Title: Light of Day
Author: The Original Horcrux
Rating: T
Date: 20/7/12
Characters: Rose/Scorpius
Word Count: 5,288
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, or any quotes you may recognise in this chapter.
Chapter 14
Extraordinary Merry Christmas
"Are you sure that you don't want me to call someone, Mae; an aunt, your sister or brother?" Mum asked as Mae pulled the blankets to the camp bed that she was sleeping on over her body.
"No, it's okay Mrs Weasley, I'll contact my siblings in the morning, I don't know how my brother will react, but my sister has a few gay friends, so I'm sure she'll be fine." Mae said politely, her eyes were still red around the edges from crying. "Thank you for everything, by the way."
"It's no problem," Mum said, smiling at Mae "You're always welcome here," she paused for a second as her eyes darkened, "And I'll be having a word with your parents in the morning too."
"No, please don't!" Mae begged, "I don't want you to get involved, but thank you anyway, Mrs Weasley."
"If you need anything, don't be afraid to yell out." Mum said, switching off the light and shutting the door, "Goodnight girls," she said as her footsteps padded away.
Once I was sure that she was in her room talking to dad about whatever the hell they talked about while Hugo and I weren't around, I flicked on my bedside lamp.
"You ready?" Mae asked nodding her head slightly at me.
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Mae?" I asked, slipping out from underneath the blankets and picking up my wand from where it lay on my bedside table.
"Of course I'm sure, I'm the queen of being sure." Mae whispered, tiptoeing over to the window and opening it. The icy night air blew inside the room making my teeth instantly start chattering and I clamped my jaw together. Flannel pyjamas weren't going to keep us warm tonight. "T-top dr-draw," I said to Mae, my teeth chattering with the cold as I wrapped my arms around myself in an attempt to keep warm. Mae opened the top draw of my dresser and pulled out the woollen jumpers that I'd accumulated from Grandma Molly over the years. She tossed me the one that I'd received last year and took the one that I'd got the year before, which was too small for me, as I'd inherited my father's lankiness, while it was too long on Mae, who was quite short in comparison to me. We pulled on padded thermal jackets that mum had bought Hugo and I when we went skiing a few Christmases ago.
"You've got the place in your mind?" I said, as I put one leg over the windowsill and prepared to make the four foot drop from my window onto the snowy ground below.
"Yeah." Mae said, her teeth starting to chatter, "Thanks for agreeing to do this with me, Rose. I mean, it is Christmas tomorrow and I'm sure you want to get some sleep so that you can get up early and open your presents."
"Rubbish, you're much more important." I said, as I dropped out of the window, landing clumsily on the snowy ground. Mae mimicked my actions until we were both standing underneath my window, which I realised too late, was out of reach, meaning that we couldn't close them, and I was pretty sure that my hands were frozen solid, ruling out any possibility for using it to close the windows. Plus, there was no way I was taking them out of the warmth of my pockets. Thankfully, it appeared that Mae didn't mind exposing her hand as she drew her wand and flicked it at the window, causing it to shut with a soft thud.
"Shall we go then?" I asked, grabbing her upper arm and one hand on my wand in my pocket.
"Ready?" Mae asked. I barely had time to nod before we had turned on the spot and disapparated.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" I asked Mae as she looked around confusedly.
"Yeah, this is definitely Cardiff, but I think we're in the wrong place. Leigh lives over there somewhere." She said, indicating somewhere to the west.
"Jesus," I said, sitting down on a bench that was sitting in the middle of the park we had apparated to and holding my head, which had been throbbing painfully since we'd appeared here a few minutes ago, "This is the last time I apparate to Wales, I'm catching the train from now on."
"I didn't say you had to come." Mae said, as she clambered up a tree to try and get her bearings.
"I know that, but I should've listened to Mum when she told me that apparating internationally was a bad idea." I moaned.
"It's hardly international." Mae scoffed, "It's still in the UK."
"It's far away enough from England to give you an ear-splitting headache." I said, massaging my temples.
"No, it's okay, I know where we are. I was just looking at it from the wrong way. Leigh's place is a two minute walk that way." She said, pointing north, come on. She'll probably be on the late shift, but we can catch her just before she leaves."
