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dragonhideboots ([info]dragonhideboots) wrote in [info]quaffle_rpg,
@ 2009-09-15 21:56:00

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A half werewolf plus a half werewolf does not a whole werewolf make
Who: Bill Weasley and Lavender Brown
Where: The Werewolf Registry
When: Sept 15
What: A meeting of sorts
Why: Required Ministry check-in
Rating: Likely PG
Status: Closed/Incomplete

The Ministry wasn't sure what to make of Bill Weasley. His condition was relatively unheard of and no particular legislature indicated how best to deal with it. He certainly wasn't the high-level risk a full werewolf posed, but he technically had some werewolf blood and it was unknown if he was capable of transmitting the curse to others. What the Ministry had proposed was a bi-annual check-in with the Werewolf Registry for blood work, a physical, and a psychological assessment. It wasn't a particularly enjoyable appointment to have twice a year, but Bill did as he was asked to ensure he could keep his job and keep his name off of the undesirables list.

The first appointment of the year was today and Bill was in a foul mood. After his fight with Fleur earlier in the week, he was tired and frustrated. The prospect of being poked and prodded at by a cold and unkind official was not sitting well with Bill today. With a paper cup of coffee in hand, he entered the Ministry through the Visitor Entrance and made his way to the elevators that led to the Beasts and Beings Divisions.

The Registry office was a dark and ill-furnished room with a single desk and four ratty chairs. There were voices behind a closed office door but the waiting room was empty. Bill took a seat, stretching out his long legs and leaning back, sipping at his coffee. A glance at his watch read 3pm. He was right on time. Now only if these blasted Registry officials would get a move on, he could be done with this whole mess and back to the office.

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[info]bright_n_bubbly
2009-09-16 02:19 am UTC (link)
It was appointments like these that made Lavender feel like pariah in society. She never hurt anyone during the full moon. She hadn't ever shifted. And for the most part Lavender didn't get close enough to people to even suspect she would be able to transmit the curse. And yet twice a year the demanded she come in and be humiliated so they could tell her what she already knew. Nothing. No one knew a sodding thing about why she was like this. Obviously her wounds were cursed, because no magic could heal the scarring. But as far as the rest of her? Well she seemed pretty damned normal.

Lavender had come in at two. She'd done all the personality screenings, the mental and social tests. They'd drawn blood, tested her saliva, and even taken a pee sample. (Which was, obviously, extremely gross.) And now they wanted to examine her scars. And Lavender just wasn't comfortable with that. She moved her hair she pushed her shirt aside so they could check out her rib cage. But they wanted her naked. It was humiliating. They couldn't just accept her word that they all looked the same and nothing had changed? No, of course not.

It was fifteen after three when all was said and done. Lavender had swallowed her pride and was pulling her clothes back on. Her face was red and puffy and still a bit tear stained. Her make-up was run because she hadn't thought to cast a sticking charm on it this morning. Like she knew she was going to be humiliated into tears. She pushed the door open, averting her eyes from anyone else who might be in the room.

However, that didn't seem to matter. To add insult to injury, as Lavender passed by Bill sitting in the waiting room, the toe of her rather fabulous cream colored pump caught the edge of his foot. Upset already, and not really paying attention, Lavender lost her balance and pretty much went flying right then and there.

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[info]dragonhideboots
2009-09-16 02:38 am UTC (link)
Bill looked up from his cup as the office door opened and a pretty, young girl came rushing out. She looked familiar, but before he had time to think about where he knew her from, he felt a sharp pain in his foot and looked down in time to see Lavender stumbling forward.

"Merlin!" he exclaimed, standing and helping her to her feet. "I am so sorry!"

He got a good look at her face and his heart sank. She'd been crying.

"Hey," he said gently. "Are you okay? I recognize you. You went to school with my brother Ron, right?"

This was the girl who was attacked by Fenrir in the final battle. He couldn't remember her name, but Hermione had mentioned her to him before. She'd been away recovering for some time and Bill never had the chance to meet her. She was the one other known case of half-werewolf. He was eager to speak with her but looked up to see the Registry officer waiting impatiently, one foot tapping a steady rhythm.

