HP: The Arcane Thief-Chapter 92: A challenge

While almost everyone was meeting to celebrate Christmas, a few people were having a different sort of meeting in an underground base in Britain. Incidentally, this was the same place Axel had accidentally broken into before the start of the term.

In a dark meeting room, three people were meeting up, wearing skull masks and dark cloaks. "How are the rituals coming along?" Asked the one who was clearly the leader, looking at the short one of the two, his voice magically altered.

The shorter one bowed. "I'm facing some difficulties. But I am positive the experiments will succeed."

The leader nodded. "Keep at it." He then turned to the other person. "How is your search coming along? Did you find the masked intruder?"

The taller person nodded enthusiastically. "I have some definitive leads. I'll definitely catch him soon! But, can I ask why we're searching for him?"

"The ritual circles reacted when he came here. It is therefore crucial that we find him. You just need to get that reaction again, and you have found the thief," said the leader patiently, taking out his wand. "Crucio!" He called out without warning.

The other person screamed like a dying pig, almost crying in the process.

"This is for the stunt you pulled a month ago," said the leader calmly. "You were warned time and time again not to do it, but you couldn't resist it, could you?"

"I was.. I was only—"

"Crucio!"

The person screamed again, almost beginning to sob pathetically this time. "I don't want to hear any excuses. I warned you against doing actions which would attract attention. Just catch the thief and you're done."

…..

VALENTINO BALLROOM, ITALY

Axel sighed. He already wasn't liking this party.

"Oh, Martina! Look at you, you're all grown up now?"

"Yeah, how long has it been? You were still clutching your mother's hand the last time I saw you!"

As people saw Martina, they began greeting her familiarly, trying to make small talk with her. Martina put on an ostensible smile as she began dealing with the people one by one, using the standard responses that had been trained into her by her mother. She seemed to be doing fine on the surface, but Axel could see that she was quite uncomfortable.

"Oh no..."

Then all of a sudden, she excused herself as she began dragging Axel along, walking as fast as she could without looking conspicuous. "Oh no, oh no, they saw me," she muttered, keeping her expression natural.

"What's up?" asked Axel, looking around.

"Don't look," whispered Martina, her smile never leaving her face as she kept looking forward. "Just pretend to be casual and they might leave me alone—"

"Miss Martina!"

"Miss Valentino!"

Unfortunately, before she could even complete her sentence, a few high pitch voices had called out to her, making her stop. "Damn it!" she muttered, making Axel raise an eyebrow. You know it's bad when Martina is using 'damn' with her unsullied mouth.

Putting on a smile, Martina turned around to greet the incoming people. They were a group of girls, all dressed gaudily in expensive clothes and accessories.

"Oh, it's you guys. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas Miss Martina, we'd just been talking about you. Don't you look a-mazing!" said the girl in the lead. She looked older, around 18-19. She was beautiful, but she looked a bit too superficial with all the excessive makeup and jewelry. The rest of the girls agreed, while also returning the Christmas greetings, but their eyes were constantly straying towards Axel, giving him coquettish looks.

"And this must be the friend we've been hearing the rumors about, right?" asked another girl, who seemed to be wearing some traditional Roman garb, also with an excess of accessories. "I have to say, he's drop-dead gorgeous! Miss Martina, why don't you introduce him to your childhood friends?" She asked, looking at Axel hungrily.

"He is Axel Hunt, my close friend," Martina said while looking warily at the girls. She then turned her back to look at Axel. "These are...my friends. This is Sofia, Bianca, Chiara, Aria, Gia..." she introduced the girls one by one, and Axel didn't even properly listen to their names.

"Ciao, Mr. Hunt! My name is Sofia Lombardi, and I have to say, I. am. your. biggest fan!" she exclaimed, looking at Axel.

"Shut up, Sofia, you might have not seen even a single match of Quidditch completely," said another girl before turning to Axel. "Hello Mr. Axel, I'm Bianca Romano. And I have been infatuated ever since I first saw you. Would you like to dance with me?" She asked, offering her hand and leaning forward a little to show her cleavage.

"Hey, that's not fair Bianca!"

"Yeah, get in line."

The girls began arguing over who was going to dance with Axel. At the Halloween party, he was wearing a mask, and he hadn't been standing beside the host of the party. It also helped that he was still relatively anonymous back then. But in this party, with his mask off, dressed in a highest quality tux, standing beside Martina, and after making history in Quidditch, he was attracting just too much attention.

