I woke up early, happy for once to hear the calls of the buzzards and the cries of the herons, and smiled. It was good to be home and I couldn't wait to get to the Burrow and see my grandparents again. I'd spent last Christmas with my Mum's parents and I was looking forward to eating Grandma Molly's cooking again.
As I went downstairs for breakfast, still in my old flannel pajamas, I couldn't help humming.
My mother threw me a shocked glance but I barely saw it as I speared a pancake on my fork and put it onto my plate.
"Rosie, honey, are you okay?" she asked with concern.
"Me? I'm brilliant, Mum," I told her as I poured some syrup onto my pancake.
She smiled and took the seat next to me as Hugo practically fell down the stairs and dropped into his chair.
"You seem happier," she remarked, pouring milk into her cereal bowl.
"I am," I grinned as Hugo shot me a dark look.
He couldn't say anything though, as his mouth was already filled with half of a bacon sandwich my mother had somehow had the time to prepare for him. That wasn't to say he didn't try, it's just any words he'd said were lost in his mouthful and came out as a grumble.
"Don't speak with your mouth full, Hugo," Mum scolded.
"Sorry," he replied.
"Ah, morning Weasleys," Dad called as he came down the stairs, narrowly avoiding hitting his head on the low ceiling.
"Morning Dad," I chirped. Hugo sullenly took another bite of his food, while my mother kissed his cheek as he passed her, picking up the paper off the kitchen counter.
"Ready for Christmas at the Burrow?" he asked, unfolding his paper and taking a bite of the last bacon sandwich.
"Uh huh!" I replied, smiling widely and picking up another pancake, drizzling melted chocolate over it.
Dad glanced up over the top of his paper and made eye contact with my mum, the pair of them shooting frantic glances at me as if I was in danger of dropping dead. I wasn't usually that happy, but seriously it wasn't like I'd been depressed for ten years. They were overreacting. Wasn't I allowed to be happy?
I rolled my eyes and hid another grin for fear of my parents carting me off to St Mungos over Christmas. That really would be a disaster.
As I stood and dropped my plate into the water-filled sink, I was aware of my parents' gaze still following me. Another merry tune popped into my head and I skipped up to my bedroom to get dressed. It would be nice, I thought, to see Victoire again. She was sure to be excited by my news.
I dressed simply in a pair of skinny jeans and my turquoise jumper, remembering the last time I had worn it with Scorpius. I knew now why he'd bought a jumper of his own in exactly the same shade. It was the same reason that it was his favorite color. The reason why he'd followed me from Professor Slughorn's party and kissed me.
Again, I was humming as I dressed and packed a bag with pajamas, clothes and my toothbrush. My other grandparents would be glad to know I was even taking the special toothpaste they always sent me.
Finally though, I was ready and my suitcase (which was conveniently smaller than my Hogwarts trunk) was bulging at the seams with the amount of clothes and presents I'd crammed into it.
"Rosie, are you ready yet?" Dad yelled up the stairs.
For the second time that morning, I rolled my eyes, and went downstairs, my suitcase dragging along the floor behind me.
"Yep, I'm ready," I finally replied, as I jumped the last stair and landed in front of my dad.
He ruffled my ginger hair and took the suitcase from me.
"Come on, we've been waiting for you for half an hour."
"Sorry," I said, smiling cheekily.
"MERLIN, what have you got crammed in here, Rosie?"
"Just my clothes-"
"-your wardrobe as well?"
"No," I answered curtly.
"You sure there isn't an undetectable extension charm on here, Rose?" Dad asked as he lugged the suitcase behind him.
"Dad," I groaned. "You know I don't know how to do that."
"Hermione, this isn't your suitcase is it?"
Mum looked up in confusion, glanced at the suitcase and shook her head.
Finally, he managed to drag the suitcase to the fireplace where Mum and Hugh were waiting, already wearing their old cloaks that we always used for floo travelling.
"Girls," my father tutted as he dropped the suitcase beside his feet and shook his head, "Who'd have 'em?"
"Hey!"
"Ron!" Mum reprimanded.
Dad laughed and handed my suitcase to me. I almost dropped it before tightening my grip against its unexpected weight.
"Ladies first then, Rose."
