Nothing is mine.

On we go. Another chapter of filler!

How To Pick Up Girls in Azkaban

The city of Constantinople and its red brick towers floated over the sea in a weave of bright threads, surrounded by the tapestry's border of magical creatures. Harry watched it hover with mild curiosity, the great bronze two-headed eagle shading the palace with its wings.

'Not yet,' Grindelwald said. 'The wards of Constantinople are proving vexatious. The first set are little trouble; strong, of course, but the solution is simple force. The more formidable second set I have yet to see, and though my patience is dwindling, Suleiman is not a foe I wish to face blindly if there is any other option. There is time yet to probe and see if those wards are raised for us to study while other goals are pursued.'

'So?' Harry turned away from the tapestry. 'What are the other goals? The Tsarina swore her oath, didn't she? France? Britain?'

My sisters? Neville? How many more dreams must be spent before the world is changed?

'Eventually,' Grindelwald murmured. 'Meine Walküren went to test Ansgar's report on the weakening French wards. They are fading, but slowly. It will be some days yet until they're gone, if it is not a trap.'

'It's not a trap. The one who cast them is gone.'

Harry's heart plummeted. You did it. He cut it free into the numb embrace of the storm's eye. You deserve it.

'We will wait yet a little longer before we strike into France. I must be wary of my own mistakes, Mithras, for during the ritual you traded to give me time, I sacrificed something very dear, bitter lessons learnt within these walls. I thought that I would know them still and it would be enough, but I feel them not and though there is no Albus to turn my heart against me, here you stand, having convinced me of a better way, and I fear somehow the repeat of history and five more decades of dwindling and death that ought not to have been...' Grindelwald's hand strayed to the breast pocket of his waistcoat. 'So now, now there is a task for the two of us, in furtherance of both our solutions.'

'What?'

'In Château d'Acier, many of my former supporters still languish. Julien was meant to set them free once he had finished establishing a network of bases and begin our work on France from within, but you killed him and his Chevaliers.'

'But not for nothing,' Harry whispered. 'For this. It will all be for this. And it will be beautiful.'

I promised.

'Beautiful as only the greatest of horrors can ever be.' A small sombre smile flitted across Grindelwald's lips. 'I will see to Château d'Acier myself. It will be simple enough for me to pass in through the wards and break them free with France's aurors all committed to its borders. But you…'

'Azkaban.' Harry nodded. 'I've been there before.'

Grindelwald turned to the window, staring out into the falling snow. 'I first planned this way through the British wards to be able to strike suddenly at the heart of their resistance while sacrificing as few untarnished lives as possible, but all is changed now we have set our wonder in motion — the more that die for and against us, the closer to your solution we grow. I fear that temptation greatly now, fear that somehow that sacrifice might tempt us or our brothers and sisters from the pursuit of a greater good to work far greater an evil than is needed. The tarnished souls caged in Azkaban gave themselves to this fight many years ago, so better they fight and fall than those that, as you so eloquently put it, we wish to grant a chance to dream.'

'They are all born into the crucible already.' Harry watched the snow drift down from the thick blanket of grey cloud above. 'They would tear each others' dreams away of their own accord in its flames. All that matters is what they believe they are bleeding for.'

If enough of them believe, the world can be changed.

'Better, I think, for those like us to die, than those not yet fully given to our bargain with fate,' Grindelwald said. 'Meine Walküren will assist you in getting to Azkaban. Free all those who wish to fight, the rest—' he tapped his pocket '—I have their names already, if they cannot or will not fight for my solution, they are a dangerous loose end and must die for yours.'

'Will they still want to fight for your cause? Azkaban is an awful place, even for those who can cling to innocence or faith.'

Grindelwald turned from the window and indicated the copper ring on his desk. 'They are but a part of the evil that wills to work a greater good; choose the part they play as is most fitting, Mithras.'

Either they fight for hope, or die for despair. There's no place beyond the sunrise for those without dreams.

'A portkey?' Harry picked the ring up between his thumb and forefinger.

