"If Red isn't in place there will be consequences for you," replied Theo, giving his friend a meaningful look. Draco had just finished telling Theo about their plan to bust out Ginny Weasley.

"We have no other means of contact, except through Red. Based on the way things have progressed in my absence, establishing contact has become more urgent than before."

Even though Draco had called Theo's private floo there was no guarantee that their conversations weren't being monitored. Therefore, they used previously agreed upon code names and hand signals as an added security measure.

Theo exhaled loudly.

"Well, I hope you make good use of your birthday goodies."

Draco smirked. "Oh, I was planning to. Thanks for the treats."

The 'treats' were an assortment of objects that would prove useful in their future endeavours, but ones Draco could not have procured for himself without alerting the authorities. The items ranged from portkeys to something as rare as a set of two way communication mirrors.

"I suppose it's better if I don't know your plans."

"It is best. By the way, we may have a lead for the Mudblood."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes. The trackers say they picked up her scent at the portkey point; they also picked up traces of an international portkey. The two may be unrelated events that occurred on different dates, but we have no other leads. Pack members never portkey to any overseas location straight out of Bleidd, so we thought it was worth investigating."

Theo was clever enough to figure out what he was getting at. And sure enough, his friend did not disappoint.

"I'll take a look at the travel logs when I'm at the Ministry tomorrow and check the list of destinations for any international portkeys activated from Bleidd."

Draco waited till the very end to casually bring up the main purpose of his call.

"Oh, I just remembered. The next time you see the Lady let her know that her elves are in need of discipline. It may just be a case of mistaken identity, but one of her elves was recently spotted handling precious cargo it had no reason being anywhere near."

Theo inhaled sharply; 'precious cargo' was the codename for Draco's sons.

"That's-" Theo appeared to be at a loss for how to delicately frame his question without betraying the true nature of their conversation to anyone listening in.

"Unusual, at the very least," supplied Draco. "It quite likely transported the cargo overseas." From the calm tone of Draco's voice no one would suspect he was referring to the abduction of his sons. He didn't need to explain that his sons were back with him, having already conveyed as much when they exchanged pleasantries at the start of the call.

Theo nodded. "Hmm, unusual. I'll mention it to the Lady the next time I happen to see her."

Throughout the call Draco made use of hand signals to relay the severity of the situation so despite his aloof tone, Theo would have grasped the urgency of his requests.

Something was different in the forest. The she-wolf got the distinct feeling of being hunted. So far she had successfully evaded the humans, but with the number of them lurking about she was bound to encounter one of them soon enough. She wasn't scared of them, after all, she could easily deal with any would-be-hunter by simply ripping off their heads, but the voice in her head cautioned against it, claiming such actions would only make the humans more determined to find her. The she-wolf didn't like obeying her weak human- who couldn't even protect herself unless armed with a twig- but she wasn't going to ignore her counsel; the last time she spared the life of a human had proven to be rather advantageous to her.

Unable to vent her rage on the humans she once again went on a rampage in the forest.

Draco stood at a discreet distance from the entrance to Ginny Weasley's quarters; she was carrying on a conversation with Cora, oblivious to Draco's presence on the other side of the wall. Hearing the redhead describe one of her nightmares to Cora made Draco feel extremely uncomfortable with eavesdropping on them, yet he continued to stay there as he agreed with Cora, in the absence of a legilimens, listening to Ginny open up to the mediwitch would offer much needed insight into the witch's current frame of mind.

"I'm on the floor, screaming from the labour pains. There's nothing in the empty cell, just a blanket beneath me that I grasp as the pain shoots through me... My nails are practically scraping the stone floor as it crowns. I reach down, feel for its head as it passes, wrecking my body on its way out. It flops into my hands. It's no baby. It does not even resemble anything human, just a mass of blood and flesh wriggling in my arms. It greedily clutches at my breasts, only instead of suckling at my teat, it uses its sharp teeth to bite me and drink my blood. When it's full it falls to the ground and crawls between my legs where it starts to forcefully penetrate me..."

"It's gone. You know, you're not pregnant anymore. You don't have to worry about any unwanted - You don't have to worry about that," assured Cora.

