Soulmate!AU - You can sense when your soulmate is in distress.

Be Free

It started as feeling deep down low - like James had eaten one too many Fizzing Whizzbees or swallowed a large mouthful of Firewhiskey. It was the first day of the rest of his life - he'd graduated from Hogwarts just a few weeks ago and Sirius and he were in the process of moving out of James' parents' house. He thought it was nerves at first, but the burning sensation only seemed to get worse and worse.

He straightened his back, the trunk he'd been Levitating falling to the ground with a thump.

"James?" Sirius asked, poking his head back into James' bedroom.

The feeling began to bubble over, boiling him from the inside out. A hand was constricting around his heart. He gasped, breath shallow and rapid.

Something was wrong with his soulmate.

He clutched at his chest, falling to his knees.

"Sirius," he hissed. "Siri, my soulmate, I can feel them."

"Oh, fuck," Sirius said. He rushed forward, wrapping an arm around James' shoulders, steadying him when he hadn't even realised he'd been swaying. James blinked, trying to clear the sparks of light in his vision.

Sirius stroked his back and spoke quietly.

"Take a deep breath, James - it's just the soulbond, I know it feels worse, but we'll find them, okay?"

"They're in pain, they need my help!" James said, but he tried to take Sirius' advice. He counted his breaths in and out until the panic began to subside.

Then James scrabbled for his wand, pushing to his feet. Sirius rose beside him, a grim expression upon his face. They didn't need to exchange words to know that they were both going to help whoever James had been soulbonded to.

He strode out of his parents' house. A silver dog streaked past him - Sirius had obviously sent his Patronus to summon back up. The moment they cleared the Apparition wards, James turned to his friend; his brother in all but blood.

"Ready?"

A vicious smile crossed Sirius' face. "You know I am."

They clasped hands and James twisted on one foot, the soulbound and Apparition magic working together to yank him to his destination.

The field they arrived in was bleak, rain pouring down from the heavens, the sky dark.

Towering above a kneeling supplicant was Lord Voldemort, the terrible Dark Lord the British Wizarding society had been fighting against for nearly ten years. At his feet was James' soulmate.

Other Death Eaters were gathered around, turning to face them with varying looks of surprise and anger.

"Scum!" James cried, caring about nothing but saving his soulmate.

"Merlin's arse," Sirius muttered beside him. He snapped one of their honing signals, sending out an emergency beacon to all Order members. They'd only joined in the few days past.

James slashed his wand through the air, blasting the two closest Death Eaters to the ground. Some still wore their masks, but Rodolphus Lestrange and Bellatrix Black's distinct faces stood out to him as closet to their Lord. Sirius stepped forward to engage.

"What is this?" Lord Voldemort asked idly as James approached him.

"I'm here to take back what's mine," James snarled.

He ducked beneath the acid green flash of a Killing Curse, raising his own wand. Their duel began.

Silently, he began Transfiguring the Earth around Voldemort, exchanging the occasional curse. Vines turned to rope, dirt to quicksand, rocks to boulders. Distantly, he was aware of Sirius keeping the other Death Eaters off his back, and Order members were Apparating in to join the fight.

Voldemort was caught unaware by the Transfigurations, arrogant at his own power. He was attacked at the Earth came to life, distracted momentarily.

James' attention was focused on the man that Voldemort had dismissed, who didn't seem to know if he should join the fight. James drew closer and closer to him. The man was clutching at his own chest, a bewildered expression upon his face.

If Voldemort realised who exactly James had come here to save, fighting him would be all the more harder.

A spell sliced James' left arm to ribbons and he hissed in pain. He ducked behind one of the boulders to catch his breath and met his soulmate's gaze.

His eyes were silver, his hair dark and curling around his face. Regulus Black stared back.

"You?" Regulus said. Seeing him alive and well was like a breath of fresh air.

Rejuvenated, James flashed him a smile. The soulbond seemed satisfied now that they were so close and neither seriously harmed.

"Me," he answered and spun out to rejoin the fight.

Voldemort had not been idle, all of James' hard work destroyed.

"Do you think you can defy me?" Voldemort said, voice quiet, but it still carried across the battlefield, sending a shiver down James' spine.

"Of course," James said, never one to back down from a fight.

Suddenly, an enormous snake burst free from the earth, a churning creation of dirt and rocks and plants. James was hard-pressed to stay clear of its gaping maw, its eyes glowing an eerie red from the magic that kept it alive.

Voldemort was laughing as its tail knocked James to the ground. The laughter stopped abruptly as the snake began to wash away, mud pouring down onto James instead of that clubbing tail once more.

Dumbledore had arrived. "Must you really pervert magic so, Tom?" Dumbledore asked. Voldemort snarled at him, enraged.

James snorted a laugh and scrambled to his feet. He was dismissed from Voldemort's attention, not deemed a threat.

That was fine. Regulus had seemed to have gathered himself and was watching James with the same expression he'd worn throughout their school years; cool and unreadable. The rest of the battle raged on, but James just walked toward Regulus.

"Will you come with me?" James asked. A flicker of fear crossed Regulus' face before it became impassive once more.

"Would you want me to?" Regulus challenged. "I'm a Death Eater."

"Not quite," James said. Now that his mind had cleared, it seemed as if he and Sirius had interrupted Regulus' initiation. "I felt your pain, your terror. You don't want this. Please come with me, instead."

Regulus seemed to be wavering and the battles around them seemed to be wrapping up, Death Eaters Disapparating rather than face the Aurors that were beginning to join the fight.

"You're a fool, old man! You will burn," Voldemort growled at Dumbledore above the sizzle and screams of spells. Regulus' eyes widened even as James felt heat growing at his back. He dove toward James and they were Apparated away an instant before the flames engulfed them.

They tumbled to the ground in what looked to be a dirty London alley. Regulus was sprawled atop James, his cheeks flushed. He made no move to get up, merely lying there, bedraggled and beautiful.

"I don't know what to do," he admitted.

James offered him a smile and brought his hand up to cup Regulus' cheek. Perhaps it would be complicated, but right now his answer seemed obvious. "Be free?" he said, hoping with all his heart that Regulus would accept.

Regulus closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath. "I can try," he said, steely determination in his gaze when he looked back up.

James could ask for nothing more.

Word Count 1216

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