Magic is a funny thing, especially when it can determine who your soulmate is... the one you are destined to love and adore forever. The one who is never supposed to leave and accept you the way that you are. How do you know if someone is your soulmate? The touch of their skin on yours. Everyone, wizards, and muggles alike, is born with a black mark covering the space of skin your soulmate’s skin will touch first and once that area is touched, the mark will burst into colour before settling into a matching emblem for you both. The one rule was… you couldn’t go around touching everyone, that was improper. You had to either be in a romantic relationship… or feel a pull, a sensation described as a rope pulling at your core.
It was magical and an idea I brought into wholeheartedly, the idea that one day I’d find my soulmate. The one person destined solely for me, but first, I had to learn how to harness my magic and to do that, I had to go to Hogwarts.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1989
My first encounter with the Weasleys, better yet the Weasley twins was… a strange one. It wasn’t a simple hello, how are you? No, it resulted in me lying flat on my back as their quaffle hit me in the chest. I could feel my cheeks growing redder by the second as I hauled myself up and starred at the boys who had, on accident, embarrassed me on my first ever day in the wizarding world.
‘Sorry about that’ one of them said, smiling sheepishly ‘Fred is supposed to be a good catch normally’. He nudged his brother, the one named Fred and I turned to look at him taken aback only momentarily by the hand shaped soulmate marks covering both of his cheek, as though his soulmate was going to gently hold them or… slap him. Once he stopped watching me back in turn, he pushed his brother playfully ‘take it back George, you know I’m a great catch... I was, distracted. Oh, look the trains here, better run bye’ before I or George had chance to respond they were being ushered onto the departing train along with myself.
I didn’t even get chance to tell them my name, but I knew deep down, that, that wouldn’t be the last encounter I ever had with the Weasley twins.
1996:
Turns out I was right in first year, I had a lot of run-ins with the Weasley twins across my time at Hogwarts especially I had been partnered with Fred for, yes you guessed it, Potions. How was I, quiet, timid Hufflepuff me, supposed to ‘calm down’ one half of the ultimate pranksters? Once again, you’ve guessed it, I wasn’t. More than once did it result in my hair becoming a new experimental colour, or my cauldron almost being blown up. I had, had enough and was going to make sure that Snape and Fred knew it.
‘Fred! Bloody hell!’ I exclaimed loudly as he almost singed my hair for the third time that lesson ‘will you please READ the instructions?!’ I sat down angrily glaring at him. ‘I’m sorry love’ he said and reached for my hair. He froze and a weird expression crossed his face, and he brought his hand back slowly. ‘Sorry’ he almost whispered sitting down ‘I don’t know what came over me’. This had been happening more often than late, Fred would reach for me then pull his hand back, thinking I hadn’t noticed, but I had, I had. I watched him carefully, unsure of what has just happened when the bell rang. He up and ran out of there as quick as his legs would carry him, leaving me very confused and a little bit hurt.
Shaking it off, I walked towards the library trying my best to avoid Umbridge and her so called ‘Inquisitors’, in my words the little dweebs who wanted daddy’s approval so badly they’d rat on the people they shared a school with. The look on Fred’s face felt so familiar, like I’d seen it before… even felt it before. Successfully evading the dweebs, I entered the library. More confused and frustrated than before I sat on the sofa and lay my head back eyes closed. I felt the sofa dip indicating someone had sat next to me. ‘You know, if you looked a little closer, you’d be able to see that he has feelings for you’ the soft tones of my friend Angelina Johnson flowing through my ears. Sitting up in shock at her words ‘excuse me?’ I said, although it sounded more like a squeak than actual words ‘what on earth are you taking about?’ Her laugh then filled my ears ‘you are blind my dear, both literally and figuratively if you cannot see the way that boy looks at you, has looked at you since he knocked you over with the quaffle. Your mark compliments his too’. I looked down at the black soulmate marks completely covering both my hands. What she was saying couldn’t be true could it? Fred, thee Fred Weasley could surely not have feelings for me… could he? I never did get chance to ask him or find out as he and George left in a huge explosion of fireworks that very night.
1998:
The war had taken any time I had to think about what Angelina had revealed all those two years ago with protecting Harry, each other, George’s injury. I hardly had time to sleep, let alone think about the feelings deep down in my heart. I had, had plans to meet Fred for lunch the day the call came, the call for all order members to report to the school immediately. It was finally here, the day we had been dreading… the battle of Hogwarts.
Standing behind the doors of the great hall, in the place I once called my home, waiting to go and face the darkness that had spread throughout was a harrowing experience, one only made worse when I saw how many students, children, had stayed to fight. To fight in a war that shouldn’t be happening, not to us and definitely not to them.
I hadn’t seen Fred, nor George, much in the runup to this dreadful day but that didn’t mean I was blind to the warmth that spread through me when he stood next to me. ‘Hey darling’ he whispered so low that only I could hear ‘ready to face this and face it together?’. I took a deep breath and nodded ‘forever and always together Freddie, me and you.’ He smiled gently and stepped forward, just as the doors opened, he turned to me and said ‘I love you; you know. Always have, always will’ and with that disappeared into the hall and subsequently into the battle. I wish I said it back, said anything but I didn’t, and I worried that I’d live to regret it.
------
The battle was long and heart-breaking, but it was finally over. That, monster was finally gone for good and now. Now I needed to find Fred, place my hands on his cheeks and hopefully see the bursts of colour cover his skin and mine. I didn’t ever think that when I next saw Fred, that it would be lying on a stretcher surrounded by his family with Madame Pomfrey. Molly Weasley burst into tears, barely being held up by her husband. I don’t remember moving, but I must have as I soon found myself on the floor next to him, George crying gently clutching Ron to his chest next to me. I didn’t listen to anything they were saying to me, I was just focussing on Fred Weasley.
He can’t be... he can’t. ‘Freddie’ my voice barely more than a whisper ‘Freddie, this isn’t funny, I have something to tell you. Please’ I croaked out ‘please open your eyes’. He didn’t move, lay there still, the soulmate mark on his cheeks staring back up at me tauntingly. Slowly I raised my hands and took a deep breath ‘you promised, me and you, always and forever’. I gently placed by hands on his cheeks matching the mark perfectly and rested my forehead against his ‘I love you Freddie, please stay with me’. I felt the warmth of the connection flow through me, before I saw them, the brightest blues, reds, yellows, every colour possible burst out of our skin. I choked back a sob and fell backwards wrapping my arms around myself hearing Molly gasp behind me in the break of her tears.
Everyone had stopped to look, watching as I discovered my soulmate, as the man I was destined to love forever slipped away before me. It took me a second to realise that someone was holding my hand, I opened my eyes slowly and saw Molly looking at me. ‘Hello, I’ve heard an awful lot about you, but first I think you need to talk to the person holding you hand’. I looked down and followed the arm, my whole body filled with warmth as my gaze connected with the hazy, but open eyes of Fred Weasley. Regaining my strength, I launched myself up and wrapped my arms around him crying into his chest ‘I thought you were dead’ I choked out. He smiled gently stroking my loose hair down my back ‘and leave the girl I love, better yet my soulmate? Never. I’m injured, but not going anywhere. Not now I have you’ he whispered ‘I knew it was you, the day you danced with me at the yule ball. I was waiting for you to realise’. I laughed my eyes filling with tears again as I finally kissed him, savouring it, and wanting more at the same time. I suddenly become very aware of everyone watching I pulled back and looked at him ‘you need to get some sleep; we can talk about it all later’ I brushed some of his hair out of his eyes ‘we have forever and always.’