A/N – All ownership is to Disney. Hope your still enjoying the story.

Chapter 27

Jane was already in her mother's office by the time Mal had made it across the school. The pair exchanged a quick smile in greeting.

"Mom liked the picture you took at the match - thank you" Jane spoke up, sounding genuinely grateful.

"It's cool Jane, you looked pretty awesome flying through the air" Mal replied with a grin. Despite having absolutely no interest in cheerleading herself she could see that Jane was genuinely talented and clearly enjoyed the sport.

Fairy Godmother entered the room, "Apologies for being late girls, there was a slight incident in the science labs that needed clearing up. If you could both start with the usual 15 minutes' meditation please."

At this the two young fairies assumed a more relaxed position and began their methods of meditation. The headmistress was keeping a close eye on them both as in a meditative state that's when their natural magic became the most potent. She had been worried the first time Mal had started radiating a green aura but after a discussion with Evie about it she soon relaxed as it was clearly a natural bi-product for the girl.

Jane didn't radiate an aura like Mal but her mother could sense when her magic reached the potent state. She assumed Mal's aura was a visual representation as she would get the same feeling regarding the purple haired girls magic when her aura appeared.

"Girls, we'll start getting the lesson underway" she announced, pulling their focus back to the room around them. "We will begin looking at transformation spells, one day you may even be turning pumpkins into carriages."

They were starting on a much smaller scale to master the basic principle, by the end of the lesson both girls had managed to turn their glass marble into a golf ball. For such a small change, it had left the two feeling magically tired.

"Well done both of you, excellent work today" the headmistress beamed, clearly pleased with their progress. "Transformation spells, especially without a wand, is some of the most draining magic you'll come across. No more magic for the rest of the day, and take the evening off from meditation. Enjoy the rest of your day" she said to the duo, dismissing them both.

Once outside the office Jane and Mal began to head for the library as that was the designated meeting point for the group on a Thursday as Harry and Gil were still doing some basic catch up, Evie and Doug had an after-school AP chemistry class, with Lonnie, Carlos and Jay all opting to spend the time in the school's gym.

Harry and Gil looked surprisingly happy given they'd just had extra school effectively.

"We've passed the catch-up math and English!" Gil said with a beaming smile on his face, Harry nodding beside him.

"That's excellent you two! Mum's got a spelling bee coming up, ready to enter?" Jane asked the pirate pair. Mal was just happy to see how friendly Jane had become with them, remembering how she could barely look at the original four without running away in fear.

"Ha, not likely" Harry scoffed, "we caught up Jane, didn't become masterminds!" causing the other two to laugh.

At this point the other five of their group caught up with them, clearly having bumped into each other on their way from the sports complex and the science labs.

"E, you wouldn't happen to know what happened in the labs last period?" Mal asked remembering what the head mistress had said earlier.

"Oh that?" she chuckled, "Mr Deley paired Chad and Audrey up this term for the practical work. Let's just say they learnt the hard way that some chemicals shouldn't be mixed. One less pretty pink dress in her wardrobe" she finished, causing all of them to laugh imagining the explosion that must have happened to have ruined the girl's clothes.

They headed off to the canteen after that, hoping to catch a glimpse of Audrey - who would no doubt still be upset over the ruined outfit.

Once the group had got their food, the cooks had definitely gone for the theme of comfort food today - probably wise following the previous night. They made their way to the usual table, surprised that Ben was already sat there. He didn't spend as much time with them recently but it was still good to see him making the effort.

"Hey guys, hope you don't mind me joining you?" Ben asked the group when they approached the table. The response was a chorus of nods and 'no problems'.

"Great game yesterday!" he said, addressing the four players at the table. "The new plays you've brought in were so strong and well executed!" despite being King it was clear not much was as important to the teen as tourney.

"Thanks Ben, glad the risk played off. Some of the team weren't too keen to adopt the Isle approach initially but it paid off" responded Jay, inwardly happy at the former captain's praise of the match.

This got the whole table talking about the match the previous day, allowing Harry and Mal to have a quick chat with Ben.

"Ben, Mal filled me in on what happened last night at the party - does she remember?" the pirate asked, indicating in Audrey's direction at the latter question.

"She doesn't appear to from what she's said today, and if she did she'd have been talking everyone's ear of about it" the King responded rolling his eyes at Audrey's flair for drama.

"Thank god" Mal muttered under her breath. "What are you not telling me?" Harry asked her, knowing her reaction was a bit much for just the dragon on his back.

