Alright, here's the deal, this week is Thanksgiving here in the United States so my work week (while short) is going to be chaotically busy and then my Thursday and Friday will be loaded with familial obligations, I will have ZERO time to write this week. So, I am updating the fic early! The story is finally going to be focusing on Grom starting with this chapter. However, because of everything that will be going down during Grom Night, I wanted to break up Grom into a few parts. More for my sanity than anything else to not have a single chapter that's 15,000 words long. Lol. Also, it just helps with chapter quality. Anyway, hope you have your tickets ready. Because we're entering Grom at Hexside School of Magic and Demonics! Hope you all enjoy the chapter! :)

({No POV})

As the sunset on Bonesborough, the moon rose in prime position over Hexside that caused Grometheus the Fear Bringer to begin to stir a bit more under the school… as well as students to start to file into the building in preparation for the 'festivities'.

Principal Bump was outside with some of the other teachers welcoming students into the school as per usual on Grom Night, as well as 'screening' students as best as possible to prevent further 'hijinx' from happening.

Considering all the teachers remembered the 'prank incident' from a couple years ago when Edric and Emira Blight hexed the punch bowl to cause anyone who drank from it to uncontrollably start sneezing and casting a random spell with every sneeze. Needless to say the teachers were all glad that 'incident' at least happened after Grom had retreated to the depths of the school for another year that night since the gym became an absolute disaster as a result.

And while the other students didn't mind and thought the prank was actually pretty funny, their teachers were far less amused (particularly the teachers who drank from the punch bowl too that night).

This was even reflected as the Blight twins walked up to the door with their usual mischievous yet playful demeanor about them… well, until they made eye contact with Bump, who immediately gave them a stern and steady look.

The twins briefly paused and each ended up putting up their hands up in mock surrender as they gave awkwardly sheepish grins to their principal, almost like they were giving a silent promise that they weren't going to have a 'repeat performance' of the previous incident from 3 years ago.

While still being a touch skeptical, Bump just gave them a nod and allowed them to go into the school.

However, it wasn't until they walked into the school that Emira looked at Edric, causing them both to smirk at each other, fist bump, and laugh to themselves mischievously (clearly indicating that they still had some smaller 'pranking fun' up their sleeves for the evening).

Meanwhile as the first to arrive students made their way to the gym, Darius was standing in the opposite corner of the gym nearest the stage. He readjusted his formal cloak over his suit he had touched up the other day when he took Hunter in to get his suit.

This thought caused Darius to look up and scan the room again.

A few students had already started walking up to the refreshment table as the music started playing, but still no sign of Hunter.

Since Darius was co-chaperoning the event and had to arrive a bit early so he was present by the time the students arrived to supervise. That and the other 'favor' asked of him by Bump was if he could come a little earlier for the reason that 'other chaperone' may not be there right on time due to getting off work.

But, Darius didn't mind that entirely too much at the moment since he was a bit more interested to see where Hunter went since he also came along with him to the event early (which surprised Darius a bit that he didn't want to walk in with any of his friends) but said he was going to use the bathroom before he came in… and that was 15 minutes ago.

Although Darius knew there was only so much he could do to help Hunter and at the end of the day, he's almost 17 and needs to make his own choices on what he wants to do.

In the end, Darius kept standing there and looked like he was about to pull up and scroll through his Penstagram until he heard a familiar 'high handed tone' he knew all too well remark, "Well, wasn't expecting to see you here. Didn't know chaperoning a 'school dance' for a bunch of teenagers was your scene? Did 'admiring yourself in the mirror' finally become too dull for you?"

Darius whipped his head over only to have his suspicions confirmed and his eyes went wide when he looked next to him to see a face he hadn't seen in quite some time despite seeing her at their 'Day of Unity' meetings almost 10 months ago.

Someone in his graduating class who he once knew very well back in their own school days at Hexside.

Lilith Clawthorne.

Lilith smirked in a playfully teasing way as she walked closer and leaned against the wall, pushing her glasses back up on her nose.

Darius slowly grinned back as he crossed his arms and quirked up an eyebrow at her before teasing in reply, "Could say the same for you, honestly? At least I'm a guardian to a student currently attending, so that at least can explain why I am here. Unless you just came because you were feeling nostalgic about your 'glory days'? Well, at least as 'glorious' as those days were with you sharing the 'spotlight' with me, Lily."

