"Jack, there isn't any such place as Hogwarts. Gryffindor is just as fake as the magic in those books. None of those people are real either. You can't believe everything you read. Those books are labeled fiction for a reason." Jack looked at Jamie, completely confused.

"Fiction?"

"Fiction is a story that isn't real." Jack nodded.

"Why is the world round?"

"I'm not sure, science can answer that question. I've never thought about that though to be honest." Jack whined, his leg throbbed painfully and he felt a twinge of fear at the sound of sleigh bells, but it was only a little girl on a bike with sleigh bells on the front.

"Easy Jack, it's not him." Jamie said from the window; he'd gone to check, just to make sure though he doubted North would appear in the middle of the day. Jack shook as his body throbbed with fear and the flashbacks. Jamie moved over to Jack, sitting on the bed nearby; doing his best to comfort him. It lasted for five minutes before Jack screamed horrifically and went limp in Jamie's arms. Jamie sighed a little, holding Jack close; this was going to be a long few years... Jack shuttered.

"Jamie... does it go away? Does the pain go away?"

"Yes, with time." Jack shivered a bit, the next morning there were about five knocks at the door. Jamie groaned, this time it was his mother who answered the door though.

"Hello, we're here on behalf of a Mr. Sandman who says he needs to speak with a Jack and Jamie Bennett?" It was two men in labcoats.

"Well, you'll have to come back later. The boys are asleep." She wasn't that stupid, she suspected something.

"I'll let them know you stopped by." She shut the door before the two could do anything and used the extra precaution of locking the door. Just in case... Jack whined.

"OW! JAMIE IT HURTS!" He hated it when Jamie had to rewrap his leg.

"I know, but this will keep it from getting worse." Jamie murmured, being as gentle as possible. Jamie had to melt a little of his ice that kept the wound from bleeding out just a tiny smidge so that it would heal right but also so Jack wouldn't bleed out either. Jack shuttered, crying and sniffling as it stung and throbbed horribly. Jamie's mother came up and beckoned him as he finished.

"Can we talk a moment son?"

"Yeah, just a sec. There Jack, I'm all done." He left the room.
"What's this about?"

"Two men said they came to talk to you and Jack, that they were sent by a Mr. Sandman... I sent them away, but they were dressed in labcoats. Does the Sandman know anyone like that?" Jamie frowned.

"Maybe, but Sandy wouldn't send people to talk to us... he'd probably send word with his sand. This is getting to be a problem... Mom. I should probably take Jack to grandma's. I know the cabin is empty, but I don't like the sound of that and if TV is anything like real life... they will be back." She nodded a little.

"Just don't tell anyone where we went. I don't want to end up shot myself. Not that it would kill me but... well, you heard Jack just now. It's obviously painful even for spirits."

"Be careful Jamie."

"I will be." He went back to the room with a slight smile.

"Hey, how about we take a little trip, just you and me Jack?" Jack bounced for joy.

"A TRIP! A TRIP! What's a trip?" He looked at Jamie confused.

"Well... I can't explain that one in a way you'll understand, but you're about to find out." Jamie said with a smile. He waited until it was midnight before he took Jack out of the house, carrying him piggyback style and flying off to the cabin they'd used temporarily when they'd been dealing with Gale and Jakoul. Jack gasped at the bats that flew by them.

"JAMIE! I'M SCARED!" He shook, feeling like he could be dropped any second and that a bat would eat him or something.

"I know, I can feel it Jack; just hang in there. We're almost there." Jack shuddered, he felt like he knew this area... but from where?

"Jamie, have we been here before?" He asked, unsure.

"Once." It's all he cared to say. Slipping inside through the window he'd left open. Jack shivered.

"Why? Was it a trip where we fell in love?" He asked, eyes innocent and wide with curiosity of this once memory. Jamie chuckled, flushing a little.

"No... nothing quite so romantic I'm afraid, but uh... we were here before... um..." He flushed a little at the memory. He wasn't sure why he was, after all it wasn't like he'd been shy around Jack since that time but... just thinking about it for whatever reason sent warmth into his heart and cheeks. It had been his first time after all... Jack poked at Jamie's cheeks.

"So, did we make love here?" He asked flat out, not knowing he was actually asking the question about whether or not they'd had sex here. Jamie blinked but shook his head.

"No, we didn't. We didn't actually um... do anything like that until we were at the North Pole actually." Jack giggled.

"Was it like back at the house?"

"Sort of... but actually it was my first time... so you were in the lead there." Jack gasped.

"I was! but how come I can't remember our first time together Jamie? I can't remember any of it... or much of you at all!" He whined, feeling like he was losing oxygen.

"That's not all you don't remember Jack. Whatever Bunny did... it's damaged your memory quite a bit. I imagine some of it will return in time but... some never will. There's nothing we can do about that without Tooth and you can't even stand the sight of her." Jack cried harshly in Jamie's chest.

"But I want to remember you!" Jamie sighed a little and put his arms around Jack.

"I'm sure, but no one remembers everything Jack. Chances are there'd be a lot you'd forget about me given enough time. It's just the way the human mind works... and we were both once human." Jack stuttered a little.

"Can w-we color?" He looked up pleadingly; he remembered getting into the drawers at Jamie's house and coloring in Sophie's old coloring books.

"Of course." He led Jack down the stairs where the crayons and coloring books were. Jack gasped at the brightly colored pictures.

"They're so pretty!" He dove straight to finishing the dinosaur picture he'd colored a while back when it had all started with Jakoul and Gale. Jamie chuckled a little, settling down with one; dipping through it for the memories... a bit of a sad smile on his face as he remembered various things with each page. Jack smiled, coloring the picture he'd half finished before Jakoul had taken over.

