After a while, Ginny started growing slightly restless. How long had it even been? Hadn’t she spent years in Teregatt sitting around and practicing magic? She had to calm down. She sat on the floor and sat cross legged and leaned against a wall, closing her eyes as she did so. She remembered what it was like to practice her magic, to sit in Teregatt and fall into a meditative state. Her racing heart started to slow and her breathing slowed. She calmed slightly as she breathed deeper.

“I was never into that meditation stuff,” Sirius said suddenly from next from her, shocking her back out of her meditative state. But she felt much calmer than she had before.

“I had no idea you did that,” Sirius added as he sat in a chair nearby, looking down at her.

Ginny shrugged awkwardly, “Yeah. Sometimes. I just hope we hear back soon.”

“What did you even want to talk with her about anyway?” Sirius asked, “I don’t think I ever asked. Before we discovered this whole mess of course.”

“I’ve got, uhm. It’s a secret,” Ginny said, “But it’s important.”

“Secret, huh? Something you can’t even tell your favorite uncle?”

“You’re my only uncle. Well, you’re not my uncle either. But you know what I mean,” Ginny said, “Of course you’re my favorite!”

“Ouch. Really hit me where it hurts,” Sirius joked, “You know…”

Garnak walked in the room and both of them immediately looked at him. The goblin walked over and looked at Sirius.

“We’ve located the girl,” Garnak said, “She’s joined one of the larger werewolf packs. We haven’t approached yet, would you like to go there right now? The tracking team also doubles in security if either of you feel in danger at any time.”

“Yes, take us right away please,” Sirius said, jumping up. Ginny went to get up too, but her crossed legs tangled and she fell to the floor in a heap face first for a moment. She blushed and stood to her feet properly this time as Garnak looked at her with a judging look.

“Follow… after me,” he said, his eyes lingering on the embarrassed Ginny for a moment before walking out of the room.

A wizard from the tracking team met them at an apparition platform from within the bank. He grabbed both Ginny and Sirius’ hands before apparating them away to a random forest.

“They really live out here in the forest?” Ginny asked as the wizards and witches from the Gringotts tracker team surrounded them on all sides. There were eight of them, three women and five men in the group.

“Ministry won’t let them live near people,” the man that had apparated her and Sirius answered Ginny, “They’re forced to live here as far away from the muggles as they can if they don’t want the Aurors coming in here and throwing them in Azkaban. Well… wherever prisoners are going to end up going these days. What with those rich blokes buying the whole island and all.”

“What a group of idiots,” one of the women jumped in, “A mercenary company that rich? And they chose to settle on Azkaban of all places? I’ve heard that they paid hundreds of millions of pounds for the land. They could have lived like kings if they’d just retired and let everyone in their group live it large on that kind of wealth.”

“Bah, you’re just jealous,” one of the other men jumped in, “Clearly they have enough money to throw around. I think they unsealed one of the great Egyptian tombs or something. One of the ones that have curses that kill you instantly if you make a single wrong move. Whatever's in one of them would be worth billions if you sell it to the right people.”

“But if it was a tomb then where have all the artifacts gone? Shouldn’t they be on the market?”

“Maybe not. Private buyers…”

“Quiet,” the leader of the group commanded. The man who had apparated Ginny and Sirius to this forest, “Job first. Gossip about Azkaban and those crazy fellas that bought it later. Now, you two VIPs just stay quiet. We’ll explain the situation to the pack as we approach. No hostile movements, these people are touchy around outsiders. Got it?”

“Got it,” Ginny and Sirius both confirmed.

“Great. Let’s go.”

They walked through the woods with purpose, the leader of the group casting a spell every once in a while that sent a pulse of magic from the tip of his wand to ripple through the forest in Ginny’s magic senses.

After a few minutes, Ginny detected a few magical signatures standing in a rough line. The group approached what looked like a line of a dozen haggard men and women. Their faces were gaunt and their dirty patchy clothes hung off of their thin frames. Their eyes were sunken and dull like they’d given up hope even as they stood in a line to block their way.

