Uderlined: Fae
Italics: Pookan
They walked for miles, it seemed. Jack ordered them all to stop when he saw something dart in front of his vision. "Did you guys see that?" Jack asked. The others nodded, stopping as well, forming a circle and drawing their wands into frozen hands. They raised them all as Jack suddenly was knocked over. They froze when they saw a large black dog, its jaws locked lightly on Jack's neck. Jack was limp, breathing shallow, not wanting to aggravate the beast.
"Guys, put the wands away," said Bunny, resisting the urge to charge it. They did as Bunny suggest, barely breathing. The beast moved its jaws from Jack's neck to the back of his cloak, then slowly began to drag the terrified boy through the forest. It seemed to know the forest better than they did, plus it had Jack, so they had no choice but to follow.
The Fae glared through the forest after them. They had been so close to getting them, only to be foiled! Their Queen would be interested to hear about them, though. But before, maybe they could still get them, if they could only stop that dog…
The commander signalled to the others and gave chase. They quickly caught up to their prey and circled it. The dog halted, growling as it dropped its load, staring right at where the Commander was hidden. Since their presence was already discovered, they all moved into view, faces silken and beautiful, though their expressions were twisted into ugly sneers. They wore clothing made of a fabric no mortal could recreate, seeming to be made of pure elements.
"Hello children. Out for a little stroll, are we?" The commander said. Of course, the children wouldn't understand him, for he spoke in Fae.
"Go away, Unseelie Fae. We don't want trouble." One said. Only it was spoken in Fae, the dialect perfect, as though the child had grown up speaking it. The Commander looked for the speaker, blue eyes landing on the one still lying on the ground weakly. The advancing Fae froze, unsure what to do. The one who spoke rose weakly to his feet, shivering with cold. It grabbed something from around his neck, for it was now plain to see that it was a boy.
"Why?" The Commander asked. "Why should we leave. You are in our territory, we can do as we please. You have no power here, child." The child gave a bitter laugh at that.
"We didn't have much of a choice. We got lost, few can see clearly when the Wind howls so loudly and sends the snow in hurricanes around us." The boy said. He seemed to be gaining power as he kept his hand around the object around his neck. The Commander stepped forward, intent on taking whatever it was, but the boy took a step back, his reflexes out matching the Fae's.
"Go, Sleipner. Just go. I told you we don't want trouble, and frankly, I'm tired." The boy's form flickered for barely a second, being replaced by for just a moment by a boy in a blue hoodie, white hair, blue eyes, and brown deer skin pants. This mere child was someone the Unseelie Court knew well, mostly because he was the only being of Winter not of the Court, and not of Fae.
"Jack Frost. You were warned long ago that you were not to come here." Sleipner said, scowling instead of sneering.
"I got lost. Sue me." Jack said, turning his back on the Fae.
"Frost, you know we can do so much more than simply sue you. I assure you, if not for the fact that it was an accident, you would never leave the Winter Forest again." Sleipner was probably the most Seelie of the Unseelie court, understanding and forgiving when mistakes were made.
"Will you allow us to go?" Jack Frost asked. In answer, Sleipner turned and faded with the rest of the Fae into the forest. "Now, why don't you continue leading us out of here?" Jack asked the dog, nearly falling as he let his arm drop back to his side. The others just stared at him in shock. Bunny knew what had been said, but his shock was more for the fact that Jack had gotten them to leave.
"Jack, what did you just say?" Fred asked.
"What do you mean?" He asked back, but it didn't sound right. Was he speaking in another language. "What do you mean?" He tried again, this time in English.
"What were you two saying. He didn't seem very happy, whatever he was." George answered.
"This is the Unseelie Court's land. We're trespassing. They have every right to do as they please with us, but I got them to leave us be, for now. We need to go before they change their minds though, the Fae tend to do that very often." Jack said, stumbling over to Bunny. "Bunny, we need to get out NOW." Jack said, giving him a gentle shove. Then he abruptly collapsed.
"Jack!" Fred, Aster, and George shouted, and even the dog rushed over. It looked up at them and grasped the back of Jack's cloak once more, dragging him away from the group once more. The group followed.
"Do you think that Jack will be okay? I mean, how do we know that the dog is really helping us, and not just leading us to our deaths and further away from the castle? Or to those Fae?" George asked.
"That's the thing, mates, we don't. But we don't have much of a choice, now do we?" Bunny said, before chasing after the beast, not wanting to lose them.
