A/N – Right so sorry for the delay in updating, life's been hectic. Hope this makes up for it.
Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter
Hugo and I stayed sitting at the table in comfortable silences for about another hour; when he saw my coffee cup was empty, he got up and made a pot of fresh coffee.
I watched as he made the coffee instead of using the instant stuff that Dad and I liked; he'd grown a lot since his sorting when I really got a last look at him.
"My brother." I pointed him out to Ivy and Vinnie who were sat on either side of me as we all watched the first years walk into the hall. I could easily spot Hugo and Lily, walking at the front; Lily walking confidently ahead and Hugo following her quickly.
I kept my eyes on the two of them as Neville made his way down the list of first years. I watched as the two would occasionally comment on a sorting; whenever somebody got sorted into Slytherin - girls mainly, Lily would look over and meet my eye. Every time she did I would just give her an icy glare and wait until she looked away.
"LILY POTTER!"
I watched as my one time favourite cousin walked up to the stool and sat down on it; the hat falling straight down to her shoulders. The hat must have been having serious trouble sorting Lily because it was a full five minutes before it cried out,
"GRYFFINDOR!"
I ignored the cheering from my family as Lily went to sit with them, but I caught the look she shot my entire table - had she nearly been sorted here?
"HUGO WEASLEY!"
I felt my head snap round to the front of the room; aware that every single student in the entire room, second year and up was watching intently.
The hat had barely touched his head when it called out, "GRYFFINDOR!"
My brother shot me one quick glance - well a look in my direction, before he jumped from the stool and took a seat in-between our cousins.
Then Hugo was small for an eleven year old - he was even smaller than Lily. His hair went to just above his eyes and he never styled it. Now he's taller than me and about the same height as Albus and James and he styles his hair in almost a sweeping motion across his forehead and uses a straightening potion.
"Did you enjoy yourself last night then?" Hugo asked me after an awkward couple of minutes where we did nothing but sit and not say anything.
"Not really. You?" I shrugged a shoulder as I looked into the cup.
"It...It was fun -"
"Make a straightening solution for your hair, substitute the rat's tails for unicorn dust and your hangover will vanish." I told him quickly, sending him a small wink when we heard the sounds of apparation from the garden outside. Before he had a chance to reply the backdoor opened and my parents walked in, both looking a little tired.
"Rose? We thought you were at Ivy's?" Dad said when he saw me sat at the table with Hugo; I ignored the looks that my parents exchanged at seeing Hugo and me in the same room, not arguing and not throwing things at each other.
"I was I came home early. We didn't go to sleep till late and I was covered in butter beer from the party so I wanted my own clothes." I lied easily.
My parents seemed to believe me. They told us we had four hours until we would all be going to the Burrow again for the night - as tradition we always stayed the night at the Burrow on Christmas Eve. My Grandfather added an extra room for Teddy and Victoire to share and the rest of us kids slept in the attic since that was the only other room in the house large enough to accommodate us all. Normally I hated going there for Christmas; I used to love it but since my cousins turned on me I generally sat in a corner bored. Ivy would sometimes come over for a couple of hours, but after she left things turned miserable for me again. This year though, was on speaking terms with Lily so had her to spend time with.
And Scorpius.
Normally I would hide in my mother and fathers room while we all got forced to stay in the Burrow but a lot of my cousins had invited their boyfriends or girlfriends over…and in my parents' room were Albus and Amy making out on the bed.
I didn't feel comfortable in any of the other rooms, and there was a cousin who hated me in most of them anyway so I ended up in the kitchen with the adults.
As the adults all conversed around me, I simply sat with my feet propped up on the table, my favourite ever things right in front of me; my muggle art set.
I always drew as a child, I always loved drawing but over the past few years I didn't really keep up with it. Grandma had told me she found them in an old play-box when she was clearing up the attic a couple of weeks ago so I decided to cure my boredom.
"What are you drawing, Rose?" Uncle Bill asked from his spot further up the table.
"The cat." I lied and nodded to Lucy's cat sat on the windowsill - I think the all black cat was Lucy's anyway. Right now there's around seven cats roaming the house; Lucy, Dominique, Lily, Louis, Victoire, Roxanne and Molly all have cats of their own and had brought them with them for the night.
As I used to do, I was drawing what was on my mind. Etched onto the art pad in front of me was a sketch of Scorpius exactly as I saw him this morning. Nobody could see what I was drawing anyway and when I was nine, Victoire taught me a simple charm so that nobody could see what I was actually drawing when they looked through it unless I wanted them too. I didn't even have to let them, just a thought to who could see it and they'd be able to if they picked it up.
"I don't think I've seen you draw since you were…about twelve years old." Mum mentioned softly.
"Yeah well things change." I scowled at her tone.
"Did you have a good night, Rose?" Uncle George asked me; I looked up from my drawing and saw all of my aunts and uncles looking at me with smiles on their faces - I think this is the first time since I was eleven that I've willingly been in the same room as the whole lot of them.
"Not really." I was saved from having to elaborate anymore because the fire place behind me roared into life.
"Ah, Scorpius I was beginning to wonder where you are." I didn't turn round to look at Scorpius, but I could feel his gaze on the back of my head.
I couldn't even bring myself to look in his direction because I knew I wouldn't be able to stop myself from blushing furiously.
