AN: Part of this chapter… is probably going to piss you off. Keep reading. Its dealt with almost immediately and why things were that way was explained in this chapter as well.
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Despite the fact the school year was technically over and they all should've gone home last week, his family had managed to put pressure on Dumbledore, and was swiftly followed by a lot of parents, to let the students stay in the safety of the wards. The reason they had given was because there were a lot of Demons that hadn't been cleaned up and the students would be safer there behind the rather impressive wards, and it was true, but while it wasn't stated, it was just as much to keep them safe from Voldemort and his take over to keep them out of his reach.
To that extent, most of the students were still at the castle, though there had been more than a few that had been picked up by their parents. He sincerely hopes they were doing so to take them out of the country. It wouldn't protect them from the Demons that had gotten loose in the month-long gap of the seal being gone given they were worldwide, but it would at least get them away from Voldemort.
He had of course been writing his family constantly, and the… revelations that his grandma had found with Divination had been passed on. It had been a while, but his sister had let him know that the mood in the family was still kinda weird. She'd also let him know that their grandparents had pulled Aunt Trish off to the side and discussed the issue with her. No one was asking her to actually sleep with Grandpa of course, especially since their grandparents would be highly uncomfortable with it for obvious reasons, but while she had agreed to help them in general to nip the potential issue in the bud, she had asked for some time to think about whether she was comfortable being the surrogate herself or whether she'd just donate an egg if she wasn't. Hell, given that Grandma couldn't since her Angelic powers would destroy a purely Demonic baby within a month, his mom and cousin had even offered to be the surrogate if she wasn't comfortable with it, given that their Nephilim bodies should let it happen without changing or hurting it, especially since Magic itself should theoretically help them, and no one was sure if a normal human surrogate could even handle a Demonic pregnancy. While there had been plenty of… forced baby making participation back before his Grandpa had made the seal, not a single pregnancy had been allowed to progress very far. Tragically, usually by killing the mother.
In the meantime, while they had made attempts to find more of Voldemort's Horcruxes, the one his Grandma was focusing the detector on was providing elusive for reasons yet unknown, so his family had taken to distracting themselves from the weirdness of the revelation until they could get used to it while they waited for a breakthrough regarding the elusive Horcrux. Mostly that had resulted in more videos from what his sister has said. Namely, their grandpa had put out one more on the Demon Hunters Association website explaining that they didn't want to bog it down with videos that had nothing to do with Demon Hunting or public safety in regards to Demons, so Kazuto and Yui made a new site for the family.
From there, his sister had told him that all sorts of videos have been uploaded by various members of her family. A rather straightforward video from their dad and uncle discussing signs to look out for of lesser Demons having slipped through the cracks and being in the area and easier, simpler methods of self defense to at least try to buy time to get away that doesn't require a high level of skill to pull off, though that one had actually gone on the Demon Hunters Association website. Some videos from their grandparents that were essentially Q&As, especially given them dryly pointing out that they've been around so long that they walked the streets of the so called cradle of civilization in Mesopotamia, and them also informing people in the video that it had been one of the first not because of a lack of capability before that, but rather because no one had dared settle down into anything but incredibly small communities in the hopes of escaping Demonic notice, if they weren't just straight up nomads. Not in any particular order, but ancient Egypt, ancient India, ancient China, ancient Rome, and ancient Greece to name a few, their grandparents had wandered the world and walked the streets of a plethora of ancient civilizations. They knew, fluently, a lot of languages that were dead as they had spoken them to natives directly. That one had spurred a lot of questions from all sorts, archeologists, researchers, and just straight up curiosity from regular people. That one had required a follow up of them informing people that their grandma was busy, with the Horcrux though she obviously didn't say that just referring to it as important research, and Grandpa was doing more smithing to restock the family's extra weapons, as while he didn't regret letting the Demon Hunters take them, both for themselves and to pass out to promising people, but they had them for a reason, so neither of them really had time to really dedicate a lot of said time to helping out with that.
She'd gone on to tell him that their grandpa had actually done an incredible job distracting them when he dropped the information about how Sparda was originally his given name and how it came to be the family's last name, and the more important part, at least as far as distracting them goes, of him mentioning that it actually wasn't a coincidence that the name Sparta was a single letter off of his own. And commenting with humor about how before the supernatural was outed and he ended up getting revealed, he had gotten mighty nervous more than once when they came across mentions of a specific man, one that unknowingly to them cropped up all over the world and points in time, and he'd even listed examples, since he was practically just waiting at that point for some particularly clever archeologist to realize they were all the same guy. Namely him.
It had certainly distracted them in spurring a desperate search to find the mentions of him, which had only gained traction when the skeptics had been proven wrong when they actually managed to track down and confirm mentions of him in various things he'd referenced. His sister thought it was actually kinda funny in a way, saying that it felt like they were playing an ancient millenia spanning game of 'Where's Waldo' with their grandpa being Waldo. It had led to some questions about Grandma and the lack of any obvious historical records of her, but Grandpa had shrugged it off, pointing out that with how rarely older societies took note of women that weren't in a position of something like being the only viable heir to a throne, to his knowledge she was rarely spoken about in records. Especially given how recently, in the sort of time scale they were talking about, it had been for women to get equal recognition in more than what were considered odd countries here and there. He'd done his best to point to any that he could remember mentioning her, but there weren't a whole lot of them, not because of lack of memory on his part, but from lack of them existing in the first place. He'd also added some that may have mentioned her but that he didn't know one way or the other for them to look into if they were interested.
