Actually, I lied. I'm just going to put 'new character information' at the beginning of the chapter they first appear in, instead of up-loading the first chapter repetitively.

Name: Sadie Dae Thompson

Age:16

Hometown: Guntersville, Alabama, U.S.A

Favorite Color: Blue

Wand: Pheonix Feather, Holly, 10 inches

Dominant Hand: Right

Name: Kaelei Leigh Aberforth

Age: 16

Hometown: Guntersville, Alabama, U.S.A

Favorite Color: Red

Future Wand: Unicorn Hair, Yew, 7 ½ inches.

Dominant hand: Left

In which Tabitha tries to take a walk

Or

In which Tabitha has to explain a great deal of things.

Chapter Seven:

"You can't, of course, be serious. Were they really?"

As Ginny nodded, Hermione squealed with delight.

"You know what this means, don't you?" She asked, standing up on her bed.

Hermione shook her head, looking puzzled.

"it means.." Ginny's delightfully bright smile faded as she realized, SHE had no clue what it meant. "Well, I don't know, but It's got to mean something good." She said, smile returning.

Hermione laughed, "I'm sure it does, Gin, I'm sure it does."

"Really, K, it can't be her. She's in America!"

"But this one CAME from America!"

"Her parents wouldn't be sending her here!"

"Her parents WENT here! With OUR parents, remember?"

The dark haired girl sighed, "fine. Whatever. You go and ask her. But don't come blaming me if-

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." The red head said, brushing the other off and heading towards me.

Ron and I were sitting on a bench outside the Great Hall, waiting for Ginny and Hermione to show up to take a walk around the lake.

"They're talking about you." Ron had whispered 10 seconds previously.

"I know." I whispered back, feeling antsy.

He chuckled as I fidgeted. I playfully smacked his arm.

"Quick!" I said, turning to face Ron, "start talking to me about something interesting."

"Why? He said, looking puzzled.

"Because it's just not right!" I exclaimed, realizing they were right behind me.

The blonde tapped me on the shoulder, and I slowly turned around, my face flushing red.

"yes?" I asked.

"Umm… well, my friend here," The dark haired girl said. (who looked very familiar, just as the blonde standing next to her.)

"She thinks we know you. Could you perhaps tell her that you're not Tabitha Jane Kibby that used to live on Lake Drive in between our houses so I can rub it in her face and feel smart all day?"

Oh. God. Sadie and Kaelei.

I grinned and stood up, "I could say that, but that would be lying."

Sadie stopped twirling her shiny black hair (an old habit of her's) and stared, as did Kaelei.

"Merlin's lace underwear, it IS you! Tabby!" Kaelei squealed, wrapping her arms around me.

However, Sadie, being the arrogant girl that she is, shook her head.

"No. No. I refuse to believe it"

I smiled slyly, pulling out my favorite memory.

"You, Sadie Dae Thompson for FACT had a crush on Terry Reynolds in 7th grade, even though you made me promise not to tell… Kaelei.

She bashed me over the head with her book, but threw her arms around me anyways.

"Tabby! Why are you here? Shouldn't you be in an American school?" She asked, finally letting me go.

"Uh… well… I um… I assume I would have, but uh, they kinda died."

" Oh God." Sadie said, placing her hand over her mouth, "When?"

I stared at the ground, "Pretty soon after you guy's moved. Like, three days after."

Kaelei threw her arms around my neck again, "Oh I'm so sorry! You should have called, emailed, something!"

I shrugged, "Yeah, well, It's alright."

Sadie patted my hand and gave me a teary-eyed smile.

"so, how'd you wind up here?"

I took a deep breath, not really knowing the answer to the question myself. "Dumbledore, I think."

Sadie nodded.

Ron tapped me on the shoulder.

"Oh! Ron! Sorry, I forgot! Kaelei, Sadie, Ron."

He nodded.

"And… uh… Vice Versa."

They smiled, "How's Ginny? We haven't seen her yet."

He shrugged, "There she is" and pointed to the stairs.

"Hey Gin!" They called, and Ginny came rushing over.

"Hey! What's up! I see you've already met Tabitha. She's really awesome."

Sadie giggled, "Not only have we met her, we grew up with her to."

Ginny looked back and forth but then smiled, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

I rolled my eyes at Ginny's reasoning, as did Sadie.

"We were just going out for a walk, want to come?" Ginny asked, hooking my arm with her's.

"We'd love to." Kaelei replied.

I glanced over at Ron.

