Chapter 1 – Starting Fresh
-:-:-
Harry's life changed on a completely unremarkable Tuesday afternoon, when he and Gil were eating sandwiches they'd picked up from the new café that had opened the Sunday prior, the owner a former citizen of Auradon whose restaurant back on the mainland had been muscled out by some sort of chain that had literally choked it out of existence. Which was a fucking shame too because the food was delicious, but that was just Auradon for you, couldn't appreciate a good thing if it was punching it in the damn face.
They were perched on the new cobblestone bridge that overlooked the creek near the south schoolhouse, grinning at the hordes of young children that were running about in the sun during recess, Mr. Smee and LeFou watching over them with fond looks as they played tag and rolled in the grass and overall acted their damn ages for once. Every once and a while the older gentlemen would look over to where Gil and Harry were sitting – a common lunch nook for them as they took a break from their rounds maintaining the peace – and offer them bright waves and smiles, something Gil would enthusiastically reciprocate for both of them before their attention returned to the children charged to their care.
The Isle of the Lost had changed since they were allowed magic, but it was a change all of them appreciated. A change all of them wanted to maintain, as gone were the days of constantly watching your back and being terrified for your survival. Now peace was a given. Now they could have lunch out in the open and not worry about being attacked or having it get stolen (unless it was by a fucking seagull). They could just live and maybe play a little footsy, but if they did that, it was their business and no one else's.
At least until Diaval swooped into view, the raven landing in a flutter of feathers until he shifted into his usual, cranky human form, seeming entirely perturbed to be reduced to the part of a messenger, as though he did not absolutely adore the ground Mal walked on.
"Important news from the mainland," he drawled, shoving his hands into the pockets of his large coat with a weary sigh. "Mal wants you to end your shift early and return to Bargain Castle to talk about boring human stuff. I'm going to the station next to let them know you're done for the day, yadda yadda, you are welcome."
With that, he shifted back into a raven and took off, though not without stealing one of Harry's cookies like the obnoxious shit he was.
"Bye, Diaval!" Gil cheered, waving at his retreating back as the raven became a spec in the distance. "Man, I'm glad he showed up when we were allowed magic."
"It was stupid for him to be a fucking statue in the first place," Harry muttered, packing up his lunch in quick movements while he shoved his remaining cookie into his mouth before Gil could start looking hopeful.
According to Diaval, Maleficent hadn't always been crazy, but past trauma combined with a hard cutoff from magic had sent her off the deep end. So while he had been loyal to Maleficent, it was more like a version of Maleficent that had once been reasonable and because of this, he transferred that devotion to her daughter, even if he didn't always understand her human ways.
"For a guy that eats worms, he sure does like sweets," Gil chirped as he packed up his lunch, shoving it into his uniform satchel before he and Harry took off towards Bargain Castle in a comfortable jog.
"Sweets are a universal language, Gilly," Harry offered with a grin. "When everything else separates us, chocolate can unite us."
"Makes me glad the witches figured out how to plant cocoa beans!" Gil chirped. "And sugarcane."
"Sugarcane," Harry hummed, marveling at that wonderful discovery. "Bless the ground Ginny Gothel walks on."
"Yeah, she was pretty happy about that," Gil cheered before they upped their pace to a run, years of stamina training coming into effect as they raced to Bargain Castle.
They returned through the side gate, sliding into the secret passageways until they could enter the trapdoor that led into the rafters of the meeting room, Harry motioning Gil onwards until the blond could start rappelling down the rope Jay had installed for just such purposes.
"Finally!" Mal groaned, flopping dramatically into her chair as Gil and Harry took their own seats at the planning table. "What was that – a whole fifteen minutes? Lousy response time, boys."
"It must really be something if you're being this bratty," Harry muttered, earning a soft cackle from Carlos.
At that, Mal offered an unapologetic grin before she straightened up, motioning for Uma to take the floor.
