A/N: This is going to be a standalone one shot for now. I have notes to write more, however nothing has come of it in the two years I've had these notes, so I'm just going to post what I have and hope more inspiration for this comes in the future.

Summary: The concept of soulmates was not a new one for Magical Raised Cedric Diggory. The selection process wasn't a mystery for him either. For Muggle Raised students, like Hermione Granger? Everything was an unknown. Cedmione (Voldemort free world)

Prompts for this fic include:

Soulmates

Words: 1670

The Book

Having been born and raised in the Magical World, Cedric didn't even blink an eye when, on Halloween in his 7th year, a Ministry official arrived at Hogwarts with a list of soulmates they had registered in their Book this past summer. The Book wasn't known by any other name to the magical community of Britain, despite having one. Cedric was sure someone knew what that name was, sometime in its 1000 years of existence, but everyone had shortened it to The Book. The Book magically recorded down names upon a person's 16th birthday if they were eligible for a soulmate. Cedric's name had appeared in the book two years ago, but the space next to it had been blank. Last year, before the other schools had arrived for the Triwizard Tournament, the space hadn't filled in. Now, however?

Now Cedric would possibly get to learn who his soulmate was.

He knew it wasn't Cho, since she had turned sixteen the year prior, and her name wasn't even in the book. The Hufflepuff felt sorry for the girl he had taken to the Yule Ball last year during the Triwizard tournament. He had been up front about his inability to get attached to her if she wasn't his soulmate, and she took it hard. It was for this exact reason that Cedric kept many people at arm's length if they tried to form that sort of attachment to him. He just didn't want to take that chance of ruining either relationship if his soulmate was revealed after he got serious with someone else.

It was fine, really, Cedric mused as his gaze locked onto the Ministry official striding down the center of the Great Hall to the Head Table. This next moment would tell him (or not) of who his soulmate was, and Cedric would finally be able to let himself love someone. With his future hanging on the line, he could only hope his soulmate, the person who would be his other half and who was made for him and he for them, would be proud to be paired with him.

He's heard stories of course, about bitter rivals being named soulmates, and instead of reconciling, the two would reach bitter or tragic ends in order to escape it. Cedric knew in his heart that he would be paired with the best possible person for him, since it was destined by their magic. But would his soulmate think the same?

Cedric tore his eyes off the Ministry official to sweep his gaze across his peers assembled in the room. Everyone 16 and older had been ordered to stay in the Great Hall after breakfast to hear the announcement. It was almost tradition, at this point, to announce aloud everyone's matches. The decision to hold this publicly was made a few hundred years ago, after someone faked a match that caused the actual paired soulmates to wither away by their 25th birthdays. Magic always knew what was best, and interlopers were not kindly regarded.

Mountains of laws and litigation were created, to keep soulmates together and to heavily penalize tampering, with upwards of several decades in Azkaban for a minimum sentence.

Seeing very few new faces in the crowd from last year was disheartening. What if his match was a foreign witch? Cedric had hoped he would have at least gone to school with his soulmate, to make sure they had some sort of relationship beforehand, but now he got a chill down his spine. Would he be expected to move to his partner's country? Would he have to demand they move to Britain?

The Ministry Official clearing his throat at the front of the room caught everyone's attention, and the conversation and whispers started to die down. Cedric heard from the Gryffindor table Hermione Granger asking the Weasley twins as to what was going on as the official at the front of the room pulled out a scroll and unrolled it. Whatever the twins would have said was silenced, as Professor Dumbledore stood to address the crowd, and Cedric felt a twinge of sympathy for the Fifth Year Prefect. As a Muggleborn, she wouldn't have grown up with the concept of soulmates being a tangible thing, and as strange as she probably found the Magical world, after living a decade of her life in the Muggle world, being told she now had a predestined mate, despite her feelings and thoughts on the matter, would come as a shock to her.

