Note: I redid stuff, just this Chapter so far, but I am planning to edit/make bigger all the other chapters as well. Hope you like the changes but I really had to fix some, you know, times and continuity issues.

The sun was just beginning to peek over the distant mountains as Jack was spreading some late spring frost over the town and forest in a rather picturesque area of the Scottish countryside. The large magical castle receiving a heavy dose of the delicate ice patterns. He had known about Hogwarts for centuries, since its creation in fact, he was older than the castle after all. But in the past couple of centuries he had never really had cause to go there, in a castle that size snow days didn't really apply. So, having spent a fruitful century and a half learning the magic they had on offer in the early years of the school, he tended to keep his distance. That was not to say he did not pay attention to the place. Jack made a point of checking up every decade or so to see what new discoveries had been made, and for the longest time, exploring the magical corridors had been his favourite pass time.

He had been shocked to find out that the great 'Battle of Hogwarts' had taken place while he was in the other hemisphere. Though he thought that some of the changes made to the staff were improvements, the little jinx on the Defense Against the Dark Arts job keeping fresh faces appearing, the current potions Professor needed to lighten up though. Jack loved the magical community, their news was always far more fascinating than that of 'muggles', the appearance of Harry Potter, for example, had reached his ears.

Still, Jack could think of one particular rabbit that would not be pleased with the cold so late in the season, but the country had been in need of an end of spring cold snap. Drifting through the trees of the 'Forbidden Forest' Jack smiled, the creatures in the forest fascinated him. He had even made quite good friends with the local wolf-pack. Jack as one of nature's Four Seasons, was a spirit that had always been able to talk with animals, even plants to a certain degree. - A fact that irritated Bunnymund endlessly, for although he could understand the life in the Warren and was closer to the earth than most, he had difficulty understanding the plants and animals on the surface - Jack had to tuck them all in for the winter after all, so it was natural he could communicate with them. There was not a being in the forest that he had to be afraid of.

Or at least, that was what he thought.

Then the black slime had appeared. It covered only a small portion of the vegetation, but enough to be noticeable from the air. It wasn't Pitch, Jack could tell that much. It wasn't the Boogeyman's style, there was too little gloating. Unable to sense any ill will coming from the substance, and always on the lookout for new and interesting things to add to his ever growing collection of the fascinating, Jack landed at a cautious distance.

Approaching on silent feet, so as not to startle...whatever it was, Jack's eyes narrowed in the slowly lightening shadows. Trying to make more detail from the thick sludge covering the leaves.

"What are you." The query was no louder than a breath, but it was enough.

The black oily substance shifting and sliding over the rotting vegetation on the forest's floor towards the unfortunate Guardian. But Jack was fast, just beating the slime and cutting through the canopy of the trees before the ooze could block the escape.

The forest had been a peaceful place to Jack. Granted, it harboured some creepy-ass monsters, - how the Acromantula got there he would never know - but this was something new. It wasn't your average forest dweller that was happy minding it's own business. Jack could not talk with this... this thing, because whatever it was, it wasn't fully sentient. What's more, this something was far too close to the school and its grounds for Jack to be comfortable, nothing went that close to a centre of magic without some purpose.

Even as Jack watched, the smudge on the canopy slid over and through the undergrowth. Leaving what looked like acid burns in it's wake. The evil looking greenish slime, like a snail trail, marking it's passage with a smell of decomposing vegetation. Now a large swathe of once bustling forest was silent, any animals had either fled or died on contact with the black substance.

If it had been going in any other direction Jack may have just left it be. But it was going, very definitely towards the ancient castle, Hogwarts.

Following it Jack thought through his options, not that there were many, especially when he didn't even know what the thing was. There wasn't time to find any of the other Guardian's, it was early morning too late to find Sandy or Tooth. There was no way that Jack could make it to the Warren or Pole in time. That left only one practical solution to the Spirit of Winter's mind. Freeze it.

It was actually quite effective, Jack had reduced the great spreading mounds of gundge into a more manageable foe. Going in for closer quarters Jack noticed for the first time that there was something the in the centre of the slime, seeming to control it. As much as he wanted to say that the figure was trapped the movements of the creature didn't seem friendly, and he couldn't sense any presence above the now, actively malevolent, ooze.

Whatever was in the heart of the slime, was not friendly.

And it was fast, Jack had learnt to keep his distance when a tentacle had sprouted from the oily substance wrapping around his ankle, burning his skin. Although being immortal meant that it was very difficult to kill Jack, he could still feel the pain.

He had been favouring his right leg since. Staying to the air where he could, the trees and brush making it difficult to keep the monster in sight.

Within sight of the castle the ooze and the being that controlled it stopped, and vanished. It was as though the ground had sucked it in, giving it a place to hide beneath the forest floor.

This was not good, in fact it was very not good. He had to tell the other Guardians, something had to be done. The kids in that school were not safe. At least with the end of spring, the school year did not have long before the children went home.

Jack speed off towards the North Pole, limping in the air as his burnt ankle twinged.