****The Gardens****
Surprisingly, the luncheon had continued after Merriweather had made the snow disappear, she just gave a look to Fairy Godmother who looked as if she had eaten a sour lemon and said "It was the only way, it's magic snow after all"
Then there was a mild silence that raised some tension between both fairies and then the headmistress just sighed after considering it for a few seconds and asked Ben "Is that alright...your majesty?"
The young king blinked and realized that he could authorize some uses of magic for some people, he didn't see the inconvenient of making the snow disappear and so he said "Yes, it's fine"
Then the students and the other teachers continued on their talks and resumed their eating as if nothing had happened but a certain purple haired fairy was sure that the talk about Hal's magic would be on their minds for a while after this.
Also, she sensed some uneasiness coming from Ben but decided that she would ask later as her boyfriend didn't like to speak about what he was feeling in front of other people.
He had enough of people scrutinizing all of his movements and declarations, she had to admit that she felt the same way too since the Cotillion.
Mal, who was still stunned, kept on her seat and after a few moments she said "Well, that could have been worse"
She didn't wait to see what the reactions of the other people on the table were, but Evie raised an eyebrow and asked almost in a scoff "How could it be worse? He totally freaked out and ran out, that's not Hal's style and even I that didn't grow up with you know that"
"He could have hurt someone, he was one of the very few who didn't even like to rough house when we were little " The fairy said shrugging and added with some empathy "Hal must be losing his shit now...and being thankful that Hans isn't here"
"Why would be that?" Klaus asked curiously and making the other jump as they didn't expect to have another interlocutor "Arnold and Jana would kill to have the powers"
Klaus knew that his brother and cousin felt as if they were the leftovers of the family for being the only two of their generation that didn't have powers, but they also had a kinship with his parents.
(They had even learnt how to harvest ice and that kind of stuff, things that other royals refused to speak about in polite company)
The look Jana was giving him confirmed it, the silver haired girl was shooting daggers at him as no one in Auradon complained about having powers or not.
Especially when they were in front of the High King of Auradon.
(But at least they weren't in front of Beast who would totally throw a fit at the talk of unauthorized magic in front of the younger generation)
"If you hadn't noticed, Hans tried to kill Queen Elsa for being magical" Anxelin said snorting, she was one of those who overly disliked the talk of magic.
It was strange that she was so against magic since her mother was one of those who were curious about it before the ban, especially regarding her hair and the flower Gothel used to be kept young.
"Actually not at first" Jay said shaking his head and explained when he noticed the weirded out looks everyone gave to him "He wanted to be king and she stood on his way, being magical just added another layer to his plan when the eternal winter was cast over Arendelle"
"True" Jana conceded and thought about her mother's actual power level as the Snow Queen no longer used them to a full extent. She then looked at Ben who seemed to be in deep thought and pondered about what would happen to Hal Westergaard after this.
She knew what could happen to magical being who had accidents with their magic.
It wasn't pretty.
But the future queen was a fae and he seemed fine with her, the former High King and Queen seemed to have accepted her.
Jana crossed her arms and sighed.
Her mother would be thrilled to hear about this. It would be better if either her or Eisa broke the news to her instead of someone else but she also knew that her aunt would lose her mind.
Her friend and roommate Arabella, one of Ariel's nieces, looked at her with a quizzical look before approaching her and taking her arm, which made her wince as she wasn't one to accept other people touch, then the mermaid said "Well...that was unexpected"
"Which part?"
"All of this"
"Are you okay with this?"
Jana shrugged and after a few seconds said "I don't know if I care but my family will surely do"
The blonde sighed and crossed her arms before walking towards the king, Ben looked to her as if she were a stranger (which she kind of was as she had never interacted much with him) and then the princess curtsied before saying in a kind of polite tone "Your majesty, I'm asking for permission to deliver this news to the Queen of Arendelle before they reach her ears through other means"
She didn't stand up straight as it wasn't customary to do so till the person with higher precedence gave permission to do so or addressed the person in front of them. Jana wondered if Ben (King Ben, she chastised herself on her mind) was not giving her permission for being too bold to speak directly about the matter or because his mind was somewhere else and didn't notice that not addressing her immediately could be taken as a slight to the second-in-line to the throne of Arendelle.
