Title: Lost and Found
Pairing: Neville Longbottom x Gryffindor!reader
Summary: On your 16th birthday, everyone receives an identical object that you share with your soulmate. As everyone you know finds their soulmates, you are nowhere close to finding yours. How could you know that your soulmate happens to be the clumsy boy who had a habit for losing everything?
Word Count: 1.8k
You were tired. It had been a long day that you had feared at one point would never end. First it was Advanced Potions that was difficult to keep up with - Professor Slughorn was a vast contrast to your previous potions master, but the Draught of Living Death was frustrating and impossible for you to make. You couldn't believe you had gotten an Outstanding on your OWLs last year when you couldn't keep up on your very first day.
After Lunch you had Advanced Transfiguration and Advanced Herbology back to back. The exhaustion you had stumbling into the Great Hall for dinner after your classes was mind-numbing. Transfiguration with McGonagall wasn't easy and the Advanced class was no easier than potions. Your Head of House was strict and as her class's difficulty grew, so it seemed did her strictness. Still, no matter how demanding her class was this year, you enjoyed every moment of it. Herbology after, however, wasn't something that came as easily to you.
When it came to Herbology, you were never naturally inclined to the study but you were required to take it for your NEWTs next year to qualify for Auror training. Despite your lack of prowess in Herbology, you found yourself looking forward to spending several hours in a humid greenhouse with specks of dirt that would inevitably end up smeared across your cheeks. The very idea was your worst nightmare - this was melodramatic, perhaps, but it was the least ideal way to spend your time. So why, then was it that you found yourself not minding Herbology one bit as long as a certain someone was there? The answer, or rather the person, you may ask?
Neville Longbottom. The mugginess of the greenhouse that made your hair frizz, no matter what you did to it that morning to prevent it, and the sweat it made drip down your forehead that would always drip all the way down your neck, not to mention the dirt that would end up smeared around your cheeks in your pointless attempts to rid the sweat from your face - all of it didn't matter once you saw him. With your frizzy hair and sweaty face smudged with dirt, you were sure you looked anything but a vision but Neville? With his eagerness and natural inclination at the study you were hopeless at and the way his eyes shined with excitement and passion? You thought him a vision. Even with the sweat and dirt that found its way onto his face, you thought that unlike you he never looked better than when he was working on his plants. You wouldn't admit it to anyone that you thought him this, though. Not when the circumstances weren't in your favor.
You liked Neville - really, you did. If the circumstances were different you'd risk it all and tell him how you feel. But the circumstances weren't different, though because this was a world where witches and wizards had soulmates. Soulmates were a very fickle thing, you had found out this school year. When you received the package from the Ministry this summer before your sixth year, you were thrilled. The excitement didn't last for long, though, when you got to Hogwarts that September and found that people were finding their soulmates with ease. You, on the other hand, had no such luck. No one else had what you received in the mail and this made you feel glum everytime you were reminded of the fact.
Every time you saw him - whether it's in Herbology where he was in all his glory, the Great Hall where he laughed with Dean, or in the Common Room where he sat quietly and was always reading a new Herbology book - you were plagued by the small bracelet on your wrist. The thin, tan, braided leather bracelet that hung on your left wrist was a constant reminder that even if Neville didn't have someone, he could never be yours. The reminder had a nasty habit of bringing a frown on your face. It shouldn't bother you, really. Soulmates were foolproof and whoever was out there with the bracelet that was identical to yours was meant to be yours. Still, you thought nearly every day, no one could be better than Neville. Maybe he was too good, you thought.
As you sat in the Common Room the familiar frown must have returned when Pavarti's voice broke you out of your gaze that was subconsciously on Neville in the corner. "Y/N," She said softly. "What's wrong?"
You turned to look at her as she leaned over the armchair to your left with her eyebrows furrowed. "Just tired is all." You smiled gently, the frown disappearing completely but the ache in your heart remained the same.
She pursed her lips, not believing what you said for a second. "Are you positive?" She asked, trying to get you to open up.
"I promise Pavarti. It's nothing really." You lied. Something was wrong but there wasn't anything she could do to help you. You were grateful when she didn't press further, but didn't miss the look that she shot you that let you know she didn't believe you.
On your right, Lavender sat next to you on the leather sofa you were sat on. Unlike Pavarti, she didn't go to be as subtle and said what Parvarti was thinking - only in a much louder voice, to your dismay, was straight to the point and not as avoidable as Parvarti's question. "She's upset about her soulmate situation!" She said the last words with scandal like it was the most interesting piece of information that it was a crime that your lack of a soulmate wasn't on the front page of the Daily Prophet.
