[HP translation] Hope

"I never want to see you again!"

She didn't think about where she was Apparating at all, or whether she could focus enough to do it, so she considered herself lucky when she neither disembarked nor fell into the ocean.She made it to the ferry station on the mainland, but Draco probably knew some kind of tracking magic that could tell where she had Apparated.Ginny started running away as quickly as possible.Apart from Apparating, she had no money or transportation, and Muggles stared at her outlandish clothing and bare feet.He has won.

A sob escaped her lips, and Ginny wiped tears angrily as she ran down the busy street.Her heart had never hurt like this; she couldn't believe how much his betrayal had hurt her. "Stupid, stupid Ginny," she muttered as she ran. "Death Eater for a day, Death Eater for life, remember? Remember when you said that? How could you forget?" Not far away, there was a sharp crackling sound from where she had just Apparated , she knew Draco (Malfoy, he was Malfoy) must have tracked her down, and came after her.She quickly ducked into a bus shelter, out of sight of innocent Muggles, and Apparated again.

This time, she came to the International Apparition Point, and she slipped inside.As she rushed across the vestibule, a young wizard in red robes looked up. "Can I help you, miss?"

"Yes, hello." Ginny said, covering her side.Switching her pretty dress shoes from one hand to the other, she said, "I need to get out of here. Which apparation point is on right now?"

The wizard looked confused, but didn't ask her what was going on. "Staff are overseeing apparition points to Las Vegas, Peel, Denver, if—"

"Denver." Ginny chose one at random. "Send the bill to Draco Malfoy, will you?" the wizard nodded in confusion and told her where to go.Ginny ran to the row of apparating rooms, found the door marked "Colorado," and rushed in.

"The last wave is heading to Denver, Colorado," said the female staff member. "Are you leaving?"

"Go," said Ginny, and before the woman gave her permission, she jumped onto the stage and Apparated.

Or try to apparate.

"Why doesn't it work?" Ginny exclaimed, sure that Malfoy would walk through the door at any moment.

The witch frowned, and swept her wand over Ginny's body. "You're not an American citizen," she said almost accusingly.

"Yes, but I have a residence permit—I have a green card, I just don't have it with me—"

"It's useless," said the witch. "Any witch or wizard who is not an official citizen of the United States cannot leave their state of residence unless they inform the Ministry of Magic where and why they are going." She paused in the middle of her wand search. "It seems that you have another spell on you."

Ginny squirmed as if it were a tangible thing. "What is it?"

"That's weird." She frowned, and flicked her wand in the air a few more times. "They are ownership spells. People usually cast them on their possessions—inanimate objects, never on people. It works similarly to a tracking spell, so the caster can always know his or her Where are the belongings, even if they are stolen."

Ginny's eyes widened.She didn't feel like she could get any more angry, but apparently she could. "That duplicitous, self-centered evil dragon dung—"

"What kind of mouth do you have, Weasley."

Draco stood in the open door, arms folded, eyes stern and direct.

Ginny pointed her wand at him. "Stay away, or I'll remind you how good I am at the Bat-Spell."

"Look," said the witch at the Disapparation point wearily, "I don't have time for your little lover quarrels, so you'd better move somewhere."

"I'm sorry," Draco said tactfully, bowing his head at her. "We're leaving."

"I won't go with you—"

"Come on baby," he said shortly. "Expelliarmus." Before she could resist, her wand flew into his hand and he grabbed her arm.Immediately they Apparated, and they were back in the glass vestibule of his island estate, his private apparition point.

"They left." He answered her unspoken question. "And you see, I'm giving you back your wand too." He tossed it to her, and she clutched it tightly. "I realized I had a lot to explain and I should have told you everything sooner so you wouldn't have found out like this."

"Damn right," Ginny exclaimed.

"Shall we sit down?" Malfoy said calmly. "Actually, I thought I might as well have a drink." He snapped his fingers, and not long after, Alexa appeared.

"Master?" she said with a bow.

"We'd like some butterbeer in my study," he said, and Alekta left immediately to fulfill his request.

Malfoy turned to Ginny, who was still pointing her wand at him. "Well, come on, I don't have a day." With that, he turned away; Ginny was forced to follow him.

