Joke's on Me | George Weasley | Book 1

chapter 18 - just a bit of fun

Natalia had come to the conclusion that Narcissa was trying to protect her as much as possible from the wrath of her mother, with everything from the letter, and was definitely the reason Daphne was staying with them. If Natalia were left alone with her for an extended period of time, only one of them would come out of it intact, and Narcissa definitely knew this. 

Draco had read the letter and destroyed it, but it had already been burned into Natalia's mind. "Focus on your OWL exams, Natalia." He said, and she was trying, but every so often someone would put the wrong emphasis on her name and she was taken right back to the letter, and the process of trying to focus and forget the inevitable fall-out with her mother started all over again. 

Nat couldn't become a Death Eater. She didn't stand by their beliefs or morals, she thought for herself, there was no way she was giving away that control to Voldemort. 
Although- while she argued that point she was always reminded of how she definitely didn't have a choice when the war came. 
Draco said she was trying to convince herself. Natalia thought he was making stuff up.

"Miss White!" Snape slammed a book in front of her, making her snap back to reality. "Is there something wrong?"

"Um, n-no, professor." She stammered, trying to shake her mind back to the potions lesson they were currently in. 

"Then why have you not done anything I have instructed you to do?" 

Natalia clenched her jaw, getting on with the essays on the board. It wasn't particularly difficult for her to write an essay on a potion's effects and uses, seeing as it was one of her better classes. She would admit she was becoming more and more stressed about her OWL exams, and it was taking its toll on what little sleep she could get.

They finished, handing in their essays, and Natalia sighed as she realised she had charms homework to complete. Maybe she could beg George to help her if she could find him. 

"Nat, seriously, where is your head?" Lily fell into step with her, giggling a little.

Nat grimaced, "on that charms homework we have for tomorrow."

"Ah."

"Well well well." 

"If it isn't Natalia White."

Lily frowned in confusion before they turned and saw the Weasley twins walking towards them. "Do you two always announce your presence to her like that?"

"Well, how would you like us to announce it?" Fred grinned at her. 

George laughed, "it's not like we have a theme tune to follow us everywhere."

Natalia rolled her eyes, regretting teasing them about that now. "Well, I don't know, the usual bangs and banshee-like screams from Umbridge work well enough as a theme tune. What can I do for you troublemakers?" 

Lily looked at Natalia as though she'd lost her head, making her remember Lily never knew of her agreement with the Weasley twins - or even that it had become more than that with George. "Nat we gotta go study."

"You can go study, seriously, I'll be fine. I'd rather take the detention than do that damn charms homework anyway." Nat grinned, and Lily looked as though she didn't trust Nat. 

"No. If you're going to get in trouble for something dumb I'm coming with."

"Lily-"

Lily smiled sweetly, "Natalia, you should know by now that I don't do what people tell me. So shush, let's do whatever we're going to do and worry about it all later."

George shrugged at Fred who looked a little impressed, before launching into their latest ideas about how to piss of Umbridge, and now that Dumbledore was gone they could pretty much do anything without fear of significant consequences. 

"That's not even remotely how that works but I see your line of thinking," Lily interjected, making the twins exchange glances. 

"Oh, so that's not actually your thinking, got it," Natalia muttered to George who simply smirked at her. "Whatever, I'm in. I feel like letting off steam having things fly around her office. Where do we start."

Lily looked at Natalia in wonder. "So- so this is what you do when no one can find you?" 

She looked at the twins who shrugged. "Pretty much, yeah."

"No wonder you get detention so often. I'm surprised no one's started the rumours about any of you dating yet."

George turned around, quickly leading down the corridor, Natalia following, nearly choking on her own breath, though they had to stop and wait for Fred to finish laughing before they could actually go anywhere.

"What?"Lily asked, frowning.

Natalia smiled, trying to seem innocent. "We're just a little insulted you thought we weren't incredible at avoiding everyone. I mean really, us three? working together? McGonagall nearly fainted when she found out."

Lily silently thought McGonagall was right to be shocked and somewhat suspicious of the three of them; it wasn't a natural alliance, or even one that really made sense, but she supposed that in the middle of everything going crazy, Natalia had probably just wanted a bit of fun, and not at her own expense as it usually was with the twins.