Author's Note: ARGH, I'm so sorry, but I wasn't able to fit the sorting into this chapter either. Without my notes, this fic is almost 8,000 words long and I feel that its pretty long for a chapter. So the sorting will absolutely take place in the next chapter. To make up for it, I gave you a glimpse of the actual Jack Frost toward the end and made this chapter extra long for you. This chapter features a whole lot of Professor Snape, as well as Lockhart's book signing and even a small glimpse of Stephen Jorkins, so I hope that you guys enjoy it. :)

Reviews:

M.v.j.M.: I'm glad you like Professor Snape. It's really hard trying to keep him in character while showing he has a softer side. It's also surprisingly hard trying to keep Lockhart in character too, while not making him be incredibly annoying.

KijoKuroi: I've been thinking about Jack and Pitch a lot while I've been writing the last few chapters and when they would play more of a role in the fic. Your comment made me realize that I really missed Jack, so I gave everyone a glimpse into what he was up to. Jack won't start to play a more significant role until later in the story, but that doesn't mean we still can't see him from time to time. I'm still undecided if Pitch will play a bigger part in this either. I kind of like the idea of Jack and Lillian having all these adventures while Pitch is off plotting and oblivious, so we'll see.

Silversun XD: Awesome review! :) Glad you're enjoying yourself.

Crossover Junkie: I can imagine that poor Snape would be so lost in Harry Dresden's world. Especially with potions! Although it would be highly amusing to see Harry Dresden try to make a potion in Snape's world. And yes, Pitch and Snape do seem somewhat similar to me, except with Snape being more snarky about everything. I'm sure that won't be Lillian's last Tea Time with Snape, so she'll probably be strongly reminded of Pitch. I also can't wait until the Weasley twins turn up, since I can just imagine all the hijinks they'll get into with Lillian.

Disclaimer: I borrowed a few lines from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, so I feel I have to reiterate that I absolutely don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters. Anything you don't recognize, however, belongs to me!

Chapter Eight: Signing and Worries

While Lillian was sleeping, stuck all by himself in a flower field in her mind was a very bored Jack. He knew he had a last name, but for the life of him, he just couldn't seem to remember what it was.

He also knew that Lillian must have a last name as well, but he didn't know that either. He looked around at all the sleeping flowers thoughtfully and then looked over at Pitch's dark domain near the lake.

He had stopped that creepy guy from going there, but only because the place was so undefined yet. Lillian couldn't even remember what the outside of it was supposed to look like. He knew that she had to recover other memories first before that place could be explored. He wasn't certain how he knew, but he just knew.

He also knew that Lillian had grown exhausted from everything that had happened, and that had been another reason that he had stopped the creepy guy. Tall, Dark and Oblivious hadn't seemed to realize how dangerously tired Lillian had been and Jack knew that he had to do whatever he could to get the guy to leave.

Jack couldn't help but smirk as he remembered all the snowballs he had chucked at the guy's face. His abnormally large nose made the perfect target.

He chuckled as he made his way back to the middle of the flower field and stopped by the lone flower that was open. He tilted his head as he examined the pink tulip that was surrounded by other pink tulips.

It looked so lonesome all by itself, being the only flower nearby in full bloom. He bit his lip as he looked down at it thoughtfully.

Would it hurt her if he helped her open a few more?

He looked up at the sky, which had turned dark and starry when Lillian had fallen asleep. The full moon shone down brightly at him and he looked at it for a moment, wondering why it felt important to him somehow. When nothing had happened after he had stared at it for a full minute, he looked back down at the flowers.

One more, he decided.

One more couldn't hurt.

He bent down and gently brushed his fingers against the flower, with his eyes widening at the frost that formed along the petals.

Oh no, oh no..!

He damaged..!

But to his great relief, the flower began to bloom.

Lillian sat at a table in the library with a small book open in front of her. She was reading the pocket-sized edition of The Hobbit, which she thought was appropriate, considering how small hobbits were. She was having fun reading all about Bilbo's adventures and was startled when a voice announced that the library would be closing soon. With a sigh, Lillian reluctantly closed the book and put it away before leaving.

As she made her way home, she had her backpack slung over her shoulder. She had worked a little on her homework before she had given up on it and started reading The Hobbit. She looked a little guilty as she stared up at the remnants of the setting sun, the last of the orange fading away as it went to black.

She wished Jack were around, but sometimes he still got too hot and had to leave for awhile to cool off. With a sigh, she quickly found her way into the forest and found Jack's lake, which was still frozen, even though it was past September. She stared at it for a moment as the stars started to come out, but then made her way to a darker part of the forest.

As she approached the dilapidated child's bedframe and carefully climbed into the hole underneath, she wondered for the millionth time why Pitch had put that there in the first place. As she dropped down to the ground below, she suddenly found herself caught in a pair of arms and stared up at the gray face of Pitch, his golden-yellowish eyes narrowed at her.

"There you are, young lady!" he said sternly to her. "What are you doing out so late?"