Then she noticed the weirded out look that Mal gave her, surely a Lady of the Court would know the traditions of all 18 regions of Auradon.
Heck, she was surely trained by Belle on this matter as future High Queen of Auradon or at least she should have been.
(Jana had been trained on the customs of Dunbroch as she was set to marry Magnus after her graduation, she was not happy about that but she wasn't totally against it...she could have ended up like Eisa, engaged to one of the princes of the Southern Isles for a political alliance)
"Your highness, you are given permission to do so as soon as possible" The young king said after a few moments of considering it in deep thought.
Ben knew how complicated things would get as soon as the news of another VK having magic would go out of Auradon Academy's walls, it would be better that the princess would tell her family first.
(Then he felt bad as he had been very rude to not address her immediately but he also knew that Jana wouldn't held it against her)
"Thank you" Jana said giving another curtesy but her tone wasn't as polite as she wanted it to sound and then went to her room with Klaus following her even when she gave him a sign not to do so.
"Aren't you supposed to do control damage?" Mal asked Ben in a whisper while they looked at the princess disappear on the crowd without anyone else paying attention to her, it seemed like the Auradonians didn't care enough for other people business in public but they both knew that they did in private.
"Lumiére will take care of that before the journalists ask for declarations about the incident" Ben said giving her hand a squeeze, that gesture was supposed to be comforting for her but he knew that it was for him too.
The brown haired boy sat down again and tried to eat while chatting with their visitors, then he noticed that Chad was giving him a worried look disguised on the usual indifferent face he used when trying to speak with his brother.
A look he hadn't used in a long while, and so he shook his head, he was okay and didn't want to talk.
But he also knew that Chad was worried about him and would not stop till they talked about it, one of the very few redeeming qualities that he had was caring for this actual friends when something happened to them.
"Are you okay?" Mal asked with concern in her eyes.
"I'm fine" He said trying to sound normal.
(But there was something was stirring up inside of him, roaring to be let out)
****The Chapel****
After Harriet and Anthony had left with those other two kids, Claudine lost her appetite and since she didn't exactly like the other VKs that were sat with her and Freddie was too invested in her talk with Ally to care to include her.
So she went for a walk and as if she knew the path, she ended up in the chapel and entered to pray.
Her father had taught her how to pray from the moment that she had been able to formulate words.
And he had been particularly interested on making her pray for her mother's recovery when she fell ill after giving birth to her baby brother.
She had not thought about the matter for a long time but the shock of seeing Hal practice magic had triggered some of her father's rants.
He always said that her mother had died because of her good heart and tending to the witches that feel to the grey sickness that God had sent the epidemic to the Isle as a punishment for sharing bread with those who practiced witchcraft.
She didn't know if she could look at Hal the same way as before after this, especially when she had been interacting with him most than the other (of course apart from Harriet and Anthony)
They weren't friends but he had been one of the few guys that didn't make her try to run away from them at first sight.
(Anthony had gone over to the creperie quite a few times when they lived at the Isle and so she had grown more accustomed to him, also Harriet used to have a tight grip over him when they were together)
The blonde girl wondered what would her mother think about this, after all Claudette Frollo had only defied her husband when she tried to help the people during the sickness even if they were witches and other magical beings
Claudine had always been baffled at the fact that she shared blood with the LeGumes and with...someone else, her father had always stressed out that while Laurette was one of her mother's sisters...most of Gaston's brood were not family to them, especially after her mother's death.
(She knew that her father only acknowledged Gabi and the second pair of twins as something on the like of relatives)
(She couldn't even ask about Paulette's kid)
Suddenly the thought of Hal's mother entered her head and she couldn't shake it off, Prince Hans' wife had been one of the first to fall ill and one of the last to die.
It had been very weird but it had happened that way, some of those who were believers took it as a sign of God since she was rumored to be one of the first inhabitants of the Isle.
Also woman had also been one of the very few villains that kept trying to break off the barrier even after many years on the Isle.
(She didn't know if the memory was real but she had heard Hal's mother yelling "You can't keep me here forever!" and "You can ask the princess, I turned good!")
When Hal's mother had died, her mother had cried a little and lit up a candle on her honor despite Frollo's protests.
