"Merlin, Lilah, you really are depressing."

I turned to see the twins making their way towards me. I was sitting out in the stands of the Quidditch pitch, looking out at the goal posts. Truth be told, I was missing Oliver. It was just before the Halloween feast—and the champion selection ceremony—and I hadn't heard from him at all yet today. Sure, there was time, but I suppose I had been hoping to have heard from him already. And his last letter had been short and sent earlier this week.

"Why am I depressing?" I asked with a smile, turning back around and staring across the pitch.

"You're spending your birthday alone," Fred said, lowering himself down beside me while George took the spot on my other side.

"I didn't spend it alone. I spent the morning with Ange, Katie and Leesh, and I spent the afternoon with Tess."

"But you're alone now," Fred said. "You shouldn't have to spend any portion of your birthday alone."

"Did it ever cross your mind that I might want to?" I asked, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Wow, you really know how to be rude," George snorted.

I smiled. "I don't mind if you stay. It's fine."

"So..." Fred began slowly. "I'm assuming you did it then? You put our names in?"

I nodded. "I did." That was the other thing that was bothring me. Besides Oliver. I was still pretty upset about what I had done. I was nervous. I kept telling myself that maybe they wouldn't be chosen. But now their names were in so they had a shot. There was a chance they would be and that scared me.

"How'd it go?" George asked.

"Fine," I shrugged. "I just threw your names in and ran for it."

"And then hid away in your dorm until you decided to come down here," Fred said. "Why? Regretting it?"

I looked at him in surprise. "Am I being obvious or do you just know me really well?"

"Both," Fred answered with a shrug.

I smiled and looked away again. "You know I want you to open your shop, but I worry about you two. If you get chosen and if you get hurt, or worse...It'll be all my fault for putting your names in. I'll never be able to forgive myself."

Fred and George looked at each other before Fred smiled at me. "We wouldn't want you to blame yourself," he said. "It would be our own fault. We're the ones who wanted this. We're the ones who asked you."

"You asked. You didn't force me. There's a difference. I came to the decision all on my own," I sighed.

"Still, if anything happens, it's our own stupid fault," George said with a small smile.

I laughed. "I never thought I'd hear either of you say that," I said. There was a pause. "What was that distraction you used, by the way? It was fantastic. Really genius, actually."

"Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder," the twins answered together.

"You like it?" Fred asked.

"Love it," I answered. "Honestly, the creativity and thought and...overall intelligence that had to go into dreaming it up and actually making it. And making it well..." I shook my head. "You two are impressive. Honestly. And that's why I really want you to win this money. So that you can open your joke shop as soon as possible and share with everyone else just how brilliant you two are."

"You flatter us," Fred said, pretending to blush. "Whenever we need to fish for compliments, we'll come to you."

I scoffed and shook my head. "I'll compliment you when you deserve it and you know that. When you're acting like total nutters, I tell you."

"True," Fred said. He and George both smiled before George stood up and held out his arm to me. "Come on, let's go. I hear there's a feast being held in your honor tonight."

"If only," I snorted, standing up and linking arms with both twins. "Nobody cares about my birthday when there's things like Halloween and the Triwizard Tournament to be excited about."

"Well, personally," Fred began, "George and I couldn't care less about a silly Triwizard Tournament."

I snorted. "Right. That's why you went through so much effort to sneak your names in."

"Well, now that excitement's over," Fred said. "We got our names in and the chase is won, so the tournament goes on the back burner for the time being."

"Exactly," George continued. "And as for Halloween, Fred and I have never been big on sweets."

I snorted. "Are we talking about the same people, here?" I asked. "Besides, Halloween's just not based off of the candy. There's history behind it. Granted, I still don't know it. I keep forgetting to get the story from Uncle Jesse. Perhaps I ought to, but—"

"Don't bother," Fred said dismissively. "George and I aren't big history guys either."

"You two? Really?" I asked, feigning shock. "I could have sworn History of Magic was your favorite class."

"Nope," George said, shaking his head and grinning.

"So you see," Fred continued, patting my hand, "as far as we're concerned…this feast is entirely in your honor."

I smiled and let out a quiet laugh as my cheeks flushed red. "I'm flattered."

"You should be," Fred whispered, smiling at me. "Happy Birthday, Lilah."

An eerie hush of anticipation had gone over the great hall for the third time that night. We had all enjoyed a wonderful Hallween feast that was probably better than all of the previous ones combined. And now we were in the middle of the champion selection.

The Beauxbatons and Durmstrang champions had just been chosen. The Beauxbatons champion had been called first—a girl named Fleur Delacour who definitely looked part veela. The Durmstrang champion was Viktor Krum, which didn't come as a surprise for some reason, despite the fact that I was sure the Goblet of Fire had no opinion of celebrities (or even knowledge of what that word meant). Viktor and Fleur had both been sent into a room off the great hall by Dumbledore, who was smiling braodly.

And now it was time for the Hogwarts champion to be chosen. I felt like I was going to throw up. This was it. I still couldn't decide if I wanted the twins' names to be called. I did and I didn't at the same time. I couldn't make up my mind. I just wanted it all to be over.

