Oh wonderful readers, thank you from the bottom of my heart for being so patient with me! All the reviews from the last chapter almost made me weep with happiness! You are all too lovely for your own goods! Special mention to Rosethunder and HelloHalo since I can't reply via PM :} You guys rock! I will be replying to all other reviews by PM to thank you personally for your support!

I forced myself to finish this chapter (felt weird to be writing christmas in the middle of summer!) as I got my GCSE results on the 23rd, and I passed! Le parents also were pleased with my results so I've got a very very beautiful new laptop to show for it! I really hope anyone who took them is happy and you all did your best! This chapter is for all of you who are finally heaving a sigh of relief that those two years are behind us!

It's Christmas time,
there's no need to be afraid.
At Christmas time
we let in light and banish shade - Do They Know It's Christmas, Band Aid

Chapter 25

"Tabbi, I really think you should stay inside. What if you get shoved or fall? Or the quaffle could get you." Tabbi rolled her eyes at Remus' suggestions and continued to pull on her trainers. It was nearing the end of the week, and she was fed up of staying inside while everyone else enjoyed the crisp winter air. It was supposed to snow soon, and Tabbi didn't want to miss the chance to thrash the boys in a snowball fight. After all, she was the reigning champion at Hogwarts.

"You worry too much Remmie. I'm only going to play a little Quidditch. We aren't even using bludgers!" Tabbi said happily as she stood. Her path was blocked by Remus. She frowned up at him and he frowned right back.

"You can't get hurt, not again. Specially when I could have done something about it." She sighed.

"I'll be careful, ok?"

"Calm down Moony, she'll be fine. We'll play nice, won't we Prongs?" Sirius clapped Remus on the shoulder, causing him to take a step back, out of Tabbi's way. She grinned at Sirius and walked over to him.

"Don't be too soft, I want a bit of challenge while I trounce you." James and Sirius cheered then each slung an arm over Tabbi's shoulders and the three of them made their way outside. Remus sighed but followed behind, only because he wanted to make sure Tabbi was okay. He knew, despite her words, she wouldn't be careful if James and Sirius were involved.

-/-HP-/-

"Are you joking me? That's the best you've got? I almost died and I can still out manoeuvre you two!" Tabbi taunted the two boys as she ducked in between them. She clung to the quaffle with one arm and steered her broom with the other. Despite the position as chaser being strange for her, she'd had enough practice, and raw talent, to excel. Not that she was bragging or anything. Ok, that's a lie. She thought with a smirk. She totally was bragging. But it was only in her head, so it didn't really count.

"Whatever Thorne, we're just being nice. If you wanna play hard, just say so." Tabbi suddenly pulled her broom round so she stopped inches from Sirius' face.

"May the best player win." She whispered. She probably imagined it, but it looked like he shivered at her words. Though it could just have been at the cold breeze circling them 30 ft in the air.

Their little game lasted the whole afternoon, much to Remus' annoyance, and it was around 5 when the three finally landed. "I've gotta hand it to you Thorne, that was some pretty impressive play. Who knew you could actually make a pretty good chaser. You even out flew James at times." Tabbi shoved Sirius, a grin creeping it's way onto her face. He had payed her a compliment, which was an unusual thing. Most of the time, any of Sirius' compliments to anyone were hidden by an insult or taunt. Tabbi felt good. In fact, she felt better than good. The game hadn't even tired her out that much. She couldn't understand what everyone had been so worried about. Sirius' playful shove back, however, made her stumble and she lost her footing. Surprisingly she didn't fall, since Remus was by her side and had an arm round her waist before she got the chance. Not wanting to admit she wasn't fine, Tabbi mock glared at Sirius.

"No need to get violent Black. I won that fair and square." He rolled his eyes but did look concerned.

"You ok Tabbi?" James asked. As she was about to answer, Mr Potter stuck his head out the back door.

"James! Sirius! Your mother wants you." That was something Tabbi had worked out. Sirius seemed to have basically been adopted by the Potter family. He called them mum and dad for Merlin's sake! The two looked cautiously at Tabbi, obviously to make sure she was okay, before dashing off to see what Mrs Potter wanted.

"C'mon Tabbi, let's get you to the sitting room or something." Instead of arguing, Tabbi let Remus lead her through the big house to the more relaxed and comfortable sitting room.

