Rose wrapped herself in fake cheer the next two weeks. She laughed as she ate meals with her friends and family, she smiled when Albus, and not Scorpius, sat next to her in class. She even managed to wave cheerfully to Scorpius as he passed her in the hallways. That part was the most difficult, the most heartbreaking. But just because they were no longer "dating" didn't mean they were no longer friends.

She was determined to fake her way through her sorrow until it passed. After all, Scorpius had done nothing but help her, her feelings were not his fault. But she couldn't quite bring herself to talk with him, or treat him like she had. And it was almost too easy to avoid him most times. So their interactions dwindled to friendly waves, and Rose used all of her strength to keep from falling apart.

Albus, bless him, didn't pry, but he did seemed concerned. Someone who didn't know Rose very well might not be able to see through her charade, but anyone who interacted with her and knew her just a little could tell she was trying much too hard.

They all seemed to be taking their cues from Albus and Dominique, however, and everyone let her pretend, even though they all knew it was a lie. And she was grateful for it.

The day after her "break-up" she had come downstairs to find Dominique. Dom hadn't said anything, she had just pulled Rose into a crushing hug and let Rose talk.

Rose had managed to get through most of the conversation with minimal tears, still spent from the night before. Afterwards, Rose had smiled at her cousin and said, "I'm going to be okay."

They both knew it was true, but that didn't make it hurt any less in the meantime. Dominique had given her one last squeeze, and Rose began her charade. "I'm going to fake it until eventually it won't be fake anymore." She had said, and that had been that.

In those last weeks, Rose threw herself into her schoolwork, and began to knit incessantly. She found the busier she was, the easier things seemed. She had decided that everyone in her family would get a scarf from her this year, a tall order. Her mother had taught Rose how to knit the muggle way, and her grandmother had taught her how to knit with magic. Rose found that knitting one scarf by hand and one by magic simultaneously was about the limit of her concentration, which she appreciated.

When it was time, she packed up everything but her knitting for the train ride home. She set her luggage to float behind her as she made her way to the train. She still had one set of knitting needles clacking along next to her, but the pair in her hands were still as she maintained her luggage and navigated the halls.

She turned a blind corner and smacked into something solid and familiar.

"Sorry I didn't see- oh, Rose, hey." It was Scorpius, smiling down at her.

Her heart thumped in her ears.

"Hi, sorry, I wasn't paying attention…" The knitting needles floating at her side had stopped and her luggage sagged a few inches.

Scorpius glanced at her hands, her luggage, and the extra scarf beside her. "No wonder you didn't see me, doing all that. I saw Dominique out by the carriages already, I thought you two would have left together."

"I had a few extra things to pack so she went on ahead. I was heading out to her now."

"Well, try not to be too distracted the rest of the way, the next bloke you bump into might not be as gentlemanly as I am." He gestured above them. "Have a good Holiday, Rose." He walked away.

Rose stood there for a moment, confused. Then she looked up. Mistletoe. She had been standing under a mistletoe with Scorpius, and he'd noticed, and hadn't done anything.

Of course he hadn't, what was she expecting?

That he would have kissed her? His hand slipping into her hair and her body pressed against his as his lips gently moved over hers and…

She gathered the loose ends of her thoughts and sighed. Smiles, Rose. Plastering on a fake smile, she started her knitting once again and continued on her way.

Once they were safely on the Hogwarts express Rose excused herself to meet with other prefects. On a normal train ride Scorpius would have been there too, but she supposed he was doing his own version of prefect duty back at the castle among the other students who had stayed behind.

Once her shift was over she returned to her carriage with Dominique, who was not alone. Hugo was sitting next to her, Albus had finished his own duty, and James and Lily had also joined them along with Roxanne.

"Well, well, looks like we've got almost a full house here" she said, squeezing between her brother and Dominique.

"Louis is off with Fred, Lorcan, and Lysander, the little troublemakers" Dominique said. "I can't wait until Lucy comes next year, she usually stops the worst of their antics before it's too late."

"And Molly has already been home a week, the traitor." Added Lily with no malice in her voice. "Can you believe Beauxbatons gets a whole extra week of Christmas Holidays? It's not fair, I tell you!"

"You could have applied to be an exchange student as well, you know." Rose said.

"My French was never very good anyway, besides, they only have two school Quidditch teams, not enough variety. It would be nice to see Aunt Gabrielle, though."

"You only say that because you've never spent the summer with her" Dominique pipped in. "Victorie completely abandoned me to sneak off and see Teddy, so I was stuck with just her and Louis for weeks."

Rose suppressed a small smile. She remembered that summer. Dominique had written to her almost every day complaining about how Gabrielle had made her spend all of her time with Louis and she couldn't do anything by herself. It had made her stir crazy.

She found that every smile she faked was becoming more and more genuine as the train moved along. It wasn't that her heart was any less broken, it was just that she was surrounded by people she loved and their playful bickering was both familiar and comfortable.

She was feeling better than expected when the train finally pulled into Platform 9¾. She had managed to finish two more scarves (only six more to go!) and put her work away during the hustle and bustle of gathering luggage and filing off the train.

Rose craned her neck once they had all made it onto the platform, scanning the crowd of people for her parents or other assorted aunts and uncles. Finally she spotted some red and practically ran over to where her father was.

"Dad!" she cried as she threw herself into his embrace.

"Rosie!" her father pulled her into a crushing hug. She looked over at her mother, who was hugging Hugo about as tightly as their father hugged her. Hugo was squirming.

"Moooooom, stop!" he said.

But Rose knew he was secretly happy, and their mother knew it too. Hermione winked at Rose as Ron let her go and then pulled her daughter into a hug as well.

"I missed you guys" Rose said.

"We missed you too, sweetheart" her mother replied.

Rose looked over her mother's shoulder and saw James, Albus, and Lily receiving similar treatment from their own mother.

"Albus!" Ginny Potter cried out, "I can't believe you, how could you do this me! Coming home and being taller than your own mother! What is the world coming to?"

"I was taller than you already last year!" Albus protested, and it was true. Ginny Potter was many things, but "tall" had never particularly been one of them.

"Oh hush, I just want to exclaim over how much you've grown while you've been gone."

"Where's dad?" Lily asked, looking around.

"We thought there'd be quite enough of a commotion as is, so he's waiting for us at home. Let's not make him wait too long, he's missed you all terribly."

Ginny looked over at Rose and smiled with a wave. "We'll see you all at dinner!" she called.

Rose looked around to see the platform thinning out. The rest of her friends and family were similarly having happy reunions. She turned back to her parents, ready to go home.

"Alright," her mother began, "everyone all set?"

"Looks like it," her father replied. "Let's go home," her father turned to her, "and then we can have a discussion about your new boyfriend."

Rose felt her heart stop. "Wait… what!?"