"While you're here alone, boy," Uncle George cleared his throat. I looked towards him and saw him sit straighter in his chair and he full on glared at Scorpius. "Why was my daughter up half the night crying to Dominique?"
"I don't know Mr. Weasley; you'll have to ask her." Scorpius quipped back politely.
"Surely there's a connection? You leave the party early and then Roxanne goes home in tears -"
"It's like you said, sir, I went to Vinnie and Ivy's house before the party ended. Why don't you ask Lysander Scamander, last I saw he and your daughter were all pally."
"What?" I forced myself to react, my mother and aunts - particularly Ginny, were quick and clever at connecting dots together. They all know that Lysander and I are 'together' so if I didn't react when Scorpius hinted at those two hooking up then they would know something is wrong and with Scorpius and I both having left the party early it wouldn't take them long to make assumptions.
I turned in my chair and looked at Scorpius who met my eye for a second and then nodded his head slowly.
"I'll kill her." I stood from the table but made sure I kept hold of my art pad - I wouldn't put it past any one here to counter-act the charm on it.
"Rose, calm down!" Mum grabbed my hand to stop me storming into the living room where Roxanne was sat with a couple of our cousins.
"It was more Scamander than Roxanne, Rose -" Scorpius stopped me from marching into the sitting room by taking my other hand in a softer grasp.
"Either way - she knows -"
"That you're with Scamander?" Scorpius finished for me, taking a quick look over my shoulder to the adults of my family. "You've hardly been a faithful girlfriend yourself, Rosie." he reminded me in a quieter voice - not quiet enough though because the adults closer to us, my mother and aunts Ginny, Fleur and Audrey heard.
"Fine! When he gets here, I'll kill him!" I snatched my hands out of my mother and Scorpius' grasps, picked my art pad and pencils up from the table where I dropped them.
I took my art pad and pencils and stormed into the living room, giving Roxanne a filthy glare as I did. I went over to my bag and put my art pad and pencils in there before I stormed back out of the living room, not wanting or trusting myself to be in the same room as Roxanne or else I would rub in her face just what me and her boyfriend were doing not that long ago.
"Come on…we'll go upstairs until dinner is ready." I muttered at Scorpius who nodded and followed me up the stairs.
Neither of us said anything as we made our way right up to my parent's room.
"Out." I slammed the door open and glared at Albus and Amy until they got off the bed and walked out of the room; I ignored the glare that Amy was giving me and just slammed and locked the bedroom door behind them.
Once the lock clicked into place it dawned that Scorpius and I were alone in a room. I turned round from the door and saw him sitting on the bed, looking down at his feet.
I didn't say anything as I moved to sit at the dresser; my father's room had changed since he was younger. Instead of the walls being a bright orange with Quidditch posters everywhere, it was now painted a light cream colour with wooden flooring. A large double bed was in the centre of the room, with the wall as a headboard and two bedside cabinets on either side. Two large sets of drawers were against one wall, a desk underneath the narrow window and a dresser with a mirror a couple of feet away from the foot of the bed and against the opposite wall.
My Dad said when he was younger, he loved his room. He said it was the only place in the entire house that was his.
Right now, I wish I was comfortable enough to go sit with my family instead of being in this room with Scorpius.
"How are you?" Scorpius finally came out with something after fifteen awkward minutes had passed.
"I'm a little sore. Nothing too painful. It hurts sitting on hard-seats though." I knew what he meant when he asked and I remembered trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling when I was sitting in the kitchen.
"Sit on the bed then." Scorpius moved over on the bed so there was space for me at the top of the bed. I moved to sit on it; I grabbed one of the pillows and sat with my back against the wall and the pillow in my lap. Scorpius moved to sit in the exact same position as me on my left. Doing what felt comfortable, I rested my head on his shoulder.
"Better?" Scorpius asked me gently; I watched as his hand moved next to mine on the bed, between our legs and began to trace shapes on top of it.
I glanced at the mirror directly at the foot of the bed; he was watching our reflection too and our eyes met in the mirror.
"We had sex." I whispered, making the first move.
"Um...I've never, well I have now, but I mean -"
"It was my first time too." I knew what he was trying to tell me.
"Which means that you probably weren't on any protection either?" Scorpius pointed out.
I felt the blood rush from my face the same time the vomit ran up my throat - protection.
Not only did I sleep with my cousin's boyfriend this morning.
I slept with my cousin's boyfriend unprotected. I had unprotected sex.
"I'll speak to Victoire." I forced the words out of my mouth - if I revealed how panicked I was then Scorpius would freak out and then everybody would guess something was up and then my entire family would kill me.
"She's a Healer...she works with teenage girls specifically. Lily told me how Dominique and Molly went to her about contraception." I told him, squashing down the part of me that reminds me I hadn't even spoke to my oldest cousin in five years.
I thought things would be awkward between Scorpius and me but they weren't. We didn't mention what we did after I told him I'd talk to Victoire - we didn't say much. We didn't even talk about Roxanne and Lysander - we simply sat on the bed looking at our reflection.
When Gran's voice magnified up the stairs telling us that dinner is ready we waited until she sent us a different yell up the stairs telling us to come down before we actually left the room.
"Here," Scorpius shrugged out of his jacket when I shivered with cold on the way down the many flights of stairs. I didn't say anything, but took it and slipped it on - taking in a deep whiff of his smell when he wasn't looking.
