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WTF??? HOW DO I COMMENT FROM MY BLOG AND NOT AS ME??

Yeah, but if I do that it's going to change my entire google account to the wrong name.

YAAAAAS I GOT IT

SO WE SHOULD DO SOMETHING. JUST SAYING, JUST SAYING.

I feel like we probably need to cover what happened before graduation? Or at least the whole showdown?? Or should we just jump to years later and iron out what happened as we go along??

(OKAY I'M CALLING IT WE'RE GOING RIGHT TO YEARS LATER AND WE'LL FIGURE OUT DETAILS LATER)

It was a warm sunny day out in Ireland, which was unusual for this time of year, but Natalie wasn't going to complain, especially when her job required her to be outside most of the time. She had just apparated to the fields just outside of the Kenmare Kestral's Quidditch Stadium, she was here to cover today's match against the Holyhead Harpie's, it was a rough job, but someone had to do it.

With a sigh, she hoisted the strap of her bag up on her shoulder and trudged across the field to the massive entry, holding up her badge at the gate, and then making her way through the stadium towards the press boxes. She made her way inside and set her bag down on the desk top, pulling out her notebook and her quick quotes quill, she hated using the thing, preferring to use a real quill on real parchment, but the demands of the job outweighed her own wants.

Someone from the Irish team greeted her and told her she'd be interviewing one of their newest star players. She gave the representative a smile and a polite nod. "Send him in whenever you're ready." She said, and turned her attention back on settling her things.

"Come in!" Natalie called when she heard the knock on the door. She'd only heard his voice, but something seemed familiar, until she turned around and stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes widened slightly, staring at the face she hadn't seen in over six years. She knew he'd gone into Quidditch, it was hard to miss being who she was and all, but she didn't know he was a Kestral now.

After a few moments of silence on her part, she snapped herself out of her shock, and cleared her throat, getting down to business. She was here to do her job and that's what she was going to do, history be damned.

"Jason. It's been a while." She said quietly, clearing her throat. "I take it you're the new star transfer." She said with a curt nod, and attempted to put her hand on the back of the chair beside her, but missed and nearly toppled over in her spot.

"Okay!" She quickly cut in before she could embarrass herself further. "Let's do this then. Please, have a seat." She offered, holding her hand out to the chair across from her as she took a seat in her own.

She adjusted the notepad on the table beside her and waved her hand, watching the quill stand itself atop the parchment ready to write. She noticed he was fidgeting a lot, a habit she'd noticed among a lot of the players she'd interviewed, they all hated seeing her face, if only because they knew what was coming next. She cleared her throat and began to speak.

"I'm here today with the Kestral's new star player, Jason Samuels. Mr. Samuels, thank you for joining me today. Now, I understand you recently transferred from the Puddlemere United team (or whatever team), how has the transition been for you?" She asked, her voice all business.

"Off record," the quill scribbled out the 'dating' mention, there was no way she was drumming that up, Rita Skeeter would have a hay day with that. "I may have known that, but my dear readers do not." She told him with a simple smile. "What do you mean by interesting? Has the transition not been a good one? I know you were working under someone you idolized, Puddlemere's star Oliver Wood, but, correct me if I'm wrong, any player with potential should eventually break off onto their own team, no?"

She nodded, looking over at the notepad, waiting for the quill to catch up before continuing, completely ignoring the fiancee' part for reasons she'd rather not deal with. "As the new captain of the Kestral's this year, how do you see the teams prospects? There are may naysayers out there who think that the team has turned in an..." she dug around for a good word. "Unfavorable, direction. What do you have to say to them?"

Natalie had a few thoughts about his choice of words but chose to bite her tongue and keep quiet about it. "So, what you're saying is that by deviating from what some fans would call a tried and true measure, and taking some risks, you're banking on a better reward in the end?" She asked, both eyebrows raised. So much for keeping her thoughts to herself. "Surely if something has worked for this long it will continue to work in the future too."

"Interesting you put it that way, given your history. I mean, you did, for the first couple seasons of your career, flounder about with different playing styles did you not? Why the change of heart?" They may not have spoken in 6 years, and she may not be the happiest with him, but she knew a lot about him still. Except, apparently, that he had been transferred. There was a reason she'd always sent her assistant to cover his games.

She could see the growing discomfort in his face, and though she hadn't intended to grill him, it did make her feel a little better. Six years was six years, but it still stung all the same. The interview continued for a short while longer, with her letting up on the accusatory remarks, and then she picked up the quill beside her and the notepad, reading over what had been printed so far. "All right, well I think I've got everything I need, thank you for your time Mr. Samuels," she stood up, dismissing him, not wanting this to drag on any further, and turning her attention to her things.

