32 | HALLOWEEN PARTY
"YEAH, Carlos is going as the monster in Frankenstein, and Jane is going as the monster's bride," Mal said as she and Winter walked through the courtyard leading to their dorm building.
It was mid-afternoon and students were running around the spooky-decorated campus with buckets of candy or chatting excitedly. Everyone was ecstatic for the party that was taking place that night. Not only was it supposed to be a "terrifyingly terrific time" but it was also the first real celebration that all of the AKs and VKs would be joining together in.
In the past week, the mixture between the AKs and VKs had gotten much better, but it was still obvious that there was a divide between the two groups. Ben and Mal had taken it upon them to showcase themselves together even more than usual as an example that the AKs and VKs interacting with each other was perfectly okay—great even.
Winter had just got back to campus with Mal, Ben, and the Fairy Godmother along with a small number of other people. Evie and Uma had ridden in a separate limo with some others who were on the council to get back to campus. Winter was relatively sure they had arrived a little before them as they did not have Fairy Godmother instructing the driver to go slow
Even Winter, who was not planning to attend the party, was curious about how the VKs partied. She was sure that it was incredibly intense as according to Uma, the Isle did not play around when it came to partying on Halloween night.
"Really? That's so adorable," Winter giggled at the new knowledge that Carlos and Jane were wearing corresponding costumes that night.
"I know right, it's so sweet it almost makes me sick," Mal rolled her eyes before continuing, "I'm sure Evie already told you what I'm doing—?"
"Yeah, she said you were going to be a witch, Ben was going as a cop, she's making Doug dress up as a..." Winter could not stop a few laughs from falling out of her mouth, thinking just what Evie was making Doug dress up as.
"—Yeah, a puppy," Mal snickered along with Winter as they passed by two eagerly chatting girls about the bash that night.
The party truly was the talk of the school at the moment.
"Haha, and Evie's going as Carlos's mom?" Winter said in between her laughter causing Mal to shake her head rapidly.
"Yeah, it's going to be so funny, Carlos's face will be priceless!" The purple-haired teen exclaimed causing Winter to shake her head.
Suddenly, the sound of a text coming in sound between the two girls and Mal was pulling out her cellphone. She smirked when she saw the text, turning to Winter a second later.
"Ben just texted me that someone super-glued Fairy Godmother's desk closed, she and Phil are pissed..." Mal cackled while Winter sighed, feeling slightly bad for Fairy Godmother.
The one time the principal actually left campus and this happens.
"Who do you think it was?" Winter asked.
"Probably Jay," Mal shrugged.
"Or Jonah," Winter piped.
"Maybe Harry," Mal winked causing Winter to rolled her eyes at the suggestive tone.
"Carlos could've helped,"
"And if Harry was involved then he definitely dragged Gil along,"
"So all five?" Winter tilted her head Mal's way.
"Definitely," Mal smirked before putting her phone away.
"How is planning for the wedding going?" Winter questioned causing Mal to smile in a giddy manner.
"Great, Belle is being amazing with helping. We officially decided that the venue is going to be at the Auradon Chapel—since it's big enough to house everyone. I mean," Mal sighed, running a finger through her hair in a stressed manner, "I still can't believe there is going to be over five-hundred people attending!"
It was true. This was the King of Auradon's wedding they were talking about, Mal would be becoming the Queen Regnant of all of Auradon the second she and Ben kissed—it was a big deal. Therefore, the majority of the Royal Court would be attending with their families, Mal and Ben's personal family, and friends, of course. And then you could not forget the city-folk who wanted to attend, so yes, there would be a few hundred people in attendance.
Not to mention the entire thing would be broadcasted live.
Just the thought made Mal's knees quiver. There were still some people in Auradon who were not so accepting of the marriage and Mal knew the closer they got to the wedding, the more these negative thoughts would come out.
Winter rose a brow, noticing the terrified look that crossed Mal's features. However, it was gone before she could blink, Winter knowing that Mal hated being perceived as weak.
"—And uhm," Mal swallowed, pulling herself together. Seeing as she was going to be Queen, she had to get used to this type of pressure.
Oh gosh, Mal almost forgot that her training to be Queen was to start in a few weeks' time—thankfully, it was going to be Belle and Fairy Godmother who taught her.
"...The invitations will be sent out in a few weeks, as soon as we finish the designs and get the official list together. The people at Auradon Prep will be the first to receive them, Evie's helping with the designs."
Winter nodded as Mal paused, taking a deep breath.
"And the colors are going to be purple, gold, and blue... I think..." Mal trailed off, her tone portraying worry.
"Hey, don't worry," Winter smiled, nudging the daughter of Maleficient playfully, "you got quite a few months, plus I'm sure Belle will be happy to do all the hard stuff for you,"
Mal gave Winter a thankful smile. "Thanks, Winnie, everyone's been on me about it lately. Even Evie's been giving me a hard time, I need to hide in Ben's room when she goes off about the wedding at this point," Mal's shoulders slumped.
"Don't worry, Mal, it won't be as bad as you're thinking, I promise it'll get easier," Winter reassured her with a smile.
If she was being honest, Winter really did not know if things would get easier for Mal or not. Winter did not have a wedding with the King of Auradon just around the corner, so it was hard to put herself in Mal's shoes. Though she had a small feeling it was something similar to how Winter felt when she remembered she would need to fulfill her duties as the Ice Queen in just a few years' time.
