A/N: Oh wow. This has hit thirty chapters. It's my third story to do so, I think? Although, one of those got deleted.

(I used to have one of those 'Reading the Book' series up, but those got purged sooo it be gone)

Anyways, more Toph :)

(Followed by Tim Drake, since he's next after Toph. On that note, I should probably finish the Red Robin comic, haven't gotten around to that yet)

(I did finish most of Robin Vol 4, which is the really long Tim series. I confess to skipping around a bit, sooo maybe I should re read some of that too? Lol)

Published: 7/7/2019

Warnings: None

Chapter 30

Toph Beifong IV

Dumbledore's pleasant day of eating lemon drops while humming a nice little toon to himself was rudely interrupted by Harry Potter bursting his door down, energy radiating off the boy in waves.

Dumbledore smiled, lifted one of the candies from his bowl, and offered it to the child.

"Lemon drop?"

"You let an innocent man rot in prison!? You didn't bother to try and make sure he got a trial? You didn't even make a single peep, while obviously having the power to do so since you've got a pet Death Eater running the dungeons?!" Harry tore into Dumbledore without mercy.

Dumbledore frowned, setting the candy down.

"Now, Harry. I thought you liked Professor Snape."

"I like him now that I've beaten him into shape," Harry rolled his eyes. "That man needed therapy, Dumbles. Lots and lots of therapy. For Aang's sake, he was taking out his rage on first years when I got here!"

"Aang's sake?" Dumbledore repeated with a raised eyebrow, ignoring the rest.

Harry beamed and nodded, temporarily distracted. "It's a new swear I'm trying out. Although, I think I should switch it. Despite being a powerhouse capable of leveling entire countries, twinkle toes was a walking, talking cinnamon ro- stop switching the subject!" Harry snapped.

Dumbledore let his other eyebrow join the first. Typically, his disappointed look was enough to bring children in line, but young Harry had a strange immunity to it that Dumbledore, for the life of him, could not figure out.

(Hint-hint, blindness, hint-hint)

"Harry, my boy, you are exaggerating."

"Creepazoid made a habit of making children cry. He had students utterly terrified of attending his class. The fact that I had to sort it out is one of the many reasons you don't impress me," Harry told Dumbledore bluntly. Dumbledore stiffened, not liking the tone. While he was a more lenient Headmaster than those of the past, he did demand a certain amount of respect. "And now, on top of that, I find out Sirius Black never got a trial, on your watch?!"

Dumbledore had had enough. Pointing a finger at Harry, Dumbledore spoke. "Now, listen here, young man. Sirius Black's guilt was evident. There is nothing you can say or do that will convince me otherw-"

Harry interrupted by burying a hand in his pocket, taking out a rat of all things, muttering a quick spell and tossing it on the ground.

Dumbledore's ire only grew at the disrespect.

"Young ma-"

The rat transformed into Peter Pettigrew, who whimpered and scrambled away as Harry crossed his arms, watching the revealed animagi with clear loathing.

"This disgusting creature was sleeping in my grandson's bed. This disgusting creature has been peeping on children for the last few years!" Harry bellowed.

Pettigrew paused in his scrambling and whimpering, gazing up at Harry, utterly offended.

"I may have betrayed your parents, but I'm not a pedophile. Even I have standards," Pettigrew declared.

Harry narrowed his eyes in suspicion before nodding.

"Okay. He's telling the truth, so I won't kill him on principle alone," Harry said, and Dumbledore grew alarmed. No child should use the word 'kill' with such ease, even if said child had decades worth of memories of a past life. Harry blinked. "And he just admitted to betraying my parents."

Pettigrew eeped.

Oh dear. Oh dear indeed.

Ron shuddered.

"I can't believe I slept in bed next to a mass murderer!" Ron exclaimed.

As Ron said this in the middle of breakfast, several people turned to shoot him odd looks.

Toph turned to them.

"His rat was an animagus-slash-Death Eater spy," Toph informed them.

The stares increased.

Then…

"Yeah right!"

"That's bollocks."

"Crazy things have happened at this school, but a Death Eater disguised as a rat?"

The muttering continued… Until the owls arrived, along with dozens of copies of the Daily Prophet, with Pettigrew as the top headline.

