When I was born, mum said I came out with hair curly hair, and brown eyes. She said I was born screaming, loud and clear, that you could hear it from down the hall. She said I was the most beautiful baby she'd ever saw but made me promise to never tell my brothers. She said I was born with the spirit of a fighter, and that I've always had it growing up, and made me promise to never lose it no matter what happened in life.

She said I spat fire the moment I was born, that once I was clean and they tried to put the necklace on me I wailed and tried to fight them putting it on me.

I know the system works, mum and dad always told me, it's how their grandparents met, and how they met, and so on and so forth, I knew it was suppose to be a magical moment, you get your necklace when you're born and it's half a shape, the other half is wrapped around another person neck, and when you're close to them, you'll feel your necklace heat up, so you're not wasting your time, and you'll be able to find your chosen partner at a young age, but the only real issue with it was that you're never allowed to show anyone your necklace, and if you tried, you would feel a horrible burn within your whole body. So, you'd never know who your mate was, mum always said you'd feel when you were near him.

I always thought mine would be Harry, there was such a fire, but I never felt the fire coming from my necklace. I was always disappointed when he came over and my necklace would be ice cold, almost too hard for me to move it. Mum used to say it was because he didn't have a necklace, which was true. grew up in a muggle household, but the next summer when he showed up, he had his necklace, and he said it was in the shape of a heart, mine was in the shape of a teardrop, missing the other half... It just looked broken and dull. I cried myself to sleep that night.

When I grew old enough to attend school, I would feel my necklace flare up when I was around the group of boys my older brother, Ron's age. But I never looked for who it was, I'm sure whoever had the other half felt it too. But he never bothered to find me, so I never tried. He obviously thought I was ugly, and I thought the same… untamed red hair, and brown eyes with freckles across my face. I felt dull and ugly, but I had hoped whoever the magic picked for me was easy on the eyes, I would hate to get someone like Neville.

The biggest surprise came when Ron's necklace started to burn while he was walking to potions, the bigger surprise was when Pansy dropped her books and started to grip at her neck trying to get the necklace off, but because it was linked with magic she shouldn't take it off until her and her mate were married. It would always burn, but when you started to date who the necklace picked it would dull down to a small burn, that was bearable. Most kids started to get married at seventeen just to get the damn thing off.

Everyone ended up with people they never dreamed of being with in the first place, Neville ended up with Hermione, Harry ended up with Luna, and Blaise ended up with Lavender.

The whole school was just full of children, finding their mates, even at the ripe age of 12. But every time mine would burn is when I walked by the Slytherin table, and I didn't have the heart to tell my family or anyone in it that my soulmate was someone who was the enemy, even with Voldemort gone, the trust issues were still the same. They didn't trust us, and we didn't trust them. It's just how it was. So I never looked to see who might have been in pain, I just ignored the pain the best I could and would walk away as quickly as I could. When you walked away from your person, the pain would die down and become cold again, so you knew you were going further and further away from your soulmate, so you don't lose them.

By the time I turned 15, I figured I needed to figure out who my soulmate was, I needed to know. If they were younger than me, older, fat, ugly, short, tall… How I wished who I ended up with was tall, I was already a tall girl myself, so I didn't want to end up with someone who was 5'4. I would take my time, scrolling by, looking for anyone in pain, but everyone I saw were busy with their matchings or secretly playing with their necklace closed in their fist, so not to show anyone. But the only one I saw staring at me was Draco, with a stone cold look on his face, he watched me walk by slowly with a sneer on his face. He didn't look to be in pain, so I counted my blessings that he wasn't who I was matched with, I wanted to ignore the burning heat around my neck while I was next to him, I found myself telling myself over and over again that were was no possible way that we were soulmates and that the necklaces were wrong, that the magic got it wrong and they needed to pair me with someone else who wasn't him, anyone but him.

Draco wasn't ugly by any means, but to become a Malfoy? 'My family wouldn't be able to bare it, we wouldn't ever be welcomed in the family, my mum would still love me, but she wouldn't invite me over for family dinners, and God, what if we had children? Would I still love them? They would be half mine, but they would also be half his…' I thought as I walked away from the table. If he could ignore this, and so could I.

We started to ignore one another, not that spoke to one another in the first place, but if I saw him the halls I would walk the other way, I tried to stay away from him as much as possible, until the day it happened. I just finished potions and was walking down the hall for lunch, I was starving, the girls in the dorm had woken me up early to help them pick out their wedding dresses, and what type of food they should serve. I was over the wedding talk and had a headache, I just wanted to eat and pretend this day ever happened. I was about to turn the corner when I smacked dead into him… I looked up about to apologize when I saw his grey eyes glaring at me, like it was my fault.