His sister had gone on to tell him that she herself had taken to doing videos on various myths and the truth behind them, such as Excalibur's genuine existence, but it's truth about being a Nephilim Knights sword, and fairly standard equipment for them, that a dying knight had attempted to bury so the Demons couldn't get their hands on yet another of their artifacts, and that a water spirit in the lake he had fallen beside had taken pity on him and offered to hide it, swearing to only ever let it fall into the hands of the worthy. Excalibur had been her first video by virtue of how known it was, but she happily continued after confirming that there was indeed interest.
That brought him to today though, thinking about the revelation his grandma had found.
He sighs as he closes his book at his and Hermione's table in the library, admitting to himself that he couldn't really focus. Hermione looks up from her own with concern, "Thinking about what your grandma told you about the Sparda soulmates again?" He nods, but doesn't reply. Hermione closes her own book, "Are you ready to talk about it?"
He sighs, "It's just… Grandma offered to do a reading to find out if we're soulmates earlier than most people find out."
Hermione tilts her head as she sets her book on the table, "And you're concerned about it."
His brow furrows, "Soulmates are picked based on your most likely future, both yours and the person selected to be your match." She nods and his voice drops to a whisper, "What if… what if me waking up to the truth about Potter and Dumbledore wasn't my most probable future? I mean, I sincerely hope it was practically inevitable, not because I want Magic's subsequent attention, but because I can hardly stomach the thought of what my future was supposed to look like otherwise." His face darkens, "Or that my soulmate was selected based on the asshole I used to be." He rubs at the back of his neck, "And… I mean, I adore the idea of trying and finding out you are my soulmate but… I think it would destroy me if you weren't." He smiles weakly, "Which hopefully that's a point in favor that you are, but…"
She reaches across the table to squeeze his hand, "But you're terrified of finding out that I'm not despite how strongly you feel, so you aren't ready to try."
His smile gains strength as he reaches over to place his own hand on top of hers, "Yeah. You always get me pretty well, don't you?"
She laughs, "It's not particularly hard. You aren't nearly as mysterious as so many girls like to say you are. They just don't actually pay attention to what you're saying and doing."
He snorts, "A bit of that, but also I'm practically an open book to you."
She smiles flirtatiously at him, "Mm. Good thing I love books then, huh?"
He laughs, "Oh definitely! Though hopefully not as much as me!"
She laughs at the last part, shaking her head in amusement. Then the smile slips away, and it feels an awful lot like the sun slipping behind dark clouds, "More importantly, Mike. We should talk about how we're going to handle the situation if I'm not your soulmate."
His good mood evaporates in an instant and his shoulders raise as his back tenses in his discomfort. He forces himself to relax as he lets out a tired sigh, "Yeah, I guess we should."
Hermione gives him a sympathetic smile, "Hey, I don't want to entertain the notion either, but I don't want it to maybe blindside us and leave us with no idea what to do." He nods, so she takes a deep breath, "Ok, obviously we don't really have a way of knowing what the circumstances will be at the time, but we're friends as well as in a relationship to each other, so unless our friendship falls apart, I would like to at least try to keep that. So if you, or even me, meet our soulmates, I'd like for us to just be honest with each other, and to have a mature and hopeful amicable separation."
He nods in agreement, "Yeah, I can get behind that. The only thing that I could see making one of us finding our soulmates and subsequently breaking up worse would be to lose our friendship at the same time."
Hermione smiles, "I'm glad we're on the same page there." She starts running the fingers of the hand not on top of his own down the edge of the papers of her book, tempting a papercut in his opinion, "Who knows, maybe if the circumstances allow for it and we get along, we could maybe have a closed polygamous relationship."
He chokes, "Hermione?! I- You- But I mean, statistically, you aren't likely to meet your soulmate! So- So unless you end up also developing feelings for my soulmate, you're basically saying you're ok being one of two significant others for me! You- You're worth way more than that! I mean, there isn't anything wrong with polygamy as long as everyone is on the same page and agreeing to it, but you deserve to have someone's full, undivided attention!"
She smiles at him warmly, "It makes me happy to hear you say that, but…" She sighs, "Honestly, maybe it's selfish of me, but while I'd never force the issue if I'm not your soulmate and they're uncomfortable with the suggestion, I'd rather have to share you than lose you."
His brow furrows, "I-" Then he sighs, "I don't want to lose you either, even if it doesn't seem right or fair to me to go about it like that, but at the end of the day, it's your choice, and while I can't force any potential soulmate of mine to be ok with it, if they are, I can respect your decision."
She squeezes his hand again, "Thank you."
He smiles at her, brow still a little pinched, but not about to take away Hermione's right to make her own choices. He takes a deep breath as he gets ready to change the subject, "So, have you seen the news on how well the clean up in Japan is-"
He's suddenly cut off by a throat clearing off to the side. Turning in surprise, he finds Ginny standing there, a friendly smile on her face, with that asshole Ron lurking behind her. She has two small plates in her hands, a treat on each. One has a small chocolate single person cake on it with white chocolate drizzled over the top, looking all the world like it's meant specifically for Hermione given how it matches her tastes. The other plate has what looks like strawberry cake, which was probably for him if the treats were for him and Hermione given it used to be his favorite, though it hasn't been for a couple years now.
