Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ficlet
This takes place on Christmas when Albus is 16, the same year he came out to his family.
Thanks to @dreaminofsnow for being an awesome beta (as always) and thanks to @iulyartside for the inspiration :)
Opening Christmas presents was always a hectic affair at the Burrow. Yet, however exhausting his family gatherings might be, Albus felt at home in the chaos of presents whizzing through the room like oddly shaped wasps and the boisterous buzzing of chatter filling the air. It was a gleeful free-for-all that ended with an enormous pile of shimmering paper in the centre of the room.
The last presents they opened every year were Grandma Weasley’s, which she kept separate until the end of the present-opening frenzy and then hand-delivered to every family member. Albus busied himself by tinkering with some of his other presents as he waited for Grandma Weasley to make her way around the room with her pile of neatly wrapped packages.
“Here you are dear,” Grandma Weasley said with a smile as she finally reached him.
Albus accepted the familiar rumpled package his grandmother was handing him, already knowing what was inside it. Nevertheless, he pretended to be curious as he thanked her, set the package on his lap, and began to tear the corners of the shiny wrapping paper that covered it. His grandmother made to move on to the next person, but before she handed them their present she turned back towards him.
“Oh, and Albus dear? Just know that this wasn’t my idea. You have your cousins to thank for this.”
His grandmother having resumed her distribution, Albus raised a single eyebrow as he momentarily paused unwrapping his present to observe his cousins, who were spread out across the room. Some were already modelling their Grandma Weasley sweater, others were in the midst of opening theirs, and all were behaving in perfectly normal ways. At least, what he considered to be normal behaviour in the context of his crazy family.
All except for Rose, who was blatantly staring at him, her arms crossed in front the golden “R” emblazoned on her new sweater, a big grin on her face. Albus’s eyebrow rose higher as he returned Rose’s gaze. He suddenly found himself second-guessing the contents of the package that sat on his lap. But the weight and texture of the gift felt consistent with the knit monogrammed sweater he was accustomed to receiving from his grandmother. Besides, Grandma Weasley wouldn’t participate in some scheme his cousins had come up with to prank him, would she?
No, thought Albus, and even if she did, it wouldn’t be something mean-spirited or dangerous.
Albus resumed unwrapping his present, albeit more slowly. Since this was apparently his cousins’ idea, he felt that caution was necessary.
Once he peeled back the colourful layers of paper, he looked at the knitted sweater that was inside. It was just as he had been expecting, except that, once he unfolded it, it wasn’t at all what he was expecting.
This year, his sweater was storm-cloud grey, but instead of the “A” monogram usually present on its front, it was written, in bold white capital letters, “THE GAY COUSIN”.
Awestruck, he held it up to have a better overview his new sweater.
He noticed belatedly that his grandmother and most of his cousins had fallen silent, nervously waiting for his reaction.
Albus found that couldn’t keep the big beam off his face as he proceeded to hurriedly remove the jumper he was wearing so he could put on his new sweater.
He looked down at the bold text that now rested across his chest and laughed as he enthusiastically declared: “This is bloody brilliant.”
Albus hugged his grandmother before she could admonish him for his poor language, then paraded around the room to thank all of his cousins for their conceptual contribution to his gift.
“This was your idea, wasn’t it?” Rose’s smug smile confirmed his suspicions.
“I knew you’d like it,” she replied.
“I’m touched, but I’m not the only gay cousin in this room.”
“No, you’re not the only non-straight cousin in this room,” corrected Rose. “Besides, you’re the first one to come out to the whole family. That took a lot of courage.”
“Sorry? What was that? A Gryffindor complimenting a Slytherin on his bravery?” Albus chuckled, before continuing sincerely. “Maybe next year you’ll be wearing one of these too.”
Rose sighed thoughtfully. “Maybe.”
It would be several days until Albus took off his new Weasley sweater, and when he did it was only at his mother’s insistence that both he and the sweater needed a wash.
