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English
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Published:
2012-12-25
Updated:
2013-01-11
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1,483
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2/?
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Hope's Child

Summary:

As the last of his kind, Bunnymund had long ago put away the thought of ever having children to call his own. But all of that changes one cold night when the Guardians find a child abandoned on a doorstep and the only one who can take care of the little ankle biter is him.

Notes:

Note: I don't give permission for my writing to be used for any form of LLM or AI training, used with any form of chatbot, generative AI, or LLM model, or for this story to be distributed anywhere that isn't AO3 or FF.net.

Chapter 1: Mischief, Fear and Fun

Notes:

Written for this prompt on the ROTG kink meme.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

“Dammit Frosty, you gotta stop leaving me behind like this!” A young man dressed in orange and black huffed as he floated above the streets and houses on a large pumpkin. “I swear, I’m gonna stick a firecracker up your-” He gave a slight shriek as a bolt of frost streaked past him. “Frosty!” 

“Ha ha! You shoulda seen your face!” Jack Frost cackled as he flew loops around him in the chill night air. “Seriously Hollow Head!” 

“Stop calling me that!” Lantarn Hallows growled. He threw a large candy corn at the other, who quickly ducked as it exploded above him. 

”Hollow Head!” 

“Shut it Frosty! And it’s Hallows!” the Halloween spirit scowled. “Just cause we’ve almost got the same name doesn’t mean you can mangle mine!” 

“C’mon, stop being such a poor sport!” 

“I’m not, I’m just objecting to you being a little brat and not having one ounce of maturity-“ 

“Excuse me!” 

The two floating spirits looked down to see an elderly woman with rollers in her hair leaning out of a window and looking at them quite crossly. “I know it’s a night of celebration and all, but do try not to draw attention to yourselves! We wouldn’t the Muggles to be seeing you about!” 

Jack and Lantarn were both taken aback a moment, startled that an adult was speaking to them, before they stammered out apologies. The woman huffed before she slammed her window down. 

“What’s her problem?” Lantarn muttered. “I knew magical humans were kinda crazy to begin with, but geez!”

“You haven’t been keeping up with the news, have you?” A tall, dark man emerged from the shadows of a nearby building. 

“Hey Pitch. I thought you were still recovering. Dragged yourself out for tonight?” 

“No thanks to you,” Pitch glared at Jack, who just shrugged and gave him a slightly apologetic smile. 

“What’s this about news?” Lantarn wondered as he came down to float a couple of feet off the street, curiosity shining in his dark brown eyes. 

“It’s the reason I’m out and about now, actually,” Pitch smirked lazily. “There’s been a bit of a war going on for a while now that's only just ended.” 

“So that’s why North said to keep a low profile in Britain for a while,” the Winter spirit mused. “Thought he was just being paranoid.” 

Pitch rolled his eyes. “While he can be an imbecile at times, he’s not actually that-“ 

A loud cry from nearby pierced the night, and all three spirits froze. 

“Was that… a baby?” Lantarn wondered aloud. 

“Yeah, I think so.” Jack sped ahead in the direction of the voice. Lantarn followed him, and after a moment of debate, Pitch also went that same direction. 

A cold wind suddenly blew past them, and Lantarn had to hold back a shiver. “Frosty, what’s-” He stopped as he saw what had made the younger spirit so angry. 

“Someone left a baby on a doorstep?” Pitch scoffed. “How positively medieval. Not to mention hazardous. Honestly Jack, calm down unless you want to give the child pneumonia!” 

“How could someone do something like that?” Jack hissed, the air around him chilly. 

“Mortals not caring for children as well as they should,” murmured the Nightmare King. “What a surprise.” 

Lantarn gave an aggravated sigh. “Well, then we’ll just have to find someone who will take in the kid, not just dump it on someone’s doorstep.” He jumped off his pumpkin and gently picked up the small basket the child was lying in. “Hey there,” he said softly. “We’re gonna help find you a family, ‘kay?” 

“Well, I doubt I will be of much help, so I shall take my leave,” Pitch said before he melted into the night. 

“Always gotta be so dramatic,” Jack huffed. The small bit of humor he’d found in the situation calmed him slightly, and the air around them became warmer. 

The Halloween spirit held the child to him tightly as he mounted his pumpkin once again. “All right, let’s get going.” 

“Right,” Jack nodded. “Wind!” He flew up into the sky and Lantarn followed, though at a more sedate pace. It wouldn’t do for the child to actually become sick, hence why Frost was not holding it. 

Lantarn looked down at the child, studying features that were slack in slumber. A strange scar was peeking out from beneath the child’s dark fringe, and Lantarn frowned. He urged his pumpkin forward, wanting to get the child somewhere warm and comfortable sooner rather than later.

