When Ginny woke up at St. Mungo’s again, she barely had a few minutes to collect herself before the Aurors were asking her questions with Dumbledore standing in the corner of her room. After bumbling and stammering for a few minutes, Dumbledore had called for a break as it became apparent that the Aurors were pushing her too hard. The two Aurors left the room while Dumbledore lingered behind.
Ginny tugged on her bond with Fawkes and didn’t feel any response. But the bond said that he was still fine. Was it lying? Was Fawkes hurt?!
“What happened to Fawkes!” She asked in a panic, looking at Dumbledore, “I can’t call him through our bond! Is he okay?!”
“He’s fine,” Dumbledore said, “Just out of commission for a few weeks. He was hit with a killing curse last night. He’ll reform his body and be perfectly healthy once he reforms.”
“Last night?” Ginny asked, “Wait, how long have I slept?”
“It’s around three o’clock in the afternoon currently,” Dumbledore said calmly, “You appear perfectly healthy besides succumbing to magical exhaustion again.”
“Olivia?” Ginny asked hopefully, “Is she okay? Was she infected?”
“Infected?” Dumbledore asked, his eyes boring into her, “Infected with what?”
“The- Werewolf? The werewolf bit her leg.”
Dumbledore sighed as if confirming bad news.
“I was afraid of that,” he muttered before speaking directly to her again, “We can only hope she escaped this incident without the curse. The mind healers are working even now to heal the damage done by the reckless obliviations performed on her.”
Ginny sat up in the hospital a bit more. “How bad is it? Will it be like what happened to me?”
Dumbledore shook his head, “No, nothing like that. Our minds are complex things. No Obliviation or erasure of memory is perfect. Usually there are scraps of memory left behind or things that the caster did not wish to erase are also destroyed. In this case, since the charm was cast four times on your friend… many things were erased as collateral damage for erasing her memories of the last week. But much, probably even all of it can be retrieved through the dedicated efforts of our mind healers. Everything that was simply collateral damage and not direct targets for erasure at least. Given enough time, young Olivia will fully recover her memories I’m sure. She is still aware of herself and even who you are despite how much was lost. A good sign already.”
“That’s good.”
“Do you perhaps need more time to recover before speaking on what happened?” Dumbledore asked kindly, “We can delay the questioning until you are feeling better.”
“Thank you. I just need a few minutes, then I can talk.”
Dumbledore nodded, and then opened the door. “We’ll be waiting in the lobby,” He said, “Alert your nurse when you are feeling well enough to speak on what happened.”
He left the room and shut the door behind him.
Ginny sat there, mind racing as she tried to think of what she should say. She definitely couldn’t say anything about Eric… Or Fate…
Well, she could just say she had no clue of what happened. Never seen Eric or whoever attacked the werewolf? Would that work? She thought about it. That seemed like it would be fine. Oh, and she could say that she wasn’t sure how Olivia broke free of that mind controlling charm. She shouldn’t tell anybody that she could break enchantments, especially spells that were still in people’s bodies…
She told the nurse she was ready and then told Dumbledore and the Aurors what had happened. Olivia waking her up in the middle of the night and leading her outside where she was Olivia stunned her with a spell. Waking up in that old building and hearing the werewolf trying to give Olivia orders, and not noticing Ginny floating on the ceiling…
It was a little unbelievable even as she said it, but Ginny was sure that it had only worked because she was already invisible to Fate.
“Wait, the werewolf could speak?” The Auror interrupted her, “What did it say?”
“Nothing much. It was mad that she wasn’t listening to her. It didn’t have magic so apparently it couldn’t control her and give her new orders? I used some levitation charms to make some noises in the hallway and it went into a rage, smashing everything around the building.”
The Aurors glanced at each other skeptically, not seeming to believe that the werewolf had been able to speak.
“Let’s continue,” Dumbledore said, “What happened next?”
Ginny narrated Olivia bringing her to the ground and ‘mysteriously’ breaking free of the mind controlling curse. Then ‘Olivia’ used a spell to slow their fall after they threw themselves out of the third floor window.
