"Alright, do we have anyone coming from that way?"
"Nope, we're all good. Just gotta get you through and get to the gates." Tara ducked under the cloak as the two Potter boys opened the passage way and let her through.
"See you in a few." They ran back towards the Entrance Hall, making sure they put the map away and didn't look suspicious. They got through the gates and walked to Hogsmead, meeting Tara within minutes.
"Where to first?" She asked, glancing at James.
"Actually, I have some places to go, so even though you hate him, hang out with James." He kissed her and left, walking to stores in the village.
"So what does Al like?"
"Books. Knowledge. Stuff like that." He rolled his eyes.
"No shit. I knew that. Where should we look?" She ignored his comment as they walked through the stores, until they found the perfect gift.
"A first edition Newton Scamander book. How about that?" James shrugged, and picked it up.
"What book is it?" Tara read the title.
"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. How much is it?" James read the price tag.
"500 galleons." Tara raised her eyes.
"Well, this is you're present." James shrugged and brought it to the register.
"Hello Mr. Potter, how are you today?" James nodded.
"I'm good. I want to buy this book. I think this is 500 galleons, correct?" The cashier nodded. James pulled a bag out of his pocket and looked inside.
"This should be 500. Thank you." The cashier nodded and handed him the book. Tara looked at him, wide eyed.
"You had 500 galleons on you?" He shrugged.
"That was some Christmas money to buy presents. Our parents give us each 1,500 galleons to go shopping when we're away. Whatever we have left is ours. It may seem like a lot but we get a lot but we spend most of it." She still looked astounded.
"What?"
"1,500 galleons? I have to steal the money I got from my dad. Your parents just give you that to go shopping." James shrugged.
"I can give you some money. Go shopping for your self, get some clothes or whatever." Tara shook her head.
"James, that's too generous. Thanks but no thanks." James held up his hands.
"Fine. Let's go find Al." Tara and James walked store to store in silence. They had finally found Al doing the same, looking for them.
"Hey. Did you get your presents?" Al nodded. James saw some of his friends so he left them alone to spend some time together.
"Your parents give you 1,500 galleons to go Christmas shopping." Al nodded and shrugged.
"Yeah. I guess James told you. It really isn't a lot." She rolled her eyes.
"Must be nice." He looked at her.
"What?"
"You guys just have money to spend like it's nothing." Al stopped.
"Just because we have money to spend doesn't mean we brag about it." She stopped and turned to him.
"I get that. But still. Wow." He grabbed her hand.
"Tara, do you want to go shopping?" She rolled her eyes.
"Like I told James, no."
"Why not?" She glanced at him.
"You don't need to waste your money on me." Al rolled his eyes.
"Lets just go look at stuff in the stores then. We won't buy anything, just look." She shrugged.
"Fine." They walked from store to store, looking at everything. Tara pointed out some things that she liked, which Al took note of. He didn't buy anything right then, bur he took note of things to come back to.
"Wow, Al look at this." She pointed out a stunning diamond and sapphire bracelet, the colorless diamonds being outlined by the blue sapphires on either side or them.
"Do you like it?" She shrugged.
"I like it but, as I said, you aren't spending money on me." She had gone and bought something for him with James, which he was holding on for her.
"All right. You should probably get back to the castle anyway. We need to head back soon." He walked her to the passage way, gave her the cloak and map, and saw her off. Soon after she left, he head throughout the stores, buying some presents for her, including the bracelet.
"So Tara, are you all packed?" Tara nodded, excited about two days from then. She would be spending her break at the Potter's house, not alone at the castle or with her father.
"The first thing I'm doing when I meet your parents is giving them a hug." Al laughed. His parents were fine with her staying with them, and she would be staying in Lily's room with her.
"I just hope my dad doesn't write. I don't think it would be a particularly happy letter." Al shrugged.
"My parents may be a little embarrassing. If they try to tell you any stories, just walk away."
