Nothing is mine.

The penultimate chapter of Acheron's Ambition! This one is a little short, because a fair chunk of it is only my website. And we all know what that means... xD

What Am I Seeing in This Magic Mirror...?

The shining silver circle sat between his feet on the white stones, gleaming in the sun.

'Ba'alat Tanit demands sacrifice,' Harry murmured, staring at the black silk fluttering over the Mirror of Erised. 'Right, baby bird?' He swallowed a stab of temptation and turned his back on the mirror, shuffling around in the pebbles. 'You're going to be fine, Katie. I promise. You'll wake up with your maman and watch the sunset with her.'

Just a couple more days to make sure I'm all rested and can sustain the pensieve for as long as possible. He lifted Ba'alat Tanit's Looking Glass up on one palm and weighed it. And then that's it. Gentle melancholy swelled in his breast, cold and soft on his heart as the weight of winter snow. But I promised. Whatever it takes.

'I hope you don't miss me too much if I don't escape the loop,' Harry whispered. 'But maybe just a little, so you don't forget me.' He swallowed a pang of loss and shoved it all down. 'And if I do escape… I'll make sure there's nothing to steal your sunset. No amber-masked figure. No crucible. No war. Nothing.'

Grindelwald has to go. He'll set fire to the whole world to achieve his Greater Good. Harry sighed and set the mirror down on his lap. Liliana and my sisters are right, better hope than despair.

'And I can't stop him when I'm gone,' he murmured.

But when the sunset's gone. Harry turned it over in his head. If I come back through the loophole. When there are no dreams left but something great. Why not then? Why not bring our baby bird back into a world that won't try so hard to hurt her.

He lifted his left hand and conjured a lopsided red rose, pricking his thumb on one of the thorns and pressing the bead of crimson onto the smooth silver of Ba'alat Tanit's Looking Glass.

The whisper of the wind through the willows faded and the white pebbles fell away into pitch black.

A single crimson spark welled up in the dark, splitting into a slow whirl of red motes. They danced, swirling faster and faster, and within them a small shadow curled together.

'The sunset that eclipses the world,' Luna's voice murmured in his ear.

'Eclipse them all, last son of Kart Hadasht,' Sophonissa's ghost demanded. 'Ba'alat Tanit demands sacrifice.'

Katie sat within the shimmering crimson light, her green eyes bright as she wriggled her bare toes at the swirling vermillion magic. A mote of red welled up over her palm, bright as a star, bleeding from the black like a dying sun.

'Something so much greater.' Harry's voice drifted from the dark. 'Something important.'

'The last enemy,' Grindelwald said somewhere in the gloom, his voice soft and sombre. 'That never quite welcome guest.'

The spark on Katie's palm split apart into dancing red flames, spreading through the dark into the Peverell crest. Behind it, his daughter's silhouette faded, lingering in the light of the burning crimson symbol, flickering there, a shadow as faint as summer shade.

'One final victory,' Fleur whispered in his ear. 'La Victoire Finale.'

A wave of emerald light washed it all away and Harry stared down into smooth, still silver.

'Well, that was helpful,' he muttered, slipping his wand from his sleeve and levitating Ba'alat Tanit's Looking Glass back into the pensieve. 'I suppose it means La Victoire Finale is the end.'

And if that's the price… Then that's the price.

Soft heat flared beneath his thumbnail.

Harry vanished the red rose and pushed himself up off the pebbles on stiff legs, stifling a grimace. 'Mon Rêve.'

Fleur glanced between him and the pensieve, smoothing the front of her tight, dark blue robes. 'What have you been up to here, mon Coeur?'

'Nothing risky,' he said with a small smile. 'Je te le promets, mon Trésor.'

'Bon.' She strode across the pebbles and caught his hand, lifting up his blood-stained thumb. 'Playing with your mirror, again?'

'I'm not sure playing is quite the right word,' Harry muttered. 'But yes. I had one last look.'

'What did you see?'

He shrugged. 'The same thing, really. La Victoire Finale.'

And death.

Fleur brushed the blood off his thumb and pulled his arm around her waist, stepping close. 'I can think of a better way to spend the last day before La Victoire Finale, mon Amour.'

'If this is a Daphne Greengrass fantasy, I think I'd prefer to pass.'

She wrinkled her nose. 'You cannot tease me about her anymore, mon Coeur. She tried to murder you.'

'She did… Astoria too.' Harry sighed. 'I guess it was their dreams or mine.'