Lilith narrowed her eyes at him in slight annoyance (recalling that one day in school Darius overheard Eda calling her 'Lily' and then resulted in him calling her 'Lily' whenever he wanted to tease and mess around with her), making Darius grin even more that it still got to her to this day.

Not that Lilith minded her sister or parents calling her Lily, but Darius?… She knew him far too well to know he mostly called her that for the sole purpose of teasing her.

But Lilith was quick to recover (not wanting to give her former Co-Academic Team Captain and Classroom Rival the satisfaction of knowing he can still playfully worm his way under her skin with his teasing) as she smirked back and replied, "Actually, I am here more as an indirect 'favor to my sister'. Due to the shared sickness between Edalyn and Raine at the moment, I stepped up and promised her I'd keep an eye on Luz. Personally I think Luz is more than capable of 'handling herself', but… I don't know? Perhaps my sister has grown soft and sentimental with age… and maybe I have too since I agreed to come back here for this."

Lilith looked out at the dance floor with all the students walking about with their friends and dates as the music played and more and more students started filing in.

Her expression became almost thoughtful for a moment as she looked out at the gymnasium floor.

Even though not as bad as before, Lilith still did feel immense guilt deep down over the curse situation toward the end of her time in school.

While Eda had long since forgiven her and told her time and time again that she was just glad they were talking again and 'on the same side', especially after Lilith eased part of Eda's curse by taking half of it after defying Belos.

But, that didn't mean it was something that still didn't weigh heavy on Lilith's mind even now.

Especially even more so after finding out she technically cursed her younger sister for the purpose to join the coven of an insane and murderous witch hunter who wanted to destroy their entire realm.

It was something that still made her sick to her stomach to this day and made her feel like an idiot and almost failure as a witch, a daughter, and especially as a sister with not being more observant when she was the head of the Emperor's Coven.

It looked like Lilith was 'lost in thought' and Darius caught this too in intrigue, but decided to take advantage of her distraction as he kept looking at her.

Of course they talked at gatherings between the Coven Heads at the castle, but… it was almost like they really hadn't 'talked' or 'seen each other' as each other in a 'real way' since they graduated from Hexside and joined their respective covens.

Because even when he saw her for the first time in years when she was appointed the head of the Emperor's coven a year after he was appointed head of the Abomination Coven, it was like he didn't even recognize her. The awkward yet strong and brilliantly clever classmate and rival he remembered from school appeared to be gone when he saw her at her initiation as coven head. Straightening her hair and dying it black, doing away with her glasses, and dressing for the purpose to 'intimidate'.

However, that wasn't who he was seeing now.

While her hair was still black and kept sleek and straight, Lilith looked more Lilith tonight than he had seen in years.

Or particularly looking and acting more like the girl he remembered who he would constantly yet playfully squabble with to answer a question first in a couple of the classes they shared.

In fact, Darius remembered one particular instance in History Class in their 2nd to last year at Hexside where both of them were were trying to raise their hands higher than the other to get picked to answer a question and Darius (who had forgotten his chair leg was wobbly when he sat down) ended up leaning a little too far forward in his chair until it slid out from under him and he fell on the floor… and that was all Lilith needed to keep hanging something over his head.

In fact, from that point for the rest of the year she would pull out his chair for him {feigning chivalry} to tease him and told him to make sure he was 'careful' when he sat down to not 'fall and hurt his pretty little head' and having a satisfied smirk on her face all the while.

But after teasing her by calling her 'Lily' every day for the past 5 years at that point, he knew he had it coming.

Well, despite how much he still despised it whenever she did that regardless.

And at this moment… It really was like he was seeing that same girl he sat next to almost every day in school. Sure she was in a more 'formal' navy dress, but… it was her.

Perhaps it was 'nostalgia' from his perspective or something else he he hadn't thought about when it comes to her in almost 30 years, but… he couldn't help but let a small smile slip.

He even commented on it as he eventually started, "I couldn't help but notice since last time I saw you that you've been wearing glasses again."

Lilith whipped her head over, looking as if she got pulled out of another dimension for a brief second and took them off.

