Fiver
AN: Spent half a year writing this off and on. You thought my ending for Marital Spat was weird? Take this! *Throws the chapter at your face*
[1]
At first, Albus Potter thought he was wide awake.
He was in Potions Class with other First Years. The teacher was Professor Tabitha Darklighter. Darklighter was not some pilot out of a Star Wars comic. She was a 60-year old woman who was 5-feet, nothing with her high heels on, and shocking blue hair. On her desk at the far side of the room, Coca-Cola cans were lined up like soldiers. As class went on, Professor "Dark", as she was not-so-affectionately known, walked around, looking at people's potions, sipping her warm, Caffeine-Free Coke.
They were working on some shit called "Yu Yu Repellant." Al had never heard of the Yu Yu and certainly never heard of any repellant for them. How were you supposed to use a potion to repel something that was made of pure darkness anyway?
But she was the Potions Master and he was not. In spite of that, Al thought he was doing a pretty good job.
The end result was supposed to be a clear, light, golden color, like morning sunbeams into your bedroom. His YuYu Repellent was somewhat darker and not as clear. It was, however, in much better shape than whatever the hell Rose Malfoy was doing at the table behind him. Her potion was purple and smoking.
It was potentially a fire hazard, maybe even a school hazard. But Professor Dark didn't seem worried. She stood at Rose Malfoy's table and practically stuck her face into the purple brew. She took a huge whiff of the smoke, pulled her head back and coughed spastically.
"You all right, Professor?" Albus asked.
Professor Dark looked at him. "I'm fantastic, Potter. Thank you very much. I think Ms. Malfoy over here just discovered a new illegal drug."
The classroom laughed. Rose Malfoy stared at her desk, face red. She looked pathetic
"All right. Shut up, kids. Shut up and listen."
The classroom became quiet. When Professor Dark politely asked you to shut up, you did it, before she started screaming the words.
"As I've said before, making a potion is like cooking. You have the raw ingredients, you have the mixture, you have the catalyst, which in this case is heat. When it's over and done with, you have the end product."
She swept her gaze across the classroom. Her eyes settled on Al.
"Changing the ingredients—even a little bit—changes the end product. Too much sugar and the cake is too sweet. Not enough bat's blood and the Yu Yu Repellant is just the Wizarding World equivalent of crack-cocaine. Twenty points to Gryffindor by the way."
The class erupted in laughter. Rose had tears in her eyes. This was exactly why Al didn't like Professor Dark. His daddy had told him all the horror stories about one third of Al's name. This woman wasn't Snape. She didn't let her House, Ravenclaw, slide and punish everyone else, but she was bad in other ways. You made a mistake in her class and you never heard the end of it.
"The point is just one different ingredient will get you a different result." Professor Dark said. "People are the same way, but that's a talk for a time when you're all grown."
She said that last sentence with a weird smirk. Dear Merlin, Al couldn't stand this woman.
"When it comes to basic-level potions, your task is simple. You are not making your own potions or applying changes to ones that already exist, you are following the instructions in the book to the letter and making—"
[2]
He blinked. Suddenly he stood at Platform 9 ¾.
His twat brother James was beside him, prodding him in the shoulder. "Hey. Hey, Nose Wipe."
Al smacked his poking hand away. He opened his mouth to respond…but something made him stop. Something wasn't quite right with James. No, not his "amazing" personality. That was pretty much the same. His face was…different.
Finally, Al said. "What do you want?"
"You'll get sorted into Slytherin."
Al shook his head. "I won't."
James Potter grinned, raising his wand. "Al the Dark Lord!"
"That's enough, James." his mother said. Except her voice didn't sound quite right. It was familiar, yes, but it wasn't what it was supposed to be.
James put his wand away and quit acting like an ass. Al stared at him, figuring out what was wrong. His brother's nose. It was quite small. It was supposed to be bigger.
Professor Dark's voice came to him without warning: Changing the ingredients—even a little bit—changes the end product.
He saw Scorpious and his dad walk in from his right.
"What if I do get put into Slytherin?" he heard himself say.
His dad put a hand on his shoulder. Al turned to face him. Harry crouched down, so they were at eye-level.
"Don't worry about it, Al." Harry Potter said.
