The next morning Lavender woke with a smile on her face and none of the usual full moon hangover. After their protest they had all gotten breakfast, crowding around the table at the Half Moon in a mass. It was more connected than she had ever seen the werewolves before and she was immensely proud of everyone.

Part of her still couldn't believe that it had gone over as well as it had. Of course she had had faith in her people, she wouldn't have done it otherwise, but there was always the tiny fear of 'what if?' lurking in the back of her mind. What if the Ministry had tried to use force to push them away? What if there had been more people? Lavender shook her head. Thinking like that would get her nowhere good. And anyway, it had worked! Or at least she hoped it had worked.

The Ministry had been silent the day after. Lavender had been on edge all day waiting for an owl or a knock at her door after she had dismissed everyone to go back to their homes. Leo was still passed out on her couch – he had dropped down onto the cushions around four in the afternoon when they had gotten back to her house and he hadn't moved since then. She would be worried about him except she could see him breathing and she knew the transformation took a lot out of him.

He had spoken to her a little about it when she had bought him lunch in a Muggle cafe. He'd been bitten when he was young, she knew that, and more often than not he didn't have access to Wolfsbane. There were black market dealers, he said, when the Ministry didn't have it available. That had caught Lavender by surprise – not the black market, but that the Ministry wouldn't have Wolfsbane – and when she mentioned it to Leo his mouth had twisted in a smile that was not at all happy.

"They always have it," he had elaborated, "but it's expensive. And recently they want you to sign binding contracts to show up at the cages for the three days around the moon. No one wants to, as you put it, be a chew toy."

"How did you get Wolfsbane this time then?" Lavender had asked, feeling suddenly guilty that she had required Wolfsbane to partake in the protest but actually had no idea how the werewolves present had obtained it.

Leo had shrugged and avoided meeting her eyes. "Black market."

Lavender had fixed him with a look but he had shut down and she had sighed quietly. She didn't know what she had expected and was saddened to realize that she wasn't angry with him, she was disappointed in her own government for failing the boy. That was just another reason to call out the Ministry.

She looked over at Leo in the early morning light. He was sleeping quietly, facing looking more relaxed than she had ever seen him. With the moon on the wane of course he would feel better, but she hoped to herself that he was also more relaxed because he had a place to be. She smiled softly at him. He seemed to have attached himself to her during the past few days and it was wonderful to her to have someone else in the house again. She felt a rush of affection for him and she realized that she already felt about him like she felt about her little sister, Violet. Except that Leo looked at her with hope and Violet could barely contain her fear.

With that in mind, she decided to visit her parents. Violet wouldn't be home, most likely, but Lavender wanted to explain to her family what was going on and what she had done before it hit the papers. She scribbled a quick note to Leo and put it on the coffee table in front of him so he would see it when he woke up. She tied her scarf around her neck before headed out, make up free. Her parents needed to accept her with her scars and as she was.

It was the work of a moment to apparate to their house and she looked at the garden walkway fondly before she walked up it and knocked on the door. She had so many good memories of this house. Lavender knocked on the door and was surprised when her mother opened it in seconds. Her mother's eyes widened when she took in her daughter, and then Lavender was shocked when she was suddenly pulled into a tight hug.

Belatedly, she realized that she hadn't written or been to visit since her last attack. Guilt washed over her and she returned her mother's embrace. "Sorry mum," she whispered, burying her face in her mother's sweet-smelling hair. "I meant to come by, but..."

"Shh," Marilyn Brown soothed her. "You had no reason to. We have been terrible to you."

Lavender pulled back. "What?" It was true, but she hadn't expected a flat out statement of the fact.

Marilyn nodded decisively, tears sparkling at the corner of her eyes. "Bitten or no, scarred or no, you are still our daughter, and I am ashamed to have forgotten that."

That was enough to make Lavender break down in sobs, prompting her mother to pull her into another hug and make comforting noises.

Half an hour later Lavender was still sniffling but she had a cup of tea and was sitting on her parent's couch with a blanket draped around her shoulders, explaining what she had done two nights before at the Ministry. Her mother had apologized for her father being at work and had promised to have a family dinner soon so they could all catch up, especially with what Lavender had just told her.

"And you can bring Seamus too," Marilyn enthused.

Lavender winced. "About that, Mum..."

And that required another explanation she didn't want to give, but she did anyway. She also told her mum about Alexei, and Marilyn was properly outraged that someone would end a relationship because of how she looked. Perhaps a little too outraged – Lavender could almost smell the shame and regret on her mother. It was alright though, because she could see that Marilyn genuinely wanted to try, and that gave her more hope for the integration of the werewolves and the wizarding population.

She left an hour after that, after many other hugs from her mother. It was strange to have so much human contact after what felt like weeks without it, but it was the best sort of strange possible. Lavender left with a light step and a lighter heart and apparated back to downtown London feeling happier than she had in weeks.

Lavender had just turned to corner to her street, shopping bag in hand from the grocery store she had just stopped at, when she saw her door open and Leo glaring at a tall, dark-skinned man wearing formal robes. "Lavender's not here," Leo growled.

"Easy, Leo," Lavender called. His hair was still mussed from sleep and she thought that the Ministry man must have woken him up – and then that train of thought was promptly derailed as the man turned to look at her and she recognized Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic. "Hello Minister," she said breathlessly, forcing herself to keep walking forward. "What can I do for you?"

Minister Shacklebolt gave her a slow smile and held out his hand. "On the contrary, Miss Brown, I am here to discuss what I can do for you."

She blinked at that. "Well then," she managed, shaking his hand.

