loving you isn't easy.

Claire looked to him, somewhat surprised by his words if she was being entirely honest. She really hadn't expected him to tell her that he'd fought in a war, and at a pretty young age too. "What was the war over?" She asked him curiously. The wizarding war in Britain had of course made the newspapers in America as well, though she wasn't really putting two and two together right now, and none of the major details had been hashed out to her by her parents or anything, so she never learned what the mark on her arm meant. Both of her parents had shared a glance with each other when she'd gone home for Christmas that year when they saw the tattoo on her forearm, a look that Claire hadn't noticed of course. "Oh yeah, he definitely did. When I first started at Ilvermorny, he used to tell me I was his good luck charm. All of the girls swooning after him weren't too happy that he'd chosen to call his little sister that over one of them though." She said with a slight laugh. She had never really paid any mind to any of them though. She was there to support her brother, that was all that mattered to her. "Definitely screams rich snob." She teased lightly.

---

"Well, when you put it that way, how can I possibly say no?" Fred grinned. He had hoped that he would have more opportunities to spend with her now that he'd found her, and it was clear that would be the case. He hoped that she would end up staying longer than the original two weeks she and her friend had planned on, as selfish as it might be, but he'd understand if she couldn't, and planned on making the best of the remainder of the two weeks she had here for the time being. "The shop's closed on Monday's. Otherwise, I'll have to show you around once George and I lock up in the evening." He told her. "You should bring your friend by the shop sometime. It sounds as though she hasn't seen much of wizarding London yet."

@ sam winchester.
Jessie felt her cheeks heat up at his words before she nodded at his following, "Monday sounds perfect actually. I mean if you would be okay with spending your day off with some girl you just met." She teased with a smile, "And I'm definitely going to bring her around sometime soon so you can meet her, plus I think she would love the shop. I think she would just love Diagon Alley in general to be honest." She said with a laugh. Jessie couldn't wait to tell Claire that she had met her soulmate, and couldn't wait even more for Claire to meet Fred.

---

Draco frowned as he thought about the war, "I don't know how to explain it. It was kind of like Voldemort and his...his Death Eaters were trying to take over wizarding London in a sense. I was at the Battle of Hogwarts." He explained. Looking back on it now, the whole thing seemed rather insane in a sense, Voldemort was insane. Draco was insane for ever thinking that it was a good choice to side with the darkness that loomed over them. He grinned and laughed lightly at her words about her brother, "Well I'm sure having his sister there was definitely a good way to get motivated." He said with a smile. He shook his head quickly at the rich snob comment, "I was definitely a rich snob. Not so much anymore."

Claire nodded. "I think I remember seeing that in our newspapers." She said. "I don't know much about it, but I do remember it making the headlines back home." She didn't know enough about the situation though, and she hadn't back then either, to really know what the mark on her arm meant. She didn't know that her parents did though, and her brother as well. Her parents hadn't mentioned much to her or her sister about the war in Britain, primarily because of what the war had been fought over. They hadn't wanted to give either of them all of the details, they didn't want either of them to worry at the time, not that Claire knew that. "It was over blood status, wasn't it?" She asked, recalling something someone had said about it back at Ilvermorny. She smiled when the subject went back to her brother and Quidditch. "He did play pretty well whenever I was watching." She said with a slight laugh. "And you definitely don't seem like a rich snob now."

---

Fred couldn't help grinning widely when she said that Monday was perfect. He was glad that the weekend was here already, and that he'd only have two wait two days before he could spend the entire day showing her around wizarding London. "Brilliant, Monday it is then." He said with a grin. "I happen to have invited a girl I just met up to my apartment for a cup of tea, I don't think I have any qualms against spending an entire day with you, love." He chuckled slightly. "Unless, of course, you happen to have a problem spending an entire day with a bloke you just met?" His tone was teasing and he punctuated his words with a raised eyebrow. "Definitely bring her around sometime soon then. There's a lot for you to do around here. If you aren't opposed to apparating, Hogsmeade village near Hogwarts has a bunch of shops that you both might enjoy as well."

