15 | OFFICIAL MEETINGS

WINTER made her way to where Ben was speaking with Harry, Uma, and Gil. A small group of people followed behind her, all of them VKs who she was meant to be showing to their dorms.

"Is everyone ready?" Winter did not hesitate to interrupt Ben as she needed enough time to grab her work after this.

In order to do that, she would need to get this done as quickly as she could. The group of four turned to her, Ben nodding with a polite smile.

"Of course," he turned back to them, "Uma, Harry, Gil, I hope you have a great afternoon and I will see you later tonight,"

"Okay, bye!" Gil waved kindly making Winter tilt her head.

He seemed like a rather nice guy, especially seeing as he was from the Isle.

Winter stood with her hands folded behind her back, her posture straight. She had given herself a pep talk before this, making sure to steel herself up so that Harry Hook would no longer affect her. Or at least that was what she was going to be trying.

"Come along, everyone, the majority of you are in Adam Hall so that is where we will be stopping first, and then after we will make our way to the Morton Hall where the rest of us are," Winter stated, allowing her usual dryness to come forth in her words.

She hoped it may throw Harry off his game, but alas, she was heavily mistaken.

"Rest of us, aye?" Harry Hook had somehow managed to walk directly in line with her as opposed to behind her like everyone else. "I don't suppose that means yer room be in Morton Hall, would it?" The pirate smirked causing Winter to quicken her pace, only for Harry to easily match it.

Who was she kidding, she would never be able to outwalk Harry Hook.

"Yes," Winter said bluntly, "that would also be my assigned dorm hall."

Just stay emotionless, let nothing free.

Despite her inner thought, Winter was grabbing the strap of her satchel nervously, something that did not escape Harry's keen eye, it made his smirk widen.

"Would that hall be mine as well?"

Yes.

But Winter did not want to admit that, she did not want him to know she had memorized exactly which dorm he was to be sharing with Uma and Gil. It was because of that that Winter brought the paper in front of her face, biting her lip and pretending to look it over.

"Yes, that would is your dorm building as well," Winter was short with her answer, doing exactly as she knew how to do best.

Stop any form of conversation from happening. Unfortunately, she had also never come across someone quite as persistent as Harry Hook.

"Oh, I see, ye is goin' to be a stubborn little thing now, are ya' duckling?" Winter shivered at his words, but she made it a point to only raise a brow—causing him laugh. "We shall see how long it take till I break ya." His words sounded like a promise more than anything and it made Winter's breath catch in her throat.

She stumbled a bit in surprise which made Harry reach out and steady her. Winter had never been happier to be wearing long sleeves, she could only imagine having Harry's hands actually on her skin. The thought itself scared her, there was a reason she always wore gloves in Auradon.

"Already fallin' for me, lass?" Winter huffed, the group coming to the Adam Hall just at that second.

Quickly she opened the doors, leading the group inside. Uma suddenly pulled Harry back and away from Winter's side.

"Follow me, everyone, once we get to your assigned room, I will give you your key!" Winter announced, walking through the first floor and handing everyone their key as she led them to their assigned rooms.

Thankfully, no one was above the first floor, so she would not need to embarrass herself by huffing and puffing her way up the stairs. However, the portion of people left behind her were all located on the second and third floor the Morton Hall, meaning she would still embarrass herself.

Great.

Uma kept Harry on what seemed to be a tight leash causing Winter to smile lightly. He had tried sneaking his way up to her multiple times as Winter led the rest of them to the Morton Hall, but Uma intercepted him every time.

It was actually quite amusing to watch.

It was not until Harry, Uma, and Gil were the last people left that Winter had begun taking them to their room. Their room which was exactly five doors down from her own, she had counted as she passed her own dorm room. Though she made sure to give the three no indication that was her dorm.

"You alright, duckling, sound like you've run a mile..." Harry snickered as Winter glared at him, still catching her breath from going up three flights of stairs and taking everybody everywhere.

Now that Uma, Harry, and Gil were the only three left, there was not much Uma could do to keep Harry away. Winter ignored Harry's previous words, coming to a stop in front of their dorm room.

