The next morning, Haru detoured to Ty Lee’s room before heading up to breakfast, exhausted from arguing with the heads of house and the headmaster on the subject of Prince Zuko.  He hesitated, then knocked, hoping he wasn’t waking her up.  He wasn’t. “Morning!” she said, brightly, pulling open the door and giving him a quick hug.

“Morning,” he replied softly, smiling and hugging her back.  “It’s time for breakfast.” 

“All right.”

He took her by the hand and escorted her to the great hall, where Teo came bouncing over from the Ravenclaw table.  “Haru!  Who’s your friend?” he asked, grinning broadly.

“Teo, this is Ty Lee.”  As the boy’s eyes widened slightly, Haru quickly went on, “Ty Lee, this is Teo.”

“Hi!” she said, smiling brightly at the younger boy.

Haru lowered his voice.  “We’re telling everyone she’s Zuko’s sister.”

Teo nodded, then hugged Ty Lee.  “You’ll have to fill me in on the rest of what we’re going to tell everyone,” he murmured to Haru as he did so.  “I’m assuming I know her too, though.”

Ty Lee, meanwhile, was staring around the room with avid interest. “This place is amazing!”

“Yeah, it really is,” Haru said.  “Teo, could you run her over to the Gryffindor table?  I’d rather not have my breakfast spoiled by everyone glaring at me.”  Not to mention that the Potter kid probably blabbed everything I said to Umbridge last night…

“Yeah, sure,” the younger boy said.  “C’mon, Ty Lee.”

“Okay,” she said, kissed Haru quickly, then followed Teo across the hall.

“Hey, Zu!” Teo called when they reached the table, trying to attract the scarred prince’s attention.

He looked up. “Hey.”  The prince looked as tired as Haru was — and his swords were missing.  In addition, he wore a bracelet of some kind that he hadn’t had the day before; Teo gave it a questioning look, but didn’t ask.

“Haru and I thought you might like your sister,” he nodded to Ty Lee, hoping Zuko would read the message, “to sit with you so you can fill her in on this place and it’s culture.  Haru said he didn’t want to get glared at.”

It took Zuko a second or two to figure it out. “Oh. Right, yeah, of course.”

“Here, Ty Lee,” said Teo cheerfully.  “Don’t worry, the food’s really good.”

“Is it against the rules for you to sit with us?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then join us!” Ty Lee suggested, grinning.

Teo laughed and plopped down next to her.  “Gladly.”

She grinned at him, then turned to her “brother” and started asking question after question about this place.  The young Ravenclaw would chime in every now and again so Zuko could sneak in some bites; across the hall, Haru watched them and decided for about the tenth time that he really, really hated House lines.

 

*                       *                       *

 

The next week or so passed quietly. Ty Lee, it was determined, was a witch, and, despite her outward ditziness, caught up to her class fairly quickly. She, like her “brother,” was sorted into Gryffindor.

This did not stop her from, one Thursday morning, wandering over to the Slytherin table and settling onto Haru’s lap for breakfast.

Startled, he looked up.  “Hey.  Making a point, or just dropping in?” he asked her.

“Just wanted to sit here,” she replied, brightly, kissing him quickly and stealing a sausage off his plate.

He laughed and wrapped an arm around her waist.  “Very well,” he said, noting that pretty much the entire Great Hall except for Teo and Zuko were staring at them.  “But don’t eat all my food.”

“There’s plenty of food on the table,” she pointed out, after swallowing. “You can grab more.”

“Fine, point.  Something for you?” he then asked one of his tablemates mildly.

“You do realize she’s in Gryffindor?” the other student, a seventh-year, asked icily.

Haru recoiled, holding Ty Lee away from him and turning her so he could see the red and gold on her tie.  A look of exaggerated surprise crossed his face.  “Oh, so she is!  However did I miss that?”  He kissed her and settled her back in her previous position.  “Your point, Captain Obvious?”

Before the seventh-year Slytherin could reply, Ty Lee put on her best “airheaded pretty girl” face and said, “Well, gosh, is it breaking the rules for me to sit here? I didn’t know. I am new here, after all.”

The other boy gave her a disdainful look, the kind normally reserved for foul-smelling muck found on the bottom of one’s shoe. “Go back to where you belong.”

“It’s fraternising with the enemy, it is!” put in a fourth-year.

To their surprise, Haru laughed.  “Oh, you have no idea how right you are.”  He then glanced at his yearmate.  “And I’m sorry you don’t have a hot girl in your lap, but there’s really not much I can do for you, mate.”

The other seventh-year, annoyed, opened his mouth to respond, when Ty Lee reached across the table and hit him, four times in quick succession, immobilizing his arms.

“There’s maybe two people in the world who are allowed to talk down to me, sweetheart. You aren’t one of them. You don’t want me here, that’s fine. I don’t really care what you think, but it’s fine if you feel that way. But don’t talk over my head and don’t talk down to me. ‘Kay?” She smiled brilliantly at him.

“Oh, right,” Haru said then.  “I forgot to mention you really don’t want to piss her off.”

“What did she do?” the other seventh-year yelped.

“Apart from completely own you?”  Haru grinned.  “She struck four chi points, two on each of your arms, rendering you unable to use them.”

Ty Lee smirked. “I have to meet Ginny to cram, we’ve got a quiz next period. See you later!” She kissed the tip of Haru’s nose lightly, slid off his lap and ran off to study with her friend.

