The Auror office was a flurry of activity after her announcement. Lavender found a chair to sit down in and Leo stood next to her, glaring at every Auror who came up to her. She thought about hushing him but she didn't have the spirit for it. It did make her incredibly fond of him though, for the protection he was trying to offer.

Finally the Aurors turned back to her and asked her to tell them exactly what had happened. She left out the part about just having returned from Hogwarts and her panic attack, but she told them about the rest of the day. How Max had come into her office and fixed her with his stare, how she had tried not to back down but it had ended up feeling like she was staring down a dragon. How he had said some things that made alarm bells start clanging in her head. How he had threatened her.

That part got a flat out snarl from Leo and she finally looked over at him. "It's okay," she reassured him. "Nothing happened."

"But it might," interjected another Auror. "Does he know where you live?"

Lavender shrugged. "Probably not, but he's a werewolf. I could probably track someone and I'm not even a full werewolf – I don't doubt that he could find my flat easily."

"Then you're coming home with me," Neville said, stepping forward. She managed a smile for her old commander and he rested a hand on her shoulder. "He can track you there too, but he'll find more than just you waiting for him if he tries anything."

"I'm coming too," Leo said, fixing Neville with a fierce look. "I can smell him coming if he tries to hurt her."

"I wouldn't dream of stopping you," Neville replied after a moment. "Are we done here?" He asked after that, looking around the office with a raised eyebrow that reminded Lavender of when he would be running DA meetings and not really asking a question, but rather demanding the response he wanted.

Neville led her out of the Ministry after that, apparating to his and Hannah's place while Lavender side-along'd Leo. When she appeared Neville already had the door open and was ushering them inside. "Hannah is working late tonight, but I'm happy to fix dinner if you all would like to eat."

After the trauma of today the last thing Lavender wanted was food, but Leo accepted happily. Neville set to clanking around in the kitchen while Lavender sat on the couch and sipped at a mug of tea. "Oh," she said to Leo. "I forgot to tell you. We're meeting with the Headmistress tomorrow to discuss the terms of your enrollment to Hogwarts. She wants to meet you, so be on your best behavior."

Leo stared at her and then hugged her. Lavender tensed at the sudden contact but then returned the gesture, smiling down at him when he looked up at her with blazing excitement. "Really?" He asked, voice cracking.

"Really," she confirmed. "I told her all about you and she wants to make it work.

"What's this?" Neville asked, leaning against the doorway to the kitchen.

"I'm going to Hogwarts!" Leo yelped, then visibly tried to calm himself. "Lavender talked with the Headmistress today about it."

Neville looked at Lavender with a grin and she shrugged. "I keep telling everyone that was the whole point of the demonstration a few nights ago, but people still just seem to be so shocked. Werewolves need to be integrated, not ostracized. That's how hatred and fear are learned. So I thought that Leo going to Hogwarts would be a good idea, and McGonagall seems to agree." She debated telling Neville about her panic attack but then decided not to with Leo still there. He was just a kid, he didn't need to hear about her losing it in the place he was going to learn in.

"I agree too," Neville said. She would be wondering about his easy acceptance except that she knew he was probably going to be asking questions later. Or maybe he wouldn't. He had stood by her on that hellish day at the Ministry a month ago, defying his orders to take her back to the holding room. Maybe he just had total faith that she knew what she was doing, like she had had faith in him through the nightmare of seventh year.

Lavender ended up on the balcony with a glass of wine around midnight. Leo was passed out on the couch – it seemed he was still working off the effects of their night on the town under the moon. Hannah had come home and Lavender was letting the two greet each other in privacy. They had never been an overtly affectionate couple, but she still felt the need to give them some space. Plus, it was still like a mild punch in the gut to see her schoolmates happy when her relationship had fallen apart, which she thought was unfair of her.

She hadn't seen much of Seamus in the bustle around the Auror office after she had told them about Max. She assumed he was off plotting a capture with his superiors or something equally important. He probably didn't have time to worry about the poor, broken werewolf girl, she thought with a bitter twist of a smile. Maybe nothing changed for him. Maybe he would always be lost to the war, trapped in the battle raging in his head. Maybe there was still hope for them. Probably there wasn't. Definitely she needed more wine.

She poured another glass from the bottle and sipped at it. She was done with him, she decided, looking out across the cool, early spring night. This couldn't keep going on, where she worried and thought about him and he clearly didn't about her. But he came immediately when he saw you, some traitorous voice whispered in the back of her mind. "That means nothing," she whispered to herself.

"Nothing means nothing," Hannah's wry and amused voice came from behind her. Lavender half turned to see the witch stepping out from the main room, closing the door gently behind her. "Neville tells me you had quite the day."

All at once, her whole mess of a day came pouring out of her. Hannah, fantastic friend and experienced barmaid she was, didn't say anything, didn't do anything except nod along and make sympathetic noises. Lavender even mentioned her panic attack on the Hogwarts grounds, though she toned it down. She didn't know if Hannah believed her when she said it wasn't that bad, but that didn't really matter.

