Woah sorry that was a long pause! Wasn't expecting it to take that long. I'm all moved into a new house and here's a new chapter to celebrate!

The moon began its slow march towards full again but rather than being afraid, Lavender was energized by it. She found herself with too much time on her hands because her work had let her go, but she was hesitant to try to find a new job. She had enough away in savings that she didn't have to immediately worry about money.

She went out more and more, refusing to hide. She kept the silencing charm off her heels and kept a proud look on her face and her chin high as she walked down the streets, both wizarding and muggle. Lavender stared down more than one person who looked at her scars a little too long for idle curiosity, and every time she did it she felt more and more in control of her life.

Lavender awoke one morning to find an owl pecking at her window. She rarely got any post and so the owl stirred a vague sense of worry with her. Her parents mostly didn't owl her, the remnants of the DA all had the golden galleons to communicate with each other... as she untied the letter from the owl's foot she felt a light jolt of panic. She didn't do well with surprises any more.

It was from the Ministry and her worry increased. Her fingers shook slightly as she opened the letter, ignoring the owl as it stole her toast and let itself out the window. A rush of cold wind raced in but the goosebumps on Lavender's arms had nothing to do with the chill.

Dear Miss Brown, the letter started.

Due to your recent attack, the Department of Magical Creatures requires you to register as a werewolf. We also require you to be present for the coming full moon three days prior to the event itself, as you must check in to the holding pens to ensure your safety and the safety of others. If you need any assistance, please contact the Department of Magical Creatures and we will answer any questions you may have about your new status as well.

Sincerely,

Reba Hawthorne, Werewolf Liason

Lavender felt her body going cold the more she read. Once she finished the letter she scanned it over again, glaring hard enough to burn holes in the paper. The edges of it had actually started singing before she caught hold over herself and her emotions.

How dare they. She felt a low growl building up deep in her throat and she started pacing her narrow hallway. How dare they demand that she go to the holding pens. She had made herself very clear the last time she had been in the Ministry, or so she had thought. Lavender folded the letter with shaking hands and then threw it into the sink, aiming her wand at it and setting it on fire. She watched as flames licked around the edges of the parchment, curling the corners and turned the whole thing first to black, then to grey ash.

She threw on her cloak and boots and hurried out the door, making her way straight to the Half Moon. It was mostly empty at this time of day and she ordered breakfast from the bartender – rare steak and a cup of coffee. He brought her a slice of toast that had been fried in butter as well and she smiled in thanks, still a little too on edge for the gesture to be totally friendly.

The bartender got it. He returned her smile wryly and then leaned on the counter towards her, not directly facing her but still close enough to be present. He was clearly used to dealing with werewolves. "Haven't seen you around much lately, miss," he commented.

Lavender shrugged, ripping into her meat with her knife. "I was attacked last full moon and held in the Ministry for days. I haven't been very social since then."

The bartender raised his eyebrows and whistled lowly. "I guess not."

"You were held in the Ministry?" A woman's voice asked. Lavender looked around to recognize Adeline, the female half werewolf she had met the night of her most recent attack. Lavender nodded once. "And you got out?" Adeline asked.

A tiny scrap of a proud smile forced its way onto Lavender's face. "They couldn't hold me."

"No one gets out," Adeline said. Lavender dimly noticed the rest of the few people in the Half Moon quieting down to listen to their conversation. "They stick you in the holding pens until you know they control you. That's the whole point of the holding pens."

"They sent me a letter this morning," Lavender admitted, toying with her fork. "They want me to report to the holding pens for the next full moon. I won't do it."

"You can't just defy them like that," another voice chimed in. It was a young werewolf, just some teenage kid whose hair flopped into his eyes. He was rangy and lean, scarred up, and yet still had some bizarre innocence about him. Lavender couldn't help another smile.

"I can and I will. They don't have any hold over me. I wasn't bitten in my attack and I will not go to their holding pens so I can be a chew toy." She paused, looking down at her plate before sweeping her eyes over the motley assortment of people gathered in the Half Moon. "I defied You-Know-Who last year and fought in the Battle of Hogwarts. The Department of Magical Creatures doesn't scare me."

