It all started with a failed test
Nervous students sat around the classroom, tapping pencils, chewing at their lips or bouncing their legs in anticipation. That did not go for Harry Hook, who sat relaxed, leaning back in his chair with his feet pushed up against the edge of his desk. Absentmindedly watching as Fairy Godmother wondered around the classroom giving out the test results. When she reaches him, he lazily takes the test between his fingers, ignoring the disapproving stare she gives him.
Uma watches on from next to him as he looks at the paper, seeming to shrug at it before he puts it down on the desk and resumes leaning back in his chair.
She's distracted as a sheet of paper passes in front of her face as Fairy Godmother puts her result on her desk. She cracks a smile at the B she sees at the top of the page. It's nothing compared to Evie's A+ in the desk in front of her, but she and the rest of her group have over a year's worth of better education than the rest of them. Evie squeaks in excitement before turning to Mal to show her her result.
"What did you get?" Uma turns back to Harry, having nothing else to do to occupy her time.
He looks up from where he was pulling at the hem of his untucked shirt and over to her before he leans forward to grab the paper off the desk. He holds it up so it balances vertically and turns it around in his fingers. Disappointment flashes through Uma at the sight of the F written in red. Though, Harry seems unfased as he shows her the paper long enough for her to read the letter five times over. She turns away to look at her desk, confused at how to feel.
The education system as it was in Auradon is still new to them. Teachers actually expected students to get good grades, and as little as Uma new about that system, she knew that a F wasn't any good. She was sure that Harry knew that and the fact that he didn't seem fazed bothered her.
"Did you even try?" she asks, an irritated tone slipping into her voice.
"Mhmm" Harry nods his head, seeming confused at why Uma appears to be annoyed at him.
Their conversation takes a pause while Fairy Godmother informs them about their homework and dismisses the class.
"Why don't you seem to care?" Uma asks Harry as she jogs up behind him and Gil who were ahead of her in the hallway.
"Care about what?" Gil asks, looking between Uma and Harry.
"Harry didn't do well in the test" Uma explains blatantly, as they exit the main building and step outside.
"Oh, what did you guys get? I got a B-" Gil declares excitedly.
"Wahey!" Harry makes a noise of celebration, a smile lighting up his face. "Who knew you were so good at math?" he says as he walks backward in front of them, giving Gil a bro five.
"Harry, focus" Uma reprimands.
"What did you get Uma?" Gil asks her.
"I got a B, but that doesn't matter" Uma speaks quickly only to get the answer out of the way, closing her eyes in irritation.
"That's better than me!" Gil exclaims happily.
"You wanna ask Harry how he did?" Uma snaps sassily.
But in his excitement, Gil isn't fazed and turns to Harry. "Harry, what did you get?"
"I failed" he says neutrally.
"Aw" Gil's face drops in disappointment, though in a different kind to Uma's.
"Don't worry about it, mate" Harry tells him, giving him a clap on the back.
"Don't worry about it?" Uma scoffs and stops in her tracks. Harry then doing the same.
"I'm gonna go meet up with the rest of the crew by the lake" Gil says hesitantly as he backs away from them, not wanting to be a part of their fight. He doesn't wait for either of them to respond before he speeds off towards the forest.
Meanwhile Uma seems to be trying to stare Harry down. "I'm not going to fight with you, Uma" Harry sighs, shaking his head.
Uma widens her eyes and gestures with her hand for him to continue.
"I didn't fail it on purpose. I'm just not surprised that I did."
The only way that Harry could tell he was in the clear was by Uma not saying a word as she turns around on her heels and walks toward the forest.
Uma is startled out of her reading by Harry throwing his pencil down at the desk by her window. She looks up to see him leaning back in her desk chair, his hands scrunching up his hair making it stick out in odd places. Concerned but saying nothing, she clambers off her bed and walks over to him. Reaching down, she picks up his pencil from the floor next to the desk before putting it back on the surface.
"It doesn't make any sense" Harry complains.
"It's homework, it's not supposed to make any sense" she jokes, leaning her hip against the side of the desk.
"No, I mean that it literally doesn't make any sense" Harry states angrily, his fingers tightening into claws.
"Hey, settle down" Uma soothes, pulling a chair over to her desk to sit next to him. "What doesn't make sense?"
"Any of it" Harry looks back at the paper with wide eyes, seeming scared.
Uma furrows her brow, not understanding why Harry would be reacting like this. "Tell me what bit and I'll help you out" she suggests.
"No, you're not listening" Harry tells her angrily, but Uma knows that the emotion is at himself. "None of this makes any sense."
Uma stops short of replying when she looks at the blank sheet in front of him. He'd been working on it for about an hour by now and he'd barely made a mark on the page. Some of the unanswered questions seemed easy to her and she didn't understand why he couldn't answer them – he'd been to just as many classes as she had.
"I can't do it" Harry interrupts her thoughts as he shakes his head.
"Of course, you can" Uma assures him cheerfully.
"No, I can't" Harry chokes out as he leans forward over the desk, covering his eyes with the heels of his hands with a sniff.
