Harry sighed in relief as he finally finished setting up the camp with Sokka. They hadn't flown that long, just enough to get a camp set up and get some rest. Not like he'd get that much rest anyways, but he was feeling exhausted already. He snorted as Aang airbended the saddle off Appa, only to land on Sokka. "Wingardium Leviosa." He waved his wand, freeing the Water Tribe warrior. The teen groaned, rubbing his back. "Thanks Harry." The wizard only smiled, before he went to unroll the sleeping bags. He looked up as Katara came near, huffing in annoyance. He looked at Toph, only to see that she had set up her stuff far away. Maybe she didn't feel as safe with them, which was understandable since it hadn't even been a day since she'd joined them. He turned back to the tent, deciding to talk to her tomorrow.
He sleeps for what feels like 30 minutes before Toph's yelling wakes him up. He jumps out of his bag, Sokka following close. "Something's coming." She puts her hand on the ground, concentrating as they gather around her. "It feels like an avalanche, but also not an avalanche." The group looks at each other. "Should we leave?" asks Katara, concern on her face.
"Better safe than sorry." Decides Aang before they all rush to pack their stuff and get on Appa. The sky bison is clearly not pleased about being woken up, but nonetheless takes them away. The group stares in the distance trying to see what had woken. In the distance, a pillar of smoke is moving. "What is that thing?" asked Sokka. "Good question." Murmured Harry, squinting at the horizon. They continued to fly, where the adrenaline lasted for a few minutes, before the gaang started to become sleepy, and Harry knew that he wouldn't last long. Almost as if his body read his thoughts, he felt himself drift into unconsciousness. He jerked awake as they settled back on the ground. He slid off Appa, not even bothering to get out his stuff, and instead cast a warming charm on himself, snuggling into the fur.
"Oh, sweet land!" Toph hugged the ground before she stood up, "Well, see you guys in the morning!" As she started to head out, Katara interrupted her. "Actually, can you help us unpack?" "You need my help to unpack Sokka's funky-smelling sleeping bag?" Sokka looked at his bag, and Harry quickly grabbed the bag away from the teen's nose. "It's not worth it." He said solemnly. Sokka looked between the bag and Harry before carefully leaning down, still staring him in the eyes. He laughed when Sokka suddenly tumbled over in disgust.
"You're a part of our team now and-"
"Look, I didn't ask you to help unpack my stuff. I'm carrying my own weight." Toph walked off, clearly done with the conversation.
"That's not the point." Protested Katara, stalking after her, "Ever since you joined us, you've been nothing but selfish and unhelpful!"
Harry almost smiled as they argued. This reminded him so much of Ron and Hermione, he couldn't even manage to be mad. He knew the lack of sleep was probably enhancing the conflict.
"What! Look here, sugar queen. I gave up everything I had so that I could teach Aang earthbending. So don't you talk to me about being selfish." Argued Toph, her fist clenched, anger and tiredness clear on her face.
Katara drew herself up to retaliate but Harry was faster. Too tired to meditate with words, he just took out his wand and pointed at the two bickering girls. "Silencio." There was blissed silence as they continued to talk, only to realize that nothing was coming out.
He saw their look of panic before they both looked at him with murder in their eyes. They both stalked up to him, gesturing to their lips. He only closed his eyes, leaning against the sky bison. "We are trying to sleep. Not argue. You can continue your conversation in the morning." He yelped in surprise, his eyes opening in his panic as he was punched by an earth pillar in the air. "Wingardium Leviosa!" he cast on himself, narrowing his eyes at the earthbender. He slowly floated back down, as both girls stalked off with a silent huff.
Everyone settled in their respective bean bag and was finally ready to sleep until Toph came marching towards him, murder in her eyes. He stared, confused until she pointed at the rising smoke pillar. He quickly cast Finite Incantatem on both girls. "The thing is back. And we need to move now. I would've told you earlier, but someone made me quiet." She growled. They hurried, admits Sokka's complains as they went off to another spot. Again.
After what felt like hours, they finally landed. Everybody sort of rolled off Appa in a heap, sleep being everyone's main concern. "This time, I'm not even setting up the camp. It'll just find the softest patch of dirt out there." Said Sokka as he rolled in his sleeping bag like a caterpillar. "Good, because Toph wouldn't have helped anyway." Said Katara snidely.
"Oh does baby still need to be tucked in bed?" mocked Toph.
"Can you guys stop talking, and let us sleep!" shouted the wizard in his makeshift pillow.
