"Season's greetings, Miss Weasley!"
I glance up from my Charms essay and try not to slam my head against the table.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" I reply tightly to Scorpius Malfoy who is looking ridiculous in a Santa hat that has bells on the end which jingle when he moves.
Every. Time. He. Moves.
"I wanted to wish you Merry Christmas," Scorpius is grinning at me but I scowl at him in return.
"Scorpius, it's December 2nd." I state flatly and duck my head again to carry on writing my essay. It's an assignment to be completed over Christmas, but it can't hurt to do it before we've even left Hogwarts.
"It's never too early to get in the Christmas spirit," Scorpius grins broadly and sits opposite me at the table.
Whoever's master plan it was to assign Scorpius Malfoy as Head Boy for our last year at Hogwarts has some explaining to do. And not just because of the questionably poor choice of male role model for the younger kids to look up. But because this same person also thought that the perfect match to Malfoy's Head Boy-ship was to assign me as Head Girl. You literally couldn't make this up.
"Scorpius," I begin and set down my quill. If I have to listen to the incessant jingling of Scorpius' hat one more time, it's getting thrown in the fire. "I know this is a slightly alien concept to you, but I'm actually doing homework."
Scorpius feigns an air of mild interest. "And what does that include, Miss Weasley?" He asks innocently.
"It includes peace and quiet and strictly no - jingling - Christmas - hats," I enunciate each word firmly.
"Hey — don't hate on the hat, Rose," Scorpius rushes to the hat's defence. "Anyway — I thought you loved Christmas?"
"I do," I reply truthfully. "But not when I'm trying to write an essay and the Head Boy is being irritating."
"Sounds like you should get a new Head Boy," Scorpius says jovially.
"That's the dream."
Scorpius laughs and the movement of his head causes the bells to tinkle faintly.
"Anyway, I actually came here to tell you that Albus has got detention," Scorpius sits back in his chair. "He somehow managed to charm all of the suits of armour on the third floor to sing Christmas carols in rounds."
I give a snort of laughter despite myself. "That's stupid."
"But inspired."
"Whatever." I reply shortly and continue with my paragraph. "Scorpius, stop staring at me. Don't you have anything better to do?"
Scorpius gives a sigh and I watch him raise his arms above his head to stretch. I don't mean to, but I can't help but notice the way that this action makes his shirt strain pleasantly across his well toned —
"Rose, why are you blushing?" Dammit!
I scowl at him. "Look, if you've nothing better to do, then you can be useful and go and help McGonagall out with the preparations for the Winter Ball. I've done my fair share of the work," I say primly and not without a hint of annoyance.
"But you love organising things," Scorpius says, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. He leans forward, forearms resting on the table. "You're a control freak. Why would you want me to take over? You love the Ball."
"Actually," I lower my eyes and pretend to be finding a passage in a book. "I don't."
Scorpius doesn't answer for a minute. "But why?"
"I don't have to answer to you." I reply snappily. "Now please, leave me to work in peace."
Scorpius gets to his feet with his hat jingling after him as he turns on his heel and walks out of our shared common room.
Shaking thoughts of Scorpius' well toned chest out of my head, I turn back to my essay and start on the conclusion. It's dark now and Scorpius still isn't back, and in spite of myself, I miss his company. The past few months of having to share a common room with him have almost driven me crazy, and I've missed sharing with five girls. At least Scorpius certainly keeps things lively in here.
With my essay now finished, I roll up my parchment and carefully pack away my ink and quills. I put the books in my satchel so I can take them back to the library. With nothing else to do, I change for bed and try to have an early night.
…
"Good morning, Miss Weasley," Scorpius greets me jovially. This morning he's wearing an ugly red and green Christmas jumper with fair-isle knit reindeer. Luckily, the jingling hat is no where in sight. "Coffee?"
I regard him suspiciously from the doorway of my room. "Tell me something, Scorpius."
"Anything,"
"Why are you in such a good mood?" I ask as I sit in the sofa in front of the fire and watch Scorpius pour me a mug of coffee.