"Uma," Winter handed Uma a golden key. Uma examined the key, looking as though she could not believe what she was seeing.

"Is this real gold?" She questioned with something akin to shock.

"Yeah," she shrugged, not missing the greedy look that went through all three sets of eyes, "but you'll need to give the keys back once you graduate, and seeing as it is the room key, you won't be able to sell it or anything like that..." Uma, Gil, and Harry gave Winter unimpressed looks causing her smile sheepishly.

Yeah, maybe it did sound as though she thought they were trying to steal their own keys.

"Gil," she handed Gil one of the keys, awkwardly moving on with the subject.

"And," a small smirk came to Winter's face as she remembered exactly what she had read Harry's full name to be on the page, "Harold."

Uma actually cracked a grin while Gil burst out laughing. Harry glared, shaking a finger at her.

"Well played lassie, but never call me that again, it's Harry and that is it."

Uma was shaking her head with a few laughs while unlocking the bedroom door and opening it.

"Oysters," she muttered, her eyes widening in shock as what was presented to her.

Harry and Gil held similar looks, all of them overwhelmed. To Winter, it looked like any other dorm room, maybe a little bigger than average as there were three beds, but still a normal dorm room.

"Is something wrong with it? I can talk to—" Winter started with concern, her voice wavering toward panic.

"Wrong with it?" Harry looked to her as though she was insane. "Duckling, this be the biggest room I think I've ever seen..." he muttered, slowly following Gil and Uma in walking into their room.

"Oh," Winter's eyes were wide, the girl feeling bad.

Things were not good on the Isle, and their reactions only proved just how much about Auradon Winter and everyone else here took for granted.

"Harry, feel the bed, it's so comfortable!" Gil laughed while laying on his a bed he just proclaimed as his own.

Winter decided then that she would give them their space to settle in. Their bags, which were only a few, had been placed in the corner of the room.

"I will leave you guys to it, and I'll see you at dinner for your schedules," Winter explained while backing out of the room, Harry was the only one to acknowledge her with a nod from his place on the bed.

Now that Winter truly looked at them all, they looked utterly exhausted. Biting her lip, Winter left closing the door behind her. She paused outside their door and for a second, she debated on whether she should go back in.

However, she shook her head labeling it off as ridiculous and walked away from the door. Her own room was only a few feet away after all.

——————

Like a lot of school nights, Winter skipped dinner in favor of doing her work. She had managed to visit every single one of her teachers and pick up her classwork for the week early, along with that she stopped by the library and checked out a few books she thought may help her with a few of the classes.

Because this was only the first week, most of the assignments were the simple but ones that Winter especially hated. She did not understand why the teachers all wanted a get-to-know-you page, it was not like they were actually going to read them.

Winter would rather just dive head-first into her real schoolwork.

Nevertheless, Winter finished all the assignments for all eight classes of the week in the span of two hours. She had skipped dinner just to finish off her Grammar collage.

It was only as Winter was on her way to the dining hall to get started on signing the new VKs up for classes did she realize she had not eaten anything all day. Her stomach growled making her falter, Winter's eyebrows pinching together in pain.

Sighing, she continued on her way, hoping that there would still be some type of food left out in the dining hall. Her prayers were answered when she stepped into the dining hall only for a snack table to be the first thing to greet her.

The dining hall was filled with the new VKs, all of them sitting at tables. Mal, Evie, Carlos, Jay, Jane, and Ben were setting up booths for them to get started on signing people up for classes.

It was loud in the dining hall everyone's voices bouncing around. As she passed the snack table, Winter took a package of pretzels intending for that to be her dinner. It was no full meal, especially with the ones she had grown used to while at home during the summer, but it was still something.

Winter knew it would not take her too long to grow used to eating less once again.

As she passed by the tables, each holding their own group of new VKs, she noticed Harry, Uma, and Gil sitting with more pirates at a table toward the front. Gil caught her eye and gave her a large grin with a wave.

Winter waved back, not wanting to be rude and passed by the table to get to the booths. Uma nudged Harry earning his attention away from stuffing his face a plate full of mash potatoes and fish. The buffet of food which had been set-up was amazing to everyone from the Isle. None of them had ever ate so much in their lives, and the food itself tasted as though it came from the Gods.