@ sam winchester.
Jessie smiled and laughed lightly at his question before she shook her head, "I met a hundred guys today just from walking around Diagon Alley, but you're the only one I let invite me for tea." She replied with a grin before taking a long drink from her tea. When he brought up Hogsmeade, she smiled, "Claire and I are definitely not against apparating." She stated. Jessie couldn't wait to spend the day with Fred on Monday. She still couldn't believe the odds of just randomly strolling through Diagon Alley and meeting her soulmate. She was beyond glad that she had though, and she couldn't wait to tell Claire about it and for Claire to meet him.

---

Draco frowned at her question before shrugging, "Kind of. There was a student at the school, Harry Potter, and Voldemort wanted him dead and actually went to extreme measures to make sure that Potter died. In the end Voldemort and his Death Eaters lost. But Voldemort did hate Muggle born witches and wizards and wanted them dead just as much as anyone else." He explained vaguely. He was leaving out so much, but he knew it was better for her if she didn't know right now. Draco smiled at her words and tilted his head in thanks, "Well I'm glad all my hard work to stop being a rich snob didn't go to nothing." He joked.

Claire nodded. "I'm sorry if I'm asking a lot of questions, I'm really just not familiar with what happened over here a few years ago. My parents didn't talk about it much at home, they didn't want my sister and I to worry." She explained. With both of their parents coming from entirely No-Maj families, it made sense. She and Brianna definitely would have worried about what was going on in Britain if they knew the full extent of what was happening. That was why she didn't know much about the mark on her arm either. It wasn't hard to think back and realize that it had appeared there around the time he was describing to her right now though, just before things had gotten really bad. "You got this around that time, didn't you?" She asked, rolling up the sleeve of her cardigan so that the mark inked into her skin was on full display.

---

"Should I assume, based on your words, that you received several invitations for tea today then?" Fred teased, punctuating his words with a raised eyebrow. He was glad that she had agreed to have tea with him that evening. He couldn't see why she would have turned down his invitation, but he was still glad that she hadn't done so. He had enjoyed talking with her and getting to know her better thus far. Conversation seemed to flow easily between them, something he was extremely thankful for. "You both should definitely have a look around Hogsmeade then. Might even be able to get a good look at Hogwarts from a distance while you're there as well."

@ sam winchester.
Jessie laughed at his question and shook her head, "No I didn't, but if I had, I still would have only accepted yours." She stated before she face palmed herself and shook her head, "That was incredibly cheesy, I apologize." She said with a small blush tinting her face. She was beyond glad that she had accepted his invitation, because now she got to get to know him more. When he brought up getting a look at Hogwarts, her face lighting up instantly, "Oh that would be amazing! From what I've heard, the castle is absolutely stunning." She gushed.

---

Draco shrugged, "I understand why you're curious." He said, "I'm sorry I'm being vague about it, love. It's just hard." He added honestly. He felt bad for not answering her questions to the full of his abilities, but it was really hard for him to relive. When she asked about the Dark Mark, revealing the mark on her arm that matched the one on his, he frowned and was washed over with guilt as he stared at her arm, "I'm so sorry that you have to live with that. That I did this." He apologized as he took her arm in his hands and rubbed his thumb over the mark.

Claire shook her head. "Don't apologize, I understand." She said. She didn't mean to keep asking questions, there was just so much that she didn't know, and so much that she wanted to know. She didn't mean to make him think about things that were hard for him to think about. Of course a war was hard for him to think about, she was pretty sure that was the case with No-Majs as well. She'd watched enough documentaries and other things on TV with her dad to know that. She felt the guilt that washed over him the moment she revealed the mark on her arm. "You apologize, but I have no idea what you're apologizing for, Draco. I don't know what this means." She said quietly, a slight frown tugging at the corners of her lips.

---

Fred grinned widely and chuckled when a blush formed on her cheeks after she made the comment that she did. "It was kind of cheesy, but I didn't mind." He said. "I'm glad I'm the only bloke in London you'd agree to have a cup of tea with." He added with a wink. He couldn't help teasing her for what she'd said. It was hard not to. He felt the excitement that washed over her when he mentioned Hogwarts. It matched the way her face lit up perfectly, and he couldn't help smiling at the way that it did. "It is, you and your friend definitely need to see it at least once before you leave."

