The following days, they were nowhere farther in their research and Charlie had agreed that "asserting her dominance" was the best way to defeat a dragon. She didn't really have much else to go off of, although she was spending all of her free time in the library searching, and this terrified her. Her best idea was to stare at the dragon.

The night before the task, she knew she wasn't going to sleep at all and the twins opted to stay up with her. Together they sat around and played wizard's chess all night and shared a couple butterbeers. They all agreed that maybe having a little bit of alcohol in her would help her sleep, and she fell asleep around sunrise while lying on the floor of their dormitory. Fred took this as an opportunity to do something that he had been debating for the last week. He grabbed a quill, some ink and a piece of parchment and began writing a note. Once he finished writing it, he sealed it in an envelope and decided he should try to get some sleep as well.

Dear Natalia,
I don't really know how else to tell you this, but I like you. A lot. I don't know when it started or anything, I just know I do. I like you so much that I'm nervous to even say this to your face, so I'm writing this letter to you. The good news is that you're probably in a good mood because you beat the dragon, but the bad news is that you could reject me after this.
Also, I have a secret to tell you about when you, George, and I all got drunk for your 17th birthday. Remind me to tell you, it's a biggie. Well, I guess I'll see you in a little while. Bye.

Fred

-

Unfortunately seven in the morning came way too soon for Natalia and when Fred tried to wake up her, she smacked him in the face. "Ow, Talia, that hurt!"

"Sorry, Fred... reflexes," she told him, blushing and laughing.

"That's alright, would you like to head down to breakfast?" Fred asked.

"You should probably just go down without me, I'm not hungry," Natalia responded, shaking her head. That was partially a lie. Her stomach was growling but she also felt like she was going to throw up if she decided to eat anything. She didn't know if she wanted to risk it, but Fred made the decision for her.

"No, you need to eat something. You're going to get sick if you don't. You need your strength and the only way you're going to get it is by eating something," Fred explained. He basically forced her to get up and head down to breakfast with him, but in the end she was grateful as she scarfed down an entire plate of food in twenty minutes; she hadn't realized how hungry she was until a plate filled with delicious-smelling food had been placed in front of her. The nausea she had been feeling had subsided a little once the food had settled in her stomach as well.

After breakfast, the day flashed by in a quick blur and before she knew it, Barty Crouch had explained the task to them and she was about to discover which dragon she was facing. She closed her eyes and reached into the pouch in front of her, pulling out a mini version a dark green and brown dragon who was blowing fake blue smoke out of its mouth. The real dragon's smoke, she supposed, would be much more real and much more dangerous. She sighed as she heard Barty Crouch say, "The Swedish Short Snout... I'd be careful with that fire, young lady. You'll be going third."

The other three champions chose their dragons and the order they would be going in. She winced as Harry pulled out a terrifying looking dragon that was completely covered in spikes, then gave him a sympathetic look. He gave her a look back and she could see the fear in his eyes. Natalia was in the same mindset as him. Her means of fighting this thing that could kill her within a few seconds was to look it in the eye. She sat down nervously as Fleur went out first and then when she was finished, Krum.

She thought it was more terrifying hearing the noises the crowd was making because she couldn't see what was going on. There were oh's, screams, and cheering and she could only guess what was going on and what Fleur and Krum had decided to do to defeat the dragon. There was no mistaking, however, the sound she heard when the champion got the egg that Barty Crouch had described to them earlier.

As the crowd cheered for Viktor and a cheering of "Krum" had begun, she closed her eyes and took deep breaths. This was it, she was going to be facing a dragon. The Swedish Short Snout. She suddenly remembered from one of the books that its fire was deadly and could kill you in less than fifteen seconds and felt a nervous jolt in her stomach. She stood up, closed her eyes again and took another deep breath, walking towards where the curtain opened up to the arena. She made eye contact with Harry, giving him a halfhearted smile and a wave.

The cannon sounded, which she knew meant that she was supposed to walk out into the arena. Her insides churned nervously and she felt like she was about to lose the breakfast that she had eaten. As soon as she walked out into the arena, the Swedish Short Snout made a terrible loud noise and blew fire towards her. It missed her by a few feet, but she could feel the great heat that came from it.

She wanted to run away from the dragon, to quit the tournament at that moment and run away and never look back. She was terrified, her body trembling nervously all over... But she knew that she couldn't. So, she held her chin up high and stared directly into the dragon's eyes.

The arena was completely silent for a few moments reacting to what she was doing. The dragon was staring at her, its eyes staring deep into her own, and then it blew more fire towards her. This time, she felt the hot fire touch her right arm, the excruciating pain almost instant. Her eyes welled up with tears and her knees were beginning to buckle underneath her, but she stood her ground. She didn't break eye contact with the dragon.

The horrible noises coming from the audience were not helping her self confidence in that moment. She heard some people asking what she was doing, making noises in response to the injury in her arm that probably wasn't pretty, and the twins cheering her on. There were more people than just them cheering for her, but their voices in particular stuck out to her. She smiled when she heard that, even though she felt as though she were going to pass out from the pain in her arm.

She stood like this with the dragon for another whole minute. It was the longest minute of her life, feeling like an hour, and she supposed that she looked absolutely insane to everyone in the arena but finally, the dragon's head bent down low and she supposed that was a sign that she could move towards it.

She took a hesitant step towards the dragon and when it didn't move, her pace quickened a little. Her head was spinning and her vision was becoming fuzzy as she approached it. She knew she needed to be quick and get the egg before she passed out. She saw the nest filled with eggs, and the golden one that was in it. When she picked it up, she stuck it under her left arm as the arena erupted in cheers and screams.

