Nothing is mine.

And this one is a bit longer than normal, to balance things out, although that wasn't really planned!

Black Mirror

Zhou and Zareen stared at each other across the small chessboard; their pieces waved their spears and swords at one another, rattling them on their shields. Enni sat a few places along on the bench, running a small stone along the edge of her broadsword with long, slow metallic scrapes.

'Bored…' Bella hopped up onto the bench and tiptoed along it, covering each knot in the wood with her foot as she went. 'I am bored. This is boring.' She twirled at the end of the bench and skipped back along it. 'When are we doing something fun?'

Zareen sighed. 'What do you normally do when you're bored, Bella?'

'Play with my sisters!' A cold pang bit through her. 'But we can't do that anymore…'

No more weird sisters, Bella. She stared down into the reflection of Enni's blade; her purple eyes burnt like in the steel like violet stars. Just us and cousin Harry and his itty bitty baby Katie, Bell!

'This is the slowest game of hide and seek ever,' she whined. 'Enni—'

'No.' Enni shook her head, rattling the troll fangs in her red hair. 'You are too easy to find, little Bella. I can smell you. Hear your heartbeat.'

'Awww.' Bella pouted. 'Where's everyone else? Maybe Chasca will play hide and seek with me?'

Zhou snorted with laughter. 'Chasca's probably still in bed.' He glanced out the window at the bright patch behind the grey clouds. 'It's still only mid-morning.'

Bella huffed and flopped down the bench. 'Well then what are we meant to do?'

'Read a book?' Zareen suggested. 'Or try and be bored a little quieter for the sake of everyone else.'

'You're annoying when you get like this,' Zhou said. 'It's only been a few days since we got beaten to a pulp by Suleiman and you're bouncing off the walls like an excited child.'

'Silly Man cheats,' Bella said. 'He has that stupid sword and he uses it all the time.' She glowered at Enni's blade. 'You're not meant to use things like that all the time, it's just not fun!'

If there's no chance of losing, where's the fun in winning, Bell?

Quiet footsteps echoed down the narrow stairs and through the hall.

Zareen glanced at Enni.

'Daphne.' Enni tucked the small stone back into the pocket of her robes and ran a finger down the blade. 'Just Daphne.'

Bella poked Enni in the arm.

'What, young Bella?'

'Can we play?' she asked. 'Together.'

Enni cocked her head and grinned, baring her engraved fangs. 'You do not play nicely, little Bella, and to win your game, I would hunt you down and eat you.'

'Not if I get you first!'

She's fast, Bella. Bella nodded to herself. But she doesn't have any colours, Bell. It'd be like a game of tag, she'd try and dodge us and we'd try to get her!

Daphne stepped out of the stairwell, her cool blues eyes sweeping over them as she crossed the grey flagstones to the end of the long table. 'We have a new objective. Grindelwald has decided that the problem of Suleiman and Constantinople is one best left to him.'

Bella cheered and bounced on the bench, bumping Zareen's elbow as she moved her queen; chess pieces scattered across the table top and broke into a violent skirmish, hacking each other down one by one.

Zareen sighed. 'Bella…'

Enni laughed. 'You were losing; Bella has saved you from defeat.'

'What's the game?' Bella asked, drawing her wand. 'Where are we going?'

'Grindelwald will explain,' Daphne murmured. 'Astoria is just getting Chasca.'

Zhou laughed and ran a hand over his bald scalp. 'And then we will all wait while she fixes her hair.'

'What about Charlie?' Zareen asked.

'He's staying in Polans,' Daphne said. 'Readying things for the next objective after this one.'

'Two games?' Bella cocked her head.

'Grindelwald wishes to push on,' Daphne replied. 'He feels the time for carefully plotting and patiently waiting for the pieces to fall into place to fall has passed.'

A loud crack rang through the hall and Astoria appeared, holding Chasca by the arm.