Rita Skeeter was having a field day tearing into Dumbledore.

Cornelius groaned.

"What do you mean, my predecessor denied trial to a Pureblood heir and suppressed the information?!" Cornerlius yelled.

Amelia tsked, clearly displeased.

"That's exactly what I'm telling you. Young Mister Potter brought in Pettigrew, alive. Pettigrew admitted to framing Black for his own crimes," Amelia informed him.

Cornelius growled.

"Potter again!"

Amelia closed her eyes, praying to the Triple Goddess for strength. Amelia still wasn't sure how Cornelius had managed to become Minister of Magic, but she had always suspected it had something to do with a man who's name rhymes with Mucius Lalfoy.

"Mr. Potter did us a favor and revealed a great oversight of justice," Amelia said.

"Mr. Potter made more paperwork for all of us," Cornelius replied snippily.

While that was entirely true, Amelia wasn't about to admit it. Especially since, unlike Cornelius, Amelia didn't mind doing extra work if it meant the right people got put away.

It had taken Voldemort nearly two years, but he had managed it. Quirrell himself had been weakened by the journey, but still proved to be an ample vessel for his use.

For now.

Quirrell had been reduced to a shadow of his former self. While he had lasted far longer than any of the beasts Voldemort had possessed over the years, the effects were draining.

Barely anything of the man was left. Once he was done, nothing would be left.

"Soul of the Servant, forcibly stripped," Voldemort intoned.

Quirrell, who honestly wasn't awake much these days, didn't even respond. Raising Quirrell's arm, Voldemort let his magic focus on it, focus on the hand. Focus on the runes he'd carved into Quirrell's flesh.

Fingers touching down above the man's heart, Voldemort let his magic pull.

Quirrell let out a shrill gasp as his soul was extracted, torn from his body much in the way a Dementor's Kiss would do the same to any unfortunate enough to fall victim to them.

Voldemort flung the soul into the concoction even as the body began to crumble away. It would not last him much longer. An hour at most, Voldemort estimated. No matter. Quirrell's use had run its course.

In this body, Voldemort had managed far more than he would have otherwise. With the Philosopher's Stone lost to him, Voldemort had journeyed out, alerted followers, gathered his spies.

Preparation, for the coming war.

Severus, Voldemort had not alerted. Not yet. The time would come, of course, when Voldemort would use his spy within Dumbledore's inner circle. But the time was not now.

That wasn't to say Voldemort didn't have eyes and ears in Hogwarts. Or, indeed, within his own house. And the information he had learned!

Voldemort smiled.

Toph Beifong. That was the name of his opponent. Not Harry Potter. No, a child could never have been a threat to a Dark Lord such as himself. Voldemort realized this now. The true threat was the soul, was the memories tied to it.

Harry Potter and Toph Beifong were tied together, a bond that echoed across time and space. A bond that stretched from one dimension to the next. Beifong had died in one reality, and had been reborn in another.

One only had to look at the world maps to realize this was the case.

And, to stop her… Well, Voldemort had just the thing.

"You once mentioned a 'Vaatu' to me, Beifong. A being of immense dark power. Even I would not dare attempt to bind such a creature to my will, but a champion of his, reincarnated into this dimension as you were? Yes. Yes, that will work excellently," Voldemort cackled.

"Mate, are you sure you don't want to come to the Quidditch World Cup?" Ron pleaded. In a rather odd show of unity, Draco had come along with him. That alone was almost enough to make Toph accept their offer.

Still… There was something crucial both were forgetting. Something everyone seemed to forget, really, because Toph was just that good at managing with her disability.

"I. Am. Blind." Toph told them.

"BullMerlin," Draco swore, then a feeling of mortification rang through him.

"BullMerlin?" Ron repeated, shooting Draco a perplexed look.

"Some of the Muggleborns say 'bullshit' instead of Merlin's whatever-body-part," Toph informed Ron.

It took Ron a moment to process.

"You've been hanging around so many Muggleborns you're starting to copy their slang!?" Ron half asked, half laughed. Oh, who are we kidding. It was mostly laugh.

"Shut up! Granger's study group is the best in the school!" Draco snapped.

Ron blinked. Then, he shot the other a look of offense and indignation. "Hermione invited you to her study group!? She won't invite me, and I asked!"

