Disclaimer:I dont own the Descendants franchise and its characters. I only own the OC`s featured in this story.

Chapter 15: Keep your allies close

Harriet was slightly worried for Anthony and Chad.

She had spent all the Winter Break with Peter and the Lost Children at Neverland, she had a good time with them and had almost forgotten about texting her friends so she had not kept up with them.

(Still she had written short Christmas cards for her closest friends and a small note with a smiley face for Chad)

Now they have been at Auradon Prep for two and a half weeks and Chad and Anthony have ignored her completely. Chad now spent most of his time with Anthony and they seemed to be a bit worried, bothered and…plotting? The prince had left the R.O.A.R and Tourney, and now visited the library almost every day or so reading old books. Also he seemed politer with people but she felt that he was distant, she knew that something was off.

Since they had to finish the monograph for Mr Button, she had agreed for a last reunion with Chad in the gardens.

He had appeared on time which was surprising as he was not known for his punctuality and had proven himself to be an unpunctual person, the blonde prince had also brought some biscuits and coffee. Chad greeted her with a smile and said: "So we have to finish it today?"

"Yes" She simply said and handed him her notes "I read some things about our topic during the break"

"Oh, I have notes too" He said and gave her his notebook.

They were silent for moment and then discussed about how to finish it, though Harriet was analyzing him all the time trying to find what was different about Chad, but it was hard since she had not known the Charming jr for a long time like she had with Anthony.

Harriet was sure that she was being discrete about it but Chad frowned and asked: "Do I have something in my handsome face?"

The pirate cocked her head to one side and then to the other "I don't think so…but there is something different about you"

"Like what?" He asked.

"You seem less jerky than before" She said shrugging.

"People change" He simply said.

"What happened to the favorite jerk prince?"

"Things change" Chad said sharply and then looked to her eyes "Are we going to finish it today or not?"

"Yes"

They finished writing all of their homework after an hour or so, after revising the text twice and with nothing more to say Harriet was about to leave when Chad grabbed her arm.

"There`s something I want to ask you about" He said trying to sound calm but Harriet saw some nervousness ad expectation in his eyes.

Then the raven-haired raised an eyebrow as if giving him permission to continue.

"Are we friends? Do you trust me? Can I trust you?" The golden prince asked with a seriousness that unnerved her for a moment.

The girl wanted to find the answer quickly, sure she liked him as a friendly acquaintance or so she had thought about him before going to the Winter Break but she could not say that she fully trusted him (she didn`t fully trust in anyone actually). Despite that she knew that they had confided personal thing to each other during their conversations, things that she knew they would never talk about with other people.

So she simply said: "Yes"

They locked their eyes for a moment before Chad said quietly and with a slight hurriedness "Come with me…I have something to say and I cannot do it here"
They went to his bedroom, she would have made a remark about it but she knew better than to taunt someone who was desperate as was Chad at that moment.

Since Chad had no roommate they didn`t have to worry about being interrupted.

The blonde prince sighed and said "Sit anywhere you want" Then he ran his hand on his hair "Everything I tell you here is never to leave this room"

"Of course"

"I want you to promise it" He said seriously and extended his hand at her "I, Chad Charming, promise on honor as a prince to keep everything shared in this room secret and hidden in the furthermost place of my mind"

Harriet looked at the hand extended at her and thought about it, Chad seemed to be putting his life on her hands and she didn't know what to make out of it but she took it and said: "I, Harriet Hook, promise on my honor as a pirate to keep everything shared in this room secret and hidden in the furthermost place of my mind"

Then Chad proceeded to tell her things that she had not thought about Auradon and its rulers before.

Every time he took a breath to continue she felt how her eyes opened more and more. She didn`t know what to make out of it and felt as if she had entered a storm she could not get out easily.

Also it made her worry more about Chad and Anthony, it was like she felt that something was going to be very wrong.

Hadie had not talked to his sister at all during the Winter break since she had locked herself in the room she shared with Mara at Hercules house and if she went out, his sister just spent her time with Megara trying to be "helpful".

He was not a fool even if he was mostly a laid-off and careless person. He knew that she had not given up her sorcery book after he had confronted her about it.

"Hey little sis" He had greeted her at the library after she had not appeared at lunch.

"What do you want?" She simply said. It wasn`t like her to be snappy.

"I just wanted to spend time with you" He said touching his heart rather dramatically.

"You just did, now go" The girl just looked down avoiding any kind of eye contact.

Hadie raised his eyebrows and sat in front of her and said "I know what you are doing"

She looked at him and analized the situation, after a few second she understood what he meant and so she said "And so?"

"You are doing something illegal" He hissed "All forms of magic are banned for humans"

"We are gods not humans" Melinoe said rolling her eyes and smirking.

"And? Uncle Zeus took our immortality after we got off the Isle so technically we are humans… We are here just for the misguided kindness that the King has" He rubbed his temples "Do you want to go back to Isle?"

"I`m just reading" She said.