Lavender found herself walking next to him as he led her into the Ministry of Magic a few moments after that. She had passed off her groceries to Leo and told him to wait for her, that she would be returning soon. "I'll come looking if you don't," Leo had promised with a growl. That had made her dart a wary look at the Minister, who was apparently pretending not to hear, though the tiny twitch of his lips suggested that he was charmed and amused by the young werewolf's promise.

Minister Shacklebolt led her to his office where he offered her a chair and tea. She accepted both of them, hairs on the back of her neck still standing on end from all the looks she had gotten on the way in. The Minister had clearly just ignored them but Lavender could still feel the stares. It didn't bother her like it used to, didn't make her want to hide in a corner and cry until they stopped looking; rather, it made her want to snarl at them and challenge them until they looked away.

"Your demonstration on the night of the full moon was very moving," Minister Shacklebolt started with, yanking Lavender's attention back to the present. "My advisors were concerned about safety but it seems like you had your pack well in hand. There are some who say that despite not being a werewolf yourself, you must have the blood of an alpha in your veins."

Lavender couldn't help the snort that escaped her. Then she blushed and ducked her head, hoping he didn't think she was laughing at him.

"You find that amusing?" He asked, fixing her with a look that she couldn't decipher.

Lavender composed herself with a few steadying breaths. Her people were counting on her to represent them well. She couldn't just laugh at the Minister because he said things and didn't know better. Also, she was a leader in her community, and she would not allow herself to be cowed by this man, no matter how intimidating her was. With those two thoughts to keep her in line, she smiled and leaned forward a little, nodding.

"With all due respect, Minister Shacklebolt, that is a load of hippogriff dung. Wolves don't form packs and fight to be an alpha. Wolf packs are family units. But you do get pack dynamics when you mix humans and wolves together, because humans fight for dominance and humans wants to follow others who are stronger than themselves. When you combine that human desire with wolfish instincts, it can get messy. But please believe me when I say that the vast majority of werewolves and people like me who had been affected do not want to be violent or cause chaos. Most werewolves I know aren't even educated and that is unforgivable. It's horrifying to me that but for an accident of when I was bitten, I might not have had the chance to go to Hogwarts."

The words were pouring out of her. It was like everything she had thought but hadn't had a chance to say was all coming out at once, and some part of her in the back of her mind was wildly grateful that the Minister seemed actually willing to let her talk, and more than that, actually willing to listen.

"I might not have gone to Hogwarts," she continued, "and if that hadn't happened, I wouldn't have met my friends, wouldn't have fought against You-Know-Who, wouldn't have learned to care about the wizarding world as I do. Of course many werewolves are violent towards humans and don't care about their way of life, because they have never had the chance to learn about society. They're uneducated and wandless, and so are unemployable to the vast majority of the wizarding world. Obviously they can't live among muggles and so they're relegated to the edges of our society. Of course they don't care about wizards, because wizards don't care about them."

"So what do you suggest, Miss Brown?" Minister Shacklebolt asked when she stopped. Her heartrate was up and she knew her skin must be flushed, but she kept her eyes on him. She had to make him understand.

"Let the young go to school," she answered immediately. "Get the older werewolves opportunities for education as well. Trust them with wands and teach them how to use them. They, and I, want to be treated like humans. Do away with the city cages and make a place out in the country somewhere for the full moon that they can go to be free of the city and not be around people. Merlin's sake, we have a dragon preserve in the middle of the country! If we can keep dragons a secret we can set aside a place for the werewolves once a month. And make Wolfsbane free and easy to get, that's very important. There needs to be an organization set up that werewolves can go where they will be treated like people, not like wild things that can't control themselves. Werewolves aren't magical creatures, they're humans that turn into wolves once a month. Asking werewolves to deal with the Department of Magical Creatures is dehumanizing and degrading, and it needs to stop."

"I completely agree," Minister Shacklebolt said when she paused for breath.

"I wasn't done," Lavender blurted out, then bit her lip. Hopefully that wasn't too impertinent.

Luckily, the minister laughed. "I have no doubts that you could keep going. That is what makes you the perfect person to run this new department. I have taken the liberty of having an office set up for you, well away from the Department of Magical Creatures. Would you like to see it?"

Lavender was speechless at the instant, whole-hearted agreement and endorsement of her half-baked plans. "But I don't have any experience managing a department!"

"Doubtless others will say the same," Shacklebolt agreed. "But you are in a unique position in regards to the fact that you already have a relationship with the community here in London, as well as having the drive to do something about their situation. For this, and because of the stellar recommendation that Mr. Longbottom gave me when I asked his opinion on the matter, I can think of no one more qualified."

"Minister, I'm not even eighteen. People look at me and see a child." She didn't know where all these fears were coming from. Maybe it was just the fact that someone was actually trusting her to do something, and no one had put quite that much trust in her in a long time.

"On the contrary, people look at you and they see an accomplished young woman who has persevered through incredible hardship, against odds that would have broken others, and was in no small way a part of the organization that helped defeat Lord Voldemort. They see a young woman who has the regal bearing of a queen when she has been insulted and dehumanized, as my Head of Magical Creatures is still squawking about," he added with a lazy smile. "You left quite the impression the last time you were here. Allow me to help you channel that fire and passion into something that will help those among us who have been wrongfully neglected for far too long."

All Lavender could say to that was yes. And with acceptance from both her mother and the Minister of Magic, it had turned into a remarkable day. She couldn't wait to tell Leo and announce the news at the Half Moon. They were getting what the asked for, and Lavender felt like she was on top of the world.