Chapter 1
Part 1
Zuko
I walked through the doors of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and lesbianism. I looked to my right at my best friend Catra and her girlfriend Adora. we were walking to our fourth-year charms class. We had that class with all four houses so I’d have to see Ferb from Gryffindor house, I hated him, I don’t know how Adora put up with him. Adora and Ferb have been best friends for years, I don’t know how, Ferb was impossible. He was stubborn and entitled and thought he was great at everything. “Hurry up slowpoke” Catra called energetically back at me. “I’m coming” I yelled back. We walked into the room and took our normal seats at the back of the class. I looked at the front of the room where Ferb and his gang sat. There was John Mulaney, Gryffindor house, he was funny and kind of cute. Then there was Tom Nook, also Gryffindor house, he owned a business and was a total player. Then there was Mary Bennet, Gryffindor house, she was a butch icon and very smart. And then there was Ferb, he was known for being really femme he had long flowing green hair, people said that it was beautiful, but I didn’t see it. His brother was some big inventor, so apparently, he thought that made him better than everyone else. People worshiped Ferb, I could never understand how, he was horrible. I hated Ferb Fletcher, and I would never ever feel differently.
Ferb
after charms class, John, Tom, Mary, and I all went to sit in the garden. “did you see Zuko today?” said john affluently “he looked pretty cute right, Ferb?” I knew he was teasing but I hated it. Zuko was completely intolerable. he was too emotional and impulsive. he hated people for no reason and was way too ambitious. not to mention he was a Hufflepuff, Hufflepuffs, in general, were terrible to be around. “I’m serious though,” John said again “he looked pretty cute today, he really is a butch icon. “how can you say that” I retorted “he has that disgusting scar on his face.” “It gives him character,” Marry added eloquently. suddenly Zuko and his gang burst into the garden “I heard someone talking about me” Zuko said sauntering toward me. “get out of here scarface” I say standing up. “Oh yeah, inventor freak” he responds back at me, “what are you gonna do fight me?” Catra cackled and Adora giggled a bit. Catra and Adora had been dating since first year, they were so cute. Adora had been my best friend since before we came to Hogwarts. Adora was in Ravenclaw and Catra was in Slytherin. I don’t know how Adora put up with Zuko. Then there were the lesser members of Zuko’s group. The first was Claire, Hufflepuff house, she was known for her baking and her job and the Bon Appetit test kitchen. Then there was Horatio, Ravenclaw house, he was known for his sapphic poetry that he wrote for his girlfriend Hamlet, the last member of her group. Hamlet, Slytherin house, was my biggest competition for the best femme at school, he had long blonde locks and beautiful facial hair. “Move over, nerd,” Zuko said harshly. “you know I’m a better lesbian than you.” God, what a bitch I thought, I will never ever like him.
Zuko
That night there was a storm, and I couldn't sleep. The lighting pounded angrily against the Hufflepuff dormitory window. I couldn't sleep, my intuition told me that I should be awake tonight. For what seemed like hours, I stared up at the ceiling, until something caught my eye, there was a light outside the dormitory, and there were people moving. I decided to follow the person to see what was happening. I stepped outside of the dorm and peered into the common room to see what was happening. There stood professor dumbledore, professor snape, and professor sprout. I moved to hide behind a wall and listened to hear what was happening. “Are you sure it was Hamlet?” “Yes, it definitely was.” “And your sure it was a murder?”. I gasped, the conversation stopped. They must have heard me, I thought, panicking. After a second the conversation started again, I had hoped that they had forgotten about the gasp. I had heard enough, I tiptoed back to the dorm and shut the door as quietly as possible. I tried to get to my bed without getting noticed, but someone was already awake. “Hey, are you ok?” asked Claire from her bed. I walked over to her bed and sat down. “Geez Zuko, you look like hell.” She remarked. “Yeah, I just heard something crazy, I won’t burden you with it, besides you’ll probably hear about it in the morning. Just try and get some sleep.” I walked back to my bed, and tried to get some sleep, I knew that this was the last night I would ever get to sleep easily again.
