QUIDDITCH LEAGUE FANFICTION COMPETITION
Season Nine, Round 12
Montrose Magpies, Chaser 3 (Reserve)
Fated - CHASER 3: You and your soulmate interact in dreams until your first meeting.
Optional Prompts: (character) Ron Weasley, (object) pen/quill, (emotion) disgust
Also written for some other stuff.
Note that here, the Death Eaters aren't tracking the mail coming in to Hogwarts, just the mail going out.
dreams and letters
"Mum, what does soulmate mean?"
Nine-year-old Ron looked up at his mother, who was darning one of Fred's jumpers.
"Oh, soulmates...such a wonderful thing," his mother said. "I remember when I found Arthur. We met in -"
"Okay, okay," Ron nodded impatiently. "But what does it mean?"
"Well, your soulmate is someone you'll love for the rest of your life. Your perfect match. Fate herself put you two together."
Ron thought it was rather disgusting - he was still too young for romantic love!
It seemed that his mother noticed his reaction.
"Don't worry, dear, you'll understand soulmates soon enough," she said. "You might find yours a little late in life, though most soulmates start to interact in dreams when they're about fifteen." She paused.
"Interact in dreams?" Ron asked.
His mother nodded. "One day, when you fall asleep, you'll meet your soulmate. But you don't need to worry about it yet." She patted his head lovingly. "It's getting late. Go back to bed now, Ronnie."
Ron's first dream-meeting with his soulmate happened when he was fourteen years old.
"Um...hello?" he said, frowning at the blonde girl in front of him.
The girl smiled at Ron dreamily, as if she was drowsy. He thought he recognized her - maybe he'd seen her in the hallways - but he couldn't be sure.
"Hello," she said. "Nice to see you."
"Uh…"
"It's alright," the girl said. "A Blibbering Humdinger is flying around you, infecting you with its magic."
Ron didn't know what a Blibbering Humdinger was, but he didn't want to sound stupid in front of his apparent soulmate. "Okay, yeah…" he trailed off, trying to figure out something to say.
"What's your name?" the girl asked.
"Oh, I'm Ron Weasley, fourth year Gryffindor. What about you?" he asked, curious.
"I'm Luna Lovegood," she said. She was one of Ginny's friends, Ron remembered. "I'm a third year Ravenclaw."
A pause. The silence was uncomfortable for Ron, but Luna didn't seem to mind.
"So...er...you're my soulmate." the redhead finally said, trying to cut through the tension.
"Oh?" Luna sounded like she'd just come out of a trance. "Oh yes, I remember now."
"What do you like to do?" Ron asked, inquisitive.
"I like to find Crumple-Horned Snorkacks," Luna responded, her strange silver eyes looking straight at Ron. It made him feel like he was being undressed.
"How many have you found so far?"
"None," Luna said sadly. "But my father has gotten hold of a trail and we're going to follow it this summer."
Luna Lovegood was definitely erratic and a little crazy, Ron decided.
"How about you?" Luna asked.
"I like to play Quidditch."
"Ginny likes to do that too."
"Yeah - we Weasleys, we love Quidditch." It was true. All of Ron's siblings - excluding Percy - were passionate about Quidditch.
"Have you got a mother and a father?"
"Yes." Ron wondered why Luna was asking that.
"Lucky you," she sighed. "My mother died when I was very young."
"That's -"
Ron woke up before he could reply.
Dear Ron,
As I told you during our first meeting, I am going on holiday with Daddy to find a Crumple-Horned Snorkack.
It is very interesting! So far, we have not caught a Crumple-Horned Snorckack yet, which is a shame. However, we have found several highly interesting (though not as interesting as the Crumple-Horned Snorkack) creatures, such as the Quintaped. This holiday truly is an enlightening experience!
I wonder how you are doing?
Love,
Luna
Ron smiled, seeing the letter from Luna. Her quirkiness shone out of every letter, and he could imagine her voice saying the letter's contents to him in his mind.
The Love, Luna part made him blush slightly (luckily, no one had seen it). Ron wondered whether she was truly developing feelings for him.
Still smiling, he picked up his quill and wrote back to her, trying to make his reply as mature as possible.
Dear Luna,
Hearing from you is nice. The only correspondence I've had this summer is Hermione, and sometimes she can really go crazy about homework in her letters.
Good luck on finding a Crumple-Horned Snorkack! I don't know what a Quintaped is, though.
I'm doing okay, thanks! As usual, the homework is boring (like, really boring) but with the explosions coming from Fred and George's room, there's never a shortage of things to do.
Try not to get hurt. I'd hate to go back to school and have Professor McGonagall tell me solemnly that my soulmate is dead, killed on an expedition to find Crumple-Horned Snorkacks.
Ron
Ron felt slightly uncomfortable writing 'Love, Ron', so he just signed his name.
He watched Pigwidgeon out of sight, the small owl flapping its wings until it disappeared over the horizon. For a second, he wished he was Pig, able to fly. He could visit Luna, wherever she was...check on Harry…
"Luna was there?"
"Of course, who else would the 'Lovegood oddity' be?"
Was Luna hurt? No, Ron couldn't bear the thought - she was his soulmate, Merlin's beard.
He tuned out the rest of the conversation, flooded with panic. Harry and Hermione were busy talking, and Ron was pretty sure that they'd forgotten he was there. Discreetly, he took a quill, some ink and a piece of parchment out of Hermione's beaded bag, and went to his bunk bed.
Ron dipped the quill into the ink (why couldn't Hermione have brought Self-Inking Quills?), put the tip of the quill to the parchment, and started to write.
His writing was like chicken scratch, even messier than it usually was, because he was so panicked. At one point, the bottle of ink tipped over and spilled on his bedsheets. He ignored it.
Dear Luna,
Where are you? Are you hurt? Please, tell me something!
Love,
Ron
Years Later
"Luna? Are you okay?" Ron rushed into Luna's hospital room.
"I'm perfectly fine," Luna said. Her blonde hair was spread over her pillow, shining in the light of the chandelier. In Ron's opinion, she had never looked more beautiful. "You should be more worried about the baby."
"Yeah - the baby." Ron said, as if just realising that he now had a child. "Where is it?"
"With the Healers," Luna answered.
As Ron rushed out, Luna Lovegood-Weasley smiled, thinking of the undoubtedly brilliant times to come.
Dedicated to Gryffindor :)
WC: 1051