"I'm Bill, he said to the girl. "Listen, I've got an appointment now but will you be in the area? I'll buy you a tea? In an hour or so?"

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[info]bright_n_bubbly
2009-09-16 03:00 am UTC (link)
Lavender shifted back up to her feet with Bill's help. She recognized him the moment he helped her up, but not by name. She knew he was one of Ron's brother's but couldn't immediately tell which one. Until, of course, the realization of where they were clicked in. It was the oldest. Bill. The one who worked at Gringotts and married that veela. Well, great. Like Lavender needed a Weasley seeing her all disheveled.

And then she saw his scars. Like hers, except not so easily hidden. Lavender spent hours in the morning making sure that her hair stuck just right over her neck and jaw. She only wore longsleeved shirts (or shirts with only one sleeve, on the left) and never showed any skin between shoulder and knee. But Bill's scars were there, out in the open for everyone to see. Lavender couldn't imagine. She was shamed enough the way she was.

Bill. She was right. "Yeah, I'm Lavender." She glanced at the registrar and then back at Bill. Maybe it would be good for the two of them to talk. "Sure. Um, I've got to do some shopping, so I can meet you out front of the Ministry in an hour if you want."

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[info]dragonhideboots
2009-09-16 03:11 am UTC (link)
"Lavender," he repeated, offering a small smile. "Good. I'll see you in an hour by the main gate."

He shook her hand and sided by her towards the office.

"Afternoon," he offered, nodding to the examiner. He shed his shirt and sat on the table, procuring an arm for blood work and going about the procedures with a detached and silent stare.

An hour later, he was a little light-headed and sad, but finished. The exams always bothered him not because of how he was treated, but because he could imagine the way full werewolves were dealt with. He imagined mild-mannered Remus Lupin being subjected to brutal tests and questions. It wasn't an image he enjoyed dwelling on, especially now that his friend was dead.

With his file signed and stamped with a 6-month approval, Bill left the office and headed to the exit. It was raining steadily outside and he transfigured a pencil into an umbrella that still had a pink eraser on the tip but held out water, so it would do.

Lavender was waiting under the awning and he gave her a little wave in greeting.

"There's a cafe down this way," he suggested, nodding towards a cobblestone side street. "It isn't fancy, but they make a good cuppa."

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[info]bright_n_bubbly
2009-09-16 03:44 am UTC (link)
Lavender had time to do her shopping and pop home. She just needed to pick up a few essentials, so it hadn't taken too long. Some break, milk, chocolate, steak, nail polish. And a pair of shoes that were not on her list but were on sail and fit her perfectly. So, okay, Lavender's essentials weren't the same as anyone else's essentials. But that didn't make things any less essential to her. Lavender needed certain things to be happy, or at least to pretend like she was happy with herself and her life.

After she dropped her things off at home, Lavender checked the time. She was rather good with timing. And she apparated back to the Ministry. It had started raining. Great. She'd fixed her make-up and her hair and now it was going to be ruined again. Well, she couldn't turn back now. Lavender found a seat under the awning and got comfortable so she could wait for Bill to show up.

And without fail, a couple minutes later Bill emerged from the door. Lavender stood up, moving over and under his umbrella. "I don't need anything fancy. I'm usually pretty comfortable with a good cup of tea no matter where I am." Within reason, obviously. She did have her limits.

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[info]dragonhideboots
2009-09-17 02:50 am UTC (link)
"Right," he said with a nod, leading the way out into the drizzle and guiding he down the alley. The tea room was cozy and warm as they settled at a table. Bill ordered a Darjeeling with lemon and allowed Lavender to place her order before he spoke again.

There was really no easy way of talking about it. He barely knew this girl and yet there was something the two of them uniquely shared. He didn't quite know how to begin.

"It happened during the last fight, right?" he asked. "The attack on you, I mean."

