Ginny woke to a phone ringing. She groaned, wanting to sink back into the brilliant dream she had been having... she had been with an old friend...

"Upside, inside out she's livin la vida loca..." she grabbed blindly for her phone on her nightstand, checked who it was, and answered it with a sigh.

"This better be good, Hermione." she growled into the phone.

"It is, I promise!" she sounded breathless. "I just got a phone call from Harry." Ginny gasped, wide awake, and pulled off her covers.

"What?!" Harry hadn't been heard from in nearly a year. It was the summer of 1999, and he had left the Burrow in the middle of the night in early June. They had received only one letter from him a month later, telling him that he was living in London, and that he couldn't speak to any of them again.

"I know!" Hermione screamed from the other end, "I think it was by accident.. he doesn't have my number... but it was him, I know it!"

"Can you trace back the call?" Ginny asked, rushing around her small apartment, pulling on a coat, and putting on shoes clumsily.

"Yeah! Listen, Ron and I are going to Apparate into London first thing later this morning, we need to know what's going on!" she gave her an address, and Ginny hurriedly hung up. The flat complex was only a few blocks away- Harry had been only blocks away from her new flat! A million thoughts ran through her head as she caught a cab outside of her flat. How had she never ran into him in London! Especially that she had walked past his flat a few times in the last month. Would it actually be him, or was Hermione just over excited? If it really was him how would he react when he saw her? These thoughts carried her into the building, but it was up to her to figure out where the hell he was. The lower floor, which was basically just a few chairs, a few doors leading off to stairs, and three elevators, were empty other than a girl with heavy piercings banging her head to heavy rock that Ginny could hear feet away, and leaning over a file with papers spilling out. Well, she was desperate, so Ginny nervously tapped on the girl's shoulder. The woman looked up, with a shocked expression on her thin, pale face, and took an earbud out of her ear.

"Yeah?"

"Do you know which apartment Harry Potter lives in?" Great, she sounded like the average stalker. The woman nodded quickly, but her black eyebrows had shot up in confusion.

"Yeah... who're you?"

"I'm an old friend." The woman studied her for a moment or so more with brilliantly blue eyes, and after a moment she gave a curt nod.

"He's on the fourth floor, apartment 2321 A."

"Thank you!" Ginny cried, and decided that she had better use the elevator. It was surprisingly quick, and when she stepped in, the doors closed, and a voice came from nowhere.

"Welcome to Crain's Wizard and Witches Complex. Where is your destination?" it was a woman's voice.

"Uh... floor 4?" the elevator lurched, and only a few seconds later, it stopped again.

"Thank you, and have a magical day!" The voice had turned to a deep voice that sounded slightly terrifying. Ginny ignored this, and began down the long hall of rooms. The building seemed to be bigger on the inside.

"I don't how I got the number!" A male's voice cried from the door nearest to her, faintly muffled by the wood.

"Damn it, how the hell am I supposed to explain this?" it was a familiar voice this time. Harry's, though strained from anger. Ginny opened the door, and the two men stopped arguing.

The tallest had very thick, black hair, which was a mess. He had squared off glasses with black frames, and the bright green eyes behind the lenses were flashing with anger. He was very tall, maybe a bit shorter than Ron, and although skinny, looked fit. Harry.

"Ginny..." his voice sounded broken. The man opposite of him, who had shockingly blonde hair, that looked more white, tanned skin, and dark eyes, looked towards her, his mouth gaping open.

"Where," she threw her cell phone at him, "THE-HELL-HAVE-YOU-BEEN?" she said each word with a hit, but was soon restrained by the man with the white hair.

"Not a good idea, sweetheart." he whispered, and Ginny dug her elbow into his stomach.

"Let her go!" Harry cried, and the man let her go reluctantly. Ginny paused considering him again. He was very pale, it wasn't just the light, and there was a long, thin scar going from his nose, through his lips, and to the bottom of his chin. "Ginny... I am so, so sorry."

"Sorry? A year and a half and you're sorry?" She wanted to hit him again, but something held her back, and it wasn't a man this time.

"I know, I'm a git, I-"

"Hell yes you are! We didn't know where you were, everyone was frantic!" Harry frowned.

"I told you all I was in London."