"Watch where you're going, Weasley." He spat out hatefully, but I wasn't going to back down, not that I should have ever wanted to start anything with him, when I finally picked up my bag that had fallen to the ground I stood up and looked at him.

"It's not my fault we got paired! It's not like I wanted this anymore than you do." I ended, quite a bit more loudly than I should have. My chest going up and down and my air coming out in short little huffs. I was embarrassed, I know I shouldn't have been. But here is my future husband yelling at me like I'm some common first year, not knowing where I'm supposed to be going.

He glared at me before telling me to shut my mouth and walking away. At the very moment in time, I wish they never would have put this stupid necklace on me, I wanted to tear it off my skin and acted like it never happened. My mum kept asking me if I found my soulmate yet, and if not, was I looking hard enough? I had enough, I was going to get out of this no matter what, so I skipped lunched and headed to find my owl instead. Getting out a piece of paper and a quill, I bit my lip, thinking of what to say, but when I started to write it all came out, and It was like word vomit, it just kept going. When I was done, I read the letter out loud to myself.

'Dear Mum,

I hope you and dad are doing well, I heard from Ron that Charlie had another boy, I wish he would have told me himself, but I understand he's been busy with the baby...

I know you wanted me to tell you the moment I found out who my soulmate was, but I couldn't force myself to tell you, I've been holding onto this secret for two months, so please don't hate me.

Oh mum, It's Draco Malfoy, and he's such a prat, I don't know what to do, I don't want to marry him, but I want this burning to stop, I wish they never would have put this stupid necklace on me in the first place. Please don't tell Daddy, he will have a fit if you do.

I just don't know what else to do, I know you said the necklace is never wrong, but do you think it might be, just this once? Please help me.

Love, Ginny.'

God, I sounded like a small child again who fell off the swing and hurt her knee, but I really needed a way out of this and my mum was the only person I could think of at the time.

I sent the owl off and decided not to attend the rest of my classes for the day, I got woken up the next day by Hermione, telling me that Dumbledore had requested me in his office and that a teacher was waiting to take me to his office. I quickly threw my hair into a messy bun before putting a jumper over my pj top and quickly throwing on my slippers, I wasn't even thinking of what I was wearing, I figured my mum got my letter and probably thought of a way to get me out of it.

I quickly headed with the teacher, who looked very upset. I wonder if my mum was raising hell with Dumbledore and anyone else who got in her way. When we finally got the front of his office, she said she was sorry before mumbling the password, I didn't understand why she would say sorry to me like that before just walking away. I could hear yelling as I walked up the stairs, I couldn't really make it out, but I could hear a male raising his voice, saying "My son WILL not be marrying Weasley" I couldn't make out who's voice it was, but I didn't need to, I knew it was Draco's father, the tall blonde man with the white hair that was always brushed back. He always looked greasy, and like he needed a good shampooing.

I chose to walk up the stairs as slow as possible to drag out what was surely going to be a screaming match between his parents and mine. When I finally got to his head office, I could see Draco sitting on the chair, looking deadly and quietly as usual, his mother sitting next to him, looking like a doll that you could break if you weren't careful, and his father pacing back and forth. I could see my mum's face flushed with anger, and my father, his hair messy, like he was playing with it, which he probably did. It always did that when he was stressed out. And finally, Dumbledore, sitting in his hair, calmly, slowly stroking his beard, like it was going to tell him all the secrets in the world.

I cleared my throat to let them know I was there and to get my father and Draco's father to stop fighting. It did the trick, until my dad started yelling again. Finally, Dumbledore spoke.

"I understand you're both upset, but I'm sorry to say that the necklaces don't make mistakes and they're soulmates, it's a binding magic that I cannot remove, the only things they can do is ignore it, and never find love or be able to have children with anyone ever or get married." He said with a grim expression on his old face. I saw my fathers face flush with anger again. So, I started to talk before he could yell again.

"You're saying, Draco and I have no chose?" His name felt weird in my mouth, I've never said it before, it was always Malfoy, or Ferret.

Dumbledore nodded his head before spacing out again. I didn't know what else to say, I'm sure this was what Draco was probably trying to avoid but I couldn't hide it anymore, I couldn't hide the fact that we're linked, magically bonded, and I was tired of the fire wrapped around my neck every time I go near him, it really wasn't fair.

"What if Draco and I choose not to date, I know I won't be able to have children, but I will be able to live a normal life, right?" I asked, my voice suddenly felt a lot smaller and I wasn't as brave as before.