Tabbi watched Remus watch her. Neither would look away, but she could tell he wanted to. Hell, she knew she wanted to. It was incredibly awkward. But, she was too wilful. Bloody stubborn Gryffindors, she thought. She didn't really know why they were in this intense staring match. Maybe he was trying to see any damage done to her during the game? It was a stupid thought, since he wasn't looking away from her eyes. Instead of going cold and emotionless, she tried to make herself as open as possible. He deserved that at least. His gaze made her feel like her mind was being read. It was like he could tell what she was thinking, just by looking deep enough. And the sad thing was, Tabbi knew exactly what he was looking for. A glimmer of hope. Hope that she may feel something, only a small thing, for him. But she didn't. All she felt for Remus was friendship. She wanted to feel more, desperately, just so she didn't have to hurt him, but she couldn't. And he knew that. In that moment, it was him that had the unreadable expression, not her. Because it was him that was in pain this time.

-/-HP-/-

Dinner that night was slightly awkward. After their little staring match was broken off by the arrival of James and Sirius, neither Tabbi or Remus looked at each other out of embarrassment for the rest of the day. The other two had guessed something was up, but they didn't mention it. And now, Tabbi had been seated in between Remus and Sirius, both of whom kept accidentally brushing her arms with their own every time they reached out to get their drink or more food. Once everyone was done, Tabbi jumped up and volunteered to help Mrs Potter clear the plates. The older witch refused to let the house elves do all the work, so she always insisted on at least taking a few plates into the kitchen herself. The house elves did most of it, as well as most the cooking, but Mrs Potter did try and help out. It was a completely different way of doing things and Tabbi had been confused about it for a while. She obviously hadn't had house elves herself, but their staff were basically the same thing. She wracked her brains, and couldn't think of any time when she saw her mother in the kitchen. Or clear the table after a meal. And she certainly hadn't seen her clean anything.

-/-HP-/-

The night of Christmas Eve, Tabbi was lying on her bed, face up, thinking of the evening she had just spent with everyone. The Potters, Sirius and herself had played wizard and muggle games alike in the larger sitting room, with the fire blazing and laughter echoing around the whole room. It had been warm and almost..homely. She couldn't really believe how accepting the Potters had been with her, involving her in their most important family events. All of a sudden, she heard soft footsteps in the corridor. She grabbed her wand from under her pillow and gripped it tightly. Throwing the covers off, she braced herself for anything that was about to happen. The footsteps stopped outside her room and Tabbi's heart accelerated. Her mind cleared of all unimportant things, and the familiar feeling of all her spell knowledge replaced it. She was good at clearing her head and getting ready for a fight. She'd had years to practice after all.

The door handle twisted, Tabbi took a deep breath. A creaking sound echoed round the room. Reacting quicker than she had expected, the intruder blocked her stunning spell and flicked the light on. Tabbi almost screamed when she saw, not a stranger, but Mrs Potter in the doorway. They stared at each other for a minute, and Tabbi was instantly grateful Mrs Potter had been an Auror before retiring early. She probably would have been out cold on the hard wooden floor if she didn't have those sort of reflexes. "I'm so sorry." Tabbi whispered and Mrs Potter cracked a smile.

"Don't worry dear, I probably should have knocked or something. I forgot really that you weren't used to people just walking into your room."

"I guess I'm just a little jumpy from last week." Tabbi said quietly and Mrs Potter nodded with a comforting smile. "Erm- so- er- what, erm-"

"Well, I only came because I thought you probably never had Father Christmas before and it's something we've always done with James and then Sirius, so we decided to do one for you too." Tabbi could tell by the older woman's voice that her actions were sweet and slightly unusual, but she had no clue what she was going on about. Who on earth was Father Christmas? Her confusion must have been more obvious than she had intended, as Mrs Potter smiled warmly again and stepped further into the room. "Sorry, I always assume those with muggle relatives know these things. See, muggles have a couple of really nice traditions at Christmas. One of which being the giving of presents to children by a man called Father Christmas, who is really just the child's parents pretending to be this man. I know it sounds a bit weird when I say it like that, but that's basically the summary of it. If you want to find out more, I'm sure James would be happy to explain it better tomorrow." Tabbi nodded but frowned.

"So, if it's for children, why were you coming in here to do this tradition?"

"It's James we're talking about here," Mrs Potter said fondly. "I tried telling him when he was about 11 that he was a bit old for Father Christmas and he refused to believe me. He still states that he's real, even now." Tabbi matched Mrs Potter's smile at James' childish ways. She couldn't deny that he was slightly adorable when he wanted to be.

"Well, I'll just leave the stuff here. Sleep well Tabbi." Mrs Potter backed out the room but Tabbi stopped her.

"Mrs Potter!" She whispered as loudly as she dared, trying hard not to wake up the boys in the room opposite. The older woman popped her head back in the room. "Thank you." Tabbi whispered, earning a soft smile and nod before the woman closed the door behind her. Tabbi was able to fall back asleep with a slight smile on her face. And, for once, she was able to sleep without nightmares haunting her mind.

