harry wasn't even going to touch that one.

Soon the cut was done, and the boy was admiring his new look. As he preened, the green-haired man paid Harry, complete with an outrageous tip. Evidently getting bored of waiting, the loud blond grabbed Bel's shoulder and pulled him out the door. Harry heard the cries of "Voi!" and the creepy giggles trailing off into the distance as green-hair waved goodbye. Despite himself, Harry found himself wanting them to return. Whatever else they were, they weren't boring.

This is my first non-canon character, so I hope it turned out alright. If you have any ideas for non-canon or unnamed canon characters that Harry could be, let me know!

I've started posting these on Archive Of Our Own, under Starchains.