Chapter Text
2nd September 1991
First day of school
Hermione
Hermione was very excited. She was so excited she could barely sleep. The whole wizarding world was very new to her and she was very curious about it. She wanted to learn everything she could. She was the first one to get up that morning. She decided to get ready and read a bit before the classes started.
She was changing into her school robes, when she saw it. Her tattoo. Her soulmate tattoo. Hermione was a romantic girl. She had always believed in soulmates. When she was a child, every time she saw a cute boy, she would check her body for a tattoo. Today she finally got it. She was very excited about it, but she was also disappointed. The initial was 'D'.
It was a delicate and elegant 'D', just below her left collarbone. She had technically met the whole school yesterday, right? So it could be anyone. She didn't know the names of everyone at school! But she did know one 'D'. And she was hoping against hopes that it wasn't him.
Draco
Draco was very annoyed when he got up that day. He hated mornings. He was obviously the last one to get up. He only had enough time to wash his face and change into his school robes. He was just done washing his face, when he saw something black on the left side of his neck. He turned a bit to see it properly. It was a bold and beautiful 'H' tattoo.
Draco had never believed in soulmates. And he specifically never believed in looking for a soulmate. If it was meant to be, it would happen on its on. He wasn't going search for a 'H'. The tattoo didn't really matter to him.
Hermione
Hermione was sitting at her desk in the Potions classroom, when she first saw Draco that day. He was sitting at a desk right to hers. He craned his neck while talking with his friends, and she saw his tattoo. She felt her heart sink.
It was a 'H'. So he was her soulmate after all. She hated him and knew he hated her too. There had to be a mistake. How can two people who hate each other, be soulmates? She didn't want to be his soulmate. Her tattoo could be easily hidden under a shirt. So, she made a decision.
She decided to not tell anyone about her tattoo. If anyone ever asked her, she'd tell them she hadn't got it yet. She was going to hide her tattoo for as long as she could.
25 December, 1994
Yule Ball
Draco
Draco was standing with Pansy, his date, in the Great Hall. She had been speaking continuously for the last 30 minutes. He just wanted her to shut up, but knew it wouldn't work. He didn't even want to be here. He was only here because he had to. And he only took Pansy because they had been friends since they were kids.
He was just standing there, sulking, when he saw Hermione descending down the stairs. She looked breathtakingly beautiful. He couldn't take his eyes off her. She was wearing periwinkle blue dress robes, and had her usually bushy hair tied up into an elegant knot at the back of her head. This was the moment he knew he was in love with her.
He had always felt a connection with her. He just didn't know what it was. Whenever she was around her, he didn't understand how to react and ended up insulting her. He felt very bad afterwards, but it was no use. Sometimes he had caught himself subconsciously staring at her. But he had dismissed it. But right now, he couldn't deny it. Now he knew what that connection was, why he had always been staring at her.
He loved her. And it was no use denying it. Their eyes met for a moment, but then she looked away. He was sure she hated him. He was always so rude to her. He was definitely going to change his behaviour now. Her date, Viktor Krum, was waiting at the base of the staircase for her. He took her hand and led her towards the Dance Floor.
Just as she was passing him on the way, he saw her tattoo. It was a 'D'. He couldn't believe his eyes! He had nearly forgotten about his own tattoo. He pulled down his collar to look at it. A 'H' as bold and beautiful as Hermione herself. He had found his soulmate.
Hermione
Hermione was tired of hiding her tattoo. She had decided to forget about it, but how could she? All her friends had found their soulmates. Harry got his tattoo in their second year. He looked so happy when he was with Ginny. They had decided to be friends until they were sure they were ready for a relationship. Now he was taking her to the Yule Ball. Ron had only gotten his tattoo recently. Fleur Delacour had walked straight up to him and kissed him on the cheek after showing him the tattoo on her wrist.
