James wasn't quite sure how it had happened, but somehow he had ended up sharing a compartment with Tayden on the train ride back to London. He hadn't been able to think of a good reason to avoid her, and he certainly wasn't about to tell her. She'd have to know eventually of course. James was not looking forward to that. He didn't know if she would tell anyone, but rumours always got around. It was unlikely that something bigger than the Gryffindor Quidditch captain impregnating his Prefect cousin would happen to distract people from it.
Although, if he didn't finish school, gossip wouldn't be James' problem. He knew his life was about to change drastically, but he had no idea where it was headed. He sighed.
"What's wrong?" asked Tayden. "Are you still mad at me?"
"I'm not mad." replied James. "I'm confused, but that's not why I was sighing."
"I'm sorry, but Marissa had just broken up with her boyfriend. The last thing she needed was to know someone else was doing it in the next bed. We were having a girls' night to cheer her up." Tayden explained.
"That's what was with the candle." realized James.
"Yeah. It's our thing." said Tayden. "Don't worry, I'll make it up to you."
James looked at her. "Tayden..."
"Uh oh. What?" she asked suspiciously.
"I... we... we need to break up." James blurted it out. "I'm not mad at you. I like you! But ...some things have happened and... well it's just not going to work."
"It's not me it's you? Please, just tell me what's bothering you. It's been two weeks since we had a proper conversation. You've been hiding in your dorm and moping around. Talk to me James." begged Tayden.
"I... I can't." replied James. "It's, er, family stuff. Yeah."
"Will you ever be able to tell me?" she asked.
James thought about that. "I guess you'll know eventually. But it's just better if we break up now, rather than... when you find out."
She turned away. "This is too bad. I really like you James. We haven't even had a first date."
"I know. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to happen. I'm so stupid!" He grabbed fistfuls of his hair.
"I have no idea what's going on." said Tayden "But if you can't tell me, I guess it's best to break up, at least for now, if that's what you want."
"It's not what I want!" cried James "But it's what we need. Besides, you'll hate me! I... I have to go." he left the compartment and made his way to the other end of the train. A group of first years looked at him in shock as he burst into their compartment, but he sat down and stared out the window, and they tentatively resumed their chatter.
Stupid first years. They were so young. They didn't have problems like this, and they probably never would. James wanted to hate them, but he didn't have it in his heart. So he leaned back and tried to fall asleep.
How could this have happened? He had thought about being a young father before, and he had done everything he was supposed to do to prevent that from happening. But it seemed impossible that he had managed to crawl into bed with his cousin, and neither of them had checked that the other had protection, or even what their identities were? It could only have been fate. And fate was cruel.
Rose had mixed feelings about going home.
She was glad to be away from Scorpius. She hadn't spoken to him much. Prefect duties increased before Christmas, and she had thrown herself into them. Scorpius was a prefect too, but she worked mainly with Albus, who was the other prefect from Gryffindor sixth year.
Albus was good to work with, but these last weeks his main job had been trying to get Rose to let up on chewing out the other students. "Rose," he said carefully once "I understand that you're stressed out, but you've docked over 800 points in a week." She had become such a terror that the first year students had begun to run away when they saw her coming. Albus had managed to restrain her from chasing them down.
Although Rose was glad to leave Scorpius and her tormentees, she was even more nervous about what was to come. She hoped her parents would be understanding about the pregnancy, but how could they ever understand that the father was her cousin?
Rose had thought hard about what she would say. She didn't want to end up trying to defend herself or justify what had happened, because she knew it was wrong and she was disgusted by it. But she still needed her parents to support her. Victoire and Teddy were practically cousins, weren't they? No one had a problem with their relationship.
The problem was, although Teddy and Victoire likely were distantly related, they weren't really blood. Rose knew about the complications that could arise from an incestuous pregnancy, and she was so afraid of what this baby might be.
For now however, she had banished her fear, about her parents reactions, the problems the baby might have, what could happen to her during pregnancy, and everything that had been running through her mind for the last two weeks.
It was necessary to do this as she was sharing a compartment with Lily, Roxanne, and Lucy, and she really didn't want anyone else to know.
The door opened. "Hey." said Valerie Wilder, Lucy's best friend and fellow Hufflepuff "Can we borrow Lucy?"
"Yeah just a second Val."
The other girl with Valerie introduced herself. "Hi. I'm Hayley."
"Hi Hayley!" chirped Lily "I like your hair!"
Hayley patted her bun. "Thanks." A braid swept down the side of her head and tucked into the chiffon.
"That would look great on you Rose!" decided Lily.
"Hmm?" asked Rose "Oh, yes."
Roxanne narrowed her eyes at this.
Lucy had finally rounded up her stuff. "Bye!" She followed Valerie and Hayley down the corridor.
"Rose, what's up with you?" asked Roxanne immediately.
"Er, nothing. I'm just tired." mumbled Rose.
"Rosie." said Roxanne "You're tired, you don't pay any attention to the conversation, you keep cradling your stomach, you're avoiding Scorpius, and that was you I heard throwing up in the bathroom wasn't it? Are you pregnant?"
Rose nodded. There was no reason to lie, Roxanne would know soon enough.
"Do you want me to kill him?" she asked, dead serious.
"No!" said Rose. "No."
Roxanne turned to Lily. "You knew about this!" she exclaimed.
Lily's eyes widened. "Rosie! You're pregnant?"
Roxanne bopped Lily on the arm. "Nice try. I can't believe you didn't tell me."
"I don't want to talk about it." interrupted Rose. "Please?"
"Oh Rosie." said Roxanne softly. She crossed the compartment and hugged her cousin. Lily did the same. And Rose cried in their arms.
The Welcome Home Dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Weasley's was held the next day, Monday. It was awkward for both James and Rose. They had agreed to break the news at ten in the morning on Tuesday. That meant so far, everyone was blissfully unaware and in good spirits.
"Okay!" said Hermione, once they had stuffed themselves with three kinds of pie. "Secret Santa time."
The sizable number of relatives and the limited funds of certain members of the family had resulted in the gift exchange. Everyone got presents for their immediate family and Molly and Arthur, but everyone also had one other person to purchase for, the person they drew in the gift exchange.
Hermione came around with a Santa hat with the names of the kids, while Audrey brought over the one for the adults. The sisters-in-law had worked together to set this event up.
Everyone took a name (or more, if they drew siblings or spouses that had to be put back). Rose didn't bother to look at hers. It had already been a long night.
She was exhausted by the time they Flooed home. She was extremely grateful that Flooing didn't hurt the baby, because that would be hard to explain. James had shot her a look as she climbed into the fireplace, but she gave him a minute shake of the head.
When they arrived, Rose collapsed into bed. She didn't even have time to lie awake worrying about the morning.
Author's Note: I had originally intended for that Secret Santa bit to become something more, but I decided that it did nothing for the plot. So anyone who is waiting to discover it's significance, sorry to disappoint.