Chapter Text
Malfoy’s have always taken pride in only having a single soulmark. So, in that sense Draco is proud to be continuing the family tradition. However, his mark has always been so... plebeian. It's just a single word, a common “yes.” Draco isn’t worried, though. He’s always known that he is going to be one of the special ones who has one other person that only has his first words on their skin. As long as he manages to say something distinctive, there’s nothing to worry about.
His parents have warned him it might be some time before he ever meets his soulmate, and that Malfoy’s do not acknowledge soul connections unless it is politically relevant to do so.
Draco remembers the first day that the word became legible on his arm. He had immediately gone to show his parents his word, shiny and dark and new. Strangely, his father had seemed to care more about the placement of his tattoo on his right forearm. It did make his left forearm look kind of bare, in comparison. He had mentioned that maybe he would get a second mark on his other arm, to balance it out. His father had gone dead white, turned on his heel and left the room. Draco doesn't know what he did wrong.
Anyway, he’s going to Hogwarts next year! He’s sure that he will meet his soulmate in Slytherin. He’s already got what he’s going to say all planned out.
Draco stalks away from Potter’s train compartment enraged and confused. That's twice now, that Harry Potter has said “yes” to him. He’s got an awful suspicion that will require he steal a sample of Potter’s hand writing. Simply to eradicate the possibility, of course. There’s no way that Potter is his soulmate. He didn’t even react to Draco’s words, and Draco can remember every detail of that conversation, and he knows what he said was distinctive enough to get a reaction.
He does, eventually, get a sample of Potter’s hand writing. He dismisses it, of course. There are tons of people with messy handwriting at Hogwarts. Snape certainly complains about it enough.
And then he has the Dark Mark on his left forearm. At least it's not unbalanced anymore, is the first thing that pops into his head as he stands in front of the Dark Lord, mildly hysterical from pain and fear and the knowledge his parents cannot protect him, could never protect him from this. The second thing he thinks is that he should have shown Potter his mark before he got this second, artificial one.
The third thing, that occurs to him much later is that if Voldemort’s mark was not his father’s one and only, and how could it be his one and only, then who else could it be?
He finds out at after the war is over, and his father stands on trial. Of course, he thinks. Of course it was Harry bloody Potter. And then he finds out what, exactly, his father’s mark says. “Voldemort killed my parents,” it says. It is really hard to claim innocence with a mark like that. But Lucius escapes jail time, with significant donations and a lot of furniture giveaways.
Generosity, his mother says. If Draco had his way, they would burn everything that the Dark Lord has touched. It is probably a good thing that Draco does not have his way, or he might have accidentally burned down the entire mansion, and that would not do. That would not do at all.
Eventually, he does show Harry his mark. And Harry nods, like he had always expected that Draco had Harry’s mark written on his skin. And it is very rude to ask someone about their soulmarks if they don’t volunteer to show you. But Draco has never let politeness stop him from saying something to Harry Potter.
And so he asks Harry about his soulmark. His soulmarks, as it turns out. Harry has three soulmarks, and none of them are Draco’s. Draco may have made a bitter remark about having trouble choosing who to date. This is, naturally, when Harry decides to tell him all about Ginny Weasley, one of the few people in Great Britain who doesn’t have Harry’s words on her skin.
It’s... actually a thought that has never occurred to him, to seek love outside of the whole soulmate issue. He knows that it's possible, his parents being an excellent example, but he had never thought about it in reference to himself.
He rubs a hand over Harry’s mark, as is his habit. He... has never really been attracted to anyone, not really. He knows that he needs to have a child to inherit the Malfoy legacy, such that it is. But he doesn’t need love to produce an heir.
His mother has been asking him what type of career he wants to pursue recently. His father has been conspicuously silent about the issue. If he’s being honest with himself, which he rather dislikes, he knows it's got to have something to do with talking to people, even if nowadays that means talking to people who dislike him. He’s sure he’ll figure something out.
On a different note, Harry has left an open invitation to drop by and have a drink with him after work. That... was a pleasant surprise. There are a lot of things wrong with his life, but all in all he thinks that things have turned out much better than they could have.