Chapter Text
Harry lay in his bed at 12 Grimmauld Place, with his arm held in the air. His eyes gazed at the little black bird-figure flapping its wings on his wrist that had been there since he was born.
As a young boy, he’d always wondered what it was and why his aunt, uncle and cousin didn’t have one. He’d always wondered if his parents had tattooed him when he was a baby, but that was ridiculous. He sometimes guessed that it was just an oddly shaped birth mark. When Hagrid came to collect him and take him away from that hut on the rock and told Harry that he was in fact a wizard, he guessed that it was a magical tattoo and that each witch and wizard had one different and unique to them.
He finally found out what that little bird meant one day in first year when he had asked Professor McGonagall. “You see Harry, every witch and wizard has this tattoo to represent their soulmate. Yours, for example, is this little black bird. This represents your future soulmate. When you first encounter your soulmate, your tattoo will begin to move” It all made sense to Harry from then on.
He had first noticed that tattoo began to move when he was on the train with Ron, which was a shock to Harry, and was slightly annoying as he had met a lots of people over the course of the past few days; in Diagon Alley where he went to collect his school equipment, on the platform and on the train. It could have been anyone and he hoped that it had been one of his fellow students. From then on he had fantasized every night about the perfect girl. He assumed they would be interested into the same things, so naturally he imagined them flying high over the lake and kissing in the air.
He imagined her with blonde hair and sharp features, but had never really cared about looks. Recently, he’d been contemplating whether his soulmate could be a boy. He’d be completely open to that. He’d never admitted it to Ron, Hermione or anyone else for that matter, but in fourth year he did have a small infatuation with Cedric. When he found out that Cedric’s tattoo had nothing to do with Harry’s interests or personality, he had to admit he was a bit disappointed. He also regularly checked out the boys in his year, but was oblivious to his actions until fourth year.
Deep down inside, he still hoped it was that blonde haired girl in his dreams, but had accepted that was highly unlikely; as to his memory, he had not met her. Though, it would be easier to be a girl, after all.
Of course, Harry was devastated when neither Cho’s or Ginny’s tattoos matched up.
He was oblivious to this fact and still gave Ginny a chance, though, as he believed it may be possible that their tattoos represented one another. She made him happy, and there was a deep connection between the two. Alas, it did not work out no matter how much they both tried. The connection wasn’t one of a partner, just as a friend. The spark wasn’t there.
Love…love was definitely present, but not like they both wanted. It was the same love Harry felt for his friends. It just didn’t feel right. Each kiss was supposed to be electrifying, but it wasn’t. They were supposed to get excited, get butterflies, jumpy with anticipation to see one another, but that didn’t happen. Their relationship was nowhere near how Ron and Hermione’s was; full of passion and drive and so, so much love. Eventually, they both accepted they weren’t meant to be and mutually decided to split, but had stayed very close friends ever since.
Harry sighed, his stomach twisting at the memories of past relationships. He knew he was only 18 and that there was plenty of time to find his soulmate; quite a few people in his year had not found their soulmate within the walls of Hogwarts and some were unfortunate enough to be soulmates with a muggle – Harry thought this was unfortunate not for the fact that they were paired with a muggle, but simply because it meant that they had a much harder time finding their true love. He couldn’t shake the knowledge that he had already met his soulmate though, and in his current state of feeling extremely lonely, he needed to meet this person.
Harry was hoping that this year, his eighth and last year at Hogwarts, would be the one where he found his soulmate.