Chasca scowled and tugged her wrist free, folding her arms across the golden winged sword on her chest and shaking out her long, gold-threaded braids. 'But—'

'You don't need the ribbons.' Astoria snickered. 'What is it with you and your hair? You're worse than Daph and her matching socks.'

Daphne sighed.

Chasca's dark, almond-shaped eyes flicked over everyone and she broke into a bright smile. 'I'm not last! Charlie's not here.'

'Charlie's not coming.' Zhou laughed. 'You are still last.'

Chasca muttered something in her own language. 'Fine. I'm last. I was napping. It was nice. I need my sleep; I'm not a wrinkled old walnut like you.'

A soft snap echoed through the room.

'Guten Tag.' Grindelwald tucked his hand through the silver buttons of his burgundy waistcoat, a small, sad smile on his lips. 'Today we take another step toward what must be done, willing, once more, evil, and accomplishing, one day, that greater good to which all our hearts must bend.' He drew out his long thin wand and conjured a slim copper chain. 'Our brothers and sisters who still cling to naive hope of secret coexistence have drawn up new and formidable wards along the French border to the West. Ansgar informs me that these magicks cannot be overcome but by sheer force, are too well-maintained to ever weaken, and more than strong enough to severely weaken any assault. We must test the true mettle and allegiances of those defending them to determine the measure of our opposition. Although perhaps you may find a way to prove Ansgar wrong, for the caster of these wards is likely unfamiliar with some of your magicks.'

'A game!' Bella beamed. 'To see who the best players are!'

Grindelwald flicked his wand, sending the copper chain floating across into Astoria's hand. 'Ausava sits where Ginevra Weasley and the Duforts' responsibilities meet. Former enemies in the conflict we stoked between France and Britain, they are now allies, and I wish to test the true strength of the bond of enmity against us as well as their true skill and temperament.'

'Ausava,' Chasca mumbled. 'Sounds weird.'

'Ausava is a fitting place for our conflict to leave its bloody mark,' Grindelwald said. 'Our histories state that the Roman town of Ausava and Arduenna Silva, the nearby great magical forest, were the first place Roman magicals concealed from their muggle counterparts to preserve peace; it was done before they conceived of their earliest versions of the Statute and perhaps might even be the genesis of the one signed a millennia later in Rome itself.'

Astoria held out the chain and jangled it. 'Let's go, Walküren.'

Bella skipped forward and grabbed a handful of copper. 'Time to play!

Time to feel alive or lose, Bell. She bounced on her toes as the others took hold of the portkey. Time to win or die, Bella.

Astoria grinned. 'Off we go for the Greater Good!'

A flash of golden flame seared at Bella's eyes and she stumbled over Enni's steel-plated boot into Chasca's shoulder.

'Ow.' Chasca rubbed her arm. 'Where are the wards?'

Astoria pointed her arm through the trees down the slope at a dozen small stone houses huddled around a leaning tower of square red bricks. 'Ausava is that lovely looking little village down there. It's the border between Alemannia and France.'

'Zhou, Zareen and Chasca,' Daphne murmured, 'go a few hundred metres north of here and see what you can make of these wards. Look for weaknesses or anything that might give a clue as to the identity of their creator. They are identical to those in the Pyrénées, which suggests there is one single individual protecting France with these new wards. Grindelwald hopes that if they can be persuaded to join us or captured or killed, France will be overcome at far less a cost.'

'And us?' Bella asked. 'What about us?'

'We are going to hunt.' A savage grin spread across Enni's face as she swept her fang-adorned long auburn hair back and rested her broadsword across her shoulder. 'These auror captains will make fine prey.'

'The four of us should be enough to hold our own against the Duforts and their aurors,' Astoria chimed. 'Or Ginevra Weasley and hers. If they all come, we will have to retreat.'

'Let's go!' Bella skipped down the hill over the roots and fallen orange leaves, weaving through the trees.

Enni appeared alongside her in a blur and tutted. 'You are too loud, little Bella.'

'But we want them to know we're here! Otherwise they won't come out to play with us!'

A tendril of grey mist snagged Bella's arm and tugged her to a stop where a small stream ran along the fence ringing the village.

