A/N: This is just a little oneshot to put everyone in the Christmas spirit. Just a review on the 2nd generation:
Victoire, Dominique, and Louis=Bill and Fleur
Molly, Lucy=Percy and Audrey
Fred, Roxanne=George and Angelina
Rose, Hugo=Ron and Hermione
James, Albus, Lily=Harry and Ginny
I dedicate this oneshot to SunnyDropped who has been there with me since the beginning. You're like a sister to me, you know? I never would have posted Let it Die nearly two years ago if you hadn't encouraged me to. I've had so much fun with you over the years and have really enjoyed watching you and my sister grow up together. I can't believe I'm going to have to leave yall in two years for college. Who knows what I'll do? Anyway, we've had some good times together. Like that time at church…yeah, you know what I'm talking about. I love you, girl. This one's for you :)
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MISTLETOE
Although the Weasley family Christmases were normally held at the Burrow, a vote had been cast and every party involved—including Molly and Arthur—felt that it was time for a change. The sad truth was that the Weasley's six fully grown children could no longer fit into the Burrow, let alone bring their families with them. They'd always made do before, but after James and Fred nearly burnt the house down last Christmas, changes had to be made.
That's how Rose found herself hastily cleaning her room early Christmas morning. She hadn't even opened her presents yet! All she knew was that she'd been awoken far too early by her frazzled mother and was given the job of cleaning her room and the toilets. Which was pointless, really, because her mum could do it in only a few seconds with magic while it would take Rose a good half hour without.
Rose passed Hugo on her way to the bathroom. If she didn't know better, she'd say he was sleepwalking. She watched as her brother traversed down the hallway and headed for the stairs. Rose turned her attention back to her chores, but was soon distracted as she heard a loud thud. Rushing out of the bathroom, she found that Hugo had fallen down the stairs.
"Are you okay?" she laughed aloud. Hugo just grunted in response, but his eyes were open at least. Maybe he'd been sleepwalking after all…
"What time is it?" he asked, looking down at his bare wrist in search of a watch.
"I don't know," Rose said. "Early?"
"Are you kids okay?" Ron called through the house.
"Fine, Dad," they responded.
"Are you sure?" he asked, coming out of the kitchen still in his pajamas. He took in the sight of his son, lying in a heap on the stairs and began laughing. "What'd you do, Hugo? Fall down the stairs?"
"Something like that," Hugo muttered, picking himself up.
"And you wonder why you can't make the Quidditch team," Rose laughed. Hugo just glared at her.
"Well, come on then," Ron said, ignoring both his children. "Presents, yeah?"
"Mum told us to clean," Rose pointed out knowledgeably. "People are going to start arriving soon."
"Rose, get down here and open your presents," Ron said sternly, although Rose could tell that he was just joking. She happily ran down the stairs. "Hermione!"
Rose and Hugo gathered in the living room where a Christmas tree stood tall above their heads. Rose never got tired of looking at their tree—a perfect combination of both muggle and magical tradition. Popcorn strands wrapped around it, but pixie dust was also visible shining from the branches. Rose remembered back when she was much younger, that they actually had two trees. One for her mum and one for her dad. Her parents had never been able to agree on how to decorate the tree, but somewhere down the line the two had compromised. And Rose personally felt that it was the best tree in all of England.
"Hermione!" Ron called once more.
"What do you want, Ron? I'm trying to make this house perfect for your family! You could at least help me!" Hermione yelled, emerging from her bedroom with a fierce scowl on her face.
"I will," Ron answered. "But we're opening presents first."
"We don't have time to open presents!" Ron just looked at her, obviously not willing to take no for an answer. Hermione brushed her hair out of her eyes and stared back.
"Oh, you're right of course," she finally said, calming down considerably. "I'm being ridiculous. Let's open presents." Ron grabbed her by the hand and pulled her down next to him on the couch.
Though Rose was nearly sixteen, she never got tired of being with her family on Christmas Day. Even if her mum was stressed and her dad was more interested in his own presents than his children's, nothing was better than the feeling of being with family.
Rose quickly tore through all of her presents happily, but she stopped when she got to the last one. She knew who it was from even before she looked at the tag and the last thing she wanted was to have to deal with him on Christmas Day. Hugo noticed her place the tiny box into her jacket pocket, but he didn't comment. Thankfully, her mum didn't notice.
After the gifts were unwrapped and Hermione had cleaned up their mess, things calmed down a great deal. Ron promised to clean up the house (with magic, of course) while the rest of the family got dressed. Rose had barely gotten her blue jeans on before a knock sounded at the door.
Rose figured someone else would get it, but when the knock sounded again she took matters into her own hands. Walking to the front entrance, she opened the door.
"Rose, you look lovely today," her Aunt Ginny greeted, holding a tray of food in both hands.
