Nothing is mine.

Time for a stroll through a creepy forest...

There and Black Again

Bella skipped back and forth along the long bench in the hall, patting Enni on the head each time she passed. 'It's snowing!' She waved out at the white-veiled spires of Nurmengard. 'Look! Snow!'

Daphne sighed.

'It snows all the time here, Bella,' Zareen said. 'This must be the twentieth time since you came.'

'But it's snow!' Bella paused beside the sleeping Chasca and poked at her long gold-threaded braids with one foot. 'It's exciting! Snow means fun! We could go outside and play in it. Enni—'

'No, little Bella.' Enni stretched and bared her fangs; the sea serpent crushed the longship in its coils upon her long right canine and the wolves howled at the moon on the other. 'My homeland is in the far north of the Nordic States, I have seen snow for centuries. It is only snow.'

'Astoria?' Bella sang. 'Come be fun with me!'

Astoria snickered. 'Tempted, Daph? You like snow. Snow and ice and all things nice, those're what Daphne Greengrass is made of.'

A long sigh escaped Daphne.

'Daph isn't keen.' Astoria shook her head. 'And we stick together when it comes to games.'

'Chasca might.' Zhou laughed and nudged the coil of braids under Chasca's face. 'If you can wake her up.'

'Chaaaasca?' Bella reached out and tugged her hair.

Quiet, heavy breaths came from Chasca.

They're boring, Bell! Bella pulled her wand out and swished it at the chessboard between Zareen and Zhou, spurring the pieces into a violent battle. Patience, Bella. A good game is worth waiting for. And we can have fun here first for a bit.

Zareen shook her head and muttered under her breath.

Zhou tutted. 'Don't be a brat, Bella.'

A soft snap rang through the hall. 'Meine Walküren.' Grindelwald stood upon the dais at the raised table, his long thin wand in his hand and melting snow upon the shoulders of his long grey coat. 'My patience with this lull in our efforts is dwindling. There is much that must be done and time is our ally no longer.'

Daphne reached out and shook Chasca's shoulder.

'Nooo,' Chasca moaned, rubbing her eyes and sitting up. 'I was having such a nice dream.'

Grindelwald tucked one hand through the copper buttons of his burgundy waistcoat. 'Suleiman and Constantinople remain an obstacle, but one that will not grow to impede us if left unchecked for a brief time. The French wards remain formidable, both at Arduenna Silva and across the Pyrenées—'

'And the sisters!' Bella beamed. 'They have a trump card, like Silly Man does.'

Grindelwald's sharp blue eyes flicked to her. 'Suleiman wields one of the oldest and most powerful magical artefacts that has survived the crumbling of the magical world. A blade intended to slay magical creatures whose fantastic and terrible abilities dwarf our own natural magicks by a vast margin. I have faced it before in his hands and each time it allowed him to escape me.'

He cheats, Bell! He uses it all the time! Bella huffed and jumped off the bench. Next time we'll try and change the rules, Bella. Take the sword away and see how good he is then!

Enni stretched her legs, shaking out her long auburn hair. 'The young French witch was dead. I cut her through to her spine and she drowned in the blood in her lungs. I heard her heart stop.' The slim dark lines engraved into Enni's fangs shifted and flowed as the serpent dragged the longship beneath the waves. 'And then she was alive again.'

Grindelwald's brow furrowed. 'Nothing is impossible with magic. The Duforts have a well-earnt reputation for miracles and mystery and their brother had a mastery over magicks that few truly understand well.'

Bella giggled. 'Henri Dufort!'

Cousin Harry, Bell. She clapped her hands over her mouth. The best player, Bella.

'It will cost us much blood to break through the French wards as we are, for despite previous enmity, Britain and France seem willing to die alongside one another to stop the evil we must bring.' A faint, sad little smile flitted across Grindelwald's face and he pulled his hand from his waistcoat to cup a small book in its breast pocket. 'And they are not wrong to revile the horrors we are forced to bring. But we are spread thin against too many of our blind brothers and sisters to attack their strongest defences recklessly. As before, France and Britain must wait. Other, more brittle opponents should be overcome in the east first and our strength then concentrated against Constantinople, the miraculous Duforts and the ruthless Ginevra Weasley.'

Zhou stood up from the bench, running a hand over his bald head. 'If I may, Herr Grindelwald. I glimpsed a little of the wards and their creator when I inspected them. They are a web of silk threads, woven into a tapestry that bars all magicks but your own from crossing its boundary. Their creator spun them with a careless elegance.'

'Careless elegance?' Grindelwald's frown deepened. 'Describe this to me, if you would, Liu Zhou.'

'The strength of the ward is the creator's pride in its elegance and skill, not the importance of its purpose.'

