Summary: Ginny Weasley is sent to Azkaban for opening the Chamber of Secrets. It takes two years for Harry to get her out. AU Harry/Ginny
Rating: G
Categories: Alternate Universe
Characters: None
Genres: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Published: 2023.12.06
Updated: 2024.12.05
Jailbreak by millie
Chapter 1: Breaking Out
Author's Notes: Breaking Out
It was time for food, Ginny thought absently as she watched the flickering light approach closer to her cell. She craved the warmth and the reprieve that the Patronus of the guard would provide but she had learned very early on that the guards in Azkaban were sadistic and cruel. She had hurried towards the bars of the cell the first time she had seen a Patronus but the guard had extinguished it almost immediately.
Apparently, ensuring the misery of the prisoners was more important than being safe from the Dementors themselves.
The guard had finally reached her cell. She waited for the telltale noise of the metal sliding against the stone floor but there was nothing. Just a shadow standing at the door, looking at her. Ginny blinked, looking at the guard closely. He didn’t look like a guard.
His height was too short, and he wasn’t wearing the typical green uniform of the Azkaban guards, from what she could tell. Her eyes finally travelled to his face and her breath caught. Somehow, she felt that face was familiar to her. She knew him.
The man - no, boy - had messy, black hair, and emerald green eyes, framed by thin, silver glasses. Ginny struggled with her memory, trying to recall how she knew him. He must have been a part of her life before she came to Azkaban. But she could barely remember anything from then…
A flash of green stone and a red bird, another flash of squeaking and disappearing upstairs. Ginny realised who he was. She was looking at Harry.
“Harry?” she whispered, her body struggling to uncurl from her position on the floor. Her voice was hoarse as if she hadn’t spoken in years. She hadn’t actually, she thought, glancing at the uneven lines gouged into the walls. She hadn’t spoken in seven hundred and sixty days. Two years and one month.
In response, Harry’s hand which wasn’t gripping his wand, curled around the bars of the cell. He brought his face closer to the bars, letting her see him. He looked exhausted. His eyes were bloodshot and there were ginormous dark circles underneath them but his expression… his expression was full of hope.
“Ginny?” he whispered. Ginny shuddered. She hadn’t heard anyone say her name in a long time. It was her name, right? She could barely remember. “Ginny, can you see me? Talk to me, please.“
Ginny crawled closer to the bars, unwilling to get up. It would require too much energy. She could feel the warmth of the Patronus now, his happy memories turning her insides into jelly. She moved even closer. “What- what are you doing here?” She struggled with the words. They felt unfamiliar in her mouth, her tongue heavy from the effort it took to form those words.
“Getting you out,” he said. Ginny felt her breath catch in her throat. He was here to… get her out? She had lost hope that she would ever come out of here, that anyone would ever let her leave, but Harry… Harry had never been one to follow rules, she remembered faintly.
Harry pulled something out of his pocket and attached it to the metal bars. It looked like some sort of a device. Harry pressed the black item and it whirred to life. Ginny’s eyes widened when she saw how the bar seemed to be shrinking where the device was attached. “What- what’s that? What’s it doing?”
“Corroding the bars,” Harry replied, his eyes fixed on the device. “We’ll have a gap big enough for you to come out of soon.”
Five minutes later, the bar was almost entirely gone from the middle. Given how malnourished and weak Ginny had gotten, she could easily fit through the space. If only she had the stamina to get up and go through it. She tried to push herself up, to force some energy into her limbs but she couldn’t seem to move herself. She wasn’t used to exhausting so much of her brain power and this short conversation with Harry had already made her tired.
“I can’t- I can’t-” exhaled Ginny, giving up her efforts. She was too weak, too pathetic.
Not even a second had passed that Harry was fitting himself through the small gap, and kneeling down next to her. “Come on,” he whispered, one of his arms going around her shoulder while the other settled beneath her knees. “Let’s get you out of here.”
He picked her up as easily as if she weighed nothing. His wand was still in his hand, and his Patronus, whose shape Ginny could not detect, was nearby, closer than before. It was like being in front of a heater. Years of cold and misery washed away. Ginny felt her eyes slip close, the energy draining out of her. It was too comfortable…
Unfortunately, Harry had to return to Privet Drive after he entrusted Sirius with Ginny. Grimmauld Place was crawling with Order members and he couldn’t afford for any of them to know he wasn’t where he was supposed to be.
Thankfully, Sirius had kept in contact with him during the summer and gave him all the updates. He knew about the Order of the Phoenix, about Grimmauld Place, about the Weasleys living there together.
It hadn’t been easy keeping in contact, considering they were pretty sure Dumbledore was screening Harry’s letter. But Sirius wasn’t a Marauder for nothing and he’d developed a communication system with the help of Remus to stay in touch with Harry.