"Homework?" Lillian replied, her emerald eyes widening innocently, causing Pitch to roll his eyes.

"Don't try that on me, it doesn't work anymore," he informed her as he carried her deeper inside the lair.

He soon sat her down at the rock table and they quickly ate dinner together, before Pitch took Lillian off to her room and put her to bed with a story.

Lillian smiled sleepily as her eyes closed, relishing in the fact that Pitch still did this sometimes.

Lillian wound up sleeping until the next morning and sat up sleepily in confusion. Her dress had been transfigured into a Slytherin green nightgown and her curls were a little wild from sleep. She was still on the couch out in Professor Snape's sitting room, having slept through the floo call from Professor Snape and Lockhart.

She rubbed her eyes sleepily as she thought of the strange dream she had had. Was it really a dream? Or was it a memory?

It seemed so real..

She slumped back on the couch and stared up at the ceiling as she remembered she had been reading a book, The Hobbit. She could remember other times she had read books and similar memories began to surface.

A smile played on her face as she recalled one particular instance where she had fallen asleep while reading at the table at Pitch's, and then woken up in bed with her book neatly put away in her bookshelf.

Then the smile faded when she recalled the oddity that was Pitch's place. Had she been sitting at a table made of rock?

She rubbed her head as she remembered climbing down into Pitch's underneath the child's bedframe and dropping down the hole. She recalled that at the time she had been trying to be sneaky and not get caught coming back late, only to drop right into Pitch's arms.

Thinking about all the strangeness in that made her head hurt, so she concentrated instead on Pitch himself. The moonlight had been weakly shining down into the hole and illuminated his face, which looked oddly ashen to her as if he had hardly seen the sun. His hair had been an inky black, and his eyes were the most unusual shade she had ever seen.

Was it even possible to have golden eyes?

She lay for a moment more pondering this, before she realized that she had spent the whole rest of the day at Professor Snape's and all night. She bit her lip as she sat up again and looked around.

Where was Gilderoy?

Did he even miss her?

Or was he still angry with her for running off?

She felt a pang in her chest that didn't feel entirely unfamiliar to her, and she didn't like it. She wanted to run and find Gilderoy, but what if he was too busy for her? That sharp pang she had felt, grew, and she realized suddenly that it was loneliness.

She missed Gilderoy, and she missed Pitch and Jack. Her face fell again as she wondered where Pitch and Jack were. Were they looking for her? She pulled her legs up to her chest and buried her head in her knees.

What was she going to do without them? And would they take her away from Gilderoy forever when they found her?

She sniffled as the distraught feelings inside her grew. She wasn't sure what she would feel when Pitch and Jack found her.

She wanted to go home..

..But did she?

It was a long while before Lillian had gathered herself back together and had gone looking for Professor Snape. Unfortunately for him, it was still very early in the morning and he was not amused by being woken up first by the monitoring spell he had set up on the child, and then as he was drifting back to sleep, by the child herself.

"Mister Snape?" Lillian asked the lump in the bed hesitantly.

The room was quite dark, and Lillian remembered suddenly when she had first come to Pitch's and had been frightened of the dark. Her eyes widened a little as she imagined she saw a monster lurking in the corner of the room.

It had a hulking and unnatural shape to it, and Lillian was sure it would have fangs that would love to eat little girls and Mister Snapes too.

"Professor," Professor Snape mumbled as he kept his eyes closed. "Call me 'Professor Snape.'"

Lillian hovered in the doorway, eyeing the monster in the corner as she heard Professor Snape speak.

"'Kay," Lillian said softly. "Can.. can I go back to Gilderoy now? Please?"

Professor Snape groaned in response. He hadn't gotten to sleep until late, as he had first sat up as he watched the child, to make sure she suffered no ill effects from recovering those two memories and then as he had brewed some of the potions he had been behind on for the hospital wing.

"Can't you wait until breakfast?" Professor Snape muttered with his eyes still closed. He felt like he had gotten absolutely no sleep.

Lillian looked down at her feet at that, as she forgot about the monster lurking in the corner of the room.

"Sorry," she whispered and Professor Snape heard her small feet shuffle away and back down the hall.

He entertained the thought of going back to sleep but found that he couldn't drift off again as an uncomfortable feeling grew within himself.

Stop it, he commanded himself silently. You are not feeling guilty.

He sighed as he lay there in the dark and told himself he was only getting up because he realized he was hungry, not because he was concerned for the child or anything.

No.

Absolutely not.

He lit the lamps in his room with a wave of his hand and would have been amused if he had known that the unnatural shape in the corner that had Lillian so frightened was actually a chair that he had carelessly tossed his robe onto the night before.

He hurriedly dressed in his usual black attire and found a morose Lillian curled up in a corner of the couch, staring sadly at the dying embers of the fire.

Professor Snape frowned and brandished his wand, causing the flames to suddenly burst into life. A startled gasp left Lillian as she stared at the flames and then whirled on the couch to see Professor Snape looking at her with his dark eyes, the corners of his mouth twitching as though he were repressing a smile.

