Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and Nala had escaped punishment for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. Fred and George however had not been so lucky in evading punishment. The few owls that had managed to battle their way through the storm sky were being nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again.
Nobody could wait for the holidays to start. The Hufflepuff common room had roaring fires and everyone was talking happily. Some of the older students had strung up a line on the ceiling where all the Hufflepuffs hung a Christmas card for the rest of the house. Everybody took part, apparently it was tradition.
Nala was just stringing up her card when an owl flew straight into her chest. She took the letter and recognised her mother's handwriting immediately.

Dear Nala,
We have spent weeks discussing it and have come to the decision that you may not stay with us. We think it's for the best, after all... what would the neighbours say? We hope you understand this but remember it's-

Nala stopped reading with tears clinging desperately onto her eyelashes. She wasn't wanted home? She ran out of the common room and ran full pelt into Harry, whom, despite their adventure with the troll, still didn't like Nala. When he saw her puffy red eyes though, his expression softened. Slightly.
"What's wrong?" he asked, not kindly but not unkindly either. Nala handed Harry the letter . Harry shook his head, confused. "I thought you were staying here anyway?"
"I was!" she hiccuped. "I am! It would just have been nice to think that they wanted to see their daughter on Christmas. I guess I should have known better.
The next day, everyone had left for the holidays, Nala was the only person in the whole of Hufflepuff to be staying. As she was sat by the fire, toasting marshmallows, she heard a great whoosh of liquid from outside. She rolled her eyes, knowing that some idiot was trying to get in to make fun of her. Nala decided she had nothing to lose by going out to see who it was.
To her surprise, when she opened the barrell, it was her two best friends. She ran to give them a hug but stopped just in time.
"Fred? George?"
"We knocked so you'd hear us but we didn't realise we'd get soaked in- wait what even is this stuff-" Fred sniffed his hand and pulled a face "- vinegar!"
Nala laughed slightly, "Yeah- it's a defense mechanism. Anyway, the spell, ummm, Scourgify!"
"Thanks Princess Nala!" George grinned.
"You're welcome. I thought you were going home for Christmas?"
"Change of plans-"
"Our parents are going to visit Charlie in Romania-"
"So we're-"
"Kidnapping you!" George finished. Quicker than Nala would have thought possible, her eyes were covered and she was hoisted over his shoulder and they were running up hundreds of flights of stairs. Nala let out a noise of shock and pleasure. Finally when the trio stopped, Nala opened her eyes. She let out a frustrated noise when all she could see was the back of George's shirt.
"George! All I can see is the back of your shirt!" Nala complained.
"And you'd like to see more of him would you?" Fred teased. Nala's eyes widened and her cheeks went pink at what he was implying.
"Merlin! No!" Nala said loudly. Fred laughed slightly. There was a small whisper and the group was moving again. When they came to another stop, the boys finally put Nala down. She opened her eyes and realised she was in the twins' dormitory.
"Like we said, we're kidnapping you."
"You're staying here for the holidays."
Nala smiled at the boys. They were being so thoughtful.
By the time Christmas had arrived, Nala and the twins were having too good of a time to be thinking about schoolwork and Harry and any other worrisome subjects. They had a dormitory to themselves and two common rooms that were far emptier than usual, so they were always able to get good seats by the fire. They sat and roasted marshmallows, coming up with prank ideas.
"Merlin's Beard Nala!" both twins suddenly exclaimed at once one noisy evening by the fire. Nala jumped and burnt the hem of her skirt. She scowled at the boys and stamped the flame out.
"What?"
"We haven't shown you the kitchens!" Nala sighed, typical, her skirt was burnt for something so stupid. She muttered the spell to fix it under her breath and looked up at the boys expectantly.
"What?" Fred asked.
Nala shook her head in exasperation, "The kitchens?"
"Oh yeah!"

On Christmas eve, Nala went to bed full of excitement for the next day. Christmas was sure to be so much better here at Hogwarts than back at the Dursleys. What she did not expect however, was a fairly large pile of presents.
"Freddie! Georgie!" she screeched. The boys woke up with a start.
"Princess Nala?"
"To what do we owe the pleasure?" George finished.
"Wake up it's Christmas!"
Nala picked up the top parcel. It was wrapped in brown paper. She carefully unfolded the paper and looked inside, it was a full stationery set with two notebooks and pens and pencils and rubbers and rulers and everything Nala could want. Nala looked back inside for a name but there was no tag, no card, nothing.
She turned back to the others and opened the next one. This one was obviously from her parents as it was a gift set of makeup and other beauty projects, a small tear made its way down her face but she wiped it away quickly. She carried on opening her other presents which were much more her.
From Hermione, she'd received a box of liquorice wands and the full Narnia series. From Susan, she'd got a new notebook and from Hannah a new set of pens. The two had clearly worked together because they matched. Her next present shocked her. It was a calligraphic 3D word "Cousin" and on it were pictures of her and Harry when they were younger. These pictures changed every now and then. There was a small note enclosed and she choked back tears as she read it.

Nala,
I am so sorry to have been so horrible to you. I was selfish and rude and I judged you. I thought you were just like Dudley without getting to know you. I was a little jealous to find out that you'd got into Hogwarts too and I was horrible to you for it. I hope you can find it in you to forgive me although I will understand if you can't. I hope you like the present, Hermione helped with the charms and stuff.
Merry Christmas cousin
Lots of love
Harry

Nala smiled as tears dripped down her face. Of course she would forgive Harry. Then she turned to the last present. She opened it carefully and found a box of homemade fudge and a hand-knitted jumper. It was from Fred and George's mum.
"Did you tell your mum about me?"
"Yeah, we told her you were one of our best friends, why?" Fred asked. Nala held up the jumper.
"We said about how your family wouldn't get you anything you wanted and I guess she wanted to get you something."
"Thanks guys!" Nala hugged the twins and crammed her jumper over her head.
"Come on, let's go see Harry and Ron," Fred said.
"As long as you're okay with that?" George suddenly looked concerned, they knew about her fragile relationship with her cousin. Nala showed them the letter. "Are you going to...?"
"Of course! He's family."
The threesome headed down to the boys' room. When they entered, Nala saw from the corner of her eye that Harry shoved something under his bed. Harry, it seemed had a Weasley's jumper on too.
"Hey Harry's got one too!" George said. "His and Nala's are better than ours though. Suppose she makes more of an effort if you're not family."
Harry seemed to notice Nala for the first time he looked away nervously and Nala beckoned him out.
"Merry Christmas," Harry said uncertainly. Nala wrapped her arms around Harry. "You got the present then?" Nala nodded. "Thanks for yours as well."
Nala had gotten her cousin a replica of the acceptance letter that when held gave the holder happy feelings.
"I'm so sorry."
"It's fine. It's in the past," Nala suddenly added wryly, "What did the Dirties get you?"
Of course, the Dursleys weren't dirty at all. In fact they were quite the opposite but Nala didn't care, and it seemed, neither did Harry.
"Oh they were so kind, I got a fifty pence, I gave it to Ron, he found it fascinating.
"Oh lucky you, I got make-up! Make-up I ask you?"
Harry snorted. Christmas was a time for forgiveness.