Hadie-centric fic based on Descendants and (primarily) the Choosing Family series by Ginnyrules27.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Everything belongs to Disney, Descendants, or Ginny's AU. I'm just playing in it. Any new OCs are mine.
Mindlink/Telepathy – Italics, no quotation marks
'Thoughts' – Italics, with quotation marks
Quotes from Ginny's series – Bolded
Normal Speech
Shoutout to Ginnyrules27! Best of wishes for her latest year of existence!
Ginnyrules27: Speaking of! :D I aspire, I aspire! I really want to show all the interactions I can. We'll see how controlled I'll be with not going into every little thing! Yeah, I don't get to blackmail my sibling much (okay not at all, we stick up for each other), but we do tease and are too sarcastic for our mom's nerves.
Danifan3000: There's one bad egg in every bunch ;) Maybe a few in this case. It'd be dreadfully boring if I didn't make some sort of conflict.
AmethystDragon14: Welcome back to the next installment! Glad you're liking it so far.
Shortanamx: I'm sure he'll have a few opportunities :D
Enjoy, R&R, And don't forget to follow for updates!
~ We got all the ways to be W-i-c-k-e-d ~
Jay's alarm blared through the room. Brushing his long dark hair out of his face, Jay laughed as he watched his roommates bolt straight up from their beds.
"Get used to it," Jay tapped his phone, silencing the alarm. "We really only get weekends free, and I doubt you guys want to miss food hours."
With bleary eyes, Hadie looked around. It took him a moment to remember he was in Auradon. He stayed sitting in his bed as Harry and Jay stumbled out of their own beds. Harry began ruffling through his clothes as Jay flung the main curtains to the side and opened the window.
"Nothing like fresh air to start the day," Jay breathed deeply, smiling up at Hadie as the younger boy stared out towards the forest, still blinking away his sleep.
"It's not bright outside yet."
"We're just breaking dawn, so you don't need to worry about the sun just yet," Jay said before turning to Harry. "You mind if I take the bathroom first, Harry?"
"Nah, go ahead," Harry mumbled sleepily as he pulled his night shirt off.
Hadie continued to stare out the window absentmindedly, vaguely aware of Harry emitting curses as he struggled to pull on fresh clothes.
A knock on their dorm door pulled Hadie's attention from the greenery. Carefully, he climbed down from his loft and hopped onto the floor.
"They're on backwards," Hadie mused as Harry attempted to pull pants on. With another swear, Harry fell backwards out of view, avoiding whoever was at the door, and yanked his jeans off.
"Hey sis," Hadie waved sleepily at his sister, the long arm of his grey pajama shirt flopping back and forth. He peered curiously at the small girl behind Mal.
"Hey Hads, did you sleep okay?" His sister stepped forward, pulling Hadie into a hug.
"I think so," Hadie laughed softly, wary of the other person he'd yet to be introduced to. He began to pick at the hem of his shirt. "I fell asleep pretty fast at least. I'll let you know if these Auradon mattresses aren't good enough for me after a few more days."
Mal laughed and took a step back, beckoning to the other girl. "This is Melody, one of our cousins."
"Don't worry about manners with me," Melody grinned brightly, ignoring the hand Hadie had reached out to shake hands with. She leapt onto him instead, crushing the boy in her own hug. Stepping back, Melody brushed her stray black bangs behind an ear. "Mal asked me to be your guide to Auradon since we share a good chunk of classes. On top of being family of course!"
"R-right, well, thanks, Melody."
"Go ahead and get ready, we'll go to breakfast together," Mal shooed Hadie back into his room. "And don't forget to grab your school bag and stuff to take notes with!"
With a nod, Hadie closed the door.
Now more awake, he excitedly changed clothes and prepared his backpack.
'My first day of real school!'
A groggy Harry lumbered along as Mal led him and the more awake pair of Uma and Jay to breakfast. A few feet behind them, Hadie and Melody kept pace.
His schedule in hand, Hadie listened intently as Melody explained all the classes, embellishing more on the ones the cousins would share.
"Ooh!" Melody suddenly perked up as she got towards the end of Hadie's classes. "Looks like all three of us get to share a class! Gym today, Social Studies tomorrow."
"All three of us?" Hadie asked.