'This will take you to the coast west of Kopenhagen. From there, the last two of my hidden allies in Britain will assist you through the old smuggling routes into the country. And then, Azkaban.'

Not that I need it. Harry bounced the copper ring in his hand. But why not, it doesn't matter.

'Now?' he asked.

'Everything is prepared and waiting. You know the words...'

'For the Greater Good.'

A flash of golden flame swallowed the tapestry, the bookshelves, the desk and the window overlooking the snow.

Harry appeared upon a low crumbling buff beside a heaving grey sea. Icy wind buffeted past him, wrenching at his robes, full of sea spray and tasting of sharp salt.

'It's cold!' Astoria's mischievous grin greeted him from the far side of a low stone wall. 'But ice cream's meant to be kept cold, right, Daph?'

Daphne's sigh came from behind the wall, between fierce gusts of wind.

'Fine. Fine.' Astoria drew out two coins and tossed one to Harry, taking her sister's hand. 'These are our way in. Just say… libertas numquam perit.'

Harry snatched it from the air as the Greengrasses vanished in a loud pop, dropping the copper ring into his pocket to clink with Violette's and Lemon Sorbet's. 'Libertas numquam perit.'

A deafening crack rang in his ears and the crumbling bluff blurred into a small round stone room full of cold heavy air. Chasca and Ennia stood with Astoria and Daphne in their gold emblazoned white robes on the far side of a small pit of flickering blue flames. Bella skipped in circles around and around the fire, singing to herself beneath her breath.

'Now we're all here.' Astoria turned and opened the small, weathered wooden door behind her. 'Let's follow the passage. Keep fairly quiet; there are two passages from this sunken town and Neville Longbottom and his aurors are watching the one on the other side of this wall, we don't know if any of them are there. Any loud noises might get their attention… or upset Daph, which means I'll have to curse you with the Garamantian Flesh-Eating Curse.'

'Lumos.' Daphne cast a ray of white light through the gloom, revealing a set of smooth worn rock steps down.

Bella beamed and darted forward. 'I'm a — I'm a — I'm a weird sister,' she sang, the words and her footsteps echoing back from the dark.

So much for quiet. But what does it matter? Neville and his aurors will fight for their hope.

'Grindelwald mentioned smuggling routes?' Harry followed the Greengrasses after Bella down the steps and along a damp cold stone passage, tucking the coin into his pocket.

'There aren't many left, are there, Daph?' Astoria replied.

'The Ministry has been hunting for them since its foundation in its struggle to claw power away from the Wizengamot and the aristocracy,' Daphne murmured. 'Amelia Bones seized her chance to get her teeth into the Carrow family, who held the secret to the last few ways to sneak things that the Ministry has deemed illegal into Britain, but they kept one last passage secret in case they had an opportunity to escape Britain, and now...'

'The Carrow twins. That's who the last two allies are.' Harry studied the thestral on the coin. 'Right… Daph?'

Daphne twitched.

Astoria's pale blue eyes narrowed a fraction. 'Yes. Hestia and Flora Carrow are waiting for us at the far end of the passage.'

'It's so cold down here,' Chasca complained. 'How long is the passage?'

'Fairly long,' Daphne murmured. 'The Ministry kept trying to move the ward lines back to cut the routes off, so they had to keep making it longer for a century.'

'How did they get down here?' Harry mused.

Kart Hadasht is deep beneath the sea, but it was sunk there. A little shiver ran through him at the thought of that small red spark hovering upon his palm beneath Ba'alat Hamun's gaze. I can't ever go back there. Not to where they threw all their children into the flames. Guilt tore at him, gnawing away with thick blunt teeth. Not when I did it too.

Daphne's wand light flashed along the top of the passage. 'The North Sea was not always all beneath the waves, some magical settlements were well warded and were still accessible after they were flooded.'

'So chatty, Daph,' Astoria whispered. 'Do you like this one? Is it the colour of the masks? You like yellow?'

Daphne sighed.

'Mithras, you need an ice cream name.' Astoria snickered. 'So Daph can have cute two-scoop babies one day. She likes cute babies, except when they're loud or too messy.'

