A/N: Hellooooooo! I decided to upload twice today, I might upload three times but the next chapter is the last one I have prewritten so I'm gonna try and get a lot more written! Anyway, I really like this chapter because it's cuuuuuuute and fluffy. But maybe it's not good. I dunno. Oh well, enjoy!
October and November went by quickly, and before Rose knew it, there was only a week left until winter break. Between trying to squeeze in extra time with Ellie, who she wouldn't see over winter break (her and Abby weren't talking as Abby got mad at Rose since she was Albus's cousin, and Ellie had taken Rose's side, so Abby was mad at them both and Rose was sure she had seen Abby talking to Myla), keeping up her relationship with Scorpius, being there for Albus as he went through a lot with coming out (and at the beginning of November he came out to everyone he was friends with, and he was pretty popular, so it quickly became known throughout the school) and studying for Christmas exams, Rose started to get very stressed. She hardly even thought about inviting anyone for Christmas break because she had so much on her plate.
She was outside cramming on potions during a silent study session with Scorpius, who seemed a bit too distracted to study.
"Rosie?" Scorpius looked at her, but she didn't look back up, and he saw her reading up on the invigoration draught. He gently poked her in the arm. "Rosie?" No response came from her, so he snatched the book right from under her hands.
"Hey, not funny, gonna fail, freaking out, give me-"
"Rosie. You already know all this. You spend every minute studying nowadays, and you are the only one who is preparing as much as you, and you honestly need it the least, because you would pass if you didn't study a wink. Now I have a question for you and you won't get this back until you answer me so don't even try." Rose reached for her textbook but Scorpius was too tall, so she couldn't reach it.
"What do you want to ask?" Rose sighed, giving in, causing Scorpius to smirk.
"What are we gonna do over Christmas break? Because I have to write to my parents and ask them if you wanna hang out and all," said Scorpius. There was a small hint of nervousness in his voice since he hadn't talked to his father about Rose since the day he had gotten in trouble. Rose had consistently updated her parents on how she was doing good with Scorpius, and they seemed skeptical about him, but certainly not what Rose would deem angry about it. She actually thought they were quite supportive despite being the slightest bit doubtful.
"Well… I definitely want to hang out. Here's my suggestion: We will spend Christmas Eve and Christmas with our families, but after that, you can stay as long as you want."
"I will stay until the evening on New Year's Eve, maybe, and then I will have to go home because we celebrate and we always have a family reunion on New Year's Day. And after that, maybe you would want to… and you don't have to, but… you could come to my house for the rest of break, then…"
"That sounds awesome! I'll write to my parents and let them know because I think they would be fine with that," said Rose cheerfully. However, her frown quickly returned when she remembered why they were there. "I love you, but I really need to study, so please give me my potions book." Scorpius sighed and handed her the book, supposing he should crack open his book and start to study for his own exams.
Once curfew had almost passed, Rose returned to the common room (Scorpius had left before her) to see Albus hanging out with Lorcan. Over the past couple of months, Albus had spent less and less time with her and more and more time with him. She wasn't upset, but she was surprised. She never knew they were close. Not to mention she often walked in and they would act really strange around her as if they were hiding something. However, an idea suddenly popped into her head, and she wondered why it hadn't clicked for her before. She walked up to them and they both looked at her curiously.
"Hey, Rosie, what's up?" Albus asked her with a smile. Lorcan smiled up at her too.
"You two are dating, aren't you?" Rose said, and they both turned bright red when she said this. "I should have known. Albus, you were quick to talk to Lorcan at that party, and Lorcan came out as bisexual last year."
Albus gave Lorcan a peck on the cheek and then grinned sheepishly at Rose, and she rolled her eyes before giving in and smiling back at him.
"Congrats, then. You two are cute together," Rose said with a giggle. "Good choice, Albus. Will I be seeing Lorcan at our Christmas party?"
"Yeah, you will," said Albus with a cheerful chuckle. "Since Lorcan's mum is friends with our families, I told Aunt Hermione to invite them, so we're gonna tell everyone at the Christmas party. You weren't really supposed to know."
"Oops," said Rose unapologetically. "That is soooooo cute though! I'll leave you two until later, see ya!"
At last, Christmas break came around, and Rose was excited to see her parents again. She was also glad that her plan to hang out with Scorpius was approved by both of their parents, so they would see each other for pretty much the whole break.
"I guess after this train ride, we won't be seeing each other for a couple of days," Scorpius said to her as the train pulled up, a sad smile on his face.
"You act like we'll be out of contact for a year! You're coming over the day after Christmas, babe," Rose said teasingly. Nevertheless, she gave him a goodbye kiss which he graciously returned.
"Two days or two years, I'll still miss you, Weasley," Scorpius said with a grin after they pulled away from the kiss.
"Well I guess I'll miss you too, Malfoy," she said, and people started to leave the train, so she waved and gathered her bags.
As soon as she stepped into the train station, Rose ran over to hug her parents. She always missed them while she was at Hogwarts, no matter how annoying her family could be at home.
"Rosie! We missed you so much! Where's Hugo?" Her mother gave her a tight hug before scanning the station for a 14-year-old Gryffindor with brown hair and eyes. When she finally found him, she ran over to drag him over to Rose and her dad.
"I missed you, Rosie," her dad said, tightly hugging her. She noticed he also seemed to be looking for someone, and she supposed he was looking for the Potters. They would be spending break at her house as well. Everyone always came over to her house to celebrate holidays, and as much as she loved her family, it always exhausted her. She was never alone no matter where she went when her whole family was over.
