‘Attempt ninety-seven!’ Gabby coiled her hair up and tucked it beneath a straw bonnet with a black bow. ‘Safety precautions for molestation by raven are ready. Test subject looks… grumpy.’

‘I did not molest you,’ Harry grumbled.

‘You made a nest in my hair!’ Gabby clutched her bonnet. ‘That’s why I need this protective hat!’

‘It wasn’t a nest, I just tried to grab a few stray hairs.’ Harry grinned. ‘It’s your fault for having such shiny hair.’

‘It’s your fault for being a bad bird-wizard,’ Gabby retorted, mischief gleaming in her eyes. ‘If you’re going to molest me, you need to be in human form and we need to be in my bedroom.’

‘I’ve never actually been in your bedroom,’ Harry said. ‘And knowing you, I think I’d like to keep it that way.’

‘I’m saving that for the best possible moment.’ Gabby giggled. ‘I’m going to lure you in when I’m wearing something very inappropriate, like my second year Beauxbatons uniform and handcuffs, then shout for Fleur.’

He sighed. ‘I wonder who your sister will get most angry at.’

‘Me,’ Gabby chirped. ‘She’ll know full well how it came about.’

‘I sure hope so.’

‘Okay. Take ninety-three!’

‘What happened to ninety-seven?’ Harry asked.

‘I’m not actually keeping count,’ she said. ‘Now bird up, mon Cœur.’

‘Fleur’s going to sear you to a crisp if you keep calling me that, you know,’ Harry said, dragging his magic up.

Feathers rippled out from beneath his skin as he shrank down until the kitchen furniture loomed over him.

‘I probably should stop,’ Gabby admitted, stepping around the table with both hands on her bonnet. ‘But it’s quite funny.’

Harry hopped across the floor, stretching his wings. Am I fully changed? He spread his wings and fluttered up onto Gabby’s shoulder. I am. It worked. A great weight slid off his shoulders. I’m Harry.

‘No!’ Gabby flapped a hand at him. ‘Bad bird. Leave my hair alone.’

Harry shuffled back and cawed at her.

‘Wait…?’ She peered at him. ‘Did it work? Nod if it worked.’

It worked. He bobbed his head and cawed, fluffing his feathers up against the faint breeze.

‘Good.’ Gabby beamed and scooped him off her shoulder in both hands. ‘Let’s go find Fleur!’

Harry flailed his wings as she darted through the hall and up the stairs, holding him like a mug of hot chocolate.

‘Stop flapping,’ she scolded, leaning her head away from his wings. ‘Your wingtips are tickling me.’

Good. He beat his wings faster, brushing them across her face.

‘Okay, okay.’ Gabby sat him on her shoulder and patted him on the head. ‘Better?’

Harry cawed in her ear and shook his feathers out at her.

‘That is such a bird pout.’ Gabby giggled. ‘Wait, let’s not tell Fleur it’s you right away. Fly in and molest her hair.’

She’ll throw fire at me. He weighed it up, picturing Fleur’s pout beneath her mussed silver hair. Worth it, though.

Harry flexed his wings and leapt from Gabby’s shoulder, drifting into Fleur’s room and alighting on her desk. He strutted over her pages of runes and poked the shining bottle of ink about with his beak.

Fleur frowned at him. ‘Harry, if you spill ink on my work, I will pluck you.’

Merde. He hopped onto her arm, shuffling up the sleeve of her blue dress until he got to her elbow.

‘Awwwww,’ Gabby moaned from the door. ‘You ruined it, Fleur.’

‘I’ve been finding his feathers all around the house for the last few weeks and I know his form’s a raven.’ Fleur ran her fingers through his feathers, sending little shivers of pleasure down his spine. ‘You’re a very pretty raven, mon Cœur. Congratulations on making sure your soul isn’t damaged.’

She knows, or half-knows. He ducked Gabby’s hands as she darted forward. As always.

‘Gabrielle,’ Fleur murmured. ‘Don’t snatch.’

Gabby stuck her tongue out. ‘He’s my familiar, Fleur. We’ve bonded, our souls are connected, and now I’m destined to be his veela mate.’

Harry fluttered to the floor and changed back.

Gabby giggled, running her eyes over him from head to toe. ‘You forgot something, mon Cœur,’ she whispered. ‘Unless you really are trying to get yourself that veela sisters threesome?’