-/-HP-/-

"Shut up Prongs, you'll wake her up!"

"Not my fault you tripped me!" Tabbi couldn't help but smile at the voices that woke her the next morning. She knew the boys would be doing something like this, which meant she was already prepared. She cracked open an eye to check where they were and saw they were both over the other side of the room still, placing their presents on her small pile. With a smirk, she threw her covers off, slipped out of bed and crept up behind the two.

"Alright there you two?" Both boys jumped and span round, making Tabbi double over in hysterics.

"Tabbi! You nearly gave us a heart attack!" She laughed at James' expression.

"Really? So the great Marauders got a little fright from someone jumping up behind them?" Both boys muttered responses but Tabbi merely rolled her eyes and ignored them. "So, do tell why you felt the need to sneak into my room at 6am?" James and Sirius' faces lit up suddenly.

"Ah, because, dear Tabbi, today is Christmas day! And Christmas day must always start at 6am sharp. How else will we fit in enough time to open presents, have a snowball war and eat double our bodyweight in food?" James declared while Sirius agreed heartily. Tabbi laughed at them and linked arms with both boys. They were surprised by her extremely cheery mood, but took it in their stride.

"I see! To the kitchen then boys!" And with that they all skipped merrily to the kitchen, waking up James' parents on the way and dragging them downstairs too.

-/-HP-/-

Somehow the presents had all managed to get under the tree while the three had been eating a large breakfast. Tabbi looked at her pile in shock and realised she not only had presents from Father Christmas, but also from her friends and the Potters. The usual couple of formal and elegant looking boxes were piled next to the brightly wrapped presents, which Tabbi knew would be from relatives she'd never really met but they always felt the need to send her something expensive and useless. "Present time!" James cried and Tabbi saw Mr and Mrs Potter exchange exasperated yet loving looks towards their son. It was sweet, and something Tabbi was taking a while to get used to. "C'mon Tabbi! We open them together so we can't start till you get your arse down here!"

"James Potter, watch your language." James grinned innocently at his parents then dragged Tabbi down to her pile of gifts.

The three of them then spent the next quarter of an hour unwrapping and examining presents. Tabbi got some new robes from 'Father Christmas' which looked expensive and elegant, and a new broom servicing kit from Mr and Mrs Potter. She had thanked them multiple times for both gifts, quietly of coarse so as not to upset James about Father Christmas. They had waved off her thanks with kind smiles and simple "don't worry about it"s. Tabbi felt extremely bad that she hadn't gotten them anything, but they told her it was okay since she'd spent most of the time unconscious and in bed. She'd managed to get the boys' presents before going home so they were able to unwrap them in front of her. James was always easy to shop for, just get him some muggle prank thing or something to do with quidditch and he was happy. This time though, Tabbi had gotten him something completely inspired to go along with the squirty fake chocolate bar she'd gotten him. James had basically tackled her to the floor when he saw what had fallen out his card. The small piece of paper only had a few words on it. It said: This gift certificate is valid for a free hug from one Lily Evans, signed Lily Evans

Tabbi was pretty proud of it. It had taken a lot of persuasion from Lily, but she'd managed in the end after basically signing her soul over. It had been worth it though, to see the look on James' face when he recognised Lily's signature.

"Is this for real Tabbi? You haven't faked it have you?" Tabbi grinned.

"Nope, this is 100% real. Took a lot of persuasion, but there you go. Use it wisely." James grinned and showed Sirius who also grinned.

"Nice one Thorne." He then picked up his gift from her and started to unwrap it. Tabbi fidgeted nervously. She hadn't been sure what to get Sirius, and was still nervous about her final choice. She breathed a sigh of relief when Sirius' face lit up. The book he held was called Motorcycle Restoration 101, and linked perfectly with the summer project the Marauders had bought and never been able to do. Tabbi knew they had decided to get themselves a motorbike, at Sirius' insistence of coarse since he was the one who loves them, and yet they'd never managed to get further than taking it apart. Now, though, hopefully at least Sirius would be able to have a stab at it in his spare time.

"This is awesome, thanks Tabbi." He grinned happily at her then pointed at a card on top of James' present to her. "That's from me. It seems sort of bad now, since it's basically the same idea as your gift to Prongs, but I can do something else if you don't like it.." He trailed off and Tabbi tore open the envelope carefully. Inside was the usual Merry Christmas card, but there was also a small red and gold bracelet. It was woven delicately and looked extremely complicated. Tabbi had no idea how that had anything to do with a gift certificate for Lily's hugs or a squirty chocolate. Sirius, seeing her confusion, explained. "Oh, no that's just something I made. It's lame, I know, but whatever."

