AN: I recently went through all the HP movies in reverse order, and wanted to write something about werewolf!Lavender. No effort has been made to be Pottermore etc. compliant. all in all it will probably be some 6-8 chapters, hoping to update about twice a week maybe more.
Friends
The first night was supposedly the hardest, but to Lavender Brown the days that followed were much worse.
Having been admitted to St. Mungo's following the battle of Hogwarts, she was allowed to suffer her first transformation with relative dignity. Locked in an inescapable room, she let the rage of the moon consume her. Per the doctors suggestion, without the aid of wolfsbane (to make her understand the forces at play). The experience had been both utterly terrifying, and more than a little exhilarating, like riding a train off a cliff. Not that she had enjoyed coming to her senses in a room with every surface scratched to pieces.
Her first full moon survived without accidents, she was prescribed some wolfsbane and sent on her merry way.
The first month was spent at her parents house. Here she started really experiencing the effect of the curse. She could smell the neighbours dirty laundry when she was locked in her room, she had an insatiable hunger for red meat, and she had so much hair. If she shaved her legs in the morning, they would be practically furry by the evening, and she had more or less given up on ever getting her hair in a proper braid again.
The war was still in fresh in the mind of the public, but unfortunately people seemed to remember their children being killed by Greybacks ilk, more than their children that got bitten by them. She didn't get eggs and charms thrown at her when she walked Diagon Alley, like the members of certain families did, but post-war legislation demanded that she reveal her "condition" to all potential employers and landlords. With the war ending as quickly as it began, there were plenty of opportunities for a young, talented witch, fresh out of Hogwarts to make a name for herself in any field she might desire, that is, unless she had been attacked by a psychotic werewolf, hell-bent on spreading his disease far and wide.
After her second full moon, her parents had less-than-subtly asked her, if she "was sure she wouldn't rather live with some of her school friends"? Before nightfall she had moved to Dean and Seamus flat, however she quickly sensed she was driving a wedge between the 2, and by the end of the week she hit the road. The next place she tried was the Patil residence, where she lived until the twins moved out 5 weeks later. Parvati and Padma had elected to get separate apartments, and Lavender wasn't quite desperate enough to ask to stay with either of them.
Instead she got a job washing dishes, tables, and floors at a little inn, in Knockturn Alley called "The Mottled Boggart". The owner, an elderly man named Josephius Prewett, had lost a brother and a niece to werewolves, and was more than happy to help another victim of the curse. The pay was lousy, and the hours were long, but she got a room to herself, and she was far from the shadiest character in the floors of "The Mottled Boggart". Then they began getting their windows broken at night, Josephius tried to play it off, and the Aurors swore to catch the people doing it. But one night, a bit too close to the night of the full moon, the rock throwers refused to leave when the inn's residents woke up. Before she knew, Knockturn Alley exploded as everything from squibs to Death Eathers came crawling out the woodworks. The Aurors arrived, and the fighting continued until the first light of dawn. By the end of it Mr. Prewett was admitted to St. Mungo's, 17 people were detained pending further investigation, and Lavender Brown was homeless once more.
Her next idea was to ask Hermione Granger for help, sure their friendship had been troubled at the best of times, but Gryffindors were supposed to count on each other in times of need. Hermione got her in contact with Harry Potter himself, who had no problems opening his house at 12th Grimmauld Place, to a homeless werewolf. The old Black family residence never truly became Lavender's home, there were just too many people coming through she couldn't relate to, though not for a lack of trying by all parties involved. One good thing that did come out of her time at 12th Grimmauld Place, was meeting Fleur and William Weasley.
The pair was so compassionate, and so understanding. Even when she lived in Shell Cottage, she could never truly forget her curse, but most days she came close. Fleur helped tame the hair and cover the bite mark with make-up. While Bill thought her to channel her rage into something productive (she doubted Shell Cottage would lack firewood for years to come). Lavender still had no luck finding work for more than a few days at a time, so instead she got busy cleaning the house, and occasionally trying to cook when the masters of the house came home late. By that point the werewolf had made a habit of trying not to get too attached, it still hurt as hell having to leave them. But when Fleur and Bill started talking about children, she knew it had to be done. Lavender knew the married couple would never ask her to leave, but she had always had a suspicion it was too good to last, and she couldn't live with herself, if an innocent child got caught in her rampage.
McGonnagal let her stay until the end of the Christmas vacation at Hogwarts. Then she spent a week at the rebuild Burrow, then another with Andromeda Tonks and young Teddy Lupin. She kept going like that until she eventually just… Ran out of places to go. With nowhere left, Lavender swallowed her pride, and accepted her lot in life was living on the streets of London.