A cold breeze curled past Harry’s waist. ‘Ah.’ He covered himself with his hands. ‘No clothes.’

Fleur flicked her wand at him, conjuring a set of casual robes. ‘Don’t think I didn’t see that, Gabrielle.’

Gabby winced. ‘Sorry, Fleur.’

‘No you’re not, you little harpy.’ Fleur’s eyes darkened a fraction, then shifted back. ‘But, he is mine, so commit that image to memory, little sister, because it’s the closest you will ever be.’

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Gabby shrugged. ‘My work here is done. Harry’s not fretting about his soul. There are no silly secrets. And I got some excellent inspiration for Gabby’s evening alone time as a bonus.’ She skipped out, ducking a flash of blue flame. ‘Too slow, Fleur!’

Harry caught Fleur’s hand as she raised her wand. ‘You’d miss her.’

‘I was only going to give her a new hairstyle,’ she replied. ‘She’s probably seen all of you already.’

‘She has?’

‘I’m fairly sure she wasn’t joking about watching.’

‘Oh.’ Harry mulled that over. ‘Well, I’m probably going to be thinking about that next time now.’

Fleur narrowed her eyes at him. ‘You will be thinking about me.’

‘I’m just saying, it’ll be in the back of my head.’

‘Stop just saying.’ She turned her nose up at him. ‘You know she’s not serious.’

‘Of course.’ Harry grinned. ‘But if I spot her and say Gabby during, I want you to know it’s because I’ve spotted her, not because I was thinking about her in the wrong way.’

Fleur hummed, tapping her wand against her palm. ‘You will still have to make it up to me.’

‘Surely it’s her fault.’

‘Gabby will have to buy us both cake.’ Fleur drew him into a hard kiss, tracing the tip of her tongue across his bottom lip. ‘You’ll have to think of something else.’

‘Hair pulling,’ he whispered in her ear, kissing down the side of her neck. ‘Maybe a little bit of teasing.’

‘Promises, promises, mon Cœur,’ she murmured. ‘You know you have to keep those.’

‘I never break my promises.’ He drew her back into his embrace and held her against him. ‘And now I’m the raven, I’ve nothing else to do but come and distract you…’

‘Now you’re the raven.’ Fleur held him tight. ‘Now that you’re happy your soul is fine.’

‘Can I not have any secrets?’ Harry grumbled. ‘Did Gabby tell you?’

‘Gabby?’ Her tone sharpened. ‘You told Gabrielle before me?’

‘I didn’t tell her, she figured it out.’

‘So did I. Ages ago.’ Fleur pulled a handful of dark feathers out of her pocket. ‘I read everything I could find about soul magic over the last year; I knew what you were up to straight away.’

Unease crawled down Harry’s spine. ‘And what’s that, my brilliant bird-girl?’

‘If you’re the raven, then your soul is close to what it was before you died.’ Fleur tucked the feathers back away. ‘And if you’re the same as you were, then I’d have no reason to leave, non?’

She knows me well enough to get that close from just feathers. Harry stifled a stab of panic. She mustn’t know I’m not sure I’ve always been Harry. She mustn’t doubt.

‘I would very much prefer it if you didn’t leave,’ he murmured.

As long as I dream Harry’s dream, I’ll stay Harry and it will never matter. And there’re no dreams left but Fleur.

‘Good. I’m not going to.’ Fleur kissed the edge of his jaw. ‘Now, how’s your magic?’

‘Calm.’ Harry shrugged. ‘It’s back to how it felt before, I think.’

‘So what are you going to do?’ she asked.

‘Right now?’ He shot her a suggestive grin. ‘I had some ideas…’

‘And in the future, mon Cœur,’ Fleur said. ‘You’ll get bored waiting around here while Gabby and I work for Les Inconnus.’ She cocked her head and tossed her hair over her shoulder. ‘That’s a thought. Maybe I can just get Grise to make you one of us, they need some more help catching Le Cancrelat as it is.’ A small soft smile spread across her face and her hand slid to rest on her abdomen. ‘We could make things together. Amazing things.’

‘And with Gabby,’ Harry said. ‘She’ll insist it’s a threesome, not a twosome.’

‘Probably with exactly that wording.’ Fleur rolled her eyes. ‘She’s getting too bold, calling you mon Cœur, when you are mine. I should scorch her hair off or burn all her shoes.’ Her eyes darkened a few hues. ‘Or both.’