"JAMIE LOOK! IT'S ALL COLORED IN!" It appeared to have black and dark red blood stains on it from the coughing fit of pain Jack had once had and burn marks from fighting. Jamie looked at the picture, not sure what he felt about it since it reminded him of Jakoul a bit.

"I see that. Very nice, is there another you want to color?" Jack smiled.

"Yes." He giggled and turned it over only to see a bloody handprint.

"Jamie... what is that?" It looked like Jack's handprint, as if he'd been fighting Jakoul the entire time he'd had that particular book. Jamie winced a little.

"Well, if I had to guess I'd say it was a handprint... When we were last here we had some problems, but they've been dealt with so don't worry about it." Jack shivered.

"Jamie, that's a bloody handprint! I need to know what happened!" He looked at Jamie pleadingly.

"I'm not sure I know exactly." Jamie sighed.

"I don't know how that handprint got there. I just know the possible reasons." Jack whined slightly, slowly feeling pain in his side, memories of that day coming to his mind; he looked like a shaking mess at the table. He shakily colored, his lines horribly drawn.

"Jack?" Jack just continued coloring, not even realizing he had drawn the scene, it was chicken scratch compared to his earlier coloring. He whined, tears falling.

"Why? Why did it happen?" He was remembering the pain and suffering he'd gone through and that Gale was the worst of it... Jamie watched a moment before slipping his arms around Jack.

"It's okay jack. It doesn't matter why it happened, it did but it's over now." He murmured. Jack froze.

"I remember a-almost everything." He continued to color, unaware the drawings were of the bars... the destruction... Jamie sighed.

"I wish you didn't Jack. There's a lot you probably could have done without." Jack shook but he continued to draw, this time a happier memory... since he couldn't remember anything else. Jamie sighed, keeping close to Jack; wishing he hadn't remembered that time, it was best off lost to time but apparently fate had something else in mind. Jack sighed.

"I'm hungry." He looked at Jamie with his large, blue eyes and hugged him.

"Pwease Jamie..."

"Come on, let's find you something to eat." He said with a slight smile. He led Jack into the kitchen and to a bar stool to sit while he rifled through the kitchen, looking for something he knew Jack would actually eat. Jack colored a space ship while he waited, he was so happy as he made it blue, his favorite color; he gasped as he felt like his head was pounding. It took him a little while to find everything he needed to make Jack one of his favorite sandwiches but he found and made the thing. Setting it on a plate he put it next to Jack; he wished he could do something for Jack, but what? Aside from taking care of him... there wasn't much he could do. Jack gasped.

"MY FAVORITE!" He mowed through the sandwich like he hadn't eaten in days, he did break it in half though for Jamie to get a bite.

"Here." He said as he handed Jamie the other half. Jamie chuckled a little and broke off half of that half; he wasn't really that hungry.

"Thanks, not that hungry though. You can have the rest." He ate his part. Jack nodded and ate it, mmming and nodding in approval of the sandwich. Jamie cleaned the plate once Jack was finished. He wasn't sure what else to do so he went back to the living room and to the nearest window to practice his use of ice and frost. Jack giggled at the snow outside; he went outside without asking Jamie and ran into the woods, laughing and jumping and rolling in the snow.

"WEEE!" Jamie, seeing Jack run into the woods, followed behind silently; simply watching Jack play in the snow. Jack gasped, as he felt he was being watched; a staff of ice formed in his hand out of instinct, nearly stabbing Jamie in the neck. Jamie simply took a step back from the attempted strike. Jack shivered.

"Jamie... s-sorry." He leaned on the spear, his legs weak and giving out on him from almost killing Jamie.

"For what?" He seemed to not be bothered by the near-stab and looked about, but there's nothing nearby but a rabbit that was skittering back to its burrow. Jack flinched, turning and stabbed Bunny in the side; the lagomorph had only been there for a trip to the woods to see his googies would be hidden. Upon seeing who he'd jabbed, Jack screamed and ran through the woods as Bunny was pulling out the spear.

"OUCH! What the 'ell?!"

"You spooked him. Bound to happen. Thanks to the residents of Burgess we've changed location. Stupid humans." Jamie replied before going after Jack. Bunny yelped a little, nearly being run over by Jamie as Jack whined, shaking like a leaf as he hid in a tree hollow; scaring the animals inside. Jamie found Jack again after a little while.

"Jack? Come here." He said soft, standing just outside the hollow.

"NO! HE'LL GET ME! I KNOW IT! HE'S MAD!" Jack cried, scaring away a few foxes.

"Jack, he's not here. He was more surprised than anything... he thought we were in Burgess. You know I wouldn't let him get you, come on out." Jack whined, but didn't move a muscle from his hiding spot.

"Jack... you know I wouldn't lie to you. I ran off Bunny, remember? Why would I ask you to come out if he were here?" Jamie said quietly after a moment. Jack slowly came out, cautiously at first like a little rabbit hiding from a wolf. He ran out then and hugged Jamie tightly.

" 'Cause he c-could be anywhere." Jamie gently rubbed his back.

"Calm down Jack. He's not here and you know I wouldn't let him near you if he were." He gently guided Jack back to the cabin as Jack sniffed. As luck would have it, Bunny was right by the cabin for one reason, to dress his wounds; Jack screamed and went to take off. Bunny jumped at the sound of Jack's scream, he couldn't make a tunnel to leave or call North; Easter was ruined for the day for this part of the world. Jamie snagged Jack before he could get too far, flying into the upper window and setting Jack on the bed.