all the whispers of the possible become clear

Chapter 10: 7th Year - Part B

For once, Rose and Albus elected to stay at Hogwarts over the Christmas break to continue with their studying for NEWTs with Scorpius and Meredith. Many of the other final-year students had done the same, along with the usual smattering of students from other years, and they found that celebrating Christmas at Hogwarts was surprisingly enjoyable.

Even though they had been hitting the books with admirable fervour, everyone agreed that Christmas Day should be celebrated with equal enthusiasm. There was an amazing feast cooked up by the house elves, plenty of crackers to go around, and beautiful decorations in the Great Hall. "If they fed us like this every day we'd all look like pumpkins." Albus declared happily as he cut another slice of fruitcake.

Scorpius took the opportunity to laugh and relax with his friends, ever so often sneaking glances at Rose, who looked like she was wholeheartedly enjoying herself as well. He hadn't seen her quite so happy since she'd broken up with Derek, and her smile made him feel oddly warm and fuzzy inside. A selfish part of him was irrationally glad that she was spending their last Christmas as students with him and not with another guy.

He snapped out of his reverie when something poked him in the side, and he jerked up to see Rose wielding a Christmas cracker and raising a challenging eyebrow at him. "I bet I'll win." She declared.

Scorpius grinned back and obligingly yanked on the other end. With a resounding bang, the cracker yielded a ridiculous hat with all sorts of ornaments on it, which Rose placed firmly on his head. Then her eyes widened slightly as she noticed something on the hat.

To his shock, she leaned in and placed a light kiss on his cheek. Scorpius could feel his face flaming red and gaped at Rose, his heart speeding up to triple time.

"Mistletoe." She pointed to his hat in explanation and continued grinning.

He ripped the hat off his head and stared at it disbelievingly. And then, in a move that could only be explained by the Firewhiskey someone had slipped him, the magic of the night and her enchanting smile, he put the hat on her head and quickly kissed her cheek.

It was Rose's turn to look shocked, before Albus and Merry noticed the hat and came over to kiss her as well, and there was nothing but chaos after that.

--

It wasn't often that Rose went to the hospital wing, and she had gone there to visit one of her tutees who had been bitten during a Care of Magical Creatures class and was under observation in case late effects of the bite manifested. The third-year girl was rather gratified to receive a visit from the Head Girl, who had snuck her some Chocolate Frogs while Madam Fitzpatrick's back was turned.

She noticed Scorpius tending to a smaller boy, a slight frown on his face as he did so. It was rather heart-warming to see how gentle he could be with his patients, though Rose would rather die than admit he was part of the reason she was there in the hospital wing. Then he murmured something to the boy and got up to find Madam Fitzpatrick in the back room where she kept the potions. She patted her tutee on the head and strolled across the spacious area to the little boy. "Hello."

The boy had curled up a little in his bed as if frightened of her. "H-hello."

"My name's Rose. What's yours?" She asked in her warmest tone.

"I'm Calvin, ma'am." He replied softly.

"It's nice to meet you, Calvin." Rose smiled kindly. "I was just over there visiting my friend when I saw you, and I thought you might like a Chocolate Frog."

Calvin's small body relaxed and he returned her smile tentatively. "Yeah, that would be nice."

She handed one to him and grinned as he bit into it. Then she put on her best fake expression of horror. "Oh no, is it okay for you to eat that? You don't happen to have one of those strange diseases which make you allergic to chocolate, do you?"