"You do know that Lysander is going to be at the table, don't you?" I asked him quietly as we passed Uncle George's room.
"I know."
"Are you going to hit him?" I asked, passing Aunt Ginny's room.
"No." Scorpius sighed when we heard the voices of the family and their guests when we reached the last landing.
I didn't question it as I led him down the last flight of stairs and into the kitchen and neither of us looked at Roxanne or Lysander as we took our seats in between Lily and Teddy - two of the better cousins to be sat next too.
"What were you two doing up there?" Gran asked as she passed plates of food down to us. "I called you all ten minutes ago."
The table was separated with the 'children' and the 'adults' on either end, and since Scorpius and I were at the end of the 'children' section, I knew I could get away with my reply without any of our parents hearing.
"We were coming, Gran." I called down to Grandma who just smiled and sat back down. "Of course...we had to get dressed after we came." I added in a quieter tone, looking right at Roxanne when I said that.
I kept my face empty of any emotion as I said that and I smirked when I saw her look directly at Scorpius.
"She's kidding, Roxanne." Scorpius sighed without looking up from his plate. "Tell her you're joking, Rosie."
"I'm joking." I told Roxanne straight away, still not changing the look on my face.
I didn't say anything after that, and neither did Scorpius or Roxanne. The three of us just simply stayed silent as everybody talked around us.
"Scorpius, you want to play Quidditch?" Albus asked as Gran passed the dessert down. "We need another seeker and a beater."
"I'll play beater Al." Lysander offered; for the first time I looked at him; he was wearing a simple grey hooded jumper and his hair was flat, hanging around eyes.
"Sure, I'll play; who else is playing?" Scorpius asked, glancing at Lysander for a second. I saw Lysander look at Scorpius briefly but in that brief time the two of them looked each other over the way guys do.
"Me as seeker, James, Roxy, Lily, Hugo, Lucy and Louis as chasers, Teddy as referee, Fred as beater, Lysander as beater, you as seeker, Lorcan as keeper and oh crap, we need another keeper." Albus groaned and looked round the cousins who weren't playing.
Dominique refused point blank to get on a broomstick, Victoire hated playing Quidditch and Molly can't even stay on a broomstick for longer than a minute.
I noticed that most of the cousins were looking at me, as was the adults.
"Um...do you want to play keeper?" Albus asked, looking at something directly above my head.
"Nope."
I heard several people sigh but I don't care - they spend years ignoring me, openly hating me, picking fights with me and then ask me for favours?
"Come on Rose, don't be a bitch. Just play, you never know you might actually enjoy it." Lily teased me.
"Enjoy playing a game with a bunch of liars, fakes, cheats and moronic idiots? Not likely." I scoffed and shot each of my cousins a filthy look.
"I think you just listed all of the traits you're known for throughout the school." Roxanne snapped back at me.
"I'm the highest in our year, hardly a moronic idiot. I don't need remedial lessons. I don't pretend to be somebody I'm not to please my parents, hardly a fake and I wasn't the one chatting up somebody's girlfriend last night." I looked from Dominique and Roxanne to Albus and James and then to Lysander as I listed them.
I ignored the voice inside my head that was snidely saying "No, you're the one who had sex with your cousin's boyfriend just this morning. And don't forget about all the little make-out sessions you two have been sharing."
"Rose -"
"Why do you even care?" Lysander interrupted my Dad.
"I mean, you made it clear that we're not official -"
"I don't care about you. You can bang your way through the family for all I care - Foxy is my best friend's girlfriend." I scoffed and hit Lysander where it hurt.
I wasn't lying technically - I actually wouldn't be bothered if Lysander slept with Roxanne, or Molly or Dominique or even Lily.
"Call me Foxy one more time, I dare you." Roxanne snapped.
"Stop it!" Grandma Molly slammed her hand on the table, silencing us all; Roxanne continued to glare at me though. "Christmas is a time for family and peace and quiet! I will not stand for you girls fighting any more, am I understood?" Gran gave us all 'her' look; the look that told us not to mess with her.
As well as that we all got the same look from our mothers.
"We can just play Quidditch with two chasers and a beater each." James told Albus. "I'll play as beater."
The rest of the meal was slightly strained. The adults would make conversation with themselves but all my cousins were silent throughout unless we got asked a specific question.
Roxanne, Lysander and Albus kept shooting me filthy glances throughout the meal and I saw a couple of glares exchanged between Lysander and Scorpius too.
As soon as they were all finished, the cousins that were playing Quidditch practically ran from the table with the men in the family following as their spectators. Leaving me, Molly, Dominique and Victoire sitting with the women as they cleared up after the others.
"Rose...we know that Roxanne and Scorpius are going through something private -"
"Don't you dare try and pin this one on me." I scoffed and interrupted my mother when she tried to tell me off for causing the scene.
"Rose...just go cool off." Mum sighed and looked away from me.
Without saying anything I stood from the table and sent a scathing look in my mother's direction.
"This family is pathetic." I scowled as I stormed up the stairs; I couldn't be bothered going to the attic so I simply went to sit in Aunt Ginny's room. I sat on the window sill and watched my family play Quidditch. I followed Scorpius and Lysander's flying figures repeatedly; they both fly gracefully and they both have a natural talent for the game - although I have to admit Scorpius is clearly the better player.
