Author's Note: Hey guys. This isn't beta'd. Sorry.
Kaleidoscope
The Dumbledore family had always had a little bit of a problem with the drink. Once upon a time, Albus had made the pledge to never have a drop, to break the endless cycle of pain and suffering brought along by an innocent glass of firewhiskey.
He was not successful. Though he certainly wasn't his brother Aberforth, who drank himself stupid every night after closing that little bar in Hogsmeade, Albus drank once in a while - on very specific days.
He drank on the thirteenth of February, to commemorate the night he cast his empathy to the dirt and fired everything he had on his old friend Gellert. He drank on the first of June, the night that Tom had declared himself as Lord Voldemort in a running battle through Diagon Alley that left three thousand dead and a hundred houses burning. He drank on the Hallowed Night, to remind himself of the wand he held and to remind himself that he failed Lily.
Albus wanted to drink on all the days in which he had been forced to kill the myriad of students who had failed not him, but the world. For every three children he had imparted the higher magics to, he lost one.
And it was always generational. He didn't quite understand what type of luck he had to have to deserve this.
These seven years, he would give his wisdom to Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, both of them with depths of talents that he had only seen once in a while. There would be one more, chosen from the student body whenever he or she approached him. Perhaps it would be Astrid's daughter, or little Luna Lovegood who would enter Hogwarts next year.
But he knew with a heavy heart that one of them would die by the end of his wand - or he would die by the end of theirs.
Albus Dumbledore didn't worry much about Draco Malfoy's ability to kill him, but he knew Harry Potter had the potential.
He was optimistic though, because if he wasn't, nothing at all would be worth it.
It was Solstice Night.
He quashed the urge to drown his sorrows away and decided to fire-call Aberforth.
The Line She Walked
Daphne and Neville had a quiet fight in an empty drawing room about who had the right to have Harry over after Solstice at the Bones'.
While Midsummer's Night was celebrated with the family in a glade, hopefully with a fairy ring, Solstice was a huge gathering of magical families in order to preserve their strength on the longest night of the year.
People were encouraged to invite anybody worth anything to the ancestral manor of the Bones', since it was relatively neutral ground following the end of Lord Voldemort and it boasted a huge Summoning Circle on its grounds.
Of course, barely anything was ever summoned - the last time that an entity had appeared within the circle was when Albus Dumbledore had last participated thirty years ago.
Everyone was abuzz at the moment, since the Longbottom scion and the Greengrass scion would join the circle for the first time.
And they had brought along Harry Potter with them.
Currently, Astrid was warning Harry against participating in an abandoned hallway.
Harry didn't quite understand. "It'll make me more powerful, and make everyone better at magic, right?" he asked. "And there are no real drawbacks, right?"
Astrid shook her head, trying not to vocalize exactly what she thought would happen if Harry participated.
"There are… many entities in the world who could be drawn into the Summoning Circle. And many entities beyond the world. I myself do not participate."
Harry stared at her, looking vaguely confused.
"The Old Mages used to have a little mantra 'it's in the blood, it's in the blood', not because it was better to be a pureblood or that it would make you more powerful. It was because this forced them to remember the sacrifices that their families had made."
Harry was bewildered, though he was slowly piecing the puzzle together. "So you think that if I joined the circle, my blood would draw a demon or something?"
Astrid shook her head. "Not something quite as simple as a demon, Harry. There are reasons for me to believe that you have a smidgen of things a tad more powerful in you than just a few drops of demon blood. There are things in this universe which human beings should not, as young Neville would say so crudely, fuck with."
Astrid's double entendre had been intentional based on her knowledge of the older magics, but as she expected, the more lewd usage flew over Harry's head.
"So what happens if I summon something into the circle? And who's to say that Daphne and Neville won't do the same? They're quite advanced too, right?"
She let out a heavy sigh. "It's not that I'm afraid of what you might summon into that circle. I do kill Eldritch abominations for a living, Harry. In fact, my partner in crime - or law enforcement perhaps, is out here, enjoying herself. It's that I'm afraid that whatever you might accidentally see in that circle would give you purpose. And purpose, of course, is the most terrible thing to have."
"You're all the same," Harry complained, with a hint of humor. "You, and Headmaster Dumbledore. You're so wise."
