Do not own a single thing (except the plot, and the OCs)
It was strange, how different and yet similar Lorcan and Lysander were. They were twins; they'd both inherited their mother's dirty-blonde hair (though Lysander's seemed a shade darker), and had wide hazel-ish eyes. They stood at around the same height. Lorcan was the smarter and the odder of the two, and he was a Ravenclaw. He was always equipped with either Dirigible plums or Gurdyroots. Lysander was the more normal (and the younger). He was a Gryffindor. The twins knew each other inside out, and yet they seemed distant. Lorcan was closer to his best friend, Mikayla, and Lysander was closer to the Potter-Weasley family, even though Lorcan was also friendly with them.
Rose pondered the differences as she sat on an armchair in the Ravenclaw common room, watching Lorcan and Mikayla playing chess - more to take her mind off things than anything else. Lorcan had requested, as had Rose, Scorpius and Alice, to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays, and go to the Burrow for Christmas Eve and Day (the Scamanders were welcome, as they lived close, and were friendly with the family) while Lysander had gone home.
Rose also wondered why so many Ravenclaws had stayed for the holidays. It had to be almost half the house that sat in the common room, most studying, some, like Lorcan and Mikayla, playing chess, others reading books. One girl, a seventh year, was practising making potions for her N.E.W.T exams. Rose knew that one of them was Amortentia, by the glorious scents that she had just inhaled.
Now she sniffed interestedly, wondering what it was. She could distinguish Saddle Soap, and the scent of a baking cake … chocolate fudge … but what was the third …? It smelt like a … pillow.
Shrugging ever so slightly, she turned her gaze back to the game of chess. She could see that Alice's cheeks had tinged pink; obviously whatever she had smelt had embarrassed her.
The five of them sat in silence, broken only by the orders given to the chess pieces and the other Ravenclaws, each (of the five), it seemed, pondering what they had just smelt, or the next move they would make in the chess game.
They were whiling away the time until Teddy came to collect them (Rose, Scorpius, Alice and Lorcan) and they would head off for the Burrow. They were taking the Knight Bus, which Rose was anticipating with dread - the Knight Bus had a notoriety of being an extremely bumpy ride, and Rose's own past experiences had led her to hate every journey that had to be made using the purple three-decker bus.
They did not have long to wait. Just as soon as Rose had noted that snow was once again swirling outside, the knocker outside the common room sounded, the question was asked, answered, and the entrance opened to reveal Teddy.
"You all ready?" he asked, gaze finding the four he was looking for.
There was a chorus of 'yes' or something similar, and all of them, led by Rose, came up to him, dragging their trunks behind them. Lorcan brought up the rear, as he had to say goodbye and Merry Christmas to Mikayla.
Rose was relieved when Teddy vanished their trunks for them. They left the common room, several goodbyes calling after them from the friendlier Ravenclaws.
They followed Teddy out of the castle and down to the gates, heads bowed against the blizzard. When they eventually reached the towering gates, which were topped with the statues of winged boars, Teddy had already unlocked them and flagged down the Knight Bus.
They climbed on and found seats - Rose taking care to be near something she could hold on to - while Teddy paid. She still fell over when the bus lurched forward, however.
When they eventually reached Ottery St. Catchpole, they were glad to see the back of the Knight Bus. They started towards the tall, crooked building that was the Burrow cheerily.
"Are you all right?" Rose asked suddenly, staring in concern at her friend, who looked exhausted and on the verge of tears simultaneously.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Alice asked, frowning.
"No offence, but you look terrible."
"And you've been talking in your sleep," Scorpius supplied. "You never do that."
"I'm just worried about Al," Alice said. "Everyone is."
Her tone made her wish for the subject to be dropped clear, and they had reached the Burrow, so Rose did not say anything more, though a glance at her other friend told her that he too was worried.
The living room seemed the only un-subdued place in the whole house. When Rose, Scorpius, Lorcan and Alice entered, they found most of the occupants were involved in a game of exploding snap. Molly read in a corner on her own, and Lucy talked with Lysander and Katherine, a conversation which Lorcan happily joined. Katherine hugged Rose.
"How come you're here?" Rose asked the younger girl.
She shrugged. "Mum went to visit Lyndsey; Dad's gone too; I begged to stay here for the holidays."
"Cool," Rose murmured.
"Why don't we go for a walk?" Scorpius suggested suddenly, after Katherine had returned to her previous conversation, and there had been a considerable silence.
Rose considered the suggestion, and then smiled slightly. "Ok. I'll ask Alice if she wants to come."
She went upstairs to the room the three of them were sharing. There was an extra bed, for if Albus returned, and his trunk lay at the foot of it. Alice was sitting on her bed, staring out of the window into space.
"Do you want to come for a walk?" Rose asked, as she wound her Gryffindor scarf around her neck. "Scorp and I are going."
"No thanks," Alice murmured, without looking round. "I think I'll just stay in the warm."
Rose nodded as she put on her jacket and Gryffindor scarf left the room, scooping up Scorpius's own Gryffindor scarf as she went.
"She didn't want to come," she said, stating the obvious, as she emerged at the bottom of the stairs to find Scorpius waiting for her. She offered his scarf to him; he took it, murmuring his thanks.
"How about we go to Stoatshead Hill and back?" Scorpius suggested, as they crossed the garden.
"Sounds good to me," Rose answered, shivering slightly and tightening her scarf.