"Harry's right. Something is chasing after us, and we don't even know who or what it is." Argued Aang back, as ever the pacifist.
"Do you guys think it's Zuko?" Harry frowned in confusion, before he placed the name of the firebenders who had helped them back in the North Pole. "Maybe? But he didn't even try and capture you guys last time, so why would he suddenly come back?" he asked.
"Because he's an angry ponytail freak bent on capturing Aang?" deadpanned Sokka. Harry froze, anger building in his gut. He sat up, refraining with difficulty to get his wand. "Don't call him that." He said, his voice even and filled with unsaid anger. There was silence as Sokka stared at him in confusion. Katara even looked a little hurt. "Who's Zuko?" Toph asked after a few moments.
"He's the prince of the fire nation. He wants to capture me, and he's followed us all over the world. Until he went against General Zhao, another firebender, that wanted to kill the Moon Spirit." Katara scoffed. "He's fire nation. It's not like he's suddenly going to stop being evil because of one thing." Harry stayed silent, anger dissipating. He knew Sokka hadn't meant anything by it. By using that word. But nobody deserved to be called that.
Before anybody could go back to sleep, Momo made a squeak, looking out towards the horizon. "Oh, don't tell me." Groaned Sokka, head dropping on his sleeping bag. "That's impossible!" exclaimed Aang, "There's no way they could've tracked us down!" he ran to the edge of the cliff, everyone following. They couldn't really make out what was following them, but Harry could almost recognize that grating noise. "We should get out of here." The wizard shook his head at the waterbender. "No, I'm really, really tired. If we have to fight, let's fight and get this over with." He took out his wand, spells at the ready. Aang put a hand on his, still looking at the threat. "Let's just wait and see who it is, and then we'll decide. Maybe they're friendly!"
Harry's eyes widened as he looked at the vehicle. "Guys, I've changed my mind. We should go!" They all looked at him in bewilderment, but nobody moved. "That is a tank! A weird looking one, but still. You didn't tell me you had guns! I am not able to withstand guns or tanks." He remembered learning of the World Wars in elementary school. All the weapons that they had. He didn't know if there was any magic that stopped bullets. "What are guns? We don't have guns."
"Well, maybe the Fire Nation is crazy enough to have guns." Groaned Sokka.
"You don't even know what they are." Dead panned Katara.
A door to the side, instead of on the top, opened, and out came three girls on lizards. "Are you kidding me?" asked Sokka, as they all stared at them. "Since when does this world have tanks and human-sized lizards?" asked Harry in dismay, as they all settled in a fighting position.
"It's okay we can take them. We have one more than they do too." Said Toph confidently, as she bent her knees, ready to fight.
"Actually, Toph, there's five of us." Corrected Sokka.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't count you. You know, no bending and all." She shrugged innocently.
"I can still fight!" he shouted, getting red in the face. "OK, four on three plus Sokka." She smirked as he fumed, before moving her hands in sharp motions to send pillars to the three girls. With ease, the three lizards just climbed over it, not even stopping. Everyone's fighting position dropped. "Can we leave now?" asked Harry. The rest nodded, as they quickly climbed back on Appa.
As they climbed on Appa for what felt like the millionth time, Toph stomped her foot on the ground, raising a stone wall to stop the lizards. To Harry's astonishment, lighting came from one of the girl's finger tips, blasting the rock. "Toph, come on!" She stomped her foot another time, before she finally joined them. "How did she do that? Why did you guys fail to mention that people can bend lightning?" cried out Harry.
"Because most people can't!" exclaimed Aang, "It's something only masters can do!" Harry dropped his head in his hands, "Great. We have a master bender after us."
They flew for more than an hour, everyone so exhausted that they were barely hanging onto the waking world. Harry's head dropped for a second, and only one. He swore! But then five seconds later, gravity had taken hold, and they were dropping.
The familiar drop of adrenaline took a hold of him, and for a second he thought he'd fallen asleep on his broom in a Quidditch practise, which was ridiculous. He blinked again, taking in the screams of his friends and promptly remembered. "WHAT'S HAPPENING?" screamed Toph. "APPA FELL ASLEEP." He could barely hear Aang's voice, but as soon as he did, he reached for his wand as fast as he could, even with the wind and gravity trying to stop him. He gritted his teeth and clenched his wand tight, too afraid to lose it. "Rennervate!," he finally managed to point his wand at the animal that promptly woke up due to the spell, stabilizing in the air, and making everyone slam into the saddle.
Appa grunted, before landing roughly in a forest. This time, Harry didn't even bother getting off the saddle, and just laid there as everyone around him moved. He was absolutely ready to finally get some sleep. He had literally not slept all night. Therefore he was very, very angry when the sound of, you guessed it, arguing reached his ears. He tried to ignore it, but as it got louder he sat up with a jerk and turned to face the two girls. "Can you just stop fighting at each other! We're all tired and everyone would like to get some sleep. You have been at this literally all night!"
"Well, maybe we wouldn't have been at all this night if Toph had helped us pack earlier, and we could've slept peacefully!" screamed Katara, not listening at all to what he said.
"I never asked you for anything! I carry my own weight! And you know how we could've slept? By not having Appa here shedding like his life depended on it!" Aang sat up, now fully engaged in the fight. "You're blaming Appa for this?" he asked incredulously.
"Yeah, he's leaving a trail everywhere we go!" Harry's brow furrowed, realization changing his anger, before he slid down the sky bison, grabbing the fur for himself. "She's right." "How dare you blame Appa?" Harry tilted his head to look at Aang, whose tired expression shifted in anger.
"Wait, no Aang, she's right-" "Are you blaming Appa too, Harry? He saved our lives! He's the one carrying all the weight, and before you joined, he never had a problem flying!" Harry recoiled, hurt and anger boiling in his chest. He did not want to be here right now. "I'm not here on purpose, and you know that. You know what, I'll find my own way home then, where I can't bother Mr. Avatar-know-it-all." He growled, taking his bag and storming off.
He walked off, side-stepping Sokka as he got in the way. "Hey, wait for me magic man." He stopped as Toph came up to him. She wasn't looking at him, only straight ahead, but her expression was tight. She was feeling the same kind of anger he was feeling. And so they walked, Harry mostly brewing in his own thoughts. He didn't really want to leave Aang, Sokka, and Katara. They were his new friends in this strange world. His only friends. He fingered the small scale attached to his necklace, he hadn't thought about Yue and the others at the North Pole in a while.
He couldn't say he missed them, since he'd met them so briefly. But he liked their village. That they were established. Travelling in what could equal to a medieval world, was not something that had ever been on his bucket list. How long had it been since he'd taken an actual shower?
Toph held out at an arm in front of him, forcing him to stop. He looked at her in confusion but before he could ask, she stomped the ground and jabbed the air with her right hand, sending a ripple at a nearby rock. The cry of pain made him tense up and get his wand out. "That really hurt my tailbone." Harry frowned, the voice really seemed familiar.
He quickly jogged over to the rock, only to freeze at the sight of the very familiar old man. He pointed his wand at him, as Iroh sat up. "Oh, hello there. I did not think we would meet again. You seem to have acquired a new friend. Shall we set up some tea?" he gestured towards the ground, completely ignoring the wand in his face. "You're not going to try and capture me, are you?" asked Harry warily. The old man simply shrugged, "Capturing is more my nephew's activity than mine." Toph sat down, clearly unconcerned, the wizard followed suit a bit slower than her.
"So how do you two know each other anyways?" asked Toph, her head resting on her knees. "We don't exactly know each other. He's Zuko's uncle, I think." Explained Harry, "I've actually never talked to either of them." Iroh simply smiled as he poured the tea. "Zuko was very insistent that we leave, we did not have the chance to talk over tea. Did you leave your companions?" Even if the question seemed innocent enough, Harry still tensed, wary.
"Yeah, because they were huge jerks." Huffed Toph. "They kept wanting something from me when I can carry my own weight. People always want to take care of me, but I can take care of myself."
"You sound like my nephew, always thinking you need to do things on your own. But there's nothing wrong with leaning on the people that you love." Harry made a hum of pleasure as the tea hit is tongue. It was really good. It'd been so long since he'd had tea. He mulled over the old man's words as they continued to talk. He knew that depending on people was good. He'd been alone for so long, before Hogwarts, that depending on others was something that didn't come naturally for him either. He didn't think it was bad to depend on others, but the less burden you put on your friends, the happier everyone is. Right?
"Where is Zuko, anyways?" asked Toph. The wizard perked up, looking around as well. He'd assumed Zuko had just gone off to go get food or something. "I've been tracking him actually." Harry frowned, "He's lost?" Iroh paused, before he looked away, still sipping at his tea. "Yes, a little bit. His life has recently changed, and he's going through very difficult times. He's trying to figure out who he is, so he went away." He looked at the horizon, prompting the other firebender to do so as well. His breath caught at the sight of the sun between the mountains. This world really was beautiful.
