Rating: G

Summery: See first chapter.

Disclaimer: See first chapter. The idea about extremists who campaign for muggles to not be considered beings is from the introduction to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, written by J.K. Rowling in aid of Comic Relief.

Chapter Three

Chandra was still in the hospital two days later. She was feeling very bored, as there was nothing to do and no one to talk to except the healers, who were too busy for much conversation. She wondered whether her parents had been told anything about where she was.

She was just finishing her lunch (and playing "let's eat this very, very slowly, as at least that's better than not doing anything at all") when Healer Smethwyck came down the ward, an official looking young man with a briefcase trailing behind him. They stopped at Chandra's bedside, and she hurriedly finished off her last few bites.

"This is Mr Wilson, Chandra," the Healer told her. "He's just going to ask you a few questions." He left. Mr Wilson smiled at her in a friendly/nervous sort of way.

"Hello," Chandra said, smiling back. "Would you mind sitting down? Only it's going to give me a bit of a crick in my neck if you keep standing there the whole time."

"Oh. Yes. Of course." Mr Wilson pulled over a chair and sat down. He opened his briefcase and pulled out a long blue quill, a bottle of ink, and some official looking parchments. "Right," he said, staring down at the papers on his lap. "I need to ask you some questions about yourself, so that we can keep track of you, and then I need you to sign some things."

"What do I have to sign?"

Mr Wilson raised his head so that he was looking at the wall just beyond Chandra's left ear. "Well, I'll explain when we get there, alright?" He gave his friendly/nervous smile again.

Chandra shrugged. "Alright."

Mr Wilson quickly snapped his gaze back to the parchments on his lap, as if relieved he didn't have to look at Chandra anymore. "Okay then. Let's get started. Full name?"

"Chandra Loup."

"No middle names?"

"No. My mother says you just lose them right away, so what's the point?"

Mr Wilson accepted that with a slight inclining of his head. "Address?"

"6669 Parksview Road."

"Age?"

"Sixteen."

"Who lives in the house with you?"

"My parents. I'm an only child, so no other kids."

"Their full names?"

"Caroline Alice Loup and Charles Edward Loup."

"Is that your normal hair colour?"

Chandra's eyebrows rose. "Yes."

"Hair black," Mr Wilson muttered to himself. "Eyes..." his eyes darted up to Chandra's and then back down to his papers. "Brown. Female." He raised his voice to address Chandra again. "Do you have any identifying features? Scars or birthmarks or whatnot?"

"No." Chandra felt slightly uncomfortable. The questions and Mr Wilson's behaviour made her feel as if she were being I.D.ed as some sort of criminal. "Why do you need to know all this?"

Mr Wilson looked genuinely surprised by the question. "So that we can keep an eye on you to make sure you do not bite anyone, of course."

"That didn't work so well with the guy who bit me," she said coldly.

"And to make sure that if you do, we will be able to immediately apprehend you; which, I assure you, is what happened to the man who bit you," he said, equally coldly, but still without looking up at her.

"Do you have any more questions, sir?"

"Does your family travel frequently?"

"No."

"Do you travel at all?"

"To my grandmother's sometimes. When my mother can wheedle it out of my father."

"Anywhere else?"

"No. We can't really afford it if you have to know."

"Where does your grandmother live?"

"In the country. I don't remember the exact address."

"I see." Mr Wilson looked very upset about that. "You would still be in school, wouldn't you?"

"Yes, but I don't board there, if that's your next question."

Mr Wilson finished writing on his parchments, then pushed them over to her, handing over his quill at the same time. "Read this over, then sign that the information is correct, please." She did so, signing her name with a flourish. Signing things was much more fun with a quill than with a pen or pencil.

Mr Wilson pushed another writing covered piece of parchment at her. "This one too, please."

"What is it?"

"A statement that you will not revel the existence of magic, of a magical world, of magical or of witches and wizards. Or," and he looked her in the face for the first time, "of magical creatures such as werewolves like yourself." He looked away again, at the bed.