"I thought you were sleeping," Lillian asked as she sleepily rubbed an eye, her curls still wild from her own sleep.

"I was until a small child came in to pester me," Professor Snape said mildly, but Lillian flinched all the same and looked down guiltily.

"Sorry," she said again, and it caused Snape's somewhat amused look to darken.

"Nevermind," he said a little irritably. "Are you hungry?"

Lillian blushed as her stomach gave a huge rumble, having missed a few meals due to her sleeping.

"I'll take that as a yes," Professor Snape said dryly. "We'll have to eat it here since the Great Hall isn't serving breakfast yet."

Lillian nodded as Professor Snape was eyeing her thoughtfully. He walked over to the couch and before she could ask what he was up to, he cast several spells at her in succession.

Lillian gave a small shriek as she felt the unusual feeling of magic washing over her, causing her bracelet to glow faintly from the power. Lillian hadn't noticed as she was busy gaping down at herself, but Professor Snape certainly did.

He eyed the bracelet more carefully as he looked at it.

What sort of object was it? Was it enchanted?

Lillian, meanwhile, was looking at her clothes which had suddenly changed from a nightgown to a Slytherin green dress. She patted her hair and was surprised that it was suddenly free of tangles and was tied back with a bow. She couldn't see it, but she had a feeling that it matched her dress.

Her outfit was nearly complete until she realized she had bare feet still and giggled as she wiggled her toes.

"You forgot something," she said to Professor Snape in a childish sing-song voice that snapped him suddenly out of his thoughts.

Professor Snape rolled his eyes.

"Do forgive me for thinking you capable of fetching your own shoes," he said sarcastically to her, "I won't make that mistake again."

Lillian's amused smile faded and she started to look a little insulted, but Professor Snape had already brandished his wand again and her shoes went sailing from where they had been sitting on the floor by the couch to rest in front of her, now a pretty silver color to match the bow in her hair, which she had wrongly assumed was green to match her dress.

Lillian slipped them on and followed Professor Snape to his table, where a piping hot breakfast lay, as though summoned there by thoughts of breakfast.

Unknown to her, Professor Snape had already called a house elf for breakfast before entering the sitting room, having correctly guessed that Lillian would be hungry.

Lillian stared at the mound of scrambled eggs and toast as though it had appeared right in front of her face. She didn't think she would ever get used to magic like that. She hurriedly climbed into a chair before Professor Snape thought of attaching a horrible chair to the table like she had when she sat in the Great Hall. This table wasn't nearly as tall as the one in the Great Hall, so she didn't have much trouble reaching her food.

She went to reach for her fork when she realized in disgust that instead of the metal she had been expecting, she felt plastic. She looked down and realized with dread that it was another one of those dreadful sporks.

"Professor Dumbledore seems to have informed the house elves about them," Professor Snape said with a twitch of his lips. "I assure you I did not ask for one."

Lillian scowled at the utensil as though it personally offended her, which in a way, it did, as she knew that she was perfectly old enough and capable to handle a fork all on her own.

"I had a normal fork when I was at Gilderoy's!" Lillian said in an outraged tone. "And when I was with Mister Jorkins!"

Snape's eyebrow rose at that.

Stephen Jorkins?

That blundering fool at the ministry that kept trying to contact him?

Interesting..

He started to eat his breakfast and pretended to not notice how Lillian was trying to clumsily eat with the spork. He saw that Lillian could indeed not do much to harm herself with it, but he noticed that it didn't do much else, either. It was a rather useless invention, not quite capable of doing its forkly duties, and being rather small for a spoon.

Lillian ate some scrambled eggs with the awful utensil and grumbled a little when a lot of the eggs wound up jumping ship before she could get them into her mouth. Eventually, she gave up and took a long drink from her cup, only to make a face afterward.

"I don't like pumpkin juice very much," she told Professor Snape grumpily, now in a bad mood from the spork.

"I'll keep that in mind for the future," Professor Snape said as he gave her a look. If this bad mood persisted, he could see a tantrum coming soon and he wasn't about to deal with that.

Lillian pouted at him not magicking the pumpkin juice away but didn't comment on it as she went back to her breakfast. It took her a surprisingly long time to eat it, and she only ate about half of her scrambled eggs.

She made up for it by eating extra toast and bacon, but it wasn't quite the same. After she was finished, she looked up at Professor Snape expectantly, but he was standing up from the table and didn't seem to notice.

Lillian quickly got up too and Professor Snape soon found his way blocked by an eager child.

"I want to go back to Gilderoy's," Lillian said as she looked up at him earnestly.

Professor Snape frowned down at her, his patience wearing thin.

"I don't know what that.." he paused and took a deep breath, "..that.. Lockhart of yours has been teaching you, but that is not how children should ask for something."

"Please," Lillian amended but ruined it with a stamp of her foot.

Professor Snape raised an eyebrow at this. He glanced over at a clock on the mantle of his fireplace in the nearby sitting room and gave a snort.

