A/N's: This story is a SLASH fic and is rated M just to be safe. This will be a Soulmate fic and focuses around Cedric/Harry, a pairing that I've recently started reading about and come to enjoy. If you don't like it don't like it. There will also be mentions of MPreg at some point but they won't feature in the story unless its right at the end in the epilogue.

I hope you enjoy! Remember to comment and ask questions!

Magics of The Soul

A Comprehensive Guide to Soul Bonds

Written by Wendell Fogs

Ministry Certified and Approved as of 1934

A Brief Introduction

The concept of Soul Bonds has been studied for many years across the Magical World. This Guide is designed to explain these Bonds to the inquisitive mind and has been compiled from research journals and personal accounts as well as my own findings.

I have been interested in Soul Bonds ever since I married my own Soul Mate, Edythe, at the age of 19. My further studies, up to this point, mostly consisted of History and Ancient Runes but I had yet to specialize within any particular field of the two. Due to my fascination with Bonds, I scoured the ministry Library in search of a book in explanation of the phenomena and was sorely disappointed. The information on offer consisted of the standard leaflet given to Muggleborns at age 11 and a short passage within a book about Magical physiology. Later that evening, with the help of my supervisor Christian Fern, I embarked on my journey into solving the mysteries of The Bond as so many before me had tried and failed. I have traveled the globe and met hundreds of people with hundreds of different stories, I am finally proud to present my book:

Magics of The Soul

Cedric remembered the first time he had ever seen his Soul Mark.

He was only 5 years old. Small, over-excitable and extremely innocent. He'd woken up on his Birthday with a broad smile on his face and rushed into the kitchen wearing his Quidditch onesie for his special breakfast that his mum was cooking. Pancakes with chocolate sauce drizzled all over them and strawberries and cream, all piled high on his favorite plate which had the Applebee Arrows flying around on the porcelain.

His mum was standing over the cooker, waving her wand as the pancakes flipped themselves and fried to a perfect golden brown. She was singing along to a love ballad on the radio and her blond hair was tied up in a messy bun with a few bits of pancake batter splashed on her face. "Happy Birthday little man! You're all grown up!"

His father chuckled from behind the newspaper and ruffled his hair fondly before pouring himself another mug of coffee. "Are you looking forward to your Birthday dinner?"

Cedric had jumped up and down on his seat in excitement, "When can I see Matty?"

"Soon little man", his mother placed his plate of pancakes in front of him and he tucked in, happily smearing chocolate sauce over his face as his mother rolled her eyes in fake exasperation.

Afterward, she'd sat down next to him and held his hands in her own whilst she started to examine his wrists. Then she'd let out a startled gasp, "Amos! Look! He has it!" His father had run through from the kitchen and knelt down beside him to take a look. That was when Cedric had spotted what they were looking at. Two letters, written in bold black letters on his right wrist. HP

He'd started crying.

He'd thought his mummy and daddy would be upset with him for it, just like they had every other time he'd gone out to play and got himself a scar. His mum had held him, calmed him down and explained everything to him.

"You haven't done anything wrong Ced. What you've got is very special, it's called a Soul Mark". She brushed away his tears and showed him his wrist to look at clearly. "What this shows is that there's someone out there, someone absolutely perfect for you in every way who'll love you. Just like mummy and daddy love each other". He looked down at her own wrist to see two words written there, Amos Diggory.

"I wanna be just like you!"

His mum had frowned at that and held his little face in her hands, "I want you to remember something for me Ced. Never try to be someone your not, your absolutely perfect the way you are and if people don't love you because of it they don't deserve your love at all".

He didn't quite understand those words that day as a small child, but they soon became clear. Especially after his mother died.

The official records made by St. Mungo's listed it as a progressive disease that caused her death but in truth, nobody had a clue. She was perfectly well and dancing around the kitchen one day, the next taking her last few breaths in a hospital bed. His father had been completely distraught, completely drawing into himself for 2 years. He barely spoke to Cedric, who spent most of his time with his neighbors the Lovegoods at this point. Sure they were a bit quirky but it was miles better than the indifference he got from his father.

