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Angelina sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, wincing as she did so. Quidditch practice had been particularly brutal yesterday, thanks to Oliver's insistence that they endure heavy sleet, to "get a feel for potential match conditions." Unable to see where she was going through the buckets of rain, Angelina had flown into one of the goalposts and nearly cracked her skull open, if Madam Pomfrey was to be believed.
Sore and tired. What a way to start off my sixteenth birthday, Angelina thought miserably.
As she ran her fingers gingerly over her body, trying to ascertain where her pain was coming from, Angelina's thoughts drifted to Fred. Her red-haired teammate had suffered a nasty cut after an overzealous dive towards a Bludger sent him crashing into the wooden stands. Once Madam Pomfrey healed it up, the team had had a good laugh at the shape of the scar it left - three jagged lines connected to form a lightning bolt.
"Guess Harry's not the only one with a wicked scar now," Fred had joked.
Angelina snorted at the memory. A second later she let out a sharp hiss as her fingers reached an especially tender spot on her left leg. Slowly, quietly, she slipped her legs out from under the covers, pushed her four-poster bed curtains aside, and twisted towards the window. The first rays of morning light were beginning to slant through the glass, and her eyes widened at the sight of her outer calf and the scar that had appeared there.
Three jagged lines, in the shape of a lightning bolt.
Fred seemed to be his usual self at breakfast, all jokes and smiles. Angelina wondered if he knew—if he had figured it out somehow. She had been careful not to injure herself on her way down to the Great Hall, all so that she could be the one to break the news to him herself.
"Happy birthday, Angie!" Katie and Alicia chorused as she sat down beside them.
"How does it feel to be sixteen?" Katie wanted to know.
"Ooh, have you discovered who your soulmate is yet? I know you haven't been sixteen for long, but…" Alicia trailed off, brown eyes sparkling. "Well, some people get lucky."
"No, not yet," Angelina lied swiftly. She couldn't tell her friends. Not with Fred sitting so close, and completely in the dark about their bond.
As she nibbled on a piece of toast and listened to Alicia and Katie chatter on about Cedric Diggory, Angelina found herself glancing over at Fred from time to time. How would he react when he found out that he was her soulmate? They were close friends already, but this…this was different.
"Happy birthday, Angie." The voice in her ear made her jump.
"Fred! You scared me." Angelina willed the goosebumps on her arms to go away while she waited for her heartbeat to slow. But something about Fred's proximity, or maybe the knowledge that he was her soulmate, failed to slow her racing heart. "Anyway, er, thanks."
"Wanna study for Defense later?" he asked.
Angelina nodded, wondering if this could be the perfect opening to talk to him about their bond.
"Where's George?" Angelina asked, peering around the sixth year boys' dormitory as if Fred's twin might pop out at any moment. "And Lee?"
Fred crossed to his bed and threw himself onto it. When he answered, his voice was muffled by the covers. "I think George was going to meet up with Katie to do some flying. Lee…who knows? Maybe he tagged along to watch."
Angelina gingerly perched herself on the edge of his mattress. It suddenly felt strange, being in his dorm and sitting on his bed. It felt…intimate.
"I see." Her voice sounded foreign, too, like someone else was speaking for her. "Listen, Fred, there's actually something I wanted to talk to you about."
While we have the room to ourselves, she added in her head.
Fred propped himself up onto his elbows, gazing at her expectantly. Angelina stood and lifted her robes just enough to expose her calf and the scar that signified their connection.
She heard Fred's sharp intake of breath and immediately let her robes fall. He was disappointed. Of course.
"Angie…"
"I'm sorry," she whispered as she squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't even bring herself to flee the room. It was somehow easier to stand there, as still as a statue, and wait for the humiliation to pass.
"What? Why are you sorry? This is—this is terrific!"
Angelina blinked. Slowly, she turned to face him. "What do you mean?"
"Well, we already know each other, and we get on like a house on fire," Fred said cheerfully. "Better than those poor people who get paired with someone they don't know at all, or someone they don't get on with."
"So you…don't mind?"
He hopped off the bed and wrapped his arms around her. "Does it seem like I mind?"
"No," Angelina admitted, returning his hug. She paused. "Should we, I don't know, try kissing or something?"
Fred laughed. "There will be plenty of time for that later, I reckon. But only if you want to, of course."
Angelina considered this for a moment and decided that she very much did. Alicia was right , she thought, allowing herself to smile for the first time since she had woken up that morning. Some people do get lucky with this whole soulmates thing.
Because as far as soulmates went, Fred Weasley was proving to be a pretty damn great one.