Chapter Thirteen: Not-Real

Orion led Rose and Scorpius to the living room, which was full of boxes. Rose was forced to squeeze next to Scorpius, as there was a large box currently taking residence there, but he didn't seem to be concerned. She wasn't either, if she was being honest; there was something speeding through her veins, keeping her on edge.

"How did you know I suspected?" Scorpius asked as soon as Orion sat across from them on the armchair.

"When are you not suspicious of SoulMates?"

Rose thought he would laugh, but Orion was dead serious. It was the way he was scratching at the back of his neck, lips pressing tightly together, foot tapping up and down on the floorboard. There was guilt written all over him.

"The SoulMate spell is the problem," he began in a rush. "A real soulmate spell hasn't been discovered for a reason—there probably isn't one. My aunt developed her own spell for her business."

"You mean the SoulMates business?" Scorpius asked. "But how—"

"Back then, it was a failing matchmaking program." Orion crossed his fingers and bounced them in his lap, over and over. "She knew she couldn't use Amortentia or any sort of love potion to bring people together, since that's very illegal."

"Right."

"But she figured there must be a way to use that magic. She took the attraction—you know, the smells that emulate from the potion? What attracts us the most? She figured out how to develop that into a spell."

Rose was sure the look on her face read, You're joking.

"But that could mean multiple people," Scorpius pointed out, leaning his forearms onto his legs and peering closely at Orion. Rose could feel the heat of his anger, see the clenching of his jaw. "How did she narrow it down to one person?"

"Whichever was strongest at the time at the casting, I think."

"But… the smell that comes from Amortentia—it doesn't really mean anything." Rose had found her voice, but her chest felt heavy. "It can change over time, and besides, it's attraction. It doesn't mean you're soulmates."

Orion nodded. "Exactly."

Rose could feel Scorpius observing her as she leaned back, floored. There was a sinking deep in her body, and she couldn't look at either of them in the eye anymore. What was that intuitive feeling she had that had so strongly convinced her that Scorpius was her soulmate?

He seemed to read her mind. "I'm guessing… there are side effects of the SoulMate spell."

"Only initially," Orion confirmed.

"How long is initially, exactly?"

"Maybe two, three years?"

"You don't—"

"What side effects are you talking about?" Rose burst in.

"The side effects—" Orion used air quotes "—is the other part of the spell. The first part, of course, is the tattoo of the name of your soulmate that shows up over your heart. The second part is that it will bring you together."

She couldn't believe her ears. "Like a love potion?"

"Not like a love potion, no," he replied, scratching at the back of his neck again. "It's the Pull that we talk about in the brochure. SoulMates will already be attracted to each other without any magical intervention, but the Pull will physically attract you two, bring you together. Seemingly by coincidence."

Scorpius suddenly swore loudly, startling her. He put his palms over his eyes, mumbling through his fingers, "That's why I went to so many goddamn Quidditch games three years ago, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Orion said apologetically. Rose's face felt warm.

"I think the other person feels it, too," she affirmed. She'd thought it was natural, but what if the Pull was what brought her to Quidditch World in the first place? And there was the way they seemed to bump into each other around Diagon Alley, which was small, but it seemed too often for it to fully seem like a coincidence.

And if it had been three years since the spell had been cast—almost, anyway—it explained why they still felt it.

"The degree at which people feel the Pull varies," Orion explained. "When we had to change the spell and make sure the tattoo only showed up for the person who signed up for SoulMates, we didn't remove the Pull."

"Because no one knows about that part," Scorpius put in.

"Exactly."

"How do so many people stay together, then?" Rose asked. "If it only lasts a few years at most?"

"Because the spell doesn't make people fall in love." He shrugged. "People do that all on their own, long after the Pull wears off."

Scorpius seemed unconvinced. "But they stay together. Isn't that part of the magic?"

"It's really not," he said gently, as though he knew Rose's stomach was twisting painfully. "It's just the idea that someone's your soulmate. You plant it in someone's head—this isn't just your partner, this is your soulmate—and suddenly, the little things don't matter. The arguments get resolved. People want to work through their relationships because they think they're meant to be."

"It's a sort of magic in itself," Rose said numbly. "Just because it's in your head, doesn't mean it's not real."

Orion nodded, solemn.

Quiet fell between the three of them, and Rose could hear a clock ticking inside one of many boxes around them. Nothing quite felt tangible, and though she knew her feelings for Scorpius were real—that had nothing to do with SoulMate magic—there was a terror grabbing her around the heart.

They weren't soulmates. There was no such thing.