Jack awoke to find himself being dragged once more. He had more of his strength back, but he was still horribly cold. He began to struggle against the dog, wanting to be above the snow that wasn't helping his situation. The dog growled at him, making it obvious that Jack was to stop struggling.
Jack ignored it and twisted out of his soaking wet cloak. He stood shakily on his feet. He was actually glad that he had finally passed out, it meant that the snowstorm would have stopped. He called the Wind, and she happily picked him up, carrying him above. Jack felt all the coldness build up in him, and he expelled it, replacing it with warmed. The air around him suddenly grew warm, along with the Wind. The Wind dashed around, melting the snow as well as his companions and the Map. It also dried everything, making it feel like he was in a little pocket of Spring.
The Wind set him gently down, and he turned to Bunny and the twins. They were staring at him in shock. "Jack! I didn't know that ya could MELT stuff!" Bunny said bluntly.
"I didn't either!" Jack said cheerfully.
"You can fly without a broom!" Fred and George said.
"Not really, the Wind carries me. But you can't tell anyone, alright?" The twins nodded, still looking at him in awe. "Which means no using it for pranks!" Jack rushed, seeing the planning look on their faces. They nodded again, looking a little put out at that.
The dog growled at them to get their attention, pointing his muzzle to the left. They looked and shouted in Joy. They could see the edge of the forest, Hagrid's hut glowing warmly at them through the trees. "Thank you." Jack said, resisting the urge to hug the beast. "Oh! I think that we should hurry!" Jack said as ice began to creep towards them. The pranksters nodded and they bolted for Hagrid's.
"Hey!" Jack shouted as he found a vine wrapped around his foot. The thorns dug into his ankle, making it impossible to move without drawing his own blood. He scowled at it and froze it, making it break from being brittle.
"Jack! Come on!" Fred shouted, already out of the tree line. Jack decided that he would have to risk it and flew the rest of the way out, more vines reaching up to snatch him out of the air, thankfully missing. Jack tumbled to the ground as a branch sprung out and knocked him out of the sky. He landed just at the edge. He stood, but a tree wrapped itself around of of his hands, stopping his progress.
"Oh, come on! Really? You couldn't have wait one more second?" Jack snapped into the forest. Sleipner stepped out again, this time accompanied by a female. She could have been Jack's mother, her face delicate and regal, eyes a crystalline blue, hair an ivory white. Jack definitely knew her.
"Hello, mea Nix." She said in Fae. Jack scowled.
"That is not my name, and I will not be going with you." Jack snapped, tugging against the tree.
"Ah, but I promised you that if we crossed paths again that you would be, mea Nix." She purred.
"It was a mistake. I didn't realize that these were the Unseelie Woods, Mab." Jack hissed.
"Mab, leave him be. Ya know that ya can't keep him with ya anyways." Bunny snapped, going to stand behind Jack.
"Hello, Ver Spes. I believe you have the same promise from the Seelie Court." She sneered. Bunny grinned at her bitterly.
"Don't call me that. I have a name and it isn't that. It was a mistake, and he is no longer in your land."
"The whole castle is my land. I simply choose not to cross the trees. Too much… Hope here." She sneered.
Bunny ignored the jab. "He is under the protection of Spring. Leave him be." Bunny said.
"Oh, really? I don't see a mark on him." She replied smoothly, but her concentration on the tree loosened, giving Jack room to wiggle his hand out. Once he did, he stepped back quickly, hiding like a young child behind Bunny.
"You leave me alone, Mab. I gave you my answer the first time, I will not use my powers to intentionally harm." Jack said, his voice shaking just a bit.
"If he does not have a mark, then he is mine to take, Ver Spes." She said, taking a step towards them. They all took an unintentional step back.
"You leave my brother alone, Mab!" Bunny warned. He was actually getting worried about this. "You know why there is no mark on him." Bunny said.
"Ah yes. It is very painful, is it not? I remember when the Moon and Mother Nature marked you, the print on your forehead. Tell me, how mad was my sister when she was denied the prize of Spring? I think that she was even more mad then than when it happened to Summer. We Fae do not like being denied our prizes." She smiled, showing blinding teeth.
"You know that isn't the reason. Moon and Mother refused to mark a free spirit." Bunny snapped, switching to Pookan without realizing it.