They walked in relative silence, and stopped around half-way up; as Scorpius had discovered that a lone rose had survived on a bush. He picked it, sniffed it, and held it out to her.
"A rose for Rose," he murmured.
She accepted it with a smile, sniffing it as well before putting it in her hair, reminiscent of how she had worn the rose for the wedding earlier in the year.
"It's beautiful when it's like this," she murmured, as they continued to walk. "Cold, but beautiful."
"It sure is."
"My parents got married in the snow," she continued, remembering the photos she'd seen; the story she'd been told. "Christmas Day. Here," she gestured back to the Burrow. "And George and Angie did too."
Scorpius stayed silent as she told him what she knew about both weddings.
"It'd be lovely to get married at Christmas," she concluded in a soft voice.
"Yeah, it would," Scorpius agreed.
They both stopped - which was not entirely because they'd reached the top of the hill - and looked at each other.
When Rose dropped her gaze to the snow-covered ground, she was sure that her cheeks were pink. She looked up again, and froze as something caught her attention.
"I just saw a leopard," she whispered, and she set off at a run towards a nearby thicket of trees.
"What? Are you sure?"
"Positive!" Rose replied, skidding to a halt. "How many amur leopards to you see around here, huh?"
"Not many."
And Albus emerged from the trees, accepting the simultaneous hugs bestowed on him with a grin.
"Glad to see you're happy to see me. Where's Alice? Not often she's not with you two."
"She's back at the house," Rose answered. "Here; you must be freezing!"
She took off her scarf and gave it to her cousin. Scorpius in turn gave her his with a slight smile.
She murmured her thanks as the three of them headed down the hill again.
They slid in the back way, avoiding detection as they went upstairs and into the bedroom. Alice was asleep. Rose shook her gently.
"Alice?"
"Leave me alone, Rose," Alice mumbled sleepily, shifting away from the hand. "'M tired."
"Hey, Alice," Albus tried. This time, the honey-blonde's eyes flickered open.
"Al?"
"That's me," he said.
"You okay?" she murmured, sitting up a little and scrutinising him.
"Better now I've seen you."
She blushed. "That's good." And with that, she fell back to sleep.
"What happened with Alice?" Albus asked curiously.
Rose, yawning, poured herself a goblet of pumpkin juice. "You got kidnapped. She worried, she got miserable."
"Miserable?" Albus repeated, his green eyes shining with excitement, uncharacteristically for him.
"Uh huh," Rose murmured sleepily, leaning against the worktop. "She hardly ever slept."
She paused, eyeing her cousin apprehensively.
"You're not going to ask her out again, are you? It was uncomfortable enough last time. And if she did say yes, then it'd effectively ruin your friendship - for all four of us, really - forever."
She took a sip of her pumpkin juice.
"But maybe things have changed," he said hopefully.
"Then you should ask Scorp," Rose murmured. "He knows more than me."
"All right; I will," said Albus. "Merry Christmas, Rosie."
"Merry Christmas, Al," she answered.
He left.
She wondered, as she drank more of her juice, if things would really change all that much if the four of them paired off.
She almost spit out a mouthful of pumpkin juice as she realised what she had thought. Her and Scorpius? Together …? She would never have thought of that in a million years.
She laid down her goblet, which was still half-full, brushing away the odd feeling inside her and returning upstairs to open her presents.
"Merry Christmas," Alice greeted with a smile. "Thanks for the Chaser gloves."
"Merry Christmas," Rose repeated, but she could not say 'you're welcome'.
She sat on her bed and started unwrapping her presents in silence.
"Have you seen either of the guys at all?" Alice asked suddenly, frowning.
"I was just talking to Al," Rose answered. "But I haven't seen Scorp … do you want me to look for them?"
"If you want to," Alice shrugged.
Rose got to her feet, crossed the room and headed outside. She found Scorpius where she'd expected, in the only place you could sit peacefully in the garden, and have no one find you (unless they knew where to look); sitting on a large rock behind the rhododendron bush.
"Al's looking for you, you know," she said, sitting down too.
"What for?"
"To grill you about how Alice's feelings have changed. She has realised she loves him now, hasn't she?"
Scorpius nodded.
"So now it's only a matter of time until they get together," Rose murmured.
"Better tell Al, then," Scorpius sighed. "Where is he?"
"Dunno," Rose shrugged. "But I'm sure we can find him easily."
They did. He came up to them almost as soon as they had come in the door. Rose disappeared and returned to the bedroom.
"You found them, then?" Alice questioned.
"Yeah, I did," Rose replied, returning to the task of unwrapping her Christmas presents.
"Thanks," she said to Alice, upon unwrapping a present from her friend; a book called A Guide to Studying.
"Thought you'd like it," Alice replied with a smile.
Rose unwrapped Scorpius's present next. It was simply a framed photograph of the four of them, taken only yesterday, all beaming at the camera and wearing each other's Gryffindor scarves, Rose still with the flower in her hair. The note said;
Not the best Christmas present, but memories are special, and this one's really special.
Merry Christmas,
Scorp
Smiling, she laid the picture on her bedside locker.
"Isn't that from yesterday?" Alice asked interestedly, peering at the photo.
"Yeah, it is," Rose answered, turning to open the rest of her presents.
The return of Albus, and the realisation kicks in for the girls. Though Rose is still being dense, and Alice is too shy to do anything.