What was supposed to happen next didn't happen. His mother was supposed to do the same thing, tell him not to worry. After all, it was her own House and she turned out just fine, but she would look away as she said it and they both would know why.
Instead, she did nothing. She stood next to Harry, just out of Al's point of view. She wore a red dress instead of a green one. He couldn't see her face yet.
Dad went on with the speech. One of the bravest men he knew had been in Slytherin. Yada, yada, he heard all this before. Why wasn't his mom saying anything?
The Malfoys passed them on the left. He only saw Hyper and Uncle Draco. Again, stuff wasn't happening the way it was supposed to. Draco just passed right by Al's dad like he wasn't even there. They were supposed to say hi to each other, shake hands. Al and Hyper were supposed to hug, tell each other they would try and get into the same House.
Hyper didn't look right either. He had pure-blonde hair and a clear complexion instead of dirty blonde hair and freckles over literally every single inch of his body. Hyper glanced at Al and smiled, and that wasn't right either. No buck teeth. His teeth were so tiny it was almost funny. Except none of this was funny at all.
Too much sugar and the cake is too sweet.
"What's going on here?" Al asked. But the words didn't come out like that. "Who's that kid?"
His dad's smile faded. "That's Malfoy and his brat."
"Harry, don't start." Al's mom said. Her voice still didn't sound right and he still didn't like that he still couldn't see her face.
"Harry!"
They turned and there was Uncle Ron in his Auror uniform. For some reason, Aunt Hermione walked with him instead of Aunt Pansy. Rose stood between them…or at least, Al thought it was Rose. She had the freckles over her body like she was supposed to, but her hair was the same story as Hyper's. Instead of dirty-blonde, she had curly brown hair.
"Just like Hermione." Al said, but the words didn't come out like that either. "Hi, Rose!"
"Shut up, Al." Rose said cheerfully. "It's good to see you!"
"You too."
"You gonna sit with me on the train?" Rose asked.
"You bet!"
They hugged each other. This was nothing like Al thought it would be. He always thought hugging Rose would be something tremendous. She always seemed so pretty. But she wasn't pretty now.
She's family, Al thought and the thought was somewhat frightening but mostly confusing. This whole thing was confusing.
They pulled away, and his mother put her hand on his shoulder. "All right, you kids be off now. Give mom a hug."
Finally, Al was able to turn and look at her.
Ginny's red hair was quite long, falling far past her shoulders. On her, it didn't look quite right. Her hair had been shoulder length as far back as far back as Al could remember—which admittedly, wasn't that far. She favored Al with a warm smile. Daddy favored her with an even warmer smile.
He stared at her, at them, eyes wide, breath stuck in his lungs. No. This wasn't right at all. Ginny didn't like his dad. Ginny didn't even like guys. What the actual hell?
"Where's mom?" he asked. Except nothing came out.
"Be safe, Al." Ginny said.
"You're not my mom!" Al screamed. Aloud, he said, "Okay, mom.
The voice of Professor Dark again: The point is just one different ingredient will get you a different result. People are the same way, but that's a talk for a time when you're all grown."
The world darkened.
[3]
Now, he stood in a blank white room.
No, not blank. Behind him, a black man sat at a desk. He had a beard that joined with his moustache. He wore nothing but grey gym shorts. On top of the desk was a large, black laptop.
Al walked towards him. "Uh...hi."
The man looked up, looked around. His eyes settled on Albus, not on his eyes, but lower, like he was seeing through him. Then their eyes met. The man wore glasses. Usually it made their eyes somewhat small like with his dad and Rose Malfoy. This man's glasses made his eyes seem three sizes too big. They were somewhat red. But not like when Aunt Pansy drank too much of that alcohol stuff, the morning after that. They weren't narrow, trying to avoid looking at light (how could you avoid looking at light on this place?). They were wide, filled with images Al never wanted to see.
The man said: "Fiver? Is that you? You're here already?"
Al frowned at the man, confused. "Fiver? No, mister. My name's Albus. But most people call me Al."
The man stood up quickly, knocking the chair over. Al jumped backwards, instinctively reaching for a wand that wasn't there.
"If you're here already, that means you've already seen them."
"S-s-seen what, mister?"
