DISCLAIMER: HARRY POTTER IS THE PROPERTY OF JKR. I DO NOT OWN IT...

CHAPTER 01

"Here you are I was looking for you everywhere."

George grunted in irritation. He swirled the liquid in the glass and gulped down in a single swallow. Though he didn't raise his head and greeted or invited the person, he felt the intruder comfortably sat down directly opposite to him. Ignoring the presence, he poured another glass of firewhisky and had another sip.

It had been six years after the second war. War affected everybody and changed everything. Everybody involved left with unseen scars. People struggled unable to get back to their post-war lives. Some like George Weasley were broken beyond recovery. He was not the mischievous prankster anymore, his sense of humour died along with his twin. He was totally lost without Fred and struggled hard to cope with the loss than other Weasleys. He blamed the dark side for the lost and venomously hated each and everybody who supported the Dark Lord. He had become an aggressive, grumpy and cranky alcoholic. Almost all his day time was spent in his shop, where he worked hard without even taking breaks because the joke shop was a dream of Fred and George couldn't make up his mind to abandon it. At night he didn't sleep well, nightmares kept him awoke most of the time. If he was not sleeping or working, then he spent his time with alcohol. His new addiction got him into trouble quite often and even fought with his siblings and argued with them. He hated venomously and was purposely cruel to Voldemort's supporters and their relatives, regardless of their actual involvement. His relationship with his family strained with time, and he completely stopped visiting 'The Burrow' after his only sister's engagement. He didn't even attend her wedding. Since then he avoided his family like the plague and kept minimal contact. Weasleys ignored his indifferent treatment and tried to approach him and help him, but he was cold and rude to them. The only person George could tolerate was his sister-in-law, Hermione and eventually he got fed up with her when others tried to use her as the link between them.

"What do you want Hermione?" he grumbled without looking at her.

"Come on George, do I need a reason come and say 'hi' to you?" She asked sweetly.

"Cut the crap, Hermione. Do you think I'm a fool to believe that you came to say hi to me?" he hissed angrily. "This is a bar in Knockturn Alley, full of drunken and dangerous idiots and not a safe place for a witch in your current condition. You are putting both of your lives in danger." He replied sternly. She didn't answer him. "Now tell me who sent you here, my idiotic brother or the traitor called my sister?" He demanded.

Hermione didn't answer first then she sighed. "Both." She said meekly.

With anger building up inside, George glared at his sister-in-law. "If you are here for the same reason as they were before, you can leave now! I'm not doing it!" He barked.

"George please." She pleased.

"That's my final answer Hermione; please leave." Ignoring the witch sitting in front of him, George finished his glass slowly, then poured another. She didn't leave and waited patiently "Why are you still here Hermione? This is not a place for you. Why didn't Ginny or Ron come instead of you?" He asked curiously.

Hermione moved in her chair uncomfortably. "Er- Because they knew, this is going to be difficult. Ginny didn't want to end up hexing her beloved brother and Ron didn't want to end up been hexed by you." She said timidly.

George sneered. "So my little brother hid behind his very pregnant wife. Go home and rest Hermione, you need to relax and rest these days, and this is not the time for you to play the role of Death Eater sympathiser."

"She is not a death eater." She said firmly.

"She is a convicted criminal. " He said stubbornly.

Hermione sighed. "She doesn't deserve what she is going through."

"There was a standard hearing at the Wizengamot, and she pleaded guilty, so she deserved punishment." He argued.

"There are flaws in the law." She muttered

"That's not my problem." He sipped his drink ignoring her.

After the war when Kingsley became the Minister of Magic, he insisted on having trials for each and every supporter of Voldemort than sending them all to Azkaban without an official hearing. Death eaters and Wizards and witches who committed major crimes, sent to Azkaban if they pleaded guilty. Some were house arrested for the rest of their lifetime after stripping their magic. Some were house arrested for a specific period depending on their crime. Young Voldemort supporter faced a different fate. They were valuable for the wizarding community than the older generation. So their magic was taken away and assigned to various jobs in the community under the Ministry or other designated people for fifteen years. After fifteen years they were supposed to undergo an evaluation and depending on the outcome, they would be accepted back to the society, and they were given back their family inheritance or would be outcasted without magic. New laws were passed to protect both convicts and their superiors in charge but people who had suffered from the dark time wanted their revenge, and they took advantages of the glitches in these laws. Young convicts who worked under the government were luckier than the ones worked under private owners as they didn't get abused by others regularly. Not everybody suffered like that. Some owners treated their helpers kindly. Neville Longbottom helped Gregory Goyle to become an excellent gardener and a herbologist. His wife, Hannah treated kindly to Matilda Selwyn, who worked under her at the Leakey Cauldron. Both Gregory and Matilda got married to each other and living happily in a small cottage in Longbottom estate until they can claim their family inheritance back. But most young convicts faced a horrible fate than them. They got treated like slaves, not like helpers. Many died, and some ended up mentally and physically impaired.