"I know he doesn't want me around right now, but I'll always be there if he needs me." Harry felt a pang in his chest at the words, and he shook away the immediate envy that rose up.
"Your nephew is very lucky, even if he doesn't know it." Said Toph as she rose up, tucking her bag against her back. The wizard rose as well, as he finished the delicious tea. It was not the same as Hogwarts, a different kind of delicious. He had missed tea…
He missed Toph and Iroh's parting words, and as he made sure everything was in his bag, they left. He was glad to see that Toph was heading back towards the camp, and so he walked along with her. "Are you sure you want to go back? Not that I don't want you to, I really like you being on the team, but I don't want you to feel forced or anything-"
"It's fine Lightning Head. I want to go back." She stated, not an ounce of hesitation in her voice. "Besides, who aside from the greatest earthbender can teach that twinkle toes?"
"You are pretty amazing."
"Of course I am." She puffed her chest. They arrived at the camp pretty quickly but there was no one there, a line of fur trailing deep in the forest. He sighed in disappointment. He approached the fur and frowned at the ground. There were weird large footprints. Maybe some kind of animal? Oh wait, didn't the ones chasing us have big lizards. "Toph! I think the girls are still following them, with Appa being the state he is in, we need to go!" he started jogging towards the path, and looked back to see Toph catching up to him.
"I don't know if we're going to reach them in time!" he cried out. He could already feel a pain in his side, and his breath was coming short. He really, really, wished he had his broom right now. "I have an idea, stop." Harry stopped, as Toph stomped the ground and raised her hands. A rectangular platform rose up from the ground and settled ahead of them. "Get on! I don't know how long I'm going to be able to hold both our weight, though." He quickly got on, and almost fell off as the platform sped along the road.
After about five minutes, they had to disembark because Toph couldn't lift both of them at the speed that they were going. A city rose up in the horizon, and Harry could see smoke trailing off into the distance. He quickly ran the rest of the way, gasping for breath. Toph was slightly ahead of him, and she slid off towards the space between two buildings. The earthbender walked forward, gesturing with her hands in a sharp motion, making the other firebenders slip. "I thought you guys could use a little help." She smirked. Harry aimed a stunner at the girl, but sadly she was looking at Toph so she saw him and dodge. However, she paused before looking at him with a triumphant smile on her face, "Finally. The avatar!"
Everyone kind of paused for a moment as they stared at her. "Wait, what?" exclaimed Harry in confusion, only to yelp and duck at the stream of fire coming his way. The group seemed to resume what they were doing, and attacks of multiple elements came flying at her. She was forced to dodge, and flee between two buildings, only to run into Iroh. What's he doing here? And how did he get here so fast? The universe answered him as Zuko fell into his line of sight.
Meanwhile, the girl was backing up into a corner, with all five of the group plus the two firebenders ready in a fighting position. "Well, look at this. Enemies and traitors all working together." She smirked, before her face fell and she lifted her hands in surrender. "I'm done. I know when I'm beaten. You got me. A princess surrenders with honour." Harry stayed silent, and tried to discreetly do the wand motion for the stunning charm, but the princess gave him a sharp look, throwing a stream of blue fire at Iroh. Anger boiled in his chest, and he attacked with everyone else, the attack causing a wave of black smoke to momentarily blind the group. She was gone.
Harry quickly hurried towards Iroh who had fallen, he only knew epiksey as a healing spell, but it was better than nothing. "Epiksey!" he cried, concentrating on the burn. The energy left but nothing happened. He muffled a scream in frustration. Zuko dropped next to him, and as he tried and tried to do the spell, nothing worked. An actual scream tore out of Zuko who shoved him backwards. "Leave us alone!" he screamed at them, there were no tears in his eyes, but Harry could see the anguish and pain on his face. "Wait Zuko, I can help!" cried Katara, coming closer. Harry quickly ducked when he threw a wave of fire at them. "Leave!" he shouted, clearly not listening. He felt Sokka drag him backwards, not allowing him to speak. They walked in silence out of the town, and just before they went on Appa. As he looked back to see Zuko, clutching his uncle's chest like a lifeline, Harry felt like a failure.
XxX: I'm writing this and there's like 2 minutes until midnight. This chapter made me crazy. I wanted to combine it with the nezt one, but my brain couldn't. It looked so funky to almost skip all of this so this ended up as a super long chapter. Writing Toph was a bit harder than I thought, but I hope you guys still liked it! I'm so excited for what's coming next, and dreading it at the same time. Anyways, good night everyone, hope you liked it!