"The pathways, that's what." the man said. "Did you ever wonder why your dreams were so vivid? Why they were almost never fuzzy or distant. Why you could feel pain in them?"
Al just shook his head, not understanding.
"It's simple, Fiver. They seem real because they are real, in a manner of speaking. You can see different futures. Even the ones that can't reasonably happen anymore. Even the ones from different worlds, different universes. You can see it because it's the Will of the Wheel."
"This doesn't make any sense at all."
"It makes all the sense in the world." the man said. "That's why you're here, talking to me. Your parents and the parents of many your friends were assigned to be with one another. Did you know that?"
Al nodded slowly. "A little. They don't talk about it that much."
"They don't have to. The Wheel of Fate decided it. Not them. Not me. But it's why you can see the pathways. Your dad has a touch of it, from when he was an Anchor for Tom Riddle. He still has it. He just doesn't know it."
Al frowned. "Anchor? You mean horcrux?"
The man shrugged. "Sure. That's what I meant."
"What about mom?"
The man shook his head. "It's not quite the same story. She can see them too. But it's not because she was an Anchor for anyone. It runs in her blood. She has a few odd dreams every now and again. Ones she doesn't remember, but she wakes up in a cold sweat. She sees your dad sleeping next to her and thinks he's someone else for a second or two. Someone she would normally kill if she came across him on the street."
The man had been looking away as he said all this. Now, he looked directly at Al. "Their powers passed down to you."
"Why me?" Al asked. "Why not James or Delphi?"
"For the same reason James has green eyes and you don't." the man said. "Traits are recessive."
"I don't know what the hell that means."
The man shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I need you for something."
"For what?"
"Your dad. I need you to deliver a message. Less a message than a question. "
It was Al's turn to shake his head. "I can't do it."
"Why can't you?"
Al twiddled his thumbs. "Mister, I'm not really good at anything. I can do Potions all right. But I suck at Dueling. I lose all my matches. I suck at Quidditch. I'm so bad Slytherin would never let me on the team. I can't do anything right."
"Is that so?" the man said.
"Yeah."
"Would you ever use a Time Turner?"
"Huh? What?"
"Would you ever go back in time to try and save someone's life?"
Al thought about it for a moment. A long moment. Finally: "No."
"Explain."
"Well, it's kind of silly."
The man's gaze was like frozen steel. "I asked you to explain, Fiver."
"Well…because I watch Muggle cartoons. I watch Fairly Oddparents and Jimmy Neutron and other stuff."
"And?"
"And…every time somebody goes back in time, they change something they think is small. But they go back into the present and everything is screwed up. Jimmy's parents become cold bastards. Timmy's dad becomes a crazy dictator. It always happens."
"What if you were okay with that?" the man asked. "What if it didn't matter at all what the risk was? What if you just wanted to go back in time and save the man, just to prove your dad was wrong when he said it shouldn't be done?"
"Then that would make me selfish, wouldn't it?"
"Yeah, Fiver." The man said quietly. "Yeah, it would. You're not canon."
"What does that mean?" Albus asked, honestly confused. Of course he wasn't a cannon. What kind of stupid shit was that?
The man stooped to a crouch and put his hands on Al's shoulders. "It doesn't matter. All that matters is that you can do this. You just have to ask your dad a question. That's all you got to do."
"All right, then, fine. What's the question, mister?"
[4]
He'd heard somewhere before that boys have a lot of nightmares before hitting the teens. More than girls as a matter of fact.
Albus Potter had many weird dreams and many nightmares. As a really little kid, there had been the Goatman, a gigantic horned demon with white scales and black spots like a leopard. Looking back, it seemed like those Goosebumps stories, goofy rather than scary.
After that, the dreams became less frightening but stranger still.
He dreamed he was in one of those old Muggle tanks from one of those old Muggle wars. He had another dream where he was in a fighter plane that got shot down, yet another one where he was in a jet shooting at boats.
He had a dream where he was a black girl and just found out he (she) was pregnant. Another still where he was an African commander in some underground base, getting drunk on expensive-looking beer. Another still where he was in a treehouse making out with a goth girl. Another still where he was underwater, in a dark dungeon, where monsters lurked around every corner.
