Dark Puck - Magicbending Eleven [My FF.net Account] [Ongoing Fic Post] [Wingless Archangel Studios]
July 14th, 2008
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Magicbending Eleven
Title: Magicbending
Authors: Eleanor and Puck
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Crossover
Summary: Haru, Teo, and Zuko are accidentally Portkeyed to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hilarity Ensues.
Warning: Takes place after the Firebending Masters. Includes some of my personal crackship because I refuse to let it go. Ever. To that effect, the events of Just One Night are considered canon to this fic. Some parts of the story are from necessity lifted directly from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Neither of us is precisely thrilled about it, but it had to be done. There are several events where the Avatar characters' presence will not interfere with the actual outcome. The point is not to demonstrate to the Potter cast that they are doing it wrong, but to show how the Avatar cast would adapt to this strange new world.
Note: This was started before the events of The Boiling Rock. Therefore those two episodes have no effect on this fic. As you were.

Zuko woke up later than he intended the next morning, irritated and still dizzy. He got up, and slipped down to the Room of Requirement, intending on drilling out his irritation.

Haru was curled up on a mattress the room had clearly provided, fast asleep.  He didn't appear to be sleeping well, to judge by all the tossing and turning and the discarded sheet on the floor.  Fortunately the earthbender was not one of those who slept in the nude.

Zuko hesitated, unsure how to wake him up. Fighting through his own nightmares (particularly last night, when Haru's spell hadn't allowed him to wake up from them) had taught him that someone in such a state always wanted to be awakened.

On the other hand, he didn't know how likely Haru was to take his head off if suddenly awakened.

The room thoughtfully provided a large, heavy dictionary for him to drop from a safe distance.

Bang!

The long-haired man sat up, his eyes wild.  "DAD!"

"Sorry," Zuko said, picking up the dictionary and willing it to disappear. "It's just me."

It took a moment for Haru's breathing to slow.  "…nightmare," he said at last.

"Figured."  He, too, had woken up more than once screaming that same word, though he doubted Haru screamed it for the same reasons.

Haru groaned as he got up.  "What time is it?"

"Ten." The prince did not sound happy.

"You needed the rest," Haru said unrepentantly.

"What if something had happened and you hadn't been able to get to me to perform the counter-spell?" Zuko shot back. "Ty Lee doesn't know it, and I don't think anyone else would think to wake me."

"Oh, please," Haru snorted.  "You share a dorm with the Weasley twins.  They know you're dangerous and would find a way to wake you."

"If they were there," he pointed out. "Don't do that again."

"I won't if you don't make me."

The prince arched his eyebrow and folded his arms, looking up at the older bender. "Make you?"

"You shouldn't have left the infirmary."

"Why not?" he snapped back. "I hate that place."

"You lost a lot of blood and even magic can't replace that!" Haru growled.  "You think I don't know it when you're feeling weak, Zuko?"  He tapped his bare foot on the floor to emphasize his point.

"I'm not weak," he hissed, furious. Clearly, that was the wrong choice of words.

"I never called you weak," Haru said.  "There's a difference between feeling and being weak, Zuko.  You ought to be able to know the difference."

"I'm not weak," he insisted, coldly. Just because I'm dizzy doesn't mean I'm weak.

"…Are you listening to a word I'm saying?"

"I've noticed a flaw in the DA meetings," Zuko changed the subject deliberately. He wasn't interested in being drawn into a fight on that issue, not just then.

Even though he was still completely capable of winning.

This was not over, but Haru went along with it anyway.  "What flaw?"

"What happens if one of those kids loses his or her wand?"

"…we should bring this up."

"Definitely. We should talk to Potter about it as soon as possible."

"You realise there's only three people who can handle that problem, yes?" Haru asked him.

Zuko nodded. "I realize."

"I know basic hand-to-hand," Haru went on.  "You specialise in swords, obviously.  And Ty Lee pretty much owns both of us."

"Yeah."  The prince was silent for a long moment, then said, "I almost wish Mai was here. None of us is any good with ranged attacks. 'Course, she'd probably demonstrate them by killing me, but…"

"What's done is done," the earthbender replied.  "And I wouldn't let her kill you."

