Nothing is mine.

On we go...

Black-Hearted Rogue

'Booooored,' Bella sang, kicking clumps of dead leaves back and forth across the tower. 'Boooored. Booooored. Booooored.'

'Go back to Nurmengard, then.' Cousin Harry stared up at the swirling pattern of purple runes above their heads. 'I'm almost done here. There's still one piece missing, but if Grindelwald can be convinced, then I think he'll be able to do that part.'

'Go back?' Bella cocked her head. 'Now?'

Of course now, Bella. She pouted at the crumbling stone wall. But it's boring there too, Bell!

'Yes,' he said. 'Go back and tell Grindelwald that I would like to meet with him. I'll come to Nurmengard again. Tell him I have a bargain to strike with him. An evil that will bring about a greater good. He'll say yes, either to speak with me or to kill me himself because I might be a risk to our world's survival.'

That won't be boring, Bell! Bella shook the leaves off her feet. It'll be fun, Bella. If they try to beat Cousin Harry, we'll get to play with all of them!

'Okay!' she sang. 'Is that it? Is there a game to play?'

'Bella.' Cousin Harry glanced up, the flickering amber lights swirling in the mask covering his face. 'Don't tell them you're on my side. Or who I am. They're secrets, yes?'

Bella nodded and covered her grin with her hand. 'I can keep secrets. I won't tell.'

Golden light swirled beneath the surface of the mask, glowing like rays of sunlight shining through swathes of yellow autumn leaves, and his gaze prickled on her skin.

'Staring's rude!' She stuck her finger out at him. 'Don't stare!'

Cousin Harry swept the purple runes down into a ball, trapping them in a conjured orb of glass, and tucked it into his pocket. 'I thought you were bored? Aren't you going to go?'

'Bye!' Bella gave him a wave and disapparated with a loud crack.

Charlie leapt off the bench in the hall, drawing his wand. 'Bellatrix.'

'Just Bella!' She glowered at him. 'Not Bellatrix.'

He shook his head. 'Well at least I don't need to ask if it's polyjuice. Not that anyone would be polyjuiced as you. Where have you been? We were attacked yesterday and nobody's seen you since then.'

'We know,' Bella said. 'We were here. We were talking with them.'

Charlie's eyes narrowed. 'Who are they?'

She giggled. 'Mithras.'

He sighed. 'This is not the time to play stupid games. They killed Zareen and Zhou. Chasca had to help Enni piece herself back together. Daphne and Astoria are not happy, they and Grindelwald thought everyone who could cause trouble like this was accounted for.'

'He wants to talk to Grindelwald,' Bella said. 'He said he'll come here.'

'Let me go find Astoria,' Charlie said, vanishing with a pop.

Bella hopped on to the bench, skipping back and forth along the creaking wood. 'I'm a — I'm a — I'm a — weird sister.'

He's a cousin, not a brother, Bella. She huffed. But those are the words of the song, Bell!

Daphne and Astoria appeared, the crack of their apparition echoing through the hall.

'Welcome back, Bella.' Astoria grinned. 'Did you get kidnapped?'

'No! We wanted to play with them, so we took them to another place,' Bella said. 'But they want to talk to Grindelwald.'

'Charlie said,' Daphne murmured. 'What can you tell us about this person? We heard they were wearing a mask like the Unspeakables or Les Inconnus.'

'He's got a really bright colourful magical mask,' Bella replied. 'It's full of pretty golden lights.'

'He?' Astoria asked. 'You're sure it's a wizard.'

Bella nodded. 'His name is Mithras!'

Daphne sighed.

'Daph doesn't think you're being very helpful.' Astoria snickered. 'What else do you know? Did he say anything? Do anything?'

'There were a lot of leaves,' Bella replied. 'We kicked them about everywhere while he was being boring.'

Astoria's pale blue eyes shone with mirth. 'I told you we should just go talk to Grindelwald, Daph.'

Daphne folded her arms.

'Fine. Fine. No I told you so, then.' Astoria reached out and took her elbow.

They vanished with a deafening pop.

'Awwww, they didn't take us with them, Bell.' Bella skipped along the table to the end; her reflection stared back, her violet eyes glowing like stars in the dark glass. 'They're having a secret talk, Bella. They're going to be sneaky and lie and scheme, but the best player always wins in the end.'

Cousin Harry will win, Bell. He'll get rid of all of the boring stupid muggles and we'll have even more people to play with! She pulled her wand from her dress, running her fingers along the intertwined ebony and hickory. Even more games, Bella. Even less likely to be sad and lonely.

Grindelwald appeared with a soft snap. 'Bella.' He tucked one hand through the buttons of his burgundy waistcoat, his sharp blue eyes roving over her. 'You don't seem like you were in a duel. What did this wizard say to you?'

