re-edited on June 13, 2013

"Freddie, there's only so long this can go on," George said in a hushed voice. The twins sat in the common room alone. It was particularly early on a Saturday morning, which explained why there was no one else awake and in the common room. "She obviously likes you, you obviously like her, and you need to jump for the opportunity."

Fred shook his head and argued, "What if she says no? I'm not only humiliated but I've lost my best friend. She's got a lot on her plate and maybe she doesn't want a relationship right now, whether she fancies me or not."

"She's not going to say no, there's absolutely no way. Plus, you're supposed to be a ladies' man, what's the matter with you?!" George demanded.

"I don't know, this one is different, Georgie... this is special." As he said this, his eyes lit up. That was when George really realized that his brother had it bad. "I can't explain it, I guess."

"I understand you, Freddie. Everything will work out, don't worry about it." He gave his twin a reassuring smile as a half asleep Natalia appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"I thought I heard you two in here," Natalia said, rubbing her eyes and stifling a yawn. Fred couldn't help but think how adorable she looked, still in her pajamas and half asleep.

"How could you hear us? We weren't even being loud!" George said, pouting.

"It's eight in the morning on a Saturday. A little noise goes a long way, boys," Natalia said, sitting in between them on the couch. "I could hear you all the way up in our dormitory."

"Whatever you say. You're lying, I'm convinced," Fred said, rolling his eyes at her and shaking his head. "There's no way you could hear us all the way up there."

"Oh, but I really could. You two woke me up," she said nodding. "Are you two hungry? Because I'm starving and I could really use some breakfast." As the three got up and headed out of the common room, George raised his eyebrow at Fred, then winked. This went unnoticed by Natalia.

Even a few days after being chosen for the tournament, Natalia felt her insides twist around with anxiousness every time she thought about it. Who could blame her, though? She had no idea what she was going to face in the coming months and, at least in her own opinion, she felt that she had every right to.

She walked down to breakfast arm in arm with both of the twins, talking excitedly about what they thought the first task was going to be. Natalia hid her nervous feelings pretty well because neither Fred nor George picked up on anything except happy anxiousness from her. They probably thought that she just wanted to get to the First Task already because she was excited, not that she was upset, nervous, and scared for it.

Even though she was feeling nervous herself, she couldn't imagine how Harry was feeling. He hadn't even chosen to compete; someone had set him up and put his name in there without his knowledge. Nobody in the school believed him besides a few people, herself included, and everyone had resorted to ignoring him or giving him dirty looks anytime he walked by.

"Hello Harry," Natalia said cheerfully, sitting down next to him.

"Hey Talia," Harry said, giving her a half-hearted smile.

"What's up? You look kind of bummed out or upset about something," Natalia said, frowning at him.

"Didn't you hear?" George piped up from next to Fred.

"Hear what?" She gave George a puzzled look.

"Hermione's in the hospital wing," Harry said flatly. He then glanced toward the other end of the table where Ron sat with some third year Gryffindor boys. "Ron isn't happy about it and he's not talking to me anymore."

"Oh, Ron is a bloody idiot," Natalia said, rolling her eyes. "He'll come to his senses, don't worry about it."

"I sure hope so," Harry said, nodding.

"Everything will be alright, Harry... really," she said and before she knew it, she had begun to reassure him not only about his friends, but about the entire tournament. "You're brilliant. You're the most experienced fourteen year old I know and you're probably more qualified than I am to be in this tournament. Your friends will support you when you really need it, I promise you that." Although Harry didn't say anything, his eyes were giving her all the thanks she needed. She patted his back sympathetically. "We're in this one together, too... even if we're technically against each other."

A few days later during her Transfiguration class, an owl had flown into the room through an open window and caused quite a commotion trying to get the letter to Professor McGonagall. It flew around in circles around her head while she tried to pull the letter out of its feet and when she finally could reach it, it would fly just out of her reach. After a few minutes of this, the owl finally dropped the letter on her desk in the front of the classroom.

Professor McGonagall opened the letter and stood silently for a few moments, her eyes scanning over the letter before looking up and walking over to Natalia, "Mr. Bagman requests that you join him and the other champions in the Great Hall for a photo session and an interview for The Daily Prophet."

Natalia sighed and said, "I'd rather not go. I don't really like that much attention," but she didn't say another word when McGonagall gave her a stern look. She quietly packed up her things as class resumed and made her way to the Great Hall. She was extremely disappointed to find out that the "interview" was a total waste of her time, especially since she was missing class because of it. Not only was her interview with the one and only Rita Skeeter, but she spent an hour in a room with Harry before coming out and getting a couple minutes from herself, Fleur, and Krum.

After the interviews, she didn't know if it was considered to be multiple interviews because Rita Skeeter had really only spoken with Harry, the weighing of their wands began. It was nothing interesting. Mr. Ollivander, who had sold Natalia her wand, was the one inspecting all of their wands. She felt her own insides well up with pride when he commented on her own wand, how strong it was and the good condition of it. Her wand - 11 3/4 inches, hard flexibility, made of vine and with a phoenix feather core - was one of her most prized possessions.

"Vine wands are very rare, you know," Mr. Ollivander said as he examined her wand. "They have a very strong connection to their owners, who are usually very unique individuals. Very deep personalities."

After that, they took some quick photographs - it was not a big surprise that Harry was pulled to the front - and then they were released. She had gotten out of her last class of the day and had an entire afternoon free to herself. She decided she would curl up in the Gryffindor common room and read another Muggle book that she had taken with her to school; she hadn't had much time do this lately because she'd been so busy. She was one of the only ones in the common room and it was fairly quiet there. But as soon as she'd settled into the couch and had become absorbed in her book, Harry and Ron had come into the common room, midway through an argument.

"Well, if you hadn't entered your name in that bloody tournament-" Ron started but Harry cut him off.

"For the last time, I didn't enter my name, Ron! Someone else did! I told you that." The few people that were in the common room had stopped what they were doing to stare at what was unfolding in front of them.

Natalia decided it wasn't such a bad idea to step into the argument before someone got angry enough to use magic - that someone probably would've been Ron - and said, "Harry, Ron... I thought we got over this argument. I thought you were friends again."

"I would never be friends with someone who only chases fame and doesn't care about the people who really care about him," Ron said bitterly.

"Why would you say that? I care about you, and I care about Hermione!" Harry retorted.

"That's why you sent her to the hospital wing, right?" Ron demanded.

"I didn't do that! Malfoy cursed her, it wasn't me!" Harry said, trying not to raise his voice. His attempts were failing.

"But you could have prevented it..." Ron said, and he stormed off in the direction of his dormitory. Instead of following him, Harry sat down on the couch next to Natalia, a defeated look on his face.

"Don't worry about him, Harry. He'll come to his senses," Natalia said. Then, she decided to change the subject. "Are you worried at all for the first task? It's in three days." She couldn't believe how fast the time had gone. It was already November 21.

"I've been trying not to think about it, honestly. Hagrid said he's taking me somewhere tonight and it has to do with the first task," Harry said. Natalia raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't worry, whatever he decides to tell me, I'll let you know."

"I'll stay up and wait for you. Even if it's a small amount of information, it's better than where I'm at right now," Natalia explained. "I'm so nervous, I can't even imagine how you're feeling. At least I volunteered myself for this."

Later that night she, Fred, and George - she'd made them stay up with her to wait for Harry - were sitting around in the common room. They were both half asleep, but she was so jittery and anxious that she couldn't see how anyone would be able to sleep at a time like this. It wasn't until after two in the morning that he came back through the common room door, a shocked expression on his face. He was out of breath.

"Dragons. That's the first task," he said.