"Orion," Scorpius began slowly, looking back at him, "why are you telling us this now? Is it because…"

"Yes," he said, voice defeated, but there was resolve behind it. "I want you to write about it."

Scorpius didn't reply. There was a clear hesitance in his expression.

Orion leaned forward. "You have all the information. All those articles you've shown me over the years? Even though I never confirmed anything, you knew the success rate isn't ninety-nine percent like we advertise. You know this shit doesn't work for everyone. You know my aunt has been paying off the press to bury anything that paints SoulMates in a negative light."

Rose was shocked. He was obviously a non-believer, but she hadn't known how deep his suspicions ran—much deeper than what happened to his family.

"I… I didn't know it was this bad," Scorpius admitted.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to tell you." Orion's gaze dropped to the ground, and she realized it wasn't just guilt that haunted him. It was shame.

Scorpius gave Orion a nod before he got up, striding out of the living room and down the hall. She heard his bedroom door close before she turned back to Orion, a million questions still on her mind. It was still too jumbled to fully come out.

"I was hoping he would have exposed SoulMates on his own," he disclosed after a while. "I wasn't that drunk that night I let them into the offices. I knew where to find the original spell—I practically gave it to them. It wasn't Scorpius who came up with that idea."

"It was you?"

It came out as a hollow whisper. "He doesn't remember. I was the one who suggested he do the real spell."

Rose looked back at Scorpius' closed door, feeling horrible for him. "He told me a few weeks ago—when our boss wanted me to write about my friend—that he would sell out a friend to the press, but only if they came out on the good end of the story."

"There's no way my family will come out of this in any positive way." Orion sighed. "Maybe that's why Scorp didn't want to see the truth."

"He's known it wasn't real." She thought back to their night together, so determined and fierce that he didn't care whose name was on his chest. "Always has."

"But now he can prove it."

Rose felt a massive soreness pulse through both her leg and her head. "He knows publishing this means you lose everything."

Orion's face crumpled and he dropped his head in his hands.

"Is it because of Al?" she asked quietly. "That he's moved out—is that why you're telling us now?"

"I dunno. Maybe." His voice was thick and rough. "I thought… maybe things would get better. I've been in denial. But we've still matched a lot of people who may have been attracted to each other, but they were completely wrong together. They try so hard, but they can't make it work. There are toxic and abusive relationships thriving in the name of SoulMates." He wiped his cheeks. "And then there are so many people without soulmates, trying to meet them, but they never will because their other half will never do the spell."

She knew that feeling, quite intimately.

Rose shifted beside Orion, sitting on the armrest of his seat and putting a hand on his shoulder. "This isn't your fault. Your aunt got greedy and failed a lot of people. You were just trying to save your family—you're all entirely invested in this."

"And I hurt Albus in the process."

She suddenly understood why Orion had never committed to Albus, preferring to keep him at arm's length. If he had known all along the truth of SoulMates, she couldn't imagine having to keep up this lie—that they weren't really soulmates—and feeling as though he had deceived Albus into a relationship with him.

"Sounds like you would have had to hurt him either way," she pointed out gently. "Either then—like you did, staying away from him—or now, when he would've found out you were lying to him."

He sniffed. "Or both. I really fucked up. And when he reads Scorp's article, he'll never forgive me."

"You should talk to him before it gets published."

"I dunno." He looked at her. "I hurt you and Scorp, too."

"Yeah." She couldn't deny that, and she had no idea how she was going to fix things. Not between them, and not in her mind. "But I can understand the position you've been in."

"The business is doomed after this."

No more SoulMates. It felt bittersweet.

"I really love the idea of soulmates," she told Orion, sitting back down on the couch and bringing her knees to her chest. "I've always wanted that connection with someone."

He sent her a watery smile. "Soulmates or not… haven't you found it?"

Rose thought she had. And it wasn't quite sinking in yet—we're not soulmates, there are no soulmates—not when she'd spent the last twenty-seven hours feeling vindicated, fully relieved they were soulmates, after all.

But she supposed Orion was right; she knew she still cared, and she ached for Scorpius.

"SoulMates never created connection, or love for that matter," Orion reiterated. "If that's how you feel for Scorp, then it's real."

A little bit of hope lit in her chest. "He doesn't know that."

"He's obviously cynical—rightfully so, I suppose—but I think he knows that, too. Deep down." Orion nodded towards the hall. "You've got to help him."

"With… the article?"

"That, too."

Rose hesitated, hugging her knees closer to herself. "He's convinced I only care about him because of SoulMates."

