Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if that's you.

Author's Note: I'm totally on a Celestial Petals kick. Here's a Soulmate AU where Harry was raised by Remus, Sirius, and Lily (who lived!). It's also uses the Desi (Indian) Potters headcanon. Back by popular demand is Mayhem the black squirrel!

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: MC4A; House Competition (Term 4); The Nautical Ship Challenge
House: Hufflepuff
Role: Player (7th Year)
Category: Standard (950 – 2000 words)
Prompt: Meeting Soulmate (Event)
Representation(s): Lunar Heroic Shadow; Neurodiversity; Magic; Hogwarts Express; Harry Potter; Mayhem; Marauders; Luna Lovegood
Bonus Challenges: Sweetest Burn; Second Verse (Not a Lamp; Nontraditional; Mouth of Babes; Wabi Sabi; Middle Name; Nightingale; Tomorrow's Shade; Some Beach; Unicorn; Three's Company; Car in a Tutu; Fruit Fly; Odd Feathers; Lost Llama; Zucchini Bread; Mermaid; Machismo; Lettuce Hold Hands)
Word Count: 1556 words

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What the Snorkacks Crave
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"You finally finished primping," his mother greeted as Harry entered the kitchen with Mayhem riding on his shoulder. To counter the mild scold, she deposited a kiss to his forehead and a pancake onto the plate in front of him. Harry just grinned at her, eagerly taking his seat. She shook her head, not bothering to suppress her answering smile. "I swear that you and Sirius both take forever to do your hair. I think it's the braiding. You both tend to go complicated."

Harry tore up his pancake instead of trying to deny it. Even the style he had chosen for that day was fairly complicated, since it had six strands. Harry thought it was a fitting style to begin his sixth year at Hogwarts with, especially with the fluffy end he had left for his best friend to play with while they rode the train later. His best friend liked to play with fluffy silkiness, so he tried to accommodate her whenever possible. In return, Luna accepted his presence inside her personal space, despite her dislike of other people in it. Some people thought that Luna was distant because of that, but Harry knew it was just what she did to prevent becoming overwhelmed by things touching her. It was no different from Harry humming to block out unpleasant noises.

Mayhem stole a large chunk of the pancake before retreating to Harry's shoulder. Unfortunately, the squirrel hit Harry's face with his tail as he did so. Harry scrunched his nose to dispel the mild pain.

"It's just us for the train today, ducky," Mum announced as she sat to eat her own breakfast. "There was a burst pipe at the library, and Remus bustled out the door before the sun was even up."

Neither of them mentioned how Padfoot was now a week overdue on his last mission. It was their way of not inviting bad news. Harry knew that it bothered Moony and Mum that Padfoot was doing such dangerous work but imagining Padfoot doing anything else seemed impossible to Harry. Padfoot had more energy than Mayhem; he needed a job that could use that.

There was a reason that Padfoot's personal soulmark was an exploding star, after all. It made a nice contrast to Moony's gibbous moon. Moony had Padfoot's star over his sternum and just Padfoot's star. Padfoot had Moony's moon but also Dad's vase, a match to the soulmate mark that Mum bore. Despite their relationship, neither Moony nor Padfoot had Mum's red hind. Only Dad had worn Mum's mark and like Moony, it had been the only soulmate mark he had had.

Harry rubbed at the purple band around his left wrist, the one that covered his lotus blossom. The violet stood out against the dark tan of his skin but not nearly as much as the white of his mark would have. Luna bore his mark, despite their mutual lack of romantic interest, and Harry understood how his dad must have felt knowing that he had a friend so important that Magic herself had made it clear. Meeting Luna in the Muggle primary program for gifted students had been a blessing.

Life might have been simpler if Harry had Luna's Dirigible Plum on his chest instead of a pied raven. He already had to deal with people assuming he was dating Luna. He had no interest in dealing with a soulmate who thought the same. Harry didn't know what he would do if he had a soulmate who assumed that being matched by Magic meant that they couldn't love anyone else. As much as Harry wanted what his parents had, both before his father's death and then afterwards, he couldn't bear the thought of life without Luna in it.

His mother had been clear when she had explained how being matched didn't guarantee compatibility or protect against betrayal. No one knew why the tattoos existed and why some people had ones that matched while others didn't. People always felt some intense and long-lasting emotion for anyone whose soulmark they had, and statistically, that emotion was often love. It just wasn't guaranteed to be.

