Summary: HP/DM slash with a side of SB/RL, RW/HG A story about music that touches the soul, friends that refuse to go away, enemies that refuse to let you starve yourself, and lovers that never wanted to love and never want to let go now that they do.

Disclaimer: I do not own or remotely have any relation to Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling, though I do have the HP books. I do not have any permission to write this, and I do so solely for my own pleasure and am not making any profit from it.

Pairings: HP/DM, SB/RL, RW/HG and others

Timeline: Fourth book onwards and the fifth never existed in my happy imaginary world.

Chapter Three

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, sighed a heavy sigh full of pensive meaning. His tall, thin form and silvery-white, thick beard were reflected mistily in the glass of the window before him. Light, bright blue eyes, set above a long, crooked nose, gazed unseeingly at the dark grounds.

Fawkes settled on its master's shoulder, its golden plumage complementing the silver of Dumbledore's hair and beard. "Ah, Fawkes," greeted the Headmaster. "Isn't it a beautiful night? Look at all the stars glittering in the sky… but trouble is brewing beneath the calm. I am getting old, Fawkes, too old for all these complications. Complications, that have the power to destroy all that we have worked for… or bring us to a great victory."

He opened the window, letting the chill air blow in. Fawkes made a noise of discontent. "I'm sorry, my friend, but I have to leave the window open so that, later in the night, I can emphasize a point to our visitors. Tonight is the beginning, Fawkes. And we are lucky enough to witness it."

He turned and settled himself down in his comfortable chair, steepling his long, callused fingers, deep in thought. Yes, tonight would be the beginning, but there would be many checkpoints along the race for victory. Little did he know how important some of these checkpoints were… and how dangerous.

A slight tapping on his door alerted Dumbledore to his first visitor. "Come in," he called, guessing who the visitor was, and the door opened. He was right. A large, shaggy black dog padded silently into the room, nudging the door closed behind it. "Sirius, it is safe," Dumbledore said genially, and in an instant, the dog had transformed into a human. Sirius Black, wrongly accused convict, had been haggard and thin during his stay in the wizard prison Azkaban, almost going mad, but these past three years, he had improved much.

Dumbledore cast an approving glance at Sirius, who was looking much better after being well cared for by Dumbledore's allies. One of his right-hand men and trusted advisors, the muscular Animagus would have many girls swooning over him if they didn't run away screaming first – he was still believed to be a mass murderer in hiding, after all. He fit the description 'tall, dark and handsome' perfectly, with his outfit – black leather jacket, simple white collared shirt with the top few buttons undone, black denim jeans, boots, black fingerless motorcycle gloves, wind-swept black hair, and – was that…

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "A dog collar, Sirius?" he said mildly, lips twitching in a smile.

Sirius grinned. "Girls fall for the bad boy, every time. Besides, it fits me – I'm named for Sirius the Dog Star, and my Animagus form speaks for itself." His midnight black eyes danced with mischief as he grinned, showing surprisingly white, even teeth in a tanned face. "Besides, I've been gone on missions ever since the Tournament, so I wanted to have a surprise for you people after all this while. Remus will flip!" he chuckled, imagining the look on his fellow Marauder and most trusted friend's face.

Dumbledore smiled to himself. Yes, Remus was going to have quite a surprise and might find it hard to stand, but not for the reason Sirius was thinking of. As a side observer, Dumbledore had seen things in Remus and Sirius's relationship that the two men in question hadn't noticed. But he would keep it a secret for now and not interfere… unlike the other relationship that was blossoming in Hogwarts. His expression darkened at the thought, but luckily it was missed by the tall Animagus, who had been distracted by another soft knock at the door.

"Judging by the sound of the knock… that would be Remus!" exclaimed Sirius triumphantly as he swung open the door. And sure enough, Remus Lupin stood there, tugging at his worn robes, which covered beige slacks and a white collared shirt on a lean frame. His light brown hair, streaked with some grey, was a little messy, like he had run his hand through his hair. When he looked up, tired but alert stormy gray eyes in a pale, weary face widened at the sight of this unexpected friend – wearing leather and tight-fitting denim? And… oh god, a dog collar.