"Yeah, in a letter that was about three sentences long, a month after you left the Burrow in the middle of the night! How the hell could you do that? Mum thought that you had gone off and got yourself killed again, we had all just lost Fred, and now we lost you!" she shouted. Harry stood there, letting her yell, he didn't object, or show any change of emotion at all. In fact, he looked relieved.

"So everyone's okay?" he asked quietly. Ginny took deep breaths and ran a hand through her messy hair.

"Yes... Harry, please, what happened?" she sighed. Harry exchanged looks with the man behind her, and nodded curtly.

"Sit down, this might take a while." Ginny looked reluctantly at the two men for a moment, but decided it was best that she obey, and collapsed into the light blue armchair on the other side of the room.

"Marcus, go tell Brooke that I won't be able to make it to training later this morning." the white haired man- Marcus- nodded, clapped Harry on the back, and left to the hall. Harry sat on the couch across from her.

"Alright... if I tell you, I don't want you to interrupt, or ask questions until I stop, okay?" he asked, looking tired. Ginny gave a microscopic nod. "Okay. I left the Burrow, thinking that it would make everything better. I couldn't stand watching all of you grieve over Fred when I could have saved him, so I went out to London, not knowing why the hell I was there, but there was some weird feeling... I dunno. I met an Auror within a few hours of being there- they told me that I had a chance to join the Auror Department if I wanted to, they recognized me or something. I said yes, I needed to start over. Everyone in this building are either Aurors, or training, or the families of the Aurors. They're from all over the world, maybe a few hundred or so of us at the moment. I met Marcus, and I moved in with him here. I trained for a month before deciding that I wanted this to be permanent. If I stayed away, maybe all of your lives would return back to normal. So I trained. And I missed you all so much. About a month or two ago, I was seriously considering quitting. But I couldn't, not after the accident.

"Brooke and I were running patrol in an old city in Canada, and we stayed out a bit later than intended. I didn't know that it was a full moon... Brooke and I were attacked. This was probably about a month ago."

Ginny felt dumbstruck... again a million thoughts had been rushing through her head, but they stopped when he had mentioned the full moon. That was tonight, so he technically had a day… it was only four in the morning.

"Attacked?" her voice sounded far away.

"Yep. Took a nice big bite right out of my shoulder," he moved his shirt aside to reveal several marks across his shoulder... but it couldn't be possible. He smiled sadly.

"So are you a werewolf?"

"It seems like it. I wish that Remus was still around so I could ask him some questions, but at least I know some other werewolves, they've been helping me out." Ginny stood up, took several shaky steps towards Harry, and hugged him gently. Harry seemed hesitant to react at first, but put his arms around Ginny, hugging her as though he never intended to let go.

"Are you feeling alright?" Ginny whispered, breaking away from him.

"I've felt worse. It's sort of like I feel like I could eat tons, but about three seconds later, I want to be sick. I feel like everything makes me angry, and right now, I'm trying to control it, but the tiniest thing sets me off. The worst thing is basically the foreboding of the entire thing, though."

"Is there anything I can do?" Ginny asked.

"I honestly can't think of anything." Harry replied quietly. "Look, if you talk to Ron and Hermione, tell them I'll have to talk to them over the phone or the day after tomorrow. Today won't be pleasant under any circumstances, and tomorrow..." he looked slightly nervous. "I don't know what condition I'll be in."

"I can call them right now. I'll tell them everything, and if you want you can talk to them afterwards." Ginny considered. Harry looked hesitant for a moment, but seemed to decide quickly, as he gave a small nod.

Ginny dialed Hermione's number, which, thankfully picked up. She then explained everything that had happened under the watchful eye of Harry.

Hermione was sobbing when Ginny handed the phone over to Harry.

"Hey, 'Mione... yeah, I missed you alot, too... I promise I'll see you really soon... yeah, of course..." he turned a light shade of green, dropped the phone, and ran into the nearby kitchen, a hand clamped over his mouth. Ginny picked up the phone, and grimaced as she watched Harry retch into the sink.

"You'll have to wait to talk to him. 'Mione. He's really ill."

"Oh, Merlin! Tell him that Ron and I hope he makes it through okay, and that we can't wait to see him!" Hermione said worriedly from the other end.