For the third time that night, the Goblet of Fire lit up, the glowing fames bursting out of the mouth of the goblet and shooting out a slip of paper. I was sitting backwards on the Gryffindor table's bench, my back against the table and my hands resting on the bench on either side of me. I gribbed the edge of the seat harder. So hard, my knuckles started to turn white.

And then I felt something touch my right hand along the length of my pinky, just barely. So lightly it might not have been anything at all. When I looked down, I saw that Fred had moved his hand so it was still resting on the bench like it had before, but it was now resting against mine. When I looked up at him, though, he was staring at Dumbledore, who had just caught the piece of paper from the Goblet and was looking at it.

I knew what had happened before Dumbledore opened his mouth. I knew because I saw his eyebrows come together. I saw him hesitate. I saw the look on his face. After a pause-long enough, I'm sure, to alert everyone else that something was up-Dumbledore raised his eyes and looked straight at the twins. "Fred and George Weasley," he called out, his voice flat, containing none of the excitement it had when it had read out Fleur and Krum's names.

The hall fell silent and I let out an involuntary squeak as I closed my eyes. Crap.

Murmurs started to rise again through the room as everyone began to express their confusion. How could two champions be chosen at once? How was that possible? Or fair? And how had two underage students gotten their names in after all?

"Fred?" George whispered, his eyes wide and still staring at Dumbledore instead of his brother.

"Yeah, George?" Fred asked,

"Did he say Fred and George Weasley?"

"I believe he did," Fred answered.

"But he has one slip of paper in his hand?" George continued.

"I believe he does," Fred said.

They both turned to look at me and I refused to look back. My heart was hammering in my chest and I was still trying to process the fact that they had actually been chosen. That was preoccupying my time too much at the moment. I couldn't bear to deal with their surprise on top of it.

"Fred and George Weasley," Dumbledore repeated, his eyes still firmly set on the twins. He wasn't backing down. A part of me had been hoping he would've laughed, said it was a wonderful joke, that the twins had really outdone themselves this time, and that they should stay put. But no, he was now pointing at the door that Fleur and Krum had disappeared into.

"Wait, he's serious?" Fred asked.

I nodded. "He's serious. Go. Don't draw it all out. Just go."

I expected the twins to simply get up and make their way across the room in almost a shocked stupor as they continued to try to process the fact that their plan had not only worked, but now they were competing together. But I don't know what I was thinking. I should have known better. Instead, they seemed to have taken all the time they needed for processing already. They broke into identical grins and high fived before letting out whoops of joy and jumping up from their seats. Most of the Gryffindors had seemed to stop caring about what had just happened and started cheering, just excited to have representation-double representation, actually-in the tournament. It didn't matter who it was anymore, as long as it was someone.

The twins started doing a victory run towards the door on the other side of the room, high fiving Gryffindors seated along the table as they went and getting them all worked up and excited. But the Gryffindors were the only ones who suddenly didn't seem to care about what had just happened. Every other house table was silent.

When the twins had finally disappeared and the Gryffindor table had fallen quiet again, Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Well, that concludes the selection ceremony," he said hurriedly. I could tell he was still trying to be polite and courteous for our guests, but he was also in a rush to head into the next room and sort everything out. "You may all proceed back to your dormitories-or whatever other living arrangements you may have." He nodded towards the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students. "The first task will fall on-" But he was suddenly cut off by the Goblet of Fire, which had lit up and started emitting fire again.

"Is it supposed to do that?" Lee hissed.

"I'm guessing no," I answered. "It's only done that so far if it was spitting out the name of a champion."

No sooner had I spoken when a piece of paper was flung out of the Goblet. It started fluttering back towards the ground and Dumbledore barely had time to catch it. I suspect he was as shocked as the rest of us. The tournament was supposed to have three champions. And as it was, because of me, we had four. And now there was another name coming out. What a mess.

Dumbledore stared down at the paper in his hands and this time, his expression was one of even more confusion than it had been when the twins' names had come out. This time, I could even see a hint of panic in there somewhere, which terrified me. Whose name could possibly be on that paper that would cause him to look that way? I shouldn't have worried, because I found out a second later when Dumbledore read it out loud.

"Harry Potter."

The hush that had gone over the crowd was the eeriest it had been all night. People were craning their necks to look at Harry, who I could see perfectly since he was sitting almost directly across from me. He had gone white as a sheet and he was gaping at Dumbledore.

"Harry Potter," Dumbledore said again, more firmly.

I wished he'd call the whole thing off right now. Clearly something weird was going on. We weren't supposed to have this many champions. And all the Hogwarts champions were underage. But I had absolutely nothing to do with Harry being chosen. Thankfully.

"Oh, for goodness sake, Harry, just go," Hermione hissed, pulling him to his feet and shoving him towards the door the other champions had gone through. Harry moved through the silent crowd as if he were in a fog. Unlike what had happened with Fred and George, nobody broke into cheers, not even the Gryffindors. I think we were all still in a state of shock. Everyone knew the twins wanted nothing more to put their names in and that they were going to attempt to do it. With them, nothing was impossible and they gave off a crazy air of confidence, which was probablly why everyone had gotten over their shock easily. But with Harry...no one had expected this at all.

After what seemed like hours, Harry finally reached the door to the next room. As soon as it had clicked shut behind him, Dumbledore gave the great hall a sweep with his eyes before politely dismissing us and turning to follow Harry. Madame Maxime and Karkaroff were right behind him. We were all silent until the door closed once again. And then people were in an uproar.

"He's a cheat!"

"They're all cheaters! They're not even seventeen!"

"We want a re-do!"

It was thanks to Professor McGonagall that the room quieted enough to manage to be dismissed in a somewhat orderlyl fashion from the room. I, however, mademy way twoards the door the twins had disappeared through. I didn't care what anyone said. I was going to wait right outside until they came out.

Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

I was outside the closed wooden door that separated me from the twins and I was pacing so hard that an indentation was going to appear in the floor any second. I couldn't believe this. This whole thing was ridiculous. I was starting to believe that having the Triwizard Tournament was the worst idea anyone had ever had.

After a few more minutes of pacing, the door opened and people started coming out. Madame Maxime was first, huffing past me in a whirl of her long dark colored robes. Flour followed her, graceful as ever. Karkaroff and Krum were next. Neither one of them looked at me either, but I couldn't help watch Krum as he walked by. It was odd to see him up close. There has always been a lot of hype surrounding him and now that he was a foot away, he just seemed oddly...normal to me. Maybe it was a result of me dating Oliver and knowing that no matter how famous he got, he was still Oliver Wood.

Finally, Dumbledore left the room with McGonagall, Snape, Moody and Barty Crouch. Dumbledore looked at me as he walked by and I could've sworn he was about to accuse me of putting in the twins names. Or maybe Harry's. Or all of their names. But he didn't. Instead, he just nodded at me and kept walking, the other adults right behind him.

And then, lastly, the twins and Harry came out together. Harry looked sickened, but the twins looked the opposite. They still looked exuberant, despite the fact that surely they had been put under some suspicion over the past thirty minutes. Believe it or not, I gathered from what I heard of their conversation with Harry as they exited the room that they were trying to get him excited about competing.

"It'll be great, Harry," Fred said. "We have three Hogwarts champions. Three! We have an even higher shot of winning this whole thing! A bigger advantage than the others!"

"But that's not exactly fair, as Madame Maxime and Karkaroff pointed out," Harry said. "And they're right. Besides, I'm fine with watching from the sidelines. I'd much rather someone else have this opportunity. Someone who wants it."

"Nonsense!" Fred exclaimed, clapping Harry on the shoulder. "Just you wait, Harry, this will be amazing. Now run on up to the common room. George, Lilah and I are going to get some party food." He glanced over at me and winked as I scowled.

"Really? You're so sure I want to do that with you?"

Fred ignored me, gently nudging Harry forward. "Go on," he said. "But don't tell anyone else how you managed to get your name in until George and I get back."

"I didn't put my name in," Harry said.

"Yeah, go with that until we get back and you can tell the whole story," George said with a wink.

Sighing glumly, Harry made his way past me, giving me a feeble smile in acknowledgement of the sympathetic one I was giving him. When he had left the room, I turned back to the twins and opened my mouth, preparing to start going off on a rant about everything that has happened, but Fred spoke first.

"Lilah Fitzgerald, you wonderful, genius human being." He broke into a grin and closed the distance between us, grabbing me around the waist, picking me up and spinning me around.

I didn't laugh or even smile, keeping my face stony as he set me down. "What'd they say? From what I've heard, I'm assuming you're all allowed to compete?"

"We have to," Fred said. "Dumbledore said that once the Goblet's made its decision, we have to go through with it. There's no turning back."

"Great, just great," I muttered darkly, crossing my arms and turning away.

"Aw, come on, Liles," Fred said playfully. "You did something good. At least in our book." He gestured to himself and George.

"Yeah, but your book isn't all that reliable," I said. There was a pause. "You two actually got chosen tonight."

"Yeah, so?" Fred asked with a grin. "That's what we wanted! And you knew there was a chance when you put our names in!"

"Yeah, but-"

"I can't believe you thought of putting our names in on one paper," Fred continued as he started walking towards the doors to the great hall, beginning our trek to, apparently, the kitchens.

"We didn't even think of that," George said. "Probably because we didn't even think it'd be allowed."

"When has that ever stopped you before?" I muttered half-bitterly as I began to follow them out of the room.

"Come on, lighten up," Fred said cheerfully. "No one suspects you."

"Dumbledore must have!" I cried.

The twins shook their heads. "Nope," Fred said. "Well, maybe at first, but George and I insisted we didn't ask anyone. We said we knew all our friends would flat out refuse, so why bother?" He grinned cheekily. "So, we saved your ass, really."

"Hardly," I muttered. "I'm sure Dumbledore is going to investigate further. He only dropped it now because he has a lot to deal with. Like Harry! Thats the biggest disaster of all! Who could have put his name in? At least you two know it was me. He has no idea."

"Lilah, Lilah, naive little Lilah," Fred sighed. "Everything in the world isn't like that. Just because Harry's underage and innocent looking doesn't mean he actually is or can't get his name in himself. Look at me and George for instance."

