"Idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on its sword
Innocence died screaming, honey, ask me I should know"
-hozier

—

Eden had always known about soulmates. In the Wizarding World and supernatural community, they were fairly common and easy to come by.

Nearly everyone had one, and it was rare if you didn't.

Unless you were Voldemort.

Eden didn't think he had a soulmate.

Maybe his pet snake, but that was only a theory she and her best friend, Ron, thought of in sixth year. It was never confirmed.

Then again, Nagini was a Horcrux and therefore a piece of Voldemort's soul — could a person be soulmates with themselves? Maybe there was an exception for him.

If not, she pitied whoever's soul was tied to his.

And simultaneously hoped she'd never meet them.

In any case, she knew plenty of people with soulmates. No one knew theirs until they were at least seventeen, when the binding on their magic was lifted and they were able to feel full effects.

In some instances, where a creature — a werewolf, veela, and even more rarely, vampire — had a witch or wizard soulmate, they were able to feel effects at a younger age, but that typically didn't happen.

Eden had many friends who had all discovered their soulmates, though some of them were still searching, like her, but the war changed a lot of that.

Essentially, when a soulmate dies, you're able to feel it. Even if you're not "bonded" — which is the technical term for "having met and done the deed" — the connection is still prominent.

It still existed, like a thread of string that tied two people to one another for eternity, in this life, the past, and the next.

After the war, there were a few people felt the string sever, without having knowledge of their soulmate. They hadn't even met their soulmates and felt like a part of them died.

Eden considered herself lucky to not be looking through rubble and ministry-posted lists of the dead in hopes of finding their other half.

At least hers was still out there.

She hoped, at least.

On occasion, people were born without a soulmate. It was less rare than creature/wizard soulmate, but still uncommon.

Eden turned seventeen during the war — which was the age witches and wizards were unbound from the Ministry trace and allowed to feel the full extent of their magic — but she hadn't felt any different.

She probably didn't have a soulmate, it wouldn't be that much of a surprise.

"Heading out?"

Eden blinked from her stupor, moving her head from her hand.

"Yeah," She glanced to the door, spotting her best friend leaning against the frame with a raised eyebrow. "I wanted to say goodbye but you were...predisposed."

A flush reddened his cheeks and he cleared his throat. "Sorry 'bout that," he moved towards her, ruffling her playfully. "I will see you soon though, right? You'll visit."

Eden looked away, not trusting herself with a response. Would she return? She thought of the dimly lit kitchen she sat in, dusted and filled with ghosts of people that used to live there.

Memories that flooded her each time she went to eat dinner. Nightmares that engrossed her, coveted her sleep and stole away her sanity. Deaths that haunted her, chipped away at her shoulders like marble cracking in the sun.

No. Eden shook her head.

"Not for a long time," she responded honestly.

He sighed, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Okay," he replied finally, after a long lull of silence. "I'll miss you. I'll visit you. Drag Gin and Teddy along."

A smile tugged at Eden's lips, a warm nostalgia replacing the cold resentment she normally felt.

"You better," she teased, looking up at him.

Bright green eyes contrasting against his dark skin, thick-rimmed circular glasses she'd bought him the previous Christmas to replace the pair he'd had since who-knows-how-long, and messy black hair that stuck out and curled in strange places.

He was so beautiful. So good. So perfect.

"I love you, Harry," she bit her lip to stop the tears, a flood threatening to fall down her cheeks but she refused to let the gates open.

She wouldn't cry again, she'd cried enough.

He kneeled down next to her in the chair and grabbed her hands.

"I love you, Eden," he said firmly, looking into her own eyes seriously.

She searched them for any sign of hesitation, any falsities. But she knew Harry. She'd known him since they were kids, before Hogwarts and magic and war and loss and death and —

She'd known Harry for as long as she'd known how to count. She could recall her fifth birthday, the only person she wanted to spend it with was her friend, Harry.

Her parents invited him over for the party and his aunt and uncle refused.

