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“Once upon a time…” Narcissa Malfoy started speaking but was quickly interrupted by her grandson flopping down on his bed and covering his face with his pillow.
“Not again grandma. We already know this story,” Scorpius’s muffled voice spoke through his pillow.
Draco laughed as he walked into the room and sat down on the edge of his daughter Lyra’s bed and tugged the pillow off his son’s face. “How about we start the story like this? ‘Many years ago”
Scorpius looked dejectedly at his father. “It wouldn’t help since we know the end of the story. Changing the beginning doesn’t change the end.”
Narcissa spoke softly. “But I promised your mum that I would tell you this story before you board the Hogwarts Express for the first time. How would you like it to start since you know the story so well?”
Lyra spoke up from her bed, where she had changed positions, and was now sitting next to her father while he brushed her long blonde hair. “How about, there were two very different eleven-year-olds on a very old train?” She giggled into her hand as her brother rolled his eyes. “Scorp, come on. Does it really matter how the story starts? It was so important to her that we knew about this magic before school. What if you meet your soulmate tomorrow as Dad did? It’s romantic, and we know this was important to mum.”
Draco nodded. “Tonight is the last night you two will share a room. Tomorrow you’ll get on the Hogwarts Express and will be sorted into separate dorms. Your mum wouldn’t want your grumbling about the beginning of the story that brought us you. Your mum and I wouldn’t change how we met or how we got together. Well, I should say, I probably should have been less of a prat growing up. But we fell in love. We were soulmates, your mum and me. I didn’t know it on the train, but we were.”
“How about I explain the soulmate magic then move the story?” Narcissa asked gently. Scorpius sat up and pulled the pillow into his lap to hug as his grandmother started the history of the magic of soulmates.
“Soulmates are something to be cherished. Once you meet your soulmate, you may not notice, but a ring tattoo will begin to appear on your finger that only you and your mate will be able to see. It’s not painful in the least, but it will show up the more you interact with them. But what if you meet in a group setting you may be asking? Ah, the magic is really quite elegant in that the ring forms the initials of your soulmate.”
Scorpius interrupted, “Why isn’t it painful? Shouldn’t something that momentous capture your attention?”
Draco nodded at his son, “Yes, it should, but it doesn’t. So much more in this life will cause pain.”
“Were you and grandfather soulmates?” Lyra asked thinking she knew the answer.
“No, we weren’t. I have never met my soulmate as far as I am aware, but I loved your grandfather, even when he led our family to darkness. Soulmate magic is older than anyone can dream. It’s also complex in its simplicity. Not everyone will have a soulmate. But you can still be happy even if you never find them. Don’t fret on that Lyra. I know you are.”
Lyra blushed lightly. “I worry that I will never find my soulmate and be unhappy. Or if I do find my soulmate, something will happen to him.”
“My little worrywart, you remind me so much of your mum sometimes. She always needed to know everything,” Draco spoke lovingly as he threaded his fingers through her hair. “You don’t need to worry about finding your soulmate tomorrow. In all honesty, you probably won’t meet him until you’re much older. Your mum made your grandma promise to tell you this story, so let’s get to it or we won’t get to sleep. And we have an early morning.”
Scorpius lifted his curly blond head from his pillow and moved to his sister’s bed to be close to his father. “Can you tell it, dad? Like you would if mum were here?”
Draco sat back against the headboard and tucked each of his children under his arms. Thinking back to how he met his wife, he started speaking, “The first few years, our relationship was terrible. I met her on the train, all wild hair and bossiness. I didn’t really like her, and she didn’t like me either. Of course, I was a prat so she had a lot of reasons to not like me. Neither of us noticed the ring showing up slowly but surely on our fingers. It wasn’t until the end of 3rd year when she punched me that I noticed something different. I saw the tattoo with HJG darkly on my finger, and I just knew.”
He stopped speaking for a moment remembering how he acted next. “I didn’t know if she knew what it would mean, or if she had noticed. It wasn’t until the World Cup that summer that she noticed.”
“What happened at the World Cup?” Scorpius asked eagerly.
Narcissa spoke up from her chair. “Your grandfather did something incredibly stupid that put a lot of people in danger, especially Muggles and Muggleborns. It took a long time for me to forgive him after that night. That was the night I knew that I could lose my son to the darkness that was encroaching on us.” She spoke sharply at first but tears filled her eyes as she finished.
Draco nodded. “My father was an idiot. And I did my best to warn your mother and her two bumbling best friends.”
“Don’t call Uncle Harry bumbling! Uncle Ron, sure, but not Uncle Harry!” Lyra screeched, sitting up to look her father in the face and thumping him indignantly on the chest.
