Soulmate

In the end he stayed true to his word. He never broke my heart and we stayed together for three and a half years. My forth year is when it ended.

I remember that year vividly. One of the maids dropped me off at Kings Cross and I raced to the plate form. I crossed the barrier I handed my things to the attendant with a smiled before getting greeted by a deep voice saying my name and then arms wrapping around my waist to pull me away.

“hello darling” Fred whispered in my ear and I smile turning to face him

“hello” I smiled putting my hand on his cheek, “how are you this wondrous morning?”

“better now that you’re here” he smiled “I don’t know if I could have waited much longer” I smiled taking his hand as we started walking towards the others.

“sorry” I shrugged biting my lip, “my sister had my cauldron and wouldn’t give it back. I had to chase her around the house only to have my mother give it to her and make me use the old crappy one”

“have I ever told you how much of a bitch your mother is?” he asked and I laughed rolling my eyes.

“Emily!” Hermione smiled throwing her arms around me, “I missed you so much!”

“I know me too!” I said hugging her back, “its good to be going home”

“same here” Harry smiled as I turned to hug him, “Hogwarts here we come!”

“yes well if we want to get there then we have to get on the train” Ron said looking at his watch, “come on lets go!”

“its odd that Ron is the responsible one here” I said boarding the train with them on my tail. We passed many cabins including the one with Draco and his friends. I gave him a careful glare as I passed. I wondered what he was seeing as I passed. Was he still seeing that weird little kid I use to be? She was still here in ways. She was still strong and independent, she was still sweet and shy but she had also grown up quiet a bit in the last four years. I’d seen some horrid things at home and at school.

I was with Harry and the others every time they went on an adventure. I was with him when he went to find the Scorers Stone. I was in the Chamber of secrets when he fought the Diary of Tom Riddle. That one was particularly hard me because I was forced to sit back and watch as Harry fought the basilisk. Tom had tied me up as me and Harry stumbled into the camber. I was even there when he freed Sirius Black last year. he was actually a very nice man, not mean like the papers said.

And at home my mother got worse in her treatment towards me. I’d been locked in tiny closets for days. I was tied to a post in the corner of the room and every time I moved the collar around my neck dug into my skin with many sharp prongs. I had a few scars from that. Some were along my jaw line so they were hardly noticeable and I was forced to always where my hair down to hide the others.

I could remember thinking about that day on the shore of the lake, “one thing you’ll learn about me Fred, is that I never change”

That was a lie, I did change. I had to with everything I went threw. That little girl couldn’t handle it.

I changed physically too. I was taller but still small in frame, my hair was no longer cut into short curls that barely reached past my chin. My hair was now a tangled mass of blond ringlets that reached to my lower back. my light green eyes that George always said looked like they were covered in ice, they were no longer light and playful. They were sad, old eyes like I’ve lived much longer than my fourteen years.

We found a cabin at the back of the train and sat down. we talked and talked eventually though we were tired and the talking stopped. I looked around the room as I rest my head on Fred’s shoulder. Harry was in the corner kitty-corner to us, next to the window. I couldn’t see his eyes because of the reflection of light in his glasses but I knew they were deep and thoughtful. He was probably thinking about this year and what challenges he would have to face. I wondered for a moment if he would ever have a year without fighting Tom.

Hermione was sitting down the bench from him. in her hands was a book but her eyes weren’t looking at the words before her. They were cast across from her to where Ron sat falling asleep on the bench next to me. George was looking out the window thoughtfully. I knew he was thinking about some sort of device he could use to prank someone with.

We arrived at Hogwarts sometime later, and Fred put an arm around me as we walked to the carriages. Draco glanced at me as I passed him and I shot him an evil glare. He just looked at me without any emotion and I turned my head. What was with him?

we arrived at the Great Hall without any incident and I was forced to walk away from my Gryffindor friends and sit at the Slytherin table that was filled with people who hated me.
as I sat down the girl next to me scooted away in disgust and I rolled my eyes. I could feel Draco’s eyes on me and I looked up at him. he did something then that changed everything. He got up and sat next to me in the place the girl had just vacated. I frowned and looked up at him. he only looked into my eyes and gave me a weary smile. He was as unsure about this as I was.

“I would like you welcome you to a special year at Hogwarts” Dumbledore said bring all eyes to him. “this year Hogwarts will play host of a special event, the Triwizard tournament.” He went on to say something else but I was looking at Draco.

“what are you doing?” I asked him and he shrugged

“something I’ve always wanted to do”

“what is that?” I asked flipping my hair over my shoulder

“ask you to forgive my rude behavior that first day” he said and I raised my eyebrow, “I was angry because my father had told me that I would be disowned if I wasn’t in Slytherin and I was afraid that I wouldn’t be”

“if you expect me to believe that bull-“

“what’s on your neck?” he asked his eyes zeroing in on my neck where my hair had just been.

“nothing” I said quickly pulling my hair back over my neck and looking down at the wood table that suddenly fascinated me.