"He said he didn't do it!" I scowled. At this point, I was angrily half-jogging to keep up with the twins as they quickly made their way down to the kitchens. I couldn't believe how ridiculous they were being. Most of the Gryffindors were thrilled at this news. There were three Hogwarts champions and they were all from Gryffindor. Who cared if they were underage, right? Wrong. At least from my perspective as well as a lot of other students, who seemed to think that Fred, George and Harry were all cheaters. And maybe that was somewhat true in Fred and George's case, but I firmly believed Harry had nothing to do with putting his name in. To me, it seemed obvious that someone had set him up. Had I really been the only one to notice his expression when Dumbledore had read off his name?

"Can't you two see how ridiculous and odd this is?" I asked as we neared the kitchens. "And did you see the glare Ron was giving Harry? He's angry about something Harry didn't even do! And I don't think he's all that happy with you two either, come to think of it."

"He'll get over it," Fred said dismissively. "He'll come around and realize how great it all is."

"It is brilliant!" George added. "Harry managed to outsmart Dumbledore and this Goblet of Fire and he's only fourteen! He didn't even get a beard!"

"Firstly, let's not yell this out in the vicinity of the Hufflepuff dorms," I said, skidding to a halt behind the twins as they stopped in front of the painting of the bowl of fruit. "Secondly, I don't think Harry did this to himself."

"Who even cares who did it or how?" Fred said dismissively. "The point is that a Gryffindor has more chances of winning this!" He reached up and tickled the pear. It laughed and the painting swung open. Within seconds we had been surrounded by house elves. Fred and George gave them instructions about what they wanted, and then, just like that, the house elves had gone to prepare it.

"This isn't a competition between houses," I told them. "It's between schools." I paused. "If one of you three win, it'll be a Hogwarts victory, first and foremost. And, technically, the point of this isn't about competing. It's about getting to know witches and wizards from other countries and making bonds with them."

"Merlin, you sound like a textbook," Fred scoffed, sticking his hands in his pockets and casually staring around the room.

"Fred, please, can't you just take me seriously? I just don't think Harry put his own name in. I don't think he wants this attention."

"It'll be great, Lilah," Fred told me. "Harry's done lots of dangerous stuff before."

"Not in front of a panel of judges, he hasn't," I shot back. "Isn't that what you told Ron only yesterday? Merlin, Fred…what if this were Ron instead? Or Ginny?"

"I'd wonder how they did it and ask why they didn't share their secrets with me," Fred snorted.

"Be serious," I demanded, fighting the urge to reach forward, grab Fred's shirt and give him a good shake.

"Are Miss Lilah and Master Fred arguing?"

I looked down to see Rosie staring up at us wide eyed, Dobby standing just behind her with a few more house elves. They had all the food in their arms, ready to hand over. I hadn't even heard them return.

I smiled softly. "No, Rosie, not exactly. We just…we don't quite agree on something right now. But we're not fighting."

"Yet," Fred said. When I looked up at him, he held up his hands. "Kidding." He smiled down at Rosie. "Thanks for the food. We'll just be taking this back now. We're having a bit of a celebration, you see. George and I, along with our friend Harry, have been—"

"Oh for Merlin's sake," I cried, throwing my hands up and marching from the room in a huff.

"I know, I know," I heard Fred say from behind me. "She's hideous when she's irritated. Looks like some sort of sea monster."

"Shut up, Fred!" I leaned against the wall in a huff, waiting for them to leave the kitchens and catch up to me.

"Rosie doesn't know, Master Weasley," Rosie suddenly said. "Rosie thinks Miss Lilah is very pretty all the time."

I smiled at that, but the laughter that erupted from Fred and George seconds later was enough to make me scowl. "Gits," I called back before deciding not to wait after all. They could walk back without me for all I cared.

When I finally made my way upstairs to my dorm later, I saw Casper perched on my nightstand, a piece of parchment tied to his foot.

I slipped Casper a treat as I pulled the note free and unrolled it.

Lilah, it said, Happy Birthday. I know I haven't written as much as I should have and I'm sorry for that. But I don't want you to believe that I don't think about you constantly because I do. I hope you had an amazing day today and I want to hear all about who got picked as Triwizard champions when I next see you. The good thing about that is that we won't have to wait until Sunday. So if you'll ever so kindly step outside the common room, I'll be able to give you your gifts in person. Love, Oliver.

Grinning, I dropped the letter to my bed and dashed from the room. I squeezed through the crowd of people still celebrating Harry being picked as a champion and pushed open the portrait of the fat lady. Oliver was standing across the hallway leaning against the opposite wall. When he saw me, he broke into a smile.

"Oliver!" I practically squealed, running across the hallway to him. I flung myself into his arms and he spun me around once before setting me down and kissing me.

"Happy Birthday," he muttered, kissing me again.

I sighed. "Thanks. How did you manage to get here?"

"Wrote to McGonagall," Oliver whispered, peppering my shoulder with kisses. "She said she could connect her office fireplace to my flat's just for this one night since usually Hogwarts isn't connected to residential buildings. Security and all that."

I nodded. "That was nice of her. But..."

"But what?" Oliver asked, looking down at me.

"Aren't you busy?" I asked.

"Not at this hour," Oliver snorted. "Professional Quidditch isn't that demanding."

I sighed and ran one of my hands through his hair. "I miss you."