“What do ya want?” One of the men shouted at them aggressively while brandishing his wand, “We don’t want no outsiders round here! Leave before I spell ya!”

“We’re just here to talk to one of the pack,” the leader of the trackers said calmly, “Olivia Roberts. She should have arrived here a few weeks ago. We’re here to help her.”

The man shifted, but lowered his wand and the rest of the people grew much less hostile.

“The new pup?” The man said, “What do ya want with her? She hasn’t killed anyone when she transformed before she came here, has she?”

“No, nothing like that. We’re not Aurors, we really just want to speak with her. Our clients here are her friends.”

He gestured to Ginny and Sirius. The haggard man raised an eyebrow as he saw Ginny.

“Bringin’ a kid to a place like this… Hope ya know what yer doing. Wait here, and don’t move as I go fetch her.”

The man turned and lumbered off, the other presumed werewolves remaining tense with their wands in their hands as they stood there.

“You got any food, rich boy?” One of the women said while staring at Sirius, “Haven’t eaten in days. Skin on bones, I am.”

“Shut up, Amelia,” One of the men snapped, “You were stuffing your fat face just yesterday after you gave Chester that-”

One of the other women cuffed the angry man on the back of the head and glared at him.

Ginny looked at the woman who had just been called fat. She was one of the skinniest women that Ginny had ever seen. Starved. Like how Harry had been at the Dursleys, getting just barely enough calories in her meals to survive and move.

The woman, Amelia, smirked and the other woman who had smacked the man glared at her too, wiping her smile away.

“Shut it, both of ya. Lord’s too fancy to give any food to filthy werewolves like us,” she growled, “And there’s children present. Watch your da- mouths around her. No swearing.”

“Never knew you were such a softie…” the man sneered.

“I’ll show ya how soft I am!” The woman said, raising her wand threateningly, “I’ll make you puke yer guts out in front of our esteemed guests, I will, if you don’t watch yerself!”

There was a tense standoff for a second, before the man barked out a short laugh. “Alrigh’. Fair enough.”

The two women and the man all looked back at Sirius and Ginny, visibly forgetting about the confrontation they had just had as if they fought so often that it wasn’t even worth remembering.

They all stood there in a tense standoff between the Gringotts team and the ragtag group of werewolves.

After a few minutes the man from before returned, with a familiar girl in tow behind him. Olivia. Her eyes were sunken and she had lost a lot of weight. She had massive bags under her eyes as she stared at the ground as she walked, her eyes lifeless and without any hope in them.

“Olivia!” Ginny called out from around the backs of the Gringott’s team, “Hi! We’re here to help you!”

Olivia looked up and shrunk back, her eyes widening in shock as she spotted Ginny. She froze and looked panicked as she stood there in place. She looked like she was about to run before the man who had retrieved her put a hand on her shoulder and whispered something to her.

The girl looked like she had an internal struggle before she kept walking forward, the other werewolf’s hand on her shoulder and seeming to push her onwards.

“H-Hi Ginny,” Olivia stammered with her eyes darting all around to look at anything but her as they drew close.

“What are you doing here?” Olivia continued.

“We’re here to help,” Ginny replied, a little put out that Olivia wasn’t happy to see her, “We heard about what happened with your parents. Those jerks! I wanted to punch them when I heard what they said about you!”

Olivia looked up and a faint smile touched the corners of her lips. “Yeah. Me too,” She said softly.

“Me and my uncle Sirius came as soon as we learned what happened,” Ginny continued, Sirius and the Gringotts people kept letting her talk. The werewolves all listened in with interest, and became visibly more relaxed as Olivia made it clear that she already knew Ginny and didn’t seem to think she meant any harm.

“Are you okay?” Ginny asked in concern.

Olivia looked hesitant before glancing at all the other werewolves listening in.

“I’m part of the Pack,” Olivia said, “There’s not a lot of food, but everyone works together as one. I’ll be fine.”

Ginny glanced around at all the observers.

“Look, Olivia. I know things don’t seem great right now. But I need to talk with you in private. I know somebody that can help. Like, really help you. Please?”