"You don't have to do this Mae." I said as she jumped down from the tree, "You're welcome to stay at ours until we go back to school. Plus, this is Wales how are you going to get back for school?" I said.
"I'll probably catch the train back down a few days before term starts. Come on, she'll be leaving in a few minutes." Mae said, setting off through the park towards the street.
"Remind me what your sister does again?" I said, hurrying to catch up to her.
"She's an auror undercover in the Cardiff police force." Mae responded as we reached the road, "Don't ask me why, Shacklebolt just asked her to do that and she agreed, no questions asked. It might be why she keeps getting promotions."
"It looks like England." I remarked as we walked down the streets lined with houses and cars.
"Every place looks the same in one way or another. What did you expect it to look like?" Mae laughed.
"I expected it to be a bit more… I don't know. Welsh." I said, looking at our surroundings. Mae laughed loudly.
"Obviously it's your first time out of the country."
"Yeah," I said sheepishly, "We were going to go to Australia last summer, but we cancelled because it was winter over there and apparently it gets a little chilly. Why would you forsake summer for winter?"
"Here we go," Mae said, pointing to an apartment block, "Leah lives at number twelve."
"Should I stay here?" I asked.
"So you can freeze your arse off? Of course not, come inside with me." Mae said, pulling me in by my arm. "Leigh will probably want to meet you anyway. She'll probably let you floo back to England so you don't have to apparate."
"Is it even possible to Floo internationally?" I asked, my brow creasing into an expression of concentration as I tried to remember my books on wizarding transport.
"Of course it is! I've done it hundreds of times." Mae said confidently, "You can floo to any house that's a part of the floo network."
"Then remind me why we had to apparate here when we could've flooed from my house?" I said irritably.
"Because we'd still be spinning now," Mae said, "It's safer, but apparition is quicker."
"I need to get a book on transportation." I mumbled, "The one that I had before is my mum's copy from 1991 and stuff seriously needs to be updated." The elevator dinged and we stepped out onto the third floor. I could see a glittering, golden number twelve on the door a few feet away. Mae drew in a shaky breath and walked over to it. I followed her silently.
Knock, knock, knock, knock.
Mae rapped on the door four times in quick succession.
"I'm coming Gwen, seriously, give me a break, It's not even twelve yet!" I heard the voice of Mae's older sister call from within. The door swung open to reveal Leigh in her police uniform, clipping a muggle device which I could recognise as a walkie-talkie to her vest. As she looked up, I could see her expression turn from irritation to shock. "M-Mae?"
"Hi Leigh." Mae said softly, smiling.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, stepping back from the door and motioning for her to come in," and who's your friend?"
"This is Rose Weasley, and I'm here because mum and dad kicked me out." Mae said, her voice choking up slightly as she said the last few words.
"What, why?" Leah asked, still confused.
"Because I 'came out' to them." Mae said quietly, looking up at her sister with pleading eyes.
"Well it was only a matter of time." Leigh said, "I was wondering when you'd realise."
"Fuck, Leigh you knew and you didn't tell me?" Mae exclaimed, "And this whole time I thought it was such a shock to people because I passed for straight really well."
"Well what was I supposed to say? 'Hey Mae, this might sound weird but you're a lesbian'?" Leigh said, shaking her head.
"Fair point," Mae said, "Anyway, um, Rose's family have offered to give me shelter, but I wanted to spend Christmas with family, and you're my sister."
"So you trekked all the way out to Wales? And brought your friend along too."
"Oi!" I said as Leigh jabbed her thumb at me, "'her friend' has a name."
"Sorry," Leigh said, not looking remotely sorry at all, "But seriously Mae, I know you love me, but even I couldn't be bothered to do that."
"Leigh," Mae started, looking at the ground, "I wanted to ask if I could stay with you until School starts back, mum and dad won't let me back in the house."
"What?" Leigh exclaimed, "They kicked you out permanently?"
"I said that as soon as I walked in." Mae said.
"Going a bit deaf…" Leigh responded before bursting out into a full on rant "Those homophobic bastards, I'm going to fucking kill them."
