Disclaimer: I do not own the original canon nor am I making any profit from writing this piece. All works are accredited to their original authors, performers, and producers while this piece is mine. No copyright infringement is intended. I acknowledge that all views and opinions expressed herein are merely my interpretations of the characters and situations found within the original canon and may not reflect the views and opinions of the original author(s), producer(s), and/or other people.

Warnings: This story may contain material that is not suitable for all audiences and may offend some readers. Please exercise understanding of personal sensitivities before and during reading.

Author's Note(s): So my hands slipped and not only is Hermione Desi (specifically from Sri Lanka, in case you're curious) but she's also Jewish. Basically, no, the titles she gives her parents are not spelling errors.

Challenge/Competition Block:
Stacked with: QL (Season 8); MC4A
Team (Position): Wigtown Wanderers (Keeper)
Round Info: Season 08 – Round 10
QL Prompt(s)s: Captain/Keeper/Seeker use Same Character (Hermione Granger)
Individual Challenges: Day 31 (Y); Inevitable; Shadow HP Bribery (Y); Magical MC (x5); Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion (x2); Ethnic & Present (x2); Small Fry; Tiny Terror; The 3rd Rule; Lovely Triangle; Ship Sails; Shipwreck; Hold the Mayo (x2); Lunar Era; Old Shoes (Y); Gwen's HP Checklist [Heroic Shadow]; Short Jog; Bucket Listing (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon (Y); Greatest Gift (Y)
Other MC4A Challenges (Prompt): SpB [5C](Rabbit/Hare); TrB [3B](Card-Carrying Villain); SuB [5D](Liberty/Freedom); AU [3E](Soul Marks); Ship (Heroic Shadow)[Sp Med 2](Kosher Food); Chim [Otis]("Wait for It" - Hamilton); Fire [Hard](Education); Hunt [Su Set](Train); Garden [HPverse](Train)
Representation: The Grangers; Granger Parent Triad; Name on Skin AU; Desi Hermione; Desi Harry; Autistic Harry
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenge(s): Lyre Liar; Muck & Slime; Abandoned Ship; Head of Perseus; Second Verse (Ladylike; Not a Lamp; Persistence Still; Found Family; Nontraditional; Sneeze Weasel; Zucchini Bread; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Advice; Clio's Conclusion; Three's Company; Lovely Coconuts); Chorus (Pear-Shaped; Wabi Sabi; Peddling Pots; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; A Long Dog; Larger than Life; Unicorn); Demo 1 (Bad Beans; Under the Bridge); Demo 2 (Sitting Hummingbird)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Thimble); SN (Rail; Ameliorate); LiCK (Yarrow); FR (Satisfaction); O3 (Orator; Oust); HoSE (Schooner; Obscure); TY (Kulonbozo; Enfant)
Word Count: 2393

-= LP =-
Fate's Great Mistake
-= LP =-

Hermione Granger had always loved the idea of soulmates. Her parents were all soulmates, and they clearly loved each other. Sure, when the three of them went out together, some people stared or made mean and small-minded comments, but they loved each other and that was the most important thing in her mind as a little girl.

Her soul mark came in when she was five. In old fashioned but beautifully loopy calligraphy, the name Lucius Malfoy was etched palely into her dark skin. She was certain that his parents, whoever they were, had to be fans of William Shakespeare just like her parents were.

As tradition dictated, her parents checked the national register for the name of her soulmate. Soulmates tended to be born near each other, though that wasn't always the case. People said it was because Fate was kind. The soul marks were a promise, after all, and what good was having a soulmate if you never met them? So it was traditional that parents brought their children together once they knew they were matched.

But there weren't any Malfoys registered with the vital records department in the whole of the United Kingdom. There had once been, a very long time ago, but the family had disappeared, presumably back to France where they had come from just a few generations before they had disappeared.

France also didn't have any Malfoys registered, but the elder Grangers still made sure that Hermione would be capable of communicating with a potentially French soulmate. Of course, learning French had led to learning other languages, because Hermione's hunger to know things truly had no end. By the time the summer before her twelfth birthday came around, she had learned three additional languages to English and French, along with their associated sign languages.

The summer before her twelfth birthday also saw the arrival of an acceptance letter for a school that her parents had never applied to for her. It was a school to learn about magic. The letter explained nothing beyond how Hermione had been accepted and needed to send in her own acceptance via owl no later than the end of the month. It also had a supply list that sounded just as much like it was out of a fantasy novel as the idea of a school for witchcraft and wizardry was.

