Not Your Fate

The next week was hell for Solene.

The routine that she had meticulously built for herself over the years went downhill; she stayed up until the wee hours in the morning and slept for barely two hours before she was late for school. She lost her appetite, leading to her being constantly groggy and unfocused during classes. Her extra lessons with Dumbledore were also getting difficult, since magic required more concentration than she had to offer.

And most of all, she was constantly getting lost as she went through unfamiliar paths in the castle just to avoid the Marauders.

It was easier said than done. Ever since three of the four Marauders turned out to be her — eugh — soulmates, it was like they were everywhere now. When Solene walked down to the greenhouses for Herbology, she forced herself behind two unsuspecting Ravenclaws so Lupin and Potter wouldn’t spot her as they lounged around the grass during their free time. They constantly peered over towards the Slytherin table during mealtimes, which led to Solene being absent from the Great Hall. 

They made it difficult for her to avoid them, but not impossible. She was going to continue to do so for as long as she could until she would find some failsafe way to keep herself out of their lives, and them out of hers.

Being in the same classes was the most difficult. They — mainly Black and Potter — repeatedly attempted to sit beside her during Potions, sometimes even sitting at her usual spot in the classroom just to get her to sit beside them.

She was eternally grateful for Barty and his feisty spirit when it came to fending off Gryffindors, especially the Marauders. It took a little while, but due to Barty’s insistent hissing at them and Solene’s arctic cold gaze, they eventually started to lessen their efforts, dejection apparently having a great effect on them.

Solene felt bad for having to use her new Slytherin friends as shields, but it was her best option. She couldn’t risk talking to Lily and her friends due to how close they were to them, but Solene had a feeling that the three boys hadn't told the girls about their situation.

It took a lot in her to ignore the gratefulness from the very small action.

Unsurprisingly, Regulus was the first one to notice her odd behavior (besides Pandora, of course. After all, they are roommates.). What surprised Solene was that he decided to actually confront her about it.

It was during the only day Solene showed up in the Great Hall for breakfast. The Marauders were out of commission, apparently confined to the hospital wing after getting into some nasty fight the day or night before, so the girl thought that it would be safe to sit at the Slytherin table and eat something for once.

Pandora, Evan, and Barty were engrossed in their own conversation — something about why owls were the ideal bird for sending letters or something — when Regulus spoke to the girl beside him.

“What’s up with you?”

Solene paused her drinking of her water, glancing at the boy from the corner of her eye before continuing to swallow her drink before setting her goblet down. The movement was controlled, slow as Solene kept her hands from shaking.

“What do you mean?” She asked. Her tone was meant to be light, but exhaustion just made it sound weary.

Regulus turned to face her fully, raising one eyebrow. “You’ve been skipping meals and staying up late at night. You’ve also been unfocused during class, and you avoid Gryffindors like the plague — specifically Potter and his group.”

He took a small bite out of his sandwich before continuing. “Although that’s normal behavior for the average Slytherin, it’s not normal behavior for you, Solene. So, what’s going on?”

Solene stared at Regulus for a moment, brown eyes not drifting away from his dark ones. 

In her head, she debated telling him the truth. Him and the rest of her friends deserved at least a bit of it after her admittedly odd behavior over the past few days. 

Her heart clenched at the thought of opening up to them about her parents. She wasn’t ready for other people to know about that. Not yet. 

So she can say anything else other than that.

“Barty told me that soulmate problems are common with purebloods, especially those in Slytherin,” Solene started, averting her gaze away from the boy as she looked down at her toast. “I guess you could say that I’m going through that.”

She expected Regulus to ask more questions, like who her soulmates were or why she would have soulmate problems when she had no parents to criticize who she was bonded to. 

Instead, Regulus exhaled. “It’s the three idiots in the Marauders, isn’t it? Potter, Lupin, and my… brother.”

Solene let out a breathy chuckle. There was no use hiding it. “Yeah. Avoiding them has proved to be more difficult than I expected.”