Daphne's cool blue eyes flicked to her sister and she nudged Astoria in the ribs.

'Right. Right.' Astoria sniggered. 'What's your favourite flavour of ice cream, Mithras?'

Harry dipped one hand into his pocket, finding Lemon Sorbet's ring. 'Cherry.'

'No you can't be cherry,' Astoria said. 'We had a cherry. Your mask isn't a cherry colour.'

'My mask is amber.'

She folded her arms. 'Can you make it more of a fruit colour?'

'No.'

A quiet little chuckle escaped Daphne. 'Melons are gold, Astoria. Or bananas.'

'Melons and bananas are awful ice cream flavours—' Astoria grinned '—but lemons…'

'Lemon ice cream?'

'No no, you're superior to mere ice cream, Mithras. You'd be a sorbet, I'm sure.' She feigned a whisper. 'Daph likes lemon sorbet. Or a lemon sorbet. He was very… focused. Tidy. Quiet. Daph likes quiet, tidy boys who do things for a reason. They make sense to her.'

'What are you even talking about?' Chasca demanded. 'Ice cream? Boys?'

'Astoria is just a little… nuts,' Harry replied.

Astoria snickered. 'I knew you knew. Are you the last of Les Inconnus, Mithras? What colour were you? Gold? Blue?'

Bella paused ahead, cocking her head to one side and pointing down at the floor with her left arm. The golden rose blooming on her arm glowed in the gloom, a soft amber aura beneath her skin.

'It has to be gold,' Astoria said. 'The mask, the mark you gave Charlie and Bella, but Grindelwald beat you to that colour and it's not a fruit.'

'Pistachios aren't a fruit either,' Harry retorted. 'Or mint.'

She sniggered.

Daphne pointed her light ahead, illuminating a thick blue line daubed across the stone beneath Bella's feet. 'That is the current ward line.'

'Where are the twins?' Astoria asked.

'We're here,' a quiet high voice said.

The air rippled and a pair of short witches appeared in dark, formal robes, balling a broad invisibility cloak up between them. Harry caught their identical pale green eyes, spotting the bright copper pins holding their shoulder-length dark braids held in place.

Probably Grindelwald's portkeys.

'Sisters,' Bella chirped. 'Hi again!'

'Bellatrix,' the rightmost said.

'Lady Black,' the leftmost murmured.

'Just Bella!'

'Everyone hold hands,' Astoria ordered. 'Daph, you take your new Lemon Sorbet's hand. It'll be good practice for when you want ice cream babies. Hand-holding comes before babies, remember.'

Daphne sighed, but her cold fingers slipped through Harry's. Bella snatched his other hand as they formed a loose circle in the narrow passage.

'Holding tight?' Astoria asked. 'Then let's go!'

A deafening crack rang through the passage and Harry stumbled across dark rocks, breathing in cold salt-scented air.

The tower of Azkaban loomed overhead, throwing a long shadow over the surging black waves crashing upon shell-studded, kelp-swaddled stones, and a hundred slender caped figures floated across countless graves between the low-domed ruin crumbled into the sea at the cliff edge and the tower itself.

'Amelia Bones sealed the whole island off,' Daphne murmured. 'Only the Unspeakables and Ginevra Weasley's aurors can get here.'

Astoria's grin faded away. 'We buried the bodies. Susan Bones wanted them buried. They're all here. Our parents. Hestia and Flora's. Everyone Amelia Bones wanted rid of got tossed here, kissed, and left to starve as witless soulless husks.'

The Carrows exchanged a long look, their pale green eyes flashing with bitter rage.

'Fuck Amelia Bones,' Flora hissed. 'I hope the fucking dementors rape her soulless fucking corpse in the afterlife forever.'

Hestia put a hand on her sister's arm. 'She's dead. She got what she deserved from someone.'

From Ginny. There's nobody else left who could've done it.

'This is a dark place,' Chasca whispered. 'All of Inti's fire would not be enough to save it.'

Astoria's blue eyes froze hard and cold as chips of ice as she watched the dementors drifting across the island.

