Hazel Potter was not the kind of girl who gives a lot of thought to soulmates or soul marks.
She had one, of course. It appeared on her 11th birthday and she was startled by the sight of it and asked Hagrid if it was “a witch thing”.
“Yeah, it is, Hazel,” he explained, rubbing his beard, “witches and wizards get a soulmark on their eleventh birthday. It has the initials of their house and their soulmates. See, there is the P for Potter.”
The crimson red P was linked with an emerald M.
So her soulmate’s last name started with M.
Hazel didn’t really think much about soulmates after that. She was eleven and didn’t really give much thought to romance.
Although, once she met Draco Malfoy, an unpleasant thought took root. What if he was her soulmate? The M was green after all. That was a horrifying idea and even at eleven, Hazel decided that if he was her only option, she didn’t need a soulmate.
Thankfully, she was able to cross him off her list after the stunt with remembrall because when he tossed it in the air, his sleeve slipped up and she could see his mark on his wrist.
Hers was on her ankle.
After the relief of realising that Malfoy was not her soulmate, Hazel went back to not caring about who was. Especially not now that she had quidditch to think about.
The identity of her soulmate popped up again in second year because Ernie Macmillan made a giant arse of himself accusing her of being the heir of Slytherin.
Again, she was pretty sure she would sign up for a lifetime of solitude if he was her only option. She debated kicking him to get a look at his ankle (and ok, because she wanted too) but Lavender saved her from the detention that would have likely come from that by informing her that Ernie was Hannah Abbot’s soulmate.
“Can you imagine being stuck with him?” Lavender had giggled, “poor Hannah.”
Hazel strongly agreed with that. Even after he apologized to her, she still thought he was a pompous ass and she was glad she wasn’t stuck with him.
After thankfully crossing Macmillian off the list of possible soulmates, Hazel went back to not caring. Although, Lavender and Parvati were starting to care more and they giggled over it sometimes, but Hazel still thought the whole idea was fairly silly.
By the end of third year, Hazel was starting to care more about the idea of romance but still wasn’t quite sure how she felt about the idea of soulmates.
It didn’t help that her first real crush came in the form of Hufflepuff Seeker Cedric Diggory. Diggory, who’s name did not start with M. So he was not her soulmate.
It was a very confusing thing, because Cedric was nice and handsome and she liked him (he had been really sweet after the Dementor incident) and it was confusing to think that she wasn’t supposed to like him because someone else was her soulmate.
Hermione, of course, was very sceptical of the whole idea of soulmates. “It’s so silly,” she said loudly and often, “we should be able to like who we like and not like someone just because fate says we are supposed to be with them.”
Lavender and Parvati, of course, were very pro soulmates and the conversation lead to many, many arguments. Hazel tried to stay out of the arguments even though she mostly agreed with Hermione.
“But what if you like someone who isn’t your soulmate?” She brought up once, almost hesitantly.
The girls paused, considering her question.
“Well, some people don’t meet their soulmates until later,” Lavender mused, “and some people never meet them for whatever reason.”
“And some people don’t have marks,” Parvati added, “it is rare, but it happens. So I guess, it’s not wrong to have feelings for someone who might not be your soulmate. The heart is in charge, after all.”
Hermione scoffed at that but Hazel nodded, understanding what Parvati was saying. Feelings were still valid, even if fate wasn’t involved.
Until the end of her third year, Hazel really didn’t give much thought to her male classmates as anything other than friends, irritants or Quidditch rivals.
This applied to the boys in her year, plus the other years. She liked all the Gryffindor boys in her year. She was closer to some than others of course. Ron was the brother she never had and she learned that Neville was literally her godbrother; she liked Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan, but she didn’t know either of them particularly well.
Later, as she started to notice boys more, she started becoming aware that Seamus was cute. There was something particularly sweet about his smile and if she’d had to pick the cutest boy in their year, she’d pick him.
But he wasn’t her soulmate either. And he didn’t seem particularly interested in her, so while she thought he was cute, it never went beyond that.
At first Hazel had high hopes for fourth year.
Things seemed to start well enough, she got to go with the Weasleys to the World Cup! She finally met the oldest two brothers and they ended up travelling with Cedric and his father.
When they grabbed the Portkey, Cedric placed his hand right on top of hers and she felt warm all over. It didn’t matter that his father was a little condescending and obnoxious, not when she could feel the heat of Cedric’s hand on hers and the warmth of his smile.
“Is he your soulmate???” Ginny asked later with a squeal.
Hazel shook her head, “no, but I still like him…”
Ginny looked sad, but Hermione nodded encouragingly.
