A Very Harmony Christmas

The Mystery Of The House-Elves

Prompt: December 9th. Christmas Fairytale/Folklore AU! Write a drabble based upon a real life Christmas/Winter fairytale..

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The Mystery of the House-elves

"Me thinks, that she thinks that..."

"He's a book!"

"Indubitably, brother-mine. For why else..."

"Would she be studying him so hard?"

"Of course, that begs the question..."

"Of what type of book he is."

"Adventure..."

"Mystery..."

"Thriller..."

"Horror..."

"Perhaps not that one, she does seem to like him."

"Perverse pleasure?"

"A romance in disguise?"

"What are the two of you going on about?" Harry laughed, looking up from the wizard's chess set that he'd been studying.

He'd been there for some time now, trying to work out how it was that Ron always beat him. He didn't think he was that bad a player, he knew the rules and, logic dictated (here he internally grinned at himself, knowing that Hermione would be proud of him for thinking logically) that he should win occasionally at the very least. His current supposition was that his chessmen were holding him back with the way that they refused to do what he wanted and were always yelling advice at him. Thus, he was currently using a non-magical set.

The twins looked back at him with expressions of complete innocence on their faces.

"Us?"

"Nothing?"

"Simply puzzling out a..."

"Conundrum."

"Ooh, great word, less good-looking twin!"

"I aim to please, less intelligent twin."

"And what is this puzzle that has you stumped?" Harry laughed.

"Hermione," they shrugged together.

"And the way that she's..."

"Been staring at you for so long."

"What?" the girl in question asked, blinking hard as though she was just reappearing into the reality of the world.

"These two think that you're looking at me funny and they're trying to work out why," Harry told her.

"I have?" Hermione asked, sounding confused. Then, "sorry, Harry, I guess I have been off in my own little world."

But now that the twins had pointed it out, Harry's own curiosity was piqued.

"What were you thinking about?" he asked.

"Your jumper," she replied simply.

"You know that you have one, too," Harry pointed out.

"Oh, yes, true, but that's not what I was thinking about," she replied.

He raised an eyebrow in question and she sighed.

"I was thinking about what Dobby told us, that Ugly Christmas Jumpers have been around for hundreds of years before us humans started the trend," she said. "Of course, that got me wondering how many other house-elf things have made their way into muggle society without us knowing."