'Ekrizdis, a British wizard who sought to overthrow the Ministry and seize power, lured all the dementors up here to try and use them to do it. The only others left anywhere in the world after the swarm in Polans was destroyed by Mithras are in the Black Forest.' Daphne extinguished the light of her wand. 'Chasca, your magic can capture a dementor or two if need be. Take Enni and take Bella, and set everyone free, bring them all back to us. Voldemort destroyed the old wards, you can apparate through the tower now you're inside Amelia Bones's newer wards.'

'Floating skeletons,' Bella breathed, bobbing her head. 'It's been ages since we played hide and seek with them.'

'What about the prisoners that aren't on our side?' Chasca asked.

'The only prisoners left here are Grindelwald's followers who chose to stay rather than fight for Voldemort,' Daphne said. 'Amelia Bones didn't leave anyone she sent here alive to break out again and Amos Diggory and Susan Bones refused to send anyone here.'

'The swarm will come,' Harry said. 'If we stay down here, they'll spot us eventually and surround us until our magic fails. Can anyone cast a patronus?'

Daphne and Astoria shook their heads.

'Not a full one,' Daphne said.

He pointed his wand at the lower levels of the tower. 'We seal the door from the top of those floors and stay inside the tower, then we apparate right out back to our escape.'

'What if they find a way in?' one of the Carrows asked.

'Flora,' Hestia hissed.

'Then we seal off that floor however we can.' Harry slid his wand from his sleeve and pointed it at the top of the tower. 'If Astoria, Daphne, Hestia and Flora start up there, and Chasca, Enni and Bella start at the bottom, we can meet in the middle.'

'And you?' Daphne asked.

'I will keep them distracted if need be.' Harry disillusioned himself, spinning the world back past himself and stepping out at the base of the tower with a soft snap.

Row after row of graves stretched across the stark dark rock of the island. Smooth, unnamed mounds rose from the ground, the unmarked headstones broken by the occasional rough inscription and family symbol.

Amelia Bones took away so many dreams. Harry's gaze lingered on the handful of small graves, bitter disgust burning in his breast. Chasca's right, no sunrise can make this place better.

The loud cracks of apparition echoed through the tower and the floating dementors whirled around, streaming from the lower windows and sweeping into a ragged flock of tattered capes and long trailing slender limbs over the domed ruin.

They're expecting someone to be dropped off at the old portkey entrance. So they can feast on all the dust of their dreams.

Soft despair drew his heart toward the bottomless black hollow place below as the frost spread across the graves, spiralling over the mounds; it bit deep, countless cold hungry needle-sharp teeth sinking into his heart and dragging it down, ripping little pieces away and scattering them into dust.

There're no dreams left now. What's the point of a sunrise they'll never see? Harry let his Disillusionment Charm fade and drifted through the headstones. When the sun sets, all the light goes out. And she's gone. They're both gone. Two for the flames.

The dementor swarm poured forward from above the low ruined dome, reaching out with long thin fingers as they circled Harry over the frosted graves.

What monsters Rome made from children left to be nothing. All they do is devour dreams. The guilt bubbled up, thick and cold and bitter in Harry's gut. And they're just the same as me. Leaving nothing but ashes and dust behind them.

The storm stirred, a gentle whisper of need, tugging at his heart like a hot little string of red flame.

Two for the flames. One to eclipse the legacy of Rome. Sophonissa's voice mingled with Katie's and Fleur's and his own, her wings of red flame muddled amongst Fleur's soft warm smile and little Katie's big blue eyes; the endless still pool of despondency trembled and was swept into the storm, melting into a desperate scream of searing razor-sharp yearning. But it can't all disappear for nothing. Harry raised his wand before the swarm of dementors. I promised you a sunrise, baby bird.

A single spark of gold burst from its tip, splitting into countless fluttering butterflies; they swirled around him in a ball of burning gold, dawn-bright, their wings glowing hot and sharp as the storm beneath his ribs.

The butterflies exploded out, scouring the swarm from the sky, scattering them away into nothing.

