when the blood runs again (Natalia)

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Andy still wasn’t comfortable with being around crowds, even though she had been back for a few weeks. She went to breakfast early, dinner late, and usually just skipped lunch altogether. Though, Phil usually had something for her when he realized she wasn’t eating something. It wasn’t that she was trying to starve herself, just that she didn’t want to be around a lot of people making a lot of noise.

Which is exactly why she was avoiding the second task at all costs.

She had written to Natalia, asking her sister if she’d be able to come keep her company while she avoided the task. She felt bad not watching Anna, but she had to think about herself right now. That’s what she was doing, because thinking about others too much and not taking care of herself was a part of why she had made bad choices in the first place. It was just better for her to avoid the crowds all together right now, and she could talk to Anna about how it went later on.

She had to go with everyone to the tasks, but she spoke to Hannah about not sticking around once Natalia came for her. She waited at the edge, as far away from the group as she could get, her eyes darting around for her sister.


@natalia

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Natalia had been worried about the Second Task. Not because she had any sort of stake in it – she hadn’t made friends at Hogwarts, let alone friends with Gryffindors in the year below her – but because her sister did. And not just because her sister was friends with Anna Weasley… but because her sister couldn’t handle it. It hadn’t been hard to figure out most of Andy’s weaknesses, and crowds were one of them. The crowd of an entire school, plus two other delegations, plus the adults who had come to watch the task, was way too big for her. Honestly, it was too big for Nat – too likely that there was going to be someone homicidal in the crowd, if the way things were going were anything to go by. Natalia had readily agreed to keep her sister company during the time the Tournament was taking place. There was something that Nat wanted to talk to Andy about – and none of the gross, depressing stuff that she was afraid to discuss with her sister. No, her habit of showing up in Eliza Flint’s dreams was what Nat wanted to talk about. She figured that would be better than making awkward small talk for the duration of the task. When she arrived at the location of the task, Nat found Andy easily, because her sister was pointedly staying out of the throng of people. “Andy!” Nat called, hoping to grab her sister’s attention so she wouldn’t look so nervous, like a trapped animal. “Come, little sister.” Nat said when she reached her sister’s side. “I have something to talk to you about.” Hopefully now if someone was watching they would think that Natalia was the one spiriting her sister away – not that Andy was the one escaping.

@lestrange

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Andy heard her name and a wave of warmth swept over her. It would have been strange even a year ago to imagine that her sisters voice would spark something like that in her, but now it was like sunshine - her saving grace, an angel. She breathed out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding and took a few steps to meet her sister.

Natalia was beautiful, Andy had always known that, but now it was more obvious to her than ever because she knew who she was inside. She smiled at her, a sweet genuine smile that clearly showed admiration. "I'm yours," Andy said softly, holding her hand out to Natalia in order to let her sister guide the way. She was grateful that Natalia said she had something to talk to her about, giving the impression that this was all Nat's idea, but she also didn't think it was necessary. She didn't really care what people thought of her running off. But, the thought was still appreciated.

@natalia

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Natalia still got a thrill out of seeing Andy smile. For the longest time, she had never thought that that smile would belong to her, and then, after January, Nat wasn’t sure that Andy would ever want to smile again. But Andy did smile, and she smiled at Nat, and for just a moment, all of the worries of the world stopped being so important, because her baby sister was happy to see her. Natalia took her sister’s outstretched hand, squeezing softly. “That looked like quite the set up.” Natalia said as she began to lead them away from the crowds and towards the castle. “Do you know anything about the task?” Nat asked. She knew that Andy was friends with the Hogwarts Champion, so if they had been given information about that the task would entail, maybe Andy would know a little bit about it. The question was really just small talk as they separated themselves from the rest of the people, since Nat was more than a little worried that what she was going through, with appearing in Eliza’s dreams, was abnormal in a bad, Dark magic type way.

@lestrange

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Natalia took her hand and Andy nodded as she mentioned the set up of the tournament. Andy was glad to be led away. "I have no idea," she admitted. In all honesty, she had written the tournament out of her life. She wasn't going to bother with it and it wouldn't bother with her. The only connection she had to it was Anna, but that didn't mean she was ready to deal with any of it. She helped Anna calm down this morning, and she was happy to do that. But that was for a friend, not for the task.

