Written for the scorose network's secret santa

Hermione Weasley's annual Christmas party was something of note. Every year, anyone who was anyone in Wizarding Britain came down to the Granger-Weasley home just outside London, to celebrate the holidays and the oncoming new year.

This was a problem for Rose Weasley, who loathed these parties with every fibre of her being – or at least, she tried to.

It wasn't even because Rose was particularly anti-social, in fact, a lot of people would say that she was easily one of the most friendly and approachable Weasleys. The problem was that Rose seemed to have become very adept at embarrassing herself every year, in front of all her friends and family.

It began when she was about six – she started singing Happy Birthday extremely loudly into the ear of the Minister of Magic, in spite of the fact that he was born in April. Luckily, he was a family friend, and the matter was soon forgotten. At nine, Rose had accidently let slip that she'd seen Victoire kissing one of the people she'd invited, causing a tipsy Teddy Lupin to punch the nearest wall.

Aged eleven, Rose had been so excited about coming home from her first term at Hogwarts that she'd whipped out her wand and accidently made the cake explode all over her Uncle Percy. The telling-off she had received from him after was not pretty – Rose had been so upset that she'd almost refused to go back to school.

These sorts of events had happened repeatedly, and every year Rose became more and more aware that her mum's party was something she should steer well clear of, and so she did. For her fourth and fifth years at school, she'd made some stellar excuses: "Mum, Al's throwing up!" (when in fact Albus was just as willing to skip out as Rose was) and "Sorry about this, but I should really be studying for my OWLs" (and really, who was Hermione Weasley to argue with that?).

Now, however, her mum had drawn the line.

"I'm sorry, Rose, I know you don't like these parties. It's just, your father and I –" Here, Ron cleared his throat pointedly. Hermione rolled her eyes, "Alright, I think this is a great opportunity for you to do some networking! You've got to remember, you'll be leaving school in just under two years –"

"Don't remind me," a scowling Rose muttered.

"—and you still don't have any ideas on what you want to do, right? Just talk to a couple of people. Ask them a few questions and see if anything sounds interesting!" Hermione pleaded with her daughter, "Surely that's not too much to ask?"

Rose took one look at her mother's hopeful expression and crumbled. "Okay, okay," she groaned, watching as Hermione beamed, "But only on one condition."

"Go on."

"I get to invite Scorpius."

Immediately, Ron spoke. "Malfoy? We're not having him here again, not after last time –"

Rose watched with glee as her mum rounded on him. "Ron, might I remind you that Scorpius is a perfectly nice boy, and the last time was entirely your fault –"

"My fault? All I did was –"

"Interrogate him?" Rose put in.

"Well, I—"

"Yes, Rose," said Hermione, with a final tone, "You can ask him to come."

"Thanks, Mum," said Rose, and she rushed off to write him a letter.

Rose and Scorpius had been friends since their third year, when they were paired together in Transfiguration. Rose, a Gryffindor, had at the time been struggling terribly with the subject, and despised Scorpius, a Slytherin, for an entire week due to the fact that he was naturally good at it – that is, before he kindly offered to stay behind and help her with her homework.

After that, they had clicked. Scorpius made fast friends with Albus, Rose's favourite cousin, and soon the three of them were inseparable. It didn't even matter that Scorpius was in a different house to the other two – the majority of their classes were together, Rose and Scorpius were in the same Charms club, whilst Al and Scorpius spent hours upon hours playing against each other on the Quidditch pitch, because Al was a Chaser and Scorpius a Keeper.

Now that they were so close, Rose could hardly even remember what it was like not being friends with him. She certainly remembered her family's reaction though – half of them were outraged, like her dad, whilst many were indifferent. A couple, such as her mum, had been mostly pleased to see that their children were overcoming House animosity and their parents' feuds.

In her bedroom, Rose flopped into a chair and began to write.

Dear Scorp,

Hope you're having a good holiday so far. I'm not sure if you remember, but every year my Mum has this Christmas party at our house. Usually I try to avoid it but this year she's making me go, since apparently I need to 'network', whatever that means.

So, I said I'd only go if you came. By any chance are you free on the 24th?

Please say yes! I don't know what I'll do if I have to talk to some Ministry ponce without you laughing next to me. If you say no, I might just have to Floo over to your house and drag you with me.

Love from Rosie x

Rose glanced over her letter, before tying it securely to the leg of her owl. Her tawny wings spread and she flew gracefully out of Rose's window. The redhead sighed as she watched the owl fly away.

Truthfully, Scorpius had recently become a lot more than just a friend. They'd become a lot more…touchy-feely lately, to put it lightly. It started when Rose had fallen asleep in the library, and Scorpius had carried her all the way back to Gryffindor tower. Several times, they'd played footsie under the table at breakfast (until one of them accidently nudged Al, who would glance suspiciously between the two of them).

