AN: Written for QLFC Round 12. Appleby Arrows.
This round, we got to write Soulmate AU's!
SEEKER: Your soulmate's name is printed on your wrist.
Beta's: DaughterOfTheOneTrueKing
Word Count before AN: 1204
"Her Name"
Draco stared down at the slowly appearing letters on his wrist. It had started that morning, and here it was mid-afternoon and they still hadn't fully formed into any name he recognized.
He rolled his eyes. Of course, he would be one of the unlucky ones that would have to wait forever before the name of his soulmate appeared. For some, the name appeared instantly on the morning that both people were of age. It wasn't enough that he had turned of age the year before, but now he was waiting on whoever it was to turn seventeen as well.
So far, Draco had been able to make out two "A"'s, an "O," and an "R." Hardly enough to put together an actual name.
He groaned. He hated everything about this. Why did some unseeable fate get to decide who he would spend the rest of his life with? It was just one more choice that wasn't his to make. Never mind that as far as he could tell, it had never been wrong. That wasn't the point at all.
Of course, he could always fight against it, but that didn't seem to be something that worked out anyway. Blaise had been proof enough of that.
The morning of his seventeenth birthday, "Tabitha" had appeared in neat cursive letters across his wrist. Until then, he had never even heard of anyone with that name. It took some searching to find out that she was a muggleborn Hufflepuff in their year. Blaise had absolutely no intention of ever being with her (and the feeling was entirely mutual), yet even as he tried to stay away from her, it was as if they were only drawn closer. For a girl that previously Blaise hadn't ever taken any note of, he was now seeing her everywhere. Passing in the corridors, bumping into each other in the library, even trips to the Black Lake ended with them both being there.
But that had been last year, and this year the two of them had gotten engaged, despite the Zambini family being well and truly against it. No matter that Blaise hadn't had any choice in the issue.
Fate just seemed to know better.
When Draco had talked to him last, Blaise seemed over the moon and had asked Draco to be his best man.
Draco stood from where he had been lounging on the sofa and walked into the kitchen with a sigh. He decided to put some water on for tea. Another glance at his wrist showed the faint outline of a "T," and he wondered again who it could be.
He considered the list of women he knew, but the names were very few since this person would have to have been two years behind him. Assuming she had gone to Hogwarts in the first place. What if she had gone to another school and he hadn't even met her yet? What if she had gone to Beauxbatons or worse, Ilvermorny? How would they ever meet if that was the case?
The whistle of the teapot brought him out of his thoughts and he took a moment to shake his head and take a breath. He was being completely ridiculous. He was putting far too much thought into this. The name would appear in its entirety sooner or later, and it would do him no good to stress over it now. Besides, surely if there were a fate out there that matched up soulmates, it would be able to put them together once it was time.
Draco poured his cup of tea and sat down at the table to drink it. Letting the heat of it warm him from the inside out. He thought back to his last year at school and was suddenly glad that he wasn't there now. He could only imagine the teasing he would get from being so worked up if the name had appeared this slowly back then. He thought for sure that he would have just kept his wrists covered at all times so that no one would know.
When the doorbell rang sometime later, Draco's tea had gone cold, and the sun was beginning to set outside the kitchen window. He looked down at his wrist and was happy to see another letter. This one an "I." It bugged Draco that he hadn't worked out the name yet, even though at least now it seemed more familiar to him.
The doorbell rang again and Draco groaned. The last thing he wanted right now was company.
Draco opened the front door of his apartment and was surprised to see none other than Harry Potter standing on the other side.
"What do you want, Potter?" He asked snidely.
"I'm good, Draco. How are you?" Harry sarcastically replied with a grin as Draco stepped back to let him inside.
Since the war, Harry and Draco were no longer enemies and now that they worked together, Harry had taken it upon himself to find a way to make them at least friends. Draco wasn't sure how well it was working, but Harry didn't seem to be the least bit dissuaded by his less than enthusiastic reception of him.
"You weren't at work today," Harry commented as he made his way over to the couch to sit down.
Draco followed him over after shutting the door and sat down in his favorite armchair. He nodded. "I took a sick day," he said drily.
"You don't look sick."
Draco rolled his eyes. "And you don't look like you would be a huge pain in my neck, yet here we are."
When Harry didn't rise to the bait but instead just sat back further on the couch and stared at him, Draco sighed and held up his wrist, showing Harry the nearly formed name.
Harry smiled widely. "Fantastic. Who is it then?"
"Dunno, it's taking forever to appear completely." He held his arm out further so that Harry could see the letters.
After a moment of looking them over, Harry laughed. "Well, isn't it obvious?"
Draco glared. "Clearly, it's not. But by all means, do enlighten me, Potter. It's not as if I've been sitting here all day waiting for it to show up or anything."
"Come off it, Draco. She was two years below us and a Slytherin. Her sister was in our year." When Draco still didn't realize who he must be talking about, Harry sighed. "You really don't pay attention to anyone but yourself, do you?"
"Potter," Draco growled, his blue eyes narrowing.
Deciding to take pity on him at least, Harry said, "It's Astoria, Draco. Astoria Greengrass."
Draco stared down at the name on his arm and even now he could see the beginnings of an "S" appearing between the "A" and the "T."
"Astoria," he murmured, trying to picture her in his mind. It took him only a minute now that he had her name. Her dark hair and eyes, her soft smile, and her outspokenness. The way she and her sister were unafraid to stand against the traditional Pure-blood views to stand for what they believed in.
"Astoria," he said again, this time with a smile of his own.