They had run away and the werewolf had chased after them. The werewolf had grabbed hold of Olivia, but someone jumped in and started fighting it with flames. The werewolf bit Olivia before Ginny managed to pull her away and the girl cast the healing spells and petrificus segmentus curse on her leg to stop the bleeding. The unseen person had succeeded in killing the werewolf and then disappeared again as Ginny tried to make sure that Olivia didn’t choke.
“Then who cast the obliviation charms?” One of the Aurors asked, “Did you see?”
“I don’t know. He cast some white light on Olivia, but I was already pretty out of it at the time…”
“He? It was a man?” The Auror said.
“Yeah. But I didn’t see much else about him,” Ginny quickly said as she realized her slip.
“Are you sure?” The Auror asked, “There’s nothing you can remember? Perhaps we could get a memory specialist to retrieve the memory if you’re having trouble describing him?”
“No,” Ginny said forcefully, causing the Auror to blink in surprise, “I’m not letting anyone mess around in my head,” Ginny said. Especially when she had secrets about Teregatt and Eric to keep now.
“Why not?” The Auror insisted, “Just a single memory of the incident and then we’ll have the evidence of what happened and not have to ask you all of these questions.”
“No,” Ginny said, growing annoyed at the man’s insistence despite knowing that she actually was lying a bit about what happened, “I don’t have to, do I? What if I end up hurt like Olivia if someone botches it?”
“It’s a safe procedur-”
“I believe that young Miss Weasley has made her position clear,” Dumbledore suddenly said from the corner, “The matter has been settled. She has refused to give her memory of the incident and has every right to do so. Please continue with the standard questioning, please?”
“Of course, Chief Wizemgott,” the Auror said quickly. He turned back to Ginny and asked more questions about what happened and Ginny answered as best as she could. Playing dumb was, as usual, not too difficult. She really had no clue who that werewolf was, or why Fate had been able to possess him and force him to attack Ginny.
The Aurors and Dumbledore left after they were done, looking dissatisfied but not suspicious as they went.
— — —
“How are you doing, Olivia?” Ginny asked as she stood over the hospital bed. She tried to not look at the large cast covering Olivia’s whole leg. Werewolves were magical creatures when they were transformed, so their bites interfered with healing magic.
“Pretty good,” Olivia said, “Mostly I’m just waiting to see if I’m a werewolf though,” She said haltingly.
“Hopefully not,” Ginny replied.
“We’ll see in a month on the next full moon, I guess. They’ll bring me to a padded cell to see if I’ll transform for the night of. I was doing so well too. Job lined up in the Auror’s office, did well on exams, practicals… I was so close.”
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“Well, you can still do it,” Ginny said in an upbeat tone, “You can take off one day a month, can’t you? You’ll be fine the rest of the time.”
Olivia shook her head sadly, “No, you don’t get it Ginny. All of it. Good grades, the Job offer, exams… none of it matters anymore. It’ll all be taken away if I’m a werewolf. I’ll never be able to hold a job at the ministry, anywhere. People don’t care that I’d only be dangerous for one night a month. They’re too afraid that I’d infect them too just by being nearby or be a violent maniac or something. I won't even be able to buy a house even if I got enough money for it somehow. My life is over. I’ll be homeless and have to wander the streets, join one of the werewolf packs to survive…”
“No!” Ginny said forcefully, “I won’t let that happen! You saved my life, that werewolf would have killed me if you hadn’t found a loophole in your orders to hide me up by the ceiling. You only got that wound because I didn’t do enough to protect you. I promise I’ll help you if you’re a werewolf!”
Olivia opened her mouth and looked sad.
“I know you don’t remember,” Ginny said in frustration, “But I do. All of this is my fault. I should have stopped it, done something more…”
Olivia chuckled weakly, “Who’s the first year again?” She said, “I’m a seventh year, Ginny. Whatever happened it wasn’t your fault. I’m just glad you got out of it fine. Don’t you worry about me.”
Ginny stepped forward and grabbed Olivia’s hand and squeezed tightly with a death grip and stared into Olivia’s eyes while feeling the guilt of how much the girl had just wilted after being told she was a werewolf. It wasn’t even confirmed yet and the always no nonsense, personable Olivia looked like a wilted flower left without water for too long.