"Hmm," Hannah said at the end, before bumping Lavender lightly with her shoulder. Lavender stiffened, then relaxed, much like she had done with Leo earlier. Of course, that didn't escape Hannah's notice. "Lavender, when was the last time someone gave you a hug?"

"Earlier today. Leo was happy about Hogwarts," Lavender said, more than a slight touch of defensiveness in her tone.

Hannah ignored that and turned around to catch Lavender in a tight embrace. Lavender hadn't realized that she was still trembling until she felt Hannah's warm arms around her and felt a bit of tension leave her. Then she sighed and willed herself to relax, feeling the tightness leaving her shoulders as she dropped her head down onto her friend's shoulder and breathed in the warm scent of her and bar food and spilled ale and woodsmoke. It was a comforting smell. It reminded Lavender of seventh year before the battle, before they had to hide in their own school, before Seamus's eyes turned hard and before Neville got beaten, back when they were all excited to be causing mischief.

For the second time that day Lavender felt tears well up in her eyes and her throat get rough with threatened sobs. She bit her lip, hard, and felt her fingers tense up. "Shhh," Hannah shushed her. "You can cry. It's okay."

So she did. But rather than the fear-induced panic she had felt earlier, this time she just felt exhausted and sad and lonely, like a normal person when they cried. "I just want to be okay, Hannah," she sobbed. "I want to be able to go to Hogwarts and not freeze in terror. I want to be able to handle being alone and I can't. Every time I see him I miss him. My first thought after being threatened was to go to him. Hell, even earlier I told myself I was done with him and here I am crying again over him..."

"It's okay," Hannah said again. "No one's expecting you to get over him this fast except yourself. You two were nearly inseparable all of last year and it's hard to go from being that close to being alone."

Lavender sniffed, trying not to get snot all over Hannah's shirt. "How do you know that? You and Neville are fine."

Hannah sighed, then Lavender felt her shake her head. "Seamus has been staying with us a lot recently. He doesn't talk to me but he talks to Neville and we don't exactly have a huge place. I'm nosy, and it's easy to overhear." She paused for a second and Lavender desperately wanted to ask her something, but for her own barely-clung-to peace of mind, she didn't. As if Hannah was a mind reader, she answered it anyway. "He misses you. He's too proud to ever ask me to tell you that, just like you're too proud to ask me to tell him you miss him, but he's... he's a little lost. He knows he's messed up. Maybe just keep that in mind."

That brought a whole new wave of tears on, and Lavender resigned herself to the fact that she was drenching Hannah's shirt with both tears and snot, and it was thoroughly unattractive but that didn't matter because she was crying on Hannah and Seamus missed her. Hannah would never judge her and Seamus missed her.

Lavender woke up the next morning in Neville and Hannah's spare bedroom. It smelled vaguely like Seamus; he had clearly stayed here before, probably recently. She walked out quickly, not wanting to linger there and let herself hope. It was quite possible that Hannah had been mistaken. If Seamus missed her he would do something about it. He was the one who left her, after all.

Hannah had fixed them all breakfast, but halfway through Neville got an owl flapping through the window. He read the letter and looked up with a grim smile. "They've been tracking Max while we've been asleep. He's hiding just outside of London right now. They're asking to see if you want to be there when we take him in."

Lavender hesitated for the space of time it took her to take two breaths, then nodded.

"I'm coming too," Leo said instantly.

"No," Lavender shook her head. She talked over his instant complaints. "We don't know how long this is going to take and you have an interview with the Headmistress at four today. Besides, I bet Hannah needs help at the pub, don't you Hannah?"

Hannah, always quick on the uptake, nodded briskly. "My usual server is out sick today," she lied without a flinch. Leo was clearly ready to argue more but Lavender shook her head firmly, quite resolved in her decision.

"I know more about him than you do!" Leo whined. "Everyone knows Max!"

Belatedly, Lavender called herself five different kinds of stupid. Of course Leo would know about Max. He'd been a werewolf for years, far longer than Lavender had been around the werewolves, and of course he would know other things about the man they now faced. "Right," Lavender said, hating herself for her next words. "You come with us to the Ministry and tell us everything you know about Max once we get there. And then you wait there until after he's taken down."

Leo looked triumphant and Lavender knew she had made a bad call, but there was no hope for it. They needed what he knew. She was beyond idiotic for not asking for it before.

Soon enough they all appeared at the Ministry, even Hannah. She refused to let Leo go without a guardian and apparently knew Lavender well enough to know that she was bad at saying no, as evidenced by recent events.