"Yeah, I will." Ginny replied, flipping the phone shut, and walked into the kitchen, where Harry was leaning over the sink, taking deep breaths.

"Blimey," he sighed. "I feel horrible." He was now clammy and shaking slightly.

"Do you want me to find Marcus?" Ginny asked quietly, putting a hand on his shoulder- he was burning up.

"Nah, he should be with Brooke," he replied, wiping an arm over his eyes.

"Isn't Brooke your girlfriend?" Ginny asked, nonplussed. Harry smiled weakly.

"No, my partner in training. Marcus is Brooke's boyfriend." he replied quietly.

"Look, Harry, you're really ill. I can't just leave you here alone." Harry rose a brow.

"I won't be able to convince you to leave, will I?"

"Nope," Ginny answered, "Look, as long as you took your wolfsbane potion, you aren't any harm to me."

"You aren't staying until night, Ginny. I don't want to hurt you, and you don't need to see me like that." Harry replied seriously.

"Fine. If I can stay to help you today, I'll leave tonight," she huffed. "Now go lie down, you look like you're going to pass out." Harry nodded, but didn't move.

"Gin," she jumped at the use of her old nick name... "Thanks."

An hour later, Ginny was sitting on the chair closest to the couch where Harry was lying, watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off. He looked thoughtful, paused the movie with a wave of his wand, and looked up at Ginny.

"Aren't you going to miss work?" he asked quietly.

"Nah," Ginny replied, "It's Thursday, I train Monday through Wednesday at the moment... I'm being considered to join the Holyhead Harpies," she replied with a smile.

"Really? That's amazing, Ginny, I knew you had it in you," He sounded sincere. "Are you living in London too?"

"Yeah, only a few miles away. I just moved in about a month ago, after school ended. I like the city, despite the rain."

"Well, that's London for you," Harry replied. There was a bit of silence only interrupted by only the hum of the flat and muffled voices and sounds from across the building.

""Do you have a boyfriend?" Harry asked quickly. Ginny felt heat rise in her cheeks. "I'm sorry, that's none of my buisness," Harry added quickly, looking rather abashed.

"No, it's okay," Ginny intervened. "No, I don't."

"What about Hermione and Ron? Are they together?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, it's disgusting," Ginny made a gagging motion, and shook her head. "They're in Austrailia visiting Hermione's parents. They have their memories back, but apparently they quite like it there. Ron works at the joke shop with George. I know it wasn't his ideal career, but Percy volunteered to help... but can you imagine Percy running a joke shop? That was a rhetorical question," she added with a smile.

"What's he doing now?"

"I think he moved over to America for a few months, helping with the Ministry there. Apparently it went to shit during the war.. is that why there are so many witches and wizards here in London?" inquired Ginny.

"Partially. People are coming because of the attacks, too."

"The werewolf attacks?" Ginny asked quietly.

Harry nodded. "That was part of the reason I was angry that you came here. Marcus reckons there are about thirty or so people in the building who were attacked. It's really unsafe, especially around this time of the month."

"So there are thirty or so other people in here going through the same thing you are? Like the illness and all that?"

"Not necessarily. I met a few who had been changing for years, but seemed okay. Lupin was all banged up because he attacked himself when he changed a lot as a kid. Apparently the more times you change, the better you can handle it. Plus the overall bad feeling before starts to ease too. Lupin only seemed to be a bit rash, moody, and tired. This time is supposed to be the worst, but everyone has methods of dealing with it."

A question bubbled up in Ginny's head.

"Harry, I know you're taking Wolfsbane potion, but you aren't changing here, are you?"

"No, they set up a place in the city so that no one else would be hurt, and so that we can keep our condition safe from the Ministry. I haven't been there, but I've heard things... doesn't exactly sound pleasant. I'm supposed to check in there around 4:00. They're taking a lot of extra precautions,but when younger children are bitten, and sometimes even adults, they might die over the night. And having all of those people who are all scared and not feeling their best... it's not a good idea. Kingsley's trying to work through the Anti-Werewolf legislation thing going on, but so far, he's helped with jobs. People are starting to notice things, though, apparently the number of people infected has nearly doubled over the last decade. It's not looking pretty." Harry replied, his eyes closed.

