Under the Willow Tree | Draco Malfoy

chapter 8: letters

Lorelei Jones | 3rd Year

It was the morning of her first soulmate hint the next year, and Lorelei was both nauseous and giddy at the thought of learning a letter from the name of her soulmate. She knew that it likely wouldn't narrow down much at all for her, but she was still excited to see it.

Her roommates had all left to breakfast while she was still in the bathroom getting ready, so she was making the journey by herself until Luna caught up to her in the corridor. They didn't say much, but Luna could tell that Lorelei was nervous, so she just sent Lorelei some soft smiles. She had learned last year that Lorelei typically needed some positivity to balance out her easily stressed nature. Lorelei was often on edge, especially when a deadline for an exam or essay was looming.

Luna and Lorelei reached the doors of the Great Hall, and they would soon have to go their separate ways, but before they did so, Luna turned towards Lorelei and softly addressed her. Luna's lips held a faraway smile, and her mind drifted somewhat aimlessly, but she still collected her thoughts enough to speak. "Would you like to study with me under the tree later?" she asked.

"Of course," Lorelei said and clasped her hands in front of herself stiffly. She started to turn away towards the Hufflepuff table, but Luna's soft voice stopped her once again.

"Good because I have something I'd like to show you."

Lorelei glanced back at Luna to try to gather hints about what Luna could mean by that, but Luna turned and walked to the Ravenclaw table without so much as another glance in Lorelei's direction. So, Lorelei brushed this off and took her seat at the Hufflepuff table.

"Hi, guys! Are you excited for the soulmate hints?" Lorelei chirped when she sat down and attempted to smile at her nearby roommates.

None of them even looked at her. She must have said it too quietly, she thought. She'd just have to mention it again later when there wasn't so much background noise.

Dumbledore launched into his rehearsed soulmate speech once again, but Lorelei had already thoroughly examined his every word from last year's speech. She was already looking up and waiting for the owls to arrive as Dumbledore spoke, and soon, they came. As if it were timed, as soon as Dumbledore finished speaking, the owls fluttered into the Great Hall and dropped their letters in the resulting chaos that the older students were starting to get used to.

Lorelei didn't hesitate to pick up the crisp, white envelope with her name printed in an elegant script. Somehow, that only added to the magic of it for her.

She tore into the envelope and retrieved the letter tucked away inside. The page was empty, save for one letter printed darkly in the absolute center of the page.

O.

After staring at the letter for a sustained amount of time, she carefully folded her letter and put it in her bag. No one around her asked what letter she had gotten, but that was fine with her. She was now mulling over who was ruled out with this information.

Well, it couldn't be James — his last name was Lewis. It also couldn't be Gareth Pewsy or Patrick Bagby. The only other Hufflepuff boys in her year were the Westwood brothers: Arthur and Albert. With that thought, she glanced over at the two of them and shivered. Without noticing her presence at all, they both continued their synchronous nose-picking. Lorelei found it a bit gross that they would do so at meal times. At least they seemed...confident in themselves?

Lorelei had never wished harder for her soulmate to be in a different year or maybe even a different house...like Ravenclaw. Having a soulmate in Ravenclaw would be nice.