He could remember only flashes of that awful day. A vast majority of it had been long buried. He remembered seeing Fred, and Lupin and Tonks, and all the others lying in the Great Hall. He remembered seeing Fenrir across a field and firing hexes with incredible fury until the werewolf disappeared in a fog of flying spells and smoke. He wondered where in all the chaos had Lavender met Fenrir, and if it had been as awful as he could remember it feeling when he'd been attacked in the Battle of the Tower. How he'd fought to raise his arm to fire spells, but found a man tearing at his face and his mouth too full of blood to speak.

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[info]bright_n_bubbly
2009-09-17 03:35 am UTC (link)
Lavender ordered a cup of chamomile. After the way she had been feeling since her appointment, chamomile would do her some good. Her nerves were still a little bit on edge. And it was likely that if anyone said the wrong thing, she would burst into tears again. She was normally one of those over-emotional kind of girls, but it had become so much worse since her attack. She just never had anyone else to talk to about it. She wasn't sure what it would be like talking with Bill, since he was a guy, but she was hoping to have at least some level of understanding.

"It... yeah... that day. I fell off a balcony. I don't remember it." She was thankful for that, at least. She had been thrown from the balcony, and from there everything went blank. Friends had told her the story, most notably Hermione. But when it came down to it, Lavender still had no idea what happened. Fenrir had been on her the second she hit the ground, he tore at her flesh before being hit by a crystal ball. That was all she knew. Except, of course, the residual effects of such things. The broken bones and bruises and internal bleeding had been easy to heal. Well, okay, not easy. It had taken skilled healers and almost a year of recuperation. But the scars were still there.

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[info]dragonhideboots
2009-09-18 01:30 am UTC (link)
"Mhm," Bill murmured, taking a sip of tea and nodding. "I don't remember much either. I was attacked the night Dumbledore died, in the Battle of the Tower."

He scratched unconsciously at his left cheek, where the worst of his scarring was concentrated. The puckered skin was taut and oddly colored in stripes along his face. What the hell was he thinking, inviting this girl for tea? She was sweet and very pretty, but it was uncomfortable to talk about the experience.

"So," he began. "What are moons like for you? What kind of symptoms do you get?"

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[info]bright_n_bubbly
2009-09-18 06:19 am UTC (link)
Lavender could tell he was uncomfortable. She was pretty perceptive when it came to people's tolerance of her. Of course she was taking this more on a self-depreciating basis than anything else. She felt like it was her fault, that she made him uncomfortable. But it wasn't like she could blame him either way. Talking about this didn't exactly put her at ease.

Maybe it would put them both at ease to finally get it out in the open. It could possibly make her feel better about the whole thing. She needed to feel less alone.

"It's miserable. For a week around it. I get sick and grumpy and just... it's horrid." Lavender didn't really have a clear memory of what specific symptoms she got around the moon. She just knew she was absolutely miserable. It was like getting her period but a million times worse.

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[info]dragonhideboots
2009-09-19 12:55 am UTC (link)
Bill nodded empathetically.

"Isn't it the worst?" he said. "It's like being down with flu once a month. And on the night of the moon, do you feel like your skin just doesn't fit or something? I feel like I just can't get comfortable. I'm so exhausted but I can't sleep because I feel so awful and I'm feverish and then I'll eventually just pass out. I don't know how Fleur can manage sharing a bed on those nights, what with all my tossing and turning."

He shrugged, downing the last of his tea and reaching for a biscuit.

"Suppose we've got it easy though, when you think about what real werewolves go through. You've got to re-arrange your bones and all that. I mean, I don't really feel bad for Fenrir, but I do for the good lot of them. You knew Lupin, right?"

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[info]bright_n_bubbly
2009-09-19 01:31 am UTC (link)
Lavender drank her tea much slower than Bill did. She preferred savoring things. It also helped that she could feel a bit more distracted while drinking and nibbling biscuits. It was a pretty discreet technique, too. And it made her feel better. It was easier to talk about the hard things when she had something else to focus on.