She wiped them off on reflex before putting them back on and explaining, not wanting to be prodded by any potential teasing, "Yes… I have been. When I got into the coven and was going through my 'initiation trials', I was locked in combat with a giant acid spitting spider and accidentally got sprayed in the eyes. Fortunately my glasses blocked most of the spray… but not all of it. I was taken to a healer immediately and they said there was potential that I could lose my sight. But instead, and after taking an antidote potion, it ended up actually making my sight nearly perfect for the first time in my life. And for the next 28 years, I didn't really need glasses anymore. It wasn't… It wasn't until I took on 'half of the curse' that my sight slowly started waning back to 'what it used to be'. So, now I still can't see without my glasses and still can't cast spells without glyphs because of the curse, but honestly… I can't say I don't deserve this."

It wasn't until after her 'statement' that Lilith's eyes went wide, realizing she revealed WAY much more than she intended to Darius just now.

Her face went red in embarrassment as she bit her lip, looking away from him to hide her awkwardness and allowing WAY too many of words that float around her brain on a daily basis in shame for what she did all those years ago to fly out of her mouth just now in front of her old school rival.

As awful as it was even to her and even though she would never admit this particular fact out loud even to herself now, but… there are times when she thinks about how she sometimes thinks she deserved to be 'Petrified' like she told Luz after what she did to curse Eda in their teens out of her own pathetic and petty jealousy.

But, as Lilith continued to get consumed by 'self-disgust', Darius (who decided to put those words out of the picture to keep talking to his former classmate… at least for now) cut in, "Well, I'm not sure about that and I know I didn't get to say it with the 'extenuating circumstances' at the time with the 'Day of Unity' resistance meetings, but I like them… they suit you well."

Lilith whipped her head back over and her eyes went wide as she saw Darius smiling at her and giving her a nod, seeming almost genuine in his compliment.

After taking a moment to 'process' Lilith eventually straightened up before replying in a skeptical yet teasing tone with a scoff, "Trying to get on my 'good side' with some shameless flattery? Hpmh. Nice try, but it takes more than a 'compliment' and a 'handsome smile' to get on my good side."

After thinking she combatted with a clever response, she realized something she let 'slip' past her verbal filter.

Something she always secretly thought about him ever since they were in school.

But, before she could react any more, Darius stepped closer with a smirk and crossed his arms as he quirked up an eyebrow and teased, "Shameless? Hmph, I don't have much reason for any word that has to do with 'shame'. You make it sound like I never meant a compliment when it is anything but that… especially toward you. And… 'handsome'? Sure you are not the one trying to 'flatter' me? Better be careful of that with me. Because according to you; and if I remember correctly, it all might go to my 'pretty little head', right Lily?"

Darius continued to stand there with a teasing smirk as Lilith gave him a look for several different reasons until she just settled for smacking him playfully on the arm, eventually getting a laugh out of both of them.

After settling out, Darius smiled slightly before starting up again, "Well… seeing as we'll be 'here' all night, perhaps we could take the opportunity to 'catch up'? You're still assistant curator at that museum, correct?"

Even though Lilith managed to hide her shock that Darius even knew that, she somehow managed to play it cool as she smiled and countered, "Well… maybe we can start with some punch to discuss it over? Besides, I'd like to know what you've been up to these days too."

Darius grinned again before saying, giving her a slight bow with his hand over his heart, "Excellent idea. And at any rate, we can get a beverage before the Blight Twins hex it somehow. I'll be back."

With that Darius strutted off with a purpose to get them each a glass of punch as Lilith kept following him with her eyes across the room and even though she tried to hold it back, she couldn't help but let a small yet genuine smile slip for a fraction of a second.

Across the hall in the nearby school bathroom

(Hunter's POV)

I splashed water on my face for the hundredth time.

After I came in to actually use the bathroom and washed my hands, I… I don't know? It was like everything just 'set in' again about the fact that I was at the school on Grom Night right now and everyone was going to be here.

All my classmates, teammates, friends, and… Willow…

My eyes went wide as I nervously splashed more cold water on my face again, trying to get a hold of myself.

Even that 'breathing technique' isn't even helping right now and is basically the entire reason I've been in here for almost 20 minutes wasting water by splashing it on my face over and over again.

After that I gripped the sides of the sink, mostly trying to just get a grip over myself.

Hunter, it's fine… everything is fine. You got dressed and came all the way here. All you have to do is just walk in and find her. You don't need to ask her out.

Just find everyone and maybe ask Willow to dance to get a good opportunity to try and 'make a move'... or at least just tell her 'I like her' and stop wimping out of it like a pathetic coward that… No, I'm not doing that right now!

C'mon Hunter! Be brave, be bold…

Just be… you.