"While I am not adverse to having you out of my hair, it is still far too early for you to be tromping about the castle."

Lillian's frown deepened at that.

"I want to go back," she said, her voice soft but determined.

"If you would open your ears," Professor Snape said sternly, "I did not say you couldn't go back, I said you shouldn't go back this early. Go sit on the couch and stay put. Time will pass quickly enough and then you can leave."

Lillian crossed her arms but gave a squeak when Professor Snape scooped her up and in a few long strides had carried her to the couch in the sitting room and unceremoniously deposited her down onto it.

She could have sworn that Professor Snape had muttered "Cheeky brat" while he did so, but she wasn't sure. She glared at his back anyway, as he wandered off down the hall to go do whatever it is adults did in the early morning.

Professor Snape had wandered into his potions lab, thinking that a bit of brewing would help calm him. The child hadn't seemed half bad yesterday. What had gotten into her today?

He frowned as he chopped, sliced and diced his potions ingredients, after setting a cauldron to boil. He slowly began to add the ingredients and soon he was stirring the cauldron carefully, his mind whirring while he automatically made the calming draught.

Lillian pouted on the couch as she stared at the fire angrily. She only wanted to get back to Gilderoy just to make sure that he still wanted her around. She hadn't liked the lonely feeling she had felt earlier and she didn't like the thoughts it caused her when she thought about it.

Gilderoy wanted her.

Pitch was her dad, so he wanted her too.

Her face fell as doubt started to creep in. She remembered suddenly (although rather vaguely) a time when she had thought of Pitch and had been very sad. She remembered a time when she had tried telling herself that everything was fine, even though everything was not fine.

She remembered what she had been feeling at the time, as her lip trembled.

She had been feeling unloved.

Lillian shook her head and suddenly jumped off the couch as she hurried over to Professor Snape's bookcase to distract herself.

Yesterday she could remember wanting to give anything to remember anything at all, but today the memories seemed to be coming far too fast. As she perused the bookshelves a little frantically for anything to distract herself from her current thoughts, in a far-off corner of her mind, a very guilty looking Jack sat surrounded by some flowers that had bloomed and some that had only bloomed halfway, as Lillian had only remembered bits and pieces of certain memories.

"Oops," Jack said as he surveyed the damage he had done rather sheepishly.

Professor Snape left his potions lab an hour later with a fresh vial of calming draught concealed in his pocket, just in case the brat was still feeling upset. Of course, young children were bound to have mood swings now and again, but did she really have to stamp her foot at him in such a defiant manner?

Snape frowned as he thought of it, as he made his way to the sitting room. What he saw when he arrived there amused him so much, he soon forgot that he had been irritated.

The child was sitting on the couch with a book almost as big as she was open in her lap and she seemed to be staring down at the page in fascination.

"What do you have there?" he asked her as he strode over and sat down in the armchair nearby.

"Huh?" Lillian asked belatedly as she tore her gaze away from the page and looked over, surprised to see Professor Snape there.

"What are you looking at?" Professor Snape asked as he looked very amused.

"Umm.." Lillian paused as she flipped the book back to look at the cover. "Potion Cause and Effect: Ingredients and their Importance."

"Interesting," Professor Snape said, curious as to how she managed to grab a book that was certainly higher up on the shelves than she was tall. "Are you learning anything from it?"

The question had been asked rather flippantly, but Lillian answered it as if it had been a question that Professor Snape expected an answer to.

"Yes," Lillian said with a bright smile, "I wanted to see if I could combine the potions in my toy potion kit to make color changing bubbles, but I needed to see if any of the ingredients would have an adverse reaction to each other."

Professor Snape's mouth dropped open at that declaration, but Lillian continued on as if she hadn't noticed, which she hadn't.

"I also wanted to see if it would matter how the ingredients are sliced, diced, chopped or crushed and if it would affect the strength of the potion."

After stating that, Lillian flipped back to the page she had been reading as Professor Snape stared at the child in utter disbelief.

What!?

Later that day found Lillian in the Great Hall for lunch, happily sitting next to Gilderoy who was checking his pocket watch and looking a little flustered.

Lillian hadn't realized why Gilderoy was so flustered or even that he was flustered. She was just happy that Gilderoy wasn't mad at her anymore and that he definitely still wanted her around. She had been rather clingy all day to him and that made Gilderoy feel more than a little guilty that he would have to be leaving her shortly to go sign autographs for the book signing of his autobiography.

It was the first time that doing so made Gilderoy feel a little... strange. Before Lillian came along, he thought that there was nothing in the world that was more important than being famous, and he felt uncomfortable as he thought of all the things he did in the name of obtaining his fame, especially when he thought of the look Lillian would have if she ever found out.

No matter, Gilderoy consoled himself. You're a professor now.

He discreetly checked his pocket watch again and glanced down the staff table. He had asked Professor McGonagall if she could watch Lillian, but the Professor had shaken her head regretfully and said that she was too busy preparing for her lessons to do so. Flitwick had stated much the same. Professor Snape was sitting at the table and seemed oblivious to the anxious glances Lockhart was casting them.

