Author's Note: I finally finished this chapter! Hopefully you like it.
Reviews:
Crossover Junkie: I can't say I've ever heard of anyone going the vampire route to explain Jack's appearance, but I have heard of people going the albino route before, saying that Jack's "half-albino" to explain his complexion and hair but lack of red eyes. As for the military, I read a fic (can't remember the name now) where Harry was a squib adult and he used the power of the military as "the power he knows not." It was one of the weirder fics I read. Anyway, vampirism and albinism is something to consider if Jack ever has problems with his disguise.
god of all: Thanks!
M.v.j.M.: Thank you. :)
Chapter Eighteen: Mysteries
Jack couldn't help but look around at his surroundings more closely on the way back down to the dungeons. He had been so preoccupied earlier that he hadn't really taken them in. Now he stared in awe at all the paintings and suits of armor, and when he saw one painting's occupant flit into their neighbor's painting to gossip, he stopped and stared.
Lillian noticed what Jack was looking at and giggled at him.
"The paintings move here! Isn't that awesome?"
Jack blushed when he noticed the two gossiping wizards in the painting were staring at him and he hurried to catch up to Professor Snape, who didn't seem to have heard what Lillian said. Before he knew it, they were down in the dungeons again. Professor Snape led them to his quarters and had them sit once again in his sitting room.
He waved his wand at the tea set and steam whistled out of the kettle as Jack's and Lillian's tea cups magically refilled themselves.
Jack tried very hard not to look as though this was anything special to him, but he couldn't help but be amazed at the display. Lillian had no such problems and her eyes widened.
"Wow!" she exclaimed as she refreshed the tea bags for their cups.
Professor Snape sat himself again in his arm chair and with another wave of his wand, he summoned some parchment and a self-inking quill. He began to write on the parchment while Lillian and Jack fixed their tea. There were only two cups, since Professor Snape's hands were full at the moment and he had already had his fill of tea that morning. For a few long moments the only sounds in the sitting room were Jack's and Lillian's sipping of their tea and the scratching of Snape's quill on the parchment.
Finally, after what felt like forever to Jack, but was only a few minutes, Professor Snape spoke.
"As you heard in Professor Dumblore's office," Professor Snape began, and Jack noted that he finally knew what the old man's name was. Clearly this old wizard, this Dumbledore had assumed that Jack would know who he was. He felt another sting of irritation at the wizards, but Professor Snape's voice cut into his thoughts.
"I am taking charge of your continued education while you remain at Hogwarts," Professor Snape continued, "If you are who you say you are, then some of this list might seem boring and almost foolish to you. If you are who I suspect you are, then you will find everything on this list to be a valuable source of education."
Jack looked at the parchment as it was handed over to him and he frowned down at it.
The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection
The Dark Arts Outsmarted
Achievements in Charming
The Standard Book of Spells Grade 4
Magical Theory
A History of Magic
Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century
Modern Magical History
Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Geneology
Magical Drafts and Potions
An Illustrated Guide to Potions
Intermediate Transfiguration
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
"That's a lot of books," Lillian commented as she peered at the list curiously, and Jack couldn't help but silently agree with her. If he counted the books he had already purchased (he was thankful that he already had at least two that were on the list) it looked like he would do nothing but read while he was at Hogwarts.
"There are other books you will need," Professor Snape said as Jack opened his mouth to protest, but Professor Snape continued as if he hadn't noticed."But it would look far too suspicious of you to check them out from the library. I'll get them for you after I finish my errands today. While I'm gone, I expect you to get everything that's on the list from the library."
"You expect me to read everything that's on this list?" Jack asked, more than a little irritated with the professor.
After all, he wasn't actually a wizard, what did he care for how wizards perceived magic? Why did he need to know how to cast spells if he would never use a wand? As the thought came to him, his eyes went back the list and he saw The Standard Book of Spells Grade 4. He hid a grimace and wondered suddenly if he would be expected to do any spells.
"Eventually, yes," Professor Snape replied with a sigh as though he could tell what Jack was thinking. And honestly, it wasn't hard to see the boy's thoughts, since they were written all over his face at the moment. Even if Jack was a Seasonal, he would still need to know about spells and magic if he wanted to fool everyone. "You look a bit old to only be in your fourth year, but you can always say that you're tall for your age. It would be too obvious if you said you were a seventh year[1] and didn't know enough. If you claim to be in fourth year, not much will be expected of you."