I quickly dried my face before looking at myself in the mirror.

Just really… looking at myself.

Eventually I just straightened out my suit jacket and buttoned up before looking at myself in the mirror again, a smile tugging at the right corner of my mouth.

Oh yeah… I can do this. I got this!

I'm ready!

I got a determined look and smile on my face as I walked out of the bathroom and went straight across the hall… or at least tried to until I ran into someone immediately.

Great! WHY NOT?!

I was about to quickly apologize and walk away to avoid an awkward situation, even though one is already happening right now.

Until I froze up and every muscle in my body locked up when I saw who I ran into.

Willow.

Ugh… WHY?!

I immediately felt the urge to run right back into the bathroom before she noticed it was me. Well, until it was too late when she looked at me.

But, luckily she just smiled like usual and said, "Oh, hey Hunter!"

Almost immediately she hugged me right after, making my face burn and my heart feel like it was crawling up my throat with every beat. And even though I was also nervously sweating like crazy, I couldn't help but also feel happy and weirdly 'relaxed' at the same time.

We broke apart from the hug as I smiled a little back, barely thinking about what was happening or where I even was as I started, "Hi capt… I-I mean, hey Willow."

I immediately almost wanted to rip my own face off right now.

Seriously?! You can't even say 'hi' to her anymore without screwing it up?! Ugh, what is it with me acting like a total idiot whenever she's around?!

But, luckily for me, it looked like my 'idiot display' didn't even phase her as she kept smiling and said, looking down slightly before looking back up at me before saying, "I like your suit! The white and black with the gold looks really cool."

After that, I felt like I was finally getting my brain back to the present moment (forgetting I had my new suit on).

She said my suit was 'cool'? She likes the suit!

Nice! Okay Hunter, here's your chance. Say something!

I smirked and rubbed the back of my neck as I started, feeling a little more confident, "Thanks! I actually just got it yesterday."

Great! That actually sounded normal! Now say something about her. Tell her she looks nice too or something. ANYTHING! Just keep talking and try not to make it awkward.

But, right when I looked down a little to see what she was wearing, it's like it didn't fully hit me what she 'looked like' until now.

Her hair was even a little different than usual.

Ever since we got back from the Human Realm, she's been keeping her hair longer and she usually has it in two braids most of the time.

I mean, her hair was still braided now, but just all put into one braid over her right shoulder with some very, very small white flowers woven into the braid and she was wearing a dress.

Honestly this was the first time I've ever seen her wearing a dress at all and… whoa.

I mean, it wasn't anything crazy. It was just a dark green dress that went a little past her knees with a pale yellow stripe going diagonal from her left shoulder to her right hip.

Wow, she… she looks… just… wow.

I-I mean, not that I think she never looks good! But, seeing her 'dressed up' like this… she looked amazing.

Then I started to panic since when she got a weird look on her face and looked down at herself, probably because I staring at her a little too long like a total weirdo and made her self-conscious.

AGH! C'MON HUNTER?!

She started talking again as she looked down at herself, "Oh, is there something on my dress? One of my fly trap plants got a little 'out of control' and my dads reminded me to 'calm it down' and feed it before I came here so it didn't destroy the yard. Which is fair, but… ugh, did I get a stain on my new dress anywhere or?…"

I panicked again as I cut in putting my hands up, especially considering there was nothing wrong with anything she was wearing… far from it to me, "N-No! There's nothing wrong! Actually, I.. I think you look… beautiful."

My eyes went wide once I realized what I said was not the word I wanted to say. Beautiful? BEAUTIFUL?! SERIOUSLY?! You were supposed to just say she 'looked nice', not tell her THAT!

You're just 'friends' with her and you decide to pull THAT out?!

GREAT! Now you probably made things incredibly awkward and uncomfortable for her!

And the fact that her face and ears went a little red as she was looking at me wide eyed also was NOT helping me from feeling like a complete screw up.

Well, until she slowly smiled at me and said, sounding surprisingly genuine and calm from my perspective after the awkwardly stupid thing I just said to her, "Thanks Hunter."

Wait… did she actually just 'thank' me?

But, before I could make any other moves, she stepped closer toward me and started straightening out the lapels on my jacket since I didn't realize they were flipped up a little until now before she looked up at me and said, "Well… I think you look pretty handsome too."