If Lysander focused and applied himself to the game more often in school then he'd probably be a brilliant player like his brother over by the make-shift hoops.
Now that they were all playing for the fun of it, I could actually see and appreciate how talented my family are at Quidditch. They all have a flare for it - we all do except Molly who can't fly to save her life.
I looked away from my talented cousins to see my uncles, grandfather, Rolf Scamander and my Dad all stood at the bottom of the pitch, pointing and laughing at their children as they all played. I looked further down the garden and saw Victoire sat at a bench, wrapped in a blanket that Grandma Molly had knitted years before we were even born.
I forced myself to leave the bedroom and go down the stairs.
I didn't say anything my mother, Luna, Aunts, Grandmother, Molly and Dominique who watched as I grabbed my coat from the rack and slipped my shoes on.
I wrapped my coat around me as I walked over to where Victoire was sitting on a bench - she wasn't anywhere close enough for anybody to over-hear us.
Good.
I ignored the openly surprised look on Victoire's face when I sat down beside her and forced myself to talk before she could do or say anything.
"I need your help." I told her quietly.
"You need my help?"
"Well...I don't need Victoire's help." I said lamely, forcing myself to look at her.
"What are you talking about Rose? If this is some stupid -"
"I need Healer. Weasely's help." I interrupted her in another quiet tone. "I need some advice."
Victoire looked me up and down once before she arched an eyebrow at me. I couldn't and wouldn't deny that Victoire was beautiful. She and Dominique are two of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen in my entire life. Victoire has shoulder length silver-blonde hair, pale skin and ice-blue eyes. Dominique has waist length honey-blonde hair, skin that has a natural rosey-tint to it and deep brown eyes.
Beautiful.
"What sort of advice?" Victoire asked me.
I sucked in a breath quickly before I let it out; annoyed that it was so cold that I could see the air puff out of my mouth in a wisp of smoke.
"Sex." I whispered even though nobody could hear us.
"Do you want to ask me a question regarding sex?"
"No...I...well..." I struggled phrasing it; I might not like her but Victoire is still my cousin. A cousin who is the oldest and often mothered us all when we were younger.
"Have you had sex, Rose?" Victoire asked me calmly.
"Last night...it wasn't planned and it just happened and -"
"You didn't use protection, did you?" Victoire guessed correctly with a simple nod. She looked back over at our cousins playing Quidditch and paused before she spoke again.
"I'll make a potion for you. The muggles have something similar, you take it within twenty four hours after having unprotected sex and it eliminates the chances of you being pregnant. This potion gets rid of any chance of a disease or illness from being unprotected also."
"Thank you." I whispered, turning my head to look back at the match.
After the match Victoire went upstairs by herself for a little while as everybody else sat downstairs, either in the kitchen or in the living room.
I sat with Scorpius and Lily in the living room, watching as Lily played exploding snap with Dominique.
Victoire came into the sitting room and sat in between Dominique and myself on the floor in front of the fire place, it looked like she was simply sitting with her sister but I felt her push something into my thigh.
I glanced down and saw her holding a small vial with a dark green potion inside it.
"Um...I'll be back in a minute, Scorpius." I took the potion and briefly showed it to Scorpius who nodded slowly; I told him what Victoire was doing for me earlier on.
I practically ran up the stairs and into the bathroom and once I was in there, I locked the door and ripped the cap from the vial. The potion smelled strongly peppermint - the smell had always repulsed me.
I remembered reading about this potion a couple of months ago; it works opposite to the love potion. Instead of individual smells that attracted somebody, this potion had individual smells that the drinker didn't like.
I forced it down my throat and felt the effects immediately; my stomach cramped tightly and I wanted to throw up. I had to double over and grab the bathroom sink for support.
There was a brief knock on the door before it opened and someone stepped in - I glanced up to see Victoire closing the door behind her.
"This is good. It means your body is rejecting it. This means there wasn't anything to fight." Victoire sat on the toilet and looked at me through professional eyes. "Here, it hurt like hell when I first had sex. This should smooth the pain for a while." she handed me another potion which I took and drank quickly.
The pain in between my legs was aching, but it was manageable - barely, but manageable nonetheless.
"Here's your prescription. I'll process it at work the day after tomorrow and send you your potions - I'll seal them in a box with no return address so your parents don't find out." Victoire explained, getting a piece of parchment with the St. Mungo's logo on and holding it in front of me.
"Rose...I don't care if you don't want to tell me about it -"
"You don't know him. He was an older guy...a Slytherin. He graduated a few years ago - after you -"
"So he's an adult then? Rose, you're fifteen. That's illegal -"
"Are you telling me you and Teddy waited until you were seventeen until you had sex with him?" I snapped at her.
Victoire didn't say anything for a couple of seconds; she just looked at me like she was seeing me for the first time.
"I know we're not particularly close any more but if you ever need somebody to talk to, you know where I am. Girl talk, a shoulder to cry on, advice or whatever." Victoire smiled at me.
"Um...thanks...but I have Ivy for that, but thanks." I straightened up now that all pain I was in had vanished. I washed the two vials out with hot water and put them in the waste-basket under the sink; the last thing any of the girls in this house wanted was a parent to recognise the potion residue in the rubbish.
"Speaking of Ivy Goyle; she and her brother arrived after you came up here. I said I'd fetch you."