The Grangers chose to ignore it. If the letter (which had been creepily specific with its address) was from a stalker, then acknowledging them would only give them encouragement. If it was a prank meant to be funny, then acknowledging it would be giving it credence that it did not deserve. On the off chance that there really was a school for magic that did not have any kind of application process, well, either they would contact them like a responsible educational institution or they would demonstrate that they were not the best fit for the only Granger child.

Either way, the Grangers already had Hermione enrolled in the local school for the gifted with plans for her to later attend Oxford. Hermione's school allowed her to take her GCSEs whenever she felt ready for them rather than requiring her set them based on a number of hours in the classroom. They also offered the opportunity to take multiple series of A-Levels instead of requiring that all subjects be taken at the exact same time. This would allow Hermione the chance to earn as many certifications as she desired within the same time frame without risking the need to drop courses or not being able to adequately study.

That was the future that Hermione had been dreaming of since she had first entered school and had then been assigned to the gifted program.

Then the Deputy Headmistress mentioned in the letter had arrived on their doorstep with the news that they were not allowed to reject the acceptance. Just finding one's name on the acceptance list for the school made attendance mandatory. Professor McGonagall explained that it was a safety measure, since an untrained magical child presented a risk of potential harm to everyone around them and to the wizarding world as a whole. The Grangers had all understood how that might be, but at the same time, McGonagall's information on what education options there were for Hermione's magical education were less than satisfactory.

Primarily, because there weren't any.

As a Muggle-born, Hermione's parents were not believed to be able to arrange satisfactory tutoring in magical subjects. Nor were they allowed to seek out other institutions for magical education, something which would require them to leave the British Isles which only had the one school. If they attempted to do so, they risked losing more than just custody of their magical child. They would have their memories altered to forget about her entirely.

After the letter had been addressed to Hermione's specific bedroom, they just knew that they would powerless to defend against any kind of attack, and the cost would be just too high.

Once they had Hermione's supplies, she set about devouring the contents with the same desperate hunger that she had every other topic that had ever caught her attention. Her parents had also noticed a lack of any indication that Hogwarts taught any basic educational subjects, so they had set about gaining homeschooling curriculum from the Department of Education.

As much as they admired the wizarding world's dedication to the aesthetic, all four Grangers felt it was unreasonable and ill thought out to use quills (not even the kind with metal tips!) and parchment for anything. As neither were required by the supply list, the Grangers opted for regular school supplies such as pencils, notebooks, loose paper (unlined and thicker than standard out of respect for how popular parchment seemed to be), and a set of high quality dip pens with interchangeable tips.

While two of Hermione's parents had no problem with the concept of parchment beyond its antiquated nature (so long as it was produced from kosher animals, of course!), Amma had looked as if she was going to be sick at the thought. As a Buddhist, the idea of willfully creating suffering when there are other even more viable options was abhorrent. Mame and Tate had no problem only sending paper in various forms in Hermione's school supplies.

The day Hermione was set to depart, the Grangers made certain to arrive early. Among all the hubbub of finding out about magic and how very little choice they had for the foreseeable future about Hermione learning it, it had occurred to them that perhaps the reason that they could not find Hermione's soulmate in any database could be that he was living in the magical world instead. If so, then it was likely that he would also be on the platform to catch the train to Hogwarts.

Unfortunately, it was not like they could truly go about asking every child their name. Thus Hermione accepted last minute embraces and a basket full of lunch prepared by Amma that had more than enough food to share. Mame gave a wink as she reminded Hermione that it was all kosher as well as vegetarian.

Hermione found herself alone in a compartment near the end of the train when a scruffy looking boy opened the door. She jumped up to help him wrestle his trunk into one corner, under the seat opposite of hers. The thing felt heavy and unwieldy as if it did not have the same charms on it that hers had.

The boy was just as dark as herself and Amma was, but there was something about his face that made her think he was from farther north than Sri Lanka. (Of course, everything was practically, at least in that general region of Asia.) He was also really small and thin, especially in the face. The clothing he wore hung off of him as if it had belonged to someone three or four times his size. The spectacles on his face were more superglue and tape than plastic and even then, he squinted through the lenses like the prescription was not quite right.

"Would you like some lunch?" she asked as the train whistle sounded its warning for departure. She gave him a smile like she was sharing a secret. "Amma makes the best curry. It's even kosher!"

"I've never had curry," the boy said uncertainly, "and I don't know what you mean by kosher. Sorry."

"Oh, it's okay," she reassured him. "I shouldn't have assumed. I just…" Hermione waved a hand over him, because in for a penny, in for a pound. "Well, you look like you're Desi like I am. I thought you might like some." Her brain caught up processing what he had just claimed and stumbled. "Wait. You've really never had curry?"

"My aunt and uncle dislike foreign food," he explained hesitantly. He bit his bottom lip before continuing. "My parents were killed when I was very young."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Hermione said instantly. "I couldn't imagine losing any of my parents. Were your parents killed in the magical war then?"

