THC, Round 7, standing in for Ravenclaw, DADA, standard.

Prompt: Travelling; Soulmate marks.

Word count: 2518

Beta(s): Charlotte, Miranda, Bea.

Lily Evans closed her eyes to stop the tears welling up from falling. The letter in her hand made a loud rustling sound as she scrunched it up and broke the silence in the room. At least, it felt silent to her. It felt lonely. She felt abandoned.

The sound of the portrait opened and Lily quickly threw the piece of paper towards the fire—she wouldn't be needing it anyway—and grabbed one of her books. Aimlessly, she stared at the page hoping that the tears wouldn't fall. They mustn't fall.

"Lil, can you—" started James.

Without even looking up, Lily knew what he was going to say. Something ridiculous and childish, of course. "Go away," she spoke forcefully.

"Uh…"

Furrowing her eyebrows, Lily glanced up, she had never heard James lost for words before. He usually just said something even more stupid. Her eyes widened at the sight of crimson and brown smeared over his arm. "Are you bleeding?"

"Are you okay?" he countered, the concern in his voice and on his face was evident.

"Fine," she replied shortly before placing her book onto the sofa and standing up. She looked over at his arm and saw the gash. "You should go to the infirmary."

James shook his head. "They'd ask me what happened. Could you…" he drifted off but motioned over his arm vaguely.

"What makes you think I wouldn't ask?" she questioned.

James grinned, now it looked like the James she had come to know and avoid. "Care about me, do you?"

Lily scoffed, that was her automatic response but nevertheless, she pulled out her wand. "Stay still," she said all too happily before casting a small healing charm. Lily wasn't the best at charms, she much preferred potions or transfiguration; charms, however, didn't always go well. And the wince on James' face told her that perhaps this time it didn't go that great. But on observation, she hadn't made it any worse. "Maybe you should go to Madam Pomfrey."

James shook his head. "No, no, it's fine."

Lily rolled her eyes but couldn't help but connect the phrase 'it's fine' with what she said moments ago. "Fine. Follow me."

She grabbed her bag—leaving the book on the sofa—and headed towards the portrait. She had to admit that she was mildly surprised when he followed her without question. Though she knew they would come, they always did.

"Where exactly are we going?" he asked as they began to walk down the moving staircase.

"Prefect's bathroom," she answered simply and rolled her eyes when he whistled. "I don't want to risk making your arm any worse than it already is so I want to clean it up first. I would have to give myself detention if I created water in the common room."

"No need to rationalise your reasoning on getting—" he quickly stopped mid-sentence at her glare.

Lily took a deep breath. "Why am I even helping you? Why not go to one of your friends? Or anybody else?"

James slowed down at her questions.

"James?"

"I was looking for Remus actually. But…" he hesitated and wasn't looking at her.

She felt like she should comfort him but wasn't sure how. They weren't actually that close; she knew it was her fault. Right from the very beginning, she had pushed him away, there was just something about him, something that felt strange in her gut. She had still never worked out what, but it was unusual.

The two of them fell into a slightly uncomfortable silence until they reached the prefect's bathroom. The second they entered it, James confessed, "I had a fight with Sirius."

"Sirius? Why?"

James looked very conflicted.

"I won't say anything to anybody, I promise."

"You know he's living at mine, right?" he asked, looking a bit nervous at those words. Lily hadn't but nodded anyway. "We were talking about life after Hogwarts, you know, this is our final year. I mentioned that I couldn't wait to move out and he just lost it. Asked why I'd want to leave them and that I was kicking him out too. It was… Nuts."

Lily tugged on his arm to lead him towards the large, oversized bathtub and sat him down on the edge. "Did you say he had to leave too?" she asked.

"No! My parents would be happy for him to remain until he was ready to leave. Sirius should know this."

"So you fought?"

"Well, he pulled his wand first. I just tried to disarm him… well, he got me first." James indicated his arm. "Peter intervened, thankfully. Sirius had enough sense to not attack him. So I came—" He suddenly stopped and winced as Lily cast Aguamenti.