“How long have you known it was them?” There was less venom in his voice than there usually was when talking about the Marauders.

“Four days ago.” It was Wednesday today, right? Or was it Thursday? “During the weekend, when they were in the courtyard.”

Regulus thought for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, that seems about right. I remember you acting weird ever since then.”

“Yeah. Sorry for not telling you before.” Solene mindlessly dragged the pad of her thumb over the wrinkles of her toast’s crust. Her emotions shrunk in on itself, protecting them from any further exposure.

“There’s nothing to apologize about,” the boy replied, his gaze drifting over to his two soulmates, who were now bickering with each other about gods know what. “Barty was right when he said that soulmate problems were common with Slytherins. It’s somewhat our stereotype, besides being mostly purebloods.”

Solene chuckled humorlessly. “Well, if we suffer, we suffer together, right?”

Regulus shared her blank smile. “Indeed.”

They said nothing more as they continued on with classes that day. She still stayed with Pandora and Barty (the boy was an endless chatterbox and Solene was the only one in the group who could keep up with his words), but something changed between her and Regulus ever since that little chat.

They both held quiet respect and mutual understanding, from one survivor to another.

~•~•~•~

Classes went by quickly, and night approached faster than Solene expected. She considered going down to the Great Hall again for dinner, but she saw three unfortunately familiar heads among the sea of students and decided to skip dinner and head back up to her dorm for the night.

(She hated how her eyes immediately sought them out, no matter how hard she tried not to do so.)

She was leaning back against her headboard as she leafed through the book she read a dozen times before. Her eyes drifted blankly across the words, not digesting them as her mind wandered elsewhere.

Even after having her first proper meal in the past few days, she could feel the stiffness and the exhaustion in her body. She could feel the way her marks warmed from time to time. 

Solene hated when her mind lost control over her body. It was when she was the most distracted and the most vulnerable.

She cannot be vulnerable.

I’m in no state to read, Solene thought, sliding her bookmark into the book and setting it on her nightstand. She adjusted herself and laid back down on her pillows, her eyes staring up at the ceiling. 

I could do with some lightening of my mood.

She sat back up and remembered the package that her siblings sent to her a week ago. She hasn’t opened it, since she was buried neck-deep in assignments. Her siblings pegged her about it in their most recent letters, but all she said was that she was “saving it for when [she] needed cheering up”.

Well, she needed to be cheered up. So, she reached for the package under the bed (she kept it there so her idiot roommates wouldn’t find it and destroy it or something) and took it out.

Solene couldn’t help the small chuckle that left her mouth when she opened it and found hundreds of uneven strips of paper filling the box to the brim to protect whatever was inside. Some slipped out and fell onto her bed, but she didn’t really care as she pulled more out to reveal her siblings’ gift to her.

The tips of her fingers grazed something more solid than strips of paper, so she wrapped her fingers around it and brought it out of its package.

Her breath hitched in her throat as she saw the gift her younger siblings gave her.

It was a small bouquet of paper flowers, ten of them, all in different colors and sizes and varying levels of expertise (she knew that Lucas helped make the ones with more even-looking petals). It was a rainbow of roses.

A thin sheet of red paper wrapped around them, and a small card stuck in between the paper and the back of the flowers. She took it out and read what was written upon it.

To the best sister! We’ll always be proud of you!

Solene let out a breathy laugh, the corners of her eyes turning a bit blurry due to small tears that started to form. 

She put the bouquet down on the covers and curled into herself, laying her arms across her bent knees and burying her head in them. Her body gently shook as silent sobs escaped her lips. Tears slipped out from under her eyelids, bringing her exhaustion, her anger, and her sadness along with them. 

She cried her heart out that night, behind her curtains and into her pillow until sleep overtook her, the perfectly imperfect bouquet from her siblings laying beside her head. 

Normally, she would feel disgusted at herself for letting tears slip from her eyes so freely. She’d expel her emotions some other way, like doing chores around the house or exercising. It didn’t exactly satisfy her, but it did help with lessening the shakiness of her hands and the queasiness in her chest.