That had been the trigger for Hermione. If Fleur could do that for Ron, she could certainly do it for Draco. Recently she had started having feelings for Draco. He was so smart and cute and intelligent. He was rude to her, sure. But he was very nice to other people. Once she had seen him help a first year Hufflepuff to search his class. And she often saw him in the library helping students who weren't very good in studies. She didn't know why he was rude to her, but she couldn't help but fall in love with her soulmate.
So she decided to show him, and everyone else, her tattoo. But she couldn't just do it. It had to be special. That's why she agreed to go to the Yule Ball with Krum. And now finally the day had come. She had spent hours on getting ready today. She had purposely worn a dress with a neck low enough to show off the tattoo. She had tied her hair into a knot. And she had put on a little bit of make-up. Even she couldn't deny that she looked pretty today.
As she walked down the staircase towards the Great Hall, she was searching for Draco. And when she saw him, she was surprised to see that he was already looking at her. She quickly averted her gaze. And watched him from the corner of her eye. He looked very handsome in those black velvet dress robes. And he looked very impressed by her. She was pleased to see it.
She took Krum's hand, when she reached him, and he led her towards the Dance Floor. The Triwizard champions had to be the first ones to dance. When she got close to Draco, she saw him look at her tattoo. He looked surprised. She could barely contain her smile when she saw pull down his collar to look at his own tattoo. And then he looked back at her. Finally their eyes met. And she knew she had found her soulmate.
Chapter Text
Hermione
"So? Did he see it?",asked Viktor while they were dancing. He was the only person Hermione had told her plan to. Before agreeing to go to the Ball with him, she had made sure he knew her plan. She wasn't going to use him to get to Draco. She had told him that she would only go with him as a friend. And he had been pretty cool about it. He had agreed to help her.
"Yes, he did! And then he looked at his own tattoo to make sure it was my initial.", Hermione said and laughed. She looked around for Draco, and saw him dancing with Pansy. Just when she looked at him, he turned towards her and their eyes met. She held his gaze for a moment before looking away.
She had waited a long time for this. She wasn't going to make it easy for Draco. She was going to make him work for it. As the song ended, she saw him coming towards her. She quickly took Viktor's hand and led him towards her friends. "Hey guys!",she greeted her friends. If only she could dodge talking about Draco as easily as she dodged talking to Draco. Harry and Ron had started asking her all about her tattoo as soon as she reached them.
"Draco? Your soulmate is Draco?!",said Ron, as expected.
"How could you hide it from us?!",said Harry.
"You didn't even let me know!",said Ginny, accusingly.
"Will you let me speak?!",she said defensively. She hadn't really thought about what she'd tell them. But she had to say something, "Okay. So I got my tattoo on our first day of Hogwarts. 'D' is a rare initial, and just like you I suspected it would be Draco. And my suspicions were confirmed when I saw his 'H' tattoo. But back then, I hated him. So I decided to keep it hidden. But over the years, I have really started to like him. I know you guys hate him and he is very rude to you, but he is a very nice to others. I have seen it. And he is so smart! And after seeing how happy your soulmates made you, I wanted it too! So I decided to go for it."
"Okay. So just to be clear, Draco Malfoy is you soulmate. And you like him?",asked Ron, baffled by her explanation.
"Yes, Ron. And I would really appreciate it if you respected my decision.", replied Hermione, now irritated.
"I'm so happy for you!", saying this Ginny hugged her tight. "But this doesn't mean I'm not mad at you for hiding it from me.",she added.
"I'm so sorry I hid it from you.",said Hermione hugging her back.
"Maybe being with you would turn Draco into a better human being.",said Harry and laughed. She laughed along with him.
Viktor excused himself and went towards his friends. Hermione was having a great time with her friends. Dancing, chatting and dodging Draco.
Draco
Draco had been too stunned to do anything. Pansy pulled him towards the dance floor and made him dance. But all he could think about was how he would convince Hermione that he liked her. He turned around to look at her and was surprised to see that she was already looking at him. They stared at each other for a moment and then she looked away. He decided that he was going to make his move today.
