The Bending Tests
Katara woke with a start. For a moment, she couldn't even remember why. Then it hit her. Today was the first day. The Bending Tests.
She shivered uncontrollably, and hurried to get dressed. The Bending Tests took place before breakfast, which meant an early morning for all of the first years. In fact, the girls around her were already up, getting dressed and worrying. Hannah seemed to have gone so far as to refuse to leave her bed.
"I heard," she tried to tell them, though her voice was muffled by the pillow pulled tight over her face. "I heard they do it one at a time, in front of everybody. And what if I mess up?"
"At least you have something to show!" Susan had somehow managed to put her skirt on backwards. She was now struggling with her shoes. No one had managed to explain to her that she was trying to put them on the wrong feet. "I just have to stand up there, and duck when they throw water at me!" Face pinching, she threw her shoes at the door. "I could have sworn these fit me fine yesterday!"
"They were on the wrong feet," Katara pointed out, reaching for her own shoes.
"And I doubt they'll chuck water at us." Padme passed the shoes back to Susan, and patted her on the arm in a half-comforting, awkward way. "Otherwise, how would they test the Fire House?"
"I wish they'd set them on fire," Susan muttered. "It would make me less nervous."
The room fell silent at this. Even thought the war had officially ended eleven years previous, there was still some strained relationships over where various families had sided. Especially some of the more prominent Fire ones.
Padme's cheeks were bright red. If Katara remembered the Sortings correctly, Padme's sister had been put into the Fire house. Sometimes, it wasn't as simple as this family you trust, this one you don't. Even Katara, who's family had been Water House for generations, had a distant cousin who had been on the opposite side on the war.
"I'll see you downstairs," she muttered quickly, and disappeared out the door.
There was an awkward silence for a moment. Susan's face had gone pale, and Hannah had finally sat up. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and she looked as if she were trying not to remember something unpleasant.
"I didn't mean that."
The only answer to Susan's whisper was the door sliding shut, and a half-sympathetic glance from Katara.
"Don't take too long. I'll save you a seat." Her words didn't do much to cover the misstep, but it was all she could do. Katara left as quickly as Padme had, and headed down to the common room.
To her surprise, there was someone waiting for her there. Sokka, his gravity-defying bedhead betraying the fact that he had just woken up, met her with a smile.
"Hey, sis! Off to your Bending Tests?" He laughed at the expression on her face, then enveloped her in a quick hug. "Don't worry about it. It's not nearly as bad as everyone says it is."
"Thanks, Sokka." His arms pulled away after a moment, and she smiled, knowing he didn't want anyone to think that he liked having her as a sister, or anything. "I'll try to remember that."
He gave her a pat on the back, then shoved her to the door. "Knock 'em dead!"
This was enough to surprise a laugh out of her. She twinkled a few fingers at him, and headed down towards the Great Hall feeling a little better about the whole thing.
Her nerves did begin to get the best of her as she came face to face with the large double doors that was all that was between Katara and what could end up being a lot of embarrassment. This thought made her freeze, hand on the door handle, before the sound of someone clearing their throat made her jump.
"Sorry." It was a boy, sheepishly grinning as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't mean to startle you."
"It's okay." Her cheeks had gone red, and she dropped her hand in a hurry. She must looked like three kinds of idiot, standing frozen in front of the doors like she had been. "I was just, ah-"
"Nervous?"
She nodded. "Yeah."
They stood there for a moment, both trying not to make it obvious that they were looking at each other. After this became past ridiculous, the boy stuck out his hand.
"I'm Aang."
Katara's eyes widened. Of course! She hadn't recognized him right away, but now that he had mentioned his name, she realized it should have been obvious. The accents on his robes were a yellow that no one else in the whole school had the right to wear. This was the Air House kid.
"Katara." she shook his hand, unsure of what else to say, when they were inturrupted by a tall, dark-haired girl, who swept past them and through the doors with her nose high in the air.
"Out of my way."