"Um, yeah," he confirmed before swallowing like he was bracing himself for something. He put out his hand in an offer for the traditional handshake. "I'm Harry Potter."

"Oh, I guess they did then," Hermione muttered, frowning at the hand thoughtfully. So far, Harry hadn't minded her being blunt about things, so maybe she should just continue doing so. "I don't like shaking hands. My name is Hermione Granger. Can I interest you in a nice wave instead?"

Harry grinned at her. He was also visibly relieved as he gave her a shy wave.

"Now, about that curry—" she started, already opening for the basket, only to be interrupted by the compartment door opening again. They both turned toward the door to see a very pale boy with pointy features entering the compartment along with two other boys that stood head and shoulders over him. "Oh, hello."

"I heard that Harry Potter was in this compartment," the pointy boy said imperiously. He sniffed as if he smelled something foul in the air. Hermione braced herself for some condescending comment about the scent of ginger and cardamom that was filling the air, but the boy just wiggled his nose and focused on Harry. "Are you him?"

"Him who?" Harry asked. He was blinking as if confused or surprised.

"Harry Potter," the boy said impatiently.

"Oh, him," Harry said.

"Well?" the boy asked after it became apparent that Harry was not going to continue.

"Well, what?" Harry asked as if it was the boy being deliberately confusing. Hermione pressed her lips together as she fought down giggles.

"Well, are you Harry Potter?" the boy huffed.

"Who's Harry Potter?" Harry asked. He managed to sound genuinely confused. "Does he owe you money?"

"What? No," the boy said like Harry was crazy to suggest that. "Harry Potter is the Boy-Who-Lived." The boy puffed up his chest like a strutting peacock. "As everyone knows that he's been raised among Muggles, I'm going to keep him from making friends with the wrong sort."

"I see," Harry said with a tone that suggested he might think the boy was a bit dim. "Are you really special that you can tell then?"

"I'm Draco Malfoy," the boy declared like that meant something important. Hermione felt her heart jump into her throat. "My family is one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight! I can trace my family back to the time of the Romans! Of course, I am able to tell who the wrong sort is!"

"Oh," Hermione breathed, "you're a Malfoy?"

"That's what I said," Draco confirmed frustratedly.

"Do you know a Lucius Malfoy?" she asked with breathless anticipation. Draco blinked at her in confusion.

"That's my father," Draco said slowly as if uncertain where the conversation was going, "so yes, I do know him."

"Your father?!" Hermione squeaked in horror. She clutched her hands over her mouth. "Oh, Sh'ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Ecḥad!"

"Eh, we didn't quite get that," Harry said. Hermione lowered her hands.

"My soulmate has a child who is my age!" Hermione cried. Her entire world paradigm was crashing down around her. If possible, Draco looked like he was even paler than when he came into the compartment. "Oh, dear lord, he's probably already married!"

"Of course he is," Draco interjected, clearly insulted at the thought that his parents hadn't been.

"Is that normal?" Harry asked as Hermione tried to calm her stomach. "Do you know a Blaise Zabini? Is he also old enough to be my dad with a kid my age?"

"Blaise?" Draco asked dazedly. "No, Blaise is in our year. I saw him on the platform. He's the wrong sort, though. Not only did his mother refuse to support the Dark Lord, but it's rumored that they have creature blood."

"Wait," Hermione said, her horror only growing as she remembered the books she had read on the history of the magical British Isles, "did your father support the Dark Lord?"

"Of course he did!" Draco said hotly. Hermione felt faint all of a sudden.

"My soulmate is a Nazi?" she asked through numb lips. "This has got to be some kind of cosmic joke. It's clearly a mistake!"

"I think it's time for you to leave, Malfoy," Harry said, raising from his seat. He stepped between her and the son of her Nazi soulmate. His shoulders were squared and his head tilted up so that he could stare Draco in the eyes. "I think you've done enough here."

"I…"

"Go," Harry ordered. He sounded so much bigger than his small size would indicate. Draco hesitated, looking uncertain. "Now."

Draco took a step backwards, bumping into his friends. Then he dragged all three of them out of the compartment. Hermione was barely aware of Harry closing the door behind. She barely felt him take her hands in his.

"It doesn't have to mean anything," Harry whispered. "Soulmates are supposed be good, but it doesn't have to mean anything if you don't want it to."

"I don't," Hermione whispered back. "I can't have a Nazi as a soulmate. I just can't."

"Then you don't have to," Harry said as if it were as simple as that.

Hermione breathed in deeply.

Maybe it really was.

-= LP =-
Thankfully, the End
-= LP =-