Ferb
I woke up at around 1 to go to the bathroom. I did my business and started to walk back to the dormitory before I heard voices in the common room. I looked around the corner of the doorway and saw Professor dumbledor, Professor Snape, and Professor McGonagall. I went back behind the wall so that I wouldn’t be spotted and listened in on the conversation. “We found his body in the dungeon core door.” “How did he die?” “Murder, definitely murder.” I let out a bit of a chuckle, finally, something exciting happens here. The professors stopped talking. They must have heard me, I thought, freezing up for a moment. Then the conversation started up again. I decided I had heard enough I snuck back to the dormitory. I almost made it to my bed before someone calmed my name. “Hey Ferb, Watcha Doin?” I turned and saw Tom Nook sitting up in his bed. I came over to him. “I just heard something crazy,” I responded quietly. “Ooooo what?” he responded quietly. “Someone was murdered, I just heard dumbledore say it,” I responded quietly. “Who” he gasped quietly. “I don’t know, but we’re probably going to find out tomorrow. Tom, we gotta solve this murder. Tomorrow we’ll tell John and Mary, and we’ll go from there.” I responded quietly. Tom nodded and I got up and walked to my bed. I spent the rest of the night thinking about who the victim could have been, and who could have murdered them.
Zuko
The following morning was a blur. Claire had told our friends that I heard something last night and that we would hear about it today. They all tried to get me to tell them, but I wouldn’t. I wanted them to hear it from dumbledore, just in case, I had heard wrong. We all sat down for breakfast, I prayed I had heard wrong last night. “Where’s Hamlet?” Horatio asked yawning, he had no idea. Once the school was gathered, dumbledore stood and came to his podium. “Students,” He said grimly, “Last night a student was found dead in the dungeons.” There were gasps from every house. Horatio looked worriedly at where Hamlet normally sat, and then looked at me, I couldn’t look back. “Quiet Students,” Dumbledore boombed. “I’m sure you all have many questions, and I will answer some of them. The student was Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.” Horatio wailed and rain out of the room. “We believe the cause of death was a heart attack. He died at about 12 am last night. We will be offering counseling for the following week, and my office will always be open if you have any questions.” Dumbledore walked back to his seat and breakfast began. “Was this what you were going to tell us about?” asked claire. The whole group was looking expectedly at me. “Yes, but not just that. Hamlet was murdered.” I declared. “Do you know who did it?” inquired Catra. “No, but I want to figure it out. Will you guys help me?” I responded. They all nodded. “I’ll go check on Horatio and bring him some breakfast,” Adora said, taking a plate of bacon and toast. “No, you’re not.” Said Professor Snape pushing Adora back into her seat. He sauntered off, taking a plate of food with him. “That was weird.” Commented Catra confusedly. “Do you think he’s taking that food to Horatio?” “He must be” answered, Adora. “Although I can’t imagine why, Snape doesn’t care about anyone.” Catra just shrugged in response. “Anyways,” Claire stated, “Who do you think did it, Zuko.” I looked across the room to where Ferb was sitting, everyone looked to see who I was looking at. “I have a pretty good idea,” I answered darkly.
Ferb
After breakfast, we walked back to the Gryffindor common room. “It’s a real shame about Hamlet.” Commented Mary sadly. “Yeah,” responded john sincerely “I hope Horatio’s ok.” “Yeah me too.” Responded Mary, “And he was so young, I can’t believe a heart attack killed him.” I looked at Tom. “It wasn’t a heart attack, Mary,” I said, she looked at me confusedly, “Last night I overheard Dumbledore telling McGonagall that he was murdered.” “Who do you think did it?” asked john staring at me intently. “My bet’s on Zuko,” I responded affluently. “But why would Zuko do it?” asked Tom, “I thought Hamlet and him were friends.” “They were,” I responded, “But let’s be honest, Zuko’s definitely still in love with Horatio.” Mary looked shocked, but I could tell that John was considering it. “Still?” Mary exclaimed, “They broke up almost two years ago.” “Yes,” I argued, “But Zuko’s not one to let go of things all that easily. Remember that whole thing about him spending three years hunting a kid.” Mary still wasn’t convinced. “But that was just a rumor. And even if he is still in love with Horatio, he was friends with Hamlet, I don’t think he would kill him.” She argued. “Then you clearly don’t know him as I do,” I responded distantly.
Zuko
“You really think Ferb killed him?” asked Catra. The four of us sat down next to the lake. “Yep,” I answered assuredly. “But why?” she asked, “I didn’t even think that Ferb knew Hamlet all that well.” “He didn’t,” I answered, “But Hamlet was his biggest competition for best femme at school, and you know how competitive Ferb can get.” “You do make a good point,” Claire responded. “No” stated Adora, “Ferb can be pretty competitive, but he would never kill someone.” “Then you clearly don’t know him as I do,” I responded distantly.