Sirius grinned at his friend, noting with relief Remus's much healthier-looking appearance, compared to the last time he had seen him. Thank the gods that Remus was under Dumbledore's care; this way, Sirius could go off on his missions with one less person to worry about, since he knew Remus would eat well and wouldn't have so many burdens on his shoulders with the wise Headmaster around. But right now, Remus didn't look so good, what with his mouth hanging open and his eyes almost bulging out of their sockets.

"Si… Sirius!" the werewolf managed to croak.

"In the flesh." Sirius's grin grew bigger, if that was possible, seeing his friend unable to do anything but gape. "Whoa, careful there," he chuckled, as Remus had to suddenly lean against the doorway to keep standing, since his legs seemed to have turned to jelly, partly from relief to see his wrongly convicted friend back safely, and partly because… well, just because. There wasn't any other reason. He and Sirius had been friends ever since they were young, and he was the only true Marauder left besides Remus himself. They were friends and nothing more.

Seeing Sirius smirking in triumph, Remus gathered his wits from the four corners of the earth and miraculously, managed to stand. He swallowed and straightened his robes again. "Good to see you safe, Sirius," he greeted his friend warmly – and most importantly, calmly. Very calmly. Do NOT mention the outfit, do NOT look at the outfit, do NOT even THINK about the outfit… repeating that mantra over and over again, Remus made it safely past his friend and to one of the chairs in front of Dumbledore's table, which he collapsed gratefully into. He eyed the Headmaster, who was smiling at some inside joke, and decided to ignore it. "Hello, Headmaster."

Sirius plopped himself down on the chair next to Remus, looking carefully the other man who was just as carefully not looking at him. With proper care, Remus had slowly shed the age from his appearance, and now looked more like the young adult he should be, not someone as world-weary as Dumbledore. Though he was thinner than Sirius, who was muscular from all the running he had to do to stay alive, he still looked pretty okay. In fact, he looked really good. He could just imagine Remus teaching, the children hanging on to his every word… the focused look on his face when he concentrated… the way his clothes showed without revealing… Sirius hastily looked away and prayed for a distraction so no one would see his face turning red.

The gods answered his prayer for a distraction (Gods, but you lot have a cruel sense of humour) in the form of one scowling Severus Snape. The Potions master hadn't changed one bit: that scowl was still there, together with the disgustingly greasy hair and that hooked nose, and the sallow skin. But then, once a git, always a git, so he couldn't hold it against the guy. Sirius imitated the sneer he had seen so many times before. "Snape. As ugly as before, cracked any mirrors lately?"

Snape's eyes narrowed and his lips turned up into a sneer that matched Sirius's in its venom. "I see you finally admitted to being the dog you are, Black, about time too."

They had a staring match, faces twisting into more and more horrible expressions with each passing second, with Remus and Dumbledore looking on in amused resignation, until there was yet another knock on the still opened door. "Excuse us, Severus, but you are blocking the doorway."

Snape gave one last glare before moving to a wall and leaning against it, folding his arms into his robes. They turned to look at the newest arrivals, a stern, imposing Minerva McGonagall, with her grey hair in a bun as always; a large, ruddy-faced, bushy-haired-and-bearded Rubeus Hagrid; and a dreamy-eyed, mystery-filled Astronomy teacher, Professor Sinistra. They filed in and each found a seat, greeting the rest of the people in the room.

"Only two more till we can start the meeting!" announced Dumbledore cheerfully. "Ah, I believe that here they are." And sure enough, a few moments later, two redheaded people entered the room. Arthur Weasley looked the same as ever, though his hairline seemed to have receded, and Charlie Weasley had gotten a snake fang earring that rivaled Bill's. Dumbledore supposed that Molly had had a fit about that.

"Hullo, everyone, long time no see," Charlie said cheerfully. His eyes fell on Sirius and he laughed. "Hey, Sirius, I like the collar! I hope Bill doesn't see that, he might get wild ideas." He fingered his new earring with pride as he sank into a couch with his father.

"Going to grow your hair long, too?" Sirius asked amiably.

"Nah, I can't pull it off like you and Bill can," Charlie grinned.

"Why is the window open, Headmaster?" asked Arthur, puzzled. "Autumn came very early this year, so even though it's been a week since September started, the cold winds have already been blowing in."

"Yes, Arthur, I do realize that, but I have left the window open on purpose, for to show you all something later this night. I apologise if it gets a bit drafty, but that's what the fire is for!" beamed Dumbledore.

