This War of Ours

SUMMARY: In a world where the Fire Nation rules the world and only a few pockets of resistance remain, children are brought to the Academy in the Capital under the guise of harmonious learning. As Katara starts her journey in the hallowed halls, she quickly finds out that some things are not as they seem. [Zutara AU, inspired by Harry Potter]

A/N: I wrote this while I was reading Mrs. Pettyfer's amazing Black Games trilogy, and I kinda wanted to see if I can place the ATLA characters in a world akin to Harry Potter. Let's see how it goes lol. Tell me what you think, please!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

CHAPTER 1

leaving home

The members of the Southern Water Tribe were a proud people. They were children of the tundra, as unyielding as the great walls of ice that surrounded their village. Like the wolves that prowled their frozen lands, these people were fierce, deadly, and loyal to their pack.

But even ice melts in the persistent heat of flames, and these once brave warriors were now resigned to live on their knees as the Regime of Fire slowly took hold of the nation.

This was not to say they did not fight. The spirit of the wolf inside each of them would not let them slink away with their tails between their legs. Somewhere inside of the hearts of the men and women of the Southern Water Tribe, the beast of the icy terrain paced hungrily, growling and snarling against its shackles.

But a wolf without a pack was the weakest of them all.

While proud, the people of the Southern Water Tribe also knew caution. Their men have fought valiantly against the invaders, and now they knew they cannot lose more members of their pack.

Chief Hakoda knew all of this in his heart. When he was a younger man, he had voyaged into the seas to avenge his people. He had fought alongside men who, like him, left behind loved ones for the good of the country. He had stood, shoulder to shoulder with warriors of his tribe, painted with blood, fueled by rage and grief, and brought hell upon those who attempted to breach their shores.

But that time has long passed. Only a handful of men were left in their village after the series of raids. The remaining members of his pack cannot compensate for what the war cost them. Their supplies were dwindling, resources were low, and he could see hunger in the large, trusting eyes of the children. His heart broke as he saw his many fallen comrades in those eyes.

He strode through the village, surveying his people. The last siege ended around six years ago, when the Fire Nation took what they thought was last of the waterbenders away. With the threat gone, they retreated, leaving the Southern Water Tribe to fend for itself with what little they had.

Hakoda knew the spirit of his people remained unbroken. He knew it in the way the children laughed and played in the snow. There was hope for them, but his small tribe had not yet recovered from the siege's devastating blow. Rehabilitation was part of war, and although the Fire Nation's military forces did not seem much of a threat now than they were years ago, Hakoda still acknowledged the war raging beyond the icy ocean that surrounded his home.

The few of them that were left, they were survivors of this war. But how will the children of the fallen survive with them, with their scant resources? He tore his eyes away from the small figures playing in the snow, suddenly finding the sight of their innocent happiness unbearable to watch.

His eyes scanned the skies until he saw a speck in the distance. He braced himself.

Katara had been waterbending for as long as she could remember.

Of course, she did not know what waterbending was until her parents explained it to her, the day they saw her change the course of the snowball her brother had thrown at her while they were playing in the tundra. She was only six years old then.

She was so excited learning about her gift. She remembered how, once before, she fell into the dark depths of the ocean after she slipped off an icy ledge when her brother was playing soldier. She should have drowned, but instead she felt the water cradling her somehow, gently returning her back to the shore. Sokka, who had been beside himself with panic, rushed down to her from the ledge and demanded if she was okay. And she was more than okay. It was as if the tumble into the water awakened something in her.

So when her parents explained how some people can manipulate certain elements, it all made sense.

What didn't make sense to the six-year-old was the worried tone her mother used when she made Katara promise that she would never, ever, ever use her waterbending in front of strangers.

"Katara, you have to promise, okay? Do not show your bending to anyone else. Promise me."

It was such a strange and ridiculous request that Katara wanted to burst into tears. She had just discovered something wonderful about herself, and now she had to hide it?

"Why, Mommy? Is being a waterbender bad? I don't want to be bad!"

Her mother hugged her tightly then.

"Waterbending in itself isn't bad, sweetie. But there are bad people out there. And if they knew what you can do, they will do bad things to you."

Katara started to cry then. She didn't want the bad people to get her.

"I don't want to be a waterbender anymore! Take it back!"

She tried to wriggle out of her grasp, but her mother held her fast and stroked her hair soothingly.