At Quidditch matches, Rose was constantly cheering for Scorpius when he was on the pitch, even if Gryffindor was playing, and if he wasn't on the pitch, they were side by side in the stands, hugging and roaring with the crowd. Even trips to Hogsmeade had started feeling more like dates recently – with the two of them wandering around together, buying each other presents and occasionally holding hands.

One thing was for sure: Rose's feelings for Scorpius were definitely no longer platonic. In fact, she was now beginning to doubt if they ever had been. She'd always thought he was attractive, even when they weren't friends, but something about his charming personality and loyalty had made him look twenty times hotter.

But what to do about it? Rose wasn't going to ask him out, definitely not. She was too scared of risking their friendship; he meant too much to her. No, it was better to pretend nothing had changed, and try to get over him…right?

It was with a heavy heart that Rose tried not to gape at her best friend on the night of Christmas Eve – the night of the party.

He certainly cleaned up nicely, with windswept blond hair and piercing bluish-grey eyes. He wore a navy blue shirt and black jeans that clung to him in all the right places, and Rose had to stop herself from staring at his lips when he broke out into a wide smile.

"Alright, Rosie?" He asked, still stood in front of the fireplace from which he had emerged, "You look stunning."

"I – um –" She mumbled, "Thanks, Scorpius. You look great too."

'Great' was an understatement, but Rose supposed that she looked pretty too. She'd had Lily, master of all things beauty, do her hair and makeup, and she'd let Lucy pick out a midnight blue dress with silver sequins on the edges. With a thrill, Rose realised that her outfit matched his almost perfectly.

"How's your holiday been so far?" Rose asked, recovering from her fairly inappropriate thoughts of how exactly she'd love to tug on Scorpius' skinny black tie. Teetering slightly in the high heels she'd borrowed from Lily, Rose led him from her living room and out into the garden, where the party was taking place in a large white marquee.

"Okay," he said, shrugging, "The usual. I've been avoiding all the dinner parties with my various cousins – one of them tried to snog me, which was interesting and disgusting to say the least –"

"Your cousin tried to snog you?" She repeated, half horrified, half amused.

Now that they were standing outside, Rose had to hand it to her mother – she certainly knew how to decorate. The garden had been transformed. The marquee stood in the centre, a safe place for all the food and guests who wanted to be indoors, and it was surrounded by huge oak trees that had fairy lights entwined into the branches. All around, lanterns hung in mid-air, creating a pretty pink glow around the whole place.

"Wow," said Scorpius in awe, stopping the conversation about his weird cousin, "It's beautiful."

Rose nodded, "I dunno how she does it, to be honest." She paused, admiring the way that his cheekbones looked in the lighting. "Want some mulled wine?"

About an hour and a half later, Rose had successfully polished off two plates of mince pies and three glasses of mulled wine. Scorpius, who was standing right beside her, was currently engaged in a debate with Albus about the benefits of a particularly tough Quidditch play. Rose, who had no interest or patience in what they were talking about, quickly excused herself to find more food or another cousin to talk to.

She wandered through the crowd, smiling at a couple of people and greeting some others, until she found someone she really knew.

"Wotcher, Ted," she said, sitting down in a chair beside a currently dark green haired Teddy Lupin, "How's the wedding plans going?"

"'Lo, Rose," he replied, "Alright, actually. Originally I thought Tory was going to go mental about the décor – you know what she's like about aesthetics – but it's been fine, really. We agree on most things."

"Lucky for you," she said, "Wait until the week before. Then you'll both be flapping."

He made a mock affronted face, "I'll have you know that I'm the epitome of calm, Weasley."

"Oh yeah? What about all that fuss before the proposal? 'Oh Rose, I don't know what to do! What if she doesn't like the ring? What if she wants something fancier? What if she hates me forever?'"

Teddy scowled, before a playful look came onto his face, "Yes, well. Speaking of a lot of fuss about nothing…"

"Oh, don't you start too."

"What? I was just going to point out that you could easily ask Scorpius out. Everyone with eyes can tell that he fancies you."

"Rubbish."

"Why've you ditched him, anyway?" Teddy continued, ignoring Rose, "He is your date, you know."

"Piss off," scowled Rose, "He is not my date."

"Totally is. What, lover boy hasn't kissed you under the mistletoe yet?" Rose flushed, and Teddy roared with laughter. "I'm only teasing, Rosie. Just saying that you might as well make the first move. Where's that Gryffindor courage, eh?"

With an affectionate ruffle to Rose's head, Teddy stood and sauntered off, winking at Rose over his shoulder. It took her a second to realise why; Scorpius was coming her way.