But she still wanted to reassure Mal.
"You're the best, Winnie," Mal smiled as they opened the door the dorm building, climbing the stairs to their floor, "by the way, what are you being tonight?"
"Oh, I'm not going," Winter laughed.
Mal's reaction was not as dramatic as Evie's, but the purple-haired girl still sighed.
"C' mon, you need to go, Winter! Have fun, let loose for once, everyone'll be there. Including, a certain Mr. Coathanger..." she said mischievously
Winter snickered at the nickname for Harry but shook her head. "You know parties aren't really my scene, Mal. I would rather curl up in bed and watch a movie tonight, Halloween is kind of scary anyway," Winter shivered causing Mal to scoff a laugh.
"You are such a wuss sometimes, Winnie,"
Winter shrugged, not taking offense to her words as she knew it was true.
"This party won't be scary though, trust me, even though we're from the Isle, we like a good party. It'll be fun, you AKs won't know what hit you," Mal expressed, extremely excited at the aspect of the Isle kids finally showing the AKs how to party for real.
Well... that was if Fairy Godmother didn't crash it.
The alcohol that some VKs planned to bring had already been confiscated and FG warned the students if she caught even a wisp of it then the party would be shut down before anyone could blink. But that was fine because even if it was bummer that there could be no alcohol, they still knew how to party.
Winter opened her mouth to reply; however, before she could say anything, a familiar Scottish accent drifted from beyond the corner of the hallway.
"C' mon, Evie, all ye need ter do is convince me Winter to wear this here costume!"
Mal and Winter quickened their pace, turning the corner with their eyebrows scrunched in confusion.
They were met with the sight of Mal and Evie's dorm door wide open with Evie herself standing in the doorway. Harry was just in front of her outside the door while motioning frantically to some sort of costume in his grasp.
Evie was watching him with an unimpressed look, her lips pursed. She still wore her formal dress from the council gathering and in her grasp was a pen and clipboard. Evie had been checking orders for dresses before she was rudely interrupted by Harry.
She needed to get this done before the party so she could spend the night having fun instead of worrying about being backed-up on orders.
Plus, she was really excited about what was to come after the party. She and Doug certainly had creative costumes that would make for great cosplay in the sheets.
"Harry," Evie was looking at the costume in his grasp.
She thought it was an absolutely horrendous costume and would kill Winter if she ever saw her wearing it. Though Evie knew that Winter would probably hate the costume even more than she did.
"That costume is about the worst thing I have laid eyes on since I saw your dad's mustache," Harry scowled at her insult to his father, "furthermore, that costume is so revealing it might as well be lingerie. Do you really want other people to see Winter in that?"
Harry stopped at that comment, looking down to the feathery costume with a new look. Evie was right, perhaps he would just save this for a time when it was only he and Winter.
"Fine," Harry grumbled just as Mal and Winter approached from behind.
The two heard most of the conversation from down the hall.
"What is this costume you are trying to put Winter—" Mal stopped herself, the smirk falling straight from her lips as Harry turned around.
Both Mal and Winter gasped loudly at the thing that should not even be called a costume in Harry's grasp, Evie nodding from her place in the doorway.
In Harry's grasp hanging from a hanger was a two-piece feathery duck costume. The two pieces were held together by zigzagging straps of feathers, a small feathery tail attached to the back of the underwear-like bottoms.
Winter's mouth fell open, trying to imagine herself in that outfit. It would literally leave almost everything out and open.
"Harry, what is that?" Winter squeaked, looking to Harry in a flabbergasted manner.
Harry was faced with Mal and Winter wearing formal dresses, both obviously having just returned from the gathering.
Harry only gave a wolfish grin in reply, shaking the costume. "Ahoy, me duckling and dragon-girl. Like it? I..." Harry coughed, "found it at some store, thought it'd look good on ye!"
By found, Winter had a feeling that Harry meant he stole it. However, she was too horrified by the outfit to grill Harry on why stealing was wrong.
"Dude, that thing isn't even considered clothes!" Mal exclaimed with a scoff.
Harry pouted, keeping his eyes on Winter. "Aye, but it certainly brings the nickname duckling to a whole other level!"
"Woah," the three turned to see Jonah stumbling out of the room across the hall from Evie and Mal's, "who is wearing that?" His eyes practically bulged out of his head. "I would not mind seeing some hot chick wearing that," Jonah chuckled, crossing his arms.
Winter furrowed her brows, seeing the extremely messy mullet and how crinkled his clothes were. There was also some sweat glistening on his head.
Harry grinned at the boy, already knowing what he had been up to, "It was for Winter, but I think it may just need to be a costume only I be seeing her in," Harry explained.
"Uhm, no sir," Winter scoffed, "I will never wear that and you especially will never see me in something like that."
Harry clicked his tongue, narrowing his eyes dramatically. "We'll see, duckling," he turned to Jonah who was running his hands through his long hair, trying to tame it, "What was ye doin' in there, lad?"
"Yeah," Mal crinkled her nose, leaning away from Jonah slightly as he was standing a few feet behind her and Winter.
"In Queenie of Hearts and Ginny Gothel's room?" Evie finished for Mal, narrowing her eyes.