Jack's eyes left the parchment as he gave Professor Snape an inscrutable look, but he neither confirmed or denied the truth in this. It was something he hadn't really thought of; his only thoughts had been getting inside the castle to Lillian. He hadn't given much thought at all to what he was supposed to do once he was inside.
Lillian scrunched her brow in confusion at Professor Snape and Jack.
"Why should Jack lie about how old he is? What are you talking about?" she asked them.
Jack gave Lillian a suddenly anxious look, as he tried to think of how to answer her. He had forgotten that she wasn't in on his ruse and it would be difficult to explain why he would want to be untruthful about his supposed age.
"Jack is being homeschooled," Professor Snape said by way of explanation to Lillian, "his education is unbalanced and since he's not currently enrolled in a magical school it's difficult to know what year he should claim to be in. He might be more advanced in some subjects and behind in others. If he uses The Standard Book of Spells Grade 4, then not much will be expected of him."
"Oh," Lillian replied as she continued to study the list. "Still a lot of books though."
Professor Snape nodded in agreement.
"I'll set you homework throughout the year, Jack, and I'll expect you to work on it during classes," Snape said.
"Argh, homework?" Jack complained as Lillian stifled a giggle.
Professor Snape raised an eyebrow at him.
"What else were you expecting to do in a school?" he asked Jack, who was looking rather miserable.
Jack gave a huge sigh and shrugged. He should've known he'd be stuck doing work, but he hadn't thought of it. He would only do that much homework for Lillian, he knew. He couldn't risk being found out (and by extension, Lillian) or being thrown out by refusing to do any work.
"Anyway, I expect you to read The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts before you do anything else. Especially the chapters on Harry Potter."
At Harry's name, Lillian gasped but Snape ignored this.
"I also expect you to be very careful when roaming this school. The castle holds numerous secrets and could be dangerous to anyone caught unaware. Watch your step, especially on the stairs. The staircases have been known to change and there are some which have trick steps. All the ghosts here are friendly, save for the poltergeist, Peeves. I expect you to watch out for him. I also expect that I don't have to tell you to keep Lillian close. She has a penchant for trying to wander off on her own."
Lillian blushed at the reminder of how often she had snuck out on Severus and Lockhart. It wasn't like she meant to cause so much trouble! It just sort of happened!
"I'll come fetch you once I've returned and gathered the other books I want you to have. I will charm them to look like more advanced books, but to you they will look as they normally do. I think once you have the basics down, I'll have you try a potion or two in classes. It would be odd for you not to be seen participating, even if you aren't doing the same potion as everyone else."
Jack tried really hard not to look totally panicked at that thought, but he must not have been that successful since Professor Snape told him to drink some more tea.
"As you know, only a wizard can make a potion. Even though it requires little in the way of wand waving, the act of making a potion still draws its magic from the potion maker. If a potion is made correctly, and the magic of the potion maker is sufficient, then the potion will be adequate."
Jack fidgeted nervously as he thought about this. In his way, he had his own sort of magic through his power as a Seasonal. Did the professor think it was enough to make a potion? Could he make a potion?
"I think in your case that would be enough to correctly make a potion. I'll have to show you a way of manually lighting the fire under your cauldron, however." Professor Snape said, the last part was more to himself than anything as he mused over everything that Jack would have to do. The boy certainly wasn't going to have an easy time of it. "Anyway, I think that will be all for now. I will most likely see you at lunch, if not sooner."
Jack nodded a little numbly as he and Lillian finished the last of their tea. Jack tucked the list of books into his pocket as he grabbed up his pack and slung it over his shoulder. He was very glad that he had thought ahead and had gotten a magical one that could hold all sorts of things and still not weigh very much. Before they left, Professor Snape told them how to get to the library and then before the professor could tell him about any other work he'd have to do, Jack hurried Lillian out of Professor Snape's quarters.
