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James Potter loved his soulmark.
He had the words 'Alhumdulillah' on his wrist in a grey hue. And it wasn’t just the fact that it was a wonderful feeling to know there was someone for him, it was also the words. Alhumdulillah which meant Praise be to Allah or All thanks to Allah in Arabic felt like a blessing in itself to be on his skin. He would look at it when someone would say something cruel to him and mumble the word to himself, thinking of the things he was grateful for. And when he was happy, he would look at it with a smile and whisper the word reverently. With years, it became a second habit to remember the word in happiness and clung to it in sadness.
Everyone was born with a grey soulmark, and when you would meet your soulmate and would hear them say the words, the soulmark would turn black. James had seen it happen before, when he and Sirius seen Remus on their first day of college and Sirius had whispered to James, "He's so fucking gorgeous, what the fuck." And before James could have told him that he didn't actually whisper and said that quite loudly, Remus had whipped his head to look at Sirius with a "Shit it's you." And James had seen the words on Sirius' wrist turn black.
After they got together and James and Peter had to witness them being sappy all the time, Sirius had said that that's how he had often thought his soulmate would say the words, in shock as the words suggested, but sometimes on bad days, he had thought the words would be filled with disgust and disdain. Remus had wrapped an arm around him and admitted that he hadn’t thought the words would have been about him, but about someone else because since the accident that had left him with the scars, he had never thought someone would think he wasn’t ugly. Sirius had cupped his face and murmured something to him that James and Peter hadn't heard, but had made Remus tear up and they had made out for who knows how long because James and Peter had left the room.
But when they asked James about it, James realised that he hadn't really thought about how his soulmate would say it. Maybe because the words had become ingrained with so many things and memories, that he couldn't really think of what moment would his soulmate say it in? Would they be talking of something else while he walked past? Or would they say that after finding out that they were soulmates? That sounded too arrogant to even imagine. So he still didn’t think much about it.
Their second year at college brought Lily Evans into his life, and he was enthralled.
She never really talked and at first he thought she was like him when he had gone to school and stayed quiet so as to not draw attention to him. His skin still had though and when they had found out about his religion, there had been many names: “That brown kid” “That Muslim kid” “That Islam kid” “That Arab kid”– he was from South Asia– and many more he didn't like to think about. He hadn't wanted to be seen as just that, so he had stopped being quiet and instead became “That obnoxious guy” “That prankster with Sirius Black” “That funny guy” “That soccer player”. The initial names still stayed to some though, but he had stopped caring.
But a week after Lily came to college, Marlene and Dorcas told them how she tore apart people who said rude things to her with just words and how impressive it was, and James realised her silence wasn't to be unnoticeable but simply because she didn't care.
He, however, was still not good with words so he didn't know how to approach her. Hence he just admired her from a distance. He knew what her smile looked like when she was with her friends, and what it looked like when she looked up at the sky, and what it looked like when she was reading a book. He knew what her cold glare looked like when it would be directed at rude people. He knew how her eyebrows furrowed in concentration when she was studying. He knew how her face brightened and her eyes crinkled when she laughed with her friends. He knew her maroon hijab was probably her favorite as she wore it often and looked comfortable in it.
He didn't know what her voice sounded like yet.
In hindsight, he wondered if he should have thought more of how his soulmate would say the words because whatever he had thought, it hadn't been this.
He had been standing near the lockers as Lily walked past and she sneezed. He was about to say “Yarhamuk Allah” ' May Allah have mercy on you' , but at that moment it left his mind that the person sneezing says “Alhumdullilah”, so when Lily said it and James felt something like itchiness on his wrist, he looked down in disbelief with wide eyes.
And it was turning black.
He was hit with too many emotions and thoughts and ‘It’s Lily evans! She’s my soulmate! We’re soulmates! I found my soulmate! Her voice is so beautiful! She’s my soulmate! We’re soulmates’ And so of course what he exclaimed was, "It was because of a sneeze?!"
Lily stopped walking and whirled to face him, her emerald eyes looking at him incredulously before she raised the kurta on her wrist a little, where the words he just said where turning black, and exclaimed back, "You're the reason I have this senseless soulmark?!"