Work Text:
People were born with the first words they’d ever hear their soulmate say tattooed on them. The words weren’t necessarily the first thing said directly to a person so it could be frustrating if the words were something mundane like hey or how have you been.
Sara Lance was never going to have that problem.
Sara had never asked what her words said. Her daddy frowned the one time she had and her mommy always made sure that the words grouped just under her heart were covered. There were no silly little bikinis for Sara as a child.
Once she learned to read though, Sara had immediately locked herself in her room and lifted her shirt. She couldn’t read backwards but she’d taken her mom’s Polaroid camera so she could take a picture of her words and read them. As soon as the picture had developed, she read her words and frowned.
I can’t believe Snape killed Dumbledore. Damn, that’s cold.
Sara had no idea who this Dumbledore person was but she also didn’t know who Snape was and why they’d kill Dumbledore. Still, she knows that when someone dies, a casual that’s cold isn’t the best reaction to have.
But there must be a reason, Sara decided. It was her soulmate, her perfect match, and she can’t picture them treating murder like it was no big deal.
There was a reason and, someday, Sara knew she’d understand.
~*~*~
On Sara’s eleventh birthday, she beamed when she opened her present from Laurel and saw the first book in a new series that she’d been wanting since so many of her friends had read it (and luckily agreed not to talk about it around her so that she wouldn’t be spoiled).
She looked up from staring at the cover of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and threw her arms around Laurel. “Thank you!”
Laurel laughed as she hugged her back tightly. “You’re welcome. Now you can join in all the talk.”
Later that night, Sara had settled in to read and at the sight of Dumbledore’s name, her eyes had widened as she thought of the words her soulmate would say. She bit her lip and then shook her head. It’s not like she’d ever been to England. Maybe Dumbledore was a common name over there. Maybe it was the British version of Smith. She didn’t know. Besides, there hadn’t been a single mention of anyone named Snape.
Nodding firmly to herself, she kept reading.
And then, as she read chapter seven, she read,
‘Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he’s looking so nervous, that’s Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn’t want to – everyone knows he’s after Quirrell’s job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape.’
Sara’s jaw dropped open and she stared down at the bit of dialogue for a full minute before she threw the book to the other end of the bed.
“Are you kidding me?” she burst out, glaring at the book and then down at the spot where her shirt covered the words she’d first hear from her soulmate. “I can’t believe you just ruined Harry Potter for me,” she snapped, dropping backwards on her bed.
Her soulmate was a jerk.
~*~*~
“I just can’t believe it,” Caitlin said, shaking her head. “I gave him the benefit of the doubt and everything and then he went and killed Dumbledore.”
Sara was tempted to say damn, that’s cold as her very own private joke but instead, she shook her head. “I was waiting for it. I can’t stand Snape.”
Caitlin sighed. “You haven’t liked Snape from the start, Sara.”
“Of course I haven’t. He’s a jackass.” Sara had briefly entertained the idea that she didn’t like Snape because she knew what he was going to do later in the series but had, eventually, decided that, no, she would have hated the guy anyway. She didn’t think the way the Marauders had treated Snape was right but she thought it was worse the way he took it out on the students. (He was Neville’s boggart. That alone should say something if you asked Sara. And taunting Harry about his dad just because James had bullied him? Way to be the adult, buddy, making snide remarks about the dead parent that the kid has no memory of. Yeah, Sara would have hated Snape even if he had turned out to be a good guy.)
Her friend smiled and shook her head. Sara had strong opinions about Harry Potter, just like Caitlin, and her dislike of Snape was one thing she wouldn’t budge on. Rather than push it, she turned towards the bedspreads in front of them and frowned in consideration.
She and Sara had requested each other as roommates for their freshman year in college, despite the fact that everyone told them it was a mistake and they’d regret it, and they’d decided to do a bit of window shopping today in the hunt for things they’d need (and things they wanted) for their dorm room.
“I like this one,” she said, taking a picture of it and of the price tag. She wasn’t usually one for flowery patterns but she liked the way the pink roses and the green vines stood out against the soft yellow. Maybe it was time for something different and she’d try it.
Sara took out her phone and took a picture of her own of the set she liked—light blue with patterns in a darker shade of blue swirling over it—and nodded. She hadn’t seen much she’d liked at the other stores so she grabbed the appropriate size and headed to the register.
“Sara, what was the point of taking a picture if you’re buying it?” Caitlin asked, rolling her eyes.
Sara glanced over her shoulder and grinned before turning back to the register. “Hi,” she said. “I was wondering how long I could put this one on hold?” She let her smile widen. “I can’t get it today but I don’t want someone buying the last one in the size I need,” she explained when the cashier frowned at the question.