Olivia glanced at the werewolves again before back to Ginny and nodding.

“Okay,” Olivia said, “But I’m with the pack now. It doesn’t matter how much money I have if no one will ever let me spend it. I’m a registered werewolf now by the ministry, I can’t even buy a house anymore…”

Ginny and Olivia walked to the side of both groups. Neither clumps of adults moved, instead eyeing Ginny and Olivia as they walked farther into the woods until they were out of earshot.

“Alright, Ginny,” Olivia said with a sigh once they were far enough away, “Who is this person? Your rich uncle there?”

“Are you okay?” Ginny asked, concerned at Olivia’s response being so lackluster to her words before.

“I’m… I just don’t want to get my hopes up, Ginny,” Olivia said, “This is all I’ll amount to now, living in the woods and hunting for animals in the woods to survive. My parents were right, I’m a monster.”

“No!” Ginny stomped her foot on the ground angrily, “I wanted to hit your parents so bad when they said those horrible things about you! You don’t have to listen to them just because they’re related to you. People like that don’t deserve to be your family!”

Olivia looked at Ginny in surprise before turning away, “Easy for you to say. You didn’t have your parents call you an animal.”

Ginny opened her mouth as all Harry’s memories with the Dursleys flooded over her. But then she shut her mouth. She did understand. Probably more than Olivia even understood. But she couldn’t explain that.

“Look, this isn’t false hope,” Ginny insisted, “I know the person who took over Azkaban. He says he wants to look at you and see if he can cure you, turn you back to a human.”

“What? That billionaire mercenary group? How would you know any of them?”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“That’s not important. Just come with us, and I’ll take you to Azkaban with Fawkes. He’ll look at you and see what he can do.”

“What makes you think this guy can do what every other person for hundreds of years can’t?” Olivia asked angrily, “He’s probably just playing you, us. A cruel joke on the both of us.”

“No, he wouldn’t do that,” Ginny said instantly, “It’s… I can’t tell you now. But you’ll understand when you see him. He’s not like anyone else you’ve ever met. Look, just talk to him? I’ll have Fawkes apparate us away if we’re ever in any danger.”

Olivia wavered, and her eyes flickered to life from the dull helplessness they had been wallowing in before.

“You promise?” Olivia whispered, “The second we’re in danger, Fawkes will apparate us out?”

“I promise.”

“I— Okay. The pack won’t like it, but I’ll go. They’ll understand.”

“Do you want to go now? Or say your goodbye’s here? I can call Fawkes right now and we can go, but I don’t know how long you’ll be gone.”

“Now?!” Olivia said, “Uhm. Okay! I’ll tell Ren that I’m going, then we can go?”

“Alright.”

Olivia and Ginny went back to the main group. Ginny gently tugged on her familiar bond with Fawkes. Something to tell him to come, but that it wasn’t very urgent. Olivia went over and pulled ‘Ren’ aside. The man who had retrieved her from inside the camp before. The man looked annoyed and argued with her for a few minutes, but eventually Olivia appeared to win the argument and stepped away and started walking towards Ginny and Sirius.

In a giant burst of flame, Fawkes appeared above them circling in the air. He let out a loud cry as everyone tensed and raised their wands at his sudden entrance.

“I’m fine, Fawkes!” Ginny shouted upwards, “We’re going a day early though. I’ll tell you all about Olivia and what happened later. Did I interrupt your hunt?”

Fawkes flapped his wings and landed on the ground just in front of Ginny. Everyone stared in amazement at Fawkes, only Olivia and Sirius being calmer as they had met him before and gotten more used to him.

Fawkes let out a long trill.

“Fawkes… Didn’t you promise to not hunt animals that belonged to people?”

Chirp.

“Are you sure? Just because there was no fence around them doesn’t mean they were wild.”

Chirp.

“And there were no people nearby at all? It was just a big group of goats all on their own wandering around?”

Chirp.

“Well, as long as you’re sure. I just want to make sure you don’t get in trouble and start stealing people’s things even by accident.”

Fawkes let out a long trill.

