Saturday December 25th 2021:

"Scorp, wake up!"

The blond's droopy eyelids sluggishly parted from the wake up call, and out of all people to wake him up, he was glad it was his best friend. But he was especially content that he didn't have to hide an erection from him this time.

"Happy Christmas!" Albus said, baiting Scorpius with a candy cane like he was baiting a fish with a worm on a hook.

"Right, Christmas! Happy Christmas to you too, mate," Scorpius stumbled.

In the act of Scorpius running his slender pale fingers through his own rumpled hair, Albus believed that his already appealing new hairstyle appeared even more attractive on mornings.

Scorpius yawned and made out a splendid sounding harmony from downstairs, only for the harmony to deteriorate into a high pitched rise and fall of vocal chords, followed by laughter.

"Lily is filling the house with cheer with her carols," Albus said dryly, "and Teddy decided to join her. Wouldn't want to miss that."

"I'll be right down," Scorpius said. Albus nodded, chucked the candy cane at him and shuffled his hair — he couldn't resist.

Scorpius chuckled softly and slightly turned his head so he could take a gander at the weather outside the bedroom window. He was anticipating the traditional Christmas setting: giant fluffy snowflakes of all shapes and sizes graciously falling from the sky, but that wasn't the case. Snow did fall from the dimly lit grey sky, but they were barely visible specks which thawed as soon as they hit the ground. He would have been left down from the cheerless weather if he wasn't already feeling melancholy.

The foregoing day for Christmas Eve, Scorpius celebrated the holiday with his father, the third Christmas with the absence of his mother. It was a fine dinner, but her absence was still felt. But now that he was about to celebrate Christmas Day with the Potters for the morning, Scorpius' loss already felt greater from the envy he felt over the Potter children being around their compassionate, supportive, not to mention alive mother.

Discouraged, Scorpius walked downstairs and encountered Lily and Teddy with their high-pitched singing, recurrently interrupted by their own laughter.

"Love, you sing so well. What's with the pitch?" Harry asked his daughter like she was a toddler.

"It's not as fun," Lily said. "I don't want to be corny."

"Aww, come on. You had such a nice voice. Remember you would sing for us and change into different outfits for the song and would danc—"

"Dad!" Lily interrupted, blushing furiously. "I'm not a kid anymore!"

"I know," Harry assured. His face went pale like that statement really hit him hard.

"Morning. Happy Christmas," Scorpius heard Ginny say as she hugged and kissed Albus.

"Thanks, Mum. You too."

As Harry held Albus next, Scorpius swallowed a lump down his throat. A dreadful sensation lay in the pit of his stomach, feeling like he might fall to pieces.

"I think our baby doesn't approve of the singing very much," a massively pregnant Victoire said to Teddy. She was offering Ginny a hand with setting up the table. So much in fact that she was more or less doing everything herself.

"Vic, I told you I got this," Ginny said, suspending the expecting mother from picking up a fallen fork from the floor. "You need to take it easy."

"I'm fine," Victoire protested stubbornly. "It's honestly the least I could do. You and Uncle Harry always go out of your way to make things special for Teddy and I. It's just so—"

She was discontinued by her words swapped with sobs.

"Yikes. Hormones are scary," James said, not taking kindly to her disruption of the humorous carolling of Lily and Teddy.

"The actual crying may be the result of hormones, but not my gratitude," Victoire sniffled, brushing away her tears with one of the napkins on the table. "And I will take a break, Auntie. But only because the baby's kicking like there's no tomorrow."

"Can I feel?" Albus suggested energetically.

"Of course," Vic said, taking a seat on the living room couch next to James.

Albus hurried on over to his cousin and slumped down to his knees in front of her. He settled a hand on her fluttering belly as his bright green eyes shifted even brighter in wonderment. It cheered Scorpius up to see that, but at the same time made things worse seeing an expecting mother.

Albus looked enthralled like he was ironically a kid at Christmas.

"Exciting, huh? More than one new family member on the way," James said, lifting his glass of eggnog into the air.