At the explanation, a look of understanding appeared on his face. “I can hold it until 8:00 tomorrow night. If you don’t pick it up by then, it’s got to go back on the shelf.” He took the package from her and grabbed a piece of paper. “What name should I put on it?”
“Sara,” she told him.
“With or without the H?”
Her eyes brightened. No one ever bothered asking her that. “Without.”
“All right,” he said, taping the sheet to the front of the comforter set. He smiled. “It’ll be waiting for you, Sara.”
“Thanks,” her eyes flicked down to his name tag, “Scott.” She gave him one last smile before walking back to Caitlin, slipping her arm through her friend’s and pulling her along. “So, how long do you think we’ll have to wait for the last book?” she asked, picking up their earlier conversation.
Caitlin groaned. “Probably forever.”
From a couple aisles over they heard a guy go, “Dude, I can’t believe Snape killed Dumbledore. Totally didn’t see that coming!”
A shriek was heard and then a girl could be heard ripping in to him, “He what? You jerk, not everyone is finished with the book yet! Spoilers!”
Sara couldn’t resist. “Damn, that’s cold.”
She might still think of her soulmate as a Harry Potter spoiling jerkface but at least she could have fun with it now.
~*~*~
When it came to the Harry Potter series, Sara’s feelings were mixed. She’d expected to love it and she did. But she hadn’t been able to fully enjoy the series either since she’d spent most of it waiting to see just when Snape would turn on them all and kill Dumbledore. So, Sara thought she should be forgiven for being so excited to read the final book when it was released.
It was the first time she’d get to read one of the Harry Potter books without wondering about Snape killing Dumbledore because, hey, he’d already done that.
While almost every one she knew was a mix of sadness and anticipation when they bought the last book, Sara was mostly excited. This would be the first time she could just sit and read the book the first time through without wondering when Snape was going to make his move.
She loved the last book (well, mostly—that epilogue was something she could have done without, Albus Severus was a horrible name to give a child, and she wished that it had ended with Harry’s quip about getting in enough trouble) but a perverse part of her wished that the first words her soulmate could have heard from her were something like “I can’t believe Remus died!” Then they could have just been dreading everything starting with book three.
Of course, it wasn’t possible. If the first thing she heard from her soulmate was about Snape killing Dumbledore then the only way for those words about Remus dying to be the first words her soulmate hears from her would be if she stayed silent after she heard them. And Sara knew herself well enough to know that once she heard those words and saw the person that had damn well spoiled one of the most popular book series to be written in a good long while that she wasn’t going to be able to stay silent.
~*~*~
“I liked it,” Caitlin decided as they walked out of the theater and began to head towards the lobby. “Not as much as some of the other ones but I still liked it. The change they made with Snape and Harry with Dumbledore though! That makes it so much worse!”
Sara nodded. “We finally saw Harry actually trust Snape was on their side and then that's when he kills Dumbledore.” She glanced over at her friend. “Please tell me you’re hungry now though. I’m starving.”
Caitlin laughed. “I could eat.”
“I can’t believe Snape killed Dumbledore. Damn, that’s cold.”
Sara sucked in a breath when she heard the guy just a couple of feet in front of her say the words she knew so well, his voice raised slightly. Her eyes narrowed and she stormed up to him.
“You! It was you!” She didn’t bother to hide the anger in her voice as his steps faltered and he spun around to face her. Without stopping to think about it, she slapped him, ignoring the reactions around them as he lifted a hand to rub at his cheek.
“This...was not the situation I imagined hearing my words in,” he admitted. He paused as he realized what he’d said just before she’d shouted at him. “Wait. Your words are...”
“The lovely little reveal that Snape killed Dumbledore? Yes, you jerk! I knew it was going to happen from the very first book and I just kept waiting for it every time a new book got released and so they were never that fun to read because I was always just wondering if that was the one when it would happen.”
He grimaced. “Shit. I can’t believe I spoiled one of the biggest shocks of Harry Potter for my soulmate,” he muttered. He looked up at her. “My name’s Leonard and I’m sorry I ruined the series for you.”
Sara’s lips twitched as she felt her anger already starting to dissipate. “I’m Sara and I think I need to know why you were loudly and deliberately announcing that before I forgive you.”
~*~*~
Caitlin watched in shock as Sara suddenly stormed up to the guy that was walking a bit in front of them, slapping him after accusing him...well, honestly Caitlin wasn’t sure since she didn’t know what Sara meant by, “It was you!”
She moved forward to pull Sara back and then stopped when she heard what they were saying to each other and her jaw dropped slightly in surprise.