"You, me, and Herkie! Each of the Big Three represented." Melody laughed. "I'll be sure to introduce you at lunch break. No one tends to make breakfast plans unless homework and tests are piling up. It's too early to use our brains efficiently until later."
Hadie laughed as well as Melody wriggled her nose at the early hours. As the group reached the cafeteria, Melody was proven right. It was noticeably quieter than dinner had been. The room was only half as full, and most of the students present were sluggish.
Melody giggled softly as she pointed towards a group of boys. One was nodding off into a bowl as another lazily stacked napkins on top of the sleepy boy's head. The last of the group dutiful ignoring the pair as he revised some classwork.
"That's Evan and Neal, sons of Rapunzel and Snow White respectively. Phil Jr is the one reading," Hadie looked at his cousin inquisitively as a blush made way across her face. "he's much nicer than his sister Audrey." Melody finished with a shrug.
"Go get some breakfast guys. I'll grab us a table," Mal waved the group off towards the buffet stations.
"What's your go to?" Melody asked, dragging Hadie by the hand towards the far side of the room. Hadie took it in stride, used to similar antics from Dizzy.
'Yup, definitely gives me Dizzy vibes.' Hadie couldn't help but think, surprising himself in how relaxed he already felt around his new cousin as he allowed her to pull him along by the hand.
He examined the station as Melody grabbed them trays.
'Right, I have to eat light if I'm going to make it through the day. Stomach isn't used to so much yet.'
He picked up a small serving of eggs along with a small bowl of oatmeal.
"I normally have pancakes if dad has the stuff for them, but I prefer to eat a lot of fruit in the morning." Hadie layered blackberries on his oatmeal and filled another bowl with slices of fresh melon. "I don't normally eat three meals a day though, and I was home schooled so I'll just start today light."
"Smart." Melody smiled; her own plate filled with what Hadie saw a sign labelled as 'waffles'. She led them to another portion of the buffet and began covering her waffles in syrup and chocolate chips.
"That's, uh, a lot of sugar."
"No parents to tell us no." Melody continued to smile brightly, pushing the bowl of chocolate chips towards Hadie. It was becoming apparent that either Auradon was just an all smiles, happy go lucky place, or Melody was just generally good natured. He was looking forward to see if she could smirk or if she would be all smiles when being devious. So far it seemed to be the latter.
"Fair point." He grinned back, spooning a few chips onto his oatmeal. No need to go overboard yet. The cafeteria was proving to provide plenty of other opportunities.
They made their way back to where Mal's group was already eating. Gil and Carlos had joined them, the son of Gaston already through a few varieties of eggs. The son of Hades and granddaughter of Poseidon took the seats at the far end to quietly continue their conversation about classes.
"Evan will be in math with us, he was the one stacking napkins on Neal's head. After that we've got gym, and then lunch," Melody began to prattle as she cut up her waffles. "I'll introduce you to Herkie, Evan and our friends then. Science is your only afternoon primary with the rest being electives, and then Wednesday and Friday are the other half. Mondays, since you missed yesterday is everything except electives in short periods plus homeroom."
Hadie nodded along as he dug in, relishing the freshness of the soft melon. It was pretty much as that Doug guy had said yesterday.
"Here," Melody continued, pulling stapled groups of paper from her bag. "Homeroom gives us weekly assignments at once for all the classes instead over the week, due the following Monday. Only projects are assigned in class."
Hadie wiped his hands on a napkin, taking the booklet from Melody. Flipping through it he was reminded of the format his parents had set for him. He carefully slipped it into a binder within his backpack below the table.
"Thanks." He said, his free hand covering his mouth as he continued to chew.
Melody gave him an apologetic look. "Ask one of the boys later for a rundown before you've got Basic Chivalry tomorrow. It's more of a learn by doing class than actual explaining, so I'd go to them so you're not blindsided going in."
"That bad?" Hadie swallowed with a grimace.
"Well," Melody glanced at the other VK's wolfing down their food. "Not as bad as the others, but since you're technically prince you've got more of the pressures on you."
"It's definitely something my mom wants to me to put more work into. She wants to introduce me to the other Gods when she returns."
