A/N: Title from "White Christmas." Part eight of Christmas series.

Jack knew he needed to get Jamie somewhere warmer that had food. He just didn't know where to go for that.

"My house probably isn't safe," Jamie said. "Pitch'll know to look for me there. I don't know about yours."

"I have a house?"

Jamie looked like he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Your parents do. You live with them and your sister."

"I have a family." If Jack hadn't been carrying Jamie, he probably would have done some loops in midair. "Where are they? Would they have food?"

Jamie squinted down at the town below. "They live right about there." He pointed with a trembling hand. "Probably - probably not much food, though. Unless you won the Games?"

That, he knew the answer to. "I overheard some people say that some girl named Kate won. Do we know her?"

Jamie shook his head and shivered. Jack wasn't sure whether it was the night air or his own cold touch.

"Sorry." He scanned the town anxiously. "What about there? They're fighting the black sand. That's a good sign, right?" Those houses were some of the few spilling light, and the wind carried sounds of battle with it. He dove closer without waiting for a response. He could see brightly colored figures maintaining elaborate defenses against the nightmarish sand horses now.

"That's Victor's Village," Jamie said. "I've never seen it at night before." He sounded impressed. "They'd definitely have food. And . . . if you lost the Games . . . they kind of owe you, don't they?"

Jack wasn't sure how that worked, exactly, but he still didn't understand just what this game thing was. If Jamie thought it was worth a shot, he wasn't going to argue.

He shifted his hold on his staff - awkward, when he was also trying to carry Jamie - and dove down.

Some of the horses swerved up to meet them. Jamie's grip on Jack grew painfully tight, his face sickly pale in the moonlight.

They weren't getting him. Not again.

Jack let out a feral yell.

Ice splintered out from his staff. It raced though the inky darkness, shattering the enemies it met.

Silence fell. Jack swayed in midair.

"Take us down, Wind," he croaked.

The wind caressed him with small nudges that felt like concern before lowering them onto the war zone of a lawn where combat had abruptly ceased.

There was a giant rabbit, some kind of winged lady, and a big guy holding two swords. There were other people too - strange birdlike creatures, pointy headed short beings wearing bells, massive fur balls, and enormous stone eggs - but those three were at the center of things.

"Jack?" the lady breathed.

He smiled sheepishly. He'd kind of made an entrance, hadn't he? "Hi."

The big man stepped forward, eyes wide with wonder. "Jack! You are not dead! Who is your friend?"

"This is Jamie. He needs help." Jack was firm on that point, but he frowned at the rest. "Why would I be dead?" He remembered seeing that body that looked like his, but that couldn't be him. It couldn't.

"You don't . . . remember?" The lady seemed horrified.

"He doesn't remember anything," Jamie said.

Jack nodded. "All I know is what the Man in the Moon told me and what I've picked up since."

"Manny," the large man said in delight. "He is still there! And now we have new Guardian!" He frowned. "One who needs memories. Tooth?"

"I'll go get his teeth." She zipped away. A flock of the fluttery things followed her.

"Good!" The man clapped his hands. "Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am North. That was Tooth. This is Bunny. Now come! You are both far too skinny. We must get some meat on your bones while we wait." North patted his own extensive stomach before putting a large hand on his back and steering him towards the door. Jack might have dug his heels in and refused to go any further until he got some questions answered, but Jamie was still shivering, and he remembered all too well Pitch denying Jamie a long awaited meal.

"So what's a Guardian? And what do teeth have to do with anything?" He could still ask while they walked.

North waved his free hand dismissively. "Teeth store memories. All other questions can wait until you have yours back. You will have better understanding of the answers then, yes?"

Jack couldn't really argue with that, and besides, they'd entered the house now, and - Woah.

Greenery was everywhere. On the mantle, on the stair railing, and wrapped around the base of the furniture. Actual trees glittered in various corners, dripping with gleaming baubles. Toys in various stages of being built littered every available surface.

"Wow," Jamie breathed.

North shook his head. "This? This is nothing. You should see basement. Or Pole! Now there was a sight to see." He hurried them into an equally stunning kitchen where Jack was finally able to set Jamie down in a chair before being pushed into one himself. North was a whirlwind, shoving food at both of them that they both happily devoured.

Bunny spoke up for the first time. His voice was softer than Jack would have expected. "Better slow down there, mate," he said, nodding to Jamie. "You don't want to make yourself sick."

Jamie slowed but now without grumbling. "What about Jack?"

Bunny and North exchanged glances.

"Jack . . . plays by different rules now," North said slowly.

"Why?" Jamie asked.

""Cause we messed up," Bunny confessed at the same time that North said, "Is Guardian thing."

Jack's eyes flicked between them. "So which is it?"

"It's both, isn't it," Jamie said, putting the pieces together. "It's a Guardian thing, but Jack's only a Guardian because you couldn't protect him in the arena."

"And there only are arenas because we failed our duty a long, long time ago," Bunny growled.

"We tried," North countered. "And the time is coming for us to try again. Jack's coming is a sign."

Jack froze. "Um. What?"

North's fist smashed enthusiastically into the table. "We must help the rebellion!"

"I don't even know anything about the government we already have!"

"I've got the teeth!" Tooth burst into the room. "Just as lovely as I remembered." She held out a little cardboard box. Jack's name was written on the side.

Jackson Overland.

He accepted the box with a shaking hand and opened the lid carefully. The baby teeth inside didn't look like much.

"Just touch them, Jack," Tooth encouraged.

He dumped them into his hand.

Making a game out of scavenging in the trash with his little sister -

Fighting the nightmares with Jamie and their friends -

Falling into that icy pool and being denied a reaching hand -

Jack leaned, gasping, against the table.

"Jack?"

"Hey, Jamie," he managed to say in response. "I finally found you." He'd done it. He'd actually done it, and now he needed to go see his family, and punch Pitch in the face, and -

"Yeah, okay, I'm with North," he said. "We definitely need to rebel."

Notes:

North is being a little careless with his open calls for rebellion, but I figure he's got precautions up.

And with this I am done. I am finally, FINALLY done with this series.

Write a few one shots, I said. You'll be done in a week, I said. Ha. Ha. Ha.

But! Now it is done and Dobby is FREEEEE!