"Katara, my dear, there is nothing wrong with being a waterbender. It is an amazing gift! We are so proud of you. And I promise, those bad people will not hurt you, okay?"

Katara looked up at her mother's striking blue eyes, eyes that were much like her own. Her lower lip trembled.

"Promise?" she said, putting all her trust in her mother's words.

"I promise." Her mother nodded solemnly. "But you also have to promise me that you will not use your bending in front of strangers."

"But what if I can't—" Katara started protesting that she can't always control it, remembering the day she fell into the ocean. But she clamped her mouth shut, reminding herself that she and Sokka had kept the incident a secret from their parents and Gran-Gran.

"Okay. I promise."

Sokka had laughed at her then, packing another snowball into his hands. "Haha, that means you can't use your magic water on me anymore!"

Katara looked at her father and mother for permission, and when she saw her father smile and nod almost imperceptibly, she stuck out her tongue at Sokka and made the snowball in his hand crash directly into his face.

Now, at the age of thirteen, she can control more than measly snowballs. Her brother still continued to pelt her with those now, though, as they played during the cold summer of the South Pole. But she usually let him win their snowball fights, not only because Sokka was a sore loser, but also because that was the first time in a year that she got to play with him again. For the past ten months, Sokka was at the Academy in the heart of the Capital.

Katara really envied Sokka when he got accepted a year ago. The Academy was the only school in the entire world, and in order to get in, you either had to be a bender or showed exceptional combat skills. And Sokka was a warrior to the bone. Of course he got accepted.

And he obnoxiously gloated and gloated about it that it actually made it easier for Katara to see her brother off at the port two weeks before the start of term.

Katara knew that every bender in their world was required to attend the Academy when they reach her age. But non-benders, like her brother, had to go through a rigorous test before being deemed eligible of training. She was proud of her brother, but at the same time she felt as though he was leaving her to have his own adventures. It didn't feel fair. They always did things together. They fished together, they played together, they trained together. Just like they always did when their father was still fighting in the war a few years back. Now he was going to leave her all alone? Unacceptable.

So, when they had watched Sokka board the ship that would take him to the Academy, Katara begged and begged their father to let her attend the school a year early. But the expression on her father's face—a mixture of vehement anger and pain—made her drop her arguments and trudge back into their hut.

During his stay at the Academy, Sokka wrote her of his adventures, and even now that he was home he still had a multitude of tales to tell. As they hiked back to their village, he told Katara about his training with his Sifus and a particular sparring match that he was proud of.

"The kid laughed at me because I wanted to use my boomerang!" Sokka threw his hands in the air. "Sifu Piandao said we could use any weapon as long as it wasn't bending, which was fine by me—"

"You're not allowed to use bending in classes?" Katara interjected curiously, trying to paint a picture of the classes in the Academy in her head.

"Only in combat classes," Sokka waved her off, plunging right back into his story. "Anyway, this kid was a firebender, so I wasn't complaining that bending wasn't allowed, but man! He laughed at my boomerang just because he had these two weird curved swords. And he said to me, he said, 'You're just an idiot with a boomerang'—"

"Well, you are." Katara said laughingly.

Sokka waved his hands impatiently at her. "Will you let me finish my amazing story?"

Katara bit her cheek to stop herself from laughing. "Please, continue."

Her brother didn't need much encouragement. "So this guy had his swords on both hands, right, so I knocked out one of the swords in his hands with my boomerang. He probably thought he won, because I had no weapon in my hand, so he started swiping at me with his other sword, then boom! My boomerang came back and whacked him on the head and he dropped his other sword! Everyone was so impressed!"

"Everyone?" Katara said disbelievingly.

Sokka scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Okay, fine, not everyone, but some people clapped. Then I said, 'Yeah, I'm just an idiot with a boomerang, but you're just a loser in a ponytail.'"

Katara frowned at him. "You really said that? Wouldn't that get you in trouble?"

He huffed, annoyed that she ruined his awesome ending. "I did say it! In my mind. And in the dormitories. When I was telling it to the other guys. It doesn't matter! It was cool! You're no fun."

Katara rolled her eyes as her brother marched ahead of her and ducked into their hut. She hardly believed any of his stories, because he always blew them out of proportion to make him seem more heroic. Nonetheless, his adventures seemed to give her so much hope.

Being the only waterbender in their village, her longing to be surrounded by people like her was as intense as her desire to receive proper training from a proper waterbending master. She was tired of practicing her bending by herself, tired of only using her bending to trap fish in ice during their frequent hunts.