“Well, okay. But you’re a big bird made of flame. I don’t think you’d be a very good thief either way. Okay, Olivia, you ready to go?”

“Yeah.”

“Go?” Sirius cut in, “Go where? What are you doing?”

Ginny stiffened as she realized she hadn’t explained anything to Sirius. She gave him a guilty smile.

“So, uhm. I’ll meet you outside the Burrow? I’ll be there with Fawkes in a few hours.”

Sirius’ eyes widened, “What? Absolutely not! I’m in charge of you right now, you can’t just…”

Ginny jogged over so she was standing right next to Olivia and grabbed the other girl’s arm.

“C’mon, Fawkes! Let’s go!”

Fawkes chirped and flew over the both of them and the world was covered in bright orange flames and they were gone.

— — —

Sirius stared at the space where Ginny had just disappeared from. Shit, this is what he got for trying be the responsible one for once…

Molly was going to beat him black and blue with a stick when she heard about this. Sirius glanced around to the gathered werewolves staring at the space where Ginny had disappeared from. If. If she heard about this. Hopefully that girl knew what she was doing with all of this…

He cleared his throat, “Well, it appears we’re done here,” He said, “I suppose I should be heading home.”

Everyone glanced at each other then collectively shrugged.

“Talking to a bloody phoenix like a dog…” One of the Gringotts mercenaries muttered as they walked back through the woods away from the werewolves.

Sirius snorted and all of them stared at him.

“Don’t let him or Ginny hear you make that comparison,” Sirius said, “Fawkes is a very smart bird according to her. They can talk to each other just like you and I can. And if you talk to Fawkes and insult him somehow then he’ll hold a grudge and you’ll never be able to pet him ever again. Or so I’m told. I haven’t taken any risks so far.”

“She pets the Phoenix?” One of the women jumped in, “I heard the rumors, but… damn. That’s on my bucket list now that I know it’s something that’s even possible.”

“Yeah,” Sirius said, “It’s quite the experience, I have to say.”

— — —

The orange fire dissipated around Ginny and revealed the same platform that she had appeared on when she came here for the first time. But the place felt far different than before. The place wasn’t cold and humid like it was before. Instead it was warm, almost sweltering and the air was slightly dry. It wasn’t uncomfortable, just a touch drier and warmer than Ginny had felt on the mainland.

The skies above them were clear and the sun shone brightly down on them, with a ring of dark clouds in the distance showing a dark and stormy gloom, like they were in the eye of a storm. Ginny turned around and looked behind her to the ocean. She was surprised to see a perfectly cylindrical hole carved in the rock down through where the old white stone of where the old apparition platform used to be. The hole was massive, the diameter of the carving so large that it went directly to the cliff’s edge without going fully around.

Ginny wondered why they had been carved like that.

Next to her, Olivia gasped and looked around. “This? This is Azkaban? It seems… I mean, nothing like what people have said. Where are all the Dementors draining all the happiness from us?”

“Trust me, it wasn’t nearly this nice last time I was here,” Ginny said, “Balthazar, that’s the person that wants to help you, got rid of them.”

Ginny looked into the courtyard where she knew the portal to Teregatt was. There was a beehive-like structure made of reddish sandstone sitting in the middle of the space. It looked very out of place against the black stone that covered the rest of Azkaban.

“Does this person know that we’re coming?” Olivia asked after a few moments and nothing happened, “Should we come back later?”

“No, let’s just wait until he comes. I’m sure he’ll detect us soon if he hasn’t already. He’s probably just busy. Reinforcing the wards or something.”

They waited there standing in the surprisingly atmosphere of Azkaban, with the sounds of the crashing waves of the ocean below wafting up to them. The sound now slightly soothing rather than menacing like it had been last time Ginny had been here.

“Ah!” Olivia shouted and jumped.

“What?” Ginny said and looked to where the girl was pointing with a trembling finger. There standing at the other end of the courtyard was one of the Guard staring at them.

Ginny waved at it.

“Can you tell Balthazar we got here early?” Ginny shouted at the Guard, “This is my friend Olivia!”