There was no rot or stank on it, just pure delicious food.

Harry decided to make himself one last plate before they took the food away for the night. When they heard that the back-to-school buffet tomorrow was supposed to be even bigger and better, Harry nearly fainted. Apparently they got served breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

Back on the Isle, they were lucky if school even felt like serving them lunch. And it was definitely not all you can, the good ran out faster than the blink of an eye.

Harry hummed looking at his captain, swallowing the food in his mouth. Uma rolled her eyes but motioned toward Winter with her head. Uma and Harry were best friends, and Uma knew Harry better than anyone else.

Uma knew that whatever it was Harry had for Winter was something he had never before felt. And honestly, Uma was happy for him.

Looking toward where she was motioning, Harry just managed to catch Winter's figure passing their table and heading for one of the booths. He smirked, watching as Evie directed the brunette to where her booth was to be held.

However, he frowned a second later wondering just where she had been for dinner. He saw a bunch of people, including her wild friend Jonah, but not Winter.

"Thanks, Evie," Winter smiled as she sat down at the booth she was directed to.

"Winter, where were you at dinner?" Evie frowned suddenly. "We were all looking for you!"

"Oh, I was finishing off my assignments for the week," she nervously laughed, finishing off her bag of pretzels.

Evie frowned even further when she saw the empty bag, realizing that was supposed to be Winter's dinner.

"You already finished your assignments? Class hasn't even started." Evie rose a brow. "Nevermind that, you cannot keep skipping meals Winter, it's not healthy!"

Winter shrugged, showing her empty bag of pretzels. "Uhm, I have this!"

Evie scoffed, ripping the bag out of her grasp. "This does not count as a meal, seriously Winter, I'm concerned..."

Winter bit her lip, about to reply before Ben's voice rang out.

"Everyone is now free to come to any booth, please pick the one with the shortest line, and begin making your schedules!"

"We are so not finished with this conversation," Evie warned before stalking off to her own booth, throwing the empty bag of pretzels in the trash on her way.

Winter sighed before her attention was taken to a VK approaching her booth with an almost hesitant look drawn on their face. Smiling in a friendly manner, Winter grabbed her pen and took one of the empty schedule papers.

"Hi," Winter gave a grin that she hoped made the girl feel at ease, "can I get your name?"

For the next hour and a half, Winter showed multiple VK kids the different classes that Auradon Prep had to offer and signed them up. It was finally dwindling down to the last few people, something that made Winter sigh in relief.

It had been a really long day.

"Hi," Winter said without looking up, putting her signature on a new blank schedule paper, "can I get your name?"

"Harry Hook, duckling," Winter stiffened at the voice, looking up with wide eyes and meeting the gaze of Harry Hook who sat across from her at the booth, a smirk adorning his face.

Winter paused briefly, before slowly scribbling his name down in near-perfect calligraphy.

"Alright, Harry," Winter started, "what classes were you in at your last school?"

Harry seemed to ponder a second before shrugging. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Winter rose a brow as though she did not believe his words.

Even the mountain of muscle twins who were Gil's brothers (both of which were named Gaston mind you) had known their classes. And they weren't the sharpest crayons in the box.

Harry smirked, leaning forward and placing his head on his hands. He was not wearing his hook, something that Winter was grateful for as it was against the rules to wear it.

"No, duckling, I can't seem to remember, I only showed up to class about once a week anyway..." he was smiling in an almost condescending manner, Winter's mouth gaping open. "Close yer mouth, lovely, or ye will catch flies."

Winter's jaw snapped shut, but she was still stuck on the fact that he had attended school one day out of the week. "You didn't go to class more than once a week—what school did you go to?"

Harry appeared proud that he made Winter so shocked.

"Serpent Prep, lassie,"

"Not Dragon Hall?" Winter had remembered the multiple times Evie and Mal spoke of their old school.

Harry adorned a disgusted look on his face, "Absolutely not! Dragon Hall is for losers!"

Winter snickered lightly at his words, finding it amusing how Harry still had so much school pride even though he barely attended classes.