Lillian showed Jack the way out of the dungeons, since Jack didn't really know his way out of the castle yet. As they walked, Lillian was busy jabbering away, trying to tell Jack everything that had happened while she had been at Hogwarts. She was careful, however, to avoid mentioning on what happened with the Whomping Willow. There was no sense in worrying Jack, after all.
Jack smiled as he listened to Lillian's prattling and couldn't help but be reminded of other times she had done so. It was so familiar that he couldn't help but smile even more as she continued on. It wasn't long until they had reached the Entrance Hall and Jack couldn't help but inwardly sigh as the parchment with the list of books on it seemed to be weighing his pocket down. He wondered if they should just get it over with, or if they could put it off for now.
"Too bad it's raining outside," Lillian complained. "I wanted to go outside with you."
Jack remembered about the flowers that seemed to follow Lillian and thought perhaps that it was best that they couldn't go out for now. He glanced at the large doors that lead out of Hogwarts and wondered with a grimace if Jasper was caught in it. If Jasper was anywhere around Hogwarts, he had to be extremely annoyed with all the out of control spring magic that seemed to be hovering around there.
Jack was just grateful that it wasn't spring yet, and then had a small panic attack when he realized that eventually it would be spring, and then what would they do? Everyone would notice if Lillian neglected her spring duties! Even Mother Nature wouldn't just sit by and let Lillian not do anything. But would Mother Nature seek Lillian out herself? And would she be able to find Lillian at Hogwarts?
Jack was so distracted by these thoughts that he didn't notice that Lillian had been trying to get his attention for a few minutes.
" - listening to me? Jack? Jack!" Lillian's loud, petulant voice cut into his thoughts.
Jack shook himself out of those thoughts and decided he'd worry about it later. There wasn't anything he could do about it now. He wondered if he could somehow contact Jasper about it. Even though Jasper didn't like Jack, that didn't change the fact that Jasper was still a Seasonal. And Seasonals stuck together, right?
"Sorry," Jack said sheepishly at Lillian's glare, "I was thinking about.. uh.. all the schoolwork I have to do."
Lillian rolled her eyes at this, but to Jack's relief, she didn't question it.
"I guess you want to go to the library first then?" she said impatiently.
"Well, the professor did tell us how to get to there from here, so it would make sense to go there first," Jack said sensibly.
"Fiiine," Lillian said in a long-suffering voice, but she almost immediately perked up as a thought came to her. "I can look up stuff about potions!"
Jack chuckled at that and ruffled her curls.
"At least you'll have something to do while I look up the million books I have to get," he said as they continued on their way.[2]
They passed a few students on their way, but the students didn't do anything more than stare as Lillian continued to excitedly tell Jack all about her plans to make color changing bubbles and her secret desire to find a color changing potion that would let her change her hair color.
Jack couldn't help but chuckle at that.
"You don't need a magic potion to dye your hair," he pointed out.
"So," Lillian said stubbornly.
"Not to mention the trouble you'd be in if Pi.. er.. you know, Dad found out," Jack continued, his stumbling over Pitch's name causing Lillian to look at him curiously.
"I don't think you used to call him dad," she said and Jack hid a wince. "Why don't you call him Pi - "
Jack hastily cut her off as he noticed that a few portraits were staring at them curiously and seemed to be taking in every word that was said. Even the walls had ears here!
"You don't remember," Jack said hastily and sighed at the sad look that crossed Lillian's face. "But you shouldn't mention his name here."
"But - " Lillian started to protest, but fell silent at a desperate look from Jack.
"Please," he pleaded, his voice low.
"Oh.. okay," Lillian sighed in defeat, but perked up once they made it into the library.
She tugged her hand free of Jack's and looked like she wanted to take off running. Jack put a restraining hand on her shoulder and she pouted up at him.
"I know I have a lot of books to find," Jack said, trying to ignore her pouting with his lips twitching in amusement, "But you have to promise that you won't leave the library."
Lillian let out a cheer at that and the last thing he heard was a hasty "Promise!" called over her shoulder as the pink blur that was Lillian (she was wearing her favorite pink dress) disappeared behind some bookshelves.
Jack watched the shelves for a moment as he wondered if that really was the best idea, but he shrugged as he made his way over to the librarian who was giving him a dirty look for allowing Lillian to be so loud in her library.
