Hi guys! Thanks so much for reading, I hope you like the chapter! -Kelly

CHAPTER 12

CHRISTMAS AT THE BURROW

"Are you sure you have everything? Because you said you did last year, and then you left your Transfiguration textbook in your room and had to do a two-foot essay the night you got back," Rose reminded Hugo when he came down the stairs carrying his trunk and his owl, Roger. He rolled his eyes at her.

"Yes, I have everything," he said.

"Well, where's your scarf? It's cold out," she said, and he groaned.

"You're not my mum, let's just go," he said, and Rose sighed as she picked up her own trunk and Musetta and followed her brother out of the common room. The massive amount of students trying to leave the castle all at once was a bit overwhelming, especially once they reached the entrance hall, and Rose was surprised when she felt someone tap her shoulder.

"How did you find us?" she asked Scorpius. "It's chaos in here. I thought you'd be trying to sleep through it."

"I had to say goodbye," he said, shrugging.

"I see Louis and Lysander, I'll meet you on the train, Rose," Hugo said, and Rose nodded.

"Bye, Hugo," Scorpius said, and Hugo waved as he ran off to meet his friends. "So, I'll see you around, then."

Rose felt sad to be leaving him, which she immediately reminded herself was ridiculous. It's only Christmas, she reminded herself. This is just pathetic. "Yeah, I'll see you. Oh, and I'll tell Teddy maybe Easter?"

"It'll probably be summer," Scorpius said. "I usually like to study at Easter."

"Well, whichever, I'll tell him," Rose said.

"Okay," Scorpius said. Rose didn't really know what else to say, so she decided to go before she embarrassed herself.

"Well, goodbye," she said, and started to turn around.

"Rose, wait," he said, and grabbed her wrist. Rose's pulse quickened despite herself and she looked at him, confused. He hesitated and hugged her. Rose hugged him back, though she was very aware of the small scene they were making. He reluctantly let go eventually, and said, "Bye, Weasley. I'll miss you."

"It's two weeks, you're being weird," Rose laughed, secretly very happy that he would miss her.

"Yeah, I know, sorry," he mumbled. "You'd better get on the train."

Rose nodded and waved at him as she walked away, grinning as soon as he couldn't see her anymore.

When the train reached Platform 9 3/4, she got off with Hugo and found her parents quickly. "Hey, kids," her father said as Hugo ran in for a hug. Rose smiled at him and her mother walked over to her.

"No Scorpius?" her mother asked. "We half expected him. Your gran's ready with extra blankets if we needed them."

"No, he's staying at school," Rose said. "Did Teddy tell you he's moving in with them?"

"Really? He hasn't said anything," her mother said. "Well, that'll be lovely, I'm sure they'll want the help soon enough."

"What do you mean?" Rose asked, and her mother shook her head.

"Oh, I forgot, I'm not supposed to say. You'll find out at Christmas."

"Okay," Rose said, a little suspicious, but before she could ask more questions, her father started to leave the platform and they followed.

"He's all right, isn't he? Scorpius, I mean," her mother asked. "I felt so awful for him at the trial. It was very nice of you to come with him, by the way, Rose, I was very proud."

"Oh, thanks," Rose said. "Er, yeah, he's fine, I think. But I mean, he's not going back to live with them, so maybe it brought back too many bad memories. I don't know, he doesn't like to talk about that much, and I don't want to upset him so I don't ask."

"Well, that's probably the right thing to do," her mother said. "I wouldn't want to talk about something like that either."

Rose hesitated before asking something that she'd been thinking about for a while. "Nothing like that happened to you, right, Mum? I mean, I thought that might be why we've never met your parents, and I know some Muggleborns' parents react really badly and mistreat them like my friend Aidan's or…"

"No, no, Rose, nothing at all like that," she said quickly, and Rose could see that she was starting to tear up. "My parents were never anything but kind to me, and they were very understanding and supportive of my being a witch. I'd rather not discuss it right now, perhaps another time." Rose had hardly gotten an answer and just had more questions than before, but they'd reached the car and the second she got in her dad started a conversation.

"So, Rosie, how's school been going?"