Uma had heard about people being driven to crying from a sheer amount of frustration, but she had never pictured Harry being one to do that. Her heart breaks a little at the prospect.
"They're going to send me back" Harry speaks with his words aimed toward the desk.
"They won't send you back" Uma denies quickly, not even dwelling on the prospect. In her mind it wasn't possible that anyone would send him back to the Isle, she would never let that happen.
"Hey?" she says softly when Harry doesn't move. "They won't send you back" she continues, putting her hands on his shoulders to turn him around to face her. He doesn't resist and sits up to look at her. Uma is relieved to find that no tears have fallen, although his eyes are shining.
"Let's call this a day, yeah?" Uma suggests. "Your brain's overworked, there's no point trying to get it to do things if it doesn't want to."
Harry nods taking a deep breath, seeming to calm down a bit.
"Cool, cause I wanna get out of here" Uma says standing up. "Let's go find the crew."
The next test result he gets doesn't come back alone, this time with a blue detention slip stapled to the top.
Uma watches from next to him as he tips his head back, his eyes closing in defeat. She feels sad for him, it's not like he wasn't trying.
"What did you get?" Uma asks leaning over to him.
He doesn't say anything as he flips his test around so she can see the D written on the page.
"It's better" she encourages, ignoring the fact that her own result had just been placed on her desk.
Harry looks at her with an expression that is begging her not to find a positive in the situation. "What did you get?" he asks her, an undertone of despair in his voice.
Uma turns back to her desk and flips over the paper, "B again."
When she turns back, she sees Harry reading the detention slip. "When is it?"
"This afternoon, 3:30 to 5:30" Harry recites. "I'll miss meeting up with the crew."
Uma purses her lips, knowing that he'll be disappointed about that. "Better not make detention a regular thing. You already got one last week for refusing to keep your shirt tucked in."
"What are they going to do? Call my parents?" Harry scoffs, but his laugh doesn't reach his eyes.
"Guess not" Uma says before following the rest of the class in packing up their things.
Harry had been staring off into space for a good part of half an hour, which was impressive since he never seemed to sit still. He hadn't said anything since he came back from detention apart from that he had had to reorganise library books in alphabetical order. Uma had been watching him as he sat on her bed from over at her desk, but he hadn't seemed to notice, which was another problem because she wasn't exactly being subtle about it.
"What you thinking?" she finally breaks the silence.
"Mhmm?" Harry breaks his daze and looks over to her.
"It's about the maths test, why you're distracted. Isn't it?" Uma guesses as she gets out of her chair and comes to sit on the edge of her bed.
"I've been thinking…" she hesitates not knowing how to continue. She twirls her braids between her fingers wondering if it's too late to back out of what she was going to say. But she knows she needs to, so she sighs before she continues, "that there must be a reason why you struggle so much at maths."
It doesn't surprise Uma that Harry says nothing. But when she looks up at him, she knows that he's listening.
"Your father owns a store full of clocks, you carry around a pocket watch – you've been surrounded by numbers your whole life - and you can't tell the time" Uma points out. "Has that never struck you as being weird?"
"Thought I was just stupid" Harry mumbles, looking at his hands clasped together on his lap.
"You're not stupid, Harry" Uma disagrees. "There must be an underlying issue."
"Like what?"
Uma inhales a deep breath, squeezing her eyes shut to calm her thoughts. She's never been so nervous about telling anyone anything, frankly because she doesn't know how Harry will react. "I don't know how to say it" she admits.
"Well just spit it out!" Harry begs her. "Nothing's as bad as sitting here thinking about every worst possible option!"
Uma huffs out a sigh and shuffles herself around to face Harry directly. "Have you ever heard of Dyscalculia?"
Harry shakes his head.
"It's where people have difficulty understanding numbers and concepts in maths" Uma explains, "like learning to count, or understanding graphs and charts." She looks over at Harry, seeming not to be moving as she talks.
"They might still need their fingers to count, or struggle with using math in day to day life."
"Stop!" Harry chokes out as he puts his head in his hands, tucking his knees up to his chest. The descriptions all too familiar for him.
"Harry?" Uma speaks softly.
"They're gonna send me back" Harry's panicked words are muffled by his knees.
"They won't" Uma repeats to him.
"They will" Harry interjects. "Once they find out that I'm incapable of learning. They can't have someone like me running around screwing up their reputation."
"You're not incapable of learning" Uma shakes her head.
"Well maybe not" Harry agrees. "But do you really think that they're going to put in any extra effort for a Villain kid like me?" he asks her as he untucks his legs and gets off the bed.
Uma stands up with him and watches as he makes his way to the door.
"It'd just be easier to throw me out!" he snaps before he leaves.
Uma is quick to close the gap between her and the door. Leaning out of the doorframe she sees him halfway down the hallway, his coat billowing out behind him.
"Harry!" she calls out to him as she steps out fully into the corridor. He doesn't turn around.
She's about to follow him when she hears the unmistakable sound of Evie's voice from two doorways in front of her, "what's wrong with him?"