Cedric wasn’t the only classmate they ran into. They also ended up seeing Seamus and his family. Hazel felt weird meeting his mother, like the older woman was silently appraising her, but she was probably imagining it.
Seamus pressed a Shamrock rosette into her hand before they continued on their way, “I have extras”. Hazel smiled and thanked him, absently placing the rosette in her hair.
“You have all the admirers,” Ginny teased as they walked away.
“He’s not my soulmate either,” Hazel said absently, “my soulmate’s name starts with an M. Thankfully, it’s not Malfoy.”
Hermione and Ginny both giggled at that and the subject of Cedric and Seamus was forgotten. Then there was the game and then the horror that came after and there was no giggling about boys for some time.
Fourth year started well. Lavender and Parvati were even more boy crazy than ever, but now Hazel kind of saw the point.
A few weeks into term, Cedric asked her if she would go to Hogsmeade with him. She wanted so badly to say yes. But she hesitated, what if he only liked her because his soulmark was a P and he wrongly assumed it was her? There were four other girls with P surnames in Hazel’s year alone.
“I am not your soulmate,” she blurted out.
Cedric’s smile faltered. “I don’t actually have a soul mark,” he told her softly, “but if you do and you don’t want…”
“No!” Hazel exclaimed, “I mean, I do have a mark but I don't care. I want to go to Hogsmeade with you, if you still want too.”
He beamed. “I do.”
He pulled her in for a hug and she felt on top of the world. So what if they weren’t soulmates, they liked each other, that had to count for something right?
The top of the world feeling didn’t last. Her name came out of the Goblet of Fire and only a few people believed her when she said she didn’t put it there.
Ron didn’t and they had the worst fight they’d ever had.
Ginny did and so did the twins and Hazel started considering that maybe at least some of her friendship with Ron was based in how much she loved his family, rather than Ron himself.
Most of the Gryffindors rallied behind her, although only a few seemed to actually believe her (Seamus was one and he offered to curse Ron for her while he slept, which she turned down but she was grateful for the offer. Seamus could always make her smile). The other houses all rallied against her, although the Hufflepuffs, despite being the angriest, were the most restrained. All because of Cedric.
“I believe you,” he said when she cried into his arms the night her name came out of the goblet, “it’s ok.”
And somehow he made her believe it would be.
The First Task happened and Hazel managed to survive and be tied for first. Ron apologised and she accepted and the rest of the school stopped hating her.
She was the golden girl once more. Until the next time she did something wrong and they all hated her again, she thought but did not dare say.
Instead she focused on other things, the looming second task and more importantly the Yule Ball.
Hazel was excited about the idea of a dance, though nervous about being the focus of attention.
“You’ll go with me, right?” Cedric asked her in the hall one day when he caught her between classes, his hand on the wall behind her as he leaned over her.
She giggled happily. “Of course.”
She decided that the idea of soulmates was utter hogwash. Because, how could Cedric make her so happy if she was supposed to be someone else?
Her friends were excited for her.
“He is so cute!” Lavender squealed, jumping up and down.
“You two are going to look so good!” Parvati added and there as lots of giggling and squealing.
“What is going on over here?” Dean asked, as he and Seamus wandered over to their side of hte common room.
“Hazel is going to the ball with Cedric Diggory!” Lavender exclaimed.
Seamus looked like he’d been slapped.
“You and Diggory?” He asked Hazel quietly.
She nodded. “Yeah.”
It seemed liked he wanted to say something, but he stopped himself. Dean looked sympathetic, rubbing his arm.
“I hope you have a good time,” Seamus said instead as he and Dean walked away.
“I think he likes you,” Lavender said softly.
Hazel was wondering that herself. She thought he was cute, but… It wasn’t like her soulmate and while she liked him, she liked Cedric more.
Seamus took Ginny to the dance. As a third year, Ginny could only go if someone older asked her.
Hazel knew he wasn’t Ginny's soulmate. Her friend shrugged when asked about it. “His soulmate isn’t an option,” she said cryptically, “and we’re friends.”
Hazel nodded. It wasn't any of her business and she was just glad that Seamus seemed to get over whatever he was feeling when he found out she was going with Cedric, after all, she really did like Seamus and she wanted him to be happy.
Just like she was.
Her happiness was fleeting.
She and Cedric had a wonderful few months, the relationship built and grew and Hazel was sure she loved him.
And then she lost him. She watched him die in front of her and knew that nothing would ever be the same again.
Not just because she’d lost Cedric. But because the entire world had changed. Voldemort was back. She had gone from golden girl to delusional liar.
She had been happy and now she was in Hell.
