A/N: I wanted this chapter to be slightly longer than the previous ones. So that's one of the reasons why it took some time for me to upload. Another reason was something came up and I had to stay back at my hometown for a while. Anyway, hope you enjoy this.

By the way, I didn't really read it again to check if it's error-free or if it's readable, because it's quite late right now. So if you find some error(s), please forgive me.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.

CHAPTER 14

"Dear Scorpius,

The day to see her and the family is tomorrow. Are you ready? Have you memorised all the things related to the family?

Just kidding. They won't ask you.

Anyway, my Dad and I will come and pick you up by the Floo tomorrow at noon. Be ready by then. See you tomorrow.

Albus."

Scorpius kept reading the letter even if he had read it more than once. He couldn't believe his eyes – the day to visit the Burrow had actually come. He'd been waiting for it as he hoped that maybe the friendship between Rose and him would be even closer than before. It may even lead to a relationship.

He blushed and shook his head. He didn't think that Rose would accept his love. She might like him a bit, but maybe that's because they were friends. If they're friends, they must like each other, right? Right?

He put down the letter from his hand and turned off his light. He walked to his bed and got ready to sleep as it was midnight. He'd been up for a while thinking about tomorrow. He's nervous; what if the family asked him to go back? What if they said there's no room for one more? What if none of them wanted him there? What if Rose was just joking when she saw him? Saying that it was just a joke that she asked him to come?

He couldn't sleep properly that night. He kept tossing and turning on the bed; nightmares kept coming. But after calming himself, saying that he was just imagining things, sleep finally took over. He could then close his eyes and doze off.

"How are you going to the Burrow, Scorpius?" asked Draco Malfoy.

"Albus and his Dad are picking me up later."

"Have you packed up everything?" asked Astoria Malfoy. "Are you prepared?"

"Mum," the son whined. "I'm only going for a short while. I've got nothing to pack."

Several hours later, Harry and Albus Potters arrived at the Malfoy residence. Dusting off all the dust and ashes, they stepped out of the fireplace. Realising that they had accidentally dirtied the carpet, Harry mumbled a sorry and with a flick of his wand, it was as good as before. Harry politely smiled and approached the small family. "Draco."

"Harry," replied Draco, nodding his head once.

"I hope we're not interrupting anything."

Astoria smiled. "Don't worry about it, Harry," she said. "Although I do wonder why you're here sooner than expected."

"We are?" said Harry, tilting his head slightly. "Albus –"

"I'm sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. I think I've written the wrong time," Albus apologised. "I should have checked it before I sent it to Scorpius yesterday."

Harry tousled his son's hair. He then turned towards the owners of the house. "Sorry about that."

Astoria smiled again. "That's okay I guess. Scorpius has nothing to pack anyway."

"Well then, we'd better get going," said Harry, clapping his hands once. "We're already late to be honest."

All of them walked towards the fireplace. Albus was the first to go. After he said his goodbye to the Malfoys, he took a handful of Floo powder before shouting 'The Burrow!' and he disappeared.

Scorpius was next. He did what his friend did and off he went. He had never liked Floo-ing. The feeling of being thrown here and there made him sick to the stomach. He had never tried the Portkey and Apparation. But hearing from his parents and the books, he thought that he might not like the two either. He would rather walk or maybe use the broom for transportation.

"All right there, mate?" asked James who went to greet him as he stepped out of the fireplace. He laughed as he saw Scorpius dusting off his clothes. "I assume this wasn't your first Floo?"

Scorpius shook his head as he coughed. "But I still hate Floo-ing."

"Then I guess you'd hate Apparating even more," said Albus, smirking at him.

"Shut it," mouthed Scorpius at his friend, causing him to laugh.

"Come on," Albus said, gesturing him to come closer. "James and I will show you around."

James placed his hand around Scorpius' shoulder. "We'll introduce you to the big family."

While introducing himself to the family, Scorpius silently hoped that nobody would ask him questions. He had a hard time remembering their names, especially the grandchildren he hadn't met before (he didn't even know there were so many of them). The people he remembered were mostly his friends he usually met or had at least met once before in school, Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley-Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger-Weasley, Arthur Weasley, and Molly Weasley. The rest of them were too hard to remember at such a short time.

