The defence group eventually found a place to practice in the Room of Requirement, and the rest of the semester passed fairly uneventfully for the "transfer students", and eventually they came upon Christmas Break.

Haru and Zuko were largely confused about the completely random break in schooling for the year.  Attempts to explain it to them met with even more confusion, and Haru himself eventually just ignored it. Zuko, while not understanding the reasons for it, had every intention to take full advantage of it — what time he didn’t spend working on the homework his teachers had assigned for the break, he spent shut up in the Room of Requirement, drilling.

Teo, on the other hand, had gotten some fairly good explanations for what was going on.  Deciding to stick with the cultural aspects of the holiday, rather than the religious ones, he enlisted Ty Lee’s aid in purchasing presents for his friends.

Ty Lee was only too glad to help, and had a great deal of fun picking out presents of her own for everyone.  While they were shopping, Teo looked up at the other girl.  “Hey, Ty Lee?”

“What’s up?” she asked, looking down from the ladder she was perched on, rather precariously, trying to grab something off of a high shelf.

“When we find a way back home… will you stay with us?”  The boy’s tone sounded frankly plaintive.

She paused, steadying the wobbly ladder. “…If I can. I mean, I might get dumped right back where I came in from.”

“Yeah, I thought about that, but… you were taken from a different place, right?  And Haru says you landed in a different place than we did.  I’ve been reading about Portkeys, I think we can get one to take us all back to the same place.”

“Well, then. That’s the plan.” She grinned down at him.

He grinned back up at her.  “Great!  I mean… I really don’t want to have to fight you.  Not after all this.”

“Yeah,” she said, then slid down the ladder. “Okay, who’s next on the list?”

“Um, Zu is.”

“…Damn, he’s hard to shop for. Okay.”

The two continued onward while back at Hogwarts Haru enthusiastically beat the hell out of a few trees and just generally threw himself into an intense physical workout.  Zuko was doing much the same thing, in the Room of Requirement.

Eventually Teo and Ty Lee returned, their shopping done, collected Haru, and all three of them headed to the Gryffindor common room, now empty for a change.  Zuko, predictably, didn’t join them without being hunted down.

It was Teo who volunteered, leaving Ty Lee and Haru to cuddle and be generally sickeningly cute and couple-like.  Predictably, he was in the Room of Requirement, drilling.  “Zuko?” Teo called on earning his entry.

“Just a minute,” he called. A few seconds later, the flashes of fire and fire reflected off swords faded, and the prince came to the door, shirtless. “What is it?”

“Christmas,” Teo beamed at him.  “We’re waiting for you in your common room.”

“…huh?” Zuko blinked, confused.

“Presents,” Teo specified.

“…presents?” He just looked more confused.

“Yes.  Come on!”  The younger boy grinned at him.  “You’ve hardly left here since break started, you know.”

“I’ve been drilling.”

“I know.  And now you can stop and spend some time with us.”  Teo hit the prince with his very best pleading expression.  “Please?”

“…Fine.” He disappeared deeper into the room, to retrieve his shirt and sheath, then followed Teo out.

Gleefully, the grey-eyed boy led Zuko back to the Gryffindor Tower and waited for Zuko to open the portrait, then climbed in.

“Great! Now we’re all here!” Ty Lee said, gleefully, pulled the others over to a pair of squashy armchairs, then reclaimed her own seat in Haru’s lap.

Teo grinned at them all, and then promptly passed a wrapped box to Zuko.  “This is from Luna Lovegood.  She asked me to give it to you.”

He blinked, surprised. “Uh…”

“…who?” Haru asked.

“The dreamy blonde girl, remember?”

“There’s too many people in this school.”

Zuko was just staring at the present, still a little surprised by the fact that it existed.

“You open it, Zuko, to see what’s inside,” Teo said patiently.

“I — yes…” He shook his head to clear it, then opened the gift.

It turned out to be a book, a history of swords and swordplay as practised by the Muggle world.  Who knew where she might have gotten her hands on such a thing.

Ty Lee, meanwhile, passed around her presents to her boys — she’d also managed to get one sent to Professor Snape, who’d been kind enough to grumpily recommend a book she could give to Teo.  Teo passed out the rest of his in turn, and then eagerly tore into the offering from Ty Lee; on spying the title, he made a noise that could only be described as a girly squeal and hugged her tightly.

She laughed, and hugged him back. “Merry Christmas!”

Haru eyed his presents in confusion, but opened them; Teo had bought him a pair of thick socks — (“Are you trying to insinuate something?”) — and a red-and-green scarf, while Ty Lee had given him a box of chocolates and a pygmy puff.  He thanked Teo with a hair tousling and Ty Lee with a kiss.

She grinned and kissed back.

