"Come on Avatar!" Zuko said as he fought with Aang who had just blocked another fire blast.
"Hey Zuko." A voice said, Zuko looked forwards and saw Harry walking forwards. The other Fire soldiers tensed upon seeing the Emerald Dragon while Zuko simply growled.
"What are you doing here?!" Zuko demanded.
"Protecting this village, protecting the Avatar, etc." Harry said in a casual voice, he discreetly used his hand and gestured Aang to go, thankfully the airbender understood and did what Harry told him to.
"Why?! Why won't you just let me capture him?!" Zuko said angrily.
"Because this is bigger than you." Harry said before his fists lit up with green fire. "You're not capturing him, and you're not going to harm anyone in this village." The other soldiers hesitated but Zuko did not, he charged towards Harry, he hadn't gone too far before the Kyoshi warriors snuck out from hiding spots to attack the other soldiers.
Harry stomped his foot down on the ground, a stump of Earth rose up and caught Zuko in the legs, causing him to fall. Zuko managed to roll to his feet before shooting a fire blast at Harry. Harry easily blocked it before he and Zuko engaged in combat. Zuko shot another fireblast at Harry who ducked under it and responded with one of his own, Zuko blocked the blast before shooting out several fire arcs with a series of kicks.
"Good," Harry said while ducking, dodging and blocking Zuko's attacks. "you've improved."
"You won't stop me from achieving my destiny!" Zuko said as he sent a large arc of fire at Harry.
"I'm not trying to!" Harry said as he jumped over the flames with the help of fire shooting out from under his feet, he span in the air and sent an air blast which knocked Zuko off his feet. "This is not your destiny, Zuko!"
"How would you know?!" Zuko said as he got back up and charged at Harry.
....
"I'm getting tired of playing, Zuko." Harry said as he blocked another fire blast.
Various buildings around them were damaged and on fire, the village looked a far cry from the beauty it previously had. Part of the damage had been caused thanks to Harry and Zuko while the rest could be blamed on the other fire soldiers and those who were fighting them. Zuko appeared to be tiring, his movements had gotten worse as time went on and his breathing had gotten heavier.
"I'm not playing!" Zuko yelled before sending a fire blast that Harry ducked.
"Then I guess I'll stop as well." Harry said before he ran forwards and jumped up, Zuko blocked the drop kick that Harry tried to hit him with but he didn't expect for Harry to twist in mid-air and hit him with a kick to the stomach before landing. Zuko stumbled back before he was hit with a fireblast from Harry that sent him to the ground, Zuko rolled back to his feet but Harry had quickly closed the distance.
Harry blocked Zuko's panic strike and moved behind him and quickly pulled Zuko into a choke sleeper hold. Zuko tried his best to get out of it but Harry refused to break it and countered all of Zuko's attempts to escape. Zuko quickly felt his vision blackening and realised that he was close to being rendered unconscious. Just as Zuko was about to be put to sleep Harry let go of him and Zuko dropped down to his hands and knees, coughing violently for a few moments before he looked up at Harry.
"I never want to hurt you Zuko, I never did." Harry said as he took several steps backwards. He could have left Zuko unconscious but that wouldn't achieve much, if Zuko got captured he'd escape or Iroh would break him out, either way it would be easier for the village if he just left. "You had better keep practising, as long as I'm alive I'll keep the Avatar safe from the Fire Nation." Harry said just as he saw Appa flying towards them. "If you'll excuse me, my ride's here." Harry said before he turned and jumped into the air just as Appa began flying lower, with the help of air and fire bending he was able to get high enough to land in the saddle.
"Appa! Yip-yip!" Aang yelled and Appa flew up into the air and away from the village.
"We need to leave," Harry said. "they're after us, they'll leave the village to chase us."
"He's right, we need to get out of here!" Sokka agreed.
"I know it's hard, but you did the right thing." Katara said to Aang who didn't look very happy. "Zuko would have destroyed the whole place if we had stayed. They're going to be okay, Aang." She said in a comforting voice. Aang didn't reply, he instead adopted a determined look on his face before he jumped off of Appa and fell towards the ocean while the others screamed for him. Aang crashed into the water, a few seconds later he emerged on top of a giant black eel that looked like it could fit entire buildings into its mouth.
"Wait! Is that the Unagi?!" Harry said with wide eyes as Aang pulls the creature's barbels, causing it to open its mouth wide and begin spraying out water which rains over the town and removes most of the fires. After several moments of this the Unagi finally manages to toss Aang off of his head, thankfully Appa managed to catch Aang before he lands in the ocean again. Appa quickly took off before the Unagi could do anymore.
"I know, I know!" Aang cut off any response once he was back on the saddle, "That was stupid and dangerous." He admitted.
"Yes," Katara agreed. "but it was also very brave." She added with a smile.
"Bloody Gryffindor." Harry said under his breath. "Let's not do that again." He said to the others. "Next time we shouldn't stay so long in a single village, agreed?"
"Agreed." The other three replied.
"Good." Harry sighed as he began getting comfortable. "You guys will give me grey hairs soon." He said as he closed his eyes.