#i think enzo's existence in and of itself was a Warning to caroline

[obisamya]

my top 5 caroline forbes ships/dynamics ♡

#1. caroline/enzo — “ironically, he’s recently become one of the more stable people in my life.”

[honestgrins]

Delayed Effects || Klaroline

Klaroline AU Week Day 7: Trope x Trope

Caroline loved magic and the puzzles it presented, and she was never one to turn down a challenge. As she learns while attending the Magical Alliance Conference, Klaus Mikaelson is nothing but a challenge. (HP x Soulmates AU)

Intent on making some sort of progress, Caroline stared at her brainstorming list, hoping for any spark of inspiration. A quiet Sunday in Ilvermorny's library was usually enough for her to focus, the only distraction was half of her study group being annoyingly productive.

Bonnie pointed her wand toward her notebook, the open page swathed in multicolored patches of highlighter ink. Mumbling softly, she smiled as an overwhelming scent of blueberries surrounded their table.

As uncomfortable as the intense smell was, Caroline's eyes didn't water until the blueberries were abruptly replaced by a sour pinch of lemon. "Bonnie!"

She had already moved from yellow to pink, a sickeningly sweet rosewater taking over. "Sorry," Bonnie winced. "Too strong?"

"Just a bit." Huffing out her own disappointment, Caroline faked an encouraging smile. "At least your charm is working, I can't even think of an idea for my final project."

"You just need a problem to solve," Bonnie shrugged. "That's how I found mine. I used to trick myself into remembering algebra by studying with peppermints, then eating them during the test. With my scented highlighter spell, I can associate each subject with a particular smell. Maybe I'll actually pass Arithmancy with better than an Ordinary."

Caroline frowned. "You really hate numbers, don't you?"

Nodding gravely, Bonnie focused again on her work. "So much."

They both laughed quietly, though Mr. Bingham still shushed them from behind the reference desk. His stern glare deepened when the library doors burst open and Katherine Pierce strolled in without a care for the noise.

"What's wrong with you?" Bonnie asked when she dropped next to her with a dramatic sigh.

"Can twins get divorced? Elena's whining again, and I want my genes back."

"She stole your jeans?"

Katherine rolled her eyes and threw a highlighter at Caroline. "Not funny, Care. I can't believe I shared a womb with her without taking the opportunity to absorb her."

Grimacing at the thought, Bonnie dug an elbow into her side. "Don't be mean."

Eyes wide and near to tears, Katherine adopted the breathy tone she called Elena Voice. "I don't know what to do," she pouted. "Stefan is so nice, but Damon…" She let out an exaggeratedly mournful sigh. "Is it wrong I can't decide?" Scoffing, her own catlike smirk appeared again. "I guess not, because I definitely fucked them both."

"Kat!"

Both girls wilted under Mr. Bingham's withering look at their outburst. "Sorry!" Caroline called out in a softer voice as Bonnie waved.

Katherine shrugged, unconcerned. "I don't know why she's so conflicted when Stefan's the better lay, by far."

"Nice," Bonnie chided before her eyes lit up with an idea. "Care, maybe that should be your project!"

Narrowing her eyes, Caroline shook her head. "Which Salvawhore is better in bed? A spell seems wasteful when you can apparently just ask Kat."

While Katherine sniggered, Bonnie rushed to explain. "No, Elena's problem of who she's supposed to be with. Maybe you could create a soulmate charm."

"Who finds their soulmate in high school?" Katherine snorted, but Caroline pursed her mouth in intrigued thought.

"The Sorting Ceremony," she mused. "The statues choose us somehow, right? And Hogwarts has that hat." Scribbling down some notes, Caroline kept thinking aloud. "The enchantments are probably stronger than anything I could come up with, but maybe I should think smaller. A spell that has to be customized to each person, rather than anyone who comes along."

With a crooked scowl, Katherine murmured her discontent. "Sounds like an awful lot of work for just one person. And good luck getting Elena to agree, I think she enjoys having her boys work for it."