"Sorry about that," Jack said as he pulled out his list of books. "Can you help me find these please?"
Madam Pince looked down at the list and then back up at Jack as though trying to determine why he would need so many books. After a long moment in which Jack felt he was silently being judged, she pointed him in the proper direction to find the texts that he wanted.
Jack noted that the librarian didn't actually fetch the books herself, but he realized it was a rather long list. He thanked her after he was given the list back and set off to find the books the professor wanted him to have. While he searched for his books, he could hear the pitter patter of little feet wandering around and shook his head at that. Of course Lillian would feel at home in a library, she spent enough of her time in them as it was.
After around fifteen minutes or so, however, Lillian came hurrying up to him with an excited look on her face.
"Jack, Jack!" she exclaimed. "Come see who I found!"
She grabbed Jack's hand and began to drag him off to his spluttered protests about her being too loud, which she ignored in her haste. Soon Jack found himself standing in front of a table that had three students sitting at it with various books and parchment spread out. It was clear to Jack that they'd been working on homework of some sort.
"Jack, this is Harry!" Lillian said excitedly as she pointed out Harry to him. "I saw him before I came to Hogwarts!"
"Wait.. what?" Jack asked in complete confusion as he stared at Harry.
"So do you think that boy is going to be staying at Hogwarts too?" Harry asked Hermione as they left the Great Hall after breakfast.
"Well, from what we've seen in the paper and heard, it looks like Lillian's lost her memories," Hermione said thoughtfully as she thought back to Lillian's outburst when she cried out that she didn't want to forget. "So I imagine she'd be staying until she got them back. Unless she has to go to St. Mungo's."
"St. Mungo's?" Harry asked blankly.
Ron chuckled at Harry's confusion.
"It's the wizards' hospital, Harry! Everyone knows that!" Ron said, pleased to be able to inform his friend about something for a change.
"St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries," Hermione expanded, seemingly unable to help herself. "Not everything can be cured at the hospital wing."
"If she had to go there, she would've gone by now, right?" Harry asked his friends.
Ron shrugged in response, but Hermione looked thoughtful.
"I'm not too sure.. They might have wanted to try everything they could here first," she said, "Besides she obviously seems to be getting some of her memories back."
"What makes you say that?" Ron asked as they started to head back up to Gryffindor tower.
"Honestly!" Hermione shook her head at him, "She obviously recognized Harry when we saw her with Professor Lockhart before. So whoever is helping her must be making some headway into getting her memories back."
"And she seemed to know who that boy was," Harry pointed out. "She wouldn't have been so familiar with him if she didn't have any of her memories back."
"Alright, Alright," Ron mumbled.
"So what were you thinking of doing today?" Hermione asked the boys briskly as she changed the subject.
"Well, we don't have to ask you what you're doing," Ron said with an eye roll.
Hermione flared up at once as she looked offended, but Harry decided to cut her off before she could gather too much steam.
"I wanted to go to the library," he said quickly and then blushed as both Hermione and Ron stared at him in amazement.
"What's gotten into you!" Ron demanded, as Harry was hardly ever the one to suggest this.
"Er.. I.. er.. IhaveanessaytodoforLockhart," Harry mumbled all in one breath as he turned redder in embarrassment. He had no idea how he could have forgotten all about it, but the fact remained that his essay was due tomorrow and he had not even started it.
"What?" Hermione said as she narrowed her eyes at him. "Why haven't you said anything before now?"
"I forgot," Harry said honestly.
"And you were playing Quidditch yesterday!" Hermione continued. "Harry, you should have been working on that essay!"
Ron shot Harry a sympathetic look that quite clearly stated that he knew why Harry had avoided mentioning this to Hermione. She meant well, but she was terrible about nagging them about things, especially when it came to homework.
Harry, for his part, was looking embarrassed still. That horrible detention with Lockhart combined with everything that happened with Snape the other day and the appearance of this mysterious boy had put the essay far out of his mind. Actually, he hadn't given the essay another thought after he had left Lockhart's classroom the day it had been given. Hermione had pestered him about what Lockhart had wanted, but Harry had thrown her off that track by talking about what their next lesson was going to be. Sufficiently distracted, Hermione nor Ron had mentioned Harry's meeting after class with Lockhart.
