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On the day of his 12th birthday, Nanase Haruka wakes up to a cuddle from his mother, a big hug from his father, a kiss on the forehead from his grandmother, and little mackerel sandwiches cut into little mackerel shapes for breakfast. He has school today, so his parents promise that the celebrations will start once he gets back. Satisfied with his little lot in his little life, Officially Twelve Years Old Nanase Haruka heads off to splash in the bath until he absolutely has to leave.
He’s playing with his favourite dolphin toy, generating little waves so that it looks like they’re both in the ocean, when he hears an all-too-familiar shriek. It’s Makoto in distress, and on the verge of tears, and even if he wasn’t Officially Twelve Years Old, Haru has precisely one response to hearing Makoto in trouble.
His parents are severely shocked by the sight of a little Haru in his little jammers running out the front door, a bathtub’s worth of water rearing behind him like a wave getting ready to crash, rushing to the aid of a friend. Just by the entrance, there’s Makoto on the ground, things scattered around him as he rubs at his eyes, and a massive owl (almost as big as he is!) perched nearby, hooting menacingly at the almost-crying boy.
Haru’s a little unsure of what to do; he’s pretty sure water to the face will scare off the owl, but he also knows that Makoto wouldn’t want him hurting an animal, so he opts for the safest route and goes to crouch by his friend, his bathwater swirling around them like a shield.
“Makoto, Makoto,” Haru says, trying to pull Makoto’s hands from his face. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”
Makoto’s sniffling, but he doesn’t look like he’s been pecked or clawed, so Haru is relieved. “Did the bird scare you?” he asks quietly, petting Makoto’s hair like Mrs. Tachibana does whenever Makoto’s about to cry.
“I-I came to g-give you the birthday p-p-pancake I made,” Makoto manages to say, even as he hiccups to keep tears at bay. “A-a-a-and Mister Owl flew so c-c-c-close and I dropped everything!” And that’s Makoto’s limit, looking at the mess of whipped cream and chocolate sauce by his knees. The Tachibanas are quite strong earthbenders, and Makoto’s no different. His misery makes the little pebbles around him vibrate with unhappy energy.
The Nanases are an average waterbending family, but Haru is not an average waterbender. Looking at Makoto crying with his knees and hands scraped, it makes Haru really, really angry, and while he’s gentle as he pulls Makoto to his feet so he can lead him inside, the adult Nanases are rushing out of the house to defuse the situation, because from the house they can see that the sea is creeping up up up towards their home, answering the call of Nanase Haruka.
His mother picks up a boy under each arm in a feat of maternal strength, while his father addresses the owl. With a lot of gentle cooing and more cute colourful band-aids than his wounds require, Haru’s mother and grandmother eventually coax a smile from Makoto when they ask if he could teach them how to make the Super Special Haru-Chan Happy Birthday! Pancakes.
With Makoto distracted by his new task, Haru wanders back outside, planning to deal with the bird to the best of his 12-year-old ability. He finds instead his father with the owl on his shoulder, holding a letter in his hand. “Haru! I’ve got amazing news!”
Haru doesn’t respond, waiting for his father to tell him more, even as he stares with great distrust at the huge brown bird that peers right back at him.
His father crouches down so that they’re closer in height, and holds up the envelope. “It’s your acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Magic! I know Westerners don’t think of bending the same way that we do, but I guess you’re so amazing they want you anyway!”
Westerners? Haru frowns. “Do I have to go to Australia?” It’s a nebulous place in his mind, and he thinks it might be full of people like Rin, and one Rin’s already plenty.
“No, not Australia,” his father says, suppressing a smile. “It’s in Scotland, I think. You can hang out with other people with really strong abilities, and learn all sorts of things. It’s a really great honour, Haru.”
He’s already learning all sorts of things at school. He knows arithmetic, and he can read lots of kanji, and Haru knows what a chlorophyll is (sort of). He doesn’t know where Scotland is, but it sounds just as bad on the tongue as Australia does so it’s probably really, really far from Iwatobi.
It sounds terrible, and a school that sends letters using birds that scare Makoto sounds worse.
Mr. Nanase catches on to the tide turning in Haru’s head, and rushes to try and fix this situation. “It’s a little far from here, but just imagine! You can waterbend as muuuuch as you want, and you won’t have to learn a lot of math, and I hear the school even has mermaids!”
Mermaids are cool, and Haru thinks it would be great if his school could appreciate him waterbending rain on hot days instead of scolding him and trying to teach him how to Bend Responsibly. There is, however, one pressing question. “Will my friends go to that school too?”
He means Makoto, but some niggling sense of duty makes him feel bad to just leave Rin and the other kids at the swim club out, so.
Mr. Nanase’s face falls, and he struggles for the nicest way to say some not-nice things. “This school is for very, very special kids, Haru-chan. If your friends haven’t gotten a letter already, they probably don’t get to go, no.”
Oh, that makes it easy then. Haru nods, satisfied, and since the owl looks comfortable where it is, he starts picking up Makoto’s school bag and the plate that once held his birthday pancake.
From behind him, he hears his father come close, and feels his hair being mussed. “So Haruka, are you excited to be a student at Hogwarts?”
Haru tilts his head back, and blinks because he doesn’t understand what his father is saying. “I’m not going. I’m staying here.”
“But you don’t get waterbending lessons here! You don’t get to practice magic!”
Hands full, Haru heads back inside at a fast little trot. “In Scotland, I don’t get birthday pancakes with Makoto. You and mama and grandma aren’t there either.” Frowning, Haru says what he’s been thinking for a while now. “Hogwarts sounds stupid.”
“Haru!” his father says in a gentle scold. “You don’t even know what kind of school it is!”
They’re back in the kitchen, the smell of pancakes on the grill and the sound the Nanase women and one small Tachibana man laughing. It’s nice, and it’s exactly what Haru wants for turning Officially Twelve. He turns to his father with as serious an expression as a chubby 12-year-old face can muster, and drives the final nail into the coffin that holds his father’s dreams of him going to a fancy school and becoming a fancy bender. “I know it’s not as fun as this,” is all that he says, before going to climb up on his little step stool and wash Makoto’s plate.
That, is the beginning and also the end of Haru’s short acquaintanceship with Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a place he (at age 12) looked upon with more disdain even than Social Studies class with the super mean Taniguchi-sensei.
Twenty years on, married to Makoto as a multi-millionaire philanthropist with a laundry and water-recycling empire, pancakes are still Haru's favourite dessert, and he still finds himself scowling whenever he even so much as sees an owl.
(Makoto had been plenty startled at Haru trying to intimidate the damned things on a date to the zoo, but after he's told the full story, all Makoto does is sweetly sigh a "Haru-chan" and request a fluffy snowy owl keychain.
Haru's pretty sure he's come out of all of this as the winner, so.
Hogwarts can just suck it, hey.)