Natalia inhaled the familiar smells of The Burrow as she stepped through the front door. The Burrow had been more of a home than anywhere else the past few summers and she finally felt at ease. She didn't have too long to prepare herself before she was pulled into a bone-crushing hug by Ginny, the only daughter of the Weasley clan. Even though Ginny was three years younger than her, they got along well and she was one of Natalia's best friends. "Good to see you Ginny, but if you don't let go of me, I might die of suffocation," Natalia said, a smile still on her face.
"Sorry, sorry," Ginny said, letting go of her. "I'm so glad your dad agreed to let you come to the Cup with us!"
"Well, he didn't exactly understand what he was agreeing to." She began speaking in a deep voice, imitating her father, "What is this Quidditch rubbish you're talking about? As long as I don't have to give you any extra money for it, you can go. And don't go getting yourself blown up, you hear me?"
Natalia's father still wasn't exactly thrilled that she was a witch. She had found out since then that she had been adopted during the years of the war and her actual parents, who were a witch and wizard, had given her up to a Muggle adoption agency because they didn't want anything to happen to their daughter. She didn't know who her actual parents were. All she knew was that her father was not happy that ten years after he and her mother adopted little one-year-old Natalia, strange things such as owls delivering letters started to occur.
"Well, it's wonderful you could come. It'll be nice having another girl around besides Hermione. I mean, not that there's anything wrong with her-" Ginny was cut off by Natalia.
"I understand what you mean," Natalia said, and the pair giggled a bit as two familiar-looking, identical redheads made their way, rather enthusiastically, toward where Natalia and Ginny were standing in the kitchen.
"Ah, we thought we heard your laughing," George said.
"Very distinct, it's pretty hard to miss Talia's laugh," Fred added.
Natalia rolled her eyes, pulling the pair into a hug. "Hello boys," she said, grinning. She lowered her voice. "How's that top secret stuff going?" She winked. Both the twins' eyes lit up at the mention of this 'top secret stuff.'
"Oh it's going fantastic, actually!" George said.
"Yeah, thanks to you! You have some bloody brilliant ideas, Talia," Fred said. Natalia blushed.
"Oh, it's nothing really. Glad I could help out my favorite pair of gingers," she said, laughing. The rest of the afternoon was spent catching up with the Weasleys. Later that day, shortly before dinner, Hermione flooed in with her trunk and a pet carrier with Crookshanks in it.
"You know, that cat is going to hate you if you keep making it floo places with you," Natalia noted as Hermione opened the pet carrier and Crookshanks ran out of it and up the staircase as fast as he possibly could.
"Oh, he's fine with flooing. I really don't think he minds it too much," Hermione said, smiling and hugging Natalia. "How was your summer?"
"Oh, it was wonderful! I sat at home and watched TV almost the whole time... And I've got some juicy stuff to tell you and Ginny later." She winked.
"Oh, sounds interesting! I can't wait!" Hermione said.
"Oh dearies, dinner is ready. Hermione, you can leave your things here. Arthur can take them upstairs after dinner for you!" Mrs. Weasley said, coming into the living room.
"Thanks Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said, and the group went into the kitchen to enjoy some Weasley cooking. After dinner, Fred, George, Natalia and Ginny decided to go outside and play a two-on-two game of Quidditch. Fred and Natalia were on one team and George and Ginny on the other. Hermione and Ron sat under the big oak tree in the backyard, half watching the game and half lost in each other's company. They played until well after sunset, and the group was covered in dirt and sweat, panting and exhausted. If it had not been for Mrs. Weasley calling for the group to come inside, they probably would have still been playing.
"You know, we make a pretty good team," Fred said, breathing heavy as he wrapped an arm around Natalia's shoulder.
"Yeah, we definitely creamed them," Natalia said, laughing. "But if you guys don't mind, I call first shower!"
She wasted no time, leaning her broomstick up against the house and taking a glance back at the group following her into the house. They were all frowning and Ginny was running after her, probably to get the next spot in line to shower. Natalia ran upstairs to Ginny's room, rummaging through her trunk and finding a towel, an oversized t-shirt and a pair of shorts.
She closed and locked the bathroom door behind her, turning on the hot water. The hot shower felt amazing as she let it run over her tired body. She could tell she was going to be sore in the morning, but it was well worth it. That was one of the best games of Quidditch she'd played in a while. It was also the first one she'd played since the school year ended. Sometimes, she hated being Muggle-raised. It meant that she was almost completely out of touch with the magical world for three months out of the year.
