Teo was outside, playing Quidditch with some other members of his House in a reckless fashion that would certainly have the tall earthbender scolding him the moment he landed if he could see it.

Ty Lee grinned a little at the sight, and settled down to watch and cheer him on.  After awhile, the game was over and the boy came down to a landing beside her.  “Ty Lee!” he cried in delight, tumbling from his broom and hugging her.

She hugged him back. “You looked awesome up there! Did you win?”

He shook his head.  “Nah, the other side had Cho.”

“You’ll beat ‘em next time,” she assured him.

“Maybe if we have her,” Teo grinned.  “So, what’s up?”

Now she hesitated a little, searching for the gentlest (or at least least shocking) way of telling the younger boy about Zuko’s accident. “…Well, um. Haru and Zuko and I decided, ‘cause of the thing in the paper this morning, to check out and improve school security as much as we could. And we split up to see what we could do. Anyway, Zuzu went into the forest, and…”

“…he was in the Forbidden Forest?”  Teo’s eyes went wide in alarm.  “Is he all right?  What happened?”

“Well, he got a piece of glass through his thigh. Madam Pomfrey says he’s going to be ok,” she assured him.

But she was saying this to his retreating back; he’d dropped his broom and was running for the infirmary.

Zuko had, in the meantime, regained consciousness. He was rather irritated that Madam Pomfrey wouldn’t release him, despite the fact that he was still dizzy and several shades too pale.

The nurse, too long at Hogwarts and having encountered Zuko’s personality type more than once, had simply body-bound the prince to keep him in once place while she saw to other things.

Seeing this on his arrival, Teo snuck in and quietly undid the spell on Zuko.

“Thank you,” he whispered, taking the opportunity to crawl out of bed. He swayed a little, steadied himself against the wall, and made his way out of the infirmary.

Teo followed him, frowning.

Once Zuko felt they were a safe enough distance away that Madam Pomfrey wouldn’t overhear and come drag him back, he said, “Let’s go find the others. I didn’t get a chance to explain what I worked out before they made me go to the infirmary.”

“All right,” Teo replied, keeping a sharp grey eye on the prince.  Maybe he shouldn’t have let him out — he was so pale, even for him.

“…Room of Requirement or my common room first, d’you think?”

“Common room,” said Teo promptly.

“Right, then.” Still weaving, Zuko led the way upstairs.  He let them both into the common room, and Teo considered knocking Zuko unconscious with a spell.  He clearly hadn’t rested enough, and the boy was recovering his impulsive decision to let Zuko out of the infirmary.

“Zuzu!” Ty Lee cried, springing up from her chair and throwing her arms around her prince, nearly knocking him over. “You’re okay!”

“Of course I am,” he replied, a little uncomfortably.

“Where’s Haru?” asked Teo, surprised by the earthbender’s absence.

“He went to go talk to the Headmaster,” Ty Lee said, dragging Zuko to a seat by the fire. He was still too pale and still felt cold.

“Which went interestingly.”  It was Haru.

Again, Ty Lee launched herself at the newest arrival, greeting her boyfriend with a kiss.  He kissed her back, but it was absent — he had other things on his mind.

She pulled him to a seat, too, and settled onto his lap.

“So, what did Dumbledore say?” Zuko asked from his chair.

“He heard me out,” said the earthbender.

“And?”

“He said he’d look into it,” Haru growled.

“So a non-answer,” Zuko muttered, irritated.

“I can’t feel things like Toph does, but…  I got the feeling it amused him.”  Haru was not a happy camper.  “The old man’s playing some kind of game.  I don’t like it.”

The prince muttered something most unprincely under his breath. “I thought of another list we should make,” he said, after a moment. “Two, actually.”

Haru glanced at Zuko.  “I think we’re having the same thought,” he commented.  “Possible targets for assassination?”

 

On his way down to the common room after a nap, Harry Potter froze as he heard the conversation going on down there.

 

“And kidnap,” the prince agreed.

“Look into some of the student’s families, too,” Teo piped up.  “The kids might be harmed or kidnapped to force their parents, siblings, grandparents, whatever to assist this Voldythingy.”

Zuko nodded. “Yeah.”

“…maybe you should also make a list of counter-hostages?” Ty Lee suggested, tentatively. She didn’t want to be the one to say it (since it would throw suspicion and dislike in her direction—this was something Azula would do), but someone had to.

“Won’t work,” said Haru.  “At least not with Voldemort himself.  But with some of his supporters…”  He frowned.  “Throw three-fourths of my House on that list.”

“Also, most of the people on the assassination list,” Ty Lee said, quietly, upset. “No one’s better as a trade than someone your enemy wants to execute.”

Zuko nodded. “Yeah. Anyone have paper on them?”

Teo passed him his sketchbook immediately.

“Put Potter at the top of the list,” Haru said.  He didn’t specify which, knowing Zuko would understand his meaning.  “Not to be Captain Obvious or anything, but he’s enough like…”  His voice hitched, and he didn’t finish his sentence.

“…yeah,” Zuko said, quietly. He shook his head to clear it, then started making his list.

The four young teens continued discussing names while completely unaware that the Boy Who Lived was hearing every word.

And then Teo said, “Word has probably spread about us by now.  Especially since Haru… yeah.”

“Bastard deserved it,” Haru replied, but it was clear he was angry with himself for losing control.

“And if they figure out who Zuzu really is…” Ty Lee trailed off.

The prince snorted. “Fat lot of good it’ll do them. Even if they can get in touch with…well, it won’t do them any good.”

“I’m a kidnap,” said Teo.

“Only by those with a deathwish,” Haru said flatly.  “And nobody’s going to find out who Zuko really is, because it doesn’t apply here.”

