Chapter 54: Christmas and New Year's

Of corse, the next day was Christmas. Both Rose and Scorpius did their usual Christmas traditions with their families. But, they had agreed to send their gifts today, instead of giving them in person yesterday. Before the holiday break, Scorpius and Rose were thinking of what to get each other. They both wanted to get one another something really special. Both of them had something really special up their sleeves for the other.

When Scorpius woke that morning, him and Draco did their usual. Scorpius gave Draco his gift, and Draco gave Scorpius his gift. But, Scorpius noticed, that these past few Christmases, were the best that him and his father had since Astoria passed away. This Christmas especially. Draco was cheery. Cheery. Draco was rarely cheery. Actually, these past few months, Draco had been the happiest. The happiest he'd been in years. Scorpius figured it was the new tattoo. He probably liked having the Dark Mark officially off him.

Anyways, Scorpius was preparing Rose's gift, to send to her. Before break started, on the December Hogsmeade trip, Scorpius had went into a shop and picked up a bottle of Rose's signature scent perfume. Honestly, this was more for his own pleasure, because, basically, every time Rose was relatively close to him, he took a good inhale of her rosy scent. This was the first part of Rose's gift.

Then, Scorpius had walked downstairs and out the back door, out into the gardens, where everything was covered in a sparkling, white, blanket of snow. He left his foot print tracks in the snow, as he walked towards a specific spot. That specific spot was a large bush, where white roses grew. Scorpius bent down, and picked one off. Scorpius took the rose in his hand, and walked back to the house. The bush that Scorpius picked the rose off of, was once a little tiny plant, planted by Astoria. When Astoria was around, she loved to garden, and roses were her favorite flower.

Scorpius continued back to the house, and into his room. When Scorpius walked in, he set the rose down on his desk, next to the bottle of rose perfume. He then took out his wand, and casted a spell on the rose. Scorpius's gift idea was to give Rose a rose, but, a rose that could never die. With this enchantment, the rose perked itself up, and it looked very healthy. Perfect. Then, Scorpius took the rose, and slid it into a tiny box with a little bit of tissue paper. Once the rose was securely in the box, Scorpius put the lid on top of it. Everything was perfect. The rose was nice and secure, and when Scorpius bought the perfume, the cashier wrapped it up all nice and pretty for him.

Once everything was all wrapped up nice and pretty, Scorpius wrote a nice letter to go with it. He would never make the mistake of sending a Howler again. Scorpius let out a small chuckle to himself when he thought about the fact that Rose's entire family listened to it. Anyways, he sat at his desk, and began to write.

Rose,

Merry Christmas! I know I just saw you last night, but I wish I could see you. It was a little strange this morning. My dad was actually cheery. Yea, cheery. Lately, he has been in a totally different mood. He's actually positive about things. I know I should be happy about this, but, I still find it a little strange. Well, I am glad he is happy though. He really hasn't been happy like this in a very long time. Anyways, enough about me and him, I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas, and I hope you like your gift. I can't wait to get back to school so I can see you again, I love you.

Love, Scorpius

Scorpius quickly wrote this down, and sealed it into an envelope. He then picked up the two little parcels, and handed these all to his owl to deliver.

"Okay, I need you to deliver these to Rose's HOUSE. Not her, her house. If she's not home, then just leave them there for her. Understood?" Scorpius said to the owl. The owl kind of brushed against Scorpius, to show him he understood. Scorpius ruffled his feathers, and the owl took off through the window.

*** At the same time Scorpius was preparing his gift, Rose was preparing hers. Rose and her family had their usual Christmas morning, and Rose was currently all dressed, hair done, and ready to leave. Rose laughed when an owl flew in, and dropped a gift for Hugo. It was from Daisy. Her and her dad lost it, when Hugo unwrapped a necklace with a teeny tiny Daisy charm, and another charm with my sweetheart engraved onto it.

"Oh, like you have room to talk Ronald." Hermione scolded, as Hugo's face and ears beat red due to embarrassment.

Then, Ron's memory tracked back to a Christmas morning when he received an almost identical necklace from Lavender. He felt the exact same way when he opened it. Ron did feel sorry that Lavender had to loose her life in the battle, but, she did make him realize something. She made him realize that he was in love with Hermione Granger, and he always had been. Whenever he snogged her, it felt so wrong. But, whenever he snogged Hermione, it felt so right. Just like Ron was with Scorpius, it was going to take him a while to get used his son dating the niece of his ex girlfriend Lavender Brown.

Hermione then scolded Rose for laughing, and she stopped. Come on, it was funny. Hermione was like how Ron was towards Scorpius at first. It was going to take her a while to get use to.

Anyways, now, Rose was up in her room getting Scorpius's gift together. She had picked it out one night in Hogsmeade, while Scorpius was at Quidditch practice. Her and the other Head Girls, (minus Allison, Quiddich,) had gone down there to get their Christmas shopping done. Rose walked by a shop window, and something caught her eye. It was a beautiful chess set. Rose knew that Scorpius was excellent at Wizards Chess. He had even beat her dad, multiple times. No one could beat Ron at Wizards Chess, except for Scorpius.

It was perfect. Rose walked into the shop and bought the set right away. That was a few weeks ago. Now, she was in her room, making it perfect. By making it perfect, she was transfiguring the pieces into different shapes. Instead of leaving them normal shaped, she turned white pieces into roses, and the black pieces into serpents. They were all different sizes, indicating the different kinds of pieces. She stepped back and looked at her work, it looked amazing. She thought Scorpius was going to love it. So, she wrapped it, and wrote a letter to go along with it.

Scorpius, Merry Christmas! I want to know all about your day so far. I know I saw you last night, but, I wish you could join us at The Burrow today. I completely understand why you can't. Anyways, I hope you have a great Christmas, and I hope you like your gift. I can't wait to see you again, and I love you. Hey, maybe you can come for New Year's? Again, I love you.

Love, Rose

Rose wrote this down, and sealed it up with Scorpius's gift. She then walked downstairs, to Pig's perch.

"Hey Pig, by now, I think you know the drill. I need you to deliver this to Scorpius, Okay?" Rose said, ruffling Pig's feathers, while he brushed against her, showing how excited he was to deliver something.

Then, Pig picked up the package with his talons, and took off out the window. Rose watched him until he wasn't visible anymore, and walked back upstairs. Rose had only been in her room for about three minutes, when an owl she recognized to be Scorpius's, came in with two parcels and a letter, and dropped it on her desk. Rose smiled at the owl, and he let her ruffle his feathers before he took off again.

Scorpius had beat her this year. Rose smiled again, and ripped open the envelope first. She read the letter, and smiled even more. Scorpius's handwriting could be enough to fulfill the spot of a gift for her. But, she knew that he would never have that, and then grabbed the first parcel. It was beautifully packaged. When Rose opened it up, she had a bottle of her perfume in her hands. He knew. He knew her exact perfume. She then wondered what would be in the second package. So, she placed the pretty bottle down, and unwrapped the second box. When she lifted the lid off, she saw a beautiful, and very healthy looking, white rose, in the box. Rose lifted the rose out of the box, and gave it a nice sniff. It smelled very nice, and very similar to her perfume scent. She then realized something. The rose would be all wilted from being in the box. Oh, he was so sweet! The rose had a life expanding charm on it. She then fetched a vase of water, and placed the rose in it, on her desk. Rose sat there and admired it for a few minutes. She liked that Scorpius picked out a white rose instead of a red one. It kind of reminded her of the color of his hair.

Not long after Rose received her gift, Scorpius saw that Pig flew into his bedroom with a package in his grasp.

"Hey Pig." Scorpius said as he walked over to the owl, and took the package from him, and ruffled his feathers before he flew away. Once he was gone, Scorpius ripped of the envelope taped to the package, and then ripped open the envelope itself. He automatically recognized Rose's neat handwriting, and that made a smile come out of the corners of his mouth. He read the letter. Just the letter itself could be the gift in Scorpius's eyes. But, after reading the letter, Scorpius unwrapped the package. When he unwrapped it, he was revealed to a beautiful, new chess set. But, that wasn't the best part. Scorpius observed the pieces, and they were little roses and serpents. He loved it. Rose's gifts were always so thoughtful, and he loved every single one of them.

