The First Task was approaching. Harry was in a state of quiet panic. One morning he got up early to mail a letter to Sirius, hoping that no one would be in the Owlery this early.

His luck was out. As he approached the door, he heard voices inside and swore silently. Recognizing the voice, however, he stopped in the doorway and listened, neither girl noticing him.

"He's terrified," Renna said, clasping her knees to her chest and rocking slightly. "He has no idea what's going on, and the attitudes of the students aren't helping."

"Do you think he put his name in the Goblet of Fire?" asked Cho Chang quietly.

"No, I don't," Renna said firmly. "You should have seen his face when Dumbledore read his name. He had no idea it was coming. He's never, ever wanted glory. He's just a confused kid. The entire wizarding world worships him for something he can't remember, he's had traumatic experiences every single year at the school, and now someone hoodwinked a powerful magical object to get him into a tournament where people have died more than once. Someone has him on a death list."

"Sounds like you know a lot about him," Cho teased. "Do you like him?"

"No! He's my best friend. He was the first person I met from this school, and I understand him really well. We're friends, that's all. I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize our friendship."

"Thanks, Renna," Harry said, and both the girls jumped to their feet, startled and embarrassed.

"Harry!" Renna said. "What- how much did you hear?"

"A lot," Harry said, shrugging. There didn't seem to be any point in lying. He walked into the room and over to them. "I'd like to hear Cho's opinion, though. Do you think I put my name in the Goblet?"

Cho lowered her eyes and shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, how else could it have gotten there? But why would you volunteer for something where you could die? Renna's points make a lot of sense. So I don't know."

"Thanks," was all Harry said, though inside he was singing. Cho didn't think he was an arrogant prat!

"Well, I guess I'd better get going," Cho said, smiling at both of them. "See you later." She left.

Harry, reminded of why he came in here, looked around for an owl, and Hedwig flew down to have the letter attached to her leg. "Who are you writing to?" Renna asked, trying to see the address.

"My godfather," Harry said, covering the name so she couldn't see it.

"I didn't know you had a godfather," Renna said. "I thought you didn't have any relatives."

"He's my only one," Harry said shortly. "I didn't even know about him until the end of last year."

"Aw, that must suck," Renna said sympathetically. "But hey, at least you have a family member. I'm adopted and have no idea who my real parents are. My adopted parents say that they lived in England, so I don't know if that means they moved or are dead."

Harry smiled mirthlessly. "Welcome to the club. But I know what happened to my parents, at least. But don't you like it with your family?"

"Yeah, they're great," Renna said, staring out the window. "They are my real parents. They've raised me since I was a baby, and I'm not even sure if they know who my parents are. They've never mentioned it to me, no matter how much I bugged them. And Mark, even though he's older than me, plays Quidditch and messes around with me. He graduated last year, though." She grinned at him. "I'm sure you're enjoying hearing me pour out my life story to you."

Harry shrugged. "It actually doesn't matter; I get to know more about you."

Renna grinned again, and then sobered. "Are you okay with this whole fourth champion thing? Because if you aren't, you can probably get Dumbledore to get you out of it."

Harry shrugged again, stroking Hedwig before she flew out the window to deliver his letter. "Somebody obviously wants me to do this really badly. I figure, why not find out what they want? Besides, Crouch says that I can't back out no matter what."

"But you're scared," Renna said softly, and Harry looked out the window to avoid her gaze. "I can tell, Harry. You're scared witless that you're going to die, you're going to screw up, you're never going to get Ron's friendship back. You're scared all the time."

"How do you know that?" Harry said, jerking his head around and staring at her with wide eyes.

Renna frowned, startled. "I'm not sure," she said, surprised. "I dunno, I kind of feel that someone's terrified in my head, and I have these weird...never mind. It just makes sense that you'd be terrified, doesn't it?"

"But how do you know all that stuff about Ron?" Harry said, intrigued.

Renna shook her head, at a loss. "I have no idea."

It was time for the First Task. Renna and Hermione had grilled him unmercifully in the Summoning Charm, and now he just hoped he wouldn't entirely lose it when he was confronted with his dragon. God. I will, I just know it.

"Don't think that you'll screw up," Renna said sharply. "If you do, then you will. It's that simple."

"Yet again, you seem to know what I was thinking," Harry said as they sat down at the Gryffindor table for lunch.

Renna, ignoring this, said, "Try to eat something." She glared at him until he took a bite of shepherd's pie, but his stomach didn't seem to be cooperating with his efforts. Still, he ate a little more, just to make his friends happy.

And then McGonagall was hurrying over to him in the Great Hall. Lots of people were watching. "Potter, the champions have to come down onto the grounds now... You have to get ready for your first task."

