Written for the Soulmates Competition from the HPFC. Set in Stone option. All feedback is welcomed and appreciated.
It was a warm summer afternoon and I had just adjusted my hair for what seemed like the thousandth time in the past hour. Normally I wouldn't care this much about my appearance but it could've been the day. The last thing I wanted was to meet my match after all this time with my hair looking as though a small animal nested inside it.
My arm was outstretched and my hand was tightly clutched around the grip of my wand and my hand was beginning to feel sweaty for holding it like that for so long. I couldn't take any chances with letting my guard down, this event only came once a year and this was my seventh year in a row coming to this stupid thing and I wanted to get this over as soon as I could. I was the last child of the Weasley/Potter clan who didn't have their match yet. My younger brother found his the second time he came to this event and I still haven't heard the last of that.
The crowd was thick and it was difficult to weave through it without constantly getting bumped into. The chatter amongst the people was deafening and I could barely hear myself think, much less eavesdrop on the conversations on the newly found matches. Every once in a while, I'd catch the sight of a faint glow coming from a wand right beside me and my heart would stop for a moment. Only for a moment though, because as quickly as it happened did I realize that they were not my match and I was met with a new sight of a happy embracing couple.
As of June 2000, all wands are made in pairs. Every year from this point forward, an event will take place in the center of Diagon Alley where the wand wielders may search for their match. Matching wands will glow when they have sensed their partner is near on this day and on this day only. Wand Wielders of matching wands are considered soulmates and each other's other half. The wands are never wrong.
Almost everyone in the Wizarding world had that excerpt memorized. What if I didn't have a soulmate? No, that's stupid, Rose, everyone has a soulmate. Maybe mine got lost or didn't want to show up this year or has given up on finding me. These were the same anxiety induced thoughts that filled my head every year when I would end up coming home without a soulmate.
I was so lost in thought that I didn't notice my wand begin to light up just as I collided hard into the person in front of me. The impact caused me to hit the ground, arse first. There was no pain at first, but a slowly throbbing made its presence known. It happened so fast, I felt disorientated and it took a few moments before I realized what had happened. What a great way to meet your soulmate. Crash right into them and make a downright fool of yourself. Lovely.
The excitement of finally knowing who my soulmate was compelled me to ignore the pain in my backside and look up. My stomach felt like it was twisting itself into a pretzel shape and my heart was racing. Then everything came to a halt. My heart stopped, my breathing stopped, the world had stopped.
It couldn't have been him. There was no way.
"Would you look at that, Weasley. Looks like you're going to be stuck with me forever," said the haughty voice of Scorpius Malfoy. He had the obnoxious, trademark Malfoy smirk drawn on his face and I could feel all my excitement vanish.
Malfoy towered over me, his head blocked out the sun and I was still sitting on the ground, at his feet, in his shadow, feeling nothing but utter disappointment. The wands were never wrong.
I didn't think he was going to be jumping up at the opportunity to help me onto my feet and whisk me away into the sunset, so I finally got over the initial shock enough to lift myself off the ground. In an attempt to keep the tiny glimmers of hope that lingered behind, I glanced around Malfoy to see if there was anyone there. There was no one. No one but me and Malfoy and two glowing wands that have our fates sealed.
"You're going to love being my wife," he continued after I stood up. "You get to bring me dinner and warm my bed for me."
The tightness in my chest soon grew more painful than the pain in my arse. With each unpleasant remark he made about our future marriage, I could feel my throat close up more and more. The thought of being with Malfoy sexually and bringing him food made me nauseous and I was suddenly afraid of puking right at his feet.
"Are you even listening to me?" Malfoy asked, realizing that I haven't been paying any attention to his disgusting planning. "Are you going to say something, or am I going to have a mute as a wife?"
"Shove off, Malfoy!" I shouted and roughly pushed past him.
I didn't even look back at him as I shoved my way through the crowd. There was no doubt that he was my soulmate, the wands were never wrong, but that didn't mean I had to be stuck with him. There was no law saying I had to be with him.
I arrived home sometime in the early evening and I walked into the house just as my parents and my brother were settling down to have dinner in the dining room. I walked right past them and began marching up the stairs.