She had never been in his study, only outside, so when he led her into the room, she looked around warily before sitting down.A large walnut table dominates the main space, and a soft Persian rug covers the solid wooden floor.A small fireplace sits between two tall windows behind the desk, with pictures of Quidditch players on the mantelpiece.There were books, too, but not mainly Dark Arts like in the library: spell books, guides to herbalism and potions, and some very familiar-looking textbooks.

"I never finished school," he said when he spotted what she was looking at.He was already seated, not behind a desk, but in a Queen Anne chair, and Ginny was in an identical chair. "I've been studying my seventh year at Hogwarts."

"I've been using Hermione's class notes," Ginny admitted after a while.

"Yes, I can imagine that it must be very detailed," he said dryly.Alekta came in with a tray of butterbeer, and they each took a bottle from her.Ginny didn't drink it, just held it in the hand that wasn't pointing at Malfoy.

After the house-elf had left, he took a sip of his butterbeer and said, "I've been hiding something from you," he said, looking at her calmly. "It's been a procedure for years, so I don't want to break the rules, but..." He frowned and looked away, and Ginny waited for him to continue.

"Those people you saw in the side hall before. They're not slaves. They're refugees from England, Muggles and wizards. I'm not the kind of..." He waved his hand—"The kind who make money from human trafficking The king of human traffickers. Honestly, the thought makes me sick."

"Though some are Muggles?" Ginny probed him. "Or a Muggle-born wizard?"

"Please, Ginny," he said with a chuckle. "You still feel like I haven't changed at all. I was a little jerk when I was at Hogwarts; I know, and I'm not going to pretend I wasn't. But when I first got here, the Americans saw my behavior — the Prentices, the Ketterings, all of them — they think I'm behind. I, Draco Malfoy, behind," he said haughtily. "They couldn't believe how my beliefs could be so primitive. Mrs. Kettering used the word, 'primitive'. Then, long after I had begun to consider her a friend, she told me that she was Muggle-born. She told I, of all the people I've come into contact with since I arrived in America -- all the people I've identified as purebloods by virtue of their wealth and prestige alone -- have only one pureblood: Melvin Winkler. And his Wife Maeda is Muggle-born."

Ginny blinked in surprise.She also automatically assumed that because he was Malfoy, all his friends were also purebloods.

"So of course that affected me a lot," he continued, after drinking some butterbeer. "Long story short, I started looking at all the crap that Lucius and my mom had been feeding me since I was born. It was rubbish. Shortly thereafter, I formed Spearman Speed ​​Dating with other wizards I knew."

This time, Ginny dropped her wand arm in shock. "You—what?"

"Yes." He said with a smirk. "I'm Raj Spellman, owner of Speed ​​Dating Mail Order Brides."

"But—but—dear Merlin," she said perplexedly. "That's why your handwriting looks so familiar—"

"I still subscribe to the Daily Prophet, too," he said, as if she hadn't spoken at all, "so the open hostility was over before Potter died. Wizards here know next to nothing about war, so I'm happy to enlighten them." His hand clenched the butterbeer. "I showed them the ruins and the photos and read the cover story and they were horrified. We all felt that something had to be done and fast. While others contacted their friends in other parts of the country with urgent and necessary messages When I started getting international business licenses, I started a bogus company that smuggled people out of the country. The first one was a speed-dating company.”

"But why a mail-order bride service?" Ginny asked, wrinkling her nose.

He raised his eyebrows. "If you can't answer it, then you are really quarantined."

She shrugged awkwardly. "Dad had a burning need to protect me that I couldn't question."

"We decided to send the women out first because they are more of an immediate threat than men and children," he said, looking away. "Children are going to school, learning new creeds, and how to worship and obey Voldemort, depending on whether they are pure blood; men are used as hard labor. But women are raped, or used... to produce more labor." He puckered his mouth in disgust.Ginny trembled.So, when her father said she was in danger, that's what he didn't say.Seeing her reaction, he snorted. "Oh, don't worry, Ginny, you were supposed to marry a pureblood and be used to breed a new generation of Death Eaters. Given how few purebloods there are, you might have to have the first."