"Alright…" Arthur replied a little doubtfully.

"Good, good," Dumbledore said happily. "Lemon drop, anyone? No? Such a pity." He popped one into his own mouth, and then waved his wand. Pieces of parchment materialised in front of each person, and they took it and read while Dumbledore sucked on his sweet.

Finally Remus raised his head and looked curiously at Dumbledore. "It's not tonight, is it? Tonight's the Lachesis," he said. "I looked at the sky just now. It comes every hundred years; that's not so rare in terms of astronomy."

"No, it is a common mistake," Professor Sinistra said in her faraway voice. "Tonight's arrangement differs from the Lachesis in the position of Uranus and the eighth star in the Cron constellation."

Sirius and Remus traded looks. Out of the millions of planets and stars in the sky, a slight difference in two of them was hardly noticeable; most people did not even know the major arrangements, let alone the minor ones, or be able to tell apart two of the minor ones with so little a difference. Remus shrugged, and said politely, "Since there are so few constellations that are similar to Lachesis, the closest one I can think of is Clotho, only that comes once a decade, which is not exactly rare."

"Many do not know that Clotho and Lachesis are two of the three Fates; the common man is mostly familiar with Atropos," came the reply. "Yet fewer still know of the Three Fates constellations. Clotho comes every ten to one years, Lachesis ten to two, and Atropos ten to three. It is Atopos in the sky tonight."

Remus's eyes widened. "Once a millennia? Then…"

The others had been listening closely, and Charlie exclaimed, "Then it is tonight!"

Dumbledore nodded serenely. "Yes," he said, pleased. "It is."

Everyone exploded into talk, except for Hagrid, who looked chagrined and slightly embarrassed. Dumbledore noticed, and beamed around the room. "Settle down, settle down… now, to make sure everyone understands… Remus, would you please read it out?"

The DADA professor nodded, and looked at the paper again. "Early will come the dark, as early will be the chill; on the Ninth the Twelfth will leave its mark. There will be four that form the basis of all things, and another four but twice they will be; they come fully aware on the rarest of nights. Of these, two are bonded of fate, but halved from hate, and so, lost. Music will bridge them, and from them the world takes shape."

"Thank you, Remus. Now, would anyone be so kind as to explain what they make of this prophecy?"

"The first line… the cold of December will come early, in September," Arthur volunteered. "But as to the dark, I have no idea; the days have been their normal lengths."

"The dark refers to the Dark Lord," Sinistra said unexpectedly. A silence fell at her words.

"Next line?" Dumbledore prompted gently when no one seemed inclined to speak, tense, worried looks on their faces.

Now they exchanged glances, but the confusion was mirrored in each of their eyes. "I don't think I quite know the meaning of, um –" here Sirius looked down at his parchement, "– the basis of all things." Nods of agreement from the others followed his admission.

"None at all?" Dumbledore smiled. "Charlie, my boy?"

Heads turned to the red-headed man as he blushed faintly. "Well – I'm not sure if it's related – but the dragons sometimes talk of things… they believe that the world is made of four elements – fire, water, wind and earth."

"Exactly," Dumbledore said. "The ancient people used to believe that too, with some exceptions – the Chinese, for example, came up with five: metal, wood, water, fire and earth. They incidentally also came up with this eight-point diagram, pointing to the eight major directions, and assigned symbols consisting of three lines broken in specific places…" He looked around at the confused and slightly impatient looks and coughed. "Ahem. Fascinating topic, really, but not our focus today, yes… so what do you make of the second line, now?"

"Four people will have an elemental power each?" Sirius suggested. "A special ability, like Charlie with his Dragonheart and Tonks, you know that young auror in the Order, she's a Metamorphmagus. So if Charlie can talk to dragons and Tonks change her appearance, then I suppose these four each have some control over an element."

"Absolutely correct, Sirius, well done!" exclaimed Dumbldore. "Yes, four people will have an affinity with an element each. And there will be four more who will have an affinity with two elements each."

There was a pause as people absorbed this, then eventually McGonagall said, "Pardon me, Headmaster, but how can you be so certain?"

He beamed at her. "Because I am one of them."

There was an utter silence this time as they stared at him.