"Okay," said Harry, standing up, his fork falling onto his plate with a clatter.

"Good luck, Harry," Hermione whispered. "You'll be fine!"

"Yeah," Harry said.

He didn't feel much like paying attention as his Head of House led him out onto the grounds. He knew what was going to happen; he was going to do the best he could, and that was all.

The Hungarian Horntail. That so figured. Of course he got the most vicious one; he hadn't thought it would be easy, had he?

So, now he was facing his dragon. With just a little stick of wood to help him. Okay, Harry. Concentrate. "Accio Firebolt!"

And a few seconds later he heard it zooming toward him. He turned and there it was. It screeched to a halt and he clambered on, kicking off from the ground.

It felt wonderful to be in the air again. He rose up, and up, and up, the wind whipping his face. This was where he belonged. He looked down and the people in the stands were just flesh-colored pricks, the Horntail was the size of a dog, and it was just another Quidditch game; just another opposing team.

"Okay," he said quietly. "Diversionary tactics...let's go..." he dived; the Horntail's head followed him, and he pulled out of the dive as she loosed a jet of fire where he had been. Dodging a bludger; that was all.

He climbed again, and then dived as she loosed another stream of fire at him.

"Harry, DUCK!"

He followed the odd advice, ducking and swerving sideways slightly. A second later he felt a burning sensation as the Horntail's tail ripped through the shoulder of his robes and scored a gash down his arm. It was bleeding, but adrenaline prevented Harry from feeling much. He ignored it; as long as he didn't pass out from blood loss, he would leave it as it was. He really needed that egg.

He climbed again. Get her off the eggs.

Only a little more teasing and taunting, and she reared, revealing that coveted egg. He dived...

It felt as if he had just won a Quidditch game, and sounded like it too. He landed; the stands were in an uproar. Apparently he had gotten his egg quickest. Professor McGonagall was beaming as she ran toward him, along with Professor Moody and Hagrid. "That was excellent, Potter!" She cried.

"Thanks, professor," Harry said. He was feeling the oddest things in his head; feelings of happiness and relief and, while he definitely felt that way, it did not feel like his own emotions. It was rather distracting.

He began to head toward the first-aid tent when three people behind him called out, "Harry!"

He turned; Renna, Hermione, and Ron were hurrying toward him across the grass, and as she saw him turn Renna broke into a full-out run. She slammed into him, laughing and crying at the same time. Harry hugged her back, wishing that whatever was happening in his head would stop. The feelings were stronger now, and he could hear voices…well, a voice. "Oh my god, I was so worried but he's fine and I'm hugging him and he only got a cut. Oh, I should get off of him I'm probably making it hurt more but he'd better not leave me again I was so scared!"

Harry was even more confused now. The only person hugging him was Renna, and she was making his arm hurt more, not to mention that it wasn't very comfortable sitting on the slightly damp ground. She'd knocked him over, and now she was on top of him. Was he hearing Renna's mind? Was that even possible? Maybe she could hear him. He concentrated.

"Renna? Is it just me or can I hear your mind? My arm really does hurt…" This last thought was carried with an overtone of pain, and he hadn't meant her to hear it. If she could even hear him…

"Oh you silly boy! Of course I can hear you and I'm so sorry about your arm! I screamed at you to duck, did you hear me? You followed my advice."

"I heard you inside my head. What is this? I get the feeling that it isn't exactly normal."

"Of course it's not normal. I think we should go to professor Dumbledore and tell him what's going on."

Harry smiled weakly as she finally got off him. "Sounds like a good idea. Either we're getting better or something else is happening…I can't hear nearly as many of her underlying thoughts any more."

She grinned at him. "But I heard that. I guess you're just not as good as I am."

Hermione, who had caught up with them, looked at them uncomprehendingly. "What are you talking about?"

Renna looked at her as if just remembering her and Ron. "Oh! We have to go see professor Dumbledore. You guys should probably come too. You'll want to know about this." She grabbed Hermione's arm and dragged her off toward the castle, leaving the two boys to figure out their apologies on their own.

"Why'd you do that?" Hermione hissed. "They'll probably tear each other apart!"

Renna grinned. "Oh no they won't. Unless I'm very much mistaken, Ron came with you to apologize to Harry. Now they can muddle through it on their own." Seeing Hermione's disbelieving look, Renna said, "They have to do it themselves, or they'll never truly trust each other again. Trust me, Hermione. Now, I need your opinion on something. Harry and I have to go and see the Headmaster because apparently we now have this new power to speak in each other's heads. Kind of like telepathy, but I'm not sure if it is or not."