'Skilled and proud, but with no heart in the fight,' Grindelwald murmured. 'Perhaps if our own hearts were made clear to them, theirs might bend to our cause.'

'If they can be found…' Astoria chimed in. 'Right, Daph?'

A sombre gleam shone in Grindelwald's blue eyes. 'Ansgar and his aurors have been instructed to watch for the creator appearing to maintain them, but you are right, this is a slim hope. They are the final member of Les Inconnus in all likelihood, the one who appeared only once on Malta to take down the wards upon the tower there and does not seem to possess any skill at duelling.' Grindelwald flicked his long thin wand and conjured a coil of bright copper chain. 'It matters not at this moment. Find Nadia Dubrovsky and Tsarina Bugrov and bring them to Nurmengard so we can move to subdue the Ottoman Caliphate, Britain and France.' The corner of Grindelwald's mouth crooked. 'And then, as it nearly once was before, the greatest magical powers of our world will be bound together beneath our banner and the ICW ready to enforce the true evil we must will.'

'Back to Odwrót Mokosha, then,' Astoria said. 'Let's see what Charlie, Karsten and Marie have managed.'

Grindelwald sent the copper chain floating across into Astoria's hand. 'Go forth, meine Walküren. Bring the Tsarina and Fürst-Elect Dubrovsky back here alive, spare all those who can be spared and be wary of the creatures in that ancient magical forest.' He vanished with a soft snap.

'Let's go!' Bella grabbed hold of the chain. 'Let's go! Let's go!'

Enni laughed and grabbed a fistful of copper links. 'Look how keen young Bella is, so excited to play her silly games.'

Zhou tutted as he and Zareen took the other end.

'It's all games!' Bella beamed, shaking out her dark curls. 'And games are all there is! Otherwise things are just boring.'

Astoria jingled the chain. 'Daaaaaph?'

Daphne took hold of the chain. 'Chasca?'

Deep steady breaths came from where Chasca's face rested in her braids.

'Oh dear.' Astoria snickered. 'I think she went back to sleep while Grindelwald was talking.'

Enni extended her broadsword and poked Chasca in the cheek with its tip. 'Wake up, young one. The hunt begins.'

Chasca jolted awake and slapped the blade away from her face with a growl. 'Enni isn't allowed to be the one who wakes me up!'

Astoria sniggered. 'She's right, we had a whole team meeting and agreed Enni was banned from sneaking into Chasca's room to wake her up in a mean way.'

'Astoria,' Daphne murmured.

'Right. Right. Sorry, Daph.' Astoria waved the end of the chain in her fist. 'We do have things to do, Chasca…'

Chasca yawned and stumbled off the bench, grabbing the chain with one hand and rubbing her eyes with the other. 'I'm ready. What are we doing?'

Daphne sighed. 'Something for the Greater Good.'

The grey hall vanished in a flash of golden flame and Bella appeared on the bridge over the river between the ditches and towers of the hillfort. White clouds drifted through the blue sky above the dense forest, floating over a tangle of thick trunks and broad branches.

'Zhou, find Charlie. He's meant to have been mapping the forest for us,' Daphne said. 'Zareen, bring Marie and Karsten here to join us.'

They're so slow, Bell! Bella dropped down onto the edge and watched the water rush beneath her feet. It won't be long now, Bella. There are probably all sorts of fun things in that forest.

Bella beamed and poked the little black ants crawling across the stonework off the edge with the tip of her finger. 'The ants go swimming one by one,' she sang. 'The ants go—'

'Ants can't swim, young Bella.' Enni patted her on the head, her steel-capped boots scraping the stone. 'They drown.'

'I know.' Bella giggled. 'They go down into the water and disappear.'

A soft dark chuckle escaped Enni's throat. 'You're an odd one.'

'We're us!' Bella squished an ant with her thumb and wrinkled her nose at the smear on her skin. 'And we want to have fun, but you're all so slow.'

'Sometimes the slow, patient hunts are the best ones.' The wolves howled at the moon upon Enni's left fang. 'Once, I stalked a group of crusaders across my homelands, only killing one a day and never when anyone else could see. It got hard at the end, but the challenge was a lot of fun.'

'A crusader?' Bella asked as a pair of loud cracks rang out over the bridge and Marie and Karsten appeared. 'What's a crusader?'

'Muggle warriors in lots of heavy armour.' Enni raised her broadsword on her palms. 'I took this from the last of them, their captain.'

'Muggles.' Bella scrunched her face up. 'Boring clay cattle people with no colours and no fun to play with!'

Enni laughed and wagged her finger. 'Change the rules. If it's too easy, make it harder.'