"What in Merlin's beard are you on about?" Victoire said over Lily and Teddy's laughter. "There's not more than one baby living in here."

"Nope, but in here," James said, jabbing at Albus' belly. "Congratulations again, Al. Excited to be an uncle, although you still haven't told me who the father is."

Albus frowned and shielded his apparent bloated stomach. "Shut up."

"It's Scorpius isn't it? If you're lucky enough it could be twins!" James continued.

Scorpius giggled and flustered, but stopped when seeing Albus' expression.

"Rude, James," Vic said.

"So, is it going to be a girl or boy?" Albus asked, praying to go off topic.

"I'm guessing a boy and a girl," James said. "Oh, wait, were you talking about Vicky?"

"James, I swear to Merlin!" Victoire snarled, "and we're keeping it a surprise, Albus."

At the rear of the crowded sofa, Draco was occupying his time by having a conversation with Harry. According to him, it was a chummy yet awkward small talk that he enjoyed nevertheless. Scorpius was elated to watch his father relishing in being in somebody else's company. He was less isolated, and Scorpius knew that's what he everlastingly yearned for.

"Scorpius, there's a hot cocoa waiting for you at the table. You look a little chilly," Ginny said, resting a hand on Scorpius' shoulder.

"Oh, thank you," Scorpius said shyly.

Scorpius and Albus seated themselves next to each other at the dining room table, and he was appreciative that Ginny remembered that he not only favoured a dozen of marshmallows in his cocoa, but notably the rainbow tinted ones. His own mother consistently made him special goods like that. Ever since her passing, his home in Malfoy Manor was confined and somber. The chambers were colorless and frankly too spacious for just two people. There was no excitement, it was all so dull. Whereas the Potter's was the distinct opposite. Their house was a respectful size, and there was colour. And never a moment of silence, which obviously irked Albus, but not him. Everyone he knew who had siblings — especially Albus — would remark to him how lucky he was to have no siblings, but he always wanted one.

Scorpius just decided to drink his hot cocoa in silence along with Albus, fearing that he would cry if he spoke.

Victoire already jotted down what she was going to buy for people next year, including gifts for the baby. Lily stopped doing carols and instead decided to spruce up the atmosphere due to the gloomy weather outside.

James and Teddy launched a jeopardous snowball fight outside with their blaring voices easily being heard from those cozied up inside. Ginny played some music from Christmas-themed wireless stations, while Harry baked gingerbread hotcakes with the delectable scent overflowing the entire house. Absurdly the more miraculous heart-warming things came into being, the more Scorpius felt like he was on the verge of weeping.

When everyone finished breakfasting, it was time to unwrap presents. Scorpius already received plenty of gifts from his father, aunt, and grandparents on both sides, but Draco saved one for him on Christmas day.

There was an avalanche of gifts to keep track of there at the Potter's.

Ginny was lavished with heaps of bath oils, a footbath, fresh Quidditch gloves and polish, and lilac-scented perfume.

For Harry, quite a few sweets (that were customarily Treacle Treats), clothing, and a book about dealing with stress (a joke from James) although Harry was slightly considered otherwise.

For Teddy, multi-coloured ties, a chock-full of Bertie Bott's Jelly Beans, a mini galloping figure of a pony (his favourite animal), a guide to camping, and a phoenix sweater.

Victoire received a whole slew of pink clothing, jewellery, a book of baking, and the most recent issue of Witch's Fashion magazine.

James was given a leatherbound book from Lily labelled "James' Diary". She winked and he scowled. But the scowl was impermentant when acquiring the newest broom model: The Lightning Dash 1000 from his parents and he flipped out. And much like Harry, he also got loads of sweets.

Lily got pink bunny slippers, a new pair of earings, and several new fantasy books.

Even Draco received a gift from Harry and Ginny which was a fruitcake; he was one of the few people in the universe to actually enjoy it. And Draco contributed everyone with a Galleon each so they could buy whatever they wanted.

