Fauna knew she shouldn't be here. Everything about it felt wrong, from the filth-encrusted bay windows to the shrunken candle stubs on the bar. Candlelight flickered haltingly off her worried face as she shrugged off her bright yellow jacket (which stood out like a Hufflepuff beacon), sat down in the corner of the room that gave her the best view, and sent Ayla a small smile.

"Sure this is the right place?" Fauna wondered aloud in a hushed voice, avoiding the curious and suspicious glances the two girls received.

She definitely would not have picked the Hog's Head as the establishment to meet at as her first choice, but since that was what Ayla and her cousin Lexus had come up with, Fauna had agreed. Her goal was to talk to Lexus about registering as a werewolf, and save standing out in the freezing cold, they had to meet somewhere. The Hog's Head was the only pub nearly empty this time of day on a Hogsmeade weekend. Fauna could see why!

She kept an eye on the door to watch for Lexus, an eye on the other patrons, and a hand near her wand pocket, just in case.

Most of Ayla's face was bundled up in a scarf her grandmother had knitted her for Christmas. Thankfully it helped hide the scowl that briefly crossed her lips when she entered the seedy pub with Fauna. She hadn't given much thought to it when Lexus said she'd meet her in the Hogs Head but now that she was here she could understand why normal people usually avoided the place. It was just like her cousin to pick this place over somewhere like the Three Broomsticks. When she was young she always thought of Lexus as a mousy but intelligent witch, an idol, and honour student, someone she wanted to be just like. As an adult it seemed a lot of things had changed but then she figured being a werewolf that killed your own parents was enough to change anyone.

She pulled her scarf down only momentarily regretting letting the smell in before smiling up at Fauna, "This is it, Lexus has become rather partial to places like this. Apparently she's a regular at Xavier's uncle's place back in Knockturn. I blame the ministry." She made her way through the pub realizing how weird her statement must sound. She offered a sheepish grin to her friend, "Back home part of Lexus' probation was to work at this crazy pub called The Lunar. It was ministry sanctioned, all the staff were 'human-like' creatures, you know werewolves, a vamp or two and some veelas waitered. It was the ministry's way of proving that they could be useful members of society. Lexus tended bar for a few years there. Not sure why she ever left."

Spotting her cousin looking too fabulous to be hanging out in a dirty old pub like this she smiled, waved and dragged Fauna over, "Hey Lex, got someone I want you to meet. This is Fauna Blake, Fauna this is my cousin Lexus." She gave her friend a soft smile hoping Fauna wouldn't be too mad that she hadn't told Lexus the real reason why she had asked to meet with her.

She nodded with interest at Ayla's description of The Lunar, the pub that employed human-like creatures. If only the Ministry in the UK was half as tolerant.

Ayla suddenly rose from her seat and pulled her over to meet the newest arrival to the Hog's Head: a woman that looked as out of place here as the students did. She was tall, pretty, with a friendly smile. Fauna's gaze flickered to the silver streak in her hair and then back to her face. The streak detracted little from her looks, but she didn't want to stare, assuming something like that had come about due to stress.

"Hi," she said shyly, holding out a hand to shake. "Er, I've heard a lot about you."

Fauna wasn't sure how much Ayla had told her cousin about this meeting in their letters, but she held out hope that Lexus had some idea of what was going on, and that they were just exchanging pleasantries now.

She paused, then glanced at the barkeep who was frowning at them. "Maybe, uh, we should order something," she suggested in a half-whisper, moving towards the bar.

"Two butterbeers. Please." Fauna looked at Lexus questioningly, about to tack on 'three' if she wanted one too, and waited for their drinks, trying not to appear as awkward as she felt.

Lexus still found it fascinating how much Ayla looked like her. While they were only cousins both of their mothers had been spitting images of their grandmother which had made all the girls look alike. From what she had seen over the Christmas holidays even young Dahlia was starting to develop the Hallowell looks. It was funny how genetics worked, her own sister Kelly had gotten the Dale side of looks and often in their youth people believed that Ayla and Lexus had been sisters and that Kelly had been the cousin.

Lexus smiled as Ayla introduced her friend but couldn't help the raise of her eyebrows. It had been obvious from a young age that Ayla had adopted her mother's flare for fashion. Even now at the young age of fourteen the girl could be described as glamorous which made Lexus rather amused at the sight of her less than glamorous friend. While Fauna had that earth child, natural beauty she seemed out of place next to Ayla, not to mention the fact that she was obviously much older than the young Hufflepuff.

"Nice to meet you too Fauna." Much like her cousin Lexus still held her Canadian accent, which unfortunately made her stand out more than she liked. When the older girl said that she had heard all about her Lexus cut a glare to her cousin and self consciously tucked back her silver streak. She had had strange hi lights since her first transformation four years earlier but they had never been so prominent, "only good things I hope."

She ordered a butterbeer along with the girls feeling it would be inappropriate to drink in front of them. She led them over to a empty table, "So, " She glanced at Ayla again, the young girl's letter had been rather vague about why they were meeting, "What did you guys need? If you're looking for love potions I'm fresh out and don't have the time to brew any more."