“Olivia,” Ginny said as seriously as she ever had, “I know you don’t believe me. But I’m going to help you fix this. So don’t give up yet, please.”
“Good luck,” Olivia muttered, “But thanks, Ginny. I appreciate that.”
— — —
“Please, Balthazar! Her life will be ruined if we don’t find a cure, or solution, or… or something!”
Balthazar rubbed his chin thoughtfully, stoic as always as he considered what she had asked him. Luckily they seemed to have shifted into a longer Teregatt cycle for this night, so Ginny had a little time to talk with Balthazar before her time sleeping on earth was over.
“There is a way…” Balthazar said, “But it is not to be done lightly. I would need to study her directly to inspect and treat this malady. The only way to do that is through physical transportation of her body.”
“But didn’t you say that we couldn’t do that for years?” Ginny asked, “That you used up most of the energy?”
“We did. But there is a way to give this place more energy. Create a permanent portal somewhere with high amounts of magical energy and Teregatt will be able to draw in some of that energy to power itself. We’ve been disconnected from any other reality ever since the original master died. If you made a permanent portal anchoring Teregatt to your reality for a time then not only could you heal your friend, but your subjects could more easily come to defend you in moments of crisis if given an entry point to your reality.”
“A permanent portal?” Ginny asked, “Wouldn’t Fate hate that, make everyone attack you at once?”
“Yes. There are two solutions to this. One, choose an isolated place. Fate only cares about that which interacts and changes the people within her designs. If we avoid them as best as we can then it may take a long time before she discovers us or notices the disruptions to her plans that we will cause. I’m sure that she is going mad enough trying to contain the ripples you and Eric Smith are already causing to her plans even now.”
“And the second option?” Ginny asked.
“Somewhere defensible. Where even if Fate sends forces against us we will able to hold the line until she gives up and leaves us be so long as we agree to not interfere too much. Or until she forces us out of this world.”
“Would she agree to that? She seemed pretty fanatic in trying to get every Beyonder possible to leave…”
“She does so out of frustration. She let Beyonders settle here in the past, but it didn't go well according to the few who managed to flee from this place before they were all destroyed. So it is a sore point of giving us even an inch of time to entrench ourselves here for her. If we show that we are powerful enough after she tests our strength then she will leave us be and only grow aggressive again if we interfere with her plans. She'll still work to expel us but won't continue with such aggressive assaults hopefully.”
“But where would I put the portal?” Ginny asked, “How would I do it?”
“The how is quite simple. You would allow me to observe you again for a time. If you go to a proper magical location, then I can initiate the creation of the portal from here. Teregatt will be left with nearly no energy when the portal is complete so we will only have a single attempt for this. I know you wish to help your friend, but you must be patient and choose the location for the portal carefully. To begin, are there any locations that you think would be ideal for the portal to be placed? You know much more of your world than I do. At least the modern one.”
“Places that are isolated, but defensible? I don’t know. Hogwarts is defensible, but there’s a ton of people there. Britain has a lot of people all over, I don’t think anywhere there would be that isolated really. I guess there’s a few islands scattered about around Britain, but I don’t know how magical any of them are. There’s Azkaban that I think is magical, but it all seemed rather horrible from what I’ve heard…”
“Azkaban? An island sounds ideal. Tell me more.”
“It’s the Ministry prison. A very dark wizard called Ecraz lived there long ago and supposedly created the island with his magic. He lured in ships to the island and turned the crew into the Dementors with his dark magic. Converted them somehow into the evil creatures... All the Dementors that exist live there on the island supposedly, no one’s escaped from the prison in hundreds of years between the defenses of the island itself and the Dementors.”
Balthazar looked surprised, “Now that,” He said, “Sounds absolutely perfect.”
“What?” Ginny said, “What do you mean? It’s a horrible place! It’s got dark magic and dementors everywhere alongside all the worst criminals!”
“Yes, the criminals are a problem,” Balthazar agreed, “But the Dementors and the sinister nature of the island are a boon. Think, what will Fate do to force the people under her control to attack us when she doesn't have a host to directly attack us with?”