"Fairy Godmother dropped this off during her afternoon visit," Uma said, holding up what seemed to be a fancy, ornamental scroll. "By decree of his royal highness, Prince Benjamin Florian – the future king of Auradon would like to formally invite one Isle refugee of our choosing to attend Auradon Prep – the most prestigious school in all of Auradon." She set the scroll down with a thunk. "Originally he had four specific kids in mind, but I told Fairy Godmother we were too busy for that shit, and we would decide who was good enough to go to his stupid school."
"What four kids did he ask for?" Carlos pressed, forever curious.
"It doesn't matter," Mal dismissed. "What matters is that we're being given a pretty big opportunity here. Obviously, things are a lot better now than they have ever been before, but Auradon still has things we don't. We want to send someone to get a feel for the land. To gather information from the shit they won't send over on the barges."
Restricted texts were something Fairy Godmother had touched on briefly in her afternoon teas with Uma and Mal – things she assured were of no importance that the crown of Auradon had felt would exacerbate the situation on the Isle rather than add to it. Of course such censorship was met with annoyance, especially from Evie, who would prefer to determine what was 'detrimental' for herself.
"If we can get any information that will improve things here, we want it," Uma said. "There's also the fact that we're being given the opportunity to have someone rub elbows with the future rulers of Auradon – the ones that will help establish the laws that run the place. If we can plant a bug in their ear about prison reforms, maybe we can upgrade our system so we don't have to murder a portion of the people that get dumped here every week."
It was the only way to weed out the bad seeds. Kids and petty criminals got a pass, but everyone else was tested or watched, and most of them ended up dead before the night was through, being simply unable to rehabilitate to new Isle life.
It wasn't something Fairy Godmother was happy about, but Auradon seemed content to have their violent criminals dealt with so long as they looked the other way – the problem solved as far as they were concerned, so there wasn't much to be done about it.
At least, until now.
"So the question now is who do we send?" Mal picked up.
"I'd think that's fucking simple," Harry spoke up. "Send Evie. She's an actual princess – she'll understand them better than any of us could."
"We thought of that," Uma said, a transition that immediately indicated that they'd already dismissed her as a prospect. "Evie would be one of the best for gathering information and adapting to Auradon life – charming the masses, but…"
"But we need you here, sweet pea," Mal said, her voice full of regret. "I'm sorry. Uma and I weighed the pros and cons, and you're too important to our judicial system to spare."
Evie was pretty much the leader of their supreme court, one of the most active judges and legislative drafters they had, and she seemed completely unsurprised by Mal and Uma's declaration.
"I get it, guys," she murmured, seeming entirely unbothered. "In truth, I think I'd be too afraid to go over there by myself, even if I'm technically capable."
"If Evie doesn't go, then who should?" Jay cut in, pulling focus from Evie.
Mal and Uma shared a look. "We thought about it," Uma said. "We need someone who's good acting independently. Someone who can be charming and adaptable, who's good at subtly collecting information, who's able to blend in to lower suspicions."
In truth, Uma had perfectly described Evie, so Harry wasn't sure who the hell else fit the bill.
"They're likely going to face some kind of bullshit bias because of whatever their parent did," Uma continued. "So we need someone whose parent's crime is comparatively not so bad – say kidnapping, with the intent but total failure to murder."
It took a few seconds for Harry to realize who she was talking about, and in that time, the rest of the table came to pin their gazes on him.
"Fucking hell," Harry grumbled, dragging a hand across his face. "I don't want to go to a damn school filled with nobility."
Harry had never even been to school. He was happy manning his post at the guard station, happy with the home they had created together.
Uma sighed. "I know you don't, but you're the best pick. We can't send Evie or Carlos – they're too vital to their posts. Mal and I have the same problem. That leaves you, Gil, and Jay." Really, that just left Jay and Harry, as Gil would never have the constitution for spy work. "And Jafar did way worse shit than your dad. I'm sorry, but you're the best choice."
"You can do it," Evie soothed, her grin small and gentle. "I'll teach you everything you need to know before you go over."