"What about Mum?" I asked pointedly.
"Fine youngest and wisest first," he said.
I sighed, thinking about how Mum was more clever than me and how Hugo was younger than me, and walked into the fireplace, my suitcase rolling along the floor behind me. Dad handed me the floo powder pot and I took a handful, already practiced in the art of travelling by floo powder. My eyes closed automatically as I threw it down onto the stone bottom of the fireplace.
"The Burrow," I commanded, trying to keep my arms (including my suitcase) as close to my body as was humanely possible.
All I was aware of was the spinning sensation and the press of soot and ash flying around me, landing on my face and my clothes.
"Ah, first again, Rosie-posie-pudding-and-pie," Grandpa said kindly, smiling his toothless grin like usual. He'd lost them all in one of his tinkering projects - looking down an exploding exhaust pipe was bound to blow out your teeth though, wasn't it?
"Merry Christmas, Grandpa," I greeted him as I stepped out of the fireplace, clearing the way for whoever would follow me.
Seconds later Hugo spun into existence in a flurry of green and grey ash.
He nodded to Grandpa and I and grabbed his backpack - how on earth he'd managed to even fit everything in it, I didn't know - and moodily left the room, heading upstairs to dump his stuff in the room the boys would have. All the boys except Fred and James always shared a room. Fred and James, on the other hand, had had their own room since before I could remember. It was an effort to limit the destruction they could cause, plus it stopped Al and James from arguing late into the night.
It was the same for us girls. Lily, Lucy, Dom, Molly, Roxie and me all shared Dad's old room which had been expanded up into the attic (once the ghoul had gone, of course) to be on two levels. Victoire used to bunk with us too, but she would obviously be sleeping with Teddy from now on. They were having the new room that had been built over the conservatory my grandparents had added three years ago.
"What's the matter with him?"
"Don't worry about it, Grandpa," I replied as Mum arrived, smiling and immediately wrapping Grandpa in a hug.
"Good to see you Hermione. You've got Fred and George's old room this year," he told her, his voice only quavering slightly as he mentioned my dead uncle.
She nodded and waited for Dad to come through.
"Rose, don't just stand there. Go and take your suitcase upstairs," she prompted.
"Sorr-" I began before I was abruptly cut off by Grandma's shout of joy.
"Oh, you're here already!" she called, hurrying towards us and wrapping me in a warm hug. I could tell from the flour stains on her apron that she'd spent all morning making pies. The slightly spicy aroma also hung about her, making it feel like it truly was Christmas. "Arthur, why didn't you shout for me?" She shook her head at me as if to say, 'men, who'd have them' before beginning to rattle off a series of questions to me. "How's school, Rosie? Your mother's been only telling me good things. I hope you're studying hard. And how's that boy you met last year?"
"Michael?" I clarified. "I'm sure he's really good, Grandma, but he's not attending Hogwarts this year-"
"-Oh, he's not going to Durmstrang, is he? I always thought he had a bit of a look about him," she gossiped.
"I don't know, Grandma-"
"-And how are you, Hermione? It's lovely to see you again. I expect you'll be tired after travelling all the way from Hertfordshire to London and back yesterday."
Mum smiled at me, as did Grandpa, as we all found it impossible to get a word in edgeways. It only got worse when Dad arrived and she began fussing over him too.
"Oh, doesn't our Ronald look so grown up, Arthur?"
"Yes, Molly dear, but he's thirty seven. I don't think he wants you ruffling his hair and pulling his cheek."
"Thanks Dad," Dad whispered as Grandma headed back into the kitchen.
"I suggest you all go upstairs before she comes back," Grandpa said equally as quietly.
"Come on, Rosie, I'll help you carry your case," Dad muttered, handing the one he'd been carrying to Mum. "Let's go."
Together, Dad and I carried my suitcase upstairs to the top floor, huffing and puffing the entire way.
When we pushed open the door to his old room, Dad gasped at the pink wallpaper.
"My Chudley Cannons wallpaper...it's gone."
I rolled my eyes and dived onto my bed, looking up at the ceiling where I'd stuck up glow-in-the-dark stars that mapped the real constellations.
"See you later, Dad," I hinted.
"I know where I'm not wanted."
I laughed and called after him, "Love you!"