So. He thought of her as some sort of creature, rather than as human, did he? Wouldn't look at a werewolf, would he? Chandra was suddenly very angry. "And what if I don't sign?"

"Then I am afraid you can not be discharged from this hospital."

"So waltz in here, ask a list of the kind of questions one expects in a police interrogation, blithely tell me to my face that I'm some sort of creature rather than a human being, and then calmly threaten me with confinement just to round it off?"

"I am sorry that you are taking all this so personally." He sounded like he was reciting a school lesson. His nervous smile had come back. "I know you must be upset about all this, but it really isn't a threat. It's just the law."

"Funny sort of law."

"Not if you look at it from our point of view." There was a hint of condensation to his smile now. "It really would be disastrous for us if the non-magical world knew of our existence. One half would lock us up or kill us and the other half would be continually pestering us for easy magical solutions to absolutely everything in their lives. We'd have no peace. I'm sure you can see that concealment is really our best, our only, option. You really must sign those papers."

"Fine. But I suggest that you don't take moonlit walks in future, Mr Wilson." Chandra picked up the parchment and scanned it through, just to make sure of what she was signing to. Basically, it was what Mr Wilson had said it was: a declaration that she would not reveal the presence of magic, the magical world, those who practice magic, or anything else whatsoever to do with magic to anyone unless they were a witch, wizard, or magical creature, or a person who had to know about her condition for a good reason (such as having to live with her or being related to her); and that she would accept responsibility, and the consequences thereof, for any action of hers that breached this agreement. There was only one thing that worried her.

"It doesn't say what 'the consequences thereof' are."

"A disciplinary hearing, where any further discipline would be decided."

"I see. Alright, I'll sign." She raised the quill to do so, when Mr Wilson stopped her.

"One moment. We need a second witness – I'll run and get one of the healers." He disappeared from very swiftly, and – it seemed to Chandra – with some relief at being able to do so.

He appeared again in ten seconds, with the energetic Mr Pye after him. "Now you can sign."

She did so, and after Misters Pye and Wilson had signed there names as witness, the later rolled up his parchments with a snap; put parchment, quill, and ink back in his briefcase with tidy haste; and disappeared out of the door again without even bothering to say good-bye.

"I hate that man," Chandra said through clenched teeth. "He made me feel sub-human."

Mr Pye heaved a sigh. "I'm afraid there are those like that."

"It's not my fault I'm a werewolf," Chandra continued.

Mr Pye looked startled. "Well, he's new to the job, so of course he's a bit nervous, but it was the fact that you're, er, not a witch that upset him."

It was Chandra's turn to look startled. "Why would that upset him?"

"Well, um, you see, well," he took a deep breathe, and said quickly, "there are some wizards and witches who consider non-magical people inferior. Get very high and mighty over it. Mr Wilson's one of them. He's actually a, um, a bit of an extremist."

"How do you know so much about this man, anyway?"

"My brother works with him."

"I pity your brother. And what do you mean, extremist?"

"Well, he's one of the, er, of the few, um, extremists who feel that mu- er, people like you, with no magic, that they, well, shouldn't be considered beings."

"WHAT?"

Mr Pye cringed, and said hurriedly, "Most of us don't think that, even the, er, the superior-type ones."

Chandra collapsed backwards onto the bed, her hands on her forehead. "Take me out of this crazy place! I just want to go home!"

Mr Pye suddenly beamed. "Well, we'll have to do a final check, but I think I can say with confidence that you'll be going home the day after tomorrow."

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A.N: I'm really sorry that that took so long, and that it still isn't very exciting. (Ducks flying tomatoes.) I SWEAR that the next chapter is going to be better, as Chandra will finally be out of the hospital. I have no idea where Mr Wilson's attitude came from, that was completely random and unexpected. He was named that because it sounded ordinary and ministry-ish. Chandra's parents first names are actually variants of the same name, which means "man" (as in completely human, as opposed to their poor werewolf daughter). Definitely one more chapter, maybe two, depending on whether or not I manage to get Chandra's first transformation into the next chapter.