The rest of the afternoon went all right. Nobody had asked him questions about their names. And at lunch, he was sat in between James and Albus (not their relatives whose names were still too hard for him to remember). Unfortunately Rose was sitting too far away for him to have a conversation with. And what's more was her father had been eyeing him ever since he had introduced himself to the older man. It was a bit scary because he looked like he could eat Scorpius alive.

Don't be ridiculous, Scorpius. That's just your imagination, he thought. Rose's father is an Auror, not some monster in disguise.

After lunch, everyone was gathered in the living room including Scorpius. He was sitting on the ground with the rest of the grandchildren of Weasleys, talking about some things on their minds. But he was nowhere near Rose as James and Albus had pulled him to sit on the side where nobody could listen to their conversation.

"Hey, Scor, have you given her a present yet?" whispered James.

Scorpius shook his head. "No, because I still don't know what to give her," he answered. "I've already told her on the letter I gave her this early morning." He paused. "I haven't got the time to do some shopping either, so I will give her and you two your presents a bit later."

"You know you don't have to buy us some presents," said Albus. "We're fine without."

"But you two gave me something, so in return I have to give you something as well."

James smiled. "That's all right. Take your time; no rush."

It was Scorpius' turn to smile.

"By the way, what did you get from her?" asked Albus.

"I haven't got anything from her," he answered. "She said in her letter that she's going to give me later here. But she didn't say when."

"But I didn't see her holding anything in her hands when Dad and Albus went to get you," said James, tilting his head a bit.

"Maybe she already placed it somewhere else," said Albus. "You don't expect her to hold the present the whole day, do you?"

James and Scorpius nodded their heads simultaneously.

"Hey," someone had come and greeted the three of them, causing them to look up. "You three want to join us?"

"Where are you all going?" asked James.

"Outside," answered Rose. "We could walk around the area or maybe play in the snow."

The other three started standing up.

"Good idea," said James. "It's a bit hard trying to talk without the parents eyeing us."

They laughed as they started towards the door. Putting on their required attires for the winter, they went out of the house and started running in the snow, happy to finally be outside. The younger ones began to throw some snowballs at each other, whereas the rest took a stroll around to have a chat.

"How's your day so far?" asked Rose as she and Scorpius walked together, having been left by her cousins to play in the snow. "Having fun?"

"I am now," he answered. "Don't take this the wrong way but your family somehow scares me." He shuddered and heard her laughing. "I felt their eyes on me wherever I was going."

She smiled. "I'm sorry about that. They won't kill you, I'm sure."

Scorpius laughed. "I haven't been alone yet so I'm sure the time would come for them to kill me when I'm not with you lot." He laughed again, this time together with Rose. As he watched the Potters and Weasleys throw each other some snowballs, he smiled. "Rose."

"Yes?"

"Thanks for inviting me here," he said, looking at her earnestly. "If I wasn't invited, I wouldn't know what to do at home by myself."

Rose smiled. "Well I'm glad I've put you out of your misery," she said. "You're welcome." She paused and looked at her cousins playing and running around. "Well, I'm glad you're here with me, talking right now. Even Dom chucked me to play with the others."

"Why don't you play with them then?"

"But then you'd be alone," she answered. "Then you'd rather go home than stay here."

"You know that I don't mind playing with them."

Rose nodded. "I know. But since you got here, we haven't been able to talk until just now."

It was Scorpius' turn to smile. She just indirectly said that she'd rather be with me than play with her cousins.

"Now that we're alone, we should talk more," she said with a slight blush on her cheeks (is it because of the cold or embarrassment for saying that?), "before the others force us to play too."

"Err, before that, can you show me the way to the toilet please?" asked Scorpius. "I suddenly have the urge to go."

Rose blushed again. "Oh," she mumbled. "Okay, let's go." She paused for a while. "I have to go to my Dad's old bedroom anyway. Your present is there."

With their faces red from embarrassment, they went up the stairs. Once they reached the bathroom, they went on their separate ways as Rose had to go to Ron's old bedroom whereas Scorpius went in.

As promised, he had to wait in front of the bathroom door to wait for Rose to come in case he finished before Rose did. So he leaned against the wall, his eyes wandering around the view of the house. His eyes then caught a desk beside him that was filled with family pictures. He walked towards it to kill some time while waiting.

