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. Sexual situation with fade to black after things start to need more details. Feel free to back out if that's you.

Author's Note: Blaise finds his soulmate in an unusual situation, but that's okay.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 11); MC4A
Individual Challenges: Gryffindor MC; Slytherin MC; What Work?; Lion's Moon & Shadow Bribery; Creature People; Summer Vacation; Seeds; Shipmas; Times to Come (Y); Time Gaps (Y); Location, Location, Location; Themes & Things A [Love] (Y); Themes & Things B [Surprise] (Y); Feeling So Logical [Vegetable]; 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)
House: Hufflepuff
Assignment No.: Term 11 – Assignment 01
Subject (Task No.): Geography (Task#1: Write a fic with the setting of a Hogwarts Greenhouse.)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Romance Awareness [Day 02] (Red String of Fate) (Ethereal); Insane Prompt Challenge [189] (Surprise); 365 [78] (Perfume); Scavenger Hunt [56] (Write something for a Slytherin – Amber); Galleon Club (Blaise Zabini)
Space Address (Prompt): 5E (Gold)
Representation(s): Blaise Zabini/Harry Potter; Relaxing in the Greenhouse
Bonus Challenges: Most Human Bean; Second Verse (Lovely Coconuts; For the Vine; Lock & Key; Car in a Tutu; Spinning Plates; Persistence Still); Chorus (Wind Beneath; Creature Feature; Unicorn; Larger than Life; Tomorrow's Shade; Peddling Pots; Machismo; Fizzy Lemonade; Wabi Sabi)
Tertiary Bonus Challenges: HoSE (Schooner); TY (Ntaiv); O3 (Olivine); FR (Evolution); CM (Brier); SN (Rail; Ameliorate); T3 (Terse; Terrarium)
Word Count: 734

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Bindings
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Blaise had waited for waited for the tugging of his string for years. He had wanted nothing more than to find where that thread led for as long as he could remember. He didn't want the life that his mother had had, constantly burying spouses. The red string was supposed to be a promise from Magic herself that love would win out in the end, if one would just give it a chance. Most people didn't wait for it, didn't feel the need to do so at all. But Blaise wanted the promised partner who would be his true love.

Of course, teaching at Hogwarts didn't leave a lot of options for meeting new people, but it gave him something to do while he waited for the tugging that signified that it was time to meet his soulmate to happen. It wasn't glamorous, but he didn't need the spotlight shining on him. He actually preferred that it didn't. Too much attention always meant that someone would find out about his family's heritage, which always led to inevitable problems.

A least half of those problems would be solved if he found his mate, because unmated sirens were vulnerable to abuse, as they craved the person who could listen to their song without becoming swayed by it.

Yet, for all his waiting and wanting, Blaise was still surprised when his string started tugging one day as he was restocking the Hospital Wing's potion stores before the start of term. It had been shocking to discover when he had first started that despite having a potions master on hand, the Hogwarts Hospital Wing had always ordered their stock from outside the school. Apparently, Snape had had no desire to brew the medical potions used throughout the year by the residents of the castle. Madam Pomfrey had been thrilled when Blaise had suggested keeping her stocked when he had started.

She was even happier to shoo him off to follow the tugging.

Which was how he found himself staring at the door to Greenhouse 5, where the most dangerous plants were grown. Strangely, the door to the greenhouse was open, which was supposed to be impossible as it was spelled to close automatically to prevent any of the plants from escaping (a bigger risk than students getting hurt by wandering in unprepared). The fragrant perfume of the Blood Sipper Lilies wafted out as sweetly tempting as any peach or plum in the late summer dusk. It drew him in as surely as the string tugging on his hand and his own curiosity did.

Cautious now, Blaise approached the door to look in, only to feel numb from what he was witnessing. The Devil's Snare had a man wrapped in its vines, but far from appearing murderous, it appeared amorous. The path beneath where it had him suspended was littered with discarded and torn clothes. The vines were doing something that caused the man to shake his head in pleasure as he attempted to writhe against his restraints. The man's dark braid was long enough to skim the ground with every motion.

As many times as he had entranced people with his voice, Blaise had never felt that way himself, not until this moment as his string tugged insistently on his fingers. In the dimness of the greenhouse, the man looked ethereal, like he was nothing more than a wood nymph that had slipped out of the Forbidden Forest just for this rendezvous. Blaise drifted into the greenhouse, not paying any mind to how the door sealed shut behind him as he crossed the threshold. The man's symphony of erotic gasps and moans covered the soft charm of the wards raising over the ancient building. Not that Blaise would have cared anyway.

His blood was already singing as the vines began tugging at his light-weight summer robe, knowing that his mate was here. As Blaise felt himself raise into the air, the man opened his eyes, which were as richly green as the foliage around them. A current passed between as their eyes met. For an endless moment, Blaise waited to be rejected or to see the too-familiar gleam of greed in those hauntingly familiar eyes.

Then Harry took Blaise's right hand in his left and tugged him closer.

Unnoticed by the two pending lovers, the red string that connected them turned to the gold of a permanent bond.