Her dad showed up with a glare, telling Vernon Dursley and his thin, horse of a wife, that if he stopped his little girl from seeing her best friend he'd "show him how Americans deal with bigots like him" and Harry was promptly handed over.

From then on, they were inseparable. She defended him against his bully of a cousin, Dudley, which resulted in numerous black eyes and she'd had dirt shoved down her throat a few times — but Harry didn't have anyone else.

When they both received their Hogwarts letters, they didn't tell the other and it was a shock seeing one another on the train.

She'd already met Hermione Granger, her now closest female friend, and he'd met Ronald Weasley, his now closest male friend.

But every summer, whether it be bars on Harry's windows, her family trips to America to see her sisters, her sisters visiting her, long morning walks along Privet Drive or staring up at the stars after his godfather's death — it was always them.

At the end of the day, when they fell asleep, and first thing in the morning, the pair knew who they would always have on their side. It was always Harry and Eden, Eden and Harry. Ron and Hermione were added bonus, the final piece of the puzzle, but the blueprint was those two.

Leaving him...felt wrong. She knew he'd be in good hands. Ron and Hermione were staying, trying out a relationship despite not being soulmates — Hermione's logic: with billions of people on the planet and the slim chance they'd find the one person made for them, it was more logical and fulfilling to attempt a happy relationship without the premise of permanent happiness, rather than deny basic chemistry and, god, Eden droned out halfway through that explanation — and he had Ginny.

Ginny.

Eden loved Ginny. Eden had always been quick to make friends, her sister Jenna claimed it was te "Sommers sass and wit" that came naturally with their last name.

But Ginny was different. Not like Harry, who Eden thought for the first four years of school was her soulmate, but like family.

Eden had sisters, two of them, but Ginny was with her all the time growing up.

She didn't have to wait until summer to see her face or make jokes or gossip about boys or paint nails or roughhouse outside.

Ginny was like angel that fell from heaven and scraped her knees on the way down, standing up bloody and bruised with a grin on her face and a sarcastic comment on her tongue.

She was Harry's soulmate. His other half. They were perfect for each other, fitting like two peas in a pod.

They were one of the lucky ones. Ginny had crushed on Harry for years before Harry even realized her affections, let alone returned them. It wasn't until after the war, when the dust settled and their birthdays passed that they realized why they'd always been so into each other.

Ginny was Ron's sister, the only girl in a family of seven, but he was happy enough. He liked the idea of Harry and Ginny, once the overall shock and mild disgust cleared out.

Both cursed with hard lives and past trauma, not to mention insurmountable loss, Ron was happy they were soulmates, that they'd found it so young.

They healed each other, too. Eden was jealous of that, in a way.

Of course, she wanted Harry's happiness more desperately than her own, he'd suffered from his first birthday to only a few months prior.

He deserved to be happy, to smile, to wear pride on his shoulders instead of the world.

But Eden couldn't help the jealousy. She shoved it down, so far down it buried deep in her gut, nestled between her self-hatred and depression, but it was still there.

Aching.

Begging to be noticed, to be justified. And each time Harry threw his head back, carefree, laughing at the world like his godfather before him — it surfaced. For a moment, but it was there.

She didn't want to hate Harry.

She loved Harry, her perfect, beautiful, amazing best friend.

"You should go before Teddy wakes up and you end up not leaving."

Eden nodded, thinking of her godson. They shared him, she and Harry, after their dear friends passing in the war. He was supposed to live with his grandmother, and probably would at some point, but Andromeda Tonks had lost a sister, a husband, a daughter and son in law in the span of a year.

They were allowing her time to grieve and mourn and feel. She didn't need to see Teddy's face and watch it morph into his mother when he noticed a picture on the wall. She didn't deserve that burden.

So Harry and Eden took it upon themselves to raise him. Once Ginny turned of age and they realized Harry and Ginny's bond, the pair took Teddy in fully and Eden was thankful to have an extra weight off her hands.

Not that she didn't love Teddy. He was rambunctious and giggly and ate well, slept through the night — but Eden could hardly get out of bed most mornings. She couldn't take care of a living, breathing human being put into her care during the haste of a war.

