He came home, and dropped into his chair, with a headache. That seemed to be common these days.
"Hey, Albus," Ariana said, looking up, "Are you okay?"
He thought about brushing off her question, like so often. But... he had a feeling she knew when he did that. She never called him on it, but there was a look in her eyes... he didn't think he could bear that look again, not today.
"Aberforth barged in on my meeting with Gellert," she confided, "They fought again. Ari, why can't he see that Gellert is brilliant? Why can't he see that together we could make the world a better place?"
Ariana hummed thoughtfully.
"I don't know," she said, "If he is so brilliant, why can't he find a way to make the world a better place that people will agree with? A way that Aberforth could approve of?"
"Because he doesn't see that Muggles need to be..." Albus trailed off. It was the same argument, over and over again. He wanted a break. "... never mind."
They sat in silence for a while.
"So, what did you do today?" Albus asked.
Ariana handed him a pair of socks. They were crude, knitted unevenly. But they were made of wool, and definitely looked like they might be able to keep ones' feet warm. The color scheme was garish, but he found that he liked it. Bright, clashing colors. Almost as if they were a metaphor for his life. Never a boring moment, nothing dim or gray.
"I made these," Arina said, "I know I can't do... I can't..."
She struggled to even mention magic. Albus suppressed grimace at the reminder of her problem. That, right there, was why Muggles needed to be controlled.
"... but I can do this!" she continued, and smiled brightly, "And if I can find something to do, maybe everybody can. Then maybe people don't have to fight and... and kill to make the world better. Maybe it can become better without people getting hurt. Slowly, bit by bit, like... like knitting a pair of socks! And the result might not be pretty, but if people are happy, does that really matter?"
For a while they just sat in silence and looked at the socks.
"I guess they are really ugly. I just learned how to knit and I guess I'm not quite good at it yet... I can make you a new, better pair, if you want. I mean, really, what was I thinking trying to give you the first results of my..."
"No," Albus said, taking the socks from her, "They're perfect. I will always treasure them. Thank you."
And when the world broke around him...
When Gellert Grindlewald revealed himself to be a Dark Wizard, willing to sacrifice anything and anybody to reach his goals...
In the duel, where... where...
When he could no longer bear the thought of looking his sister in the eye, because he was never certain who cast the fateful spell...
He had only the memory to hold onto. He couldn't find them anymore, and he never found out what had happened to them. Maybe Aberforth had thrown them away, or Ariana had destroyed them in one of her fits of uncontrollable magic. It didn't matter; they were gone.
But he kept holding on to their memory.
Because they were a symbol, for a world he could no longer believe in. A world where everybody won. A world where the Greater Good was not good enough. Where people didn't have to be sacrificed for the good of the rest. A world where compromise wasn't necessary because everybody could get what they wanted. Where everybody had a place they belonged, where they were valued a blossomed into their full potential.
And while his idea of the Greater Good might have changed throughout his life, the idea of the better world that his sister had suggested to him always stayed just as bright, and just as unobtainable. He was left with just a memory of a symbol.
"What do you see when you look in the mirror?"
"I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks."