Chapter 38: Christmas Again

About a week past since everyone arrived home from school. Everyone was looking forward to Christmas. Especially Rose and Scorpius. They were excited to send each other's gifts. Rose couldn't wait for Scorpius to send a reaction/response letter to her gift. And vise versa. Scorpius couldn't wait to get a letter from Rose about the bracelet.

But, for Rose, some other feeling was dwelling in her. She still hadn't told Ron about Scorpius. She said to herself that she was going to do it before Christmas, but Christmas was in less than 24 hours. She just couldn't. She tried multiple times, but she just couldn't spit it out. It wasn't exact ally easy to say, Oh yea, I've been dating the man you hate's son for 6 months, and we were pretty close before then. Rose was just dreading it. There were only a few things that made her feel better. One was, that she was going to send Scorpius his gift tomorrow. And two, Scorpius supported her, no matter what she did. I mean, he thought it was a smart idea to tell Ron sooner than later, but he supported whatever Rose thought.

There was just one conflict though. Rose may have already wrote to Scorpius and told him that she already did it before Christmas. And, she came so close to doing it! She had really good intentions that night. Her, Hermione, Hugo, and Ron were all sitting at dinner one night. Pig came in and dropped and dropped a letter for Rose. Of course, it was from Scorpius. Ron noticed how much Rose was smiling while she was reading it, and asked, "Who is that from?" Hermione caught this, and gave her daughter a wishing wink. This would be the perfect opportunity to tell him. They were all sitting down for dinner, and everything was nice and calm. Rose had all the intentions to answer him confidently, but at the last second, she crumpled. All she could manage to spit out was, "a friend." Damn it. Why couldn't she just spit it out!

Anyways, Rose decided to put it on the back burner temporarily, and just focus on the Christmas festivities.

"Did you tell him yet? Hugo told me that you almost did." Albus said to Rose. Every year, everyone went over the Potter's house for Christmas Eve and New Years. But, for Christmas, that was always spent at The Burrow.

"No. I'll do it after Christmas. I don't want to spoil the holiday." Rose responded with a sigh.

"Well, I would suggest you do it soon. Just a warning." Albus said back. He knew Scorpius's plans for Rose's gift tomorrow. He thought it would be easier for Ron to know before Rose's gift came.

"I know, you not the first one who's said that." Rose told him sarcastically. After Al and Rose's conversation, Caroline came over and took Albus. Curtesy of Ginny, their was some mistletoe over the doorway of the hall. Rose watched as Albus and Caroline went on to snogg. This made Rose a little jealous. Al and Caroline were able to be so open about their relationship. They had really only been dating for three months. Her and Scorpius really had been sort of together for a year, and still not very many people knew about it. Rose knew that she was being ridiculous about it, but, still.

The rest of the night went fine. Everyone sat around and ate dinner, dessert, and chatted. By everyone, I mean, Arthur, Molly, Bill, Fleur, Victorie, Teddy, Andromeda, Domonique, Louis, Charlie, Percy, Audrey, Molly, Lucy, George, Angelina, Fred, Roxanne, Ron, Hermione, Rose, Hugo, Harry, Ginny, James, Albus, Caroline, and Lily. Everyone sat all over the main floor of the house, trying to talk to each other across rooms.

After a while, everyone went home, and they would all see each other at The Burrow tomorrow.

***

The next day, Scorpius woke up looking very forward to today. Today was Christmas! Today was the day that he would send Rose her gift. That was what excited him the most. Scorpius quickly got up out of bed, and walked over to his desk, and looked at the wrapped box that contained Rose's Scorpius bracelet. There was just one last thing to do. He had to write a letter to go along with it.

Scorpius started to grab a regular piece of parchment, but them something accrued to him. Rose's dad knew about their relationship. She had told him that. He was surprised that Rose didn't tell him his reaction, but maybe she was waiting to tell him in person. If it was really bad, she would have wrote already. Anyways, for a nice surprise, Scorpius thought he would send her a howler. Not a bad howler, a good one, where she could hear his voice. He thought that she would like to hear his voice. So, before Scorpius went downstairs, he decided to pull out howler parchment, and record his voice for the letter.

Rose,

Merry Christmas! I figured since you already told your dad, that it would be a cool idea to send a howler. Now, I know what your thinking, "why would you send a howler!," but I thought it would be a nice idea if I could read this to you. Anyways, I really hope you like your gift. I thought it would look really pretty on you. I hope you have a good rest of your Christmas, and say wish Merry Christmas to Al for me. I love you, and I can't wait to see you again.

Love, Scorpius

Scorpius used the special recording enchantment that came with the howler paper, and sealed his letter up in an envelope. He couldn't wait to send this to Rose. Truth be told, he was relieved that Rose's dad already knew. They could finally be open and relaxed about their relationship. As he was doing this, Draco walked into his room because he heard someone talking.