"It's not lame," Tabbi muttered and brushed a finger over it carefully. The Potters almost felt like they were intruding on an intimate moment when Tabbi held out her wrist so Sirius could tie the bracelet on.

"Check the card, that's where the real present is." Inside the card was a slip of paper, similar to the one Tabbi gave James, which said: I, Sirius Black, hereby give Tabitha Thorne full permission to use me as a slave for a whole day. I promise to do everything she asks without complaint.

Tabbi grinned at it then looked up at the boy who could quite possibly be stealing her heart, little by little.

"You do realise I could use this against you in so many ways, right?" Sirius merely shrugged with a smile playing at his lips.

"Sure, but I guessed you would have mercy after you see what a wonderful slave I can be."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Tabbi said and watched as James leapt up to grab more presents to unwrap.

-/-HP-/-

After they had practically filled the room with shredded wrapping paper, the Potters suggested they do something to keep themselves busy while the huge Christmas lunch was being made. Remembering what James had said earlier, Tabbi suggested a snowball fight in the back garden which was met with cheers of excitement from not only James and Sirius, but Mr Potter too. "Are we playing teams or are we just going to play against each other?" Mr Potter asked the teenagers and they all glanced at each other quickly.

"Every man for himself!" Sirius declared while turning on his heel and charging out the door and into the snow covered garden. James followed soon after, shouting something about getting the best base first. Before Mr Potter could follow his son, Tabbi pulled him back and grinned evilly.

"What would you say to perhaps having an allegiance against the boys?" She suggested to the older man and he matched her expression.

"I'd say that I knew there was a reason I liked you." Tabbi laughed and they both agreed on ganging up against her friends. Once their plan was set, they headed out into the war zone knowing they stood a much greater chance together rather than alone.

As Tabbi had predicted, by the time the lunch was ready James and Sirius were thoroughly drenched and her and Mr Potter were grinning triumphantly. "I can't believe you and dad ganged together without telling us!" James cried when they reached the back door.

"I can! I should have known you'd do something like that Tabbi!" Sirius sighed dramatically and toed off his boots before wandering into the house. As soon as Mrs Potter saw the state they were all in she sent them upstairs to change before they were allowed anything to eat. Grumbling, they marched up the stairs and to their respective rooms for their change of clothes. Tabbi peeled off the heavy top and replaced it with a fluffy jumper Lily had bought her. It was extremely comfy and she was pretty sure if it were possible she'd never take it off again. The boys met her at the top of the stairs, both commenting on how snug the jumper looked and how jealous they were since both were still cold and had stupidly chosen t-shirts to wear instead. Tabbi had just rolled her eyes at them and their ridiculous behaviour, secretly smiling at the fuzzy feeling she got from it.

-/-HP-/-

The rest of the day was spent indoors in the warmth, mainly just sitting and chatting together, occasionally attempting to play a game of some sort but not managing to last more than half an hour. The lunch had been wonderful, and Tabbi was still full by the time dinner came round. They opted for just snacking rather than a meal, which James took to mean scoffing as many sweets as possible while his parents weren't looking. Tabbi was pretty sure they knew though, but they let their son have his fun while their spirits were still high. That evening Tabbi basked in the feeling of finally having somewhere feel like a home. She loved to just watch the way the Potters interacted with each other, even if Mrs Potter was simply scolding James or Sirius for something. It gave her a sense of belonging, and she finally knew what her childhood had been missing. Her home never felt this warm and inviting, never had that glow that could only come from being surrounded by people you loved and cared about. Once Tabbi knew about it, it was easy for her to spot how different their lives were. And now she knew, she would make sure she never went back to that. From then on she would try and experience that feeling of home at every opportunity she got.

That night, instead of sleeping in her own room alone, the boys camped out with her. They created a fort of blankets and pillows on the floor and curled up together under it. Wedged between her friends and comforted by the knowledge she was finally safe, Tabbi drifted off to sleep with Sirius' arm wrapped securely around her waste. For the first time in a while, she actually dreamed. She wouldn't remember it in the morning, but just the simple fact it wasn't a nightmare or plain blackness was enough to make her heart a little bit lighter.

AWWWW CAYUTE! Yeh. So the ending was sort of bad.. Actually I'm not overly impressed with this chapter but it's being written through writers block so I don't expect it to be that good..

I hope you all like it though, and I'll be replying to reviews tomorrow since it's now 3:30 am and I should probably be asleep.. Insomnia's a bitch. Oh well!

Reviews would be awesome, even if I don't deserve them. I'm just a review whore ya know?

-ellie xox