Harder? Bella watched little red mites crawl around between her knees. Only use one spell, Bella. Or use our left hand instead of our right.

'I get it!' Bella grinned. 'We'll only use our left hand!'

A loud crack rang across the bridge.

Charlie drew his wand and a thick roll of parchment from within his white robes. 'We're good to go. I haven't had time to fly over and map out everything between the reference points, but we've got enough to work with.'

Marie Renner cleared her throat, flicking dust off her gleaming black boots with a swish of her wand. 'What does Grindelwald require of us?'

Astoria exchanged a quick glance with Daphne. 'Karsten is to stay here and hold the net of wards to ensure nobody gets out of the forest. You are to secure the Ottoman lands north of Constantinople.'

'Do not approach the city directly,' Daphne murmured. 'Suleiman will come forth himself if you get too close. Establish a foothold on the coast to the north of the city. Grindelwald intends to solve the problem of Constantinople and Suleiman himself once Russkaya and Polans are subdued.'

'Very well.' Marie Renner gave them a stiff nod and smoothed out the golden eagle over her heart. 'I wish you success.' She disapparated with a loud crack.

Karsten scratched the stub of his ear. 'Do you need any support from my aurors?'

'No.' Astoria patted him on the shoulder of his long brown leather jacket. 'If we need anything, we'll shout and hope you… ear.'

A quiet sigh escaped Daphne.

'Sorry, Daph.' Astoria snickered behind her hand.

Karsten snorted and spat over the edge of the bridge. 'You've made that joke at least five times already, Greengrass.'

'Heard it too many times, have you?' Astoria grinned, a bright gleam in her pale blue eyes. 'Am I going to get an… earful?'

Daphne poked her in the hip.

'Fine. Fine.' Astoria flapped her hand. 'Charlie get that map out, let's go into the dark forest.'

'We can't go over it!' Bella giggled. 'We can't go under it! We'll have to go through it!'

Karsten drew his wand from within his brown leather jacket. 'I will alert my aurors just in case.' He disapparated with a pop.

'How are we doing this?' Zareen asked.

'X marks the spot,' Astoria chimed in. 'Zhou will play lookout and we'll sneak through the forest following Charlie's map and see what's waiting for us.'

'They lost a good number of aurors,' Daphne said. 'Most of the Wendburgians died here.'

'Disillusionment Charms and off we go.' Astoria raised her wand. 'Anyone need one?'

'No!' Bella twirled her wand. 'I can do that one!' A flash of cold rippled over her. 'I'm invisible.' She giggled and waved her hands. 'Look, Enni! You can't see me!'

Enni laughed and grabbed the back of Bella's robes with one hand, lifting her to her feet. 'But I can smell you and I can always hear you, noisy little Bella.'

Bella wriggled free. 'Awww.'

A snicker came from the shimmer a few steps away. 'Enni,' Astoria said. 'Keep an eye out in front with Zhou. Daph and I will guard the rear.'

'Charlie, lead the way,' Daphne said. 'Use the Firefly Lantern Charm; we can all follow that.'

'We'll start from the forest at the river's edge beyond Marzanna's cage,' Charlie said. 'I burnt a big circle in the grass so I could see while flying.'

Bella grabbed her wand and apparated past the dark shadow slumbering in the huge cage, stepping out beneath the moss-veiled branches.

A series of loud cracks rang out.

Small yellow lights flitted about at the edge of a patch of scorched mud. Enni burst into thin pale mist, curling away into the trees.

'My little Norberta did that,' Charlie said. 'She's a good girl. Saw me burning holes in the grass and helped me out a bit.'

'Did you let the big one out to play, too?' Bella asked.

'No, Bellatrix—'

'Just Bella!'

'No, Bella.' Charlie snorted. 'I didn't want to die.'

'Then you have to win!' Bella giggled, shaking her curls out. 'Kill or lose, see? Win or die!'

'What did Voldemort do to your head?'

White marble flashed through her thoughts, the balustrade slipping from her fingers and her sisters' wide, horrified grey eyes staring down after her.

Don't think about that, Bella.

'I lost,' Bella said. 'But I didn't want to die. We hate losing. So we came back.'

'Let's go,' Daphne murmured. 'No noise.'

'That means you, Bella,' Astoria chimed in. 'Inside voices.'

That means you, Bell. Bella stifled her laugh into her hand and skipped after the floating yellow lights. Let's go have fun, Bella.

The little glowing specks zipped around in the shadows of the trees, circling in a loose ball, drifting beneath the trees to the quiet crunch of twigs and rustle of bracken. Faint sunlight filtered down through the thick leaves, bursting through between branches in small bright bars and casting tiny patches of undergrowth in hues of dappled green.