"Sorry, just cleaning it," she said apologetically, checking the wound out. It looked as though it had partially healed already. It wasn't bleeding anymore, and now that she'd rinsed off the mud, it didn't look as bad. She looked at James who was watching her intently, gave him a small smile and cast the healing charm again.

Another wince left him, but this time wasn't as bad.

"Look at that," she said, mildly proud of herself. The wound had closed up but wasn't completely gone.

James looked at it and smiled. "D'you think it'll scar?"

Lily's eyes widened. "I hope not. Want me to try to heal it again?"

He smiled supportively. "That's okay, I can use some balm or get somebody else to correct it later. It actually looked a bit like my soulmate mark."

"Wait, what?" she asked.

James looked at her. "My soulmate mark… why do you look so confused?"

Lily was honestly so confused, she had read about it and heard mentions but didn't know it was an actual thing. For all of the things she had learnt since attending Hogwarts, she was still amazed when she discovered something new. She must have taken too long to reply when she noticed a cocky look on James' face.

"You didn't know that they existed," he commented smugly.

"I knew about them… I just thought they were a myth or ancient," she admitted. "What exactly do they mean?"

James' demeanor heightened and she thought he was going to stand up, but instead, he just took a deep breath. "Not everybody gets them. You can be madly in love with your 'soulmate' or just great companionship. It's basically an indication of a true connection."

"So not a 'you will marry and be in love for the rest of your life' connection then?"

"No. Obviously, everybody is hopeful for that sort of connection. But, for example, Sirius and I have joked that we're each other's soulmates because of how well we usually get on."

"You mentioned that not everybody gets one?"

James shook his head solemnly. "It's a type of magic I don't fully understand. Maybe everybody does get it but it happens later in their life. My mum told me that there are triggers for it."

"Like meeting them?" Lily asked.

"Sometimes," James replied with a nod. "Let's walk and talk."

Lily nodded, agreeing probably too quickly when she remembered they were alone in the prefect's bathroom. "You lead the way."

James stood up, held his hand out to her, and laughed when she shook her head. "It was worth a try."

Lily followed him out and had to admit was confused again when he didn't head for the stairs, but she didn't ask as he began to talk again.

"Anything could trigger it. Some people are born with their mark, some get it in their thirties. The triggers could be anything from a near-death experience to an exciting experience, or even realising your feelings for somebody."

Lily nodded along. This didn't make any sense to her. "So how did you get yours?" she inquired.

James shrugged. "At Hogwarts. I woke up one day and it was just there."

"What does it feel like?"

James looked around suspiciously. "This way," he said, pressing against a portrait that she had never paid attention to before. Her mouth dropped open slightly when he opened it and slipped inside. "Quickly."

Lily looked from side to side before following him. "Where are we going?"

"On a little adventure," he replied easily. "Lumos."

Light-filled the pathway and she looked at the stone walls. This was an actual pathway, smaller than all of the corridors.

"Like something is stuck to me."

"What's stuck to you?" Lily asked, concerned, quickly looking around.

James let out a hearty laugh and tugged on her hand as he started to walk. "The soulmate mark. It feels like it's a very sticky sticker. One that can't be removed but isn't really part of me."

Lily nodded mutely. She knew exactly what he was talking about. She had one too; she presumed it was just a scar that she didn't remember getting. But now it was some sort of sign. "I've got one."

James stopped so quickly that she very nearly walked into him.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

"Keep walking," she mused, nudging his shoulder.

James began walking backwards, his eyes focused on her. "What if we're soulmates?" he asked excitedly.

"I didn't get mine the first year," Lily admitted.

James grinned. "And?"

Lily furrowed her eyebrows again. "So we can't be?"

"Oh! You don't need to get them at the same time. It's just if they match or fit together," James clarified.

Lily thought back to when she first noticed the weird mark, it really did look like a scar, like it had faded into her skin, but she couldn't now ignore the fact that it does look like something. Her right hand grazed over her hip where the mark which could be identified as an antler. She shook her head. "I don't think it'll change anything. Just because you have a mark, it doesn't mean anything. It's just…"

"Magic?" James inputted.

