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It was strange the first time she experienced it, she saw her mother's red thread attached to the red thread of a person who was not her father. As at that time she had no connection between the concepts, she asked her mother what it meant, her mother did not clarify it directly, she separated from her father and started dating the person to whom her red thread was attached: Alice Sprakle. She felt bad at first, she felt she had ruined her family but with time, she noticed how her mother had changed: she was always cheerful, smiled and listened to absolutely everything Nubea had to tell her, without making excuses of being too busy. Then Nubea understood that this thread linked you to the person who made you happy. So, she spent much of her time before entering Hogwarts informing everyone she could about who it was bonded to. She used to succeed most of the time and afterwards it was so satisfying to see people being happy together.
Ah, love. Nubea liked that.
So, on the first of September 1971, Nubea was taken to King's Cross by her mothers. Alice was a Muggle, but she was fascinated by anything to do with the magical world (to the point where she had read most of Nubea's Howgarts books).
Once she entered station nine and three quarters, it was magical (in every sense of the word), there was a crowd of people and, consequently, hundreds of red threads. Nubea couldn't stop smiling, she saw that there were more than one couple whose threads connected but many others that didn't, and although she wanted to stop and report them, her mother wouldn't let her.
"Today is your day, sweetheart," she had told, "leave the work for later".
And perhaps her mother was right, in her years as a cupid she had realised that adults were not always willing to give up their settled lives for the love of their soulmate, no matter how much she assured them that this would bring them complete happiness. So Nubea stepped onto the Hogwarts express with the inner promise that she would help everyone find their soulmate.
It took a while to get people to believe her, but after she had managed to get Ava Duncan (the Hufflepuff prefect) and Samuel Varley (the captain of the Slytherin quiddich team) to start dating in her second year and Ava had said that Samuel really was her soul mate, Nubea got a good reputation and more and more people came to her to ask her to find their soul mate. It was a difficult thing to do, because sometimes there was a big age difference and no one wanted to fall in love with a child, or it could also be the case that the thread was not attached to anyone at Hogwarts, in the worst case, the thread was grey and this meant that her soulmate had died. But whatever it was, Nubea was really proud of the pairs she had managed to form, like Ted Tonks and Andromeda Black or Audrey McGregor and Artemis Scamander.
So, by the time, in her fifth year, Sirius Black sat next to her in the library, Nubea knew what he wanted.
“You look very pretty today, Fawley,” was the first thing he said, after waiting a few seconds for her to notice him.
Nubea rolled her eyes.
“It's Volant-Sprakle, learn my surname if you want to ask me something,” Nubea returned her gaze to her notes and wrote a couple of words on the parchment before looking up again when she heard Sirius' sarcastic chuckle.
“That's right, your mother got married this summer, didn't she? I'm sorry I couldn't go.”
“So? I love to see how purebloods go against their family and just be happy," Nubea couldn't help but smile.
“All right, so you want to find your soulmate?” Sirius shrugged.
“Not find it as such but have it located," Nubea looked at Sirius' ring finger and was surprised to see that it was golden.
She had never encountered a golden thread before, but she had researched red threads in general and knew that a golden one was especially strong. Nubea had a theory that it meant that those people would meet in all their lives. It was wonderful but, to be honest, the fact that someone like Sirius Black had one seemed unfair. It wasn't as if she was up to date with Black's life and his group of friends but she did know that more than one girl had come to her to ask if Sirius was her soul mate. He played with people's feelings without stopping to think about the damage he could do to them.
“What's with that face, don't I have red thread?” Nubea had frowned.
“On the contrary, you should feel lucky, but I won't tell you why, you don't deserve to know”
“Don't be like that with me, Nubee” being honest, she was quite curious to know who Black's soul mate would be. So she got up and put her things in her bag.
“Come on” Sirius, who had been looking at her in confusion while she was packing, got up almost at once and stood next to her ”while we're looking for who your red thread binds you to, tell me something about your life”
“In what way?”
