thank you for those who are sticking with the story! i enjoy writing it!
The path up to the Castle was a long one, but with Dumbledore's help they were aloud to bring Appa and fly through the barrier. Sokka never found out what a Hogwart was only that it was a school, and a massive one at that. Appa flew them to the front doors of the castle then romped off to go play in the grass, or eat it. Sokka Hoisted the earth bender onto his back while Katara took Aang.
"Here let me help," the old man said to his sister. Sokka studied the man, he didn't look strong enough to carry the Avatar by boney knees and old skin made him look close to 100 years old almost as old as aang was. Sokka thought for a minute, but Aang knew Dumbledore when he was younger and back then he said the wizard was powerful and older than he. Wow a man that old should not be carrying anybody especially risking dropping Aang in his state.
"You dont really look like the heavy lifting type, i think my sister can handle our friend so you don't break your old back," He said, trying to sound reassuring to the wizard but he only chuckled in amusement.
"Sokka, one should never underestimate an old man." Dumbledore winked at the young warrior then revealed a small stick from underneath his robes. The stick looked hand carved and made out of what looked like birch but Sokka wasn't really good at telling trees apart. He heard the wizard say something in what sounded to be latin and swished the wand around. Sokka waited a second then noticed that Aang was being lifted off of Katara's back and carried through the air by an invisible force.
Sokka gawked, "What type of bending is that?!" was he an air bender too? why the stick? He didn't think blood bending or air bending worked that way.
Sokka's befuddlement only made the old wizard's eyes gleam through his half moon spectacles, "It's not bending it's magic, this is a school of witch craft and wizardry after all," Sokka and Katara just stared at their friend being gently lifted through the air. Toph however just stared straightforward, she couldn't see what Aang was doing, she only knew that somehow he was not touching the ground by any means of bending.
"Can you take toph too?" the warrior's arms were getting tired from carrying the earth bender, she may bend rocks like they were nothing but boy did she weigh like one. His rider kicked him in the side with a huff.
"Don't you think that i will be levitated through the air, im not letting someone bippity boppity boo me through a castle," she grumbled at him.
Sokka sighed and followed Dumbledore through the castle. They first entered through to the big entrance hall, Sokka was sure that it was big enough to fit twenty flying bison. A marble staircase lay dead ahead winding up and up the splitting into thee directions on the first landing. He was positive that the fire nation didn't even have a palace this beautiful and ..well sokka would only describe it as magical. the old wizard walked with a fast pace up the stairs and through the winding hallways of the castle. Katara and Sokka almost had to run to keep up with the long legged man. Pictures lined every wall and coated the corridors. They were beautiful, the brush strokes almost made sokka stop in admiration, "ahhh art," he hummed to himself but heard a voice he didn't recognize.
"You better hurry if you want to catch up to the head master," Sokka turned to see an old man sitting in a chair, but to sokka's horror it was painted. the man's face, the chair everything was painted but it was moving! he backed up and looked around, he noticed that ALL the pictures, whether photographs, drawings, or paintings, were moving as if they were alive. some were even having conversations from across the hallways with each other.
He screamed and started to run towards Dumbledore, Toph was very confused, "What, whats going on?" she yelled to the screaming sokka, she didn't forget to give him another bruise to his side.
"The paintings! they are MOVING!"
Katara looked at him as if he was crazy, "Sokka i know you are one of those Artistic type but don't you think this is a little carried away?"
"No seriously look!" he pointed at a picture of a knight in shining armour who had just started to terrorize a sleeping bear. yelling "tally ho!" the knight sped through six different frames and ran out of view. Sokka sighed in amazement, "Art really does speak to me."
A few spiraling stair cases and magical surprises later, the group found themselves in the Hospital wing. The semi circular room had beds lining the walls with a night stand and a window near all of them. A worried nurse came over and started fussing over the group, asking about the trip about what happened she wanted to know everything they ate and drank within the hour. Her bumbling was cut off when she noticed Dumbledore laying the body of the avatar down in the bed.
"Madame Pomfrey, i am sure this boy requires your attention more than the ones that are awake" Dumbledore said then made room for the nurse to move.
"Oh my." she gasped. she ran over and started fussing over the unconscious boy, brewing a potion and messing with mysterious liquids and magic.
Sokka walked over to the nearest bed and set Toph down. "How are you holding up?" the earth girl gave him a sold punch in the shoulder, "Yup you're fine" he gaped, holding his new sore.
