I know I'm supposed to be updating in the morning, but I was feeling 'ah vibes' as we call it here. Lol.

I'd like to thank weasley-potter-05, Veronique Ruthven, BW-Photography, bakemeapie, blaiseredfern, littlepixies1321, altogirl156 (I'm updating because of uuu!) and ErisedFeather for reviewing! You guys are GREAT! I'd also like to thank my beta, rokslite.

Christmas was held at Scorp's house that year, following a huge debate on where they would be able to get the most school-work done with the smallest amount of disturbances.

The Burrow had definitely been scratched off the list early on. Al's house had been taken out of the running when they realised that Ly, Lorc and Hu would be there with Lily. Rose's house had been removed as well when Al said that Ron wouldn't want Rose in such close quarters with Scorp, even if they were just studying, for extended periods.

Scorp's house seemed to be a prime locale as it was almost always deserted, had a large collection of reference textbooks they could use and had minimal disturbances.

The first week of the Christmas holidays were spent in almost constant study, their holiday assignments long since completed.

Four a.m. on Christmas morning found Scorp scratching his head with the tip of his quill.

"How the bloody hell are we supposed to learn all of this in time for our exams?" he asked, frustrated.

"I dunno," Al said, his eyes scanning the page as if searching for an epiphany.

"I'm tired," Rose said, sighing. She pressed her face against the cool pages of her textbook. Her eyes snagged on Scorp.

"Teach me something," she murmured, her eyes blinking, sleepily.

"Umm," Scorp said, seeming to scour his brain, "In Arithmancy, the only real difference between the Agrippan method and the Chaldean method is the lack of use of the number 9 in the latter."

"Something I don't know, Scorp," she whispered, her eyes closing.

"Alright, the Ancient Rune for bigotry looks like a malformed poodle," Scorp said, his head drooping onto the back of the sofa he was sprawled on.

"That's very informative, Scorp," Rose said with a yawn. "What are you reading now?"

"Advanced Rune Translation," he said, his eyes drooping.

"I'll read with you," she said, making her way, stumbling slightly, towards him.

He groaned, moving so she could sit next to him.

"I'm going to bed," Al said, getting up, his eyes closed, staggering towards the door. He almost slammed into the door frame but missed it by an inch.

"Do you think he'll make it?" Rose asked, her head falling against Scorp's shoulder.

"No," he said, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her until they lay on the sofa, her back to his front.

She gave a small squeak of surprise, but he said in a sleepy voice,

"More comfortable. Read."

He propped the book in front of her and Rose tried to focus her eyes on the words. She had read about half of a sentence before she gave up, shifting so she could nestle her face into the crook of his neck. His arm, still around her, holding up the book, tightened slightly.

"Rose?" he murmured.

"Sleepy," she said, sighing.

Scorp blinked his eyes against the bright sunlight streaming in through the library's windows. He stirred, trying to move, but froze. He tried to look down, but couldn't. Rose's face was buried against his neck and her warm breath was sending shivers down his spine.

His arms tightened around her slightly and when her legs shifted, one slipping over his hip, his eyes widened. He squeezed them shut, as she brought her arm up to bury in his hair, nuzzling his neck a bit.

He felt her body stiffen even as he prayed that they could stay like this a little longer. She was closer to him than she had ever been and he wasn't ready to give it up.

"Scorp?" she asked, sleepily and he couldn't stop the shudder that ran through his body as her breath fell on a rather sensitive spot on her neck.

He sent up a silent prayer that she didn't shift her legs around. If she did, she might feel something she probably didn't want to.

"Morning," he said, quietly.

At once, she pulled away, her warm body moving quickly away from his. He was left lifting a knee to hide his reaction to her proximity and rather colder than he had been.

"Sorry," she said quickly, her brows furrowed.

"I didn't mind," he said with a shrug. He eyed the throw pillow on the end of the sofa and wondered if it would be suspicious to pull it across his lap.

By this time, Rose was scrambling to stand up so he quickly grabbed the pillow.

"Oh!" Rose said as the Ancient Runes textbook fell to the floor.

She snatched it up immediately and Scorp got a very nice view down her top. He grimaced for a moment, wondering when he would be able to get up from the sofa without completely humiliating himself.

He opened his eyes to see Rose, the book clutched to her chest, giving him a strange look.

"Are you alright?" she asked and he realised he probably looked like he was in pain.

"Yeah. My back," he said, stretching it, hoping she believed the excuse.

"Oh," was all she said before she bit her lip. "Do you want me to rub it?"

Yes. "No, it's fine."

