Chapter 2

To be fair, she definitely had not seen the likes of Bunnymund before. That did not stop Bunnymund from spluttering over the indignity and proclaiming that he was a bunny, not a kangaroo. Jack Frost then proceeded to stroll in casually, enthusiastically pointing out that he definitely was not the only one who thought that Bunnymund was a kangaroo.

She turned to him and gaped at him too.

North wondered briefly how she could see them, since most adults do not believe and therefore cannot see them. Then the more pressing thoughts of getting ready for Christmas took over and he turned back to his work.

After the big Russian-looking thug lumbered away, calling out orders, the kangaroo-who-calls-himself-a-bunny huffed and followed him off. The human-looking teenager smiled at her. She stared at him even more. After a while, the smile faded and he looked confused. "You can see me?" he asked.

Tonks blinked. "Yes…"

His eyes widened. He dived forward, getting into her space. He halted with his face barely inches from hers.

"Really? How? Do you believe in me? Wow, I've never had many believers and there is now an adult believer!" He finished that in one breath, punctuating it with a loop the loop on his staff. He circled her a few times, then landed in front of her, before taking off and looping all around her. At the same speed as his flight, he continued, "So you can see me? Can you see the yetis? North? The elves? Everything else? Are you one of us too? Then how old are you, how come none of us knew of you? But you don't have the same feeling…."

Tonks was going cross-eyed trying to keep track of him. "Slow down." He obeyed, sitting crosslegged in front of her, in mid-air. "Believers?" she asked, her mind finally catching up with his words.

He frowned at her confusedly. "You don't know?" Then he brightened up. "Maybe you just don't know the term. I'm Jack Frost, and the kangaroo is the Easter Bunny, and North is Santa Claus. You can see us, so you believe in us, so you are a believer."

"Santa Claus is real?" Tonks was having a hard time digesting this.

"You didn't know?" The teenager - Jack Frost, sounded so surprised, as if it was common knowledge.

"Am I supposed to?" She snapped waspishly. Although a hazy recollection of a sled and being in midair for one night slipped into her mind. She frowned a little.

Clearly not liking the tone she took, the corners of the boy's mouth was turned down as he muttered, "Well, I was under the impression that only believers could see us."

The Big-Russian-Guy, Santa Claus, apparently, bustled by. "There are certain circumstances to allow people who might not be believers to see us, although that is so hard to fulfill that the cases are rare, few and far between."

He disappeared partially into the chaos in the factory-of-a-sort without much explanation. Gods, Tonks felt like a little kid again. Making up names for everything she was not quite sure what the actual name for it was.

Then, everything actually registered fully. "Santa Claus is real!?"

"Yes?"

"He's actually real?"

"Haven't I just confirmed that?"

"It's true?"

Jack Frost looked exasperated and annoyed. "How many times would I need to repeat that for that to sink in?"

The reality of everything crashed in when he said that and for a moment, everything around her seemed to flicker out. Then everything came back into focus when her brain apparently decided to malfunction and she sank down onto the floor. Sitting there, she stared at the scene around her, apparently having zoned out, since the next thing she knew, Jack Frost was waving a hand around in front of her.

"Anybody home?"

"Santa Claus is real?" she repeated, her mind stuck on it. Gods, she sounded like a broken record label, the one her father showed her. At this rate, she would never be able to get her brain to function again.

The woman's reaction was worrying, to say the least, and Jack Frost was not one to get worried easily. He does not really deal with adults, however, he was pretty sure that someone who was fine would be able to comprehend fully what was going on instead of being stuck on one fact. He was also pretty sure that while bubblegum pink hair was unusual, people's hair does not usually change colour randomly.

North had said something about people who does not know that they believe, maybe she was one of them? Then his previous approach definitely was not working. Instead of just crouching down in front of her, he mirrored her pose and looked at her in the eye. Then, slowly, he let a grin spread across his face as he extended his hand and asked, "Want to have some fun?"

She looked at him, a little slow on the uptake, before taking his hand and allowing herself to be pulled up. He created a snowball in one hand without her seeing, then turned around and threw it in her face. She froze. For a moment, Jack was afraid he had done something wrong, before she positively beamed at him and her hair changed to a bubblegum pink of a lighter shade, and went from curly to spiky.

"What are we going to do if I say yes?"

"What do you say?"

The grin went became wicked. "We do whatever we want, as long as it does not harm anyone?" It sounded more like a statement than a question, however, there was a slight lilt at the end of her sentence.

Jack matched her grin. "I love you!"

In the hindsight, leaving the unknown woman with Jack Frost was the worst idea North could have had, especially since he knows just how Jack Frost usually handle problems. To be fair, he was slightly stressed out by the fact that the deadline was looming, however, this was an oversight that had the potential to delay him even further. He had just been getting everything into a reasonable semblance of order, and now Jack Frost has an assistant.

Before this, he had never known any adults to be capable of causing this much disruption.

"Get back to work!" he roared, hoping to be heard over the din as the yetis milled around, trying to find out what they should be doing now. The ruckus went on. Apparently, no one heard him.

He was ready to burst a vein when the woman came to a stop in front of him. She looked at him, concerned. "Are you alright?"

North was normally a patient man. He was normally perfectly capable of handling all this trouble the winter spirit can stir up, and he usually does not blow a fuse when every bit of order goes flying out of the window on Jack Frost's wind.

Today was an exception, apparently. "HOW ALRIGHT DO YOU THINK I AM!" he bellowed at her. She looked at him, a little wide-eyed.

Immediately, he felt bad, as if he had kicked his favourite puppy. Coughing, a little embarrassed, he apologised for yelling at her. Then, he realised that finally, everyone was paying attention. He then told her that she was welcome to do whatever she thinks will help.

She grinned at him and there was a faint tugging in a corner of his heart. Then, she kind of….floated….away, drifting into the crowd. Although she was not hard to distinguish, since she was the only one who was not paying any attention whatsoever to him. Banishing any distracting thoughts, he got to work again.

Giving his workshop a cursory glance, he despaired, wondering how he was meant to get things done in time. He should have banished both Bunnymund and Jack Frost from his factory during Christmas!