Hermione frowns, "You aren't supposed to have those in the library, school year over or not."
Ginny's smile turns sheepish, "Yeah, I know, but recently I got Ron to see how much of a prat he's been and I was thinking a nice treat might be a good start to his apology, but this wasn't a conversation we wanted to have either in the common room or great hall, and this is really the only other place we knew of when you guys disappear, so…"
Hermione sighs, "I suppose that's a bit fair."
Ginny moves forward and sets the plates down, "Besides, as long as you guys push your books away just in case and don't reach for them while eating, you shouldn't make any messes that can't be cleaned up with a quick charm!"
She smiles widely at him at that last part. And he glances at Hermione before starting to push his books towards the center of the table, drawing his wand as he does, "I guess so."
Ginny frowns at his wand, "What's that for?"
He shakes his head, "Just a habit I'd rather not break."
Namely a habit from so many attempts from various girls in the school to slip him potions. Ginny starts to say something in a hurt tone, "Really, Mike? I can understand the habit, but do you really need-"
He doesn't let her finish before he casts a spell to let him detect any potions in the food. Immediately, they both light up with the sickly pink denoting love potions. He immediately meets Ginny's eyes, shocked and caught, "Apparently I do need."
She crosses her arms with a huff, "Look, I'm just trying to help us all!"
He eyes her with disgust, "Really now? And exactly how does love potioning me and Hermione help all of us instead of just you and Ron?"
She sticks her nose up, "Because! I'm your soulmate! I know I am! But you're so busy with her you won't even let our soulmate bond have a chance to bloom! And Ron thinks Hermione might be his, and even if she isn't, it's better for her to move on at the same time then have her heart broken!"
He snorts, "And where the hell do you get the idea that you're my soulmate from?"
She balls her fists, "I just know it! Like all soulmates do! I've known since I was a child! Even before we met!"
He eyes her, "That's not the knowledge of a soulmate. You have to meet your soulmate to start getting the inclination of what they are to you. That's just obsession." He tilts his head to the side as he glances away, "Well, regular obsession. Soulmates are kinda obsessed with each other, but that's not that kind of obsession."
Ginny opens her mouth, expression enraged, but Hermione clears her throat and he looks over at her. She smiles a bit apologetically, "I know you were just saying you don't want to know, but I actually came across an obscure spell a while ago that preemptively reveals soulmate Marks, though it puts them on the side of the neck instead of the nape as their placed for actual bondings, so that it's easier to see both in a mirror and for the other party to see. It's usually finicky and doesn't like to work very often which is why it's obscure because it never got very popular, but with the circumstances with the Sparda's, I think it'll cooperate. I was originally going along with the idea of having your grandma do a reading because she'd get a lot more information than just the Mark, but we can settle this right now."
He sighs, "Given that Ginny won't drop this nonsense otherwise, I don't think I really have a choice. Go ahead."
Hermione draws her wand and starts a somewhat long chant, wand moving between him and Ginny. When she's done, the skin on the side of Ginny's neck begins to gain color slowly, looking for all the world like it was ink soaking through paper. When it's done, Hermione's breath hitches and his stomach plummets.
On the side of Ginny's neck was a Mark that absolutely seems like it's his.
The lightning bolt scar on his forehead was there, and it was surrounded by light, but… the light honestly looked like a cage to him. He hates that it's on Ginny and hates how it looks. Her glee is the last straw and he snaps angrily, "No."
Her expression goes from viciously gleeful to patronizing, "Now Mike, sweetheart. We're soulmates, just like I said, so you can't keep denying that we belong together."
His face twists with rage, "No." Then he looks up towards the ceiling, "You hear me Magic? Grandma's reading said you were very invested in Sparda soulmates for reasons you damn well know. I'm telling you right the fuck now, I will not have anything to do with her. You will not get me to bond to her and make you more Sparda babies. You want them so bad?! Then fucking fix your mistake."
Ginny rears back like she's been slapped, expression confused, "Mike? Why would Magic care about Sparda soulmates in particular?"
He gives her a nasty look, "That's none of your business," He looks back up and raises his voice, "Because she's not going to have anything to do with the Sparda family, no matter how hard you try Magic! I swear to fuck, I'd sooner kill myself before I end up with a bitch that tries to love potion me, just like my mom was love potioned at that, which I will remind you which almost threw one hell of a wrench in your plans! And as if that wasn't bad enough, she even tried to help her prick of a brother love potion my girlfriend! You want anything from me, you better fucking fix it! Because I may love the Weasleys in general, but I don't even tolerate those two."
Ginny sighs in exasperation like he's behaving like a child, "Mike-"
That's as far as she gets before soulmates symbols appear on both Hermione and Ron as well, also on the side of their necks instead of the back, and he can't even begin to imagine why it paired them together. He doesn't bother to really look over at Hermione to see Ron's, not really caring what symbolizes him, and he barely glances at the one on Ron symbolizing Hermione. He hardly takes it in, almost immediately spotting subtle hints of being caged as well and unable to bring himself to see anymore of it after that. For a moment, Ginny looks even more smug, but then the glow on the four symbols begins to get brighter and brighter by the moment, and she subsequently turns more uncertain as it does. Before long, with a sudden noise like smashed glass, they suddenly shatter, the light from them flying out of their skin like the shards of a destroyed window, and he can't help but note that the light has a sort of toxic looking hue before it disappears into thin air.