"But unlike Albus, you can't butter me up, young man," Astrid scolded. "The Headmaster might cave to pleas and to the pursuit of knowledge, though despite his great accomplishments, his greatest power and his greatest failing remains the fact that he can see the good in everyone."
Harry decided it would be a good time to change the topic now. "He taught you too, right? Did he teach you alchemy?"
Astrid smiled at him in a complex way that he didn't quite understand. "I never asked Professor Dumbledore to teach me the Patterns, no."
Harry thought it was interesting that the woman referred to alchemy like the oft-quoted Perenelle Flamel did in the copy of Translitera which Dumbledore had copied. He would have asked her about it if Astrid hadn't seemed to have lost herself in the telling of her story.
"When I was a young girl, I had something to prove. Me and your mother both, and a boy named Regulus. Regulus had the simplest dream - to prove that he was the most talented boy to every come out of his family. Considering his lineage, he would have had quite a difficult time. Lily wanted to prove that being from a pureblood family wasn't everything. I brought her to one of these gatherings when we were in our third year and she consciously refused to join the circle."
"And you?"
Astrid's eyebrows did a little jump, almost sardonically. "I wanted to kill a man."
The story had begun to sound horrifically familiar.
"Who was he?"
Astrid's face had taken on yet another expression he had never seen before and the sheer ways the lines on her face moved forced a primal sort of fear out of him, the misery of needing wanting to kill and oh it was all too much and the world was fading into a clear sharp red black misery read all intentions emotions SURVIVE SURVIVE KILL the dissonant chords striking a meter heard only to one universe one curator a woman named astrid astrid with a soul as pure as a clear green blade of grass a blade that cut the grass salazar the sage cutting away the grass to trim it so neat for the world SURVIVE SURVIVE live to KILL another day SURVIVE SURVIVE One two three four a kick drum to every quarter note twice the speed of your heart One two Three four presto agitato this is the sound of girl dancing with a handsome stranger or dancing to the tune of that bastard ludwig van beethoven going blind KILL he was a bad man he was a dead man and she would SURVIVE SURVIVE and KILL him-
"I didn't quite care who he was." Harry's eyes had receded back into that green that Daphne called prettier than her own and Astrid's face had rearranged itself into an expression of quiet comfort with the world.
But in a single instance, he had known what Draco Malfoy could become. He could understand why this woman before him was one of the predators, even if she wore the face of an attractive blonde trophy wife.
Everything in Harry screamed for him to take a step back, but he didn't.
"I wasn't interested in the Patterns because I didn't think that they could help me fight. Patently wrong, but I don't think I had the detachment necessary to even come close to seeing one of the Fractals, after all-"
Harry frowned, but it was a thoughtful one, "Dumbledore's book keeps saying that. Fractal this, Fractal that. What does it mean? He says that they're-"
"Your desperation is showing, dear," Astrid admonished. "The Headmaster will tell you what they are when the knowledge is necessary to your studies."
A tinge of embarrassment colored his cheeks. "Sorry," he muttered.
"You're only sorry you've been caught. But that in itself is a good way to live," Astrid said, fully in her original persona once more - all secret little smiles that made you and you alone feel special. "Now, let's rejoin the party. We have two hours yet until midnight."
"I'll take your advice, Mrs. Greengrass," Harry promised. And he would, too. There was something about the woman showing him her true face that made her advice seem sacred to him.
Calling
When Harry got back to Daphne and Neville, Draco had already joined them. Neville looked sour about something and Daphne triumphant.
"Did you two work out where I would go after this," Harry said loudly enough to grab their attention from several steps away.
Daphne nodded and pointed at herself.
"What did you trade him?" Harry knew there was no way there wasn't some sort of exchange.
Daphne counted off her fingers. "A small plant, species Mimbulus Mimbletonia, which releases stinksap when prodded - a harmless prank item until you realize that a huge part of modern warding is based off of it… and my annotated copy of Elijah's The Element."
"You were going to give those to him anyway," Harry accused. "For Christmas."
"But he gets them three days early."
Harry looked at Neville, feigning a look of betrayal. "My presence is worth as much as an early Christmas present?"
"It's not like we won't see each other every day of break. Unless you still want to wander into London," Neville said, his voice dropping to just over a whisper.