"So Rose, where's Hugo?" The Potters and Weasleys sat in the same room, the train speeding past the country side.
"I don't know. He may be with his friends. I do know he is coming back." Tara had been getting used to the family. The girls had been talking to her non-stop all day, and James and Al were being their usual selves.
"Are you sure he got on the train? I mean, he almost missed it last year." Rose shrugged, her prefect badge shining on her chest.
"I'll find him. Be right back." She got up and left, leaving the Potters and Tara. They talked for a while, before Rose came back, assuring that Hugo had gotten on the train. They resumed their conversations, and by the time the train pulled up to the station, Tara was getting nervous.
"Got your stuff? Good. Let's go find mum and dad then. They stepped off the train, Tara looking for them. She immediately noticed and very handsome man and beautiful red head women looking at them and walking towards them.
"I guess that's them." Al nodded and led her towards them.
"Hello sweety. I've missed you so much!" Ginny Potter bent down and hugged her son, then looked towards Tara.
"You must be Tara. I'm so happy to meet you." She held out her hand, which Tara shook. She looked towards Harry, who grinned.
"Nice to see that my son has finally found a girl he likes. You can call me Harry." He held out his hand, and Tara shook it.
"Look, there's James and Lily. You too can go to the car, Al knows what it looks like. We'll meet you back there." Al led Tara through the crowd, feeling her tense up.
"Al, my dad is here." Al looked to where she was looking, seeing the man walking over to her, an angry smirk on his face.
"Looky here, I see someone has actually became friends with you. Why haven't you written, girl?" Tara, shrunk back, and Al could sense she was scared.
"Um, hello Mr. Langley. My name is Al Potter." Mr. Langley's eyes narrowed as he turned towards Al. He looked down at him as he talked.
"A Potter? I never realized that dirty inbreed was allowed to have mutts like you."
"Yeah, I was. Why are you bothering my kid again?" Harry shot back, pulling his wand out.
"Potter. The Dark Lord should have done a better job a of getting rid of you." Ginny pulled Al and Tara back, and Harry stepped in front of them.
"Are you threatening me?" He was node to nose with the man, his anger rising.
"I thought I was just here to pick up my daughter, but if she would like to hang out with your children, I guess I should just let her. I don't want to be responsible for her having an ingrate child." Harry snapped, an outburst of magic blasting the man backwards.
"Dad, stop." James ran forwards, grabbing his dad's arm. Harry turned towards Tara.
"Is he your father?" She nodded. He looked back.
"Sorry. I don't like when people insult my family." She nodded.
"He had it coming to him. Going around saying things like that, I expected it to happen sooner." She grinned at him.
"Thank you bye the way. You might have knocked some sense into him." Harry smiled and looked at Al.
"I like her." Ginny smiled and took her husbands hand. They led their kids to their car, attracting stares the whole way. When they got to the house, Al led Tara inside.
"Home sweet home. You'll be with Lily in her room." Tara looked around.
"It's beautiful here. You've lived here your whole life?" Al nodded. Lily walked in and nudged her.
"I'll show you where your staying." James and their parents walked inside, listening to him tell about a prank.
"So Al, how did you two meet?" Harry asked, helping James get out of trouble by making him stop talking.
"Ooh, yeah Al, why don't you tell that story?" Ginny narrowed her eyes.
"Just because you stopped talking doesn't mean you're out of trouble for doing that." James huffed, shutting up right away. Al told the story, and was half way through it before Tara and Lily came back down.
"Thank you for letting me stay with you for break. This house is beautiful." Ginny smiled.
"Thank you Tara. You are staying for the whole break right?" Tara nodded.
"Good. Now, everyone get ready. Grandma Weasley is having everyone over for dinner." James moaned.
"Why? We just got back home. And aren't we going there for Christmas?" Harry shook his head.
"We're heading to Bill and Fleur's for Christmas." Lily looked excited.
"Really? They live in New York though. When are we leaving?" Harry grinned.
