Aang held his bandaged hand as he walked to the Great Hall. He rubbed his thumb over his palm whenever it started itching. His new allergy to silver was one of the inconveniences that came with being a werewolf. He discovered it when he touched a family heirloom and burned his hand. He was more careful now when handling anything that looked like silver.
Aang stopped walking when he heard someone crying. He looked up and saw a small figure crying. When he got closer, he recognized the figure.
"Meng?" She stopped crying and looked at him. "Are you okay?"
Meng wiped away her tears. "Not really...I sort of had a bad run in with some Slytherin girls."
"What happened?"
"They called me a blood traitor for hanging out with Muggle-Borns and Half-Bloods. They didn't use that word of course. But then they started making fun of appearance."
"Don't listen to them. They're probably just jealous and insecure about themselves."
Meng sniffed and smiled. "You think so?"
"Yeah." Aang smiled and held out his unbandaged hand. "Come on. Our friends are probably wondering where we are."
Meng blushed and took his hand. He helped her stand up and they walked to the Great Hall while talking and laughing with each other.
As they rounded the corner, they saw their friends outside the big door. Suki was the first to rush over. "There you are Meng! We were looking all over for you!"
"Are you okay?" Toph asked, walking up to them next. She was followed by the others.
"Yeah I'm fine." Meng reassured with a smile. "Aang found me and calmed me down."
Katara noticed they were holding hands and felt a ping of jealousy as Mai said, "Are you sure? I grew up around almost everyone in Slytherin, most of them can be jerks. The girls especially."
"I'm fine. They were probably just insecure or something."
"What happened to you hand?" Sokka asked, motioning to Aang's bandaged hand.
"Oh...uh...I accidentally burned my hand while helping Professor Iroh clean up." Aang replied. He was so thankful his eyes didn't change colors when he lied.
Zuko didn't seem convinced, especially since he saw Aang wincing every once in a while when he handled the silver knife; he also saw how red his hand was afterwards, and noticed he was trying to hide it. But before he could say something, Sokka spoke up, "Well, since you both are okay...let's go eat because I'm so hungry right now!"
Katara rolled her eyes. "You're always hungry."
Aang laughed as he let go of Meng's hand, much to her disappointment, and walked with Sokka and Zuko to the Great Hall.
"You sure you're okay, cous?" Toph asked. "I can beat up those girls if you want."
Meng smiled. "I'm fine, Toph. I'm just going to ignore them."
Meanwhile, the three boys sat down together and filled their plates. The different tables in the Great Hall were no longer reserved for just one house. Another thing Professor Gyatso started was allowing different houses to sit at each other's tables, and only separating them for the start of the year and the end of the year.
"I think your uncle is probably the coolest professor here," Aang said.
"And one of the nicest." Sokka added before stuffing his face with food.
"Yeah, he's pretty cool," Zuko said with a smile. "Too bad the rest of my family can't see that."
"Not to mention the Slytherins. I wonder what they think of him being their Head of House."
"Hey Aang!" Adrien called. Aang turned to see Adrien walking up to him, holding a package. "Tomorrow is our first Quidditch practice. We're meeting at the pitch after classes."
"Awesome. See you then," Aang replied with a smile.
Adrien smiled and set the package on the table. "This is for you," he said before walking away.
Aang grabbed the package and looked at it. He began tearing off the brown paper to reveal a white box. He opened the box and smiled.
"It's my Quidditch uniform!" Aang exclaimed as he lifted the yellow robe with his last name on the back.
"Cool!" Sokka said as Aang showed him and Zuko the uniform.
"When's the first Hufflepuff game?" Zuko asked.
"I don't know," Aang replied as he put his uniform back in the box. "I'm sure Adrien will tell us tomorrow."
"Hopefully it's against Slytherin," Sokka said.
"What's against Slytherin?" Suki asked as she walked up to the table and sat down next to Sokka.
"The first Hufflepuff game. Hopefully."
Suki nodded as she began filling her own plate with food. As the four friends talked about what the first Hufflepuff game could bring, Matthew Holt, the Gryffindor Keeper, made his way to them.
A few older year girls swooned as he walked by them and sat next to Aang. "Hey, I heard about your tricks in Flying class."
"Matt, he's been bombarded by people all day," Suki said.
"If he had a knut for every time someone mentioned it, he'd be richer than my family." Zuko added.
"Can you blame everyone? It takes a lot of practice to broom surf and no ones ever seen a first year do it." He looked at Aang with a smile. "Did you really teach yourself how to broom surf?"
Aang nodded with a smile. "Yeah. I was just bored one day."
"Damn, wish you were in Gryffindor."
A Gryffindor girl with blonde hair and blue eyes walked up to them. "He's not bothering you is he?" She asked. "He's a bit of a Quidditch nerd."
"Sorry, it's just a bit impressive," Matt replied.
The girl shook her head with a smile then turned to Aang. "I'm Adora by the way, Adam's twin sister. I'm also the Gryffindor Seeker, so it's nice to finally have a challenge."
"Nice to meet you," Aang said.
"I thought Asami challenged you enough," Matt said to Adora.
"She does, but it's nice to have a new one every once in a while."
"Wow, people take Quidditch very seriously here," Suki said.
"Yeah, especially in Gryffindor," Matt replied. "But it'll get worse, trust me. It's not Quidditch season yet."
"People are usually more excited about the Gryffindor versus Slytherin matches, but I think this year we're more excited to see Hufflepuff versus Slytherin," Adora added.
"Speaking of that, when is the first Hufflepuff match?" Sokka asked.
Adora shrugged. "I don't know, Professor Piandao decides the matches. Usually, Gryffindor and Slytherin go against each other first but he might change his mind this year."
"Man, I'd love to see Slytherin get their butts whooped," Matt said with a smile. Then he looked at Suki. "Do you play?"
Suki shook her head as Adora said, "She's Muggle-Born stupid."
"Oh, well you should definitely try out next year. You have a great build for a Chaser."
Suki confusedly looked down at herself.
"HOLT! PRINCE!"
"That's our captain Shiro," Matt said as he stood up. "Looks like duty calls. See you on the pitch, Aang." He grabbed a brownie as he and Adora walked away.
"What did he mean when he said I had the right build for a Chaser?" Suki asked as Sokka started stuffing his face again.
"It was a compliment," Aang replied. "He was trying to recruit you."
"He was right," Sokka said with a mouth full of food. He swallowed what was in his mouth. "You do have a right build. Small, probably can fly fast, good for scoring."
"Hm... maybe I should try out next year. I did play girls basketball in my Muggle school."
Aang pushed his empty plate away and looked back at the Great Hall doors, hoping to see Bolin walk in. He frowned when he didn't see him and stood up.
"I'm going to see if Bolin is okay," he said.
"I'll come with you," Zuko said as he stood up.
"Are you coming, Sokka?" Aang asked
Sokka shook his head with a mouth full of food. "Eating. Catch up with you later."
Zuko rolled his eyes as Aang smiled and filled a plate up with food for Bolin. He and Zuko began walking to the infirmary while talking about Quidditch. They hadn't gotten to spend time alone so they enjoyed getting to bond with each other.