'He wants to offer you a bargain,' she said. 'He has a plan to get rid of all the dull cattle people and it's better than your one because there's more people to play with!'

'He wants to meet,' Grindelwald said. 'Here in Nurmengard.'

Bella nodded. 'He's the best player. Better than Voldemort!'

'Can you contact him?' he asked. 'Tomorrow, I will expect him here to hear this bargain he seeks to strike myself.'

'Herr Grindelwald,' Daphne murmured.

'It may well be a trap of some sort, yes,' Grindelwald said. 'Meine Walküren will remain here, and if he proves a threat, we will put an end to him as we have all others.'

What a great game it will be, Bell! Bella giggled. Cousin Harry and us against all the rest, Bella.

'Mithras,' Grindelwald mused, his hand creeping to the square outline in his waistcoat's pocket. 'A curious choice of name. For many centuries, Mithras has been a popular myth among the dwindling pure-blooded magical families, who yearn for a return to the era before secrecy and shadows. A champion who slays the great muggle threat, depicted as a powerful bull, and offers it up to the sun, so often the source of magic and life and light in our legends. Nobody who knows of the myth would name their child Mithras.' He ran his fingers through his short cropped silver hair. 'And the muggle world has long left the name behind. It must have been chosen.'

'We know!' Bella sang. 'We chose it. He needed a name and so we chose Mithras because he's the person who'll get rid of all the cattle people from their world of mud like they—' she stuck her wand out at Daphne and Astoria '—said.'

Grindelwald's lips thinned. 'You gave this wizard the name. He gave you no name of his own?'

Bella nodded, twirling on the bench. 'He said names don't matter.'

'Perhaps that resolves it, then.' Grindelwald's small frown faded. 'Or perhaps, in foreseeing the name, it has been given to whom it was always meant for. Often, things that are predicted come about because the one who witnessed the prediction acted upon it. Prophecies are delicate things.'

'He may well be the last of Les Inconnus,' Astoria suggested. 'The one who has been keeping the wards up but wasn't really interested in fighting for them.'

'Maybe so,' Grindelwald replied. 'This… Mithras, might well have had his own agenda all this time he worked for Les Inconnus or even for a time allied with Julien Aguillard, who died before revealing to his followers that he and his chevaliers were really meine Walküren and a part of our cause.'

'We will see,' Daphne murmured.

'In the end, it matters not how they arrived at the realisation that our worlds cannot coexist; each of us made our way to it differently.' A small sombre smile curved Grindelwald's lips. 'Either his heart will bend to ours, or, once more, a little evil must be done to achieve a greater good.' He turned to Daphne and Astoria. 'Learn what you can of this Mithras's magic if you wish to prepare. Perhaps Bella has seen or learnt something Chasca and Enni did not.' Grindelwald vanished with a soft snap.

Daphne sighed. 'Bella…'

'What?' Bella cocked her head. 'What?'

Astoria snickered. 'What did you see when this mysterious Mithras came and fought?'

'We missed all the fun.' Bella pouted. 'We heard the window break and we came down, but we only saw Zhou lose right at the end.'

'How did he lose?' Daphne asked. 'Chasca told us that Mithras used some kind of air spell to break through Zareen's shield, lightning that she blocked with her own aclla magicks, and a shield of conjured butterflies that swallowed all her spells…'

'It almost reminds me of someone we used to know, Daph,' Astoria chimed in. 'But the butterflies are new. We've never seen anyone use those before, not on the duelling rings.'

Bella beamed. 'Butterflies are pretty. Aunt Wally had a big glass box of them. They were stuck to the back with shiny needles.'

A small sigh escaped Daphne. 'No black mist? No Fiendfyre?'

'Nuh uh.' Bella shook her head. 'Not even any pretty colours. He turned the butterflies into shiny metal spikes and made lots of holes in Zhou and he lost.'

'He's not alive, Daph.' Astoria grinned, a gleam of mischief in her pale blue eyes. 'I know you want your ice cream babies, but we're all out of lemon sorbet, I'm afraid.'

'There are similarities,' Daphne said. 'The lightning. And the air spell.'

'Lightning spells are used by every Slavic wizard and witch if they're powerful enough and we're enemies with plenty of those,' Astoria replied. 'The air spell Henri Dufort used is Grindelwald's own design; Grindelwald stopped using it after everyone learnt ways to counter it and a lot of wizards could have learnt it since. If it was even that air spell Mithras used.' She shook her head. 'If Henri Dufort had had a shield as effective as those butterflies Chasca described, we would have seen it before. It does ring a bell, though… Butterflies…'

'I don't remember reading about it,' Daphne murmured. 'Someone in the civil war, maybe.'