Harry thought it over. He wasn't quite sure if he still wanted to do that. Neville seemed to sense this, so he kept quiet his more immature side which wanted Harry to go on an adventure.
"Ritual's starting," Daphne said, interrupting Harry's contemplation. "Out to the back we go."
Harry shook his head. "I don't think I'll actually appreciate this time. I get the sense that once you do it, there's no real going back."
"That's what my mother says."
The three of them slowly followed the crowd of moving people out into the grounds.
Mostly everyone was standing around a large field of wheat. No one was leading them, but everyone was so used to the procedure that they were appropriately joining hands with the people they trusted already.
Astrid was standing on a nearby hillside, watching them. Harry broke off from Daphne and Neville to stand with her.
The chanting started slowly - a strange man wearing a weird symbol on his cloak and his younger daughter, who were holding hands with a potbellied man Harry recognized as the owner of some Firewhisky company and Fred Weasley respectively, began to sing in a clear Welsh.
"That's Xeno Lovegood," Astrid muttered. "He has a certain amount of courage. Very few people would dare to start the ritual, especially with that sort of opening."
"What's he saying?" Harry asked. He didn't understand Welsh.
"Watch with your eyes," Astrid said.
Harry activated his eyes and watched the strands of magic around the man slowly change from red and black to blue and gold.
"Oh-" he said, surprised.
"Ever since the scion of Myrrdin Emyrs died, few people have dared to sing the Song of Promised Victory, especially not while wearing Fate/Materials on their cloak. It's almost as if he wanted to be cursed with an interesting life."
That was the last curse Barnabas Deverill had uttered - a promise to Loxias Black that the man would have an interesting life.
"I've never seen anything like it before," Harry finally said.
Astrid made a noise of affirmation. "I would have been highly surprised if you have. There are many things which govern the fabric of this world, and this is, you could possibly say, the view of a certain structure of governance through the lens of a kaleidoscope or maybe the negative image burned into the film of a camera."
"Not even alchemy looks this different to my Eyes."
"How different?"
"Well, it's colors I've never seen before."
"Colors?" Astrid prodded sharply.
"Yeah," Harry said. "Blue and gold, rather than red and black."
"Oh that poor fool. He was successful. That poor, poor fool." Astrid grimaced.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked, perplexed.
"I'll explain later. I'm very glad you told me. There is a certain… way that the piece of magic he's weaving can react with Daphne. Or you, possibly more strongly with you. I'm glad you'd chosen to observe with me. I need to make preparations," Astrid said.
She sat on the ground and began to chant, herself. Harry watched a surge of energy, almost as great as the sum total of the magic produced by the ritual itself, coalesce under their feet. It too, was not red and black, but green. Green as fresh grass.
"What are you doing, Mrs. Green-"
The magic boiled. "Please don't interrupt me, Harry. This is delicate."
Harry nodded and the magic settled.
Around Astrid, a singular flower rose out of the ground, a lily of the valley. It bloomed. Harry drew in his breath sharply.
The magic which Astrid seemed to have grown from the earth itself condensed into strange and smaller shapes. Harry didn't truly dare watch Astrid too closely - he was sure whatever the woman was doing would be imprinted upon his mind rather violently, so he went back to watching the ritual.
Astrid began to speak. "In the war-torn pastures of the world, I pushed aside small bushes and shrubbery in search of fresh grass."
Harry realized that the woman was absorbing this huge, huge well of power she had either grown or summoned.
"I met a blade of grass that told me about its predicament, that no one would realize it was green."
The lily of the valley wilted, just a bit.
"I laughed at it. It was yellowed, decayed and molding. It looked to be barely alive."
The lily danced in the wind.
"It told me that when I found the green pastures in my soul, I would know where the green pastures in the world were."
The energy was nearly gone now, the lily nearly dead.
"And one morning, I caught a glimpse from beyond the Veil of Maya, the illusion that we are all caught in and I saw the Root of the World for an eternity in the infinitely small fraction of another Fractal… Pastures so green, so unforgiving…"
The energy was gone, all of it within Astrid.
"Now we wait, Harry."
"What did you do?" Harry asked, entranced and a little afraid.
Astrid giggled, sounding years and years younger than she was - almost like Daphne. "I'd tell you, but they you'd have to marry my daughter."
