Disclaimer: I do not own Glee
In high school Kurt's best subject was history. He'd never received a grade lower than an A in all four years he took it. In fact one paper, a profile on George Washington, received an A+++. A grade so high it had never been given at McKinley before, and almost reached the media and several notable universities. His teacher said it was astonishingly well researched, and so insightful it's almost as if Kurt had spoken directly to the general himself. It was eerily accurate.
Eerily isn't the word Kurt would've used. 'Supernaturally' accurate would've been more appropriate.
Kurt was a witch. A witch who had the ability to summon people from the dead.
Magic had been in his family for centuries. Through his ancestors in Salem, to his grandparents, his mother, and then to him. His father was unfortunately mortal, and after the untimely death of his wife, was left to raise a magical child alone, making it up as he went along.
The George Washington incident had earned Kurt a month's grounding (which Kurt had negotiated down to a week) and Burt had to practically beg the school to keep it to themselves, and not show it off to anyone.
His powers kicked in at 12 years old, right alongside puberty, much to Burt's dismay. He'd known Kurt would develop abilities his whole life as his wife was a witch. But after her death, he'd hoped and prayed that Kurt wouldn't. He was not prepared to deal with a hormonal, magical teenager on his own. A hormonal, magical, gay teenager. It had been a lot for Burt to handle, but he was doing his damn best to be good father to Kurt. After Carole and Finn joined the family, they were let in on the secret and after one hell of a mind-blowing revelation, they eventually accepted it and the four of them became as close as a normal family as could be considered.
Magic had rules. It wasn't like Kurt could just snap his fingers and have everything he wanted. If he could he'd be on a beach on a private island with Zac Efron and Channing Tatum serving he and Blaine drinks, naked.
After Burt reluctantly passed along his mother's Book of Shadows, Kurt would spend every waking moment pouring over every page, every spell. He learned that magic had rules, and that he should use his powers responsibly and not harm mortals.
Kurt noticed that these rules were rather vague. Sure he would never actively hurt anyone, but a harmless prank on the football team was fine, right? Everyone but Kurt had been baffled as to how the entire team suddenly ended up playing the championship game in hot pink uniforms.
Most witches were blessed with an active power, such as telekinesis or teleporting or controlling the weather, etc. They could then cast spells or brew potions to achieve a variety of effects.
Kurt, rather annoyingly, seemed to lack an active power and was rubbish with potions, but he had a knack for spell work, and was good at one particular spell.
The "To Summon the Dead" spell that caught Kurt's eye almost immediately. It didn't work the first time, which he wasn't surprised about, he'd only been practicing magic a few weeks at that point, and it was a high level spell. But it also didn't work the second time, nor the third. And even now, after 8 years of witchcraft, and dozens of attempts, he still was unable to summon his mother.
The summoning spell had rules and conditions, and was not, as he had repeatedly explained to his father, technically necromancy. He was not actually raising the dead, just conversing with their spirits.
The deceased would appear in front of him, in a semi-earthly body. They could walk and talk, and were more or less solid. However it was not permanent, they usually couldn't stay on this plane of existence for more than a few hours.
It was also a two-way spell, sort of like a phone call. They didn't have to come if they didn't want to.
But most importantly, both parties needed to be in a stable, emotional state for the spell to work. Witches could almost never summon a recently departed loved one. As neither the living person, nor the dead would have had time to properly process the death and heal.
This is why Kurt had never been able to call his mother back. He was so young when she died, and in such a state of emotional immaturity, that he just simply at his core couldn't face her yet. His mother, he figured, was watching from beyond, and knew this also and was trying to protect him, which is why she wouldn't appear. He'd given up trying, and accepted that maybe someday, it would finally happen, and he'd know when he was finally really ready.
For reasons like this, it was far easier, if a little irresponsible, to summon a historical figure he had no emotional attachment to. Hence the George Washington incident, and the consequent yelling from his father. As well as dozens of others that Burt didn't need to know about.
But today he was ready for someone different. He knew this going to be a challenge, but he hoped it would work. He was far more mature and emotionally ready for this one.
He set five candles in a circle and lit them. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and cleared his mind.
He began the incantation.
"Hear these words, Hear my cries,
Spirit from the other side,
Come to me, I summon thee,
Cross now the great divide."
He opened his eyes to see a swirling of light appear in the circle. Sparkling balls of energy danced in the air for a few seconds before assembling into a human form, until a familiar face was standing opposite Kurt.
"Hi Finn."
Hope you liked it. This started as a one shot, but has grown to three chapters, the others will be posted in due course. I tried to be mostly respectful to Finn's death. The magic is heavily based on magic from Charmed, the original show, not the reboot.