Mae rolled her eyes at me. "Now she reacts."
"Shit Mae, after Christmas is over you and I are going down there and having a word with them, they can't do that!"
"So I can stay with you then?" Mae asked eagerly.
"Yeah, of course. You'll be alone tonight though, I've got a shift in about a minute, my partner should be here in about thirty seconds though. Is that alright?" Leigh asked, "You know where everything is."
There was a knock at the door and Leigh immediately shot it an annoyed look. "There's Gwen, gotta go. I'll see you in the morning, Mae." And as if she had read my mind, she pointed to a small cupboard by her fire, "The floo powder is in there." She said, before opening the door to reveal a young, black haired woman with a police vest on.
"Honestly Leigh, what have I told you about waiting on the street." The woman, Gwen, said.
"Well sorry if my sister decided to turn up five minutes ago." Leigh said, the end of her sentence being cut off as the door swung shut behind her. I walked over to the fireplace, looking back at Mae.
"Are you sure you want to stay here with your sister?" I asked,
"Positive," Mae said, offering me a small smile, "Like I said, I want to spend Christmas with my family and plus, Jade is in Wales over the holidays, we might be able to meet up."
The clock above the mantle donged loudly, twelve times, letting us know that it was midnight.
"Merry Christmas, Mae." I said, opening the cabinet and taking out the bag marked 'Floo Powder'
"Merry Christmas, Rose." She replied as I tossed the powder into the fire and got a roar of green flames in response, "Have fun with your family."
"Have fun with your sister… and Jade if you can get in touch with her." I said, putting one foot in the fire.
"Thanks for everything, Rose." Mae said as I stepped fully into the fireplace, yelling
"The Weasley Household, London." I waved slightly as I was pulled into blackness, green flames being my only light. I spun around and around and around, my elbow knocking into occasional objects that might have got lost in the process of flooing. By the time I'd been spinning for a good minute and a half I knew that this was going to take a little longer than apparition. Fuck I thought as I showed no signs of slowing down any time soon this is the last time I go to Wales.
"So you're meaning to tell me that you and Mae apparated to Wales in the middle of the night just to drop Mae off at her sister's place?" Dad asked, his eyes wide and his expression livid.
"Something along those lines," I said tiredly, my eyelids drooping. After a five and a half minute floo powder trip, I had finally gotten back to bed at around twelve thirty in the morning on Christmas Day, only to be woken up by the hyperactive Hugo bouncing into my room all well rested and happy at around six thirty the next morning.
"You went out of the country in the middle of the night!" Dad said, his voice dangerously close to yelling at me.
"Give me a break Dad, it's Christmas, we have to be at the burrow in a few hours." I mumbled.
"We're not going anywhere until you tell us the full story Rose. This isn't just like sneaking out with your friends for a party, you actually went to another country!"
"I figured that much out for myself, thanks." I said, as Mum put down a plate of baked beans and scrambled eggs in front of me. Dad's fist came down onto the table hard.
"Damnit, Rose, why couldn't you have just told us that Mae wanted to spend Christmas with her family, we could've taken you there ourselves." Dad said. Now that I thought about it, that would've been the logical thing to do. Ah fuck, screw logic, I'm seventeen, not seventy.
"Can we drop it until after New Year?" I said, my mouth full of baked beans.
"Rose, I don't think you realise the magnitude of the situation." Mum said quietly, disappointment lacing her voice, which just made me feel worse about the whole situation. It was, in some ways, more horrible than Dad yelling his head off at me.
"Sure I do." I said, swallowing.
"Well then you'll know that you just broke the law." Mum said, and I started to choke on my egg.
"Funny mum," I said downing some orange juice to un-stick my throat, "But April fools isn't for another three months."
"I'm deadly serious Rose. You can't apparate internationally without a license." Mum said, still keeping her voice below a normal tone, but not low enough to be a whisper. It was as if the ministry was going to descend on our house any second and arrest me for apparating internationally without a licence.
"But that's ridiculous!" I exclaimed, "I already have my apparition test and I'm over seventeen, there is nothing illegal about that…. Anyway, it was Mae that apparated, not me. I just went via side along." I said.