"If you choose to date someone who isn't me, every time you touch them, it will feel like there are a thousand knifes slicing through your skin all at once, you'll never feel anything but pain until you're with the right person…" He trailed off.

"So our choices are to get married, or be tortured until we comply?" I didn't like these choices and by Draco's face I could tell he didn't like it either... But what choice did we have in the matter? We had to do something, our families were watching us, waiting, I could feel the tears start to drip from my eyes. Finally, he smiled.

"Don't worry, marrying me won't be terrible." And I believe I blushed 100 shades of red.

After our families fought for another hour, it was decided that when I turned 17 and of age, we would be getting married on the Malfoy grounds, and that yes, my whole family was invited, but only friends of our choosing, which meant Harry wasn't going to be coming.

Dumbledore put us in our room with two beds, so we could get to know one another. Something he did with everyone who was over the age of 15. After his family left, he told me would wait for me at the bottom of the stairs to walk me back to our bedroom… Our bedroom, it felt weird in my mind, like this wasn't really happening. My mum walked up to and held me as tightly as she could, and whispered in my eye

"If you ever need an out, if you ever need time to yourself, just write me, or come home. I'll always be here for you." Before disappearing with my father who was still as red as a tomato. I took a moment to just breathe. When I opened my eyes, Dumbledore was staring at me

"Don't fear changes, the magic is never wrong." He told me with a small smile, I gave him one back with a small nod before heading down the stairs. My whole life was about to change, and the first step was just to fully admit that the magic wasn't wrong, and Draco and I were soulmates, like other people who thought they weren't matches.

We didn't talk the whole way back to our new room, he always looked like stone, and that if you touched him the wrong way, the stone would break, and a dragon would appear in its place. I wasn't going to be the first to crack, I wouldn't talk to him first, maybe it's because I felt like it was a power move, but it was because I feared him, scared of my own future husband, what a great marriage this was going to be.

When we stepped inside of the room, it was quite the mix, the walls were a dark red and there was only one bed, the covers and blanket a dark green. Draco grunted a bit before sighing through his teeth.

"I knew that old man wouldn't give us two beds" he hissed out. I was beyond tired and wasn't in the mood to fight with him right now. "Do you want me to go back and tell him?" I asked him tiredly. My eyes were burning, and I wanted nothing more than to face plant on the bed and sleep the day away.

"No, It's fine." He said sharply before turning around and walking to the dresser. He must have found what he was looking for because he promptly grabbed a towel and walked into the bathroom. He didn't say anything to me, so I figured it was safe to just go to sleep for awhile longer. I threw the red jumped on to the floor and took off my slippers, I quickly curled into the bed. It was so soft, so much better than the beds they give you in the dorm. Before I knew it I was out.

When I woke up, I checked the clock, it was 3 in the morning and Draco was asleep on the couch, I felt bad because it didn't look nearly as a comfortable as the bed, but I felt a ping of proudness for him not sleeping in the same bed with me without asking first. I quickly headed to the bathroom to use the loo, when I was done, I looked at the mirror and saw that my hair was a mess, it always was if I didn't keep it up while I sleep. I took my brush that somehow ended up in our bathroom and tried to get the knots out of my hair, but it wasn't working. I quickly stripped my clothing off and hopped into the shower, I just finished putting the shampoo in my hair when I heard the door open, I almost screamed and fell on the floor of the tub from the surprise.

"Draco, you can't come in here, I'm naked." I tell him with the more serious voice I could muster at the time, which was a pretty high tone, because he scared me. He didn't say anything, but I heard him using the loo. I guess he couldn't wait, the heard the toilet flush, which thankfully didn't mess with the watering in the tube. I heard him wash his hands, but I didn't hear him leave. I had just finished washing out my hair and turned off the water, I quickly grabbed the towel and wrapped it around my body, before pulling back the curtain. I was going to scream at him for being a perv and staying in the bathroom while I was taking a shower, but I couldn't bring myself to yell at him while he was looking at me like that, dark circles under his eyes, his hair messy from tossing and turning. He almost looked human right now, and I could feel a small movement in my heart, but I pushed it down.

"I'm not sleeping on the fucking couch again, we will share the bed for the rest of the night and I will go speak to Dumbledore in the morning to get it fixed so we don't have to share the bed in the morning, okay?" He said with a serious look, it took me by such a surprise. I almost forgot he could that. I just nodded my head and waited for him to leave the bathroom, so I could finish getting dressed. I ended up picking out black yoga shorts with a white band around them, and a loose white tank top that didn't look horrible on my skin.