It felt like she was making a speech. She half turned, looking over the scattered dozen or so people. Even the bartender had gone quiet to listen – he had stopped wiping down glasses and she could almost feel his attention on her. "I fought last year so that I could be a part of the wizarding world, not so that I could be penned up like some nightmare thing. I am a person. You are all people. The Ministry doesn't trust us though, and to be part of the wizarding world, not just second class citizens, we need trust.

"Adeline, you told me a few weeks back that the Ministry didn't care about us. I told you that they should care. We are people too, and we need support from the government to make our lives better. I've lost my job because of the attacks I've gone through, I've been screamed at on the streets, I have wounds that refuse to heal without proper medical care and that was denied to me when I was being held at the Ministry. That is wrong, and it needs to change."

"So what do we do?" The young male werewolf asked when she paused again.

So what do we do. The question echoed in Lavender's memories like a clanging bell. It was the exact question Ginny had asked Neville at the start of the previous year, when Seamus had gotten himself beaten to hell for mouthing off to the She-Carrow in their compulsory Muggle Studies class. Neville had looked just as lost as Lavender felt when posed with that question. He hadn't been a leader then, though he turned into the best one she would probably ever follow. But Lavender wasn't a leader then or now – for all her words, she still felt like some scared little girl who wanted to bury her face under her blankets and hide from the world.

The wild feeling inside her crooned lowly, a comforting hum in the back of her mind. Neville had stepped up to being a leader in a way that none of them had thought possible. He had pulled them together and made them into fighters who had in turn become leaders for their classmates, the younger students, and themselves. Lavender didn't think she could do that, but maybe she could be enough for these people. She was tired of being stepped on and treated like a beast. She couldn't imagine what some of them must feel.

She smiled gently at the young werewolf. "What's your name?"

"Leo."

"Well Leo, I'm Lavender. What we are going to do is show the Ministry they can trust us. The night of the next full moon, I will sit outside the front doors of the Ministry and show them that I won't change, that I won't lose control of myself in the light of the moon. I don't trust them, they don't trust us – but we need trust if we're going to recover. If they won't make the first steps I will.

"But there will be no violence," Lavender said, looking away from Leo and out again across the collection of werewolves. "All it will take is one snarl and they'll be on us so hard we'll never get another chance to prove that we are harmless. The first person who moves to attack or even threaten anyone I will Stun and chain up. We are not mindless raging creatures. Let's show them that we won't bite. I won't bite. Who is with me?"

There was silence for a moment, lasting long enough Lavender thought no one would agree.

Then – "I won't," Adeline said, weary eyes meeting Lavender's. "There's been enough fear."

"I won't bite," Leo said.

Lavender felt her first true smile in days spreading across her face as a few others chimed in. Not everyone, and that was fine, but enough of the gathered dozen were speaking up that Lavender knew the word would spread. "Tell your friends," she urged. "Anyone who will listen. Those of you who will turn, take Wolfsbane. Those of you like me who won't, look after those who will. This will only work if we are completely peaceful."

"Max won't do it," Adeline said lowly, looking at Lavender in resignation. "He doesn't think we should have to hide, but he wants to watch the world burn more than he wants to make nice with the Ministry. Danny might. I'll talk to him." She stood up and walked off with a nod to her new leader and Lavender drew a shaky breath.

A few others came up to talk with Lavender before leaving, and she tried to reassure them that she knew what she was doing. She felt like she actually had no idea but that was alright, that was fine. She needed to go talk to Neville – the Ministry would find out about her little demonstration plans soon enough anyway. She was getting up to leave herself when she caught Leo's eye. He looked unsure and she gave him a bracing smile.

"Things are going to be fine, Leo," she reassured him.

"It's not that," he said. He seemed even younger when she looked at him straight on, perhaps only thirteen at the most.

"No work for you today, kid, sorry," the bartender said. Leo glared at him and the man rolled his eyes meaningly at Lavender, who suddenly realized that Leo, with his ragged clothes, ripped shoes, and hungry appearance, was probably homeless.

"Oh," she said quietly. "Tell you what. I'm headed over to my friend Hannah right now – she runs the Leaky Cauldron, I'm sure she's got some dishes to be washed or something. Come with me."

"You don't have to – " Leo muttered, still glaring resentfully at the bartender.