"Alright," she said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

He wondered, for one manic moment, if she practiced teasing him.

"I'll go up and get ready, then," she said with a small smile, turning and leaving.

He watched her leave the room, thoroughly enjoying the view before he slammed his head, hard, against the back of the sofa trying to snap himself back to reality.

"I'm such an idiot," he muttered.

The Christmas present exchange that year was much more sedate than usual since they had all woken up with only a few hours asleep each. They all sat, legs folded, on the floor of Scorp's room.

Al passed over his present first, his eyes still bleary. They had later discovered that Al hadn't made it back to his room. Instead, he had gone as far as the staircase before slumping over.

Rose opened her present, smiling already at the chilly feel of it. She grinned as she saw the tub of No Melt Chocolate Ice Cream from Honeydukes.

"I love you," she told him, seriously, and he snorted out a laugh before hugging her.

Scorp opened his present next and beamed at it. It was a book on Gellert Grindlewald he had been pining after since he had seen that it was published.

"You know me so well," he said, hugging Al and slapping his back.

Rose pushed across her present next and Al immediately dug in. When he stared down at the box of Contraceptive Potions he had revealed, he looked up with a bewildered expression to see Rose and Scorp howling with laughter at the gag gift.

"Your real one's in here," she said, pushing across another wrapped gift. "But you can keep those," she added with a wink.

He rolled his eyes and opened the new present to reveal a polished Snitch frame containing a picture of all three of them plus Alice, with Al's arm wrapped around her.

"You're bonkers, but I love you anyway," he said, grabbing his cousin in a hug.

Scorp ripped at the wrapping of his present and grinned down at the present contained within. It was a handsome golden coloured metal framed watch. He pulled her into a tight hug.

"I know you're supposed to wait until a bloke's seventeenth birthday," Rose said, smirking, "But I figured you're mature enough. Plus I saw it and I couldn't not get it for you."

"You," Scorp said, putting the watch on his wrist at once, "are the best."

"I know," she said, grinning at him.

Scorp pushed his presents across to them.

Al immediately dug into his own. He gasped as he saw the newest edition of Quidditch Through the Ages. It had only been released the previous week. He whooped loudly, grabbing Scorp into a tight hug.

"Best mate ever!" he said loudly.

Rose rolled her eyes and cleared her throat.

"After Rose, of course," he added as an afterthought, not looking up from where he was staring, reverently, at the book.

Rose shook her head while she opened her present. Scorp watched with appreciation as her eyes widened.

"Is that-?"

"Yeah. Thought you might like it," he said, grinning.

Rose squealed, hugging the box to her before jumping on top of Scorp and hugging him tight. When she pulled away, Scorp was staring at her bemused. She wasn't paying him any mind, however. She was too busy removing the phoenix feather quill from its wrapping.

"I'm in love," she said, stroking the feather.

"A quill obsessed lunatic's dream come true," Al said, shaking his head before returning to petting the cover of his new book.

Scorp grinned at her reaction. Especially when she attacked him for another hug.

After the fiasco the previous Christmas, Scorp was relieved to see that he now, according to both Al and Rose, gave the best presents in the world.

He grinned, preening slightly as he entered the kitchen. He saw Rose standing at one of the appliances that he still didn't know the name of, making tea.

"Hullo," he said, taking a seat at the table.

"Hi," she said, beaming at him. "I just put my quill away and came to get some tea. I wanted to go to sleep, but I was too excited about the quill. I couldn't stop looking at it. Some chamomile might calm me some."

"I hope so," Scorp said, laughing. She was too much sometimes.

"Thank you," she turned, smiling at him, to say.

"Stop thanking me. Like Al said, I just found a quill obsessed lunatic's dream come true and got it."

"Yeah, well, you know me well enough to know I'm a quill obsessed lunatic and that's all that really matters," she said, grinning over at him.

"If that's how you feel, then maybe I can borrow it sometime," he said, smirking, leaning back in his chair.

"Maybe I'll cut your hand off sometime," she said, pleasantly, stirring her tea.

Scorp's parents had returned at some point during Christmas day, although Rose really wasn't sure exactly when, to begin preparations for their annual Christmas party.

Scorp had already given them advance notice that they would not be attending, deciding instead to barricade themselves in his bedroom with their textbooks.

"What was that bit about Grindylows?" Al asked Rose, brows furrowed.

He had taken up residence on the floor in front of Scorp's bed. Rose was lying on her stomach at the very end of the bed while Scorp was at the head.

"Which bit?" Rose asked, chewing her lip as she read from her Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook.