Both Scorpius and Rose loved their Christmas gifts from one another, and they were glad that they waited to send them on Christmas Day, instead of giving them the day before.

*** A few days later, it was New Year's Eve. Rose was excited because Scorpius was going to come to the Potter's for New Year's Eve.

Like every year, all of the cousins, by that, I mean, Teddy, Victorie, Domonique, Louis, Molly, Lucy, Fred, Roxanne, Rose, Hugo, James, Albus, Lily, Caroline, and even Maddison, were sitting in the living room, talking about different things. James had asked if it was okay to invite Maddison, and of course, Harry and Ginny said that was fine. Everyone was sitting around, listening to a conversation about James and Maddison's last Quidditch match against the Tornados, when Rose heard the sound of someone apparating outside. She knew exactly who it was, so, she jumped up out of the chair she was sitting in, and got the door before Scorpius even had a chance to knock.

"Hey." Rose said when she answered the door, getting a view of her silver eyed and platinum blond haired boyfriend.

"Hey. You didn't even give me a chance to knock." Scorpius chuckled, as Rose let him in. He received many Hey Scorpius's as he entered the room. Rose sat back down at where she was sitting before, and Scorpius sat by her, on the floor, leaning against her legs, as she played with his hair. The conversation went back to James and Maddison talking about their Quidditch matches playing for Puddermore. Then, the conversation switched to a few different topics, such as Domonique's career as a singer and model, and Roxanne's career now that she just got a job working for Firebolt. She basically got to test drive brooms all day, lucky.

The night went by. Everyone had dinner and dessert, and talked about different things. Before anyone knew it, it was almost midnight. Everyone knows what midnight meant on New Year's Eve. Rose's insides and thoughts were going a mile a minute. She was totally going to kiss Scorpius when the time turned to midnight. It was a great excuse to sneak a good kiss in, without being scolded by her family.

A few minutes went by. Scorpius looked down at his watch, and it read 12:00. He was doubting himself at first if he should do it or not, considering the fact that all of Rose's family was there, but, he put that at the back of his mind. He went over to Rose, pulled her into him, and kissed her right on the lips. Scorpius was right, all of Rose's family watched for a second, then they realized what time it was. So, all of the couples shared a good old fashioned New Year's kiss, and then broke apart. Everyone smiled at each other, but, there was one unexpected couple that still had their lips locked. Everyone was surprised to see that James and Maddison were sharing a kiss. She was runner her hands through James's already messy jet black hair.

Ginny was happy to see this. She was happy to know that her oldest son wasn't in a slump about Alejandra anymore, and that he could move on. Ginny really didn't like Alejandra anyway, she found her prissy and high maintenance for James. Ginny did like Maddison though, a lot. She reminded her of herself a little bit. And, what made it extra special was that she and Harry knew and were friends with her parents. Even though Dean was her ex, Ginny and him were still friends over the years. They had both found their true love, and clearly, that was defiantly not with each other.

Maddison and James finally broke apart, and were nervously laughing when all of James's family had watched them.

Anyways, for Scorpius and Rose, Christmas and New Year's were pretty enjoyable. They both loved their gifts. But, they couldn't wait to get back to school, and see each other full time again.

Author's Notes:Hey everyone! Here's another chapter. First of all, before I go rambling on about something, I would like to acknowledge @gryffindorgirl2024 for giving me some great ideas that inspired this chapter. I greatly appreciate it. Without them, I would have not have a clue on how to phrase this chapter. So, thank you. Now, form this point on, the story is going to get pretty good. I'm really excited to write the second half of Scorpius and Rose's 7th year. There are probably going to be some more small time skips, so bare with me. It'll definitely be worth it. As I always do in author's notes, I would like to say thank you guys for everything you've showed to this story. I love looking at my notifications and seeing you guys voting and leaving kind comments. I also still can't believe that we are over 5,000 reads! That's insane! So, as always, stay safe and healthy my fellow Potterheads.

-christinahpfan12