Hermione's eyes lit up, and Renna silently patted herself on the back for giving her best friend the perfect thing to research. "Telepathy? That sounds a little like Legilimency, but that's simply breaking into someone else's mind. Hmm…when did you first hear Harry? It might go away in time, could be just a stress symptom…"

Sighing, Renna smiled and half-tuned Hermione out as they entered the castle, heading for the elusive Headmaster's office.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Somehow I don't think professor Dumbledore was lying, Renna," Harry said, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Renna gave him a look. "Don't tell me you're not surprised by this! We just found out that we're related! Not only related, but we're twins! And apparently, through some quirk of nature, we can speak inside each other's minds! You just went from having no family to having a twin sister in five minutes flat, and you're not even acting surprised!"

Harry shrugged slightly. "I just fought my way past a Hungarian Horntail. My adrenaline reserves are exhausted. When I'm rested and thought about it, then yes, I will be just as -if not more- freaked out as you are." He grimaced slightly as the shrug caused his sleeve to stretch, pulling the part that was attached to his cut. Looking down, Harry noticed for the first time that his sleeve had gotten stuck to his wound and the blood had dried over it, attaching it firmly to the lacerated area. He looked at it for a moment, then said belatedly, "Ouch."

"You should really go see Madame Pomfrey, Harry," Hermione advised. "That needs to be taken care of."

"And you!" Renna was clearly not done with her rant. "Your best friend now has a sister! You're not surprised, or happy, or anything besides practical! Am I the only one who realizes what this means?!"

Hermione, not looking up from her inspection of Harry's arm, said quietly, "It means that another member is going to be added to the Potter family tree."

"Ack!" Renna said, throwing her hands up in the air. Then she stopped, interested. "There's a Potter family tree?"

Hermione shrugged. "Probably. But it's most likely shut up in Potter Manor, and who knows where that is."

"Potter Manor?" Harry asked.

"Tell you more about it later, Harry, but you really need to get to the hospital wing now. It's started bleeding again."

"Oh my god!" Renna said, smacking her forehead. "I don't know why I didn't think of this before!" She whipped out her wand, muttered, "Finite sangre," and ran her wand down the cut. Slowly, the bleeding stopped and the flesh knit together, leaving the skin slightly raised in a scar. Carefully, Harry flexed his arm, and then grinned. It felt completely normal.

Renna sighed, contemplating her work with a frown. "If you want the scar to go away, I would suggest going to see Madame Pomfrey, but it's all fixed now. If I knew the spell better, I could get rid of it, but I've never practiced it on anyone before."

"Where'd you learn that spell, Renna?" Hermione asked, sounding a bit miffed. "I've never heard it before, but doesn't it mean stop blood?"

Renna nodded, a slightly sheepish look on her face. "You know how I want to become a Healer, right? Well, my collection of books on Healing is huge. I've read most of them and know most of the spells and potions, but I've rarely been able to practice them on anything."

"Really?" Hermione breathed, eyes wide. "Can I read them?"

Ron laughed. "You've given her two things to research in the space of an hour, Renna. You're going to be answering a lot of questions in the near future."

Renna paused before the portrait hole. "Anyone care to bet on the noise level when we open the door?"

Her three friends shook their heads. Renna grinned and said the password, and the Fat Lady swung open to release a torrent of noise, everyone cheering as Harry entered, his friends following close behind. Even though none of them felt like partying, they were unable to get away for a long time.

Their chance came when Harry opened the egg. As the wild screeching filled the air, everyone flinched and covered their ears. "Shut it!" Bellowed Lee Jordan, hands clamped tightly over his throbbing ears.

Blessed silence fell, and everyone slowly lowered their hands. "But that's mermaid song!" Renna blurted out into the silence, eyes wide.

Everyone in the common room turned to look at her. She blushed. "It's what?" Lee said, summing up everyone's feelings into that one question.

"Um," Renna said, "It's mermaid song. I recognized it because mermaids swim in the English Channel all the time, and sometimes they would sing, and it sounded just like that."

She looked increasingly uncomfortable as the entire Gryffindor House continued to stare at her. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. "Never mind."

As the party resumed, the four friends escaped and quickly headed up into their dorms. Not a single one stayed awake for longer than it took them to get into bed.

YAY! I liked this chapter so much. I kind of glossed over the part with the Hungarian Horntail, because obviously if you've read the book OR seen the movie you know what happens... Although in this story I'm following the book, not the movie. Um. Yeah. They're so much better.

Sorry. I really like to read, and faithfully follow the credo that the book is always better than the movie. Although I might make an exception with the Lord of the Rings, only because the movies are a lot easier to understand.

You know the drill, everyone! Reviews make writers happy!