Lastly were Scorpius and Albus. Albus got a stress ball from James, plenty of books, and a lot of magical creature related merchandise.

Scorpius was the origin of practically all of the sweets given to everybody, and Albus apparently spread the word of how much his friend loved goodies because that's all he got from everyone, only Albus added a Magical Symbols game along with them, and Draco giving him the Lightning Dash 1000 just like James. He was astonished when Harry handed him something else. He hesitantly reached for it and slowly unwrapped. He unfolded the wool sky blue sweater and saw something that appeared to be a dotted sideways fishing hook. He may have been intelligent, but his knowledge of astronomy was very limited.

"It's the Scorpius constellation," Harry said, smirking.

"I was making you the sweater, and I was about to put the initial of your name, but that would be ripping off my mother's style, so I asked Albus, and he suggested this. Clever, huh?" Ginny said.

Albus blushed.

"Sorry my knitting isn't that spectacular."

Scorpius stared down at his gift, his fingers unsteadily clutching at the fabric.

"You should be grateful. All of you," Scorpius snapped at a taken aback Albus, James, and Lily.

He thudded the sweater against his seat and bolted upstairs, leaving behind the group of bewildered family members.

Draco was solo in comprehending the spontaneous flare-up.

"He'll be alright. I'll go up and speak with him," Draco consoled the Potters.

"I can speak to him, Draco," Ginny insisted, not even waiting for Draco's approval or response by lifting herself from her chair. He didn't stop her.

Upstairs, Ginny acted out on her pursuit and only concluded as soon as it started when she saw the door of their bathroom closed.

"Scorpius?" Ginny addressed with her ear pressed against the door.

Initially there was no reaction, but eventually on the counter side of the door she made out a wheezing sounding "Yeah."

"I know my knitting isn't all that great, but there is no need to be angry about it," Ginny remarked.

Scorpius contrived a valiant effort to not laugh, but a solitary titter managed to flee from his mouth.

"Sorry about that. I loved your gift... a lot actually," Scorpius said.

"Can I come in?" Ginny requested.

The blond hesitated. "Sure."

Ginny entered and kneeled down to the young man's level. They both realised that it would be an odd thing to witness to anybody else, but they both didn't care.

"I'm really sorry. It's just... it's—"

"— Another Christmas without your mother," Ginny finished, as considerately as possible.

Scorpius' breath was even more unstable and his lips quivered.

"It's okay. You can let it all out," Ginny said.

"B-But, it's Christmas," Scorpius said.

"Right," Ginny said, "but keeping your feelings bottled in will give you a bad case of the humbug. Trust me."

Scorpius didn't know whether he should have laughed or cried, but that inner conflict within him shifted when Ginny leaned forward to snugly embrace him. Something about the warm and protected contact felt accustomed to Scorpius, and it eased him into the embrace. He buried his face into her shoulder so he could release his held back tears as she used one of her hands to stroke his back up and down.

It felt like eternity since he last felt a mother's comfort, and soon enough his tears were not so much for grief, but for being at peace.

For what felt like hours contrary to minutes of essential motherly compassion, they at long last heaved away from each other.

"Scorpius, how are you doing?" Ginny and Scorpius looked to the bathroom door that stood ajar and saw Albus. "Just letting you know that I was the first to check up on you, but Mum over here was the first to actually offer and your dad told me not to overcrowd you. But I'm here now..."

"Heh. You're cute, Albus," Scorpius chuckled. "And I'm doing much better."

Something vocal came out of Albus' mouth, but it certainly wasn't words, not even an identifiable sound like a laugh or a groan.

Ginny smiled at one boy from the other. "Will you be alright to go back downstairs, Scorpius? This is actually the time when people young or old — old like me — would use at least one of their gifts. Or in Teddy's case... all of them. Maybe you and 'cutie' Albus' here could play that Magical Symbols game he gave you."

"I would like that," Scorpius said.

Scorpius bolstered himself from the closed toilet seat and excitedly caught a hold of his friend's hand so they could return to the others and allow his Christmas celebration to truly begin.