She knew there were other waterbenders in the world. There were plenty of people like her in their sister tribe in the North Pole. She gathered as much from the snippets she heard in her father's meetings with the tribal leaders.

But her father was intent on not letting her out of the village to meet other waterbenders. He kept reminding her of her promise not to use waterbending in front of strangers. She knew it was for her own safety, so she barely argued with her father about it, but was so tired of it all. How can she learn how to defend herself from the "bad people"? She wasn't a warrior like Sokka. She knew the water would protect her, just like it did when she fell into its depths. She knew the power of the waves. She just needed to learn how to guide it properly.

She hoped that this year would be different. She was thirteen now. She was no longer a scared, helpless little girl. She knew she had to train her waterbending skills in front of other people if she wanted to improve. And she desperately wanted to— not just for her own sake, but for the good of the tribe. Her power could protect their people. Her father had to let her go.

He might believe she was too young to fully grasp how the world works, but Katara was not daft. She knew there was a war going on, despite its horrors never reaching their shores. It's been years since the last raid— their only problem now was constant hunger— but as a little girl, Katara had witnessed firsthand how ruthless their enemy was. It further fueled her desire to learn waterbending. Water doused fire, every time.

Besides, she was sure that no one could ever refuse the call of the Fire Nation for benders to attend the Academy. She didn't even want to think about what happened to anyone who refused.

She shook herself out of her train of thought as she saw her father approach their hut with a messenger hawk on his shoulder. His face was grim, but at the sight of Katara standing by their hut, he gave his daughter a warm, albeit strained, smile.

"Should've known you'd be waiting for this," he muttered, ruffling her hair with a large, calloused hand. "You never give up, don't you?"

"No," Katara replied simply, grinning determinedly at her father. "Did you write them back, Dad?"

Hakoda sighed, resigned, lifting his arm and sending the hawk away. He opened the heavy flap of cloth that covered the entrance of their hut. "Why don't we talk about it inside, Katara?"

Katara obediently rushed into their home and plunked herself down by the fire pit in the middle of the house. Her father sat at his usual spot beside Sokka as her grandmother ladled out sea prune stew into their bowls.

"So?" Katara prompted her father before he could even taste his soup.

Hakoda looked at her eager daughter in sadness. She looks so much like her mother. Why is she growing up so fast? The pain of losing his wife has not quite ebbed over the years, and seeing his daughter so desperate to leave the safety that he worked so hard to provide for her almost brought back a tidal wave of emotions. He sighed and placed his bowl down by the fire and squarely looked at Katara.

"I wrote back the Capital," he said. "I just confirmed that two children from our tribe will be attending the Academy this year."

"Thank you, Dad!" Katara raced around the fire pit to hug their father. Sokka stopped shoveling food into his mouth long enough to see his father looking resolutely at him over Katara's shoulder, eyes burning.

Protect her.

Sokka nodded at his father. He knew, from just a year at the Academy, that his sister's enthusiasm might not last a month once his sister discovers the actual training that waterbenders go through. But Katara was not easily swayed, and Sokka had learned through tough times that there's no teacher like experience.

He just had to be there when she falls. He had vowed never to let her fall off a cliff again while he was playing soldier.

Katara almost danced as her family made its way to the docks, where some of the men of their tribe were preparing one of their meager ships for departure. This was it. She was finally going to the Academy.

Hakoda hefted the knapsack filled with her belongings onto the deck. The knapsack was light enough for Katara to carry, since she had packed the lightest of her clothes in anticipation of the heat of the Capital, but her father still insisted on carrying her bag for her. She knew he was just being her dad, but it still made her feel coddled.

Sokka was already standing on the bow of the ship, chatting happily with their father's right-hand man, Bato. Katara made her way to the two, meaning to ask how long the journey would take, but Hakoda placed a hand firmly on her shoulder.

"Listen to me, Katara," he said gravely. She looked at him with wide blue eyes, and Hakoda felt a twinge of pain in his gut. So eager to grow up. My Kya, please watch over her. "Don't cause any trouble for yourself out there, alright? Keep your head down, learn from your classes, and write to me once a week. Okay?"

Katara nodded, smirking slightly. "We've been through this before, Dad."

"I know. Can't blame a father for missing his only daughter, though," he pulled her into his arms.