Scorpius saw a picture of the complete Weasley family, from Arthur Weasley to the smallest grandchild. He wasn't sure who it was; it was either Lucy or Roxanne. He still couldn't figure out which.

The next few pictures were of the children's families, from the oldest to the youngest. But his eyes went back to the Ron Weasley's family. It was a picture taken a few years ago, he judged by how young both Rose and Hugo looked. Rose was sitting in front of her father who was lying on his side with a cat resting on her lap, whereas Hugo was on his mother's lap. They all had wide smiles on the picture.

He wondered why Rose had never told him about the orange cat before.

"I'm sorry," said Rose who had returned from the bedroom upstairs.

Scorpius looked up to see her standing not too far away from him. "Why are you apologising?"

"I forgot where I put your present so I had to look around the room."

He smiled. "That's okay," he said. "I was looking at the pictures there so I had no idea how long you went."

"Well, here you go," she said, offering her the present.

"Thank you," he said with a smile on his face, taking the gift. "Once again, I'm sorry. Your present will come later."

Rose smiled as she shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I can do without." Before Scorpius could reply, she continued, "But since you insist on giving me a present, I will wait for it patiently. Even if my gift comes next year, I will still wait for it. I don't mind."

Scorpius smiled. "That's too long. I'm not that mean."

She laughed. "Anyway, had fun looking at the pictures? Especially mine when I was much younger than I am now?"

"You're still the same, don't worry," he said, earning a smile from her again. He took a look at the picture again, followed by her. "When was this taken?"

She paused for a while to remember. "Around two to three years ago, probably," she answered. "Why'd you ask?"

"No, I was just wondering: why haven't you told me about this cat before?"

"Oh," she mumbled. "That was my Mum's cat. His name was Crookshanks." She smiled. "My Mum had it ever since she was in her third year. My Dad used to hate the cat for some reason I still don't know of." She laughed before she paused again. "He died a few months before I went to Hogwarts."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"We all cried, except for my Dad. But I know that he's really sad too that Crookshanks was gone." She paused. "Even though he was old and didn't really do anything but sleep and eat, I loved him. Everybody did." Rose looked at her friend beside him and suddenly widened her eyes as she realised what she just did. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have rambled on and on about the cat."

Scorpius smiled and shook his head. "That's all right. I asked you about him and you answered. That cat was important to you, wasn't it?"

Rose nodded. "He was more important to my Mum, but I guess you could say that too. I used to play with him whenever I was bored, especially those two years before Hugo was born."

I think I know what to give her. The problem is –

"Oh."

"What is it?" he asked as he saw her eyes widened again for the second time that day.

She suddenly blushed and looked away. "There's a … something on the door near you."

"What?" he asked and looked behind him. His eyes were suddenly widened as well as he saw what made her blush. I didn't realise there was some mistletoe here.

For a while, none of the two moved a muscle. They just stayed still; both looking anywhere but each other.

"I didn't know there was some mistletoe here," mumbled Scorpius, still not looking at her.

"Me neither," her voice was as quiet as his was. "I didn't ask you to wait for me here because I knew there was."

Okay, calm down, mate. You're more nervous than your first exam. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He did it for a couple more times before daring himself to look at her. You can do this.

Rose was now looking at the pictures on the desk. She looked redder than he had ever seen.

Scorpius cleared his throat. "Err," he mumbled before he gulped. He then suddenly remembered that he was holding the gift from her on his hands. He had an idea.

He came closer to her and placed his gift on the table. He then put his hands on both her cheeks before placing a soft kiss on her forehead. He did it so fast that Rose couldn't do anything about it. She just stared at him, not even blinking.

"Err, that's for the gift," said Scorpius, blushing from his head to toe. "I promise I'll give you a better one someday." He then picked up his present and immediately ran from that place. He ignored the family who had their eyes on him and went out of the house to search for a quiet place where nobody could see. What have I done?

He didn't know how long he had sat there, but all of the sudden Albus and James came with worried faces. He reckoned he'd gone for quite long. He looked at them and mumbled, "I kissed her."

A/N: I don't know if the Burrow has snow during winter or not, so please correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks for reading. And (most) probably correcting me on the weather. Don't forget to review.

Til next time..