"Well, I might have shown her the hook" she mumbled, slightly embarrassed. "And?" was Harry's response, still not seeing the full picture.

"Harry it's obvious it's been there for a few years, and obviously, she and Ben used to be together - she wasn't happy" Mal summarised. "That's one way of describing it" Ben said "thank you for never taking me up on the swimming lesson offer" he smiled at Mal.

This caused Harry and Mal to chuckle knowing the King's reaction wouldn't have been good if he'd seen it sooner. "Guessing you knew I existed form when you picked the first four?" Harry asked Ben.

"Yes, I'd been given a list of every high school aged kid on the Isle. Funnily enough I wouldn't have even thought of Captain Hook if I'd seen that, even before I 'met' you" he responded with a smile, thankfully it appeared the two no longer completely hater each other.

"When did this happen?" Mal asked, gesturing between the pair. She spotted out the corner of her eye that Evie was paying far more attention to the trio's conversation than what was going on in the game day talk. She genuinely couldn't believe the pair were talking in an almost friendly way. Given the very frosty initial reception she was astonished how far they'd come.

"When he approached me about setting up the video call with your father" Ben replied. "He apologised about the kidnapping incident, with no one there forcing him. Plus, despite my initial dislike of him, I've never seen you so happy in Auradon. You reminded me the program was about second chances, perhaps a third in his case." he shrugged at his final comment.

Harry just stayed silent knowing his words were more likely to mess things up.

"Well I never thought I'd see the day" Mal said, then turned her attention back to the food on her plate.

After dinner, they all went their separate ways with Evie and Mal heading back to their dorm room with Gil and Harry in tow.

Mal was bringing them there on the pretence to see the match photos, however she'd arranged with her dad for him to get with Hook and Gaston to allow them to talk to their sons. According to her dad they were both impressed with how they had played the previous day.

When they reached the girls dorm room Mal lead the two boys to her desk where her laptop was. Once she had unlocked the device she got the pictures up for the boys to flick through, then headed over to her bed to call her Dad.

She smiled at the God when her dad's face appeared on the screen, "Hey Dad, how are you?" she asked.

"Same old, same old Mali - nothing changes round here" he sighed, "how's school going?"

"Pretty well, had a big party here last night after the match so most of the 'locals' haven't had the best day - top of the class in maths today" she said laughing, her dad joined in knowing his daughter was never going to be a mathematician.

Hades' then turned the camera round to show he had Captain Hook and Gaston with him in his lair, who both gave the girl a wave. "Excellent Dad, give me two minutes - they're looking at the match pictures from yesterday."

Checking the camera was still facing the other two and not her father she headed over to her desk, "Guys, for some reason my Dad would rather talk to the pair of you than me!" she said handing the tablet over the Gil, shooting a smile in Evie's direction who was in on the plan.

"Dad?" Gil questions, looking at the screen with a confused expression. Harry looked over his shoulder, and waved at his father. "Hi son, congratulations on the victory yesterday. We were able to watch the whole match - your brothers were impressed." Gaston said.

Mal moved away from the boys to try and give them some privacy with their fathers, hoping they'd enjoy the chance. Sadly, the tablet Captain Hook had was sent back to Auradon so Hades was the only opportunity for this sort of thing.

She went out to the balcony the room had and Evie joined her a couple of seconds later. "That seems to be going well" she said gesturing towards the pirate duo. "Lot less shouting than with our parents last year" this caused Mal to snort remembering the doomed video call.

"Probably the nicest my mother's ever been to me, although she did nearly slip up and say wand like 4 times" she laughed.

"And all my mom wanted to know was if I'd got a Prince yet!" Evie rolled her eyes, her mother was almost as bad as Audrey with the dramatics.

The girls stayed out there chatting for about 20 minutes before Harry appeared with the tablet, "your dad wants a word with you again" he said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before he left. She glanced at the screen and saw her Dad shooting daggers at the spot where Harry had been, "oh come on Dad I thought you liked him?"

"I do but it's my job as a father to look out for my little girl" he said with an innocent look covering his face. "Anyway, about this party, why are the Auradon gossip sights alight with an article about four students with tattoos?" he asked.

"Four students? Only three of them have them Dad - and since when do you care about the gossip?" she asked, slightly too quickly, hoping her Dad would believe her.