"Mal and I are gonna get to work transfiguring you a new wardrobe," Uma declared. "Something that's more Auradon-friendly. People like stuff that's similar to what they already know. If we make you look like one of them, you should have an easier time assimilating."
"Plus, Prince Ben will want to talk to you and shit," Mal continued, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "You can buddy up to him – explain the legitimate trials of the orphans and petty criminals. You're charming, so use that – only use your regular charm and not the forced flirtation you used to use as a defense mechanism."
"So I suppose I'm going then?" Harry pressed, his heart seeming to beat in his throat. "End of discussion?"
Uma's gaze softened. "You can say no," she murmured. "Say no and we'll coach one of the others, like Freddy or Harriet. We have other options, we just wanted to go with our best one first."
Damned if they didn't know how to butter him up.
Harry didn't like the idea of leaving his home, of parting from his loves with no idea for when he'd return, but they weren't asking him to do this as a punishment. They asked because they thought he was the best suited for it.
Eventually, he sighed. "Fine," he grumbled. "But I want a fuckton of snuggles before I go."
"That was a given, Hook," Mal huffed, aiming an amused grin at him. "Every moment of downtime has now been claimed for cuddles. Uma's making a schedule as we speak."
She fucking was too, because she knew shit like concrete evidence of their dedication did things to him.
Uma looked up from the paper she was working on, Evie leaning over to write in her two cents, and offered him one of her more wicked smiles.
Fuck, was he going to miss her.
"Alright," Harry swallowed, trying to hold onto his composure. "Let's get to work then, shall we?"
-:-:-
"They're going to expect you to be rough," Evie said as she sat him down in front of her vanity – the mirror now perfect and shiny, worthy of a princess. "They're going to expect foul language and scowling and you're not going to give them any of that."
"I'm not?" Harry frowned as she combed out his still damp hair.
"No." Evie abandoned her brush,reaching for a pair of scissors. "When you're over there, you're going to be playing a part – a version of yourself that's easier for their Auradon sensibilities to handle. You need to win them over quickly, because the easiest way to collect information is when you're met with minimal opposition, and if they like you, they won't oppose you."
"Won't they think something's up?" Harry asked as Evie began snipping his hair, making it something that was more 'tamed'. "The Isle's been operating under the new system for less than half a year, that's not enough time for anyone to have a complete personality shift."
"If Fairy Godmother made one thing clear during her meetings with Mal and Uma it's that the populous of Auradon at large has no idea what life on the Isle used to be like," Evie explained. "They won't know shit, Harry, not beyond what you'll tell them. As far as they're concerned, your goodness is wonderfully resilient, allowing a kind, reserved tailor to come to surface when you were finally allowed to abandon your constant fight to survive."
Harry paused, blinking at the deduction. "Ye want me to be a fucking tailor?"
"You're already a tailor, Harry," Evie sighed. "We make stuff for the others all the time."
Harry sputtered. "That's me being your assistant than anything else." True, Harry was good at hand sewing stuff by necessity, but he didn't have Evie's natural eye for design. He knew how to use her sewing machine and he'd been slowly learning how to pattern stuff out so she could have someone to bond with, but it wasn't something that was inherently easy for him.
"Well, now you're getting a promotion," Evie chirped. "As far as they're concerned, you became a tailor as soon as we established the new order rather than a guardsman, hanging up your sword forever because violence never suited you in the first place."
It wasn't entirely incorrect, but Harry understood violence as a necessity. It occurred less now than before, but he wasn't one to hesitate to throw himself into action if it could protect innocent people. Sometimes there needed to be a fight, and if someone had to do it, he would rather it be him than someone else.
Harry made a face. "You're making me a wimp."
"No," Evie countered. "We're making you a pacifist. Auradon people admire pacifists – it'll make it easier for you to fit in." She paused her work to stroke a hand through his hair, carding careful patterns against his scalp. "You can do this, Harry. You don't need the bluster of fighting to get by. You can be loved for being the soft sweetheart you are."