"Okay, I guess. It's been a little weird with all the Ministry people around."

"Oh, yeah, we've been reading about that in the paper. All those anonymous essays are really stirring up some talk," her dad said, and Hugo glanced at Rose looking like he was trying not to laugh. She looked at him sternly to stop him.

"Yeah, I've seen those. Lucy hasn't shut up about them."

"I'm sure she hasn't," her dad said. "Though I bet you'd agree with it, too, right?"

"Well, yeah, I suppose," Rose said. "I've been trying to focus on schoolwork this year."

"Well I thought you lot had that Modernists group," he said.

"They shut that down," Rose said, sounding more than a little bitter, and Rose's mum shook her head.

"I don't know what they think they're doing at that school. It almost reminds me of our fifth year, we—well, I don't want you getting any ideas."

Hugo looked like he was ready to burst, and Rose nodded slowly trying to appear as casual as she could.

"So, did you apply for that exchange program we've been hearing about?" her mother asked, and Rose was glad for the change of subject.

"Oh, no, I… didn't want to disrupt my year. Having to adjust to new classes and new teachers and all that."

"Well, all right, I think it would have been a good opportunity, though."

"I applied," Hugo announced and Rose's mum looked surprised.

"Oh, really? What school is your year exchanging with?"

"Koldovstoretz. It's in Russia," Hugo informed them, as if the title didn't already reveal that.

"Oh, er, wonderful, I hope you were picked," their mother said uncomfortably, and Rose could tell that they were both thinking the same thing: Hugo didn't speak a word of Russian.

"How's Quidditch?" her dad asked quickly.

"Not that great," Rose admitted. "Ravenclaw's really good this year. We aren't sure we can beat them. We've won every match that hasn't been against Ravenclaw, though." Rose didn't mention that they'd only had two games that weren't against Ravenclaw so far.

"Well, you can't always win," he said. "Hugo, you're still a Beater alternate, right?"

"Yeah," Hugo said, looking a little disappointed. "I never get put in, though."

"You should ask Uncle George to help you," their dad suggested. "He was a Beater all through school."

"Really?" Hugo asked.

"Yeah, sure. Ask him at Christmas, I'm sure he'd help you train."

"Cool, thanks!" The rest of the car ride faded into minimal conversation and Rose found herself thinking about the essays. She couldn't believe that neither of her parents suspected that it was her at all. She thought it was almost too obvious who was writing them.

However, when Christmas came around and the present-opening part of the day was over, she found that was definitely not the case.

While most of the extended Weasley-Potter family was gathered around the fireplace in the sitting room, Teddy and Victoire stood up and announced that they were expecting. Gran had nearly tackled Victoire in a hug mumbling 'great-grandchildren!' and was now talking quietly in a corner of the room with her. Some of the adults had gone into the kitchen to do the washing up because they realized Gran wasn't going to get up and do it any time soon, though Uncle George and Fred were preoccupied by Hugo asking rapid-fire Beater strategy questions and Aunt Angelina was talking to Aunt Fleur in the corner with Roxanne, Min, and Louis. Rose was sitting with Al playing chess while Lily and James watched.

"I really don't get why Uncle Percy couldn't come," Lily said as Rose attacked Al's knight with her rook. "I mean, I know about the protests and everything, but it's Christmas."

"It's not about his job," James said. "Ava's having dinner with their family at their manor. They said they might stop by later though."

"Poor Ava," Rose muttered.

"Danny Chang-Li's in the same boat, except this isn't anything new to him," James said. "Ava's only on her second year, and that's if you count the dinner at the wedding, they were at Ava's parents for most of Christmas last year. I'm sure she's definitely still afraid of him."

"He's just Uncle Percy," Al said. "Damn it all, Rose." Al's king was in check and he didn't see a way out. Rose did, though only one, and she wasn't telling.

"Well, yeah, but he's the Minister of Magic, too," Lily reminded them.

"That's true. Speaking of boyfriends and girlfriends," James said, "where's Lorcan this evening?" Lily turned pink and James laughed.

"Lorcan's at his own house. And you know that. You're not asking Louis where Lysander is."