Jonah chuckled, looking back to the door with a small smirk. "Well, I have a thing for red-heads and Queenie isn't the worst looking, not bad in bed either. Ginny wasn't in there, but she might be next on my fuck list—"
"Oh my God, okay, no, stop!" Winter shook her head, hating when Jonah talked about his extremely active sex-life.
Harry cackled, reaching over and high-fiving Jonah. "Aye, good for ye mate!"
"Okay, back on point!" Evie shouted, wanting to get back to her work as soon as possible. "Winter is not wearing that—"
"Yeah, I'm not wearing anything tonight," Winter sniffed as Harry's eyes sparkled.
"Really?" Harry said it as though all of his dreams had come true, his voice breathless.
Winter turned to him in confusion, becoming even more confused at the look in his eye. But then she realized what he thought and scowled, slapping the back of his head.
"Not like that," she hissed as Harry shook himself out of it.
"Yeah, she's not even going to the party," Mal announced.
Evie gasped, her eyes blazing as though she just remembered the fact. "Oh yeah, that's what I had to talk to you about!"
Harry himself frowned, looking from Jonah to Winter in a questioning manner. Jonah shrugged as though telling Harry he was not surprised.
"You need to go to the party, it's the first one of the year and it's the first one where all the VKs and AKs can celebrate!"
Winter sighed at Evie's words, standing firm in her reasoning.
"I hate parties, Evie, besides there will be other parties this year I can go to," Winter weakly tried only for Harry to scowl.
"Oi, no way, you are comin'," the pirate pointed his hand that was not holding the costume at Winter, "I will haul yer pretty little ass over me shoulder if I have too!"
Winter scowled, taking a small but noticeable step away from Harry. Harry quirked a brow with a smirk, making a small move toward her only for Winter to take five more back. She realized what Harry was doing and glowered, steeling herself against the wildly grinning pirate.
"I am not partying on Halloween night!" Winter declared firmly causing Mal to look at Harry and Evie.
"Apparently, Winnie is scared of Halloween," Mal told them with crossed arms.
Evie tilted her head while Harry's face went through a series of different emotions within a second. There was confusion before surprise flitted across his features until it finally leveled into untapped amusement.
"What? Yer scared of a wee little holiday, duckling?" Harry laughed as though it were the most hilarious thing in the world, throwing his head back.
Winter blushed, but her face twisted with anger.
"Don't worry, I'll protect ye, against all the dark demons and spirits" Harry snorted in a mocking tone, looking to Winter who was trying to calm her breathing.
She reminded herself that it was not their fault. How were they supposed to know her wariness of Halloween stemmed back to a dark wizard who put the fear of God in her?
"Yeah, that doesn't matter, Winter's terrified of Halloween. Has been since we met," Jonah snickered, resting an arm around Winter's shoulder casually.
"Why?" Mal finally questioned while Evie nodded along with her.
Winter sighed at all the expectant looks she was receiving.
"I am not terrified of Halloween. Wary? Yes. I just don't want to go to the party—"
Jonah rolled his eyes with a scoff, and suddenly he turned sharply to Winter—making a loud mocking roar sound.
"BOOOO!"
"AGHHH!" Winter had screamed so loud she thought she might have actually lost her voice.
With no warning, she suddenly shot in the air, and in seconds it looked as though her back was glued to the ceiling. Her eyes were wide and alert, the girl breathing heavily until she heard the loud laughter from below.
She scowled when she saw the three VKs and Jonah laughing at her.
"Not scared, huh?" Jonah snickered as he and the others got over their laughing fit.
When Winter only frowned in response, making no move to come down, Harry took matters into his own hands.
He pouted with an apologetic expression on his face. "Aw, 'm sorry for laughing, me duckling. Come on down from there, I'll even hold ye if ye want," Harry cooed.
The four of them were not accustomed to Winter using her abilities at all. However, they were nice enough not to say anything about it. Though, now that Harry knew that scaring Winter made her fly, he may just need to shock her a bit more often.
Winter rolled her eyes but quickly flew down from the ceiling, landing softly.
"I will not be going," she announced before turning around and sprinting away.
"What the—? Get back 'ere!" She heard Harry scream before his footsteps sounded chasing after her.
She basically slid around the corner, grasping her door key tightly in her palm. Quicker than the speed of light, Winter managed the unlock her bedroom door, closing it just as Harry came barreling around the corner.
"Suck on this, Hook!"
Harry's eyes blazed at her words, the pirate getting within feet of her room before the door was shut and locked in his face. Immediately, he began pounding, yelling at her to let him in.
"How about no!" Winter cried, but she was unable to stop the small smile from crossing her face.
She could not stop the small giggles from leaving her, Winter finding the hilarity of the situation. Harry heard her laughter from outside and scowled, but on the inside, he was smiling.
"Are ye laughing at me, duckling?" Harry stopped pounding on the door, now leaning against it.
"...No?" But it sounded as though she were muffling her laughter.
"Oh yeah, well why don't ye open this door and say that to me face,"
"Uh-huh, I don't think so, buddy," Winter called from within causing Harry to groan.
"Listen here, me duckling. Uma and I will be back around seven to pick you up for the party, and I be comin' whether you like it or not and will haul ye over me shoulder if I gotta. There ain't be no way I lettin' you miss out on a real party," Harry murmured through the wood of the door, resting his head against it.