“No hitting young lady! Your mum would have agreed with me, especially back then. They were both bumbling. But she caught on to what I was saying. A few weeks later, she shoved me into an unused classroom, locked the door, and demanded to know what the ring tattoo around her finger with my initials meant. It was all rather violent. Lots of shoving my chest and waving her wand around. By the end of my explanation, her curls were charged with her magic. If I wasn’t so afraid of being hexed I would have laughed. Later that night, I did!” Draco chuckled remembering his beloved’s tendency to overreact.
Narcissa laughed into her hand. “I can imagine your explanation left a lot to be desired. I never told you but she told me about the first time she realized something was different with you and how she confronted you. From her point of view, you didn’t give nearly enough information. Why didn’t you tell her you were soulmates at once?”
Draco screwed up his face trying to remember what he had said that would make his love feel that way. “I guess I didn’t tell her we were soulmates until later. I was getting to that part of it, but she stormed out of the room and ran to the library. It took me a few days to find her. When I realized she had essentially locked herself in the library with a stack of books taller than she was, I sat down and explained the situation.”
He smiled at the memory of his sweet, yet fiery-tempered wife realizing they were soulmates but didn’t really know each other. The memory of the first smile she gave him warmed his heart.
“Did she want to be soulmates with you?” Lyra asked quietly.
“Not at first. We didn’t know each other. She decided that we needed to get to know one another without Weasley and Potter finding out. At least at first. I understood her reservations. Honestly, I didn’t tell any of my friends at first either. By the end of the year, we knew each other well enough to be strong friends. Then Riddle returned and all hell broke loose in the wizarding world.”
Scorpius and Lyra gasped as one. Narcissa moved so she could hold her grandchildren’s hands in her own. “I did everything I could to protect your father. And once he explained who his soulmate was, I did all I could for your mother. But the war was coming. We all knew it. And if your grandfather had his way, we would side with Riddle. Your father and I went to Dumbledore and Shacklebolt and explained where we stood. We would never stand on the side that was against Draco’s soulmate. Eventually, we were “kidnapped” and placed under protective custody. When Dumbledore was killed by Bellatrix we knew we had made the right choice.”
Draco picked up the story. “I didn’t see your mother for over a year after sixth year. But we wrote in an enchanted notebook that was linked to one another. I was in hiding, and she went off with the bumbling duo to destroy Horcruxes. Grandma Narcissa helped them get into Bella’s vault to destroy the cup. Your mum was brilliant figuring out the links that Riddle had made to his Horcruxes and wizarding nobility.”
“I don’t want to hear about the Horcruxes, dad. As much as I love learning stuff, Horcruxes creep me out. The less I know, the better.” Scorp spoke up adamantly.
Draco nodded his head in agreement. “By the end of the final battle, Shacklebolt had released us from the safe house so we could fight. He didn’t want us to be stuck there if something happened. I remember the first time I saw your mum after the battle. She was dirty from rubble and blood. But she was glorious. She was strong and alive. I had realized I was in love with her but didn’t want to tell her over the notebook.”
He stopped talking for a moment, remembering the feeling of his love, his soulmate in his arms after that battle. He spoke the words he had been holding in for so long. She had said them back. Their first kiss was in the rubble of the final battle, but it was beautiful. One of his favorite memories. He used it to create his Patronus later when she taught him the charm.
“What did Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron do?” Scorpius asked with a grin. He knew the answer but really wanted to hear their father tell this part of the story.
Draco gave his son an irritated look. “Ron hit me with a jelly legs jinx and a hair color changing spell that made my hair turn pink for a week, while Harry got me with the bat bogey jinx. It was not fun, to say the least. Then they gave me the big brother talk even though she was older than they are. It was rubbish. Thankfully, once your mum had stopped laughing, she canceled the jinxes but my hair wouldn’t return to its normal shade. So she turned Ron’s hair green and yellow and yelled at them that they had already discussed me being her soulmate and to never jinx me again. It was all rather humiliating.”
His children were cackling in joy. Lyra had fallen to the floor, and Scorpius was wiping tears from his eyes. “Do you have pictures of Uncle Ron?”
“No, but I’ll find a Pensieve, and we can watch that particular memory together.” He laughed heartily remembering Weasley’s hair.
Narcissa laughed. “That was a memorable day. Riddle was dead. Your father was in custody, and we were free. Elation was all I felt. But Draco with pink hair will forever be one of the funniest memories I have.”
“Alright you two, the story is coming to a close, its time to quiet down,” Draco spoke sternly but with a smile on his face. “Into bed and I will finish the story.” Scorpius and Lyra obediently jumped back into their beds and snuggled in. Draco sat on the edge of Lyra’s bed again.
“We dated for a bit, your mum and I. But we knew we would marry. She wanted to go back to Hogwarts and take her NEWTS. I followed her. I would have followed her anywhere. We got engaged at Christmas and married in a quiet ceremony on the day we left school. Her parents had been obliviated by your mum before the war to protect them. It saved their lives, but they had no memory of their daughter. She didn’t want a huge ceremony when her parents couldn’t be there. Soon after we were married, we found out we were pregnant with twins. That was one of the happiest days of my life. Malfoy’s don’t have girls generally, but we were having twins. I wrote to my father to inform him in prison. He died a few days later. I think it was from shock.” Draco spoke quietly, sadly.