Soulmate. This was Sara’s soulmate and, if Caitlin had put the pieces together correctly, her words had been about Snape killing Dumbledore so she’d gone all these years knowing that it was going to happen.
She shook her head. “I’m so glad this isn’t how I meet my soulmate,” she sighed.
The guy that had been walking with Sara’s soulmate turned to look at her in surprise before a smile slowly spread across his face. “Except this is exactly how you meet me.”
Caitlin sucked in a breath when he said the words that spanned over her waist and then she smiled. “I guess it is.” She turned to face him more fully. “I’m Caitlin.”
“Barry,” he told her, the smile still on his face. He glanced to his right and shook his head. “I can’t believe Leonard spoiled Harry Potter for his soulmate. Way to ruin it, geez.”
She laughed. “Sara’s never liked Snape, you know. I can’t decide if it’s because she knew he was going to kill Dumbledore but didn’t know what would happen in the last book or if she’d just never have liked him anyway.”
Barry grinned. “Did you ask her?”
“I never knew what her words were until now. But she once said even if he turned out to be a good guy, she wasn’t going to change her mind on him because he was still a bullying jackass. There was an entire tangent about how being bullied and being a spy didn’t give him the right to treat people the way he did.” She paused when she heard Sara’s soulmate (Leonard, Caitlin, you know his name so use it) explain why he’d announced who killed Dumbledore and her eyebrows went up a bit in surprise. “Really? That’s why he did it?”
Shrugging and nodding, unmistakable fondness for his friend in his voice, Barry told her, “Yeah, Leonard’s an asshole like that.”
Caitlin remembered Sara’s smirk as she quipped damn, that’s cold a few years ago when they’d overheard someone get spoiled on who killed Dumbledore and shook her head with a smile. That had always stood out to Caitlin and it made so much more sense now. “So is Sara,” she confessed.
“Oh good,” Barry laughed. “They really are perfect for each other then.”
~*~*~
Leonard took in the way Sara (his soulmate, holy shit, he hadn’t actually ever expected to meet his soulmate) fought to hide her smile as she asked for an explanation and he smiled slightly.
“Mostly, I was trying to be an asshole to that guy,” he motioned to a guy standing not far from them, waiting in the line to get in to the next showing, “because I heard him talking about how he had only ever watched the movies and had never read the books because he thought they’d probably be stupid and what was the point. So I thought I’d be that guy that ruins it for him so he’d learn the error of not reading the books.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Never imagined I’d be ruining it for my soulmate too.”
“I mean, I guess I can’t be too mad. I had moments when I wished I’d ruined Remus’s death for you just so—wait. Wait a minute. Did you just say—,” she said, cutting herself off as she spun towards the guy that Leonard had motioned to. “You haven’t read the books?” she demanded in disbelief. “What kind of heathen are you?”
Rather than look indignant that she was calling him names or questioning his life choices or whatever, the guy actually looked a bit scared and Leonard could only assume it was because of the slap she’d delivered to him earlier. Leonard was pretty sure that he had a handprint on his left cheek now so that was probably a wise choice.
Still, Leonard was also a bit of a terrible person so instead of sympathizing completely with the guy, he laughed. He only hesitated a moment before he wrapped his hand around Sara’s wrist and tugged her back towards him.
“Come on, Killer,” he said, still laughing a bit. “What do you say to me buying you dinner?”
Sara glanced back at him and considered the offer for a moment before stepping back to stand by him again. “Sure, book ruiner, you’re on.”
“That’s not even a word.”
“It is now,” she said, making him smirk. He glanced up when Barry and Sara’s friend came up to them, both looking like they were about to burst. “Barry, why do you look like you’re going to explode and spread sunshine to the world at any moment?”
As if to prove Leonard’s point, Barry beamed. “Leonard, meet Caitlin, my soulmate. Caitlin, this is my best friend, Leonard.”
Leonard’s eyebrow lifted in surprise and he glanced at Sara to see that both her eyebrows had lifted in shock. Giving himself a mental shake, he offered Caitlin a small smile. “Nice to meet you.”
She grinned. “Likewise.” Her eyes widened. “Oh! Barry, this is my best friend, Sara. Sara, my soulmate, Barry.”
Sara smiled. “Hi, Barry.”
“Hi. Sorry Leonard sucks and ruined Harry Potter for you.”
She laughed. “Well, to be fair, I got a lot of petty enjoyment out of it every single time it happened to someone else after the book came out.”
Leonard didn’t even bother to hide his smirk at that. He didn’t know if they’d end up being romantic soulmates or not—he thought they probably would considering the fact that he already wanted to kiss Sara and he’d definitely seen her check out his mouth—but, either way, he definitely had the best soulmate.