"Don't you just feel the Christmas cheer taking over your body?" Scorpius hands me the mug and sits beside me. We turn to face each other.
"Usually, yes. But not this year," I admit. He looks genuinely troubled and tilts his head to the side, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion. I sigh. "I'm so stressed with school work, I just haven't had time to relax and enjoy my favourite time of the year."
"I wouldn't know what that felt like," Scorpius jokes and I make a face at him. "I'm kidding. I think you just need to realise that this place … it isn't the whole world. It is now, but one day, the grades we get here aren't even going to matter. You've got to learn to relax."
I give a laugh of mirth. "Ask Albus — I can't relax."
"Sure you can," Scorpius says encouragingly. "What are you thinking about now?"
"Summer exams," I reply immediately. It's true; the only thing I ever think about now are exams and assignments and grades.
"What's your favourite part about Christmas?"
"Decorating the tree," I say with a smile. "But because of deadlines for applications, I'll be staying at Hogwarts until a week before Christmas, so I'll miss that." I can't keep the disappointment out of my voice. The truth is; my final year at Hogwarts is ruining my love of Christmas whether I let it or not.
Scorpius nods thoughtfully. "That sucks," he says sympathetically. "Do I get to know why you aren't excited about the Winter Ball yet?"
I narrow my eyes at him. "Nice try," I say. "But it takes more than that to catch me off guard."
"Ice Queen," Scorpius teases in good humour.
"Prat." I reply with a wry smile. "Thanks for the coffee."
"No problem. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some important business to attend to," and with that, Scorpius gets up and leaves the room.
I drain my coffee and force myself to get showered and dressed. I have some plans for the Ball to prepare for the next meeting with McGonagall in a few hours, and I'm supposed to have planned almost the entire event by now.
My day drags by; I put together menu plans and colour schemes and brain storm table decorations and ice sculptures. I then take them all to McGonagall's office and am pleasantly surprised to see tinsel tastefully adorning two picture frames. She thanks me for my relentless contributions and asks about Scorpius' lack of input. I then reassure her that I will be giving Mr Malfoy a metaphorical kick up the backside when I next see him.
By the time I'm back in the common room, I realise I've actually been pretty lonely today and I haven't properly spoken to anyone. But I'm also absolutely exhausted: I collapse into my favourite red armchair and I don't even realise that I've fallen asleep until I'm violently woken up by an almighty crash.
"What the —?!" I start, and when I look properly, I see Albus and Scorpius stood in the doorway, both shouldering a large pine tree, their faces flushed pink from effort. "What the hell are you both doing?!"
"We got a tree!" Albus exclaims gleefully.
"Yes, I can see that."
"Out of the way, Weasley," Scorpius winks at me and grins. I numbly step to the side and simply watch as my cousin and his best friend haul an 8 foot Christmas tree into the common room.
The boys set the tree straight, and Scorpius casts a charm to make it stand without assistance. They turn to me with joy lighting up their faces.
"What do you think?" Albus can't stop smiling.
"I'm thinking there are probably school rules against this," I sigh. "How did you even get it up here?"
"We carried it," Scorpius replies absentmindedly as he begins to rearrange some of the branches on the tree.
"You what?" I reply. "You hauled that thing up seven floors?! Why didn't you just levitate it?"
Scorpius and Albus both turn and raise an eyebrow at me as Scorpius' sarcasm goes over my head. "Stop sucking the joy out of everything, Rosie Posie." Is Albus' reply. I scowl at him.
The boys gaze at the tree proudly as if it's their first born child and I roll my eyes. "You guys are too much," I say. Albus turns to me and brushes pine needles off his forest green jumper with a golden knitted 'A' on the front: a Grandma Weasley creation, of course.
"I'd love to stay, but alas, I have a date," If possible, Albus' smile widens even more. He gives us both a wave. "Later, you two."
"Bye, Al," Scorpius and I chorus.