"That's for ye guys, though," Harry grumbled, feeling his cheeks heat in embarrassment.
"And now it can be for Auradon," Evie chirped. "If anything, this will encourage you to be more yourself."
"Agree to disagree," Harry muttered, and on they went.
"I'm afraid you won't be able to wear makeup anymore," Evie said as she helped him wipe away his eyeshadow. "None of the guys in Auradon seem to wear it, so it would make you stand out too much."
"Whatever," Harry grumbled, like he wasn't annoyed with losing the accessory. It was true that he'd started wearing it to piss off his dad, but he'd come to like the look of his smokey eyes, something that made him feel sexy and desirable. He knew it wasn't the be all end all of his appealing aesthetics, but it still hurt to lose. Of course something he liked wouldn't be considered appropriate for stupid Auradon. He was Harry Hook. An individual. A treat.
Evie paused her work to cup his face between her hands. "We'll have a pallet waiting for you as soon as you get back," she murmured, looking him over with intent. "Though for the record, you're gorgeous with or without your eyeshadow."
"Flatterer," Harry muttered, and they had to pause their work for a few minutes because Evie felt the need to make out with him right then, and who was Harry to deny his princess?
"Bathtub!" Evie chirped when he was nice and hot, making Harry groan as she tugged him into her updated bathroom. "Mal and Uma have been working on a mix that will heal all your scars," she explained, motioning to a purplish-teal mixture filled in the tub, giving off a light steam. "I'll cast a spell to activate it and you'll be good to go."
"Won't they expect me to be scarred?" Harry asked as she started stripping off his clothes. "I survived fifteen years on this garbage island somehow."
"Yes, but our new government is so good that once we were allowed access to magic, we healed everyone," Evie chirped as though quoting someone else, likely Uma. "That will make them feel good and paint us in a more positive light – hopefully positive enough to cover up all the murder."
"Hopefully," Harry muttered, knowing if Auradon had just adequately dealt with their own stupid issues, the people of the Isle wouldn't have been forced to do it for them.
"It will be okay, Harry," Evie murmured, pressing another kiss to his lips as she eased down his underwear. "Just remember what I told you."
It was all about framing. Instead of murders – it was revolution. Instead of takeover, it was freedom from oppression. Guaranteeing the safety of the poor. Some of the so-called heroes of Auradon had done shitty stuff to guarantee their victories but they were still heralded for their greatness – so obviously crimes could be gotten away with, it was all in how you presented them to the masses.
The bath tingled, Harry filling with a heated warmth when Evie pressed her hands to the surface of the water and began murmuring some kind of incantation. Harry felt his own magic pulse up when the water flared with light, sending a sort of fluttery sensation throughout his entire body.
Despite having magic of some kind, Harry had never learned to access it, had never really bothered to talk about it since he couldn't prove its existence. He didn't see much point to it. Here though, it hummed, making his head fall back against the lip of the tub, eyes closing as he tried to savor the strange sensation. When it was over, the healing mixture seemed to disappear in another flash of light, leaving Harry naked and fully healed in the confines of the tub.
He was also missing some hair.
"What the fuck?" he muttered, ignoring the strange absence of callouses and scars he'd spent years overlooking to focus on his groin, the entire area strangely smooth before he noticed his legs were the same way.
"Oops," Evie said, looking him over with a flush. "I'll add that to the potential side effects."
"Is this permanent?" Harry asked, and the helpless look she gave him in turn indicated that she didn't actually have an answer to his question.
"May I apologize to you?" Evie asked, stroking a careful hand across his chest before drifting lower. "Make up for the mistake?"
"Evie," Harry murmured, shivering under the new onslaught of inputs. Everything felt more sensitive – his nerve endings less deadened – and as a result it didn't take much to have him filling with heat, his length stirring between his legs. "D-Don't we need to prepare?"
"It's important to take breaks," Evie informed him, pressing a kiss to his shoulder. "May I take care of you?"