Ginny and Ron's jaws drop open in horror, and Hermione, who had looked upset when hers and Ron's soulmate Marks had appeared suddenly looks surprised. Three new lights appear. Two that don't give him much of an impression other than seeming lackluster and bitter, and one that takes his breath away with its quiet beauty. The two lackluster ones go over to Ron and Ginny, and suddenly they both have new soulmate Marks, though thankfully not symbolizing each other from what he can tell. The third light however, drifts between him and Hermione before reaching out for both of them and wrapping them in its warm gentle embrace.
A new symbol appears on the side of Hermione's neck, a wand in black and white swirling together peacefully in a crossguard with the neutral form of his Nephilim Blade, the Sparda family crest Sword stabbed in the middle in front of them with its wings stretching out to either side of the wand and Nephilim blade, a shield with the symbol of Gryffindor dead center.
It's his new soulmate Mark, that he knows without question. Not the caged public symbol Ginny had possessed, but a new one that, from what he can tell, shows that he has fully embraced the honor, bravery, and chivalry Gryffindor is supposed to have. Backed by, and having the backs of, his family. Embracing the duality of their nature as Nephilim, and willing to fight when necessary. Or, at least that's what it says to him.
He wonders what Hermione's soulmark on his own neck looks like. Before he can ask Hermione about conjuring a mirror, since she's better at that sort of stuff, the soulmate Mark on Hermione's neck starts to move. At the same time, he feels the warmth on his own neck begin to migrate, and feels something snap into place in his mind, and suddenly, he finds himself connected to more than just his sister as a wave of questions and theories in Hermione's voice start flowing through his mind.
As he starts to understand what just happened, the symbol on Hermione, his Mark, settles on the back of her neck. Where a Mark from a fully bonded pair rests.
Hermione's eyes blow wide, and almost hesitantly he hears, 'Mike? Did- Did what I think just happened actually happen?'
He blinks at her, 'If you think Magic just changed our soulmates and even made us a fully bonded couple, then yeah.'
Her mouth drops open a little, 'Oh. Holy shit.'
His lips twitch and he sends over the sound of a dramatic gasp, 'Did the rule stickler Hermione Granger just swear? Someone call a Healer! I may faint!'
She shoves at him, physically that is, 'Prat. I think I'm allowed a bit of swearing out of sheer shock given the circumstances.'
He snickers, then his grin fades a little, 'Hey. You OK with this? I mean, of course I wanted you to be my soulmate, but I didn't mean to force it on you without your agreement.'
She snorts, 'Gee. Trading a self centered, fame seeking, childish prat that just tried to love potion me for my loving mature boyfriend who always cares how I feel about things and my opinions at the low, low cost of not being asked directly. Hmm. That's a tough one, but I think I can live with it.'
Relief floods through him, 'Well, when you put it that way it sounds like a dumb question, but I was talking about the fact you may have had a different match if it wasn't trying to make me happy so I'll give it more Sparda babies.'
She rolls her eyes, 'It wouldn't have even fixed my soulmate bond if it wasn't, and it's not like I'm unhappy with us being soulmates now. I am, however, officially rescinding my previous suggestion of a polygamous relationship, even though I sincerely doubt you'd be interested in one now, I just wanted to make that clear. Since the only reason I offered was because I wasn't quite willing to lose our relationship just because you found your soulmate, which isn't an issue now, and there's no way in hell I'm tolerating either of them in our relationship even if I was down to add anyone else.'
He snorts, then smiles at her, fully aware it's one of his utterly besotted smiles, 'No need to worry about that, I don't want either of them either, and you're all I need.'
She blushes a bit, 'Charmer.'
The exchange happens fairly quickly, thought is always way faster than speech, and it's about that point that Ginny wails, "No! No, no, no, no, no! I don't accept this! How could you do this?! He's mine! Mike, you're mine! You can't reject me! I'm supposed to be the next Lady Potter!"
He snorts, "If you wanna be Lady Potter, you're more than welcome to go marry the current Lord Potter, especially since he lacks either a spouse or Heir, but I don't know why you thought that had anything to do with me, since I'm not a Potter."
She stomps her feet, "Oh stop pretending! You'll go back eventually! You know you will! If nothing else to get away from those disgusting Creatures -Dark Creatures at that!- that call themselves people!"
He tosses his head back and laughs, "Neither a Creature nor Dark, well, except for Grandpa. News flash, but barring a handful of countries, no one else immediately calls people a Creature just because they aren't human. I don't know even how you found out about that, given how out of the loop the magical UK is in general and their complete ignorance of things happening in the non-magical world, which is where that reveal was dropped."
She balls her fists again, "Yes they are! And I overheard some Muggle-borns talking about it!"
He snorts, "Regardless, I will never go back to Potter. Actually, I feel similarly to him as I did to you. That I would sooner die."
She stomps her foot again, acting more and more like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum by the moment, "You will too! Dumbledore said so!"
He throws his head back again with another laugh, "I hate Dumbledore just as much as Potter, you, and Ronald. The crazy old cogger has no idea what he's talking about." Then he gets a bit of a mean smile that he's absolutely picked up from his sister, and just to twist the knife in adds, "And for the record, that inhuman blood is why Magic itself is willing to comply with my demand. See, my grandpa was the last of his kind, and Magic? Does not like species going extinct. And on top of that a different natural hybrid species had gone extinct a while before that, one that was reborn with him having kids with my grandma specifically. So it's very invested because I'm one of only ten members of the hybrid species called Nephilim, and that's including the switches from our soulmate bonds that are hybrids of humans and Nephilim as well as Hermione who obviously hasn't switched yet, and one of eleven of my grandpa's species. So I'm one of its only possible sources of preserving and rebuilding not one, but two species. So yeah, it's very invested in our so-called Creature blood, which is what let me get it to listen."
