Chapter 1

"Oh it's so exciting! Your first day, Jack! I can hardly bear it!" Aunt Tooth was flitting about the house, shoving Jack's close into his trunks for him. Jack, on the other hand, sat on his bed, his iPhone on and earbuds in his ears. He didn't particularly care about the letter that had arrived a month earlier. He didn't particularly care about "following family traditions." Hell, he didn't particularly care about anything.

His relatives, however, did care particularly. About everything.

"How's the kid doin'?" Uncle Aster poked his head into the room. Tooth turned excitedly towards him.

"Get ready to go, Aster! We're taking Jack to the train station soon. He'll be going to Hogwarts, and he'll get into Gryffindor, just like you and Nicholas did! Then he'll grow up, and follow the family lines! Oh, it's just so exciting, Aster!" She grabbed Aster's hands and started dancing around the room with him.

"The kid doesn't much look like he wants to go, Toothy," Uncle Aster glanced at Jack, who was now waving his wand around, causing snow to fall down upon the three.

"He'll join in the excitement soon enough. Grab Nicholas and Sandy. I just need to pack Jack's books, and we're set to go to the station!" Aunt Tooth started humming as she grabbed at the tower of books standing next to Jack's bed.

Jack sighed, and turned away from his aunt. Sure, being a wizard was awesome and crap, but he didn't enjoy school, and he'd rather not go into the dull family business.

"Mother! I'm ready!" Rapunzel smiled as she dragged her trunks down the staircase. Her long blonde hair was coiled neatly on top of them, so she wouldn't trip over it. If only she could just see where she was going‒

"Ahh! Oof!" It figures she would trip over the broken step. Her trunks went flying, her nice pile of hair flying around the room.

"Oh, darling, you mustn't be so hasty." Gothel swooped in, scooping up the trunks and putting them in a nice pile by the door. "Look at your hair! Rapunzel, you can't get on the train looking like that!"

"I'll be right back, Mother." Rapunzel hopped up the stairs, her long train of hair following her. It had taken her hours to brush her hair this morning, and doing it again would cause them to be late. "Where's my wand…where's my wand….." She searched frantically through her bedroom, finally discovering it in her paintbrush drawer. Wrapping her hair around her head, she stuck the wand in, creating a messy bun. A very large messy bun. "Ready!"

"Then hurry up, dear. We'll be late!"

"Can you not?" Jack muttered as his Uncle North began to bring him in for a hug.

"We are going to miss you, my boy!" He gave a hearty laugh, and Jack could feel his bones practically breaking from the hug.

"Oh, you're going to have so much fun at Hogwarts, darling! Your parents did. This is where they first met. Isn't that right, Aster?" Aunt Tooth started to fix Jack's hair, and he swat her outstretched hand away.

"I'm fine, Aunt Tooth." He saw her face droop, and gave her a smile. "I'll be fine."

"Get on the train, boy, you'll miss it." Uncle Aster gave him a smile with a push that ended up knocking Jack into a girl his age.

"Ah! Sorry! I didn't mean to be in your way! Oh dear, where did Mother go…." The girl he had run into scampered off as quickly as she had appeared. Jack didn't even have time to say he was sorry. In fact, she had said it instead. As if it was her fault he had run into her.

"Strange kid." He shook his head, then turned and waved goodbye to his family. They were an odd bunch, waving and shouting as he stepped on the train. They were all he had though, so he gave them a half-hearted smile as he disappeared into one of the compartments facing the opposite side of the tracks.

It was empty, and as he lugged his trunk containing his change of robes onto the luggage rack, he could hear other first-years like himself finding friends and getting into compartments. Lots of kids past him, but when they looked through the glass, they merely glanced back away. They probably don't want to confront the kid with white hair. He sighed and stared out the window as the train began to move.

The sound of the door to the compartment opening startled him. He looked back and saw that it was the girl he had first run into. "Hi," she said, blushing. "Everywhere else is full, and I've got a lot of…well…" She turned and looked at the trail behind her. Jack's eyes widened when he saw that the trail was her hair. How does someone grow that much hair?

"So…can I? Join you?" She asked, shifting her weight from foot to foot. Jack shook himself awake, and nodded.

"Uh, yeah."

She entered, pulling her hair in behind her. She coiled it neatly on the chair next to her. There wasn't a lot, now that Jack saw it. It only trailed two or three feet behind her, not as much as he had at first thought. Once the girl was done, she turned and smiled at him. "I'm Rapunzel Gothel. First-year. Hoping to be in Hufflepuff."

"I'm Jack Frost. First-year, too. Um, I'm not really hoping to be in anything."

"Nice to meet you, Jack."

"Same to you."

That summed up their conversation for about an hour, until Jack decided he couldn't take the silence any longer. "Why Hufflepuff?"

Rapunzel looked at him. "Why?"

"Yeah. I mean, everyone else wants to be in Gryffindor, or Slytherin with a dying passion. No one really cares for Hufflepuff."

"That's why I'm hoping for it. I think that maybe if I get into Hufflepuff, no one will notice me. I won't need to be worried about anyone thinking low of me, because my house will already be underestimated."

"Oh." He watched as she stared out the window. He glanced at her hair, and it finally hit him that no normal person has that much hair. She must have a disease or a curse on her. Jack knew as well as anyone that people who had curses or diseases that couldn't be cured in the Wizarding World weren't looked upon as normal. In fact, they were often shut off from the society. Sure, the wizards might say they were accepting, but that's exactly what they were. Words.

"Do you mind if I paint?" She started taking out paintbrushes from her trunk, then paused, and looked to him. He nodded.

"Go ahead. I don't mind."

"Thank you." She smiled as she took down a piece of canvas and some paints and started to paint. He could see how much she enjoyed it.

Jack left Rapunzel to her painting, and he decided to take a nap for the rest of the ride to Hogwarts.

Rapunzel woke him up so they could change into their robes, and the two separated as they got their things together and left the train. Jack figured he'd see her again. She was, after all, under a curse.

People who were cursed had a tendency to stick together.

That was obvious enough to Jack.