'That's the edge,' Astoria said, pointing at the faint shimmer above the water. 'Stick a magical toe or object over the stream and the wards will know.'

Charcoal-grey fog poured from Daphne's sleeves. 'They will feel Chasca, Zhou or Zareen attempt to tamper with them.'

'Chasca will give us away.' Astoria snickered. 'There's going to be gold magical thread everywhere in a moment.'

'We should poke them, then,' Bella breathed. 'So they come here and don't go over there.'

Enni laughed. 'Little Bella is right. We don't want our quarry evading us.'

'Daph?' A tendril of grey mist snaked out, hovering in the air before the shimmer. 'Shall we inform our opponent that we are ready in the ring?'

Daphne sighed. 'You know we must.'

Astoria grinned and the mist jabbed the shimmer three times. 'I have knocked.'

A loud pop tore through the trees.

Three pairs of sharp grey eyes bored through Bella.

Sisters, Bell! A horrible cold little pang tore through her tummy. Three weird sisters all together, Bella.

'Hello again, Isobel, Céline and Colette!' Astoria waved as the grey fog swirled into three rings around herself and Daphne. 'It's time for a rematch without your troublesome brother interfering.'

The middle sister leapt through the wards, a furious gleam in her grey eyes.

Enni lunged, blurring forward, and Bella giggled, hurling all her pinks and purples at the auror captain in streaks of bright colour. Enni smacked into a bubble of golden magic and bounced back, sprawling across the grass, and Bella's colours burst in showers of white sparks.

'So reckless, sister,' the other two murmured, stepping over the stream.

'Those treacherous ice creams are wearing fancy robes for Grindelwald.' The middle sister thrust her wand at Daphne and Astoria from within the golden shield. 'They will know what's happening to our brother in Nurmengard.'

'We were only a bit treacherous.' Astoria snickered. 'But ice creams are cold-hearted.'

A quiet sigh escaped Daphne.

Bella stomped her foot. 'No more hiding and shielding! Time to win or die!' She swept her wand up. 'Ardens flagello!'

A wave of pink fire scorched the grass to dust, splashing off the bubble of golden light and fading away against the shimmer of the ward.

'Win or die?' The middle sister's grey eyes snapped to Bella as all three raised their wands together. 'While one of us lives, none of us can die. We will not allow it.'

The golden bubble shifted, flashing forward, a blazing spear of light; it hammered into a swathe of grey fog and burst, scattering the mist back into the trees.

The sisters split.

The rightmost stepped toward Bella, firing orange and blue colours at her stomach with little flicks of her wand. Bella batted them back; they splintered the fence and tore great smoking holes in the grass. She slipped her pinks into the mix, ripping chunks out of the stream bank as they streaked through the auror captain's golden hair.

The leftmost turned her wand on Astoria and Daphne. 'The vampire, Isobel,' she said, unleashing a stream of fierce electric blues.

The middle sister conjured a lash of blue fire and flicked it forward at Enni, coiling the ribbon of azure flame around her. Enni bared her fangs and leapt through it, lifting her broadsword over her head.

The sisters apparated back together, golden light bursting from the tips of Céline and Colette's wand, and Enni's blade stuck, torn from her fingers as she smacked into the glowing shield and rolled back.

Isobel slashed her wand and the whip of blue fire slapped the broadsword away into the forest and sliced through Enni's thighs.

'La Belle France a demandé,' the Duforts murmured, stepping apart.

Colette levelled her wand at Enni's back as she grabbed for her severed legs, conjuring thick brown ropes from the air.

'Céline,' Isobel said.

'Of course, sister.' Céline raised her wand, transfiguring the splinters of the fence into a swarm of locusts and sweeping them forward.

'Confringo!' Bella jabbed her wand at them, watching her magic sweep the bugs back into the wall of the houses and squish them against the stone. 'Itty bitty baby Cissy hates bugs—' she skipped forward, firing all her colours at Céline '—I squished them for her just like that.'

