Everyone seemed to be trying to talk to Jack all at once.

"What do you mean over three hundred! Thats not-"

"You can't be serious! You only look fifteen!"

"I don't believe 'im one bit I tell ya! He's a knivin' little-"

"Mundungus! Don't you dare finish that sentence!"

Despite all the chaos in the small dining room, Jack only seemed able to hear the murderous yelling coming from Mrs. Black's portrait.

"Would someone please shut her up!" He yelled, successfully quieting everyone in the room. Sirius promptly went up to his mother's picture and shut the curtains, muffling her yelling. Finally able to take in his surroundings, Jack looked at the others in the room with him. Everyone was staring at him with expressions of sadness and pity. Jack didn't like it one bit.

"So now that that's out of the way…" He began.

"Now hold on one minute boy. You can't just spring something like that on us without an explanation." Mad-Eye glared suspiciously at the uncomfortable winter spirit. Jack never thought his age would cause this much of a problem.

"Um… what exactly do you want me to explain? I mean there's not that much to it."

"I think that Alastor wants to know how you are over three hundred and yet you look only fifteen." Lupin said kindly.

"Oh well, um...you see, I just...Thats just the way it is I guess." Jack stumbled over his words, he had never really thought about it much. Luckily the other guardians came to his rescue.

"Jack is a spirit, like all of us," Tooth said, "We don't physically age, and usually not even mentally. We do still gain wisdom and experience, but wisdom doesn't always show on the outside."

"Da, iz very complicated subject, but Jack iz still young compared to many other spirits." North interjected.

"Well how old are all of you then?" Harry asked.

"Vell, I am two t'ousand eight hundred and two." North said casually, "And Bunny iz one t'ousand seven hundred fifty six."

Everyone in the dining room was staring at the guardians incredulously.

"And what about those two?" Ron said pointing at Tooth and Sandy.

"Vell iz rude to ask woman's age no?"

"It's ok North! I'm close to around one thousand years five hundred years old. Oh! And no one's really sure how old Sandy is, but he was the first guardian so…" Everyone turned to look at the ancient guardian who created a sandy infinity sign above his head.

"Well you said it yourself, Jack is young for a spirit and he is going to be with the other children, I don't believe he needs to worry about this sort of thing, or any of the children for that matter." Mrs. Weasley pointed out stubbornly.

"Molly, you can't stop Jack, he is a guardian and clearly not a child and as for Fred and George, they are of age-" Mr. Weasley started, but he was promptly interrupted by Mrs. Weasley.

"They're still in school-"

"But they're legally adults now,"

Mrs. Weasley's face started to resemble a tomato and she let out an exasperated sigh

"I-oh, all right then those three can stay, but Ron-"

"Harry'll tell me and Hermione everything you say anyway!" Ron said suddenly and Jack had to suppress a grin from the kid's defiance, it kind of reminded him of himself. However, it surprised Jack to see Harry's hesitation. They seemed like good enough friends, so why was he so hesitant. Harry was really turning out to be quite a mystery.

"Course I will," Harry finally replied. Mrs. Weasley proceeded to take Ginny from the room. However, the little girl wasn't very keen to go without a fight. Jack could practically hear her protesting all the way up the stairs. It wasn't long before Mrs. Black's yelling carried through the halls as well. Jack groaned and banged his head on the table earning a few questioning glares from everyone in the room.

"What?" He said, "You can't possibly be okay with her screeching! She's worse than a banshee!" Sandy raised an eyebrow at this, as if asking, when have you ever heard a banshee?

"Okay so I may have angered one once...but to be fair she was totally messing up my snow day!"

"I'm sorry Jack," Lupin said, "But unfortunately we have no way of removing Mrs. Black's portrait from the wall, we've all tried and nothing seems to work."

"Did you try asking her nicely?" Tooth said suddenly as Lupin got up to quiet the portrait.

"Uh Toothy, Dis Mrs. Black does not seem like zat type, no?" North pointed out.

"Oh I suppose not." Tooth said deflating a little.

"Aaaanyway…" Jack drawled, "Weren't we just about to play twenty questions? 'Cause I'm really starting to get bored with this conversation."

"Is everything a game to you boy?" Moody eyed him. Jack began to feel uncomfortable under his gaze.