Harry was better at that then her, and he understood her pain. Her need to run. She'd always been a runner. He was a fighter, standing tall at the front lines, sword in one hand, wand in the other, but not Eden.

Eden wasn't brave, not like Harry. She was a Gryffindor, sure, with the red and gold scarves and glittering nail polish — but she had the heart of a badger. A Hufflepuff. She was loyal to a fault.

The Sorting Hat even told her so seven years prior, when it nestled over her eyes and she sat on the stool with determination. She wanted to be with Harry, she'd said. Don't let him be alone.

With a warning that her loyalty could get her killed in the lion's den, the hat sorted her into Gryffindor.

Harry's relieved smile was well worth the warning.

And now, seven years later, a war under her belt and a few too many scars — she'd do it all over again.
For him.

She'd follow him anywhere, do anything for him. She wanted to keep him safe — even if he quite literally was in danger at every possible moment in time — and only managed to be brave enough to do so.

But that didn't stop the anxiety, the nightmares, the flashbacks, the drinking, the outraged cries, the long nights sat in front of a fire wanting nothing more than to jump in it and burn for the atrocities she'd done in his name.

He was brave. She was not.

And so he took Teddy; fed him, clothed him, bathed him, changed him. She laid in bed and cried for hours, staring at the wall and wishing things were different.

And then the phone call came.

One dismal, spring morning, only days after the end of the war. It was her sister, her favorite sister, crying on the other line, ripped to pieces by the news she'd received.

They cried together. The oldest of the three, the responsible, headstrong, stubborn, mother of two, perfect Miranda had died. She and her husband, leaving their two teenagers alone to mourn.

Jenna was to take care of them. To be their legal guardian. To be responsible for them.

Guilt gnawed at Eden for weeks after. She was only seventeen, Jenna twenty-five, and she couldn't even take care of a peaceful baby, how could she assist in raising two teenagers — one of which was almost the same age as her?

But with every text Jenna sent, every late night call, regards and letters from people she hadn't even spoken to — all mourning her sister and brother-in-law, it grew harder.

Harder to stay, to help her chosen family pick up the pieces after the most horrific and brutal battle in recent history, all while her blood family struggled to keep it together.

So when Harry started laughing and smiling and raising Teddy; Eden knew. She knew it was time to leave. To say goodbye as her loved ones moved on with their lives, put themselves back together after the mess of the war.

She was still broken. A gaping hole tucked into her chest, where her heart should reside, pumping blood to keep her body alive but destroying the emotions and life that should come with it.

Her family needed her, more than Harry did, and she'd picked Harry every year since they were five — she knew it was time to pick them. Pick Jenna, and Miranda's kids.

(What were their names? Jenna said them frequently, but Eden hadn't seen them since the younger one was two. Jim? Jack? Something with a 'J,' she knew it. The girl was the hard one. It was a pretty name — Ellie, Eleanore? Esther? She couldn't remember.)

And Harry understood this too. Like he understood everything else about her, without her having to say it, voice it aloud — he just knew.

He held her when Jenna told her Miranda died, he talked her through the pain, pushing his own aside. He grieved with Ginny, but tried to be there for Eden, who refused to depend on anyone else for her emotional turmoil. She hadn't even grieved Fred yet. She couldn't. How could she? George deserved to grieve him — his twin brother. Ron and Ginny lost their older brother, Molly and Arthur their son.

Eden only lost...Fred. Her Fred. She tried to mourn Remus and Tonks, Teddy's parents, her heart heavy with the thought of the charming pink-haired metamorphmagus — who's son mirrored her own unique gift — but found it hard to unlock the box she'd neatly put them in.

She couldn't open it, couldn't grieve, couldn't mourn. She couldn't think about Fred, or Colin, the kid she'd practically adopted at Hogwarts, who snuck out during the battle only to die hours later.

She couldn't mourn them, any of them. But Harry knew that, of course he did.

"I'll call you," she settled on finally, leaving her trance and reconnecting her eyes with his. A patient smile tugged at his lips.