"Oh, sheesh that's a whole other monster then. Let's just get you through basics, and then Herkie and I can work with you on Godly events, official or just family stuff so you aren't working on it last minute when Aunt Persephone gets back."
"What's Herkie like?" Hadie softly asked.
Melody looked up from her food, a flash of surprise quickly clearing from her face.
"He's excited to meet you, considering you're the only boy his age in the family. Outside of his older brother, Hyllus, at least."
"I can relate to that, no offense. But there's no boys around my age either that I could hang out with on the Isle." Hadie didn't count Regi, if only because they could rarely see each other. "My closest friends there are girls too."
"None taken. There's definitely seems to be a higher girl to boy ratio for our year. If not the entire school. Luckily we aren't a total patriarchy anymore."
'Ah, there it is.' Hadie warily eyed the girl, her face clearly daring him to praise the thought that men should be in control still. 'She's totally capable of some sarcasm or pretension. Do I still say something? I should say something.'
"Yes," he said, feeling put on the spot, "I probably shouldn't say such things around Herkie when we meet, but looking at Zeus, and even some of my dad's choices, show that men can be stupid even as Gods. Don't even get me started on Gaston. Mortals aren't perfect, and the immortals shouldn't be considered so either."
"It's clear that mistakes can be made no matter how old, we just have to be willing to learn from them," Melody laughed. "Luckily we can learn from our elders still making them instead of ourselves. And don't worry about Herkie, he and Macaria are pretty open to admitting Uncle Zeus' problems or educating themselves on them."
"Macaria?"
"Ah, Uncle Herc has three kids. Hyllus, who is in his last year, Macaria in your sister's year, and Herkie is in our year," she sipped at her orange juice. "As far as I can tell, Hyllus is the only one who is as ignorant as his dad about Zeus' indiscretions. He's the only one I'd be wary of unless you have backup. Aunt Meg won't openly share, but she's always willing to education Hercules and their kids if it comes up."
"Yeah, I'd imagine she struggles with balancing her mortal education of 'uh oh here comes Zeus', and staying on the good side of the in-laws."
"Just try not to full on bash in front of Herkie without explaining where you're coming from. We don't need more Zeus versus Hades hostilities." Melody stood from her seat, swinging her bag over her shoulder and taking up her empty tray. "Clearly the older gods don't know how to get rid of a grudge."
"I don't know, some grudges sound acceptable to me." Hadie said, shrugging as he pulled his own bag over his shoulders. "No honest," he protested as Melody gave him on odd look as he waved a farewell to Mal and Co., "you probably eavesdrop on your parents too sometimes, don't deny it! Sometimes you can tell they're not telling you everything and on purpose or not you over hear them saying more than they want to, around you."
"Okay fair," Melody mused as she led them to the first class. "How willingly are you to share insights into the dreaded Lord Hades' reasons to nearly kill his family and overthrow his brother?"
Hadie fell silent, mulling things over. "I only overheard part of it, and I was really young." He paused, eyeing anyone who was close enough to listen is as they moved through the crowded hall. Lowering his voice, Hadie continued, "I don't know how much I should say, but I know dad regrets what he did to Hercules. He just has no qualms with trying to take down Zeus though. Also, we've only just met. I don't know how much I can trust you."
"Well, you don't seem too bad yourself," Melody giggled as she led the pair into a room. "Your mom is also super nice so there's proof your dad can't be a total villain if they're together. There's plenty of reasons why Zeus shouldn't still be King from what I've heard from Grandma Amphitrite. Grandpa Po-Po tends to let bygones be bygones so he rarely shares his gripes. He does like sharing the time he caught Zeus in a net to over throw him though."
"Wait, Uncle Poseidon overthrew Zeus once too?" Hadie hissed as others began to fill seats around them. He and Melody took seats towards the back, ignoring the whispers that followed them. "What was his punishment then?" Hadie cursed the lack of privacy so he could jot things into his journal. Ideas and questions raced through his head.
"Your dad hasn't mentioned anything?"
"He actually likes Poseidon," Hadie shrugged, pulling out the notebook he'd labelled for math.
"You and I can take a weekend and swap stories. Social Studies has an occasional Olympus segment, but the school's not about to piss our family off."
"I look forward to it." Hadie smirked before turning his attention towards the teacher. He quickly jotted his thoughts down on a random page to rip out later. For now, it was time to do the best he could learning to make his parents proud.