"Hmm, well shift that school pride to here, because Auradon Prep rivals Dynasty Academy..."

"Dynasty Academy, huh?" Harry was tapping his fingers against the table, tilting his head at Winter. "Where is that, duckling?" Winter both loved and hated the nickname.

"A few hours away, the Genie is the Headmaster there," Winter informed him, "Plus, the other royal students like Merida's son, Aladdin and Jasmine's kids — Jay actually met their son on the tourney field last year and now they're friends," Winter said without really thinking causing Harry to look surprised.

"Really?" His accent got thicker, "Jay is friends with his dad's archenemies' son?"

"I know, it's shocking," Winter laughed lightly, Harry chuckling himself.

Soon Winter realized what she was doing and quickly cleared her throat, deciding to get back on track.

"Anyway, just so you know, you can't skip class as you did on the Isle..." Winter stated earning a scoff from Harry.

"Of course not, I would not dream of it," his words were extremely sarcastic making Winter look at him questionably.

However, she kept on. "Well, let's start you off with the core subjects..." Winter tapped her pen on the table, bringing her gaze up to meet Harry's blue irises.

His dark hair was messy making Winter want to fix it up. Harry noticed her gaze and smirked.

"Like what ye see, duckling?" He leaned back while crossing his arms.

Winter scowled and narrowed her eyes at the smug expression on the pirate's face.

"I'm thinking Basic Chivalry will be a good first period for you," Harry lost his smug expression in an instant as Winter wrote down his first hour.

"What! No!"

"Too late, how about grammar for second period?" Winter wrote it down without waiting for his answer.

"Are ye in that class?"

Winter's eyes widened when she realized that she was, and she quickly got the eraser out.

"Shoot, yeah I am," she was about to erase him being in second-hour grammar before Harry intercepted her.

He held onto her gloved wrist, Winter shivering at the feel of his large hand grabbing her. He wore his own pair of leather gloves, and Winter could feel the roughness through the satin silk.

Flashing her a smile, Harry leaned closer causing Winter's face to go pink. He delicately brushed his other hand down her cheek before speaking in a voice so light that Winter figured he may as well have been whispering.

"Keep me in tha' class,"

Winter slowly nodded, finding she was unable to fight him.

It was his schedule, after all. Harry did not move away for a few seconds, Winter quickly pulling her hand free of his grip as her heart started speeding up, the girl quickly looking back down at the schedule.

Harry laughed at her flustered state, once again resting his head on his hands in an almost mocking manner.

"I didn't see ye at dinner, duckling, where were ye?" Winter ignored him, looking at the two history classes she could put him in.

A pit formed in her stomach when she realized the history he would probably want, the same one that she also happened to be in.

"Which history do you want? Magical History of History of Woodsmen and Pirates?"

Winter silently prayed he would pick the first one, but she was not dumb.

"Is that really a question, Winter?" Goosebumps appeared on her arms at the sound of her name through that accent.

"Yes, Harold, I take it that means you want Magical History then?"

Harry growled at the sound of his full name: nobody freaking called him that. Even so, as much as he hated it, he also could not deny how alluring it sounded coming from Winter's lips.

"Call me that again, duckling, and I may just need to hook ye," Harry would never actually, but he found the way Winter's eyes widened at the threat amusing.

"Magical History it is then,"

Okay, Harry certainly was not expecting that reply.

"No!" He grunted. "The other one." He moved his head up, leaning back in his chair once again.

Winter's shoulders slumped as she sighed, but she put the class he wanted down. Great, now they shared two classes together.

"Ye wouldn't happen to be in that one too?"

"Yes, I am," Winter answered in a dry tone causing Harry to throw his head back in loud laughter.

This was going way better than he expected.

A few looks were sent their way at Harry's laughter, Evie smiling at the pair from her spot at her own booth.

Uma, on the other hand, rose a brow when she saw the annoyed look on Winter's face and her first-mate laughing.

"They are going to drive each other insane," Mal stated from where she was across from Uma, helping the sea girl with planning her schedule.

After the whole Audrey thing, Mal and Uma were on the path to an incredibly strong friendship.

"Took the words right out of my mouth, girl," Uma snickered while turning back around to continue with her own schedule.

