The First Night
A/N: Rather dull intro chapter. As every first year will be in it at least a little bit, so I thought it might be a good idea. This will show who is in what House, as even some of the familiar friendships from Harry Potter have been split up. It will also introduce you to a bit of what Avatar characters I've decided to include.
The Earth Boys
Harry tried to take in as much of the castle as he could, as Ron's brother led them to their dorms. Once they were inside, and Harry had finished memorizing the password (or he hoped he had. Troll's Breath?) him and Ron ran up to their rooms to see that their trunks were already there. So too were their new roommates.
"Harry Potter, right?"
The boy that was asking was at least a head shorter than Harry, and his toothy grin made him look even younger than the rest of them. He was also wearing what Harry thought must be a large Muggle army helmet.
As Harry nodded, Ron leaned in and tapped the helmet, making a dinging sound as the metal vibrated. The boy made a face at him. "Watch it!"
Ron stumbled back again, surprised by the sudden glare. "Sorry."
The boy stuck out a hand, smiling again. "The Duke. Pleasure to meet you."
Harry and Ron glanced at each other, disbelief obvious in both of their eyes, before Harry ventured out and shook the odd boy's hand. He was still beaming, though his eyebrow went up when he glanced at Ron.
"And you are?"
Ron made a quick attempt at a smile. "Ron Weasley."
The Duke nodded. "So, nervous for tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?" Harry glanced at Ron, who looked just as confused as him. "What's tomorrow?"
The Duke's eyebrows went up. "You don't know about Bender testing? They get all the first years in the Great Hall, and test to see what kids are benders. Most of them already know, but it's custom."
"Oh," Harry stood there, feeling very stupid for a good thirty seconds. "Sorry, what's bending?"
Now both Ron and The Duke were giving him weird looks.
"Where did you grow up?" The Duke questioned. "The middle of a swamp?"
Harry shuffled. "I was, ah, raised by Muggles." Had Hagrid mentioned bending when he was showing him around? Maybe in passing. He couldn't remember anything specific. "I didn't know about wizards or anything until a month ago."
Both of the boys stared long enough for Harry's cheeks to heat unpleasantly. Then The Duke smiled, and slapped him on the back.
"That's alright, mate. I was raised by a pair of Squibs, so I know the feeling."
Harry tried to return the smile as he regained his balance. The boy was stronger than he looked.
"Bending is a special kind of magic," Ron explained. "Not everybody can do it. It makes you able to control an element." He laughed at Harry's bewildered expression. "Yeah. I met a waterbender once. Brilliant."
"So," Harry made a face as he tried to wrap his head around the idea. "There are waterbenders, earthbenders, firebenders, and airbenders."
The Duke shook his head, causing his helmet to slip over his eyes. "There hasn't been an airbender in over a century, though."
Ron's eyes widened with excitement. "So, what about that boy getting sorted into the Air house?"
Reaching up to fix his helmet, The Duke's eyes brightened as well. "I know! Imagine if he were a bender!"
While the two boys pondered this, Harry took a moment to look around their room. There was four beds. He wondered if this meant that someone was missing, or if there was just an extra.
A huge thud at the door made them all jump, and a pudgy, disheveled boy stumbled in, looking worried.
"Has anyone seen my toad?"
The three boys shook their heads, and the newcomer's shoulders slumped. "He keeps getting away from me." After a long, awkward pause, the boy looked up again. "Sorry. I'm Neville Longbottem."
The Duke tilted his helmet. "The Duke."
"Ron Weasley."
"Harry Potter."
Neville looked a little off balance as his eyes lit in recognition. "Right! I knew that."
Another awkward pause.
"So..." The Duke looked at the three of them, then showed off his toothy grin. "Nervous for tomorrow?"
The Water Girls
Katara smoothed over a wrinkle in her covers, before slipping between them and listening to her new roommates talk.
She had already figured out that one of the other girls, Hannah, was a water bender as well. She listened to Padme sigh about her sister in Fire, and the last girl- Susan, was it?- wonder about the boys. She tried to hide a smirk at the mention of an older Water guy with a funny haircut and a cute smile. It looked like her brother had caught some of the girls' attention. As if his ego wasn't big enough already.
She hadn't even noticed that the attention of the girls had changed focus until Padme pulled the curtains from around her, and stood there, hands on hips.
"Uh..." She wasn't quite sure what she thought of her roommate yet. "Yes?"
Padme smiled. "So, do you think that Susan's boy was actually making eyes at her?"
Relaxing, Katara found herself mirroring Padme's wide smile. This conversation was something she could handle. "I don't know. Sokka makes eyes at everybody."
Susan peeked over Padme's shoulder, eyes curious. "Wait. You know his name already?"
"I should." Katara sat up, stretching. Maybe it wasn't time to go to bed just yet. "He's my brother."
Hannah had wandered over, too. She seemed to be the shyest of the three, hiding herself behind Padme and Susan. Now, all of them leaned in, looking surprised and very interested.
"Spill." Padme demanded, and the girls seated themselves on her bed. Laughing, Katara pulled herself out of her sheets, sitting on top of them instead.
She had an evil look on her face. "So, what do you want to know?"
The Fire Boys
Draco laughed as the fire spread over his fingers. "Boy, am I going to have fun tomorrow. Hey Crabb, Goyle, you think Potter's a bender?"
The boys looked at each other, then shrugged.
"Not as good as you?" One of them chanced. Draco nodded in approval, not taking his eyes off the bright flame. The two cronies relaxed.