When Kingsley realised his mistake, most of the damage had already done. He was truly repentant of his judgements as he supported new legislation thinking it would help the society in a better way, but people had taken advantage of the very same thing to seek revenge. He called every member of the order of Phoenix for a secret meeting. They put their heads together and formed a new order called 'Phoenix's rebirth'. Their mission was to find a way to repeal new laws and rescue the victims who were affected. They knew it was not going to be an easy or quick task. They had to work under the surface without drawing suspicion. They were successful of rescuing many affected and reassigned new owners who were compassionate and willing to help them. Most of these new owners were members of Phoenix's rebirth. Theo Nott was one of the best examples who had given a second chance. He was rescued from a very abusive household and placed under Bill Weasley's family. He was now helping them with household tasks and in turn, Bill was educating him to become a curse breaker. According to new legislation, he was not allowed to use a wand, but Bill allowed him to use a spare wand when he was studying. Similarly, Percy's family was helping Hestia Carrow and Floria with Professor McGonagall learning to become the Transfiguration expert after her fifteen years of the sentence. Now the new order wanted to rescue Pansy Parkinson from her current owner and place her under George Weasley till they find a better place to relocate her. George was spitefully refusing to help the order with that course.

"If you are really feeling for her, why don't you take her from Brown? You could always pay a higher price for her saying you need her help when this arrives." George said pointing Hermione's swollen stomach.

Hermione sighed. "You know it's not going to work right. Jonathan knows we are against the way convicts get treated, and he wouldn't release her even for thousand galleons."

"What about the death eater lover in our family? She can help."

Hermione bit his bottom tongue nervously. "Not going to happen because of Draco." She mumbled uncomfortably.

Lucius Malfoy was house arrested for the rest of his life after his hearing. He didn't place in Azkaban because He claimed he was kept against his will and according to Harry, Hermione and Ron's memories which used as the evidence it had proven to Wizengamot that Lucius didn't possess his wand when they had taken to Malfoy Manor. Though he was not innocent, they couldn't send him to prison and given him a lesser sentence, lifetime house arrest. Narcissa Malfoy was cleared of all her charges after Harry's testimony and freed to live a normal life. Draco Malfoy was recruited as a government worker and send to a Quidditch stadium in Wales as the caretaker for fifteen years. For the period of his sentence, he was unable to touch his family fortune and was forced to live on food provided by others. The ministry provided his clothes, and he had banned from using money and magic.

That stadium happened to be the Holy Head Harpies training ground, and no one really knew how did the fierce chaser of the team end up in a strong relationship with the stadium caretaker. They were not even on speaking terms at school but love blossomed, and her family accepted him except Goerge. He had a big row with his parents for accepting a monster into their family who was somewhat responsible for Fred's fate. Regardless of his objection, Ginny and Draco eventually got married and lived in a small cottage near The Burrow. Both of them were kept doing the same jobs with Draco had no other options. They were happily married and became active members of the new order and helped victims of the new law.

George gritted his teeth Knowing no one with a brain would ever release their servant for Ginny Malfoy, even she offer them ten thousand Galleon.

"You are our only hope, George. She needs to be rescued as soon as possible. Her condition has become worse. "

"Not my problem." He grunted.

"What happened to the sweet George I knew." Hermione sighed.

"Died in the war." He replied without warmth.

"George you have a sister. What if the Voldemort had won and his followers tortured her like that."

George scowled. "That witch is not innocent. She pleaded guilty. I was there when her trial was on. She has to be punished."