'If it was, it's someone who's dead. We studied all the important people who survived, just in case.' Astoria pointed her finger at Bella. 'This wizard, what did he say? Do you think it's a trap?'

'It's a game.' Bella giggled. 'It's all games.'

'Right, right, that was a silly question,' Astoria chimed. 'Let's just assume he's going to betray us and we'll have to kill him, and make a plan.'

'Chasca and Charlie,' Daphne said.

'Fine. Fine.' Astoria flapped a hand. 'They can defend. We can be flexible, defence or offence as needed. And Enni and Bella can be offence, since neither of you really do defending.'

'Shielding is boring.' Bella pouted. 'Why shield and hide when you can be fun and attack?!'

Astoria laughed. 'You leave the defending to us. Right, Daph?'

'If it's not enough, we can pull back,' Daphne murmured. 'We'll have helped wear him down enough for Grindelwald to overcome him without much risk.'

'Nobody beats Grindelold.' Astoria sniggered. 'Except maybe Suleiman.'

Daphne folded her arms. 'We need a plan for him.'

'Take away Silly Man's trump card,' Bella said. 'He cheats and uses it all the time and that's not what you're meant to do!'

'I don't think he's going to let us do that,' Astoria said. 'The moment he uses it, we can't get close.'

'There is a reason nobody dares to attack Constantinople,' Daphne murmured. 'Perhaps Enni is the key, she can get close to him without fear. If we can spring her on him by surprise…'

'Good idea, Daph.' Astoria dug in her pockets. 'I don't have anything to write it down. Make you sure you don't forget it.'

'I never forget,' Daphne said.

'Like a sphinx.' Astoria snickered. 'Only prettier and less likely to shred your mind with legilimency if you're unworthy of revealing their secret.'

Boring schemes, Bell! Always planning and never actually playing! Bella scowled past a stray curl of her dark hair. Maybe we'll get to play with them tomorrow, Bella. When they meet Mithras.

Bella huffed. 'This is boring. I'm going to go talk to Mithras! Bye!' She disapparated with a loud crack.

Cousin Harry's amber mask snapped up from the web of purple runes hovered between his hands. 'Bella.'

'Mithras!' She waved. 'I told them.'

'And…?'

'Tomorrow.' Bella flopped back into the leaves, kicking them up over her head and watching them drift down around her. 'But it's a trap! Daphne and Astoria have made a plan to beat you!'

'The Greengrasses,' Cousin Harry murmured, turning back to the flicking violet flames of his runes. 'I owe them a debt.'

'We'll beat them,' Bella sang. 'Beat them all. You're the best player now!'

Beat them or die, Bell! She giggled and thrashed her arms, pushing all the leaves away. Kill them or lose, Bella.

'Do you remember how you took the Dark Mark, Bella?' Cousin Harry asked. 'This part of the design is done, but there's one bit left.' The motes of gold swirled in the amber mask, whirling in a flickering burning storm. 'I can give them all the chance to dream, if only there's a way to pay the price.'

Bella clawed back through the fog, clutching at the bare skin upon her left forearm. 'He asked if we wanted to. There was a promise. We had to play the games he gave us to get it.'

'You agreed to fight for his purpose,' he whispered. 'He never told you what it was, but you all swore to obey him, and every drop of magic spent at his command would have one day fed his ritual.'

'His big plan!'

Cousin Harry snared his purple runes in a ball of glass, shrinking it to the size of a marble and tucking it into his pocket. 'The greatest wizard has to do something greater than any other wizard has managed.' He slipped his wand back into his sleeve. 'But his plan was all despair. Voldemort had no dreams left. He didn't believe they ever came true for anyone. He was wrong.'

'Dreams?' Bella asked.

'The things we wish for,' Cousin Harry said. 'If wishes never come true, then there's only power.'

Games, Bella. We always hope for another fun game.

Bella scrunched up her face. 'But you beat Voldemort! You could play better! You won!'

'Maybe,' he murmured. 'I think, in the end, he still wished he believed in dreams, so when we were both one of two, he dreamt my dream. We were so similar that it was the same as his last dearest wish. And now, when there are no dreams left for me, but still a chance for others to dream, we remain one, because that chance is still something great.'

'Boring stuff.' Bella huffed. 'All that matters is the game! As long as we're having fun together, we won't be bored or sad or lonely ever again!'

'It matters because he sacrificed nothing for my dream, I swallowed him up with that perfect wish,' Cousin Harry said. 'But this… this is something important to both of us. We both sacrificed everything for something great, something perfect enough it was worth all that pain. One of two of us was great. But together—' a flicker of amber light passed through the smooth surface of the mask, a dancing whorl of fierce gold rays as bright as dawn '—together I will not be stopped.'

AN: Come to the linktree to find more of my stuff, or check out my profile, but the linktree's closer!

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