‘Or take away her book collection.’ He laughed. ‘It would only buy us a few days, though.’

‘Well? Would you?’ She cupped his cheek with warm fingers. ‘I would like you to.’

‘For you, probably.’ He caught her hand under his, stroking his thumb across the soft skin on the back of it. ‘It’ll be interesting and fun, but I hope there aren’t too many rules...’

‘There are a few,’ Fleur admitted. ‘Most of them are bendable so long as what you’re doing is useful and you aren’t out there murdering muggle babies or anything really bad.’

‘And the other stuff?’ Harry asked. ‘What about that?’

‘I’m sure you’d feel happier coming with me if it’s going to be dangerous, non?’ she replied. ‘And, if you’re part of Les Inconnus and we’re clearly involved, Grise isn’t going to ask me to do anything we’ll hate.’

‘I’m in.’

The corner of Fleur’s mouth twitched and she lowered her arm. ‘Of course you are. When I ask you to come make things with me, you think about it, but when it’s your trust issues at stake…’

Harry grimaced, guilt coiling in his gut. 'Désolé, mon Amour.’

‘This time, I’m just teasing.’ She pressed a lingering kiss to his lips. ‘And speaking of teasing…’

‘Happy to be distracted?’ His hands slid to her waist. ‘Every night’s not enough for you, my sex-craving bird-witch?’

‘Non,’ she murmured, flicking her wand at the door. ‘It’s not. I missed you for a year. I spent a lot of time thinking about all the things I wanted to do with you when you got back.’

‘Oh?’

‘A lot of them are things you’ll enjoy.’ She smirked at him through her lashes, her blue eyes bright and burning. ‘I used to imagine little fantasies that might’ve happened between us in another life. Want to try one?’

Harry grinned, faint heat coursing through his veins. ‘How could I say no to that?’

Fleur’s smirk widened and she flourished her wand, her blue dress shrinking down to a Slytherin girl’s uniform. ‘Heir Potter,’ she pleaded, clutching at his robe. ‘Please, you must help me!’

Harry hid a laugh. ‘And why’s that…?’ He pried her hands loose. ‘I’m afraid I don’t know your name.’

‘I’m Heiress Greengrass,’ Fleur whispered. ‘My evil pureblood father is making me marry an old Death Eater for reasons that make absolutely no sense to anyone.’

‘Well, he is evil, so I guess I shouldn’t question it.’ He stepped forward until he could feel her breath tickling his chin. ‘Still, what exactly do you expect me to do about it, Heiress Greengrass?’

Fleur bit her lip and stared at her feet. ‘There’s only one way to break the contract, Heir Potter.’ She fiddled with the top button of her shirt. ‘You’re the only one I trust to not take advantage, because you’re such a noble hero and we’ve secretly been friends all this time after a chance meeting years ago.’

‘Oh?’ Harry’s gaze dipped to the pale curve of her cleavage as she tugged the button open. ‘And how’s that, Heiress Greengrass?’

Fleur shuffled her feet and shot him a coy look, pulling the buttons of her shirt open. ‘I need you to take my purity; that will invalidate the contract and save me, even though my father could just make another one anyway right afterward.’

‘What’s in it for me?’ Harry asked. ‘I mean, I’m a hero, of course I’ll nobly deflower you. Whatever you need, my damsel in distress.’

A burst of laughter escaped Fleur. ‘Thank you, Heir Potter. You’ve saved me.’ She slipped out of her blouse and fingered the hem of her skirt, flashing him her bright, red underwear. ‘It — it’s just… I’ve never even kissed a boy before.’

Harry slid a finger under her chin and tilted her face up, catching her lips with his. ‘Now you have, Heiress Greengrass.’

A little shiver swept through Fleur. ‘Can you —’ she bit her lip and glanced away ‘— can you do it again, Heir Potter?’

He pulled her forward into his arms and crushed his lips into hers, flicking the tip of his tongue against her upper lip until her fingers curled tight in the front of his robes. ‘Like that?’

Desire shone in Fleur’s eyes as she drew back, fiddling with the clasp of her bra. ‘I hope — I hope I can make it feel good for you.’

Harry cupped her cheek, running his thumb along her lower lip. ‘Show me.’