Fifth year sucked for many, many reasons.
One she hadn’t expected was the way Seamus treated her. She hadn’t expected him to believe the Prophet’s hit job on her and to be so cold.
They had always been friends hadn’t they?
“You can’t believe that,” she whispered angrily.
“My mum does,” he said, not meeting her eyes.
“And you?”
“I don’t know…” He told her, “I never know what to think with you, Hazel.”
There was an anger she didn’t understand in his words, but she didn’t care why he was angry. All she cared about was that he was another person who didn't believe her. She remembered how she had thought he might like her, well obviously he could never have liked her that much to treat her like this.
Well, she didn’t need him anyway.
Seamus apologised when the Quibbler article came out and bought her a letter from his mom, also apologising and admitting she had let “previous impressions sway her”, Hazel assumed she meant Rita Skeeter’s hit jobs from the previous year.
“She ddn’t have to write me,” she told Seamus, “but I appreciate it and I’m glad you changed your mind.”
He sighed. “I think I always knew you were telling the truth, I was just upset over other things and I let it blind me. But I know you, Hazel, and I know you are honest. I should have remembered that.”
The words felt even better than she expected and before her could stop herself, she threw her arms around Seamus in a hug. He immediately closed his arms around her and had her close, it felt nice.
Nicer than anything had felt since Cedric’s death, actually, which was a sobering thought and she pulled away.
“I’m glad you’ve stopped being a jerk,” she told him softly.
“Me too,” he said softly, his eyes studying her face.
Once again, she was reminded of the idea that he might like her. However, she wasn’t in a place where she could even think about that. Not with Voldemort and Umbridge and the weight of Cedric’s death.
She was glad to have Seamus’ friendship back, but that was all she could handle right then.
The year got worse.
Sirius died and Hazel felt like her world was ending.
Too many people kept around her. For her.
Her parents. Cedric. Now Sirius.
People she loved kept dying. As she lay in bed and stared at the ceiling, she sincerely hoped that she never met her soulmate, because she was a bad risk when it came to love and fate.
She did end up thinking about her soulmate in 6th year. But in the “please no” category when she met the egotistical jerk otherwise known as Cormac McLaggen.
“I will happily end up alone rather than with him,” she said feverently, “besides, I don’t really care about soulmates, you guys know that.”
Parvati and Lavender looked vaguely scandalised but they stayed quiet and Hazel was grateful for that.
“Just because you cared for Cedric doesn’t mean you won’t care for your soulmate,” Ginny said softly, “although I agree that McLaggen is unbearable. But I am also sure he is not your soulmate.”
There was something in the way Ginny said it that made Hazel wonder if her friend knew something she didn’t, but she didn't push (as she said, she didn’t really care about soulmates).
Thankfully, Ginny was right. The Quidditch try-outs proved that McLaggan was not her soulmate and Hazel let out a sigh of relief to be spared from yet another jerk whose name started with M.
While Hazel did not have the energy for romance, she did find herself growing closer to Seamus. Whatever his feelings might or might not have been, that year he only offered friendship and she took it gratefully.
As she dealt with grief and a growing war and the mystery of Dumbledore’s weekly lessons, it was nice to have a friend who was removed from all that.
Seamus never asked questions she wasn’t comfortable with, he was just there. He had a knack for making her laugh and Hazel found herself craving his company.
She took him as her date to Slughorn’s Christmas Party, ignoring the teasing of her friends and the butterflies in her stomach. She wasn’t ready for romance. But she did like Seamus and she had a fun night with him.
At the end of the night, when they walked back to the tower, Hazel caught him looking at her in a way that wasn't strictly friendly and a feeling of anticipation filled her and she found herself drifting closer to him. But then suddenly, they were interrupted by the sound of voices and the moment was gone.
Later, she told herself it was a good thing.
Romance was too much for her. All she wanted was friendship.
She almost believed it.
Hazel discovered the truth by accident.
Maybe she had always known, deep down.
One morning, she came down to the common room early and Seamus was dozing on the couch, like he had gotten up and then fallen back asleep. His legs were bent and he wasn’t wearing his robes and his pant leg had ridden up, exposing the flesh of his ankle and the mark that lay there.
P&M.
She stared at him in shock. She had see that mark a thousand times, but on her ankle. Seamus was her soulmate.
But how? His name was Finnegn, not… Suddenly, it hit her, the thing she had been missing for six years and she gasped out loud.
The sound jolted Seamus awake.
“Hazel?” He asked sleepily, sitting up and rubbing his eyes, “what’s wrong?”
“What’s your mother’s last name?” She asked instead of answering his question, “before she got married.”
