Disclaimer: Harry Potter copyright J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended. This story was created for entertainment purposes only and if requested to be removed, it will be done immediately and without complaint.

Note: There is no specific time frame for which this story takes place; just that the trio is in school.

Soulmate Determining Potion

Hermione wondered not for the first time why nearly all of the girls of Gryffindor tower were huddled around Lavender Brown—nearly because she was not included in the group. The bushy haired girl shook her head in exasperation as she strode past the crowd on her way out of the tower. She met up with her two best friends for dinner moments later where Ron was explaining to Harry some new Quidditch strategy they should try out for their next game.

"Hey," she greeted as she took the seat by Harry and grabbed an empty plate.

"Hey 'Mione," Harry greeted with a smile.

Ron grunted his greeting and resumed his explanation through mouthfuls of food.

Hermione wrinkled her nose in disgust but didn't comment since she had long become used to the sight.

When Ron finally finished his explanation, Harry took the chance to ask Hermione, "Where is everyone? It feels as if all the girls from our house are missing."

Ron paused in his eating and looked around the room as if noticing for the first time that the table was emptier than usual. "Hmm, you're right, Harry. Where is everyone?"

"All huddled around a corner in the common room," said Hermione exasperatedly with a roll of her eyes. "Honestly, if they have this much time for gossip then they'd certainly have more than enough time for studying."

Harry chuckled at her response since that was something so Hermione-ish. "Do you have any idea what the commotion was about?"

"Not really. What I do know is that Lavender Brown seemed to be the leader so I highly doubt that it's anything academic," said Hermione, filling up her plate generously.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Not everything has to be academic to be fun, 'Mione."

"Let's see if you feel the same when you have to turn in your essay for Snape tomorrow and you need me to look over it," she said sternly.

Ron promptly shut his mouth and diverted his attention to his plate.

She grinned. "Thought so."

Even after two days, Hermione was still as clueless as ever about what all the girls have been giggling about. However, now it wasn't only the Gryffindor girls, it was all the girls from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, AND Ravenclaw with a couple Slytherin girls every now and then. Hermione shook her head disapprovingly as she strode past yet another huddled and giggling group of girls on her way to the library.

It wasn't until the end of the week that Hermione finally had an idea about what all the commotion was about. In her hand was a magazine—Witch Weekly. The article that nearly every girl in the castle was raving about was one of those typical love articles that Hermione had expected from both muggle and wizarding magazines. She was about to cast it aside if Ginny didn't insist that she at least read the article first. And so, Hermione grudgingly read over the article. Her brows were furrowed in confusion when she reached the end.

"This is nonsense," she told the youngest Weasley.

"No, it isn't," said Ginny. "You just don't appreciate what the article is offering."

"Find your soul mate with this simple potion. Within one week, you will definitely find him or her money back guaranteed," intoned Hermione dully. "It sounds like a scam if you ask me. Have you tried it?"

Ginny flushed in embarrassment. "N-not yet. I was going to try it with a few girls in my year but I wanted to try it with you instead," she admitted. When it looked like Hermione was going to refuse, Ginny purposely started looking up at the older girl with puppy dog eyes.

Hermione sighed. "Fine… I'll try it with you, but only because you look so pitiful."

Ginny immediately brightened up. "Thanks, Hermione!"

The older girl merely smiled at the redhead. "So, how much do I need to pay?"

"Three sickles," answered Ginny instantly.

Hermione blinked. "A little pricey isn't it?"

"It's money back guaranteed!" reminded Ginny.

Hermione sighed again, reaching into her pocket for the money. The things she did for friendship…

Within the next few weeks Hermione noticed that there were many swooning girls but also many moping girls as well. Hermione took it that their soul mate wasn't exactly who they had in mind, if that potion worked at all. She still thought that it was a scam, but who was she to burst everyone's bubble?

Ginny had caught up to Hermione on her way back to the tower, a small little package clutched tightly to her chest. Hermione could only assume that the package was the potion.

"It says right here that we just have to drink it and it will take up to a week at most for us to find out who our soul mates are," said Ginny, reading the little parchment that came in the box. "Your soul mate will become obvious to you by different methods depending on the person. If your soul mate is not in the area or you have never met, it is guaranteed that you will encounter him or her during that week."

"It still sounds fishy to me," Hermione commented.

Ginny laughed off the brunette's unease. "Come on, you only get to live once! Let's see if it works!"

Hermione tried to have as much enthusiasm as the young Weasley, but found it hard to when she knew that the potion she was about to drink was three sickles that she would never get back…

The next few days were some of the strangest that she had ever experienced in Hogwarts. Ginny had discovered her soulmate almost immediately and now Hermione had a hard time finding the Weasley away even a moment from the young Longbottom. Ginny had discovered that Neville was her soulmate because in her vision, he had flowers sprout all around him as he bashfully asked her out to Hogsmeade. Left and right Hermione had seen some of the oddest pairings she had ever seen. And if she wasn't seeing odd pairings it was seeing someone like Pansy Parkinson screaming to Draco Malfoy's face about how he wasn't her soulmate and how she was much too good for him. Even Dumbledore seemed amused, though he never said anything about the strange phase the students were going through.