@ sam winchester.
Jessie's face darkened in color when he agreed that her comment was cheesy before he winked at her, causing her to blush even more as she smiled, "I didn't say that you were the only guy in London I would agree to have tea with. I said out of the guys I met today you're the only one I would agree to have tea with." She teased before she nodded at his later words, "I've always wanted to. I grew up knowing of Hogwarts and all the other Wizarding schools, but for some reason Hogwarts always fascinated me. I think it's because it's the closest." She explained with a smile.

---

Draco was relieved that she understood that it was a lot for him to talk about the war, though she didn't know why it was hard for him. He frowned when she said that she didn't know what the Dark Mark stood for. That made it even worse for him. Not only did she not know the things he had gone through, but she didn't know that she was drug into his darkness because of being his soulmate, "Claire, it's not a good thing, the tattoo. It's really not even an actual tattoo." He said and took a long drink from his tea, fidgeting with his fingers while he thought about how he was going to tell her.

Claire frowned. "What is it then?" She asked, looking over to him. She could tell that this was bothering him, and that didn't come from being his soulmate either. His body language said it all, and it honestly made her a little bit worried as to what the mark on her arm really meant. "What's this about, Draco?" She really had no idea what to expect him to say now. She could tell that it had to be something big with how he was acting, and she was honestly getting a really bad feeling in the pit of her stomach now too. "What does this mean?"

---

Fred laughed lightly, seeing the color on her cheeks darken even more. He was already beginning to pick up on a lot of things about her. He'd known that she would react that way to his words and his actions. "My apologies, I didn't meant to put words in your mouth, love." He said, a cheeky grin lighting up his features. He listened as she spoke, taking a sip of his tea. "Probably because it's very similar to your own school as well. I think it's talked about more than other wizarding schools, that's probably why you've heard so much about it over the years."

@ sam winchester.
Jessie giggled lightly at his words and nodded her head, "Good. Glad you know." She teased. She felt her heartbeat increase slightly when his grin lit up the features of his face, "I mean Hogwarts is a very well known school, and I know that some of it is because of everything that happened there, but most of what I know is because of doing my research of where I almost went to school at." She explained. Of course she knew lightly of everything that had happened with Voldemort over in Britain, but her parents hadn't told her everything while it was happening, only that it wasn't good.

----

Draco could feel her worry and that made him frown even more, "It's called the Dark Mark." He stated before he pushed up his sleeve, revealing the matching one on his arm, "It's the mark that Voldemort's followers receive when they have agreed to become part of his Death Eaters." He explained quietly. He had to force himself to tell her the truth instead of lying about it. He felt awful for being the one that she was bound to. He hated that he had brought darkness into her life, whether she knew it or not.

Claire didn't like the sound of it the moment he told her what it was called. She watched quietly as he pushed up his sleeve and revealed the mark that matched her own, same exact placement and everything. She was silent for a couple of seconds after he spoke again, mulling over what he had told her before she did so. "So, when you said you fought in the Battle of Hogwarts...you were on his side?" Maybe she had misunderstood, could that have been it? If that was the case though, she knew he wouldn't be feeling the way that she knew he was feeling right now. He wouldn't be so guilty. It was all slowly starting to make sense.

---

"Sounds like you know just as much about the school as you do Newt Scamander." Fred teased. "Now I know I was the one asking all of the questions about your school and you weren't asking me anything about mine." He chuckled slightly. He didn't mind, he understood why she hadn't asked any questions about Hogwarts. If she had done her research, then she obviously knew a great deal about it. "If you've researched it before, I would hope that you had it on your list of places to see while you were here in Britain before I mentioned it to you before."

@ sam winchester.
Jessie laughed at his words before shaking her head, "Oh no definitely not. I know way more about Newt, but Hogwarts is a close second." She said with a grin. She nodded at his understanding of why she didn't ask much about Hogwarts, "I definitely had it on my list, I just didn't know if I would be able to. I hoped that Claire and I would be able to fit it in, even if it was just for a minute or two." She explained with a grin. Jessie had always wanted to see Hogwarts in person ever since she had found a picture of it in a book she had read.