They didn't always make sense. In fact, they almost never made sense. Hyper always talked about his dreams being simple things. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but never all that vivid. Al's seemed less like dreams and more like he was seeing things that he had no business seeing. He felt like an intruder—a trespasser.
And we couldn't forget the one from last night either.
Al told Hyper all this as they sat in the shade of a tree overlooking the Great Lake. The giant squid lolled on the surface, it was very warm for late fall. They wore their school uniforms with the green trim and the serpent badges, but their robes were held in their laps. They were in their third year. Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy looked like he was supposed to: Gray eyes, dirty-blonde hair, covered from head to toe in freckles. He was handsome. Beautiful even. Al knew quite a few girls that had a crush on him.
"Damn…Al, that's some trippy stuff. What kind of RPs are you on?"
"Fuck off, Malfoy. You know I'm not on any potions like that."
"It could happen. You always get top marks in class."
"Yeah, from making what the professor tells us to, not whatever the hell I want. Besides, Professor Dark just uses Mr. Snape's revised Potions book. There aren't any recreational potions in there, just his stupid dark curses they took out."
"How long have you had them?"
"Too long. Feels like forever. So what do you think?"
"I still think they're just dreams, Al. That's the most logical conclusion. Dreams get weird sometimes. Dreams get vivid sometimes."
"Not vivid and weird like this." Al said.
"I get that, Al, but come on. I mean, pathways into different universes? Isn't it just safer to say you had too much butterbeer before bed?"
"You and your logic, Hyper."
Hyper shrugged. "I don't want to gaslight you, Al."
"You don't want to what?"
"I don't want to say that your feelings aren't real and your thoughts aren't real. They obviously are. I'm just saying we can't rule it out. Yeah, we got seers. Of course we do. Professor Trelawney was one of them. But she only had them when she was awake and only about this world."
"Yeah." Albus agreed. "And that deathbed one was a doozy. The Great Schism approaches. The holy family, made of light and darkness will be severed. What the fuck is any of that supposed to mean?"
"You don't think it—" Hyper began.
Then somebody started screaming bloody murder.
[5]
A boy, about the same age as them. The sound was high and shrill. It came from behind them. The silence before it was so perfect and calm, the scream so sudden and sharp, that they nearly fell out of the tree. Al came really close to it, but Hyper grabbed a worn, knotted, half-branch for support and grabbed his arm.
"Shit! That was too close." Al said. "What the hell's going on down there?"
It sounded like the boy was crying now.
They half-climbed, half-fell down the tree. Hyper landed square on his feet. Al landed square on his ass.
"Damn it!"
"You swear a lot, Al."
"Help me up!" Al said crossly.
[6]
They started running toward the sound.
"That better not be Delphi."
Except it was. They encountered a circle of people, all staring at something the two of them couldn't see. There were jeers and yelling and somebody threatening to get one of the professors.
Al and Hyper went through the crowd ("Pardon me." "Excuse me") and there she was. Some poor bastard was face down in the dirt, and Al's sister stood over him with her wand out. She was smiling. She was sweating.
The poor bastard convulsed on the ground.
"Delphi!" Albus yelled. "Stop!"
"Nah, I'm good. Thanks, though."
"Jesus Christ." Albus took out his wand. Delphi wordlessly disarmed him.
"What the hell is the matter with you?!"
"Nothing is the matter with anyone." Delphi Potter said. "But this asshole doesn't see it that way. This asshole thinks some people are better than others."
"Delphini, you can't just keep on doing this." Hyper said calmly.
She walked towards him, forcing Al to get between them.
"Who the hell asked your opinion, Malfoy? Why don't you lock yourself in a room and cast Fiendfyre?"
"Why? So I can see a million Delphis pop out?" Hyper asked.
She actually laughed out loud, thinking that was actually pretty funny.
"Nice. But I've got better things to do than argue with you."
"Yeah, we all can see that." Al said. "C'mon, D. Just stop it and let's go."
He even tried taking her by the arm. She snatched her arm away and shoved him. He flew into Hyper. They both fell on the ground.
"Shit!" they both said at once.
"That's quite enough!" a strong voice yelled.
Delphi's wand flew out of her hands.
It was Headmistress Minerva, hair neat and gray, eyes burning.
