Hogsmeade was awkward, with Jeanette and Albus making googly-eyes at one another, but Scorpius and I managed pleasant enough conversation with them both while we hurriedly drank down a butter beer each. Then we ran out of The Three Broomsticks as fast as we could and began our Christmas shopping. (It wasn’t too evil of us, really—they had a lot of awkward flirting to catch up on.)
“You’ve got a massive list of gifts to buy,” Scorpius said, his eyes widening when I pulled out a scrap of parchment.
I shrugged. “I’ve got like six million cousins, remember?”
He grinned and poked me playfully in the ribs.
“We’d better get a move on, then,” he said.
For the next couple hours, Scorpius helped me pick out gifts for my cousins and Jeanette. For Roxanne, I picked out a make-up set complete with a bright purple, heart-shaped compact mirror. For Lily, I picked out a bright yellow cardigan, since I thought it’d look particularly nice on her, with her long and straight red hair. Albus would get a set of new chasers’ gloves, made from dried dragon skin and packaged with a cleaning solution and care manual. Jeanette’s gift was a set of pink and white bangles. Louis’ was a t-shirt I had bought the last time that we had a Hogsmeade trip.
As we moved down the list, Scorpius began asking questions about family members he hadn’t yet met. James, I told him, was Al and Lily’s older brother, who worked at the ministry in the magical games and sports division. Freddie was Roxie’s older brother, who became a manager at Uncle George’s joke shop. (James and Freddie were best friends and the most fun to be around, I told him.) Victoire and Dominique were Lou’s older sisters, and Dominique worked as a photographer for the Daily Prophet, while Victoire was currently a stay-at-home mom to her newly born baby, Gigi. Gigi’s dad was Al, Lily, and James’ god-brother—that’s Teddy, who was an auror under Uncle Harry’s direction.
“Your family is really very big, isn’t it?”
His eyes were wide.
I laughed and replied, “Yep. And you haven’t even heard about my youngest cousins yet—Molly and Lucy.”
I launched into an explanation of the three- and six-year-olds who belonged to my uncle Percy and my aunt Audrey.
------------------
While Hogsmeade ended up being loads of fun, it was nothing compared to sitting in Scorpius’ little room, on his plaid sofa, drinking hot cocoa and wrapping Christmas presents the muggle way.
“Do you like the red ribbon or the green on this one?” I asked him, holding up a package wrapped in gold and red striped paper.
“Green,” he said instantly, tossing me a bundle of thin green ribbon.
“Thanks,” I said, catching it quickly. I had looked back to the package to begin tying the ribbon around it when I felt his stare. “What?” I asked, pushing a loose tendril of hair behind my ear.
“You just caught that, one-handed, without even really paying attention.”
I shrugged and set the gift down. “So?”
Scorpius was smirking. “Rose Weasley, you’re good at Quidditch, aren’t you?”
I felt the heat rise to my cheeks. I began to protest. “No, I’m not—well, not really—”
Scorpius laughed. “You are! Who else knows?” His expression was beyond highly amused—it looked like Christmas had come early.
“Hugo. And my parents.” I was getting more and more embarrassed. “But I’m really not good at it, not really good at it like Al. I just have quick reflexes… It’s really not a big deal.”
He was snickering.
“You’re a git,” I said, throwing a wad of wrapping paper at him.
He batted it away from his face. “A loveable git?”
I rolled my eyes but grinned nonetheless. “Just drink your hot cocoa and leave me be,” I said dramatically.
“I’d rather taste yours,” he said, swiftly kissing me. He pulled back for a second. “No fair—yours tastes better than mine.”
I leaned back towards him, my lips only an inch away from his. “Since you’re such a loveable git, I might just share.” And then I was kissing him.
What had started out as a goofy kiss turned quickly into something more. He reached over and took the ribbon from my hands, tossing it behind himself unceremoniously and pushing me back onto the cushy arm of the sofa. He was feeling up and down my torso, and I was letting my fingers weave through his blonde hair. But then his hands went to pulling the hem of my shirt up, and reality crashed down around me.
“Scorpius,” I moaned, “We have to finish these presents.”
He took advantage of our separated lips and pulled my shirt up over my head. Then he began kissing my neck.
“They can wait just a bit,” he said.
I was completely convinced.
------------------------------------
A loud shriek came from Jeanette as she opened up a big box in our dormitory. She had received it at dinner and simply could not wait to open it. She dragged Roxanne and me up here as soon as we’d cleared our plates.
“It’s my dress, it’s my dress,” she’d said excitedly as we followed her up to Gryffindor Tower. Jeanette was spending the Christmas holiday with us this year, at the Burrow, so her parents had sent her the dress she was supposed to wear to the St. Mungo’s New Years’ event.
She shrieked again as she pulled the dress out of the box. It was a long pink dress that had intricate and sparkly beading around the waistline and had thin spaghetti straps. She held it up to herself and looked at Rox and me expectantly.
“Oh my gosh,” she gushed. “Is this not the prettiest thing you’ve ever seen?”
Roxie smiled. “It’s gorgeous, Jeanette. Al is going to trip over his own feet after seeing you in this!”
Jeanette blushed as pink as her dress. “I hope so,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “What do you think, Rosie?”
I nodded. “It’s really pretty. That colour will look so nice on you.”
The dress, while very pretty and very fitting for Jeanette, had reminded me of the possible problem with the St. Mungos’ event—my whole family and Scorpius’ whole family would be there… I tried to plaster a grin on my face while Roxie and Jeanette begin talking about dresses, but I wouldn’t help worrying about everything that could potentially go wrong.
“Mine is black with a teal sash,” Rox said. “It’s knee length, so I’m getting matching teal pumps. It’s going to be wicked!”
I sighed. I didn’t even have a dress yet—I was too worried to even begin thinking about a wardrobe for the function.
A/N: What do you think? I've got another chapter written and ready to be edited, so hopefully it'll be between a week and a week and a half before the next update. :) Yay!
Okay, reviewer question: what family member do you think will stir up the most drama at the New Years party and why?
Thanks so much for the read and review!
--Kate/RP
Write a Review The Properties of a Rose: Part Twenty Eight
Printer Friendly Version