"Her punishment is fifteen years of labour work in Muggle way. Living without magic and money, depending on others for food and clothing. This is a rehabilitation program George. It should be done with love and care. Physical, sexual and emotional abuse is not going hands in hands with rehabilitation!" Hermione said in frustration. "So many young witches and wizards died before due to this blasted program, and if we don't act fast, she will join them too. Now don't open your mouth to say it's not your problem. It's everybody's problem. We didn't win the war for this. We fight for equal rights and a peaceful environment for everybody. Who thought a simple rehabilitation program going to become an eradicating people you hate program? If we don't stop this right now, there is a chance of creating more Voldemorts in future."

George gritted his teeth again. He knew she was right. The bossy bushy-haired witch was always right.

Hermione took a bundle of parchments and placed in front of him without giving a chance for him to protest. "Here's the copy of the legislation. Things in red are the glitches they are using to torture people. Things in green are the points favourable for us. You can use them to rescue her from the current owner."

"Why me?" He asked painfully

"One, because Jonathon was one of your roommates When you were at Hogwarts. Two, both of you were always in good terms. Three, you have a very busy very prosperous business so you can convince him you need extra help. Four, most importantly everybody knows your opinion on the dark side and convicts, so they don't believe you are going to be soft on your helper. Five, regardless of anything we all know you never treat a woman badly. Do you want to know anymore?"

"No, that's enough." He said quickly. "I take it; I have no way out of this."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Read this George, then go to Jonathan's pub and see the way she gets treated. Think Whether Ginny deserves something like that or any other witch deserves the treatment she is getting. I'll give you three days to come up with a decision. If you think her treatment is brutal and inhuman, help us to rescue her. If not we'll try to find something before it gets worst. Draco is willing to swap with her. We kept him as the last resort because no one wants Ginny to become a widow soon." Hermione got up from the seat. "I'm going now. Ginny and Ron are waiting outside for me. Go and see by your own eyes and decide. I'll see you in three days time. Goodbye, George." Then she waddled out after placing a chaste kiss on his cheek.

He sighed knowing the bossy petite witch didn't leave him an option. He liked or not he was already in the mission. He pushed his glass aside in rage and took the bottle and swilled down its content in frustration.

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George sat in a dark corner and slowly sipped his glass of whisky, trying to locate the damn witch. He didn't spot her as soon as he arrived the dark pub. He looked around impatiently to find her and finally he caught a glimpse of her. First, he thought it was an old sack full of goods in the far corner, then he noticed a slight movement there, thinking someone might have thrown a dirty rag on a cat or a dog he attempted to look away. Then suddenly he realised it was her. Crouching down in a far corner, hiding her face between her knees she looked like she was purposely avoiding someone. Her robe was tattered and dirty and barely protecting her from the cold weather and the eyes of predatory wizards. Her long black hair hadn't seen a comb for ages. He sighed and observed her more carefully.

Suddenly the owner, Jonathon Brown came from nowhere and kicked her back hard. She tried to get up quickly but lost her balance and tripped over. He yelled at her then dragged her by her hair and violently threw her across the room. Not stopping from there he repeatedly kicked her venomously. She curled up into a defensive position and covered her face to protect it from his boots. George didn't see her face and taking his eyes away from the girl he tried to get the attention of the pub owner. He knew Jonathon Brown was not an evil wizard, but the death of his loving sister was hard on him and all the other members of his family. George couldn't remember Lavender. She was in either Ron's or Ginny's year. He knew his little brother dated her briefly when they were at school. Hermione was not a fan of the dead girl and said she was silly and sentimental, but he knew Jonathon loved her very much. Not only him, her other two brothers and her parents loved her deeply as she was the only girl in their family. Losing her to the miserable war was a huge blow to them, and they hadn't fully recovered from the lost yet. Because of that, no one ever blamed them for their hatred and ill treatments towards death eaters and supporters.

Finally, Jonathon noticed him and with a very friendly smile he approached his old dorm mate leaving behind the beaten witch alone.

"George Weasley, after a long time." He said cheerfully.

"Yes, indeed. Probably after a year." George took another sip from his glass

"So how's everything?" He pulled the chair opposite to George and sat.

"Busy as usual. How are you? Didn't know you have a 'helper'." George added nonchalantly.

"Ah, that worthless piece of shit." Jonathon scrunched his face. "She is the clumsiest worker I ever had."

"I thought having a helper reduces the workload. You sound like she is a burden."

"Free labour better than nothing." Jonathan shrugged. "But people like her don't deserve to live in this world after what they have done. I think rehabilitation is not a real punishment for the crimes they had committed." He added angrily.

