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Sirius had Remus written on the inside of his left wrist. It wasn’t like it was a common name but Sirius was in his final year at Hogwarts and he still hadn’t found his soulmate.
He complained about this a lot to James. His best friend usually just patted him on the back and said that his time would come. Which was easy enough for him to say. James had met Lily in first year and although it had taken her some time to admit that she was matched with James, she’d eventually come round.
When James was off with said soulmate Sirius complained to Peter. He wasn’t much help either. Peter didn’t much care for the whole soulmate thing. He was aromatic and asexual so want too fussed if he never found them.
When Sirius wanted someone to actually feel sorry for him he complained to Rachael. He found her in the common room reading what looked to be a very dull book. Sirius flopped down in the seat next to her and groaned. Rachael marked her page put her book to the side.
“Hey Sirius. Why’re you moping today?”
“You make it sound like I mope every day.”
“Nope, just most days.”
“Fair enough.” Sirius sighed heavily. “Am I ever gonna find them Rach?”
“Sirius we’re not even out of school yet, you’ve got plenty of time to find them.”
“But what if I don’t?”
“You will Sirius, I’m sure. And when you do you’ll realise that they were well worth the wait.” Rachael ran a hand through her short hair messing up her half quiff.
“What about you Rach? Aren’t you worried that you’ll never find yours?”
Rachael just looked sadly down at her hands and shrugged a little. Turning to face Sirius again with a sad smile she decided to change the subject.
“I worked out the plans, for the prank on those 5th years, it’ll have to wait till after the next full moon so we’ll have time to prepare everything but it’s ready to set up.”
If Sirius was bothered by the abrupt subject change he didn’t say anything and the two marauders began plotting.
***
Sirius hadn’t seen Rachael in just over a year since they’d finished Hogwarts. She had told him that she was spending some time in the muggle world sorting some things but she hadn’t contacted him since and had left no way for Sirius to contact her.
Sirius still hadn’t found his soulmate and it made him sadder seeing more and more people around him find theirs. They had never shared their names, it was just not the done thing. It was kept private until you actually met them. Sirius suspected that Rachael had met her soulmate in the muggle world and forgotten all about the marauders. That was until he received a letter from Rachael asking to meet up. They agreed on meeting at Rachael’s new flat and Sirius was warned that she had some big news to share.
One week later Sirius was standing outside the door to the address too nervous (though for what he did not know) too press the buzzer. Finally he pressed and spoke into the intercom. The door beeped and Sirius pulled it open. He made his way up the flight of stairs and was about to knock when a voice called out.
“It’s open, come in.”
Sirius walked in and found himself in a surprisingly spacious living room. There was no one there.
“Uh, hello?” He called, rather unsure of himself. “Rachael?”
“Sirius!” Came a cheerful voice from the room over. He didn’t recognise it as Rachael’s but he supposed a year apart could have made him forget the exact sound of his friend’s voice. “Okay Sirius. Stay there. I’m gonna come out in a minute but I have something I need to tell you before you see me. Sorry I’m making this so weird, but hopefully you’ll understand.”
“Uuuh okay.” Sirius spoke to the wall that was in the direction the voice was coming from. He turned and shut the door behind him and stepped further from the doorway into the room.
“Umm, I don’t know where to start. But here goes nothing.” There was an awkward laugh and a pause. “So you know how I’ve never fitted in to the female stereotype, like at all.” Sirius didn’t get time to respond which was probably for the best as he was a little confused anyway. “That’s because I’m not female. I’m a transgender male and I’m just gonna come out now because hopefully that will help and I’m babbling and I can explain and I hope you don’t hate me.” A guy stepped into the room. Sirius thought he looked similar to Rachael but his features were sharper and his chest was smaller and he looked more muscular. “This past year I’ve been getting help to transition from muggle doctors. I’ve been taking testosterone and trying to outwardly portray who I am, who I’ve always been, on the inside.” Sirius was rather shocked. He didn’t know what news he had been expecting but it certainly wasn’t this.
“Let’s sit down shall we?” Sirius nodded, still not quite ready to speak, and sat down on the large sofa. “Um I guess I should also say that I use he, him pronouns and I go buy the name Remus now.” That shocked Sirius out of his surprise.
“Remus?!”
“Yeah, it’s what my parents would have called me if they knew I was a guy when I was born.”
“Your name is Remus?” Sirius touched his left wrist unconsciously.
“Uuuh yeah.” Remus didn’t know if Sirius was taking the news well or not. “I hate to ask, but I need to know. You don’t hate me, do you? Because I’m sorry kept this a secret but I wanted to start transitioning before I had to explain it. And I should have kept in contact but I guess I’ve been busy but still I should…”
“Remus.” Sirius cut him off. “Of course I don’t hate you. You are who you are and I’ll support you whatever. But seriously, you could have told me sooner. A whole year!?”
“I know, I’m sorry.”
“I understand though, even if I’m not happy you waited so long.”
They both shared a smile.
“Remus though.” Remus couldn’t believe Sirius was still hung up on his name of all things. “I’ve been looking for a Remus my whole life.”
“What? Sirius I don’t know… What?” Sirius took out his wand and removed the cloaking charm from his wrist so Remus could also see the name written there. Remus gasped and got out his own wand to do the same. The two men couldn’t stop staring at their own names written on each other’s wrists. Sirius was the first to break the silence.
“You never told me that you had my name. Why did you never tell me?”
“I always presumed that if you had may name you would have said something considering how obsessed you were with finding your soulmate. So I presumed my Sirius was someone else or that maybe you were mine but I wasn’t yours, it’s not like Sirius is a very common name.”
“But I did have yours. I just didn’t know it yet.”