Céline vanished with a loud pop, reappearing back to back with her sisters and throwing up their golden shield to deflect lances of grey fog away from Isobel's back.

'You all play together…' Bella whispered; hot tears stung her eyes as the horrible cold clawed at her.

Fire flashed through her veins. And we have to play all alone, Bell!

A ripple of crackling purple magic burst from her, flinging Enni's trussed up body and severed legs back into the trees; it hammered into the Duforts' shield, sending them staggering sideways, and Astoria and Daphne vanished with a loud crack.

Oops!

'I was a — I was a — I was a weird sister,' Bella sang, fire bubbling in her veins and her eyes prickling with tears; she raised her wand and poured Fiendfyre across the scorched ground. 'No more hiding behind shields!'

The three sisters spun, the golden shield flowing into a brilliant shining star at the tips of their three wands; it burst forth in a blazing beam.

Uh oh, Bell! Bella squeaked and dived left.

A flash of pain tore through her hip as she rolled across the floor and bounced back to her feet.

That was close, Bella.

Grey mist squashed the whispering red flames as they curled together into a swarm of burning butterflies.

'Awww.' Bella scowled and poked at the scorch mark on her white robes. 'Look what you did! You ruined it!

Céline and Colette turned to the treeline, sweeping lashes of blue flames through the trunks, and Astoria and Daphne appeared on the burnt grass with a loud crack.

Isobel advanced on Bella, a ribbon of azure fire curling from her wand.

'Ardens Flagello,' Bella cried, sweeping a wave of pink fire at her.

Isobel's blue swept through it, slicing through the pink like a blade through a storm of petals. Bella threw up a faint flickering shield, but the blue seared through like acid melting flesh.

Uh oh, Bell. We're still rusty!

The ribbon of azure flame streaked closer.

A dark blur smashed through the blue fire with a grunt and blood splattered across the scorched ground.

Isobel stumbled back from Enni's slim figure, great gouts of red gushing from the stump of her arm into the blackened grass; crimson soaked through her blue robes from the deep cut across her ribs and dribbled from the corner of her mouth.

A savage grin spread across Enni's face and she licked blood from her broadsword with the tip of her tongue. 'You taste sweet, young auror. I wonder if your identical sisters taste the exact same as you do?'

A loud crack rang out and Isobel's sisters appeared either side of her within the bubble of golden light.

'Say the words,' Céline snapped. 'Isobel!'

Isobel sagged in their grip, her head slumping over the golden lion on her breast.

Colette snatched up the severed limb and dragged them back across the stream behind the faint shimmer of wards. Their golden shield wavered out as they lay their sister down on the grass.

Bella cocked her head. 'Is she going to lose?'

'I do not miss my strikes, little Bella.' Enni bared her engraved fangs. 'My blade cut deep through her ribs and her lungs filled with blood. She drowned and her heart has now—' she tilted her head, spilling auburn hair and ivory troll fangs over her shoulder '—stopped.'

'No more weird sisters,' Bella said, staring into Isobel's empty grey eyes. 'If you don't have a trump card, the game ends for good.'

'No,' Céline whispered, taking her sister's still pale hand in hers. 'You don't understand. We are inseverable.'

Colette's thumb brushed the fierce red scar along Isobel's blood-spattered neck. 'Our own blood died to make sure of it.' She took their sister's severed hand between hers and set the arm down against her bleeding shoulder. 'And while one of us lives…'

Wisps of golden magic rose from Isobel and her fingers curled closed around her sisters' hands. 'None of us can die.'

Three pairs of grey eyes stared back across the stream. 'We will not allow it.' The Duforts rose to their feet and raised their wands. 'For La Belle France.'

'For our little brother,' Isobel whispered, her grey eyes burning with fierce rage.

A trump card, Bell! She didn't want to lose! She didn't die! She came back like we did! They can play! Bella beamed. They can play together forever, Bella. Sisters that can never be separated.

A loud crack rang through the trees and Chasca darted out, leaping over the fallen trunks. 'British aurors are coming!'