"Every day, I'd expect. You'll miss me in an hour."

She laughed quietly, before sighing. "I will miss you. It feels weird."

"You need this," he squeezed her hands. "We're okay. Stop taking care of everyone else. You've always been the mother hen, go, be with people who can mother you. Jenna will help. You'll help each other."

Eden nodded, hesitating before pulling her hands from his and throwing herself into his arms. He collapsed back, falling against the hardwood floor, but didn't let go, holding her close. Her legs were tucked on the sides of his waist and her arms tightly around his neck, her face buried in his scent.

Harry held her tightly too, pouring his emotions into a single squeeze. They didn't say anything else, they never needed to, but he took a shaky breath and she knew he felt the same.

Things were going to change. They wouldn't see each other every morning, make each other coffee and eggs, wash each other's clothes — because scourgify absolutely ruined her shirts and made his already beat-up t-shirts more damaged — or fall asleep on the couch together.

No more holding her after a nightmare, cuddled between him and Ginny, none of them speaking about it the next day, or borrowing each other's deodorant when the other ran out. It would be different.

He would get a job as Auror, grow a family with Ginny, raise Teddy. Try and keep Ron and Hermione from killing each other — and fail, because Hermione would tell him to mind his own business — and she would return to Mystic Falls.

To her sister. To her family. The people she hardly knew and hadn't spoken to since before the nightmares, the loss, the anxiety, the trust issues...

Eden pulled back and wiped a tear from her face, slowly standing and offering him a hand. He took it immediately and stood, pulling it from her grasp and resting his hands on her cheeks.

"I love you. Call me. You'll be fine. Okay?"

She nodded, smiling tightly before grabbing her suitcase — which had been magically extended to fit everything, per Hermione's ingenuity and was only a suitcase for the sake of appearances — and gave him a two-fingered solute.

He did the same with a wink before she took a breath, steadying herself.

With another glance into the emerald green eyes that had only just begun sparkling again, she headed through the entrance hall with Walburga Black's vile portrait and outside.

And with a wave of her wand, she was off.

—

The airport was crowded and dirty and the plane ride was worse. She'd texted Jenna before boarding, telling her she'd see her the following day when she landed, but was stuck to a large, toothless man who smelled like a dumpster mated with a fishing stand and had a hot, sweaty baby.

It was horrible.

It was exactly why Eden preferred never to fly. She thought about using some of the "war compensation efforts and relief for those who suffered extremities and damages during the course of the war" fund she'd been allocated after the Ministry reconciled for first class flying, but she didn't want to waste it.

She had to purchase an apartment in Mystic Falls and a cat, maybe, since her last one was currently hoarded with Luna Lovegood and Pansy Parkinson.

(That was an interesting match, to say the least. They discovered the soulmate bond shortly after Pansy's trial, which hadn't gone well, since she'd tried to give Harry to Voldemort, but Luna's efforts to aide her got her off with only a month in Azkaban. Now the pair had nine cats and a dog — Eden was never going to that house — her own being one of them.)

When the plane finally landed, Eden's legs ached and her body was stiff with lack of sleep. How could she when the walrus next to her snored like a bloodhound on a farmer's porch?

He got up first, his stench leaving a trail as she grabbed her suitcase and followed out the plane with him.

She exchanged a look with the flight attendant, who almost gagged at the man, and was given a sympathetic smile.

Eden shrugged in response, bidding her a good day before heading towards baggage pick up in search of her sister.

She found the strawberry-blonde next to a tall, slender brunette male with an annoyed look on his face.

Ah, that must be one of the kids.

A smile grew on Eden's cheeks when Jenna's eyes met hers and her heart warmed at the sight of her rushing through the galls of people between them, nearly barrel-rolling into a mildly-irritated looking couple.

"Oh my god!" Jenna yelled, wrapping her arms around Eden and holding her tightly.

Eden wanted to cry. She'd forgotten how much she missed Jenna, how easy it was to love her, to be around her.