The member of the Guard clicked and buzzed as they always did in reply and then flashed white and shot off into the sky. Olivia gaped as the creature flashed white and kept dashing upwards to fly into the looming black castle that loomed in front of them.

“W-What was that thing?” Olivia muttered nervously to Ginny and glanced around while huddling closer to her and Fawkes. Olivia had her wand drawn and her eyes darted around as if to look for anything else that might ambush them.

“It’s okay,” Ginny said, “They’re harmless.”

Ginny got a flash of one of the Guard plunging its sword through Pettigrew’s back with a spray of blood.

“Okay, not harmless. They’re not hostile though. They work for Balthazar.”

“And is Balthazar one of… An insect thing?”

“No, he’s not,” Ginny said and Olivia relaxed, “He looks much more like a human,” She assured Olivia.

“More?”

“Well, he’s not actually human. He looks most like…”

Olivia and Ginny both jumped as Balthazar’s voice sounded out from behind them after the signature crack of air from an apparition.

“A Devil?” Balthazar said to finish Ginny’s sentence.

Olivia screamed and whirling around, quickly flicking her wand. “Stupify!” She shouted and shot a red spell at Balthazar. He reached out and caught the spell in one hand and inspected it like it was an interesting trinket. Ginny’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she was the web of complex magic tendrils that Balthazar was controlling to keep the spell in place in his hand without letting it explode. After a few seconds he closed his fist and the spell disappeared into puffs of magic that were invisible to the naked eye.

“Nice to meet you. Olivia Roberts, I presume? An interesting spell you just cast. Good response time.”

Olivia still had her wand raised, her face warring between amazed at what Balthazar had just done and fear. After what appeared to be a brief internal struggle, she lowered her wand to her side.

“A devil?” She said, “Do I have to sell my soul to you? In exchange for curing me of my curse?”

“Would you do it?” Balthazar asked thoughtfully, “If I asked?”

“Balthazar,” Ginny cut in, “Please, she doesn’t understand. She thinks you might really ask for her soul or something in exchange. I didn’t explain much to her.”

He looked surprised at Ginny’s words, “Oh. My apologies then, Ms. Roberts. I was just having some fun at your expense. I didn’t mean for you to take it the wrong way. You don’t have to do anything in return for my assistance, you have my word.”

Olivia slipped her wand into her robes and appeared to have calmed down as Balthazar continued to not attack her, “Thank you, B-Balthazar? I see what Ginny meant when she said I’d never met anyone like you before. Do you really think that it’s possible?”

“We shall see,” Balthazar said, “Follow right after me. I’ve already had a room prepared. Although you are a bit early so not everything is set up yet.”

They walked just off the main courtyard through a door and walked down a hallway with lines of doors on either side. At the end was a larger door that Balthazar opened, revealing all sorts of strange devices pulsing with red squirming runes and thrumming with magic. Olivia looked around until she focused on the table in the center of the room. It was tilted slightly at an angle. There were loops for restraints around the hands, feet and neck that were open and made of enchanted leather.

“Oh, hell no,” Olivia said, “No way I’m getting into that thing. Is this some sick experiment thing? Cut open the werewolf and see how she ticks?”

“We must perform tests to make progress,” Balthazar said, “That includes transforming you into your werewolf form. You’ll only be restrained when those tests are being conducted. Please lie on the examination table and I can begin. Ignore the restraints as best as you can. We will begin with the non-invasive tests first of course.”

Olivia eyed Balthazar and then Ginny.

“Ginny, do you really trust this guy? He’s really not trying to run some sick experiments on me or something?”

“Of course Balthazar would never do anything like that,” Ginny said confidently, “I trust him with my life.”

Balthazar looked rather startled at her declaration before his face smoothed back out into his usual calm expression after a moment.

“I mean you no harm, Ms. Roberts. The sooner we begin, the sooner we can finish.”

