Yule Ball Redux Ch. 5 (Patreon)

Content Warnings: Nothing.

“This feels ominous,” Parvati muttered as she walked into her best friend’s bookstore. The counter had been empty, and she was about to call out for her when she located Lavender sitting on one of the couches in the reading area, and she was not alone. Parvati subconsciously smoothened the white blouse she had settled on after her shower as she studied the easy way with which Ginny Weasley chatted with her best friend. The redhead was dressed in an overlarge sweater that hung off her shoulders and simple faded jeans. A green scarf completed the look.

Casual chic. Is there a look the woman can’t pull off?

“Hey, Lav,” she said, making her way to the couch. “Ginny.” She smiled nervously at the redhead seated on the armchair on the other side of the coffee table.

“Hey Parvati,” Ginny replied, sounding uncharacteristically nervous. The tone of her voice did nothing to ease her worry. Why did the two of them look so scared? She sat down on the couch next to Lavender, arms nervously wrapped around her body.

“Harry isn’t coming?” Lavender asked, glaring at Polly. The poor girl blushed, retreating from her hiding place behind one of the bookshelves back to the cash counter by the entrance. “I should start calling her Nosy Polly,” she grunted, leaning forward to pick up a cup of tea from the table. “Incredibly hard-working and sincere, but her insatiable need for gossip is going to get her into trouble one day.”

“I wonder where she picked that particular habit from,” Ginny said wryly.

“Are you saying I have an insatiable need for gossip Weasley?”

“I am,” Ginny replied, delicately sipping her own tea.

“Guilty as charged.”

“Why did the two of you want to talk to me and Harry?” Parvati interjected, interrupting their banter. She had been on edge all morning and her sudden separation from Harry had only worsened her anxiety. The fact that she did not know the reason behind her new emotions or the sudden and very urgent desire to stay as close as possible to Harry all the time only added to her stress levels. She was in no mood for banter.

“Where is Harry?” Lavender asked, turning to her best friend with a frown.

“We, uh- We lost track of time in the shower,” Parvati squeaked, staring at the book behind Ginny’s head to avoid looking at her. How would she feel about talk of her ex-husband’s new sex life? When no condemnation was forthcoming, Parvati took a deep breath and continued, “anyways, he was running late for his appointment with Headmistress McGonagall, so he flooed over to his apartment to change into a fresh set of clothes.”

“I think it’s a good thing he isn’t here. He doesn’t do well with potentially troubling news, especially when it pertains to someone he cares about.”

“Potentially troubling news?” Parvati squeaked, tearing her eyes away from the book to alternate between looking at the two women.

“Well, I think unprecedented would be a better word. There’s absolutely nothing troubling about the news,” Lavender said, looking at Ginny sharply.

“I mean, I’d consider the prospect of their souls burning away and leaving their bodies shallow husks to be potentially troubling,” Ginny replied, raising an eyebrow in response to Lavender’s glare.

“Souls burning away?” She could feel her heart hammering away in her chest, and felt quite faint. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take.

More of what? She had absolutely no idea about that either.

“Which will only happen if they don’t complete the bond. They’ll complete the bond,” Lavender said, her voice low and soothing. She grasped her hand, squeezing it reassuringly. “Why don’t you drink your tea while I explain everything properly sweetie? It’s Chamomile. It’ll calm you down.” Parvati nodded numbly, picking up the cup with shaky hands.

“Ginny and I have known about the mutual attraction between you and Harry for quite some time-”

“Ages and ages,” Ginny echoed.

“Precisely. And because we wanted the people we love to be happy-”

“You love Harry?” It was Parvati who interrupted Lavender, unable to stop herself from putting the question to Ginny. Parvati had never considered herself to be a particularly jealous person, but she had the sudden desire to throttle the redhead until she renounced her claim to Harry.

“In a very, ‘he’s one of my best friends and I want him to be happy’ way,” Ginny clarified, exchanging a look with Lavender.

“Exactly,” Lavender said, shifting almost imperceptibly to position herself between Parvati and Ginny. She hurriedly picked up the unmarked book from the table, flipping through its pages until she found what she had been looking for. “After a year of using subtle methods to try and set you up, all of which failed, we were at our wit’s end.”

“Until we realized that if you two were meant to be, we should just let fate take the reins.”

Every single reading she had done for herself the last three months had portended a massive change in her life…

“Is there any chance the two of you hatched this plan sometime during the last 3 months?” Despite her best efforts to maintain an outwardly calm demeanor, she couldn’t help the slight trembling of her hands. She set the cup back down on the table. She'd need something a little stronger than fucking Chamomile to deal with what was being revealed to her.

