A Very Harmony Christmas

It's A Couple Thing

Prompt: December 5th. Matching sweaters. Harry, Hermione and a pair of matching/complimentary sweaters.

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It's A Couple Thing

Bang!

The slam of the kitchen door left everyone in complete silence.

"Well, that went well," Hermione deadpanned.

Harry sighed. "I'll talk to him."

Thinking about it, though, Harry had no idea what to say to Ron. His supposed best mate had exploded upon hearing that he and Hermione were now a couple. He'd ranted at the top of his lungs, his ears and face matching his hair, until his mother had sent him to his room to cool off. Harry had hoped that Ron would be happy for them; apparently he was dead wrong.

"Now that we can..."

"All hear ourselves again..."

"We can address..."

"The real question on everyone's minds."

"Where did you get the brilliant..."

"Amazing..."

"Cracking..."

"Again with my joke?"

"My joke, less-good-looking twin."

The twins looked at each other, shrugged and turned back to Harry and Hermione.

"Awesome..."

"Christmassy..."

"Jumpers?"

"That just so happen to be..."

"Identical, just like us."

Harry noticed Hermione looking at him. They'd known that the question would be asked. They'd hoped to have more time to come up with a story. Unfortunately, the Weasleys had returned to Grimmauld from visiting Mister Weasley before they'd had that chance.

"It's a couple thing," Harry blurted.

"A couple thing?" Sirius asked, amusement in his voice, knowing that Harry was lying, having been in the room when they returned and had answered the exact same question twenty minutes ago, albeit with the truth.

Harry dared not look at his godfather, figuring that glaring at the man would ensure that whatever was about to come out of Harry's mouth would be picked up as a lie if he did so.

"Yep. A couple thing. In the muggle world," he nodded.

"The muggle world..."

"Has jumpers like that?"

"Ugly Christmas Jumpers?" Harry replied to the twin's dubiousness. "Definitely. Thousands of them! In every colour and design you can imagine."

"Considering who you're talking to..."

"That would be rather impressive."

"And couples wear them at Christmas?" Mrs Weasley asked, and Harry wasn't sure if her question was in relation to their actual jumpers or more to do with exploring this idea of identical jumpers with the ones that she knitted every year.

"All the time," Harry replied. "Lots of couples buy a new matching one every year, make a collection of them."

"And since this is your first Christmas together, you decided to buy matching jumpers," Sirius half-asked, half stated, still with that laughter of his bubbling under the surface of his words.

"You bet!" Harry exclaimed.

"Fair enough, Harry..."

"But that then begs the question..."

"How did you buy them so quickly..."

"Especially when you can't leave the house?"

"I'd like to hear the answer to that question as well," a frowning Mrs Weasley asked.

Harry's eyes darted around the room, desperately trying to come up with an answer.

"Kreacher!" he blurted, his eyes coming to rest on the grumpy of house-elf standing in the corner.

Thankfully, the package that Harry and Hermione had brought for him from Dobby had disappeared before the Weasleys had returned. Somehow, Harry couldn't see Kreacher ever wearing the Ugly Christmas Jumper that he'd been given.

"Kreacher?" Mrs Weasley asked, all eyes turning on the elf who simply glared back.

"Yep. Kreacher," Harry replied. "I asked Kreacher to go and buy them for me. From the muggle world."

"From the muggle world?"

"Are you sure?"

"Only these are clearly magical..."

"Unicorns..."

"Hippogriffs..."

"House-elves..."

"Not to mention the flashing lights."

Harry could have slapped himself in the head. Even wearing one of the jumpers and Hermione standing beside him – obstinately not helping, a look of bewildered amusement dancing in her eyes – wearing one as well, he'd forgotten the magical nature of them.

"I asked Kreacher to change them up a bit, make them unique and magical," Harry stated with the first thing that popped into his mind.

"Pull the other one..."

"Kreacher would never help any of us!"

"But Kreacher would do anything for family," Sirius said slowly, finally finally helping. "And Harry is family. Not only is he my godson, by my great-aunt Dorea married Charlus Potter and she, at least, was never blasted from the Black Family."

Harry saw Kreacher start in surprise before his big, tennis-ball sized eyes fixed on Harry, staring at him with more intensity than ever before.

"That actually makes sense..."

"But who would have ever imagined..."

"That Kreacher would do something like that?"

"So, neither of you two left the house today? It was Kreacher?" Mrs Weasley asked, obviously still suspicious.

"Definitely not!" Harry replied, trying to sound as indignant at the question as possible. "Kreacher bought them for us."

"Well, I guess that settles it..."

"Indeed it does..."

"Matching Ugly Christmas Jumpers..."

"Is a couple craze in the muggle world..."

"Of course, why should the muggles..."

"Get to have all the fun..."

"When we magicals..."

"And especially us..."

"The two greatest pranksters..."

"Since the great Marauders themselves..." and here the twins gave identical low bows to Sirius, doffing imaginary caps in the process.

"Are the most fun people..."

"On the entire planet?"

"Time to shop, less-good-looking twin!"

"Indeed it is, less-witty-twin!"

"Angelina..."

"And Alicia..."

"Are going to love us!" they chorused before instantly apparating away with a crack.

Harry looked at Hermione. Her eyes were sparkling with laughter and he could tell that she was barely holding in a shake of her head and an accompanying eye-roll. He didn't dare respond, even non-verbally, not when they'd just gotten away with it. Or, at least, he had.

Matching Ugly Christmas Jumpers for Couples. He could see it now – the new craze that was about to sweep the Magical World. Harry just hoped that Angelina and Alicia never found out that it'd been started by him lying through his teeth!