"I did know Lupin. He was my professor for a year. The best one we had, too." No one else had actually taught them anything. Well, okay, Moody (or rather Crouch as Moody) had taught them a lot. That just hadn't been the best situation. "He looked the way I feel around the full moon, although I'm sure it was worse for him." With the exception of actually shifting, though, Lavender was pretty sure she doubted it could get worse. She felt absolutely miserable.

"Does your metabolism work faster around the moon? I've tried sleeping draughts and they don't seem to work the closer to the moon."

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[info]dragonhideboots
2009-09-19 01:44 am UTC (link)
"Ugh," he said. "Yes. Nothing works. I've tried Pepper-Up, sleeping draughts...you name it. And so much of that stuff has aconite in it, that I can't take it anyway. Ends up making me sicker."

He bit a chocolate biscuit thoughtfully and brushed some stray crumbs from his shirt.

"It's the weirdest combination of symptoms," he said. "I mean, there's the sluggish and sick part, the craving steaks bit, and...okay, so this is a bit awkward...but I always feel a little bit randy the few days before. That's the only part I think Fleur likes about the whole business."

He chuckled a little. It was true. Before the moon, his sexual energy increased as his physical stamina waned. It was frustrating, to desire more but feel worse. He wasn't sure why, but he attributed it to the bizarre pull of the moon and the transformation of his blood into something more animal.

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[info]bright_n_bubbly
2009-09-19 02:08 am UTC (link)
Everything made Lavender sicker during the moon. But that didn't stop her from trying anything she could. She was so miserable. Lavender spent most of her time during the moon in a hot bath. At least it helped alleviate the pain a little. Although it wasn't like she could spent 72 hours or more in the bath tub. That was impossible. It would be worth it if she could, though.

"You get..." Lavender flushed bright red. She had intentionally not mentioned that. It wasn't exactly the kind of thing you share with your ex-boyfriend's brother. But then again, nothing about this situation was normal. And maybe he needed someone to relate to as much as she did. Lavender nodded a little, averting her eyes for a moment. "Yeah, I... me, too."

She hadn't every had a chance to scratch that particular itch, however. Lavender had pretty much sworn off men until recently. And after her date with Oliver and then not hearing back from him for a while, she was starting to think the one date had been a bad idea. Although bloody hell was she feeling repressed lately.

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[info]dragonhideboots
2009-09-19 02:19 am UTC (link)
He laughed a little at her blush.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," he said. "But good to know it isn't just me being a guy."

It was oddly comforting, knowing someone was in the same boat. He'd talked with Lupin lots after his injury, but that wasn't quite the same. Sure, the pre-moon effects were similar, but that was about it. Bill was straddling a weird line between normal and cursed, and he was glad to hear one other person had the same dilemma. It was a situation no one but Lavender could fully understand. When it came to the Ministry, his friends, even his family...there was a disconnect. This girl understood.

"So, enough about pre-moon blues," he said. "What do you do the other 28 days of your months?"

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[info]bright_n_bubbly
2009-09-19 04:10 am UTC (link)
"No, it's okay. I don't... It's just nice to talk about finally." It was a little awkward, sure. She hardly knew Bill. Casually discussing how getting a little bestial made them randy wasn't normal first conversation material. But Lavender guessed this was something like a support group. Except not officially because there were only two of them.

Lavender took a sip of her tea, taking a moment to pull herself together. So today Bill had seen her sobbing with her appearance all disheveled, and no he had heard about her horny weekends. That officially put him a hell of a lot closer to her than anyone else at the moment. Parvati really needed to come back from the ends of the earth or wherever the hell she was.

"Well, I'm a writer. Well, I'm trying to be. I work for Witch Weekly. So far I'm not getting much actual face time." And... well, that was it. Lavender didn't have anything else on her plate at the moment, socially or professionally. It was sad really. She had been such a social butterfly in school.