On their left, Jay and Gil had long since finished Gil's schedule, but Jay was now convincing Gil to tryout for the Tourney team. Jay knew that Gil would be one hell of a player and that they could really use him. Maybe Gil could even get his twin brothers—both named Gaston—to tryout as well.

If they wanted any chance at beating Dynasty Academy in the playoffs this year, the extra muscle would be great.

Dynasty had beaten them last year and Jay was not happy about it. Aziz, Aladdin and Jasmine's son, still gave him hell about it.

"Yeah, for sure dude, sounds awesome," Gil nodded with a bright smile, earning one from Jay as well.

"Sweet bro, and hey," Jay cast a glance at Harry who was still laughing.

While Jay was sure Harry would be great at Tourney too, he had a feeling the pirate was much better suited for the Swords and Shields team. Lonnie was in the process of creating an all-girls team and the boys' team was three members short as the seniors from last year graduated.

"You might want to talk to Harry about him joining the Swords and Shields team, I think it'd suit him." Jay may end up talking to Harry himself about it one day, but for now, Jay thought it was better that Gil brought it up.

"Yeah," Gil nodded, casting a fleeting glance at one of his best mates, "I think you're right."

On the other side of the room, Winter was ready to slam her head on the desk as Harry was still laughing at her.

"Class four, Harold," the name once again made Harry scowl, his laugh dropping.

"It's just Harry—"

"—I think it better be Safety Rules for the Internet!"

"Oh, come on!" Harry groaned, running a hand down his face. "Safety Rules for the Internet, really?"

"Stop your crying—" Winter rolled her eyes.

"I don't cry—!"

"Okay, Physics, Chemistry, or Biology..." Winter cut him off, looking to him with curious eyes.

It was then that Winter noticed even sitting down, Harry was a good length taller than herself.

"Which one are you in, lass?" Harry smirked as Winter's face dropped.

As much as she did not want to answer, Winter was too nice not to. "Biology of the human body."

"Which period?" His grin was growing as Winter huffed but answered.

"Period five..."

Harry looked victorious, moving his hand up and down.

"Well, duckling, go ahead and sign me up for that class," Winter silently did as he said, shaking her head the whole time.

"Period six, you need a math class so—"

Harry dramatically groaned, his least favorite class of all time being math.

"Ye people have math class here?"

"What—?" Winter coughed. "You mean to tell me they did not teach math on the Isle?" Winter was concerned as Harry rolled his eyes.

"Didn't need to, it was incorporated in the other subjects," Winter wondered what the other subjects were, but decided not to ask. "In that case, duckling, sign me up for the easiest math here."

Winter herself was in Algebra, but she felt as though Geometry was much easier. Winter was fine at math, though it was not her favorite subject, she still excelled in it as she did with any other class.

"Geometry it is then."

"That's the easiest math here?" Harry said as though he did not believe her.

"I can put you in pre-calculus..." Winter trailed off, her tone serious.

Harry huffed. "Point taken,"

Winter gave a hint of a smile, before moving on, "You need to take a Remedial Goodness class, so that is your period seven."

Harry did not say anything, but he did tilt his head. "Never answered my question from earlier, why weren't you at dinner?"

"I think you would enjoy ending the day with Extreme Physical Activities, how does that sound?" Harry waved at her as though saying to go through with it.

"Fine, whatever, but again, yer avoiding me question."

Winter faltered as she looked to place him in open study hall times.

"I was doing classwork for the week," Winter explained causing Harry to furrow his brows in confusion.

"Duckling, classes haven't even started yet..." Harry trailed off in a confused manner.

"I got my work early, Harold," Winter abruptly stood up, handing him his complete schedule.

There was no one else left who needed their schedules—Uma and Gil were finished, both of them talking to the old VKs while waiting for Harry to finish.

Winter took note of the way Uma and Mal were laughing together. They were on a good road together.

"I like to stay on top of my work," Winter continued, "You have study hall on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:00-3:00 in the afternoon."

Harry was not able to say anything more as Winter almost sprinted away, the pirate turning and watching her go with a smirk.

"I'll see ya soon, my little duckling," he murmured.