Unbeknownst to him, Winter was resting her head against the door in a similar manner. She was scowling, breathing deeply. She knew his words were true, he would probably make Uma magically open the door and then proceed to hog-tie her and carry her to the party.
She shivered at the thought.
Pushing herself off the door, she turned around and hit it lightly causing the door to shutter. "Screw you, dirty old pirate!"
Harry laughed from outside. "I may be dirty and a pirate, but I be anything but old!"
Winter groaned, running her hands through her hair. And like that, she now had to find herself a costume for tonight.
——————
A costume was not just lying around her dorm room, Winter had not dressed up nor celebrated Halloween since before she was eight years old. Christmas or even Easter was more her forte, and ironically enough, the two holidays that the Isle did not celebrate.
After confirming that she, in fact, had no costume or anything that could even resemble one, Winter took matters into her own hands. It was about thirty days too early for her to pull out her Christmas box.
Winterfell Frost was a huge lover of Christmas and the season of winter as a whole. During the entirety of the winter season, anyone who came across Winter would be astonished to feel the radiance of her Christmas joy and spirit. She was a big reason that Christmas was such a big deal at Auradon Prep (but that was another issue which would be addressed in about thirty days).
Perhaps it had to do with the fact that she was a spirit of winter and ice, maybe it was that she literally had Winter in her name, it could have been because of how jolly Arendelle was at Christmas time, it could have been because Santa Claus himself was a personal friend or her parents—hell, it could have been because Winterfell Frost was literally born at the North Pole on the first day of the month of Christmas.
No matter what the reason, Winter was a devotee of Christmas and it would forever remain her favorite holiday. It was because of this that Winter had her huge box of Christmas and winter stuff. It was a box that she pulled out bright and early on the first day of December (also known as her birthday) and put away only at the end of the last day of winter.
Getting on her knees, Winter huffed while pulling the gargantuan tub of Christmas and winter gear and decorations out into the open. She smiled brightly at the box, but she frowned when she realized she still had thirty days before she could technically start celebrating and putting the stuff in the box to actual use.
However, what she was after for this particular Halloween night was something that would count as a costume and bring Winter her own sense of Christmas joy that hopefully would fight away the terror of Halloween.
Opening the box, Winter moved away different knickknacks, fighting to not give into her desire and begin decorating early. After only a few moments, Winter found what she was looking for.
The sound of small bells jingled around the room as Winter pulled out her elf outfit. Of course, Winter had multiple Christmas costumes in the box ranging from Santa to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. However, this particular elf costume (which was one of five) most resembled a Halloween outfit.
It was a short green dress with long sleeves, a brown belt, and red collars at both the wrists and neck. Seeing as it was rather short, the dress came with red and white striped stockings along with its own cute jangly-bell hat. The shoes that went with it were green pointed shoes with a red fuzzy button on the tips.
Overall, it was a cute costume that was also made to be slightly... hot.
It was not Winter's pick but rather a costume Sitara all but forced her to buy at a small Arendelle shop last year over Christmas break. The costume was literally titled "sexy elf".
As much as Winter protested, her cousin was hearing none of it and continuously shoved it in her grasp until she gave in. Despite buying it, Winter had never actually worn it until now.
Slipping the costume on, Winter quickly french braided her hair into two before shoving the elf hat on with a clang of the bell at the end. She huffed at her reflection, frowning at how promiscuous she looked.
Okay, promiscuous was not the right word, but to Winter (seeing as she rarely wore anything edgy) this was very different. The dress was tight and the stockings seemed to accentuate her legs more than usual.
Winter knew she would stick out like a sore thumb in this costume as everyone else would be wearing something scary. She would be like a bright light among all the zombies and ghosts and other dark Halloweenish outfits. While Winter generally hated sticking out or having too much attention drawn to her, she would take that ten times over dressing like the Halloween monsters that she was so scared of.
At least wearing this she would be semi-protected by the holiness of Christmas.
Winter nearly laughed out loud when she thought of the Halloween spirit ever seeing her wearing a Christmas outfit on his holiday. Yeah, Halloween would definitely have a problem with it and probably put the blame on Santa himself. Halloween was known to have the smallest of conflicts with Santa Claus.
Shaking her head, Winter trotted to the bathroom seeing as she had half an hour left before she could expect Harry or Uma at her door. Winter did not generally wear makeup, but she figured that some jolly and bright makeup would go along nicely with the outfit.
Within the next thirty minutes, Winter's cheeks were far rosier than normal with extra dotted freckles and appley lips. Her lashes while dark were surrounded by Christmasy eyeshadow and sharp eyeliner.
Winter could not help but admire herself in the mirror, tilting her head at how different she looked while wearing makeup. She may have rarely done her makeup, but thanks to Sitara, she was capable of doing it. She may not have been as good as Evie or Audrey or even Mal, but she could manage herself.
For a second, Winter had considered changing her hair to its natural shade of white and saying that she was wearing a wig. Her natural shade of hair color would have gone along great with the costume, but she decided not to, thinking that it would be too much. Especially for her.
Besides, while she may have been able to fool others from Auradon Prep, her friends were not idiots. Mal and Evie were the only two who knew what color her hair naturally was and they were enough. The last thing she needed was Harry Hook figuring out that her hair was really white.