"Er, of course!" Fauna nodded and tried to look reassuring when Lexus exchanged a look with her cousin and wondered if she'd said only good things. When their butterbeers arrived in dusty glasses, they headed for a table and sat down.

Fauna's fears were then confirmed. At Lexus' innocent question, she gave Ayla an incredulous look (exchanging looks seemed to be the theme of the day), and took a gulp of her drink. Lexus knew nothing. Oh, hell. Fauna's heart beat faster as she thought about how she'd handle this... she hadn't meant to lure the woman out here under the pretense of happy hour at the Hogshead.

"Um, well, not love potions," she smiled nervously. "Ayla and I wanted to... talk to you about something." Fauna glanced at her friend again. Should she just dive in?

"She kind of told me about... well, everything," Fauna didn't want to say 'werewolf'; not because she had a problem with the word, but to try to keep things as discreet as possible. "Because she was worried?" And now she sounded like an annoyingly concerned parental figure.

She nudged Ayla's arm underneath the table, hoping she'd jump in and help.

Ayla sent her cousin an innocent look when she glared over. Of course she had told Fauna everything but that didn't mean that they were bad things. She told her about her cousin being a werewolf and how tragic the tale was. Her whole wizarding family thought so, well at least her dad thought so. It wasn't Lexus' fault that she got attacked by a werewolf, she had barely survived how was she supposed to know she'd turn into one? True it was just basic knowledge from school but she was in shock, all the people she had lived with for two years had been slaughtered in front of her, anyone would forget their schooling in the face of that.

As more looks were exchanged she bit on her lower lip hoping that Lexus wasn't going to go all feral on them and attack them from across the table. She knew her cousin had a bad temper due to her condition but surely they were safe, right? She shot Fauna an apologetic look. She knew she should have told her but she figured if Fauna knew that Lexus had no idea what the meeting was about she'd likely never agree to come along. She needed to keep everyone in the dark so that they'd all agree to meet and properly talk about things.

"Fauna's right I am worried. I spent the whole holidays with you and you practically begged me not to tell anyone. I don't know if you're in trouble or not but I do know that being unregistered will get you in trouble. It's not a big deal really. There's plenty of registered . . . people here and I'm sure Jonas will let you keep your job, he seemed like a cool guy."

She glanced to her friend hoping she was approaching the subject tactfully enough, "Anyways Fauna knows alot about this stuff so I wanted you to meet her, she could  send a few owls get all the right forms for you and then you don't have to be so jittery about living in London. You can be safe again and get wolfsbane whenever you need it." She looked between the two girls still hoping this wasn't going to break out into some crazy fight.

Fauna nodded at what Ayla said, thankful that her friend's talkative nature had come in handy. She pushed her annoyance at being kept in the dark aside for the moment, preferring to focus on the matter at hand. She looked surprised when Jonas was mentioned, linking the name to the Trevelyan she'd met when she'd visited Tamis at the muggle hospital, and agreeing that he seemed like a tolerant person.

Her palms felt clammy, so she wiped her hands on her jeans. "Right, um, Ayla hasn't told anyone else but me," Merlin, she hoped that was true. "And she only said something because... well, I did an internship at the RCMC over the summer, so I sort of understand how things work. I can ask for the forms discretely, and um... talk you through them, if you want, and try to make things as... smooth as I can."

This was definitely not a part of her "internship" description, and she knew very well that she wasn't supposed to be doing this on her own, or at all. Yet she didn't feel right turning Lexus in to the Ministry after Ayla had confided in her.

Since Ayla had already pointed out that registering would give Lexus a reliable source of wolfsbane, and she wouldn't have to worry about getting caught anymore, Fauna paused then to let Lexus respond. Fauna didn't want to overwhelm her, and hoped she could answer questions and persuade her to at least think about registering.

Lexus felt a crashing wave of conflicting emotions rush through her. She lowered her head and ran her fingers over her face pulling her upper lip back in a snarl as her eyes flashed with anger. She had fallen into a trap. Ayla had purposely lured her out here so they could talk about getting her registered. Was her cousin seriously that stupid? Did she have any idea why Lexus couldn't register, why she was even on the run? If it was as easy as just signing a few papers she would have done it ages ago!

She brought her face back up to the girls doing her best not to snarl again and hoping her soft blue eyes were neutral. She took a deep breath and licked her lips trying to weigh out how to approach this tactfully and without compromising herself.

"I know that this seems really simple to you guys." She looked between the two girls before taking a sip of her butterbeer, "But you'll learn when you're older that it's not always so straight forward." She gave Fauna a slightly sympathetic look knowing that the girl was likely already a legal adult but still being in Hogwarts meant she wasn't entirely viewed as such yet, "There's certain things that are holding me back from being able to register." Like the fact that she was a wanted criminal, "Like actually not being a citizen here."

