Chapter 3

"Where's she going?" Jack looked up from his food to see Beckett watching someone walking down the aisle between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. He turned, and recognized Rapunzel. Her head was down, and everyone she passed turned to look at her, whispering to their friends. She pushed open the large dining room doors, and disappeared down the hallway. The people who had been watching her turned back to their meals, the entertainment gone.

"No idea." Scorpius said, his mouth full. "Why do we care anyways?"

Jack debated between going after her, and staying with his friends. She had glared at him earlier for laughing at Scorpius' comment about Rose having a lion's mane, but then again, she was getting more crap than he was. Thanks to Scorpius' hair color, Jack didn't appear as much as a curse victim as she did.

"I'm going to go to the loo. I'll meet up with you guys at the Common Room, okay?" Jack grinned, then stood, and walked out.

Once he had gotten out of the dining room, he started running towards the bathroom. That's where Aunt Tooth always went when Uncle North said something cruel, or Uncle Aster decided to criticize her for not being a true wizard because she had chosen to be a dentist for Muggles. He figured that it was as good as anywhere to start looking for Rapunzel.

Sure enough, he heard sobbing coming from the girl's loo. He peeked inside, praying that no one else was there. Sneaking inside, he rapped on the only shut door there. "Rapunzel?" He muttered.

"Y-yes?" A shaky voice answered. He could hear her sniffling.

"It's Jack."

"Jack!" She burst out of the stall. "You shouldn't be in here!" Her nose was still running a bit, and her green eyes sparkled with unshed tears. Her nose was red as well, and she was doing her best to look disapproving of Jack's situation. He smiled at her.

"You look awful."

"That's not a very nice thing to say." She looked in the mirror anyways, and started cleaning herself up.

"You okay?"

"Yes, yes, I'll be fine in a minute." She gave him a smile, and motioned for him to go. "Some dust from the air currents of one of the ghosts just got in my nose."

"Alright." Jack started to walk out, then turned back towards her. "They don't deserve your attention or respect, Rapunzel. Just remember that, okay?"

Her eyes widened as he said it, but he left before she could try to deny that anything like that had happened. He shook his head as he left. She didn't seem to like troubling other people.

It kind of annoyed him.

"Look at these beautiful beds!" Beckett jumped onto one of them. He grinned. "They're like clouds!"

"Clouds are made of condensed water, Beckett. You'd fall right through them and get soaking wet." Jack placed his robes on his trunk as he got dressed in his pajamas. The Slytherin Common Room did not disappoint. It was located where the previous Slytherin Common Room had been, nearly underneath the lake, but it was much brighter and happier looking than before (or so he'd been told). There weren't many evil wizards and witches coming out of Slytherin nowadays, which improved its reputation enough to make the change.

"Stick in the mud." Albus Potter, another of Scorpius' friends, stuck his tongue out at Jack.

"Scorpius is the stick in the mud. He didn't warn me of the fact that both of his other friends had weird ass names like his."

"Hey! Albus Severus is not weird-assed!"

"Albus, even Scorpius has a better name than you."

"Blame my dad. He's the one who decided to name me. Mum doesn't like them either, trust me." Albus pouted as he took his shirt off and replaced it with a pajama button-up.

"Jack Frost isn't exactly a lady-killer either, so I wouldn't be talking Jack." Scorpius smirked at him. Jack smirked back as an idea popped into his head.

"Alright Scorpius. How about a bet?"

Scorpius grinned. "Now you're talking."

"Whichever of us can date or bang the most girls throughout our years at Hogwarts gets not only bragging privileges, but also….hmm," Jack paused, thinking of the other reward. "Two hundred pounds from the loser."

"Two hundred? That's pretty steep, Jack." Beckett said, glancing uncertainly at Scorpius, who was thinking the bet through.

"Beck's right, Jack. Two hundred's a bit steep. Let's change it instead to whomever the winner is gets bragging privileges and fifty pounds, while the loser has to graduate Hogwarts wearing nothing but his pants, and has to bang a girl picked by the winner." Scorpius looked quite mischievous as he stuck out his hand for Jack to shake. "Deal?"

"I wouldn't do it if I were you," Albus muttered, staring warily at Scorpius' outstretched hand.

"Why? Doubting my skills at seducing?" Jack winked at him, and shook Scorpius' hand. "Deal."

"Let the games begin."

The first day of classes was interesting, to say the least. Jack had multiple fan clubs by the end of the day, as did Scorpius. Jack found that it wasn't very hard to seduce a girl. All he had to do was say some pretty words about her and smile and wink during class, and she was his. Although he didn't realize it, the attention was making him a bit cocky.

During Potions, he and Rapunzel ended up sitting next to each other. She had her hair up in a ponytail, so it would attract less attention, and yet, everyone still stared at her. He could see that she was self-conscious, and put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

While it may have eased Rapunzel slightly, the action got him glares from all corners of the room. He could hear the group behind them whispering about it.

"He's touching the mutant."

"He's sweet to actually interact with it." Said one with a sigh.

"Yeah, but she's still a mutant. No way is she ever going to get any guy, let alone Jack Frost." The first said, sighing with the second.

Rapunzel stiffened under his touch. She must've heard them. "You can let go." She muttered, and Jack did as he was told. Rapunzel finished the first assignment without much difficulty, and brought it up to Professor Slughorn. He smiled brightly, and nodded as she poured it into a glass and offered it to him. "Well done, well done, Ms. Gothel."

She returned to her seat, and Jack glanced across the room at Scorpius. He was talking up his partner, making her giggle and blush. Jack looked at Rapunzel. She wasn't that pretty, her hair just made her an interesting target. He knew that trying to get her as one of his 'dates' would mean sacrificing fifty pounds and his dignity to Scorpius. He looked back to the potion, and decided that he wouldn't have anything to do with her.

So what if they were both mutants. She didn't know that. As far as he was concerned, Rapunzel was an annoying, unpopular, unattractive twelve-year-old that didn't deserve his attention.

At least, he tried to convince himself of this as he and Scorpius left Potions for their Transfiguration class.

By the end of the first semester of school, the score was 10:7, Jack's favor. He had gotten two extra points for getting a second-year to agree to not only a date, but a full-on snog as well. Scorpius was a good competitor, not whining or complaining about the lead. Teasing between the two of them about the bet happened often, but nothing that disrupted their friendship. Beckett and Albus got into it, too, planning speed dating for the boys and their multiple fan clubs around the school.

The only regret Jack had about it was Rapunzel. Because of the bet, he couldn't talk to her, and even though he'd tried so hard to convince himself that she wasn't worth it, he missed the fellow mutant connection he had with her, even though she didn't know it. He still had yet to tell Scorpius and the others, but decided it might be better to wait until later to tell them.

He didn't want to lose the friends he had gotten.

Even more so, he didn't want to end up being treated like Rapunzel was.

Like a kitten with no eye and no leg that was left out in the rain.

Like a mutant.