QLFC Round 12 - Fated
Captain: You don't know who your soulmate is until you touch them.
Team: Caerphilly Catapults
Word count: 1114
Betas: HP Slash Luv, Wellwick
This one is a bit shorter than my usual one-shots, and I'm sorry for that! But I hope you'll still enjoy this slightly different Soulmate!AU :D
A Slap To Reality
I didn't know how long I'd been sitting there on top of my bed, trying to not listen to James' monologue. What I did know, however, was that it had been a long time ago when I'd given up fighting the urge to roll my eyes. Now, I was full-on rolling them, for everyone—but especially for James—to see.
I wasn't annoyed. Well, yes, okay, I was, but I'd been way more annoyed before and this level of annoyance hadn't reached my record yet. I hadn't started crying yet. Or yelling. I had merely reached the rolling-eye stage and would soon move on to the Please-just-shut-up-already stage.
A shuffle of fabric told me that James had crawled onto his bed. I'd seen it happen before. Grabbing his blanket and hugging it, eyes sparkling with excitement and Merlin knew what else because that guy was just twelve years old and no matter how often he told me that "It's love, Sirius, I know it is," I was pretty sure that it wasn't. It couldn't be. James hadn't even reached puberty's vocal change, his voice perpetually squeaky and annoying.
"I wonder how she would react if I were to ask her out," James' dreamy voice reached my ears and I just couldn't hold it in any longer.
"Please, just shut up already."
Another shuffle, followed by squeaking floorboards, and I felt my own mattress dip down. I bit down an annoyed groan.
"But it's true!" James said seriously and looked me straight in the eye. "Well, it is!"
He could see the doubt clear in my face, I knew he could. There was no way that I could hide that. He was being ridiculous, and he needed to know he was being ridiculous.
"You're being ridiculous." Push the truth straight in his face, otherwise, he'd never get it. It didn't work this time, but I couldn't say I was surprised. He was too far gone at this point.
"We're soulmates," he said, completely ignoring my statement.
"Soulmates." I didn't even say it as a question as it was… I couldn't even begin to describe what I was feeling in that moment, so I tried to hold onto the last bit of sanity within me and did my best to reason with him. "You haven't even touched her."
That was what told you who your soulmate was. Touch. Physical contact. If I were to come up with another mode of telling who you were destined to be with, I would choose something along the lines of smell or auras or, hell, even mind-reading would be better!
There were some people who took this whole soulmate thing way too seriously and landed themselves in jail. One of my mother's cousins—he theoretically wasn't part of the family anymore as my grandfather had immediately blasted him off the family tree as soon as he had found out—had actually thought it was an amazing idea to just randomly molest people by touching them whenever he had gotten the chance. Whenever he had seen a new stranger, he had reached out.
It was disturbing having to listen to James go on and on about soulmates, conjuring images in my head that I really didn't want to see.
"I know that, but I also know that we're meant for each other. Believe me," he added as he saw my sceptical facial expression, "you will see."
*~*HP*~*
I didn't know just how right James was with his lovesick declarations until just a few days later.
He went through with his threat of asking Lily Evans on a date. I still had no idea where he was planning on taking her, as we were in our second year at Hogwarts and the Hogsmeade trips didn't start until year three, but no one could ever be too sure of what was going on inside James' head. Sometimes, I didn't know whether even James knew for certain what he was actually thinking.
So, when he visibly cheered up one night in the common room, I felt dread sweep over me.
"Don't," was all I could get out before he jumped out of his seat and strolled over to where Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon had just crawled through the portrait hole. I didn't know what to do—whether I should just stay put and wait for the catastrophe to unfold itself or try and minimise the damage—but a quick look towards Remus and Peter told me that the latter was more important than the former. I all but catapulted out of the plush seat and strode over to where James had started digging his own grave.
"Oh no."
But it was too late. As soon as I reached the small crowd of people, I saw Evans pull her hand back and for a short, wild moment, I thought she was going to full-on punch him in the face. Thankfully, she went for a good slap and the sound of her hand impacting my best friend's cheek reverberated through the common room as if magnified by magic.
The look on both their faces said it all, and dread overcame me. Dread, because I already knew what I would have to endure later that day, hell, as soon as Evans left!
Physical contact allowed another person's magic to mingle with your own. Even if it was only for a short amount of time, sometimes that was enough for your magical core to uncover that the foreign magic was compatible. When that happened, the people involved knew immediately. They would feel it in their souls, and they would be filled with a deep sense of peace and acceptance. Or so it was said.
The look on Evans' face, however, quickly changed from acceptance and wonder to absolute horror and disgust.
She hurriedly pushed past James, who still had a slightly dopey expression on his face, whilst careful not to touch him with any part of her that wasn't covered in her Hogwarts uniform, and—closely followed by an excited-looking McKinnon—flew up the stairs.
James was clearly still trapped in whatever his magical core was showing him in that moment, but, a couple of silent seconds later, he turned around and I knew he was done for. And if he was done for, then I was done for.
"I told you, Sirius," he said softly, with a gentle smile I'd never seen before. "Lily and I are soulmates."
Maybe it is love, after all, I thought absentmindedly as I followed him back into our dorm room. Because whatever he had felt in that short moment, it had changed my friend for good.
I hope you liked it!
Until next time - see ya!