"Hi, Rose," he said, slightly pink in the face. Rose wondered just how much he'd had to drink. "Want to go outside for a sec? It's boiling in here."

"Sure," said Rose, and they walked from the marquee together, arms brushing together.

They stood in the archway, facing each other comfortably, until Rose realised that Scorpius was staring at something just over her head. She looked up.

A gulp. Then, "Mistletoe," she murmured. She wouldn't have been surprised if this was Teddy's doing.

"Uh, yeah. We – um –" He began.

"We don't, I mean –" She said.

"Um…"

Rose's eyes zeroed in on Scorpius' lips. It would be so easy to just lean sideways a bit and kiss him on the cheek. But that was a coward's way out, wasn't it? If this was the only chance she was ever going to get, she might as well take it, right? Gryffindor courage and all that.

With this in mind, Rose leaned forwards a tad, tilting her head up. Her mouth was mere millimetres from hers when –

CRASH.

In unison, Rose and Scorpius spun around to see an inebriated James Potter, lying on a broken table on a floor laughing hysterically, with his irritated mother marching towards him, glaring.

"Uh oh," Rose muttered, "This is not going to be pretty."

Scorpius, who seemed to agree, took her slightly sweaty hand and pulled her from the scene. Before she could even comprehend what was happening, Rose was in her house and going up the stairs to her room.

They entered together, and the silence that pressed down on Rose's ears was as heavy as the Hogwarts Express. She walked further inside, and turned to face him, chewing nervously on her lower lip.

"I don't think I've ever been in here," said Scorpius, and with a jolt, Rose realised that he was right. The one and only time he'd been to her house before this, Ron had banned the two of them from going upstairs together, for fear of any 'funny business'.

Now that they were finally in her room, alone, Rose couldn't help but hope that some of that so-called 'funny business' would happen.

She watched him carefully as he studied her poster-plastered walls, with everything from her favourite bands to Quidditch players. His attention turned to some photographs.

"I remember this," he said, pointing at one particular picture that featured a laughing Scorpius with his arm around a beaming Rose, "Hogsmeade in fifth year, right?"

"Yeah," said Rose, recalling the moment. She smiled, "When that woman told us we were a cute couple."

He turned to her and gave her a soft smile – Rose's favourite, when his lips quirked up just a little and his eyes crinkled and sparkled.

"Rose –" He began, taking a step forwards. Then, all at once, he wobbled, swayed, and then fell right into Rose. She yelped as they toppled over, landing hard on the floor.

"Ouch," she said, rubbing her head.

"Shit, sorry," he gasped, "I tripped on my shoelace."

A millisecond later, they were in hysterics, giggling and snorting with open mouths at the stupidity of what had just happened. Just after, Rose sobered up completely as she realised that he was on top of her.

He stopped laughing just as she did, eyes suddenly turning a shade darker, lips returning to their normal shape. A moment passed, and then they collided.

Her lips caught his instantly – or was it the other way around? – interlocking and gliding over each other like two halves of a whole, like they were meant to be like this. She smiled against his mouth as she kissed him, because how bloody long had she waited to do this? It seemed like years instead of months, ages and ages of wanting him and now that she had him there was no way she was letting go. In turn, he kissed her with a fervour that she hadn't even seen in him when he was seconds away from saving a goal, as his left hand cupped the side of her face and his elbow supported his body so that he was hovering just on top of her.

It was perfect and magical and amazing, but then at the same time it wasn't – their kisses were sloppy and neither of them had had much experience at all, yet that only made the whole thing even better, because it was with something like hope that they kissed each other, something like love, even.

"Rose," he gasped, in between kisses, "I kind of really fancy you."

"I dunno if you've realised," she said, laughing, "But I kind of really fancy you too."

Yes, Hermione Weasley's annual Christmas party was definitely something of note. Every year, anyone who was anyone in Wizarding Britain came down to the Granger-Weasley home just outside London. That included one Scorpius Malfoy.

This was most certainly not a problem for Rose Weasley, who didn't really mind these parties at all – or at least, not anymore.

Sure, she had a knack for embarrassing herself at these sorts of events, but what did it matter? It was all in good fun, a celebration of the holidays, or an opportunity to 'network', as her mum would say. Even when she was faced with making small talk with the most pretentious of Ministry employees, it never seemed as bad anymore, not when Rose had a snickering Scorpius, best friend-turned-boyfriend at her side the whole time.

Occasionally, a stray bit of mistletoe would even turn up at the parties, and Rose Weasley was unquestionably one to take full advantage of any chance she had to snog her boyfriend, whether it happened to be in front of her furious dad or not.

Hope you liked it! I had a lot of fun writing this, so please leave a review if you can and Happy Christmas!