Dares and Dysfunctionality

Chapter Four: Surprise

It broke a little part of Harry, seeing Mal run with tears in her eyes towards the Dorm. Something had happened, and he wanted to know what. He pushed himself off of the wall he'd been leaning on and started marching to the castle.

It didn't take long to find what he was looking for. The gigantic door of the Kings study towered above him but he didn't hesitate. He barged right on. Ben jumped when Harry abruptly opened the doors. He stood up, as in a fight stance, and stared at Harry. When he realised it was just Harry, he brushed himself off and sat again.

"You startled me," he smiled. "Can I help you with anything?"

Harry didn't say anything, he just glared angrily at Ben. 

"Harry?" Ben questioned. Quiet VK's were not usual. Just because they were nicer in Auradon didn't mean that they left all their villainous tendencies. 

"What did you do to her?" Harry straight up yelled, his face red in anger. "She left here crying!" Now that Harry had a chance to really look at him, he noticed that Ben seemed a little red under his eyes. "Have you cried?" He inquired, his brows knit together.

"I- I didn't do anything," Ben sighed. Harry looked at Ben tiredly.

"Ye have to have done something," Harry exclaimed. "She's a god damned villain kid! She doesn't cry for nothing." Ben scratched his neck.

"She came in here and told me that she didn't have the energy to be with me," he said quietly. "I just don't understand, what did I do?" 

Harry had to keep himself from laughing. Did thing ignorant arse really not know what he'd been doing to the poor fairy. Wow.

"What's so funny?" Ben snapped and glared at Harry.

"Ye really don't know what you've been doing?" Harry snickered bitterly. "The forgetting, the prioritizing work over your girl?"

Ben was speechless. He hadn't meant to do that. He just had a lot to do, that's all. He and Mal had had plenty of meetings together, right? Now that he thought about it though, the last time he'd really talked to her was almost a four days ago. 

"I did, didn't I." He breathed.

Harry shook his head. What a fool for a king. He turned and walked out of the room, leaving Ben sunken into his chair and cursing himself out. 

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Harry had a plan. He was going to give Mal and, possibly but preferably not, Evie down in their Dorm. He knew he had to act quickly, he'd heard that they were going to show the place to everyone in one week, so no later than that.

He was currently sitting in one of the larger trees on campus and whistling while Gil was climping around above him, making volts and tricks like the hyper squirrel that he was. They had skipped class to do something fun instead, but hadn't come up with anything fun to do, so they'd ended up here. 

"You gonna tell her, mate?" Gil was suddenly right beside him. Harry hadn't even noticed that he'd stopped playing. He huffed at Gil's question.

"O' course I am," Harry spit. "Now's just not the time."

"When is the time then? When she's pregnant with Ben's baby?"

Harry quickly took of his shoe and threw it at him. "Don't worry," he gritted. "I'll do it." He jumped down from the tree and started walking towards the Dorm entrance. He knew that no one would be there because they all had classes now. 

"Hey, where are you going?" Gil yelled.

"To execute a plan." He replied.

"Anything to do with certain feelings for Mal?"

"Not necessarily." 

And then he was out of hearing of Gil. He rounded the corner and opened the wooden door to the basement. It had been a while since he was here last time and the stairs were steeper than he'd remembered, so he almost fell down. Luckily, he had killed reflexes from his time on the isle.

It was quiet in the room. A little chilly, too, but nothing he couldn't bare. He found a lighter in the top drawer and lit the lanterns, both for light and heat. He knew he wouldn't have to wait long until he'd hear footsteps since class ended at 1:50 and it had been 1:42 when he'd left Gil, but in the quiet those minutes felt like hours.

When he finally heard the sound of steps on the stairs above him, he hurried to blow out the candles. He sat down on the sofa and leaned back. Not many moments later the wall opened up and Mal stepped in.

She lit the lanterns with a simple spell and walked through the room without noticing him. 

First when the light spread in the dark room and his figure was visible she saw him. She yelped and almost fell to the floor, and Harry couldn't keep himself from laughing.

"What the hell?" She yelled when she'd regained her balance. "How are you here? Who told you about this place?" 

Harry just grinned. "Oh, please," he exclaimed, overdramatically of course. "I've know about your secret place for weeks." 

Mal reddend. This was her and Evie's place until she let anyone in here, and yet here the smug bastard was, sitting in the old sofa, laughing at her like some sort of prince. She stomped closer to him, this was so not what she needed right now.

"I want you to leave, I am so not in the mood." She stated, anger bubbling in her like lava. 

Harry's smug smile disappeared and was replaced with a face of concern. That was new, Mal thought and momentarily forgetting her rage.

"Look, I may not be the first person you'd want to talk to," he muttered. "But if you need someone to cheer you up, I am the person you should talk to. I talked to Ben. He's a prick and I think you made the right choice." 

Tears were welling up in Mals eyes. She really didn't want to talk about Ben right now, but Harry's voice was comforting and suddenly, she felt safe. She made decision, and then she was hugging him. She buried her face in his neck. 

Harry was clearly surprised. It took him a moment until he hugged back. He could get used to this, he thought before hitting himself in his head. 

"Thanks," she whispered. 

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Thanks for reading! It's been a while but I hope that's okay. I do sadly not own any characters of this fic. Have a great live.