Caroline rolled her eyes, already set on her path. Her brainstorm list was quickly replaced by potential research topics. "Then I'll just have to test it on myself and see what happens. There might be a soulmate out there waiting for me to find them."

After weeks of working with both Bonnie and their Charms teacher, though, Caroline was disappointed when her spell produced no results. Her theoretical groundwork and lack of adverse effects ensured her final grade, especially considering the lofty goal; still, it irked her to no end that it didn't work. On the bright side, there was no pressure to find whatever person the spell might have led her to.

Soulmates just didn't exist.

"Yes, Mom," Caroline promised, pressing the phone more tightly to her ear upon entering the crowded lobby. "I made it safely to the hotel and need to check into the conference. Uh huh, I love you, too. I'll bring you back an 'I heart London' shirt."

Hanging up, Caroline approached the table emblazoned with MAC in gold filigree, the simple logo blending in well to the no-Ma- muggle world. A no-nonsense witch watched her with suspicion, tapping a pen against a clipboard. "Name and identification?"

"Caroline Forbes." She handed over her passport and waited on bouncing toes as the witch scanned her list. The Magical Alliance Conference was the annual professional development event for wizards and witches working in various state bureaucracies; Caroline had been dreaming about it since graduating from Ilvermorny five years earlier. Her Charms and Potions proficiencies suited her well to Accidental Magic Response, and she was eager to learn what her counterparts faced around the world.

And all that stood between her and networking glory was a prim woman who did not look at all impressed by her bright pink suit, despite being perfectly tailored and cute to boot.

Finally, a check mark and severe nod was all the process entailed, until the woman cleared her throat expectantly. "The password is 'stardust.'"

With an excited smile, Caroline smoothly walked to the door, pulling her suitcase behind her. She whispered the password, only to frown when the handle still didn't budge.

"Americans," the witch scoffed.

Turning to defend herself from this bitch witch, Caroline gave a small shriek when her shoulder didn't hit the door as expected. The lack of sensation threw her off balance and she fell through what she had thought was a solid door. Raucous noise filled her ears, but it was the sturdy pair of arms catching her before she could crash to the floor she was focused on.

"Whoa, gorgeous," an affable British voice chuckled. Caroline glanced up to see a very attractive man helping to stand her upright. "Let me guess...American?"

Momentarily distracted by the enormous room littered with tables of vendors and crowds of people mingling, Caroline scoffed as she processed his words. "What?" she snapped. "Do I have a Made in the USA stamp on my forehead?"

"Well, now you do," he teased with a wink. "No, you're not the first to fall through the door, it's become a bit of a running joke. Rumor is you all have more space in the colonies, don't have to rely on the same standard of secrecy. Hiding in plain sight is old hat for us. Our train to Hogwarts boards in King's Cross-"

"Hence the secret doors, gotcha." Caroline huffed, reaching for the handle of the suitcase she had dropped in her fall. "Know where this brazen American can check into the conference?"

He nodded his head to the nearest table, dripping with purple and gold. "With London playing host, our Ministry of Magic is handling the welcome," he explained, holding out his hand. "Enzo St. John, Obliviator."

"Oh!" Caroline perked up, eagerly shaking his hand. "I'm in Accidental Magic Response, we work with Obliviators all the time. Caroline Forbes, I work out of Washington, D.C. This is my first time out of the country, let alone attending MAC."

Chuckling at her enthusiasm, Enzo led her to the registration table. "Well then, welcome to London, Caroline." With a joking bow, he drifted into the crowd. She watched him go, wondering if she had made her first conference friend, when her eyes landed on another man chatting with an enchanted items vendor.

Brassy curls artfully disheveled and dimples deep in his cheeks, Caroline couldn't get over how pretty he was. Handsome men caught her attention all the time, but something about the leather necklaces dipping into the open collar of his Henley drew her in. She hadn't noticed she was staring, though, until someone behind her cleared their throat. "Miss?"

Shaking her head, Caroline whirled around to face the witch who called for her. After a quick wand check and picking up her welcome packet, she really wanted to melt off the ickiness of her long flight in hot shower. As she wound her way to the elevators, though, it was hard not to get distracted by the sheer number of people in the room.