"Please," the girl behind her added, grinning widely as she flipped into a handstand and followed the dark-haired girl inside on her hands. Katara blinked. The second girl had been wearing pink muggle leggings underneath her robes.
"I guess we should go in," Aang grabbed the door and held it open for her, which did nothing to help Katara's blush.
"Yeah. Thanks," she muttered, and hurried in. He let the door slip shut behind them.
They were met with the sight of the four house tables, three occupied, one empty. The first years sat around them, faces pale. Most of them were turned away from the door, focused in on the three figures that stood on the dais. They were talking amongst themselves, but their eyes were on the students, watching and searching for those they might soon teach.
"I guess I'll see you around," Aang tried to grin, but his nerves made it look forced. Katara was sure her returning smile looked much the same.
"Yeah. See you." She felt her heart go out to him, just a little, as he walked over to sit at his empty table alone. This boy she didn't know.
Shaking her head to clear it of thoughts she didn't need at the moment, she spotted Padme over at her own table, and hurried to sit next to her.
"Do you know how this works, then?" Padme whispered to Katara as she sat down. There was no need to whisper, really, but no one seemed to want to break the spell of silence that hung over the hall.
Katara shook her head. "My brother wouldn't tell me. Apparently, it's supposed to be a surprise."
"I hate surprises," the other girl muttered, and this struck Katara as ridiculously funny. Or maybe it was just the nerves that caused giggles to bubble over in her throat, spilling over in a hushed cackle that sounded more like hysterics than humor. Padme's eyes went wide, and then she joined in.
Over at the Earth table, Harry raised an eyebrow as he stared at the two laughing Water girls.
"At least someone here is having fun."
Ron, beside him, only nodded. His throat was too dry for speech at the moment.
"This is fun. I'm having fun." Duke's grin was lopsided, and his helmet kept slipping over his eyes. "You're not having fun?"
"What if I'm not good enough?" Neville had been repeating variations of the same line for the last ten minutes. "I can hardly earthbend. What will I do?"
The people sitting near him had already tuned him out. Except for one.
"Please. It can't be that bad." Harry glanced over at the girl who had spoken, and was taken back by her blank staring gaze.
Ron seemed to be looking in the same direction, because he nudged Harry with an elbow, and dropped his voice below a whisper. "Hey, is she... you know-"
"Blind, not deaf." Ron jumped, and both boys looked up guiltily to see that her eerie, empty stare was now trained right on them. Ron's jaw dropped. Whether to talk, or merely out of shock, Harry never got to find out. At that moment, one of the figures at the front of the room cleared his throat, and a silence swept through the hall in a terrifying suddenness that sent chills down more than one person's spine.
"I am Pakku," said the old man dressed in blue. "These are Bumi and Jeong. Let us begin."
The man in green snickered harshly, causing a few of the first years to jump. "Abbott, Hannah! Come up here and show us what you can do!"
A girl rose from the Water table, her eyes as wide as saucers in her pale face. With quick, stuttering steps, she came to stand in front of the three figures.
The man in blue stepped forward. In his hands was a small glowing ball. With a swift twitch of his fingers, it turned into a rope, and extended towards the quavering girl.
"Can you take it?" the man asked, not unkindly. Hannah gave a jerky nod, and reached out her hand. The water rope shuddered, then met her hand halfway, coiling around her outstretched hand.
"Well done," the man beckoned the water back, and Hannah bowed. When she turned to go back to her table, there was a relieved smile on her face. The Water table broke into applause, as she collapsed back in her seat.
"That didn't look too bad," Ron whispered in his ear. Harry gave a jerky nod, and even Neville looked a little more relaxed.
The blind girl was the first of the Earth house to be called up, and she almost looked excited, as she went up to stand in front of the oldest man of the three.
"He looks a bit terrifying." A girl Harry didn't know the name of pointed out. And it was true. Hunched back, bug eyes and a toothy grin that seemed much too large for his face.
Neville whimpered.
