CHAPTER TEN

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(lorelei's last soulmate letter)

"I thought I might find you here."

Pansy glanced back over her shoulder to look at Daphne as she climbed up the steps of the astronomy tower. Pansy had snuck off to smoke and sit by herself a couple of hours ago, once she finally gave up on the idea of getting back to sleep.

"You know me too well, Daph." Pansy smiled. She put out her cigarette on the ground and patted the spot beside her. "You can join me if you'd like."

Daphne slowly took a seat on the cement and put her back against the railing like Pansy was now doing. There were the faintest of dark circles under her eyes, but Daphne had an excellent skincare routine, so Pansy knew the girl had about a dozen solutions to get rid of it.

"Did you sleep at all?" Daphne asked.

"A little, before Lorelei's nightmare."

Daphne nodded, silent.

"Did you know it had gotten that bad?" Pansy asked, poking at a small hole in her t-shirt. "Because I knew she was getting nightmares, but not like that."

"No."

It was Pansy's turn now to nod silently.

Clearly, neither of them was very chatty while sleep-deprived.

"Theo looked so helpless last night when it all happened." Daphne ran her fingers through the ends of her blonde hair, although as usual, there were no knots.

"He covered me up with my blankets."

Daphne's eyebrows rose. "Did he?"

"I thought it was strange, but maybe he was trying to feel more useful."

"Probably."

Pansy sighed loudly and tipped her head back. The cold breeze blew over her cheekbones, and she let her eyes flutter closed. Maybe she could skip herbology later and take a nap instead. She figured she probably wouldn't miss that much on the first day.

"How are you feeling about breakfast?"

"Starved," Pansy laughed.

Daphne chuckled in return. "No, I meant about the soulmate letters coming out for the younger years."

"Oh. That." Pansy tried not to show her discomfort, but her whole body tensed.

Daphne bit her lip. "Sorry for bringing it up."

"It's fine. I couldn't avoid it forever, especially not when the monster in my stomach is demanding to be fed."

"Do you want to head there? Draco and Lorelei were getting ready for breakfast when I left to find you."

Pansy shrugged. "Why not? I can't wait to see everyone else achieve my dream."

"Pansy—"

But she was already pushing off the ground and moving towards the stairs.

From the sarcastic smile on her lips and the tightness in her eyes, Daphne knew that discussing this was out of the question. Daphne winced and followed along with her. Maybe eventually Pansy would stop running from this, but today was not that day.

"Where on bloody earth is Theo?" Pansy asked.

She sat down at the table beside Lorelei with Daphne taking the seat across from her. With Luna still in the hospital wing and Theo god-knows-where, their small friend group had gotten even smaller.

Daphne shrugged. "Maybe he already ate? He's normally the first one here."

Headmistress McGonagall rose to speak about the upcoming year and the soulmate letters soon to arrive, but Pansy blocked it all out and focused solely on her breakfast. Being awake for much of the night had really worked up her appetite, and it was an easy distraction from the tightening inside her chest as Headmistress McGonagall talked about the wonder of finding your other half.

Lorelei squeezed her hands tightly into fists beside her plate, and Pansy slowly looked up at her, slowing down her chewing. Something was strange. Lorelei's knuckles were turning white, and her jaw looked ready to snap from how tightly she was clenching it. But Lorelei only smiled at her when they made eye contact.

"At the first breakfast of each year, those in their third year and above will receive a clue. It may be a letter in your soulmate's name, their blood status, the years between your ages, or their House," McGonagall said, not explaining how the letters worked.

Pansy looked away from Lorelei and stuffed two more forkfuls of food into her mouth.

Merlin, she was turning into Theodore.

"Finally, when you are entering into your seventh year, you will receive a card with the name of your soulmate," McGonagall said, and Pansy tried not to wince. "Likely, you already have a suspicion of who they are because fate has a funny way of bringing soulmates together in the most chance encounters."

With that, the doors and windows of the room burst open. In other years, all the students would grin and watch as the owls delivered their clues, but this year, many of the students shrieked and ducked under their chairs.

When an owl colored the ominous shade of dark blood dropped a note onto Lorelei's plate, her breath stuttered.

Lorelei's body shook as she picked up the letter at Draco's excited urging and tore into the paper. Pansy tried to catch her eye, to understand why the girl seemed afraid to confirm something everyone already knew, then the page was loose, and the world seemed to stop.

THEO NOTT, the page read, in large, bold letters.

As Lorelei's face crumpled into chaos, something snapped inside Pansy's chest as well.

No, Pansy thought. That doesn't make any sense. She already has Draco.

Lorelei's entire body remained frozen as Draco pushed away from the table and stormed out of the room.

Pansy found Daphne's eyes immediately, and she knew her best friend felt her desperation to make sense of this herself. Draco had already told them—when the two of them kissed, that they'd had the sure sign that the two were soulmates. The soulmate research clearly stated that the first time a witch or wizard kissed their soulmate, they would feel a tingling burn across their lips, and Draco and Lorelei felt that with one another.

Lorelei curled in on herself slightly, as if the weight of it was too much, and Pansy reached for her hand.

"There must have been some sort of mistake, Lorelei," she whispered, "but we'll fix this."

"Where's Theo?" she breathed as the first tears streamed down her cheeks. "Why isn't he here?

Pansy and Daphne shrugged helplessly.

Students around them all watched curiously as Lorelei buried her face in her hands, gasping from an oncoming panic attack. "Please tell me this is a nightmare, Pansy. Please."

"We need to get her out of here," Pansy whispered to Daphne.

"You cover one side, and I'll shield the other. We'll take her back to the dorm."

As subtly as possible, Daphne and Pansy escorted Lorelei from the Great Hall, holding her up when her knees threatened to buckle and reminding her to breathe each time she gasped. By the time they made it back to their empty dorm, Lorelei had collapsed into her bed in a hopeless sort of hysteria.

Unfortunately, Pansy knew exactly how she felt. 

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