"Ah yes, are you sure it wasn't because they didn't want to put their baby through pain? You know, Jack IS the baby of the Spirit world, yet you failed to protect him. I believe he was still a child when he was changed, was he not?" She purred. Jack was slowly backing the group away and at the same time trying to follow the conversation. He didn't know Pookan as well as Fae, but he knew enough to know what was said.
"I can hardly be qualified as a child." He snapped. Bunny looked at him, surprised. He hadn't known Jack could speak Pookan, even though the words were a little mispronounced. Once they got over the shock of Jack being in the conversation they glared at him pointedly. "Okay, just going to be seen and not heard for right now, like a good little child." Jack said as he slunk back a bit farther from the others.
Fred and George was watching this exchange, partly amused, partly terrified, but mostly confused. They saw teachers coming their way, to their relief. One of them was Dumbledore himself. The twins looked at each other silently deciding to get them. "Professors! We have a problem!" The teachers followed them quickly, coming to a halt when they saw what the problem was.
"How did this happen?" Dumbledore asked, turning to them.
"Uh, well, we found them in the woods, we got lost, then a dog helped us out-"
"Then some weird people surrounded us and Jack started speaking in a weird language-"
"And he got them to go away and the dog led us out of the forest, but Jack got caught-"
"By some branch thing! Then the people came back and now Jack and Aster are there-"
"Trying to get them to leave us alone so we could get back to the castle!" They informed them.
"Teachers, take them back inside. I will handle this." Dumbledore said, ignoring their protests as he moved forward.
"Yeah, I know that I failed him. I know that, but I am trying my DAMNDEST ta make up fer it. That includes from ya AND from bein' marked." Bunny growled during the time the twins were informing the teachers.
"Oh, Ver Spes. You know that that is the only way. If you don't, or won't, I will get him eventually, and he will never be safe. Not from me." She purred, suddenly behind Jack, hand trailing possessively over his head. He flinched away, hiding once more behind Bunny, giving a little squeak.
"Queen Mab. I suggest you leave here." Dumbledore said, appearing behind her. She turned and glared at him, before disappearing into the trees, the last thing being seen of her was her glowing blue eyes. Jack shivered, but it had nothing to do with the cold, even though he WAS cold again. He refused to let go of Bunny, afraid that if he did the Fae would come back and take him. "Jack, calm down, she is gone." Dumbledore, placing a hand on his shoulder, or trying to, but Jack flinched back again.
It didn't appear he understood what Professor Dumbledore had said. "Jack, come on, she's gone. English Jack, English." Bunny soothed, gently detaching Jack from him. Jack looked up at him understanding finally entering his mismatched eyes.
"Sorry. Bunny… I don't like Mab." Jack said as he began to walk quickly into the castle. He was holding his cloak close to him, trying to preserve what little body heat he had. He sank to the floor the moment the warm air of the castle encased his body. He was barely keeping his eyes open, his body shutting down from stress and shock.
Sandy had been waiting in the Entrance Hall for his brothers to return. He had been extremely surprised to see Jack enter then collapse. He rushed over and carefully lifted him as though he were a small child. He looked over worriedly as the teachers swarmed around him.
"Take him to the Hospital Wing." Madam Pomfrey ordered him, and Sandy nodded and did as he was told. Madam Pomfrey indicated to Jack's now usual bed. She didn't even really do anything, just made sure that the fire was burning bright then kicked everyone out of the room. She told that he was in shock and that the only thing that they could do for him was give him time. Unfortunately, Bunny and the twins also ended up in the Hospital Wing because of mild cases of Hypothermia.
"Mr. Mansnoozie, a word, if you will." Dumbledore said, taking him aside. "I do not think it wise to let Jack out on his own outside of the castle anymore. I will be informing North and Toothiana that Jack is not allowed to go to Hogsmeade anymore, but could you tell Jack? I think he would take it better from family than an old coot like me." Dumbledore gave him a kind smile as Sandy nodded. Jack was going to be mad. Very mad.
A/N: Translations: mea Nix- My Snow, or My Little Snow, from Latin.
Ver Spes- Hope Spring, from Latin.
Response to Frozenjaqulinefrost, in case others had the same question.
Her Question: So, is Jack like only part human?
My answer: Yes. The potion affected him differently because he would draw attention to himself if he was his usual ice cold self, plus the temperature in the castle gets really warm in some places, so the potion made it so he could feel the heat, but it wouldn't harm him, but in return, he lost some of his resistance to the cold, so he gets cold half as fast as everyone else, but he could overheat twice as fast as everyone else... Does that make sense?