"I'm not a boy, we just went over this and Duh! Guardian of Fun here!"

Lupin finally returned and Harry's Q and A session finally began. After the first few questions about this Voldemort fellow, Jack decided this game of twenty questions wasn't very fun and he began to zone out...again. The sickeningly warm atmosphere of the room was beginning to give Jack a headache and his eyelids began to get very heavy. Before he knew it, Jack found himself in a dream. He had a sneaking suspicion that Sandy had nothing to do with it.

Jack's Dream:

It was dark, and cold. Jack was never cold. He had felt this before. But where...He couldn't remember. No, he could, he just didn't want to. Why not? Something had happened. It was dark and cold. He was scared. No one was there. He was alone. Alone. No! He had friends, he remembered...or did he? Oh, that's right, he didn't want to remember. Why was that again? Oh right...he couldn't remember. Jack shook his head to clear his thoughts...but wait, he didn't have a head, or a body, he was just...there. Ugh! Why couldn't he remember! Why were his thoughts so scattered? The darkness began to close in on him. It suffocated him. It pulled at his soul painfully causing him to panic even further.

"STOP IT!" He yelled at the darkness. But no one answered. He was alone. Alone. No! Stop thinking like that. He had friends. Or did he? Ugh! Didn't he already have this conversation! Jack looked around, his eyes- did he even have eyes? - scanning the darkness for someone, anyone.

"Jack" A whisper reached his ears…

"Who's there? Who are you? Where am I?" He demanded, the panic in his voice rising.

"Jack" The voice was stronger this time…

"Who are you?" Jack demanded again, raising his staff threateningly...Wait, his staff? When did he get that? When did he get a body?

"Jack!" The voice's strength startled him and he whipped around to see...nothing...again. He was alone. Alone. No! I said stop that!

"What are you doing?" Jack yelled at the voice. No answer. Alone. Jack let out a frustrated groan.

"What are you doing? Why are you making me think these things?" Jack heard a gentle chuckle coming from behind him and spun around. His eyes were met with a blinding light. It started off no bigger than a pinprick. As he stared at it, the light began to grow. Jack's fear slowly melted away and was replaced with warmth and safety. Somehow he knew this light wouldn't hurt him. His thinking became clearer and shapes were beginning to form around him. Soon the shapes began to form trees and a lake...Burgess. Color coated the shapes and Jack reveled in the sparkling beauty of his home. He let out a carefree laugh and stepped carefully onto the thin ice. He looked above him to see the moon….the full moon. Why was that strange? It shouldn't be? Should it? Suddenly, he remembered. He remembered everything! The Guardians, Jaimie, Harry...The Moon! He knew why it was strange. It had been missing. He had been searching. Had he found it? Well obviously. Suddenly Jack heard a branch snap. He spun around and stared through the trees, his world had gone silent. A man stepped out of the tree line. Jack couldn't tell who he was. His image was blurred, almost as if someone had tried to erase him but couldn't finish.

"Who are you?" Jack said curiously.

"Jack." The man said…

"Wait a minute! You were the one calling me before! Why?"

The man looked up towards the moon.

"Jack"

"What do you want? Can you speak?"

The man nodded, hesitated and then shook his head.

"So you can but you can't?" Jack said confusedly. The man nodded.

"Okay…" Jack said slowly scratching his head.

The man's head tilted to the side and his face seemed a bit distressed. Though Jack wasn't sure how he knew that, the man was near impossible to make out. The man looked back up at the moon and Jack followed his gaze. The brilliant full moon from earlier was gone, replaced with a dull half-moon.

"What!" Jack exclaimed, "How is it a half moon? The Guardians can always see the full moon!" Jack looked back at the man questioningly. The man simply shook his head and pointed once more at the moon. Jack looked up again and to his surprise, the moon was shrinking slowly. Jack looked at the man standing at the edge of the forest. His figure seemed to be blinking in and out of existence. Are you somehow connected to the moon? The man nodded.

"Duh!" Jack slapped his forehead at his stupidity, "It's so obvious! You're the Man in the Moon!" The man nodded sadly.

"What's happening to you? Why are you here?" Jack thought of the real (Not Dream) moon. It had been disappearing.

"Why are you leaving us?" Jack shouted suddenly angry at the man- no Manny- in front of him. Manny simply shook his head sadly, his figure flickering in and out of existence once more.