"Everyone's gone bloody bonkers!" said Ron one day as he purposely tried to avoid looking in certain directions.

"Definitely," agreed Hermione. She turned to her left and noticed that Harry was purposely pulling his robes up to cover his face. "Um, Harry… what are you doing?"

He turned to look at her bashfully and said, "There are girls everywhere trying to catch my eye. I don't really know what they want but they're scaring me!"

Hermione let out a laugh. "I don't blame you. I bet it's every girl's dream to become the soulmate of the Boy-Who-Lived." For some reason Hermione felt very strangely happy that nobody had Harry picked out as her soulmate yet. She didn't know why, but she'd figure it out later after all this chaos had passed. Also, she still didn't understand why she was hovering in the air a couple of centimeters off the bench all week. It must've been some weird side effect from the potion…

"Soulmate?" said Ron and Harry simultaneously.

"Is that what this is all about?" asked Harry.

Hermione nodded. "Yes. It turns out there was this ad in Witch Weekly about this potion that can guarantee you find your soulmate within a week or your money back."

Ron let out a laugh. "That sounds crazy!"

Harry couldn't help but agree. "It also sounds like a scam."

"That's what I think too," said Hermione. "The only reason why I tried the potion at all was because Ginny really wanted us to try it together and look at her now," she said gesturing toward where Ginny and Neville sat with smiles on their faces. "I don't know if it was pure coincidence or if the potion actually worked."

"At least it's Neville," grumbled Ron. "I know I can trust him, but anyone else I'd kick his—" Ron never had a chance to finish his sentence because the next moment he was approached by Luna Lovegood, kissed passionately, and then was dragged out the doors of the Great Hall. No one in the room even bothered giving them a second glance except for the redhead's two gawking friends.

"Was Ron just…?"

"Yes, he most definitely was…"

"But that was just…"

"Insane?"

"Definitely."

"And just when I thought Hogwarts couldn't get any weirder…" said Hermione.

Harry shook his head in amusement. "Well, I'd think with what we've been through by now that nothing would faze us anymore."

"You'd think that, huh?" said Hermione with a grin.

They were quiet for a moment as the two friends enjoyed each other's company over breakfast before Harry asked awkwardly and hesitantly. "Did you say that you also took the potion?"

Hermione looked up from her book and blushed. "Erm, yes… yes, I did. Only because Ginny wanted me to."

"Oh," said Harry with a strange look on his face that Hermione couldn't identify. "H…have you found…?" he trailed off.

"My soulmate?" she finished.

He nodded, his face strangely red.

Hermione shook her head. "No, not yet. Today should be the last day for the potion to work."

"Oh." Another strange look on Harry's face that Hermione had trouble identifying. There was a small pause before Harry hesitantly placed his hand over hers. She felt a jolt through her body and when she looked up, his eyes were the most brilliant shade of green she had ever seen. For some reason she felt captivated by them and she couldn't look away. She also felt very warm and comforted by his look.

"I've been trying to muster up the courage to do this for a while now but I guess that now's as good a time as any," he started out.

She shot him a confused look, not quite understanding what he meant.

"I hope that you don't mind if I ask you out," said Harry in a rush, his face turning an incredibly bright shade of red.

Not only was she stunned, she was also excited since she too had a crush on Harry for a while now and felt as if she was floating. Well, that was nothing new. She had been floating all week! But now that she thought about it, her floating wasn't constant. It was usually either during class, when she was eating her meals, or when she was in the common room with her best friends. If the potion actually worked and this was her strange method of identifying her soulmate, then did that mean that it was one of her two best friends? Perhaps, but now that Ron was dragged out of the room and she was still floating…

Oh dear…

Could it be?

"I've liked you for a while now and… I was afraid that it might ruin our friendship. I'd understand if you don't feel the same…" he rambled fearfully. Harry looked worriedly over at her, not yet noticing her weird hovering in the air and focusing only on how he probably had destroyed their friendship. "I'll pretend as if I never said a thing," he continued. Harry was totally caught off guard as she launched herself over at him and caused them both to topple onto the ground.

He let out a loud 'oof!' as they landed.

"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Just shut up." And then she kissed him.

It looked as if those three sickles were worth it after all.

A/N: This was random, strange, and unbeta-ed as could be seen from how rough the story is. I'm not sure if there's already a story with a similar plot out there because I haven't encountered one yet, but I hope you enjoy this silly little idea of mine. Though posting this before Valentine's Day might've been better timing, but oh well.

Also, there won't be any updates to my other stories for a while (no surprise there) since I'm rather busy with school and life right now. I'm also in the process of editing so it might be a while before any updates are posted. Thanks for the patience, guys!