Albus appeared with a crack in the middle of her kitchen.

As Rose jumped up and whipped her head to follow the sound, she saw that her cousin wasn't alone. Of course, his best friend Scorpious was with him on this loveliest of Christmas Eves.

They're two of a kind. Horrid, nosy drunks rubbing my nose in their merrymaking.

Rose couldn't maintain her foul thoughts in Scorpius's presence though. Not with the gentle way he was averting his eyes from the sad mess formerly known as Rose Weasley. Not with the way he was holding up her absolutely hammered cousin, who was bleeding from his split lip and giggling weepily. Not with the way he shifted in his shoes, clearly uncomfortable about coming to her flat on Christmas Eve and intruding on her self-loathing party of one.

Finally, after stammering something about picking Al up at his parents' to go to a party in London, Scorpius raised his eyes earnestly. "Would you help me, then? He's getting quite heavy. I didn't know where else to take him, but he, erm, he mentioned you might be alone tonight."

Albus drawled sloppily, "Thass righ', poor Rosie izz alllllll alone… An' on Chritmittooo… She'z gonn' enndup 'lone forevaahhh."

"Shut up, Al," Rose sighed. She glanced at Scorpius before motioning to the sofa. "He can sleep it off here, I guess. I would give him the bed, but I don't trust him to keep everything in. Chunks, et cetera..." Rose paused, then registered what she had said. She turned red all over. Oh no. Oh I did not just refer to puking in front of Scorpius. What kind of woman am I?!

Scorpius, to his credit, just snorted in response. Rose, red as her namesake, stepped across the flat and ducked under Albus' other arm. She looked at Scorpius "Right. On three."

Together they heaved the intoxicated Albus across the room and onto her couch. Once he was sufficiently sprawled on his side with a bin near his mouth, Rose stepped back and surveyed the scene. She lunged forward again to nab her bottle of firewhiskey and box of tissues, hoping that Scorpius hadn't noticed her pity party setup. He was looking away, as if trying to spare her the embarrassment. Bloody hell.

They met eyes again. She started talking just as he did.

"So I'll just go then-"

"Would you like a drink? Tea?"

Scorpius grinned. "Er, yeah. That'd be great. Thank you." She led him into the kitchen and motioned to a chair.

"So Scorpius, how've you been?" Rose started as she brewed up the tea. Ask him about work. Ask him about his family. This doesn't need to be weird! Just focus, and don't say something stupid.

"I've been alright." He was perched on the edge of his chair and had suddenly taken great interest in her kitchen floor. Rose shifted uncomfortably as she poured the contents of the kettle into two cups. Her mind was horrifyingly devoid of further questions. She knew that she could just sit down opposite him and wait for him to elaborate. She could pretend he had reciprocated with a question about her life, and just begin talking. She could leap into his lap and snog him senseless, if she wanted to. Which she didn't. At all.

She tried again.

"Are you visiting your family for Christmas?" Rose ventured.

"Yeah. We're celebrating tomorrow," Scorpius stated simply before gulping down his scalding tea. Rose cheered in her mind. Conversation! Commonality!

"Us too. We spend Christmas Day with the entire family, but we each have our own celebrations on Christmas Eve."

Scorpius looked up with questioning eyes. He glanced over his shoulder at Albus drooling on her sofa, but didn't say anything. Oh great. Of course, now he knows that my celebration consisted of self-pity and a stiff drink. Alone. On Christmas Eve. Dammit.

"So… where did Al manage to get himself so drunk?" Rose asked, hoping to draw attention away from her own disaster.

"We were at a party at Morgana's when he saw her run off with someone else. He completely lost his head. I didn't trust him to be alone, so I grabbed him before he passed out or did something stupid. He told me he could probably stay here and you would get him to your family's tomorrow morning." He paused and glanced at Rose before continuing. "If you want, I can take him back with me. It's getting pretty late."

Rose sighed. "No, it's fine. You can leave him here. I don't want to take you away from your festivities."

"Whatever's best for you. I'm sure it'd be fine if I took him."

Fine with whom? She wanted to know. She really really wanted to just ask. He didn't have a ring on his finger, but what if he had a girlfriend? Now would be the ideal time to ask, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

He really wanted to ask her. He had glanced around her flat and seen no evidence of a boyfriend or husband or anything, but he needed to hear it from her mouth. Her beautiful, berry mouth. They were sitting in silence in her kitchen, sipping tea, and all Scorpius could think about was how the greatest Christmas present he could ever receive would be the ability to sweep the teacups and kettle off the table, grab Rose, lay her across it, and snog her senseless. But he knew that would be unacceptable, and besides, he was enjoying just sitting quietly with her on Christmas Eve. He had never really known what it meant to enjoy someone's company before he went to Hogwarts, but when he met Albus, and later on, Rose, he found himself wanting to just be around them. But it defied his sense of order, of economy; his father had taught him that friendship was a luxury he could never count on, and that he should focus on keeping his head down and his nose clean. He had always been professional, clean, and impersonal. But then he stepped into Albus Potter's whirlwind and saw how Al lived. Scorpius watched from an arm's length as Albus brought people into his orbit, making them laugh and making them trust him. Scorpius went to the Burrow over the summer and listened as Albus talked and talked at night, telling Scorpius about his life. Scorpius watched himself become Albus' confidant. And then, one night, Scorpius found himself face to face with Rose, Albus' cousin.