(Her father had lit up one every year on All Saint's Day, just in respect to his late wife's wishes and of course lit up one for her too)
"Are you okay?"
Claudine flinched when she heard a male voice and turned to see a pair of green eyes and resisted the urge to run away, then she said trying to sound calm "I'm fine, thank you for asking...Zephyr"
The boy blinked a few times before smiling a little and saying with some amusement "That was quite a show, wasn't it? I hadn't seen snow in while, Eisa and her cousins aren't big on showing their powers and with the ban on magic, they have to be careful"
Claudine didn't know what to say and still had the urge to run away from him, what if he was playing nice to then harm her?
Also she was baffled that he would speak so freely in a chapel, especially about something so sinful as magic was.
To avoid having to converse with him she turned her head to the cross that was hanging on the wall, she tried to remember what was the name of Hal's mother.
"Your... friend was scared,I hope he is okay" Zephyr sat next to her and commented not noticing how uncomfortable she was "I wonder how many here had to control themselves to not lose control"
She flinched as soon as she felt him sit but breathed before asking "Why would that be?"
"Many here have magic" He said as it was a fact she wpuld know and looked to the cross "They would be outcasts if they didn't hide who they are"
"Because of magic?" She asked almost in a whisper and he nodded.
"Sometimes Auradon isn't a nice place" Zephyr said in a whisper, almost as if he was talking to himself, and then added "Especially to those different from what they expect"
There was a silence between them and Claudine wondered what was on his mind, she was about to say something but suddenly Zephyr said after coughing a little to catch her attention "My uncle...Quasimodo, is asking if you would like to meet him during Family Day..."
"Uh?"
"Since you both are family...well kind of" The blonde boy said very quickly "Your father raised him after all..."
Claudine was too surprised to formulate words and just nodded, she had not thought a lot about Quasimodo as she had been more worried about Esmeralda and Phoebus.
Her brother wanted to meet her even when her...their father had tried to kill him as a baby and as an adult.
She had been wondering if she was let with no one as her father was still refusing to answer her letters and for some reason she was not giving up despite Anthony's protests about the matter. Her friend had said that if he was not responding, it was because he was renouncing her, just like his grandmother had done with him.
The girl almost let a tear fall on her face when she thought about meeting Quasimodo, Claudine knew that it would be somewhat uncomfortable for both of them but it would have to be done sooner or later as they were supposed to be spending time with the Heroes.
She collected her thoughts and then she gave a side look to him and nodded again before saying in a hoarse voice "I...would like to meet him"
Zephyr smiled brightly and made her heart flutter a little...these kind of feelings were another matter entirely that she had to deal with.
****Hadie and Henry's room****
Henry had tried to lay low, bide time and formulate a plan but many weeks had passed and he was sure that his father would be totally pissed off by the time he got him out.
The teenager knew he would be better off without his family in Auradon when he finally stuck his plan to take over Auradon, he would have to take care of that before he brought the other Villains from the Isle of the Lost.
At first he had thought that the other VK's would be interested on plotting against Auradon or that at least Hal, Anthony, Harriet and Hades' kids would have a plan on their hands to become the new rulers of Auradon.
He was pretty disappointed at the fact that Hal, Anthony and Harriet had been fitting in with the Auradonians by joining different clubs and striking up friendships with the other students, even with Cinderella's son!
For some reason, he had the feeling that Harriet and Anthony were on their best behavior to convince the king to bring up other kids, mainly those they cared about.
The pirate had a nine people crew of kids who would need to be brought from the Jolly Roger, though Henry knew that a certain blond pirate wouldn't leave without a certain olive skinned girl and would be useless to ask for him to come without Yen Sid's approval.
The little lord had two sisters and maybe two cousins who would be better off out of their grandmother's reach, though Dilla and Diella were getting already on some trouble with some gangs and it was a matter of time before they either joined Gianna or got killed by Clay or Hansel.
He had also noticed that Freddie had all forgotten about her villain roots as she was totally an Auradon kid, all well behaved and no longer tricking people into getting their cards read (though Henry could swear that she was doing it when no one was looking). Also pretty close with Ally Liddel, Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter's daughter. The voodoo girl seemed to have something for blonde girls...