“She’ll make them angry? Make them think that you’re terrible monsters or something?”
“Exactly. But she can not directly tell them anything. Most of the time. She can only influence them without a host. If we settle there, everyone will already know why they fear and hate the island. The Dementors and the Island’s dark magic. Fate’s manipulations will have little effect in causing an attack on our position when they are reinforcing the populace’s existing fear of the dementors instead of targeting it towards us specifically. Especially considering the isolation of the island means that it may take a long time before Fate even discovers our presence there and gives us time to build up our defenses.”
“But… the Dementors? Won’t they not be happy about this?”
“We can deal with them. I could likely deal with them on my own. We’ll put them out of their misery.”
“You’ll kill them? But… kill?”
“One of them reveled in torturing you when it had the opportunity. They feed on the despair and suffering of others. We could capture them and contain them within Teregatt permanently. But perhaps it is better to put down such creatures before they can keep hurting others.”
“And what about the criminals?” Ginny challenged, “They hurt people too. Are you going to kill them as well?”
“I was not planning to,” Balthazar said, “But you will learn in time that hard choices must be made in cases where saving a single life can cause dozens of others to die horribly as a result. But, I hope you do not have to deal with such decisions for a very long time if I can help it. I was simply planning to put them all under a multi-month stasis spell and drop them off at your ministry. I’m sure they will find a new prison to keep them at if given some time to prepare.”
“Azkaban is the only one,” Ginny argued, “No one escapes there, the Ministry doesn’t have any other prisons for people.”
Balthazar frowned. “That is rather inhumane,” He said, “They just throw people into an island infused with dark magic and let them be fed upon by creatures like the Dementors? What if they were innocent?”
“Er, well. Yeah, it’s really bad.” Ginny agreed, “Everyone’s really scared of going there. For obvious reasons…”
“Well, perhaps we’re doing your people a favor then. They can construct better prisons once the inhumane option is taken away from them by us. I’ll up the stasis for the criminals to a full year just to be safe so there’s plenty of time for your government to build a new prison. Is that acceptable?”
“I… I guess? I’m not sure how I feel about this. Just invading some place no matter how horrible and claiming it. Aren’t we taking land from the government?”
“Yes. Would you like us to pay them for it?”
“What? We can do that?”
“Yes. We have plenty of gold in our vaults here in Teregatt. We’ll ask for their price in gold bars, and then give them even more than whatever outrageous amount they choose. I’m sure your government will be more than happy to be rid of the island.”
“Wait, you have money?” Ginny asked, “I can use that to help my family!”
“Yes, of course. But it would be best to not use them until we are properly settled on this world. We don’t want people to worry about your sudden source of new wealth,” Balthazar gently chided.
“Oh. Right. But that sounds like a pretty good plan so far. How would I get to Azkaban though? I’m just a random first year Hogwarts student. I can’t travel or even apparate yet if I wanted to go there.”
“Ask Fawkes,” Balthazar stated, “He can take you through his flames if he’s been there before. Perhaps Dumbledore has taken him there in the past.”
“He can carry me through those?” Ginny asked blankly.
“Yes. I believe so, even if it might be more exhausting for him to do so,” Balthazar confirmed.
“Well, that all sounds good. I’ve got a few weeks before Fawkes regenerates his body and I can ask him about it. So I should do it over the summer then?”
“That would make the most sense,” Balthazar agreed, “All you will have to do is go to Azkaban with Fawkes, stand by as I open the portal, then have Fawkes take you away again. Your loyal subjects will handle all the rest.”
“If it helps you and Teregatt, helps Olivia, and stops the Ministry from putting people on the horrible island then it must be the right thing to do, right?”
“I believe so. It will be interesting to finally meet you in the flesh, my queen.”
“Now, that’s something strange to think about. I could come to this place in my real body.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Balthazar said, “Would you like to keep training your telekinesis now that we have some extra time?”
“Sounds good. Next time Fate attacks me with a werewolf I want to be able to not have to run away in fear again.”
“A worthy goal. Let’s do our best to make that a reality.”