After a few years of spiraling into a depressed and drunken mess, one of his dad's colleagues had put his foot down and told him to get his life back together. Amos had taken to work like a man possessed. He became fixated on this new form of perfection, working hard in order to replace what he had lost. This same mindset had then been applied to his son. He wanted his son to be the best, to work his way to the top of the food chain. He didn't want his family to be destroyed just as he had let it be. Cedric was his only hope for the future.

Unfortunately for him, nothing could ever replace the emptiness inside him where his Soulmate used to reside. Things would never be the same again.

Cedric still loved his father, but he was a different man to the one who'd raised him as a child. He'd lost hope in ever having that kind of relationship again, really he'd lost the love and passion towards his family that used to dominate his life. There were few things that really made him happy these days.

He'd do as his father asked, study hard and made himself a few friends at school. During the week he'd amble along doing exactly as they all expected him to do and being Pretty Boy Diggory as some of his friends had dubbed him. Merlin, he hated that name.

But at the weekend...at the weekends he was truly free. No lessons, no obligations, an unlimited amount of time to be himself and do whatever he wanted. He'd get up early in the morning just as the sun rose and he'd sit by the lake drawing with watercolor pencils in the sketchbook that nobody knew he kept. Then he'd grab his broom and fly it as far in the sky as he could get, zooming through the air and feeling the wind through his hair and dancing over his skin. It wasn't the same as Quidditch where everything was a competition with tactics and fierce rivalries. In the air, there was nothing holding him back. He'd fly for hours, stopping to zoom over the forest and look through the trees. Then, after hours outside, he'd head to the library and find himself an armchair in the furthest corner of the room with his favorite book.

Magics of The Soul.

Really it was the only book in the world that he enjoyed. School books were a bore, simply there to keep his grades up or occasionally use as an excuse to hide behind. This book...This book gave him hope. Every time he read this book he remembered his mum's message. Somewhere out there in the world, there was someone who loved him. Unconditionally. Not like his father who only cared when he succeeded, or his friends who liked him because he was popular. Someone who truly cared.

He would read this book and his imagination would run wild, filling his mind with ideas of exactly what the future would hold. He could see it, his own family who he and his Soulmate would create together. Finally, he would be at peace.

He remembered in second year, not long after he'd found the book, when he'd discovered a girl in one of the upper years named Heidi Pritchard. HP. He'd been so excited at the prospect that he'd found his Soulmate. He'd dressed himself up, bought flowers and chocolates and found her one afternoon surrounded by her friends who were deep in discussion. With complete confidence, he'd asked the girl on a date and presented her the gifts with a bow.

He'd received laughter and these words sneered in his face by the beautiful girl he thought he might have a chance with, "I wouldn't touch you in a million years little boy. Nobody would".

He'd ran away embarrassed and cried in his bed for hours. None of his so-called friends tried to comfort him.

Over the next few years, he'd come to realize something that he'd never dared to think before. Cedric Diggory was gay. Of course, there was nothing wrong with that, most of the Wizarding World had come to accept homosexuality. If your Soulmate was the same gender as you, it didn't matter, they were destined to be and nothing could change that. But still, it was a massive shock. In his dreams, his perfect wife had suddenly been replaced by a man and he found himself listening in carefully to every name mentioned in his presence at sortings and the like for a name with his desired initials.

He'd remembered when he first heard that name. It had clocked immediately on his radar as he watched the sorting in his third year. He'd watched the boy be sorted into Gryffindor with shock and fascination but immediately pushed the idea to the back of his head. He couldn't be, could he?

But then he'd stayed awake till midnight on the day before his 17th birthday. Just as Magics of The Soul had said he felt a sharp pain in his wrist and the letters slowly began to spread further apart and the space between them was now filled with new letters. Now the words read Harry Potter.