"Yes, please," Harry gasped, something that shifted into a moan when Evie's hand drifted lower, encapsulating his new firmness and-
Harry crowed, shuddering inside the tub, everything feeling so much more intense. It made Evie's mouth widen into a pleased smirk when she started pumping him with a vigor, using her other hand to tweak his nipples until he was panting helplessly.
It didn't take him long to fall apart, everything seeming entirely more pointed than it ever had before. When it was over, his chest was heaving, the remnants of his orgasm flowing through him in desperate tingles.
"Increased sensitivity," Evie mused when she pressed a kiss to his shoulder. "I'll write that down as another side effect."
"Maybe test this shit on animals first," Harry muttered before he accepted another kiss of apology, one that had him whining as his body considered another round.
Evie pulled back before it could get that far. "Come on," she ordered, helping him out of the tub. "Hop in the shower and get cleaned off, we've still got work to do."
"Yes, your highness," Harry murmured, cutting off with a squeak when she groped his rear. "Princess."
"I'm done, I'm done," she said, holding up her hands in surrender as she turned the shower on in efficient movements. "Sorry, had to indulge."
It always killed him when she offered out such casual affections, and she gave him a look like she knew that before she herded him into the shower. And then she stayed and watched, and it turned out having an audience got Harry as worked up as simple touch did, leaving him to make a mess of himself while Evie egged him on from outside the shower, murmuring about how fucking pretty he looked until he lost himself to the new heat in his body.
"Wowzah," Evie said as she began to help dry him off, gaze brightening when she realized the new contact got him worked up yet again. "Is this going to be a problem?"
"It's ye touching me, Evie," Harry gasped. "None of those Auradon schmucks are gonna touch me naked."
"Okay," Evie said, nodding because she trusted him. "Let me know if that changes."
And then she started sucking on his nipples until he fell apart again, for what thankfully seemed to be the last time before Harry moved onto the trial that was his new wardrobe.
-:-:-
They wanted him to look like a nerd.
No, he looked like one of those stupid catalogues Auradon sent over that they magically recycled into their own printer shop to make new books and flyers. He looked like those guys they had on the propaganda channel that demonstrated how 'good' behavior was supposed to be.
He was still allowed his boxer briefs, though instead of a respectable black or red these were navy, which he didn't mind until he had to cover them with slacks. He looked stupid, and that was before the button-up shirt and the light blue sweater they wanted him to wear over it, or the fucking blazer to go on top of that because apparently Auradon idiots wore a million layers.
The shoes were shiny and weird, a thing Evie called loafers, and he had to wear them with dumb blue socks and there wasn't an ounce of red or buckles or tartan anywhere.
"I look stupid," Harry complained, frowning down at his outfit in despair.
"You look adorable," Evie countered, Carlos echoing her sentiment with a wide grin because he'd snuck in while Evie and Harry had been in the bathroom for the express purpose of reveling in Harry's misery. "Now go look at yourself in the mirror and give yourself a pep talk while I organize the rest of your outfits. If you feel uncomfortable that's going to show through, so you need to feel settled – like this was a natural evolution in your clothing choices."
"Why light blue, though?" Harry asked, fingering the sweater as he looked at the stranger staring back at him in the mirror. He looked like a chump. Like a bashful chump.
"It brings out your eyes," Carlos said, flushing when he got Harry's attention.
"Exactly," Evie said, snapping her fingers. "We need you to look like the biggest cutie patootie as possible, so you're going to be wearing a lot of light blue."
"And sweaters," Carlos said.
"I'd give you a bowtie, or even just a regular tie, but I don't have time to teach you how to tie them," Evie said as she transfigured a few other pairs of dorky looking shoes.
"Could I at least wear gloves?" Harry asked, fidgeting with his new, un-calloused hands. "Gloves are practical."
"And not an Auradon thing," Carlos sighed, pointing to the stack of catalogues Evie must have gotten her inspiration from. "They don't seem all that big on jewelry, either."
