((It's a little late, but RIP Cameron Boyce))

"Alright, I've got a plan." Uma said, as Harry, Quinn and Dante sat around her, listening. It had been three days since Harry's fake date with Jane, and the four VKs kept quiet so as to not draw any attention to themselves. They went to school, they played nice, they didn't steal anything or set anything on fire.

"I've been going through my mother's spell book for hours, and I found the spell we need." She laid the book down, and showed everyone an image of a heart inside of a bottle. "There's actually two, but the other one requires my mother's necklace, and I can't exactly ask the museum to lend it to me." Uma would have loved to wear Ursula's seashell necklace and feel the power of a true sea witch, but it was locked up tight in the Auradonian History Museum.

"Well, we could just break in and steal it." Harry suggested. "Quinn and I could distract the guards while Dante burns a hole through the security cameras. Then you snatch the necklace, and boom, our parents rule the world." It seemed pretty cut and dry to him.

"And how exactly are the two of us going to distract the multiple armed guards King Beastly added to the museum last week?" Quinn smacked Harry upside the head. King Adam had heard about the break in, and decided to up security. There were criminals in Auradon, but none of them had ever been brave (or stupid) enough to try and steal the magic wand before. And he still didn't trust the VKs.

"This is why I make the plans." Uma rolled her eyes. "This love potion just needs a few ingredients. Cinnamon, cardamom, rose petals, a lock of my hair... We can find them in the school's kitchen." She looked over at Dante, who was obviously not paying attention. He had been staring at the roses in Quinn's flowers the entire time, his expression almost completely blank.

"You still alive?" Uma snapped her fingers, finally getting the demigod's attention. "Did you hear anything I just said, Sparky?" Dante's hair changed to a much lighter shade of blue, the same color as the blush on his face.

"I got the gist of it, Squid Head." He replied, sticking out his tongue. "Blah blah love potion blah blah armed guards." He didn't want the others to know that he was trying to write a love song. Dante had conflicting feelings about setting the villains free. On the one hand, Hades had promised him freedom to do whatever he wanted, which was the one thing Dante had always wanted. On the other, Jafar would probably want Aziz and Amyra as slaves when he was finished tormenting Aladdin and Jasmine, and Dante had grown very fond of the Arabian prince.

"Let's get to the kitchen."

0-0-0

Harry, Quinn, Uma and Dante huddled around a table in the middle of Auradon Prep's kitchen, wanting Quinn stir the bowl full of cookie dough as Uma dropped in the ingredients one by one. Mrs. Potts usually left the door open after hours, in case some students got hungry and wanted to make themselves a late night snack. Thankfully, no one else had decided to use it that night.

"Alright, we hit a speed bump. It says we need a tear, and I never cry." Uma pursed her lips, looking at the last ingredient. She looked up at her three... friends? Minions? Coworkers? She wasn't quite sure how to describe her relationship with the other VKs.

"Let's just chop up some onions." Quinn shrugged, turning to look for the vegetables. Uma shook her head.

"It has to be a tear of true human sadness. And we can't afford to take any chances, so we're following it to the letter." The sea witch stopped for a moment to consider. "Dante and I are only half human, so it's got to be you or Harry."

"A tear's a tear." Harry said, not one for metaphors or poetry. He reached out for Quinn's arm, prepared to pinch her, but she slapped his hand away with a spoon, glaring at him.

"That's not true, Harry! They both have antibodies and enzymes, but an emotional tear has more protein-based hormones than a reflex tear." The raven haired girl explained, surprising all of her companions. "What?"

"Look at you, talking science and skatá." Dante chuckled, impressed that Quinn actually remembered something from their biology class. He still wasn't sure she could actually read, which said something about both of them.

"I knew that..." Harry lied, not wanting to seem dumb in front of the others.

"Hey, what are you four doing here?" The villains' squabbling was interrupted by a fifth voice, one they hadn't heard in a while. "Oh, are you making cookies? Those are the best!" It was Amyra, Aladdin and Jasmine's perky daughter.

"Um... hi." All four of them said in unison, frantically trying to act normal and failing miserably. Uma hid the spell book behind her back, Harry and Dante put on their worst fake smiles, and Quinn froze up, blushing redder than her dress.

Amyra, either not able to read the room or choosing to ignore it, stuck a finger in the potion/cookie dough and scooped some up, tasting it. "Not bad!" She stopped to think about something. "But it's missing something..."

"Like what?" Uma asked, wondering if an incomplete love potion would have any effects. She nudged Quinn's foot, shooting her a look that said "Do something".

"Tell us. please!" Quinn squeaked, much louder than necessary. Amyra smiled and opened a cupboard, pulling out a small, plastic bag and tossing it onto the table.

"Chocolate chips!" She said, opening it up and pouring a healthy amount into the batter. "Haven't you guys ever made cookies before? Or seen your moms make it for you? Like, when you're feeling sad, and they're fresh from the oven, with a big old glass of milk, and she just makes you laugh and puts everything into perspective and..."

The VKs didn't look as happy as Amyra expected. Quinn wasn't blushing anymore, and seemed confused. Harry, Dante and Uma just looked sad. They awkwardly stood there, their mouths shut and their faces saying everything. "Why are you guys looking at me like that?" The Agraban princess asked.

"Things are... different where we come from." Dante sighed, shuffling his feet. "Our mothers aren't exactly the nurturing type."

