It had been three days since she had been left in the room. Her wounds had healed rapidly courtesy of the moonlight she had been exposed to but the healing had slowed once she was back indoors. Still, she was healed enough to pace the room anxiously and she did so, feeling like the wild thing they clearly thought she was.

Food had been shoved through a small flap in the door a few times but something in Lavender just knew that it had been three days. She could feel the moon rising and setting each night and that scared her at the same time as it enraged her. How dare they just leave her here? What were they even doing? Had they dealt with the werewolf who had attacked her? Was he human again? Who was he? All her questions and fears went unanswered as the days dragged on.

They hadn't even provided her with a change of clothes. Her jeans were ripped and dirty and bloody now, as was her old sweater. She didn't much care about the clothes, but the idea that she had to wear them for three days straight after bleeding and fight in them made her want to yell at someone until they cried. How could they think that this was proper treatment of anyone? To say nothing of the fact that she had been attacked by a werewolf and received no medical care for it! She knew the Ministry was on high alert with the rogue werewolf running around but if she'd stunned him three days ago and they had him in custody, shouldn't she be lauded as a hero? Not that she particularly wanted to be cheered on by the masses – she really just wanted a change of clothes and a bath.

And out. The room felt more and more like a cage as the days passed and she retrained herself from clawing at the walls just barely. She was a person, not a wolf, and she would show restraint despite how badly she was being treated.

The first person that came through the door on the afternoon of the third day she nearly pounced on, leaping to the doorway in a bout of athleticism more lupine than human. The poor girl was carrying a plate of food that she dropped with a yelp at Lavender's aggression.

Lavender backed off slightly, taking a few steps away from the door. "I'm sorry," she apologized softly, trying to calm her humming nerves. The plate of food was shattered on the ground and she knelt to help clean it up. "You're the first person I've seen in three days."

The girl flinched back and scrabbled for the door before fleeing, leaving Lavender in a state of hurt confusion. She stayed kneeling on the floor and stared at the door where the girl had disappeared, not even hungry after that. What was going on?

It was nighttime before she heard footsteps outside her door again, and she locked her eyes on it until it opened. A familiar scent came to her nose and she recognized Neville before she saw him. His presence let her relax slightly and she walked towards him slowly. He looked her over and passed a hand over his face in either shock or disbelief, she wasn't sure which.

"Neville, what is going on?" She asked immediately.

He put a hand up to forestall any questions. "I can't tell you much," he apologized. She barely restrained a growl. "I had no idea they were keeping you like this. They're only supposed to use these cells when... well, it doesn't matter. Lavender, I have to ask – were you bitten? Do you have any reason to believe you're going to transform next month?"

"I... no," Lavender said. There wasn't a mirror to check but she had run her hands all over her face and arms and chest when she had been cleaning the blood off and she hadn't found any teeth marks. Her face was a mess but there weren't any puncture wounds. "No, I wasn't bitten. He just clawed me to pieces." She thought, anyway. She hoped.

Neville let out a long breath. "Alright. The problem is that with the current werewolf hysteria going on, no one believes that."

Lavender stilled, then turned to look at him slowly. "What?"

"They think you were bitten, Lavender." It was a fair assumption but it made Lavender angry. If they thought she had been bitten why hadn't they given her any medical attention? Why would they leave her locked in a prison for three days without treatment? The werewolf curse was only passed by bite – did they think she would bite someone? She wasn't a werewolf, not even a transformed wolf! Who were they to think that? "Some of us have been arguing your case," Neville continued, "based on what we know about it, and based on the fact that you stunned and captured the werewolf who attacked you, but the Department of Magical Creatures is adamant that you belong under twenty four hour watch now through the next full moon. You know I've always got your back Lavender, just like we promised, but there's not much I can do."

She felt the anger rising again. "There is no way I am staying in this cage for a month. I haven't even received medical treatment or advice on what to do. They have barely fed me, no one has brought me any information, and I don't even have a change of clothes." Lavender paused for just a moment before leveling her eyes at Neville. "This is illegal."

He shook his head grimly. "It's not, actually, not with the legislation they've passed recently. Until you get through the next full moon without transforming, you will be here. According to the authorities, anyway."

"I will not," she stated, voice crackling with anger. Before Neville could react she darted for the door and slipped outside of it, turning to stride down the hall with long, angry steps. She could hear Neville racing after her but there was something in her that gave off the air of hunter and he fell into her wake without apprehending her.

"Where is the Head of the Department of Magical Creatures?" She asked a staring secretary once she reached the end of whatever hallway she had been kept in. She had no idea where she was – doors lined a hallway and there was a slightly damp scent like they were underground.

"Miss Brown – " someone bustled up to her, looking like some kind of paper shuffler. She leveled her eyes at him and he gulped. "Miss Brown, we were just coming to get you. The Werewolf Liaison needs to speak with you about your experiences."

"Yes, I do think that needs to happen," Lavender agreed, tone icy. The man looked away from her and then hastened her along a corridor and up into an elevator. The confined box made Lavender's skin crawl but she forced herself to remain calm. It would not do to have a meltdown over an elevator. Neville was with them the whole time, a quiet presence that seemed more behind her back than behind the man sent from the Werewolf Liaison.

