Hal was liking school. He learned a lot every day. More than he would ever learn on the Isle anyway. He was sure of that. The teacher that was nice to him told him that he was at the top of his class. He'd been shown the ranking lists on his screen. He was below Ben and the others that had come with from the Isle. Mal was at the top of the list. The teacher encouraged him to keep trying his best and he was doing so. He was even doing extra homework so that he could get better with his numbers and letters.
They had learned that people in Auradon were all born seeing screens in front of them that had certain functions. They hadn't been able to see them or use them on the Isle because that was one of the powers that were restricted from the villains when they were sealed on the Isle of the Lost. The children had quickly been caught up with how to use their screens.
Mrs. Potts would come every day and cook for them every morning and night. The kids enjoyed her cooking more than the cooking of the people who had cooked for them so far. She seemed to make it her personal mission to make them put on what she called "Healthy Weight". They were still below their age category on height and weight and were on strict diets and had to take medicine. They'd decided that medicine was Auradon's way of torturing them. It always tasted so sweet and Hal didn't like it at all but he didn't complain.
Hal, Mal, Jay, Evie, and Uma had been using the dusting spell before they went to school each day so that the house could be a lot cleaner when they finally came back. Hal was amazed when they cast the spell that morning before leaving for school.
(Baby) Dusting Spell-MAX
They'd been told that getting things to MAX meant that they'd mastered them. That meant that they had done the best on them.
"We all mastered the spell," Evie said as they got in the carriage. "I do hope that that means the rest of the dust in the house will be gone when we get back."
"I doubt that," Uma stated. "But, I bet all the cobwebs and stuff like that on the walls and ceilings will be gone. Good thing, I caught Hal his pet before."
"It's also a good thing that I was able to transform that milk jug into a tank for it." Jay told the girls.
"That was luck." Carlos said rolling his eyes. "I bet that you couldn't do it again. You didn't even use a spell."
Jay growled at him.
"I could too do it again!" he snapped. "I got a skill for it. Apparently, my magic is best for transforming things! Well, that's what my screen told me anyway."
Everyone was wary when Carlos and Jay got out of the carriage bickering.
"What is the problem?" The teacher that was always nice to them asked.
"I made a small tank for Hal's new pet using my magic and Carlos is saying that it was luck and I could never do it again." Jay informed. "I repeated what my screen told me that my magic is best for transforming things and he keeps saying that magic can't do that!"
"I assure you that magic can do that, Carlos." Fairy Godmother informed. "It is possible that Jay's magic prefers transfigurations. That may be his specialty. Everyone has a certain magic that they excel in even then they can still use other branches of magic."
Hal hung on every word she was saying and so was the entire class. Fairy Godmother smiled and went on to keep explaining. She also told them that the students who had magic would eventually be tested to see what their specialty was but this wouldn't happen until they were much older. Hal looked at Mal and pointed out something in their magic book. Mal nodded and raised her hand.
"Yes, Mal. Do you have a question?" Fairy Godmother asked softly.
"Hal wants to know when we're taught to brew Potions." Mal stated. "He insists that I make sure to tell you that he means Potions, not Poisons."
On the Isle of the Lost
"Didn't they say that magic is forbidden on Auradon?" Jafar asked. "Now they are saying that the children will be tested when they get older."
"They must have rescinded the law." Maleficent answered. "Our children are proving to be quite the handful." she sneered. "They are useless. We raise these children with no magic and they can't even put up with them for a month without it."
"I'm hoping the boy's specialty is not gardening magic." Hades growled.
"It's called Earth Magic and you can do a lot more with it than just grow things in a garden." Maleficent snapped at the man.
Every time she even thought about forgiving the God for the way he treated Hal something else came to light that pissed her off again. She may not be nice to her children but she had never treated Hal the way Hades did. In fact, if she was honest with herself soft or not Hal was actually her favorite child.
"Potions?" Fairy Godmother asked. "and what does he wish to do brew, Mal?"
"Uh," Mal took the book and looked at it. "I can't really read it but the picture shows a person pouring it on a garden and then the veggies look bigger and tastier."