"Yeah, yeah."
I'd barely been in the room alone before Molly and Lucy ran in, breathless from running up the stairs.
"Rose, you should see Dad! He's bright red from the amount of lipstick Grandma got on his face!"
I laughed. "Now that I'd pay to see, but if I don't stay here, someone will steal my bed."
"Rose Weasley, you read my mind," Lucy said sincerely, smirking as she sat on a bed of her own.
"And we're not moving till everyone else gets here," Molly added, kicking off her shoes and lying down with her arms behind her head, looking laidback.
"While we're here, just the three of us waiting, why don't you tell us what happened with you and Scorpius?"
I laughed at Lucy's useless attempt. Subtlety never was her strong point.
"So, will you tell us?" Molly asked.
"Alright, if it gets you two off my back." Secretly it was nice to finally be able to talk about it. I know it had only been just over two days but I was dying to tell someone about Scorpius and I couldn't wait till Victoire got to the Burrow. Knowing her, she'd spend ages getting ready and would be the last to arrive.
I relayed the story, telling them how Scor had followed me and left the Christmas party, smiling reminiscently all the while as Molly and Lucy 'oohed' and 'awed' like they were at a fireworks display.
"And I said yes."
"Just like that? You said yes to be Scorpius' girlfriend just like that?"
"Yes, Lucy, just like that."
"I'd say I'm happy for you, but how do you know he's not trying to use you?" Lily asked, leaning against the doorframe.
"We're not friends with benefits, Lil, he's my boyfriend. Scorpius wouldn't do anything like that," I said through gritted teeth. What was it going to take for my family to get over his family's reputation?
"Really? It's just he's hurt you before. How do you know he won't again? You can only give the boy so many chances-"
"That wasn't his fault and you know it!" I told her. "And for your information, Lily, Scorpius is still on his second chance."
The silence between the four of us was almost painful.
And then Dom arrived, pulling her pink, wheeled suitcase behind her, pausing in the doorway and looking between us.
"Hey...guys...looks like Roxie's going to get the worst pick of the beds then..."
We all nodded, but it wasn't like we were really interesting in making conversation.
In the end, Lucy and Molly were able to excuse themselves after Auntie Audrey popped her head around the door.
"Your father would like a word with you," she told them.
As Lucy and Molly left, I jumped up, threw my overly-heavy suitcase on my bed and followed them, desperate to escape the atmosphere in the bedroom. It was like someone had died.
I knew something was different from the moment I put my foot on the top stair. I could hear avid chatting coming from the kitchen and it didn't take me long to work out that Victoire and Teddy had finally arrived. I legged it down the stairs, my socks slipping on the polished floor with my speed, and found Teddy and Victoire stood around the table counter top with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny, Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur and my parents.
"Rose!" Victoire squealed, leaping up and coming to hug me. "I'm so happy for you! I told you it would all work out with Sc-"
I slapped my hand over her mouth and dragged her out of the room, smiling in what I hoped was a reassuring manner at my parents and aunts and uncles.
As soon as we were out of the room, I removed my hand and shot her a sharp glare.
"Sorry," she winced. "Did I just put my foot in something?"
"I hope not. As you can imagine, I haven't told my parents yet about it."
Giving her a wry smile, I led the way to the conservatory, knowing it would be empty because it was always freezing in there in winter.
"I was so happy when I read your letter - you really need to work on your handwriting by the way, I could barely read it," she rambled.
Laughing, I replied, "I was on the train, Tori, and funnily enough my handwriting wasn't exactly the first thing on my mind." I remembered taking the scrap of parchment from my trunk and sneaking out of the carriage at midday while Scor snoozed to scrawl a quick note to Victoire away from Scorpius' prying eyes.
"True. Now why don't you tell me the whole story this time."
If anyone deserved to hear exactly what had happened between me and Scorpius, it was Tori. She was the one who had given me the courage to take a chance on having a relationship with him. If it wasn't for her, I'd never have kissed him that day after the quidditch match and we'd still be playing twenty questions every evening as best friends.
With Tori's endless questions though, and analysis of exactly what Scor meant when he said certain things, it took well over half an hour to get through the story.