"I know, but I also know that we can't keep up this pretence forever. Don't get me wrong; as much as I appreciate what you've done for me, it's starting to feel like we've only delayed the inevitable. In a few months, when there's no baby, they will take me back and rape me till one of them puts their demon child inside me... I don't know if I could handle going through all that again. I couldn't handle it the last time, and this time I'm scared I'll be lost-"

Her statement broke off on a sob.

"Amycus would rape me, then Alecto would hurt me as punishment for tempting her brother. She would find creative ways to rape and defile me, hoping to put her brother off me. But, either she didn't know how depraved he was, or it was her own twisted way of feeding his fantasies, somehow, her involvement made him want me more. He was always most eager to rape me when she was around...

"None of them compared to Bellatrix. She was the one who tore out my hair... singed my scalp and body... That crazy bitch was actually jealous that her husband and his brother would team up to rape and torture me! The more excited they got as they tormented me, the worse she treated me afterwards. But what they did had lesser impact on me because of what Lucius had already done - I had stopped thinking of myself as a person. I stopped thinking of my body as my own. So, I guess, what the others did, didn't really hurt as much as it should have... I can't imagine being handed over to one of them now - I'm terrified of facing that kind of pain - I'm even more terrified I'll lose my mind completely just to cope with-"

Ginny's voice broke into what sounded like body-wracking sobs. In the intermittent silence he heard soft shushing and cooing noises.

"Do not despair. We may have a way to help you. But it would require a great deal of trust in each other," said Cora. Her voice measured, hesitant almost.

"Cora, after everything you've done for me - I trust you. I think you've earned it, many times over - I would do anything you asked me to."

"What if there was a way for you to get back at the pack, at Draco? Would you jump at an opportunity to hurt Draco?"

There was a long pause- too long for Draco's comfort- followed by the sound of someone exhaling loudly.

"I- I know I've said some things about Mal- Malfoy... He's... I don't know what he is, but he can't be as rotten as we imagined if Hermione - I mean, I remember how they were together... I don't think Hermione would've been as eager if he was like the Carrows or the Lestranges... or even anything like his father. I just - I've never liked Malfoy. And, he looks so much like his father... It was easy to hate him.

"But I've been thinking, maybe, maybe Malfoy was never like the others. Last night, I remembered an incident Harry told us about when we were in school. Harry happened to walk in on Malfoy sobbing in one of the school's bathrooms. Harry said he was shocked to see Malfoy that way. Shocked to see Malfoy capable of feeling that depth of pain... Harry fled in embarrassment, having seen something so raw, something he wasn't meant to see, seeing Malfoy be so human... The rest of us, we never understood what Harry meant. We just found it really pathetic that Malfoy would hide away in the girl's bathroom and cry."

Draco welcomed the silence that followed as his mind unwittingly dredged up painful memories of those helpless days in Hogwarts. At the time he had been furious Potter had caught him during such a vulnerable moment, but it sounded like Potter had empathised with him in ways Draco had never imagined possible.

"You still haven't answered my question, Ginny. Would you do anything to hurt Draco?"

Draco was glad for Cora's insistence. With the risks they would be taking, they needed to be certain they weren't potentially making a huge mistake trusting Ginny Weasley.

"No, I wouldn't. I think I'll always dislike Malfoy for willingly taking the mark that made him one of them, but I don't wish him harm anymore. I may have once considered hurting him just to hurt his disgusting family. But, if they can have him turned into a werewolf and hacked for entertainment... No, I don't want to hurt Malfoy... or the pack. I know what happens to prisoners; I know what we've done to prisoners. But you took care of me - fixed my broken pieces somehow. I wouldn't do anything to hurt you, and I know hurting your pack would hurt you."

There was another long pause before Cora spoke.

"We're going to help you get back to the Order."

Draco slinked away having heard enough. Cora would not have decided to share their plan with Ginny unless she was certain of her loyalty. Draco himself was sufficiently convinced, though a small part of him remained pessimistic. After all, this was war and Ginny Weasley was not pack.

They had her surrounded. And now that the adult humans had finally caught their first glimpse of the creature terrorising their forest, they would not stop till she was captured. Her choices narrowed down to either slaughtering her hunters or abandoning her newly familiarised surroundings.

No, that wasn't any real choice. Where would she go? She didn't have the means to make it back home. The now faint voice in her head asked her to let go, give over control to her human, but she couldn't, wouldn't, not yet. Not while her sire and other enemies still walked the earth. Not till her bloodlust was satisfied. With that thought in mind the she-wolf launched herself at the encroaching humans.