"No violence in the hospital wing!" the nurse came running over to intervene, "I dont want someone to die on my watch!" she turned to Toph, "What is it? whats wrong with you?" Sokka saw that the earth bender made a very bad first impression with the lady who seemed like she didn't tolerate any sort of violence in the wing.
"My ankle is sprained," toph said with a flick of annoyance. she crossed her arms and sat on the bed, her feet dangling pitifully, unable to see.
"That's a quick fix," the nurse waved her dark wooded wand and withing a minute toph was running around the wing looking at the place with a whole new set of feet. the nurse walked over to Dumbledore and whispered something angrily in his ear. the wizard chuckled then called the three conscious foreigners over to him.
"I do think it is best if those who are not sick follow me to their new chambers," the old wizard smiled at them.
"I think ill stay here with Aang," Katara spoke up,"And who knows i might learn some new healing tricks," she was looking excitedly towards the nurse who started to heal Aang with some sort of spell.
"Call us as soon as he wakes up, i need to give Aang a good punch for nearly dying on us," Toph chuckled but her comment didn't go without a glare from Poppy. Katara nodded. Sokka and Toph followed the old wizard out of the Hospital wing and down some stairs.
they walked in silence except for Toph, who was stomping her feet at every intersection to get a good view of the castle. she stopped at every hallway, gave the floor a good kick, then would gasp "amazing" or "Cool!" then run to the next one.
Sokka walked step in step with the tall head master as they continued down the hallway. "How long do you plan on staying with us?" Dumbledore asked, not slowing his pace down at all.
Sokka thought for a moment, "Well.." he started, "We have to heal Aang completely before we go anywhere, and then he needs to master all four elements before next summer." Sokka took in the new plan then thought about the timing, "I guess it might be a while." His plan did seem like a 'while' it seemed like it would take forever. Aang learning the first three elements wasn't that bad but where were they going to get a fire bending master who wouldn't try to kill them all?
"Well school starts in about a week, were you going to stay for that?" the old mans voice was so welcoming that sokka felt himself relax a bit.
"Well we might have to, but with fire Nation spies tracking us we should leave or hide somewhere else,"
"I think i would be able to help you there," Toph said running up from behind the two. her face looked like she slept on the floor, it was covered in dust and dirt but she had the biggest grin slapped right across her face. "What if we disguised ourselves as students here? then we could teach Aang the element, making it look like magic, and the fire nation creeps wouldn't be able to tell the difference! it would also give me more time to explore this huge castle!"
Sokka thought for a second, blending in with magic people sounded like it would be hard, they knew nothing about the country or culture, but he was sure with a little fake magic and some robes, they might be able to make it work. "Hey we might actually be able to pull that off. Not bad Toph, good plan..OW!" toph playfully hit his shoulder again, but made contact with his new bruises. she apologized quickly.
Dumbledore nodded his head and continued walking down the hallway,"Well our school is split into groups of different ages and within those split again into different houses, Griffindore Slytherin Ravenclaw and HufflePuff, you will need to be sorted before the school year so you wouldn't have to be escorted in with the first years, that might seem a biit suspicious, though many transfer students are sorted with the new groups."
"Great!" sokka stated, "Well i am sixteen, my sister and Toph are fourteen while the avatar is thirteen. so when do we get sorted?"
"Let's do it when Aang wakes, it should be a big group thing!" Toph said excitedly,"I can't wait! I hope I'm a Hufflepuff! that seems like a cool house!"
"How are the kids sorted anyways?" Sokka inquired the old man, "Is it random? or what?"
"Well," chuckled the old wizard, "The witch or wizard sits on a stool and the sorting hat is put on them, the hat is a sentient Hogwarts artifact which magically determines to which of the four school Houses each new student is to be assigned by looking at the student's personality's and interests, and which quality the person values. Griffindore welcomes the brave and Daring, Hufflepuff those who work hard and are loyal, Ravenclaw enjoys those who value intelligence knowledge and wit, while slytherin takes those who are cunning, ambitious and resourcefulness."
Toph thought hard for a moment, "I would like to change my house to Griffendore please,"
The group laughed then proceeded to their chambers. the remainder of the trip to the dorms was filled with excited laughter and jokes between Sokka and Toph about houses and magic.
...