"Why won't you say anything? You've never said anything! You left me on my own for three hundred years!" Tears were beginning to come from Jack's eyes and the betrayal he felt from Manny was beginning to overwhelm him. Jack looked at his feet and watched the tears fall from his eyes, freezing on the ice below him. Before he knew it, the Man in the Moon had pulled Jack into a loving embrace. Jack let out a surprised gasp. Manny was hugging him… giving him attention. Jack soaked it up like a deprave child- which in a way he was. He brought his head up from the Man in the Moon's chest and looked into his gentle eyes. They said all he needed to hear. 'I'm Sorry.' Much to Jack's displeasure, Manny broke the embrace and looked once more at the moon. It was shrinking faster. Jack realized that as it did, Manny's form began to fade more and more. His lake was slowly disappearing and the color was fading back into darkness. As the moon began to fade away, Jack realized that Manny was trying to tell him something. He pointed at the moon then back at himself. Jack's eyes lit up in realization.

"No, no no no no no!" He exclaimed, "Don't tell me you're...you can't be…" Tears ran freely down Jack's face. He hugged the Man in the Moon tightly as he came to his realization.

"You can't be dying!" The Man in the Moon hugged him back tightly and the two stayed like this until Jack's world was once again plunged into darkness.

"Frostbite!" Someone was shaking him, "Come on mate! You gotta wake up! Now!" The voice was familiar but he couldn't place it. His mind was sluggish and tired...he was so tired. He let out a groan. A furry… was it a paw?...a furry paw touched his forehead gently.

"Damn! 'E's too hot! We need to cool 'im down. He heard others in the room, but he still couldn't identify anyone. The scorching heat hit him suddenly and he squirmed in discomfort. It wasn't quite painful...yet.

"It's alright Snowflake, we'll make it all betta' just you wait."

Two soft, strong arms lifted him off the ground. Why was he on the ground? The arms carried him gently and he heard a door open. His body was met with a cool breeze. It wasn't as cold as he was used to, but it was much better than the stuffy room. The cold winds wrapped him in a comforting embrace, sucking all of the heat away from his body. His memories suddenly came back to him. He was with the Order of the Phoenix, with the other Guardians. He stretched out his stiff limbs and cracked his eyes open slightly. Bright light invaded his senses and he closed his eyes tightly, somehow finding comfort in the darkness.

"Will he be alright?" A female voice- was it Tooth? Mrs. Weasley? He couldn't tell.

"Da. He iz overheated but not too much I tink. He vill be fine in little while." North?

Jack tried opening his eyes again. The bright light had dulled and he was able to make out a face. A furry face. Bunny?

"Bunny?" He voiced out loud.

"Oo! He's awake! Everyone quiet now, he need space." Definitely Tooth.

"Wha-what happened?" Jack took in his surroundings. The guardians were all crowded around him, concerned looks on their faces. It looked as if they had taken him to Grimmauld Place's backyard. He never even knew it had a backyard.

Sandy looked at Jack and animatedly told him what had happened with his sand images.

Apparently they were all listening to Harry's questions when Jack had collapsed out of his chair. They had immediately rushed to his side to assess whether or not he was ok.

"You gave us all quite a scare there kid." Moody said from the doorway of the house. Jack looked past him to see other members of the order watching him, worry clear on their faces.

"I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I think I just had a conversation with Manny."

Jack said massaging his head to relieve himself of the massive headache that was forming. Jack looked around at the shocked faces of the Guardians and the confused looks on the Order members' faces. Bunny slowly let Jack down and watched him carefully to make sure he wasn't in any danger of collapsing again.

"Vhat did he say Jack?" North said slowly. The Man in the Moon almost never contacted the Guardians individually, unless it was extremely important.

"Well he didn't really say anything." Jack started, "It was like he wanted to but he couldn't." He glanced at Sandy who nodded his head in understanding. He continued. "It was almost like something was stopping him from speaking. We- I- said somethings and he...That's not really important but he showed me the moon. At first it was big and bright, but then it changed, it started to get smaller and as it did, Manny started to fade away." He looked around at the Guardian's shocked faces and confirmed the dreaded theory they had all come up with. "Manny told me he's dying."