Ferb
I marched towards dumbledore’s office, I needed to tell him about Zuko. It had been a week since Hamlet had been murdered, and I was sure now that Zuko had killed him. I was about to go up the spiral staircase to his office when I bumped into someone coming from the office. I looked up and saw the face of my arch-nemesis, Zuko. “What are you doing here, scarface?” I retorted offendedly at him. “What do you think I’m doing, science boy.” rebutted Zuko harshly “I’m seeing Dumbledore, he specifically asked to see me. Not like you know anything about someone specifically wanting you, if I remember right that’s been your brother’s job.” Zuko glared at me sharply, he had crossed a line mentioning my brother. “Oh, you want to talk about not being wanted? if I remember correctly your father didn’t want you for three years.” I responded smartly. His eyes became alight with fire, and he lunged at me. But before he could get to me, Professor McGonagall came around a corner and shouted, “Ladies, my office now.” We glumly followed her up the stairs into her dimly lit office and took seats in front of her desk. “Do you two want to explain why you were fighting, and why in front of the headmaster’s office of all places?” She asked inquisitively. “Professor Dumbledore had asked me to see him and give him a report on how Horatio was doing,” Zuko responded smartly. “What about you Mr. Fletcher?” McGonagall asked inquisitively. I panicked, I couldn’t tell her that I was going to tell him that Zuko had killed Hamlet. So instead I simply said, “I was going to ask him a question about exams.” It was a bad excuse, and they both knew it. “Well why didn’t you just come to me?” asked McGonagall inquisitively, “What was your question?” I panicked again, “Oh,” I replied, “I forgot, oops.” I said. Before I had the chance to embarrass myself, even more, a second-year ran in and said that peeves had hurt a student. “You two stay right there, I’ll be back soon.” McGonagall said, turning to go, “Oh, and please don’t kill each other while I’m gone.” She left the room, and Zuko and I were alone.
Zuko
I couldn’t stand being in the same room as Ferb, and I really didn’t want to talk to him, but it just got to a point where the silence was worse than arguing. “Why were you going to dumbledores office?” I finally asked. “Right like you don’t know.” He responded rudely, I looked at him confused. “Please,” Ferb said, “Like you were actually asked there to report about Horatio. I know why Dumbledore asked you there.” I was still very confused, I had no idea what he was talking about. “I know you did it,” Ferb declared assuredly, “I know that you killed Hamlet and Dumbledore finally expelled you and got you thrown in Azkaban.” I didn’t know what to say, I just sat in silence for a few seconds. “You think I killed Hamlet?” I finally asked Ferb nodded. “Hamlet was one of my best friends you bitch. How dare you accuse me of doing that. Especially coming from you, I mean I’m not accusing you of anything, but I think you know more about what happened to Hamlet than you’re letting on.” I yelled standing up in my chair looking down at Ferb. “Not accusing me of anything?” Ferb asked angrily standing up, “It sure sounds like you’re accusing me of something. Do you seriously think that I killed Hamlet?” “I wouldn’t put it past you,” I responded sharply. “I barely knew Hamlet,” Ferb replied, “Why would I kill him, I had no motive. You on the other hand, well, we all know that he was the only thing keeping Horatio from you.” His eyes were full of fire. “No motive!” I questioned, “Hamlet was your biggest competition for the best femme at this school. And Horatio and I broke up two years ago, why would I still have feelings for him?” “Ladies!” Said McGonagall bursting into the room, “I wasn’t going to punish you two, but now I see that I have to. Detention, both of you, for two months. Your both dismissed.” We got up to leave, “Oh, and one more thing.” McGonagall said, “I heard some of your conversations. Neither of you can tell anyone about what happened to Hamlet, or else you’ll both face serious consequences.
Ferb
I figured that detention with Zuko would be a good excuse to solidify my suspicions, so when our first detention rolled around, I was pretty excited. I walked into the potions classroom to find Zuko and Snape already in the room. “You’re late Ms. Fletcher,” Snap growled, Zuko snickered at my tardiness. I sat down at the table next to the door. “Both of you,” stated Snape, “take out a notebook and a quill. Please write me 300 words on why fighting is wrong and has no place here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Lesbianism. Now I need to go to a meeting, and I’ll be gone for a while. If I come back and I find you two talking and not working I will have to speak to Professor McGonagall about extending your punishment.” and with that Snape sauntered out of the room leaving me and Zuko alone together.