She could hear him behind her, not leaving, and she continued to busy herself with the notes that had been taken from the interview. When she finally heard him speak, she froze in her place. She could understand what he was trying to say, and dammit, she was a professional, however, she was not doing so well at keeping the bitter side of her that she'd suppressed for so long, at bay. It was hard to bite her tongue, and she shut her eyes tightly, her back still turned to him. With a sharp breath, she finally steeled her nerves and turned around to face him again, with the best smile she could muster on her face.

"Yes, that's good and well, I suppose, and I know just how well you can set things aside." Yep, that failed. "However, I am a Professional, and damn good at my job, too, and it might surprise you to know that despite my shortcomings of you, and our previous history, I have never once written a bad thing about you. Nor has my assistant, who has been to every one of your matches for reasons that I do not like to atone to. So, Mr. Samuels, as I understand your request is founded in a level of professionalism and I am nothing but that, I have to tell you that we are finished for today, and you may show yourself out. I have the Harpies Seeker waiting in the wings for an interview. Have a fantastic day, and good luck, I do hope a bludger does not hit you in the face."

(NO LET ME GET HER REACTION IN BC I NEED CLOSURE)

Natalie ran behind him and pulled the door shut, as soon as he was out of it. She needed a moment to compose herself before she took another interview. She took in a sharp breath, willing away the tears that were threatening to fall. 'You broke my heart.' She'd wanted to say, but that was beside the point now. It took her a few minutes, but she finally pulled herself back together and opened the door again for the Harpie's seeker to join her.

OKAY. SO WHERE SHOULD WE GO NOW?

Well, I was thinking after this Rita could get wind of something, bc she's fuckin Rita Skeeter so like, duh she knows everything. And like... print something?? It would give them another reason to have to interact.

Also. Do we wanna do their whole realization of feelings thing??? Or the aftermath when he like tells her that they can't be a thing bc he has obligations??

Ok after. Uuuuuhhhhhh....... So let's say it was an end of year dance, because why not. Since they're all graduating and whatever, and it's a couple weeks left, and they all wanted to celebrate together one last time. Ok. And the dance was when all the feelings came up and there might have been a kiss or two. OKAY.

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When Natalie woke up that morning, she was still half delirious, until Victoria threw a pillow at her screaming that she 'wake up right this instant and tell her everything that happened'. It all suddenly came crashing back down on top of her, everything that had actually happened. Jason had kissed her? She had kissed him? They both admitted they had feelings for each other? Was any of that even real? Or had she dreamed the whole thing?

The sudden realization that she was still in her dress, told her that she hadn't dreamt it, and Tori was grabbing her arm and dragging her out of bed. "YOU HAVE TO TELL ME EVERYTHING!" Because, of course she knew something had happened, she knew everything. She always had. She'd grown up with her, there was nothing that Tori wasn't privy to in Natalie's life.

On her way down to breakfast she recounted every detail that she could to her best friend, and wasn't sure what it all meant. Were they something now? Clearly, she needed to talk to him, but she suddenly felt like she was being pulled into a vacuum at the thought of it. As they sat down at the table, Tori slapped her on the arm when Jason walked into the hall, and Natalie felt her cheeks burn, staring down at the table in front of her.

Natalie didn't need to look up to know when he was standing on the other side of the table, because Tori's fingernails digging into her leg were enough of a warning. She slapped her friends hand away, and nodded, pushing herself to her feet. She made her way down the aisle way and met him at the end of the long table, before they made their way out towards the courtyard. Natalie caught a glimpse of Tori, giving her two large thumbs up and a goofy grin, before she left the great hall.

Most of the way there was quiet, and she wrung her wrists, before folding her arms in front of her, unsure what to do with herself. Once they were outside, they sat down on one of the benches, and she felt a mess of knots in her stomach. "So... what'd you want to talk about?" She finally spoke up. It was weird, how one day later, this person, who she had almost never felt uncomfortable around, who was as much a best friend to her as Tori was, was suddenly a horrifyingly nerve wracking presence in front of her.

Natalie momentarily felt her heart soar, only for it to come crashing back down to the concrete below faster than a broomstick taking to the air. "No... I don't know..." She said back to him slowly, looking like a deer in lights. "W-what do you mean, no practical?"

She scooted herself backwards slightly. "Is this... Is this about that stupid thing with your parents?" She asked him, already knowing the answer and not waiting for it. "Why... why would you say all those things, then? Why wouldn't you just... why would you lead me on?" She asked, hardly able to look at him, and pushing herself to her feet.