'Time to flake!' Astoria chimed. 'Better luck next time, girls!'

Grey mist burst from Daphne and Astoria's sleeves, coiling around Bella's waist, and with a loud crack they appeared among the trees up the slope.

'They won't pursue us this far from the wards,' Daphne said.

'They might,' Astoria replied. 'They seem very upset about their brother. We've not fought anyone who might be able to beat our whole team apart from him and Suleiman, but I guess there are three of them, so it doesn't really count, right Daph?'

'It does,' Bella said. 'They're the same really. Like us!'

Zhou snorted. 'We're not the same.'

'Not you.' She stuck her tongue out at him and Chasca laughed. 'Us. Me.' Bella poked herself in the chest with her wand. 'See?'

'That was a neat trick they did,' Astoria said. 'To survive that wound and try to mess with our heads instead of just retreating. A few quick charms to make it look worse than it was and pretend she was dead. Nice theatrics.'

Enni shook her head, rattling the troll fangs in her hair. 'That young girl was dead.' She sniffed the blood on her blade. 'My senses are not easily deceived. Her heart was still as a stone.'

Astoria and Daphne shared a sharp glance.

'You're sure?' Daphne murmured.

A savage grin spread across Enni's face and she bared her engraved fangs. 'I have not seen magic like that in all my long years, not from your kind.'

'It's a trump card,' Bella sang. 'All the best players have them.'

'It's not a game,' Zareen chided.

Bella giggled. 'It's all games, silly. And in the end we all lose.' She bounced on the balls of her feet. 'Who's their brother?'

We never had a brother, Bella. She clawed back through the fog to a wry grin and long dark hair. We had that mangy mutt, Sirius. But we ended up on different sides and he was rude about our singing!

'Henri Dufort,' Astoria said. 'Powerful enough to defeat our entire former unspeakable team by himself if we weren't careful and clever. He killed Julien Aguillard and played a risky role as a double agent with Britain, nearly ruining all of Grindelwald's carefully crafted plans.'

A small frown creased Daphne's forehead. 'They seem to believe we have Henri Dufort alive and captive in Nurmengard.'

'He's dead.' Astoria shrugged. 'It was several hundred metres to the ground and he didn't have a wand. None of the aurors survived it. Nobody could survive it. And if he had survived, we would have seen him by now. It's been over a month.'

'Perhaps after Violette appeared to die, he didn't have time to tell anyone of his survival or of his mission with us as Tom Gaunt,' Daphne murmured. 'That would explain why they think he might be alive in Europe somewhere.'

Tom Gaunt. Tom and Gaunt. Merope and Marvolo and Voldemort. That's a hide and seek name! Bella giggled. We found you, cousin Harry! We found him, Bell! It must be him! He beat the Dark Lord and now he uses his name to show off that he won.

Astoria grinned, bright mischief in her pale blue eyes. 'It's okay, Daph, I know you kind of liked him, but we'll find you another nice boy to make two-scoop ice cream babies with one day. Mint goes well with lots of flavours.'

Daphne sighed. 'It was such a waste.'

'We couldn't persuade him and he was a serious threat to the Greater Good.' Astoria shrugged. 'So he's dead.'

No, he's not! No, you didn't! They didn't, did they, Bell? Bella clapped her hands over her mouth and twirled around to grin into the forest, bright hot joy racing through her veins. No, they didn't, Bella. We saw his name on the tapestry when we woke up. But let's not spoil the game.

'It's a secret,' she breathed, giggling into her fingers.

He'll come back to get them, Bell! To show them that they didn't really win and he's the best player. Bella stifled her giggles into her fingers and stared into the reflection of Enni's sword; her violet eyes burnt in the blade, glowing like dying embers in the dark. Then we can play with him again, Bella.

'Then we won't be bored,' she whispered. 'No more boring waiting, Bell.'

No more being alone, Bella. We can have fun with cousin Harry forever. He's the best player now.

AN: You know this bit!