When we finally got back to the kitchen, Uncle George, Aunt Angelina and Roxie and Fred had arrived and the family had moved into the living room - though my grandparents still didn't own enough chairs to seat everyone.
Teddy winked and smirked at me, his hair going flame red, as we entered the room.
"Teddy knows too?" I asked Victoire.
"You know I can't keep anything from him," she replied, going and sitting on his lap and throwing her arms around his neck, pushing her bottom lip out at me.
I roll my eyes and squeeze onto the arm of the chair Lucy occupied, smiling at her.
"Finally, you're back from gossiping," she murmured. "We can start the Christmas games now-"
"-Let the chess tournament begin," Dad announced, interrupting her and moving his first pawn forwards.
"Dad, you know it's just you and Uncle Bill who're going to play, right?"
We used to have this big tournament where everyone would play each other at wizard's chess, but it used to take literally seven days just to get through every match. Only Dad had protested when we ended the tradition. There were just too many of us. It wasn't so bad before Louis, Lily, Hugo and Roxie were old enough but there were twenty five of us when we were all together. That meant that ended up playing over fifty chess games in total because after I'd played Dad, I'd then have to play Al, and then I would be playing Tori and so on.
Instead, while Dad and Uncle Bill played chess, the rest of us would play categories - a Muggle game which we had added a magic twist to. Instead of playing with categories like country, celebrity, boy's name, girl's name, fruit, transport, animal and flower; we played with spell, wizard village, school of magic, inventor, girl's name, boy's name, constellation, magical creature and subject.
Uncle Charlie always managed to beat us when it came to getting magical creatures and, of course, no-one knew more spells than my mum.
After seven games of categories (only one of which I managed to win - I could always win one if we got an 'R' round), we moved onto playing karaoke to Grandma's Celestina Warbeck music, though Fred and James soon hijacked the radio and changed it to a more modern station. After a few butterbeers, we managed to get Teddy to join in with our bad singing - he didn't know we'd slipped a few sips of firewhiskey into all of his drinks though. He was soon swaying with Tori under one of his arms, though it looked like he was relying on her more for balance than anything else.
When Fred and James had changed the radio station, Grandma had gone into the kitchen and brought back a tray of pies, which we ate quickly. Then she was back into the kitchen to dish up the Christmas vegetable soup we always ate on Christmas Eve, and we were filing into the dining room and squeezing around the table.
Everyone forgot about the mini argument we'd been having for the past couple of weeks as Uncle George kicked off with a joke. Needless to say it was one we'd all heard before.
"A man walks into a bar, what does he say?"
"Ouch. God, Dad, that joke is so old," Fred complained.
"But it's a classic, son. Have you got a better one?"
"Yeah, I have. I've been meaning to ask if you'd heard about the magic tractor. It went left and turned into a field."
"Come on, that's a Muggle joke - it's never going to beat the one about the ten brothers, the shack and the pile of-"
"Not at the dinner table, thank you, George," Grandma interrupted, still very much capable of intimidating her son with a single look.
Uncle Bill and Uncle Charlie both snorted slightly, earning them a look from Grandma too.
"I'll tell you a good joke," Hugo began, giving me a sly look. "Rose and her new boyfriend S-"
"-Our Rosie's got a boyfriend?" Dad demanded, looking me right in the eye.
Gulping, I nodded, shooting 'help me' looks at Tori and Lucy.
"That's what's got you buzzing like a bee then," Mum said, smiling gently and laying a hand over Dad's arm.
"Right. Who is it? I'll get the Auror Interrogation Service on him-"
"-Ronald," Mum warned, calming him.
"Honestly, Ronald," Grandma told him, "let Rose live her life. You don't want to scare off her poor boyfriend already, do you?"
Dad mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'that's exactly what I want to do' and Uncle Harry laughed before Aunt Ginny shot him a sharp look and elbowed him.
"Ron, did we ruin your relationship with your first girlfriend?" Aunt Ginny asked. I knew full well that Dad had tried to interfere in her relationships too. It was only when she got together with Uncle Harry that he'd taken more of a back seat. I guess he knew he could trust his best friend. On the other hand, I knew for a fact that if Dad ever found out that I was going out with Scorpius he would make Mum home educate me in a heartbeat after heading over to Malfoy Manor and shouting for a full hour at Scorpius and Draco Malfoy.