Nat pulled her hand out of his grasp, holding it tightly to herself as if he'd burned her. "So you just proceeded to lie to me?!" She asked, not even caring about the tears that were in her eyes. "What was your goal? To get stupid me to fall for you, and then leave me out to dry? Was this some kind of sick joke?" What hurt her the most, was that he knew what the other students had done to her back in the beginning. He /knew/ and now he was doing that same thing they had done.

"Oh stupid me for believing that you might have finally grown up and stood up to them! Newsflash, Jason, they literally, cannot control your life! YOU have to make the choice to let them!" They were capturing the attention of the couple other students outside as well, but she didn't care. "You... you don't just... you can't just kiss someone, and tell them you might love them, and then... do this." She waved her hands around in the air indicating what was happening now. "That's not how these things work, Jason!" She let out a small sob, unable to keep it in. "You can't just play with someone's feelings like that." She shook her head.

Natalie shook her head as she began to back away slowly. "You should have thought about that before you let me believe something that wasn't true." She took in a sharp breath willing the tears to stop, but they wouldn't. "Because I don't know how I'm supposed to look at you now. I thought you were different, Jason."

(ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS. STAY. HAD ME IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND. MAN. WHY'D YOU HAVE TO GO AND LOCK ME OUT WHEN I LET YOU IIIIINNN.)

Closing her eyes, unable to look at him anymore, it just hurt too much, she shook her head and took in a sharp breath. "Goodbye, Jason." She finally managed to say, before turning on her heel and running off towards her common room.

Natalie finally finished her latest article and dropped the parchment on her boss' desk. Her day was finally over and her first footstep outside into Diagon Alley was always a relief after a long week buried in parchment in the office. She loved her job, don't get her wrong, but it wasn't always Quidditch matches. Peering down at her watch, she sighed lightly, she still had an hour to kill before Vic got out of work, they needed to go grocery shopping tonight and she had learned the hard way not to go without her roommate. Vic had very... particular needs, to put it nicely. She looked off down the street unsure of what to do, until she noticed the sign for Florien's. Oh, what the hell, she deserved some ice cream after this week.

A few minutes later she was stepping up to the counter. "Two scoops of brownie batter please." She requested, flashing the clerk a smile, and handing a knut and a few sickles over the counter.

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She made her way outside with her ice cream in hand shoveling a couple of spoonfuls into her mouth. She was mid bite when she heard a voice behind her and turned around, seeing him sitting there smirking at her. She felt her heart flip inside her chest at his sudden appearance, but fought the feeling down. "Are you still a self centered asshole?" She asked simply, taking another bite of her ice cream.

She stared at him for a minute, not sure what to do. Inside there was a part of her that really missed the friend she had in school, one of the few, but there was another part, that still ached every time she saw his face. It was easier said than done, to be civil, the anger was her way of coping. He hadn't just ruined a friendship that day, he'd destroyed her heart in the process, and it took her a good amount of time to recover from it.

"What, you mean your parents won't disown you for speaking to me?" She questioned sharply, unable to help herself. She had her shield up. She couldn't fall down that path again.

She was still wary, standing there staring at him, he was acting so nonchalantly, like nothing had ever happened. She just wanted to eat her ice cream, and there were no other places to sit in the Alley at this time of day. So with a stubborn sigh she sat down, but made sure to put a couple chairs between them. "Some of us have stressful jobs." She said with a shrug, taking a large bite.

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HOLD ON WAIT LET ME FIX THAT.

"I never said that." She stated with a shrug, staring down at her ice cream. "And, I don't appreciate having words put in my mouth, I get enough of that from Rita."

"Easy to say for someone who doesn't work for her." She muttered. Natalie fell silent then, looking at him across the table when his attention was elsewhere, quickly turning back to her bowl again when he returned his attention to her. She stirred her ice cream up a bit, and opened her mouth to speak when she was suddenly cut off.
"Baby, there you are, I was looking all over for you." A voice crooned behind Natalie and she didn't need to look to know who it belonged to. Erin strutted into view, and Nat bit down on her tongue hard to save herself from saying something stupid, and crammed a large spoonful into her mouth.

Erin looked almost exactly the same as she had in school, short skirt showing off her long legs, her low cut shirt reminiscent of her always dangerously altered school uniform.
"No, Jason, she's right. I'm clearly not capable of holding a conversation with someone without interviewing them." She stated. "Silly me, I forgot, I'm actually a robot for the prophet." She said, turning her eyes toward Erin, an innocent look upon her face.