"Hey, you never said," Harry said suddenly as a thought occurred to him,[3] "Why were you rushing off to the library so much before meals?"
Hermione huffed in annoyance as they finally reached Gryffindor tower and gave the Fat Lady the password.
"I was trying to look up information about Seasonals," she finally admitted.
"Did you find anything?" Harry asked her curiously.
"No, not one word!" Hermione said crossly. "I was trying to look them up in history books since the Sorting Hat mentioned that they hadn't been seen in centuries, but they aren't mentioned at all!"
"Did you try Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?" Harry asked her with bemusement as she slapped herself in the forehead.
"No.. Wait here!" Hermione exclaimed as she dashed off to the girls' dormitory.
"I have to get my stuff," Harry explained to Ron. "You're coming with us, right?"
"And miss out on the chance to do homework?" Ron asked sarcastically.
Harry raised his eyebrows at Ron and Ron blushed.
"Alright, alright, I've left my homework late as well," Ron finally admitted.
Harry grinned at his best friend.
"Better not let Hermione find out," Harry teased, but before Ron could retort, Hermione dashed back downstairs with her copy of Fantastic Beasts as she made her way back over to the boys.
She rifled through the book as she turned to the section on S.
"Salamander, Sea Serpent.." Hermione muttered to herself as she looked down the page with her finger. "Aha! Seasonals! Listen to this!"
Ron and Harry drew closer to Hermione as she read out to them in an excited whisper.
"Seasonals: M.O.M. Classification XXXX. Ancient magical beings rumored to have power over the weather. None have ever been found in existence and they are often dismissed as mere myth."
"That's it?" Harry asked in disappointment at the same time that Ron asked "What's it mean XXXX?"
Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron.
"Haven't you ever read your book?"
"Why should I when I've got you to tell me," Ron said in an undertone to Harry, who worked hard to keep his face straight as Hermione ploughed on.
"It means that the creature is dangerous but not known to be a wizard killer," she told Ron and Harry.
"So that means that Seasonals are powerful but not known to hurt wizards?" Harry asked.
"It seems that way," Hermione agreed, "But then why would the Sorting Hat warn us like that?"
"Well, it did say that Seasonals are dangerous," Ron pointed out. "Probably wanted to give us a lookout."
"The only problem is that nobody's seen any Seasonals for hundreds of years. No one really knows what they're like," Hermione said.
Harry looked at the entry in Fantastic Beasts warily, as he thought of that terrible voice he'd heard in his detention.
"And the Sorting Hat reckons that there's a Seasonal here?" he asked uneasily.
"Looks like it," Hermione said as she shut the book with a snap. "But Professor Dumbledore hasn't forbidden us to leave the castle, so he must not think we're in too much danger."
"Right," Harry said, half of his mind still on the voice and hardly paying attention to what he was saying.
"Anyway, you two have to get your things so we can get going!" Hermione scolded them as they started at her sharp tone. Both Ron and Harry had forgotten why they had returned to the tower in the excitement of finding out about the Seasonals.
So it was a few minutes before Harry and Ron had fetched their things and the three of them made their way down to the library, after Hermione had put her book back in her dorm.
"Where's your books?" Ron asked Hermione suspiciously as they made their way down the staircases.
"I already finished my homework," Hermione said as she gave Ron a look that reminded Harry of Professor McGonagall. "I wanted to see if I could find out anything about creatures that could affect the weather."
Harry looked somewhat amused by Hermione's determination to find out everything she could about Seasonals or other creatures that could be similar to them, but before he knew it, they had reached the library.
After a brief discussion with Ron about his essay that Hermione had pointedly ignored, Harry had finally decided to do his essay on the yeti. Unfortunately, despite the title, Year with the Yeti didn't actually have a lot of facts about yetis. After briefly looking around, Harry had managed to find a book about yetis called Yetis: Fact and Legend that looked promising and soon he was immersed in the text and his essay.
Ron had brought his Transfiguration and Charms homework with him and ignored Hermione's tutting as he began to work on Charms. He had essays that Harry and Hermione didn't have because of his wand and to his frustration, the teachers had set him extra work to make up for his being unable to do the practical work.