"Alright, listen up," called the lead Auror in charge of the hunt, a man by the name of Auror Braxten. Seamus stood at his side and while Lavender was trying not to look at him, she couldn't help but take in his ready stance and his fiery eyes. He looked like he had been waiting for this chance for months, which, she realized, he absolutely had been. "The target, Max Hartley, is hiding out in a warehouse on the outskirts of London. There are some others with him from the intelligence we have just received – two adults, a man and a woman, and a young man, maybe seventeen years old. All three appear to be werewolves – "

Leo, with a boldness Lavender was growing to expect from him, interrupted. "They're not all werewolves. The adults are Max's parents, Danny and Adeline, and they're not werewolves. The other guy is Svensen."

Auror Braxten fixed Leo with a look that should have made the teenager shrink down, but Leo had faced down werewolves twice his size and Lavender felt a burst of pride for him as he met the man's gaze levelly. "And how would you know any of that, boy?"

"I'm a werewolf and I followed Max's pack for a while," Leo said. That was news to Lavender but she hid her shock for his sake. Many of the Aurors started at that and Lavender glared at them, instantly backing Leo up. He didn't need any judgement from these people. "Max was born a werewolf. His bite doesn't turn humans. So to build his pack, he has to use werewolves who can bite and turn others. This guy who's with him, he's got dark hair? Tanned skin, big scar across his left eye?"

Auror Braxten nodded, looking like he'd just bitten into something nasty.

"That's Svensen," Max continued at that affirmation. "He's been with Max the past year, biting humans for him. He's also the one who's been biting people like Lavender," he added with an apologetic look at her. "People who haven't been turned, but have been bitten. Max considers it a flaw in the plan, so he wanted to go after people like her."

"What's this 'plan?'" Neville asked Leo.

Leo shrugged. "Werewolf supremacy or something equally stupid. I just followed him because he made me feel safe." He looked at Lavender again, this time with a little worry, and she mustered a smile for him. She knew what it felt like to want to be safe.

"Fine," Auror Braxten said through gritted teeth. "Take down Max Hartley and this Svensen. Don't harm the parents if at all possible."

"Leave Svensen to me," Lavender volunteered. She almost took it back but then she saw Leo's hopeful look. This is what they were working towards. "Maybe he doesn't know exactly what he's doing. Maybe he's just scared too. Let me talk to him."

"You are in no position to give orders here," Braxten said, growling a little in a challenge that made Lavender's wolf growl as well.

"On the contrary," Lavender said firmly, staring the man down. "I am the head of Inhuman Resources here at the Ministry and it is my prerogative to tackle situations exactly like this one. You will let me speak with him and you will listen to my advice on the matter regarding what to do with him. That is my job and if you have a problem with it, you may complain to the Minister of Magic, but other than that you will adhere to what I say."

In their staring contest, he was the first to look away and Lavender raised her chin proudly. She would not be cowed by this man, no matter how dire the situation. Also, she had gotten away with calling it Inhuman Resources. He wasn't going to win this one. "Fine," he said, clearly upset at having to let both the parents and the accomplice go, "subdue Max Hartley. Adeline and Danny Hartley and Svensen go with Miss Brown."

"Leo, stay with Hannah," Lavender ordered as the Aurors prepared to move out.

"But – "

"Please," she asked him, staring at him without a challenge. "I need to know you're safe. I know you've handled him before and no one doubts your courage, but I need to know you're safe."

He seemed to be fighting an internal war, then he sighed and nodded once. "Fine. I'll stay safe." He spat the last word out.

She leaned forward impulsively and kissed him on the forehead. "Thank you. I'll be back. If I'm not back by four, please meet with the Headmistress yourself." He growled at her good-naturedly as a light blush spread over his face, making her smile. Hannah dragged Leo away and Lavender looked at her with gratitude.

"Hey," a voice on her right said. She whipped around to meet eyes with Seamus. Her heart leapt into her throat against her will and she turned slightly, bringing her body more in line with his. He coughed and looked away, then said, "Be careful."

"When am I not?" she replied, the sass coming to her lips out of sheer habit. "You be careful too." That was said much more heartfelt, though she was still finding it hard to breathe. If Hannah was correct, Seamus still missed her. Maybe not as much as she missed him, but also maybe more than she missed him, and wasn't that an absolutely terrifying thought?

A shadow of a smile danced across his face. "I'm always careful."

"Well that's hardly true," she responded. "I seem to recall lots of healing salve and ripped up bedsheets to patch you back together."

"The bedsheets were always the best part," he said, smile stronger now. His eyes met hers again and she almost got lost in them, his light brown-hazel meeting her dark brown.

That startled a laugh out of her, and it only took a few seconds before he was laughing too. She ducked her head down coyly like it was old times and felt the shiver that his laugh always induced in her race up and down her spine. Suddenly bold (they were going to face a werewolf who had threatened her after all, who had tried to make more werewolves, who was a menace, if this wasn't the time for boldness there was never going to be a time for it), she smiled at him and asked, "Do you want to go get a drink after all of this is done?"

"Yeah," he replied in an instant. The relief was so apparent in his voice that it almost hurt to hear. "Yeah, I would."