True Love's Heart

Chapter 5: Hogsmeade

On the Saturday morning that marked the first Hogsmeade trip of the year, Harry stood in the mens washroom, having just gotten out of the shower. Again he looked at his bare chest in the mirror and gave his tattoo a raised-eyebrow look of puzzlement. Almost two months since his birthday and the tattooed banner still laid blank in the center of the heart. He came to the conclusion that his soul mate was not anyone currently attending Hogwarts, as he would sit at meals and casually glance at the rest of the visible student body, keeping a close eye on any twitching or increase itching of his marked skin. No response. He also realized, with a sigh of relief, that it didn't appear to be a teacher either, as he either had no eventful moments at class with them or got no response with glances at the teacher's table much like he had done with the students. Harry was so glad that his mate wasn't a much older teacher or a young first year. No, he was content with the charm's empty search so far.

But when would he find his mate? Harry had to admit that the chances on finding that  individual while he was still attending school seemed to be fading since they didn't seem to be located at Hogwarts. For all Harry knew, it could be years until he'd found his One, if he lived that long. There was still the threat of war after all. Though Voldemort seemed to be laying low and only seemed to raid muggle villages once every few months, the threat of impending doom still hung in the edges of Harry's mind. What if he died before he met his mate? That was a depressive thought Harry didn't feel like answering at the moment.

He finally tore his gaze from the mirror and continued his morning preparations; getting dressed in clean robes, brushing his teeth, trying and failing to tame his hair. He exited the bathroom, decided to skip breakfast, thinking that he could stop by Hogsmeade's bakery and pick up himself a croissant, he made his way to the front gates and followed the hoard of students towards the little town.

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Overall, his solo trip around Hogsmeade was pretty uneventful. he stopped by a few shops, picking up some new quills and stared longingly at the new Quidditch gear that he new he didn't need but still fantasized about having some day. Harry knew he had the money for it now that he had access to his parents' Gringotts account, but the frugal thoughts of growing up as a poor muggle still drilled in his head the notion that he needed to be smart with his money and to not burn it all on sports equipment.

As he passed by and entered the random little shops around town, Harry couldn't help himself but to gaze at the stores' occupants to see if anyone sparked his charm's interest. but alas, he assumed the banner continued to lay blank on his chest. 'Eh, it was worth a shot.' He shook his head at himself in silent amusement.

After leaving Honeydukes with a small bag of chocolate frogs and other sweets, a quick tempus showed him that it was about time to meet up with Ron and Hermione to head back to the school.

Harry made his way over to The Three Broomsticks and walked up to the building and saw that Ron and Hermione were making their way out the door. Ron had his arm loosely around Hermione's waist and she was smiling and giggling at something he said. Harry smiled; he was happy for his friends and was glad they had someone to share life with.

"Harry! Did you have a good day?" Hermione called to him as the friends met up with each other at the road in front of the restaurant. Ron dropped his arm from her waist nonchalantly as Harry got closer but Ron sent him a secret smile and he had a tint of blush on his cheeks.

"Yeah, it wasn't too bad. How was your day?"

"Pretty good, we had a great time!" Her eyes sparkled and Ron grinned behind her back.

The three friends started down the trail leading towards Hogwarts, chatting back and forth about the next days classes and the upcoming Ravenclaw vs Slytherin Quidditch game when Harry heard three voices yell  "Petrificus Totalus!" Each of the three friends were hit by the body-binding spell as three figures cloaked in black hoods came towards them out of the surrounding woods.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all lost balance and fell on the ground, their bodies locked and useless, as the cloaked wizards bound them in rope for good measure.

"Well well well look what we have here! Its the Golden Trio! Fancy seeing you here!"

"We know of someone who would love you see you!"

Harry grunted as the Death Eaters roughly lifted them off the ground and on to their feet. He didn't recognise them, though the hoods made identifying them tricky. He shared determined looks with his friends, knowing that they would use all their Gryffindor courage to survive whatever happened next.