Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Additionally, there's a lot of internalized abuse in Harry's narrative. Feel free to back out if that's you.

Author's Note: Two autistic aces meet in a borrowed orchard.

Edited Author's Note: I was shifting things around and got the ship mixed up.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 11); MC4A
Individual Challenges: Themes & Things A [Love] (Y); Themes & Things B [Loneliness] (Y); Feeling So Logical [Happy]; Ethnic & Present; Neurodivergent; Quiet Time; Rian-Russo Inversion; Flags & Ribbons; Letter of the Day; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux; Two Cakes! (Y); Gryffindor MC; Lion's Moon & Shadow Bribery (Y); Sett to Destroy; Summer Vacation; Seeds; Shipmas (Y); Interesting Times; Golden Times
House: Hufflepuff
Assignment No.: Term 11 – Assignment 01
Subject (Task No.): Criminology (Task#5: ALT – Write about comparing things/people.)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Romance Awareness [D01] (Matching Soulmate Marks) (Disability AU); Insane Prompt Challenge [534] ("I'm a Believer" – The Monkees); 365 [56] (Feather); Scavenger Hunt [93](Random Act of Kindness: Aya & Jet needed fluffiness.)
Space Address (Prompt): 1D (Sun)
Representation(s): Luna Lovegood/Harry Potter; Autistic Aces in Love
Bonus Challenges: Lyre Liar; Second Verse (Trickster's Union; Lovely Coconuts; Car in a Tutu; Zucchini Bread; Found Family; Not a Lamp; Ladylike); Chorus (Wind Beneath; Unicorn; Tomorrow's Shade; Mouth of Babes; Peddling Pots; Machismo; Wabi Sabi)
Tertiary Bonus Challenges: T3 (Terse; Terrarium); SN (Rail; Ameliorate); FR (Evolution; Satisfaction); O3 (Oath); HoSE (Schooner)
Word Count: 912

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Matches Made
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Comparing soulmarks was a thing in the dorms, just like it had been on the playground of Brickman Primary in Little Whinging. Harry had never understood it. The marks weren't supposed to be shared. That was what all the adults said from the very first year of school. Not showing the mark around was taught right alongside not letting people touch the swimsuit areas of your body. Yet it was a thing that everyone had done for as long as Harry could remember, and he just didn't understand why.

Even when Dean and Seamus had exclaimed over their matching marks, while Ron turned a shade of red that made Harry long for the safety of his cupboard, Harry didn't understand why there seemed to be a compulsive need to show off the marks. It seemed so stupid that some invisible force out there cared about people finding the one person that was supposed to be perfect for them. Harry had had a lot of time to think about things like that, locked away in the dark of his cupboard between chores. Unfortunately, that was the only conclusion he could make: he did not understand.

Of course, there was a lot about the world that Harry didn't understand. He didn't understand everyone wanted to show off their soulmarks. He didn't understand why everyone insisted on staring at each other's faces or shaking hands. He didn't understand why he couldn't anything right or why Aunt Petunia hated him. He didn't understand why roses sounded like harps while the chamomile sounded like a flute. He didn't understand why the little snake in the garden talked but the birds just tweeted.

He didn't understand why he even had a soulmark when he was clearly defective. He wasn't smart. There were so many things that he didn't understand, when even Dudley (who struggled with counting) understood them. He didn't have the urge to chase the girls around for kisses, though he did like watching them in their pretty dresses from the side of the playground. He was a freak across the board, and the Dursleys were always quick to remind him of that, even if it seemed like the Weasleys hadn't figured it out yet.

Which was how Harry found himself at the far end of the Weasleys' orchard, building a series of sturdy tunnels instead of splashing with the Weasley children in their pond. He liked Ron and the twins. Even Percy wasn't that bad. But Ginny was weird with her staring and she kept asking if he had done all the things in the books. He didn't even know what books she was talking about! Aside from that, the Weasleys were very lively, and he was used to things being mostly quiet.

He was taking another rock from a garden gnome who was helping him build the tunnels that would replace their homes in the Weasley garden when a voice made the little creature scurry back into the hole.

"What are you doing?"

Harry spun around so fast that he overbalanced and fell onto his side. From that position, the girl appeared to be looming over him. Instinctively, he raised his arms and crossed them in front of his face. In his panic, he had forgotten that he had pushed up the sleeves of his shirt while working. His soulmark, a feathery snake that wrapped around his left forearm, was completely exposed.

"Oh," the girl said. Her tone had that same flat quality that Harry's got if he didn't focus on making sure it sounded like it should. Harry peeked out between his arms to see her staring at his soulmark. "You have my mark. It's a Quetzalcoatl, named after the Nahauatl deity of the same appearance. Quetzalcoatl was a teacher and had power over wind and water just as their twin had power over lightning and death. Daddy took me to Central America this spring to see the temples, just so that I could tell my soulmate everything about our mark. I'm Luna Lovegood."

Some time during her spiel, Harry had lowered his arms to stare at her. Her gray eyes seemed to have difficulty focusing on anything, flicking between targets like his did if he was distracted. As she announced her name, she stuck her hand straight out, despite him still laying on the ground. He blinked several times as he tried to process what he was seeing. It seemed like…it seemed like she was like him and didn't understand the silent rules that everyone else seemed to just know. He felt like he had been hit by Aunt Petunia's frying pan again.

"I'm Harry," he blurted out, dazed. He pushed himself to his feet and awkwardly shook the hand she still had out. She smiled so wide and beautiful that he felt like he was staring at the sun. He liked it. No wonder Dean and Seamus spent all their time together. "Tell me more."

"About Quetzalcoatl?" Luna sounded unsure, hesitant for the first time. Her smile started to fade a bit around the edges. It made Harry want to bite whoever made her sad, like there was an angry monster in his chest that existed only to make sure that Luna was always as happy as could be.

"About everything," Harry declared, not caring if he couldn't understand it all because those words made Luna's smile return to full force as she began to talk about anything that came to her.