"Since it became the best way to find out what you lot were up to!" he retorted throwing his arms up in the air. "And yes Mali, four students - there were pictures. You'd never guess how surprised I was when I saw someone had a dragon on their back and a certain purple haired girl had a Hook on her hip" at this the God was starting to look seriously unimpressed.

Looking up at Evie who was still on the balcony she muttered, "I'm going to kill you for that stupid dress." To which Evie had the grace to look slightly ashamed. At the same time Evie was already pulling her phone out to try and find the aforementioned article.

"Fine, you win Dad - we've had them since we were 14. All of Harry's have been done by me. Happy?"

"NO! He'd better hope his soul makes it to the underworld before I make it off this Isle. How could you make such a permanent decision at that age?" he replied. At the same time Captain Hook appeared behind her father.

"Is that true lass?" he asked, receiving a nod in reply from Mal, "makes sense why he never would tell me who had done them." He then turned towards her father, "why is she gaping at me like a codfish?"

"Probably because her brains just realised she's admitted to you that they never broke up their friendship when they were 12 despite us forbidding them from being together" came her father's response, "and I highly doubt it remained an innocent friendship as they got older" he muttered.

Following this Evie's phone was shoved into her face. Seeing the pictures for herself she was grateful her dad's main problem was the ink and not the way that Harry and herself were looking at each other, it was just after he'd made his first appearance and the embrace he had her in.

"You know what Dad, I need to go sort some homework out - I'll catch you later" she said to her father.

"Sure you do Mali" Hades replied with an eye roll "just like how I need to go to Ursula's chip shop."

"Bye Dad, love you. Bye Captain Hook, Mr Gaston" she finished remembering the other two men who were with her father and then pressed the hang up button.

Once the call had ended Evie bust out laughing, earning a glare from her friend and getting the attention of both boys in the room bringing them both out onto the balcony with the girls. When the boys appeared Mal pushed Evie's phone at them so they could also see the article.

"You guys look so good together" Gil exclaimed almost as though he'd had a personality transplant with Evie. This drew blank looks from both Harry and Mal along with a small squeal of excitement from Evie who agreed with Gil's assessment.

"I know Gil, they're so cute" Evie gushed.

"Yeah, yeah whatever E. It's a great photo and all but it does present a slight problem." Mal said hoping her friend would understand the problem. "Our Dad's now know we lied to them for four and a half years, can you imagine the grilling we're going to get?" by this stage Mal was pacing across the balcony.

Harry steered the girl back to his side, "we'll face them together princess."

This caused Mal to turn around and kiss her pirate, it wasn't long before hands were starting to wander and the kiss deepen.

"eh guys we're still here you know?" Gil said, managing to break the two apart. Neither were happy about the interruption.

"And…?" came the bored response from the pirate, giving Mal a quick peck at the end. "Come on you, let's head over to my room" he said with a suggestive look at his princess. He took her hand and they began walking off the balcony.

"Feel free to sleep in my bed Gil" Mal nearly sang with a wide grin on her face as the couple walked away.

This left just Gil and Evie on the balcony, they'd been as close to friends as you could get on the Isle until the gang rivalry kicked in.

"You've been here almost two months now Gil, how are you finding it?" the blue haired girl asked with a genuine, warm smile.

"It's so different, but definitely good different. Back home I shared a tiny room with the twins and now Harry and I have a huge room all to ourselves." he replied, so far avoiding the actual education side of it.

"I know what you mean, the rooms are crazy here - and yet some people complain they're too small! How are you getting on with the classes?" she'd rolled her eyes at the too small comment, Audrey could frequently be heard complaining her single room - bigger than Mal and Evie's - was far too small.

"Super hard at first, think Harry and I invented some new swear words in the first couple of weeks" he said chuckling "but between the four of you and the teachers they've really helped us catch up, starting to enjoy classes now. Best has to be woodcraft, it truly makes sense to me" he shrugged at the end.

"Glad we managed to help out" Evie responded, "it was so hard at first and we all remember it and hoped we could make it easier when you two arrived."

"Thanks" he smiled at the girl. "Do you mind if I take Mal up on her offer as I have no desire to walk in on whatever they are currently doing."

"Go for it Gil, can't say I blame you" she patted Gil on his shoulder and headed back into the room to get on with some more sewing.

Gil took a final look out towards the Isle, he missed home and hoped that eventually the barrier would come down and he could be with his brothers and father again. While they may fight and argue they cared for each other as proved by their determination to watch his first match. He was finally accepted for who he was now he was here in Auradon.