Written For - Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments) - Assignment #11
Prompts - Write about two characters 'switching lives' (without switching bodies).
Notes - I may not have used the prompt the way it was intended, but this was the first thing that popped into my mind and I think that it ties into the prompt well enough? If not, oh well. Anyway, Enjoy!
Word Count - 1132
The topic of soulmates was a touchy one with Hermione.
The problem she had with them wasn't with the logistics or the offending lack of human choice or anything like that, but the fact that they made no sense.
How could one person travel hundreds of miles in the blink of an eye because the universe just so happens to malfunction for a nano-second? Why were people linked by this strange bond created by nothing of substance? Why was love such an integral part of their community?
Hermione didn't know. Hermione desperately wanted to know.
She had been explaining this rather loudly at Harry, who looked rather bored, when he was replaced with a blond fellow, who looked rather angry, in a matter of seconds.
"This is rubbish," she said bluntly after a pause. She was already gathering her stuff to leave the coffee shop she and Harry had previously been talking in.
"Tell me about it," said the blond, throwing an arm over the back of his chair. "Where am I?"
"The Leaky Cauldron," said sharply, standing up as she did. "That's in London."
"I think I could figure that one out on my own, thanks," said the blond, but Hermione had already left.
Not long later, she was, again, explaining this to people. This time, Ginny Weasley sat across from her on her bed, throwing a ball in the air and catching it every few seconds. She didn't seem to be paying much attention.
"-and that is why I think we should stop relying so much on this fluke of a system," said Hermione. She looked back to Ginny, only to find her friend was no longer there. Instead, a blonde girl Hermione recognized from the year below her sat there smiling at her.
"You were saying?" the girl asked.
Hermione paused. "Uh, sorry Luna. I know you quite like the system we use," she said.
"It's quite alright," said Luna. "I know that you don't like it."
Hermione didn't puzzle on that too much, instead opting to talk to the other girl about different types of cacti.
"Why in the world don't you agree with soulmates?" Ron asked her only about a week later while they were in the line to get ice cream. Hermione sighed.
"It doesn't make any sense, Ron. How does it work?"
Ron rolled his eyes. "Magic."
Hermione crossed her arms and glared at him. "Magic doesn't exist," she said, and Ron was very quickly replaced with a girl with curly hair and a cutesy-confused expression. Hermione recognized her from some camp she had gone to previously. She remembered that she hated her.
"Lavender," said Hermione.
"Hermione," said Lavender.
They stood there for a moment, just taking each other in for a moment.
"It's been a while," said Lavender. Hermione raised an eyebrow.
"He's called Ronald Weasley," she said, then walked away. She didn't want that ice cream anyways.
By the time she sat down in front of Ron and Ginny's older brother Bill not to long later, she was figuring out the pattern.
"Soulmate's are stupid," she said simply.
"Wha-" she didn't have long to take in Bill's confused look before he was replaced by yet another blonde. This one, however, was tall and pretty and her hair looked like a waterfall. Hermione couldn't help but be entranced by her, even before she started talking in perfect french.
"Um, sorry," said Hermione. "I don't know french."
The woman tilted her head a bit. They were both seemingly very confused by this whole encounter.
"J'mapelle Hermione?" said Hermione, her pronunciation not the best. The woman nodded once.
"J'mapelle Fleur DeLacour," the woman said. "Soulmate. English?"
Hermione nodded. "Oui," she said.
Fleur nodded resolutely, but still looked at a bit of a loss. Hermione sighed.
"Soulmates don't make any sense at all," she said. Fleur was very quickly gone, but Hermione had left too soon to see that.
"If I told you that I didn't believe in soulmates, what would you do?" Hermione asked Dean Thomas one day during class, plopping into the seat behind him.
He was soon replaced by his boyfriend from the other side of the classroom, Seamus Finnegan, who was grinning widely.
"Probably that," said Seamus. "It's weird, It's like you have some kind of superpower over this stuff. If you said something against soulmates to your soulmate, do you think you would switch places with them?"
Hermione didn't respond.
"Come on man," said Dean to Seamus, walking back to the desk in front of Hermione. "Leave her alone."
Seamus rolled his eyes. "Yessir," he said, then stood up and returned to his desk.
Dean was smiling fondly when he sat back down. "He's a dweeb," he said.
"I heard that!" said Seamus from the other side of the room.
"I know," said Dean. He turned back to his notebook, where he was drawing a very detailed, and quite ugly, portrait of Mr. Snape.
Hermione hated the ideas of soulmates. She didn't understand any of it at all. But she couldn't help but envy Dean and Seamus sometimes.
She looked back down at her book.
Hermione had never met the Weasley twins. They were in Uni and barely ever visited, Ron told her. They were both studying business, and Ron told her that they both found it atrocious yet appealing. And they were absolute monsters when left to their own devices, Ron would recite.
When Hermione did finally meet them, it was over Winter Vacation, when Ginny had basically forced her to come over to play video games that she had never even heard of. When she arrived, Ginny flung open the door with a loud thump, grabbing Hermione by the wrist and dragging her inside.
"Say something to him about soulmates," Ginny demanded, basically flinging Hermione towards who she assumed to be one of her brothers.
"They don't make sense and should be ignored," said Hermione, on instinct, and, suddenly, she wasn't in the same spot anymore. The man she had spoken to had taken her spot in the living room, and he was grinning ear to ear. Hermione wasn't paying attention to Ginny's manic laughing, but instead on how terrible she must seem to him.
"Oh my god," said Hermione. The man laughed loudly.
Sobering up, he held out his hand for Hermione to shake. "I'm Fred Weasley," the man said. "I heard something about being ignored?"
Hermione's blush grew as she shook his hand.
Instead of thinking up a proper retort, she just blurted, "I bet I could beat you at Mario Kart."
His smile grew wicked. "Yeah, ok, miss?"
"Hermione Granger," said Hermione.
"Well, Miss Hermione Granger," said Fred, slipping his hand into Hermione's. "It's nice to meet you."
(Hermione didn't really mind soulmates too much, after that.)