As soon as my cousin is gone, Scorpius turns to the tree with his back to me and busies himself with positioning the branches to perfection. "So now you have a tree to decorate," he says quietly.
I frown. "Sorry?"
Scorpius turns to me and I'm slightly confused as to why he seems to be blushing. He won't look me in the eye and he clears his throat. "I got you a tree so you could decorate it because you're missing it at home so I thought we could do it together and it's your favourite part of Christmas so —"
I shut Scorpius' nervous babbling up by launching myself at him and flinging my arms around his neck. "Scorp!" I squeak slightly. Scorpius seems slightly stunned at my outburst of emotion when I'm usually so contained, but after a second, I feel his arms wrap around me. "Thank you." I say.
"You're welcome, Rose," Scorpius murmurs in my ear. I pull away and look at the tree properly.
"Do we have decorations?" I ask, not being able to contain the glee in my voice.
Scorpius beams, pleased that I'm genuinely happy.
"Go look in my room," Scorpius says and I don't need to be told twice. I cross the room and open up the door to his room and am briefly surprised: his room is identical to mine in furniture and layout, but the green and silver decor replaces the red and gold in my own room. On his bed are three wooden crates with "CHRISTMAS DECS!" scrawled on the sides.
I allow myself a small moment of properly smiling as I lean against the closed door behind me, knowing Scorpius can't see me. I put my hand over my chest where I can feel my heart beating slightly quicker than I'm used to. Pulling my wand out of my hair that I've haphazardly pinned up in a top knot, I open the door again to levitate the crates into the common room.
Scorpius appears from the other side of the tree and notices me using my wand. "Ah-ah, Miss Weasley," he steps to me, closer than is considered platonic, especially considering I can smell his musky cologne, and takes my wand from my hands. "No magic," he tells me. I open my mouth to protest. "And don't answer back," Scorpius winks jauntily at me and I scowl, but in good humour.
Scorpius takes both our wands and places them safely on the coffee table before turning back to me and rubbing his hands together excitedly. "Shall we?" He invites, and we each grab a crate of decorations, placing them in front of the tree. Whilst Scorpius is fetching the final crate, I snatch my wand up and get a fire going in the fireplace, and suddenly the room is bathed in the warm orange glow. The sun has set outside out diamond paned windows, and the moon is bright white and glowing.
"I saw that," Scorpius says as I hurry to put my wand back beside his as he reenters the room.
"Saw what?" I ask piously. Scorpius gives a laugh and places the box down beside the other two.
We begin to sort through the decorations; there are beautiful handmade glass baubles of all shapes, sizes, and colours. Some of them are enchanted, changing colour, shedding glitter, and we even uncover a blonde angel (looking and acting disturbingly like Victoire), who won't stop flipping her hair at Scorpius, or singing off tune carols in a high soprano voice. She's also very pissed off when Scorpius and I shove her beneath the cushions of the sofa, and can be heard swearing and hurling muffled abuse at us.
Scorpius gets up from the floor where we had been sorting through decorations, announcing that he is going to make us hot chocolate. I get to my feet and start placing baubles on the tree, one after the other, in a world of my own.
"Woah, woah, woah, woah, Rose Weasley!" Scorpius sounds appalled as he turns around from the counter top with a steaming mug in each hand.
"What?" I say, confused, looking from the tree, to Scorpius' horrified expression. "What have I done?"
"Just what do you think you're doing?!"
I blink at him. "Decorating the tree?" I reply uncertainly.
"Rose," Scorpius takes a deep, calming breath, placing the two red mugs on the coffee table, and I desperately try to refrain from bursting out laughing. "Rose, there is an art to decorating a Christmas tree. You do not simply throw everything you can find onto the branches—"
"Are you having me on?"
"—You have to choose a colour scheme, and distribute the baubles of appropriate colour around the tree. There has to be a system, and a discipline, and strictly no tinsel."
I can't hold it in any longer; I laugh right in his face, and can't stop. "I'm sorry." I try to contain myself. With mild difficulty at Scorpius' solemn expression, I manage to adopt a degree of composure. "You're right; what should we do?"