"You should probably get some rest. I'm going to go out and get something to eat, I'll leave my number on the coffee table, okay? If you need anything, call." Harry nodded, but didn't open his eyes. Ginny put back on her jacket and shoes, and, with one last look at the sick looking teenager on the couch, left.

She didn't want to leave Harry alone, especially when he was so helpless and ill. But her head was spinning. Only a few hours before, she had no idea that where he was, and now that she did... he was a werewolf, and there was a chance that he wouldn't make it for another 24 hours.

Don't think that, Ginny chided herself, biting into a bagel, and washing it down with a warm coffee. Despite it being in the middle of spring, the weather was cold and rather depressing. The city was just waking up, some Muggles crossing the sidewalks, looking half-dead with sleepiness, or carrying briefcases as they talked into their phones.

According to the watch on her wrist, it was around nine thirty in the morning, which meant that she had about seven hours until Harry had to go to the place where he would be changing. She didn't understand this, as the transformation didn't start until the moon rose, but maybe Harry just didn't want her to see him like this.

"What'chya thinkin' about, redhead?" a familiar voice pulled her out of her revere. Marcus- Harry's flat mate- was standing above her, holding a cup of coffee as well.

"Nothing in particular," she lied, "I thought that you were with your girlfriend," he shrugged.

"I thought you were with Harry."

"I needed to get out."

"So did I." Marcus replied curtly. "I'm sorry. You just look like you needed someone to talk to." Ginny stared at the partial stranger, and sighed. This was one of Harry's best friends. He had to be okay.

"Alright, maybe I do. I'm just scared for him... you can understand that, right?"

"Of course I can," Marcus said, sitting on the bench beside her, "My girlfriend is going through the same thing. She started to scream at me to leave, she didn't want me to see her like this... so I decided to go back to my flat, where Harry was passed out. You left a note, saying where you were going, so I decided to join you." They sat in silence for a minute.

"This sucks." said Ginny.

"Agreed. But we have to give them their space. That's why I pulled you off of Harry today. Any other time, yes, I would be delighted to see you beat him to a pulp, what he did was stupid. But he's been on edge all week, so I thought that he could've taken a hit at you. This must be rough on you too, though. I mean, you find out one of your friends is living in London too, you're both relieved and pissed to see him, and BOOM, he's a werewolf. And now they have to go to that prison sort of place..." Ginny choked on her coffee.

"Prison?" she spluttered.

"I guess that's a bit of an exaggeration. Brooke and I visited there yesterday. It's in an abandoned hospital, but it doesn't feel right. The doors and walls are charmed so that they can't harm them when they go 'wolf'." Marcus's voice dropped. "My little brother was bitten. I stayed with him until he started to change."

"You can do that?" inquired Ginny, swallowing down the heavy feeling in her throat.

"Technically you can stay however long you want, but even if he did take Wolfsbane potion, there's still the off chance that he could hurt you. The entire transformation- the most painful part- takes about a minute. Before that, it's basically just their sickness intensified. My brother broke a sweat trying to take his shirt off, and vomited when he tried to stand up. You can probably stay with him for a while after he has to check in- he probably won't say it, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to be alone like that, even though he'll probably be with Brooke."

"Anything I should know while I'm with him?" she asked, and realized they were walking back to the flat.

"Well, for about two hours before the change, they can't stand bright light, and you have to keep your voice down- all of their senses are intensified. If he tells you to leave, and looks angry, you leave. Don't hesitate, leave. I heard that if it's even an hour before the moon is up, they can start changing out of anger.

He'll want someone he's familiar with with him- My brother has been a werewolf for four years, and even though he's only a year younger, it seemed like me being there made a huge difference. And if you can't do that, talk to him over the phone. They're scared, and they all are fighting against something inside of them they don't understand.

I'll come with you to pick up Harry and Brooke in the morning. They'll be totally exhausted. Don't even talk until they get a few hours of sleep and something to eat. I'd say about twelve hours after they turned back they start feeling better again." Marcus explained.

"D'you think that he'd be okay if his two friends visited him the day after tomorrow?" Ginny asked- they were in front of the apartment now.

"I'd think so. He'll still probably be sore and tired, but I think it will be good for him." They stepped into the empty lobby.

"Hey, Marcus," Ginny stopped him right before he stepped into the elevator.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"Any time," he grinned, saluted her, and stepped backwards into the elevator.