This time, however, crying felt right.

~•~•~•~

The next day, Solene went down to the Great Hall feeling lighter and a lot hungrier than she had in the past few days. 

This time, Solene decided that if she refused to spend the rest of her life with the three boys in red, then she should at least grant them the feeling of closure by telling them that herself. 

Once she gets the courage, of course. It already took a lot of willpower to show herself and willingly be in the same room — or in this case the same hall — as them.

Her other friends welcomed her normally, Barty and Evan continuing with their usual bickering. Solene made eye contact with Pandora, then Regulus. Both of them offered different expressions of happiness for her appearance despite her problems, Pandora offering her her warmest smile and Regulus raising his eyebrows slightly with a small quirk of his lips. 

She returned a smile before three sandwiches appeared on her plate. She didn’t hesitate in scarfing them down, humming in contentment as she felt the void in her stomach being filled.

It felt good to be back. She knew that nothing was back to normal, not after her life was launched into a completely different trajectory a few days ago, but the sense of routine brought an indescribable sense of comfort to Solene.

“So, what do you plan on doing?” Regulus asked her quietly, his voice almost unheard against Barty’s wild laughter and Evan’s foreign curses.

“To give them closure,” Solene replied, taking another bite of her sandwich. “They deserve that much, especially since they all most probably looked forward to a life with all their soulmates.”

“How do you plan on explaining your situation to them?” 

Solene paused for a moment, drinking her water as she thought about it. She definitely didn’t want to tell them about anything from her experience in the past; even just thinking about it made her shoulders tense and her ears slightly ring. 

“I don’t know,” Solene said honestly. “It’s hard to tell them what I think when we’re all taught as kids to welcome soul bonds to people with open arms.”

Regulus nodded. “Just remember, they might not understand it, but the rest of us do, on varying levels.” 

Solene looked at Regulus beside her, just taking a moment to study him. His sharp jaw, his short, wavy hair, his gray eyes that are normally frosty but are now slightly softened with some form of understanding.

“Thanks. That really means a lot.” Solene turned back to her meal and chomped down the last of her sandwich without another word.

She felt their presence before she saw them. It started with the warming of the marks on her body and it turned into an unfamiliar tingle that brushed against the back of her neck, causing goosebumps to ripple across her brown skin.

She didn’t know if she liked it or not.

“Hey.”

Solene took her time chewing and swallowing. She tightened her grip on her cup to lessen the chance of tremors wracking her fingers. She fought to keep her expression blank, despite how much her brows wanted to furrow or how her lips wanted to tighten.

She finally turned and fully faced the three Marauders.

She never had a proper look at them before now. The scars that dragged along Lupin’s face stood out less in the morning, when the sunlight was even. Sirius’ hair was shiny with care (HEY THAT RHYMED), one of the many evidences of his focus on his appearance. James had freckles lightly scattered across his cheekbones. She didn’t know he had freckles.

The conversation on their part of the table died down. Her friends weren’t the only ones who stopped talking; some of the Slytherins who saw the Marauders also quieted down and turned to watch the interaction with guarded curiosity. Gryffindors at the Slytherin table normally wasn’t a good sign, especially the Marauders out of all people.

Behind Solene, Barty and Evan chose to give the three boys particularly deathly glares rather than speak because their friend was obviously going to respond to them.

“Yes?” Keeping her voice even was another battle that she wasn’t willing to lose, and she didn’t.

Two of the three Gryffindors simply continued to stare at her, as if they had just approached her to ogle at her up close.

The tallest one cleared his throat, keenly aware of the awkwardness that blanketed them, especially with the added number of listeners. “We were wondering if we could talk to you… privately?”

Solene felt Regulus’s gaze turn back to her. She knew that it was probably taking a lot of restraint for both Black brothers to not bark at each other, and she felt grateful at the concern in the younger boy’s eyes when they made eye contact.