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[info]dragonhideboots
2009-09-19 11:31 pm UTC (link)
"That's great!" Bill said. "My mum loves Witch Weekly. That's a pretty neat job. I'm over at Gringotts. Estate management and cursed heirlooms department. You wouldn't believe the kind of things people do to their stuff to keep the wrong kid from getting their hands on it when they die! Otherwise that the occasional fun curse like that, it's mostly paperwork. A bit dull, really."

He beckoned the serving witch for the bill.

"I'll get this one," he said, counting out some sickles. "Pre-moon, we should get some takeaway and commiserate and I'll let you pay then."

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[info]bright_n_bubbly
2009-09-20 12:34 am UTC (link)
It wasn't great, to be honest. Not yet anyway. It was grueling work. The hours were horrid and the pay was worse. The only thing that made it worth it was that one day she might be able to really write some articles and get cover status. Well, that and all the free stuff she got. Clothes, beauty products, tons of stuff. Lavender just wasn't about to complain about the not so great parts. She'd done enough complaining for the day.

"You used to work somewhere exotic, didn't you?" She vaguely remembered Ron and Ginny mentioning it when they were in school. She couldn't imagine being somewhere exotic and wanting to come home. If she could live in Tahiti, she'd do it. But that was just not logical. "I bet Gringotts is pretty boring compared to that."

Getting take-away pre-moon sounded like a horrible idea, to be honest. She didn't like being around people. Lavender was honestly afraid of hurting someone, or worse. But she wouldn't say no. Maybe it would help to be around someone else who understood. So she just kind of gave a little nod.

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[info]dragonhideboots
2009-09-20 12:44 am UTC (link)
"Egypt," Bill said with a nod. "I was a curse breaker. Came back home when the War started, got married, and didn't go back."

To say the Gringotts was boring compared to Egypt was beyond stating the obvious. Egypt certainly wasn't everything Bill wanted in life. In England he had his family, Fleur, and a good job. It was a lot to be thankful for, but he still missed the desert and the Pyramids and all the friends he still had abroad.

"Gringotts is fine," he said. "No, it isn't Egypt, but I get along fine here. It's nice to be home."

He passed the money to the waitress and gave Lavender a smile. She was nice, if a little aloof. He felt like maybe he could gain a friend in her if they got to know each other a little better.

"It's been nice to meet you," he said. "I hope we can see each other again sometime soon. Do you like music at all? We could catch a show or something? That Kenneth Towler bloke is playing a club on the 20th if you're up for it? Bring friends or whatever."

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[info]bright_n_bubbly
2009-09-20 01:07 am UTC (link)
The war ruined everything. It had made everything worse. It was over for years and years now and Lavender still felt like they were cleaning up the mess left by the Death Eaters. And Lavender, well, she was permanently ruined. At least in her mind anyway. She would never feel beautiful again, she'd never be the same bubbly person she had been. Lavender just felt like nothing would ever be the same for her again. And it sucked.

"Yeah. I suppose it is nice to be home." Or it was supposed to be. So far Lavender wasn't quite getting what she'd expected. She should have stayed abroad. Although she had quickly run out of money for that little tactic.

Lavender shifted and pulled herself to her feet. She did a quick check to be sure all her scars were covered. It was habit, and usually pretty discreet. She looked like a bit of a shallow prissy girl, the way that she fussed over her hair and clothes, but better that than the alternative.

"I'm glad we could talk. And yeah, I'll think about it. I interviewed Oliver the other day and he suggested I show up to see Kenneth play." Lavender didn't remember Kenneth too well, but she knew he'd been in their house. It would be nice to show support, but she wasn't sure she wanted to be around that many people again.

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[info]dragonhideboots
2009-09-20 01:12 am UTC (link)
"Let me know," said Bill, extending a hand to shake hers. "It's been nice talking to you. Try not to dwell on those bastards at the Ministry. I know it's rough, having to check in there and all, but hopefully I'll manage to convince them it isn't necessary. I've been writing letters and such."

Pulling on his coat, he walked her to the door.

"I'm off to finish some paperwork. Have a good rest of your day."

And with that, he disappeared off into the rainy street, hands in his pockets, headed for Gringotts.

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