“Your relationships, you know…”
“Oh, I see,” Sirius nodded with a smile on his face, “you want to know if I'm hoping my soulmate is a girl or something. For your information, boys have their thing you know, if my soulmate is a boy I won't bother, if it's my soul mate there's a reason, isn't there?” Nubea was surprised at Sirius' comment, she still remembered how Nott had tried to put a curse on her the year before just for telling him that his soulmate was a boy. Maybe she had misjudged Sirius.
“ That's good to know but I meant something more like if you're dating someone and you hope that person is your soulmate because I guarantee you I can't control it, your soulmate is who they are” Nubea had been forced to report that since in her first year one of the McKinnon brothers had accused her of being a liar and a fraud when she told him that her soulmate was not the girl he was dating at the time.
“No matter who it is, I don't plan to give up my lifestyle for now, I just want to know who it is, maybe one day I want to have a family and I want it to be with the person who will make me happy”
“So, should your soulmate wait for you but not for her? What if she is looking for a relationship now or if by the time you decide it's time she already has a life?”
“ I just don't feel like I'm enough for someone right now,”were the most sincere words she'd heard since she started making couples.
“Maybe, she's not at Hogwarts, and we're still young, maybe your soulmate is more worried about passing exams than thinking about when she wants to have a family,” she said, after feeling too guilty.
“If my soulmate isn't at Hogwarts, you have to come with us when you finish your studies to look for it,” Nubea sighed, how many times she had to make that promise.
“Okay, but you'll have to pay for the trip”
“Yes, whatever”
Following Sirius' lead, they arrived in the garden. It was a warm day and exam time was still several weeks away, so most of the Hogwarts students were there, enjoying the day. There were countless red threads, but as Sirius's was gold it stood out from the rest. She was surprised to see that the thread was getting shorter and shorter.
“Your soulmate is at Hogwarts,” Sirius smiled.
“Where is it?” His gaze scanned the hundreds of people in the grounds, as if he could see the thread too.
Nubea returned her gaze to Sirius's ring finger and followed the thread until she came to a tree under which Sirius's friends James Potter, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin were situated. James and Peter were spinning around the tree, trying to catch a golden snitch while Remus was sitting in the shade reading a book. And it was right there, on Remus's ring finger, that the golden thread ended. She checked, returning her gaze to Sirius (who was walking towards her somewhat confused) thinking that, perhaps, Remus would have a golden thread too, but no, once Sirius was positioned next to her, it became clear that the golden thread was one: Remus Lupin and Sirius Black were soulmates.
“What happens?” shouted James, as he rushed over to Sirius to hug him. James noticed Nubea's presence and his expression became serious, looking very seriously at Sirius he said, “Is it confirmed that you and I are soulmates?”
Sirius laughed but then looked rather seriously at Nubea, waiting for her to confirm or deny the information.
Nubea denied and James pulled away from Sirius dramatically.
“Nooo, Sirius, if you can't be mine you can't be anyone's” he pulled his wand from the inside pocket of his tunic and cast a paralysing spell on the golden snitch, causing Peter to stop running after them. James reached out to catch it and Peter dropped to the ground while he was giving James nothing but praise.
Nubea noticed how Sirius was looking at Peter with some tension, she wondered what was going through his mind. She tapped Sirius's hand and, once she got his attention, nodded her head in Remus's direction. Sirius looked confused at first but instantly understood what she was saying and his mouth dropped open in surprise. She expected Sirius to then go up to Remus and tell him that they were soul mates and then they would kiss, like it always happened, but it didn't happen. Sirius smiled, he seemed really happy about it but instead of approaching Remus, he went to James and Peter and told them that if they were going to play quidditch they should do it properly. The three of them then left with the plan to steal some brooms from the school and play a real game.
So Nubea stood there in front of the tree under which Remus was still reading and with a feeling similar to disappointment.
Sirius Black is a really weird men.