"Ah, yes." Fairy Godmother said with a small giggle. "I would very much like to see what book you two are using there. But very well, that potion is very easy to brew and we will try it later."
Hal looked up from where he'd been forced to the ground by Hal who was covering him with her wand in her hand. Jay was covering Carlos. Gil had Evie while Uma and Harry were just covering their own heads as they lay on the ground. When they were sure the explosion was over they all looked up to see a girl dressed in very light blue almost in tears. Her cauldron had exploded. Luckily, there hadn't been many people around her, and those who had been had quickly abandon their own work to move out of the range of the explosion.
"That's Jane." Ben said as he stood close to the twins. Everyone had come running when they'd heard the explosion. "She's Fairy Godmother's daughter but she's very clumsy."
Carlos thought that she was very cute regardless. He wondered if it was wrong to think she was cute even though she had tears in her eyes.
"Jane, we'll talk about this at home." Fairy Godmother sighed shaking her head. "For now, please go to the nurse, get cleaned up, and go play outside." Fairy Godmother sighed again and dried Jane's tears with her thumb. "Tell the nurse to send for me even if you have the tiniest of wounds, okay? Go on now."
Jane nodded and took Queen Belle's hand. She walked with her head down more than a little embarrassed that she'd messed up what her mom said was a very easy potion. She would have liked to use the potion too. She was trying to grow tomatoes at home because the little black and white VK seemed to eat a lot of them and she wanted to his friend. She'd asked the other girls how to get a boy to be friends with her and one of the girls had said she'd heard her older sister say that the best way to get a boy to notice her was to give them food. Maybe she would be able to try again at home.
Hal felt sorry for Jane and knew that as a bad boy he wasn't supposed to. He shook his head and went back to his potion. He gave it one more turn and there was a puff of smoke from his cauldron. When it vanished seconds later there was a vile full of light blue liquid at the bottom of his cauldron. He pulled it out and looked at his book. It matched perfectly. He'd done it! Now his carrots and those daikon radishes would be much bigger than they were. He couldn't wait. The book said that it would take three days for it to take effect.
"According to this..." Mal said as she looked at the book. "Hal will want Clam Stew in three days because we'll have lots of big carrots."
"I could use some Clam Stew." Uma said shrugging. "I actually miss it."
Mal's potion was perfect as well. So was Jay's. Uma's was a few shades off but Fairy Godmother praised her work regardless. Most of the Potions were on or near Uma's potions.
Fairy Godmother was more than a little shocked. Being able to brew quality potions was a rare talent and there weren't many that could do it anymore. The best any of them could hope for was subpar potions. But here were three little VK's who had made the Potions perfectly on the first try. She quickly gathered the entire class.
"Now we will learn a skill that is mostly used on the Isle of the Lost." Fairy Godmother told the children. The adults were all shocked. "Jay, come here, please."
Jay shrugged at the others but did as asked.
"You will help me show the class how to barter." Fairy Godmother told Jay. Everyone watched him smirk smugly. "I will give you 5 coins for your potion."
Jay showed that his father had been teaching him something as he was soon talking Fairy Godmother around and around. It became clear quickly that Jay knew what he was doing.
When the lesson was over. He'd gotten two seed bags of Potatoes, three books, 15 coins, two onion seed bags, celery seeds, and pepper seeds. All of which he handed right over to Hal before he landed over the Potion.
"and that, children, is why you never try to barter with anyone from the Isle." Fairy Godmother told the class. She was grateful that she'd been dealing with a child who didn't know how much the potion was actually worth. "Jay, out of curiosity what is your father's job on the Isle?"
"We own a shop and sell things." Jay shrugged. "Uhm...lots of things."
Fairy Godmother nodded and let him go back to his seat. She told the children that bartering was important even if they had enough money to pay for something. Aubrey just scoffed and wrote off the whole lesson as useless. She was a Princess after all and her parents would buy her whatever she wanted whenever she wanted it. They always did. When she got older she would have plenty of money to do with as she wished as well. So, she concluded, this lesson had nothing to do with her and she should just ignore the whole thing.