Extending a leg behind, Hadie deepened his stretch. Eyes shielded with sunglasses yet again, he watched as his classmates huffed passed him.
Constantly climbing the Lost Revenge had proved to be healthier exercise than whatever most kids in Auradon seemed to be getting. He had been the first to finish the mile run, somewhere under seven minutes. Most of the others were just finishing up their third lap, beginning their fourth and final.
Hadie switched legs and waved as Melody jogged past him, good-naturedly sticking her tongue out at him. A girl with warm, tanned skin ran next to her, eyeing him curiously, turquoise ribbons woven through her braid, bouncing steadily behind. On the other side of the darker girl was Alexandria, her hair shining gold in the sun.
'Does she wear anything not blue?' Hadie idly thought as he finished his last stretch as directed by the coach. Melody clearly favored peach tones, her shirt the same color as the dress she had been wearing before class. 'Though I guess I'm not one to talk, we all seem to wear similar color themes as our parents. Mom kind of enforces that considering not much can go with my blue hair.'
A breeze caused him to suddenly sway. Chills running up his spine.
'Is…is the world spinning?'
He moved towards the trees and took a seat on the grass within the shade. The grass tickled the back of his knees as he leaned back against a tree trunk. The fresh air made his nose twitch, the bright sun, even with sunglasses, combined together to begin building a headache. The godling entangled his fingers with the grass, ripping them upward. The smell of dirt puffed into the air.
Taking a deep breath, Hadie lowered his head between his legs. The scent of the freshly turned dirt helping clear his mind from the overload of new experiences.
'Deep breaths.' He tried to ignore the shakes. 'I can't tell if I'm cold or if I just went to hard when I'm not used to this new environment. So many different smells, and the brightness doesn't help. Still, could be cold. About to be winter and they have us running in shorts and t-shirts!'
He was so caught up in his breathing that he missed the footfalls of someone approaching. It was the jacket falling on his shoulders that finally caught his attention.
"Memo to you, bring a light jacket for post run, some water and maybe a couple of energy bars." A boy lowered himself onto the grass next to Hadie, offering the exact water and food he had spoken of.
"Sound advice, thanks." Hadie sat up and took the offered bottle and snack. "You don't mind if I drink from the same thing?"
Mirth appeared in the boy's indigo eyes. "I don't mind sharing with family."
Hadie choked mid drink.
"Y-you're Herkie?"
"Greetings, Cousin." Herkie pulled the headband out of his thick brown hair, bangs flopping into his face. "I hope we get along."
Smiling, Hadie returned the water. "I hope we do too." He returned to softly chewing the bar, relishing the bursts of lemon. "Thanks for the jacket, I couldn't tell if I was cold or what. This place is so different than I'm used to."
Herkie gave him a queer look. "Is the Isle that different?"
This time Hadie's shiver wasn't from the cold.
"Hey, don't worry about it." Herkie shrugged. "We can just say we haven't unlocked that level of friendship yet."
"Uh, sure? Whatever that means?"
"You know, like in video games! Level up our friendship and unlock new interactions?"
"I don't know what…video games…are?"
A few minutes later, Melody found her two cousins' enrapt with Herkie's phone. Herkie waxing on about different games and the injustice at the apparent lack of technology on the Isle.
Hadie shrugged when Melody joined Herkie in trying to get him to open up about the Isle again.
"It's supposed to be a prison," he said as they headed to the lockers as class ended. "We have some electricity, but technology is a luxury commodity that the villains aren't worthy of."
The Auradon Godlings shared a look, but let the subject drop as they split into the different locker rooms.
But as the boys changed from their gym clothes into their regular wear, it didn't slip Herkie's notice that anyone paying attention could clearly see his younger cousin's ribs.
Hadie preened under the attention of Melody's friends. Questions and stories were swapped. Anytime the godling began to feel uncomfortable, everyone seemed able to read the mood and easily transition to something else.
