AN: I'm astonished that anyone believed the Fanfic chapter I posted as Ch43 was how I genuinely concluded the story *SMDH* and I'm also a little sad that NOT one person here shares my twisted sense of humour (come on, how often does someone post a fanfic parodying their own fic).

On a more serious note, please don't try to shame me (and how rude that a person won't review to show their appreciation of a fic they claim to like but they will post a review to try to shame me); I was still posting chapters even when there were no reviews. I just didn't appreciate the 2 reviews on chp 42 that were telling me to basically get on with it. Hopefully, anyone who thinks the fic is too long or too dull or that I'm not posting fast enough for their liking has abandoned it by now.

Ya know all this could have been avoided if FFN would let authors post public replies to reviews/comments, because then I could have addressed the offending parties directly instead of pulling this crap. It would be even nicer if Favourites/ Reviews was not a criteria by which stories are searched for on this site, then authors like me wouldn't need to give a damn if anyone left a review on their fic.

Thank you Marifraus27, your review reminded me there were readers here who do actually like this fic.

Chapter 43

Hermione could sense Ginny's awkwardness as they quietly sipped on their respective cups of tea. It was just the two of them in the tiny living room of the safe house, but Hermione could hear Arthur, Molly, Fred and George eavesdropping from the other side of the wall.

The Weasleys, having grown concerned over Ginny's declining state, had invited Hermione to visit, in the hopes that the meeting would spark a breakthrough. As far as the Weasleys were concerned, both girls were kidnapped, raped and impregnated by Death Eaters, yet, while Hermione appeared to be coping, Ginny had become withdrawn and timid since her return home. Ginny's family desperately longed to hear her say that she was going to be okay.

Still, understanding their reasons did not make their behaviour any less annoying to Hermione. She was sure even Ginny could hear them holding their collective breath as they strained to listen to what was being said—which, currently, was nothing.

Tired of the stifling silence inside, Hermione asked if Ginny would join her for a walk outside. She had not really expected Ginny to follow her out. From what the Weasleys had informed her, Ginny had yet to leave the house since being brought there, but moments later she heard Ginny shuffling along behind her. After noticing Ginny's reluctance to leave the yard, which along with the house was protected with a concealment charm, Hermione changed her mind about the walk and settled on the bench in the backyard, where they would be out of earshot from the house.

Ginny remained quiet, eyes cast down, body visibly tensed and face scrunched in deep concentration—but at least the awkwardness from earlier was gone.

Ginny would say whatever it was she wanted to say once she was ready, thought Hermione. She leaned back with her eyes closed, soaking in the sunlight.

"I want to apologise to you—" The harsh quality of Ginny's voice did nothing to disturb the peace of the moment for Hermione. "Apologise?" she asked, eyes still closed.

"Cora told me what you were trying to do that day—you were trying to help and I attacked you ... I was a terrible friend ... the whole time at Bleidd. I never listened to what you were saying ... I didn't believe you ... You tried to be there for me, but I didn't—I couldn't do the same when you needed me to ..."

"It was different for you—" Hermione tilted her head sideways to look at Ginny, who was staring at the ground while she picked at a scab on her mutilated leg. "—there was a vast difference in our circumstances."

Ginny nodded, teeth clenched, as she continued to stare at the ground. A teardrop rolled down her cheek. "I lost the baby..." she said, in a voice barely above a whisper, "but I don't regret it. I don't feel bad that it died—it was a monster growing inside me... except, it wasn't a monster. It was an innocent—an innocent, I wished was dead, who then died because of my actions... Yet, I still don't feel remorse over its death... Did they turn me into a monster like themselves?"

Hermione mentally cursed each of Ginny's abusers. If anything, she thought it was a testament to what a decent person Ginny was that she would question her own humanity for not mourning the loss of her forced pregnancy.

"I was relieved," said Hermione, in a low and even tone. "When I first heard about the miscarriage, my immediate response was relief—" Ginny looked up in surprise so Hermione was finally able to make eye contact with her friend. "The baby may have been an innocent, but so were you—so are you. You should never have been forced to carry that life and I will never regret its death because as long as that baby lived, you would never be able to move past what they did to you," Hermione stated with unwavering conviction.

Ginny returned her gaze to the ground and nodded. Her hands now gripped the edge of the bench instead of picking at old wounds.

Hermione drew in a shaky breath and exhaled noisily. The she-wolf wanted to tear apart the people responsible for hurting her friend, making it a struggle for her to sit still and just talk.

Ginny leaned against her.

"You think I can move past it?"

"I hope so. Do you feel that you can?"

"I used to... After I lost the baby, I used to think, I'll be okay once I'm back home... But now, I feel so... dirty... like l don't belong among these good and decent people..." Ginny stared at the house.

"You're good and decent too, Gin."

She shook her head. "The things I've done—that they made me do—did to me—" Ginny exhaled noisily. "Talking to Cora was so much easier. She already knew—because of my medical reports, she already knew most of it... But, how could I ever speak of such things to them?" Ginny jerked her chin towards the house.

"You have no reason to feel dirty, and no one in your family thinks any less of you," assured Hermione. She informed Ginny about her slip-up with Harry and how it led to the Weasleys discovering what had happened to Ginny during her captivity.

"They know?" asked Ginny in disbelief. "But, they haven't been any different around me."

"How were you expecting them to be?"

"Disgusted...Ashamed...? I don't know, just different from before." Ginny stared intensely at the house as if she could see through the walls to the inhabitants inside.