Which was the whole reason why he was able to accomplish what he had been working towards since the end of his second year. Breaking Ginny out of Azkaban.
The fact that it had been necessary at all to break her out of there still enraged him but the flames of his anger were doused slightly by the assurance that he had done it. He had gotten her out of there. Sure, he’d broken a hundred laws doing so but it didn’t matter as long as Ginny didn’t suffer because of something she hadn’t done. The way Sirius had had to suffer for too long.
Even two years was two years too long but Harry was hopeful Ginny would make it. Sirius had warned him that Ginny might have completely lost her mind considering that she had been only eleven when she was sent there and some part of her believed that yes, she was responsible for the opening of the Chamber. But she had recognised him after only slight confusion. That had to mean something.
Thankfully, the Dursleys hadn’t realised that he hadn’t been in the house in the past few hours. They rarely interacted with him beyond getting him to do their chores which was why Harry had planned his escapade around their schedule as well as of the guards that watched him, making sure it was one of the ones who wouldn’t be paying much attention.
When Harry woke up the next morning, courtesy of Aunt Petunia’s loud raps on his door, it was with great disbelief that he thought about the events of the previous day. He jumped out of bed immediately, his fingers reaching for the sheet of parchment Sirius and Remus had worked together to enchant.
He grabbed a quill, dipped it into the ink pot on his desk and started writing.
Are you awake yet?
There was no reply. Harry had expected it but he still had to stop disappointment from coiling in his stomach. Sirius had never been an early riser. He left the parchment on his desk and left the room to go to the washroom, knowing that if he didn’t hurry, it wouldn’t be Aunt Petunia who came to get him next but Uncle Vernon.
He relieved himself, brushed his teeth and then returned to his small, dim room to change clothes. He ignored his thin, exhausted reflection in the mirror and instead grabbed his wand from his bedside table and left his room.
When he was done with making breakfast for the Dursleys, he ate his meagre portion as quick as possible, ignoring them as well as they ignored him and hurried upstairs. There were new lines of ink on the parchment that hadn’t been there before.
I’m up. We’ve situated Ginny in my brother’s old room. No one comes up to this floor except for me and Kreacher who has been ordered not to utter a single word to anyone else.
She’s been sleeping since yesterday. Woke up briefly in the middle but was too disoriented to understand anything and went back to sleep. Her skin is still cold and she’s shivering occasionally but we’ve started the potion regiment.
Harry exhaled a sigh of relief and sat down in his chair to reply back. He used his wand to wipe the parchment and started writing.
That’s good to hear. Tell me when she wakes up. If she asks who you or Remus are, tell her you’re my friends and in case she doesn’t believe you, she wrote a Valentine’s Day poem for me. I don’t know if she’d remember but it’s worth a shot.
Valentine’s Day poem? Now that’s something I’ve got to hear.
Harry rolled his eyes. He could practically envision Sirius’ smirk in his mind.
Shut it.
What about my situation?
There’s a plan in the works to get you out of there. Might take a couple of weeks though. I’ll try to hurry it along, though I’m not sure if that will be a help or hindrance. You know how seriously everyone takes me here.
Harry winced, the bitterness in Sirius’ words oozing out of the parchment. He could relate to that feeling, he thought, the absence of any letters from Ron or Hermione a constant presence in the back of his mind.
He hesitated a bit before writing the next words, unsure how they would be taken. It was only because he and Sirius had been talking regularly in the past few weeks that he was able to even think about writing them at all.
There was a small pause and then two words appeared on his parchment. Me too.
When Ginny next opened her eyes, she found herself lying on a comfortable bed and soft pillows, buried under piles of blankets. She let her eyes roam around the place. The room was unfamiliar, even as she struggled with her memory to place it. She didn’t think she had been here before.
The whole room was draped in emerald green and silver. Ginny looked around, noticing that even the bedsheets were emerald green. The room was dimly lit, but she could still make out the single desk and wardrobe situated on the opposite ends of the room.
She was alone, she noted faintly. She used her elbow to push herself to a sitting position. Even such a small action took a lot out of her and it took a few moments of deep breathing before she was able to move again. There was a lamp on the bedside table which she flicked on. The golden glow illuminated the dark bed frame and the crest painted on the headboard.
Ginny frowned as she looked at it, wondering whose crest it was. The last thing she remembered was Harry coming to get her out of Azkaban but now she was in an unfamiliar place and entirely alone.
The door opened with a quiet click and Ginny whipped her head, expecting it to be Harry. But no it was someone else. She hadn’t ever seen him before either. The man was tall and thin, almost skeleton-thin. His hair fell in waves around his head, almost touching the tops of his shoulders.