"Looks like Ginny Weasley will be returning home soon."

"So you were convinced?" asked Gunnolf.

"Adequately so. It's still a risk, but better than any other option presently available," replied Draco.

Gunnolf grunted in agreement.

"Good thing we still have that batch of polyjuice. Provided the alpha has no use for it anytime soon, we should be able to pull this off."

"One way or another I don't see us needing to keep up the charade for more than a couple of months. Considering it'll only be for a couple of hours every other day we should have enough to tide us over."

"Sounds about right. I rechecked the duty roster; the alpha's followers have never been given duties related to her so we can assign the jobs to whoever we trust without raising any suspicions."

They needed to consider things like who was assigned to something like laundry duty as no amount of polyjuice in the world could convince a werewolf that the scent on what should be Ginny Weasley's clothes didn't belong to someone in the pack.

"Hmmm."

"You look like you're still hesitant about something."

"I'm still not comfortable with how vulnerable this plan leaves Cora-"

"She volunteered. She knows the risks involved and she still offered to be the one to escort Ginny."

"Yes, but-"

"Draco, we know Cora's the best choice. None of the other betas have excuses to leave without drawing attention to themselves in some way."

The plan was to let Cora leave with a polyjuiced Ginny during her routine monthly supply run. Nothing would look amiss as Cora was known to go on these trips with whichever omega she was grooming at the time.

"I know. I just don't feel comfortable with the idea of a solo mission."

"Cora is tougher than you give her credit for at times. She's a decent enough duellist. And while she may struggle to best another beta, she could easily take down any witch or wizard she encounters. She'll only be on her own during the brief period when she leaves Bleidd and makes her way to the Order."

"You make it sound like the Order has no reasons to instantly attack Cora at sight."

"They're supposed to be the good guys, right?"

"It's war, Gunnolf, none of us have clean hands anymore."

The she-wolf blinked once, twice, tried and failed to clear the fog that had settled in her eyes. She could just about make out the human shapes around her. She made a futile attempt to get up and attack the shapes closing in on her, but her body felt weighed down, her limbs immovable despite the absence of bindings.

The people around her were talking but she couldn't make sense of the words, not because her hearing was impaired like her vision. No, her hearing was just fine; she just couldn't understand the language they spoke. The nagging voice in her head had returned to tell her that there may be more than one language being spoken.

"- animagus."

She turned in the direction of the person who had spoken the one word she recognised.

Either her expression or her body language gave her away as they stopped speaking all at once before recommencing in a most excited manner. Only the speech wasn't directed at her, it was directed at the person who had drawn the response from her. They grew quiet before the person spoke again.

"We know you are not animal," said the person, his words drawn out by his heavy accent.

She stared at him, but couldn't make his features out. No matter, she knew his scent now. Her blurred vision and lack of mobility was obviously the result of something they had done to her so she didn't feel particularly inclined to offer a response. The nagging voice pointed out that this person may be her chance to finally leave this land and return home.

Yes, home!

That is most likely where her sire had fled to in an attempt to lick his wounds.

Home also meant returning to her pups and her mate, reminded the voice. The she-wolf ignored her human; all those other concerns were secondary to her now.

The she-wolf tilted her head to indicate to the strange wizard that he had her attention.

"Are you stuck? Can you not turn back?"

It was technically correct, though she doubted they really understood what she was. She had smelled no other being like her in and around the forest. Perhaps it was best for her to let them continue to believe she was an Animagus stuck in her animal form.

She nodded in a distinct and deliberate manner so there was no mistaking her action.

"Yes. Okay. Good."

There was some discussion among the group before the man spoke again.

"You are not from here."

She would've snorted at that if she could; instead she offered another slow nod.

"Do you know where you are?"

She had an idea. Her sire had even told her where they were on the eve of her turning.

"You are in the Mountains of the Moon, Uganda. This is Uagadou. We are a school for magic. You have been entering on our school grounds without permission... Do you understand?"

They needed to extend the magical barrier all the way to the base of the mountains if they were part of the school grounds, said the voice inside her head. The she-wolf only nodded.