When she entered the apartment she heard angry yells and loud thumps and crashes. Ginny ran to the source of the sound to find Harry throwing books at the broken mirror on the other side of the room- the room looked like a tornado had torn through it. The dresser was pushed over, the large bookshelf leaning heavily against a wall, books and journals spilling from it, the sheets on the bed torn off, albums and photos scattered across the floor like confetti. Harry was in the midst of it, his face flushed with anger, tears spilling down his face, and half screaming-half crying as he raged on.

For a moment Ginny hesitated at the door- she had never seen Harry like this, and she wasn't sure if she should interrupt him. Marcus said that he had been on edge, and it appeared that he was finally releasing his anger. But she couldn't let him do this, especially when he looked like he was in pain.

"Harry!" she shouted. He wavered, holding another book up, ready to throw. He met her eyes, and she saw that he was frightened- his eyes begged her to help, but his stance seemed to be daring her to come forward. One step and he'd snap again. "What are you doing?"

"I can't, I don't want to do this, please, just… just… I don't want to remember any of this, why does it hurt?!" his voice started in a whisper and rose to a yell. He wasn't angry, but panicking. "Why does everything hurt?"

"Harry, it's just the curse-"

"IT'S NOT!" he screamed, throwing the book on the floor. Ginny was vaguely reminded of a toddler having a fit, but this was much more terrible. He was broken. "It always hurts, it always always hurts, and I ran away from it, I was a coward, and now I can't run any more. It's all coming back at me and I don't want to remember it I want to leave I want to run and run and never come back." he sat down shakily on the overturned dresser, and closed his eyes tightly as though willing the memories away.

Ginny picked up a picture off the ground- it showed four laughing teenagers- she, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They were all sitting in front of the fire in the Gryffindor Common room, roaring with laughter at some long lost joke. The frame was cracked, and seemed as though it had been fixed with spellotape many times. She stepped over the other pictures and books, and sat a few inches away from him.

"You don't want to remember this?" she asked softly. Harry opened his eyes and looked down at the picture.

"That was before everything came crumbling down." he shivered, and rubbed his eyes. "I'm sorry, I wish you didn't see that. It was seriously immature." He was closing up again, and Ginny forced his hands away from his face, staring at him intently.

"No, it wasn't. Why did you do it?" she whispered. Harry studied her for a moment before answering. His bright green eyes were bloodshot, and his messy hair was standing on end, but she still blushed under his gaze.

"Part of it is the curse- your emotions are supposed to be heightened, pain, sadness, anger. It's all bullshit." he ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. "I usually take a potion before I go to sleep for the nightmares, but this time I was so exhausted I didn't think it mattered. I had a nightmare, and when I woke up, I was… angry.

"So I came in here and tore everything apart, and then when I calmed down a bit I realized that everything was a mess and scattered and I had broken things, and I got upset about that. It's like I'm fighting with myself all over again. It's like he's in me again, and I hate it so much."

He was shaking beneath Ginny's hands. She wrapped her arms around him, and he sagged against her. Thankfully, she was leaning against a wall, otherwise she would probably fall over from his weight. His face was in the crook of her shoulder, and she played with his hair idly as she spoke to him.

"You lived with him in you for almost seventeen years Harry. And this is a sickness, there is nothing wrong with you. You can fight it, I know you'll be fine. You always are."

Harry nodded against her shoulder and pulled away, looking exhausted once again.

"Come on, you can go to sleep, I'll clean up so you have somewhere to rest when you get home again." Harry looked as though he were about to object, but decided that he was too tired to fight again. He nodded and allowed Ginny to guide him to his bed, where he promptly collapsed. She handed him a bottle of the Dreamless Sleep potion that had fallen on the floor, which he sipped from before handing back to her.

"Thank you," he murmured, before closing his eyes and burrowing deeper into the pillows and blankets. Ginny sat on the edge of his bed watching him sleep for a few moments. His words echoed around in his head- he wanted to not remember it, to run away. But what was it?

His past, the curse… she wish she knew.

A/N: So that was the first chapter! I was mainly focusing on what state Harry was in, introduced two new characters, and kind of giving a time perspective and what happened within the time the Deathly Hallows ends, and the story begins. Thanks for reading!