She turns even redder, face an ugly mixture of emotions. Before she can say anything back though, Madam Pince comes marching around the corner of a bookshelf, expression a picture of fury, undoubtedly drawn by the noise, "What is Merlin's name is goi-" She stops as her eyes find the plates, but given they were still near Ginny, having not been pushed towards them yet when he cast his detection spell, she immediately turns a dark look on her instead of them, "There is no food allowed in the library young lady!"
She pulls her wand, undoubtedly about to get rid of them as is her wont when she finds food, but he quickly reaches out and grabs her wrist as Hermione lunges forward and pulls them towards her. Madam Pince whirls towards them, but before she can say anything he holds up his other hand and tucks his wand against his palm with his thumb so as to hold up the rest of his fingers in a stopping gesture, "Please, Madam Pince, hear me out. We can't let you get rid of those, and you'll understand why if you just cast a potion detection spell on them. One that indicates the type of potion."
She narrows her eyes, but her brow furrows in a bit of concern and she nods. He lets go and she does exactly as he'd asked, sucking in a sharp breath at the results, "That's-!"
He nods, "Yes. Ginerva and Ronald just tried to love potion us under the guise of it being the start of an apology. We didn't ask them to bring them, and I'm sorry your rules, perfectly understandable rules given they're in place to protect the books, were broken, but those are now evidence to go along with memories and statements, so we can't have you getting rid of them. We'll be perfectly happy to remove them from the library immediately, and you're welcome to follow us to make sure we don't somehow end up damaging any books, but please understand the situation."
She blinks rapidly, and her voice is distant and faint, "Of course. It would be irresponsible to destroy them, and if you're taking them away immediately I have no problem with it."
He nods, and Hermione quickly conjures two boxes for them, while she does that he quickly gathers the books and walks them over to a nearby return cart, and it isn't long before Hermione is getting up as well, though she does give Madam Pince an apologetic look, "Sorry for the noise and the food Madam Pince."
The usually strict librarian waves her off, "Don't worry about it dear."
Without another word they leave the quietly melting down Ginny and Ron behind, swiftly leaving the library and making their way towards Uncle Severus' office without even having to discuss it, not even mentally. It doesn't take too long before he's knocking on the door and his pseudo Uncle calls for them to enter. He gives him a tense smile after they do, "Sorry for the disturbance Uncle Severus, and that we aren't here for a social visit, but we need to get to my house immediately."
He blinks rapidly then his expression quickly turns concerned, "What happened?"
He sighs and runs a quick hand through his bangs, "Short version? Ginerva and Ronald just tried to love potion us, Ginerva kept insisting she's known we were soulmates before we even met while trying to explain herself, Hermione used an obscure spell that causes soulmate bonded Marks to appear on the sides of the necks, unintentionally showing that as delusional as Ginerva is, she actually was somehow my soulmate, I flipped my shit and started demanding Magic fix its mistake if it wanted any Sparda babies from me, and it… actually listened. It showed us that Hermione was Ronald's soulmate, but only moments later it… changed our soulmates, made me and Hermione each other's and fully bonded us right then and there. So. I need to get Hermione somewhere unquestionably safe given that the shift has likely only been delayed by Magic giving her a bit of leeway rather than her dropping unconscious right there. I need to ask Grandma to do a reading to tell us why the hell they were our soulmates. And I also need to at minimum hand over the evidence of the spiked cakes to Mom, if not the memories and truth sworn statements if Hermione can stay up that long, or maybe I'll just give her mine and she can add hers later. Oh, and I guess I should write to the rest of the Weasleys since I actually like them before they can spin some sob story."
Uncle Severus drops his quill from his suddenly slack fingers and just stares for a few moments, "Oh." Then he suddenly shakes himself and gestures behind him even as he eyes Hermione in concern, "You know where the floo power is. Get Hermione to safety now since we don't know how long she has before the shift kicks in and she drops."
They quickly move towards his fireplace, "Thanks Uncle Severus, sorry, but I really gotta go."
Behind him he hears his Uncle quickly cap his Inkwell, "Actually, I'll come with so you aren't slowed down by having to explain."
He flicks a smile at him as he steps into the fireplace, arm wrapped around Hermione who's starting to droop a bit, "Thank you."
He does a side by side floo with her back home, tightening the grip he has on her briefly as she stumbles even as he moves out of the way. His mom smiles at him, "Mike! Slip away again? You-"
He smiles tensely as he starts for the living room door with a stumbling Hermione, quickly taking the boxes from Hermione and dropping them on the table on the way, "Sorry to cut you off mom, but I'm in a rush. Do not eat what's in those. Uncle Severus-"
He's cut off by the floo and his Uncle smoothly interrupting, "Followed along to explain the basics so he can get going without leaving you all concerned. Though we'll have to get details when he gets back."
As they start up the stairs to his room, he hears his sister's concerned voice even as she brushes against his mind in worry, "Uncle Severus? What's going on?"
His uncle lets out a somewhat disbelieving laugh even as he scoops up Hermione in a princess carry, "Oh, just your brother having just as much respect for the laws of magic itself as you do."