"I am Akiki Zuluka. I am the Potions teacher. We call the Transfiguration teacher, then we help you change back," said the wizard, his voice reassuring despite the strange inflection of his words.

A Transfiguration teacher wouldn't be able to force her to turn, so she would play along till she could get from them what she needed. Either that, or till whatever spell they had cast on her had worn off and she could move freely again.

"We are excited to see you. We have never seen animagus of extinct animal-"

Hmm, thought the she-wolf, maybe they had figured out what she was after all. She couldn't blame them for being excited; she had quite the thrill run up her spine when she saw her reflection at the watering hole.

"- We have seen patronus, but never animagus. We did not know it is possible to become animagus of dead animal! We want to know how you became-"

Akiki switched from English to some other language. It sounded like he was consulting with his colleagues.

" Adjule?"

"No."

"Tibicena?"

"No."

The Potions teacher fumbled around some more trying to grasp the correct word before he addressed her again.

"We want to know how you became canis dirus."

"Uganda?"

"Yes."

"Why Uganda? What's there?" asked Draco, thoroughly confused by the information Theo had provided him.

"Potential allies, I hear."

"The Dark Lord wishes to make an alliance with the magical community in Uganda?"

It still made no sense to Draco. Sure, there were communities scattered throughout the lands of Africa with people who possessed amazing magical abilities. The problem was that even within any single nation the magical folk were not unified under a single government or leader. No one wanted to take on the nightmare of having to deal with the multitude of clans existing in any one of the countries on the African continent.

"We all had similar reactions. But the Dark Lord had the idea that they could control the locals by taking control of Uagadou."

"By Salazar, he's going after the kids again!" It made sense now. The Dark Lord found success in Britain using the same tactic on Hogwarts. He then tried doing the same with the magical schools in America and Bulgaria but failed since their governments had protected the schools from the Death Eaters. It made sense that he would go after Africa.

"That was the plan anyway. Father says both Lucius and he have failed in their attempts so far to establish dialogue with the locals. It's the same old problem one always faces with the magical community in Africa."

Draco nodded in understanding.

"Though, they did succeed in getting them to agree to the Death Eaters building a base there. The Dark Lord made sure it was as close to Uagadou as they would allow. Greyback's been there a few times. Father says he managed to thoroughly captivate the locals as they'd never seen a werewolf in person before. Their community is quite fascinated with the concept of animal transformations."

"So the portkey is to the base near Uagadou?"

"That's what I got from the Ministry travel logs."

"But why would Fenrir want to take my sons to Africa?"

"Show off for the locals? I have no fucking clue. Anyway, we've been talking long enough. I only rushed here because I didn't think there was any other secure means of dispatching the information to you," said Theo glancing nervously around him.

"Any news from my mother?"

"Not yet. Then again, I only managed to relay your message a day ago when we met at an event at the Greengrass residence."

Theo was ready to activate his portkey when he was stopped by Draco.

"I'm going to need another favour from you," said Draco.

"You know those are piling up rather rapidly at this point."

"I'm aware. Nonetheless."

Theo sighed and looked at him impatiently.

"I need you to go to Uganda and investigate this matter further."

"What?! Why would you want me to go?" asked Theo.

"Because I don't have a portkey for Uganda and I wouldn't be able to get one without raising a lot of red flags. On the other hand, you, as an active Death Eater, could easily come up with a reason to visit the base there."

Theo appeared to begrudgingly concede.

"I'll have one of the pack members accompany you. In the absence of any visual clues, they may be able to assist you by tracking scents."

Theo nodded. "Okay, but if I have to take one of you I insist it be Mr. Beefcake."

Draco responded with a raised brow.

"Hey, one look at him and my father or anyone else at the Ministry won't bother questioning my motives for wanting to go to a remote location with only a werewolf for company."

"Lord Nott wouldn't care that you're cavorting with a werewolf?''

"Why would he?" asked Theo with a shrug, then proceeded to pull out his vial of the Elixir of Euphoria and took a small sip. He waited for the potion to take effect before answering his own question in a cheery tone.

"It's not like he has to worry about me producing any Halfblood or mixed breed heirs that would taint his family name in the future. Quite frankly, father is more disappointed about my lack of ruthless ambition than he is about the places I choose to stick my dick."

Theo had a bright smile plastered on his face as he portkeyed away.