The rest of the other VK's were utterly useless! They had embraced Auradon's ways from the moment they stepped out of the limosine! Not even Yzla was interested on experimenting with the knowledge given to her by her mother!
Henry had been sure that Yzla would be trying to outsmart Zevon as they were constantly competing between each other to be the better twin but she showed no interest on stealing Jafar's staff as he had done when he escaped the Isle. Instead, the girl seemed more interested on besting Evie as the best student in Chemistry which would be quite a feat.
On the other hand, he wondered about Uma and CJ's whereabouts.
The sea witch was surely near the Isle on some of the little islets that surrounded it, Uma could never stay too far from her crew and while she always dreamed of getting out...she was too loyal to her crew to completely leave them to their own devices. Still, she hated Mal far too much to stay far from Auradon for long.
About CJ no one could never be sure, Henry wasn't exactly one to know her but he knew between Harriet's cool head and Harry's "mild" insanity...she was a wildcard. Also, she had already kidnapped Ben and had almost defeated Mal and the others; if she hadn't appeared yet it was because she was laying low and trying to do something else...the girl was going to come sooner or later.
Henry started to bite his pencil as he scratched his head while thinking about how to get allies to his plans, he had already crossed so many names from his name-list of VK's on Auradon.
He already had a situation that would divert attention from him: Hal's powers.
The boy had noticed that there were some people spying on them, mostly teachers and some other faculty members.
With the situation, they would focus on Hans' son and not on the rest.
Henry was pondering on that when someone knocked on his door and he groaned as he went to open it, apparently it wasn't polite to yell to the person behind the door what did they want.
"Have you seen Hadie?"
"He hasn't come back from the gardens yet" He told Melinoe, who seemed to be overly bored, and then went back to his desk "Close the door before getting out"
The goddess seemed to have other idea and instead sat on his desk with a strange look on her grey eyes.
"What do you want?" He asked after a few moments of getting uncomfortable.
"I just wanted to check on my brother" She said rolling her eyes "Why else would I be here?"
Henry was a loss of words and tried to pretend that he was writing something on his notebook but it would be for no avail since he didn't have any homework and she knew that because they were on the same class.
"Hadie isn't here, leave" He simply said after a few moments with a cough.
"I noticed but I don't want to leave yet" She said shrugging.
"Go bother Yzla or something"
"You are planning something" She said with the look still on her eyes "But you haven't the slightest idea about what to actually do"
"I wouldn't call it planning something" Henry shrugged while thinking about why Melinoe was speaking to him. Also, he had thought that since Hadie had surely dropped the plan that Hades had of course given to him and his sister...the goddess had done it too.
"Whatever is it..." She said leaning towards him looking her eyes with his "I want in"
He gulped before asking "Why?"
She shrugged and said in a very disgusted tone "Both of us are alone in this, the others have fallen for Auradon's "charms" ...even my idiot brother"
He had to admit that it was true and nodded while he wondered why he hadn't thought about her before.
"Then we are settled" She said suddenly changing her demeanor and added "We shall look for something useful that may be on the museum"
"A wand? A staff? A scepter?" He asked snorting, it would be foolish to try to steal Fairy Godmother's wand (the Rotten Four had failed) and the scepter of Maleficent was too powerful for anyone to handle.
"I will tell you when it's needed" She said standing up and added "I may bring someone else next time"
He had to admit he was confused by her behavior but his planning was now in motion as he had gained an ally, a very powerful ally.
***The sports complex****
Eisa wasn't exactly a people's person and she disliked meeting new people so she almost threw a fit when Kurt suggested to split up with the VK's that were friends with Prince Hans' son.
It wasn't because she disliked VKs, she had not rejected them when they arrived but she wasn't overly eager to welcome them.
She had to admit that she had been wary of them, her family had taught her to be wary of strangers...one had to be especially careful when born with magic in Auradon.
And so she looked at Anthony Tremaine with some caution when Kurt told her to pair up with him while he mildly flirted with the pirate.
The strawberry blonde girl noticed that Harriet had raised an eyebrow at Kurt's poor attempt at striking conversation but agreed to go with him.
She had followed the sight of them till they disappeared and then gave the Tremaine boy a look before saying "I heard that he is your roommate...where could he be?"