"I totally agree with you. This world needs people like Fred, your sister, Remus, Tonks and many other like them not the rehabilitated death eater scums." George said gritting his teeth.

Then he saw the witch slowly limped toward and empty table and started to wipe it with a ragged cloth. She examined the scraps left behind in plates carefully and took some and placed them in a dirty pouch she pulled out from her robes. A very drunken wizard passed her by and reached the next table. She winced in fears when she felt his presence next to her for a fraction of a second. Then George saw her face for the first time. Her face was flawless, and expression was blank, but he could feel her fear underneath it. She looked like a rabbit surrounded by wolves.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that." George turned his eyes back to his former dorm mate.

"I just asked, why you don't think of getting free labourer for the shop."

"Honestly Jonathan, I like the idea, but the accommodation is the problem. Rehabilitation programme or not, I don't want a convict in my shop at night when I'm not there, and I have only one spare room in my apartment, and I don't want to give that to a convict either."

"You don't have to give that thing a room to stay. Put it in your balcony and chained it securely so it cannot escape. Then block the entrance to the apartment putting more wards."

"Really? Can I do that? But the weather is getting cold these days."

"Of course, you can do that. They are bloody criminals, Weasley. They don't deserve even that. Put a blanket out it will be fine. I keep mine in a cleaning supply closet in the back of the pub. It is directly opening to the back street so my house elf is chaining her at night and unchaining her in the morning." Jonathan shrugged.

"Does she cook for you?"

"Oh No! She will poison us. I have a paid house elf for that purpose."

George hid his smile. Thanks to his bossy sister-in-law Hermione, who worked in The Department of The Regulations and Control of Magical Creatures, now all the house elves were getting paid for their work.

"Two different expenses." George added.

"Not really, we don't have to pay for the convicts. Just provide a couple of clothes, that's all. Mine eats whatever left in plates or grabs food from the kitchen bin or the dumpster near her room." Jonathan replied casually. "-and she gets visitors at night. Some come with food."

"Visitors?"

"You know-' Jonathon shrugged. "I'm happily married and never thinking of being dishonest to my loving wife and definitely not going to thrash like that but you know there are others-."

"Ah- err, I got it." George muttered uncomfortably and fixed his eyes back on her.

She was cleaning another table, and her eyes fixed on the table next to hers where a group of intoxicated wizards having dinner. She was not seducing them but greedily looking at the food in the table. She was pale and malnourished, looking like starving to death. One wizard in the group, who was constantly looking at her like prey, took a half a slice of bread from his plate and threw it at her. She jumped towards it shamelessly and snatched the piece of crust like a hungry stray puppy then quickly put it inside her pouch for later. By the look of she was wincing when people approaching her, George understood whatever happening at night time were not happening with her consent. Suddenly Ginny came into his mind. He never wanted his sweet little sister to have a fate like this. If she was a criminal he wanted her to go through a proper punishment, not a brutal, barbaric treatment Pansy was receiving. Regardless of anything, this witch didn't deserve the treatment she was getting. She was a criminal she deserved a fair punishment but definitely not this. He hated the witch and contempt her. He loathed the idea of having someone like her around him throughout the day, but Hermione was right, someone needed to rescue her from the living hell before it gets worst. He hated himself for not being heartless like Jonathan. George was angry with himself, all his nosy family members and the stupid limping witch in the pub. He knew Hermione was going to contact him in three days to find his decision, but he was not going to wait for three days because had already made his decision and determined not to wait any longer.

George placed his glass firmly on the table and gave a very serious look at his friend sitting in front of him. "Jonathan, I have a proposition for you." He crossed his arms and uttered in a very business tone.

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The petite witch shifted and whimpered in pain. Her whole body was hurting like hell, and there was not enough room in the tiny, dingy closet to stretch her aching body. She rubbed her sore back slowly and looked at the sprained ankle that had already chained to the wall. She tried to hide from her master every possible way as he never missed an opportunity to beat her senselessly in rage. It was not her who murdered his dear beloved sister, but he tended to take revenge out of her whenever he saw her. The pain was unbearable, but it was nothing compared to other horrible treatment she went through, and she would go through till her death or insanity.