When she got out of the shower, she threw on her oversized t-shirt and shorts, quickly braiding her hair behind her head. She went into Ginny's room, dropped her stuff off on the bed, picked one of her favorite Muggle books out of her trunk, and walked downstairs and into the living room, where the twins were sitting and talking in hushed voices. They hadn't showered, but it looked like they had at least made an attempt to clean up, and they were both wearing pajama pants and t-shirts.
"Am I interrupting something?" Natalia said, raising an eyebrow at the both of them.
"Not at all," George said, returning the expression.
"Good," Natalia said, laying down on the couch that the twins were sitting on and stretching her legs out to cover the both of them. "When Ginny's done in the shower, I'll leave you two to talk business again, but for now, I'm fairly comfortable where I am."
"Merlin Talia, when did you get legs?" George said, gaping at her. She looked to see that Fred had a similar expression on his face and she felt a blush creep up her face.
"I've always had legs, thank you very much. I just choose not to show them off," Natalia responded matter-of-factly.
"Well you should wear shorts like that more often," Fred said.
"It's definitely fitting for you," George said, and they both smirked.
"Stop it," Natalia said, smacking the twin that was closer to her, it happened to be Fred, lightly on the shoulder. "You two are so embarrassing sometimes."
"Oh, but we only speak the truth," George said. Natalia just rolled her eyes and shook her head, then took out her book and began reading.
"Reading for fun? You're turning into Hermione," Fred teased.
"I just like reading Muggle love stories, is that so bad?" Natalia defended. "Like in this book, the guy falls for his best friend and she doesn't know it until prom when they dance together. It's rather sappy, but it's cute."
"What's prom?" The twins asked simultaneously.
"It's a dance that Muggles have in school, it's a bit like a ball I suppose. Same concept," Natalia explained lamely. "Everyone gets dressed up and they eat food and dance and it's supposed to be really fun."
"Sounds interesting." George commented. Natalia just nodded and began reading. "Well, I'm off to go write Alicia a letter. She wrote me one a few days ago, it's not polite to keep a woman waiting." With a wink and a wave, George disappeared up the staircase without another word.
Fred pulled out a book of his own, The Master Book of Master Pranks, and began reading as he and Natalia fell into a comfortable silence. Twenty or so minutes later, Ginny came down the stairs and said, "Talia, you still have to tell me and Hermione all about this 'juicy stuff' you promised," she made air quotations with her fingers.
"Oh, right! I'll be right up, meet you in your room," Natalia said, smiling. She looked over at Fred and ruffled his hair. "Night Freddie!"
"Juicy stuff, eh? Why wasn't I informed?" Fred teased, raising an eyebrow.
"Because it's girl stuff. You don't need to be hearing about it," Natalia said, getting up and climbing up the stairs. When she opened Ginny's door, she was met by two very eager looking teenage girls. She hurriedly sat down on her bed, her legs crossed, and wasted no time in getting into the story. "So I met a Muggle boy this summer."
Both Hermione and Ginny made an "ooo" noise before Natalia continued.
"His name was John. He was a total sweetheart and he played guitar in a band. I mean, I knew I would have to break it off with him when I came back to school. There was no way I could explain why owls were sending my letters rather than the mail and long distance relationships don't work anyway, but it was amazing. I had a summer fling!" She squealed excitedly at the end. "I do miss him, though. I wish there was some way I could have stayed with him, you know?"
"That would be a bit difficult," Hermione said, and Natalia and Ginny agreed.
"You didn't lose your virginity to him, did you?!" Ginny asked.
"No of course not, Gin. What do you take me for? I'm not going to have sex with someone three months after I met them. I want my first time to be special; I don't want to meet some boy and decide to lose my virginity because he's hot," Natalia explained, then in a lower voice she said, "but he was pretty hot." The trio went into a fit of giggles.
The girls spent the remainder of their night talking of boys, relationships, and their summers. Natalia learned that over the summer, Hermione and Ron had moved forward. She felt that it was only a matter of time until he told her that he had feelings for her. Or at least, that was how he was acting. Ginny was still working out a plan on how to figure out things with Harry, but she was confident that she would figure something out.
"I know you will, Ginny… and if you don't, you can always hex him into oblivion," Natalia reassured her, and the end of her reassurance sent the group of girls into a fit of giggles.
"Hey, no one will be hexing my best friend," Hermione defended, finding it hard to speak through her laughter.
This talk continued until the sky was slowly starting to get lighter. They supposed it was probably around five in the morning when they decided that they should get some sleep and Natalia found herself falling into a peaceful sleep in no time. She knew that even if she didn't feel completely accepted in her own home, she was welcomed with open arms in the Weasley home, and that was the biggest relief ever to her.
Thank you so much for reading the first chapter! I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave some feedback because I'd love to know what you guys think so far. I know it's only the first chapter! (re-edited on June 13, 2013)