Lockhart had known that it was still a bit early for the other teachers to arrive, but in the excitement in everything that had happened the last few days it had quite slipped his mind that today was the book signing he had scheduled at Flourish and Blotts for his autobiography.

In his desperation, he thought vaguely of asking the Headmaster if he would mind watching Lillian for a few hours, but he knew that would make him feel like a failure as a guardian. Since there were no other professors present at the moment, that would mean intruding on Severus' space yet again.

As though his attention had been attracted by Lockhart's thoughts, Snape sent a swift, piercing look in Lockhart's direction and their eyes connected for a brief moment.

Lockhart sent Professor Snape a hesitant yet hopeful smile, and Snape looked away with a soft snort as he ignored Minerva's curious glance. He could tell what that hopeful look meant and he would certainly not be taking the brat off his hands again.

Did he have babysitter stamped on his forehead?

At a little before twelve-thirty, Professor Snape looked down at the child that was once again invading his quarters. How very.. Slytherin it had been of Lockhart to ask in front of everyone. Even though he had tried to refuse, Dumbledore had interrupted his protests with his blasted twinkling eyes and reminded him that it would only be for a few hours and surely he wouldn't mind?

He most surely did mind! But everyone had been looking (or in Minerva's case, trying not to smile at his predicament) at him and he could hardly refuse. Lillian, whom he had expected to throw a huge tantrum with the way she had been acting that morning had actually cheered and asked Lockhart excitedly if she could bring her toy potions kit.

Lockhart looked incredibly relieved to have found someone to watch Lillian and had agreed at once, forgetting that Lillian was banned from using it until the weekend.

So that was how Lillian wound up in Professor Snape's quarters once again, clutching a wooden box filled with trinkets and toys to keep her amused, as well as her toy potions kit. She also had a stuffed bear clutched in her arms as well, wearing a wintery blue cloak.

Lillian grinned up at Professor Snape, her eyes shining happily at him.

"Can we make potions now?" Lillian asked him excitedly. "I wanna make color changing bubbles!"

Professor Snape rolled his eyes at her declaration, but he couldn't help but think of someone else with emerald eyes who excelled at making potions.

"Why anyone would want to make such a useless potion is beyond me," Professor Snape grumbled.

Lillian tilted her head at him and blinked in surprise.

"Don't you make potions just for fun?" she asked him curiously.

Professor Snape gave her a look.

"I am a Potions Master," he said a little frostily to her.

Lillian furrowed her brow at him as she took this in.

"So.. you don't make potions just for fun?" she asked, sounding confused.

Professor Snape sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He barely had the child in his quarters for five minutes and he was already getting a headache.

Just perfect.

"I make potions that serve a purpose," he said to her as he took a deep breath. "A useful purpose," he added on as he saw her about to open her mouth to retaliate.

Lillian shut her mouth a little sheepishly.

"Colorful bubbles serve a purpose!" she said to him. "They make people happy."

"Lovely," Professor Snape drawled with another eye roll. "You can market them as a cheering charm in a bottle."

Lillian didn't know what a cheering charm was, but she giggled all the same. She set her teddy bear down on the couch and carefully set her wooden box down on an end table. She opened it up and after rummaging around inside of it for a moment and extracted her potions kit.

"Here it is!" Lillian said brightly to Professor Snape as she pulled it out.

Professor Snape didn't look overly enthusiastic at this, but he brightened a little as he realized he could use this as an opportunity to catch up on some potions. It wouldn't be too long now until the start of the school year after all.

"Very well," he said resignedly. "Follow me."

Gilderoy Lockhart sat at a table in Flourish and Blotts surrounded by a stack of his books as well as several portraits of himself all winking and flashing his dazzling smile. The man himself sat smiling as well as he signed several copies of Magical Me for his many adoring fans.

He noticed that several of the people in the line waiting to get an autograph were students and he couldn't help but smile as he realized what a surprise they were all in for when he announced just who their next Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was going to be.

What an announcement that would be!

While he was busy chatting away with his fans and smiling at the overly attentive witches who were fanning themselves while blushing as they admired his dazzling smile, he failed to notice the arrival of several redheads and a small boy with black hair that stuck up every which way.

Harry Potter nervously flattened his hair as he noticed a photographer pushing his way past Ron roughly as he tried to get a good angle for a shot.

"Out of the way you," the photographer rudely snarled, "this is for the Daily Prophet."

"Big deal," Ron exclaimed as he rubbed his toe. The photographer had stepped on his foot.

Even though the shop was incredibly crowded and noisy, Ron's exclamation had drawn Lockhart's gaze in their direction.

As Lockhart looked at the redhead who looked very grumpy, he couldn't help but notice the small dark-haired boy next to him, with round glasses and -

Lockhart's mouth dropped open as he realized he was looking at none other than the savior of the entire wizarding world!

He quickly schooled his shocked expression into another dazzling grin as he stood up.

"This can't be Harry Potter!" he exclaimed quite loudly.