"Thank you all for staying!" Professor Dumbledore stated as he looked out among the assembled students. "As some of you might be aware, the Magical world is full of wondrous and fantastical things. From the ability to levitate oneself and others, interacting with magical creatures beyond description, and enchanting your surroundings to better your life, magic does many things that help us, as a society, to grow. Sometimes magic can be wielded by bad people, and sometimes it is used to heal or fix the most broken.

"Magic is sentient," he continued, the hall silent as the Headmaster spoke. Cedric heard this speech last year, and it seemed that Professor Dumbledore hadn't changed a word of it. The Hufflepuff idly wondered how long Professor Dumbledore had been giving this speech, over the years. "Magic makes choices to better our lives, or to create hardships for us to overcome in order to grow with both our magic and as people. And thus, magic created Soulmates." Cedric heard a stifled gasp coming from the Gryffindor table, and he looked over to see Granger looking at the Headmaster with wide eyes, her hands covering her mouth in what Cedric assumed was disbelief. As Professor Dumbledore continued on, Cedric noted that no one else of the newly turned 16 year olds reacted like Granger had. It looked like she was the only Muggleborn, or at least the only person, who hadn't known about Soulmates beforehand.

"Every year," the Headmaster then said, beginning to wind down his speech, "the Ministry comes to Hogwarts to read off official pairings of people who have reached their Magical Maturity at 16 years of age. They come here first, to let the students know, before the list is released to the Daily Prophet. As names get recorded in their predestined spots in The Book, you might find that your Soulmate might not be a classmate of yours. Your Soulmate may be a foreign witch or wizard, or perhaps someone who has already graduated from school. Just remember, that you have a choice," Professor Dumbledore said. "While the knowledge of these pairings are revealed now, you have the choice to wait, to take it slow, to go at whatever pace you are comfortable with. If anyone makes you uncomfortable, either in your pairing, or if others attempt to interfere with your pairing, please come to any of the Professors, and we will make sure the Aurors get involved." He paused for a moment, staring out at them all with his piercing blue gaze, not even a smile on his face to show the seriousness of the matter. After a moment, he nodded before turning back to the Ministry Official before him. "Now, Mr. Cornswift, if you will."

Dumbledore sat back down at his seat at the head table, and the Ministry Official cleared his throat. "When I read off the pairings, I will either read two names if there is a pairing, or one name and 'no pairing'. If you have been successfully paired, you will not need to come back next year for the next school reading. The list is not produced in any particular order, so I beg your patience as we go through the list." And with that, the reading of names began.

Cedric was tense in his spot as the names were read, and he grew quite irritated as a Seventh Year Ravenclaw burst into tears when her name was read with 'no pairing' next to it. Her friends tried to console her, and Cedric felt a burst of regret. Once she left Hogwarts, she would have to wait until the second week of November to read the list of possible pairings, and Cedric realized with dread that, if he wasn't given a name today, he would have to do the same.

"Cedric Diggory!" the official called out, and Cedric snapped back to attention, his gaze zoning in on the man with the scroll at the front of the room. This was usually the point where the reader would tack on "with no pairing!" and then move onto the next person, however the next word out of the man's voice was music to his ears. "And Hermione Granger!" Cedric's world seemed to zero in on the Fifth Year Gryffindor, her soft gasp filling his ears. The Weasley Twins crowded her, one holding her while the other whispered comfortingly in her ear. Cedric felt a lance of anger rip through him, but it was quickly chased away as he rationalized that they were probably explaining everything to her that Professor Dumbledore assumed everyone already knew.

Cedric watched as Granger-Hermione now-turned her head and their gazes locked. Warmth filled his chest as she gave him a small smile. He vaguely realized that the Twins were now giving him a subtle thumbs up motion, and Cedric managed his own smile to her before she turned back to the front.

From what he knew of the girl, Hermione was probably mulling over this situation furiously in her mind, making calculations and adjusting the path she had for her future. Once they were released from the meeting, those who found pairs were given the day off of classes, in order to get their affairs in order, as well as to officially meet the person who would be their soulmate. Cedric itched to get this done and over with, and to officially meet the woman he was destined to spend the rest of his life with.

He couldn't have been happier.