"Oh, thank you," Rose replied. "You can just take those to the kitchen. I assume my mum's around there somewhere." Ginny headed towards the kitchen and the Potter's three children pushed through the door after their father.
"Happy Christmas, Rose," Harry said, kissing his neice on the forehead before following his wife.
"I brought the mistletoe!" James exclaimed happily as soon as his parents were out of earshot.
"You do realize that every girl here is going to be related to you, right?" Rose laughed. Lily rolled her eyes at her own brother's stupidity.
"Come on, Rose! Would it be so hard for you to invite one of your friends to spend Christmas with us?" James said, stuffing the mistletoe back into his pocket.
"Well, it probably wouldn't be as hard if they didn't know I was related to you," Rose joked. James shoved her playfully.
"Where's Hugo?" Albus asked, taking his coat off and placing it on the rack. "I want to show him this wicked awesome present Uncle George gave me!"
"I think he's upstairs," Rose replied. Albus took off just as the doorbell rang once more. Before Rose could answer it, however, Lily pulled her off to the side, leaving James to get the door.
"Come with me," Lily said urgently, dragging her cousin down the hallway leading to the guest room.
"Lily, what are we—"
"Just come on." Figuring it was best to let Lily have her way, Rose followed without question. It wasn't until Lily had locked them in the room that she started talking. "Okay, now tell me what happened."
"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" Rose inquired.
"You and Scorpius! Caitlyn owled me last night and said that she overheard Peter saying that Scorpius said you and him broke up . What happened?" Rose rolled her eyes angrily. Was it impossible to keep her personal life a secret for over 24 hours?
"Lily, can we please just not talk about it today? I'm really tired and—"
"But talking helps, Rose! Did he do something to you? Did he hurt you? Because you know that James and Fred would beat him up."
"No, no, that's not what I want. It just wasn't working out, Lily," Rose insisted, hoping that Lily wouldn't make the mistake of telling Hugo about this on Christmas Day. Especially not if Fred decided it would be fun to sneak Firewhiskey in like last year. Although it wouldn't really be sneaking this year since he was now of age…
"Well, are you okay?" Lily asked worriedly. Even though Lily was her cousin, she was also Rose's best friend. Why Rose hadn't told her about this sooner, she didn't know. The honest truth was that Rose was confused herself right now and talking to Lily would just hurt more than it would solve problems.
"I'm fine," Rose insisted.
"No, you're not," Lily retorted, pulling Rose into a tight hug. "But if you want to tell yourself that, I'll let you. And if you want to tell me what's really going on, I'll be here." With that piece of advice, Lily walked out of the room, leaving Rose alone to dwell on her current predicament. The chances of Lily keeping her mouth closed were slim. And the last thing Rose wanted was to ruin everyone else's Christmas with her own problems.
When Rose finally left the guest room, she found that more of her relatives had arrived. Her Aunt Fleur's unmistakable French accent could be heard from the kitchen and Granddad was already telling Christmas stories to little Lucy. Various family members greeted Rose as she made her way through the house, but none paid her enough attention to realize that something was wrong.
Figuring that the kitchen was the safest place to be, Rose walked that way. Sure enough, the kitchen was packed when she arrived; all of the women were trying to get food on the table for the Christmas meal.
Fleur was complaining, as she always did at family gatherings, that the English food was too thick and Audrey was patiently explaining tips on how to "lighten it up a bit". Hermione and Ginny sat in a corner, simply talking, so Rose decided to join Grandma and her cousin Molly at the stove.
"Is there anything I can help with, Grandma?" she asked.
"Well, of course, Rosie. Why don't you help Molly put some of this cookie dough onto baking sheets?" She just nodded as Grandma showed her namesake how to lay cookie dough. Rose had to help Molly a little bit, but she didn't mind so much. She liked kids.
The kitchen was chaos to say the least. Cooking spells were flying everywhere, but there were also pots boiling on the stove without magical aide of any kind. If Rose wasn't so used to this strange combination of cooking techniques, she probably would have laughed out loud at the sights around her.
"Grandma, where's Aunt Angelina and Uncle George?" Rose asked.
"Where's Uncle Charlie?" Little Molly chimed in.
Molly Weasley looked down at her wristwatch. "Charlie told me he was going to be a bit late, but he should be here any minute. As for George and Angelina, I believe they were going to pick up Fred's new girlfriend on the way over here."
Fred's new girlfriend? Rose wanted to question her grandmother further on that topic, but she could already see how Molly's eyes were glazing over at the mention of her cousin's name. Never one to be very good with tears, Rose simply patted her on the back and left the room.
As soon as she closed the door behind her, she heard her name.
"Rosie, come over here for a second! We've got an argument going on that needs to be settled," Ron called. Laughing to herself, Rose made her way into the living room.
"What's going on?" she asked. Bill, Percy, Harry, and Ron were all sitting on the couches. Granddad was there too, playing with Lucy on the floor.
