Title: When In Doubt
Rating: T
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Louis Weasley/Romilda Vane
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em - not making any money off 'em. Dern it.
Word Count: 1,507
Summary: Louis goes back in time.

Notes:

The Great 2016 Cotillion Challenge

The Great Prompt Mixup Challenge: Character: Romilda Vane / Word: chair / Object: old book / Dialogue: "I'm going to smack you if you don't stop." / Title: When In Doubt

Ultimate Patronus Quest Challenge: Special Class H. Magical & Mystica Creatures - 22. Unicorn: Write a Soulmate!AU

When in doubt, one should go with the flow. That was the sentiment that Louis lived by. So, at the age of fourteen, when he ended up at Hogwarts of a different time period, he just smiled as he tried to figure out what in Merlin's name happened.

He was even more gobsmacked when his saw his Uncle Harry, who didn't look much older than Louis.

How did Louis travel back in time? And why? He had no idea.

Still, he was even more surprised when a girl with an old book approached him.

She frowned as she gazed at him. "How can that be?"

"Who are you?" Louis asked.

"I think I should be asking you who you are."

"You approached me!"

Magic began to spike up his hair as his bit of Veela heritage began to show through. It was something that happened when his emotions got the best of him. He took more after his mum in that way, as both Victoire and Dominique knew how to control themselves better.

The girl's frown turned even deeper. "I'm going to smack you if you don't stop," she warned.

"Well, I might smack you if you don't tell me who you are and why you seem surprised by my presence."

She smiled then. "I don't think you'll smack me. You strike me as the kind of guy that won't hit a girl."

He opened his mouth to retort but closed it. "Fine, you're right," he grudgingly admitted. "I still want to know what's going on, though."

She held the book close to her chest, took his hand, and pulled him behind her. They found an empty classroom and both of them took seats in empty chairs. She placed the book on the desk, but he ignored it for now. "My name is Romilda Vane."

He furrowed his eyebrows as he thought quickly. He didn't know any Romilda from his own time, but that made sense. She looked to be a couple of years younger than his Uncle Harry, so he, along with Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione, probably never talked to her while at school. "Okay, that name doesn't mean anything to me. Should it?"

She blinked. "Well, we've gone to school together. I thought you might know me. I mean, you are wearing a Gryffindor robe. Then again, I don't recognize you, and you look as if you might be in my year. So, it's safe to say I'm confused."

There was so much he could say to that, but he settled for asking a question instead. "Why did it seem like you were looking for me?"

She turned to the book and opened it to a certain page, and then she made him look at it.

He silently read it for a few moments, but his eyes got wider as realization set in. "You did a ritual that would lead you to your soulmate? Really?"

Romilda nodded with an unhappy expression on her face. "I was hoping it would lead me to the boy-who-lived. He was supposed to be my soulmate. Not some boy I don't even recognize, despite the fact he's in my house and most likely my year."

Louis tried to not take offense to that. And he almost wanted to tell her who his Uncle Harry married in the future, but he was afraid if he said anything like that, he might disrupt the timeline. "Okay, you're ritual is crazy powerful."

"Why do you say that?" Romilda queried.

Louis looked at the girl with loosely curled brunette hair and shining brown eyes. His breath caught as it finally hit him. He was sitting next to his soulmate. "You're ritual pulled me from my time."

"Time?" she parroted.

Louis wasn't sure how much he should say, but considering the circumstances, he thought he should tell her the truth. "Yes, my time. I'm from the future. Actually, many, many years in the future. I'm a fourth year Gryffindor in the year 2020."

She blinked. "That is way in the future," she muttered.

Louis mumbled, "You think?"

"I didn't mean for that to happen, but I guess if you weren't born yet, that makes sense. So, can you tell me your name?"

He bit his lip indecisively, but he wasn't sure if he would be stuck here permanently, so he decided to just go with the flow. "Louis Weasley."

"Are you Ron Weasley's son?" Romilda asked.

"Nephew actually."

Romilda nodded. "What now?"

Louis stared at the pretty girl. "I don't know, but I kind of want to go home. I want to get back to my family. They might be alive here, but they don't know me. My parents aren't even married yet. I'm sorry, but I don't belong here."

Tears slid down Romilda cheeks, but she nodded sadly. "I understand. I just really wanted to find my soulmate. Am I alive in the future?"

Louis thought about lying to her, but something in his heart told him not to. "I don't know. I've never met you."

They were interrupted by an old man coming in. Louis recognized him from a chocolate frog, but Romilda confirmed it with a quiet, "Hello, Headmaster Dumbledore."

"Miss Vane, you've been missing with some powerful magic."

"I know, Sir. I'm sorry. I just thought..." she trailed off.

"Mr. Potter was never meant to be yours," Dumbledore lectured.

Romilda didn't even try to deny her intention to the old wizard. Instead, she pondered out loud, "What good is it having a soulmate if he isn't born yet?"

Dumbledore ignored her plaintive question. "Mr. Weasley, I presume."

Louis nodded. "I will send you back to your time. I have an anti-ritual to counter the one Miss Vane used."

"What about Romilda? And the timeline? Will my being here, even if only for a little bit, change the future?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "Trust me. Everything will work out the way it should."

Louis didn't know why, but he did trust Dumbledore. He gazed at Romilda and repeated what he said earlier. "I'm sorry, Romilda, but I can't stay here. I don't belong here."

"I understand, Louis. I guess even though we're soulmates, we just weren't meant to be," Romilda moped.

"I guess so," he returned.

Dumbledore did a chant and waved his wand. Before he knew it, Louis was back in his dorm room, in his own time. He blinked. He wondered why he suddenly felt so empty. He hadn't known about Romilda until just now, but now he felt as if he was a puzzle, and he was missing an important piece in order to be considered complete.

Maybe he should try to find Romilda, but he was afraid to. For all he knew, she could be dead. After all, there had been a lot of causalities in the war, and Louis didn't want to read about her death. The very idea hurt way too much.

He decided to try to forget that he ever met his soulmate that he was never meant to be with. It would be easier for him to act as if she never existed.

Two days later, he was by the Quidditch pitch when he heard hesitant footsteps to his right. He looked and his breath caught at the sight of loosely curled brunette hair and shining brown eyes. She was older, but there was no doubt in his mind that it was her. He stood up. "Romilda?"

She nodded. "Remember how Dumbledore said everything would work out the way it should?"

Louis dumbly nodded.

"Well, he put a block on my memory, so I would have no recollection of our meeting. It was set to be unlocked as soon as you traveled back in time, and then back to the future. Two days ago, my memories of the ritual and you all came rushing back. I got here as soon as I could."

Louis smiled. "So, what now?"

She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Well, as I'm a grown woman, and you're only a fourth year, nothing much is going to be happening anytime soon. I talked to your parents, and they weren't happy with the truth, but they understood we didn't choose to be soulmates. They too agreed that nothing will happen until your seventeen, and we may even decide then that nothing will come from it. Just because we're soulmates, it doesn't mean we have to be together after all."

Louis blinked. "So, what do we do until I turn seventeen?"

"I thought we could get to know each other, and Fleur and Bill agreed to that."

Louis blushed. "I like that. And if my mum decides to change her mind about giving us that much, I'll just pull out the puppy dog eyes. She never can resist those."

Romilda smirked. "When in doubt, go with the puppy dog eyes?"

Louis grinned at her use of a phrase that was similar to his own motto. "Exactly."

She shook her head. "What have I gotten myself into?" she muttered.