"They love you just as fiercely as before."

Hermione told her about Molly's actions—how she had narrowly missed one and killed the other Carrow twin for what they had done to her daughter—by the end of which Ginny was sobbing openly. It occurred only then to Hermione that Ginny had been so broken by her abusers she had forgotten just how much her family loved her.

"I don't care for revenge," Ginny told her between sobs. "I want my old life back. I want to forget everything that happened... I want to be myself again."

Hermione wrapped an arm around her friend, hugging her, while Ginny clung to her and cried. She had held Ginny in a similar manner many times when they were prisoners at Bleidd. Back then, Ginny's tears were borne of her despair. Something was different about her tears this time.

When Ginny finally settled down, despite the puffy red eyes and tear-stained cheeks, she appeared hopeful.

"You know Harry's feelings for you haven't changed either," said Hermione. It was a risk, she could end up pushing Ginny too far, but she would be a lousy friend if she failed to mention Harry.

"I still want that future with Harry—the one I'd always dreamed we'd have some day after the war—I want to believe we can still have that future... but I don't see how he could still want me."

"He still loves you," said Hermione.

Both were silent for a while, with Hermione not sure of what else she could say. Only Harry could convince Ginny of the truth of his feelings, just like the she-wolf needed Draco to convince her of his worth as a mate.

"Tell me what else has been going on... How did we even manage to capture the Carrows?"

Ginny appeared to show interest in a way she had not shown since before her imprisonment, so Hermione told her about everything that had happened since she left Bleidd. She told Ginny about how Fenrir had taken her, raped her, threatened the lives of her sons and bitten her. She told Ginny these things not because she wanted to talk about them, but because she thought she should.

Hermione told Ginny about the changes at Bleidd, about Draco's escape to Uganda, and about Zoey's horrible death. Ginny did not know the girl but cried for her, being the only one with an understanding of what Zoey would have endured in the hours before she died. Aware of Cora's attachment to Zoey, Ginny expressed concern for how the mediwitch was coping with her loss. Ginny held Cora in high esteem for all the help she had provided without ever judging her. That made Hermione snort in disbelief since Cora was always critical of her.

Hermione did not tell Ginny about being a dire wolf—and possibly the Promised One—but she did tell her about Uagadou, her little saviours, and the opportunity for a better life that awaited her there. She told her about Babjide and the ICW, and their thoughts about the Order. She also spoke of the Order's recent successes. Ginny was particularly happy to hear that the factory producing the damned Fero, a potion that had been used multiple times to rob them of their will, was destroyed.

"I want to give you my memories," said Ginny when Hermione finished her narration. "They want proof, show them my memories"—Ginny gulped audibly—"of the revel at Godric's Hollow and my memories of the day Riddle decided to give me to Lucius... It wasn't just me, there were other Pureblood witches given away as rewards. Let them see what it was like for me," said Ginny.

And even though she was shaking, clearly scared by the very prospect of showing strangers those horrific moments of her life, Ginny had never looked more courageous before.

The pack was beginning to grow restless, which could be related to his own mood. They were camped on land not their own, with no idea of how long they may have to live there. His pups were living away from the pack. Even though it was for their safety, not having them under his roof left Draco feeling off-kilter and based on the number of times Mipsy had needed to call him for help, it appeared the twins did not like being away either. And, his mate was still missing.

A small glimmer of hope came in the form of information gathered by one of the tracking teams. Some of the neighbouring tribes had spoken about a creature terrorising the local animals until it was captured by the teachers at Uagadou. The language barrier made it a challenge to grasp details like what kind of creature or how long ago the event had taken place, but with no other leads to pursue Draco thought the school may be worth investigating.

"Yaxley's ready to talk."

Hermione was startled by the sudden appearance of the silvery patronus. She could not recall the last time she had seen one.

The message, sent by Cho Chang, was meant for Harry, who was besides Hermione at the time, taking a nap instead of helping out like he said he would. Hermione had resumed her research on the horcruxes and spent most of the day reviewing her old notes. Harry left by himself shortly thereafter. Hermione stayed back as she felt close to solving the mystery of the final horcrux; she just couldn't shake off the feeling that the answer she sought may have been staring her in the face all along.

"Moonrise," warned Fenrir before turning into a wolf and mounting the bitch in front of him ...except, it wasn't moonrise, not a full moon anyway. There were still a couple of weeks left before the next full moon, but no one would dare explain that to the alpha, who was slowly losing his mind.

Gunnolf watched in silence, appalled, as Fenrir roughly fucked another one of the pack's females—something he had done to a different female every night for the last seven nights while making the rest of them watch. In his madness, Fenrir had grown certain that he would sire a litter of pups with every female and would say so each time he was done knotting with them.

"You're young and strong, I'm sure you'll give me a healthy pup," said Fenrir with a toothy smile to the whimpering female lying on the ground. He seemed not to notice the trail of blood and cum leaking out of girl due to him forcefully pulling out before his knot had deflated.

Gunnolf was helpless. Even with his mind coming apart, Fenrir was still one of the strongest alphas he had known of; he would never win in a fight against Fenrir. However, his task was not to take down Fenrir, it was to keep tabs on him. To do so, Gunnolf needed to be extra careful not to draw unnecessary attention to himself or he would risk Fenrir noticing at last the absence of a bond between them.

The ring on Draco's finger grew warm, a warning from his mother: Lucius and Greyback were headed to Uganda.