"Dad, you're embarrassing me," Katara said laughingly, pulling away. "Why weren't you like this when Sokka left last year?"

"Because Sokka has to be a man now, so he has to learn how to take care of himself," Hakoda answered, eyes twinkling, "But you're still my baby girl, and I will always worry about you."

"Dad!" Katara swatted at his arm. "Stop it! I can handle myself."

"I'm sure you can, my daughter. Nevertheless…" He reached into his parka and pulled out a strip of blue fabric. He proffered it to Katara, who ran a finger through the silk, stopping when she reached the round stone in the middle. Hakoda smiled at her, knowing she recognizes it. "I want you to take this piece of home with you. Something you can draw strength from, in such an unfamiliar place."

Katara swallowed, a lump forming at the back of her throat. She blinked back the tears at the corners of her eyes and nodded at her father, not trusting herself to speak. Hakoda silently fastened the cloth around her throat and his hands lingered on the stone before he spoke again.

"And Katara?" he placed his hands on her shoulders, leaning down so he could look her right in the eye. "Do not associate with firebenders."

Katara shivered at the steely tone her father used. She only heard this voice from her father during his council meetings. This was the voice of Chief Hakoda, veteran warrior and leader, and his statement was an order she couldn't ignore.

And she wouldn't ignore it. Her mind filled with memories of the flames from the last raid. The Fire Nation broke her family and her village. Fire destroyed everything in its path. She would not walk into the line of destruction.

She faced her father in icy resolution. "Yes, Dad. I understand completely."

"Katara, come look at this!" Bato's voice cut through the sounds of the waves and wind. He beckoned her to the bow of the ship.

Katara ventured out into the open area. The trip to the Fire Nation Capital took about two weeks, and somewhere along the way, the air had changed from freezing to sweltering. It was early in the morning, but she was already drenched in sweat. She was not used to sweating this much. It made her feel sticky and uncomfortable.

Sokka was already leaning over the railing, a blissful smile on his face as he breathed in the salty air. Katara was about to slap his brother on the back of his head for leaning too far out, but she caught a glimpse of the looming island before them.

The Academy.

It was massive. That was the first thought that popped into her head. Grasping the railings in her hands to steady herself, she leaned out almost as far as her brother did, trying to decipher the shapes shrouded in the mist. She could make out a sprawling structure, bigger than the entire expanse of their village and the surrounding tundra.

You could fit five Southern Water Tribes in that thing.

The architecture was something she had never seen before. Then again, she hasn't seen much beyond their little tribe's huts made of bones and skins. But this structure before her—it was made of stone. Black stone, with crevices and windows carved into the surface. The corners of the walls were gilded with golden dragons, and the rooftops gleamed red in the early morning sun. As their ship approached the shores surrounding the Academy, Katara recognized other smaller buildings sitting adjacent to the towering mass.

Bato steered the ship around the island, heading for the port. As the vessel traced the curved outline of the shore, Katara saw the mountainous terrain on which the cluster of buildings sat. A mountain range surrounded the other side of the formidable structure, the morning sun cresting its peaks. The rising sun here was too harsh, too bright, too hot. She found herself comparing it to how the sun rose at home, its muted rays glinting on the frozen blue face of the cliffs. Her hand clutched the necklace her father gave her when they departed.

He was right, she thought. I needed a piece of home in such an unfamiliar place.

Sokka jumped down from the ship as soon as they docked, heaving his own knapsack along the wooden pier. Katara remained rooted at the bow of the ship. A great fear suddenly seized her and her blood thundered in her ears.

What if she wasn't good enough for the Academy? What if she had been so excited for nothing? What if she made no friends, what if Sokka leaves her behind for his new friends? What if firebenders scorch her hair off in her sleep?

"You coming, sis?" Sokka called out to her from below.

Hand still clutching her necklace, she nodded mutely and picked up her knapsack. She took a deep breath to calm her trembling body and jumped down from the ship. Katara trained her eyes at the overpowering breadth of the Academy.

She had never felt so small in her entire life.

A/N: Whew! Fair warning, this is a Zutara fic, but it's pretty slow-going for a bit while I set up the world. I have so many things planned for this fic but I honestly don't want to rush things, y'know? I am so sorry! Please, please let me know if you liked it. Or how you hated it.

P.S. The title is a play on the survival game 'This War of Mine'. Check it out if you haven't, it's pretty great (albeit depressing) and it shows how war really affects the civilians. It's one of my favorites.