"I just thought... even villains loved their kids." A few tears started to roll down Amyra's bronze cheeks, and she sniffled. "Oh, how awful. I'm sorry."

Harry, acting quickly, wiped Amyra's tears and threw them into the cookie dough. "Yeah, it's a big bummer, now please stop before you make the rest of us cry." He was doing his best not to make things worse, and really didn't want to express any more emotion than he already had that night. "Thank you so much for stopping by and teaching us how to make cookies. Sweet dreams."

Amyra blinked a few times and stopped crying, managing to crack a smile. "I think you guys are nicer than everyone gives you credit for." She said, looking directly at Quinn, before turning around and leaving for her room. Once she was safely gone, Uma dropped a lock of her own hair into the bowl.

"Alright, let's get this into the oven. And none of us will ever mention this again. Agreed?"

"Agreed." The other three said in unison.

0-0-0

Ben had some time off, and found himself spending it staring at the ceiling in his bedroom. He grabbed the picture on his nightstand and sighed. It was him and Audrey on their first date, 4 years ago. The two of them had been friends since they were very small, but he wasn't sure when their feelings changed to romantic ones. Or when he stopped feeling that way about her.

"I can't just dump her for no reason..." Ben groaned, setting the picture down. He had been raised on stories of love at first sight, with Ana and Hans being the only real exception. But Audrey wasn't a bad person. She was sweet and friendly, if a bit shallow. Ben still wanted to be her friend, just not her boyfriend. "I need to write this down or something, so I don't hurt her feelings."

The prince opened his dresser drawer and pulled out some paper and a pen. He paused for a moment, then began writing a break-up speech. Hopefully it sounded natural...

0-0-0

The next day, Uma had wrapped up several love potion cookies, and was prepared to give them to Ben. She went about the school mostly unnoticed, as by now, the majority of students had stopped being afraid of the VKs. (They just shunned them instead.)

"Wait, Uma." Dante grabbed her arm and pulled her aside, wanting to talk directly to Uma for the first time in probably his entire life. "I have to ask. It's so nice here, why don't we just stay?"

Uma slapped his hand, furious that someone violated her personal space while knowing about her no-physical-contact rule. "Are you insane? After all they did to us? To our parents?" She took a deep breath and exhaled. "Dante, it's Auradon's fault that we spent the last 16 years locked on a trash island, eating terrible food and living with parents who couldn't care less about us. The Beast deserves what we're going to do to him."

Dante's expression and body language stiffened up, and he nodded. "Thanks, I needed that." He turned to walk away, snapping his fingers and igniting a potted plant along his way. Uma ignored him, focusing on making herself look unassuming. She made her way over to Ben's locker.

"So, I uh, was up late last night trying to think of what to say..." Ben was stammering, trying to tell Audrey that he wanted to end things between them and failing miserably. She had a dove on her shoulder, and a very confused look on her face.

"Hey, Ben, I hate to interrupt-" Uma said, before Ben immediately positioned her between him and Audrey, awkwardly ending the conversation. "I made you some cookies. Chocolate chips and everything." Audrey stared at her, having seen Uma mess up in Home Ec a few days ago.

"Oh, I, uh, I've got a big game. I don't eat before a big game. But thank you so, so much. Thank you. Next time." Ben stammered, not wanting to be rude, but also not wanting to try anything Uma cooked, after hearing about how she set water on fire.

Uma pouted, putting on her best sad face. "No, yeah, I completely understand. Don't trust anything offered by a villain kid." Feeling guilty, Ben shoved a cookie in his face and took a big bite. It was delicious at first, but there was a weird aftertaste. Something he couldn't describe... "How are they, Bennyboo?"

"They're good! They're great! Amazing!" Ben felt lightheaded. His eye color changed from brown to pink to green, then back to brown. "They're chewy and, and you know, they... is that walnuts? I love walnuts. I mean, uh, you know, the... The chocolate... The... the chocolate... The chocolate chips are... I'm sorry. Um... Uh, they're... They're warm and soft. And they're sweet..." He blinked several times, before shaking his head. "Say, Uma, are you a natural teal?"

Audrey lightly punched Ben in the arm, snapping him back to normal. "I gotta go." He said, turning around and running away. Audrey chased after him, wondering just what was in those cookies.

0-0-0

Back in her room, Uma was reading and re-reading the page of her spellbook containing the love potion. "What did we do wrong? Was I not supposed to bake it? Did we use too many rose petals? Did I need the blood of a virgin or something?" She groaned, frustrated to no end, and threw the book across the room.

Quinn screamed as it almost hit her, but decided to take a look when the book landed on her pillow. It was ancient, with tiny barnacles all over the cover and spine. The pages were slightly wet in some places, and there were notes written all over it in acid green ink, presumably by Ursula. "Um, Uma? I think I found something here." She said, staring at a single sentence written at the bottom of the page.

"It better be the answer I'm looking for, or I'm gonna-" Uma marched over, her braids having come undone during her frustration, and picked up Ursula's book. "Potion doesn't work if the victim is in love with someone else?!" She tossed her hands in the air and muttered every curse she could think of. "What kind of a stupid counterspell is that?!"

After several, honestly justified, minutes of raging, Uma calmed down and opened her journal, starting to jot down a new plan. "Okay, okay, we can deal with this." She muttered. "Quinn, tell the others we have a new objective: Get rid of Audrey."