She didn't say anything after that, she just left the bathroom. I heard her make her way down the stairs so I simply followed her downstairs, secretly wishing that I could just go to bed and sleep; it's been such a long day.
And my Grandparents haven't even arrived yet.
Gregory Goyle was sat at the kitchen table, talking with my mother quietly while my uncles tried not to glare at him.
I walked in the living room to see Ivy, Vinnie, Scorpius and Lily all standing in front of the fire place; my cousins, the Scamander twins and Teddy were sitting around the room, everybody excluding Teddy and Victoire was glaring at the Goyle's.
"What are you two doing here?" I asked, making my presence known.
"We're going to Italy. Gran's lawyer has been in contact; she's left us something so we decided to just spend Christmas in her house there. It's Dad's house now." Ivy explained in a deadpan tone as I hugged her.
"We won't be back until the day we return to Hogwarts." Vinnie told me as I hugged him.
"Gran had a lot of shit to sort through." Ivy muttered. "Anyway, we wanted to give you guys our gifts in person and Dad wanted to talk to your Mum about something." she added, holding out the three Christmas bags in her hand.
"What have we done now?" I asked, moving to sit on the rug in front of the fire place, ignoring the glares and looks from the others in the room. Ivy and Scorpius dropped down to sit with me while Lily led Vinnie over to go sit in the corner, the only privacy her brothers would most likely let them have.
"No idea -"
"Couldn't you have just given them their gifts when they left your house this morning?" James snapped; I turned to see him glaring at where Vinnie and Lily was sat whispering in the corner.
"They weren't at my house this morning Potter - oh shit!" Ivy groaned and glanced at the door for adults. I saw her glaring at James, which was odd because James was probably one of the only family members she didn't hate. Normally she just ignored him or tolerated him if they were in the same room for some reason.
"I thought you stayed at Vinnie's last night?" Roxanne asked Scorpius straight away.
"Rose's parents don't approve of her being in the house alone so we lied and said we both stayed at Vinnie and Ivy's." Scorpius shrugged, scowling at Roxanne slightly.
I felt like slapping Scorpius; I could see Victoire clearly from my spot on the floor and I saw recognition, disbelief and confusion flash in her eyes as she kept her face neutral. I saw her look at me directly but I didn't acknowledge her gaze.
Why didn't I tell Scorpius all of what I told Victoire?
"Something happened there?" Ivy asked me quietly as Roxanne and Scorpius just looked at each other.
"Foxy was flirting with Scamander apparently." I shrugged, pulling my wand out of my sleeve and silently summoned Ivy and Vinnie's gifts from under the tree. I really couldn't care less about the trace right now.
"I was not flirting with Lysander!" Roxanne hissed.
Ivy and I just ignored her.
Ivy and Vinnie got invited to stay for a few hours while Greg went home to do something that neither he nor my mother would tell us.
That suited us though; because while Roxanne and Scorpius went upstairs to talk in private and when Lily and Vinnie vanished for a few hours it meant I had somebody to talk too.
"I want a word." Victoire hissed at me when Ivy went in the kitchen to get the two of us a glass of water. Without waiting for me to reply she sat down on the couch beside me; the room was empty apart from the two of us so us two speaking wouldn't be seen as strange.
"What the hell happened to you? Sleeping with your cousin's boyfriend? Are you crazy or just downright cruel? We all know you and Roxanne barely get on, you don't get on with most of us - but sleeping with her boyfriend -"
"Shut your mouth!" I interrupted her with a fierce glare and a quick snap. "You know nothing of Scorpius and me. Just take your judgemental attitude and -"
"What's going on?"
The two of us looked up to see Ivy stood in front of us, looking from me to Victoire curiously. Without saying anything, Victoire got up and gave me a last glare before she left the room.
"Rose?" Ivy sat down in Victoire's vacant seat and looked at me carefully.
"Scorpius and I slept with each other this morning. We didn't use anything so I needed to get help from Victoire because she's a healer. I lied and said she didn't know the guy and then you said we didn't stay at yours and Scorpius said we both slept at my house and Victoire connected the dots and -"
"Whoa!" Ivy put both hands on my shoulders. "Calm down, breath." she told me quietly but quickly.
I looked into Ivy's eyes for reassurance and was glad that there wasn't any judgement there. She wouldn't judge me - she'd tease me, but she wouldn't judge me.
Not like Victoire who had cast an opinion on me.
"Ivy...what am I going to do? Victoire is going to tell!" I whispered, feeling sick at the thought of my parents and my grandparents knowing what I was doing with Scorpius.
As usual, Ivy had her rational, quick-thinking, 'Slytherin' head on and knew what to do.
"You act like nothing has happened; you play-along with whatever Victoire is going to do. If she says nothing then you don't, you ignore her and you act like nothing happened this morning. Tell Scorpius to do the same."
Scorpius and Roxanne made up, Lily was talking with Dominique, Molly and Lucy, my parents gave me wary glances every time I went in the same room as them - but since my mother was in the living room and my father was in the kitchen I chose to sit with my father because he's the better parent to be by. So I sat in the kitchen with most of the men as the woman sat in the living room and my cousins spread throughout the house.
"Dad? When are Gran and Granddad getting here?" I asked, I looked at the clock and scowled when I saw it was getting late - my grandparents should be here!