'Well, she has betrayed Britain now as well,' Fleur said. 'With De Mendoza. Just as you said. Grindelwald has control of all of Europe but France, Constantinople and anything east of Polans. The Italians changed sides when Desrosiers admitted we could not defend them and the Volsung Confederation are staying neutral.'

'I would've said you should warn Présidente Desrosiers, but…'

'No risks,' she murmured. 'Of course. How would I explain that I know?'

'Exactly.' He glanced past the silver hair spilling over her slim shoulder tot the veiled Mirror of Erised. 'Katie first.'

Fleur's fingers curled into his robes. 'We will have our baby bird back soon, mon Amour. It is all ready.'

'Just a step away.'

And a sacrifice.

Harry stared over her shoulder at the mirror. 'Do you want to do it now?' he whispered. 'We — we can do it now if you want to. Every second might count.'

She rested her forehead against his. 'Non.' Fleur's breath tickled his lips. 'Tomorrow. I do not want you to go into that ritual without one last perfect moment. Half a day will not hurt.'

A small smile crept onto Harry's face. 'Je t'aime, mon Rêve.' He pressed a gentle kiss to the tip of her nose. 'À la folie.'

Fleur's lips caught his in a soft, long kiss, arching herself into him as her hands slid up into his hair, pulling his mouth against hers. The tip of her tongue traced his upper lip, tangling with his.

She pulled back a fraction, brushing his nose with hers. 'I want more than just kisses, mon Amour,' she breathed, a little heat smouldering in her bright blue eyes. 'Much more.'

One last night.

Harry cupped her chin and tilted her lips up to his, bending to press a light kiss to her mouth. 'No fantasies,' he murmured. 'Just us.'

The willow tree whirled out of sight and he stumbled back onto the edge of their bed. Fleur pulled the silver buttons of her robes open and stepped out of them, letting the blue silk pool at her feet and tumble over the dark blue lace cupping her breasts.

A small red rose blossomed on the pale skin of her hip, its thorned stem slipping under the hem of her azure underwear.

'What's that?' Harry murmured. 'A tattoo?'

'An enchantment. On me.' She stepped closer and took his hand, tracing his fingertips over the rose. 'My part of the sacrifice.' Fleur slid his fingers under the hem of her underwear and pushed them down an inch. 'No more children.'

Harry stared at the tiny triangles of crimson runes in the thorns. 'Can you undo it?'

'It would not be much of a sacrifice if I could, mon Amour,' Fleur murmured, easing his fingers down another inch until the blue silk strained across the top of her thighs. 'Non?'

'No, he whispered. 'I suppose it wouldn't be.'

When I'm gone, it really will be just her and Katie. His stomach twisted into an ugly, hot knot. Unless… Harry shoved it away and rested a hand on Fleur's hip, pulling her a step closer. It doesn't matter. She has to be happy. They both do. And I won't be here to see it.

Fleur unclipped her bra and flicked it off one shoulder, shrugging it to the floor. A soft little thrill fluttered through Harry's veins, tracing south.

'You are wearing too much, mon Amour,' she said, easing his robes open with one hand. 'Far too much.'

Harry tugged them off and tossed them away. 'Better?'

Fleur's fingers curled around his, pushing his hand down, and the dark blue lace of her underwear slipped down to her ankles; she stepped out of it, sliding down to her knees and kissing his thighs as she leant forward between them.

'No,' Harry murmured, lifting her up and easing her onto the bed. 'I want to—' a twist of need snagged on his tongue '—I want to love you.'

I want to show you how much I love you before I can't anymore.

'Je t'aime.' He bent and kissed the thorns of the blossoming red rose tattooed on her hip.

'Je t'aime,' Fleur breathed, pulling him down onto her as his heart steadied. 'Come here, mon Amour.'

He wrapped her up in his arms and pulled her warm body close against his, breathing in her soft honeysuckle-edged musk.

After tomorrow…

'Je t'aime.' Harry tightened his grip on her and swallowed the hot lump in his throat, blinking back the heat of tears. 'I love you, mon Rêve. You're everything.'

'Like the sun,' Fleur whispered. 'All the light, all the warmth, all the world. I remember, mon Coeur. I know.'

'Everything.' Harry forced the words through a tight hot knot of sharp thorns, running gentle fingers through her silver hair as she snuggled into his chest. 'Forever.'

AN: Original novel, audiobook, all my other original novels, short stories and web serials, fanfic stories, how to support me, and strange website loading errors can be found by following the links on my profile!