Haru watched her go, then calmly finished his breakfast.  To the seventh-year, he said, “That should wear off in another five minutes or so,” before rising and heading off to get his books.

Sure enough, the other boy was freed from his temporary paralysis in five minutes, giving him just enough time to scramble to collect his own things before his first class.

 

*                       *                       *

 

Haru and Zuko, by way of being seventh-years, had almost every class together.  The only classes they did not share were Runes and Muggle Studies (Zuko), and Divination (Haru).  Despite this, they rarely arrived to their classes together — except for Charms, which came right after breakfast.

 

Today, it appeared was the day for the Charms inspection.

 

The erstwhile prince clenched a fist, but controlled himself and didn't react in any other way.  Haru chose to pretend that Professor Umbridge didn’t exist.  However, as the class went on and she asked Professor Flitwick several questions in a rather… condescending tone of voice, this became harder and harder for him.

 

Finally, he got out a new sheet of parchment, wrote something quickly in characters, then passed it to Zuko when Professor Umbridge wasn’t looking.

 

Can you do any form of firebending without the fire appearing?

 

The prince scribbled back the next time the teachers’ backs were turned.

 

…Depends. What did you have in mind?

 

Could you make it… uncomfortable around Umbridge?

 

Rather than bothering to respond, he tried to do as Haru suggested.  After a moment, he sent a note.

 

Not from this distance. I’ll sit closer in Defence.

 

Haru nodded and absently turned a page in his notebook as Umbridge pulled out a measuring tape.  This was stupid.

Zuko stared at his own book, thinking much the same thing.

 

In Defence Against the Dark Arts, Zuko sat up in the second row, and made another attempt to superheat the air around Professor Umbridge — this time with some success.  Watching from the corner of his eye, Haru hid a smirk.  It wouldn’t do for the professor to catch on to them because of his amusement. 

She hadn’t caught on by the time the bell rang — Zuko didn’t even notice, being too deeply focused.  Checking to be sure nobody was paying attention, Haru drummed his bare heel against the floor and jolted the stone under Zuko’s desk.

He jumped a little. “What?” he whispered.

“Class is over,” Haru whispered back.

“…Oh.” Zuko stood up, steadied himself a little on the back of his chair, and shoved his things into his bag.

Watching him, the earthbender frowned.  Maybe that hadn’t been such a good idea after all.  “Do you have a free period coming up?”

The prince shook his head, then pressed a hand to his temples, willing the dizziness to abate. “Runes.”

Haru swore.  “You need food.”

“Don’t have time to get it, not and be on time to class.”

The earthbender sighed.  “Don’t fall over on your way, then.  You look beat.”

“I’m fine,” he snapped, and headed off — weaving slightly — to his next class.

Haru shook his head.  “We all know you have a different definition of ‘fine’ from the rest of the world,” he muttered at the prince’s retreating back before going off to have a sprint around the castle.

 

Zuko was still a little dizzy when he left class an hour later, and carefully headed downstairs to find some food.

Teo passed him by, chatting with some third-years; about five seconds later he heard running feet and then Teo was walking with him.  “You okay?” the younger boy asked him.

“Fine.”

“You look kinda wobbly.”

The firebender frowned a little, then changed the subject. “How’re you doing? We haven’t talked in a day or two.”

“I’m doing great!” the boy said eagerly, grinning up at him.  “I think Professor Snape likes me.  Or at least he doesn’t snap at me like he does everybody.  …well, he doesn’t say anything at all to me, really.”

“That’s good.” Zuko was well aware of Professor Snape’s obvious tendency to play favourites, often crossing the line into cruelty with students he didn’t like.

“And Ty Lee is teaching me to do handstands!”

“Sounds like fun.”

“It is.”  Teo grinned broadly.

Zuko smiled slightly in return. “Where’re you headed next?”

“Defence Against the Dark Arts.”

He made a face. “I’ll walk you there.”

The younger boy blinked and looked up at him.  “…okay!”  He seemed to enjoy spending time with Zuko, something which surprised the erstwhile prince to no end. “Let’s go.” He lead the way, swaying slightly.

Frowning, Teo dug into his bag and produced an apple.  “Here,” he said, offering it to the Firebender.

“…Thanks,” he said, accepting the fruit and devouring it.

“Welcome!” the younger boy chirped, grinning.

Zuko smiled a little again, and, after dropping Teo off at the classroom, headed for the library to do homework.  In class, Teo zipped through the required reading fairly quickly for the script being a second language to him, and spent the remainder of the period doodling gliders, balloons, and airships in the margins of his notes.  When the bell rang, he shouted, “EUREKA!” and bolted from the classroom, leaving confusion in his wake.

Fortunately, this was not against the rules now that class was over, and Teo was starting to make a habit of shouting some random word and then running to the hall.  Zuko, meanwhile, was practicing his new trick in every Defence lesson. He’d even manage to work out a way to make it look like he was doing the assigned reading and taking notes — were it not for the fact that he left every class dizzy, no one would be able to tell he was doing anything.

Haru was doing his best to cover for that fact – which currently involved bribing the twins to cause a distraction.  And he was running out of money to bribe them with.  “I’ll just have to hide it better,” Zuko said, after a week or so.

“Please,” Haru muttered.  “I’m running out of cash and that village-visit thing is coming up soon.”

The other bender nodded, and, by sheer force of will, managed to keep from reeling until after he was out of Umbridge’s sight from then on. This, of course, made the dizziness worse when he finally gave into it, but he felt it was worth it.

Then the first Hogsmeade weekend arrived.