"What a comforting thought," she exclaimed, automatically putting a hand to her stomach. "But why don't you set up a hidden apparition point—"

"No," he said, waving his hands, "that will never work. If people know there is a legal way to get out of the country, word will spread and it will always end up in the wrong ears. If you have a way to get out of the UK safely , won’t you tell as many people as possible? Won’t you bring your father and brother with you?”

Ginny was silent, thinking of her family.

"Justinian Kettering has some friends in England who do wizarding commercials, so I put him in charge of advertising for speed-dating companies and helping hands—" he frowned sullenly, "—unfortunately, I had to Pretending to be a human trafficker. But when people go abroad, we set them free. We don't traffic a single person as a slave." His voice was firm, and he watched her until she nodded, accepting his words. "They apparated into that secret room in the front hall because we didn't want to clog up the official apparition point, and then there were people like those three wizards you saw taking them and helping them start their lives again."

"But Voldemort must have realized something was going on," Ginny said. "How could he let someone escape his grasp?"

Draco shrugged, swirling the butterbeer in the bottle. "He does get us into trouble sometimes. Occasionally, a team of Death Eaters will make an interception, but we're very careful about security. I've seen too many of them with my father's heraldic ring branded on their backs." He said Not happy to say. "But I think Voldemort likes them to struggle. He likes to be challenged so he can show off his power and ability. He likes to slowly destroy people, not kill them all at once. I think he thinks these speed-dating companies and aid It's the weakest of weaks who get their hands on it, too frustrated to worry about it—except for you, of course," he added, raising his butterbeer to her and nodding.

"Eileen Prentice is responsible for sending our refugees into American society," he continued. "Through her government connections, she'll get them a residence permit or citizenship, depending on which they want, and she runs a website called 'Wizards Abroad Needs Guide', where separated family members can get in touch. According to her At last count, we've helped nearly 6000 people flee the UK: men, women and children."

Ginny sank into a chair. "Six thousand?" she whispered.

"Almost." He said casually.

"Oh, my God." She understood now. "So I was one of the people you helped escape from England."

"Yes. Speed ​​dating companies are a bit different, the witches arrive on their own. A group of wizards, including myself, take turns 'receiving' different witches, and when they arrive, we help them find jobs, rent houses, find their families .”

Ginny frowned. "But—you didn't do that to me."

"No, I didn't." A muscle in his jaw tensed, and he avoided her gaze. "And I'm not going to tell you why, so don't bother asking."

She swallowed, still trying to digest what he had told her. "I bet some of the wizards you helped escape are on the Quibbler's missing list."

"I know," he said. "I happened to see the magazine you received last time, and recognized some of the names. I've left Mrs. Kettering to take care of it; she'll introduce herself to Mr. Lovegood, and set up a contact so that We can help make his list more accurate. For the sake of the British here, she will also ask permission to publish the list every two weeks in the "Wand of Wands."

She leaned back in the seat, a warm feeling welled up in her heart.It wasn't long before she realized what it was: hope. "It's unbelievable," she said softly.

Draco finished his butterbeer and put the bottle on the table. "I think so too," he said casually.

"You know, I would never have believed a man like you could."

"Yeah. Someone like me." He looked up at something, and Ginny turned to find a portrait of Narcissa Malfoy hanging on the wall.Narcissa reclined on a couch and fell asleep.

She suddenly remembered something. "If you start helping your fellow Britons, you obviously still care about what's going on there," she said slowly.

He looked away from the portrait of his mother. "you mean?"

"Why do you want to be an American citizen?"

"I didn't, Mrs. Kettering was mistaken." Draco slowly spun his Butterbeer bottle, looking at it from all angles. "I did start the process with Erin Prentice's help, but a month or two before you came, I changed my mind and dropped the case. No more filling out the forms."

"Why?" Ginny looked at him cautiously.

He shrugged casually, but there was a fire in his eyes. "Because you're right," he said. "Seattle is not my home. The food is terrible, I hate the weather, and people are too easily angered. I am heir to the Malfoy family; I belong to my ancestral land in Wiltshire, any madman wearing a skull mask Nothing can stop me." He moved in his seat. "So my motives are purely selfish. I want to prove to everyone that I'm not primitive or backward, and I'm going to get my property back. I'm really no different than I was in the past."