Zuko opened the last of his presents — Ty Lee had gotten him a scarf and a pair of gloves, while Teo had somehow managed to get his hands on a very small knife, easily concealable in something innocuous, like a belt’s buckle.

He nodded his thanks to the two of them, unwilling or unable to speak.

Neither Ty Lee nor Teo seemed to mind that they had received nothing — in fact, the youngest of them seemed to think spending time with them was more than enough.

After a while, Zuko rose to go — probably intending to go back to his drills in the Room of Requirement.

By that point, Teo had fallen asleep in his chair, and Ty Lee and Haru were largely preoccupied with each other.  The prince slipped off unquestioned, then.

After a very long while, Haru regained some semblance of rational thinking.  “We should probably move elsewhere,” he whispered to Ty Lee so as not to disturb Teo.  Never mind the young teen slept like the proverbial log.

“Boys dorms. All the fifth years are gone, and the castle won’t let you up into my room,” she whispered back, and pulled him over to the staircase.

Haru and Ty Lee proceeded to have a very pleasing, if awkward more than a few times, Christmas.

 

*           *           *

 

Teo was not surprised to wake alone in the Common Room that morning.  He wasn’t as innocent as everyone seemed to think, after all, but rather than ruminate on that, he decided to slip out of the common room and get breakfast for everyone.

Zolena, Zuko’s cat, followed him out, knowing that the house-elves in the kitchen would have fish for her.

Teo collected the food (and Zolena) and returned to the dorm, only to realise that he didn’t have the password.  He stared at the door for a long moment, then turned around and headed for the room of requirement so Zuko could let him in.

Once again, the room was dark, save for Zuko’s light. “…Teo? What is it?

“I, um, I went down to the kitchens to get everyone breakfast, and… um…”

“…I’ll let you in.” He bent down to stroke Zolena, who’d rubbed up against his ankles.

“Thanks, Zu,” Teo said, relieved.  Sometimes his insistence on abiding by some school traditions — such as his not knowing the  password for the Gryffindor dorms — was a real pain.

Zuko led the way back to the portrait of the Fat Lady and let him in. “I’m going back to finish up.”

“Come back when you’re done?  I brought food for everyone…”  Haru and Ty Lee were conspicuously absent from the Common Room.

“Sure. It’ll probably be like an hour.”

Teo’s face lit up like the lights that had been set up around the school.  “Okay!”  He set down the food he was carrying and hugged the older boy.  Zuko let out a slightly startled noise, not expecting this.  Teo beamed up at him and then crawled inside.  “See you in an hour, Zu!”

“See you,” the older boy said, then headed back to the Room of Requirement. It was actually closer to an hour and a half before he got back.

 By then, Haru and Ty Lee had joined Teo, who was keeping the food warm by use of magic.  They seemed especially close and snuggly now.  Zuko arched his eyebrow, but refrained from comment.  Once everybody had been fed, Teo eagerly suggested a snowball fight.

“That’s a great idea!” Ty Lee said. “Are we doing all four of us, or teams?”

“Um… teams?” Teo suggested.  “You and Haru and me and Zu?”

“Okay!” she said, brightly, and ran upstairs to get her coat.

“Admit it,” Haru said, getting up.  “You suggested this to get me in shoes, didn’t you.”

Teo laughed and raced the earthbender out the door; both of them went to collect their warm clothing and met the pair of Gryffindors outside.

Zuko and Ty Lee were waiting when they got there. “Let’s get started, then!” the girl said, brightly, dragging Haru over to one side to start building a snowfort.  Teo did the same thing with the firebender, and they threw snow at each other for most of the afternoon.  By the end, Teo had to cling to Zuko for support, but he was laughing tiredly.

“You all right?” Zuko asked, in an undertone.

“Never used my legs that much before,” Teo said, just as quietly.  Ty Lee still didn’t know that he had been a paraplegic before coming to Hogwarts, and the boy himself preferred not to think about losing the ability to walk when they returned to the Western Air Temple.  “I’m just tired, I think.”

He nodded.

“Come on, we should go inside and change,” Ty Lee suggested.

“I can’t feel my feet,” Haru complained.  “Sounds like a plan to me.”

“This, my love, is why we wear shoes when it’s cold outside,” Ty Lee said, gently smacking him.

“Earthbenders need no shoes,” Haru replied, earning a snort from Teo.

“They do when it snows!  Even your dad admitted to that.”

“Can you see Toph in shoes?”

“Can you see her in snow?”

By this time, they’d made their way into the entrance hall. “You need shoes if you don’t want your toes to fall off,” Ty Lee said, rather primly. “Go change, we’ll meet you in the Great Hall for dinner.” She kissed him lightly and headed off upstairs to her common room.

“…I don’t think I can walk by myself,” Teo admitted to Zuko as Haru headed for the Slytherin dungeon.

He nodded. “I’ll lend you clothes.” He helped the younger boy up after Ty Le.