"They rang your Mum about twenty minutes ago; they said they're about forty minutes away." Dad answered.
"Is there any more food? I'm still kind of - oh." I looked and then glared into the doorway to see Lysander stood there, looking at me through unsure eyes.
"There's some pastries there, son." Uncle Bill nodded to a plate of pasties and pies that Gran was making this morning.
"Help yourself." Uncle Percy offered.
"Just don't choke. Totally kill the Christmas spirit if we had to have your funeral." I told him dryly.
"Why would you even care?" Lysander bit back, I noted how none of my uncles, my Dad or Lysander's Dad said anything, but just enjoyed the bitter banter between the two of us.
"I wouldn't, but I'm sure Roxanne might be pretty upset if you died. Can't think of anybody else though..." I tapped my chin and pretended to think as he just scowled at me.
"You're mad!" Lysander shook his head. "One minute you seem to like me, we're getting along fine, the next you act like I don't exist, then you're pissed because I was talkin gto another girl, then you're saying you don't care and now you're wishing me dead!"
"Why can't you just stick to one emotion instead of messing with my head?" Lysander asked, looking around the room once before he scowled deeply and turned to storm up the stairs.
I followed him with my eyes; forcing all emotion from my face so nobody could guess what I was thinking.
I don't really know what I'm thinking to be honest...all I'm thinking is that if Scorpius can go from me to Roxanne whenever he seems to see fit - why can't I do that with Lysander?
"Rose, Hugo, your Grandparents are here!"
I looked up from my book from my spot under the window in the attic when Mum's voice floated through the house.
"Rose actually likes her muggle family." Lily explained to Lysander and Lorcan when they looked surprised at my jumping up, throwing my book in Scorpius' direction - I could trust him to not let anybody deface it - and practically running down the ladder and onto the landing.
I could hear Hugo coming down behind me but at a much slower pace but that didn't stop me; as soon as I was down the last flight of stairs and into the living room I felt my face split into a huge grin.
"Gran! Pops!" I yelled with delight when I saw them pulling away from a hug from my other grandparents.
"Rosie!" They both smiled at me and accepted the giant hug that I enveloped them both in, throwing my arms around both of their necks.
I adore my muggle grandparents - they're just downright awesome and they are the only relatives that I have that didn't care what house I got sorted in to. They didn't really care whether I was a Slytherin or a Gryffindor or even a Squib!
"What took you guys so long?" I asked as I pulled away from them.
"Your Grandfather drives so slow and - oh look at my baby boy!" Gran caught sight of Hugo coming into the room from behind me and held her arms open for Hugo to hug her.
"I can't believe my little grand-babies are getting so big - I hope you're still keeping good care of your teeth!" Gran pulled away from Hugo, took both of our chins and opened our mouths to inspect our teeth.
Normally I'd have been annoyed, but since it was my Grandmother Granger I just laughed and hugged her again.
"Granny?" Hugo and I called our Granger grandparents 'Granny' and 'Pops' too avoid confusion when both our grandparents were in the same place as each other.
Granny Granger looked up from where she was sitting beside me on the sofa, plaiting my long hair to look at Hugo.
"Can we have a present? Please?"
"If your Molly and everybody else's mothers agree to it then yes." Granny Granger chuckled.
It didn't take long for my cousins and brother to plead with their parents and Grandma Molly until they all gave in.
"Why don't you all open the gifts that we got you? There's something for all of you." Pops offered, nodding to one of the large bags they had propped up against the wall.
"Mum, Dad you didn't have to get everybody a gift -"
"Oh nonsense, we'd have felt awful if we didn't get everybody one." Pops waved her off - I know he loved all my cousins, aunts and uncles - I overheard him talking with Grandpa Arthur about how he will always be grateful that they were a family to my Aunt Hermione when they weren't safe to be one to her.
"Go on, Ron, make yourself useful." Granny ordered Dad who just bit his lip but did as he was told.
"Ok...Victoire, Rosie, Lily...Freddie...Scorpius..." I didn't expect my Grandparents to get Scorpius one and judging by the look on his face he hadn't expected it either.
"You have the present you wanted too." Granny whispered to me when everybody had a gift in front of them and the others began to open them.
"An envelope full of cash?" I teased her, she grinned back and nodded.
"Oh...Granny!" I gasped and looked down at the camera - the magical camera in my hands. I remember reading about this over the summer; it's the latest release and super expensive - even Scorpius said his parents weren't sure about buying him one.
My gasp had gotten most of the attention from the rest of the family.
"How...how did you know I wanted a camera?" I asked, picking it up from the box and inspecting it intently. The creator was a muggle born who had released dozens of cameras that were effectively muggle cameras with the ability to produce moving photographs.
"You told me your old one broke so I got in touch with your Uncle Harry who told me about this new one so we got you it." Granny smiled at me. I remembered vaguely a conversation over the Easter Holidays in my fourth year about my camera breaking - when in reality I sold it to get money for alcohol. No way would I be selling this.
"Mum! We told you nothing expensive!" Mum scolded Granny.
"Oh shush - don't worry, we got Hugo something extravagant too!" Granny smiled at Hugo who was looking at his gift curiously.
"It's a muggle games console - your mother said you loved playing with the...muggle gadgets at home." Pops explained - I could tell that he was happy that for once he could be the one to teach Hugo something that he thought was simple.