"I miss you too."

"When I'm out for the Christmas holidays can we do something? Go ice skating one night maybe? Or something. It doesn't matter. Whatever. I'm up for anything. I'm just going to need some time away from my house. Some time away to spend with you in particular."

Oliver hesitated. "I don't know. Maybe. But you're certainly welcome to come to my flat."

"Why can't we go out?" I asked.

"Media attention," Oliver answered. "You know that. And believe it or not...fans. They've started showing up for me as opposed to the team as a whole or specifically for my teammates."

"Yeah?" I asked. "Girls mostly?"

Oliver nodded and I smiled.

"Pretty?"

He shook his head. "Hideous. Every single one of them."

I laughed and leaned up to kiss him. "Maybe they'll back off if they know you have a girlfriend."

"No, I'm not telling anyone about you," Oliver said. "No reporters, no fans...At least not yet. I don't want them to ruin us or you. I want to protect you."

"By keeping me a secret?" I asked. "Oliver, you know I don't like that idea."

Oliver shrugged. "More like keeping your life as private as possible." He paused. "I really don't want to get into this argument again," he said. "I know you don't want to hide and I know you want to put us out there on our own terms before Sam can do anything. But it won't be on our own terms, no matter what. I'm just worried.

"I know," I whispered.

Oliver smiled and pulled away. He held up a bag that had been dangling from his wrist by the handle. "Happy Birthday," he said.

I took the bag and began digging through the tissue paper. "You didn't have to do this. You showing up here tonight is good enough."

"I know, I am quite an extraordinary gift," Oliver chuckled. "But I think you'll appreciate what's in that bag."

That definitely made me curious. I plunged my hand all the way inside until my fingers connected with something soft. Some kind of fabric. I retracted my arm and pulled out a shirt. At first it looked like a plain black fitted V-neck, but then I saw that there were words on the front.

"'My boyfriend is a Keeper'," I read, breaking into a smile. Underneath the words were two silver broomsticks, crossed at the handle.

"Do you like it?"

"This is great!" I laughed. "I thought you thought it was corny?"

"I do," Oliver said. "A little." He broke into a smile. "But I knew you'd find it funny, so I had a shirt specially made."

"You didn't have to do that," I said, shaking my head and gazing down at the shirt.

"I did," he replied. "What else are you going to wear to my next match against the Holyhead Harpies?"

"What?" I gasped, my head snapping up to look at him.

He reached into his back pocket and produced two tickets. "Best seats in the house for my next home game against the Holyhead Harpies. Two weeks from today. Got permission from McGonagall and Dumbledore for you and Julian to leave for the day. I figured you'd like to bring him along."

I stared at him. "I don't know what to say," I finally whispered.

"Just say thanks," Oliver laughed.

"I love you so much," I said, letting out a giggle as I shook my head in awe.

"That works just as well, if not better," he chuckled, pressing his lips to mine. Then, he pulled away. "Oh, there's one more thing." He began digging into his side pockets looking for something.

"Merlin, Oliver, you've got to stop this. You're kind of spoiling me a bit."

"So?" He asked. "Nothing wrong with that." He finally produced a small box, one that typically contained jewelry. "Here you are."

I took it from him as I stared silently at the black square box. I couldn't believe him. He was so thoughtful, but I didn't expect or feel it was even necessary for him to do all of this for me. I had meant it when I said his company was enough.

"Open it," Oliver prodded.

Gingerly, I pried open the lid. Inside sat a silver necklace with a circular pendant dangling from the chain. I didn't even know how to describe it, though. There were four rounded parts around the edges of the circle that looked like poorly made pretzels or loosely tied shoelaces. Each of these four pieces looked connected in the middle, looking like a knot that happened to tangle just perfectly and be forever captured in silver.

"I never knew tying four people's shoelaces together could be so gorgeous," I whispered, gingerly touching the necklace.

Oliver laughed. "It's a Celtic shield knot," he explained. "It's supposed to symbolize strength, bravery and protection, so I thought it was perfect. You may not see it, but you are very strong and brave."

"I haven't had much to be brave about," I said with a shrug. "It's not like Harry or even Grace or..."

"You've had plenty that you've been brave about," Oliver told me. "Your parents' divorce, practically raising yourself and your brother...even trying to give Sam a chance before he started bribing you. And even now, dealing with that, putting up with me and my crap. Me telling you to be quiet about it, even though you don't seem to see that it's better for you in the long run..." He grinned as I giggled. "You've been plenty brave."

"All that is nothing," I sighed.

"It's not and I wish you'd stop acting like it is," Oliver insisted. "Everyone has fears and worries and problems and sometimes it takes a lot to overcome them. You've done wonderfully overcoming all the stuff that life has handed you personally. So I think that makes you brave."

I smiled and looked back down at the necklace. "Well, thank you."

"And as for the protection bit that the shield is supposed to symbolize," Oliver continued, "I just don't want you to forget that while you're busy taking care of and protecting everyone else, it's okay to need someone to take care of and protect you, too."

I stared up at him, speechless, before letting out another quiet laugh. "Once again, I don't know what to say."

"Once again, just say thank you," Oliver laughed.

