( A little bit of world-building. This is an au so a few, tiny things are different)
tags: drarry, hogwarts eighth year, soulmates au
When Cho went to kiss him sniffling and grieving, her cheeks stained with tears, it was if they both hit an invisible wall in the air. A pressure that grew as they got closer and pushed them away from each other. The closest Cho got to him was about three inches then she pulled back with a shaky laugh.
“Figures,” she smiled weakly and reached out a hand to pat his shoulder and then dropped it as she stepped back, “See you around.”
Harry immediately went and told Ron and Hermione.
Ron grimaced, “Oooh, tough luck there, mate.”
Harry frowned at him, “What do you mean?”
Hermione cocked her head thoughtfully as she set her quill down, “I’ve read about this… Sometimes a witch or wizards magical signature is so completely incompatible with another that they repel one another like… magnets. You know how when they’re opposite poles the magnets stick together but the same pole repel and you can’t even push them together? It’s like that.”
“But then, I wouldn’t be able to touch her at all? I’ve touched Cho… her arm, I’m pretty sure I’ve touched her arm,” Harry said in confusion.
“Well, that’s the very interesting thing about it, you see, our magic is quite sedate most of the time unless we’re using it to cast or when we’re very agitated- that’s where spontaneous uncontrolled magic comes from,” Hermione said, spreading her hands as she became more engaged in the subject, “and when you’re about to do something like… kiss someone you really fancy-”
“-your heart rate picks up and you get nervous and you magic gets agitated. Our bodies are really quite bad at telling the difference between good, excited nervous and more life threatening bad nervous. It only really affects you when you’re really close to someone as well, so it’s not really that noticeable a majority of the time.”
“Oh…” Harry said blankly.
“Don’t worry,” Ron reassured him, “It’s really rare to be that repelled.”
Hermione nodded in agreement, “It’s like- in a sample size of- of a thousand people, you’ll be slightly repelled from four or five and strongly repelled by only one, at the most.”
Ron added, “And it’s not all bad. If you find someone you’re a really good match with it’s like- like amazing, the best thing ever. True love and all. My mum and dad are like that.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Hermione said.
Ron nodded, “Yeah, there’ll be others.”
Harry nodded too, trying not to dwell on what had happened.
When he tried to kiss Ginny in the common room, with everyone cheering and celebrating, they got so close he could feel the warmth of her breath ghost across his lips. It was brief and no one saw that they really hadn’t kissed. Ginny tried to hide her confusion and disappointment but Harry could see it all the same. It probably looked quite like his own expression.
They tried again in private later but it was even worse, likely because they were more nervous. Ginny gave him a sad smile and left to be alone. He heard that she spent the next couple days in the Ravenclaw tower with Luna. Ron was mad at him for breaking his sister’s heart and Harry didn’t have it in him to explain what had happened.
He felt like it was his fault and he was entirely certain he had the worst luck in the world.
After the war was a time for new beginnings. Life could only get better and Harry was certain his magical signature being incompatible with people was because of Voldemort’s horcrux being inside him. Or perhaps it was a case of not kissing enough people.
When he and all his friends went out drinking and having fun that summer he made a point, once he had enough drunken courage, to try and kiss someone. It didn’t even matter who. He just wanted to find someone he didn’t bounce off of like he was wearing a fish tank on his head. Each time he tried, it got a little easier to try again. Until it got to the point where he’d try to kiss everyone in the bar who’d let him.
He got close a few times, like he had with Ginny, but for most, he would feel the push back before he was even six inches off. Luna kissed his cheek once when she caught him off guard, it was a very sweet friendly kiss. Harry couldn’t stop thinking about how the first and maybe only time he’d ever felt lips on his skin was from a friend.
He went back to Hogwarts with Hermione and Ron to finish his schooling, for their “eighth year”. McGonagall was very big on inter-house unity. All the teachers would lavishly praise and give house points to anyone so much pausing to pick up a dropped parchment for a classmate from another house. The effort resulted in much embarrassment all around. There was no bullying, but most houses kept to themselves. Perhaps, that was why McGonagall allowed all the eighth and seventh years have a party.
Like the good teenagers they were, there was a great deal of illicit alcohol involved and very little self-control.
Part 1 (you are here!) ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3 ~ Part 4 ~ Part 5 ~ Part 6 ~ Part 7 ~ Part 8 ~ Part 9 ~ Part 10 ~ Part 11 ~ Part 12 ~ Part 13 ~ Part 14 ~ Part 15 ~ Part 16 ~ Part 17 ~ Part 18 ~ Part 19 ~ Part 20 ~ Part 21 ~ Part 22 ~ Part 23 ~ Part 24 ~
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