"Sorcery"

She sighed and seemed to consider her options, after a moment she said "I will put this thing back where I got it" She raised the book "Then we will forget about this"

At that moment Hadie had believed her, but after a small epiphany he had during a sleepless night he had realized that his sister just compromised to return the book because she had found what she needed from it.

That, or she had not got what she wanted and got rid of it before anyone else knew about the book.

Or worse still it had been a distraction.

Now he was having a secret reunion with Rick Ratcliffe, they had been working to discover what Melione and Henry were doing.

"Henry has not let any information slip since the last time" Rick complained "He has not been as careless as your sister"

"Melinoe was not careless just because she was" Hadie said "She knew that we were observing her"

"With the new Magic Regulations thing are being slightly lax" Rick commented "They must still have hope on breaking the barrier around the Isle but they have not done it yet…It may be because they have no way to do it or they are waiting for something"

"Aye" Hadie said "Or they have changed the plans"

Rick seemed to ponder on it "Could be"

"But what could they be planning now?"

"Henry wants power and riches, Melione wants the Olympus…they need allies or more likely pawns" The raven haired boy said "They must be working with someone else...I'm almost sure that they have contact with the Isle since no one here would work with them"

Hadie pondered on that and said: "You are probably right"

"I`ll try to find more about it, Henry seemed to keep correspondence with someone before the Break"

Then they agreed to have another reunion in a week or so, Hadie just hoped things didn't go wrong in that time.

Hal was fine at Auradon Prep.

At least it wasn't as bad as it had been before he ran away to Arendelle.

Queen Elsa had given him two pair of gloves before dropping him at the school. It made him feel safer around people since he was worried about hurting people.

Before he got out of the car, the Queen reluctantly took his hand and told him: "No matter what they tell you, you are not a monster… I can tell that you are a good person"

He took her words to the heart even if he didn`t fully believe in them. His father`s words about people with powers, wizards and magical things in general had been engraved deep in his mind.

He was having a bad time accepting himself.

Still he had other worries.

His roommate, Anthony, was walking to an early grave…well no, but he was not sleeping well and wasn't eating, as he grew up ignoring the people around him at first he hadn't really paid attention to his friend, not after the other boy had shut him out after asking him what was happening to him.

It wasn't until he heard their dog, Buttercup, whining.

That afternoon he had been at an Ice Cream parlor at Auradon city with Ronnie and to his slight shame he had enjoyed his time with the ginger, he had to admit that it was fun to be with other people outside his group of friends and that she wasn`t that bad even if she was friends with Ratcliffe.

He was pondering about his newly found friendship when he heard small dog whines.

He rushed towards his bedroom and opened the door only to find Anthony lain on the carpet and Buttercup trying move him with her paws. Hal bend down to see if his friend was still alive.

Luckily his friend had only fainted but he had hit his head rather hard on the side and had a bump growing on it. He called Harriet but she wasn't' answering, then he called Claudine and after a few rings she had answered.

"Hal, what do you need?" She said in a rather sleepy voice.

"I need your help…" He started to say.

"Call Harriet…I`m tired" She groaned.

"`Dine, Anthony fainted and he is not waking up…he hit his head" He explained.

That seemed to wake her up and so she said "I`ll be there in fifteen minutes… I will bring the nurse"

"Just hurry up"

Claudine arrived with the nurse, Ms Smith, and hugged him before turning to their friend with worried eyes.

"What happened?" The nurse asked to Hal as if accusing him of something.

"I don't know" He said "I was out almost all the afternoon, I entered the room and saw him in the floor"

Ms Smith turned to Anthony who was now lain on his bed and examined him for a few minutes. Claudine sat on a chair beside Anthony`s bed and Hal stood at the feet trying not to look too worried about his friend.

Finally, the nurse said "He seems to be rather weak as if he has not eaten well lately, this may be the cause of fainting…you will have to make him eat regularly and give him this medicine" She took a flask and gave it to Hal" I would recommend that he rest for a few days before returning to classes"

"And for the bump on this head?" Claudine asked.

"Put some ice on it" The nurse said and grabbed her things before nodding as a goodbye and leaving the room in a haste.

The blonde girl kept him company for an hour or so before returning to her own dorm and she had promised to tell Harriet about Anthony when she saw the pirate.

Hal was changing his clothes to get to bed when Buttercup started to play with something in the floor.

"What`s that?" He asked the dog.

The dachshund poked it with his nose and wagged his tail. The auburn haired boy bend down and took it with his hand.

It was a ring he had never saw before.

Then he looked to his friend and knew that he had to ask about it when he woke up.

Well, I have nothing to say more than sorry for keep you hanging but college has me really occupied and I don't find much time to be writing fanfiction and I had a serious writer block.

But don't worry I will continue this story even if I don't update regularly I promise I will finish it.

As you may have noticed it is diverging from the Descendants canon as I will not take in account the third movie that will be released this year.

And so…review and follow this story