"I missed you too," she said cheerfully. Before she could ask her father who he was looking for, her mother came over with Hugo.
"Oh, you two are growing up so fast, and Rosie has a boyfriend, oh my gosh, I remember when I was your age I-"
"Mum. You can tell us the story of your life after we get home," Hugo said with a groan. Rose giggled.
"Right, right, let's go home," their mom said with a laugh. She had to poke Ron, who hadn't heard her. Rose noticed that Ron was staring at the Malfoys, but Hermione shuffled the both of them in the car before she could ask what he was staring for.
A couple of hours after they arrived home, her house was filled with Weasleys and Potters. Rose went up to her room to get some quiet, but it was invaded soon after she entered. She looked up and saw her cousins Dominique, Roxanne, and Lily entering.
"We haven't hung out together in so long," said Dominique. Her silvery blonde hair was in a side braid. She looked around the room with her dark blue eyes and smiled. "It feels like we are all still children. Then again, Lily is hardly even a teenager." All three of them giggled except for Lily.
"Hey! I'm 14, you know," Lily snapped back, but Dominique giggled a little more before nodding. Lily never liked to be underestimated, and she was quite the firecracker. She had fiery red hair and brown eyes like Rose, but she didn't have any freckles. However, people often thought they were sisters.
"You're still young, Lily," Roxanne said with a giggle. She had a medium skin tone and dark, straight hair which she tied up into a messy high ponytail.
"Whatever," said Lily, rolling her eyes. "I tried to get Molly, Lucy, and Victoire to join us, but now they all hang out with the adults just because they graduated. I mean, Lucy only graduated last year! And Victoire is probably busy snogging Teddy anyway. Seriously, though." She turned to look at Dominique. "You, James, and Fred better not be this lame when you graduate. You will still hang with us, right?"
"Yes, I promise, Lils," said Dominique with a laugh, and they all joined in with her laughter.
"Wait, I know what will get them over here, but Rosie won't like it," Roxanne said, grinning mischievously. Rose sighed, knowing this wouldn't be good. Roxanne cracked open the door just a little bit and put her face right against the crack.
"Too bad for Luce, Mols, and Vic, because they won't get to hear about Rose's new boyfriend." She spoke rather loudly, and she quickly shut the door and scrambled back to her spot. Rose blushed as the rest of them giggled. All of a sudden, Victoire, Lucy, and Molly poked their heads in the room.
"You're kidding, right?" A girl with curly red hair and blue eyes sat down next to Rose. This girl was Molly, Rose's cousin who was the Minister's assistant at the Ministry of Magic.
"No, Rosie has a boyfriend all right," Roxanne giggled and nudged Rosie, who just blushed more. Victoire, who looked almost identical to her younger sister but looked just a bit more mature, sat down with the girls and Lucy, who had straight brown hair and blue eyes quickly followed.
"Spill," said Victoire. She spoke with a slight French accent which she inherited from her mother.
"Well… His name is Scorpius and he is a Malfoy…" Molly, Lucy, and Victoire all looked shocked, but they signaled for her to continue speaking. "But he is really sweet and considerate and I really love him. And he is…" She trailed off and started to blush. "He is pretty sexy."
"He sounds amazing. Then again, though, I'd be happy if you were dating the giant squid considering how you've never had a boyfriend before this," teased Lucy, and all of the girls giggled except for Rose, who was blushing even more.
"Anyone else that wants to spill about their love lives?" Lily asked, looking around the room.
"I am waiting for Teddy to propose. We have been dating for 7 years and he is the absolute love of my life." This was exciting to all of the girls, and even Rose got over her embarrassment to be excited for Victoire. She thought they were super cute together, and she had always wanted to go to a wedding.
"Well…" Everyone turned to Molly expectantly, surprised she had a boy story considering there weren't usually many cute boys to be found at the Ministry office. "There is this really cute boy who works as an assistant to the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. His name is Leon, and he brings me coffee every day and I think he is flirting with me sometimes."
"You should ask him out!" exclaimed Dominique. "It's so romantic that he brings you coffee every day! I wish I had someone to flirt with. I mean, boys like me, but none of them are just right."
The girls spent the whole night that Christmas Eve talking about boys, and Rose actually had fun. When they eventually got tired, everyone filed out and Rose had her room to herself again, which she was grateful for. Hermione had extended the house so everyone had their own room while they stayed, which Rose was extremely glad about. Rose loved her cousins, but she also loved her personal space.
The next day, Rose had a good Christmas. She got many gifts, which were mostly sweets and books, which she was happy with. It was a fun day of singing and laughing with her family, and when Lorcan and Lysander came over to visit, Albus turned beet red.
"Now that Lorcan is here, we have a sort of announcement…" Albus whispered shyly, but nobody heard him except for Rose, and so they continued talking.
"SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO AL! Please?" Rose grinned as everyone looked at her and then at Albus.
"As I was saying, I have to tell you guys something. I'm…" Albus suddenly trailed off and glanced nervously at the room. Rose gave him a thumbs up and he took a deep breath and continued. "I'm gay and I'm dating Lorcan." The room was silent for a few seconds, but soon, everyone swarmed to give him a hug and support him. Rose smiled at all the support he was getting. Finally, once everyone settled down, he sat down on the couch with Lorcan.
Even though Rose had had a good Christmas, she was even more excited for the next day, for Scorpius would be visiting, and their parents would get to re-introduce themselves. She hoped that this new beginning for the Weasley-Malfoy relationship would turn out good.
Everyone left the house before it got too late, and finally, it was just the four of the Granger-Weasleys again, which Rose appreciated.