"Well, that's true. You're still a pompous fool."

"I would have said I had a superiority complex, but I don't think that would describe it," he said, suppressing a smile with the corners of his mouth curled up.He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "Okay. I think that's all I kept from you."

"I don't think I can take any more," Ginny said sincerely.

"Oh?" Draco said, standing up. "Actually, now that I think of it, one more thing. You may not have recognized him before, but he recognized you right away." He snapped his fingers twice, a house-elf in a couple of scouring pads Appeared. "Bring over the wizard who lives in the green bedroom," he said, and the house-elf bowed and disappeared again.

"Is he... a refugee?"

"Yes, I just watched the latest issue of The Quibbler and found his name on the missing list. You'll be glad to know he's alive and well."

Someone knocked on the door and Ginny walked over, her heart pounding in her throat.Who could it be?An old Hogwarts friend?Someone who knew her parents?

She opened the door of the study, and her face immediately lit up. "Professor Lupine!"

He looks older now.His hair was all gray and his face was older than his years.But he wore new robes instead of the patched tatters of old, and his smile was as friendly as ever. "Come on, Ginny," he said with a chuckle, "how many more times do I have to tell you that I'm not your professor anymore?"

"I'll get us some more butterbeer," said Draco, and Ginny heard him summon another house-elf.

"But where have you been?" Ginny asked, pulling Lupine into the room and making him sit down; she sat down in the previous chair. "Everyone has been looking for you everywhere since the last battle—"

After Alexa arrived with more butterbeer, Lupine told her how he had stayed with the werewolves, proving his loyalty to them without losing the prized spy position he had won with the group. "I have earned Fenrir's full confidence," he said. "It took almost a year, but I did it." Then he looked into Ginny's eyes painfully. "I was there when your brother Bill was killed. I wasn't involved, but—"

"No, don't say anything," she said hoarsely, blinking back her tears. "I know you'd help him if you could."

However, after two years of group living, Lupine's health deteriorated dramatically and he could no longer be with werewolves.He was too used to living among people to be converted, and he became weak and sick.Fenrir eventually said he wasn't a real werewolf, and Lupine had to run for his life or they'd kill him.

"Unfortunately, I left them in a part of India I didn't know much about, so I walked for days before I found any sign of human beings, let alone other wizards. Then, I had to make sure I stayed away from humans every full moon because I can't find anyone who can make a wolf potion for me. I'm a nomad on my feet, I feel like I've been walking for years, don't I?" He looked at Draco, who nodded.

"Next month will be the third anniversary of Potter's death," Draco said.

"Tonks thought you were dead," said Ginny. "We all thought you were dead."

Lupine gave her a tight smile. "I thought so too," he said slowly, swallowing his butterbeer. "I only got back to England a month ago; I got around Devon. But it was all a mess and I didn't even know where to go back. I saw an ad in an old Quibbler, and at that time, I Finding myself so desperate to flee war and devastation, I could have volunteered to do anything."

"Is Fenrir still alive?" Draco asked. "How big is his team now?"

"Alive, last I heard," said Lupine, "the ranks get bigger with each full moon. But many of them are just children now, trained to hate all who are not infected." He shuddered with.

They talked long into the afternoon, about Lupine's three years on the road, and England's behavior under the rule of the dictators.Then Draco told him about speed-dating companies and helping hands, which touched the older wizard deeply.He immediately offered to do what he could for the refugees, and Draco said he could take him to see Erin Prentiss tomorrow.

"She'll want to know you're a werewolf," he explained. "Of course, if you're going to stay here, you'll need to be registered in the proper places."

Lupine laughed. "Of course. You forget, I've been a werewolf longer than you. I think I can handle it."

"Werewolves are treated differently in America," Draco said. "First of all, the government requires all pharmacies to know how to make werewolf potions, otherwise they will lose their license. They make potions for free for all registered werewolves, and if the werewolves don't take the potions every month, they will be fined heavily. "

Lupine blinked. "Okay. I already like this place better."

"America, what an amazing place," Draco agreed with a smile.