Harry shifted uncomfortably as the shop grew quite silent and everyone's gazes were drawn to him. He nervously tried to flatten his hair again over his scar, but soon found himself shoved by the crowd right up to Lockhart.

Harry tripped over his feet from the shove, but Lockhart's hand shot out to grip Harry's shoulder to steady him.

The blue eyes that met green looked concerned for a moment, especially when he took in Harry's attire.

Lockhart hadn't known what he had expected Harry Potter to look like, but he certainly hadn't expected him to look so.. scruffy.

Perhaps it was from spending time with Lillian, but Lockhart was looking at young Harry with a more critical eye than anyone else had seemed to lately. The clothes Harry was wearing were far too big for himself, even though his pants were held on tightly with a belt and the sleeves of the shirt he was wearing were rolled back several times.

They looked worn and faded and Lockhart couldn't understand why the Harry Potter was dressed like that.*

The concerned look only lasted for a second, however, and in the next moment Lockhart had turned Harry to face the crowd and flashed yet another dazzling smile as a bright flash of the old-fashioned camera went off as their picture was taken.

Lockhart couldn't help but notice the less than enthusiastic look on Harry's face and whispered to him softly.

"Bright smile Harry," Lockhart said paternally to him, "this is going to be on the front page of the Prophet."

Harry's face turned even more red than it had been (if that was possible), but he mustered up some sort of smile as another flash went off. Ron, he noticed, was grinning at his misfortune and trying very hard not to laugh.

Harry fixed an uncomfortable smile on his face as he was unable to glare at Ron at the moment or do much of anything, as Lockhart had yet to remove his hand from his shoulder.

Lockhart gave Harry's shoulder a squeeze as he noticed Harry's effort and removed his hand. Harry instantly tried to sidle away from all the attention, but Lockhart's next words froze him to the spot in astonishment.

"When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts, no doubt to purchase my autobiography, which I am now presenting to him along with my entire works, free of charge," Lockhart said as he happily shoved a stack of books into Harry's arms, "he didn't dream that I would be making my most important announcement yet!"

Harry couldn't help but wonder what this important announcement would be, but he staggered a little from under the weight of all the books. His uncomfortable smile faded as he concentrated on holding all those books in his arms.

He hadn't gone to Flourish and Blotts to purchase any autobiography, Harry thought irritably to himself. He had gone there to purchase his school books!

"While he was picking up his copy of Magical Me, he didn't realize that he would also be getting the real me!" Lockhart announced grandly as he grinned his toothy grin. "Yes, I am going to be teaching at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!"

While everyone exclaimed over this announcement and began chatting excitedly amongst themselves, Harry took the opportunity to sidle back over to the Weasley's.

"You could have fried an egg on your face," Ron grinned at Harry.

"Shut up," Harry grumbled as he dumped his books into Ginny's cauldron. "Here," he mumbled to her, "you can have these. I'll buy my own."

While the drawling voice of Draco Malfoy sounded out from behind Harry, Lockhart continued grinning at everyone. His eye sought out Harry and his grin faded slightly as he saw Harry giving away the books he had just received as though they meant nothing to him.

A sudden flash of uncertainty hit Lockhart as he noticed the exchange. Instead of looking pleased and proud, Harry looked extraordinarily embarrassed as though he didn't like all the attention.

Nonsense!

Harry Potter not like attention?

That was absurd.. right?

Lockhart realized his smile was looking somewhat less than dazzling and quickly grinned again, showing off all his perfect teeth.

He was having a hard time keeping up his grin, however, when a brawl broke out right in the middle of the shop.

He heard shouts of "Get him dad!" and "No, Arthur!" and then finally, "Break it up, gents! Break it up!"

There had been screams and shouts and for a moment it looked as if a riot was going to break out. Lockhart had been getting quite flustered with all the commotion going on and had been frantically trying to think of how he could salvage this so that it wouldn't look like negative press on himself.

"You know, you could always add the fight at the end of the article," Lockhart said helpfully to the Daily Prophet photographer, while the Weasley twins snorted as they overhead him. He had been hoping that by having the fight mentioned at the very end of the article, that it wouldn't actually take over the entire article itself.

He, thankfully, hadn't heard the twins in all the commotion and had cheerfully offered to help the bookshop owner clean up all the mess when the stampeding crowd had thinned out. While he was busy helping to sort the mess out, he failed to notice as Harry snuck up to the shop front and discreetly paid for his own set of Lockhart books.**

Harry glanced at Lockhart, who was wearing forget-me-not blue robes, after he had paid for his own books, and saw Lockhart cheerfully waving a wand around with a happy smile on his face. Harry couldn't help but frown a little as he noticed that sometimes the cheery smile would dim as though Lockhart were unhappy, but then the smile would brighten whenever someone looked in his direction.

When Lockhart's bright blue eyes flashed in his direction, as though sensing his gaze, Harry ducked his head and hurried out of the store after the Weasley's.