"Actually… umm, I've got something to do, but I'll be out in awhile alright? You two meet me in the common room tonight, I want to catch up." I said, smiling.

They nodded, but Ginny looked at me quizzically.

"What've you got to-

"yeah, later Gin, later." I said, giving Ginny a 'look', which she instantly registered and nodded.

I grabbed Ron's arm, and as soon as the group walked around the corner, I swirled him around.

"Sorry about the whole ignoring thing. Are you alright?"

He nodded, smiling. "I'm glad you're happy."

I poked him as we started up the stairs, "That is so cliché it deserves an eye roll."

He laughed.

Needless to say, Ron and I never actually joined the rest of them. We were too busy… elsewhere.

We met them outside the Great Hall, and walked in, realizing we were most probably the last people to arrive.

We sat down, and avidly searched the Great Hall, for any signs of Harry or Dumbledore. Professor McGonagall caught my eye, and she slowly nodded her head, looking very distressed herself.

I nodded once and turned back to Ron, leaning on his chest for support.

And that, is where I made my big mistake.

Personally, I did that to all of my male friends when I was scared, just because they would always hug me and make me feel better. But apparently here at Hogwarts, that wasn't commonly done between friends. And I had just showed a bit of Public Affection in front of every single student here at Hogwarts, save one or three. The people surrounding us went completely silent, which doesn't really sound bad, but it was a mass chain reaction. I slowly sat back up, face turning dark red.

It was two Gryffindor girls who I came to be known as Lavender and Parvati who started to talk first, and I immediately dubbed them the gossip queens of Hogwarts. Not that 'Queen' was a deserving title for them, more like 'scum of the earth'. Ginny and Hermione just smiled, giving each other knowing looks. Sadie, who was seated directly across from me and beside Ginny smiled and softly nudged my foot in a twisted high-five way.

Then the Hall exploded in sound, and I made a mental list of names that were most commonly used:

The new girl.

That new girl.

The girl with the light brown hair and green eyes sitting beside Weasley.

The beast sitting beside Weasel (coming directly from the Slytherin table)

The really pretty girl with clear green eyes sitting by that hunk of a man…male (alright, so I added this one.)

That Gryffindor girl in the black robes, the one that has her hair up with a ribbon.

The new American girl.

The new HOTT American girl. ( I didn't add this one, I SWEAR!)

Tabitha

Tab-something

It starts with a 'T'

That Kibby girl.

Kibby

I'm pretty sure there was a few more, but It's not like I was counting.

I gulped down my food and made my way back up to the dorms.

Upon entering the common room, I ran into Harry Potter, just entering himself.

"Harry!" I gasped, looking him over. He had scrapes on his face, that really needed the attention of the nearest nurse, and was limping on one leg. But he was still smiling.

"Hey Tabby." He said, grimacing in pain as he made his way to the couch, "I thought everybody would be at Dinner, that's why I came up myself."

I nodded my head, "They are. I believe they'll be there for awhile, considering the circumstances."

He raised his eyebrows, "What.. Circumstances?"

"Well, uh, Me, and uh, Ron, we kind of uh, got together this morning, and uh, well, we uh,"

He grinned, "Come on Tabby, spit it out! I could really use some laughter right about now."

I groaned, "Oh Harry, it was awfull! We were in the Great Hall, looking around for you, but then I noticed Professor McGonagall looking at me and shaking her head, and I leaned on Ron and he put his arm around me and the WHOLE HALL went silent Harry. Completely SILENT."

He chuckled, sighed, and said "Finally."

It was my turn to look questioningly at him.

"If Ron didn't ask you out soon, I was going to ask you out for him. He was like, madly in love with you the minute you stepped off the plane, according to Ginny."

As soon as our laughter died down, I turned back to Harry, "How'd it go?" I asked, turning serious.

"We found it." He confirmed, and I hugged him joyously, but carefully.

My face fell. "All that's left is too… kill him" I could barely choke out the last two words.

He nodded, and faced me. "Tabby, and that's why I'm glad you're here. I'm not glad that you got involved in all this mess, but I'm glad I won't have to endure it alone. I don't want to sound selfish or anything but-

"It's okay Harry, I understand." I said quietly, now realizing that what I did now with Harry and Dumbledore would be changing the future of the entire wizarding world drastically.

I got Harry to Madame Pompfrey, and that night as we all sat around Harry's bed, listening to him relay the events of his adventure-ish nightmare, (me seated comfortably in Ron's lap, of course. ) I fell in love with these people, and knew that I could not just leave without helping them survive.