Author's Note: Written for the 31 Days of Soulmate AUs in the Hogwarts thread. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

Warnings: Leaving an abusive friendship; set in a tattoo shop

Stacked with: MC4A; Harmony of Souls Eternal; Shipping War; Hogwarts

Individual Challenge(s): Gryffindor MC (x2); Seeds; Shipmas; Old Shoes; Inks; Themes & Things A (Change); Themes & Things B (Joy); Ethnic & Present; Neurodivergent; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux; Snipping Thread

Representation(s): Tattoo Shop AU; Soulmark AU

Bonus challenge(s): Demo (White Dress; Queen Bee; Spinning Plates; Bee Haven)

Tertiary bonus challenge: Sanctuary

Word Count: 1165

Shipping Wars

Ship (Team): Lily Evans/James Potter (Patronus Pair)

List (Prompt): Spring Medium 2 (Tattoo Shop AU)

Hogwarts Submitting Info

House: Ravenclaw

Assignment: Assignment #1, Criminology Task #5 Compose Reports, Write about a character working on something that'll make a difference.

The Girl Who Wouldn't Be Bound

Remus had the day off for lunar-cycle-related reasons, Peter was out for lunch, and Sirius was out running errands for the shop—paying rent and disappearing for hours inexplicably and such—when the chime over the shop door rang.

"Hey," James said, looking alive behind the counter. The girl who had just walked in had long red hair falling between her shoulder blades and brilliant green eyes that were bright and furious. She was wearing a grey sweater and high-waisted jeans, and she clung to her purse with white-knuckled hands.

James kept going. "Welcome to Marauder's Ink, how can I help you?"

"I need something removed," she said.

"We do tattoo removals," James said. "I'll need to take a look though."

"Of course," she said quietly.

He showed her over to his chair and put on a pair of gloves. She rolled up the hem of her jeans to show him the name inked on her ankle. James examined it and got progressively more confused. He hadn't seen one of these before; they were quite rare. Only a handful of people had them…

"Sorry, umm… ma'am? This isn't a tattoo, it's a soul mark."

"It's on my skin, isn't it?" she said. Then she took a deep breath and buried her face in her hands. "I'm sorry, that was rude, I'm not rude, I'm sorry. I just… I need it off, and I had no idea what the protocol for this was and I didn't know where to go."

James looked at it another second. When she spoke, she said 'it' like you might say 'parasite.' James honestly believed her when he said she needed it off of her skin…

Well; it wasn't like he, Peter, Remus, and Sirius had dropped out of Hogwarts and managed to enchant tattoo ink before opening England's first magical tattoo parlour by lack of creativity…

"I can try," James said. "But I can't promise any results."

"Of course," Lily sighed. "Thank you."

He brought her the paperwork and the waiver to sign while he got his potions and some cotton swabs out on his cart. When he was done, she handed him back the quill and clipboard. She'd been looking around at his station while she waited for him to be done, staring at the sketches he'd done in the past, the picture of him and the boys at their grand opening, another of his mum, and the twinkling fairy lights he'd hung around.

"Alright…" he peered down at the paperwork to grab her name. "Lily. If I could get you to lay down on your right side, facing me…"

He adjusted the height of the chair and took his seat, looking at the mark on her ankle again.

"So who is Severus?" James asked as he wiped down and disinfected the area of her skin he'd be working on.

"It doesn't matter anymore," Lily said. She had pillowed one of her arms under her head. "He was my friend once. When we were growing up and our soul marks came in, I realised that he might be more than that one day…"

She stopped talking abruptly.

"I'm not asking to pry," James promised. "I'm just asking because I've never done this before, but I'm basically sure there would be no going back if I do manage to get it off."

"That's what I'm hoping for," Lily said quietly. She took a deep breath. "Are you Muggleborn?"

"No," James said. "Pureblood."

"Then you wouldn't get it either," Lily said. "Not that I'm casting judgement on you or anything—I'm sure you're lovely. But there's a difference between knowing something and feeling something."

"I can understand that," James said, leveling the tip of his wand with the edge of the name on her ankle.

"Right," Lily said. "Just like there's a difference between saying something and believing it. That's all you need to know about Severus—that's all anybody needs to know, no matter what he says, and that's what I told him. He can't honestly pretend to love me if he can't respect people like me. And he honestly shouldn't expect me to believe him."

"I'm sorry," James said. "That… that sounds remarkably difficult."

"Right," Lily said. "It is. We were friends once. But soul mark or not, I won't be bound to someone like him. I don't care what fate or whoever she is has to say about it."

"I respect that," James said. "That's what tattooing is all about, you know? Doing what you want with the skin and body and time that you have. Agency and so on. Alright Lily, I'm applying a salve to your skin—we usually use it to dissolve ink, but I've tinkered with it to hopefully get a better effect."

"Alright," Lily said. "Could I see your recipe after? Sorry, I quite like potions…"

"Shop secret... but we'll see," James grinned. "I'm going to start the procedure now. It's delicate charmwork, so I'll need you to be still. Okay?"

"Okay," Lily said, closing her eyes.

James started. It took three false starts and a tightly-clenched jaw and steady hand on his end, but the mark started to fade away. James didn't give way to celebration when it did: he kept working at it slowly but surely. Whenever he felt the mark resist the charm, he looked up at Lily's peaceful face and the set of her mouth and kept going. She deserved to have it off; she deserved not to have this on her skin and in her stars. James had met her less than an hour ago and he knew this to be true.

And finally, the last 's' in the name faded away.

"Lily," James said quietly. "You can open your eyes."

She did, and they were filled with anxiety for a second until she sat up and looked at her bare ankle. She put a hand in front of her mouth. Relief loosened her posture.

"You did it," she said. "You got rid of it…"

"Yeah," James said. "Well, you got rid of him."

Lily swallowed hard and nodded. She looked at the clear skin ran her fingers over it.

"This is so much better," Lily said. "I… I want to put something else there. How do I book an appointment with you again, for a tattoo consultation? To put something more beautiful there?"

"I'll go get you my card," James said. He got up and circled the chair to reach his table, and plucked a business card out of its holder.

He handed it over to Lily who had a look at it just as a new black mark appeared on her ankle, spelling out the name James.

Lily looked from the card to him, and blushed furiously.

"I…" she cleared her throat. "I suppose I better keep this, then."

She tucked the card into her pocket and James nodded.

"I suppose I better not charge you for that removal," James said.

Lily looked at him for a second and started laughing.