"I knew you would be excited. We leave in two days. We'll be staying at our place there." Tara looked astounded.
"You have a house in New York? My mom was from their." Ginny smiled.
"It really is quite pretty there. My brother and his wife live in the city." Tara and Ginny started talking about that while Harry sent his kids to get dressed.
"So Tara, how has Al been treating you? Like a gentlemen I hope." Grandma Weasley glared at her grandson, ready to yell at him if he wasn't being good.
"He's very nice. He's just a big goofball half the time." Al went red and looked away.
"Al a goofball? Has the world gone mad?" Teddy Lupin and his fiance Victoire Weasley walked into the Burrow, making everyone jump up to greet them.
"Teddy! How nice to see you!" Tara had been introduced to them, and everyone took her in and welcomed her. The whole night itself had been fun, and she had really enjoyed Al's family. When the Potter's returned home, their parents went up to bed and the kids stayed up for a while, watching TV.
"So you guys use muggle things?" Lily nodded.
"Dad was raised by muggles. Not everything they have is awful." Tara smiled.
"You guys have pretty great parents." They nodded.
"They may be embarrassing, but they are pretty cool. If that makes sense." James said, confusing himself. Tara nodded. They chatted and watched TV before it was almost one in the morning, so they all went to sleep.
"I just wanted to say thank you again." Tara had stopped Al before the stairs. He smiled and kissed her.
"It really isn't a problem. After seeing what your dad was like today, I know it must be hard living with him." She nodded, looking away.
"Well, I better head up before Lily comes looking for me." He smiled at her and pulled her in for a kiss.
"Okay, we have to head to gate B to catch our flight." Harry pointed which way they had to go. They were taking a plane because their kids couldn't apparate yet, and because it was always a fun experience.
"So planes, they aren't scary, and they won't fall out of the sky?" Tara had been learning about them from the Potters all morning. She was fearful at first, but she got the gist that they weren't so scary.
"No. And we'll be in first class so it will be all comfy." Ginny and Harry led the kids to the gate, and soon enough they were boarding.
"I'm still not sure about these." Al grinned.
"What, afraid of the big bad plane?" She hit him lightly but grinned.
"Kind of. I mean, I was brought up thinking muggles were useless. This may just prove they are of some use." She had been amazed when the giant metal aircraft started to move, and soon, they were in the air. Throughout the whole trip, she looked out the window, watching the clouds, unable to see the water miles beneath her. The flight took 8 hours, but they had left in the morning and it was late afternoon when they arrived.
"I haven't been her for so long." Tara was looking around, before Al tapped her on the shoulder leading her to the car.
"Hello Mr. Potter, Mrs. Potter. I hope your plane trip was comfortable." The driver of the car they were getting into smiled at them, opening the doors. While the driver drove, the Potter family was telling Tara how much she would love it there.
"Our house is just a bit north of the city, but it is quite beautiful." Ginny said, thinking about the house.
"My mom lived in the city when she grew up. I never actually got to come here though." James grinned.
"Well, you're going to be quite busy. All of our family is going to be here." Within an hour, the car started to slow, pulling up to a quite large house. They all went inside, pulling their luggage along with them.
"Are we going to anywhere else today, mum?" Lily had been tired since she woke up early, and had not been able to get any sleep on the plane.
"No, we're here for the rest of the day." She nodded.
"Good. I'll be off, I'm taking a nap." Al showed Tara around the house, and brought her to one of the guest rooms that she would be staying in.
"Al, your family is so nice. I thought we would just be in England, but now we're in a different country." Al grinned.
"You get to meet the rest of our family tomorrow. And James will probably wake you up early because he's still a little kid on Christmas." She laughed.
"Thank you." He looked at her.
"How many times are you going to say that?" She smiled.
"As many times as I think I need to."
I wrote a bit more in this chapter, but still, it isn't particularly long. I'm thinking about ending this story soon, since when I started it I didn't mean for it to be several chapters long. But, if people like it, then I'll keep writing. -Jemma