Hermione was soon absorbed in a large and ancient book and only looked up at a loud exclamation and before the three of them knew it, they saw Lillian dragging the strange new boy over.
Jack looked at the small boy Lillian had been indicating and he looked from Harry back to Lillian and then back at Harry as he furrowed his brow.
"Why were you at.. uh.. wherever he lives?" Jack asked Lillian.
Lillian shrugged in response to that.
"I don't know, but he has a pretty owl and a flying car," Lillian said with a grin. She was obviously quite pleased to have remembered even that much.
"Do you know?" Jack asked Harry, ignoring the part about the flying car for now.
"Er.. not.. not really," Harry stammered.
"You never said you met her before," Ron said in surprise to Harry.
"Alright," Jack said as he crossed his arms and looked from Ron to Harry. "Tell me exactly what happened when Lillian saw you."
"There's not much to tell, really," Harry said as he avoided the older boy's piercing gaze. "I first saw Lillian when I was going back home to the Dursley's after visiting Diagon Alley to get my stuff for first year. Then after that, I didn't see Lillian again until earlier this year when she turned up at my friend Ron's house."
Lillian looked confused at the mention of that, since she didn't remember anything that happened at Harry's friend's house. In fact, she really didn't remember much about Harry either, except that she had seen him those few times. Maybe she had just seen him in passing? But that didn't make much sense.. She felt as if she gone there purposefully...
"She went to your friend Ron's house?" Jack asked as he shot Lillian a concerned look. "Did she say why?"
Ron huffed in annoyance, since he was trying to do his homework and this weird kid kept bothering them.
"She kept saying something about a Spring Spirit or whatever," Ron grumbled. "Can I get back to work now?"
Hermione gave a huge gasp at that and everyone turned to stare at her.
"Oh! I.. um.. I just.. remembered something I had to do," she blushed as she floundered lamely.
Jack almost facepalmed at what Ron said. Was Lillian really naïve enough to go around telling people that she was the Child of Spring? No wonder the wizards erased her memory! They must've thought she was crazy!
Lillian frowned as she tried to think back to that day. Everything they said sounded sort of familiar, but it was all a bit beyond her reach still, like a picture that refused to come into focus.
"So what happened after that?" Jack prompted.
"I bet I went to Mr. Jorkins' office!" Lillian said as she decided to stop pressing her memory for now.
"That's right," Ron jumped in, his ears going a bit red as he remembered quite clearly that his father had used a memory charm on Lillian. He had no desire for any big brother or whatever this weird kid was to find any of that out. "My dad took her."
"Mr. Jorkins?" Jack asked as he looked down at Lillian. "Who's he?"
"He does Family Affairs at the ministry," Lillian replied. "He's in charge of where wizard kids go."
"Wait, so he sent you to Hogwarts?" Jack frowned a little, as he tried to make sense of everything.
"Nooo," Lillian almost whined. "Gilderoy volunteered to look after me as a temporary guardian and THEN I came to Hogwarts!"
Jack winced at Lillian's tone, since that usually meant she was getting fed up with things. It wasn't anything Jack particularly enjoyed since that was usually when Lillian would insist on having her way about things.
"Okay, fine," Jack agreed. "Well.. thanks for telling me all this," he added to Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"No problem," Harry answered for them. "So, uh.. will you be staying at Hogwarts too?"
Jack sighed at that and ran a hand distractedly through his hair.
"Yeah, uh.. I guess so. Lillian still has to recover her memory and I can't leave with her until she does. I promised her.. er.. our Dad that I'd stay here and look out for her."
"Oh, but what about your schooling?" Hermione asked, aghast at Jack missing out on his education.
"I'm homeschooled, so it doesn't really matter," Jack said with a shrug. "That Professor guy..."
"Professor Snape," Lillian corrected him.
"Yeah, him," Jack agreed, "said he'd help me out with my schooling."
"So you won't be joining classes while you're here?" Hermione said, very surprised at this.
"Jack was learning at a different pace than you guys," Lillian butted in impatiently as she parroted everything that Professor Snape had said. "So it wouldn't be fair for him to jump right into things. But he might get to make potions and do Herb-thingies!"