She couldn't remember her name, sometimes vaguely coming to her mind that she used to be Pansy Parkinson, a pureblood witch from a sacred twenty-eight family, the heiress of the sole Parkinson fortune. She was supposed to be a socialite like her mother and was expected to marry an heir from another sacred twenty-eight family and produce an heir to continue their bloodline. She knew it never going to happen now. Her dreams all shattered and replaced with a living nightmare. As a child she never was a gentle, loving person, she was a prejudiced heartless bully, but she did have dreams like others. Dreams like having a child and taking him or her to the Hogwarts express when they turn eleven, telling them stories about her school life and many more countless beautiful ones. She didn't know her life was going to be upside down when the day she deposited money in the vault her father asked her to do. Her father was long gone, and she didn't suspect him to be a death eater or Voldemort supporter. When she received an owl from him asking her to deposit money into a vault in Gringotts, she obeyed him like any other well-bred pureblood daughter. She never knew money in that vault used for death eater activities. Months after the second war, she was prosecuted for funding the dark side and pleaded guilty as she couldn't deny the signature on the deposit parchment was not hers. She was glad her parents didn't survive the second war. Though they didn't always display their love, she knew they loved her dearly, and it would break their heart to see her suffer like this.

Her mother used to remind her continuously that her destiny was to become a lady of a respectable pureblood family and produce the next heir in line, so she must save her virginity for her husband, and she should never act like ordinary Muggles or Muggleborns. But two days into her sentence, what she had kept for her future husband was savagely taken away from her. She cried and fought frantically, but all her effort went in vain. She was starved and repeatedly beaten and raped every day. Finally, she gave up fighting against the people who forced on her. She knelt in front of them and begged them to use imperious on her, but they laughed and rejected saying they gained no fun by making her a submissive puppet. Then she got used to losing herself in an imaginary happy place when someone was raping her and completely shut her mind from the situation she was in. Some didn't care as long as they had her body but some purposely brutally hurt her to hear her screams.

Once she fought against a wizard as she was already abused several times that day and she couldn't face the same torture again. During their struggle, a deformed, old chocolate frog fell from the wizard's pocket. Without thinking twice, he offered it to Pansy, and she snatched it greedily from his hand. She hadn't seen a piece of chocolate for years. All she had was inedible food scraps from the kitchen bin or the dumpster next to her room. She knew protest or not, those monsters would have their way with her. An expired piece of chocolate was not a feast, but it was better than garbage she was having so she hung on to it as her life depended on and let the wizard used her body for pleasure. The word spread fast, and people approached her with a piece of food. For a couple of Bertie Bott's every flavour beans or cockroach clusters, broken piece of a liquorice wand or a sugar quill, Half eaten pumpkin pasty or a slice of bread, she tolerated the barbaric treatment she was receiving.

She had no dignity left; she got treated like an animal or lower than that. She had repeatedly physically, mentally and sexually abused and she knew she was slowly losing her sanity. This was her fourth year of her sentence and with this rate of abuse, she knew she would never going to last another eleven years. She had no family or friends left, she had no faith and never going to dream again. She would never become a mother and she was terrified of males and never thinking of having a husband if she allowed even. Her soul had broken beyond recovery. Apart from fear, Pansy was not feeling any other emotions at all.

Pansy sighed and shivered in cold. The weather was getting freezing cold, and cold air blew inside the uninsulated room through the cracks in the door. Her ragged robe and a thin piece of tattered blanket didn't protect her from extreme weather. She curled up into a ball and rubbed her frozen hands to generate heat with no success. After sometimes she heard a faint pop sound of someone apparated in front of her door. Thinking it was the wizard who offered the piece of bread crust too her, she didn't raise her head to look at him.

"Pansy."

She was shocked to hear the shrilled voice of Tocky instead of the wizard and looked at the elf in surprise. Tocky was her personal elf long time ago, it used to call her mistress and obey her commands. With her punishment, Tocky was freed and employed by her current owner as a paid elf. Pansy's fate was mocking her cruelly. The same elf who addressed her as its mistress, now calling her by her name and chaining her to wall at the end of each day. Tocky was in a better position than her as a paid employee, and her owner was constantly reminding her that her status was far more beneath than an elf. She was not jealous or angry with her former servant; she knew Tocky had no other option than following orders of its new employer.

"Yes." She croaked.

"Mr Brown sold you to another wizard. Whizzy here will take you to your new master. Pack your belongings and get ready to go." Tocky said magically unfastening her chains.

Then only Pansy noticed the other little elf standing behind Tocky. She gasped and looked at the unfamiliar elf with terrified eyes.

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Thank you very much for reading. Please review and let me know whether I should continue.