Harry sputtered. "Uh, I-"
"Relax, Harry. I'm only joking. The first part of that was a chant passed down through the lines of my house. I have no doubt that Daphne is working up to saying it, down there," she said, pointing at the ritual circle. "The last bit is my personal revelation. I believe that something that none of us will like very much will appear in that circle."
"A demon?" Harry queried.
"Much, much worse," Astrid said, a strange gleam in her eyes. "Faerie folk. Summer fae, in fact. It will want Daphne. It will certainly want young Draco, there's enough anger in his soul. And despite the fact that you had no part in summoning it, it will want you."
"Why us?"
"There are some things in the world that perceive potential like nothing else - not only the possibilities of certain people, but the possibilities of the way that the world will move."
Harry didn't understand.
"Now is not the time. Observe the circle."
And Harry was well and truly afraid.
No one but Astrid and himself had noticed it, because Harry doubted that the little twisting symbol which he couldn't quite seem to nail down as one specific shape - it was moving too quickly - could be seen by anyone else.
He stared at it intently, trying to analyze it as it shifted and turned and changed. He felt his vision burn it into his mind and-
"Don't look too closely, turn your eyes off." Astrid was suddenly standing in front of him, wiping the twin trails of tears that were leaking out of his eyes.
Harry let his vision recede, for just a moment feeling a sort of resistance he had never felt before, but he broke through.
"If you push too hard, you'll evolve your eyes prematurely and damage your magic irreparably," Astrid said. There was the ominous note of experience in her tone.
She showed her fingers to Harry. They were covered in blood. His blood.
Harry stared at them, touching his own fingers to the trails on his cheek. Dark, thick, rich and red. He held back a scream.
"Blue," Astrid whispered, her voice laced with something that Harry was sure he would have been capable of seeing with his eyes.
A little rift in the air appeared next to her and fairly drunk girl several years older than himself stepped out of it. She had bright red hair, oriental features, and was dressed in a robe which had been cut off near the waist, as well as a pair of muggle jeans and fingerless gloves which extended to her elbows.
"Is that your partner?" Harry asked.
"Who the hell are you?" the girl asked. At first, Harry thought she was referring to him, but she was staring directly at Astrid, her hands assuming a strange clasp that began to glow.
"You're drunk, Blue."
"Green?" she wondered. "You look like Green. But your magic's nothing like Green's. Impostor?" she wondered aloud.
"No, I've imbibed a little bit of necessary strength. Make yourself not drunk, now."
"But it's fun! You definitely are Green, you party pooper," she complained.
"Look at that," Astrid said, exasperated. She pointed at place where Harry didn't dare to cast his eyes at.
"What? There's nothing th- Oh, oh no. Oh this is bad. That's a huge summoning circle. What are they summoning? Should we be killing them?"
"No," Astrid hissed. "They don't know they're summoning anything. It's actually a side effect of a long running tradition in my community. Something has latched onto their energy exchange and is going to appear there soon. I need you to go get Nicholas."
"The philosopher?" Blue asked, half-slurring.
Astrid sighed. "Yes. You have two assignments right now. You need to find the Lord Philosopher and you need to be sober, now. Eat a purging pill."
Blue sighed and fished out a little purple-
"No! That's not a purging pill. The purging pills are the blue ones."
"Oh…" Blue trailed off and fished around in her pockets a bit more, found a blue pill and downed it in a gulp.
Instantly, there was a flare of magic and Blue heaved, vomiting.
"It removes common toxins from your body rather easily," Astrid explained to Harry. "They're rather useful for a variety of purposes."
"Water," Blue croaked, stumbling.
"It also dehydrates you significantly," Astrid continued, conjuring a glass with her wand and filling it with water.
Blue gulped it down and disappeared into the air once more.
Astrid removed a bright red feather from a chain around her neck, set it on the ground and pointed her wand at it. A little stream of yellow fire lit up the feather and a single spark burst into the air as the feather was immediately charred to ash. The spark disappeared.
"I've called the Headmaster," Astrid said. "We need everyone we've got and I'm not sure if it'll be enough as is. The rift ever widens."
"Why can't you stop the ritual?" Harry asked.
"Because we'll kill everyone performing it and leave England a crater."
Harry only began to realize the true seriousness of the situation then.