Lavender and Ginny exchanged looks again. “We came up with the basics of the plan a couple of months ago. During the party Hermione threw to celebrate Harry’s new job,” Lavender said, looking at Ginny, who nodded in confirmation.

“Lav. What. Did. You. Do?”

“Nothing!”

“Did you spike our drinks with a love potion yesterday?” Parvati asked, her voice a low growl. That would explain the sudden intensity of their feelings. And her need to basically cling to the man like a koala.

“No, I didn’t! I would never drug anyone! We were going to parent trap the two of you and both of us were going to drink this to make sure everything we planned worked,” Lavender explained, pushing her hand into the pocket of her hoodie, pulling out the nearly empty tiny vial. “Then I got the gig to plan the Yule Ball, and our parent trap evolved into a-”

“Ball trap,” Ginny said, then winced. “Poor choice of words notwithstanding, we both took a swig of Felix and then set the plan to get you two together in motion.”

“You two had the Felix Felicis, and the end result was me and Harry…”

“Schtupping. Yes,” Lavender nodded. Parvati frowned. She’d never been any good at potions, but she was sure that the one they were talking about was meant to make the drinker lucky. Not their best friend. “The way Felix Felicis works is that you’re supposed to drink it before you set out to do something. While it lasts, whatever you set out to do and planned will succeed.”

“Which is why it’s banned in settings like competitive Quidditch,” Ginny piped up.

“Yup. So we each took a swig, just enough to last us a few hours, then set about getting you two together.”

“Which is exactly what happened.”

“Yep.” Lavender nodded.

Parvati reached out to pick up her cup again, the hammering in her chest lessened somewhat. “So, if I’m not drugged.”

“You’re not.”

“And Harry’s not drugged.”

“He isn’t either.”

“Why do the two of us feel so weird?”

“Ah. About that,” Lavender said, passing the book to her lap.

Parvati looked down at the page she had opened. It was a full-page illustration of a tattoo in the form of a rose. While the design was different, the make, style, and color of the tattoo were exactly the same as the one on her shoulder. Her heart jumped into her throat, and she abandoned the cup on the table once more.

“Please tell me the two of us didn’t end up in some shady back alley in Knockturn to get cursed tattoos last night,” she mumbled, burying her face in her hands. Why were her memories of the night so hazy? She hadn’t even been tipsy, and nowhere close to being drunk enough for memory loss to occur.

“That’s not a tattoo. That’s the mark of a soulmate bond. The way I understand it, it’s like a birthmark that only appears when your soulmate bond is triggered.”

“How did it happen?” Parvati asked. She peeked at Lavender through her fingers, unsure if she was supposed to be elated or horrified. On one hand, they hadn’t gotten cursed tattoos and Harry Potter was her soulmate. On the other, there had definitely been talk of their souls burning away.

“Well, you and Harry are soulmates,” Ginny said. Lavender opened her mouth to say something flippant, but one look at Parvati’s face was enough to ensure she kept quiet.  “And something you did last night triggered your bond. The reason you’re feeling weird is that the ritual must be completed for the bond to be sealed,” Ginny finished.

“Let me guess, if we don’t seal the bond, our souls burn away.”

“Well, to be precise, they wither away to nothing.”

“Semantics, Lavender.”

“Alright, so we grab Harry and finish the ritual before our souls wither… burn… whatever,” Parvati said, finally snapping out of her funk. The prospect of a solution to her problem was reason enough for hope, and she slammed the cup on the table, looking at the other two women expectantly. “What,” she asked, raising an eyebrow at the worried looks on their faces.

“We don’t know how to finish the ritual,” Lavender admitted after a minute of uncomfortable silence. “The book describes a soul bond, but doesn’t mention how one is created, and I haven’t been able to find a book that does.”

“But!” Ginny interjected before Parvati could say anything, “I bet the library in Hogwarts does. The Forbidden Section is bound to have something. If you let us in, we could all search for the right book.”

“Alright,” Parvati muttered, her head throbbing. She was tired, horny, and terrified, and the weird combination of feelings was giving her a massive headache. “Come on.”

“We should grab Harry too. Because we don’t really know how much time we have before, you know, the withering starts?” Lavender said, getting to her feet.

“Yeah. What kinky shit did you two even do last night to trigger it? Must have been something really good,” Ginny teased, elbowing Parvati in what she assumed was an effort to cheer her up.

Much of the night was still a blur, but one memory stood out clearly, seared into her mind.

“He took me on my desk, and I told him to collar me, claim me,” Parvati mumbled, pointing to the choker around her neck with the hand that wasn’t massaging her forehead.

And claim me he has.