'And there will be a sunrise.' Harry watched the bright butterflies whirl back together before the looming dark tower of Azkaban, their delicate shining wings and legs melting into another as the scream of the storm swallowed him. 'I will not be stopped.'

It hurts. He dug his fingers into his chest, but the pain crumbled into that breathless sharp need. And it won't stop. Not until I keep my promise.

And from the swirling storm of gold stepped a girl of searing amber flame.

'Fleur,' Harry breathed.

Azkaban trembled from the rippling fire of her fingertips.

His heart lurched, but the words he owed snagged on the bitter hot lump in his throat. I'm sorry. Harry reached out one hand toward the golden flames, blinking back the blur of hot tears from his lashes. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

It all stuck there, caught on the tip of his tongue, swelling with every sorry into the searing scream of the storm.

She threw back her head in a silent shriek that sliced through him like sharp shards of glass and the swirl of amber flame swallowed Azkaban.

The dark tower crumbled into a whorl of dawn-bright fire and loud cracks of apparition rang out behind him.

Harry stared into the cloud of golden motes, his heart in his mouth as he hunted for a glimpse of her. Maybe you will see the sunrise, mon Rêve. His tears dried on his cheeks. Of course you will. You are the sunrise. All the light, all the warmth, and all the life. As always.

'What happened?' Chasca whispered behind him. 'All the dark is… gone?'

The swirling storm of gold guttered out, and beyond his toes, nothing there remained but the churning black sea as its waters poured into the yawning space the tower had risen from.

'Sunrise takes away the dark and the cold,' Harry replied, turning on his heel. 'It's meant to.'

Chasca shrank back between Daphne and Astoria. 'Inti's fire… is you?'

Harry swept his gaze over the huddle of skeletal wheezing prisoners and their ragged dirty robes. 'Can any of them fight?'

Daphne and Astoria exchanged a swift look.

'Not for a while,' Astoria said. 'Not without a lot of potions and time to recover.'

'They want to,' Daphne murmured. 'They have not given up on the cause. We might need more wands to overcome those against us.'

But if they can't fight for hope. Harry strode through them, past the Carrow twins and Bella, slashing his wand across his chest. They must die for despair.

The hazy basilisk ripped through the huddle of prisoners, smashing them back into the low domed ruin, splattering red gore and glistening blue entrails across the dark stone. Chunks of dropping flesh clung to the splintered tips of broken bones and red trickled down the rocks into the sea.

One thin wizard with a long tangled grey beard quailed alone, barefoot and shaking like a leaf as he muttered to himself, wringing his hands.

'You missed one!' Bella sang, swishing her wand.

A dark red streak of magic struck the wizard's stomach, ripping a great gash through his ragged dark robes and the pale skin of his bony chest. Thick gleaming purplish-blue guts slithered out like snakes, winding around the wizard like bandages and cocooning him up bit by bit.

Enni's greatsword took off the wizard's head in a steel blur. 'Don't play with your food, little mad one; Chasca is looking like she might throw up and vomit smells foul.'

Astoria's pale blue eyes narrowed, grey fog curling from her sleeves. 'Grindelwald said free them.'

'Grindelwald said they are part of that which wills evil to work a greater good, whatever part they might play.' Harry slipped his wand back into his sleeve. 'Ask him when he returns from Château d'Acier. When he returns alone.'

'We will,' Daphne murmured. 'That was a waste. They could have fought for us instead of dying for no reason.'

'It wasn't for no reason. You'll see.'

Flora and Hestia stepped forward.

'We must leave,' Hestia said.

Flora nodded. 'Before the aurors come.'

'You return to your home,' Astoria said. 'The smuggling route into Britain—'

'No,' Flora hissed. 'We will not go back. We are finished with Britain.'

'We will not take you back to Nurmengard,' Astoria said. 'You have nothing to be afraid of here from Susan Bones or Neville Longbottom, and your backdoor into Britain is far too useful to lose.'

'We don't care,' Hestia snapped. 'We want to leave!'

'You can come back with me,' Harry said. 'If you can pass the test, you can stay. These two can get into Britain anyway, they were Unspeakables.'