For the next hour I played with my camera, ignoring the other members of my family. I read through the instructions manual twice so I could get a thorough understanding of it.
Once I was confident that I understood how to work it I looked around and grinned when I saw what exactly I would take a photo of; Scorpius was sitting with Roxanne, Albus and Lily. The four of them were laughing about something and Roxanne had her arm draped around Scorpius'; I saw Victoire looking at their arms with a deep intensity in her eyes but thankfully she hadn't said anything yet.
"Scorpius!" I jumped up from my spot near the Christmas tree and walked over to where they were sat in front of an arm chair. "Smile!" I dropped down so I was in between him and Roxanne, pushing Roxanne out of the way of the camera.
Scorpius and I pulled great, sarcastic toothy grins at the exact same time. The camera enabled me to see what pictures I had took and the two of us laughed over the photo.
"Come on Lily, smile!" I moved to sit next to Lily and got her to stick her tongue out at the camera.
"Time for presents!" I looked up from my sketch pad to see my brother poking his head through the entrance to the attic. He grinned at me before disappearing again. He didn't need to say anything else since it was just Lily and I hiding out on the top floor.
It was Christmas and we had all been downstairs all morning until I had fled the family room because the sight of Scorpius and Roxanne making up for lost time was making me feel sick. Lily had been up here already painting her nails. She had spent the last half an hour describing everything she had given to Vinnie for Christmas whilst I half listened and half tried to finish my drawing.
"We're coming Hugh." I called after my brother. I carefully got up off my mattress careful not to smash my head on the low rafters and slid my sketch book beneath my pillow. Just because I put that charm on my book it doesn't mean that my family won't find some way to open them; the last thing I wanted was Roxanne wondering why I had numerous sketches of Scorpius.
Together Lily and I headed down the many floors to be with everyone else. It was a Weasley tradition for everyone to open their presents together in the family room. It had been this way since before I was born. Unfortunately the family was now too big for the room. Wherever you stepped you were either stepping on someone's fingers or kneeing them in the face.
Lily and I were the last ones down so by the time we arrived there were no visible spaces left on the floor or on the seats. Not in the mood to piss people off by stepping on them I simply sat on the arm of the nearest sofa next to Hugo and my father. Lily managed to cross the room fairly gracefully and squeezed into a gap next to her mum and Albus. Grandpa Arthur and Grandma Molly were sat on the two seated sofa at the far end of the room.
"Merry Christmas Weasleys!" they both cheered together and with a flick of my Grandpa's wand there were presents zooming out from under the tree in every direction. The Scamanders decided to go home for Christmas - mainly because Lysander was likely to get punched by me, Scorpius and my Dad if he put one foot out of line again.
I couldn't help but smile as a small pile started to grow on my lap. The room was filled with the sounds of chatter laughter and happiness.
"Ahh cool!" Hugo cried from beside me as he opened his first present.
Half an hour later and now even the gaps on the floor between each person were covered in discarded paper.
So far I had unwrapped some clothes, jewellery, school stuff that I intended to accidently leave at home and other stuff from my parents. I had actually smiled and thanked them shocking everyone within hearing distance of us. Hugo had got me a broom maintenance kit which I loved, Lily got me a gorgeous muggle perfume and my grandparents had bought me a muggle sketching set - they said that it was a coincidence I found my old one last night. They also got me some honey dukes chocolate.
I picked up the next present, it was a simple rectangular box shape and wrapped in silver packaging with an elegant emerald ribbon. The tag said nothing but my name, written in a cursive scrawl that looked slightly familiar. I held it to my ear and shook it gently listening to tell tale signs.
I glanced up when I felt someone watching. Everyone around the room was busy with their own presents but amongst the chaos Scorpius was gazing at me curiously. Roxanne was perched on his lap furiously ripping at paper but he wasn't taking any notice of her, his eyes stayed firmly on mine. I instantly knew who this present was from. Of course, the silver paper and green ribbon. Typical Slytherin.
I peeled the paper away carefully to reveal a simple black box. Discarding the paper to my right I picked up the box and eased it open. The sight of what it contained almost took my breath away. It was a simply yet exquisite silver chain, hanging off of it was a intricate, delicate, solid silver flower with a solid emerald fitted into it.
It was simple and just the kind of thing I loved.
After staring at it for a bit more I shut the box so no one else could see and placed it in my hoody pocket so it wouldn't get lost in all the rubbish.
Looking across the room again I saw that Scorpius was still watching. He raised his eyebrows at me and I smiled, this made him do the same back. He looked away when Roxanne started waving her wrist in his face. On it was a new bracelet with a couple of charms hanging off. That must be what Scorpius had got her, it was nice enough but I definitely preferred mine.
When everyone had finished, hugs and thankyous had been exchanged all the children disappeared leaving the room to be cleared and the dinner to be finished.
I went straight to the attic like most of the older children to sort everything out and maybe try on some new clothes. Dumping my pile on my bed I quickly picked out the new clothes I wanted to put on and moved past everyone into the tiny bathroom that had been installed.
Inside I locked the door and pulled off the pair of sweatpants I was wearing. I then pulled off my hoody, remembering to take out the black box and place it on the shelf first. I then pulled on my new pair of black skinny jeans; they fit perfectly and didn't feel too tight at all. On top I pulled on a blue woollen jumper, it was baggy and hung slightly off one shoulder but looked good.