Not unlike Ginny's exuberant nature, Jenny was overzealous and uncomplicated. She didn't have a filter and said what was on her mind at any given moment. She was kind and unflinchingly strong, and she carried a smile wherever she went.

Eden loved Jenny so much it hurt and with her arms wrapped tightly around her older sister, she knew she'd made the right decision.

"I missed you so much," Jenna pulled back with a wide grin.

Eden laughed, nodding as tears threatened to spring from her lashes.

"I missed you too, Jenny," Eden replied thickly, using the nickname she'd given her as a child.

"You are never leaving me ever again," Jenna said sternly, though the smile still played with her lips. "Harry and co. can bring it on because I will fight for you to stay here permanently, got it?"

Eden laughed again with a nod. "Harry and co.?" She questioned with a grin.

"He's the only one I've met. And the cute one, the older one, gah, with the scars?"

Eden's smile softened and she looked at her sister fondly. Her sweet sister who hadn't a clue about the war.

She knew about Eden being a witch, the whole family did — save Miranda's kids — but none of them knew about the battle, the bloodlust, the war that waged for nearly six months before coming to a sickeningly dissatisfying conclusion.

"Remus," she agreed. "You liked him."

"He was my first bad boy crush," Jenna nodded. "When he came and picked you and Harry up, I thought I would die he was so hot."

"He got married," Eden supplied, resulting in a disappointed look crossing Jenna's face. "And he wasn't a bad boy. His ex-boyfriend was, Harry's godfather? According to Remus, he had a motorcycle and so many tattoos everyone swooned."

"God," Jenna shook her head. "I so wish I had your life."

Eden nodded, smile still planted, though a little less forced. "Yeah, maybe. He died, though," Eden added after a moment of hesitation.

Jenna's face danced between surprise and pity — the latter of which, Eden was quite accustomed to receiving — before she pulled Eden into another hug.

"I'm not going anywhere," she said quietly into Eden's ear. Despite the loudness of the airport, the business of Virginia passersby's and tourists, Eden heard her clearly. Her heart clenched.

"Please don't," she replied evenly, surprising herself with the certainty of her own voice. "I can't lose anyone else."

Jenna tightened their hug for a moment, pulling back and planting a kiss on her cheek.

"Come on, Dee," Jenna wrapped an arm around her shoulders and walked her towards their nephew.

Eden gripped the suitcase tightly in her hand, ignoring the nickname Jenna dropped, despite her hating it. She was the only person alive allowed to call her that — only Miranda and their father could do the same — and she didn't want anyone else repeating it.

"This is Jeremy, you met him when he was, like, eh," Jenna lowered her hand to the ground. "Yay tall."

Jeremy smiled awkwardly and Eden returned the smile, but with a bit less awkwardness.

"Nice to meet you, Jeremy. Now that you're not running around with a shit-stained diaper."

Jeremy's cheeks tinged red and his lips turned into a small smirk. "Weren't you like four at the time? Barely out of diapers."

Eden laughed at the remark and Jenna squeezed her shoulders gently.

"Come on, we've got a three hour drive ahead of us," Jenna nodded to Jeremy to follow and pulled Eden through the airport to the car.

As Jeremy and Jenna bickered teasingly, Eden throwing her own comments every other sentence, a warm feeling settled into her chest.

Huh.

That's weird.

Been awhile since she could feel anything in there.

Eden glanced to her sister, a laugh falling from her lips as she loaded the suitcase into the trunk of the car.

Yeah, she made a good decision.

—

Okay WOW this is super long but I'm actually pretty excited about this. No, I'm not ignoring my other stuff but I'm tireddddd and this is fun. I'm in my Mikaelson phase again leave me alone. hope you guys enjoyed, leave a comment if you do! also don't worry about Eden's relation to Jenna or why she was in England anyway — it'll all be explained. She's not a transfer student and rightfully belonged at Hogwarts, not Ilvermony.
As for the vampire diaries, it'll definitely be more focused on that show than Harry Potter, with a healthy splash of my favorite traumatized kids post-hogwarts.
Sorry this was super potter-ish.
okay long note over<3