Chapter Five - Meet the Prince (Again)

After being untied and given a glass of water, I was feeling a little better. I couldn't do any magic at the moment, even if I had been alone instead of watched like a hawk by my two kidnappers – now employers? – because head injuries made magic behave erratically. If I tried to disapparate now, I'd be lucky if I only splinched myself. My only option was to see how this played out. If I was honest, I was kind of curious. My calm life had been getting a little dull, and I hadn't realised how much I missed the craziness.

"Voi! We'll just send Bel in to you, then," Squalo declared with another evil grin, once he'd decided that I'd had had enough time to recover.

The two of them left me alone in the bedroom, but I wasn't stupid to think that it was anything but a trap. I knew that if I made a move that was even remotely suspicious or threatening, I would be lucky if I was just chained back to the bed. And when I put it like that, it sounded kind of wrong. Why did they have chains in the bedrooms anyway?

Steering my mind away from that train of thought, I tried to come up with a plan. 'Roll with it' was as much as I had – any plans with more detail had a knack of being rather spectacularly derailed. I still shuddered whenever I remembered Teddy's first birthday party. Hermione couldn't look me in the eye for two months afterwards.

I put the glass of water down on the bedside table as I heard voices approaching the room. I had thought that it would take them longer to get back to him; apparently the blond prince was more cooperative than he had seemed back at the salon. He hadn't struck me as someone who would appreciate being given a babysitter, especially a civilian hairdresser.

"Just meet him, Bel-chan, maybe you'll get along!" Lussuria was coaxing as the door opened. Not so cooperative, then.

The prince was pouting. "Why does the prince have to listen to a civilian? I am a Varia Officer, not a child." He seemed genuinely offended, and a little hurt. Squalo, who had entered the room after the two, didn't help.

"Voi! You are a child, brat!" I could see why they needed help dealing with Bel, because Squalo obviously had no clue.

In a second, Bel had a fan of knives in both hands. I decided to jump in before they could start fighting. I didn't trust any of them to remember that there was a helpless civilian with a head injury in the room once they got started.

"Your Captain thinks that he isn't good enough to be a role model for you, so he needed outside help. Apparently, he feels that he's so deficient that even a civilian like me would do better." Yes, I did get a great deal of satisfaction from that. Squalo deserved it.

The prince turned to face me, the knives disappearing. I breathed a sigh of relief. I had no way of defending myself without revealing magic to them, and even with magic they moved so fast that I would probably be dead before I could draw my wand.

Squalo was turning purple. It seemed like he couldn't decide who he wanted to shout at most. Lussuria had no such problem, and was collapsed on a chair, cackling hysterically to himself. I hoped that Squalo's shock lasted until I was out of the room. It would be a shame to avert death by knives to be killed by the blond with truly awful hair. One good thing about being hired as the hairdresser would be being able to do something about it, if only if so that I didn't have to look at it any more.

"Ushishishi, well, if the Captain is feeling insecure, I suppose I can humour him. Come along, peasant, and I'll show you the base. Go out of bounds, and I'll paint the walls with your blood." Bel warned me with a wide grin.

The kid was twisted, but kind of adorable. I decided to treat him like I would one of the more psychotic DA. They had seen too much to be children, or to enjoy being coddled, but they weren't quite adults. Some of them had more damaged by the year trapped at Hogwarts than others. Dennis Creevy still wasn't allowed out in public, because he had a habit of sending rather vicious hexes at anyone wearing the colour green.

I climbed slowly off the bed, gripping the bedframe for balance as my head spun. I was definitely concussed. Bel was actually waiting patiently for me. I must have impressed him. Or just amused him. Once I reached his side, he grabbed my hand and tugged me out the room, shutting the door in Squalo's face just as he opened his mouth.

"He's going to kill me for saying that," I commented, as his yells echoed down the halls, barely muffled at all by the shut door.

"Ushishishi, why did you antagonise him? He's much stronger than you," Bel asked. His giggle really was disturbing.

"Because he kidnapped me, and thinks that I'll jump to do his bidding." An evil though occurred to me.

"Prince Bel," I started slowly. He turned to me, his grin matching the one spreading over my face. "Squalo seems to think that me looking after you is a good idea. He thinks that we'll both just smile and go along with him. How long do you think it will take to make him regret his presumption?"

I have exams and essays coming up, so I might not be able to update as often.