Chapter 3: Wait, I have what now?

Harry looked at the sky, utterly tiring tired of dealing with this. He sighed one more time before looking back at the group of people staring at him. "I didn't take the water spirits." He said. They all frowned at him. "THEN WHERE IS THE SPIRIT OF THE MOON!" the angry evil guy yelled, fire forming in his clenched fists. Everyone got into a fighting pose, even Harry who raised his wand warily, making the rest stare at him weirdly.

An old man with a long white beard glared at the evil guy, "Zhao! Killing the Moon Spirit will affect all of us! The Fire Nation needs the moon spirit!" he yelled, throwing off his black robe. "It is my destiny to kill the Moon Spirit!" Evil Zhao yells. He raises his hand, slashing it down, releasing a jet of flame towards the pond. Harry reacts instantly, raising his wand in lightning speed, "Aqua Eructo!" a jet of water came out of his wand, along with a water whip from the direction of the teenager. The fire was successfully put out, but now came the issue of the big smirk on Zhao's face. He knew that, somehow, the spirits were still there. Why else would Harry have protected the pond?

Fortunately for Harry, the rest of the group realized this as well, and all hell unleashed on Zhao. The old man threw a fireball in his direction, and the previously tied down teenagers spun and kicked … a fireball? This world was so weird. The guards came to attack the two fire-benders, only to be spun around with a water whip from the blue girl. The arrow kid came to stand next to him, "The spirits are still there? How?" he asked, still staring tensely at the fight happening in front of them.

Harry hesitated for a second, wondering how to explain this. "I made them invisible, and uh, they helped? I guess, to maintain the spell." The kid turned to stare at him, confusion evident on his face. "But no element can do that! How are you even doing that?" Harry stared back, the instinct to hide coming to him. But then again, this was a world where people seemed to wield fire water and air. This couldn't be too strange, right?

"I'm a wizard from another dimension sent to protect the Moon Spirit." The kid stared, mouth hung open. Their conversation was cut short by a too close fire blast, forcing them to dodge to the side. Harry raised his wand, while the kid raised a dome of air over the pond. "Flipendo!" he shouted, a loud bang coming out of his wand just as the light hit Zhao directly on the chest, as he tried to fend off the other two fire benders. The man went flying back, spinning as he hit his head directly on the gates. He slumped to the floor, unconscious, halting all the fighting around them. I did not think that would hit, thought Harry, with no small amount of relief. The fight continued for a few seconds as the last of the men's guards were apprehended.

Everyone just sort of … stood there for a few seconds, looking at each other very awkwardly. While Harry didn't really get why they were not celebrating, Harry himself didn't really know what to do. He'd saved the Moon Spirit from the main threat. It had gone over so fast that he wasn't really sure what he wanted to do now. It was over, he thought with a kind of bewildered relief. Harry headed to the pond, sensing the spirits that were still there, waiting under their invisible cover.

As the guards were tied up, the wind of the Avatar disappeared, allowing Harry to point his wand at the seemingly undisturbed water. "Finite." He whispered. Slowly but surely, the white and blacks of the strange fish were revealed to the naked eye, and the wizard felt the spiritual energy that was maintaining the spell disappear. The other people gathered around him, looking at the dissolving spell with wide eyes. Harry put his hand in the pond, closing his eyes and reaching out, like he'd done so before. The minds of the two spirits encompassed him, but this time, there was another presence around. "You have done well, little one. Thank you for protecting me, on Lily's behalf." The gentle voice of Tui washed over him, and Harry couldn't help but relax a bit. "Young Avatar," said Tui, turning towards the previously unknown mind, "I have seen from young Harry what you have tried and done for us, I thank you for it." "Is that his name? I-I don't know how he's doing this, I should be the only one able to contact you." He said, his voice confused, all fragile and sad.

Even if the wizard had not talked to the kid for more than five seconds, the way their minds were connected, made Harry relate with him. He seemed lonely, so lonely. He had found friends, from what Harry had seen, but no one quite like himself. His heart ached, as he knew that he would not be able to be what the boy was looking for. "Avatar Aang, Harry is someone that came to help me, his form of bending is completely different from what you have seen. He will need your help to go back home. I do not know how you would be able to do so, but Lily would not have mentioned you if she did not think you could do it." With this vague message, they turned back to the wizard, who could feel the presence of La become more pronounced, close to their kindred.

"As promised, I will help you get rid of the rest of the parasite. I do not know to whose soul this parasite this belongs to, but it does not have any place on your soul. While normally I would not be able to do anything," she stated, leaving Harry in confusion. He had someone's soul on his own? "By bringing you here, she sacrificed a bit of that parasite, leaving a hole that needs to be filled. She did so with her spiritual breath, but it would not be able to manifest beyond this. La and I will get rid of the rest, as a thanks. Going home might be easier now." Before Harry could even ask how this was going to happen, what exactly was going on, he felt a sharp, soul-deep pain starting on his scar, before he blacked out.