---

Draco felt his pulse increase as he watched her realize what he had just admitted to her. His nerves were off the wall as she spoke before he frowned at her words. His eyes dropped as he slowly nodded, "I was a Death Eater, yes, but there is a story behind it, Claire, you have to understand, it was never what I wanted." He explained. He hated that he had to explain this to her. He hated that he had made the choice that was now affecting his soulmate. Sure the Dark Mark was fading because of the death of Voldemort, but it was still there and the memory was still in his head.

"If it wasn't what you wanted, why did you agree to it then?" Claire wasn't upset, she was just trying to wrap her head around everything that he was telling her right now. She understood somewhat why he'd been so hesitant to tell her more about himself now, it was slowly starting to all make sense. But why would a sixteen year old choose to take the side of a dark wizard when it wasn't what he wanted in the first place? Something wasn't adding up here at all. She was hoping that he'd explain things further and wouldn't leave her hanging here. They were soulmates, they were bound together for a reason, and she felt as though she deserved to know the truth now. All of it.

---

Fred chuckled slightly and shook his head in response to her words. "My apologies, I should have known." He teased, sending another wink her way. He honestly only did it because he knew what sort of reaction he'd get out of her because of it. He already knew that he loved seeing her blush. "So Newt Scamander comes before Hogwarts, but is there anything that comes in at a close third then?" He grinned and took another sip of his tea. "And I'm assuming that Claire might want to see it as well even though she has more of an interest in Muggle London than she does wizarding London?"

@ sam winchester.
Jessie smiled when she saw him wink at her before her face turned red once more. He knew what he was doing, she knew that for a fact, "Well I do know a lot about No-Maj New York, but that is just because I live in New York so I kind of have to know a lot about where I live." She joked. When he asked her about Claire, she nodded, "Oh yeah she would definitely love to see Hogwarts, despite her obsession with No-Maj London." Jessie agreed. Jessie remembered Claire agreeing with Jessie when she had brought up trying to see Hogwarts before they left.

---

Draco sighed and rolled down his sleeve, standing up and pacing around the room, "Voldemort was threating my family." He stated. Now that he was telling her the truth, he felt himself slowly starting to feel more comfortable with telling her everything. She wanted to know, and he was going to tell her despite the fact that it was scary for him, "My father was taken to Azkaban and to make up for it, I took his place to protect my parents." Draco explained as he faced her.

Claire frowned but didn't say anything at first. She knew that there was more to what he was telling her, and that he likely wasn't finished explaining it all to her, so she waited a little while longer before saying something. "You did it to protect your family..." She said quietly. It made more sense now, but she still couldn't believe that he'd made a decision like that at sixteen years old. She knew that many students at Hogwarts had been involved in the war though, that much she did know, and it really shouldn't have surprised her to discover that he'd been involved as well. "You were so young though..."

---

Fred chuckled slightly in response to her words. "I suppose that one's a given then." He said before listening as she continued on and said that her friend wanted to see Hogwarts as well. "You two should definitely have a look around Hogsmeade while you're there then. There's a pub there that serves the best butterbeer you'll ever have, better than the kind I'm going to take you to get. I reckon Madame Rosmerta, the barmaid there, adds something extra to it, but it's bloody delicious." He told her. He couldn't help thinking back to the weekend trips to Hogsmeade and the ones that he and George went on when they snuck through the one secret passageway that lead to the Honeyduke's cellar as well.

@ sam winchester.
Jessie laughed and nodded, "Yeah I suppose it is." She replied and laughed again. When he spoke about the pub in Hogsmeade, she grinned and nodded, "That sounds amazing." She admitted with a grin. It was obvious that Fred had been to Hogsmeade many times and knew a lot about it. Jessie looked forward to him showing her around there, "So can I ask you a question?" She asked before laughing, "Besides that one I just asked." She clarified with a giggle.

---

Draco nodded at her words and sighed, "I didn't have much of a choice. I didn't want anything to happen to my family. They were the only thing that I had." He said. Despite the fact that Draco's father wasn't always the warmest person, Draco still loved him no matter what, and would still do anything for his parents, "My parents were two of Voldemort's most loyal followers, but Voldemort didn't care once my father got taken to Azkaban. He put more trust in my aunt than he did my parents after that point, still I had to take my father's place so nothing would happen to them." He explained.