"No, but I'm going to. Come on." She grabbed his arm gently and tugged him along, trying to hide her shock at how thin he was under his clothes, how she could feel the bones in his wrist.

Hannah set Leo to work in a trice, giving him sweeping and a stack of dishes to wash. He set to willingly, making quick work of everything. It made Lavender's heart hurt to see him like this, like he was clearly used to working menial chores for money for food. It was better than stealing, but that wasn't good enough for her. He should be at Hogwarts learning how to use his magic. She had noticed him looking longingly at her wand more than once already and it only furthered her resolve.

She didn't say much to Hannah except that she had something to talk to Neville about, something that would concern the Aurors, and she would prefer he heard it from her rather than through the grapevine. Hannah agreed, inviting her to dinner that night and promising to make Neville be home on time.

Once that was settled Lavender wrangled Leo once more, taking him shopping for new clothes and ignoring his protests. "You want to help me make a difference?" She eventually demanded, pinning him against a wall and letting a little of the wildness look out through her eyes. He nodded and looked away – she was much more dominant than this scrap of a teenager. "Then let me make a difference for you first. The Ministry should be taking care of these things but they're not, so until we make changes we have to care for our own."

She dragged him along to dinner with her that night as well. They showed up well before Neville did and Hannah poured a glass of wine for Lavender and a mug of cider for Leo, who sipped it with wide eyes.

Two sets of footsteps, one familiar and one achingly familiar, made Lavender sit up still. Leo did the same, perhaps unconsciously mirroring her because he seemed very invested in his cider. He stood when she did though, setting his mug down next to her glass on the table.

The door opened and the smell of Neville and Seamus washed over her like a tide. "Hannah, I brought a starving Irishman for you to feed!" Neville called. Lavender could hear the smile in his voice and could also hear Seamus laughing lowly.

"I've got guests, Neville!" Hannah called back. "Lavender, I am so sorry," she whispered. "I had no idea he was coming over."

Lavender shook her head. "Not your fault." Her emotions were swirling around inside her – he had come over to see if she was alright after the attack, she had stripped down to next to nothing in front of him, oh Merlin did he remember that? Of course he would remember that. It made her feel like a fool, like some stupid drunken fool. It had been nice the next morning to wake up and smell him in her house but now, days later, it just made her feel like an idiot.

Neville and Seamus entered the main room. Lavender heard the hiss of Seamus's intake of breath and felt a shiver roll over her. "Damn," Neville swore. "Lavender, I – "

"It's fine, Neville. I just needed to talk to you about something. I can come back another time though," Lavender responded.

She was concentrating so hard on not paying attention to Seamus she almost missed the low growl coming from Leo. She darted a look at the scrawny kid, who was glaring at Seamus with hot yellow eyes. "Leo," she said. He ignored her so she snapped in a louder, gruffer voice, "Leo!"

He whipped his head around and looked at her. "What?"

"Knock it off," she demanded quietly, a slight growl in her voice too.

"But you – "

"Shut up. We're going."

"But he's making you nervous, Lavender, and scared! I can smell it!"

"I said shut up!" She snarled, raising a corner of her mouth to bare a few teeth at him. The young werewolf looked down and away, submission in the lines of his body.

"Sorry," he whined.

"It's fine," she said, resolving to be regretful about snapping at him later. She took him by the shoulder and dragged him out of Hannah's flat before anyone else could say anything.

Her heels clicked as she strode down the street, drawing Leo in her wake. Once they were a few streets away from Hannah's place she stopped and slumped against a wall, passing her hand over her face.

Merlin, she hadn't needed to see Seamus. It wasn't like the last time she had seen him, in a haze of whiskey and warmth. He was hardened from his work, curse scar marks over his robes from training or maybe something more deadly. It was just another reminder of how her life was different now. They were still fighting Dark wizards in the Aurors – soon she would be fighting the Ministry itself.

"I'm sorry," Leo's quiet voice spoke up.

"No," Lavender shook her head, taking her hand away to look at him. "I'm sorry. I was surprised to see him there and I took it out on you."

Leo shrugged. "It's okay. That's what wolves do."

She gave Leo a sad smile. "I'm not a wolf, Leo. I'm a person. That's what all this is about."