He'd first been afraid of getting whiplash, as he was pulled back and forth to be introduced to so many people at once. Evan, who had a mischievous streak a mile wide—he and Hadie already had a pickpocket game going between the two—was overall very laid back and quiet. Neal was sharp, but lived by 'work smarter, not harder'. Ashaki was boisterous and full of gossip, though not with ill intent. Phil—as he needn't be reminded that he was the Junior since his father wasn't around who would've had 'King' attached, and the kid preferred the nickname versus full name anyways—was just as full of smiles as Melody, a laugh always waiting to burst from his lips. Alexandria "Don't you dare call me Alex" glided along, arms looped with Melody as the two girls directed the conversation through a variety of topics.
The son of Hades didn't even notice the stares from other students. They were in their own little bubble, laughing as they headed to lunch together. A wealth of information that Hadie greedily absorbed until they arrived at the cafeteria.
"Come with me, Hads," Herkie looped an arm around his smaller cousin's shoulders, steering him towards the plethora of meals. "You probably haven't had a chance to look at the meal schedule yet, but today is a rarity!"
The two boys' mouths began to water at the buffet of Greek food before them. Hadie barely noticed his feet move as the smell of lamb pulled him forward by the nose.
"How rare?" Hadie stared with unblinking eyes, as if it would disappear if he looked away. Tzatziki and spanakopita quickly made its way onto his tray. How tempted he was to pile everything on, if only his stomach wouldn't protest!
'Though even if my stomach wasn't an issue, I don't think I could out eat Herkie,' Hadie thought as he nervously eyed Herkie's growing pile of food. He couldn't even see the tray anymore.
"Only once every couple of months," Herkie lamented. "There are students from all sorts of backgrounds, so they try to cycle everything. It's pretty standard fare for the most part, but once a week a meal is dedicated to specific cuisines as requested by students."
"What's your favorite outside of Greek?" Hadie asked as his cousin led them to yet another station. There was some sort of prepackaged meals. The godling tried not to audibly gasp as Herkie balanced his hefty tray on one hand and began to shovel a few of the packages into a pocket with the other. "We're allowed to take food out of here?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, that's what this stuff is for," Herkie grabbed a few more things and slipped them into Hadie's pockets. "If you take hot food out, you just have to remember to drop stuff off by the kitchens for wash up, the prepackaged stuff is for snacks or making in the dorms. We're all busy, growing students so you never know when we might get hungry. You can grab food from the kitchens too, even outside of meals. They have baskets for students, especially for study groups. It's a privilege though, we have to be responsible enough to clean up after ourselves."
"Do you make it your thing to know all this?" Hadie looked on with amusement, his own hand reaching out to grab a few items that nibbled at his curiosity. "I just feel like I'm seeing the beginnings of a pattern with you already. Food everywhere."
Herkie's ears turned red. "I burn through calories fast, and my dad, now that he's retired from heroism, focuses on nutrition. We're mortal despite our godly inheritance, so we need to eat a lot, but keep health in mind."
"My favorite outside of Greek is Middle Eastern, by the way. There are a few things similar, like a variation of dolmades, tons of flavor and goat." He and Hadie headed over to where the rest of the group had sat. "Though Zephyr hates it. I personally think it's delicious. Mom and I eat it just to bother Philoctetes."
"I'll have to try it then," Hadie grinned. "Who's Zephyr?"
"Talking about the son of Esmeralda and Phoebus?" Ashaki asked as the godlings took seats.
"Yeah, I was telling Hadie how delicious goat is."
Ashaki sighed longingly, "Yeah, it's one of my favorites too. Zephyr prefers to hang out with Qullana and Keme."
"Again, who?" Hadie rolled his eyes as he began to dig into his lunch. "I'm going to unfortunately need a run down of everyone you mention for a while."
"You're in luck, I know everyone and just about everything that gets spoken in these halls," Ashaki smirked. "Qullana is one of Kuzco's kids, she's got an older sister and a twin brother. Keme is the son of Pocahontas. His siblings are too young to attend."
"Yeah, Ashaki is an unrepentant gossip," Alexandria laughed.
"Ah, one of my best friends on the Isle is like that." Hadie smiled softly, trying to keep the pain of missing his friends down.
"Ooh, anyone we would know of?" Evan leaned forward, quickly recoiling in disgust as an elbow landed in his mashed potatoes.