What if his match was someone like Peter Pettigrew who had Moony's mark and had been consumed by jealousy when Moony didn't return his feelings? Or Severus Snape who had Mum's mark but didn't let that stop him from becoming a Death Eater? There were even more stories of soulmates that weren't good for each other than there were of those who had happy endings.

Thoughts of soulmarks and mismatches kept Harry occupied through the Floo trip to the King's Cross Floo Station. The Floo station was busy as usual for the start of the Hogwarts term. Harry touched the enchanted wolf charm that dangled from his right ear and sighed as most of the ambient noise around him faded away. Knowing that he was likely to need it, Harry ran a finger over the matching leg of his glasses to filter the light to a more comfortable level. Moony's charms were the best, even better than Mum's when the magic dealt with the senses.

Crossing through the barrier to the platform made Mayhem shiver against Harry's neck. Reflexively, he reached up to pet the squirrel in reassurance. Mayhem arched up into the touch like a cat, even going as far as to begin purring. The vibration of it settled Harry's magic, which had begun to shift protectively under his skin as the bustling of the crowd began to get to him.

It was always easier once everyone was at Hogwarts. At the school, the crowds were only an issue during meal times or Quidditch matches. Since Harry didn't really have any interest in Quidditch (despite having a deep enjoyment of flying), he often just skipped the latter and the former rarely matched the chaos that was the station.

Especially when the majority of the NEWT students were walking around with their wrists or sternums exposed.

"We're not going to force you," Mum said as she noticed. Harry breathed a bit deeper at the reminder that despite the tradition taking place, his family would not expect him to do anything that made him uncomfortable. He wanted to meet his soulmate, just as many of the students would today, but at the same time, the uncertainty nagged at him.

Luna was more than just a friend.

She was everything.

Mayhem stood up suddenly, drawing Harry's focus with the tiny pinpricks of his claws as he used Harry's ear for balance. The squirrel began chattering excitedly. His tail lashed as he tried to use the grip on Harry's ear to pull him where he wanted to go. Since Harry spotted Luna in that direction, it was easy to give into Mayhem's demands.

Luna was deep in conversation with a tall boy that Harry recognized from his own year. Like Harry, Blaise Zabini had both his personal mark and his sternum covered. Harry hadn't expected anyone else to not take part. Even the already-matched sets had their marks on full display, if they were the proper age.

Then Harry noticed that Luna had the boy's sleeve between her fingers as she explained the history of the Dirigible Plum by her front door. Harry felt his eyes widen. They widened further when Harry realized that Zabini didn't seem bothered by Luna's hold. He didn't seem to be pushing closer, like some boys had started trying last year, nor was he trying to get away, like most people did when Luna got into sharing information. He seemed to be genuinely interested in the topic, like there was nothing more important to him than listening to Luna talk about the spicy fruit that she loved so much. (Luna even had earrings that looked like them. They were her favorites, having belonged to her mother before her.)

Harry didn't bother hiding his approach. Mayhem jumped over to Luna's shoulder as soon as they were close enough for him to reach. Luna pet the rodent with her free hand, not letting go of her audience. Zabini didn't interrupt her either, just acknowledging Harry's arrival with a flutter of his fingers.

"And that's why Snorkacks love them," Luna announced, "just like you're going to love Harry and me."

"Luna?" Harry questioned, unable to formulate the words for what he wanted to ask. Luna turned to him. Her silver eyes were large when she met his gaze. They shimmered with her radiant happiness. Harry found himself shifting his gaze towards Zabini's face in disbelief. Zabini was smiling down at them, his white teeth bright against the darkness of his face. "Zabini?"

"Blaise," he corrected with a gentleness that reminded Harry of Moony and tea-scented cuddles near the hearth on the mornings after the full moon. Harry found himself drifting closer, wanting to touch like he did with his family and Luna. Blaise lifted one arm to accept him next to his torso. His next words were spoken against Harry's temple. "Soulmates should use each other's given names, don't you think?"

Harry nodded, overcome with the emotions filling him. Maybe meeting his soulmate wasn't as bad as he had worried it would be, not if he got to share with Luna. Blaise was more than he was expecting, and at the same time…

He was everything.