Descendants 2 [H.S. & C.S.]

Chapter 4

I'm far from being a man of the court. It's only a matter of time before people see right through me.

Sunlight shone through the polished windows into Harry and Calum's from.

Calum had made himself at home. A bejeweled periodic table of the elements dominant a wall, and his workable hosted spoils of fabric, his sewing machine, an assortment of multisize boxes, colored pencil and pages off clothing designs he had drawn. Beside the workable, Calum's handmade dresses hung on a rack. One look at Calum's side of the room and it was clear fashion designing was his passion.

Harry's half of the room was much more of a zoo. The lizard in an aquarium tank on Harry's table didn't help matters. It bore a sign that said: don't feed my mum, for inside was none other than the evil Anne, who had been transformed at King Cole's coronation from a giant powerful to a puny green lizard. As the lizard sat on the mini-throne inside her aquarium, Harry stood on a fitting platform so Calum could fit his cotillion suit.

The blue-and-yellow garment, with its layers of tulle and darkly glinting gems, was crafted for a true queen. Calum yanked the dress tight in the binder and pinned it.

Harry squawked, "Calum, I cannot breathe."

Calum lifted Harry's arm. "Well, you can breathe after Cotillion." He smiled.

Harry let out a sarcastic laugh. "Yeah, well, I sincerely doubt that. I have like twenty more events directly behind it, and I can't even remember what a single one of them is right now." Harry looked longingly at his leather Isle of the Lost jacket, hanging on a book above the TV. He thought about when he had been rotten to the core—with his purple hair and jacket—and feared and respected by everyone on the Isle.

"Calum," Harry said in a distant way.

"Huh?" Calum held a measuring tape across Harry's suit.

"Do you wonder what we'd be doing right now if we were still on the Isle?" Asked Harry floated to his friend's hideouts there, where they had spent time plotting and planning, crafting mischievous schemes to cause serious trouble.

Calum laughed, not really paying attention to Harry's question. "That's funny," he said, turning. "Well, would ya look at who's on the TV?" He grabbed the remote, cranking up the volume, and listened to the television while studying some of his sketches.

Behind him, Harry sat down on a sea of yellow tulle on his canopy bed.

He and Calum watched an old clip playing on the screen. In it, Harry was sporting a beaded sheer suit won't a shawl and delicate gold headpiece. Zayn, in a cream colored suit and hat, and Gigi, in a long sheer turquoise dress, greeted Harry and King Cole. Servers placed a meal in the center of a room filled with cushions and candles. Zayn escorted Harry to his seat while Cole lead Gigi to hers. Zayn and Cole sat down across from each other, and a waitress uncovered a silver dish.

Harry picked up a piece of meat. He bit into it and gagged but covered it up with a quick smile. When no one was looking, Harry spit it into a napkin, which he stashed behind him, and beamed at his company. Watching the TV, Harry blanched.

"Six months ago, no one thought King Cole and his boy from the wrong side of the tracks would last." said the news reporter.

"Yeah, no kidding," Harry mumbled.

The news reporter continued. "I don't know his secret, but Harry is fitting in beautifully now!" Footage of Harry at the press conference earlier that day. He smiled and waved. "Harry must be counting down the days till the Royal Cotillion, where he will be officially become a man of the court."

Harry's eyes opened wide. Don't remind me, he thought. He scooted around his bed and took the etiquette book The Gentleman's Manners from his bedside table. Then he pulled his spell book from under his pillow, opened it, and inchanted: "Read it fast, at lightning speed, remember everything I need." He quickly turned the pages of The Gentleman's Manners and was able to magically absorb the book's facts.

Calum walked over to Harry. "Well, I know Harry's secret to fitting in, and Cole wouldn't like it one bit." He crosses his arms. "Haven't you guys had enough secrets between the two of you?"

Harry looked up from The Gentleman's Manners. "You saw what I was like before I started using the spell book, okay?" he said. "I was a complete disaster." He resumed flipping through the pages of the book.

"Well, personally, as your best friend, I strongly believe you should put this spell book the museum along with my mirror," said Calum. He was referring to the magic mirror Bradley Simpson had once given him so he could find and steal Becca's wand. Calum turned over a new leaf. No more wickedness. He grabbed Harry's spell book, and Harry pouted at Calum and then shut The Gentleman's Manners. "Don't give me that look," said Calum. "Put the pout away."

Harry frowned.

"You know I'm right," added Calum.

"Don't you ever miss just running wild and breaking all the rules?" Harry asked.

Calum grinned. "Like stealing, lying and fighting?"

Harry smiled dreamily at Calum's words. "Yeah!"

Calum's grin faded. "No!" he shouted, breaking Harry out of his fantasy.

"What?" Harry started.

"Why would we?" Calum laughed. "H, come here!" Calum took Harry's hand and led him off the bed and toward the TV. "L0ok at where we are! We're in Auradon! And we're Auradon boys now." Calum hazed at the screen, and his face broke into a smile.

A video showed Harry, dressed in a crystal encrusted suit, with Cole, who were a smart suit. They were seated at a table, covered by a white tablecloth, with strawberries in a dish and steaming caps of coffee. Cole fed a chocolate-covered strawberry to Harry. He then took a strawberry in his white-lace-glazed hand, dunked it onto molten chocolate, and fed it to Cole. He got chocolate on his face and helped him wipe it off, laughing happily. Cole dipped another strawberry in the chocolate and fed it to him. Harry took a bite, nodded, dreamily, and nestled his head in the crook of Cole's neck.

"And of course, there's Harry's wardrobe!" exclaimed the news reporter. "Auradon has never seen such a fresh, exciting look. Our hottest new designer, Calum, just keeps surprising us!"

"See? This is the land of opportunity!" Calum faced Harry. "We can be whatever we want to be here! So please, let's leave the past in the past okay? Besides, have you seen the shoes?" Calum lifted a pair of blue-and-gold high-top shoes off his wardrobe. "I mean, can we talk about the shoes?"

"Those are severe." Harry forced a little laugh.

The truth was Harry wasn't ready to leave his past behind. And he has never felt more distant from his best friend than he did at that moment.