"Their fingers," Al said, squeezing his eyes shut to remember.

"They're extremely brittle. You can break their grip on their victim by snapping a few of their fingers," Scorp said, his gaze switching between his textbook and Rose's bum, which was rather distracting, if he did say so himself.

"That's it," Al said, relieved. "Thanks."

Scorp made a noncommittal noise, his gaze moving over Rose.

"Want me to quiz you?" Rose asked, turning to look at him. At once, his eyes snapped to her face.

"Sure," he said, smiling awkwardly.

"Give me five defining features of a werewolf," she said, turning to lie on her back and lifting her book above her face so she was looking up at it.

The answers popped into his mind immediately, but he took a few moments to scan Rose's form again. Her front was just as distracting as her back.

"There's the tufted tail, the pupils of the eyes, the-"

His answer was stopped short with a sharp knock on his door. Sighing, he made his way over to it. He had begged his parents not to disturb them. When he opened his door, however, it wasn't to find his parents. His cousin, Raftan, stood there instead.

"Raf!" he said, surprised as his cousin pulled him into a hug.

Rose had looked up to see who had knocked on the door only to see Raftan Yaxley smirk at her over Scorpius' shoulder when he hugged him. He faced Scorp again, saying,

"Missed you at the party, mate."

Scorp shook his head.

"We're studying for O.W.L.s."

"We?" Raftan asked, pretending he hadn't seen her. She watched Scorp's shoulders stiffen as he said,

"Rose, Al and I."

"Oh. Rose is in there? Can I say hello?"

She shuddered as disgust ran through her.

"I don't think so, mate. She's rather focused on Defence at the moment," Scorp said and relief coursed through her.

"Pity. I brought you a present," Raftan said, grinning.

He passed over a wrapped box and Scorp opened it where he stood in the doorway. She saw Raftan peek over Scorp's shoulder to wink at her and she looked away. Al got up, putting himself in front of her so Raftan's view of her was blocked. She pressed her forehead against his back in silent thanks.

"Merlin, is that me?" Scorp asked, obviously shocked at the present.

"That's us. Little bob of black hair next to you on that broom? That's me. My mum sent it to me last month. Apparently, you'd visited us when we were much younger. That's your dad there next to mine. Do you like it?"

"I love it! I didn't know we had met before Hogwarts."

"Neither did I. According to mum, though, you were my favourite cousin when we were little tykes."

"I had no idea," Scorp said and Rose peeked over Al's shoulder to see Scorp pull him into another hug, but this time, Raftan had a genuine grin on his face as he ruffled his cousin's hair fondly.

"You should come with us to Greece next summer. That way we can get to know each other better."

Rose was utterly shocked at the sincerity of his words. He really did want to get to know his cousin.

"I'll ask my parents," Scorp said and she heard the grin in his voice.

"If not, I can come spend some time here. My parents wouldn't mind."

"That'd be great," Scorp replied.

"Alright, well I'll see you back at school," Raftan said and Rose peeked at him. He had turned away with a little wave. She sighed, grateful that he was finally gone. Quite suddenly, he spun back around and his eyes snagged hers over Al's shoulder.

"Oh, will you tell Rose I said hello?"

She ducked back behind Al's shoulder but heard the tightness in Scorp's voice when he said,

"I will."

Scorp closed the door and turned back to them. She smiled at him over Al's shoulder, but she knew Al's features weren't nearly as pleasant.

"You should have told him to shove his hello up his arse," Al said, moving back to the floor.

"That would have been rude," Scorp said with a sigh. "He's my older cousin-"

"He's a git," Al said, opening his book.

"No he isn't," Rose said, smiling at Scorp. "Look at the lovely present he got for Scorp," she added, smacking Al on the back.

He turned to scowl at her but she ignored him.

"He's a wonderful cousin."

"I suppose," Scorp said, frowning at the photo in his hand.

"Why don't we get back to studying, then?" Rose asked, settling down with her textbook once more.

Scorp sighed, wondering when she'd start being honest with him when it came to his cousin. It was obvious she was upset. Her eyes gave her away when nothing else could. He moved over to where she was on the bed and pushed her around a bit.

She gave him a startled look before she shifted around to make room for him. He settled next to her, pulling her textbook so it lay between them. He wrapped his arm around her, hugging her to his side. She stiffened for just a moment before she settled, resting her head against his shoulder. Al gave him a small grateful smile and he returned it.

"Are you just cheating because you don't know the other three defining features of a werewolf?" she asked, grinning.

"You know me too well," Scorp said, shaking his head sadly.

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