"We're going to go ahead and make an exception to that rule," Evie said, pausing her work to detour over to Carlos, who pressed something into her hand without prompting. "Remember how Uma asked for your hook?"
Like Harry could forget that strange end to a meeting, Uma requesting his signature weapon before Evie took him away for his makeover.
"I finally get to know what that's about?" Harry asked, earning a grin from Evie.
"Yep," she chirped before she unfurled the thing in her hand, letting it dangle on one of her delicate fingers. It appeared to be a thin, silver chain, and hanging from it was a small recreation of Harry's hook.
A perfect recreation.
"They're not going to allow you to have weapons," Evie explained as she unclasped the necklace, setting the chain around his neck before she redid it. "So Uma enchanted your hook. Close your hand around it, murmur 'Ready, look – time to hook' and it will shift into its regular size. Do the same thing to make it shrink again."
"Time to hook?" Harry sputtered, incredulous.
Evie flushed on Uma's behalf. "We were on a time crunch."
"At least I'll sound as stupid as I look," Harry muttered, staring at his reflection before he let his fingers settle around the small pendant. "Ready, look – time to hook," he chanted, and was rewarded with a glow of light that shifted his hook into its original form, the chain entirely vanished.
"Again, you look adorable," Evie reminded him, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "If you really hate this though-"
"It's just different," Harry assured her with a shake of his head, trying to focus. He was the best suited for this, he needed to stop acting like a child. "I'll get used to it."
"Until then- cuddles?" Carlos asked, trotting over to his side. "I'd be happy to tell you all the ways you look quite sexy."
"Flatterer," Harry muttered before murmuring the reverse enchantment to shrink his hook again. "Okay, we can do that."
"He's pretty sensitive now, so be careful," Evie warned Carlos. "Don't you dare make a mess of his new clothes."
"You're lucky I'm not Jay," Carlos said as he took Harry's hand, tugging him over to the bed. "He would take that as a challenge."
"Ugh, let's not let him know about this," Harry decided. "He'd wreck me."
"Honestly, I think he's more interested in you wrecking him," Carlos offered with a wag of his brows, and Harry promptly gave up.
He'd miss this. He knew that much, knew this would be hard, but-
It needed to be done.
-:-:-
Endnotes:
And thus we launch into the continued adventures of Harry not speaking up when he really, really should. So yeah, decided to flip the script on this one, instead of sending over a whole team, it's just Harry. Apparently I really wanted to focus on the AKs this time around, who tend to get shafted in a lot of stories, so they'll be featured prominently pretty soon.
This story will consist of 16 chapters of story content and one chapter of deleted scenes. I update once a week, generally on Sundays, but because things have been so crazy lately, I decided to make an effort to update twice a week. So there will be one update on Sunday and one update on Wednesday/Thursday for now :D
Please let me know if I missed anything in the tags. I prefer to ere on the side of caution with these things, but when you've been staring at something for so long, it can be easy for things to slip through the cracks. I'm also pretty sure I'm missing some sort of body confidence tags for this one, but I'm not entirely sure how to explain it, so if anyone has any idea, please comment! :)
Just a heads up – I update the story tags as I go in order to avoid spoilers. So characters, pairings, content warnings – all will be updated in correlation to the appropriate chapter as they are posted. Also, if you see a tag you're worried about, check the forenotes – the more hard-hitting stuff will have more thorough warnings listed there.
Story notes:
Stuff always seems to happen on Tuesdays in my stories. I'm not sure why that's the default 'unremarkable' day, it just is.
Diaval's human form is from the live action Maleficent movies, and he is a wonderfully cranky bean. I highly recommend watching the first one for him alone. I believe he was made a statue in the Descendants books, but I do not know this for a fact because I have not read them.
The miniaturized hook thing is very much borrowed from 'The Line Between' by Faithxoxo, which you should definitely read if you're looking for some more Sea Three goodness.
Until next time :)