“Thanks,” said Teo gratefully.

“No problem.”

Nobody was really surprised that the four of them chose to sit together at the Gryffindor table, and by now Haru having Ty Lee in his lap was a common feature at school meals.  Once the four of them were done eating, Zuko disappeared again into the Room of Requirement, and the other three vanished back to Gryffindor.  When Zuko straggled in at the hour of Oh-God-Hundred, Teo was curled up under a chair by the fire, fast asleep; Haru and Ty Lee were again suspiciously absent.

…Why isn’t he sleeping in his own dorm? Zuko thought, puzzled. When an answer didn’t present itself, he shrugged, retrieved a blanket, and covered the younger boy. He then curled up in one of the chairs and stared broodingly into a fire, absentmindedly playing with it — focus exercises given to beginners. It was relaxing.

Roughly around dawn, Haru wandered down to the common room, wearing his school pants and nothing else.  “Morning,” he yawned.

“Morning,” Zuko replied.

“Sleep nice?  Or did you just ignore sleep?”

Zuko shrugged. “How about you?”

Haru flushed.  “I, ah, didn’t sleep much.”

“Ah.” …I can’t say anything. It’s not my place. She’s not my real sister, and he loves her. Besides, my opinion isn’t going to matter for much longer, anyway.

Haru cast a fond look at the sleeping Teo.  “You covered him?”

“Yeah.”

“I think he’s lonely,” Haru said after a moment.  “All his school friends have gone home for the holidays.”

“…Makes sense.”

“And he loves to spend time with you.”

Can’t imagine why. I’m not exactly the most personable person in the world. “Mm.”

Haru fell silent then, yawning.

Zolena leapt onto her human’s lap, meowing and rubbing her head against his hand.

“I think she’s hungry,” the earthbender told the prince with a laugh.

“Yeah, probably,” the firebender replied, with a small smile. He got up, placed Zolena down on the chair behind him (she promptly jumped down and followed him), and went to the corner of the room where he and Hermione Granger kept the cat food bag they shared.

Haru watched, his mind idly chugging through several thoughts until it hit on the one he’d been trying to avoid ever since they had arrived.  “Hey, Zuko.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think our time spent in this world coincides with the passage of time back home?”

“…I hope not.”

“So do I,” Haru replied.  “But what do we do if it has?”

“…I don’t know.”

“…I’m going to the library,” Haru said, standing up suddenly.  “There’s gotta be something on Portkeys that can get us back.”

“Put a shirt on before you go,” Zuko suggested, then finished feeding Zolena and heading back for the Room of Requirement.

Haru looked down at his bare chest, then shrugged and headed upstairs to retrieve his shirt.  Ty Lee was still asleep.  He pulled on a shirt, pressed a soft kiss into her hair, and slipped off to the library, where he would spend most of the day looking up information on Portkeys and repeatedly being chased from the Restricted Section by Madam Pince.

 

Once again, Zuko didn’t manage to find the common room again until after midnight.

Surprisingly, Haru was moments behind him, looking pensive.

“…What’s wrong?”

“I’m breaking our wands before we go back,” Haru said softly.

“…Why? Aside from the awkward questions they’d inspire.”

Haru withdrew his wand from the sleeve of his robe and pointed it at a spider crawling up the wall.  “Imperio.”  The spider froze, and then Haru moved his wand, and the spider moved with it.  Haru’s intense green gaze never left the insect as it leapt around the common room, and then he suddenly snarled, “Finite Incantatem!”  The spider scurried back up the wall.

He then looked at Zuko.  “That’s why.”

“…Ah.”

“Don’t tell Teo or Ty Lee I did that,” Haru said after a moment.  “It’s called the Imperius curse.  Imperio means ‘control’.”

Zuko nodded. “I won’t tell.”

“It’s highly illegal.  And it’s impossible to tell when someone’s under the curse.  I’m starting to understand why these people are so afraid of Lord Voldilocks.”

The younger boy nodded again, and stared into the fire.

“War’s coming again,” Haru said quietly.  “I don’t want to fight somebody else’s war.  But I think we’re going to be caught up in this.”

For a third time, Zuko nodded. “We’ll do what we have to do.”

A note of levity, likely forced, entered Haru’s voice.  “Bet you five coppers we get recruitment offers.”

“You’re on.” Zuko stood, stretched, and headed for the portrait hole again.

It was Haru’s turn to stare broodingly at the fire, and at his wand.  He didn’t like how easily he had cast that spell.

“See you later.” And Zuko was gone.

 

Haru was still in his chair when dawn rose.

“Hey,” Ty Lee said, drifting down and hugging him.

Wordlessly, he leaned into that hug and slipped his arms around her, burying his face in her shirt.

She didn’t ask what was wrong, just held him.  After a very long time, the distressed earthbender fell into a troubled sleep.