Andy continued to smile at her sister, barely taking her eyes off her. "I wish you were here every day," she admitted softly. "How is work? How are things?" she asked. She knew it was a complicated question, but she also hoped Natalia would know that Andy COKPLETELY understood if she didn't want to go into detail.

@natalia

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Andy said she didn’t know about the task, which was just fine for Nat. If she really wanted to know what happened, she could read about it in the paper. Honestly, she didn’t really care about the Tournament. It just seemed like a way for the schools to feed their own egos, and as Natalia was learning, egos were dangerous things. Her own had needed a little bit of a bruise, but with everything that had happened, Nat felt it was safe to say that she was not nearly as egotistical as she once had been.

“If I could come every day, I would.” Natalia told her sister when Andy said she wished the older girl could be at Hogwarts every day. All Nat wanted to do was make things easier for Andy, and if coming to school every day was in the cards, Nat would have done it in a heartbeat. “Work is fine.” Things were about the same as usual, which was slightly unnerving for Natalia, considering how everything else in her life had gotten flipped on its head. It took longer for Nat to answer the second question. “Things are… about as good to be expected.” Nat admitted. Her boyfriend had lost his best friend and she had lost her parents and one of the only people that she could call friend, so there were some days she did little more than limp along. “I’ve been having strange dreams, Andy.” Nat blurted out. “Only two of them, really, but they weren’t… they weren’t my dreams.” Natalia knew that that didn’t make any sense, but she didn’t know how else to put what had happened.

@lestrange

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Andy understood why Nat couldn't always be there, of course. Plus, she needed to learn how to be okay with herself anyway, without always having her support group there. Andy nodded when Nat said work was fine, and then waited during the pause that it took for Nat to answer her second question. Then, suddenly, Nat was saying she had strange dreams. But that they weren't hers... what? "I'm.. not sure I'm following," Andy admitted. Andy tried to have as little dreams as possible, and her meditation helped out a lot with that. But this wasn't just a case of nightmares, it seemed. Something more serious was going on... or at least, something much more strange then regular nightmares.

@natalia

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Natalia felt like hitting herself in the face when Andy said that she wasn’t following. Of course she didn’t understand what was happening – Nat barely understood what was happening, and it was happening to her. “Do you know Eliza Flint?” Natalia was fairly certain that the answer was yes, considering that the Flints ran in the circles that they had been expected to be a part of when they were children and the twins were in the same year as Andy. “I keep seeing her, in my dreams. But it’s like I’m stepping into her dreams. They happen where she wants them to, I mean.” The first one had been at Flint manor, which Natalia had never had any desire to visit, and after that at Hogwarts, which again, was not Natalia’s favorite place. “I don’t know why it’s happening, but I didn’t mean to… spy on her.” That was what it felt like – spying on a person’s precious, intimate moments that were supposed to be just for them.

@lestrange

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Andy listened intently, nodding when Natalia asked if she knew Eliza. Well, Andy knew OF her, they weren't friend or anything like that. But then Nat went on to explain and Andy's jaw started to drop a little more as she went. She was... in other peoples dreams?

After a moment, Andy closed her mouth, then opened it again to speak and then closed it again. What... she finally spoke, "that's... really something," she paused, chewing the corner of her bottom lip for a moment before going on. "And does Eliza seem... okay with this? I mean, what do you guys even talk about in there?" Andy couldn't imagine how awkward that conversation could be. 'Oh, hey! I'm totally a real person in your brains right now, pay no attention to the woman behind the curtain.'

@natalia

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Natalia nodded when her sister said that her showing up in Eliza’s dreams was really something. That was one way to put it. It seemed like Andy wasn’t passing judgement on the situation yet, which was good. She was almost certain that if her sister had thought it was Dark magic she would have said something, especially with the way Andy was trying to change her life to avoid succumbing to insanity again. When Andy asked how Eliza felt, Nat just shrugged helplessly. “I’m not sure she realizes that it’s really me.” The Ravenclaw explained. “I mean, you’ve dreamt about other people you’ve known before, right?” It was possible to dream about someone without them actually being in the dream, so it was possible that was what Eliza thought was occurring. Nat could represent a lot of things in someone’s subconscious, given her story and her family’s story, which paralleled Eliza’s quite neatly.