"Decided to send her a howler I see." Draco said as he entered the room.

"Oh yea." Scorpius said as he finished sealing the envelope.

"Are you sure about that? Does her family know yet?" Draco questioned.

"She wrote and said they knew, so I thought it would be a nice surprise." Scorpius said back.

"Well, okay. I just thought that you should be cautious if her family didn't know yet, but I guess if they know, it would be a nice gesture." Draco said to his son.

After their conversation, Scorpius threw on a shirt, and headed downstairs. He decided that after breakfast, gifts, and such, he would send Rose her present. Christmas morning went as usual as it did every year for Scorpius. Like the past 4 years, both Draco and Scorpius wished that Astoria could be there with them. Anyways, the house elves made breakfast for them, and they gave each other their gifts. Scorpius got Draco's gift the same day that he got Rose's. It was a guide to different Alchemy things. Draco actually enjoyed Alchemy. That was his job. He was an Alchemy specialist for magical objects at Gringotts. Ever since he fixed the vanishing cabinet many years ago, he realized he had a thing for Alchemy.

"Thanks. Now yours." Draco said as he filled through the book quickly, and went to get Scorpius's gift. For some reason, Scorpius noticed that Draco looked a little bit excited.?. Draco Malfoy was rarely excited or positive about things. This made Scorpius wonder.

Draco went upstairs to grab Scorpius's gift. This year was different. Draco Malfoy. Yes. Draco Malfoy was excited to give Scorpius his gift. He opened the closet in his study, and grabbed the gift. Then, he headed back downstairs.

"What's that?" Scorpius asked. He could tell what it was. It was kind of hard to hide the shape of a broom. Scorpius felt kind of excited all of a sudden. He then took it from his father.

"Go ahead." Draco insisted. Scorpius began to rip the paper off it. Despite already knowing the shape of a broom, Scorpius was still shocked when he unwrapped the Firebolt 2. That specific model had just came out. Like, two weeks ago. After many years, Firebolt finally dropped there second model. This new model was supposed to be even faster than the first.

When Draco was on his way home from work one day, he passed Quality Quidditch Supplies in Diagon Alley. He noticed that the new Firebolt 2's had just dropped, and there was a display in the shop window. Draco enjoyed going to Scorpius's Quidditch matches, and he was a really good flyer and stuff. But, then, Draco thought, you know what would make him and even better flyer? A few minutes later, Draco walked out of the shop with the broom.

"Whoah!" Scorpius said as he observed the broom.

The next half hour was spent with Scorpius thanking Draco and geeking out over the broom. Suddenly, an owl came in through the window, and dropped something wrapped in front of Scorpius. Scorpius immediately smiled when the owl came in. He knew what the owl was delivering.

***

At the Weasley household, their Christmas morning was going pretty similarly. By similarly, I mean that their Christmas morning was also going the same as it did every year. Hugo woke Rose up, and they went downstairs, opined presents, and ate breakfast. But, Rose was more excited for something else. She was going to send Scorpius's gift today! She really hoped he was going to like it.

After breakfast, Rose went up to her room, and got Scorpius's gift ready. She took the wrapped frame, and got out a piece of parchment to write a letter along with it.

Scorpius,

Merry Christmas! I really think you are going to like your present. I'm not going to spoil it in this letter, I'm going to let you see it for yourself. Actually, I don't think, I know you are going to love your present. You need to write back to me later with what next you think. Merry Christmas to both you and your dad. I hope you guys have a good day. I love you!

Love, Rose

Rose quickly wrote this and sealed it into an envelope. She then took the envelope and wrapped present downstairs to Pig.

"Okay Pig, I need you to deliver this to Scorpius." Rose said to the owl, but not to loudly so her dad wouldn't hear. With Rose's command, Pig took the present and envelope into his beak, and took off.

***

Scorpius took the wrapped present and envelope into his hands, and the owl he recognized to Rose's parents took off. Scorpius decided that he would first open the envelope. Automatically, he recognized the neat handwriting on the outside to be Rose's. He smiled as he wrapped open the envelope and read the letter. He read the letter a second time for pure enjoyment before he took the wrapped present.

What could this be? It was a flat, very normal sized package. It could be many different things. Then, Scorpius took the package, and started to rip the paper off. When the paper was all off, Scorpius looked at the framed picture of him and Rose. Scorpius didn't know what to say. It was wonderful. He looked away for one second, and the picture changed to a different one! Scorpius eventually went through every picture of the two of them. He loved it! Scorpius couldn't stop smiling of the little moving pictures of him and Rose.

Scorpius took the frame and walked upstairs to his room. When he got there, he placed the frame on his bedside table, next to the one of his mum. This and the lock necklace were the best and most thoughtful gifts he had ever received. He really loved them. He really loved Rose.