Boring. This is boring, Bell! Where are all the fun things? Bella plodded along in the still silence, swatting ferns with the palm of her hand. At the end, Bella. The best bit is always at the end.

She bumped into a shimmer.

'Ow,' Chasca muttered. 'Zhou was that you?'

'No,' Bella sang. 'It was me!'

'Oh.' Chasca's footsteps crunched on through a patch of dead brambles.

The little yellow lights drifted to a stop.

'Something is coming,' Zhou hissed.

Pale mist curled back together into Enni. 'Some things,' she said, lifting the broadsword with one hand and pointing it through the trees. 'I can hear their breathing.'

'Stay hidden,' Astoria ordered, and Enni burst back into mist. 'How close are we, Charlie?'

'Halfway—'

A chill crept through the clearing and a thin veil of frost crept across the bark of the trees, spreading over the green fern leaves and brown moss; slim spines of ice sprouted from the first patterns, bristling like countless needles.

I can't see anything, Bell! Bella squinted through the dark trunks into the gloom. They can't see us, either, Bella. Let's wait and let them come to us.

Two slim silhouettes floated from behind the twisted bark of a thick frost-shrouded beech trunk. The cold slipped deeper, gnawing into Bella's tummy.

'Floating skeletons!' She bounded forward and swished her wand. 'Confringo!'

A ripple of air flung the two figures back into the trees and shattered the beech trunk, spraying splinters into the gloom. Branches crashed down into the ferns and bright light spilt through the gap in the canopy.

'Bella,' Zareen snapped. 'What are you doing?'

'They always know you're there,' Bella said. 'You can't hide from floating skeletons. That's why everyone I let out of their rooms always lost hide and seek with them.'

'Okay,' Astoria said. 'Drop the Disillusionment Charms. Let's see if we can scare the dementors off and carry on. If not, we fall back and find another way through.'

Zareen appeared, her arms of shimmering bronze magic releasing a wave of light.

More figures drifted from the trees, spreading out into a loose circle in the gloom where Zareen's magic faded, their small feet brushing through the frosted leaves of the fallen branches. The soft hoarse rattle of their breath filled the still of the forest as the first two figures floated through to the front and into the light.

Dark red blood trickled from the splinters riddling the mottled grey skin of their thin small emaciated bodies. Long fingers curled into fists beside little palms and the splinters fell out, the small wounds sealing up.

'I don't like them,' Chasca whispered, shimmering back into view. 'What are they?'

'Something very dark.' Zhou appeared in a clump of ferns, his face pale and drawn. 'There is… there is something missing from all of them. They want to feed on our hope, to consume it all and take it away, like…' A spark of horror rose in his brown eyes. 'Like their hope was taken away.'

Enni dropped from the branch above and levelled her broad blade at them. 'Terrors.'

'Dementors,' Daphne murmured. 'Wild ones that Ekrizdis didn't manage to gather to Azkaban.'

'Floating skeletons!' Bella raised her wand.

'No.' Astoria caught her hand. 'We don't want to try and fight all of them.'

'We do!' Bella bounced on her toes. 'That's the game! If you don't play, you don't have any fun!'

Right, Bell? She watched one of the floating skeletons drift forward, its small body trailing a thin tattered red tunic. Right, Bella.

'What are they waiting for?' Zhou whispered. 'Why are they just hovering there?'

Astoria frowned. 'I don't know. Daph?'

'They're waiting for our fear,' Daphne murmured. 'Zareen's magic is shielding us from them and they can't feed on us. I think they're confused by it. Or can't decide if we're prey or not.'

'I can't keep this up forever.' Zareen grimaced. 'Can we slip away?'

The one in red reached out its long fingers, trailing them through the bronze magic like a child running their hand through water; its soft rattling breath hitched and it straightened up and stared at the mottled grey skin of its small palm.

Faded silver words ran across its chest beneath the peeling sigil of a black-crested silver helm.

'Leg dam rum,' Chasca read. 'What?'

Enni laughed. 'There are missing letters. It says Legio Damnatorum.'

A shiver rippled through the floating figures and they drifted closer, forcing themselves into Zareen's bronze magic.

'Back,' Astoria said. 'Apparate back to the bridge.'

Bella moaned. 'But—'

Grey fog coiled around her waist and with a loud crack she appeared on the bridge above the river.

'Plot a new route, Charlie,' Daphne murmured. 'Go well around that part of the forest.'

AN: If you like it, go climb the linktree to find Discord for early access (or just to talk to people if you're into that sort of weird thing), the 20ish draft chapters everyone supporting me gets to see, and, more importantly, all my original stuff, which is the best stuff!

linktr . ee / mjbradley