"Louis isn't my brother, I don't have to threaten his boyfriends," James said.

"We aren't dating!"

"Well, yeah, but only because you're twelve."

"James!"

"Fine, fine," he said, grinning. "I'll let it go. But mark my words, in a couple of years…"

"You can shut up any time, thanks," Lily said, glaring, and James looked a little nervous for a second. They all knew Lily was slightly dangerous when provoked.

Suddenly, Rose heard raised voices coming from the dining room. "What's that about?" Rose asked.

"I'll go see," James said, and got up to go into the kitchen. Rose, Al, and Lily waited quietly, but after a few minutes Rose couldn't help it anymore and walked into the kitchen as well.

"I don't think they know what they're talking about at all," Uncle Harry was saying. Rose realized with a jolt that they were talking about the essays. "There's no proof that the MET is doing anything harmful. They were only put in place because of the security breaches last year, and you of all people should know that can't happen again, James."

"But that's not what they're doing," James argued. "They're keeping anyone from having an opinion that isn't exactly theirs. They've commandeered History of Magic and Muggle Studies, too, just to change people's opinions."

"There's no proof of that," Uncle Harry said.

"Well, they are," Rose said, and they both turned to look at her. "I mean, I'm in both classes, and they're definitely trying to say everything we've been trying to campaign against. They're changing history to favor the Ministry, and they can't do that!"

"Well, if that's really what they're doing, the way to stop it is to come forward with solid proof, not publish anonymous complaints in a paper," he said.

"I'm not sure they can," Aunt Ginny said. "I can tell you that the owls we get are standard post owls and they aren't coming from very far, just a day trip. So they can't be at Hogwarts." Rose hid a smile as she realized that Lucy's idea of putting future dates on the essays so the owl travel time would throw people off was working.

"So how could they possibly know anything?" Uncle Harry was saying.

"I think that everything they say makes sense, actually," Aunt Ginny said, and Uncle Harry looked a little surprised, while James looked quite pleased. Rose looked around the room and saw Teddy and Uncle Bill standing at the sink with Granddad trying very hard to not become involved. "And Ron and Hermione agree with me, don't you?"

Uncle Harry turned to Rose's parents, who looked slightly apologetic while her mother said, "Well, Harry, you have to admit—"

"All right, fine, but where are they getting these 'reports' from your department, Hermione?"

"We haven't sent out any reports, I've no idea how they're getting that information," her mother admitted.

"So someone's leaking information?" Harry asked. "Brilliant."

"Whatever, Dad, who cares? They're telling the truth, I thought you'd be happy about it. Didn't you sort of start a revolution when they did the same thing?" James asked, and Uncle Harry shook his head.

"Dumbledore's Army was a completely separate—"

"No, I don't think it is!"

"Well, then, what, are you going to start it up again? Are you going to get that angry about a new history teacher?"

James shook his head. "You don't understand what's going on." He stomped out back into the sitting room and the room fell very quiet.

"Er, Rose, can I ask you something? It's, er, about Scorpius," Teddy said. Rose nodded and followed him outside.

"What is it? He said he's going to get a job, so—"

"No, it's not really about Scorpius," Teddy said. Rose looked at him, confused, and he sighed. "Look, Rose," he said, his voice barely over a whisper, "there's no one else who knows what I've been sending you in my letters. Just you and Lucy. Now Lucy's very clever, but she's loads better at speeches than essays. I know it's you." Rose opened her mouth to respond but Teddy kept talking. "I'm not going to tell anyone. I think it's brilliant. But you need to be careful. You're starting to give yourself away. Lots people have been guessing it's a student at Hogwarts, and it's only a matter of time before they start narrowing it down. I expect the METs will, too. And from James's outburst about the DA, I'm assuming this isn't all you're doing?" Rose shook her head. Teddy smiled a little. "I wish I was still there to see it. Just... the more I hear about this, the less I like it. I'm worried about how far they're willing to go."

"Thanks, Teddy," Rose said, and he nodded. "Oh, and congratulations."

He broke into a grin. "Oh, thanks," he said. "I think it's a girl." He held the door open for her and they went back inside, careful to avoid the kitchen.