Notes:

A/N: Lantarn Hallows is my OC for Halloween. If you've read the story before, you'll know that his name was originally Jacko Lantern, but in my fic Shadow Bride I mention a Halloween spirit in passing and his name is Lantarn Hallows and for some reason they were basically the same person but with different names, so I'm just tossing Jacko Lantern and sticking with Lantarn Hallows. He’s basically a guy who usually rides a giant floating pumpkin and can turn into the headless horseman :) Also, "Hollow Head" is a much better nickname than "Jocko" x3;;

Don't worry, Bunny and the other Guardians will start appearing in the next chapter~

Also, if the OP has an AO3 account and would like this to be credited as a gift to them, feel free to message me :)

Chapter 2: Wonder Care

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

In retrospect, seeing as it was time for the earliest snowfalls, he should've known that he would be seeing Jack Frost around sooner rather than later. That wasn't what surprised Nicholas St. North the most though. No, what really surprised him was that the boy had come through a glowing orange portal accompanied by the spirit of Halloween and- 

North squinted. Was that a baby the elder was holding?

"I'm never going through one of your portals again." 

"Well you're the one who struck off right away without thinking that maybe flying up north through cold weather and possible snowstorms with, oh, a baby wasn't such a good idea!" 

"Hey, it's not like I keep magical transportation devices around! The Wind helps me just fine!" 

"I am hoping I am just tired from working, but is that baby with you?" North interrupted the bickering. Shostakovich knew they could certainly get into a long-winded argument if left to their own devices. 

"Yeah," Lantarn Hallows confirmed. "Abandoned on a doorstep."

The elderly Russian shook his head, a sad look entering his baby blue eyes as he descended the stairs down to the ground level of the workshop. "Was anything left with the child?" he asked.

"I don't think so," Jack frowned. He hovered slightly as he looked over the basket. 

"Lemme see." Hallows wrapped one arm tightly around the basket while he slowly (didn't want to wake the child) felt around for anything. "There's a letter!" He gently pried the envelope from where it had been shoved down, wedged between the child's blanket and the basket. 

"Here." North gestured for the letter, which was promptly handed over as he rummaged in his shirt pocket for his reading glasses. A small frown crossed his face as he saw the seal on the envelope, and his brow only furrowed deeper as he read the letter itself. "Where did you say you found him again?" 

"England." 

"And what were you doing there?" He raised an eyebrow at Jack, who at least had the decency to look a little sheepish. 

"Oh, just some early winter fun, y'know. Hadn't seen this asshole in a while either, so-" Jack yelped slightly as he was elbowed quite fiercely.

"There's a baby right here you idiot!" Hallows hissed. 

"C'mon, the kid's asleep!" 

"Calm down both of you," North scolded, relieving the Halloween spirit of his burden. The basket and the child in it looked dwarfed in the Russian's grasp, but then again, so did pretty much everything else. "It would not do to wake him, yes?" 

"It's a boy?" Hallows wondered. "How d'you know that?" 

"Says so in letter." North waved the paper around slightly for emphasis. "Now, I am not completely sure why you brought him here-" 

"It's not like we could just leave him there!"

"Or drop him off at an orphanage! Besides, who knows, Pitch could've accidentally scared him to death - he's not that good with kids-" 

"Pitch was there?" At the nods he received, North sighed heavily and ran a hand down his face. "Would you mind telling me story from the beginning?" 

By the time Hallows and Jack had finished telling North how they'd found the boy - and with no small amount of distracting arguments - a sizable crowd of both elves and yetis had gathered around, somewhat fascinated by what was happening. 

"Tchaikovsky," North muttered. "What a pickle to be in. Well then!" he said loudly. "I suppose we must find a suitable home for the little one." He looked around at his gathered helpers. "And get back to work all of you! Less than two months until Christmas; cannot tolerate any slacking off! Wait, you, you stay." North beckoned Phil over. "Warm up some milk for the child, and do not let the elves near him." The yeti nodded before it shambled off in the direction of the kitchen. 

"Hey, there anything we can do besides stand around?" Hallows asked, having taken up lounging against his pumpkin now that his arms were no longer occupied. 

"Yes, you can hold little Harry while I summon the others." North carefully handed the Halloween spirit the child to hold. 

"Harry?" Jack questioned, peeking over Hallows's shoulder down at the still slumbering boy. "Is that his name?" 

"Is what it says in the letter," North called over his shoulder before he left the room. "His name is Harry Potter."

Notes:

A/N: The next chappie'll have Bunny and Tooth and Sandy, I promise. They would've been in this chapter, but North just kind of ran away with the whole thing -_-;; Personal headcanon in play here that North "swears" using Russian composers, so yeah, I've got that Wiki page bookmarked for future reference ;3 Hope you enjoyed the second chapter!

Edit: I have since been informed that my personal headcanon is actual canon, so go me :)