He watched the Gryffindor table from across the hall that evening. Harry was sat between his two friends munching away at his food as he talked animatedly about some topic that he couldn't hear. Cedric took the time to take in his features. He was average height but it was emphasized by how tall his redheaded friend was in comparison. His skin was lightly tanned and his form was lightly toned from either exercise or some kind of manual labor. He had short but very messy hair and strong features that still had a boyish manner to them and his eyes were like bright shining emeralds hidden behind his glasses. In his eyes, Harry Potter was completely gorgeous.

It wasn't just his looks though, it was his personality. He was kind and passionate and when he found something he cared for, his eyes would light up with a determined fire that made him a hundred times more amazing. And when he flew...Merlin, he was beautiful. Graceful and elegant as he weaved through the air with a practiced precision that shouldn't belong to someone who'd only picked up a broom four years ago. Then, when he saw the snitch, he would strike with such power and ferocity that Cedric would be left in complete and utter awe.

As he contemplated the boy across the hall, he fell just a little bit more in love with him.

Harry Potter was a freak. An idiot. A waste of space. He'd been told those things and many more over and over again by his family.

From a young age, the Dursleys had treated him like a stain on the universe. He was forced to do their bidding at all times, cooking, cleaning, gardening, the only thing he didn't do for them was to earn and handle the money. Freaks didn't deserve such things. He would work hours and hours a day in exchange for what? A pitiful amount of food and a rickety camp bed within a dark and gloomy cupboard that smelt of mold. Hand-me-down clothes from his overweight cousin that were threadbare and could probably be used as a tent. They would hurl abuse at him, speak nasty words to the people in the neighborhood until they all looked down on him like he was nothing. When he made a tiny mistake he'd be hit or locked in his cupboard. Of course, they never hit him too hard. What if someone saw the bruises? It might ruin their perfect image within the community.

They disgusted him.

At night he'd hide in his cupboard and dream of non-existent ways to get rid of them. He'd imagine a day when his parents would come for him. They'd drive up to the front door of Number 4 Privet Drive in a nice car. They'd unlock his cupboard door and he'd led by a kind looking woman out of the house and away to a new life. There'd be a big house, sprawling grounds where he could relax and play. A school where he could learn and make as many friends as he wanted and the teachers congratulated him as they did with everyone else. He'd have a few siblings who'd look up to him and he would dote upon each of them in turn. In the evenings he'd curl up in front of the fire with a mug of hot chocolate and his family surrounding him and he'd feel for once in his life like he truly belonged.

There was a part of him, though, that knew it could never happen.

Because his parents were dead. And no matter how much he tried to deny it, Harry really was a freak.

He'd woken up on his 5th birthday to find two letters inscribed on the inside of his right wrist. CD. When his aunt had seen him she'd shrieked in his face, saying how she knew he would be just as freakish and abnormal as her sister was. She'd made him wear a band around his wrist to cover it up and told him never to speak of or show it to anyone. Ever. He'd cried.

How could something that felt so right be so wrong? When he touched those letters he was filled with an indescribable sense of longing and love, it was his only solace in a world of hate and anguish.

On his 11th birthday, he was told the truth. He wasn't a freak, he was a wizard. There was a whole world out there of people like him.

The mark on his wrist was something special, it meant he had a Soulmate. Somebody out there who loved him.

At Hogwarts, he'd made friends who'd explained everything to him and showed him real happiness. There were still times when he drew into himself, a large part of him was still a bit bitter and twisted after all that time with the Dursleys but it didn't matter. He'd been through so much over the years, suffered abuse, fought Voldemort and survived! 14-year-old Harry Potter had finally found real happiness and he deserved it. He reached down to touch his Soul Mark and smiled, his eyes flickered upwards and was met with an unknown pair of eyes focused intently upon him.

A smile graced the other boy's lips and Harry, filled with a sudden urge, grinned right back.