Aang found himself in a small ghostly field, fog and mist lay around him, curling and uncurling as if it were breathing, in and out, in and out. The Avatar tried to peirce the veil of fog with some air bending but where he whipped his staff around, nothing happened. Was he in the spirit world? Aang tried to remember his recent events, Ba Sing Se, general Iroh, Katara, then nothing he couldn't remember anything from the event. What was he doing in the spirit world, how did he get there?
A loud roar came from somewhere beyond the mist. Aang squinted to see past the fog but all he saw was more fog.
"Who's there?" He called out. Aang didnt feel like solving some spirit's problems and creating world peice that day. But if someone needed him, he would help. He looked again at the sheet of mist and notice something move. The creature was speeding towards him at and alarming rate, throwing more roars and growls his way. Aang prepared himself for battle but without his bending it would prove to be a challenge. The beast flew towards him but once when it pierced the veil, it stopped. Aang looked up to see Avatar Roku on his dragon. "Avatar Roku," the airbender gasped in amazement, the beast gave a deafening roar in acknowledgment, then bent down to let Roku climb off.
His older reincarnation was tall with white hair, he looked a bit pale but Aang just assumed that that was because he was now a spirit. When he thought about it, he was kind of just talking to himself. Roku stood up tall in his fire nation robes, his royal hair peice was sitting neatly on his head, though roku was never a crown prince he wore the royal artifact proudly. "Aang i have come to guide you through this troubling time. You have only a year left before you need to defeat the fire lord and you still need to master both earth and fire elementals" Roku's voice was both old and wise, Aang wondered if he would ever be that smart.
"But i already have an earth bending teacher," aang remembered learning the basics with toph and practicing with her everyday. He liked how earth bending gave him a form of attack that went on shear bulk and power of the hits with a solid wall for defense if used correctly. None of the other element had that sense of muscle or hardness to them.
Roku looked at the airbender sternly, boy he can be scarey when he wanted too, "Aang you have an earth bending teacher yes, but you have a long way to go before you have mastered that element, you need to see and connect with the earth just as your friend does, let it be your guide."
"Your right," Aang replied. Toph was always able to somehow tell where everything was and if someone was going to attack, it was like having an extra set of eyes, even though she was blind. Aang had not yet unlocked the earth bender's secret to her sight, but knew that if he were to completely master the element he would have to learn the difficult task by the summer. Aang's thoughts went from earth and rocks to fire and flame. He paused, "Avatar Roku, how am i going to find a Fire bending master? Where am i going to learn the last element?"
"The element of fire is a powerful and dangerous one Aang, it is fueled by ambition, desire and will. " roku began, looking as if remembering his past life as a fire nation citizen, "The fire nation had corrupted that force and fuels their fires with hate and wrath. To find your fire bending teacher you must look into the dragon's nest. Find the red dragon who has turned away from wrath and hate, and has looked towards his goals and ambitions. "
Aang tried to absorb everything the past avatar was telling him. He looked towards the dragon resting at his side. A dragon? Aang knew that dragons where the original fire benders, their force and shear power created the will needed to breath and bend fire, but after years of war, the dragons have all died or migrated from the four nation. "Where am i going to find a dragon to teach me? There are none left!"
Roku's face softened into a kind smile, he reached over and stroked his dragon, "Oh Aang, Dragons come in many difference shapes with many different faces, who knows, you might have already met your teacher," Aang glanced over at the beast next to the older avatar but the dragon turned away, it wasn't him. Aang was so confused, Roku's friend was the only dragon he ever met, why couldn't dead people ever give him straight forward answers?
Aang and roku stood in the mist for a while just standing there, no words came from either of them. The airbender was just about to ask another question but something pulled him. He felt like he was being stretched thin almost paper, he was dissolving into the mist itself. Fading away into nothing.
Aang's eyes snapped open. Head laying back he was staring at a stone room, how did he get there? Lifting his head he noticed hospital beds everywhere and potion bottles lined his bedside table. Something layed on his leg, it was Katara her head rested on him as she slept, he wondered how long she had been there. Aang tried to sit up but a terrible pain shot through his back and sides, making his stomach turn, he almost emptied it onto his sheets.
"Ungh, what happened to me?" he groaned. laying back down.
Foot steps came running up to his bedside, and Toph's face popped into veiw. The earthbender gave Aang a small tap on the shoulder with her fist, "You died that's what happened,"
Aang froze for a second, "I WHAT?"