The Crusaders: Year One

Chapter Fourteen

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."