"Does Mae have an international apparition licence?" Mum asked.
"I assume so," I shrugged, "She said that she'd done it heaps of times before."
Mum shot Dad a relieved look before turning to glare at me.
"Rose you'd better not do that again. You should've told us that Mae wanted to go to her sister's place. I thought I could trust you." Mum said, putting a plate of the same breakfast in front of Hugo, who dug into it greedily.
"It's all those 'ormones." Hugo said immaturely, his mouth full of scrambled egg. I punched him forcefully in the arm.
"Shut up." I spat, "You're so immature."
Hugo just grinned at me like an idiot. I swear that he cannot feel pain. You could kick him in the balls and he wouldn't react. I waited until Dad had got up from the table with a resigned sigh before giving him the finger.
"Muuuuummmmm." Hugo whined, and I punched him again.
"What are you, three?" I hissed, "Mum is way past the point of caring."
He stuck his tongue out at me in response. Yeah, definitely three years old; I swear that he will never grow up. I looked on in disgust as he shovelled the remainder of his breakfast down his throat in record time.
"Rose, Hurry up! I want to open my presents." He said, banging his hand on the table.
"Go back to bed Hugo," I snapped, "Maybe you'll have grown up when you get back."
"But I'm not tired." He said in a particularly annoying voice that was probably just to annoy me.
"Grow up, Hugo. Are you fifteen or five?" Mum said, obviously she was getting annoyed by Hugo as well, "Just go and owl Louis and tell him that we'll be at the Burrow around nine."
"Fine," Hugo said grumpily, his voice going back to its normal baritone tempo. You would never guess that he was gay. He trudged out of the room and up the stairs, he had also inherited Dad's lankiness, and that doubled with being an adolescent boy caused him to duck as he went out of the door to the kitchen.
"I'm sorry, mum." I said sincerely after a few minutes of silence. "I shouldn't have gone to Wales without telling you."
"Thank you, Rose." She said quietly, "I just wish Mae had told us that she wanted to."
"She didn't want you getting involved, said that it was a 'family matter'" I said, drawing quotation marks in the air around the words family matter.
"I guess that's fair enough… she went to stay with her sister, did you say?" Mum questioned.
"Yeah, Leigh. She's an auror undercover in the Cardiff Police… she doesn't know why." I said, putting the last mouthful of baked beans in my mouth. "She'll be fine there until school starts. She said that she wanted to spend Christmas with her family, and she knows that her sister will accept that she's gay, so she decided to go there."
"I'm still angry at you, Rose." Mum said, pointing her finger at me as she got up, "But I'll let it slide because it's Christmas."
"Thanks Mum." I said, giving her a hug, "Now, despite the fact that I act like presents don't matter, I'm really looking forward to that book shaped package… shall we open our presents?"
"Oh god, Ella, you didn't have to get me this!" I exclaimed about four hours later, holding up a beautiful sapphire necklace. "This must've cost at least forty galleons!"
"Oh quit thinking about the money." Ella said, unwrapping a novel from Jade, "Just forget about the price tag for once and enjoy your presents."
"Thank you so much!" I squealed, fastening it around my neck. "Now I feel bad about my present."
"Don't," Ella smiled, "That's also a thank you for everything you've done for me this past term."
"You're much too kind." I said, fingering it fondly.
"Not as kind as- Oh my goodness, Al, it's beautiful!" Ella exclaimed, unwrapping a sparkling diamond necklace from my dear cousin. Hey, where the hell did he get the idea of diamonds from? There is no way he would know that they meant business, so he'd either fluked it, or he'd gotten advice from Louis or Lysander, both of whom were girl magnets and knew the tricks of the trade better than they knew their schoolwork, which wasn't saying much.
"Just for you my love," He said, kissing her on the cheek quickly before fastening it around her neck.
"Quidditch!" James roared from the garden, causing a huge scramble towards the door in competition for who would be the first to get to the Nimbus 2012 that James had donated a few years back when his parents had got him a Nimbus 4000 for his birthday.
I rolled my eyes, hopefully this year they'd forget about me so that I could stay inside and read my new books... but of course, I had no such luck.
"You too Rosie!" James said, poking his head back through the door to check that we were all out in the yard.
"Fuck you James." I grumbled, knowing that there was no way I was getting out of this now, "Fuck you very much."
"Aww come on Rosie, it'll be fun!" James said, picking up his Nimbus 4000 as we walked out to the broom shed to pick a broom.
"Of course," I said sarcastically, "I can't think of anything better to do than fly around the makeshift Quidditch pitch with my idiotic cousins and my best friend and her family while the adults egg us to push each other off of our brooms." I picked up the only remaining broom, the old Cleensweep that had once belonged Uncle George and stomped away over to the field over the hedge where we held our annual Christmas Quidditch games.
"Why so serious, Rosie? Honestly, did you forget your humour at school?" he said chirpily.
"I left it in Wales more like." I muttered under my breath, hoping that James didn't hear, or it would lead to awkward questions.
"I'm picking the teams this year" Uncle Harry said, "That way nobody feels left out." He winked pointedly at me; I was always the last to be picked for a team due to my lack of skills on a broomstick.
"Lucy, Roxanne, Dominique, James, Rose, Louis, Lily and Molly on team orange," Uncle Harry said, casting a spell temporary spell which made our tops turn orange, "And Fred, Alice, Abi, Ella, Albus, Hugo, Frank and Victoire on team black." He cast the same spell so that the rest of their tops turned black.
"That's not fair!" James exclaimed, "they have everyone whose ever played for their house team!"
"I know," Uncle Harry grinned, "This should put you up to a challenge, shouldn't it James."
"Bring it!" James grinned as all sixteen of us mounted our brooms. Seeing as it was eight-a-side Quidditch, the rules differed slightly from normal Quidditch; Firstly, there were no contact rules at all, we were welcome to push each other off our brooms if we felt the need. It was pretty much a game of last man standing. Secondly, everyone could score, there really were no designated positions and Finally, there was no snitch, which meant that we were reduced to playing it like muggle football, with the rule of whichever team had more goals at the end of an hour won that year's championship.
"Ready," Uncle Harry called up to us, his whistle in his mouth and the Quaffle ready to throw into the air with the start of the game.
"Yes" we all chorused back as the whistle rang out shrilly and the Quaffle was thrown into the air. Literally everyone, with the exception of myself of course, dove down to try and get the quaffle for their teams, causing thirteen year old Molly and fifteen year old Frank to get bumped off of their brooms in the process. I guess it was lucky that we had a cushioning charm set up over the pitch, or there would've been a few trips to St Mungo's.
"What the hell am I doing here?" I muttered to myself as James threw the Quaffle to Louis, narrowly missing my nose. I kept both of my hands on the handle of the broom, drifting slowly around the pitch, feeling like a tortoise in a room full of hares.
"Rose! Think fast!" Lily said, throwing the Quaffle at me. What the bloody hell did she do that for? She knows I can't catch to save my life. I took my hands off the handle of the broom to protect my face and slipped clean off.
"Shit!" I yelled loudly as I fell ten, twenty, thirty feet back down to earth, only to be stopped by the cushioning charm when I was about two inches above the ground. "Lily when you fall off I am going to kill you!" I yelled up at her as the Cushioning charm deposited me on the ground safely.
She hadn't heard me. This is the absolute last time I play Quidditch with them I thought grumpily to myself as I joined Frank and Molly on the sidelines.
Christmas dinner was probably one of the most anticipated events on the Potter-Weasley-Longbottom calendar every year. Not only was it absolutely amazing, but it was a chance for us kids to see the adults get piss drunk and make up stories to tell them about what they did while in said state.
It was because of this reason that we always sent Molly up to bed first so that she wouldn't have to witness these obscenities. Unfortunately, the 'you're too young' excuse didn't work anymore, so she insisted on staying up with the rest of us. Even I had to admit she was good at making up stories.
"How about we tell Uncle Ron that he danced on the table naked!" she grinned enthusiastically, "He'd go so red."