"When did you get so clever?" Lily muttered as she stumbled over a few bumps.

She looked away from James and at the now fully mud and stone walls. When did this stop being pure stone? She ran her hand over the bumpy walls. Feeling the small stones embedded in the solid mud.

"Where are we going?"

James smiled widely. "You'll find out soon. This is our first adventure together, you know," he pointed out proudly.

Lily couldn't help the small smile that made its way to her lips. How did he always find the positives in every situation? "First and last."

"Better than never."

With amusement, she nudged him. "You better enjoy it while it lasts, James. I'm going to go back to finding you completely intolerable."

"Personally, I find our bantering fun," James admitted. "I feel like I can just be me around you and know you're going to insult me regardless."

Lily opened her mouth, unable to respond for a second, slightly shocked and maybe a little offended. "I don't insult you."

James scoffed dramatically. "You insult me more than Sirius, and that's saying something. But you never do it to be mean or to hurt me."

"I'm sorry," she replied genuinely. She never meant to say mean things to James, or anybody really, but he wasn't wrong. Part of her knew that he didn't take any of it seriously, maybe that's why she never stopped?

"Ah, it's fine!"

Lily felt her eyes drop to the floor. It's fine. How many times has she said that over the last few years and lied? How many times had she been excited when she received a letter only to realise it was from her sister and that she hadn't written something kind? How many times had she taken that hurt out on James?

"It's not," she replied simply. A sigh left her. "It's not nice when someone rips you apart or belittles you."

"That's not what you do," James replied carefully. "What's going on? Has somebody done that to you?"

"My sister. She's just bitter that I got to come here and she didn't," Lily responded truthfully. "We used to be really close but… that's not the case now."

James put a comforting hand onto her shoulder. Usually, she would shrug him off, but in this case, she wanted comfort.

"I just want us to be close again," she admitted.

There was a long pause before James asked, "Would you rather have not become a witch?"

That was a tricky question. One that Lily had thought about several times, but she always came up with one answer: "I can't imagine not being a witch, I wouldn't change that for anything, even my sister. I wish I could be that selfless though."

James stopped, his hand on her shoulder bringing her to a stop too. "You are one of the most selfless people I know! You stopped doing your homework to help me when you didn't need to, I've seen you help Pete with his homework when he's panicking. You put so many people before you! So don't think for a second that you are selfish for being you."

Lily shrugged and turned away from him to continue walking down the passageway. "Let's change the topic."

She could tell that James wanted to say more as he quickly strode to keep up with her. Thankfully, he didn't. However, that doesn't mean there was another conversation that he had in mind. "So, what's your mark?"

He wouldn't stop. "It's a reindeer, I think."

"A reindeer?" he repeated, genuine disappointment in his tone.

"Well… it's antler," she clarified, slowing down. Does that mean they weren't a match? A sudden feeling of disappointment filled her. Had she wanted them to be a match? Would that have even meant anything?

"Wait…" he said, sounding less deflated. "Antlers? You sure it's a reindeer and not a stag?"

"Does that matter?" Lily asked, hope slowly filling her from the bottom up.

James bent down and pulled up his trousers and pushed down his left sock. There, in a pale scar-like image, was a single antler. To her, they looked like reindeer antlers. To be more specific, they looked like a mirror image of what was on her right hip.

Lily bit her lip. They were in a secluded place so undoing her jeans hopefully wouldn't be misconstrued. She undid the button and slid them down just enough to show him her mark.

Utter joy filled his entire face. "We're soulmates!" he announced.

Lily let out a small laugh. "Now remember, this doesn't mean I'm going to fall in love with you!"

James continued to grin. "We'll see about that!"

The two of them carried on down the pathway until they reached Honeydukes. James poked his head up before looking at Lily. "Will you go on a spontaneous date with me?"

"You've snuck me out of Hogwarts?" she asked, absolutely astonished.

James gave an innocent shrug. "I thought you'd have turned back by now. Come on, it'll be fun."

Lily shook her head slowly but moved towards him. "Ten minutes, but only because all of that walking made me thirsty."

"Drinks are on me."