I'll say it again: This is an AU Fem!Harry story with a Jack/FemHarry pairing. Expect OOC.
Love you guys! Enjoy!~ Also: My guest reviewers? Thank you so much! TTwTT
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Winter woke the next morning to her Aunt banging on her cupboard door yelling at her to "Hurry Up and Start Breakfast Girl!"
She scrambled to get up and obey the command. She really didn't want to deal with her Uncle and Cousin being denied Breakfast for any amount of time, because the wait would result in a smack and the day being spent in the Cupboard. Winter really wanted to go out in the thick snow she could see outside so she could skate and play and possibly find Jack, so messing up Breakfast was not an option.
She only delayed long enough to use the loo and wash her hands before rushing into the kitchen. She prepared the food with an expert's touch and a quick hand. She had been making the food in the house ever since she was old enough to understand the instructions her Aunt would give her and not hurt herself, because Petunia and Vernon really didn't want to explain where Winter would have gotten the injuries.
She placed all the food out on the table and turned to her Aunt. Winter said nothing and only watched her. Petunia looked over all the food carefully and when she found nothing wrong with the food she nodded once at Winter.
Winter quickly scrambled to make herself two pieces of toast and a glass of water before her Aunt changed her mind, or her Uncle decided she wouldn't get to eat for some imagined offense. She was quick to polish off the toast, and turned to her Aunt asking quietly "May I go outside Aunt Petunia?"
Petunia stared at her for a moment before nodding once. "Put on long pants and a long sleeved shirt so the neighbors don't talk." Petunia wouldn't turn down a chance to send the girl out of the house all day. That meant no…freakishness…in the house and Petunia was okay with that.
Winter nodded and ran towards her cupboard where she slipped on some of Dudley's old clothes on and she threw a threadbare jacket over that despite knowing she wouldn't need it since her magic kept her warm. As soon as she was presentable Winter rushed out into the snow with no shoes on. She was much more comfortable with no shoes since she could feel the Magic in the Earth much easier that way.
Winter headed for 'her' lake without delay. She hoped Jack would be there. She could feel his Magic very strongly in the snow around her so Winter knew he was still in the area or his Magic would have faded to a small amount that centered on the lake she frequented.
What Winter didn't know was Jack's Magic was attracted to her since she was someone the Magic knew believed in his wielder and could see and feel it. That was the reason Winter's Lake stayed frozen solid so long. Jack's Magic gathered there for her and kept the Lake frozen as long as it could until the Magic had to fade away to untraceable levels and Winter would wait until next winter to skate again.
Jack was still struggling to except that someone could see him.
By the time he had snapped out of his daze of surprise the girl had already left and Jack didn't know where she went.
He didn't even know her name.
Jack was planning to fix that immediately, so he made it snow enough to cause a Snow Day so the girl wouldn't have to go to school that morning, which was a Friday, leaving Jack with the Friday and the Weekend to find the girl. If Jack had been paying attention he would have noticed that his Magic was much easier to use than normal almost like it was jumping at the chance to help him meet the girl, but he wasn't so he didn't see it.
He had spent the previous night running her words and actions through his head in between making it snow harder. He spent the night switching emotions from painful, painful hope and disbelief. After all he had spent 297 years in isolation and to finally, after so many years, find someone that could see him? It was almost too good to be true.
Jack had almost convinced himself that it was all a dream a few times, but then he would remember her amazing dancing on the lake and he knew it couldn't have been a dream, because Jack would never have been able to come up with that, and he would go back to painful hope as he sat in the center of that lake and stared at the trees the girl had entered from last time.
His patience and hope were rewarded when the trees rustled and the girl stepped out into the open. She still had the windswept black shoulder length hair she still had those same bright emerald eyes, and was still barefoot despite the snow that reached her knees. The only change was her clothes which Jack noted were still too big for her and not really any help to her in this amount of snow.
He stood and stared at the girl leaning on his staff.
She stood at the edge of the lake staring at him with a large smile on her face.
Neither one of them moved for a moment as they took in each other's appearances.
Then Jack took a hesitant step forward which seemed to be the cue for the girl since she stepped out onto the ice and met Jack halfway. "C-can you see me?" he whispered the question like he was afraid of the answer and the painful hope in his chest dropped to his stomach where it tied itself into knots as he waited for the response.
Winter for her part was absolutely thrilled to see Jack sitting on her lake, and walked over to meet him. She was confused by his question though. "Well of course I can see you. Why wouldn't I be able to?"
Jack couldn't believe it, and his legs just sort of…folded underneath him. He fell back into a sitting position and he stared at the girl in front of him. The snow falling around them reacted to its master's emotions and swirled around in a mix of joy-shock-hope-happiness-joy-awe-shock.