I smiled. "Thank you," I whispered. And then, without fully knowing what had come over me, I leaned forward and kissed him more forcefully than I ever had.

Oliver responded almost immediately. One hand gingerly cupped my cheek while the other found my waist. He slid his hand around to my back and pulled me closer to him. A second later, he was spinning me around and gently pushing me up against the wall. I kept the necklace box clasped tightly in my hand, but I wasn't sure what had happened to the shirt and the Quidditch tickets. Probably on the floor somewhere. I'd have to get them later. But right now all I cared about was Oliver.

I sighed as he continued to kiss me, not only on my lips, but all the way down my neck, to my shoulder and back up again.

"You're driving me crazy," I whispered as Oliver kissed the side of my neck, nipping at the skin slightly. I let out a whimper.

"Good," he murmured, his lips traveling back upwards towards my mouth, "because you're driving me crazy, too."

I let out a laugh as I pulled back and looked at Oliver's face. His pupils were dilated, his hair was messy and his lips were swollen. I expected I looked the same way, but I didn't care.

"Harry and the twins got chosen as champions," I blurted out breathlessly. I had no idea why I chose to say that now. I hadn't really meant to, but I think a part of me was desperate to find someone who didn't think either Harry was amazing for putting his own name in, or a cheater for putting his own name in. I needed someone to realize that either claim was absolutely insane.

"What?" Oliver asked. "How is that possible? I thought there was an age restriction. I thought only three champions total were allowed."

"You're right, but they got picked anyway."

"How?" Oliver asked. "Did someone else put their names in for them?"

I hesitated.

"Lilah," Oliver said warningly. "Come on, spill. What do you know?"

I swallowed. "I don't know what happened with Harry, but as for the twins...I did it. I put their names in."

Oliver's eyebrows shot up. "You what?"

I looked at him pleadingly. "Oliver, they asked me to do it. And at first I refused, but then they tried themselves anyway and they got beards and-" I stopped my rambling briefly enough to take a deep breath. "I just want to help them so badly. I want them to have enough money to open their shop so they can show everyone that they can do it. But maybe it was irrational to enter them in the tournament illegally, and I've been practically regretting it ever since. And now that they've been chosen..." I shook my head as I trailed off.

"It wasn't irrational to put their names in, Liles," Oliver said. "It was insane. You know that was illegal, don't you?"

"Yes!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up and taking a few steps away from him. When I looked up again and met his eyes, I could tell from his reaction that my emotions were plainly etched on my face. His expression had softened and he didn't look as upset anymore. "I'm scared, " I whispered.

Oliver sighed. "Oh, Liles," he said, taking a step towards me and gingerly pulling me into a hug. "I know you were just trying to help, because that's what you do. But putting the twins' names in just wasn't a good idea. The tournament is dangerous. I'm not going to lie to you. And I can't predict the future, so I don't know what the outcome will be. But I do know that the twins are a lot smarter than everyone gives them credit for. You know that too, so all we can do now is hope for the best, I suppose."

I nodded against his chest. "And what about Harry? I actually think we all really need to be worried about him. He looked freaked out beyond belief. If you'd only seen his face...you can't fake that. And he says he didn't put his own name in. But no one believes him. No one believes that Harry wouldn't—and didn't—do this to himself."

"I do," Oliver said quietly. "If Harry said he didn't put his name in, then I believe him."

I nodded before breaking into a smile. "Good answer."

Oliver laughed and leaned forward to kiss my forehead. "I should be getting back," he admitted with a sigh.

I sighed. "Okay. Don't miss me too much." I smiled and looked up at him playfully.

Oliver leaned down to kiss me. "Only if you don't miss me too much."

"Can't you just come back to Hogwarts?" I teased.

Oliver shook his head vigorously. "No way. No matter how much I miss you, I'm kind of glad to be done with school. Sure, there are things I miss about this place, but I certainly don't miss the homework or the exams."

"What do you miss most?" I asked coyly, batting my eyelashes at him as I began playing with the collar of his shirt.

Oliver smiled before leaning in to kiss me. "You," he muttered against my lips.

I giggled. "I was hoping you'd say that."

Oliver laughed. "I really have to go," he said. "Or else McGonagall is going to come looking for me herself to shoo me back into her fireplace."

I groaned and rested my head against his chest. "No," I whispered.

Gently, Oliver pulled away, kissing my forehead as he did so. "I'm sure that if Fred and George got their way, there's a huge party going on in the common room right now. You should go join it."

"I'm not really in the mood," I sighed. "I'm not as thrilled about all of this as everyone else seems to be."

"Yeah, but it's not right to turn down a party," Oliver said. "Free food, free drinks..." He smiled and shrugged.

"Yeah, maybe that's important to you," I giggled.

Oliver smiled. "Go celebrate," he said quietly. "At this point, everything is out of your hands, so you might as well try to relax. What's done is done and if we're lucky, we could come out of this with a Hogwarts champion. And a Gryffindor, no less." He leaned forward and gave me a quick kiss on the forehead. "I'll see you Sunday."

I nodded and kissed him goodbye one last time before bending down and gathering up the fallen Quidditch tickets and shirt. Then, I headed for the portrait hole, where I gave the password and paused in the doorway, turning to look at Oliver one last time. "Bye," I whispered with a smile.