@lestrange

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Andy nodded slowly. If this had happened to her, on Elizas end, she may not even realize it was a real person either. If it was Nat well... that would be awesome. They would be able to talk anytime she was dreaming, and not just when she wrote or when Nat visited or through a fire. It sounded lovely, in fact. But alas... it was a strange happenstance with Eliza. But if t happened with more people... maybe Nat could try to do it on purpose... she'd ask about that.

Andy shrugged, too. "I guess so, yeah. But I'm not sure if we have like full fledged conversations very often. So if it happens a lot, maybe Eliza will realize something is strange," she suggested. She didn't remember her dreams a lot of the time, which she was glad about. But if Nat could get in there then she'd try very, very hard to remember those things. "Are you going to tell her? Like... approach her in person?"

@natalia

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Andy seemed to understand where she was coming from, which was a relief. Of all the people in the world, Natalia trusted Andy the most when it came to deciphering messed up emotions. Not just because she had experience with it, but because she knew that, no matter what, Andy would be there. The Gryffindor said that she didn’t often have full-fledged conversations in her dreams, and Nat nodded. “Our conversations have always been short. I fade away if I stay too long.” She explained. She was still figuring out why she faded so quickly, when it seemed like barely seconds had passed since she entered the dream. Andy said that maybe Eliza would realize the dreams were strange, and Nat nodded along. At the question about approaching Eliza, Nat shook her head. “We’re writing letters now. I sent her one after the first time, in case it was just coincidence.” Maybe eventually that would lead to a meeting in person, but until she was certain, Nat didn’t want to involve another person in the madness that was her mind in trying to figure this out.

@lestrange

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Andy's jaw dropped, "fade... away...?" did that just mean she went back into reality or that it was unsafe sort of fading away? Whatever it was, she didn't like the way that sounded. Nat continued to say that she was writing with Eliza, and Andy nodded slowly. This was all a rather unique experience, something that Andy had never heard of before. "Well... at least you're trying to work it out. I wonder if it would work with other people," she said slowly. She didn't want to seem eager but... if Nat needed someone to experiment her new power with, she wouldn't mind being that person. However, she also didn't want Nat to do it if this 'fading away' thing was dangerous.

That term 'fading away' reminded Andy too much of what she felt like in that hospital. Before the hospital, even. Like she was fading away and nothing familiar was going to be left if it kept happening. She felt like everything about her existence was shrinking during all that time, especially in January. But somehow, something pulled her out. Something inside of her, which was amazing in and of itself. That she pulled herself out, that she could actually trust herself.

@natalia

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Andy seemed a bit shocked by the description of fading away, and repeated the words with a questioning tone to her voice. “I disappear from the dream. And then I wake up.” The first time the occurrence had caused her to stay awake a while longer thinking about it, but the second time, she had been able to return to normal sleep more easily. It didn’t seem like being evicted from a dream did her any harm except for waking up, and Natalia guessed that if she was woken up from the outside, leaving the dream of another might be a little more violent, and not as pleasant. That was not something that she wanted to test… but Andy’s comment about wondering if she could walk into other people’s dreams did make Nat think. “If it does work with others, I haven’t experienced that yet.” Every other dream she had had recently had been normal… except for that one in the field, but it had been so short that Nat thought it was probably just a nightmare that had been aborted before it could get too horrible. “It would be nice if I could control it a little more.” Nat muttered. Right now, she just felt like a visitor in someone else’s reality… which she was, for all intents and purposes, but Natalia was not a fan of feeling out of control.

@lestrange

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Andy gave a relieved sigh as Natalia explained what the fading away thing meant. Her brow burrowed even more as Natalia said that she hadn't experienced it with anyone else, and that it would be nice to control it. "Control is nice," Andy muttered too. She bit her lip and reached over to squeeze Natalias arm. "Hey, you'll figure it out. You're smart, you always do," she said, giving a short nod of encouragement. "Maybe you should try doing it on purpose," she said, her aura growing a little more confident. "I mean, if you try doing it on purpose it might be easier to control it, because you made it a point to make it happen. So really think about it before going to sleep and sort of 'plan' on little things. Like what you're wearing or what your hair looks like," she explained slowly, "if you start with controlling the little things then it proves you can improve, you know?" That was something she had learned and was still practicing herself.

@natalia