"A BeiFong, eh?" The old man cackled. "What fun!" Without warning, his foot stomped down on the ground, and a rock flew out of it, heading straight for the blind girl's face.
There was a collective gasp. But no one need have worried. A shift of feet, and a rock wall exploded from the ground in front of the girl. The rock missile bounced off of it harmlessly, and the wall retreated back into the earth.
It all took less than ten seconds. The girl nodded her head to Bumi, then went back to her seat. Even some of the Water table applauded her. Bumi was still giggling away. "Well done, well done! Excellent!"
"Blimey." Ron seemed to have been rendered nearly speechless. He repeated 'Blimey' a time or two more, until the Duke began to poke him. Then he was quiet.
Harry wasn't even listening to him anymore. He found the whole process bizarre. This bending wasn't magic, it was something else. And it scared him more than magic had.
The examiners seemed to be able to tell who possessed these gifts, too. Bumi just laughed and waved the Duke away when he went up there. The Fire tester didn't even say anything. He would stare at the frozen student for a moment, then nod and hand them a leaf, which usually burst into flame once it contacted the first year's hand, or just shake his head.
Neville almost fainted when his name was called, and he needed a little nudge to get him on his feet, but when Bumi sent a rock flying at him, he was able to deflect it with a hurried fist. He practically ran back to their table, and his face was a bright cherry red when he got there.
"Kill me" was all he said.
When Harry's name was called, the silence seemed deeper than before. As if everyone were holding their breath.
Harry's legs felt unsteady as he headed up to those three intimidating figures. Bumi was grinning wildly at him, but now that he was closer, he could see a calculating look in those popping eyes. Maybe this man wasn't as crazy as he seemed.
When he reached them, there was a long pause. Then Bumi clapped his hands. Laughter spilled out of his grinning mouth, and he waved his hand at a startled Harry.
"Sit down, Harry Potter! You're not our problem!"
Harry understood the looks of relief that had been obvious on every first year's face before him.
Next up was the Air boy. Pakku stared hard at him for a few awkward seconds, before letting out a sigh.
"I-"
"Think fast!" Just as he had with Toph Beifong, Bumi sent a shard of rock spiralling at the boy. The boy looked frozen for a moment, and Harry's muscles tensed as he readyed for impact. But then the boy spun his arms in a spiralling motion, and the rock flew to the side.
No one applauded. Not even after he had bowed to the instructors, and headed back to his empty table. Instead, whispers circulated, much as they had yesterday. And, again like they had the day before, it wasn't until Jeong shot a loud, crackling stream of fire into the air.
"Continue."
The first years shut up.
The rest of the bending tests went smoothly. With the last two names called both showing their aptitude for fire, they were finished. There was a collective sigh of relief as the three men disappeared into a door behind the staff table, and the older students began to file through through the now-open main doors.
"How'd it go, Ronny-kins?" Ron's older twin brothers had found them. They sat on either side of the blushing boy, and speaking loud enough to get some odd glances.
"Anyone pass out this year?" Harry couldn't tell them apart quite yet, but he thought this one might be George.
"Do people usually faint?" Harry wouldn't be surprised. If he had been kept up there any longer, he might have done so himself.
""One or two a year, maybe." Then that one was Fred. Maybe.
"That, or someone gets set on fire."
"Or crazy Bumi-boy knocks someone out with a rock." Fred turned to his twin, ignoring Ron, who was still stuck between him. "Remember that guy, what was his name?"
"Dunno." george lowered his voice to a stage-whisper. "Right in the nose, poor boy. We call him Foamy now."
"He never was the same..."
"So what do we do now?" The Duke righted his helmet, and flashed his smile in the twins' directions.
The twins shared a wide, evil grin that had Harry wanting to back away from the three.
"We tour around," said the one twin.
"And cause general mischief," finished the second.
"I hate you." Ron's voice was muffled between his brothers. Everyone pretended not to hear.
AN: Plot comes in next chapter. I would love to hear couple suggestions, as well as who's POV you would like to see/enjoy seeing more of. Thanks to all!