'Fine. Fine.' Astoria poked Daphne in the side with one finger. 'Let's get out of here, Daph.'

Harry dug the coin from his pocket. 'Libertas numquam petit.'

'That one only works from outside the wards,' Flora said. 'We have to apparate back and walk.'

He tossed the coin back to her and wrenched the world back past him, stepping out before the thick blue line in the submerged secret passage.

The others appeared in loud pops.

'There's no point walking all the way to hide the sound,' Hestia said. 'Not now we're leaving.'

Flora's pale green eyes flicked to Harry. 'Where are — where are we going?'

'The seaside!' Bella squirmed through the group and skipped past the line. 'To make sandcastles!' She vanished with a deafening crack.

'I'll take you,' Harry said, holding out his hand.

The Carrow twins grabbed each other's hands and Flora clutched Harry's. He disapparated, hopping through Julien's ruined hideouts across Italy to Epidamnos, Thessaloniki and Atlantis, stumbling a couple of steps down the white sand toward where Bella kicked her feet through the waves.

Flora and Hestia glanced around, their eyes lingering on the coiled shadow of Marzanna beneath the sea.

'What's the test?' Flora asked.

Harry slipped his wand from his sleeve and pointed it at the fluttering veil hanging over the Mirror of Erised. 'You give me your wands. If you can see them in the mirror, you'll get them back and can fight for me.'

'We aren't fighters.' Hestia shuffled her feet in the sand. 'We only know a bit about wards.'

'Every spell counts, no matter how small.'

Their pale green eyes drifted to the mirror.

'How do you pass?' Flora asked. 'If we fail, are our wands stuck in there forever?'

'You need your wand to fight,' Harry replied. 'If what you see is not just your own dream, but fighting for the chance for everyone to dream, you'll see your wand.'

Hestia glanced at the mirror. 'What if we don't see it?'

'Go find what you do see,' he murmured. 'But your wands will stay in the mirror.'

Flora held out her wand. 'We have nowhere else to go.'

'There's nothing left...' Harry took it and Hestia's. 'I know how that feels, all that raw bitter pain at what's now gone. But we'll make sure it didn't all disappear for nothing. What we'll make will be worth every moment it hurts.'

He swept the black silk away.

A single soft shadow shimmered in the smooth silver surface, faint as summer shade. Golden light poured past it from a distant dark horizon, tinged with streaks of bright crimson.

Harry scrawled runes of purple flame across it and pressed their wands into the cold glass.

'We just… look?' Hestia edged forward.

'Just look.'

The Carrow twins stared into the Mirror of Erised.

'I don't understand,' Flora whispered. 'It's just us?' She pointed her wand at the mirror. 'Hestia?'

'I only see us,' Hestia muttered. 'I don't get it. How do we take our wands from our reflections?'

Harry smiled and swept the black silk back over the mirror. 'You pass.'

'What?' Flora scowled, her pale green eyes flashing, 'but we didn't get—'

Hestia waved her wand in front of her and Flora's gaze dropped to the smooth brown wand in her fingers. 'Oh.'

'How?' Flora asked.

'This mirror shows not your face but your heart's desire,' Harry said. 'I was once told that the happiest man in the world would see themselves alone, but I think I was being told a rather simpler story than the truth. You will fight for each other and for a chance to dream. And if you die, it won't be for nothing like your parents did, it will be to change the world into something that's just perfect enough for all of us.'

Bella bounced across. 'Give them the mark, Mithras!' She waved her left arm in the air. 'It doesn't move like the snake did, but it's still pretty and bright!'

'It's just a reminder,' Harry said. 'There's no real magic to it.'

'A reminder of what?' Flora asked, eyeing the glowing golden rose upon Bella's arm.

'That there are some things so special they're worth sacrificing dreams for,' he whispered. 'All of ours might be gone, but we can still turn that pain into something great.'

Something perfect enough that it was all worth it.

Flora held out her arm. 'I'll take it.'

'We'll take it.' Hestia thrust hers out beside her sister's.

AN: Same old self-promo.

linktr . ee / mjbradley