XxX

The first thing he registered was the feeling of warmth and comfort emanating from around him. He felt relaxed, more than he had ever felt before. He slowly opened his eyes, frowning in confusion at the ceiling above him. He slowly sat up, staring at his clothing. He seemed to be wearing light blue clothes, with a fabric that seemed very scratchy, around him were a fur blanket, instead of the normal covers he'd come to associate with his bed at Hogwarts. He felt pretty warm, even with the few clothing, but attributed it to the fire in the room.

The small door opened, making way for the small Avatar, Aang. He turned around, surprised to see him sitting up on the bed, before he smiled widely. "You're awake!" he skipped to his side, making the wizard jump in surprise at the movement and the happy grin on his face. "How are you? Oh! I should go get the healers." He sped out of the room, not leaving room for Harry to question his surroundings nor his person. He stared at the door blankly for a few moments, trying to gather his scattered thoughts. For the first time since the department of mysteries, he wasn't running around on adrenaline. He'd been so focused on protecting and fighting that he had barely had the time to think.

Sirius, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Luna, Ginny, all those he cherished were out of reach now. He could feel his eyes burn and his hands curl into fists. He raised his knees, hugging them to his chest, hiding his face. Merlin, he just wanted to go home, why did he have to help these people? His friends were suffering, vulnerable to Voldemort and he couldn't do anything about it. He hid in his knees, the soft fur around him, as the last wall that he had built to himself, fell away. He sobbed. He cried and screamed for all the unfairness that had been done to him, all the people around him, ripped away too soon. He cried for the loneliness that had befallen him, he cried like he'd never done so before.

The anger was still there, still present in his screams of griefs and his curled fists. It is as present in the floating objects and the roaring of the flames in his ears. It felt different than before, no mindless rage, this anger felt his, and all of him. He's always been a little worried, of how Voldemort was affecting his actions, but he was probably only enhancing them. Just the thought of that monster brought another wave of anger. He just wanted to let the tsunami of emotions out, he wanted his friends back, he wanted to go home! He wan—a hand landed on his shoulder, making his head jerk up, staring wide-eyed at Aang.

Embarrassment and shame drifted through him, as he furiously wiped his eyes. "Hey, it's fine. Don't worry about it." Harry wanted to turn his eyes away, but looking in the Avatar's eyes, he could remember the time where their minds had touched and didn't feel as embarrassed anymore. It was still not the nicest moment to be caught in but knew that Aang wouldn't make fun of him. "Would you be okay seeing a healer?" he asked softly to Harry. The wizard nodded, it was probably going to be the same nagging as Madam Pomphrey, something he was used to at least. Aang headed out towards the door, holding it open for a middle-aged woman to come through, wearing an all-blue and white outfit. She came over to him with a warm smile as she checked him over. He managed to stay calm during the entire examination, even when she used her water bending to check for other injuries. While his tears and his grief were kept at bay, he knew it would be a long time before it faded away.

The woman left, leaving Harry alone with Aang, who had stayed with him the entire time. The kid smiled, before approaching him. "I need to go learn earth bending, to see King Bumi. I asked Yue two days ago, and she's willing to let you stay here if you want." Harry blinked, before what he said registered, "Two days? Have I been asleep for that long?" he exclaimed, a little bit shocked. "Yeah, you've been sleeping like a rock ever since the end of the raid." He said, smiling in amusement, "It's probably because of the new abilities that the Moon Spirit gave to you." He added, a hand on his chin as if he was stroking an invisible beard. "What do you mean?" Harry asked. He remembered Tui mentioning something similar, but didn't really know what they had meant at the time.

"I don't really know the details, you might have to explain the rest to me, but it seems like you have fire bending now, which should be impossible." Aang frowned, not looking displeased but rather confused. Harry cocked his head to the side, "Is it like wandless fire magic? I'm not quite sure how you guys are doing this in the first place." He completely ignored the impossibility statement, with five years of Hogwarts under his belt, he'd come to resign himself with dismay that he'd never be normal. "Wandless? What does that mean?"

The door barged open, making way for the two blue teenagers that had been fighting alongside him before. "Aang! We've been looking everywhere for you!" yelled the girl, hands on her hips. Wow, déjà vu … thought, Harry. Aang laughed, rubbing the back of his neck as he smiled at her. "Ah, sorry Katara! I was with Harry! He woke up today!" he said, childish enthusiasm in his voice. The two turned to look at him, and the wizard gave a small wave. "How did you do all that weird bending? Are you a spirit?" asked Katara. She had a gentle and kind face, and Harry couldn't help but be reminded of Hermione.