Caroline had never seen such a collection of magical beings in one place, let alone somewhere as mundane as a hotel conference center. Goblins from Gringotts were offering financial advice; a dragon protection group was handing out flyers against illegal harvesting practices for potion ingredients; Hogwarts students even had their own table to present innovative magic projects. It reminded Caroline of her own project back in the day.

A few minutes into listening to a precocious young wizard explain the wastefulness of vanishing spoiled potions, an odd awareness warmed the back of Caroline's neck. She subtly turned to glance around the room.

The pretty man was watching her, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. Caroline blinked in surprise, but a flattered smile fought to make itself known. He seemed about to approach when a similarly pretty woman grabbed his elbow, all but dragging him to some other corner of the massive hall.

Whether it was his girlfriend or his wife, Caroline had no desire to flirt with a taken man. Her colleagues had warned about MAC affairs; while a random hookup didn't sound terrible, ruining her first conference with complicated dimples wasn't worth it. Rolling her eyes, she tried to bring her focus back to the student eagerly detailing their project theory.

But she couldn't resist the pull of watching him cross the room. A strong burn of attraction fizzled under her skin when she realized he was looking back at her.

A bluebell flame danced in the center of the table, and Caroline smiled as Enzo kept changing its color nonverbally. "You're good at that."

"Charms not your thing, gorgeous?" he teased.

She nudged him playfully with her shoulder, glad to have found him in the crowded Welcome Mixer. Enzo was a friendly face, and it was surprisingly easy for Caroline to let him entertain her. "I was talking about the silent incantation," she explained, "but thanks for the vote of confidence. Charms was actually my favorite subject at Ilvermorny."

Enzo shrugged. "I preferred Quidditch myself, but not everyone can make a living of it."

Nursing her firewhiskey cocktail, Caroline squinted her eyes in curiosity. "How did you fall into Obliviating? That can be a tricky business."

"I worked at a pub right out of Hogwarts, a muggle neighborhood but with a fair number of witchy patrons," he explained. "On occasion, one of the muggles would see something they shouldn't remember, lest the Ministry were to shut us down. With practice, my precision improved until I could remove the memory of magic without touching the rest of their evening. A bloke from the Ministry noticed, insisted I interview with his department."

"And the rest is history." Caroline clinked her glass with his. "It's a better story than mine. My friend Katherine accidentally grew horns courtesy of an ex-boyfriend's rotten jinx.

Enzo let out a booming laugh. "I have to disagree, gorgeous, that sounds like an excellent story."

"No," she drawled, gravely shaking her head, "because my counterspell before we called Accidental Magic just made it worse by adding a tail. The responders glared at me the whole time they examined Kat, muttering about how stupid it was for wizards under twenty-one to be given wands."

Stifling more chuckles, Enzo eyed her suspiciously. "You joined out of spite, didn't you?"

"Hell, yes. And I beat one of those guys for my current position," she answered, preening in her triumph. Before she could add the entertaining details, however, a perfectly manicured hand slid up Enzo's arm. Caroline glanced up to see a woman with a giant engagement ring and murder in her eyes. "Hi," she greeted kindly, even if the blatant suspicion put Caroline on edge. "You must be Rebekah, Enzo has told me so much about you."

"My fiance," Rebekah bit out in a possessive tone, "always making friends. How did you two latch onto each other?"

With an exaggerated wink, Enzo gave her a roguish smile. "Gorgeous here works in Accidental Magic Response," he answered. "She actually enjoys hearing about Obliviation, unlike some I could mention."

Rebekah rolled her eyes, though she all but melted into Enzo's side as she stole a drink from his glass. "Your whole career is one spell."

The barb sounded like an old fight the couple revisited time and again; Caroline smiled at their easy affection, but something niggled in the back of her mind. "You look familiar," she realized, confused as to where she would have seen Rebekah before.

"I can't imagine why," the other woman dismissed easily, instead waving toward someone at the bar. "Nik!"