She stumbled back extremely slowly towards the champions' tent. It was becoming increasingly difficult to see and she was becoming aware of the pain in her arm. She didn't even want to look at it, but walked into the tent and collapsed in the nearest chair. A few seconds later, she felt herself black out.

When she opened her eyes, she was laying in a bed, but since she realized they were still in the champions' tent, she figured that she hadn't passed out for that long. She couldn't feel her right arm at all, it was as though she didn't have one anymore. She looked over to see Madame Pomfrey rubbing some type of ointment on her arm, which looked to be burnt all around from a few inches below her shoulder all the way down to her fingers. It wasn't very pretty.

"I put an enchantment on your arm so that you won't be able to feel it, at least for a little while. I'm rubbing burn ointment on it right now which should help to keep it clean and heal it faster," Madame Pomfrey explained when she saw that she was awake and watching her. "I'm going to give you a couple days worth of potion to help keep the pain away as well, deary."

"Thanks, Madame Pomfrey," Natalia said, smiling at her. She noticed that Fred and George were sitting in chairs next to the bed she was in, which didn't surprise her. She flashed them a grin. "Hey boys."

"You idiot... Why didn't you dodge the bloody fire?" Fred mumbled, shaking his head. He had a huge smile on his face.

"Congrats Talia," George said. He dropped his voice. "You're in second place."

Natalia was shocked. "Second?!"

"It would have been first, but you got some deductions on points for that," George explained, pointing to her still-numb arm.

"Second is amazing, second is more than amazing!" Natalia said, a grin on her face.

"You're all cleaned up. I'd like to see you back in the hospital wing tomorrow first thing in the morning, though. I want to make sure that burn heals the best it can," Madame Pomfrey said.

"Cool," Natalia said. "Am I free to go?"

"Yes, but please be extremely careful. Make sure you take this potion if you need to for the pain. Tomorrow, I'll apply more burn cream for you. Come right up to the hospital wing if the potion isn't enough." She handed Natalia two vials of a purple liquid, which Fred took from her because she has having trouble holding them with one hand.

After Madame Pomfrey put Natalia's arm in a sling, the three of them decided to walk back up to the castle together, although their pace was quite slow. No one minded the pace, however, because the twins relayed all of the information about the First Task to Natalia.

"I'm starting to feel my arm again," Natalia said. "It doesn't feel good."

"That's okay. I know that everyone was planning on throwing you and Harry a party in the common room tonight, but if you want to just stay in the dorm and hang out then call it a night early, we're okay with that," George said.

"We can sit around and have a celebratory butterbeer or something," Fred offered.

"No, I don't want to miss the party!" Natalia protested. "We can party, I'll be okay."

"I can't believe the way that you just stared down that dragon, Talia! It was amazing!" Seamus Finnigan exclaimed as a group of Gryffindors sat around in the chairs and sofa in the common room. Fred, Natalia, George, Ginny and Harry were squeezed onto a chair. Seamus, Dean Ron and Hermione were spread out on various chairs that had been moved to make a circle. A table filled with bottles of butterbeer was in the middle.

"From what I hear, Harry's idea was pretty fantastic as well. Didn't get to see that fancy broom work, though... Guess I passed out before that," Natalia said, frowning. She really wished she had been able to watch Harry. Judging by what she had heard, she definitely would have loved it.

The common room around them was filled with various other Gryffindors all talking excitedly about what had happened earlier that day. It made it impossible to talk quietly and Natalia was beginning to get a dull headache along with the aching in her arm.

She decided to take some of the potion that Madame Pomfrey had given her around midnight and at that point, not many people had gone upstairs to their dormitories. The common room was still buzzing with conversation and Natalia could only guess that at least a hundred butterbeers had been consumed between everyone. The potion was making her brain fuzzy with sleepiness and she had long stopped paying attention to the conversation at hand.

"You want to go upstairs?" Fred whispered in her ear. She nodded, her eyelids drooping with tiredness.

"My arm hurts. I don't know how I'm going to change into my pajamas or get comfortable enough to sleep," Natalia whispered back to him.

"I think you'll manage," Fred said. "You look like you're about to fall asleep any second."

"Mmmm," Natalia mumbled. "I am. This potion is making me fall asleep. I don't even want to move."

"I have a nice comfy shoulder," Fred offered, half jokingly. "You should probably go upstairs and sleep in your bed, though."

Natalia shook her head and rested it on Fred's shoulder. "Going upstairs would be better for you."

"I know," Natalia said.

"You want me to carry you upstairs and you can sleep in my bed?" Fred asked. "I'd carry you to your own bed, but I can't exactly do that."

"Mmm, you can do whatever you want," Natalia whispered, barely awake. "I'm fine staying right here."

"What happened to that note I gave you?" Fred asked.

"I stuck it in my arm pocket... It got burnt... by the dragon," Natalia replied, drifting off to sleep.

"Think she's tired, Freddie?" George asked, chuckling.

"I think it's the potion," Fred said, laughing and wrapping an arm around her shoulder, being careful not to touch her burns.

"Or it could be because she battled a dragon and it's almost one in the morning," Ginny offered from next to George.

"Gin, you want to help her upstairs and get ready for bed if I wake her up? I think that'd be better for her," Fred said.

"Yeah, that's fine," Ginny said, laughing as Fred shook Natalia lightly.

"Talia, you need to go to bed," Fred said.

"I'm comfortable," she mumbled without opening her eyes. She cuddled more into Fred's side, which earned a laugh from a couple of the Gryffindors sitting with them.

"Come on, Tals. You need your beauty rest," Ginny said, getting up and pulling on her arm. Reluctantly, and maybe without even waking up, Natalia followed Ginny upstairs to go to bed.

"I think she's got it bad too, Freddie. You can only blame other things for so long," George explained after Natalia and Ginny had disappear up the stairs.