She blushed at the thought having a feeling that the pirate would tease her incessantly. He may even hate the color and deem it weird. Then again, that was kind of a long shot seeing as there was a much wider variety of hair colors back on the Isle, but then again, Winter still did not want to chance it.
Winter had just finished pulling on a pair of green silk gloves that matched the shade of the dress when a loud knock came from her door.
"Oi, duckling, if ye don't open up, Uma will magically unlock yer door!" Winter rolled her eyes at Harry's tone but smiled at Uma's words.
"No, I really won't!" She yelled causing Harry to let out an irritated groan.
Winter laughed and debated on rubbing it in Harry's face and staying within the confines of her room. However, seeing as she had spent over an hour on her costume, as much as she hated to admit it, she wanted some sort of satisfaction from it.
Plus, she truly was curious about this party now.
She took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for whatever awaited her this Thursday night. Luckily, Fairy Godmother took mercy on all the students and had all classes canceled tomorrow as she knew everyone would be out late enjoying themselves.
Winter stepped past her Christmas box deciding to leave it out until she returned later that night so she could put the costume back inside before placing the box away for the next month. All she had to get through was November before her winter officially started.
Winter opened the door to the revealing a dimly lit hallway, an obvious Halloween decor. Harry and Uma were stood outside her door squabbling, Harry complaining about Uma not helping him out and Uma telling him that he could not make her do anything.
Once the door opened, the duo both turned their heads to look at Winter. Harry's mouth went dry at what he was met with.
Winter, on the other hand, was gazing at Harry with surprise. If Winter did not know any better, she would swear that Harry was a real vampire. Harry was dressed in tight black jeans, some half-boots, and a white collared shirt that was covered in what looked like dry blood. Winter recognized the jeans and boots as some of the clothing items that Harry had got from their mall trip.
What really tied his costume off was not the outfit but rather his dark eye makeup and long fangs. Harry normally wore dark eyeliner, but now his eyes were coated with murky makeup that made him look nothing less than a child of the night.
Not to mention his black hair was a tousled mess, something that only added onto his looks. It nearly made Winter's heart stop from how utterly attractive the seventeen-year-old in front of her was.
From Harry's perspective, his mouth went dry. Now, Harry was not quite sure what Winter actually was (as the VKs were serious when they said their parents hated the holiday called Christmas and refused to partake in it even the slightest) but he knew that he really liked whatever this was.
He had never seen her wear makeup so he was stunned to see just how rosy her cheeks were and how warm her eyes looked among the makeup. The dress she was wearing was tight and the stockings seemed to emphasize her legs even more than usual. Harry was not sure how Winter did it, but she managed to look cute and sexy at the same exact time.
Harry wanted to do sinful things to her at this moment, on the evilest night of the year. He wanted nothing more than to play into his desire and make the most of this night. And if he thought that she would let him for even a second, he would have practically tackled her the second she opened the door and ditched the party for a celebration of their own right on Winter's bed all night long.
"Nice outfit, Winter," the two were ripped out of their daze by Uma's voice, Winter looking away from Harry with a blush causing her already red cheeks to redden even more.
Winter brought her attention to Uma, noticing for the first time that Uma was dressed as a black cat. She was wearing a tight black bodysuit with converse and cat-ears on her head. Alike to Harry, her makeup was dark and there were whiskers and a black nose on her face.
It was amazing how real the whiskers, nose, ears, and tail looked. Just as amazing as to how real Harry's fangs looked.
"...but what are you?" Uma asked with confusion, not knowing what Winter was.
Winter frowned at Uma's question, but her mind was still on how real her and Harry's outfits looked. It was then that it occurred to Winter just why Uma and Harry were confused as to what she was.
Right, no Christmas on the Isle.
"Uhm, I'm a Christmas elf, one of Santa's helpers, you know?" Harry and Uma's eyes gleamed as they nodded, now understanding, "and are those real?"
"A spell I put on us, made them real enough," Uma explained with a shrug, referring to her cat-features and Harry's fangs.
"If yer what all Santa's helpers be lookin' like, I may have just found a new favorite holiday," Harry flirted, giving Winter a smirk while shamelessly looking her up and down.
Winter and Uma both rolled their eyes, but Winter rested a hand on her hip before addressing Harry.
"Unfortunately for you, Santa's helpers don't look a thing like this," Winter stated, and it was true, Santa's elves looked like children for the most part.
Winter was pretty sure that Bernard, the head elf was the oldest looking elf there. And he only appeared to be sixteen at the most.
"That's okay, I have you," Harry said slyly, "anyway, who be this Santa fellow again?" Harry moved closer to Winter, like some sort of predator.
Winter shrank back, feeling an oddly warm sensation in her belly at Harry's look. You could feel the sexual tension rising from them... and it made Uma want to gag.
"Guys, c 'mon, let's go to the party," Uma pulled Harry back by the collar of his cape causing the pirate to growl but listen to his captain.
As soon as Winter closed the door behind her, Harry was placing an arm over her shoulder and pulling her into his side, taking a deep whiff of her. He hummed at the scent of berries that she always gave way to.
"Where's Gil at?" Winter asked when she noticed the third presence to the Sea Three missing.
Gil was nearly always with them.
"Apparently Sonny came so he left early to find her," Uma explained while Harry's hand started trailing lower.