Scorpius thought since now that he had his gift from Rose, that he would send his gift to her. Before he sent it off, he wrote a nice thank you note explaining how much he loved his gift. Scorpius double checked to see if everything was perfect, then he walked back downstairs to hand the package and envelopes to the owl.

"Okay, I need you to get this to Rose." Scorpius said to the owl as he ran his hand through his feathers. Then, the owl took off out the window. Scorpius just smiled to himself. He couldn't wait for Rose to receive the bracelet. But for now, Scorpius trudged back up to his bedroom to look at his new photo frame collection of him and Rose.

***

A few hours later, Rose was showered and dressed, and her, Hermione, Ron, and Hugo made their way over to The Burrow. Rose was anxious to hear Scorpius's response, and also to see if he was going to send her a gift. When they got to The Burrow, everyone was sitting around talking about their Christmas Morning.

Albus and Caroline explained their gifts from each other. Albus was wearing the new boots that Caroline got for him, while Caroline explained, and also was wearing, the perfume he got her.

After that, it was time to exchange their gifts to each other. Now, you can imagine how long this took, hence the amount of people. One gift that everybody got, you probably already know it, was the classic Weasley jumper from Arthur and Molly. Like every year, Rose's was light blue, her favorite color. And just to say a few, Hugo's was orange, James's was red, Albus's was Slytherin green, and even Caroline received one. Hers was pink, to match the tips of her hair.

Just when everyone thought the gift exchange was done, and they started to get up and go to the large table, an owl came by the window with something in its beak. Molly opined the window for the owl to come in. She took the envelopes and little box from the owl, and it flew away. Molly looked at whom the envelopes and package was addressed to, an then made an announcement.

"Oh Rosie, it looks like these are for you." Rose's grandmother said across the loud room.

"Really? For me?" Rose questioned back. Why would anything for her be sent to her grandparents house? Then an idea popped into her head.

"Yes, it says Rose Weasley on these envelopes." Molly said as she handed her granddaughter the envelopes and little box. Rose took them from her. She automatically knew who they were from based on the handwriting. The owl must have noticed that she wasn't home, and flew to find her. That would explain why the owl didn't come this morning like she thought it would. Should she open it now? In front of everyone?  No. She didn't want to ruin the holiday. But, it looked like her decision was made for her, when one of the envelopes bursted open and started to talk.

Everyone silenced when they heard a voice that didn't belong to any of them. Rose's face turned to a shade of magenta, because she automatically recognized the voice. Everyone was listening. They all stared at Rose while listening to Scorpius's voice. Everyone was in SHOCK. What in the bloody hell just happened?

Rose thought she was going to explode. That just happened. That really happened. Seriously? He had to send a howler? But, then Rose felt bad. In his defense, he thought that Rose already told her family. Who knows? Maybe he didn't mean to have it sent to The Burrow. He probably just said, have it sent to Rose. The owl probably didn't know the difference. This wasn't his fault. It was hers, for not being straight up and just confessing. After a minute of Scorpius's voice filling the room, it finally stopped. Everyone listened. Everyone heard. Although Rose loved hearing Scorpius's voice and reading his letters, this really wasn't a good time right now.

Everyone sat there in silence. In shock. They all stared at a red faced Rose. That wasn't just anyone's voice. That was Scorpius Malfoy's voice. And he said some things. Like, about Rose. We're they seeing each other? Everyone really didn't know what to say. For once and one time only, the Weasley's were speechless.

Albus, Caroline, Hugo, Roxanne, Molly, and Lucy all grinned to each other. They all knew clearly what was going on. They looked around, everyone had either a shocked or confused look on their face.

Hermione was torn between to be happy or worried for her daughter. She was finally happy that her daughter somewhat confessed. But very worried for her what was going to come in the next few minutes.

Ginny's suspicions were correct! She knew it! This finally solved it!

Harry also had his suspicions confirmed. He knew that there was something going on between Rose and Scorpius. Between the time he subbed for DADA class, Teddy and Victorie's wedding, and the Quidditch match, he knew something was happening between the two of them.

After everyone had to process this for themselves, they all looked over at Ron. He looked like he just got hit by a Buldger.

Author's Notes:Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It is a little on the shorter side compared to the other chapters I've published, but, I thought it would be best to end this with a cliff hanger! Stay aware for when I post the next chapter to find out Ron's reaction! Ooh, that's going to be so fun to write! Like I said before, it is a little weird to write a Christmas chapter in June, but I hope you guys still liked it. As usual, I like to thank you all for all the reads, votes, kind comments, and more! You guys honestly don't know how much I appreciate it! And finally, I can almost be done saying my usual conclusion because the stay at home order got lifted yesterday in my state! But, with everything else going on, I am going to say, stay safe my fellow Potterheads.

-christinahpfan12