Lockhart watched Harry disappear back into the crowd with a brand new stack of books and couldn't help but be a little put out at having his generous gift rebuffed like that. He also noticed that Harry failed to get any supplemental texts to help with the school year.

Just because you weren't required to get certain books, didn't mean you couldn't get any that you thought might help you, or that you thought were interesting.

He certainly isn't a Ravenclaw, Lockhart thought to himself as he waved his wand at some books, watching as they flew back onto their shelves.

Perhaps he would pick up a few books for young Harry himself. He could use someone to help him out, Lockhart decided.

While Lockhart was having an eventful time at his book signing, Lillian was in Professor Snape's classroom, standing on a small stool as she stood at one of the desks in the front, the better for Snape to see her with.

He, himself, was standing at the very front of the classroom and was brewing his own potion on a table that he had conjured from thin air.

Lillian had been quite impressed, especially since the table came complete with its own cauldron, but she hadn't realized that Snape had merely summoned it from his potions lab. He had at first thought of having them both brew in his lab, but he remembered at the last moment that he had some rather dangerous ingredients in there and he didn't want any little fingers to go exploring.

So he had set them up in his classroom and set Lillian to brewing her own potion from the toy kit. He was secretly very impressed with her reading and comprehension skills and couldn't understand why Lockhart had failed to mention them to anyone. Snape had informed Lillian that she first should brew the bubble making potion before she began to tamper around with it, as she had to have a thorough understanding of how it was made before she changed it.

Lillian had pouted a little but reluctantly agreed that he was right and so now she set about making that instead. It was incredibly easy to make as it only required a few ingredients that had to be sliced and the potion only had to be stirred in one direction before it was required to simmer. Lillian had carefully aimed her toy wand at the little cauldron most carefully, Snape had noticed with amusement, and had pronounced the spell to light her cauldron correctly.

He wondered at the child's seeming maturity. Sometimes she seemed to be incredibly childish, but at other times she seemed to be beyond her years.

It was quite the puzzle, he decided as he stirred his own potion. He couldn't help but wonder what other mysteries this year would bring along with it, as he thought of Dumbledore telling him about the wards going off as soon as Lockhart had arrived at the castle.

With a sigh, he realized it wouldn't be too long before all the dunderheaded children came back to the castle.

He was already sick of this school year and it hadn't even started!

Meanwhile, an ocean away in another country, Jack Frost sat in a tree by his lake as he avoided Jasper*** and the other Fall Sprites. Jasper didn't usually spend much time in Burgess but Jack remembered all the times Jasper and August had shouted at him for hanging around out of season and he thought he couldn't be too careful.

A worried frown marred his lips as he looked up at the leaves, which were now a brilliant shade of red. Jack wasn't sure when Jasper had painted his leaves since it had only just become Fall a few days ago, but he had left one day and returned the next to see the leaves had turned from their bright green to a lovely red.

Jack was grateful for the more crisp temperatures of Fall to take over since if it were any earlier in the year, he wouldn't have been able to stay by his lake for long. He usually only managed a quick visit to Lillian now and again, and also to check on his lake and make sure it stayed frozen.

But this year when he had returned near the end of Summer, he had not seen Lillian anywhere. Usually, she would be hanging around outside or by his favorite tree near his lake, but not this time. Jack had searched all of Burgess and not seen one trace of Lillian.

He had even gone down into Pitch's lair and asked Pitch where she was, but a distracted Pitch had only said vaguely that Lillian was out. When Jack had tried to tell Pitch that he hadn't seen Lillian in several days, Pitch hadn't even been listening and had actually shouted at Jack for him to go away and go bother someone else for a change!

Jack had been immensely hurt by this since he thought that he and Pitch had an understanding. They celebrated all the important holidays together, after all, and Jack had started to see Pitch as his family.****

Jack's frown deepened as he remembered the incident. He supposed that Pitch didn't see him the same way after all.

Jack sat up as his grip tightened on his staff. How could Pitch not be worried about Lillian?! She'd been gone all month! What kind of parent didn't notice that their kid was missing?!

But Jack had remembered how sad and quiet his friend had become over the years and how Pitch had become more and more distant.

Now Pitch didn't even realize that Lillian was gone.

Jack sighed as his frustration grew. He knew how unhappy Lillian had been lately.

Did she run away?

He shook his head as his look grew determined.

It didn't matter if she had run away, he decided.

He would find her.

Lockhart climbed out of the fireplace in his quarters much later with a small stack of books and a few clothes. He had recalled how worn Harry's clothes had been and had remembered how bewildered he was that Harry hadn't purchased new clothes himself and had decided that either this was some strange fashion he hadn't heard about, or perhaps that Harry was embarrassed to admit that he needed new clothes.

He had decided on the latter, and after the book signing was all done and he had purchased some supplemental texts for Harry himself, he had gone off to Madam Malkin's and discreetly made a few purchases. Madam Malkin had raised an eyebrow when Lockhart requested a few outfits in Harry Potter's precise size, but she was a woman of discretion and hadn't asked why Lockhart of all people wanted them.

