Prince of Ruin

Chapter Three: Coco

I fully expected at any moment, Rochester Nott would appear and ruin my world. I woke up in the morning- part of me unsure if last night even actually happened- but the light bruising on my upper arm where the man had dragged me through the halls of his home to see the chaos I had caused told me that every moment of it had been real- including the part where Daphne Greengrass had apparently responded to the threat of magical fireworks with actual water.

Sometimes good things happened to bad people, aka me.

I changed out of my covert operations clothes that I had fallen asleep in and headed down to breakfast. I yawned and stretched my arms over my head, managing to not wince at the pain from the bruises.

"How did you sleep?" Baz asked. I hesitated- did he sound suspicious or was I reading too much into it? I shrugged.

"Fine." It was true- after everything that had happened, I had been exhausted. I managed to get out of the Nott home and back into that damned garden before apparating home and slipping back in as if nothing had happened. I barely made it back to my bed before I passed out.

Apparently, the worry that the head of the Nott family would be knocking down my door wasn't enough to stop me from getting a solid six hours of sleep.

"Good. What they did last night was... not okay."

"What did who do?" We fell silent as our mother walked into the room. She was showered and changed and looked nothing like the woman last night who had wandered down into the kitchen for her sleeping potions with a bottle of wine clutched firmly in her hand.

"Nothing." Baz and I chorused. Genevieve looked suspiciously back and forth between the two of us but let it go.

"What do the two of you have planned today?" she asked.

"Work," Baz answered. He headed to the coffee maker we had sitting on the counter, getting started on making espresso for our drinks.

"Same." I popped a couple of pieces of bread into the toaster and pushed the lever down, going to the pantry to gather peanut butter and then to the fridge for jam. Could we have done this all with magic? Yes. But there was something comforting about doing it by hand

"That is so boring." Genevieve sighed, she apparently didn't have the same feeling about making simple breakfast by hand, as she pulled her wand from a fold of her dress and a moment later, her breakfast appeared. "I don't know why you bothered with a job, Coco, darling. I mean, as soon as we find you a suitable match, you'll have to quit to take care of your husband." She frowned at the spread in front of her and with a small gasp of realization- a mimosa appeared.

"Because, as much fun as laying around the house sounded, I thought two of us doing it was a bit much," I muttered.

Genevieve didn't hear me, as she had picked up her mimosa and was downing it.

"What was that, love?"

"Just- wanted to have something to do between now and when that happens." I lied, looking at Baz, who shrugged.

"We should get going. Can't be late for work." He stood up, and I followed suit, grabbing my toast.

"See you at dinner darlings." Genevieve waved as we headed off to our respective offices.

"We should get her some help," Baz commented when we got to the offices. Baz worked with the minister, I was at the Prophet.

"I mean, we could try, but at this point, I don't know that it's worth it. She's fine except at night." I shrugged. The help she needed wasn't meant to be our problem. It should have already been handled- before Baz and I were old enough to realize her behavior wasn't normal.