The man’s grey eyes widened when he noticed she was awake and he approached slowly as if giving her time to stop him. But Ginny hadn’t been approached by another human being in two years, excluding Harry yesterday, that she craved the contact, the conversation. She hoped he would speak to her.
‘Was he safe?’, a small part of her brain wondered. Was he going to get close to her and make her dependent on him before stabbing her in the back, the way she had been treated before?
“Hello, Ginny,” the man said, sitting down on the edge of her bed. In his hands was a silver tray loaded with food. Ginny gazed at it hungrily. She hadn’t eaten proper food in such a long time that even being near it, made her mouth salivate.
“Here,”, he said handing the tray to her. “Be careful not to eat everything at once. You’ll get sick.”
Despite his advice, Ginny couldn’t help but scarf down everything. It felt like no time had passed when the entire tray was empty and her stomach was sore, not because she was starving like usual but because she had eaten too much.
When she looked up from the tray, she noticed the man watching her, with something that looked like concern in his gaze. Why would he be concerned about her? It didn’t make any sense. She didn’t matter to anyone, she knew that.
“Who are you?” She asked softly. It still hurt to speak too much or too loudly.
The man was silent for a second but then he replied in the same volume as her. “I’m Harry’s godfather. He left you here with me to take care of you.”
Ginny’s heart jumped. If he was Harry’s godfather that meant he could be trusted, right? But could she? Her heart sank again when she realised how easily she had been taken as a fool before. Tom Riddle had fooled her and betrayed her and in the process, utterly destroyed her ability to trust anyone ever again.
“How do I know you’re telling the truth? Harry’s not here.” She tried to sound firm but she could tell that she had failed horribly. Would her voice always be this hoarse and scratchy? Would she always be this weak?
To her surprise, the man chuckled. Despite the dark stubble on his jaw and his gaunt, skeleton figure, his eyes were soft. “He thought you would say that. Apparently, you wrote a Valentine’s Day poem for him?”
Ginny frowned struggling to recall. Her memories were still hazy and unclear but she remembered Harry, so surely...
Her face burned bright red as it came back to her. Oh, God, she’d been so stupid! Had she really written that awful poem for Harry? Why had she? Bits of pieces of redheaded twins daring her flooded her brain.
Oh. She had brothers. She had forgotten that. Did she have two brothers? Fred… and George?
No, that wasn’t right. Ginny stared at the bedspread, trying to force her brain to recall. She was so lost in her thoughts that she had no idea that Sirius was watching her concernedly.
She remembered others as well. One of them was always joined to Harry, she recalled. Ron? Yeah, Ron. They used to play together always, teaming up against the twins and Percy. But, then he’d gone for Hogwarts and forgotten about his poor, pathetic, little sister.
Tom’s voice rang in her head.
No one likes you, they just tolerate you because you’re a Weasley.
You’re so weak and pathetic, falling for this little stunt. What else could be expected from you?
You aren’t worth being a Weasley.
Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. Ginny pressed a fist to her mouth to stifle a sob that seemed to want to burst out of her. “Ginny?” She barely heard the alarm in Sirius’ voice. Her entire focus was directed towards the ringing voice in her head, the one that had occupied her thoughts and memories for two years.
She shuddered, losing the grip on her tears and suddenly she was crying, sobbing hysterically with tears rolling down her face. She pressed her face to the comforter, her body almost bent double in half and wept her heart out.
She wasn’t aware of when the man left the room or when he came back with someone else who had brown hair peppered with grey, soft eyes and scars all over his body. She wasn’t aware of when they tried to comfort her or how she pushed them away, hating the feel of their hand. Everything reminded her of Tom. He was everywhere and in everyone and he would never leave her alone.
The next thing she was aware of was a soft, warm hand settling on her shoulder and pulling her into a chest. This person felt different somehow, she didn’t feel wary of being so close to him. No, instead she felt safe.
There was only one person she could feel that way around.
As Ginny’s sobs quietened and her mind came back to focus, she suddenly realised what she had done. God, she must have looked quite a fool, just randomly bursting into hysterics.
Her hands shook extremely as she glanced up from where she was burrowed and her gaze collided straight into a pair of emerald green eyes. Harry’s face was twisted with concern and what looked a lot like awkwardness. His hand was hesitant on her shoulder and was patting her slightly as if he didn’t quite know what to do with it. Yet he still didn’t let her go.
“I’m sorry-” she had barely got the words out when Harry shook his head gently. Ginny pulled away, her eyes cast down, unwilling to look at what a mess she must have made of his shirt.
“It’s not your fault, you have nothing to apologise for.” He said, standing up from the bed. Ginny was unconvinced, her face still red with embarrassment but she looked up, just now noting the other two men in the room. One of them was the one who had brought her breakfast and she hadn’t ever seen the other one.