"Purple and gold," Scorpius replies immediately.
I can't help but grin at his stubbornness. "Aye aye, captain," I say teasingly. Scorpius flashes me a look of fond exasperation and we begin to sort through the decorations for his colour choice. I watch Scorpius curiously as he begins to carefully and methodically place the baubles on the tree, taking care not to have too many baubles from the same family in too condensed an area.
"I can tell you're from a posh household," I comment with a smile.
Scorpius turns to me with a small frown of concentration still softly prominent on his brow. "What do you mean?" He asks.
I step forward and attempt to follow his careful lead round the other side of the tree. "In our family, we just go wild with the tree. It's more of a bonding experience than an ornament."
"It's still a bonding experience," Scorpius says indignantly. "It doesn't mean it can't look nice."
"Only children," I mutter teasingly. Scorpius catches my eye through the branches and he looks amused, but doesn't rise to it.
It takes about an hour for us to decorate the tree up to Malfoy standard. I know my family would have made the branches bow beneath gaudy decorations, enchanted sleigh bells, and rude garden gnomes dressed up as fairies.
"Now close your eyes." I order Scorpius and he looks wary as he flickers his eyelids shut.
After checking he isn't peeking, I dig out the gold tinsel he tried to hide behind the sofa earlier, and drape it on the branches.
"Open!" I announce.
Scorpius is silent for about 3.7 seconds before uttering; "no."
I pout. "But I want tinsel."
"No." Scorpius repeats, the corners of his mouth tugging a little as if he wants to smile.
"Please?" I attempt to appeal, ducking my chin slightly and looking up at him from beneath my lashes. I see Scorpius waver.
He scowls at me in defeat. "Fine." He huffs eventually and I give a little squeak of triumphant glee at my victory.
With the tree decorated, we settle down on the sofa, each cradling our mugs of hot chocolate. It's gone dark outside now, and our shared common room is warm and cozy, the fire illuminating Scorpius' usually cool features in a warm glow; his platinum hair is now lit with gold, his pale sapphire blue eyes glitter with rubies, and his prominent cheekbones are softened.
All in all, Scorpius Malfoy is looking much more appealing in a new light.
"You've gone very quiet," Scorpius comments, lifting the mug to his lips. I notice the way he blows gently on the surface of his drink before delicately drinking.
"Sorry," I shake myself out of a stupor, internally scolding myself for being all weird and moony over Scorpius Malfoy. Clearly it's my hormones running wild.
"So how do you like the tree?" Scorpius doesn't look at me as he asks, and he seems shy.
"I love it," I smile. "Thank you so much; I really appreciate this."
Scorpius gives a self conscious half shrug. "It was nothing."
My smile grows a little at him attempting to play it off. I've never seen this side of him.
We're quiet for a bit; the only sound is the crackling of the fire and us sipping our drinks.
Usually, our silences together go unnoticed; living together and tolerating each other for this long has meant that we don't tend to pay attention to long periods of not talking. But this moment is different. This silence is full and charged.
"Do you, uh," Scorpius clears his throat. "Do you want something a little stronger?"
"Excuse me?"
Scorpius gives a nervous laugh and then gestures at his mug. "I mean the drink. I have some Firewhiskey if you want some."
"Oh!" Suddenly I feel a little embarrassed and I don't know why. "Uh, sure."
Something has changed. The atmosphere feels heavy and static. Scorpius gets up from the sofa and heads into his room. I suddenly find myself raking a hand through my hair and attempting to tame the frizz, and I catch myself trying to make sure I look okay. I've never bothered much with my image in front of Scorpius before.
"Here," Scorpius is back with two bottles of opened Firewhiskey and hands one to me.
"Thanks," I take the bottle from him and he sits back next to me, and I wonder if I'm being crazy, but I swear he's sat closer to me than before.
"So whats the deal with this Winter Ball then," Scorpius asks smoothly.