Uma turns to her and opens her mouth to say something but no words come out. She purses her lips together and runs her fingers through her hair with a sigh before shaking her head, "I messed up."
Uma felt uncomfortable as she sat in a chair by the windows of Mal and Evie's room. Her surroundings are too pretty for her liking with all the racks of beautiful dresses lining the walls of the room. Evie sits at her sewing desk with a look of concern on her face, Mal standing beside her with her arms crossed and a neutral expression, while Uma tells them her theory.
"He's convinced that they'll send him back" Uma says as she rounds her story to a close.
It surprises Uma that Mal is the first to speak in denying, "they won't."
"I should never have told him" Uma sighs as she brings her legs up onto the chair, hugging them self-consciously to her chest. She messed up, and she knows she's messed up even more in telling Mal and Evie about a situation that Harry most definitely wouldn't want them to know about. But it was her only option, they would be able to help him because she couldn't do it on her own.
"No, you did the right thing" Evie assures her gently. Uma despises in this moment that she actually appreciates Evie's positive attitude.
"I don't know what to do" Uma admits shaking her head.
"Bring him here and we'll talk with him" Mal says as she uncrosses her arms. "Do you know where he went?"
It was no question for Uma where Harry would be. When either of them ever got upset they would always find a place by water. Her feet carefully balance on the unstable rocks as she makes a path down to a secluded bank at the edge of the Enchanted Lake. She feels at home with the sound of water traveling downward in the streams all around her. Stepping out of the bushes that open out to the bank she finds Harry sitting on a flat mound of rocks looking out at the water. When he hears her footsteps, he turns around and she sees tears shimmering in his eyes.
She says nothing as she comes to sit next to him so that their shoulders touch, or as she wraps her arm around his waist. At her protective stance Harry breaks and turns crying into her shoulder. Still she says nothing as the strong image of her first mate shatters in front of her, she only spreads out her fingers and moves her thumb in circles on his side. She leans her head on top of his as his sobs shake his body. But all too soon he pulls away wiping the tears off his face with a deep breath.
For awhile they stay together in silence, watching the ripples in the water before Uma stands up. "We've got some people who want to talk to you" she says holding her hand out for him.
By the looks of things Harry isn't any more comfortable being in Mal and Evie's room than Uma was herself. Of course, he is in some form of interrogation as he sits in the chair Uma had sat in, while she sits in one which she had pulled up next to him. One of his legs is pulled up to his chest, serving to push him further back into the chair as if he would be able to disappear through it. The scene looks remarkably like a parent meeting with the school principle, except no one had done anything wrong.
"It's just a theory" Uma concludes a conversation, looking over at Harry who hadn't been paying attention and had missed all the words that were said.
"Even still, we'll get Fairy Godmother to check" Evie says as she looks at both Uma and Harry. "She'll be able to confirm it for you."
Uma nods her head in thanks, while Harry remains still and unmoving.
"I have to meet with her about the royal gala plans later, I'll ask about a time for you to go see her" Evie continues as Uma and Harry get up to leave. "I'll let you know when."
Walking down the hallway they are only steps away from the door when they hear Mal call out Harry's name from behind them. Stopping in their tracks, Uma gives Harry a look and nods her head in the direction she's going before turning and walking away.
"Harry" Mal repeats as she makes her way towards him now standing alone. He turns toward her as she stops in front of him.
"Even if it is…" she trails off not wanting to utter the word 'dyscalculia' as if it would curse him into an early diagnosis, and she also figures that he wouldn't want to hear it. She takes a breath before trying again. "Even if it is, they won't send you back. Ben won't allow it" Mal shakes her head. "No one here knows the Isle like we do, but they know enough to not send anyone back. Especially for reasons beyond their control."
At the conclusion of her sentence she has nothing else to say and neither does he. Her eyes find his and she fixes him with a look of promise, to which he nods before they go their separate ways.
The heel of Uma's boot taps nervously on the tile floor beneath the bench she sits on. Through the wall she knows Fairy Godmother sits with Harry running the diagnostic. Even though she sits outside, she hadn't offered to go in with him. This was something that she knew he would want to do alone.
It seemed like an eternity waiting out in the empty hallway, although Fairy Godmother had told them it would only be a matter of minutes. Uma wishes she was able to just wave her magic wand and get the process over and done with, but spells like that are frowned upon in Auradon. The brain is too fragile of a subject to perform magic on.
At long last Uma hears the sound of a door handle click next to her, she springs off the bench and turns around to face Harry as he closes the door behind him. He says nothing as he turns to her, the look in his eyes gives her all the confirmation she needs, though he doesn't look upset.
She doesn't say anything either as they turn to head back the dorms down the hallway, her hand slipping onto his.
The next time Harry is handed back his maths test, he's not fixed with a disappointed look from Fairy Godmother. Instead she gives him a small smile as she walks past him, placing the paper on his desk, no detention slip attached.
Uma completely ignoring the rule for all class members to remain seated, gets out of her chair and steps behind him to look over his shoulder. A smile spreads over both their faces as they see the C+ written in the corner.