Soulmates

Chapter One

Ron Weasley and Harry Potter were lounging by the crackling fire in the Gryffindor common room, drying out their snow sodden clothes, and drinking large cups of steaming hot chocolate.

They had just returned from a spectacular snowball fight between Ravenclaws and Gryffindors, in which they had spent a good three hours pelting each other with snowballs, while zooming through the air on broomsticks. At one point, Luna Lovegood got confused and turned on her own team. When this was pointed out, she merely said, "Oh. Well, I guess I'm used to fighting alongside the Gryffindors," which caused everyone a great laugh.

"So, who are you going to take, Harry?" Ron asked, eyeing Harry over the rim of his mug.

It was almost Christmas Break, and Professor Slughorn was throwing a huge party for everyone before they went home for Christmas.

"I don't know," Harry replied. "It just doesn't seem important this year, not after-"

He stopped abruptly. Thinking of Sirius was still too painful. He took a deep breath and looked up at Ron, hoping he hadn't noticed his hesitation. Ron hadn't seemed to, or if he did, he was ignoring it.

"Besides, if it's going to be anything like the last time, I'm not sure I want to go."

"Yeah," Ron said knowingly, "I'm going to ask Hermione tonight so she doesn't have time to get all worked up about it, and I don't have to worry about finding a date last min-"

Crookshanks took this moment to jump into Ron's lap, causing Ron to promptly upset his hot chocolate all over his lap.

"God damn—"

"Ron!"

Hermione appeared through the portrait, her large book bag slung over her shoulder. "Don't curse," she said sternly. "Think of the first years."

She flopped down in one of the chairs before the fire, dropping her book bag to the floor.

"Right," Ron said sarcastically, "like they've never heard worse coming from Peeves; he's got the filthiest mouth in Hogwarts! Besides," he said, looking around the empty common room, "there's no one here!"

"Nevertheless," Hermione murmured. Crookshanks jumped into her lap, curled up and sat down and the fire crackled merrily in comfortable silence. Harry noticed Ron was watching Hermione as she gently stroked her cat, his face soft. Taking this as his cue to leave, Harry gathered his things and said goodnight. He met Ron's eye as he left, and raised his eyebrows. Ron blushed, but said nothing.

Harry went up to the boys' dormitory and sat down at the window by his bed. It was still snowing outside, the flakes swirling around in the winter wind, and Harry was glad to be inside where it was cozy and warm. As he stared out into the snow, he caught sight of a figure out on the grounds.

Harry squinted his eyes and pressed his nose against the glass, trying to make out who it was.

Through the swirling flakes, he saw a glint of blonde hair and a blue knit cap. It was Luna Lovegood, and she was holding a small jar filled with blue light.

"What the hell is she doing out there?" he muttered, his breath frosting the window. He grabbed his invisibility cloak and slipped out of the Gryffindor tower as quietly as possible, careful not to look at the spot where he had left Hermione and Ron not ten minutes before.

Escaping a close run-in with Mrs. Norris on the second floor landing, Harry finally made it outside.

The footprints from their snowball fight earlier had been completely covered with soft white powder that twinkled in the moonlight. Harry slipped off the invisibility cloak as he caught sight of Luna's blue hat through the snow. He went towards her, calling her name.

Luna turned around, and when she caught sight of him a smile lit up her face.

"Harry!" she cried, stumbling over her snow boots, and almost dropping her jar of blue light.

"Whoa, careful!" Harry said, steadying her.

"Thanks!" She beamed up at him, her cheeks pink with cold.

"Luna, what are you doing out here so late?" he asked her. "You could get in trouble."

Luna laughed. "Since when has the great and troublesome Harry Potter cared about getting in trouble?"

Harry smiled sheepishly, stuffing his hands in his cloak.

"So…what are you doing out here so late?" He asked. "And what is that you're holding?" He pointed at the glowing blue jar.

"Oh, these are snow fairies," Luna replied, handing him the jar.

They looked something like the fire that Hermione had made in their first year, but the jar wasn't warm. In fact it was as cold as the snow around them. As he held it up to his face he could see tiny creature with wings as blue as ice. One bared its tiny teeth at him, and Harry could be sure another gave him the middle finger.

"Nice little buggers, aren't they?" Harry grimaced, handing the jar back to Luna.

Luna laughed again, and a small shiver slipped down Harry's spine at the sound.

"I came out here to let them go," Luna said, gripping her hand around the lid. "Hagrid found them in the trees he brought in for Christmas and I said I would keep them until the next snowfall and let them go." Her face screwed up in determination, Luna tried to twist the lid off the jar, but she was unable to make it budge.

"Why do you have to wait for snowfall?" Harry asked as he gently removed the jar from her small hands, his fingers brushing hers.

Luna looked up at him quickly, the smile gone from her face. It returned so fast, Harry wondered if it had ever disappeared.

"They like to nest in fir trees, but without the snow around them, they cannot live. But they are stubborn, and will try to get back to the same tree, even if it is inside. The snowfall helps disorient them."

"Sounds a bit like gnomes," Harry said, unscrewing the jar lid easily, being careful to keep the lid on. He handed it back to Luna.

She took it and looked at him curiously.

"How is your heart?"

"My-my what?" Harry stammered out, staring at her.

"How is your heart?" she repeated. "The loss of your godfather must still be very difficult for you."

Harry felt as though he'd been sucker punched. It had been six months since someone had mentioned Sirius in front of him, and certainly no one had asked about the wellbeing of his heart.

"I know when my mum died, my heart hurt for a very long time," Luna went on, not noticing the look on his face. "I suppose it still does, but not nearly as much as it used to. Time makes it better you know."

"Yeah, that's what people say," he muttered, kicking at the snow.

What should he say? She always seemed to understand what he was going through even when he told her nothing, so lying to her didn't feel right. After a brief moment of hesitation, he chose honesty over a lie.

"I don't know," he said quietly. "My heart is….well…." He trailed off, unsure how to put his feelings into words.

"That's okay, Harry, I understand," she said, smiling, and held the jar of buzzing fairies out in front of her. "Better get out of the way, they can be nasty after being cooped up."

She motioned for him to get behind her, which he did, and she lifted the lid from the jar. About ten fairies flew out, swarming angrily around them. They grabbed hold of Luna's long hair and pulled hard.

"Ow!" she exclaimed trying to brush them away. This only made them pull harder. Harry whipped out his wand and-

"Stupefy!" he shouted, flicking his wand at a particularly vicious fairy.

Stunned, the fairy let go and floated towards the ground.

With an angry buzz, the rest of the fairies let go of Luna's hair and took off through the snow towards the Forbidden Forest, supporting the stunned fairy between them.

"Oh Harry, thanks!" Luna said gratefully. "They can get quite put out being kept in a jar for so long."

"No problem," Harry said, giving Luna a quick smile.

They stood in the silent snow watching the blue flickers of light disappear, then silently trudged back up to the castle.

Author's Note: I want to thank my Beta SometimeSelkie for all her hard work! I couldn't have done this without her.