As soon as the song ended, he started to go towards her, but she left to go talk to her friends. That was another challenge he was going to have to face, her friends. They hated him. But he would cross that bridge when he reached it. Right now, he had to concentrate on Hermione. He decided to wait till she was alone and then approach her.
"Come on, Draco! Let's dance.",he heard Pansy's annoying voice.
"I don't want to dance, Pansy! I have something else on my mind. I've just found out Hermione is my soulmate and I want to talk her.",he harshly said to her.
"Hermione? That mudblood? You're going to ditch me for her?!",that's the worst thing she could have said right now.
"Don't you dare insult her! She is my soulmate and I like her and I wouldn't hear a single wrong word about her!",he yelled at her and went away from there. She really did manage to ruin everything for him.
He spent some time with his Hufflepuff friends. That cheered him up again. He tried to approach Hermione a few times, but every time she would turn away from him. He was getting a bit annoyed now. Why wouldn't she talk to him?! He had had enough. He was going to approach her and talk to her, no matter what.
He saw her standing with Ginny and started walking towards her. She saw him and started to turn away, but he called out her name. That made her stop. He smirked as he approached her. "Dance with me? I need to talk to you.",he softly asked her.
"I'm sorry, I have something else to do",she said haughtily.
"Oh come on! Just one dance. I've been trying for so long!", he was exasperated now. But by the look she was giving him, he realised how rude he sounded. So he added,"Please?", and gave her his best puppy eye look. Just as he expected, she couldn't resist now. She gave him a small smile and took his hand. The band was playing a slow song and they stared dancing.
"So? You wanted to talk?",she teased.
"Yes. I, uh, I saw your tattoo. Your soulmate tattoo.",he said hesitatingly.
"Oh. And?",he could practically feel her smile in her voice.
He knew that she was just teasing him now. But he decided to play along, "And I couldn't help but notice that there are not many people around here whose names start with a 'D'. I may as well be the only one. Now, of course your soulmate could be someone from the muggle world, but I'm going to take a guess here and say it's not. And I also noticed that my soulmate tattoo is a 'H', which happens to be your initial."
"Oh, yeah. I noticed those things too. What a coincidence! But surely you're soulmate is someone else, some pureblood.",she said a little bitterly.
That made him flinch. He realised how rude he had been towards her. He remembered all the times he insulted her for being a muggle-born. He wanted to apologize to her, but decided to keep the mood pleasant, "I thought so too. At first I hoped it would be Harry. But then he found Ginny. I was really disappointed by that." At that she laughed. Her laugh was the most melodious voice he had ever heard.
They danced silently for a moment, and then he continued, "Listen, I want you to know that I'm really sorry for all that I did to you. For being rude to you, and insulting you and making you feel bad. You have no idea how much I regret it. And I also want you to know that I'm not doing all of this just because you look pretty today. I've had feelings for you for a while now. I'm just very bad at expressing them. Seeing you today only made me realise how much I was missing by staying away from you."
She pulled away from him and looked him straight in the eyes. She was about to say something, when the band decided to end the slow song and start playing a rock song. "Oops. Looks like your time is up.",she said with a mischievous smile.
He didn't need words to know that he had won her over. So he didn't let her hand go. Instead he pulled her towards her and kissed her.
Hermione
Hermione had not expected that! She knew he wouldn't stop now. But this was not what she had in mind. She just stood there, too stunned to do anything. She couldn't think straight. She was brought back to her senses by Draco's voice, "So...?". Without saying a single word, she pulled him closer and kissed him back.
This had so been worth the wait. They spent the rest of the evening together. They had a lot of fun. She made him promise he would be a little bit nicer to her friends. And he made her promise she would spend the next weekend with him at Hogsmead. This had been a great night. He went back to his dormitories after dropping her off at the Gryffindor tower. She had started the day as Viktor's date and ended it as Draco's girlfriend.