"Bye," he answered. "I love you."

"I love you too," I smiled. I gave him one last wave before finally stepping back inside the common room and letting the fat lady's portrait swing shut behind me.

"So, Lilah, George and I never got to ask you a very important question," Fred said.

It was the first of November, the day after my birthday and the champion selection. The champions were supposed to go to a wand weighing ceremony later on, so the twins and I were passing the time until then with a walk down to the lake.

"You mean how my birthday was?" I asked. "Pretty good, thanks." I smiled cheekily at them.

Fred chuckled. "Well, yeah, there's that, but there's also something else."

"Yes?" I asked.

"We were wondering," George began.

"About your little reunion with Oliver," Fred finished. "You looked happy when you came back into the common room."

"Well, yeah, of course I was," I answered with a laugh as we made ourselves comfortable under a tree by the shimmering water. "My boyfriend surprised me by showing up here at school and he showered me with many very thoughtful gifts." I sighed dramatically and batted my eyelashes. "He's just so chivalrous. You two should take notes."

George laughed as Fred looked at me seriously. "He's been okay, then?" he asked. "He hasn't been neglecting you or anything since he's been out of school and playing professional Quidditch?"

I was quiet. "No," I finally said. "He hasn't neglected me. We see each other once a week and he came for my birthday, didn't he? He didn't have to do that."

"Hey, you were the one who thought he was going to forget," Fred said, holding up his hands.

"But he didn't," I argued.

"Julian said Oliver didn't come over all summer and he was really hoping he would so he could show off his new broom from Sam," Fred said. "I think he was hoping Oliver would be able to give him a few tips."

I scoffed. "I don't want Oliver anywhere near Sam." I paused. "Although, you could always give Julian some tips. You two have been the ones who have played with him at the Burrow all these years. You and Charlie before he left for Romania."

"True," Fred said with a grin.

"How's your mother?" I asked sympathetically. Upon hearing the news about the twins, Mrs. Weasley had naturally been quite concerned. She had written to both the twins and Dumbledore constantly, trying to figure out what had happened and how to stop it. She had even sesnt the twins a Howler, berating them for doing something so completely idiotic. I had sunk as far down in my seat as I could, feeling as if she were actually yeling at me, seeing as it was my fault. The twins however, had simply smiled and dusted the shredded remains of the Howler off the table when it was finished. As for Dumbledore, he had grimly told Mrs. Weasley that once a champion was picked, they had to compete. Those were the rules. And the twins, in an attempt to save my neck, had told their mother that they had managed to fool the Age Line and get their names in. I don't think she believed it. In fact, I knew she didn't believe it. It was only a matter of time before she found out it was me probably.

"She's still determined to figure out how George and I managed to enter," Fred shrugged. "But don't worry. She won't find out it was you. If she comes to the conclusion that an older student did it for us, we'll tell her it's someone she doesn't know. Don't worry, Liles." He glanced at me. "We've got you covered."

I sighed, not totally convinced, as Fred picked up a pebble and skipped it out across the lake. "I heard a reporter and a photographer are going to be at the wand weighing ceremony today," he said.

I smirked. "Aw, Freddie, you're nervous?" I picked up a pebble and tried to skip it over the water like Fred had, but it just plunked down once and sunk to the bottom as if I simply dropped it there. I made a face and Fred chuckled.

"You've never been able to do that," he said, tossing another pebble across the water where it bounced one, two, three, four times across the shimmering surface. "Anyway, no, I'm not nervous. Kind of excited, really."

"Figured you would be," I said. "This is all kind of, well-you're just-you're in your element in a way, I suppose."

Before Fred could answer, I happened to glance over towards the castle's front doors and gasped when I saw who was walking out of them.

"Lilah?" George asked. "Lie, what's wrong?"

"I don't believe this," I said. "Sam's here."

"What?" the twins asked, turning to see where I was looking. I pointed anyway, towards Sam, who was walking across the lawn now. He had his camera and was nodding at something the woman he was walking with was saying. The woman had blonde hair, perfectly twisted in some kind of updo. She had on red-framed glasses, and clutched a matching red handbag that also matched her red shoes.

"That must be the reporter," I said. "Sam's carrying his camera, which means he must be here photographing the champions." I ducked my head as he glanced our way. "Don't let him see me."

"Really, Lilah?" Fred asked with a roll of his eyes.

"He's going to try and keep an eye on me," I muttered.

"What's that?" Fred asked.

I was quiet. "Nothing, forget it," I said hurriedly, grabbing my bag and standing up. "I'm going to head back. Lots of studying to do. I'll see you guys at dinner later."

And with that, I slung my bag over my shoulder and hurried back towards the castle before Sam would have time to notice me. Part of me wondered whether he really was here on an assigment or if he had come here trying to make sure I really did keep my toes in line. Well, too bad for him, I was doing just fine and he wasn't going to find anything bad to write about me. Not if I could help it. I avoided him at home, so I could surely avoid him just as well, if not better, here at Hogwarts.

About a week later, the article on the tournament appeared in the paper. It was written by a woman named Rita Skeeter, who I assumed was the woman I had seen with Sam the previous week.