Olivia shot Ginny one last uncertain look, but at Ginny’s thumbs up she stepped up and lay down on the table. Balthazar picked up a vaguely gun shaped enchanted object and waved it over Olivia and scanned her whole body. Ginny could see Balthazar running his magic through the device to make it run. It took a long time for Balthazar to finish as he carefully moved the scanner over Olivia so slowly that at a glance Ginny would have a hard time determining if he was moving at all.

When he was finished he simply stood there for a moment wearing his normal pondering face as he stared blankly down at Olivia.

“What?” She asked, “Can you cure it?”

“Hm?” Balthazar said, “Oh, most certainly. I’m highly confident I’ll be able to cook up something effective. But the disease is much more interesting and difficult to fully remove than I thought it would be. This world continues to surprise. First a demigod, now this… It will take some time to study this. Likely weeks of time if not more.”

“Weeks?” Olivia asked surprised, “What? That quick? I can be cured after just a few weeks of you studying me?”

“It is likely.”

“Th-Thank you. I don’t really believe you yet. But if you can do it… being a werewolf is horrible. You’ll be giving me my life back.”

“Not at all, not at all. I’ll have one of the Guard arrange some comfortable guest quarters more suitable to humans for your stay. Ginny, will you be sleeping here tonight?”

“Sorry, I can’t,” She replied, “I’ve got to get home before I get Sirius in too much trouble.”

She turned to Olivia, who was looking more worried now, “But don’t worry! I’ll try to visit as often as I can. Over the weekends maybe. I’m not just leaving you here.”

“Oh,” Olivia said with a sigh of relief, “Thanks, Ginny. If Balthazar can really do it… then I’ll really owe you one. More than one. Thanks.”

“It’s the least I can do after what happened to you,” Ginny replied, “But I really have to get going. Balthazar, is there anything else you need? Something I can do to help?”

“No, Ginny. All we can do now is wait. The prisoners are all transferred to the mainland, the gold is paid to your government. Just go and enjoy your summer.”

“Thanks, Balthazar. Fawkes?”

Fawkes chirped and leapt into the air above Ginny and the world was filled with orange flames again. She reappeared just inside the front gate to the Burrow. It was getting the dark, the sun near setting. She crouched down and crept towards the house as she heard shouting inside.

“Irresponsible, what were you thinking?!” Molly screamed, “How could you lose our daughter when she was your responsibility?”

“It was the bloody Phoenix,” Sirius said defensively, “She just apparated away with the handsome bird. It all happened before I could stop her!”

“Did she say where she was going? Why she left?” Dad asked in a worried tone.

Ginny took a deep breath and opened the front door and stepped inside, Fawkes hopping in just after her as she held the door open a second longer to let him hop by.

All three adults turned to Ginny, “Don’t yell at Sirius, it was my fault,” Ginny said, “I wanted to go see something with Fawkes so I just left without thinking too much about it.”

Molly puffed up, all her ire that had been focused on Sirius redirecting onto Ginny.

“Young lady, do you have any idea how worried we were about you?!” She said, “Your father and I have been worried sick about you! Sick! You’re being grounded for a week after this!”

“Grounded?” Ginny asked, “What’s that?”

“What’s… Grounded?” Molly asked before deflating slightly, “Right. No playing outside for a week. And you’ll be doing extra chores. Don’t you ever worry us like that again!”

Molly rushed forward and wrapped Ginny in a hug that caught her by surprise. She almost never hugged Molly. After a second's hesitation, she hugged the woman back.

“Sorry,” Ginny mumbled, “I… Sorry.”

Molly eventually released Ginny and stepped back. Dad stepped forward.

“That was very selfish and irresponsible what you did,” Dad said, and Ginny felt like something pierced her heart as she saw his expression, “I’m very disappointed in you, Ginny,” He said sternly, “Don’t you ever do something like this again, do you understand?”

“Yes, Dad. I get it,” She said in a small voice. She had been so wrapped up in helping Olivia that she hadn’t even thought about what her family or Sirius would think when she just suddenly disappeared for what must have been hours.

“Now, off to bed with you,” Dad said, “It’s getting late.”

“Night, Dad, Sirius. Mom.”

“Night, Ginny.”