Claire understood why he'd done what he had. She knew that they she would do anything for her family, and she supposed that maybe they were more alike than they seemed. There were obvious differences about them, but there were also quite a few similarities as well. "You were only doing what you had to do in order to keep them safe." She said. "I understand now. I would do the same thing for my family." She didn't want him to think that she thought poorly of him now after knowing the truth, because she didn't. He'd explained his reasoning to her, and she could definitely understand why he'd done it.

---

"I think you two will enjoy yourselves their quite a bit." Fred said before chuckling slightly in response to her later words. "You beat me to it there, love, but sure. What is it you'd like to ask me?" He was curious to know what she wanted to ask him. They'd been going back and fourth asking each other questions for a little while now, and she hadn't asked to ask him something before doing so just yet, so the curiosity was obviously peaked in that moment for very obvious reasons. "Yes, I'm the better looking twin if that's what you were going to ask." He joked.

@ sam winchester.
Jessie laughed at his words and shook her head, "That's not what I was going to ask, but I'm not going to say you're wrong." She said with a small grin before she shifted in her seat and took a sip of her tea, "Why a joke shop? I mean I can see it's something that you and George are passionate about and I admire you for that, but I want to know the reasoning behind the joke shop." She asked. Jessie had always loved to make people laugh and make them happy, and she wanted to know if it was the same for Fred and that was why the joke shop came about.

---

Draco felt relief wash over his body at her words, thankful that she understood. It still didn't make him feel any better about the things that he had done, but he was relieved that Claire understood why he had done what he did, "The things that I did were horrible, Claire, but I want you to know that I didn't want to do any of them. My life used to be filled with so much darkness, but I've been working to keep it out of my life now." He said before he took a sip from his tea, "That's why I cut you off, you know? Because of everything that was going on with Voldemort. I didn't want him to somehow find out about you and threaten you. I wanted to keep you safe from him. I didn't want you to be sucked into my darkness."

Of course Claire understood why he had done what he had. She always felt that family was important, and she probably would have done the same thing if posed with a similar situation. She didn't know the full details of what he had done, and she didn't need to know. She wasn't going to ask him to tell her if he didn't want to. She could tell that telling her all of this was difficult enough for him already. And then he brought up cutting her off and why he'd done it, something she hadn't really thought about while he was telling her all of this until he mentioned it himself. And suddenly it all made sense. She had been so upset and angry when she realized what he was doing. She'd been beyond frustrated, not really understanding why he did it, but it made so much more sense now. He was trying to protect her. He wanted to keep her safe even though they hadn't formally met yet. "I resented you for the longest time for shutting me out like that..." She said quietly, a small frown tugging at the corners of your lips. "I didn't understand why you were doing it... you were protecting me..."

---

Fred grinned when he heard her laugh. He didn't think he'd ever tire of knowing that he was the reason why she was laughing. He never wanted to not know that he could make her produce such a beautiful sound, as cheesy as it sounded. "Don't let George hear you say that." He said, chuckling lightly. "He's been saying he's the better looking twin for years now." He set his cup of tea down before speaking. "Well, George and I were troublemakers in school, always pulling pranks, constantly getting detentions, all of that. In our sixth year we started creating and selling joke products through mail and at school whenever we had the opportunity to do so. In our seventh year, we left before we could finish school, our mother was furious about that one, and because so many people had liked our products at school, we decided to do something about it. That's how the joke shop came about."

@ sam winchester.
Jessie laughed before she made a cross over her heart, "Cross my heart, every time I see him I'll tell him that he's the better looking twin." She teased. When he started to explain how the joke shop came to be, causing her to smile widely, "You two seem like you would be trouble makers." She said honestly with a smile, "I feel like if I would have went to Hogwarts that I would have gotten along really well with you two." Jessie stated and took a sip of her tea. It was true, she would have loved to have Fred and George as friends in school, but alas fate had other plans.

---

Draco nodded at her words, "I would understand why you would resent me. I didn't exactly tell you why I was acting like such an arse." He knew that she had been upset with him, hell, he felt how upset she was with him when he closed her off, "I just didn't want anything to happen to you. You were the only good I knew that would possible come out of my life and I didn't want you to lose that." He explained. Draco felt awful for cutting her off like he did, but he wouldn't let Voldemort get to her. He couldn't had let him get to her.