I’ll be fine.

I’ll be fine.

“Sure,” Solene said, standing up and looking back at the Gryffindors. She didn’t mean to make her voice cold, but her words came out frosty, and it made James’ eyebrows twitch together.

Solene stood, without glancing back at her friends. 

“You hurt her, and I’ll kill you,” Barty said sweetly to James, Remus, and Sirius, an eerie smile resting on his lips. For once, Evan didn’t scold him for his words, silently agreeing with them.

James visibly gulped before turning to his soulmates, both of which also displayed varying levels of discomfort, even the usually boastful and confident Sirius Black.

“Well?” Solene said coldly, eyes blank and bored. “Are you just going to stand there, or are we going to talk?”

Remus cleared his throat again. “Right.”

He walked out first, the rest of them following behind him. Solene tried to stick to the back of the group, but Potter was insistent on walking at the same pace as her, so she stuck close to them until they left the Great Hall and reached an empty corridor.

Solene struggled to restrain the urge to play with her rings. She refused to show any sign of weakness.

It would hurt less.

The three Gryffindors stopped when they were on the border of light and dark in the corridor. The torches on the walls casted deep shadows on all their faces, accentuating their expressions and making Solene’s chest feel all the more tighter.

“So…” James started off, making the atmosphere even thicker with awkwardness. “We’re soulmates.”

Solene hummed. “It seems that we are.”

Sirius scrutinized her with narrowed eyes. “And yet you’ve been avoiding us in the week that we’ve discovered that we’re soulmates.”

Solene slowly turned her gaze to meet his, and Sirius felt a tingle race down his spine. 

“I apologize for being distant,” Solene said, and she meant it. She felt bad for prolonging it, for possibly giving them hope. She just needed time to accept the fact that she had just met her soulmates and she had to find a way to let them down slowly. They deserved that much.

“We don’t want to rush anything,” Remus broke in. He knew there was something off with her. Normally, when people met their soulmates, they’d be eager to get to know them and at least show some interest in the concept, but Solene looked at them like they were people she didn’t like. “We know more than anyone that having a polyamorous bond can be overwhelming at first, so we’re willing to give you as much time as you need to adjust —”

“That won’t be necessary,” Solene interrupted him.

James tilted his head, confused. He was the only one who didn’t quite understand; Sirius’ and Remus’ faces held disbelief. Solene hated how it made her heart hurt a little.

“What do you mean by that?” James asked. The torch light reflected off of his glasses, emphasizing his soft brown eyes. In the distance, a bell rang out, followed by the thundering of footsteps as students left the Great Hall to start their classes, but none of them made to leave, watching her with hopeful expectancy. They all wanted an answer.

"I'm sorry for not telling you sooner, but I don't plan on getting in a relationship with you," Solene clarified. The blunter, the better.

There was a moment of painful silence before Sirius let out a breathy scoff, shaking his head. He refused to believe what she was saying. "You're just going to decide that without even giving us a chance?"

Remus put a placating hand on Sirius's shoulder, although he himself looked greatly disappointed. "I understand that you can be afraid of getting involved in a relationship with people you don't know well, but please, let us prove ourselves."

"As I said before, that won't be necessary," Solene bit back. She straightened her spine and forced herself to properly face the boys. "I have no intention of involving myself in a soul bond."

"Why are you doing this? What did we do? Tell me and I can fix it, please!"

"There's nothing left to fix. It's over."

"I find the concept of soulmates stupid."

"Solene, get back inside, go —"

"Why am I required to put my heart in the hands of people who don't know how to hold it?"

The rain was relentless on the roof, it was deafening —

"So please, for both your sakes and mine —"

She didn’t cry. She couldn’t, not when her siblings needed someone —

"— forget about me."

Beneath the long sleeves of her robe, Solene's hands were clenched tightly into fists to stop their shaking. She forced herself to watch as their expressions morphed into pain, anger, and sadness.

After all, how could you expect a nine-year-old little girl to offer the comfort only a parent could?