Zuko
I figured that the easiest thing to do was to just do my work and not pay attention to Ferb. But his presence just angered me, and I had to say something. “Hey Smartass, we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.” I declared, not looking at him. “You’re blaming me for this scarface? You’re the one who lunged at me when McGonagall walked by.” He turned in his chair to look at me. “Yeah because you were being your normal asshole of a self, and Mcgonagall happened to walk by when you were facing the consequences,” I replied sharply, turning in my chair to look back at him. “Ok, then,” he replied, “so we agree it’s Mcgonagall’s fault for walking by.” I thought about this for a second, Ferb and I had never agreed on anything before “I guess so.” I finally said begrudgingly. Suddenly there was a giant bang from somewhere nearby in the castle. This bang was followed by a series of similar bangs, they sounded like giant footsteps. Suddenly another pair of footsteps came running down the hall and stopped at our door. Catra stood there out of breath and said desperately, “Zuko, Ferb, thank god you’re here. There’s a mountain troll loose in the dungeon. I don’t know how it got in the castle, but it has Adora, you guys have to help me save her.”
Ferb
I ran as quickly as I could to get to where Adora was being attacked. Unfortunately fast for me was much slower than Zuko and Catra. Apparently, both had trained at elite fighting schools, I, on the other hand, was always more of the brains of the operation with my brother. Finally, we got to the girl’s bathroom where the mountain troll was located with Adora. “Be careful,” Catra said, “he’s way bigger than any mountain troll I’ve ever read about.” We both nodded our heads in acknowledgment and burst open the door to the bathroom. The mountain troll was giant. It looked to be 10 feet tall, it was green, fat, and covered in warts. He was holding Adora in his left hand. “Catra, Zuko Ferb!” Adora called, “Help!”. “What do we do?” Catra asked us, looking desperately up at her imprisoned girlfriend. I stepped forward, towards the troll, “Expelliarmus!” I shouted, pointing my wand at the troll. The spell hit the troll’s stomach and made it start back with pain. “Expelliarmus!” I yelled again, trying to aim at the troll’s head. “Expelliarmus!” I raspy voice said next to me, I turned to see Zuko’s scared face next to me. “Expelliarmus!” the two of us chanted over and over again. After awhile the troll became unphased by our spells and turned angry at us. Forgetting about his prisoner he dropped Adora, who landed on a heap in the ground, the troll stomped towards us. Just as we braced ourselves for the worst, a voice behind us yelled “Stupify!”. We turned to see who had saved us from impending doom. In the doorway stood Horatio with his wand up, and Snape some feet behind him. Before we could thank Horatio, Snape stamped in front of him and looked at me and Zuko. “What are you two doing out of detention and not working on your papers, when I specifically asked you not to.” Snape inquisitive sharply. “I’m sorry professor,” I responded before Zuko got the chance to defend himself. “I was working diligently on my paper, unlike my peer, when Catra burst in and said that Adora was in danger. And I figured that it was my duty to put the lives of other students above work and-” Snape sharply cut me off. “Your duty Mr. Fletcher is to do your work as you are told. The safety of the students rests with me and the other professors. When you and Zuko were informed of this you should have gone directly to a professor. 10 points from gryphondor and Hufflepuff. And I will also be discussing extending your punishments with Professor McGonagall. I will see you both tomorrow for detention, you are dismissed.
Zuko
I sat in the great hall for breakfast the following morning with Claire, Catra, Adora, and Horatio. “Tell me more about what happened with the troll yesterday,” Claire said eagerly, she was the only one of us who hadn’t been there. “We already told you the story like ten times already.” Sneered Catra. We all went back to eating our breakfast in silence, suddenly I remembered a question I had had about last night. “Hey Horatio,” I asked, “What were you doing with professor Snape?” Horatio looked as though he was caught off guard with this question. “Oh,” he responded, “He was just helping me with some stuff from potions class.” “But you’re the best in the class” retorted Adora, “You always understand everything.” “Oh, well, you know,” Horatio responded, “I just want to be prepared for the OWLS, never too early to start studying right.” Adora let out a little grunt of approval at Horatio’s answer, I did the same. Studying for the OWLS months in advance was definitely something that Horatio would do. I was glad that I and Ferb would have something to talk about other than our hatred for each other. I really did hate him, but arguing all the time got really boring after a while. I wonder if he felt the same.