"Dizzy knows pretty much everyone and knows all sorts of things she shouldn't, just like Ashaki here. Mainly because her grandmother's shop is in neutral territory and everyone passes through." He glanced at Alexandria from the corner of his eye, his voice soft. "She's Drizella's daughter, actually. Though Celia, that's Facilier's daughter, says that Dizzy is actually Anastasia's but bore her for her sister since I guess she couldn't have children."
"I-I have a cousin?" Alexandria whispered. The others stayed silent. "Mom sometimes wonders about Anastasia, as she was the nicer step-sister. But otherwise, my parents were both only children. We don't…we don't have a lot of family."
The clinks of silverware and the hum of the hungry crowd surrounded their quiet bubble.
Hadie swallowed the bite he took as Alexandria had been talking.
"If you're interested, I can ask if she'd like to exchange letters. Dizzy's already on Mal's bring over list," Hadie thought aloud, "you can get to know each other ahead of time."
"I'd like that," Alexandria gave him a small smile.
"So, Hadie," Phil picked up the conversation, hoping to move things to safer topics, "Melody was saying you don't have a language course yet. Seeing as those are part of primary subjects, have you decided what you'll take?"
"Yeah, you're already months behind, I hope you've looked at the options," Evan smirked. "I'd be happy to tutor you in German."
"Nah, join me in Arabic!" Ashaki pouted. "It's incredibly pretty!"
Hadie looked back and forth as the others suggested languages. His mom had explained he'd have to take something. The other VK's had been excused from that requirement as they'd entered the education system so late.
"Melody and I take Greek," Herkie whispered as he leaned towards Hadie. "I think her dad's side primarily knows Danish, so she never learned it at home. Atlantica primarily uses English too since it's the Ocean Realm's trade hub.
"What about your parents? They teach you any?" question after question popped to life in Hadie's head. "Atlantica? I thought it was Atlantis?"
"Hold your horses," Herkie laughed. "Mom and Dad primarily use English at home, since that's the standard for Auradon, even though the rulers selected are French. I know a spattering of words, but to be honest, they like to use it so they can talk in secret," Herkie rolled his eyes as he continued to speak. "Atlantica is further North, near the British Isles, that Triton inherited to rule. Atlantis, is primordial influenced and was lost so long ago after Atlas was imprisoned that it's considered its own sovereignty. Completely different language evolved too."
"Ahhh," Hadie mulled things over. Across from them Melody winked as she continued to eat, letting the rest argue about the benefits of each language. Clearing his throat, Hadie spoke up.
"I've already decided I'm going to take Greek, you guys."
There were huffs all around as everyone returned to eating.
"Mom looked at the classes and made recommendations already. I was taught basics growing up, and my parents would rather I not be too far behind on anything."
Swinging an arm back around Hadie's shoulders, Herkie grinned. "It'll be great having you stick around, Hadie. It's just the 100 series, you'll be caught up in no time."
"Plus, it'll help with whatever magic you're learning," Melody interjected. "We're at the age we learn certain introductory spells or elemental based on which realm our family represents. You can study teleportation with us when we go to Olympus this Summer!"
"Well, when mom comes back, I'll see what she has planned. Outside of my dad's fireball lessons, I only know some of the theories." Hadie wasn't sure if he wanted to be committed to anything just yet. Though he was interested. Hades might've agreed with Persephone to let their son make his own choices, but that didn't stop him wondering what either would think if he just galivanted off to Olympus.
It felt too much like betraying his dad.
The jingle signaling the end of the lunch period pulled the godling from his pondering.
"Go on with Alexandria," Melody said as she stood. "She's the only one of us who has science this period."
"Sounds good," Hadie moved the snacks Herkie had hoarded for him into his backpack and headed out. He found Alexandria waiting for him at the main doors as he dropped his empty tray at a cleanup station.
"You have no clue how happy I am to have you in science with me," Alexandria began as Hadie followed her towards their class. "Obviously I know my classmates, but I'm not close to any of them. And between you and me? I'm terrible with science. My partner and I have gotten through labs, but when it comes to homework and tests, we are absolutely lost."
"And you're hoping I'm good at it?"
Alex paused then sighed. "Oh, sorry if I made that sound as if I expected your help. I just meant having a friend. I don't think Aaron has a problem with me, but outside of classwork, he tends to not speak with me. No one else will pair with either of us since we're the worst in the class."