“Unless they can get in touch with his father,” Ty Lee said. “Don’t give me that look, Zuzu, he’ll want you back.”

“If only ‘cause he wants to off me himself,” the prince muttered, not-quite-audibly.

“They’re not going to get in touch with Ozai,” said Haru flatly.  “Because if there’s even a hint that someone has crossed the other way, I’ll take care of it.”

“So, whatever… it’s a moot point, regardless of whether or not it’d do them any good,” Zuko said, voice tight.

“Exactly,” said Haru.

Teo exchanged an uneasy glance with Ty Lee.  Haru and Zuko seemed incredibly frightening at the moment.

After a moment, the earthbender snorted.  “We still on for that bet about employment, Zu?”

“Sure.” He then quickly changed the subjects. “I plugged some of the holes I found in the forest. There aren’t many, s’pretty well taken-care-of by all the monsters in there, but I laid some traps before the car hit me.”

Haru nodded.  “Did we forget anything?”

“Not that I c’n think of…” the prince said.

“Good. Somnus.”  He’d drawn his wand faster than the still-woozy prince could react and hit him with the solid sleep spell.

“Thanks,” Ty Lee said, relieved. “I couldn’t remember the spell.”

“No problem,” Haru grinned at her.  “Let’s get him up to his dorm.”

 

Harry quickly bolted upstairs.

 

“Right. Need help carrying him?”

“Nope, I’ve got it.”  Lifting the younger man up in his arms he frowned.  “I noticed this before.  Ty Lee, new mission.  Make him eat.  He’s far too light.”

“…He’s been skipping meals to do ‘More Important Things’ again, hasn’t he,” she said, sounding annoyed, going ahead of him to open the door.

“Probably,” Haru answered.  “He does that a lot.”

“Brat prince does it more than you know,” she muttered, pulling open the door to the seventh-year Gryffindor boys’ room.

“Ah, so this isn’t a new thing?”  He dumped Zuko gently on the closest bed.

Ty Lee shook her head. “He… gets a little obsessive sometimes. And tends to have weirdly skewed priorities. Sleep and food usually being at the very bottom of the list.”

“…he does know he has to eat to survive, right?”

“Yeah, but he rationalizes and says he can eat later, when he’s done working on whatever Important Task he has in front of him. ‘Course, soon as he finishes that Important Task, another one pops up.”  She sighed. “It adds up.”

“…so we should start force-feeding him, then?”

“Guess so. What else can we do?” She frowned down at him. “And he’s gonna get even worse about this if he inherits, I just know it.”

“And when he inherits, he won’t have me or Teo around to bully him.  You’ll have to do it.”

“Yeah,” she said, a little sadly. “…Do you have to wake him up again from the spell, or does he wake up on his own?” she asked, knowing full well her boyfriend would notice the sudden subject change and hoping he didn’t call her on it.

He did notice, and he didn’t call her on it.  Now was not the time.  Later.

“He can wake up on his own, but if there’s an emergency, there’s a counter-spell.”

“Good, ‘cause he’d get pissed if there wasn’t.”

“I know,” said the young bender quietly.  He paused, then said, “Ty Lee…”

“Yeah?” she asked, not quite looking at him.

“We need to go home.  Soon.”

“Yeah.”

“This place is turning me into somebody I don’t like.”

She just hugged him.

He wrapped his arms desperately around her.  He was right, though.  He was changing in several ways from the boy she’d met in Liàn Ài, and it was clear that change was frightening him.

After a long moment of silence, she said,  “We should go downstairs. Teo’s probably wondering what’s taking so long.”

“…yeah,” Haru said quietly.  “Lead the way, love.”

She kissed him softly, and pulled him back downstairs.

Teo was chatting amiably with Harry Potter, and Haru’s eyes narrowed.  That is much too convenient.

“Hey,” Ty Lee said, smiling so brightly it had to be a cover for her earlier upset. Even she didn’t bounce back quite that quickly.

Haru slung a lazy arm around Ty Lee’s shoulders as Teo glanced at them.  “You get Zu up all right?”

“Yeah,” the earthbender replied.  “Make him eat more, Te.”

“He’s being stupid and deciding other things are more important again,” Ty Lee added, rolling her eyes.

Potter looked confused.  “He does this a lot?”

“You have no idea,” drawled the Slytherin.

“With sleep, too. And whenever he gets hurt, with medical help.” Ty Lee added.

“…wow,” said Potter after a moment.

“He’s just…” she started, then sighed. “Nevermind.”

“He has issues,” Haru said then.  “As do we all.  His just manifest differently.  Teo, we should be heading out.  You go back to your dorm.”

Teo raised an eyebrow at him.  “Are you ever going back to yours?”

“Of course.”

“Are you at least going to find somewhere to sleep?” Ty Lee asked, not believing him for a second.

Now the earthbender laughed.  “That would be what the Room of Requirement is for, right?”

“…why aren’t you sleeping in your dorm?” Potter asked, looking confused.

“Philosophical differences,” was the unhelpful answer.

“Just making sure,” his girlfriend said, nodding, then hugged him.

He hugged her back tightly, and Harry noticed the look on his face just before he pulled away and kissed her.

What is going on in his head? the Boy Who Lived wondered suspiciously.

Ty Lee kissed back very enthusiastically, only coming up when she needed air.

Just as the other two boys began to feel very awkward, the kiss was broken.  “Good night,” Ty Lee whispered, trailing a hand down Haru’s cheek. 

He caught her hand in his and looked deep into her eyes.  “Good night,” he said in return.

She smiled a little, and saw him off, then returned to her chair, a goofy little smile on her face.

Haru walked Teo back to his dorm, then headed off for the room of requirement.