He doesn't hear more than the first syllable of the reply before he's passing the silencing ward on his doorway. He gently deposits his precious cargo on the bed, pulling the covers out from under her with equal care. He doesn't pull them up just yet, swiftly taking her shoes off first and only pulling them up over her after he's done.
She smiles sleepily at him before mumbling, "Thanks. Sorry to-" She yawns widely, "leave you to face the questioning on your own."
He smiles lovingly at her, brushing her hair away from her face and leaning down to drop a kiss on her forehead, "Don't worry about it Darling."
She hums, and then she's out like a light. He brushes his fingers through her hair one more time before straightening up and heading back out to talk with his family.
When he heads down, he finds them all looking thrown, and he can't blame them. You weren't supposed to be able to change your soulmate. His mom gestures to her pensieve, clearly having been brought down from the office, "I thought it may be easier for you to just show us what happened."
He shrugs, "Honestly? Not much more than the summary, but sure." He concentrates and brings his wand up before pulling out the entire memory starting from him trying to shift the subject and Ginerva interrupting and ending with them heading out of the library before depositing it, "Didn't include us heading down to Uncle Severus' office since there wasn't exactly anything more revealed there, but we went straight there."
His mom nods as she leans forward, wand hovering over the rune that'll project the memory for the moment, "Severus mentioned you wanted to get in touch with the Weasleys." She gestures to some writing supplies on the table in front of an empty spot on the couch, "We brought those down for you, and Hedwig is willing to serve as express mail delivery so as to get to them faster than whatever lies Ginerva tries to tell them."
He smiles slightly as he moves over to his spot on the couch, settling far enough forward to write, "Thanks."
His mom smiles at him in comfort before tapping the rune and the memory projects and begins as he taps the paper thoughtfully, ignoring the noise from the memory in the background, trying to figure out exactly what to say. Deciding that the best way forward would be to start with a written oath that everything in the letter is the truth so they aren't forced to ask themselves which between their own family or him is telling the truth, he starts with that, "Dear Weasleys,
Firstly, I don't want you to have to try and decide who's telling the truth between your own blood and me, so let me start this letter off with this. I, Mike Dezi Sparda, hereby swear on my magic and life that everything I write in this letter is the truth, and also that I intend to place spell work on it to prevent magical alterations by other parties when I'm finished writing this, so mote it be."
He feels the magical tether between himself and the oath he had written in the letter, but ignores it to continue, "Second, I intend to just copy this letter, so please bear with sections that may be more meant for someone else in your family.
All that being said, I'm writing this letter so as to explain to you what actually happened today rather than whatever sob story Ginerva tries to spin. If you want to hate me for it, that's your right, but I wanted the truth at least to be known."
That's as far as he gets before the noise and glow of the projection disappearing lets him know it's done. He looks up to find his family even more floored but also thoughtful, "Grandma?" She looks over at him, "Could I ask you to try doing a reading anyway? I'd really like to know why the hell it paired each of us with them."
Her face darkens, "An excellent question. I can try, though I can't guarantee how forthcoming Magic will be since it already changed your soulmate and even bonded you."
He smiles tightly, "Thank you."
She nods as she gets up and makes her way over. It's not exactly as fast as snapping off a charm or transfiguration, but sheer skill from his grandma has it done quickly. Her face pinches when she's done, and she stews on it for a minute before sighing, "So, as you probably already realized, reconnecting with Lily and Marzanna and eventually being adopted wasn't your most likely future."
He purses his lips and nods, "Yeah, I kinda figured as much the moment it showed her as my soulmate."
She nods, "If it's any consolation, it didn't pair you to her, or Hermione to Ronald for that matter, because it in any way thought they were good matches for either of you. It was doing the best it could with the options it had."
His brows pinch, "How is that the best option in any capacity?"
His grandma sighs as she runs her fingers through her bangs before bluntly continuing, "Because in the eighty-five percent of your potential futures where you didn't reconnect with Lily and Marzanna and get adopted, if it had tried to pick anyone else, Ginerva would've attempted to either sabotage you and your soulmate's opinions of each other, the relationship itself, or if all else failed, would straight up murder your soulmate. So you would at best have bitterly hated your soulmate because of sabotage, or at worse been an Untethered, like Vergil, and unlike lost Untethered you wouldn't have even had the option of relief via death or madness given she would've promptly love potioned you anyway."
He stares at her with wide eyes, "Oh… I wonder if it's a similar situation with Hermione… I mean, Ronald is that crazy bitch's brother."
She nods, "Actually, while it doesn't usually do that, Magic let me get a reading on her through your new bond. And yeah, it's a similar situation with her. Ginerva would've helped him do something similar. Except he would've been rather likely to lose his temper if she rejected him for too long and killed her." She snorts, "Actually, you can relax about potentially forcing being bound to you on Hermione, given she was actually Magic's preferred match for you, and you for her, and hilariously, if only given neither of those two were good matches or deserved either of you since this kind of thing isn't usually funny, if it didn't try to pair you two to each other, after they had to discontinue the love potions, in ninety percent of the futures where you didn't reconnect and get adopted and well out of her grasp, the two of you would've ended up cheating on both of them with each other."
He snorts, "Which is normally fucked up, but they would've deserved it if they love potioned us."
His grandma nods, "Precisely."
He sighs, "So what was the diverging point?"