I thought my eyes were going to fall out of my head and my face and ears felt like they were on fire again… well, until she got her usual smile and said, "But, if it's okay? I think you're missing a little something."

I think my confused look was enough to make her laugh a little as she added, "Here, I got it." Right then, she made a small spell circle and before a yellow rose appeared on my right lapel.

My eyes went wide until I heard her laugh a little as she looked down before looking back up at me, lifting her left wrist to show a yellow rose tied around it with a thin vine, "Uh, I totally forgot I had yellow to match my dress and then I gave you yellow to match your tie, but… guess we'll match too, if that's okay?"

I couldn't stop myself from smiling a little at her.

Ugh, if I would've just had the guts to ask her to this stupid thing then this could've been just 'normal'.

Eventually she smiled back at me before looking into the gym and saying, "So, ready to go in? I think I see Gus, Amity, and Luz by the stage."

Even though now I felt like I could've just stood out here in the hall with her the entire night… I didn't want to 'push my luck' after things were going surprisingly well despite me still acting like a total idiot around her. Instead I just grinned and nodded my head to her as I put one arm behind my back and motioned into the gym with the other arm, "You first, captain. Lead the way."

That got a laugh out of both of us as she gave me one last smile before walking ahead of me as I followed in after her.

Okay, now before you all start throwing tomatoes for cutting things off here, DON'T panic! There will be even more awkwardly, cute Huntlow content to come from here! :D But, in all seriousness, I just really wanted to capture the energy that these two have been shown to have of just adorably, wholesome awkwardness. I mean, I guess you could say the same in some way about early stage Lumity, but again after that clip of Hunter blushing while awkwardly sitting on the toilet as Willow smiles and cuts his hair for him… dude, I can't! They're just so freaking cute and awkwardly adorable with each other that I can't take it! Lol. XD Anyway, one thing I also am trying to do is trying to trickle in interactions between other characters and different dynamics to keep things interesting. In the last few chapters, I really wanted to show the guardian/mentor role that Darius is now playing in Hunter's life since he never really had any good or stable adult influences in his life so far. And now, I am exploring a little something new that I came up with when I was coming up with a plot for this fic. Okay, well first I just wanted to say that if they ever want to do a spin-off series someday, I would LOVE to see a prequel series following the adult characters' time when they were at Hexside. Especially knowing what we know now about Raine and Eda being friends who eventually started dating, Eda and Lilith's close bond as best friends/sisters before the curse 'thing', Darius revealed to have once been good friends with Alador Blight before 'something' happened to make things go sour between them… Again, Disney, if you are listening and can see how much this fandom loves this show and want to continue it somehow. I am ALL for a good "The Owl House" Spinoff if you allow Dana and the gang to do it! Okay, but anyway and with all that in mind, I decided to give Darius a bit more of a backstory. Yes, he eventually became head of the Abomination Coven and is shown to be a powerful witch, but… what was his story back when he was a student at Hexside? And then a concept came to mind, who else don't we really know much about when she was a student at Hexside? Lilith 'aka Lily' 'aka Lulu' Clawthorne. I'm sorry, I love Hootie too much to leave him out as one of Lilith's good friends at this point in the series. Lol. XD Like outside of Eda, Raine, and Alador (and possibly Odalia?), it wasn't really shown if Darius or Lilith had any other solid acquaintances/friends beyond that they knew in school. So, I made up a little backstory for both Lilith and Darius being in the same year with each other and kind of being in a competitive academic rivalry back when they were in school together. Initially clashing because of their similar personalities and wanting to be the better than the other to be top of the class, but later on became kind of a healthy competitive kind of sort of friendship and teasing rivalry toward each other to mutually throw each other off. And, to throw in a little extra and as you all may have picked up from 'context clues' during Darius and Lilith's conversation, both Darius and Lilith at one time used kind of have a secret yet mutual 'crush' on each other during their later years at Hexside but neither of them ever really 'acted on it'... more on 'all that' later. Lol. ;) But, with being locked up chaperoning Grom with no one else to get in the way or distract, who knows? I'll leave you all to let me know what you think about this headcanon I created! What will happen from here? Will Hunter finally gather his courage to tell Willow how he feels? Will Willow take some action? Or the rest of the Hex Squad? Again, you'll have to speculate for yourselves and I'll see you all in the next update! As always thanks for reading and any constructive feedback you can give is always very much appreciated. Have a lovely week everyone!

Stay Classy!

Dexter1995