Looking in the mirror I pulled the necklace from its box and unclasped it. Then careful not to pull my hair I fastened it back up at the back of my neck. I let it fall and it fell into place just above my cleavage.
For today I decided to tuck it underneath my sweater. I wanted to keep it to myself and to be perfectly honest didn't want anyone asking questions about it.
For the next hour I sat and sorted out all my presents before messing about with my new camera again. Lily sat on my bed with me flicking through a magazine and posing for a photo every once in a while. Dominique, Roxanne, Lucy, Rose and Molly were on the other side of the room talking about something I had no interest in and I think all the boys were outside.
We all jumped when we heard Grandma's magnified voice shout that dinner was ready. We all instantly stopped what we were doing and leapt for the hole in the floor. The Weasley appetite was obvious in all of us.
I leant back against the wall, crossed my legs underneath me and groaned. I was so full; I had eaten my dinner, plus extra as well as my huge desert. The adults had vacated to the dining room so a lot of us children were either spread out across the family room playing games and talking or in other rooms.
I was sat on the arm of the chair; Hugo was sat next to me thrashing James at chess. Louis and Lucy were playing exploding snap with Albus, Lily and Rose watching. Dominique was sat chatting to Roxanne whilst Scorpius sat next to his girlfriend staring at the floor. All the others were somewhere else.
I pulled out my sketch book, leant it against my thigh and started to draw again. I stopped when a shadow appeared over me blocking my light.
"Oi!" I growled throwing down my pencil and looking to see the culprit.
Scorpius was stood grinning at me. I fought the blush that was threatening to cover my face and instead acted how I normally would.
"What do you want Malfoy? I asked raising my eyebrows at him playfully.
"I wanted to see how this looked, Weasley." He whispered before reaching forwards and hooking his finger beneath the chain of my new necklace and pulling it from beneath my jumper. I couldn't breathe. The memories of the last time Scorpius' hands were this close to me flashing through my mind.
"It looks beautiful." He breathed letting it fall back down. His grey eyes showed a hint of sadness. "Green and silver...it really suits you."
"Scorpius babe, what are you doing?" Roxanne's voice appeared from behind him. She stepped next to him and looked me up and down, her eyes finally stopping on my breasts.
"Checking me out Foxy?" I winked at her.
"What is that?" She snapped pointing at my new necklace not even reacting to my last.
"Oh this? It's my Christmas present from your boyfriend. Isn't it lovely?" I replied not wanting to taunt her but failing. Her mouth fell open into the perfect O shape and I struggled to hold back a laugh.
I waited for her to explode but for once her anger wasn't directed at me. Instead she turned to her boyfriend and flipped out.
"Scorpius what the fuck!?" she snapped at him. People around the room looked over. Molly glanced at the doorway quickly, in case the parents heard one of the good kids swearing. Scorpius stared back at her with a confused gaze.
"What do you mean?" he asked visible swallowing.
"Why did you buy my cousin that?" she growled.
"We're friends; friends buy friends gifts at Christmas." He replied calmly.
"Yeah, but not gifts like that! I found that necklace in your dorm room back in September and didn't say anything because I just presumed it was for me. Now you go and give it to my least favourite person, is this some kind of sick joke?" She shouted right up in his face making him and even me flinch. "You give me this piece of tat and give her something better? I'm your girlfriend, Scorpius!"
Before Scorpius could even reply she turned and stormed out the room. Dom got up to follow her.
"Dom, I've got this." Scorpius murmured before walking off after his crazy girlfriend.
I sat back against the wall and closed my eyes. On one hand that was terribly funny but on the other it was confusing.
I had thought about it earlier when I realised that it wasn't exactly a present that a friend gives you, but then came to the conclusion that Scorpius and I aren't exactly just friends. But now Roxanne had said that she found the necklace back in September when Scorpius and I were still nothing more than just friends.
I'm starting to wonder if there has always been a little more to our relationship than we thought. Had we flirted? Maybe...but that's just innocent.
But,
a snide, sly sneaky voice from inside my head spoke up, you're not a naturally flirty person.
Had...have I always been attracted to Scorpius Malfoy?
Later that night we were all in bed. I was lying awake staring at the roof still confused by the Scorpius situation. It didn't help that since him and Roxanne hadn't made up yet she had made Scorpius switch places with Dominique. He was now sleeping on the mattress to my right.
All around me was a soft chorus of snores but I still could not sleep, I was worrying too much. What if Victoire told someone? What if it happened again? There were way too many variables I could not control.
"Rose? You awake?" I heard a voice, hardly a whisper. I looked to my right, couldn't see anything in the darkness but knew who it was.
"Don't worry, everyone's asleep." Scorpius assured me.
"Thank you for my present Scorp, it's beautiful." I breathed. I felt him smile.
"A beautiful necklace for a beautiful girl." He replied and at that moment I was glad it was pitch black because I was blushing, a lot.
"What's happening between us Rose?" Scorpius asked after we lay in silence for a while.
"I have no idea, but it's definitely wrong." I replied after a bit.
"It feels right." Scorpius said so quietly I almost missed it.
Again I felt the feeling take over me and before I knew it, even in the darkness our lips had found each other.
Thoughts?