The Werewolf Liaison, when they reached her, was a severe-looking woman in dark grey robes. Lavender fixed her with a stare and, to her credit, the woman didn't flinch back. "Ah, Miss Brown," the woman greeted. "I am Emilia Rumple, Werewolf Liaison for the Department of Magical Creatures."

"Why have I been treated like this?" Lavender demanded, walking straight up to Emilia while still staring. Maybe it would make the woman nervous eventually.

"You have been held in accordance with the standard protocol of all newly-bitten werewolves – "

"I have not," Lavender cut her off. "I have been locked away for three days now, no medical care or change of clothes were given, with no news of when I was to be released, and I was not allowed to contact anyone. Merlin only knows what my parents think if my attack was in the paper, or my boyfriend." Funny, she hadn't actually thought of Alexei at all in the last three days. Perhaps it was cold, but she could use him as her boyfriend for now, even if he was likely just going to break up with her once he realized that she might be a werewolf. She probably wasn't a werewolf, like she had told Neville, but she wouldn't know for sure, not really, until the next full moon. Not that she was going to tell these people that – like as not they'd just chuck her back in her cell.

"All people relevant to your case have been notified of your being held here at the Ministry."

Lavender glared, restraining herself from snarling as well. Human. She was human. "And no one protested? No one demanded to visit? I can hardly believe that." Neville hadn't known, he had told her so himself. And her parents, while being scared of her, would still have done their best to find out what happened. Just because they were scared of what she was, they wouldn't abandon her. She knew that.

"Miss Brown, this is not what we have called you here to speak about," Emilia said, clearly trying to refocus the conversation. "Perhaps we can take this into my office – "

"I have had enough of your cages," Lavender said, barely keeping the growl from her voice. They were starting to make a scene out here. Workers from the Department of Magical Creatures were looking around at them, peeking out of offices at the glaring woman with the clawed and bitten face and bloody robes facing off with the woman who was supposed to manage people like her.

"It was for your own safety, Miss Brown," Emilia explained. "When someone has gone through the experience you have, sometimes they feel like they have to lash out at those trying to help them. We devised the holding program for werewolves who have just been bitten, like yourself."

"I wasn't bitten!" Lavender almost yelled. She bit the inside of her cheek to help contain herself, metallic taste of blood flooding her mouth. "I have told Trainee Auror Longbottom that I wasn't bitten and that is the case, which, if you had bothered to send any medical care, you would know."

"That's for us to decide, Miss Brown, despite what you may think."

Lavender felt like she had been punched in the chest. They really were planning on keeping her locked up until the next full moon, and without medical treatment. She took a long breath, then said quietly, "I demand to speak to the Head of Magical Creatures. This is illegal and inhumane."

"You're not humane," a new voice said. Lavender whipped her head around to stare at a portly, balding man who was looking at her with a nasty expression. The badge on his robes proclaimed him to be the Head of Magical Creatures, doubtless drawn here by the noise they were making. "You are a werewolf, Miss Brown, and as such fall under Emilia's jurisdiction. If she says you are to remain in the holding cells until the next full moon, that is her right. Trainee Auror Longbottom, see Miss Brown back to her cell." He waved a hand at Lavender and then looked down, clearly dismissing her.

The rage filled her like a wave of fire racing through her and she slowly looked around at Neville. "You said you would always have my back, Neville. Did you mean it?" She let her vulnerability show to him alone, the slight tint of fear in her eyes. They had been through hell together the past year and if he agreed to help put her back in the box it would be the worst form of betrayal.

Anger and injustice made her throw caution to the winds. The Lavender from a week ago would never have challenged authority on her own like this. But then she'd been attacked and shoved into a cage for three days, untreated wounds bleeding over her robes, and now she was being treated like some beast. The Lavender from a week ago was gone, and this Lavender was angry. The way they were treating her was wrong. The way they treated others like her was wrong. She was going to do something about it.

Neville seemed to be warring with himself for just a second before giving her a tiny grin and shaking his head slightly. "I can't help, Mr. Bennett. Miss Brown goes where she will." The Head of Magical Creatures shot an irritated look at Neville and appeared to be about to speak before he made the mistake of meeting Lavender's eyes.

The look she fixed him with was at once triumphant and disdainful and cold. She knew her eyes would still be yellowish from the full moon, and he couldn't meet her look for long. "I am a person, and you would do well to remember that."

"You've been bitten by a werewolf," he interjected, looking down at a pad of parchment in his hands. Hate filled his voice but he couldn't meet her eyes. "You don't understand what you are, and you certainly can't control yourself."

Lavender felt the air leave her lungs as he dismissed her, then took a quiet breath before starting to yell. She hadn't properly yelled in a long while, and it felt good, like she was letting all her rage out, all the emotions she had bottled up. "I am a person! Don't you dare tell me I'm just some beast! I fought in the Battle of Hogwarts while the Ministry cowered in the corner with their fingers shoved in their ears to drown out the screams of children! How dare you try and pen me up like some uncontrollable thing! You have no idea what I am, so don't even think about trying it, Head of Magical Creatures!"

She turned and stormed out, letting her senses guide her towards an exit by following faint traces of fresh air. Her blond curls bounced behind her and her bloody and tattered robes swept the ground, leaving a trail of shocked Ministry employees behind her. She would not be caged, not any more.