September 10, 1996

Harry was trying to understand what went wrong. The potion in his cauldron should be a clear maroon but it was still a light pink. He looked up at the board to check the instructions, but from what he could tell he hadn't done anything wrong. He looked to his left to check how it was going for the others and felt somewhat calmer when he saw that Ron's potion had the same color as his.

His eyes kept on wandering over the classroom and eventually landed on no other than Draco Malfoy. Harry couldn't believe his eyes. His heart rate accelerated, his palms were getting sweaty, and his breath shallow. The reaction wasn't thanks to the thick maroon liquid boiling in Draco's cauldron, but because he had rolled up his sleeves, exposing his wrists and forearms. It wasn't the bare pale skin that had shocked Harry to his core. No, what caught Harry's attention was the creature resting on Draco's wrist. Even though the tattoo wasn't larger than a square inch and Harry was standing several feet away, it was clear. The animal resting on Draco's wrist was a stag. A proud and magnificent golden stag with a broad chest and long antlers that reached the bottom of his palm.

Suddenly, the bell rang and they were asked to leave their potions to simmer for the night as the class was dismissed. Harry left the class with Ron and Hermione behind him. He was still in shock and it showed clearly.

"Harry, are you alright?" asked Hermione with clear worry in her voice. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

He shook his head. "We'll talk about it later… when we're alone."

The day went on and the evening came. The three of them were hanging out in the common room, waiting to be alone. Ron and Harry were playing chess to pass the time, ignoring Hermione's obvious hints about their homework. Finally, the last Gryffindors, a few second years that had been sitting in a corner swapping chocolate frog cards, left to go to bed.

The moment they heard the door close behind them Hermione turns to Harry. "We are alone now, can you tell us what's wrong?"

He was silent a few seconds before taking a deep breath. "It's Draco." He looks up at them, waiting for their reaction. Ron had his forehead scrunched up with one eyebrow raised, clearly not understanding what he was talking about.

Hermione, however, was smiling and looked almost delighted. "Yes, it's Draco. Of course, it is."

"You knew?" He raised his voice and was almost shouting. "You knew it was Draco and you didn't tell me?" the feeling of betrayal slowly rising in his chest. She knew that he been racking his brain trying to understand the tattoo, trying to understand the clue. She was his friend and had known all this time, able to give him answers, but instead, she kept them to herself.

"It's really self-evident." It didn't seem to touch her that he had shouted. She just kept on calmly, "I thought a part of you already knew, and that you would realize it when you were ready."

Harry stood up, preparing to start yelling when Ron stopped him by raising his hands. "Wait, wait, wait. Before you rip her head off, can you tell me what's going on?"

Harry glared at Hermione. "Fine." He sat himself down again. His eyes were fixed on his hand resting in his lap. "Earlier today, during potions, I saw Darcos tattoo." He started rubbing his thumb nervously against his palm. "It's a stag. It's me, I'm his soulmate." He looks up at Hermione with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. I really didn't know that it was him but I get why you thought I did. I mean, come on. It's literally his name."

Now both Hermione and Harry were smiling while Ron were looking horrified. "Hold up, how could Draco be your soulmate? That dude's a git!"

"Not the word I would use but Ron has a point." Hermione gathered her frizzy dark hair in a bun on top of her head before she kept on saying, "I know you haven't been at each other's throats for little over a year but you still have a history. How do you feel about this?"

"To be honest?" He shrugged his shoulders and made a big exhale, "I have no idea, I really don't. I think I'm too shocked to really feel anything about it."

"Do you want my advice?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, I'll gladly take any advice you have."

She went over to him, crouched down and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Take your time before you start deciding on what to do. Give yourself a few days, or weeks, even or months if you need. Just take your time to think and process this. Okay?"

Harry, very happy to have Hermione in his life right now nodded. "Okay, I will."

October 2, 1996

Harry had taken Hermione's advice and took the time to figure out he felt about it. During the weeks that passed, he found himself looking at Draco more and being more aware of what he does. He started to notice things he'd never seen before. He saw that Draco never really looked at Crabbe or Goyle when they talked but always gave his attention to Pansy, Theo, and Blaise. He also has a habit of spinning his quill around his fingers when he thinks. He really cared about his schoolwork and seemed to like it, or at least the subjects they have together: potions and charms. Harry wondered how many other things he didn't know about him. Would he see another side of him if they tried to get to know each other?

Harry was sitting at breakfast and talking to Ron about quidditch tactics over some toasts when he heard Draco's voice and, almost as an instinct, looked up. When he saw him he felt... something. It wasn't a head-over-heels-in-love soulmate feeling, it was something else. A feeling of curiosity, a feeling of interest. He knew right there and then that he had to find out if he and Draco could ever become something more.

"I'm gonna do it," he whispered so that only Ron and Hermione could hear him. "I'm gonna tell Malfoy that we are soulmates."

This change of topic shocked Ron so much that he almost choked on his food. "Bloody hell mate, you can't just say things like that! You could have killed me. I still can't believe your soulmate is Draco Death Eater Malfoy, It's mad."

"Well that's wrong in multiple ways." Hermione looked at her boyfriend seemingly annoyed. "Firstly, if you would chew your food for more than a second before swallowing, you wouldn't have choked. It's not Harry's fault that you can't eat properly." Straightening up, she continued, still looking at Ron, "Secondly, Draco is not a Death Eater, nor has he ever been one. We know his dad was one but as Sirius taught us, just because your family members are all Dark wizards, that doesn't mean you are." She turned to Harry and her face went soft, "Thirdly, it's not mad. It's completely reasonable. Even though you didn't like each other you always had strong feelings for one another and you seemed to have a unique connection." Her eyes were bright and she was giving him a lovely, comforting smile. "So, do you have any plan on how to tell him?"

"Yeah, I think I need to talk to him in person for him to believe me but I really don't want to do it in front of others." He looked around to make sure that there still wasn't anybody listening. "We have potions together after lunch. I'm gonna leave him a note, telling him to meet me at the seventh floor before curfew."

Hermione looked as if she approved of the plan. "That sounds good. Let me know if you need any help."

Harry spent the rest of the day feeling anxious and it clearly showed. At lunch, he had a hard time eating because of the lump forming in his stomach. What if his plan didn't work? Maybe Draco would think that it was some sort of prank. But he couldn't see any better solution. This was the way it had to be.

It was in the middle of the potions class when Harry was sure that nobody was looking at him and he took out a piece of parchment and his quill. He stopped for a second to think about to say and he wrote:

We have something important to talk about.

Meet me tonight at 9 o'clock.

I'll be waiting on the seventh floor, across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy.

This is something between you and me so please come along.

Harry

Harry walked across the classroom, pretending he needed to get something from the cupboard. The note he had written was hidden inside his hand. When he walked by Draco, he laid the note on his station. He felt his heart beating so hard that he almost expected Draco to be able to hear it. After he laid the note as his station as discreetly as possible, he carried on walking to the cupboard in case someone was watching. He pretended to take a pinch something and headed back to his station. On his way back he sees Draco slipping a piece of parchment in his pocket.

A/N: To all of you that kept on reading, thank you very much. I'm very excited to keep on writing this story and hopefully you'll enjoy it. If anything doesn't seem right or if you have an opinion about me story, feel free to contact me.