"Herbology," Jack corrected with a chuckle. "And yeah, what Lillian said. I'm a little behind in some subjects and not in others, so it would be easier for me to do assignments separately from the classes."
"I suppose that makes sense," Hermione said.
"Yeah, well.. I have some books that I have to get," Jack said.
"Oh, of course!" Hermione said with a smile. "It was good to meet you..?"
"Jack," Jack said.
"Yes, Jack. I'm Hermione, that's Ron and that's Harry Potter," Hermione gestured at everyone as she introduced them.
Jack nodded at each of them in turn.
"I'll see you around," Jack said. "I think Lillian has some books she wanted to get too."
"Oh yeah!" Lillian smiled as she remembered suddenly. "See you!"
Without another word Lillian raced back off into the maze of bookshelves. Jack sighed at that.
"Lillian..! Don't run - " Jack started to call after her and then stopped abruptly when he realized he was being disruptive. "Sorry," he muttered to Harry, Ron and Hermione as he too, wandered off.
Harry waited until they had firmly disappeared before he turned to Hermione.
"What is it?" he asked her.
"It's just that.. Did Lillian really say something about a Spring Spirit?" Hermione asked.
Harry frowned as he thought back to that day.
"I think she kept saying that she was a Spring Spirit," Harry said as his mind began to race. "But that's impossible, right?"
Hermione looked thoughtfully at Jack's retreating back.
"I don't know," she said as she turned back to her book.
Ron shook his head at that.
"She's just some kid with a weird brother," he told his friends. "He didn't even make a big deal about meeting Harry."
"I wonder why he has white hair?" Harry asked Ron, who shrugged in response.
Hermione didn't say anything, but she narrowed her eyes at the book she was reading.
After what felt like forever, Jack had gathered up all the books from the list and was tottering his way over to the librarian's desk to check out. Much to Harry's amusement, Jack wandered by the trio's table again, but the pile of books Jack had was so tall that he didn't even notice Harry or the others.
Ron snickered as he heard Jack grumble about demanding Professors on his way past and Hermione shot both Jack and Ron reproving looks, not that either of them noticed. Jack's pile of books was so tall that he was having a hard time seeing around the pile and he wasn't pleased when Lillian came racing up out of nowhere.
"Watch it!" Jack said loudly as he stumbled and his book pile nearly fell over. Madam Pince shot Jack a dirty look that he failed to notice at that.
"Sorry," Lillian said with a grin, not sounding sorry at all. "But I found my books."
Lillian was holding two potions books in her arms. One book was rather large while the other was a small, thin volume. Both of them looked like they should have been far over her reading level.
"Good, now we can get out of here," Jack said grumpily as they made their way to the librarian's desk.
Hermione frowned after the pair as she took in the books that Lillian was holding, but after a moment she returned to her own book. She shot Harry and Ron an annoyed look as Ron asked Harry for help with his Transfiguration essay.
After checking out their books and Jack shoving them into his bag, he and Lillian quickly left the library. Lillian was back to chattering away about the castle. Jack's mind wandered as he once again thought of what he was going to do about Lillian and her spreading of Spring. He wasn't much worried about his own job, since all he'd have to do was sneak out. The hard part was going to be trying not to get caught.
With both Jack and Lillian off in their own worlds, it was no wonder that they got lost. Lillian, even though she was pretending she knew where to go, still didn't completely know her way around the castle and Jack's mind was far away as he essentially just followed after her.
It was as he heard Lillian say "Huh, I don't remember that painting," that caused him to snap back to the present. He looked around to see that they were in a hall some where. Where that was, he had no idea. The hard part of being in a huge castle, Jack realized, was that a lot of it looked the same. Stone walls, stone ceilings. The paintings and placement of suits of armor might be different, but it still all looked the same.
Jack scratched his head in bewilderment as he looked around to see Lillian staring at a random painting of a stuffy looking witch who was pretending to ignore Lillian. A small, dreamy-sounding voice however, caught his attention.
"You look as if you have a lot of nargles," the voice told them.
