(Author's note: this one comes to a shoutout to User adalovelaced on Deviantart dot com, who made this beautiful Nevmione picture that I had to use for a prompt. I'm actually quite terrible at botany so I had to invent a plant rather than try to identify the one in the picture www .deviantart adalovelaced/art/Nevmione-Soulmate-872750396)

"Thanks so much for helping me with this, Hermione" Neville Longbottom grunted as he picked up another bag of potting soil and carried it into the greenhouse.

"You asked me, you're my boyfriend, I am excellent at organization, and I'm actually happy to help you with this project. Now, where do you want these magical plants as opposed the muggle ones?" Hermione's confident smile was like soothing breeze for Neville. A thought came to him.

"Do you believe in soulmates?"

"Well, souls exist in magical theory, but soulmates remain poetic as souls don't really mate or reproduce as far as anyone knows. I like the idea though. "

"Are we soulmates? "

"Do we have to be? "

"I guess it depends on your definition."

"Well, what's the definition?" Neville finished putting the last plant in the high-moisture section.

"The word was invented in the 1820s by the poet Samuel Coleridge. He said, 'in order not to be miserable, you must have a Soul-mate as well as a House or a Yoke-mate' "

"So a match? A compatibility?"

"I think it's what Plato meant when he referred to someone's other half. The part that was missing, a part that was needed. Not for a happy life, but for a more perfect life. I can live without you-"

Neville made an exaggerated shocked face.

"But it would be a much more dreary life. It wouldn't be the same. Something would forever be missing."

"If that's the case, then you're definitely my soulmate"

Hermione loved the thoughtful tone in his voice in his reply.

"Soulmates help you organize your plants"

"Friends do. And you've always been a wonderful friend"

"I'm not your only friend: Harry, Ron, Ginny, Luna, Parvati, Lavender, Dean, Seamus, Cho, Ernie, Hannah-"

"They're not here. You are" Neville set down another heavy plant.

"So my point still stands"

"Then why are you here and not our other friends?"

"Because of how I feel about you" Hermione suddenly felt vulnerable, snapping.

"I'm sorry; I just wanted to hear that. I mean, it's more important than any organizing you do"

"That's a first" she teased him.

"Is this for the organizing?" Neville asked Hermione, and closed in to kiss her. Hermione's voice opened first to speak, then quickly changed tactics when she saw him draw near. Her lips and tongue would find better use than for speaking, a rare but delectable feeling. Her hands wandered under his unbuttoned shirt as he slid his own hands up and down her sides.

"If it is, I'll have to do more" Hermione had to breathe hard after the kiss but kept her wits.

"It'll come regardless if you help me with organizing anyway. All you have to do is ask"

Hermione, flustered, returned to carrying the plants. Ah, there was the star: the giant Lankan tiger orchid. Neville had told her about it the moment he had purchased it. It required extremely specific moisture and soil, and he had been anxious about it all winter. Now that it was growing to a massive size, it was the most prized plant in Neville's new greenhouse.

Something possessed her to grab the heavy pot herself; it wasn't the biggest pot, but the plant would bloom in a few weeks and had grown dramatically. She miscalculated the leverage; her arm strength did not match up to her academic skill.

It shifted in her hands, but she caught herself, centering the gravity and managing to hold it firmly and steadily.

"Careful!" Neville yelped, briefly terrified, his eyes widening as he quickly grabbed the other side. The panic turned into humor as he noticed Hermione had refused to let go of the pot. Together they hauled the plant to the center of the Asian plants.

"It's an important specimen, I know" Hermione smirked at him.

"Careful" Neville repeated, but couldn't hold back his smile.

"Are you sure the plant isn't your real soulmate?"

He didn't speak, only carefully positioned the plant into the assigned place Hermione had marked. As soon as he placed the plant down he squatted, looking intently and tilting his head as if listening. Hermione's hearing was excellent, but all she could hear is the distant chirp of cicadas.

"What's that? Oh, I agree"

"Did the plant say something?" Hermione found herself giggling.

"Only that I was right about you being the most beautiful, brave, brilliant and talented witch in the world" He stood up, putting one hand on her shoulder, another gently touched her ponytail just to feel its texture again.

"Did your soulmate tell you that?"

"No, but I'm talking to my soulmate right now"

"You certainly fit the definition"

When they kissed, no one was thinking about etymology or botany.