Harry hadn’t been here, she realised suddenly. “What are you doing here?” She asked him.
Harry motioned at the two men. “When they couldn’t calm you down without you pushing them away, they called and I came,” he said simply as if it were normal. No one came running when she was in trouble. No one had helped her during the long months she had been writing in the Diary and no one had come for her down in the Chamber of Secrets. No one had come for her when she had cried and begged and pleaded in Azkaban, tormented by the Dementors and driven to despair.
No one except Harry.
“I’m sorry,” she repeated, looking at the two men. There were scratches on their arms and hands. Had she done that? Harry said she had pushed them away. A wave of hot shame flooded her.
Perhaps the new man sensed how she was feeling and he immediately shook his head, bending down beside the bed to be at her level. “Don’t apologise for anything you can’t control.” His voice was soft and warm but there was a certainty in it that made her believe in him. Almost.
“Who are you?” she asked instead of replying to him.
He smiled warmly at her. It made the scars on his face stretch but he didn’t look terrifying, for some reason. It was hard to imagine this soft, gentle man as something to be scared of. But then again, Ginny had learned firsthand how appearances could be deceiving.
“My name is Remus. I was a friend of Harry’s parents. We both were,” he said motioning to Harry’s godfather.
Had Ginny met them before? If they were friends of Harry’s parents, surely she must have heard of them. But Ginny didn’t have even the slightest bit of recollection of them.
“You can ask me anything you want,” said Harry, noting the look of confusion on her face. “I’ll answer all your questions.”
Seeing him and hearing that promise reminded her of what she had been thinking before she broke into tears. “Ron’s your friend, right? My… brother?”
There was an emotion on Harry’s face that made Ginny uncomfortable. It looked vaguely like pity but also like compassion. Whatever it was, Ginny didn’t want it. She just wanted an answer. “Yes, he’s your brother. And yes, he’s my best friend.” He replied finally.
Ginny mentally went through everyone she could remember. There was Fred, George, Ron… why did she remember dragons? Wait, Charlie loved them, didn’t he? Yeah, she had a brother named Charlie.
Slowly, the others came back to her. Bill who had taught her some hex that she couldn’t recall at the moment and Percy who bored everyone to death but who had always let Ginny sit in his lap when she was younger and told her stories.
Ginny felt exhausted suddenly. It was too much; she couldn’t keep up with everything. She had barely been awake an hour and already it felt like too much had happened. Sleep was dragging her into its embrace.
“Let her rest,” said Remus softly, pulling Harry's godfather with him. She still didn’t know his name, she thought faintly as she gave in to the urge to lay down and put her head on the soft pillow.
There was a soft rustling and then thin, long fingers were running through her thin, lanky hair. Just for a second, and then it was gone. The door clicked close behind the three men and Ginny felt her eyes slip close.
When Harry had gone back to Privet Drive and the various people living at Grimmauld Place had gone to sleep, two men were still awake.
Sirius and Remus sat in the kitchen, a bottle of Firewhisky on the table in front of them. Both of them looked exhausted but wide awake at the same time.
“Did you see the way he…” Sirius spoke into the silence.
“Yeah,” said Remus, not needing him to finish his sentence. They both knew what he was talking about. The way Harry had reacted immediately to their message on the parchment and had been at Grimmauld Place in less than five minutes, uncaring of blowing his plans out the window just so he could comfort Ginny had been eerily similar to the way James had always dropped everything for Lily.
Panicking and confused at what to do when the girl started sobbing into the mattress, Sirius had called Remus first who had been unable to do anything either. Sirius knew he looked intimidating but Remus was usually excellent at comforting others.
When that failed, he had only two options. He could either leave her crying and hope she would stop soon or call Harry. Since he would never be as callous as to do the first, he messaged Harry on the parchment, unsurprised when he responded immediately.
What he hadn’t expected was for Harry to use the emergency Portkey Remus had given him when it had been his turn to guard Harry and land straight in Sirius’ room.
Their godson was growing up, had grown up actually and Sirius was ashamed to admit that he had missed all of it.
But he was here now, he thought firmly, gulping down a whole glass of Firewhisky in one go. He was here now and he wasn’t ever going to let Harry down again. Harry had needed his help to rescue Ginny and Sirius had done everything he could to aid him. And he was going to keep doing it for every plan Harry ever made, for he was sure that Harry’s anger at the wizarding world wouldn’t be doused just by getting Ginny out of that hellhole.
Harry was like Lily that way. They both loved ferociously and defended their loved ones with even more fire.
Sirius just wished that somewhere along the way, he would start to feel at peace too.
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