When Draco started to toss the fireball from hand to hand, all the while proclaiming the greatness of his family and his bloodline, Blaice decided it was time to move himself out into the Common Room. Better to spend a night on the couch than to wake up at some ungodly hour with his hair on fire.
The last boy, Theodore Nott, just rolled his eyes, and turned over. They'd better not keep him up.
The Earth Girls
There was a loud shriek.
"What is THAT?"
Toph didn't twitch. She had heard the girl open the door, her footsteps suddenly stop, and her short intake of breath. She had known it was coming.
"Its a badgermole. Calm down, Lungs." Lungs. No, not really the right feel. But it would do until she got to know the jumpy girl.
There was an immediate change in the girl. Hip stuck out, arms crossed.
"My name's Lavender." She sounded put out, though there was still a bit of a quaver in her voice.
"That's nice." Toph replied. She still didn't turn around to face the girl. Maybe Flower power was a better name. Wasn't that a Muggle thing? Whatever. And her voice was powerful, that was for sure, even if nothing else about her was.
Lavender hmphed. "Well, I-"
She was cut off by another two bodies stumbling through the door. One of them tripped, and Toph lost contact with her for a moment as she left the ground. She landed much for gracefully than she was expecting, catching herself in a roll before springing back to her feet.
"Hey, watch it!" The first person's voice was low and androgynous, but Toph assumed it was a girl. They were, after all, in the girl's dorms.
She was quite proud of herself for that one, actually. She had just found the first year dorms, and guessed which one was for girls. She had had a fifty percent chance of getting it right, after all.
"Sorry, sorry!" The second newcomer was nervous. Toph could tell right away. Figuring it was time to turn around and pretend to look at her roommates, she did so.
Someone- she assumed it was Lavender- gasped.
Toph mimicked the taller girl's stance, crossing her arms over her chest. "What? Never seen a blind witch before?"
One of the girls started to shake their head, before realizing what they were doing, and freezing. Toph smirked. How awkward for them.
After a moment, one of the unfamiliar girls came forward. The taller, nervous one.
"Sorry. I'm Hermione Granger." The girl froze, her hand twitching at her side. She had been about to try and shake Toph's hand.
"Toph BeiFong." She held out the badgermole that was currently crouched in her hand. "And The Hippo."
She paused for a moment. Nope, no laughter. This was going to be more dull than she thought.
"Smellerbee." The low voice said, and shuffled. She started talking before anyone could comment on the strange name, "Is there someone else? Because there are five-"
The door burst open, and the final roommate ran in, gasping for air.
"Jin!" Silence, and the last girl squirmed, trying to break it with a laugh. "I mean, hi. I'm Jin."
More silence and shuffling. Toph sighed, and turned back towards The Hippo. Maybe she should have listened to her parents and stayed home after all.
The Water Boys
"Checkmate!" Dean cackled, while Justin frowned at his king as it threw off its crown.
"That was just luck," he growled, while his two other housemates cackled behind him. The four boys had hit it off right away, though Justin had challenged Dean to a chess match as soon as he had seen Dean unpacking his own set.
"That's what you said last time," Terry reminded him, as Seamus still hadn't stopped snickering.
"Best out of five?" Dean offered with a grin, and began to set up his pieces once more.
The Fire Girls
Azula frowned as she surveyed her new quarters. Shared, of course, but there was no way to avoid that. It was a tradition even her father couldn't twist her out of. And anyway, it gave her more opportunity to study her new potential followers.
Ty Lee, already lounging in the bed beside her, was an old friend. They had grown up with each other, and the girl was used to following her orders. Mai, in the year above them, was the same.
The rest were unknowns. She had heard good things about the Parkinsons, and she had met their daughter a few times before. She seemed interesting, but not particularly powerful. She also bore an unfortunate resemblance to a pug. She also was used to being followed, so Azula marked her as someone to be watched, and knocked down a peg if necessary.
The girl Pansy was talking to was a Bulstrode. Millicent, or something horrible like that. Good for cannon fodder and grunt work, but not a brain in the whole lot of them. Even if Pansy did manage to sway the girl to her side, one demonstration of the scale of Azula's power and Bulstrode would be following her every word.
Those that she understood, that was. Azula had no tolerance for fools.
Parvati Patil. The last girl. In this one Azula felt promise. And Ty Lee was already chatting animatedly with her. Maybe she wouldn't even have to try to pull this girl in.
Well, it was a start, Azula mused, as she pulled the curtains around her. Then her lips stretched into a gentle frown. Of course, there a few unpredicted hurdles. The Boy Who Lived, of course. Potter. He could cause some trouble. Though her father knew about him, she was sure.
But what about the Air boy? She hadn't caught his name.
Quickly, she grabbed a quill and fresh parchment from her bag. Her father would want to know as soon as possible about this latest development. Musing over wordings, Azula let her usual smirk stretch her features. She would make those two issues her personal projects. Daddy was going to be so proud.
A/N: Whew! That was annoying. Some of those were much longer than others, yes. But they were basically to show what characters fit where. And don't worry- there are a whole bunch of second years that will play important parts as well. Just in case you noticed that a few key players were missing.
Anyway, boring chapter. But the next one will be a lot more fun. The Bending Testings are coming your way next! And again, any comments as to how the characters are translating, or concerns you might have as to logistics, just drop me a line. I'm trying to keep this as canon as possible. Well, character-wise, at least. Also, couple ideas? I think I know what I want to include, but was curious as to how my readers (are there any? Probably not after this long AN) felt.