Seamus looked at her for a long moment. “Moran.”
She closed her eyes, wondering how she could have missed it for so long. Seamus was a half-blood. His father, whose last name was Finnegan, was muggle. His soul-mark would have his mother’s name.
When she opened her eyes, Seamus was still watching her, his expression hard to read.
“How long have you known?” She asked him quietly.
“Since second year,” he admitted, “and I realised you had no clue. I didn’t really know how to say anything and well we were young. And then my feelings grew and I wanted to say something, but…”
“Cedric,” Hazel said softly.
Seamus nodded. “Yeah and then I was a jerk in fifth year…”
“Is that why your mom hated me?” Hazel wondered, “she thought I rejected you?”
Seamus nodded. “I tried to explain that you didn’t know, but she was upset and I think she found it easier to believe those awful things in the paper. But that doesn’t excuse how I treated you. I should have supported you, but I let my jealousy get the better of me.” He shook his head in disgust. “Diggory was dead and I still hated him because you loved him and not me.”
Hazel doesn’t say anything. What is there to say? She had loved Cedric. She had chosen him despite knowing he wasn't her soulmate. And she didn't regret that, not even with how it ended.
She hadn’t knowingly chosen him over Seamus, but she couldn’t say for sure that she wouldn’t have; that she wouldn’t have still chosen Cedric even if she had known Seamus was her soulmate.
“But then I read that article and I felt ashamed of myself,” Seamus continued, “You had watched the boy you loved die and I was acting like a jealous prat and blaming you for loving him instead of me. I resolved to get over myself and just be your friend. So this year, that’s what I’ve been doing, I’ve been your friend.”
“And you’ve been such a good one,” she said softly. She paused, appreciating his honesty and deciding to return it, “and sometimes I wondered if you could be more.”
Seamus looked hopeful for a second and then resigned. “But?”
“My life is a mess,” Hazel told him, “people I love die. I am constantly in danger.”
“I don't care,” Seamus told her, “I know you, Hazel. I know exactly who you are. I know what loving you means.”
Hazel’s eyes widened over the word “love”. Seamus saw and smiled ruefully. “Yes, I love you. I don’t expect you to say it back, I meant what I said about being happy with being your friend. But I love you, Hazel, not because you’re my soulmate, but because you’re you.”
She stared at him. Wanting to say or do something, but feeling frozen.
She didn’t know how to get over the fear. Or how to reconcile her disinterest in soulmates with the very real boy standing in front of her, one that she had always cared for.
Seamus stood up then and put a hand on her face. “It’s ok, I’m not asking for anything.”
Hazel nodded, wishing she could be that girl who could go for the romantic moment, who could say the right thing. But she wasn’t.
She was the girl with the weight of the world on her shoulders and a war looming, so she stayed silent as Seamus dropped his hand and stepped back.
Things just got worse.
Dumbledore died leaving Hazel the task of hunting the horcruxes.
Then the ministry fell and she was on the run with Ron and Hermione and she didn’t have time to think about anything else.
Except at night, when she couldn’t sleep, she did think about other things. She thought about Seamus and how she should have kissed him that morning. How she wished they’d had that one romantic moment.
At night Hazel also had time to worry about Seamus. She assumed he was back at Hogwarts, but she wondered what that was like and she hoped he was safe. Though she acknowledged he was probably safer than she was.
But, given the circumstances, that wasn't the most comforting thought.
Hazel was thrilled to see Neville emerge from the portrait at the Hogshead, but that didn’t compare to the elation she felt when she followed him back through the tunnel into the room of requirement.
The whole room was shouting and cheering, but she barely saw or heard them. She only had eyes for Seamus.
There was so much she wanted to say. She wanted to throw her arms around him and kiss him and never stop, but she also knew that this was not the moment.
She had a mission.
Seamus seemed to understand. He hugged her tightly, but then he let her go to hug Ron and Hermione. There was no big romantic scene.
She wondered if they would ever find the time and place for it. If there would ever be a time and place for them.
She vowed that if she survived this day, if they both did. She was making that moment.
Hazel died that day.
But then she got better.
She came back to life and she defeated Voldemort and it was finally over.
And as soon as it was over, as people were reacting, she was being swung off the ground into a pair of arms and kissed like there was no tomorrow.
Seamus.
Well, she had vowed that she’d make time for that romantic moment and he had managed to beat her to it.
It had taken her seven years and a long, long journey but she was kissing her soulmate and it was perfect.
She might not have ever really wanted or needed a soulmate, but she was definitely glad that she had him.
End
You can vote here for which short you would like to see expanded.