"I'd advise you against getting in her way, she poisons half of those darts."

"I'm an earthbender," Haru said patiently.  "The darts have to touch me first."

"Still. It only takes one getting past your guard."

"That's what Katara's for.  How do we broach this to Potter anyway?"

"…Sit him down and say 'The Bad Guys never play nice?'"

"I think he's gathered that after last year," Haru said quietly.  "When Diggory was murdered for no real reason."

"I know." Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose and sat own on a chair that materialized for him. "Still. All we can really do is pull him aside."

"When?"

"As soon as possible."

"…so, lunch?"

"Sounds like a plan."

Haru nodded, running a hand through his hair, and scowled.  "I'm gonna go wash up," he said, grabbing his shirt off the floor and pulling it on.

"All right. I'm going to work out here for a couple hours."

"Come to lunch," Haru said, a threat behind his words.  "I am not talking to him alone.  Because nobody will let him be alone with me."

"I'll come."

"Good."  With that, the earthbender left the room.

 

Zuko did join him for lunch, as promised, but was late enough getting there that he was dizzy enough again to be a little nauseous and really not want food.

Plus, Haru was probably mad at him.

This was not going to be a fun interview. Particularly not for poor Potter.

When the students were heading out, Haru caught Zuko's eye and nodded — the prince would have to fetch the fifth-year.

Zuko caught up to the younger kid with an all-too-recognizable facial scar, and pulled him aside. "We need to talk."

Potter gave him a wary, mistrusting look.  "What about?" he asked.

"Wandless self-defense." He was too tired and dizzy to mince words.

"…what do you mean?"

"He means that you wizards are pretty much helpless when your wands are taken away," said the even voice of Haru, causing the younger boy to stiffen.

"Haru, Ty Lee, and I all know ways of defending ourselves without using wands. We were thinking it might be a good idea to show you and the others some tricks. Just in case."

Harry considered this for a moment.  Rumours abounded about the four transfer students, and the civil war that embroiled the place they had come from.  "So you'd like to use the DA meetings for that as well?"

"To put it bluntly," said Haru, "yes.  Outwardly, the Ministry appears stable.  But there's a fault line running through it, and sooner or later that line is going to jump, and you'll have open war on your hands."

"And the better you all are able to defend yourselves, the more likely you'll live to see the end of it," Zuko added.

How do they do that?  Harry wondered.  How can they be so cold enough to make lists of people who are likely to be killed or kidnapped — or of people they would kidnap to use against someone — and yet be so concerned that we might die?  Was their war so very bad?

"All right," he said at last.

Zuko nodded, and bowed to the younger boy.  Haru followed suit, and Harry squirmed.  "Could you — not do that?" he asked desperately.  "With the bowing?"

"…What else would you have me do?" Zuko asked, warily. He'd suffered the consequences of breaking with long-held traditions, and just because bowing here hadn't gotten him hurt yet didn't mean it wouldn't when someone took exception to it.

"I — I just —"

Haru stepped in smoothly.  "It's a gesture of respect," he said, "and there are varying degrees."  He demonstrated one bow to the boy.  "This is a bow of greeting or farewell between equals."  A second, slightly deeper.  "Greeting or farewell to one of higher rank or to a teacher."  The green-eyed bender smiled slightly.  "I wouldn't start worrying until the knees get involved, were I you, Potter."

Zuko relaxed a hair when Haru diffused the situation before it got ugly.

"…so it's one of those cultural things you keep mentioning?" Potter asked slowly.

Haru nodded.  "There are a lot of differences.  Some day, when we have several years at our disposal, I will explain them all."

"Yeah," Zuko said.

"So.  Um.  At the next meeting, then?"

"Sounds like a plan," the prince replied.

Potter hesitated, then awkwardly imitated one of the bows Haru had shown him.

Zuko's right eye widened slightly in faint surprise. He bowed again to cover it.  Haru laughed and bowed as well.  "See you around, kid," he said, walking away.  Zuko, too, walked away, heading back to the Room of Requirement to be alone.


Continued here.

 

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