"Uh, no. I'm…" he hesitated for a second, looking at Aang who was only looking at him in expectation, excitement in his eyes, "a wizard from another dimension, I guess? I don't really know what bending is so I couldn't tell you if it's strange. Also, we don't call it bending, but rather magic." As he said this, the wizard realized he hadn't seen his wand at all since he woke up. "Where's my wand?" he exclaimed, lifting the furs of the bed, and looking at the few furniture around him. "What's a wand?" the boomerang teen asked, as he started to panic. "It's how I do my magic! It looks like a stick!" he exclaimed, standing up to search, ignoring Aang's bracing hands. "Oh, you mean this?" Harry whirled around, seeing his wand in the hands of the teenager.

He got over to him, and snatched his wand from his grasp with a sigh of relief. To his shock and bewilderment, his wand emitted lit up, orange sparks sparking in the air like when he first got it. He could feel it connect to his core, the warmth of home spreading, in a way he'd never felt before. He could also feel the … core? The core of the wand reach out and connect to something he didn't even know had been there, something fiery and warm, but felt just like home as his core. "Wait, you're a fire bender?" asked the teen, a hint of distrust now colouring his voice. Harry looked at him in surprise, "I mean I can produce fire from my wand I guess, who are you exactly?" he asked. This reminded him too much of the second year for him.

"Oh, I'm Sokka, members of the Southern Water Tribe, and this is my sister Katara. So, are you a fire bender or not?" he asked again, staring at him intently. "He's a wizard, Sokka. And a fire bender. But the second one's new…" Aang answered for him, a bright smile on his face. "Wait, do you not have benders where you're from?" asked Katara, looking at him as if he'd just blown her world. "Well, no not really. Not as far as I know, I still don't know what exactly that means…" Harry trailed off, clearly looking for an answer.

"Oh, I forgot you don't know anything. There are four elements: air, water, earth and fire. Certain people can control one of those four elements." Aang explained, a bright smile on his face. "But you controlled water and air, earlier. Are there special people that can bend more than one element?" asked Harry, tilting his head to the side. Aang's smile faded a little bit, as he rubbed his hands together, "No, ah. It's only me. I'm the avatar, so I can bend all the elements." He said awkwardly. "It's my duty to balance the mortal and the spirit world." There was a mixture of fear and determination on his face as he proclaimed his responsibilities. Harry sympathized heavily. He was the one who Voldemort was after, he understood those responsibilities. But then again… "It's a lot of pressure to put on someone your age, isn't it?" he said, mind filled with memories. Being responsible for the human world and the spirit world must be hard…

"Wait! You said you're responsible for the spirit world! Then you have to know how to get me home!" he exclaimed, so much hope in his voice. Aang looked at him, before dropping his head. Harry's heart broke before the young avatar even started speaking. "I-I don't know. I don't know much about the spirit world, and I don't know how you came to be here, I'm sorry." Harry hung his head, that's what he gets for being positive, he mused. "But! If you come with us, I might be able to find a way for you to get home!" While Harry felt like it wouldn't come to anything, what with his luck, he had to try. For his friends, for-for Sirius. He had to get home. "I'm going with you, if there's a chance I might go home, I'll take it." The wizard exclaimed.

"Hi? Can we get back to the fact that he might be a fire bender?" exclaimed Sokka, turning them away from their conversation. "As I started explained before you were here Sikka, it's what Tui said, when they were talking to us. Basically, the spirit that put you here had to sacrifice something to get you, and she sacrificed a part of a soul that was attached to yours, you might know more about this than me." Harry suddenly remembered their conversations, as he actually thought about it. Horror seeped through him as he imagined who's soul that could be. "The spirit, Lily I think? Well, she was a fire spirit, and so your soul didn't go into like, shock? She replaced it with a spark of a fire core, like what fire benders have. So when Tui removed the rest of the soul, the core sort of formed, although it's probably never going to be as strong as other fire benders."

Well, that doesn't sound so bad, thought Harry. Aang had explained this to him before, but he hadn't really understood what that meant. He looked at Katara. Sokka was a bit disgruntled but accepting. Katara was looking at him, as if he was going to burst into flames any minute. "Wait, is that bad? You guys don't look so happy?" The three gave themselves a look, before Katara explained the 100-year war. While she talked, Harry could only think, why me?

XxX: Hope you guys liked this chapter! I thought it would take me a week to write this, but no, four days later and it's already here! I tried to keep Harry as canon as possible, while moving the plot, and keeping in mind that he's mourning. Tricky. Anyways, see you next week!