Draco huffed.

"Perhaps, Weasley, because you don't want to study, and instead would try to copy off every other person there."

"I would not! I do my work, unlike certain freeloaders who get a nice little inheritance from daddy dearest!"

"At least my family is worth something!"

At times, Toph was tempted to lock the two boys in a closet and not let them out until they got along. Unfortunately, if she did that, she wasn't entirely sure what would happen.

The ideal scenario would be that they'd end up getting somewhat along.

The most likely scenario was that they'd end up killing each other.

The other scenario was they'd end up working out their tension in… Other ways. But ways Toph would absolutely never want to be a part of instigating. This was her grandson she was talking about here. No one was allowed to defile him.

As it was, they were currently resolving their tension in a way that did not involve words.

Draco, surprisingly, swung first.

Toph shrugged, whistled, and walked away as the two boys rolled on the ground hitting each other. What? She wasn't here to hold their hands, and this was a perfect opportunity to get away from the whole 'Come to the Quiddich World Cup with us!' argument the both of them seemed intent on having with her.

"Let me get this straight," Sirius began. "You talked the Sorting Hat into putting you in Slytherin as a prank?"

"Mhm!" Toph nodded, kicking his feet back and forth as the pair of them enjoyed a tub of ice cream Toph had managed to smuggle in.

Sirius tossed his head back in mirth.

"That's my boy! James would have been thrilled! Well, maybe not so thrilled, since you're still in a house with a bunch of slimy backstabbing monsters! You know, for a moment there, I was scared you were just as corrupt as them! I mean, that's what Slytherin house does. Takes in all the bad kids, twists them, and spits them back at society like the little homicidal maniacs that they are!"

Sirius found himself flung backwards. Back hitting the ground, Sirius groaned before looking up.

Toph gaped at the man. Was he… He was. He was completely serious. This shouldn't have come as much of a surprise as it had, but still…

"Racism comes in many forms, Sirius."

Sirius gaped right back.

"Ex- excuse me? Being against slimy snakes-" Sirius began hotly.

"Being against children sorted into a house based on a personality test at the age of ten, before most of them have even discovered who they are, is racism," Toph cut him off. "I've seen it before, and I won't abide by it. You think you're better than them because you tested into a different house. You're generalizing an entire fourth of the Wizarding population."

Sirius sat up and scowled at him.

"When the hat fits, it fits. They're sorted into Slytherin because they're sneaky, because they're ambitious, because they have those nasty little blood purist traits."

"... that kind of thinking is what ran the Death Eater movement," Toph said mercilessly. Then, without another word, Toph turned to depart. Sirius called after her, but Toph ignored it. She could deal with it later, maybe, but not now. Not when it had hit her so unexpectedly.

That… That hadn't been fun at all.

Hopefully, the words would get through and Sirius would understand. Because, if knowing Aang had taught Toph one thing, its that fighting hatred with hatred wouldn't get you anywhere.

The Fire Nation had wiped out Aang's people, hunted down and burned each and every Airbender down to ashes. They had waged war upon the world, terrorized it for a century, and left death and destruction wherever they had walked.

Despite all of that, Aang had never turned his rage on them. He had never turned his hatred on them. They had taken everything from him and, not once, had Aang blamed them. Not once had he even considered it. It just hadn't crossed his mind.

He had judged each and every one of them not for their nationality, but for their person.

And, if there was any example one should follow in life… It was Aang's.

Percy felt like slamming his head against the desk repeatedly. Figuring out how to cure blindness was harder than he thought. Much, much harder.

There was a reason Wizards wore glasses whenever required instead of just charming their eyes fixed.

For one, charms and spells eventually wore off. True, some lasted longer than others, but that was a fact. Another fact was that the more someone or something was subjected to a particular spell, the less effect the spell would have over time.

Even with those factors, Percy would have been able to make a temporary fix if it wasn't for the fact that it was ocular magic.

Ocular magic was notoriously difficult to work with because the eyes had a direct link to the brain. Of course, this was true about every organ in the human body, but in a Wizard it was far more pronounced. There was a reason eye to eye contact was all that was needed for a Legilimence to access the mind of their victim.

Therefore, undoing blindness without accidentally altering the person's mental state was proving to be a downright nightmare! Argh!

