For Tat!
Christmas Jitters.
Rose stood in front of the full-length mirror as she placed a belt she found in Muggle London the previous week around the waist of her robes. All she had left to do was find her boots, and then if Scorpius was ready they could apparate over to the Burrow together for Christmas Eve. As she took one last glance in the mirror to make sure the belt was where she wanted it, Rose turned to get the boots out of the closet.
"Scorpius!" Rose shouted as she ducked into the closet, "Ready?"
"I've decided I'm not going!" Scorpius shouted back, causing Rose to snatch her boots and storm out of the closet, down the hall and into the small living room that belonged to their flat.
Rose sat on the sofa next to Scorpius and began to put her boots on, "What do you mean you're not going Scorpius?"
"Just that, I'm not going. In fact to be fair you can go back to the Burrow tomorrow for Christmas and not to my parents' house," Scorpius responded as he picked up the latest edition of Quidditch Weekly and began to thumb through the pages.
Rose got her shoes on before standing up in front of Scorpius with her arms folded across her chest, "You have to come Scorpius. Why don't you want to go? It's not like you haven't met everyone in the family yet."
Scorpius closed the magazine and looked up at Rose, "But not all in the same room! I don't think I can take it."
Rose relaxed some, "We aren't that bad Scorpius."
Scorpius snorted, "Not that bad, the last time I ran into your Uncle George he just shook his head and laughed, and not just some low chuckle. He had everyone on Diagon Alley looking around trying to figure out what was funny."
"So when you see Uncle George, just ask him how in Merlin his son became a Head Boy," Rose responded, "Uncle George laughs at everyone and he jokes about everyone. It's nothing personal, and you shouldn't be worried. In fact you should be worried if he didn't do that."
"Okay, what about your Uncle Harry then. He watches my every step whenever I'm around as if he's just waiting for me to curse everyone in the room," Scorpius countered.
Rose shook her head, "Uncle Harry suspects everyone who is not a blood relative. He's head of the Auror department; I think it's become second nature for him because that's how he manages to stay alive while he's on the job. It could be worse; he actually runs background checks on anyone Lily is dating, including the poor boy's family."
Scorpius sighed, "Okay how about how every time I've seen your Granny she smothers me in hugs and tries to feed me. I'm not a hugging type of person."
"Again, she does that with everyone. Besides, you wouldn't want to disappoint her I'm positive she's made you a jumper and she'd much rather give it to you instead of having me bring it home for you," Rose responded a smile forming, "Who else?"
Scorpius remained silent for a while, the way his forehead was scrunching up told Rose that he was thinking about his next excuse. His eyes lit up as he said, "Your Uncle Bill. He's always making comments about the fact that I'm a Malfoy."
Rose shook her head, "Really Scorpius, you need to get a sense of humor."
"You think it's funny when your Dad comes after me with his wand drawn?" Scorpius retorted.
Rose sat back down on the sofa and took Scorpius' hand, "That was just one time and to his credit he had just found us snogging and had no idea that we were dating at the time. He's come around…okay so Mum has forced him to come around to the idea of us getting married."
"That's just it though Rose, all those things have happened when it was just them or one or two of your other relatives around. They've got to be ten times worse when you get them all together," Scorpius commented.
Rose leaned in and kissed Scorpius' cheek, "How do you think it will be if you don't go tonight Scorpius. They feed off that sort of thing and it'll be ten times worse the next time you see them. You can't avoid my family forever; we are getting married this summer."
"Can't I have it both ways? Why can't I just marry you and avoid your family?" Scorpius pleaded with a touch of teasing in his voice.
Rose nudged him with her elbow, "Come on, if we don't leave we'll be late. The best way to deal with my Uncles is to just throw the jokes right back at them. Once they see you can take it and that you have a sense of humor they'll let up on you and even let you join in."
They shared a kiss before Scorpius pulled Rose up off the couch, "Let's just go and get this over with. But if you see red sparks flying up come and rescue me."
Rose laughed, "Promise. Cheer up Scorpius; it really won't be that bad. It'll be fun, a lot more fun then the long, boring, formal dinner that we'll have to sit through tomorrow."
Scorpius only nodded as he went to the small Christmas tree and gather up the presents that they would be taking with them to the Burrow. He shrunk them so they would all fit in his robe pockets before turning back to Rose.
"I just had to fall for a Weasley," Scorpius teased.
"Isn't that what your Dad said when you told him we were dating?" Rose teased back causing Scorpius to nod.
They walked out of the flat and down the street before reaching on of the designated apparation spots. Rose had her wand out and was ready to apparate when Scorpius stopped her by grabbing her arm.
"I have to confess something," Scorpius stated causing Rose to raise an eyebrow. Scorpius took a deep breath before continuing, "You remember how you thought it would be a good idea for me to pick out presents for your Uncles?"
Rose nodded and Scorpius grinned, "Well, I half lied to you about what I got them. I mean they look like what I said but I took the liberty of making sure the watches will squirt black ink on them once they put the watches on."
Rose chuckled, "Oh boy."
"Not only that, the ink is visible to everyone but the person wearing one of the watches. They are all linked so if all your Uncles won't be able to see the ink on each other as long as they have their watch on," Scorpius explained nervously, "It seemed like a good idea at the time since I had just seen your Uncle George on the street and he had cracked up laughing at me for no apparent reason that I could see."
Rose laughed then and gave Scorpius a hug, "And here you are worried that you won't fit in. Come on, let's go and I'll make sure they all try on their new watches as soon as they are opened."