Ferb
When I walked into detention Zuko was already there and Snape was gone. “Where’s Snape?” I asked coldly, sitting down a few seats away from Zuko. “He said he had a meeting, and that we could just do homework while we’re here,” Zuko responded, not bothering to look at me. I took out my charms worksheet and began doing it. An hour had already passed before I realized I was just staring at the paper in front of me. I wanted to know what Zuko thought about what had happened yesterday. Maybe if I knew I could somehow place the blame on him for getting house points taken away from us. I glanced over at him, and realized that he hadn’t done any work either. His notebook was open to the same blank page that he flipped to when I arrived. Instead of completing his assignments, he stared at the doorway, fidgeting with his quill. I noticed that every little creek and rustle that came from the corridor outside made him start. “What are you staring at, Scarface?” I asked. He didn’t look back at me or even acknowledged that I had insulted him. “Every noise I hear,” he said, “it scares me. I’m worried that someone’s going to come to tell us that something terrible happened again. I’m worried that this time we’ll actually lose someone.” As he said this his hand began to shake. Suddenly his words struck me in a way that made me forget about who he was, and made me see him as just another human being shaken from a terrifying experience. “It’s just,” he continued, “I’ve lost so many people in my life. I couldn’t bear to lose anyone else. And not just me, after Hamlet died, I don’t think any of us could take someone else dying.” I hadn’t realized it, but tears were rolling down both of our cheeks. “I know exactly what you mean,” I said looking past Zuko and through the door. He turned around to face me, and our glistening eyes met. Just for a second, it felt like our bitter past had washed away, and we could just be in the present. But that was just a moment, and we were quickly reminded of ourselves and each other. “Idiot,” Zuko muttered under his breath. “Half-wit,” I muttered back. For the rest of detention, neither of us said a word and we both did our work.
Zuko
For the whole next day, I couldn't think of anything else but my strange conversation with Ferb yesterday. Why did I say all those stupid sentimental things, why did I tell Ferb all that? But what puzzled me the most was the look he had when our eyes met. It was a look I hadn’t seen in almost six years. His normal aloof expression had become empathetic and soft. It was weird and made me almost nostalgic. But, what was even weirder, was that I had returned his sweet gaze. I had met his sympathy with kindness. It unnerved me to think that I could possibly feel anything other than resentment for Ferb Fletcher anymore. But, nonetheless, I still had classes to go to, work to complete, and most importantly, a murder to solve. Although I still wasn’t entirely convinced that Ferb didn’t do it, yesterday's detention had made me reconsider where he stood on my list of suspects. Lucky for the investigation, Hamlet had a lot of enemies. Despite his graceful and feminine appearance, he actually had a very hot temper. He got into a lot of fights, and a lot of people held grudges against him. The only problem was that I didn’t think any of them would have the guts to kill him. Hamlet’s family was Danish royalty, and would probably take pretty strong action on the murderer. However, apparently, Hamlet had some mommy and daddy issues, so maybe whoever killed him was relying on those to lessen their punishment. Hamlet did constantly complain about his mom and step-dad, so finding out the information that their family was close wouldn’t be hard. But it still leaves the question, who would be crazy enough to murder a prince?
Ferb
The day after that incident with Zuko during detention, I was filled with rage. How dare he look at me like that! How dare he even think he has a right to look at me like that! The things I felt in that moment were his fault. Those tears were his fault. If he had just kept his big dumb mouth shut I wouldn’t have felt those feelings. But, I was also annoyed. I was annoyed because I could tell his words and his tears were real. For once, he wasn’t lying or joking around, he was telling the truth. As much as I hated to admit it, his truth made me rethink whether or not he was the murderer. Could a murderer have shed those tears, or had that captivating gaze. The fact that I couldn’t get his golden eyes out of my head pissed me off. Something about the contrast between the roughness of his scar and the softness of his good eye caught my attention. It brought back memories from a time I’ve tried so hard to forget. I wasn’t sure if I could face him at detention today. I was scared I would feel those things again. I couldn’t cry, I can’t cry, not in front of him, he doesn’t deserve my tears, he doesn’t deserve anything from me.