Caroline turned to find a familiar pair of dimples walking toward them, a scotch and a violently pink cocktail in each hand. The connection clicked in her mind that Rebekah was the woman who had dragged the handsome guy away earlier, but obviously not his girlfriend if she was engaged to Enzo, she was pleased to note.

"Sister," the mystery man greeted as he slid the martini glass in front of Rebekah. He raised his own to Enzo before his eyes slid to Caroline. "Hello, love. Klaus Mikaelson. And who might you be?"

Her eyes rolled on instinct, of course someone as pretty as him came with sleazy pick-up tactics. But she liked Enzo, and even Rebekah didn't seem completely awful, so she reined in the worst of her bitchiness. "Caroline Forbes," she introduced herself, her voice only a little snippy. "Accidental Magic Response in D.C."

Klaus chuckled into his tumbler. "I didn't realize Americans cared enough to fix their mistakes, let alone hire people to do it for them."

Mouth twisting into an offended grimace, Caroline crossed her arms defiantly. "Excuse me?"

"Klaus is a Curse-Breaker," Enzo explained in a resigned sigh. "Tends to look down on anyone else who doesn't meet the smarmy requirements of his field."

Rather than looking just as offended, though, Klaus smirked in amusement. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something about him just pushed her buttons. "Says the Obliviator."

The freaking superiority complex didn't help.

"Put your willies away, boys," Rebekah said, clearly bored. "You're both pretty."

Caroline scoffed and drained the last of her firewhiskey. "I think I'm going to call it a night, there's a panel on the effect of certain wand components on spells early tomorrow." Pinning Klaus with her best mean girl smile, she oozed genteel disdain. "After all, us non-Curse-Breakers need all the help we can get to justify our pitiful careers."

Surprisingly, Rebekah favored her with an impressed smile as Enzo nodded. "We'll see you around, gorgeous," he waved.

Nodding, Caroline spun on her heel, still buzzing with irritation. She hadn't noticed anyone following her until a large hand hit the elevator call button before she could. Her eyes traced up the Henley-clad arm until she found Klaus with a mildly chagrined expression. "What, did you have a few more insults for my profession?"

"Always," he shrugged, grinning when she snorted indelicately. "Kidding, love. I feel like we got off on the wrong foot."

She flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Gee, I wonder why."

Klaus laughed, a hoarse sound that struck Caroline to her core - he really was too attractive. "A fresh start, then, perhaps?" He held out a hand, just as the elevator doors opened. "Klaus Mikaelson, Curse-Breaker and occasional arse."

Though Caroline did look longingly to the waiting elevator, she couldn't help but feel drawn back to him. "Caroline Forbes, with the American temper," she sighed, reaching out to shake his hand.

As soon as they made contact, though, a new awareness made itself known within her. By the sudden confusion in his eyes, Klaus must have felt it, too. Blinking, Caroline struggled to find any words, but her grip on his hand never wavered. "I- Uh-"

He pulled her closer, almost unconsciously. "Um, you haven't imbibed in any of the aphrodisiac potions that tend to float around these mixers, have you?" His voice had lowered, somehow more intimate in a way that Caroline found herself enjoying. "This doesn't feel like anything I've tried before, but it seems like an after-effect of some elixir or spell or-"

"Charm." The answer echoed from her heart, a memory embedded with the scent of blueberries wafting from deep within her brain. "I don't believe this."

"What, love?"

Her head shook, frantic even if his close proximity held a strange sense of calming. "You're going to think I'm crazy."

Tongue swiping greedily along his lower lip, Klaus carded his fingers through her loose curls, further closing the distance between them. "Try me." It was an entreaty, a temptation.

Caroline sucked in a breath, hoping to break through the heady urge to press against this total stranger. Her shoulders raised uncertainly as she considered an appropriate way to broach her prevailing theory. "Do you believe in soulmates? Because I might have accidentally underestimated high school me in being able to identify them."

With an intrigued arch of his eyebrow, Klaus smirked as a hand possessively landed on her waist. "This sounds like a conversation best held over drinks." His eyes narrowed in a challenge Caroline felt no inclination to refuse. "Shall we?"

Links: FFnet and AO3