“Emily?” he asked and I paused, he’d never called me Emily before, it was always Raven with him.

“just go away Draco” I said not looking up at him. I felt his cold finders on my neck then. Brushing away my hair and running gently along my jaw. Along my scar.

“a metal collar” he said matter of factly, “with sharp spikes that dig into your neck when to move”

I turned to look at him, his finger, that had been on my scar, brushing my lip as I did. He quickly with drew his finger and I spoke, “how did you know?”

“my dad uses that when my mom is out of town” he explained shifting his collar to show his own scar, “he hates me, that man does”

“you still have your mother” I said looking off to where Dumbledore stood still talking, “my father divorced my mother when I was three then left me at her mercy when I was eight”

“my mother cant leave my father” Draco said, “she says she never would but I know she thinks about it. when she thinks im not paying attention she cry’s and says a man’s name”

“who?” I asked leaning in, at that moment it was like we were in our own little world. We didn’t see the student from the other school come in. we weren’t paying attention to anything but each other.

“I don’t know” he forced a smile, “but it doesn’t matter now does it? she’s with my dad”

“we don’t lead every different lives you an I” I said cocking my head to the side “why do we fight so much?”

“that first day I messed up big” he said, “and I’ve just been going along with it ever since. You make it rather easy to hate you Emily. Since you hang out with Potter and date Weasley. Its so easy to hate you”

“like you should talk” I laughed once and rolled my eyes, “you’re a bit of an ass Draco. You make people feel bad about themselves like they aren’t good enough to be around you”

He smiled a bit “just call me the King of Stupid” I laughed quietly at that before turning back to Dumbledore and his never ending speech.

Dinner was over and I walked over to Fred as I do normally. But something was different this time. He looked at me differently like I was a stranger to him and not his girlfriend for the last three and a half years. I walked up to him and he turned away from me.

“George?” I asked and he sighed glancing back at his brother, “what? what happened?”

“you were talking to Malfoy” he said and I frowned

“that’s why he’s mad? Because I talked to Draco?”

“because you were having a serious discussion with him” George said, “Fred feels like you don’t talk to him like that. its always jokes and about stuff with Harry. Nothing about you or what’s bothering you. he feels like you don’t want to let him into your little world.”

I sighed running a hand threw my hair, “where can I find him?”

“where does a Weasley ever go when they want to be left alone?” he asked with a mischievous smirk, “to the Library”

I found him wandering among the young adult fiction book that muggles wrote. It was often about wizards or witches and greatly amuse the students of Hogwarts. “hey” I said leaning again the shelf and he glanced up at me.

“oh, hey” he said paging threw a book. I could tell he wasn’t really looking at it, just going threw the motions.

I walked up to him and took the book out of his hands. I set it down before taking his hand and running it along the scar Draco had noticed, “here” I said before moving his hand down my neck to where it connected with my shoulder, “here” then to the back of my neck just before my hair line, “and here”

He looked at me threw narrow confused eyes, he wasn’t angry with me. he was angry with who had done this to me, “what- what is this?” he asked

“these are scars I got from my mothers new favorite way to punish me” I said, “a collar made of metal that has sharp points on the inside of it. when I move they dig into my skin”

His eyes widened and he cupped my face, “oh Emily, no”

“Dracos’ father used the same collar on him” I said, “its why I was talking to him”

“why didn’t you tell me?” he asked pulling me towards him and hugging me.

“because I don’t want you to know the horrors of my child hood” I said pulling back to look up at him, tears formed in the corners of my eyes as I spoke. “you and the others are everything good and pure in my life Fred, I don’t want that tainted by my mother. It’ll be as if she’s won and I cant let that happen”

“I want to know” he said and I shocked my head, “hey, im still me. im still Fred. That wont change because I know about your home life” I looked up at him and bit my lip and he laughed.

“what?” I asked as he wipe the tear that had fallen down my cheek

“you always bit your lip when your unsure” he said, “its one of the things I love about you” I paused and looked up at him with wide eyes. we’d never use the ‘L’ word before. And now hearing him say it even in just a passing comment sent shivers down my spine.

“Fred…” I said slowly leaning my head against his chest, “I kinda love you right now”

He laughed, “I love you too Em and im sorry about earilier”

“im sorry too” I said closing my eyes to the world. “for not telling you”

“have you two made up yet?” George asked rounding the isle, “because it’s almost curfew”

“since when do you care about curfew?” I asked turning out of Fred’s embrace and wiping my tears. “you don’t care about rules”

“yes well its day one” he said, “and we do make it a point not to get into too much trouble on the first day”

“its true” Fred laughed looking down at me, “a promise we made when we were in our first year. no trouble on day one”

“that of corse failed” George continued, “so we changed it to not too much trouble on day one. as stuck to it since”

“well that’s weirdly attractive” I said looking up at Fred, “if only I didn’t have to go” I smirked before hugging him and quickly leaving the Library to head back to the Slytherin common room.