When I walked back into the bedroom, he was already in bed, with a pillow covering his face, partly. I let a out a little sigh before getting back into bed. This was going to be a long night, I could already tell. I tried to keep myself away from him and not bother him, but when I woke up, I was wrapped in his arms. I gently tried to get out of his death grip, but I couldn't without waking him, so I just tried to pretend to be asleep again until he woke up.

"I wasn't sleeping, I couldn't sleep, you move around in your sleep, It's quite annoying." He said before releasing me from his grip. As I sat up, I rubbed up my upper arms, feeling the blood flow back in them. It was a little embarrassing that I was moving around so much, but It was bothersome to be sleeping next to him… My mate, my soulmate. I wondered what his necklace looked like, if it really looked like my other half. I haven't asked to see it yet, I know we're the only ones allowed to see it, but I wasn't ready to see his yet, I wasn't ready to watch them glow when they were both out in the open, next to one another.

"Draco." I say in a small voice, because how else am I suppose to talk to him, how am I suppose to say anything to him right now, he's my person but not the person I wanted, or thought I would ever need.

"Yes?" His voice is always so calm and cool, he doesn't ever have to raise his voice because of the way he is, who he is.

I swallow before responding to him.

"Do you think the magic is wrong, do you think, honestly think I'm your soulmate?" He's quiet, like he's thinking before he's going to speak, maybe he's scared I'll flip out.

"I don't think the magic is wrong, I do believe the magic thinks we're soulmates and we're suppose to be connected." I nod, he's very smart, he was always top of his classes. He's probably right. "The necklaces have made weird matches before, you know?" He says to me, I think trying to reassure us both that it wasn't wrong and that we'll be okay.

Draco got up and headed to the bathroom, leaving me on the bed trying to figure out how this was suppose to work. Once you find your soulmate you have only a set time to get married, but because we're in school we had a little longer.

When Ron and Pansy got married, everyone was in shock… Happy but in shock. They soon welcomed my niece, Alexandra shortly after. She was beautiful, she had tan skin with our fire red hair, which was shocking because Pansy had such dark beautiful black hair. But they were happy after the weirdness of them being together wore off. If they could make it, I'm sure Draco and I would too.

I was still in my thoughts when Draco came out of the shower. I wasn't really paying attention to him until he sat down next to me, looking wildly uncomfortable. He cleared his throat before handing me a ring.

"All of the Malfoy women have worn this ring." He told me, before handing it back to me. It was quite beautiful, It was twisted into the shape of a vine, with a gorgeous green marquise shaped rock in the middle. It was small, but gorgeous. I was nervous to put it on my finger, I didn't think it was going to fit, all the Malfoy women must of have tiny fingers because mine looked quite large compared to that ring.

"Don't worry, it's a magic ring, it will adjust to your finger size." He said, I guess he could tell I was nervous to put on it. I look a sigh before slipping it on my finger, he was right. It adjusted to the right size and it looked like it belonged on my hand and should never be taken off. A second later I felt a sharp pain go through my whole body, I quickly give Draco a look, he sighs before telling me.

"It has a tracking curse on it, and another one that you cannot sleep with another man other than your husband." I felt my eyes narrow, "It's not as if I can sleep with anyone else anyways, I have this dumb necklace on." I point out, because it seems unfair that he doesn't have to have these spells on him.

"But when we get married you can take the necklace off." He points out, like that makes it any better. I wanted to point out to him that I didn't want to marry him in the first place, but I remembered what Dumbledore said to me and thought better of starting out our relationship fighting.

"Okay." I said in a small voice because this is all becoming unfair very quickly. He rubs his face, like he's thankful I'm not going to start a fight over this, and then I feel bad. He doesn't want this anymore than I do. I doubt he wanted his mate to be a Weasley.

"I'm going to change and get ready." I tell him, before getting off the bed and stepping into the bathroom, taking a second to breathe and to be thankful I'm away from him.

Then it hits me.

I'm going to be marrying Draco Malfoy in a couple of months, and I almost fall to my knees.

I finally get dressed and head back, he's waiting for me at the door, with a calm but deadly look. "I'm not sure what you used to do, but you're going to be a Malfoy now, so you will not be late." He almost hisses at me. Now I don't feel bad for being a jerk to him earlier. I don't say anything but step past him and out into the hallway.

'I don't belong to him yet, I don't belong to him yet.' I chant in my head before walking away from him, or so I thought. I hear him before I see him. He's walking me to class, probably to make sure I get there on time. He's so annoying, but I don't say anything. When we get to my class he follows me to the door before quickly bending down and pecking me on the cheek.

What the fuck.