Percy needed more information. He needed to experiment more. He needed to figure out a way to just affect the eyes without affecting the brain. He needed more materials, he needed something far more effective than the library at Hogwarts. He needed research material and the such.

So it was that, due to his desire to help Harry Potter see again, Percy Weasley ended up becoming the first member of the Weasley house to join the Unspeakables.

"Can you believe Harry called me a racist?" Sirius complained to Remus.

Remus was not impressed.

"Miss Beifong informed me of the incident," Remus replied. "She told me about how you were raving about how any one put in Slytherin was clearly evil and what not, regardless of the fact that they are sorted in there as children."

"Remus, they're sorted in there because they are evil," Sirius explained patiently.

"You didn't always used to believe that," Remus pointed out.

"I didn't," Sirius affirmed, "until one managed to talk the Sorting Hat to put it into Gryffindor. And, look where that got us."

What? What on Merlin was Sirius-

Oh. Oh.

Pettigrew.

"Also, who is this 'Beifong' and why were they spying on me hanging out with Harry?" Sirius continued.

Remus blinked. Toph hadn't… Huh. He'd have assumed it would have come up at some point. Apparently, it had not. As such, Remus explained the situation of Harry's reincarnated memories.

The next time Toph saw Sirius, she prepared herself to turn away. A bit mean, maybe, but she didn't want to hear him start on and on about how the kids she protected in her house were the devil incarnate.

"Wait, Harry," Sirius spoke.

Toph paused.

"I… Okay, maybe I was a bit harsh," Sirius admitted.

Toph was surprised. It usually took longer for people to admit that. Crossing her arms, Toph motioned for him to continue.

"Maybe not every Slytherin is… You know… Evil." Sirius managed to choke out the words. And Toph seriously meant choke.

"That sounded painful to admit," Toph informed.

Sirius glared.

"Yes, well, if Snivellus, of all people, can admit that not every Gryffindor is a walking, talking duence of a person, I can give the Slytherin's some leniency," Sirius admitted.

Toph was pleased.

"Oh wow, this is great! I didn't even have to leave you hanging upside down for hours above a group of first years you'd terrified like I had to with Creepazoid before he learned his lesson!" Toph beamed happily.

A moment of silence passed between them. Then...

"You did what to Snivellus?" Sirius managed to say between laughs. "I- I'm not sure if I should find that amusing or not… Wait, did you say terrified first years?!" Sirius cried out, disgust lacing his tone.

Toph shrugged.

"Creepazoid is one of those textbook 'was abused as a child so he continues the cycle' cases. He'd also somehow deluded himself into thinking he wasn't abusing a bunch of children until I forced him to watch the way they talked about him when his back was turned. It pissed him the hell off for the first hour before he switched to, 'oh dear Merlin, what have I done' mode."

Sirius had the best, most utterly terrifying godson. Even if his godson was occasionally a girl because he had several memories ingrained into his head of being a girl.

Toph didn't expect to do much this year. For the most part, other than a few specific incidents, his years at Hogwarts hadn't actually been that adventures.

Sure, he'd chased Quirrell out of the castle, but after that First Year had gone on without a hitch. The Basilisk never struck because Toph had neutralized the Diary before it could possess someone, and gotten a friend out of the deal. The Ministry had been forced to recall the Dementors, lest Toph turn them all into living mockeries of Weeping Angels.

This year, however, something even Toph hadn't seen coming (pun not intended) occurred.

A slip of paper erupted from the Goblet of Fire.

Holding it in hand, Dumbledore blinked.

"... Mr. Potter!" Dumbledore called.

"Yes, Dumbles, Sir!" Toph yelled back.

"Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?"

"Sir, I'm blind. I don't even know how to write, sir!"

"Your name just came out of this thing!"

"... Really? Oh. Oh wow, this is an honor! Whooo! Okay, I don't know who did this, but thanks! The Melon Lord is gonna massacre the other schools!" Toph began to cackle evilly as her own housemates edged away.

It was at this point that Severus gave up, vanished all the foodstuff left on his plate, and proceeded to slam it into his own face repeatedly.

What had he done to deserve the pain of having Toph Beifong in his house?

… Oh. Wait. Duh.