"No? Well, I must say I am quite happy you don't believe me – it means I kept my secret well. A little demonstration is in order, then, perhaps…?" Dumbledore placed his wand on the table, drawing all eyes to the thin rod of wood with that action. "Now then. Note the cup on the table, if you would."

Eyes widened and a few gasps were let out as water from the glass cup on the table effortlessly rose up in a wobbling ball and gently floated to rest above Dumbledore's hand. Smiling, the Headmaster floated the water back, and then gently picked up the potted plant on his table – the tiny bonsai tree had been recently added. Water swirled into being on his palm this time – "Air contains water moisture," was the idle comment – and gently settled into the soil of the plant. As they eagerly watched, Dumbledore waved a hand over the tree, and it grew before their very eyes, the thin branches twisting into complex patterns and miniature leaves blooming.

"It's beautiful," Remus said in wonder. "Headmaster – this is amazing."

Dumbledore accepted that with a nod of his head. "My dear friends, this is a small measure of what I can do as an Elemental. Those with two elements are Double Elementals, and those with one Lesser Elementals. My elements are water and earth."

"Professor Dumbledore," Charlie said slowly, "If there are only four – Double Elementals, is that it? – yes, if there are only four, then how do we know which pairs of elements they'll have?"

"Ah, that seems to be arbitrary," Dumbledore said with a smile. "But I suspect that the four elements will be distributed in equal amounts."

"Do you know who the rest are?" Snape asked.

"I have my suspicions, yes. Professor Sprout told me of Cedric's extraordinary touch with plants, and I believe he had the element of earth, only none of us realised it, and we lost him." Dumbledore's eyes were sad. "I do not know the Lesser Elementals of air, fire and water – let us hope that they are not part of Voldemort's army, for Voldemort himself is a Double Elemental."

Sirius cursed. "How is Harry going to go against that!" he demanded, while shock rendered the others a shade paler and mute. "How the hell is he supposed to defeat someone with that kind of power? Now we know why he's afraid of you – you have the same extra powers – but how is Harry going to win him!"

Dumbledore shot him a quelling look. "There is more to things than meets the eye," he said cryptically. "We are luckier than you think."

They stared at him.

"Severus?"

The Potions master jumped a little. "Yes, Headmaster?"

"The potion, if you please?"

Snape produced a vial from his robes and passed it to Dumbledore. The Headmaster conjured a spoon, and poured a spoonful of the pearly white liquid. He drank the spoonful, and passed the vial to Arthur on his left. The red-haired man took it and conjured his own spoon.

As the vial was passed around the room, Dumbledore explained. "This potion is a Sense-enhancing potion. It lets you sense the innate nature of magic that is actively being used; you will not be able to sense latent spells or spells that have been in place for a while. Normally sensing magic is a thankless task, since magic is mostly similar and the subtleties of it hard to tell apart, but Elemental magic is strongly rooted in the elements. We will be able to sense what, I believe, is the fulfilment of the prophecy you have just read."

"The two who the world depends on?" Remus asked.

"And what's that bit about music?" Sirius demanded.

"I must admit the music part confounded me at first, but then I became aware of certain… recent habits of certain students. Drink the potion, my friends."

"Students!" Snape exclaimed as McGonagall conjured a spoon for Hagrid, who was the last to drink the potion. "You mean – those last two elementals are students? Who are they? What are their elements? And what are they doing out so long after curfew?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "That's kind of not the point here, is it, Snape? Get your head on straight."

Before Snape could retort, Dumbledore interrupted. "Quiet," he said softly but firmly. "And listen carefully.

"It is beginning."

Next chap: Harry and Draco meet! And play (not in that way!). And have a nice talk. Sort of.

Revised bits: I took out quite a bit of stuff from this chap (Mundungus, Arabella, Arthur as Minister – what was I thinking…) and changed the prophecies entirely.

Oh, and I updated this earlier – on Friday – because I won't have time tomorrow to do it.

Note: The constellations are made-up, of course, as is all the crap about astronomy arrangements – but the three sisters of the fates, Clothos, Lachesis and Atropos, are really part of Greek mythology. Atropos is the one that cuts the thread of life. The stuff about Chinese elements and the eight pointed thing are truths, though the eight point thing is very simplified and vague in here. And it is very interesting.

Please review!

Ashen Skies
"Gods, but you lot have a cruel sense of humour."