A few moments later, Zuko woke up completely. “Put me down.”

“No. Play unconscious until we’re outside.”

The prince clearly disliked this idea, but acquiesced. Once they were outside and a good distance from Hogwarts, Haru did let Zuko down. “Something you’d like to share with the class, highness?”

“What do you mean? And don’t call me that.”

“You tried to kill Umbridge. And while I completely sympathise… why?”

Zuko stared at him for a long moment, then shook his head. “No.”

“No?”

“There are some things about my life that I do not discuss. This is one of them. So drop it.”

Personal buttons pushed. Got it. Haru dropped it. Or at least, he snarled, “Fuck this,” and destroyed a nearby boulder. “You have got to control yourself, Zuko! Did it occur to you that that little stunt could get you fucking arrested?”

Before Zuko could respond, they were interrupted by a teenaged girl appearing suddenly between them and falling to the ground.

Startled, Haru turned to her, and complete and utter shock drove the rage away as he helped her up. “Ty Lee?!”

“Pan!” she cried out, delighted, and hugged him, tight as she could. “It’s so good to see you again! And Zuzu, too!” He, too, was attacked and nearly bowled over. Then she pulled away and slugged the prince, as hard as she could. “You’re a jerk, you know that? Mai’s really mad at you.”

“I explained—”

“You left her a letter, Zuko.”

“…wait, the pointy girl?” Haru asked. “Zuko, you know the pointy— of course you do, Azula’s your sister. What the hell did you do?”

“I… well, I had to leave. To… well. Yeah. And… I explained everything, I left her a note…”

“…you broke up with her,” Haru realised. “In a note? Great, she’s going to kill us all and it’ll be your fault.” He paused. “…except Teo. Teo’s too cute to kill. She’ll just adopt him.”

“I didn’t break up with her, exactly,” Zuko insisted.

“You told her you released her from any obligation she felt she owed you, and that you had to do this, and you were sorry. Sounds like breaking up to me,” Ty Lee said, dryly.

“To me, too,” Haru agreed before getting distracted by other important things. “Ty Lee, how did you get here?”

“Well, I was out in the garden, figuring out a new trip. I misjudged a distance, and ran into a statue, and… then I was here.”

“…again with the statues,” Zuko muttered.

“It’s what happened to us, too,” Haru explained to her.

“…Weird. So, where are we, anyway?”

“A country called Scotland. Specifically, just off the grounds of a school called Hogwarts.”

“…A school? That’s a weird name. Also, I’ve never heard of Scotland.”

“This is a different world, Ty Lee,” Zuko said quietly.

“…oh, wow.”

“Yeah,” Haru replied. “We’ve managed to keep that little fact secret. Which reminds me, we need to fit you into our story, too.” He considered.

“She comes from my town, too. She ran away to join us,” Zuko suggested, after filling her in on the broad outline of their story.

“Close enough to the truth to confuse even Toph,” Haru agreed. “Does that work for you, Ty Lee?”

“Sure,” she said. “Also, what’s your real name, Pan?”

Now the earthbender stared at her. “…you knew that wasn’t my name?”

Ty Lee rolled her eyes. “I’m bouncy, not stupid.”

“I don’t like stupid girls,” Haru said softly. “And my name is Haru.”

“Haru,” she tasted the name. “Yes. I like that. It suits you.”

The young man flushed.

She grinned and hugged him again. “It’s good to see you again.”

He folded his arms around her this time. “It’s good to see you too,” he whispered. He’d seen her on the Day of Black Sun, and his heart had leapt into his throat.

Apparently she hadn’t seen him.

She grinned up at him, and Haru smiled back at her. “Let’s get back to the school so we can get this out of the way.”

“All right.” She followed the two boys up to the castle.

“Zuko, go back to your dorm,” Haru said as they slipped inside. “I’ll take Ty Lee to get sorted out. And find some way to keep them from locking you in a mental ward.”

Zuko glared and wandered off, possibly to his dorm, but more likely just to wander.

“So, um… what happened to his hand?” Ty Lee asked, when he was out of earshot. (She knew better than to ask when Zuko was around, as he would get annoyed, deny that there was anything wrong, and change the subject.)

Haru hesitated. “He… got a detention with one of the teachers here.”

“Oh. What for?”

“Refusing to surrender his swords. And then punching her when she tried to take them from him.”

Ty Lee sighed. “Doesn’t surprise me.”

“I think he tried to kill her tonight,” Haru said after a moment. Ty Lee knew Zuko much better than he did. Perhaps she’d be able to offer insight.

“…What for?” she asked, puzzled. As attached as Zuko was to his blades, his swords weren’t worth killing over — his knife, maybe. But not the swords.

“I’m not sure,” Haru admitted. “From what Teo told me, Zuko didn’t snap until he — that is, Teo — was hurt during the detention.”

“…Who’s Teo?”

“Oh — he’s a friend of ours. His village colonised the Northern Air Temple when he was a kid; he wound up coming here with us.” Haru sighed. “He’s thirteen; in this world I’m considered his legal guardian.”

“What was he in detention for, do you know?” Ty Lee asked, after a moment.

“Impertinence,” Haru snarled suddenly, his temper flaring again.

“…no wonder he snapped.”

Haru blinked, confusion driving the anger down slightly. “What do you mean?”

“Well, that’s sort of why he got this —” she lightly touched her left cheek, just under her eye “ — when he was thirteen.”

“…it’s why?” Haru frowned. “I thought the scar was a training accident.”

Ty Lee shook her head. “I don’t know all the details — I was back home for my oldest sister’s wedding that whole week — but… well, from what I’ve been told, he went into a strategy meeting. One of the generals proposed something he thought was a bad idea, I mean ethically a bad idea, and he said so.”

“Right…”

Slowly, Ty Lee told him the whole story, and the earthbender’s eyes went wide. “Holy shit…”

“After that, he was banished, sent off to hunt for the Avatar. He couldn’t come home unless he was successful.”

“…no wonder he tried to kill her,” Haru whispered. “Not only is Teo his friend, it probably triggered every switch he has.”

Ty Lee nodded. “Yeah.”

He sighed. “Hopefully, there won’t be a repeat performance. I’m going to the heads of House tomorrow and exerting the rights I’ve got as Teo’s legal guardian. And now I have to come up with something to explain away Zuko’s justifiable attempt at homicide.”

“Without telling the whole world about his disgrace, ‘cause then he’d hate you forever.”

“About half of everything I tell these people is a lie anyway.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “They still haven’t caught on that we’re from a different world.”

Ty Lee nodded. “That’s probably good.”

“It’s very good. There’s — oh, shit, we didn’t have a chance to tell you yet. There’s a strong likelihood that this world will experience a war soon.”

“…that sucks.”

Haru brought her up to date on everything he and Zuko had been able to discover, and sighed. “So far I don’t think Teo’s noticed, but we’ll have to tell him eventually.”

She nodded. “Yeah, probably.”

He heaved another sigh, and continued leading Ty Lee towards the Headmaster’s office. When they were almost there, though, he stopped suddenly, looking at the slim acrobat.

“…What is it?” she asked, looking up at him.

The older man reached out and hugged her close to him. “I missed you,” he murmured.

She hugged back. “I missed you, too,” she whispered back.

Looking down at her, a thousand thoughts warred within Haru’s mind:

She’s the enemy.

She’s never threatened you.

She’s friends with Azula.

And with Zuko.

Azula more so.

She hasn’t even considered attacking you.

She doesn’t know you’ve been fighting.

But that doesn’t apply in this world.

That is the stupidest—

He kissed her. She kissed back.

Forgetting completely about Dumbledore — and well, everything — he tightened his hold on her and lost himself to the moment. Ty Lee twined her arms around his neck and melted against him. It took someone clearing their throat to bring Haru back to reality.

“Can I help you?” Professor Dumbledore asked, sounding rather amused, rather than annoyed, to find a pair of teenagers making out just outside his office.

Then again, he’d been working at this school for over fifty years, and Headmaster for at least thirty-five of those years.

Startled, Haru jerked away from Ty Lee. “Um. Hi, professor,” he said, flushing and trying to gather his thoughts.

“Hello,” Ty Lee said, brightly. “I just got here, that’s why we came to see you, I ran away from home, too, worried about my brother, and I ran into him and my boyfriend—” she squeezed Haru’s hand, to indicate him “—and we were taking a minute to catch up before talking to you.”

Haru nodded, putting an arm around her shoulders. “It’s been awhile since we last saw each other.”

“I see,” the headmaster said, smiling. “Well, then. Welcome, miss.” Turning to Haru, he said, “For now, she can stay in the room you boys used over the summer.”

“Yes, sir. C’mon, Ty Lee.” He escorted her away from the headmaster.

“Well, I’m glad he wasn’t mad,” Ty Lee said. “Hopefully I can find Zuzu and tell him he’s my brother now before anyone asks him about his sister and he says something weird.”

“Or freaks ou— wait, did you just call him Zuzu?”

“Yeah. That’s what we used to call him, when we were kids. He hates it.”

“Huh. We’ll see if he lets Teo keep calling him Zu, then.”

“Right.”

A few turns, and they were outside the… guest room, Haru supposed it was. “Oh, Ty Lee?”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful. Some of the kids here are… very prejudiced against people who aren’t wizards. And we won’t know about you for a bit, I don’t think. So get out of the way if anyone points a thin stick of wood at you.”

“…Okay,” she said, a little confused, but willing to trust his warning.

“Oh — and mudblood is an insult here. So feel free to hit back.” He kissed her forehead.

She tilted her head up and caught it with her lips instead. “I will.”

“I’ll introduce you to Teo tomorrow,” he said. “I think you’ll like him.”

“I’m sure I will,” she replied, grinning.

“Good night, Ty Lee.”

“Good night.”

He showed her into the room, then snuck back to his own dorm. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.