"Bill and Percy over here think that they could beat your Dad and me in a game of Quidditch? What do you think?" Harry asked her. Rose actually laughed aloud.
"You two don't even play Quidditch," she pointed out to Bill and Percy.
"Will power. That's what wins games, darling," Bill said.
"Well, what if we had Charlie on our team? Then who would win?" Percy asked her. Rose thought about it for a second.
"You would," she told him.
"Rosie! Betting against your own Father? I thought I raised you better than that!"
"Well, what if we got Ange, then?" Harry asked.
"Then you'd win," Rose answered simply. The adults all laughed as a knock sounded at the door once more.
"Rosie, can you get that, dear?" Ron asked her. She just nodded. When she opened the door, however, she was taken completely by surprise. Aunt Angelina and Uncle George were standing there with Fred and Roxanne, but it was who was standing beside Fred that surprised her most.
"Caitlyn!" Rose said, stunned. Her exclamation brought both Harry and Ron to the door because they also recognized the name as one of their daughters' best friends. Ron took in the sight of Fred with his arm around the girl and laughed.
"You're in over your head, boy," he said to Fred.
"Oh, thanks, Uncle Ron. I appreciate the support there," Fred responded with a smirk. "I suppose you know Caitlyn Wood, then?"
"Are you thick?" Rose cried, annoyed. "Of course they know her—she practically lives here during breaks. Caitlyn?!"
"Rose, just let me explain," Caitlyn said hurriedly.
"Is your father okay with you being here?" Harry asked, not wanting the wrath of his old captain to befall him on Christmas Day.
"Of course he is!" Caitlyn said. "We're spending Christmas with my mum's family this year. He's the one who told me I could go."
"And she didn't feel the need to even tell Katie about it," Angelina added. "A good surprise it gave her when we showed up."
"I'm sorry," Caitlyn blushed. "But Mum never would have let me go and I really wanted to." George laughed at that.
"I like this one, Fred."
The commotion brought James, Albus, Hugo, Dominique, and Louis down the stairs.
"Finally decided to tell people?" James addressed Fred, taking in the scene with a smirk on his face.
"You knew about this?" Rose said angrily.
James just shrugged. "Fred's horrible at keeping secrets."
"Well, how long?" she asked Caitlyn as the adults began to make their way back into the living room.
"About a month," Caitlyn answered shyly. "And I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but Fred didn't want me to and…I know this is really bad timing since you and Scorpius just—" She stopped short at the look on Rose's face.
"You and Scorpius what?" Hugo immediately asked. He may be two years younger than Rose, but he was still insanely overprotective.
"Nothing," Rose and Caitlyn answered at the same time. Lily picked that moment to walk into the room with a cookie half hanging out of her mouth. She took in the scene slowly.
"What are you doing here?" she asked Caitlyn finally. In answer, Fred threw his arm around her shoulder.
Rather than make a big deal out of it, Lily simply shrugged. "I always thought you were a bit mad."
"Seriously, Rose," Hugo continued as if there hadn't been an interruption. "What did Scorpius do to you?"
"You didn't sleep with him, did you?" Dominique asked a bit too loudly.
"Shut up, you idiot," Rose cried and then peeked into the living room to make sure her father hadn't heard. "Do you want my Dad to get involved?"
"I don't know; it might be funny. I remember when my Dad overheard James saying Teddy had shagged Victoire—he went crazy."
"Oh, yeah, I'd forgotten I did that," James laughed. "I got into a lot of trouble for lying."
"Where is Victoire?" Albus asked upon noticing her absence.
"No clue," Louis answered. "She's supposed to be coming with Teddy later, though."
All of the kids slowly made their way back upstairs and settled into Rose's room. Uncle Charlie arrived not long after and personally delivered all of his nieces and nephews Christmas gifts straight form Romania. Albus, Louis, and Hugo followed him back down the stairs and Roxanne went to help in the kitchen leaving James, Lily, Rose, Fred, and Caitlyn alone upstairs.
James and Fred were always inseparable and they immediately tag-teamed Lily and Caitlyn to figure out what had happened between Scorpius and Rose. They'd never been too fond of the boy, probably because of stories their fathers had told them about Draco Malfoy, but Rose had never minded his ancestry. Even though he was in Slytherin, she saw no fault in him. Sure, his Dad was a bit wary of her but her Dad was a bit wary of Scorpius too. She just sat there, letting her friends deny that they knew anything. She knew that she couldn't keep it a secret forever—especially when they started school again—but she just wanted everything to be normal today.
"Just tell me one thing, Rose," Fred finally said. "Did he hurt you? Because if he did, I swear to Merlin—"
"He didn't hurt me," she answered angrily. "Can we just leave it, please?"
"Whatever you want." They made there way downstairs a few minutes later, in search of some food.
