It all would have been different if Zuko had been sorted somewhere reasonable—like Ravenclaw. While Zuko was from a long line of pureblooded Slytherins, Ravenclaw was an acceptable deviation. Mai was a Ravenclaw, and it was perfectly acceptable for her to be friends with Azula, as Ravenclaw and Slytherin were on relatively good terms. Ty Lee got sorted to Hufflepuff, and while a Hufflepuff and Slytherin hanging out were a strange combination, no one had been very surprised with the placement. But of course he got sorted into Gryffindor. The foolhardy goody-goody house that did reckless, brash things.

And, ok, so the placement sort of fit; Zuko did tend to jump before he thought things through. The curse scar on the left side of his face from when he'd accidentally challenged his father to a duel was testament to that… But… But he never felt comfortable with the Gryffindors and he was outcast from the Slytherins because of Azula's weird grudge against him 'being a family embarrassment.'

Well, almost all the Slytherins. Zuko didn't look at the barefoot girl in green and black robes stomping up to him.

"Yo, Sparky." Toph Beifong grinned with all teeth bared. Every single time it made him want to duck and cover because he never knew when her sense of humor would have her aiming spells at him. "Heard you got a detention for arguing with Sugar Queen."

"She started it," Zuko grumbled. He didn't know what her problem was. Katara was a fourth year half-blood with a scary talent for transfigurations. She'd once swapped all of Zuko's teeth with needle-sharp snake fangs because if he was going to be a 'snake sympathizer' he could have the teeth to match. He'd gone to the hospital wing with puncture wounds throughout his mouth. Thankfully the fangs hadn't been poisonous, small comfort that that had been. He couldn't even remember what started the last argument just that it had ended up with him failing to hex her and his wand on the other side of the room from when it backfired. He wished he was better with hexes and jinxes. Or had bonded to a wand that was useful. Fir and unicorn hair—what good was that in dueling or advanced spell work?

Toph, used to his brooding, punched his shoulder. He still didn't know how she got around if she was blind. A spell? Something learned from childhood uncontrollable magic? "I thought you guys were getting along better."

"Since when? Since she hexed half my hair off? Or how about the time she called my family murdering scum? I'm not the one with blood prejudice, she is."

"Yeah, Sugar Queen has her issues. Twinkle Toes is working on that."

Zuko wrinkled his nose. Aang was almost worse than Katara. The second year Ravenclaw had the annoying habit of being almost as upbeat as Ty Lee. He'd transferred to Hogwarts from who knew where and there were all sorts of rumors flying around about him, including one ridiculous one involving a philosopher's stone and a drought of the living dead. He was also a pacifist and that naïve mindset made Zuko want to shake him.

Toph grinned wider. "I know, right? But he should wear her down."

"Why are you here?" Zuko asked bluntly. The smile was verging on vampiric and it was starting to hit him in the duck and cover instincts.

"Snoozles is out for your blood for getting his 'sweet baby sister' into detention again."

"Great." Zuko groaned. "How long do I have?"

Toph took a step to the right, ducking into a secret passage Zuko hadn't even known existed. "About now. See ya, Sparky." She waved jauntily and vanished down the passage. It looked like a blank stretch of wall. He poked his hand at it and it melted into the wall. Weird.

"ZUKO!" someone yelled at the far end of the hall. The voice yelling cracked at the tail end of the screech and Zuko debated ducking into the passage Toph just used, but he had the feeling she might be waiting for him to do it just so she could jinx him into running to confront Sokka instead.

Sighing, Zuko resigned himself to the confrontation. For a Hufflepuff, Sokka had a lot of dramatics. Weren't Hufflepuffs supposed to be quiet and kind or something? Ok, no, Ty Lee wasn't quiet. Cheerful then. Sokka was the opposite of cheerful.

"You!" Sokka panted, coming to a halt in front of Zuko, one finger pointing alarmingly close to Zuko's good eye. "Can't you go one week without getting in a fight with Katara?!"

"You say that like it's my fault!" Zuko protested. "I walk into a room and she bites my head off!"

"Then don't go in the same room!" Sokka said. His finger jabbed forward and Zuko ducked before it could poke his eye out. "If Katara gets another detention, our parents have to get involved!"

Zuko paled. He didn't want his father involved at all. "Why are you telling me this? Why don't you go give Katara the riot act?"

"Katara's too stubborn to listen but you can." Sokka planted his fists on his hips and leaned into Zuko's personal space, eyes narrowed. "And I haven't forgotten the incendio incident mister."

"I wasn't trying to set her on fire! I…she sent aguamenti at me!"

"So you countered water with fire?" Sokka asked with a skeptical lift of an eyebrow.

Zuko flushed. That had been an embarrassing encounter ending with a large number of people in the hospital wing, a week of detentions, and a sternly written letter from Father and Uncle. The one from Uncle had hurt a lot more than the one from Father. "Look," he said rubbing the back of his head, "I can't exactly avoid using my dorm and common room. I'll try not to…to provoke her or anything." Fat chance. "Or avoid her or something. I don't even want to fight with her. She just thinks that because Azula sneers down at anyone who isn't pureblood I do too."

Sokka snorted. "Buddy, I remember you from my first year. You acted like a stuck up Slytherin pureblood."

"I wasn't trying to!" Zuko growled in frustration. "I'm getting better. And I don't believe in pureblood superiority."

To his surprise, Sokka patted him on the shoulder and smiled. "Yeah, you're not too much of a jerk anymore. But if you get Katara into any more trouble, I'm brewing a babbling beverage and slipping it into your pumpkin juice."

"…Thanks," Zuko said, not quite sure how to respond to that. In all honesty, Sokka could probably come up with something a good deal worse than a babbling beverage to get revenge on Zuko. Zuko had seen Jet after Katara broke up with him. It hadn't been Katara's spellwork that made Jet's skin turn rainbow and his eyes swell up. "…So you're not going to punch me?"

"Nah." Sokka waved a hand. The lack of aggression after being chased down and yelled at was alarming. "I figure Katara got you bad enough with that bat bogey hex."

"Guh." He didn't need to be reminded. It was almost as embarrassing as being hit by rictumsempra and spending ten minutes laughing uncontrollably until someone took pity and used a counter charm.

"Uh. You might want to avoid Aang too."

"I thought he was a pacifist."

"He is!" Sokka protested. "Just…he might try and take drastic measures to get you two to get along."

"Got it. Avoid Aang and Katara." And Azula and Ty Lee and maybe Mai depending on what kind of mood she was in. And Jet and Smellerbee and Longshot and The Duke and Teo and…. You know, he had a lot of enemies and not too many friends.

"Good luck." Sokka patted his back too hard again and started jogging back down the hall. "I'm missing lunch," he explained. His eyes narrowed once and he pointed at Zuko as he walked backward. "Remember, pumpkin juice."

Zuko waved, then looked at his hand like it had committed an act of treason. He wasn't sure if Sokka was an enemy or a friend or some kind of weird partial ally. He didn't want to know. Maybe Toph could explain it. He'd have to get back at her for the lack of a real warning.

AN: Written for the Comment fic community on LJ for the prompt: Avatar the Last Airbender, Sokka/Zuko or gen, Hogwarts AU (Zuko the Gryffindor, Sokka the Hufflepuff, Aang the Ravenclaw, Katara the Gryffindor, and Toph the Slytherin) ((Missed the slash by a mile))