Jack turned to see a small girl with long dirty blond hair, and rather strange looking eyes staring at them unblinkingly. She had what appeared to be radishes dangling from her ears.
The girl stepped up to them and tilted her head at Jack inquiringly. Lillian didn't seem to notice, since she was trying to get the stuffy witch in the painting's attention by loudly calling out "Hello!" and waving a hand. The witch seemed even more determined to ignore the impertinent child at that and wouldn't even look at Lillian.
"I thought you'd be taller," the girl finally said to Jack.
"Uh.." Jack said eloquently in reply.
Her silvery-gray eyes seemed to look right through Jack in a way that made him very uncomfortable. She stared at him for another long moment (they both ignored Lillian's increasingly louder attempts at getting the portrait's attention) before she dug around in a pocket and handed Jack what appeared to be a rather interesting smelling.. onion?
"It'll ward off the nargles," the girl told Jack. "But I'm afraid I can't do much for the wrackspurts. They seem to like your friend and have developed a taste for your hand."
Jack nearly dropped the.. radish..? Fumbling around for a moment, he couldn't help but blush.
"I don't know what you mean," Jack said quickly to her, making sure to keep the palm of his right hand hidden away.
"Do you know the Pamola?[4]" the girl asked him suddenly.
"Ah.. no..?" Jack half answered hesitantly.
The girl seemed somewhat disappointed by that but nodded all the same.
"It is a bit reclusive," she admitted, but then seemed to straighten up a bit. "I believe you'll find it easier to go up instead of down. I find whenever I'm lost, that I would rather be lost somewhere up high than somewhere down low."
"Thanks?" Jack said, finding the whole conversation with this girl perplexing.
The girl smiled at Jack, this smile much different from the somewhat vague dreamy one she'd been giving Jack the whole time. This smile was bright and her eyes seemed to shine with their own inner light, their own excitement at him.
"If I were you, I'd go that way," she said as she indicated further down the hall, "and then take the first set of stairs that you reach."
"Why - " Jack started to ask, but was cut off.
"After all, you should write to Kari. She must be terribly worried about you Jokul," the girl cheerfully told Jack with a grin as she stepped around him and skipped off down the hall.
Jack's icy blue eyes widened as he took in what the girl had said.
What?!
[1] I'm being purposely vague about Jack's age here and decided Jack can be a fourth year. I've also seen him portrayed as a third year, so I figured this wasn't too farfetched.
[2] Most of the titles are ones I've looked up, except for a couple that I made up. Hopefully none of them are too far advanced for Jack.
[3] I swear I had Harry ask this before and this entire conversation had already taken place, but I couldn't find it anywhere! I didn't feel like rereading sixteen chapters, so I'm sorry if I'm rehashing something that's already been said. Anyway, I'm sure the entry is at least new.
[4] Pamola is a legendary bird spirit that causes cold weather. I figure the creatures Luna talks about (except for a few) are probably myths and legends that are rare or something that wizards haven't normally heard of.
Author's Note: I couldn't help the part at the end there. I wanted Luna to call him Jack Frost at first, but that wouldn't be any fun. Then I came across the myth/legend of Kari and Jokul Frosti and thought I'd go with that. I think it'd be cute if Luna thought that Jack was Jokul. Anyway, Luna probably won't be big in this story, but I looked it up and she is supposed to be in the same year as Ginny. I thought it was silly we didn't hear anything at all about Luna until fifth year. I also figure Luna can be a good/bad influence on Lillian and her knowledge of magical creatures. I can just picture Lillian going on about a creature of Luna's and Snape groaning as he wondered where Lillian heard about all that nonsense.
As for Jack doing potions, I'm not sure how it'll go. I figure it miiight be the one non-wand thing Jack can do without it blowing up in his face too much. Either that, or all his potions will end in disaster. I also haven't forgotten about the goblins and I do have a mission for Jack in that regard, but that won't come up until later. Jasper might also be a little more involved in things than I thought, but he won't be joining Jack in the castle (if you were wondering).
I'm also aware that the plot is crawling along, but it'll start to skip soon. I'll probably have something plot-related happen in the next few chapters. I won't have it all be filler. Anyway, if you guys have any ideas and suggestions let me know! Sorry for the long author's note!