"I've made some plans which I want you to look over. And I want you to actually help me too," I say prickly.
"I'm sorry," Scorpius sounds abashed. "I guess I just didn't want to get in your way."
"We're supposed to be doing this together, you know." I add primly, not resisting a little dig.
Scorpius raises an eyebrow cooly. "I know, I apologise." Scorpius says with a hard voice.
"Sorry," I mutter. "I'm just really not looking forward to this event at all." I drop my chin and fiddle with the label of the Firewhiskey bottle.
"You still won't tell me why," Scorpius observes.
"I'm aware." I say shortly.
More silence.
We drink our Firewhiskey and make small talk. I fill him in on the Winter Ball plans, and Scorpius tries his best to appear interested. He even makes a few suggestions, and even though they're not great, I appreciate the effort.
Before I know it, we're both onto our third bottle of Firewhiskey, and the fire and alcohol is making me warm. The jumper I had been wearing throughout the day is causing me to overheat and I pull it off revealing the tight black Weird Sisters band t-shirt I stole from Lily last year.
My younger cousin has somewhat of an affinity for deliberately buying clothes a bit too small for her and cutting them lower than I ever deem to be appropriate. My current outfit choice was the result of a lack of clean shirts, and something to wear under my Weasley jumper. Wearing the (extremely) low-cut shirt in front of a certain Scorpius Malfoy was certainly not my intention for this evening.
As I drape my jumper neatly over the back of the sofa, I see Scorpius' eyes glance over my chest and he flushes a little pink.
"So you like the Weird Sisters, huh?" Scorpius starts, still looking a little flushed.
I look down at myself, as if I had no idea I was even wearing the shirt. "Oh. Yeah. They're my favourite band — I always go and see them with Dom and Lily," I say casually. The alcohol has made my tongue feel heavy and my head is beginning to feel a little fuzzy. Strangely, it's giving me a mild confidence boost.
"Interesting. Did the shirt come like that by any chance?" I can tell he's teasing me. Clearly the confidence boost has gone both ways.
I roll my eyes and try to cover my cleavage a little. "Lily is a bit too scissor happy when it comes to showing off her, ahem, assets."
"Uh huh," Scorpius looks amused.
I reach over and hit his arm lightly. "Stop," I apprehend him, but I'm laughing.
"I mean — the shirt definitely suits you," Scorpius is laughing too.
"Stop objectifying me, Malfoy!"
Scorpius pretends to look offended. "I would never, Miss Weasley."
Our laughter dies companionably and I realise we've got closer on the sofa. I can make out different shades of blue in his eyes, and I realise he has a small scar on his left temple which I never noticed before. I place my bottle on the floor and arrange myself a little closer, my knees pulled up on the cushions are grazing against his thigh.
With one finger, I trace the small silver scar. Scorpius gulps slightly at my touch. I've never touched him before. "How did you get this?" I ask gently.
"Quidditch, two years ago; your delightful cousin Albus accidentally - or so he claims - hit me with a bat and split my temple open. I had a black eye for weeks."
I can't help laughing. "I remember that!" I say.
"Don't laugh! It hurt!" Scorpius smiles at my laughter and I cover my mouth.
"I'm sorry," I'm still giggling a little. "I'll make it up to you."
And I don't know what makes me do it, but I suddenly find myself leaning over and placing a soft kiss on Scorpius' temple. Our faces are close and I can feel the heat radiating from him. He boldly places a hand on my thigh and mine go to his chest. And before I know it, we're kissing.
I pull away and we both look at each other, slightly shocked at this shift in our friendship.
"See," I airily try to breeze over it.
"Rose —" Scorpius starts but I get to my feet, pretending I haven't heard him.
"Gosh is that the time," I babble, extravagantly checking my watch.
"Rose —!"
"I'd best be off to bed."
"Rose!" Scorpius is getting annoyed and stands up too. We're standing close. I panic.
"Thank you for the tree. Goodnight, Scorpius." I turn away and into the safety of my room, closing and locking the door.