They all opened their mouths to speak, but Solene couldn't handle any more.

"Please leave me alone." Solene shouldered past them, biting the inside of her cheek as she willed the tears to stop welling in her eyes. Her next class was Herbology with the Ravenclaws, so she wouldn't be seeing them again until later.

"Wait!"

A thin hand wrapped around her wrist, and her body went on autopilot. She blinked, and next thing she knew, she twisted Remus Lupin's arm into an uncomfortable angle. He yelped at the unexpected pain, his face contorted.

"Let him go!" Sirius barked, ripping Solene's hand from Remus's palm. The movement made her stumble backwards, eyes wide with horror at herself.

What the hell am I doing? I hurt him.

Well, I probably already accomplished that earlier.

Sirius glanced at her, eyes suddenly regretful, but Solene turned away. She couldn't stop the singular tear that slipped out of her eye and raced down her brown skin.

I deserve this pain, for hurting them.

But it's all for the best.

~•~•~•~

Classes were shit after that. All of Solene's hard work with Dumbledore on her wandwork was for naught — her focus was so scattered that she gave herself a nosebleed after doing the wrong movements for a simple Banishing Spell during Charms that she was sent to the Hospital Wing. How the hell she did that, she had no idea.

She sat on her cot, eyes glassy as her train of thought circled back to her conversation with the three Marauders. She tried not to think about it too much, but it was hard not to; now that she wasn't in class, nothing could distract her brain.

"Why am I required to put my heart in the hands of people who don't know how to hold it?"

"Let him go!"

It took everything in her being to not run back towards them and apologize when she was with them during Charms. The instincts engraved in her to seek out her soulmates and rely on them were nearly overpowering. If she wasn't so used to stopping herself from doing things impulsively, she would have never pushed them away.

And she hated how she was regretting her actions.

It's all for the best.

She was brought back to reality as pain flared on her face. She instinctively winced, her eyes snapping up to the nurse that had waved her wand at her nose.

"Your nose is fine now," said Madame Pomfrey. She was a severe-looking woman, but she was gentle with Solene. She seemed to get the vibe that Solene wasn't in the mood for talking, and stayed almost entirely silent while treating her.

Solene nodded. "Thank you."

Madame Pomfrey waved her gratitude away. "Just try to focus more on your classes — the wrong wandwork can be more dangerous. You're lucky that it was just a nosebleed."

Solene nodded again. She ought to feel guilty or embarrassed about her mistakes, but she was too deep into her thoughts to particularly care. All she wanted was to go back to her dorm and sleep the mental exhaustion off.

Just in time, a distant bell tolled, signalling the end of their third class of the day. Solene had at least three classes left, plus extra lessons with Dumbledore; neither of which she was looking forward to. Nonetheless, she didn't want to skip, especially since she needed to catch up to everyone else in her grade, especially when it came to wandwork.

"May I go now?" Solene asked, glancing at the watch on her wrist before looking back up at the nurse with blank eyes.

Madame Pomfrey took a moment to study her with a scrutinizing gaze before she huffed and nodded. With her signal, Solene rose to her feet, dusting her uniform off and making her way to the exit.

Once Solene left, she felt like she was floating. Her body was moving without her telling it to as her mind wandered into the confines of her own thoughts.

With the time she took in the Hospital Wing, Charms was close to ending, but she still had to go back to get her things, so she made the trek back to the classroom.

At least she didn't have to worry about other people looking at her, as everyone was busy packing their things to go to their next classes.

"Please practice your Banishing Charms over the course of the week," Professor Flitwick said over the ruckus in the room. "We'll have a test about it in our next class!"

Solene tried her best not to bump into anyone as she pushed through the students to get to her chair where her stuff still were. She took note of how Barty lingered at the doorway, waiting for her before they headed down the greenhouses for Herbology with the Ravenclaws.

She disregarded any means of organization as she dumped her books into her bag, shoving her quills into her case and sealing her ink bottles before putting them in a pouch and dropping them inside.