Winter stiffened, quickly grabbing Harry's arm and forcefully pulling it up to a more modest position on her. Harry was lucky that Winter was even allowing him to hold her at the moment, though a lot of it came from the dread she was feeling for the dark Halloween night.
She could not help but feel a slight disdain for the floating jack-o-lanterns around campus and the orange glow. The fake spiders and webs and other scary decorations around campus made it even worse.
Though, as they got closer to the gym, Winter was able to make out the loud booming of the music. An eery orange glow was coming from the upper windows of the gym as well and hollers of glee buzzed with the music.
The music played was a mixture of classic Halloween songs from both the Isle and Auradon, older music mixes like Michael Jackson's Thriller and Bad albums along with other older songs that were considered "Halloweenish".
"Aw, now this is what I's been waitin' for!" Harry cheered as they finally walked into the gym only to be greeted by the insane party going on.
Students wearing costumes of all different sorts filled the space. There was a DJ booth at the front flashing different lights and emitting a deep smoke from a fog machine. The DJ himself had a pair of headphones on and was jumping around the stage as though he were some big celebrity.
The students below him dancing, all wearing different costumes, gave the DJ no mind.
Tables surrounded the large mob of dancers and there were some snack tables and punch on the sides. The snacks were decorated to resemble scary food such as gummy eyeballs or suckers with spiders inside. It made Winter shiver.
Immediately, she took note of the way the teenagers on the large dance floor were going at it. On one side you had the obvious Auradonians dressed in nicer costumes like fairies or cute forest animals. But on the other side were the VK kids dressed in darker more dramatic costumes like ghouls or zombies.
However, the real contrasting difference was with the dancing. With the AKs, you had people fist-pumping and jumping around like they did not know what they were doing. But with the VKs you saw people getting-low and twerking and doing some real crazy moves.
Then, just in the middle of the two contrasting sides was a small inter-lapping zone where both AKs and VKs danced with each other. In that small zone, Winter recognized faces like Mal, Ben, Doug, Emmett, Lonnie, Evie, and quite a few other people.
Carlos and Jane were dancing with each other, both of them with tall hair dressed as Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein.
To Winter, it looked fun to a certain degree. On this inside, she wanted to go out there and join her friends in having fun on the dance floor and just letting loose. On the outside though, she was far too uptight and wary of herself to allow that to happen. Instead, she planted her feet down on the outskirts of the dance floor, staying still despite Harry trying to tug her onto the floor.
Uma had long since left the couple to join Mal and the others in the middle of the dance floor. Winter vaguely heard her hat jangle as she turned toward the table.
"I'm going to sit down," she shouted over the loud music.
It was Superstition by Stevie Wonder, the funky tune causing many people to start an old-timey monster shuffle.
"Wha! Nah, ya' need to come and dance with me!" Harry shouted back, trying to pull her once again.
"Harry," Winter grunted, fighting against the much stronger pirate, "I am not a dancer, do not take me out there in that sweaty mass of monsters!" She screamed, and despite not moving her legs at all, Harry was dragging her over the tiled ground.
It was a comical sight to see the vampire dragging the screaming Christmas elf. It was also a sight that caught Jonah's attention the second he sauntered in, the son Flynn not believing that his closest friend actually showed up.
If Harry Hook could actually make Winter Frost come to a party then there was something special about him.
"Stop it, Harry—" Winter was now trying to walk in the opposite direction as Harry continued to drag her.
"What this I hear about dancing?" Jonah was suddenly in between the pirate and princess, wrapping his arms around both.
There was a slight slur to his tone giving way to his tipsy nature. It was something that went unnoticed by Harry and Winter, the two now stopped in their dispute.
Jonah was dressed in a white and gold bell-bottom suit, the costume so tight that his muscular figure was easy to makeout. If Harry had not been so set on Winter then he would be going after Jonah without a second thought.
He was wearing a dark slicked wig over his normal dirty blond mullet and he had dark sunglasses to go with it. His costume was obvious, Jonah was Elvis Presley.
And he looked mighty good.
It was no wonder that Winter had a slight crush on him all those years ago when they first met, but even now looking as hot as he did, all Winter was able to think about was Harry Hook.
"Aye, lookin' good mate," Harry complimented Jonah who nodded right back.
"Ha, you too bud!"
Winter crinkled her nose at the smell of rum wafting from Jonah. Honestly, Jonah was worse than some of the VKs and that was saying something.
"Are you drunk?" Winter scowled, truly not believing how Jonah was able to sneak alcohol past Fairy Godmother.
Even the VKs had been unable to do that. Then again, Jonah had been doing this for three years while the VKs had only been around for a few months. Even then, the VKs rarely had to sneak anything past the adults of the Isle as they had no care what their children did.
"More like tipsy, my elfish friend! You know it's Halloween not Christmas, right?" Jonah asked causing Harry to snicker and Winter to glower.
"How'd ya even get it past FG?" Harry questioned, having taken to calling Fairy Godmother by "FG" as the other VKs had.
"Oh you know," Jonah hummed in a dreamish manner, swaying and tightening his grip on the shoulders of his two friends, "a hop, skip and step and..." he was now blubbering randomly making the two on either side of him watch in amusement.
It was obvious that he was drunker than he was letting on.
"Anyway!" Jonah suddenly shouted. "What were we talking about? Oh yes! Dancing! C' mon, Harry, if Winnie won't dance with you, then I will!"