Zuko
I made sure to get to detention extra early so that I could get situated before Ferb came. When I got to the door to the potions room, there was already a figure standing it in. I looked closer and realized that it wasn’t Ferb, it was Horatio. He was leaning his shoulder against the doorway and facing inwards towards the classroom, he appeared to be talking to someone who was inside the classroom. I hid behind a column in the hallway and tried my best to listen to what they were saying. After Hamlet’s death, it was a rare occurrence to see Horatio talk a lot. But what he was saying was too quiet for me to hear. After maybe a minute of listening I heard two pairs of footsteps walking away. When I looked at the classroom to see who Horatio left with, no one was there. I walked to the door and looked in the direction I had heard the footsteps go, the hallway was completely empty. It made no sense, how could two whole people just vanish. Suddenly I heard a familiar voice behind me, “Move your ass, Scarface.” Ferb said. I didn’t bother turning my head to look back at him, nor did I go ahead into the room. “Did you see Horatio with someone else just now?” I asked, still staring in the direction the footsteps had gone. “No,” Ferb said, still clearly annoyed at me, “Maybe that scar of yours is so close to your brain that it’s infecting it, and you’re finally going insane.” I barely heard him, I was still staring down the hallway in confusion. “Yeah,” I mumbled, “That must be it.” I walked through the door and sat down in the same spot I had sat yesterday, Ferb did the same. After about ten minutes, Ferb must have noticed that I was still staring at the doorway because he said, “It was probably just Snape giving Horatio some help with classwork.” I shook my head, looking over at him. “Remember Snape told us he had a staff meeting today during detention. So it couldn’t have been Snape.” I said. Ferb bit his lip and looked ahead with concentration. “Right,” He said, “So then it must have been someone in Slytherin. Maybe it was Catra. They’re friends, right?” I sighed at Ferb’s reply, he was probably right. “Yeah,” I said begrudgingly, “but it still doesn’t answer how they disappeared.” Ferb looked over at me, his deep blue eyes meeting mine. “Do you think this person Horatio was with had something to do with Hamlet’s murder?” He asked intently. I broke from his piercing gaze and looked ahead of me. “I don’t know.” I sighed.
Ferb
Zuko’s words had brought, me away from myself and made me only remember my investigation of Hamlet’s murder. I needed to know what Zuko heard, what he saw. If this information could bring me closer to solving the case, I needed to know it. “What exactly did you see?” I said, keeping my gaze fixed on him. “Well,” he said, continuing to evade my eyes, “I was walking here when I noticed that Horatio was standing in the doorway and talking to someone inside the classroom. I hid behind a column and tried to listen to their conversation, but it was too quiet to hear anything. After maybe a minute or two I heard their footsteps walk down the hallway to the right. So I went to see who he was walking with, but when I got to the hallway, they were gone. And then, of course, you found me, and you already know the rest.” By the time he had finished talking, those golden eyes of his were looking back at me. Their brightness surprised me, and I looked away, flustered. “So,” I said trying to find more information, “Who do you think killed Hamlet?” I asked. “I don’t know anymore,” Zuko responded looking away from me. “So, you don’t think it was me anymore?” I teased. “No” he responded bluntly. “And do you still think that I did it?” He asked back. “No” I replied quietly. Was he feeling the same things that I was? Did he also feel this hot, nervous flutter in his chest? Was this how he felt six years ago. Was this the dreadful sensation he felt, while I felt nothing? “Hey” A voice called down at me. I looked up to see Zuko standing at the doorway looking down at me. “Detention ended five minutes ago.” I looked at the clock confused. He was right, it was five minutes past the end of detention. Had I been thinking for that long? I gathered my stuff and walked to the door. Zuko and I had to walk in the same direction to get back to our common rooms, so normally I would leave early so that we wouldn’t have to walk together. But today, we walked side by side through the moon-lit corridor. “Why did you wait for me?” I asked, looking ahead. “I was a little worried,” he said, smiling, “I had tried telling you that detention was over almost five times before you actually replied.” He was giggling now. I looked over at his face. “What are you laughing at?” I asked, grinning. Suddenly, without thinking my feet stopped. Zuko stopped too and gave me a questioning look. My mind had gone blank, and his golden eyes had hypnotized me. Before I could come to my senses I took a step forward and placed my hand on his face. Before I could even comprehend his confused expression my lips were on his. I couldn’t even process whether or not he was kissing me back. I didn’t know how much time had passed before he pushed me away. He just stood there for a second looking at me. His golden eyes were glassy and welling with tears. After a moment, he ran, his shoes colliding harshly with the floor with every step. Every clack of rubber against stone pushed me further and further into the lonely night.