And actually, the article was more about Harry being chosen as champion than anything else. It didn't help his case at all. In fact, it only made everyone who had been irritated at him become even more irritated.

The moment I read the article, I got an immediate sense of the kind of person Rita was. She was anything but truthful, that was for sure. You could just tell she embellished. And then the way she squeezed in Fleur and Krum's names in the last sentence (and even misspelled them)! Fred and George weren't mentioned at all which made them mad at first. After that, they took to poking fun at the article and all was well. With them anyway.

I didn't like that Rita Skeeter was not only making up lies but drawing attention to the fact that three underage wizards had made it into the tournament, and two of them had been chosen because of me. I wanted it to all die down, even though I was fully aware that it would be impossible. And to make things worse, Sam was associating himself with this woman. Figured. She'd probably gladly write rubbish article after rubbish article about me if he asked her. He probably wanted me to realize this, too, in order to scare me. Well, I wasn't scared. I didn't think I had much to worry about. Besides the times I snuck down to the kitchens with Fred and George, I supposed. Or when we snuck down to Honeydukes. Or when we pulled pranks on Slytherins or Filch or Mrs. Norris. Or when I illegally put their names in the Goblet of Fire.

This was going to be difficult. I was fairly certain the twins wouldn't rat me out to Sam, but I was definitely worried. Also, I was going to have to make sure Sam never saw me out after hours with the twins. Or I'd just have to stay in the common room all the time, which I didn't want to do. I loved spending time with Fred and George. Besides, if I stopped spending time with them, they'd start asking questions and I didn't know if I wanted to or even should tell them about what Sam was doing. The good thing, though, was that he'd really only be here during the tasks. He wasn't staying at Hogwarts or anything. I'd heard he and Rita were staying in Hogsmeade, which still wasn't ideal, but at least it meant he wouldn't be in the castle all the time.

"Listen to this," Fred said now as he held the paper up in front of his face. It was breakfast and the mail had just arrived about fifteen minutes ago. "'I suppose I get my strength from my parents'," he read. "'I know they'd be very proud of me if they could see me now. Yes, sometimes at night I still cry about them, I'm not ashamed to admit it. I know nothing during the tournament will hurt me because they'll be watching over me'." He set the paper down with a loud laugh. "Oh Merlin, that's ridiculous."

"It's not funny, Fred," I told him, scowling at the paper.

"You know this isn't true, right?" Fred asked, still laughing. "Harry doesn't really cry over his parents every night. You don't need to go sit with him and make sure he's okay and take him under your wing or anything."

I glared at him. "Of course I know it's not true! It's entirely fabricated and only talks about Harry! She's only making people hate him more."

"Rubbish, everyone knows this isn't real," Fred scoffed. "You'd have to be an idiot to not see that. I mean, come on, 'I know nothing during the tournament will hurt me because they'll be watching over me'? Harry would never say something like that."

"I know that just as much as you know that and the people who know Harry know that. But people who don't know Harry well don't know that. And everyone is going to eat it all up because they're upset that Harry got chosen when he wasn't supposed to."

"We were too," George said, "And I don't see an article about us."

"It's because we aren't famous, Georgie," Fred sighed.

"Yet," George added, sticking a piece of bacon in his mouth.

Fred smiled before switching the subject back to the article. "What'd you think about the bit where she brought Granger into things?"

George laughed into his cereal. "The only thing that made it better was how livid Granger was about it."

Fred cleared his throat dramatically before he picked up the newspaper and resumed reading. "'Harry has at last found love at Hogwarts. His close friend, Colin Creevey, says that Harry is rarely seen out of the company of one Hermione Granger, a stunningly pretty Muggle-born girl, who, like Harry, is one of the top students in the school'." Fred chuckled again and set the paper down. "Wow, that's…something."

I rolled my eyes. "It's really not funny, Fred. She fabricated all that stuff about them. How do you think they feel?"

"No one really thinks they're dating. We all see them every day. Harry and Hermione are about as in love with each other as Snape is with me and George. It's obvious."

"Well, it's clearly not obvious to these same people that Harry didn't put his own name in!" I exclaimed. "Have you seen how awkward and uncomfortable this whole thing has made him?"

"How could a tournament like this make anyone awkward and uncomfortable?" Fred asked with a snort. "Honestly, Lie, it's entirely possible that Harry did this himself or that he asked an older student to do it for him. That's what George and I did and it worked, didn't it?"

"Yes, but who would he ask? It's not like Harry has many close friends over seventeen."

Fred shrugged. "Who cares? Lilah, what's done is done. Harry's competing. George and I are competing. Why don't you just...sit back and watch the show?"

Letting out a huff of frustration, I stood up. "I don't understand why you can't grasp that this is weird! If you'd just grow up for a moment, you'd see that this tournament isn't just about the adrenaline and the eternal glory!"

"Merlin, Lilah, stop sucking the fun out of everything," Fred sighed, resting his chin on his hand.

I sighed. "Oh, honestly." With that, I sighed and marched out of the room.

A/N: I realize this may be one of my longest chapters yet, but a lot goes on. Hopefully everyone likes it. I realize I've done something very, very different with this chapter and I'm still a bit nervous about it, but I'm also excited. I hope everyone else is too!