He doesn't give me a chance to say anything before walking away to get to his class before he really is late. I take a deep breath before opening the door. I could see why he did it now, everyone was staring at me, I guess news really does get around quickly here. I puff out my chest in hope that it makes me appear stronger before walking to my seat, next to Luna. She got lucky, she got with someone nobody would question her for, she got with someone safe and sound.

She doesn't say anything to me but does give me a dreamy smile, like I should be happy with my choice of mate, which I guess I could be. At least he's not ugly, in fact he's quite handsome… I shake the thought out of my head before focusing on the class that's starting, I don't want to think about my soon to be husband, I want to focus and get a good grade, because I'm sure if I didn't, he would probably yell at me about it.

I ignore the whispers I hear about me and Draco. Most of the people talking about us haven't found their mates yet, or they wouldn't be talking. I dismiss them and focus on the class, it's an easy one, thankfully. Finally we're done and I'm free to go.

When I walk out of the door, he's standing there waiting for me, his jaw is clinched and I'm sure he had to deal with the same thing I did. I wish we could both forget about today and go curl up in a ball somewhere. He takes my hand and we talk to my next class, I'm not sure how he even knows what my classes are, but he looks angry enough for me not to ask.

Once we're there, he again kisses my cheek and walks off. This is getting old, fast. I ignore the students and focus on my work. Finally, half way through the day we're allowed lunch, Draco is waiting for me, he grabs my hand against and basically drags me down the hall. I stop him, because he's hurting me, and I can see how angry he really is, I pull away from him and rub my fingers.

"I Know you're mad, but you don't need to grab me like that." I tell him in a serious voice, so he understands that he can really hurt me, and just because he's having a bad day doesn't mean he should take it out on me. He rubs his face. I can tell he's tired, he probably didn't get much sleep because of me last night and I'm sure he's not used to having everyone talk about him.

"I'm sorry." He tells me honestly, "I'm just tired and would like to go eat so we can finish our classes." I nod my head and give him back my hand, I will not let these people ruin the rest of my day, and if he wants to hold my hand to make it stop, then he can hold my hand.

When we get to lunch he takes me to his table and makes me sit down by him, I miss my old table, but I know this is the way it's going to be now. Million of girls have done it before I did, and it's not going to be any different with me now. I quietly fill up my plate but barely touch it. I use my fork to play around with some green beans but mostly just drink the water that was in front of me. Draco isn't eating, not that I can blame him. Today has been stressful and we're getting the blame for what our necklaces did.

We're finally done with lunch and classes for the rest of the day. Half way through my last class I finally figured out what was wrong with Draco. Some girl was gossiping about how her boyfriend was messing with Draco about who his mate was, and that Draco finally snapped and told him off. I smirked but kept my comments to myself. It's peoples own fault, they should have left us alone, and stopped bothering us.

Finally, when we're back in our room, Draco throws his back on the floor and kicks off his shoes before falling into the bed. I could tell he wasn't in the mood to talk, so I slipped into the bathroom to change into something more comfortable. I picked out a pair of light pink sleeping shorts with the matching tank top and changed my socks before heading back out. I saw Draco on the bed, laying on his back with one arm propped up behind his head and with the other, he was reading the paper. I stayed by the door for a moment to just look at him, he really was just so handsome.

He looked up at me and eyed my body, I wasn't used to having someone of the opposite sex looking at my body, other than my brothers and that wasn't ever in a sexual manner. I quickly crossed my arms over my chest, while blushing. I hated when I was blush, it makes my face match my hair, which was quite the feat.

"You don't have to cover your body, it's beautiful" He tells me, with honesty. "Thank you." I answer him back in a small voice. I don't know how to act around him, but I have his ring on my finger, and my necklace that matches his. I wondered if it meant we're each other's girlfriend and boyfriend now, and I almost snorted at the thought. We're past that phase now… What a childish thought.

I walk to the bed and lay down next to him, he took off his school clothing and is just wearing a white wife beater and a pair of dark green PJ pants. He looked really good, I almost wanted to touch him, but I knew better than to try. We might be getting married, but that doesn't mean we're allowed to touch one another.

I could almost see his necklace, it looked a shade darker than mine, and it made me wonder if it was supposed to look like that, I almost wanted to ask him if I could see his necklace, but he clears his throat and snaps me out of my train of thought. I look up and see his eyes are locked into mine. I give him a small smile but can't find myself to say anything to him. I probably should have, that probably would have been a great moment to say anything, but my mind was blank because he was staring at me, and god he was so handsome.

He was about to say something to me, but I didn't give him a chance because as soon as he opened his mouth I bent up and kissed him.

Our first kiss done out of our fear he was going to say something to me.

How funny.