Teddy and Victoire had arrived and James took advantage of this by putting to use his magic mistletoe. He followed them around the house, levitating the mistletoe above their heads. It would immediately freeze their feet until they kissed. Although Teddy yelled at James, it was obvious that he enjoyed his cousin's antics. He would kiss Victoire each time, the diamond engagement ring shining brightly on her finger.
Bill finally got fed up and yanked the mistletoe out of the air from above his daughter's head. He threw it back at James with a glare. Teddy and Victoire weren't targeted again and Fred and Caitlyn stayed out of James's way.
Everyone sat down to the Christmas meal around two and they'd just started eating when a knock sounded at the door. Rose quickly scanned the table, even though she knew that everyone was there. Who could be at the door?
"I'll get it!" Fred and James both cried at the same time, leaping up from the table and running towards the front door. Everyone stopped eating and waited for the announcement on who the visitor was. It never came.
"Fred, James, who is it?" Ron called.
"We've got it!" They answered. "Just keep eating."
"Hugo, go check on them, please," Ron responded. Hugo got up from his spot at the table and also made his way to the front door.
"It's fine, Dad," he called a few seconds later. "Just keep eating." A bit warily, the meal started back up again.
"What those boys are up to, I can't even begin to imagine," Ginny whispered to Rose. Rose just laughed. Fred re-entered the room a few minutes later and walked straight to Caitlyn. He whispered something in her ear and she got up and followed him out of the room, dragging Lily with her.
Rose was starting to get curious, but figured it was best to just stay put. She was half way through her roast beef when Hugo stuck his head around the door frame and called Albus into the next room.
"What in the name of Merlin are they doing?" Harry asked, putting his napkin down on the table and walking out of the room. Everyone waited in silence as Harry went to sort the situation out. He re-entered the room with a broad grin on his face, glancing only briefly at Rose. "It's fine. Just let them be," he said.
Starting to get annoyed, Rose got up from her seat and made her way out of the room. She had a strange feeling that this had something to do with her. Sure enough, as soon as she walked into the Entrance Hall, she turned around and started back the way she had come.
"Rose, stop," several people called to her at the same time. She didn't stop until someone grabbed her arm and turned her around. And there, staring back at her with his hand still on her arm was Scorpius.
"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked harshly, pulling her arm out of his grip.
"We need to talk, Rose, and you won't owl me back."
"I said all that I needed to say to you, Scorpius. Now please just leave me alone."
"No," he replied. How they had ever managed to make a relationship work when he was just as stubborn as she was, she would never know. "I'm not leaving until you talk to me." Rose just stood there in silence, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Rose," Lily said, "Scorpius said that you broke up with him."
"And so what if I did?"
"Well, that just doesn't make much since," Albus said. Being the only one present that was close friends with both Rose and Scorpius, he understood better than anyone what was happening.
"Rose, please," Scorpius begged.
She closed her eyes in frustration. "Only if they leave," she said, gesturing to her family. Scorpius looked at them pointedly and they scattered.
"Talk to me," he said, moving closer to her. She found that she didn't mind his presence that much, even though she could tell that her eyes were misting up a bit.
"Scorpius, I just…you scared me the other night. I didn't expect you to do what you did."
"To tell you that I love you? But Rose, I do. And I had to tell you." He shrugged at a loss for more words. "I don't understand why you're so against the idea of being in love with me."
"I'm not," she said. "I am in love with you, Scorpius. I just…we're so different. What if this ends badly?"
"What if it doesn't?" he asked, walking closer to her and wrapping her in his arms. "I love you, Rose."
Even though it was against her better judgement to say it back, the past few days had been torture for her. And the one thing that she had decided for sure was that she was willing to risk heartbreak to be happy with Scorpius, even if it was only for a little while.
"I love you, too, Scorpius," she said with a laugh.
"Did you ever open my present?" he asked. Rose had honestly forgotten about his present. She dug into her jacket pocket and pulled the box out. She quickly unwrapped it and was left staring at the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen. It was silver, with two interlocking hearts hanging from it.
"So, does this mean you'll take me back?" he asked, noticing her smile.
"Of course it does." Rose tried to back out of his embrace then, but found that she couldn't move. Warily, she looked up. "James!" she yelled angrily, spotting the mistletoe floating above their heads. Scorpius only laughed as James, Hugo, Albus, and Lily appeared on the stairs, coming out from under James's invisibility cloak.
"Well, kiss him already!" Lily said.
Rose rolled her eyes, but turned to Scorpius nonetheless. "I'm sorry," she said, apologizing for both her own stupidity and also for her cousin's. He just shook his head and kissed her.
"Happy Christmas, Rose," he said, pulling away.
"Happy Christmas."
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Hope you liked it, SunnyDropped. And I hope everyone else liked it too. Just something to put everyone in the Christmas spirit. Reviews are always appreciated :)