Ok so I'm sorry this has been so long in coming. I've been working on a novel of my own. Plus, Vita has taken to beating me up lately. And to top it off I'm slowly looking for a better job so I can move out of my parents house soon. I'm not promising a speedy release on the next chapter, but I'm still alive, if barely.

Welcome to the Masquerade - Thousand Foot Krutch

The four of them sat in a circle in the kitchen of the safe house they where now meant to live in for four weeks. The kitchen table was a bit small but they didn't mind since it meant they could talk while being close to the food.

Jack was perched with his butt on the back of his chair, ignoring the looks of disapproval he was receiving from the only person in the room who was over 18. Finally Ben sighed and growled out, from the need to break he silence as much at the irritation at the boy's rudeness, "Will you get down? You are going to break the chair!"
The spirit of winter gave him his most irritating grin, the one he usually reserved for Bunny of Pitch. "Shows what you know old man. I'm light as a feather. Gotta be to ride the Wind." To prove his point the albino flipped up to land silently standing on the back of the chair.

"O-old man?!" Ben stuttered indignantly, "I'll have you know I'm only twenty-three!" Alex laughed at his partner's expression. "Admit it Ben, you're ancient. You should have let us youngsters take over for you ages ago!"

"Shut up Al. I'll have you know I was the youngest out of my SAS unit!" Alex's eyes widened. "I though Eagle was the youngest! He acts like a child!"

"Ahem." The interruption came from the only person yet to speak. "Sorry to interrupt, but could we maybe get back to the matter at hand? I would ruther not ruin my perfect record by screwing up a mission because I agreed to work with others..."

Alex snorted. "Wouldn't have pegged you for someone worried about not getting the best marks." Harry shrugged. "When aurors get 'bad marks' people tend to die." Jack giggled. "Duuude. You NEED to lighten up a bit. My job is pretty difficult too but you don't see me going all melodramatic do ya?"

Alex smirked. "We need to start a support group or something. Our slogan could be something like, 'Saving the world before you even come of age? Good! Because everyone else in this world are hopeless idiots and we want you to join cuz we're bored and need a newbie to haze!'."

Jack went into hysterics. "Can we? That would be great!" The skinny teen hiccupped a little and overbalanced falling off the back of his chair the wind catching him at the last moment and keeping him from going splat.

"Woops!" Jack grimaced ruefully and scratched the back of his head as Wind swirled around the room, lecturing him in a language that Jack had helped her invents so she could talk with him. "Yes Wind. I know. I'm sorry ok? I'll try to be more careful... But no promises."

The others were giving him weird looks. Alex,of course, was the first to ask. "Ok. What the hell man?" Jack shrugged. "Wind's a bit overprotective. But a good friend."
Harry shook his head. "I'm completely lost here. Who are you exactly? And why were you asked to join us?" Jack gave him a blinding grin. "I'm Jack Frost! Like I told you before! And I'm here because Pitch Black is helping out these Death Eater guys and I'm the only one in our group who won't stick out like a giant rabbit in a supermarket when I'm seen."

"Giant rabbit..." Ben repeats, amused with his choise of wording. He's surprised and once again confused when Jack nods agreeably and continues. "Yeah, though I think Bunny is really a kangaroo, or at least half kangaroo, but he denies it whole heartedly." The two spies and the wizard exchanged looks, trying to see if anyone was really understanding what the strange boy was rambling on about. No luck there.

Alex decided to ask about the one thing that seemed like it was truly important to the mission. "So... Who's this Pitch guy?" Jack grinned again before dropping his voice down an octive or two, "Pitch Black, Demon of the Dark Ages, Nightmare King, controller of the corrupted dream sand. The shadows are his domain, and fear his favorite dish. Pitch is he who is known as..." The spirit couldn't help pausing for dramatic effect and had to force himself not to laugh as the others leaned forwards a bit in anticipation. "The Boogeyman."

The others froze for a second and then Alex roared with laughter. "You really had us going there for a second! Good one!" Jack took his seat and waited for Alex to calm down a bit. "All jokes aside all of that is true. I was sent here by the other guardians to help ya'll because there is suspicion that Pitch is in league with mortals."
Ben shook his head. "You expect us to believe that the boogie man is real." Jack frowned, "Well I'm real arent I?"

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked. Jack sighed, "I'm Jack Frost, Spirit of winter, Guardian of Fun."

"Jack Frost is just a code name though, right?" Alex asked curiously. Jack shook his head and tried to hide his hut feelings. "No. No it's not. I'm seriously the main winter spirit. And the only reason you guys are able to see me right now, since you obviously don't believe, is because I got this bracelet thing from Mr. Lovegood."
Harry perked up at the name. "Lovegood? As in Xenophilious Lovegood?" Jack nodded. "Yeah. Strange guy." Harry smiled. "He's not so bad once you get to know him, I'm friends with his daughter so I learned fast. First rule: Don't drink his tea."

Ben was glaring now, completely frustrated that they were getting no where. "Ok so who is this Lovegood guy and what does he have to do with anything?" Harry shrugged, "Oh not much I'm sure, he's the editor of a curio magazine in the wizarding world. He mostly writes about things you... can't... see..." Harry was looking at Jack now, his expression questioning.

Jack nodded. "Lovegood could see me because he believes I am real. Most of the time the things you can't see are the things you don't believe in." Ben rubbed at his temples, the beginnings of a headache starting to show. "I'll take your word for it. I'm going to make some coffee why don't you boys start on the cover stories."

It took five hours, eight cups of coffee for Ben, and a promise to never let Jack have caffeine ever again from the two boys who had given him some, a broken chair, a bunch of glasses stacked in a haphazard pyramid, and an angry rant from the only adult, to get the cover story straightened out.

"Ok." Ben stated. He had laid his forehead against the cool wood of the table in hopes that it would relieve the full blown migraine. "So here we go. I'm Benjamin Porter. Harry here is my son. Alex and Jack are my nephews and we're all in America on vacation. Jack can, surprisingly, do a british accent so as long as he can keep that up we should have no trouble on that front. Alex. You can call in the story to Jones. I'm going to bed." With that the older spy stood and tramped up the stairs to the room he had claimed as his earlier.

The three boys watched him go. "Well," Jack said, "I guess we tired out grandpa." "I heard that!" Ben yelled.

"That's ok old man!" Jack retorted. "You'll forget soon!"

Ok guys! Hoped you liked it! If ya'll wanna see more soonish then send me a review and tell Vita to shove off and stand down!