"Did you meet him, Rose?" I heard my mother call out from downstairs.
"No," I replied shortly, opened the door to my bedroom and slammed it shut behind me.
The barn owl in the cage by my window fluttered its wings, startled by my abrupt entrance. I collapsed onto my bed, just noticing that I had woken up the owl and it was now peering at me with what seemed like a look of annoyance.
"Sorry," I muttered quietly before rolling over to face the wall.
Somewhere between cursing Malfoy and hating myself, I drifted off to sleep, still wearing the outfit I had been wearing all day. I must have not been asleep for very long because when I awoke to the sound of a sharp rapping against glass, it was pitch dark outside now. My family must have gone to bed, they usually don't bother me when my door is shut.
The rapping sound continued, and I willed myself to climb out of bed and walked over to the window. Sitting on the window still was a dark colored owl, so dark that it had almost completely blended in with the dark sky. The window creaked slightly as I cracked it up enough to let the bird come in. A yellowed envelope was held tightly in its beak and it dropped it into my outstretched hand. It didn't fly off after delivering the letter which meant whoever the sender was, was expecting a reply right away.
I flipped the letter over and observed my first and last name was scrawled in elegant cursive across the back of the envelop. I had a feeling I knew who the letter was from and could already feel the level of irritation rising. I ripped open the envelop, not caring if I damaged the contents or not and withdrew the parchment.
Dear Rose Weasley,
It's a bit daft to play hard to get when neither of us have any other choice.
Yours,
Scorpius Malfoy
It was single handedly the most infuriating letter I had ever received. I crumpled up the stupid thing and tossed it in the nearby waste basket. The dark colored owl sitting on my window sill hooted expectantly. Instead of giving it a letter to return to Malfoy, I cracked the window open again and shooed it away.
"Tell your master to go fuck himself!" I shouted out the window at the retreating bird figure.
Unfortunately for me, owls don't normally understand English and it didn't inform its master of my outburst. By the end of the summer, I had a stack of unopened letters piled on my desk underneath the window where that stupid owl seemed to scratch at every day.
Each new letter flying through my window was just another reminder that soon I would head off to Hogwarts for my final year and I couldn't hide behind unanswered letters from the safety of my bedroom. I would have to see Malfoy in person. I avoided packing my things in my trunk until the last possible second just so I wouldn't have to come to terms with the miserable year I was facing.
I stood with Albus on the train platform, the station clouding up with smoke from the train. My ears were filled with the sounds of whistles, and shouting, and tearful goodbyes. I would never get to experience this again and I should have been taking in every last second, filing it away as permanent memories so I would never forget this important part of my life. I was too focused with scanning the crowd, looking out for a head of white blond hair.
So far so good.
"What's wrong, Rose? You've been awfully quiet the last few weeks. You can't be that sad already, we still have the whole school year!" Albus was chattering away in my ear and I was only half-listening.
I loved him to death but my sanity was at stake here. Ever since that day in June one of my biggest goals went from finding my soulmate to avoiding my soulmate.
The doors of the train opened and I silently thanked my parents for getting me out of bed early so I could grab a spot closest to the doors and be one of the first ones on. I pushed my way past other students while walking through the train cars, grabbing the first empty one I found. With my trunk safely stowed above me, and I sat down in one of the window seats with a sigh of relief.
Safe. Or so I thought, until the voice of Albus standing in the doorway brought me out of my state of relief.
"Rose? We have to go to the prefect meeting, remember?" he said. I must have made a distraught face because he continued prodding me. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine," I sighed. "Let's go get this over with."
I didn't know who was the Head Boy and Girl this year but neither I nor Albus got the positions. I just hoped they weren't prats like last year's heads. Malfoy is also a prefect and they last thing I want to deal with is my insufferable soulmate and two incompetent idiots.
Albus slid the compartment door open and we were met with about twenty pairs of eyes. They had all taken their seats and looked rather squished as there wasn't much room for everyone. One seventh year girl from Ravenclaw was the only one standing, a Head Girl badge glimmered on her chest. Her partner, however, was nowhere to be seen.
