Natalia smiled, seeing Fred and George standing alone and suspicious in the hallway. "You two... you ok?"
They grinned, pointing around the corner where Filch was chowing down on a box of sweets that were obviously from their skiving snack box range. She wondered when they'd perfected them, and realised they hadn't spoken much at all over the months they'd been at school.
"What-"
"Can you keep a secret?" Fred grinned wickedly.
Natalia laughed quietly. "Of course."
"We're part of a secret Defence against the dark arts club. Harry Potter teaches."
Natalia stopped and stared at them. "You're serious?"
"You should join, Natalia."
"Yeah, get your wand work up to scratch."
Nat stuck her tongue out at them, shaking her head, "if Harry Potter is teaching, he won't want any Slytherins in his secret club. Especially not ones who used to be close to his arch-nemesis Draco Malfoy."
The twins exchanged amused glances before shrugging, going back to what Natalia could only assume was the Room of Requirement. Clever, using it as a classroom. Nat could tell it wasn't completely Potter's idea, probably Granger's. She always was too clever for her own good.
Natalia backed away, turning around.
Now her mind was on the twins, she couldn't get them out of her head. Well, George, specifically.
Maybe he was losing interest in her - if he was ever even interested in her in the first place.
Maybe it was just her wondering if she'd spent too much of the year worrying about what could happen-
Even if she knew it would. There was no way it couldn't.
**
"Nat."
She turned, stepping back from the edge of the stairs in the owlery. "Georgie."
He smiled, "you're scaring me this year."
Natalia grinned wickedly. "Good."
George sighed, looking down, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I told Hermione you wanted to join the DA."
Natalia flinched backwards, making George suck in a breath sharply, reaching out momentarily. "You told-"
"Yeah. Privately. I told her you wanted to join and had reservations because you're Slytherin."
Natalia held back a laugh.
"She said as long as you sign the paper, you're ok. She said she would be accepting, even if you turned up as... not you." George smiled, but she could see the worry in his eyes, so she stepped further back from the edge.
"So... transfiguration? It takes a lot of concentration from me to keep it going."
"I know a few spells that will hold with no concentration. It's-"
"You're really invested in getting me into this... what's it called?"
"Dumbledore's Army. The DA for short."
Nat laughed, "that's impressive. I will go to one, sign her obviously cursed contract, and if it works out, I'll see about it permanently. Does that make you happy?" She leaned on the bannister, making George close his eyes for a moment with worry. It sort of amused her to see him like this. No one had ever reacted like this with her before, even that time she stood on the roof of the Manor. Draco just tempted her back down with hazelnuts, annoyed at the fact she was stargazing. (She was just curious as to why people in the novels found it romantic. She didn't find an answer.)
George nodded. "Please-"
"Ok." Natalia pushed herself off, walking forwards until she was directly in front of him, a few steps higher so she was at eye level. "This more comfortable for you?"
He smirked, taking one step up towards her, "well if you like living on the edge so much you'd step closer."
She faltered, not sure if he was just toying with her emotions again. Daring herself, she stepped closer, looking up at him. She smirked when his dropped off his face, evidently surprised she'd taken him up on the offer. "Is this close enough?" She whispered.
Natalia could feel his breath on her face, his body heat-
She was tempted, she'd admit, but there was no way she'd take that step, not when she wasn't sure what he wanted from her. They were dancing around the subject, never addressing it, stepping too close, seeing who would burn first.
"It's like Schrodinger's Cat," her father had laughed when she'd confided in him. "Neither of you know if the fire's there, and you won't until you step too close. So until you do, the fire both exists and doesn't exist."
But Natalia was convinced - well, nearly convinced - that the fire existed. And she refused to be the one who got burned.