Winter snickered when Jonah drunkenly spun toward Harry making the pirate's eyes widen in surprise. Without much effort, Jonah had grabbed Harry's hand and pushed him on the dance floor.
"Woohoo, you guys go!" Winter laughed watched as a surprised Harry quickly turned back into his usual cocky self.
When the two guys got to the middle where the other mixture of the AKs and VKs were, they wasted no time in going at it. Harry was a great dancer, that was something Winter realized very quickly. He was performing hip-hop moves like they were nothing, flipping here and there and not hesitating in getting down with it.
He let loose and Jonah was next to him, laughing and dancing right along with him. It was not long until Evie, Mal, Ben, Uma, Doug, and the others were surrounding them. Winter shook her head, walking toward the tables, choosing one where she still had a good view of her friends having a good time.
She nearly died when Emmett decided to get low and start twerking, Jonah pretending to smack his ass as he did so. Harry was grinding his body in a way that made Winter feel particularly hot and reconsider jumping out there for a second.
Forcing her gaze from the attractive pirate, she looked to Mal, Uma, and Ben who were all dancing against each other with large smiles. Lonnie was mock throwing cash on Emmett and Jonah — many people staring at the sight of a twerking skeleton and Elvis Presley slapping his rear.
It was then that Lonnie (who was dressed as a baseball player) got low with Emmett earning a bunch of wolf-whistles from the large group of friends. Harry soon went from grinding to joining Carlos and Jane in Nae-Naeing.
Winter smiled at the sight, turning away briefly to take a seat at one of the tables. She paused when she noticed that there was a single one person at the table she had chosen. Despite the brown and gold wig and dramatic makeup, this girl who vastly resembled Cleopatra was a lonely-looking Audrey.
She was sitting with a drink in her hand and a sad smile. Frowning, Winter pulled a chair up and sat next to the future Queen of Auroria. It was a known fact that Audrey had completely trashed her goals of becoming the Queen of Auradon and instead was focused on being her own Queen to Auroria.
While it was much smaller than her original goal, it was still something that Audrey was more than determined to do.
"Why aren't you dancing, you love to dance?" Winter posed the second she sat at the table causing Audrey to jump.
The daughter of Aurora looked to Winterfell with surprise.
"Winter?" Audrey tilted her head curiously. "You're here, you never come to parties. Let alone on Halloween!"
Out of everyone at Auradon Prep, there were only a few who knew her full name and complete background. Those were Audrey, Ben, Chad, and Sonny when she went here. With this, the five understood Winter's wariness for Halloween. The only reason they knew was that they were the future rulers of their respective kingdoms and Winterfell's history was an important one.
That along with the fact that outside of school (A.K.A for any Royal Court meetings) they were to address her by Winterfell.
"I guess we're both surprising each other," Winter said with a smile.
Winter and Audrey had never been close at all, but at the same time, they had known each other for a long while. They met when they were six when their parents along with the other Kingdom leaders gathered.
Winter remembered that while she stuck with her cousins and second-cousin, Zellie Fitzherbert (daughter or Rupenzel and Eugene) Audrey had been playing around with Ben, Chad Charming and his little sister, along with Sonny White.
It was a random memory of when she was younger that Winter was not really sure why it quite stuck with her, it just had. Perhaps it stuck with her because that was also the day that Sitara got into it with Merida's daughter, Marissa, and ended up tussling with her. Marissa's twin Marcellus had also gotten involved when he saw his sister was being beaten up. It was then that Soren got involved (the one and only time he ever got physical) and despite being six years older than the twins—no one messed with his sister but him.
"Seriously, Audrey, why do you look so down?" Winter questioned Audrey.
"They wouldn't want me out there anyway, no one likes an Evil Queen," Audrey murmured sadly.
"For one, I'm pretty sure Chad would like you out there seeing how he is eyeing you," Audrey turned to look where Winter was looking only to make eye contact with her boyfriend.
Chad may have not been the sharpest crayon in the box and he may have pretty conceited, but he cared deeply about Audrey. While it did not show often, some of Cinderella's kindness had, in fact, rubbed off on Chad because, despite everything Audrey did to him with the scepter, he was the first one to see Audrey when she was no longer under its effects.
He forgave her in a heartbeat and Audrey cried from how happy she was.
Not only that, but after that whole "Queen of Mean" deal, Audrey had lost most of her self-confidence. Chad was working tirelessly to build it back up.
"Two," Winter continued, drawing Audrey's attention back to her, "...you can't keep torturing yourself with that, Audrey. As much as I love Mal and Ben, they did hurt you and everyone deals with pain differently. No one here is holding any of that against you, the past is the past. Forgive forget, you know?"
Winter's words were similar to what Chad and some of Audrey's other friends had been telling her for the past few months now. Except somehow, they sounded kinder and truer coming from Winter's mouth. Winter always had that effect on people and being dressed as an elf seemed to instill some of that pureness in her words.
"You're right," Audrey got up, ready to go dance, "thank you, Winterfell," Audrey looked down at the girl with a true look of gratitude.
Winter cringed at the sound of her full name, not accustomed to being called that during school. She did not have a problem with her full name, it was just sort of embarrassing in her opinion. Her name was more normal among those of Arendelle or Northuldra, but it was far more uncommon here in Auradon.