"Right, well," the Ravenclaw girl started. She didn't sound like she had much confidence in my opinion. "The Head Boy isn't here but I guess I can start without him?"
She sounded unsure and her eyes would occasionally glance at the compartment door as she spoke, like she was hoping this mystery Head Boy will swoop in and save her from the awkwardness she was suffering from. Scorpius Malfoy hadn't made an appearance yet and I could feel my stomach twist in knots at the mere thought that he could be the Head Boy. The Head Girl passed out pieces of parchment that had the train duties of each prefect listed on them. Just as I was about to reach out and grab my slip of parchment, the compartment door slid open with a tad too much force than necessary.
"Sorry, I'm late," the boy in the doorway drawled.
I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn't seeing things but as the boy strode into the compartment, his head held high and his chest puffed out like a ridiculous peacock, my worst fears were confirmed. A shiny Head Boy badge hung off the haughty chest of Scorpius Malfoy. I lowered my head so I wouldn't have to meet his eyes and I was praying to every deity that he wouldn't single me out.
Malfoy walked over to his partner and snatched the piece of parchment out of her hands. His eyes scanned over it with a slight smirk and then peered at me when he was finished. He crumpled the parchment up and shoved it into his trousers' pocket.
"Don't give this one any assignments, I have something else in mind of her," he said, his grey eyes glittering.
I could feel my heart leap up into my throat and I tried to ignore the questioning looks I was receiving. Out of my peripherals, I could even see Albus looking at me. The Head Girl had her eyebrows knitted together in confusion as her eyes switched their focus between me and Malfoy before eventually just accepting what had happened and continued passing out the pieces of parchment.
"Actually, I think Weasley's duties begin right now," said Malfoy, reaching forward and grabbing my hands that were folded in my lap.
He yanked me forward and out of the compartment. My cheeks were burning and I knew I was going to face ever ending questioning from Albus later. Malfoy still had a tight hold on my hand as he led me past numerous other compartments. Anytime I tried to wrestle my hand free of his grip, he only held on with more force, making me feel weak and helpless.
He stopped in front of an empty compartment, slid the door open and thrust me inside, closing the door behind as he slipped in. Immediately after closing the door he closed all the blinds making the room much darker and he whirled around to face me, a triumph look on his face.
"Did you get my letters?" he asked.
"You embarrassed me in front of everyone and dragged me into an empty compartment to hold me hostage just so you could ask if I got your letters?" I was angry and y voice was cracking and probably sounded rather weak. "Yes, I got your bloody letters! And I burned them all as soon as I got them!"
"You burned them?" he raised an eyebrow at me. "What a shame, I had some really good lines in some of them."
I attempted to shove past him to try and escape through the door but his hands caught my wrist in a tight grip, tighter than the one he used to drag me in here. I struggled to get free but I had accomplished no such thing because now he had my back pressed up against the door and my wrists shackled in his hands. I glared at him, trying my hardest to give him the most intimidating look I could possibly muster. Instead of backing away like I had hoped, he merely smirked.
"It's a little hard to court your soulmate when she keeps trying to run away from you," he said, a hint of humor in his face.
"Take a hint then!"
"What part of you don't have any choice do you not understand?" he asked, his face coming to close to mine.
Before I could open my mouth, he pressed his lips to mine and kissed me. I didn't respond to his kisses, I just stood there while he attempted to achieve some kind of response. He pressed his lips harder to mine and his tongue gently caressed my bottom lip, trying to encourage me to kiss back but I held my ground. The second he pulled away the slightest millimeter, I reached out with my teeth and bite his lip as hard as I could.
He pulled away from me abruptly and I let his lip slide out from my teeth. I broke skin and blood was beginning to flow from his bottom lip. His hands released my wrists and he brought a finger up to his damaged lip and dabbed a bit of blood off of it to examine.
"Actually I do have a choice, Malfoy. It's either be with you or be alone, and quite frankly I'd rather be alone for the rest of my life," I said, feeling a rush of confidence.
I grabbed the door handle and thrust the compartment door open and left, leaving a surprised and slightly annoyed Malfoy alone in the compartment to deal with his wound.