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Jack was whizzing around all the towns in England, making snow and ice. Everyone was delighted for the day off school/work, so he was in a great mood. North had revealed to him that all guardians can tune into their centre and feel it resonate with other people who were feeling the same. As he was the spirit of fun, he was buoyed by the feelings of everyone around him.
As happy as he was, Jack couldn’t help but feel that there was something missing; he didn’t know what it could be, as there was no one he could see who wasn’t joining in on the excitement. Frowning, he shook his head, sending a flurry of snow to the ground a few feet below, and put it out of his mind. He’d just carry on with his day.
As the day progressed, Jack’s discomfort only grew. The joy he spread was starting to wind down as the younger children were herded home, but he couldn’t help but take the last opportunity to investigate. Following the strange tugging, Jack’s eyes eventually fell on a fat little boy stomping on his mother’s toes. Jack’s eyebrows raised in shock, astonished that the woman was not only putting up with it but calling out to anyone who would listen that her ‘Dudders’ was such a strong boy, determined and knows what he wants.
While there was a small bit of unhappiness from the child, there was no way that that was what had been bothering him all day. Nevertheless, there was a strange aura of sadness surrounding them that didn’t quite belong to them. Jack had never felt anything like it, so decided to examine it further. Almost as soon as he had decided this, the woman in front of him stopped her screeched praise of her son and started walking down the street, her son grudgingly trailing behind her.
Rolling his eyes, Jack followed behind them, but couldn’t resist throwing a snowball right into the boy’s back…
*
He regretted it. The fat child had lost his balance at the slight knock and toppled over onto the harsh concrete. Before he even hit the ground he was wailing, and his mother was panicking unnecessarily. The boy had a pinprick of blood and she nearly fainted before quickly rushing into the house a few feet away.
For a moment, Jack hovered, not sure what to do. Had the mother really just run off and abandoned the wailing child? Speaking of which, this child stopped crying as soon as his mother disappeared. Jack’s eyes narrowed. That was underhanded and close to cruel, treating a worried mother like that. He looked up at hurried footsteps coming out of the house, before his eyes widened comically. The man in front of him was huge. He was the same height as Jack, but Jack was hovering about a foot above the ground. However, that wasn’t really why Jack thought him huge; it was far more to do with the man’s incredible stomach.
Now that he wasn’t so lost in his thoughts, Jack noticed that the source of the strange sadness was inside the house. Leaving the two adults fussing over their child, he floated to the threshold and looked around, expecting to find a sick child sad to miss the snow. Instead, he saw… nothing. Well, nothing related to any child other than the one bleeding outside. Maybe he had imagined it? But no, there was a slight knock coming from somewhere further into the house. Dropping to the floor, he walked in a bit, only to jump back in surprise when the cupboard under the stairs opened almost on top of him. On the off chance that the child would be able to see him, he hid behind the opened door, looking over curiously.
Peeking out of the cupboard was a mess of black hair and a single emerald eye, blurred by something Jack couldn’t name.
“Un… Uncle Vernon? Has it been three days yet? Can I-“ The child coughed violently, his entire body shaking with the effort. “Can I come out now?”
Jack stared in horror at the sight before him, unable to do anything else from shock. The small boy crept out further, squinting in the average-level light coming through the open door. “Uncle Vernon?”
As though summoned, the man from outside came in with his wife and son, cooing over the child as though he was near death. When they got close enough to see inside, the woman gasped slightly and the man, Uncle Vernon he presumed, turned a nasty shade of purple.
“Boy! Who said you could leave your cupboard! It’s only been a few hours!”
The child instantly shrunk back. “I… I’m sorry sir, I, I just thought it had been-had been longer…. I-“
The man strode up closer, and Jack finally got a bearing on himself. As the boy was shaken about by his collar, he frantically wracked his brain for what an invisible spirit of fun could do. Arriving at a ‘eureka’ moment, he started pummelling the fat body with snowballs. What he didn’t anticipate was for the man to regain his balance and scream at the young kid to stop it. Taking the opportunity when no one was touching the boy, he swooped forward and, praying it would work, scooped the child up before bolting. He went straight to North, where all the other guardians were gathered, as per his request.
As he laid the child down gently, he opened his eyes and stared at the creatures staring down at him in shock.
“Hi kid. I’m Jack. What’s your name?”
Jack smiled kindly, trying to make the child comfortable in his – their – presence(s). After a short burst of coughing, the child opened bleary eyes and, smiling, whispered back.
“Harry.”