Once she was done, she zipped her bag shut and shouldered it. However, she felt herself bump into someone as she turned to walk out of the classroom.

"Shit," Sirius Black muttered, lightly clutching his stomach where Solene's elbow accidentally landed. "Oh." he quietly added once he saw who he had bumped into.

Solene gulped, feeling the mark on her sternum heat up in his presence. Why do these damn marks have to be so annoying?

"Sorry," Solene said awkwardly, clearing her throat and brushing past him while also being careful not to make contact with him as she left and walked with Barty to leave the classroom.

Sirius's gaze followed her the entire time. She didn't have to look back to know; she felt it from the back of her head, like a nagging thought in the deep corners of her conscience.

"Well, that wasn't awkward at all," Barty hummed as they went down the stone steps.

Solene rolled her eyes, brushing some hair away from her face. "No shit."

Barty glanced at her from the corner of his eye for a moment before looking forward once more, squinting a little as the sun hit their eyes the moment they stepped onto the grass. "Are you sure this is what you wanna do with this situation?" Barty asked. He was being uncharacteristically considerate and careful with his words, like she would explode if he said the wrong thing.

"What I want is irrelevant," Solene replied, keeping her eyes trained ahead of her. "This is for the best."

"Hmm." Barty was obviously still unconvinced, but he didn't push any further as they entered the greenhouses. Neither of them were exactly the type to talk about emotions, save for that once instance in the Slytherin common rooms. While his entire soulmate trio was emotionally constipated, he was the one who truly avoided emotions like the plague. He may bring it up if ever he thinks it could help someone (which is very rarely), but if they don't want to open up, he'd be more than happy to change topic.

The rest of classes was fine, as they didn't have it with the Gryffindors. Solene was catching up with everyone in terms of academics, which she was proud of; however, she had to occasionally ask Barty for clarifications regarding some topics — he didn't look like it, but he was probably the smartest person in their grade.

Finally, the bell sounded, signaling the end of their last period. Solene let out a quiet breath of relief, massaging her temples as she let her eyes close. Transfiguration, as easy as Dumbledore makes it look during their lessons, was not for the weak. She didn't make conversation with Evan as she packed her things to go back to the common rooms before dinner.

Speaking of lessons, she wasn't sure whether Dumbledore was really good at noticing when people were going through things or if he was just a mind reader, but he had canceled their lessons that week on the pretense that she should "try tackling classes on her own".

She knew that was bullshit, but she didn't comment. They were pretty exhausting, so at least she'll have more time to do whatever she wants to before dinner.

She had been invited by Regulus and Barty to hang out in theirs and Evan's dorm, but she declined, opting for a much-needed nap. It wouldn't be enough to make up for the many hours of sleep that she lost in the past few days, but she felt like her body was going to collapse.

And she was right; the moment her head hit the pillows, her consciousness faded into a dreamless sleep.

"Where's Sol?" Barty asked when Pandora went down the stairs from the girls' dormitory.

"She's asleep," Pandora replied simply. "I decided to let her rest. She looked like she needed it."

Regulus nodded. None of them questioned her actions; if Pandora thought something should happen, then it would be best to just let it happen. He stood and checked his watch. "We better get going or we'll get caught up in the rush in the Great Hall."

As they were leaving the common room, Evan asked, "Will she be okay?"

He was probably the only one who didn't know much about Solene's current situation. He knew that he opened up a bit to his soulmates, and he respected her privacy. That didn't stop him from worrying a bit.

"Eventually." Regulus slipped his hand into Evan's and gave it a reassuring squeeze before letting go.

"Just give it time," Pandora hummed. She departed from the group once they arrived in the Great Hall, no doubt heading to the Hufflepuff table to spend some time with Xenophilius, her soulmate. The two of them were probably the most unproblematic people in Hogwarts despite being from houses that had opposite values. They didn't really care about the house beef; they just wanted to spend time with each other.