She shrugs, "You going to Hermione to ask if she knew any way to get out of the Tournament. I don't know if you remember, but as desperate as you were to try to find answers, you were also wary of doing so given the way you treated her before that. It was the point that eventually culminated in your reconnection and subsequent adoption. Because you went to Hermione, you two worked passed your bad history, struck up a friendship, and eventually you trusted her enough to talk to her about Lily and Marzanna and the way they disappeared from your life, which as you know Severus overheard, and promptly took you to his office to floo Lily. If it hadn't been for that, you would've gotten back in touch later, and by then Ginerva would've gotten her claws in you already and wouldn't have allowed things to go well. Not exactly any particular diverging point for Hermione beyond her being connected to you when you reconnected and were adopted, since Ronald only took an interest in her because she grew out of her awkward pre-teen years and became rather beautiful, and there wasn't much more to Ronald wanting her than that."
He nods thoughtfully, a bit upset at the idea that he really hadn't been particularly likely to get back in touch with his mom and sister and eventually not only be accepted as family by the rest of the Sparda's despite his history, but even get adopted. He absolutely hates the idea, but at least that wasn't what came to pass. He sighs, "Anything else?"
She shrugs, "Not really. Or, well, nothing about you two anyway. Apparently it's not the only time Magic has had to make a bad choice with its limited options, so it actually gave me the knowledge of a ritual for people it doesn't pay as much attention to so as to get its attention and plead with it to change their soulmate if one or both of them went down an unlikely path of potential futures and are no longer compatible."
He blinks rapidly at her, before huffing out a disbelieving laugh, "Man. That is going to shake the whole damn magical world." Then he frowns, "Is that usable by people in more… traditional countries that basically force soulmates to be together and bond after using Divination to try and find pairs even if they aren't suited to each other anymore?"
She nods, "Yeah, it is actually. It's capable of breaking the bond without hurting either of them."
He relaxes a bit, "That's good." His grandma hums in agreement and he glances down at his letter before pausing, "I know you're telling the truth, but I think I'd like to include some of the information you got from your reading in my letter, so since I've already sworn to tell the truth in the letter, would you be willing to swear that what you just told me about the reading is the truth so I can tell them that it's fact instead of them having to just accept that I know your telling the truth?"
His grandma turns her thoughtful look over to him as it becomes mildly surprised, "Hm? Oh yeah, sure."
She swears an oath quickly, and he nods, "Thank you Grandma."
She smiles, "No problem sweetheart. Now, you should get back to your letter."
He nods and turns back to it, eyeing what he has so far before continuing, "Ginerva and Ronald came to me and Hermione with treats, and Ginerva claimed she had convinced Ronald that he'd been acting like a prick and they were meant to serve as the beginning of his apology to each of us. By sheer habit born from how many spiked chocolates and the like I've received, I cast a detection spell on them, which revealed they'd both been laced with love potions. An argument started between myself and Ginerva in which she claimed that she's known we were soulmates before we even met. I tried to tell her that 'knowing' before you even meet your soulmate isn't possible and that it was just regular obsession, but she would hear none of it. Eventually, Hermione mentioned she knew of an obscure spell that would reveal the Marks people are supposed to have, though on the side of their necks instead of the nape, and I told her to go ahead because Ginerva wouldn't drop it otherwise."
He sighs, "I was very surprised to find that Ginerva and myself are a pair, and she immediately became smugly, and patronizingly, gleeful. That was my final straw after she just tried to love potion myself and my girlfriend, especially since regardless of what Potter says, my mom has proven that she was only ever with him because he had been love potioning her since she was sixteen, so while it's already a disgusting practice in my opinion, I also have very strong opinions based on that. For reasons I'd rather not go into at the moment, my grandma recently found out that Magic is… very interested in my family and their soulmates and the babies that can come from those unions. I'm sure your international work means you probably already know what I'm talking about Bill, Charlie, since that piece of information on the Sparda's was already fairly well known to any country that isn't close minded, and to basically everywhere but the UK now, given its current isolation due to V-Mort and his lackeys. You're welcome to pass the information along, but even if you hate me after this, I would like to ask that you at least be discreet about it. Perhaps have Bill visit his parents in person so it doesn't get out in the UK if he's ok with doing so. Perhaps Percy and the twins could visit at the same time to make sure everyone is on the same page. For the record, Ginerva also insulted my entire family by putting them in a broad and extremely derogatory category I'm sure you can work out just fine if you know what I'm referring to. The kind she may be inclined to lump Fleur into if she's of that sort of mindset. On that note, Fleur definitely knows what I'm referring to if you don't Bill. There's no way she doesn't with the fact France is more open minded and the way her dad is an ambassador."
"Anyway, the reason that makes Magic so interested is because my grandpa was the last, and if you don't know the detail of which he's the last of Fleur likely does, and the results of him having kids with Grandma specifically makes us the rebirth of the results of such a union. I realize that's a little cryptic, but I'm not comfortable putting anything more straightforward on a letter traveling the current UK, and if you do know the information about Sparda's, it's fairly easy to work out what I mean. The next part is why I said above that you may hate me and that you were welcome to your opinion, though I will ask that you at least read the entire letter before you form your opinions. Anyway, due to its interest, in a fit of rage, I started demanding that Magic fix its mistake of making Ginerva my soulmate if it wanted any babies from me. There was a bit more between Ginerva and myself and I repeated my demand. At that point without anyone casting it, Hermione and Ronald's soulmate Marks appeared, revealing they were also a pair, but then all four of our Marks… shattered out of our skin and the light from them disappeared into thin air. Three new lights appeared, one each went to Ginerva and Ronald, and one came over to myself and Hermione."