"I am not upset about that!" You said in a voice that was too defensive to be honest. "And there is no situation."
"Yes, there is!" Lavender insisted with a gleam of excitement in her eyes.
You huffed and didn't bother arguing with her knowing that she wouldn't give up. Instead you turned to Pavarti, hoping for support. Unfortunately, you didn't find any and saw her interest peaked. You saw the pair of them looking at each other between you as you huffed frustratedly. "She's right." Pavarti conceded. "You are upset."
"I don't want to talk about it," You firmly said as you crossed my arms defensively. "It's not like it matters anyways."
"What do you mean 'it doesn't matter'?" Parvati asked, confused.
You leaned back into the sofa and sighed. "It's just that whoever my soulmate is isn't at Hogwarts and the person I wish it was isn't mine." You mumbled gloomily and rested your head in your face.
"Wait a minute!" Lavender said urgently. "There's someone isn't there?"
You groaned. "Don't start, Lavender. I'm begging you-"
"Oh, there is someone!" She perked up, nearly falling off the couch in her gleeful state.
"Lavender, please-" You pleaded.
"Just one moment," Parvati chimed in. "You like someone, then? He already found his soulmate?" She looked at you sorrowfully, upset at the idea that you had fallen for someone who wasn't your soulmate.
"No, he hasn't found his soulmate." You admitted. "But I know he isn't mine."
"How do you know?" She persisted in finding out the truth.
You scoffed. "Because of this!" You said exasperated as you lifted up your left arm. The braided bracelet slightly fell on your wrist.
"So what?" Parvati asked.
"So what?" You repeated incredulously in a whisper. "So what is that Neville doesn't have one and that means he isn't my soulmate!"
"Neville?" Lavender's jaw had hit the floor. "Neville - Neville Longbottom?"
You shot her a deadpanned look. "Yes, Lavender - Neville. I like Neville and he doesn't have this-" You raised your left wrist again, "-bracelet, so he isn't my soulmate."
"Well, you don't know that. He might-" Parvati started to reason but was cut off by an Irish voice running in your direction as he entered the Common Room.
"Y/N!" Seamus Finnigan shouted, gathering the attention of everyone in the Common Room. "I've got something of yours."
You raised your head and gave Seamus your full attention, eager to stop this conversation and Lavender's inevitable 20 questions about you fancying Neville. "Hi Seamus." You smiled.
In response he only dangled a bracelet identical to the one on your wrist in front of you. "I found your bracelet in the library, thought you ought to have it back."
Your eyebrows scrunched in confusion. You were wearing your bracelet - the one Seamus held wasn't yours. You and Lavender asked the question on your mind at the same time.
"You were in the library?" Lavender asked in disbelief.
"You found that bracelet in the library?" You asked in the same level of disbelief. Hearing Lavender's question, you turned to her with raised eyebrows and an amused smile pulling at your lips. You turned to Seamus's direction again, "That's impossible, Seamus. I wasn't in the library today and even if I was, I'm wearing mine right now - I never even take it off!"
The entire Common Room had their eyes on you, captivated by the conversation. Seamus was now just as perplexed as you were. It was only when another voice joined the conversation that you found out the answer everyone around you wanted.
"It's mine." Neville said softly as he stood in the corner, he had been sitting reading. He walked to the other end of the Common Room where you were. You stood at once. "It's yours?" You gasped with wide eyes.
He looked at you and as cliche as it sounded, it was as if no one was there but the two of you - nothing else mattered because you and Neville were soulmates.
"You're my - my," You stuttered despite yourself, unable to finish your thought.
"Soulmate." He finished for you as he smiled. "Yeah, I am."
You smiled in return but your facial features quickly turned into confusion. "But you never wear it," You thought out loud.
His cheeks reddened and he bit his bottom lip nervously. "It's a bit embarrassing - I lost it the first day we got back." He said nervously, clearly embarrassed.
His admission only made you grin. "It's fine." You murmured and looked to your left, seeing Pavarti and Lavender gaping at your interaction. You groaned at the entire house of Gryffindor's nosiness. "Let's go," You said looking up at Neville and grabbing his hand as you both grinned, feeling the sparks. "I'd rather our first conversation as soulmates didn't include everyone listening in."
As you and Neville walked out of the Common Room, the giggles that certainly came from Lavender and Pavarti did not escape your attention. You didn't find yourself caring one bit because your soulmate was no longer lost and had been found - better yet, it was the only person you had ever wanted it to be.