"Nice one Molls!" Roxanne said, adding it to the list we were currently making in the corner, having finished our dinner about half an hour ago. The only reason that us seventeen-and-above-year-olds stayed sober (with the exception of Fred, James and Teddy) was to make up these stories and to play Truth or Dare: Christmas Edition.
"Anything else?" Roxanne asked, consulting the list. We all shook our heads, completely out of new ideas. "Alright, so far we've got Uncle Bill making out with Aunt Hermione and vice versa. Aunt Fleur doing a striptease, Uncle Charlie doing a dragon impression, Uncle Percy grinding against Aunt Audrey, Dad groping Aunt Ginny thinking she was Mum, Mum doing an American-Indian dance around the fireplace, Uncle Ron dancing on the table naked, Uncle Harry confessing his undying love for Grandma Molly and Aunt Ginny shaking the Christmas tree looking for gnomes. Are we satisfied?"
"I'm so glad we're not doing my parents this year," Ella's sister, Alice said, "That was embarrassing last year."
"Aw come on Ally! It's all good fun." Frank said, punching his sister playfully on the arm. I looked over at the adults, who were all drunk with the exception of my mother, who was sipping champagne daintily out of a glass, of course she wasn't drinking. She never did.
"Alright," I said slyly, turning back to everyone, "We need to find a way to get mum on the firewhiskey. You up for the challenge?"
I was met with fifteen eager nods.
"Best Christmas ever" I said, collapsing onto my bed in Aunt Ginny's old room. With five of us packed in here; Lily, Ella, Alice, Abi and myself, there was barely room to move.
"Oh man, why didn't we record your mum on the firewhiskey?" Ella giggled, "That's got to be the funniest thing I've seen in my seventeen years of being.
"What type of drunk do you reckon she is?" Lily asked, stifling a laugh in her pillow.
"Definitely happy girl drunk" I said, giving a small laugh. "James has got to be the funniest though."
"God don't remind me!" Abi said, putting her head in her hands at the memory of her boyfriend recounting their 'first time' while standing on the dining table.
"Never going to let you live that one down," Alice grinned, looking at Ella with a mischievous grin.
"Thanks," Abi said sarcastically, "Now the whole family knows about… it."
"Yeah, that was something that we really didn't need to know, Abi." Ella said, miming throwing up by sticking her finger down her throat.
"Don't worry, everyone was too drunk to remember, your parents won't remember a thing, let alone James." I reassured her.
"He is sleeping on the couch until New Year's," Abi said angrily, pulling the blankets of the camp bed over her body.
"Oh, I'm sure he is." I said, reaching over to turn off the light. However, before I could flick the switch, I heard a soft tapping on the window. I looked up to see a barn owl with a letter attached to its foot.
Disgruntled at being pulled from the comfortableness of my bed, I got up and opened the window, letting the owl fly inside. To my surprise it dropped the letter on my bed and soared out again.
"Hostile." Alice muttered to Abi, continuing the long standing game that they had, which classed every owl into one of three categories; hostile, friendly and impatient.
I sat back down on my bed and ripped it open, expecting to find a message from Rio, Jade or Mae. Instead, as I opened the envelope, a fresh rose blossom fell out, with an attached note;
Here is a beautiful flower, love, for you on Christmas day, to remind you of that special time when our love was oh so young. See you at school. I love you.
Scorpius
I felt a smile creep over my face as I slipped the rose under my pillow and folded the letter up, trying to act like nothing had happened.
"Who was that from?" Ella questioned, her voice sounding sleepy.
"Mae." I said a little too quickly, thankful that she was too tired to pick up on anything.
"Okay," she muttered, "G'night, Rose."
"Night Ella." I said, reaching over and turning off the light, plunging the room into darkness. Only one thought in my mind and that was that had truly been an Extraordinary Merry Christmas.
AN: Okay, I probably would've had this up yesterday, but I found an absolutely amazing photo of Noel Clarke kissing Freema Agyeman on the cheek and made the mistake of setting it as my desktop background. I already ship their characters so much that it's unhealthy {Martha/Mickey} and to see that just makes me squeal every time. (This is for the Doctor Who fandom, in case you were wondering)
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Reviews and feedback are always valued and appreciated.
Until Next Time
~The Original Horcrux~