He tugs on his ear a little awkwardly before continuing, "It gave Ginerva and Ronald different soulmates, and made Hermione and I each other's soulmates and even completed our full bond right then and there. Around that time Madam Pince showed up, presumably drawn by the noise, spotted the food Ginerva had brought and went to get rid of it. I stopped her and explained the situation, and that it was now evidence, because I'm sorry, but I will be pressing charges on both for attempting to love potion us. It is in no way, shape, or form ok and there are consequences to such despicable behavior. I will not, however, be going to the UK's courts, I'm not heartless enough to basically drag them before V-Mort and his lackeys. I'll take it to the international court instead, since with the mess in the UK, they've been picking up all sorts of things like that so people can still see justice done without having to expose other people to V-Mort's controlled government."
He really hopes they can understand that at least, even if they can't forgive him, "Anyway, given the extreme circumstances, I flooed home with Hermione. After we got back and settled, my grandma did a Divination reading, which is actually how we originally learned of Magic's interest because it's being very forthcoming with her lately, at least in regards to that. For the record so you don't have to take my word about my grandma's honesty, she swore a magical oath herself that what she told me was revealed by the reading is true. Namely, we were only paired with Ginerva and Ronald because if it tried to pair us with anyone else, Ginerva would have tried to destroy mine and my potential soulmate's opinions of each other, sabotaged our relationship, and if all else failed even murder my soulmate. It only made her mine because it was doing the best it could in a shit situation. Hermione was in a similar boat with Ronald, since after he became interested when she grew out of her awkward pre-teen years and became beautiful, Ginerva would've ended up helping him do the exact same thing to her. Except he would've been impatient and hot tempered and if she had rejected him for too long, apparently he would've killed her."
He taps his pen to the paper thoughtfully for a moment before continuing, "As I said before, I can understand if you hate me, given that I didn't know the circumstances behind why Ginerva was selected to be my soulmate, only that she had tried to love potion me, when I called our former soulmate connection a mistake, however other than my issues with Ginerva and Ronald, I've always had a good relationship with the rest of you before this, so I wanted to at least make sure you knew the truth before whatever sob story Ginerva spins reaches you. If you're going to hate me, I'd at least prefer it to be because of the truth."
He sighs tiredly, "I hope that you can understand my side, but I respect that it's entirely your choice. Regards, Mike Sparda."
He looks the letter over somewhat tiredly at everything that happened and the fact he may have unintentionally driven the rest of the Weasleys away. With a sigh, he places the spell on it to prevent alterations, then copies it so that there's one for the parents of the Weasley kids, one for the twins, one for Percy, one for Charlie, and one for Bill. After a beat of hesitation, he makes two additional copies.
He quickly puts them all in their envelopes, scrawling a quick note on the outside of one of the extras, "Fleur, I initially wrote this and made copies for the Weasleys, but you are one by marriage now, and it could very well end up upsetting your husband enough for him to leave without explaining, so I figured it was only fair that you understood what was going on. Apologies for any drama."
The latter he sets aside so Hermione can see for herself what he said since it definitely concerns her what he said to the Weasleys about the event, and while he can't really wait for her to wake up and express her opinion on what he's written if he wants to beat Ginerva's inevitable letter, she deserves to know. He's barely done with that before Hedwig lands beside the letters on the table. He smiles a bit at her, "Hey girl. Thanks for helping me out a bit."
She hoots and rubs her head against his hand briefly. It doesn't take very long to get the letters situated with her and she's taking off with them. He sighs as he leans back now that he's done with that. His sister reaches over and squeezes his hand, "Hopefully the rest of the Weasleys understand."
He nods, "Hopefully. Other than my issues with the two youngest, I actually have a good relationship with the Weasleys. Or I did anyway. But in fairness I did call my bond with their daughter a mistake, before I knew about why she was selected mind you, and I do fully intend to press charges for the attempted love potioning."
His mom smiles at him, "As well you should. Which is why your grandpa already left with the memory and the cakes to report it and file charges with the ICW."
He nods, tilts his head, "How long will she be out for? Do you know?'
His mom nods, "Should be the whole thirty-six hours at the maximum limit of how long a shift can take." His brows furrow in worry and she smiles at him, "She'll be fine sweetie. Kyrie, me, and Kazuto have all been through this. She'll be incredibly hungry when it's done, but that's the only thing that could be considered a drawback."
His voice is small and he can't help but notice with a flicker of frustration at himself that he sounds like a child, "Ok."
He didn't even notice his dad move around the couch, only noticing him back there when he drops his hands on his shoulders and squeezes, "Dad's got what he needs to get the ball rolling, and even if Hedwig is feeling nice enough to pick up the replies, it was enough of a bombshell that I'm sure it'll take the Weasleys a bit to get back to you. Why don't you go take a few minutes to sit with your mate, reassure yourself she's fine and relax a bit. Process what just happened since it's probably just really hitting you."
He nods slowly, "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds like a plan."
His dad squeezes his shoulders again, "Good. Go on up, we'll deal with things for now."
He nods again and climbs to his feet, his dad's hands slipping from his shoulders as he does, then with a vague wave over his shoulder heads out of the room.