A frown came upon Martina's always docile face. "Excuse me, but he is with me," she said, coming to stand in front of Axel.

The girls were surprised, to say the least. They had never seen Martina like this.

"Why Miss Martina, I didn't know you two were dating," said Sofia, putting on a confused expression.

"Yeah, especially after the rumors that have been circulating around lately," said Bianca, lowering her voice to emphasize the gravity of the news.

Martina sighed. "No, we're not dating. And no, the rumors aren't true, I do not prefer girls," she clarified. She had heard some of the rumors spread around by the families to lower the competition for her marriage.

"Oh no, you misunderstand, Miss Valentino," said another girl. "That's not the rumor Bianca was referring to."

"Yeah, it's the latest one," said another girl.

'Great, another one?' Martina just gave up dealing with these girls as she grabbed Axel's hand and began to leave. "Just leave us alone." Just the Lesbian one was embarrassing enough. She didn't want Axel to hear more.

The two of them kept walking until they were blended into the crowd of people, who either didn't know them enough or weren't going to bother them.

Only then did Martina sigh. "I hate parties," she muttered, her fake smile finally slipping off her face.

"I'll join the club," said Axel, his eyes somehow darting at people's neck, fingers, wrists, and pockets. Old habits die hard, and there were lots of prime targets here. "Anyways, what was the deal with those girls back there?" He asked.

Martina's face cringed. "They are how the girls growing up in Mafia households are usually like. They're just trophies...or bargaining chips. And all they have in their life is to compete to be a better trophy than others," she said somewhat lamentably. All those girls are interested in, is drama, gossip, romance, getting a better man... superficial things like that.

Martina sighed. "Anyways, I really am sorry my mother made you go through this." she said apologetically. "But I'm truly helpless in front of her decisions."

"I know," said Axel. Martina had her brother and father wrapped around her finger, making them unable to make her do anything. But her cuteness card doesn't work on her mother, forcing her to go along with a lot of her decisions. "But I don't mind," he said, looking pensive. "It's a small price to pay, really. In fact, I have to sometimes wonder if they actually have some kind of ulterior motive for doing this," he said with some suspicion.

He did NOT like being here at this party at all. But, it's too low a price for something as huge as fixing his wand. So low that he began to wonder if something was wrong.

Martina shook her head, "They wouldn't do that. We're friends, right? We've been through so much together. Of course I can have my family do this for you," she said sincerely.

Looking at Martina's positive attitude, Axel sighed. He had to accept; Martina WAS pretty naïve. High IQ does not automatically give people high EQs. In fact, some people with high IQs have a much harder time dealing with people and emotions. Another problem: She was too kind for her own good,

"Martina," he said, stopping to look at her in exasperation. "You should stop predicting other people's actions based on your own moral criteria. It will get you into trouble someday," he told her. He knew Martina wouldn't do anything against him, but he couldn't say the same for her family.

Martina looked almost physically stung by Axel's statement. "What... are you talking about? They're my family! Of course I trust them. They've gone above and beyond to fulfill my wishes. Of course they can repair your wand if I ask them to."

Axel sighed. "See? That's the problem. They would do pretty much anything for your sake."

While they were talking, someone walking by gave Axel a hard shove, definitely on purpose. "Oops. Sorry, didn't see you there little guy."

Axel, who had barely budged, looked back at the interrupter with an unimpressed look, his hand blurring for a moment until he resisted. Before he said anything, Martina beat him to it.

"Maksmilian Mikhailov, Go away now," she said seriously.

Maksmilian fixed his gaze back on Martina, eyeballing her. "Martina, Is this any way to talk to your future husband?"

"What?" Martina looked downright disgusted. "If you were the one choice I had, I'd still choose dying alone rather than you."

The smirk faded off Maksmilian's face as his anger began to show. "So it's true? You're actually going to reject a marriage proposal with the heir of the "Mikhailov family"? And for someone like… him?" He asked, pointing at Axel.

????

"....What the hell are you talking about? What marriage proposal?" Asked Martina, and Axel suddenly had a sinking feeling as he slowly processed what he had just heard. The douche right in front of him, the one whom he was just going to teach a lesson to, turned out to be the heir to the Mikhailov family. And where the hell did a marriage proposal suddenly pop into the conversation?

Maksmilian looked at Martina ludicrously. "What? Are you going to pretend to be ignorant now? Your parents rejected the proposal without telling you?" he asked, pointing at the elevated platform where the Valentinos and Mikhailovs were, seemingly in a debate.

