A/N: I decided to post this minutes before I go to sleep. So forgive me if you find any mistakes.

Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to mine. They all belong to JK Rowling.

CHAPTER 13

"DOM!"

Dominique accidentally drew a long line on her parchment as she heard the loud whisper from someone who just came. Sighing, she turned around and saw who the culprit was: Rose who was smiling from ear to ear. "Rose! See what you did to my homework?"

Rose took a look at her cousin's parchment and immediately widened her eyes. "I am so very sorry," she apologised. "I didn't mean to do that." She then took out her wand and cast a spell to erase the mistake. Succeeded, she smiled again. "As good as new."

"Good," said Dominique, inspecting her homework. "I don't want to do it again because I was almost done." She looked up. "So what brought you here?" Before Rose could answer, though, she already answered her own question. "Wait, never mind. You're here to do some late night reading."

"That, some homework and," Rose dramatically paused to take a seat in front of her cousin. She leaned in closer. "I've got something to tell you."

"What about?"

Rose smiled. "I got another gift from the mysterious boy."

"Don't you mean Scorpius?" asked Dominique, a bit too loud.

The younger cousin immediately placed her hand on Dominique's mouth, afraid that people might hear them. "Don't say his name so loud. People might think that we're talking about him."

Dominique took the hand covering her mouth. "We are, anyway," she replied. "Besides, don't care about what they think." She smiled. "So what did you get this time?"

Rose's eyes suddenly lit up and took the box out of her bag. "He gave me a quill with my initials inscribed on it," she answered, giving her the quill. "Isn't it very thoughtful of him? I've been meaning to buy one myself, but he bought it for me."

"This is very nice," Dominique made a comment while inspecting the quill. "This is really neat." She looked up. "Is this hand-made or did he go to the quill shop?"

"I don't know," answered Rose, shrugging off her shoulders. "I think he asked someone to do it for him. But it might be possible for him to do it himself. There's a spell for that."

"Oh, wait. I suddenly remember something," said Dominique. "I saw Scorpius yesterday afternoon here, in the library." She looked from left to right, checking whether there were people nearby or not. "He was reading a book and copying something from it. And after he was done, he picked up his wand and started practising."

Rose blinked. "Wait, where were you? How did you know every single detail that he did yesterday?"

Dominique smiled. "I was just in front of him; a few seats before him actually," she answered. "I guess he was so engrossed in the work that he didn't realise I was watching him the whole time." She paused. "Do you think that yesterday was the day he did it?"

"Well, I got the quill this morning. So it is possible that he did it yesterday," said Rose, taking back the quill. "But just because you saw him yesterday practising the wand movement and whatnots, doesn't mean that it was really him who sent it."

"I guess you still haven't asked him then?"

Rose shook her head. "I'm still not sure if he's the mysterious boy."

"Do you want me to ask Louis to ask him?" asked Dominique.

"What? No!" Rose immediately closed her mouth for being too loud for her liking. "I don't want anyone to ask him." She looked away as she looked a bit flushed. "I want him to admit it to me himself. And I want him to tell me the reason why he's been sending me all these."

Dominique sighed. "Suit yourself."

For a while, both of them were busy with their own things: Dominique with her deserted homework, Rose with her late night reading. They were so busy in fact, they didn't even realise that it was time for them to go back to their dormitory; the library was closing as the librarian had told them.

As they were gathering their things into their bags, Rose noticed a drop in temperature. "Don't you think it's a bit chilly in here?" she asked, rubbing her hands together to create heat.

Dominique looked up. "Maybe it's snowing," she made a guess. "I mean it is winter now."

"Oh, speaking of which; you're coming to the Burrow for Christmas, aren't you?"

"Of course," answered Dominique, starting to walk out of the place followed by Rose. "We always are. Why'd you ask?"

Rose stayed quiet for a while, not wanting to lock eyes with Dominique. "There's one extra friend coming on that day."

"Friend?" she echoed. She paused. She then widened her eyes as she seemed to come to a realisation. "Wait. You mean Scorpius is coming?"

The younger girl just nodded.

"Why?" asked Dominique who immediately shook her head. "I mean, how did you convince him to come? Did you threaten him or something?"

Rose looked at her cousin. "What? No, of course not," she answered. "You know that I've been helping him for quite a while with his work. So in return, I asked him to come to the Burrow for Christmas. And he said yes."

"And he didn't mind?"

"He already asked his parents about it. They also said yes," she said, smiling.

Dominique smiled as she saw how happy her cousin looked. "You don't fancy the boy," she said as she looked in front. "You're in love with him, aren't you, Rosie?" Without waiting for a response (she already knew anyway that Rose was too shy to admit it), she laughed and placed her free arm around Rose's shoulder. "You've grown up."

"And so have you. We only differ by two years, Dom."

The older girl laughed. "Oh, that reminds me: have you asked for your parents' permission about Scorpius' visit?"

"Of course I have," answered Rose. "I addressed the owl to my parents, but Mum was the one who replied. Why?"

"Did you know that our parents have never got along with the Malfoys?"

Rose nodded. "Yeah, my parents told me about it," she said. "Dad said that Scor's Dad once said something horrible to Mum but they never told me what it was. All I know is that the word is something that nobody in this generation should know of." She paused. "I guess that shows how horrible the word was."

It was Dominique's turn to nod. "Well anyway, my reason asking you is: would your Dad mind that Scorpius is coming?"

Rose stayed quiet for a while. "I'm sure Mum has talked to him about it. I mean they tell each other everything," she said, though unsure. "Hope he doesn't mind. I'm sure Dad's forgiven Scorpius' Dad. It happened years ago." She suddenly turned her head to look at her cousin. "What do you think?"

"I think it's okay," she replied. "As long as Scorpius doesn't do anything that angers your Dad, it's fine. So you'd better keep an eye on that boy." She paused. "He's a great kid, by the way."

"He is," Rose agreed, nodding her head. "I hope Dad would see that too."

Dominique smiled. "Well I think we'd better hurry," she said, walking faster. "It's almost midnight."

A/N: Review please. By the way, the next chapter would be the Christmas in the Burrow.

Til next time..