So now Lockhart had some purchases to put away as he shook the soot off his once sparkling clean robes. He was glad that Lillian was at Professor Snape's, so she wouldn't become alarmed at his sudden arrival.

He hurried off to his bedroom and stowed away his purchases as he tried to think of a way to discreetly give them to Harry without embarrassing him too much. He remembered how red Harry had been after he, Lockhart, had singled the poor boy out and couldn't help but feel that perhaps he had gone about things the wrong way.

He sighed as he shook his head. He had only wanted to help the poor boy out, but instead, he wound up accidentally humiliating him in front of an entire crowd of people and a Daily Prophet photographer no less! He couldn't help but wonder if he would ever do such a thing to Lillian in the future and felt a pang as he realized he might not be able to keep her.

What if this mysterious cousin suddenly turned up and wanted to take custody of her? As far as he knew, Stephen.. Jerkins? Junkins? hadn't been able to contact this cousin just yet, but that could change at any moment.

Lockhart shook his head again, this time to clear it of the negative thoughts. He would enjoy his time with Lillian as much as he could, he decided.

He would treasure every moment.

A few days later, Stephen Jorkins had reached his breaking point. Earlier in the week, he had sent his owl off to Professor Snape, that git, with yet another letter. This time he had cast several spells on it before sending it off. He had cast a charm on the front after he had marked it in bright red ink with the word URGENT written across the front in large letters, and had set the charm to cause the word to flash on and off rather importantly, he thought.

He also cast several monitoring spells on the envelope so that he would know the very instant that Professor Snape had opened the letter since this was so very important for little Lillian's future.

Instead, his anger had grown as none of the monitoring charms had gone off. In fact, if he didn't know any better, he'd say that Professor Snape was definitely ignoring all the letters he had sent.

Well then!

Stephen had proceeded to write his most angry letter yet and then cast the spell that turned the envelope he had stuffed it into, a very bright red.

Ignore this, Stephen thought viciously as he sent the howler off with his equally annoyed owl.

* Ok, this never gets addressed in the books as far as I can tell. Harry is always described as wearing his cousin's old clothes which are about four times too big for him and absolutely no one ever comments on it. Ever. I felt like this was completely unrealistic so I had Lockhart notice. I figured that Harry's friends never said anything because they didn't want to embarrass him, the schoool staff never comment because he's always in his uniform at Hogwarts and everyone else is too busy stupidly staring at Harry's scar to notice what he's wearing.

** Harry dumps the set of books he gets from Lockhart in Ginny's cauldron but then the book never shows him buying more books to replace them. Maybe it was unnecessary to add in but it still bothered me. I figured since Harry is incredibly observant, he could realize that some of Lockhart's more annoying qualities were actually a facade.

*** If you haven't read Child of Spring, I made up some other Seasonals since I figured Jack Frost wasn't the only one. Jasper is the Fall Spirit, August is the Summer Spirit and Lillian is the Spring Spirit, while Jack, of course, is the Winter Spirit. Everyone except Jack and Lillian have their own seasonal spirits and sprites to help them out too.

**** In Child of Spring, Pitch becomes close with Jack and Lillian and becomes a sort of father figure to them. If you have read Child of Spring, then you have to remember that Jack hasn't yet moved in with Pitch and Lillian, so he disappears for a good portion of the warmer months and wouldn't realize that Lillian had been missing for a long time.

Author's Note: Whew, this took a long time to write! Usually I sit down and write out a chapter in one long writing session, but this took a few days for me to write. This took especially longer, since I wrote out the entire Hat Song first. If I had known that I wasn't going to get to the sorting until the next chapter, I wouldn't have bothered, but oh well. I'm sure you guys are getting antsy for the Sorting, but I am too! It's going to be really eventful with all the gossip going on and things.

I hope you don't mind that I snuck the Guardian Jack of Lillian's mind back in there, but I missed him. He's an important character since Snape will see him whenever he visits Lillian's mind. I really miss the other Guardians too, so they'll be popping up. I'm not sure how significant to the plot they'll be, so we'll see how it plays out. If you'll remember, they don't significantly interact with Jack and Lillian until the events of Rise of the Guardians, except for Bunny and Sandy.

I have also decided that I am definitely doing all of Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban for this fic. I won't commit myself to the entire Harry Potter series, since that's a big undertaking, but I will at least do those two books.

I had more I was going to say about this chapter but I can't for the life of me remember what it is, so anyway please let me know what you think of this chapter. As always, if you have any suggestions please let me know!

Edit: I remembered what I was going to say. I totally screwed up the timeline of when Lockhart has his book signing. Lockhart should have had his signing when he first got temporary custody of Lillian but stuff happened and it didn't happen then. I was going to put in the fic that it had been delayed, but then I realized that it wouldn't make any sense to have Harry and the Weasley's as well as Hermione delay their trip too, so.. I'm calling author's privileges and saying you should pretend you don't notice that.

Edit 2: I fixed an appalling number of typos. This is what I get when I write while I'm half asleep!