"So it's like this…" there was a click in Axel's head as he figured out what was going on here. Suddenly, everything made more sense. Why the Valentinos invited him, why they were extra courteous to him, and why they agreed to fix his wand and also gave him a new powerful one when the privilege is only reserved for the members of the family, and why he was invited to this party with Martina. It all made sense now. "Why am I not surprised?" He muttered, smiling sardonically.

Maksmilian turned his attention to Axel. "And you. I've had my men look into your background," he said, shoving him back. "You absolute nobody, How dare you even DREAM of being with her, huh?!" He asked, his voice rising with every word as he shoved him again.

The commotion caused was attracting a lot of attention, causing people to gather around, and Martina finally came out of her shock as she came to stand in front of Axel. "Hey! Don't get him involved! He has nothing to do with this!" she exclaimed as she turned to look at Axel. "You were right Axel, I am so sorry I didn't believe you! I promise I'll make things right again." she said, feeling mortified. She still couldn't believe her family would do this. But as Axel had said, they would do anything for her, which includes doing even this...if they think it's good for her.

Mikhailov laughed at Axel. "Hiding behind a woman? That's the kind of person you are? I am seriously disappointed in your choice, Martina." He said, trying to shove Axel again through Martina.

Axel had to push the girl aside before Mikhailov's hand landed on her. He sighed. "You've done enough damage already, Martina. Don't make things worse," he said in extreme exasperation, his voice still calm. "And you," he said, finally speaking to Mikhailov for the first time as he looked at him like looking at an ant. "As it happens, I'm already having a bad day. Don't test my patience." he said, his calm voice containing a hint of danger.

That only made Maksmilian more infuriated. Laughing out of anger, he stepped forward to look down at Axel. At 13, Axel couldn't be expected to grow taller than an 18 year old with tall genes. "You..." he said, shoving Axel again. "Just who do you think you are, huh? (shove) You think you're a big shot if you can play Quidditch? (shove) Let me tell you, it makes you an absolute NOBODY! You think a nobody like you deserves someone like her?" He asked, shoving Axel with each of his sentences, until Axel's hands could no longer stay still.

Mikhailov took the glove off his hand and threw it at Axel's feet. "Let's duel then. If I win, you walk away from her. You also have to change your school and grovel at my feet!"

The commotion had attracted so much attention that a ring of people had gathered around them. These were the guests of a Mafia Overlord. Of course they weren't peaceful herbivores. At the mention of a duel, the crowd became excited as they began clamoring for them to fight.

*click* *snap*

Also, the reporters were having a field day, recording and snapping away photos one after another like no tomorrow.

Axel, on the other hand, who had already been beyond annoyed by the repeated shoving and taunts, had his annoyance increased even more just by listening to the terms of the duel. He wasn't even Martina's boyfriend! He had just been set up to be the scapegoat so that all the blame for the rejection of the proposal would be placed on him, leaving no chance of friction between the two overlord families. Francesca, he reckoned, must be the one who thought of this. And now he's stuck with some bullshit dueling proposal which he should have no business dueling.

"Fight! Fight!"

""Fight!""

""""Fight""""

""""Fight! FIGHT!...."""""

The crowd would, of course not let this chance of watching drama and action stop, so they began making noise.

Axel had to admit, this Mikhailov at least had some brains. Since he's in the enemy territory with no fighting force of their own, the guy is playing this game carefully.

If they were outside, he'd have Axel blasted off before he even said anything. Instead, he's initiating a duel, with the terms achieving his purposes. He hasn't even drawn his wand at Axel yet, since Martina is standing right beside him and if he pulls his wand on Axel, he'll also be pulling it on Martina, which is a justified reason for at least a dozen stunners along with a few bone breakers by the men guarding her. Only when Axel accepts the duel would the guy be able to take out his wand and attack him like he's been itching to. So overall, he's played his cards smartly, almost being successful at being legitimately drawing his wand on Axel.

But.... that's what makes the situation so... funny.

Axel grinned, deciding to just go along with it. What choice does he have at this point? Back out of it? In such a situation? Nah, he's not capable of it. Besides, backing out won't prevent these people from coming after him since according to them, he's already "Martina's Boyfriend".

But oh well, he already has too many enemies now. Adding one more to the list isn't going to change anything.

"Alright… I'll accept," he said, cracking his knuckles. Since he was already screwed whether this guy proposed the duel or not, he was grateful to him for the opportunity to relieve some of his anger.

….

A.N: Look forward to how Axel deals with him.