"You're welcome," Winter placed a smile on her face despite the recoil she felt at her full name, "just don't call me that in front of the others, lord knows how they would react if they found out."
It was more so if Harry found out. After calling him "Harold" for so long, Winter knew he would be itching the get her back and calling her Winterfell was the perfect way for him to do that.
"Got it," Audrey gave her a wink before rushing off to join Chad Charming the werewolf on the dancefloor.
Winter hummed leaning back in her chair, but it was short-lived as Evie popped up out of nowhere.
"Hey, Evie," Winter smiled, looking at her Cruella de Vil costume. "Looking good!"
It truly was magnificent.
"So do you, I love your costume so much! And your makeup is to die for!" Evie giggled, finding that Winter looked utterly adorable and hot at the same time.
It was a feat not many were able to pull off, but Winter somehow managed it. Not only that, but the outfit was just so... Winter.
"But also there is no way in hell you are not dancing,"
"I already told Harry that I don't dance—" Winter tried waving her away, but was cut off by her own scream as hands suddenly moved under her armpits and forced her out of the chair.
Winter cried as she was carelessly tossed into Harry's chest, Harry holding her bridle-style.
"What are you doing? Put me down!" Winter exclaimed, trying to fight against Harry as he moved to the dance floor with a smirk, Evie following with laughter.
"Jonah helpfully informed me that when he wants you to do something, he normally just picks you and takes you by force..." that sounded way worse out loud than in Harry's head, but he ignored it.
Besides, it was not exactly a lie. Winter was abnormally light, even for being as skinny as she was. It was a trait she got from her father, the lightness had something to do with the wind and other details that Winter was not too sure of.
Because of this, it made her rather easy to pick up. Especially for guys like Jonah or Harry who had a good amount of muscle on their bodies.
"Harry!" Winter yelled as they made their way into the mob of dancers, Harry finally putting her down next to a wildly dancing Jonah.
"Woohoo, you made it, friend!" Jonah exclaimed, grabbing her hand and forcing her to dance along with him.
Winter rolled her eyes but found that her reserve was cracking. She was not a bad dancer, she just did not do it often. It was only when Jonah starting shuffling that Winter finally broke, a large smile breaking across her face and she threw her head back with loud infectious laughter.
Harry was grinning ear-to-ear and the others around wore similar expressions. Suddenly, Ben began doing the robot, his cop costume going along perfectly with it.
In seconds, the song had suddenly switched to Michael Jackson singing about how dirty Diana was. That was also the moment Harry grabbed Winter by her hips and spun her to face him. Winter's breath paused as she nearly touched noses with the older teen, his ocean eyes focused on nothing but her.
And in a sharp move, Harry had somehow wrapped his arms around her and did a jerky motion that Winter followed in suit with it.
"She looked me deep in the eyes
She's touchin' me so to start
She says there's no turnin' back
She trapped me in her heart..."
The previous word of Winter not being a bad dancer stands, in fact, she was rather good. She was good enough to keep up with Harry at least, and Harry definitely knew how to dance. While Winter may have more succeeded in ballet dancing and waltz dancing (per usual of a royal child) she was able to follow Harry in his contemporary easy enough.
The roaring mob faded away, the sound of laughter and fun gone. Suddenly, for Harry and Winter, it was just them and the music. They were wrapped in each other, unable to look away from their gazes.
It was also the first time that Harry noticed the slightest bit of gold caramel specks dotted deep within the warmth of Winter's eyes. For someone named Winter Frost and who was always cold to the touch, she certainly had eyes that could warm anyone up with just a look. It was something that Harry loved.
He found himself loving a lot of things about her. He loved how calm she always was, it may have been opposite of him, but that was why he liked it. She was the stability in the madness that cranked around his mind.
He loved how she smiled when she blushed. He loved how she bit her lip when she concentrated. He loved the coolness of her touch. He loved how she could be both standoffish and kind at the same time. He loved her gentle but fierce nature.
Harry found something new to love about her every day.
The thought was startling but also exciting. Harry may have been rough around the edges and rotten to the core, but he was no dramatic coward.
Okay, dramatic—maybe. But he was no coward and he was not someone who pointlessly denied his own feelings. If what he was feeling right now was not love then he truly was not sure what love was.
There was no point in denying or fighting it because he was now in love with Winter Frost and there was nothing he could do about it except plunge deeper into the abyss and hope there was something there to catch him at the bottom.
Winter, on the other hand, was trying to fight it. Really, she was. But how the hell could you fight something like this?
How was Winter supposed to fight how warm this pirate made her feel. How was she supposed to fight the secret knowledge that she may just do anything he asked if he looked at her the right way? How was she supposed to fight his touch?
The way his rough hands were always a gentle caress, as though he were scared to break her.
She found a thrill in his wild nature. She loved his unpredictability and otherwise unworldly personality. Everything about him drew her in, and as much as she hated it, she loved it even more.
Was she? Could this be? No! She refused to say it, she was not in... in... she was not in the L-word with Harry. Nope, not a chance.
Harry and Winter were trapped in their own world of dance. She breathed deeply when Harry grabbed her and held her up, spinning her and forcing herself to wrap her legs around his waist. Winter had to admit that even with this spooky Halloween night, Winter had never felt safer than within his arms.