"And now you know the truth." Orion looked around to the boxes everywhere. "Did you know it took us forever to find a new flat?"

"Did it?"

"It is bloody impossible to find a flat on the ground floor in Diagon Alley," he explained, half-wincing, half-grinning. "We ended up renting a flat on the Muggle side of town."

She stared at him. "You mean… are you saying…"

"He insisted on ground floor. That's what I'm saying."

Oh.

Orion reached out and patted her knee. "Go on, Rose. He won't say it, but he needs you."

When Rose cracked the door open, Scorpius didn't look up from the paper cut-outs around him, neatly laid out on the floor in front of him. He was sat in front of his bed, and as she shut the door behind her, he began rummaging through an old hatbox in the low light.

She dropped her bag to the floor and plopped down across from him, in front of the bits of paper—yellowing newspaper clippings, she could see now—and took a deep breath. Trying to figure out what to say after her world was shaken upside down again was impossible.

Luckily, she didn't have to. Scorpius put the box down and sighed. "I know we have a deadline."

It took her a moment to understand. The Quidditch World deadline? Who cared about that?

"But I want to write this," he explained, meeting her gaze, and his eyes were wide and uncertain. "No—I need to write this. I know that doesn't make sense, but—"

"It makes sense to me," she reassured. This was exactly how she'd felt the night before, writing for hours and hours in her journal.

Scorpius still looked skeptical.

"No, really." She toyed with the edge of the canvas material of her bag. "It's a writer's thing, and I get it."

He let out a breath. "I don't want to leave you with the interview."

"I can handle it."

"I know, but..."

Rose's leg began to ache again, so she shifted until she could press her back to his bed, the hatbox in between them. She peeked inside.

"These are articles I've collected over the years," he said quietly, watching her pull clips out. "Not all of it is related to SoulMates. I have to go through it."

She noticed the stiffness of his fingers around his quill. "You're angry."

"Can you blame me?"

"You know how difficult that was for Orion." He didn't meet her eyes, but she kept going anyway. "His life is about to change, for good. He's going to have to start over. Albus may never speak to him again."

"How are you not angry?" he deflected. "He lied to you, too."

"I think it hasn't hit me yet. Besides, I think I used up all my anger on the last person who lied to me and turned my life upside down."

Of course, Scorpius immediately knew who she was talking about.

"I—I didn't—" He was spluttering. "He was trying to get me to take the fall for this, so he didn't have to expose his own family."

"Sure," she agreed. "He tried to do things in a way so he didn't have to hurt the ones he cares for, while protecting himself. Eventually, he figured out he couldn't avoid telling the truth, and he did."

"Right," he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut, looking guilty. "I guess."

When he didn't move, she started reading the clippings that Scorpius had already laid out on the floor. They were all very short, none of them more than two hundred words, and they had varying issues with SoulMates. The dates spanned years, some going back to when they were at Hogwarts.

"Are you going to write about your parents?" she asked.

"I haven't decided. I'm trying to be… impartial."

Rose nearly laughed. Scorpius had lied to her, in a big way. But he wasn't a liar.

"I think—for whatever that's worth—you should." She bit her lip, but it needed to be said. "What Gertrude Pillette did, playing with people's lives like this… it's fucked up. Those stories deserve to be heard just as much as the happy ones."

He swallowed, and his eyes looked silver in the darkness. "I guess that's true."

There was a thunk from outside the bedroom—Orion closing his own bedroom door, maybe—and Scorpius seemed to snap out of it.

"You don't have to stay," he said quietly. "I know this is a lot. And I know I hurt you, and I still haven't…"

Rose felt his apology, even if he hadn't said it yet. She could wait. "I know. I want to stay."

"But—"

"We do this every day," she said, her heart suddenly thumping against her ribcage, her head, even through the little shake in her voice. "I mean, it's usually me who's bugging you for help. But this is what we do. And I like working with you."

She pulled a hair clip and notebook out from her bag, opening it to a fresh page before putting her hair back into a bun. Scorpius' eyes followed the movement, and something in his expression softened as he spoke. "If you hadn't joined last year, I would've quit the magazine a long time ago. Which would have been a disaster."

Rose couldn't help but grin.

"Are you sure?" He was still uncertain.

"We're a team." She stole his quill from his fingers before glancing back up at him. "Aren't we?"

He nodded, and she was pretty sure it was relief that crossed his face. "Yeah. We are."

A/N: Hey there, I hope this chapter was clear in how the spell and the Pull works to bring people together, but not make them fall in love. Hopefully that all makes sense :) Thank you for reading!