"Not in our room" Anthony said trying to think "And not at the Tourney field"
"Because it would be the first place they would go look for him?"
"Exactly" The boy seemed amused at her line of thinking but then deflated and said "I haven't the faintest idea about where he could be"
The Crown Princess of Arendelle sighed and said "They went to the main building, maybe we should go to the Spots Complex, there are many places to hide in"
"Smart" Anthony said after considering it for a second "Speak from experience?"
"Maybe" She shrugged and turned to the path that led to the basketball court "Does he like to play basketball?"
"I don't actually know what he likes apart from Tourney" Anthony admitted with a frown "He also likes football"
Eisa wanted to facepalm but instead sighed, she sensed some snow forming near and started to run. She knew that he would take the cue to follow her even if she didn't explicitly.
"Why are we running?" He asked after a few minutes of wandering.
"You could have walked" Eisa said curtly "It's not like you are going to get lost"
"I haven't been enrolled to this school for long, your highness" He said and she noticed that while the tone was polite, he was annoyed.
Was that something that all VKs mastered on? She had noticed the same way of talking on Mal, Carlos and Evie; though she has to admit that Jay and Freddie showed their true emotions when annoyed.
The princess was about to make a remark when the air descended a few grades and she saw some steam coming from their breath.
"Do you feel it?"
"What?"
"Tsk"She said and made a sign to make him shut up "I'm feeling something"
"Are you a psychic?"
"No" She rolled her eyes and was about to explain what was happening when thick ice formed under their feet.
"Oh"
"Well, this could be worse" Eisa said trying to stand on her feet ans succeding on doing so,then Anthony fell on his face and she chuckled a little before saying "I guess that we are now certain that he is here"
Anthony,who was still on the floor trying to stand up,said with some sarcasm on his voice "Do you think?"
"Let's go" Eisa said helping him to stand up but she was having some problems as he was much taller and heavier than her "The sooner we find him, the less problem he'll be in"
"Problem?"
"Yes" She said as if he were stupid while they walked towards the pool, "For using unauthorized magic, for running away after the usage of magic and for not registering on the database of magic users"
"I don't know how he would have registered on that thing since he didn't know he had magic till today" Anthony said frowning "Surely Auradon won't punish him for not knowing he had magic"
"Evie wasn't sure if she had magic but registered anyway after Ben's coronation" Eisa commented.
"But her mother is a witch" The Tremaine boy reminded her "Hal's parents weren't magical...well at least Hans isn't"
"And his mother?" Eisa asked curiously, from what aunt Anna said it would have been easy for Hans to find a wife as he was as charming as anyone could be if he wanted to be but she had doubts about the fact as on the other hand she described him as almost a monster.
"I don't remember his mother well" Anthony said shrugging "I just know that she died around the time my father and madam Claudette did...she had black and white hair and used a wilted flower crown, I would have thought that she was a De Vil had not been for..."
He was interrupted by a loud cry of agony and he ran to where the sound was.
Eisa soon followed and both teenagers found Hal sat on the middle of the pool, the water was frozen and he was holding one of his hands with the other. The place was all covered in snow and ice.
"Hal!" Anthony called out trying to ignore the coldness on his feet.
"Go away, Tony!" The redhaired boy yelled.
Anthony breathed deeply and decided to let it slide as this was a very difficult situation.
"Westergaard..." Eisa started to say as she walked towards him with a mix of wariness and empathy, the cold wasn't bothering her and she was sure that it wasn't bothering him either "I know you are scared but I need you to listen to me"
"Why would I listen to you, your highness? My father tried to kill your mother" Hal snapped "Yes, I know who you are, Jane mentioned it"
"Time to try a different approach" Eisa thought and kept walking till she reached a certain cercany to him, then she sat in front of him and said "Look, I understand what you are going through...I froze half the palace when my cousin Klaus was born in rage for him being born a boy and not a girl"
Hal raised an eyebrow and she continued "Kurt froze a river near his parents cabin a few years ago unexpectedly...uncle Kristoff almost died from shock"
"Why are you telling me this?" He asked.
"Because I want you to see that I understand what you are going through"
He looked her straight to her eyes and blue and grey eyes locked into each other for a moment. Then they both heard ice breaking and saw how Anthony fell into the pool.