"I believe you," Hadie tried not to laugh too much at the girl's distress. "You're actually in luck, science is probably my best class. Granted I'm home schooled, but mom swears she taught me with Auradon's curriculum."
"Well, if the teacher doesn't let us partner, could you help me study?"
"Depends, what's your best subject?" He was glad that she already considered him a friend already, but there was no way Hadie was going to trust that quickly. He wasn't about to drop everything the Isle taught him just because he was in Auradon now. For now, this needed to be treated like a trade.
"English, Poise and Politics, and dance." Alexandria spoke after a bit. "Poise and Politics is the girls equivalent of the Chivalry series. Dance is paired to increase grace and is a staple at most major functions."
"We'll have to wait and see on English," Hadie tilted his head in thought. "I've never really had to write stuff beyond comprehension. But…yeah, Melody was telling me to talk to the guys about getting help for Chivalry."
He followed Alexandria into a pristine looking room. White tiles and long black tables paired with plastic chairs neatly filled the area, a few students already milling about.
"You must be Hadie," a plainly dressed, young woman approached Hadie. Her brown hair tied back, though her most interesting feature was the odd lens assortment goggles perched on her brow. She chuckled nervously as one lens swung loose, magnifying one of her bright grey eyes.
"I am, ma'am." He greeted politely.
"Oh, no need for that. Ms. Gwen will do, I'm the science teacher for Auradon Middle." She explained with a small curtsey.
"And you know there's no need to curtsey, Ms. Gwen," Alexandria giggled. "Not in the school environment."
"Old habits die hard, you know," Ms. Gwen blushed. "I was a maid in Enchancia before I pursued science," she added for Hadie's benefit.
"Ms. Gwen, would it be possible for Alexandria and I to be partnered? She's the only one I've met in this class, and I'm already comfortable with her."
"Oh, but of course! For the most part, I let everyone choose who they work with. Though today I was going to ask, Aaron and Tyler had asked to partner from now on, and that also leaves Qullana without a partner. Do you mind being a trio, since that leaves us with an odd number for the class?" Ms. Gwen gestured them towards a girl quietly sitting at the front corner of the class, busily writing in a notebook.
"Not at all, Ms. Gwen, thank you!" Alexandria tugged Hadie towards the daughter of Kuzco, forcing him into the seat next to her.
"Hey, Ana, looks like Hadie and I are your partners now."
Hadie shyly greeted her with a wave as deep, black eyes stared at him in surprise.
"Oh, nice to meet you," Qullana murmured, she tucked her pen into her red headband, gold earrings swaying as she nodded at them. "I hope we work well together."
Breath laborious, Hadie gulped down the water bottle Herkie had given him at dinner. Earlier, the headmistress, Fairy Godmother, had taken Hadie aside after classes to show him the room he was cleared to use for magic practice.
Precautions and rules laid down, he was allowed to experiment outside of the directions of his father, but would only receive one warning if anything went too far. If it happened again, he would be limited to those directions.
He'd gone through the exercises. Checked the theory. A few fireballs later, he'd already lost control.
'I never realized…I can feel the magic so much more without the Barrier. It's overwhelming."
He was thankful now for the meticulous boundaries his dad had the school lay. Each blaze had grown larger with each attempt, before he'd fallen to his knees, exhausted. The fire had fallen from his hands and was immediately dissipated by the wards.
'Might have to stick to theory again for a while. Using magic will have to be kept to small hurts for now.'
The doctor appointment his mom had briefed him on was this weekend. Asclepius would see him personally, to check Hadie's godly development. Maybe he knew could help with the influx of magic.
He thought about sweet Dizzy, talking the socks off anyone in her vicinity.
He thought about Celia, curious and chaotic, but never looking to hurt anyone who didn't deserve it.
He thought about his parents, his dad's minions who were the closest things he had to Uncles on the Isle, and Virgil, all trying to provide for him the best they could.
He thought about the budding relationship with his cousins and all the new people he could already feel becoming fast friends.
"I'm not going to let this opportunity pass by."
Hadie made one last attempt to control a small flame, just like when he first began learning when he was five.
The vomit luckily missed his new shoes.
Good thing Fairy Godmother had ensured cleaning supplies to be kept in one corner.