"No," he glumly admitted, grimacing at the thought of Lavender Brown. They'd remained friends, but she never really got over him getting together with Mum.
While they all argued over whether Dad was allowed to interfere in my love life, I slipped from the room, aware of Teddy and Victoire's eyes on me. As I made my way upstairs to the bedroom, I hoped no-one would tell my parents it was Scorpius I was going out with. I'd rather keep that a secret.
As the bedroom floorboard creaked underfoot, I winced and hoped that it wouldn't be heard downstairs. But then, on second thoughts, if it redirected conversation, it would hopefully stop Hugo and anyone else from telling my parents that Scorpius Malfoy was my boyfriend.
It was driving me crazy to not know what was going on downstairs. I assumed that Dad couldn't know I was going out with Scor - I'd have heard the shouting, and he'd probably have already stormed up the stairs, thrown open the door and ranted to me if that was the case. The thought did occur to me, though, that he could be being restrained.
Desperate to know, I crept back downstairs and found the dining room empty. Instead, quiet - civilised sounding - conversation was coming from the living room again. I walked around the corner and sighed in relief.
Dad didn't look angry. No-one looked like they knew about Scorpius. And they weren't talking about me anymore. On the whole, I'd say it was positive.
"Oh there you are, Rosie," Mum said, catching sight of me.
"Sorry, I felt a bit ill for a while," I muttered quickly, turning briefly red with the lie.
"Are you okay now, Rose?" she asked as I sat beside her, feeling my forehead with the back of her hand.
I nodded and smiled slightly to reassure her.
"Here's yours, Rose," Lucy said as she handed me a badly wrapped Christmas present.
I already knew what it was so I didn't quite get why Dad had still wrapped it. We always got pajamas to open on Christmas Eve and wear that night and on Christmas morning.
Still, I waited until everyone had gotten their present before carefully opening the present, peeling off the tape so the paper could be used again. Inside, I had a pair of red pajamas with 'Gryffindor Pride' on the front and 'No 1 Chaser' on the back. I guessed Dad couldn't know I was no longer on the Gryffindor Quidditch team either.
After an eggnog, we all headed up to bed. While Dom, Lily, Lucy, Roxie and Molly all fell asleep fairly quickly, I found a roll of parchment and a quill and wrote a letter to Scorpius, wishing him a happy Christmas. I hadn't brought Daedalus, my owl, with me so I had to sneak back downstairs and borrow my grandparents' owl. I guess I was just lucky that Errol, their old owl, had died before I was born. He'd never have been able to make the journey.
When I woke up the next morning, pink light shone through the window from where the rising sun had sent coloured streaks of light through the sky.
"Merry Christmas," I mumbled to the others as I yawned and tried to convince myself to get out of bed. It was hard to come up with the motivation when I knew it was freezing while I was warm tucked under my covers.
In the end, Lily took my blanket and threw it across the room. Pulling my legs up, I folded my arms around them and shivered despite the fact I was wearing my new fleece pajamas.
"Don't make me throw water on you, Rose," Lily threatened.
"Fine," I grumbled, getting up and immediately finding my clothes. I shivered again as I changed into a pair of beige skinny jeans, a long sleeve t-shirt.
When we all hurried down the stairs, we found that the boys were already down and crowded around the Christmas tree, shaking and poking all the presents.
As everyone tore open their Christmas presents, I heard a slight tapping on the window and looked up, surprised to see Nimoy, my grandparents' tawny owl, sitting on the windowsill, with an envelope in his beak and a package tied to one of his legs.
I opened the window and the owl hopped inside, dropping the letter and holding out his leg for me to untie the parcel.
Written neatly on the brown paper wrapping were the words, 'open me first.'
Frowning, I slid my finger under the tape and opened the package, finding a present, wrapped in Christmas paper inside. There were so many layers of wrapping paper that it was like Pass the Parcel.
Finally, I got to the last layer and opened, finding nestled inside a beautiful necklace. On the end of the silver chain was a carefully crafted angel. It looked so fragile - its wings thin and long. With shaking hands I clipped it around my neck and opened the letter, in no doubt that the present was from Scorpius.
🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