Barty sighed, stretching his arms above his head before wincing when Evan smacked his side, scolding him for his bad table manners. "I wonder when those Gryffindor pricks will make their move again."

Regulus shrugged, toying with his food with his silver fork. "Knowing them and how stubborn they are, it'll be soon." His eyes were glazed over, unfocused.

Barty put a hand on his shoulder to catch his attention before gesturing to his food. "Eat."

"We can't blame her for wanting to avoid them, though," Evan said, sipping from his water. "Being in the same school as them is overbearing enough, what more if they're soulmates?"

"Well, at least the dilemma has them preoccupied," Barty pointed out. "They've barely been pranking Slytherin."

"They haven't really done much pranking in general these days. They're obviously still trying to deal with it."

"Guess they're not used to being rejected." Barty winced again from Evan's hit. "What? I'm saying the truth! Knowing their reputation as the 'handsome idiots' of this school, they've probably rejected half the boys and girls here, but they've never chased after anyone except for each other."

Silence fell over the group after that, each of them occupied with either their food or their thoughts.

"I think they'll work it out," Evan spoke up.

Regulus looked up to raise an eyebrow at his soulmate. "What makes you say that?"

Evan looked beyond Regulus and at his twin sister as she smiled with a laughing Lovegood. "Just a feeling," he shrugged, putting food in his mouth.

On the other side of the hall, someone cleared their throat behind Pandora Rosier. She turned around, confused at who would interrupt her conversation with Xenophilius, before her eyes softened with recognition.

"Remus," She acknowledged.

Remus Lupin nodded towards the both of them. "Sorry for cutting your conversation short, but I was wondering if I could talk to Pandora for a moment?" He directed his question towards Xenophilius.

He looked at Pandora, silently asking her. He only stood after Pandora nodded, letting them have a bit of privacy as he sat a few feet away from them.

"I assume this is about Solene?" Pandora said, cutting to the chase.

Remus nodded, also seeing no need to dance around the topic. "I was just wondering if you could tell her something for me."

Pandora sipped from her goblet, and Remus took that as a sign to continue. "Please tell her that I would like to talk to her about our… situation, which I'm sure you're aware about."

Pandora hummed in agreement, but still said nothing.

"I'll be in the Transfiguration classroom during our free period," Remus said, his fingers absentmindedly trailing over the stitching of his sweater. "It'll just be me — James and Sirius don't know about this."

"Are you sure about that?" Pandora asked.

Remus nodded firmly. He looked back at his soulmates, who were busy laughing with their friends to even notice that the boy had left their part of the tables. "Again, I just want to talk to her. No hostility or convincing, just… steps towards understanding."

Pandora processed Remus's request carefully, tilting her head in thought. Remus felt sweat trickle down the back of his neck.

He knew how desperate his soulmates were to talk to Solene and try to convince her again, but Remus knew that wasn't the right approach. Soul bonds were like a firework; everyone knows that it's going to fire up someday, but it's still overwhelming when it does. The suddenness of it all can be overwhelming, and Remus understand that. He came from an orphanage with no proper idea of soulmates, and it also took a while to adjust to soulmates like Sirius and James, but they were with him every step of the way.

He knew that it wouldn't happen any time soon, but he wanted to offer the same kind of support to Solene as well.

"I'll tell her," Pandora said finally, and Remus exhaled quietly in relief.

"Thank you, Pandora," he said, standing up. "Sorry for bothering you."

Just before he started to walk back to his friends, Pandora called out to him. "Remus?"

The boy stopped and looked back at the girl. Her wide eyes gazed at him unblinkingly, like an owl.

"Everyone deserves love, but they do not deserve to have it enforced onto them," Pandora said. "They will open their arms to receive it when they are ready."

Remus nodded slowly, offering another smile towards Pandora before leaving to rejoin his soulmates as her words weighed on his mind.

He understood the warning behind those words:

This was probably their only chance to try and connect with Solene, and it was all up to him. He wasn't going to waste it.