Draco sat in the bland classroom and listened to the Charms Professor drone on about Soulmates. Most witches and wizards are bonded with a soulmate by the time they are fourteen. Mother had already taught him about Soulmates and how being a Veela changed a lot of the dynamics of a Soulmate relationship. He hadn't come into his Veela inheritance yet, but she always prepared ahead; after all, Veela inheritance was unpredictable. The teacher wrote a spell on the board and turned to the class.
"Repeat after me." He cleared his throat. "Amor verus inveneris." The class repeated the spell and the teacher nodded. "Now pick up your wands and try the spell again. Amor verus inveneris."
Draco raised his wand and repeated the spell. At first, nothing happened. Draco stared at his wand in disapproval. Maybe he cast it wrong— suddenly, Draco's train of thought was interrupted. Silver sparks of light flew out of his wand and wrapped around his wrist. The sparks formed a string and snaked through the air and out of the classroom.
"The Headmaster had the idea to have all of the students perform this spell at this exact time. I would appreciate it if you would all take this time to track down your Soulmate." Draco's heart thrummed with excitement. He was finally meeting the one. Who would it be? Would it be Pansy? Maybe it would be Astoria Greengrass. Draco walked out of the class swiftly, the string tugging hard on his wrist. He rounded a corner and ran straight into someone.
"Watch where you're going!" he snapped. When he looked at who the buffoon was, he saw none other than bloody Harry Potter.
"You're the one who ran into me! Bugger off!" Draco pushed past him and continued down the hall. Something grabbed his wrist and pulled him back.
"Let me go!" He looked at his wrist, and in horror, saw the silver string connected his wrist to Potter's. Potter's features took on a calm look.
"Well, thank god." He chuckled at Draco.
"Wh-what?" Already Potter was acting weird, and it unsettled him.
"At least it's someone I know won't go all over bragging about it. You hate me, so—" Draco cut him off.
"What makes you say that?! I don't hate you! I never did! It's not my fault you were a prick and didn't want to be friends with me!"
"Calm down! I didn't want to be friends with you because you were being a jerk in the first place! You were talking bad about Ron and he was my only friend," Harry said calmly. His calm only made Draco more turbulent.
"Maybe I was jealous! Maybe I wanted to make friends as easily as you but didn't know how because all I've ever known was how my father treated people!" He ran his hands through his hair. The thread grew to accommodate the movement, but when he tried to step away from him, it wouldn't budge. If felt good to get all of this off his chest, but he was worried about how Potter would react. He looked over worriedly at him. Potter looked abnormally calm.
He took Draco's hand, which was still connected to his own by the silver thread. "Let's start over. I don't want to fight if we're going to be Soulmates."
"Deal." Draco breathed a sigh of relief he didn't know he was holding.
"I don't want you to be mean to Ron or Hermione. They won't accept you if you are, and I want to be with you."
"Sounds easy enough, but 'Ron' will have to be decent as well. I can trust Granger, but I don't trust him to be as supportive about this."
"Don't worry, he'll come around. I'm sure of it."