Winter gasped as she felt his Magic respond to Jack's emotions and let her feel them to a lesser extent. Winter stared at him for a moment, before settling herself into a sitting position in front of Jack and waiting.
She watched Jack's emotions finally settle on Joy and Awe rather than jumping all over the place before he asked in an excited voice "What's your name?"
She smiled at him and answered "Winter Potter."
She watched a sliver of amusement work its way into his eyes and emotions "Winter? That's pretty."
She grinned "Thanks."
Jack stared at her another moment "You really can see me. You can see and hear me." He was still floored by the idea.
"Why…why is that surprising?" Winter watched as the joy, the awe, and the amusement drained out of Jack's eyes only to be replaced by an ancient grief.
"You're the first person I've met that can see or hear me in almost 300 years."
Winter was horrified at his answer. She couldn't imagine living 300 years without being seen or heard or acknowledged. She wasn't sure how to respond to that, so she reacted the way she had seen her Aunt and Uncle react to Dudley's sadness. She leaned in over the distance between Jack and her and gave him a long and hard hug.
Jack froze at the contact, and in response to his surprise the snow falling around them seemed to stop in midair for a moment before falling again. Winter didn't move away from the hug when Jack froze, sensing he needed it.
Winter could feel Jack tremble in her arms for a moment before her hug was returned with the same amount of strength. This was not only Jack's first hug, but Winter's as well. The Dursleys had never given her a positive form of touch before and Winter trembled in Jack's hold as she realized what she had missed out on for the past ten years; what Jack had missed out on for the past 300.
After a few minutes Jack and Winter pulled away from their hug and stared at each other. "So…you can see me…I wonder why that is?" Jack wondered what made Winter different than the other people he had seen in his travels.
Winter had a theory about that so she answered him. "Well…I've always Believed in you, ever since I discovered you existed. I think that I can see you because I Believe in you. I think that people stop seeing when they stop Believing."
Jack stared at her "You…Believed in me?" It had always been 'Santa,' Easter Bunny,' 'Tooth Fairy,' 'The Sandman' or even 'The Man in the Moon,' but it was never 'Jack Frost.' Jack was nothing but a myth to most people mentioned in a song verse or a movie, but never Believed in. Not with all the others there to be Believed in.
To lean that somewhere, someone in the world had Believed….Well it gave Jack Hope, something Jack hadn't had for almost Three Centuries.
Winter smiled "Yeah. I knew you were real when I was seven. I had believed before then, but at seven I knew for sure." She watched the snow around her respond to Jack's emotions as it danced happily around her reflecting Jack's Wonder, Joy, Hope and Awe. It was beautiful to watch and Winter couldn't sit still anymore. She jumped to her feet and turned to look at Jack smiling as she told him "Dance with Me!"
Jack's eyes widened. He remembered how Winter had danced the day before and he waved his hands sharply "B-but I can't dance! I've never danced in my life."
Winter smiled and confused him with her next statement. "But your Magic can dance."
"What?"
"You make the snow dance every year. You fly with the Wind at your back. Your Magic is alive and it can dance. So…so can you!"
"B-but…" she just confused him more than before.
She held out her hand for Jack to take telling him "Trust Me."
Jack stared at her for a minute before taking her hand finding that he could and would trust her. It was the beginning of a Bond that would grow stronger with time.
Winter smiled when Jack took her hand. "Now…." Winter summoned her Magic and her hair blew around her face as she smiled "Let me guide you." She reached forward and enveloped Jack with her magic. She could see his Magic reach for her own and connect with her own filling both of them with feelings reflecting each other's Joy, Hope, Excitement, Wonder and Awe. Jack couldn't see her Magic, but he could sense the change in the air as her Magic enveloped him and he smiled feeling excited for what was coming.
Winter gripped Jack's wrist and pulled him after her where they started dancing, following the same steps Winter had danced with Jack's Magic the night before. Jack found the steps coming naturally to his mind and laughed happily, the snow following both of them, dancing with its Master and his Believer.
If anyone were to look onto the lake at the time they would have seen Winter skating barefoot over the ice, laughing, her face lit up with joy and excitement looking for all the world like the very snow falling from the air was dancing with her like it was a living thing, Swirling around with her spins, blowing forward with her and sending her to faster speeds and in the one instance when Winter tripped over Jack's feet the wind appeared to save her from falling.
This first meeting, this first instance of Winter extending a hand to Jack and asking-demanding that he dance with her, was the beginning of a Friendship that would last for an Eternity.
It was the beginning to something not even MiM himself expected.
It was the start of an annual tradition.
It was a new Beginning to Everything.