“Your mum changed me for the better. She made me question things not only because she was my soulmate but because she was a Muggleborn who excelled at everything she did, apart from flying. When she had you two, she was the happiest of women. About a year later, she fainted while walking to the kitchen. Mipsy found her and took her to St. Mungo’s. I got to her in time to say goodbye.” Draco’s eyes welled with tears. “The love of my life, my soulmate. I only got to spend a few years with her really. But she was my light, my life.” Draco started sobbing and couldn’t speak.
“Your mum had brain cancer from the many jinxes and curses she had endured through the war. Quite a few people that fought in the war have died from different cancers. The bravery of many ended up costing them their lives in the end. But it was for a free world. A world where Muggleborns can marry Purebloods, and no one bats an eye. Your mum was one of the bravest witches I ever met. I was with you two when she was taken to St. Mungo’s. Mipsy brought me word after she took Draco to her. Your mum never came home. From the day she fainted to her death was less than a week. She only woke to say goodbye to your dad, Harry and Ron, and you two. She wanted you to know that she loved you so very much and would be with you always.” Narcissa spoke through her tears. While she was speaking, she had stood and walked to her son and held him as he wept.
“Ten years. She has been gone ten years tomorrow, but I love her still. I can never love another. I was a lucky man to love and be loved by your mum. And she loved you two fiercely. So go to Hogwarts tomorrow. Know that your mum and I and so many others fought a battle there so we could be free of a madman. Know that she is with you still. It doesn’t matter what house you are in or who you meet. You may meet your soulmate tomorrow but chances are you won’t know until much later. Be kind. I love you both and am immensely proud of you two.”
His twins were nodding silently as they wiped tears away from their eyes. They had no memory of their mother, but they knew her from their father, uncles, and grandma. They loved her even without knowing her. Tomorrow would change things for the twins, separate dormitories and possibly separate houses. New friends and adventures were in store for the Malfoy twins. But they would make their parents proud.
Draco kissed his children each on their forehead and walked out of the room with a quiet, “Goodnight. I love you,” as he turned off the light and shut the door.
Narcissa was already at the end of the hall and allowed him the privacy he needed. He walked to the family room where the glass doors opened out onto the gardens. Walking slowly, he smelled the late summer blooms that his mother cultivated. He heard the crunch of gravel beneath his feet. The moon was out so he didn’t need his wand to light the way to a quiet corner where a weeping willow resided. Under the willow was a bench big enough for three. He sat and looked at the gravestone that stood in front of the willow.
HERMIONE JEAN MALFOY
SEPTEMBER 19, 1979-August 31, 2001
SOULMATE, LOVING MOTHER, FRIEND
“Hermione, I told the twins about us again today. I cried, but you probably already knew that. I miss you so much. I know I have to be strong for them, but I miss you so much that it hurts. I know you would be so proud of them. They are so much like you it’s scary. I love you.” He put his head in his hands and wept quietly for a few minutes before standing and walking to the house to sleep.
***
The train whistled as spirit Hermione walked with her family through the brick wall of the platform. They didn’t know she was here, but she had never left Draco’s side since she died. No living person knows this, but the soulmate bond is so powerful that the mate to pass on before the other will walk with their mate until they can pass on together. This was one of the many reasons why the living soulmate rarely remarries or seeks further companionship. Their spirit knows their soulmate is near.
Hermione walked along with her family, as the twins giggled with nervousness. They were so big. She remembered her first sighting of the train to Hogwarts and how nervous she was. Hermione would be able to follow the children to school because Draco wished it so intently. But she would be back tonight when he needed her again.
Draco spoke to their children quietly, “Be kind. Look out for each other and others. Study hard. I love you. And write to me tonight to tell me which houses you were sorted into. If you are in the same house, just write together! No need to exhaust Owl.”
Hermione grinned at the name of the family owl. Lyra refused to allow any other name of their owl when she was three. She was much too literal for her own good sometimes.
The twins walked to the train and climbed on. Hermione turned to her soulmate and placed her hand on his cheek. He gasped as if he could feel her. She leaned up and brushed a kiss to his other cheek. He whispered her name quietly. Hermione kissed him one last time for the day. This was the first time since her death that he could feel her touch in any way.
“My love, go with the children, please. I love you so very much,” he whispered so as not to be heard over the yelling and calling of children and adults. One last brush of her hand on his cheek, and she left his side. The string that attached their hearts was tight. She would need to return tonight, but for now, she left her husband on the train platform and found her children on the train. Their love would ring true through eternity, always returning to each other.