She took another sip of her butterbeer. She knew she hadn't told Ayla the whole story about why she was in London so at least she had no fear of her having told Fauna as much (And after this she definitely wasn't going to be telling her anything else of any importance)

"And as cool as I'm sure Jonas would be with it we kind of had a fight," She paused her features falling as she thought about how much she missed Jonas, "I'm not working for him right now anyways so I don't have to worry about that and I sure you know how hard it is to get a job with my kind of condition." She looked knowingly at Fauna. If the girl had done an internship with the RCMC she'd know what it was like for werewolves in the job market.

"Look it's really not that bad. It's not like I'm not registered, just not here and I have no problem getting wolfsbane."

Fauna looked worried when Lexus put her hands over her face, thinking she'd said too much and overwhelmed her. She sent a few frantic glances at Ayla, but relaxed when the woman composed herself and started to explain her situation. Glancing down, Fauna felt sympathetic as Lexus told them she'd fought with Jonas and recently lost her job, because she'd seen it happen to several werewolves during the short time she'd interned at the RCMC. That was one of the reasons SAWS planned on interviewing Hogsmeade businesses tomorrow about their hiring practices. However, their actions did little to help Lexus now.

"Look it's really not that bad. It's not like I'm not registered, just not here and I have no problem getting wolfsbane."

Fauna paused, cradling the butterbeer in her hands. "It's good that you're registered in Canada, and that you're still getting wolfs- er, what you need," she started off with something positive. "It's just that... since you've lived here for more than a few months, there's this required... transferring process. So you'd have to register as a visitor. I think. Um, if you didn't do that, and the Ministry found out about you, they'd still treat you as this... danger. The same as unregistered, British citizens."

She bit her lip, unsure if she was explaining it well.

"Is there something holding you back from registering besides the jobs?" Fauna attempted to sound as gentle and understanding as she could, because she knew that finding a job would be a big concern for Lexus. She was a bit surprised that her unsolicited advice hadn't caused Lexus to bite off her head yet (no pun intended)!

Lexus had dropped her head again staring at her butterbeer and trying to peel the label off the bottle. She started to grind her teeth as the other woman continued to talk. It wasn't that Fauna was saying anything offensive, in fact it was actually kind of touching the way the two of them had come all the way out here to try and get her to register. However the whole thing had her on edge, she wasn't comfortable talking about her situation. She had confided in Ayla because she was family and the stupid kid had dragged her friend into it like this was some kind of game, like a few measly words and an owl sent by a teenager could make everything better.

She could feel herself slipping, feel that itch at the back of her mind grow stronger until she could no longer ignore it. She had known for years now that she had a quick temper due to the part of her mind that had been opened to her primal urges. Lycanthropy was more than just a once a month condition, it was something she was constantly battling. She couldn't turn into a wolf when there wasn't a full moon but that didn't stop her from going a little wild when provoked and unfortunately Fauna's good intentions were provoking her.

The thought of having lost her job (more importantly having lost Jonas) having to run away from home, the feel of waking up with blood on her hands, the knowledge of having slaughtered innocents, knowing she could never return home, knowing she could never find a real place for herself outside of a jail cell here was all too much, "You really wanna know what else is holding me back?" Her voice was deeper than it had been earlier and held no light heartedness or perk like it had when the girls first arrived. She lifted her head and stared directly at Fauna. Her soft blue eyes had turned amber and her upper lip curled back in a snarl showing off pointed canines, a deep guttural growl started in her chest and rolled outward, "Level two has wanted posters with my face on them, the only thing registering will get me is a first class ticket to Azkaban and going back home is likely to get me skinned. They may have let me off with a warning for killing my parents but I doubt I can walk away from slaughtering a group of wizards in the middle of Victoria Square."

She stood up from the table and stared down at the girls, the silver streak from her latest transformation curled around her cheek framing the haunting amber glow of her eyes, "Next time you kiddies feel like saving someone you might want to make sure they're actually worth saving." She gave them another snarl and a growl before snatching her cloak and storming out. 

"You really wanna know what else is holding me back?"

The threatening tone of voice caught her attention first. Then Lexus looked up, fixing her with a predatory stare, flashing sharp teeth as she snarled. Fauna's first instinct was to shrink back in her seat, but she resisted. She froze, meeting Lexus' eyes with a deer-in-the-headlights expression.

Wanted Posters. Azkaban. Slaughter. It soon became very clear why Lexus avoided the Ministry at all costs.

Fauna had always thought, based on her friendships, that she understood werewolves. Or at least understood them a bit better than the average person. Yet Ollie and Greyfriar had never reacted like this. She'd seen a werewolf in its werewolf form, even been attacked by a werewolf, but somehow the human and the wolf had remained separate in her mind. Watching this strange merge in Lexus; the flash of canines, the yellow light in her eyes, made Fauna feel very... human. Very vulnerable. Not just because of her words. It was the way she said them, like she could reach across the table and rip out their throats any moment.

Gripping her wand in her pocket, Fauna tensed when the woman stood and loomed over them. After another warning growl and a parting comment that seemed tame in comparison to the truth she'd just revealed, Lexus turned and fled the Hogs Head.

Fauna had no intention of running after Lexus. But they couldn't stay here. A hush had fallen over the pub and she felt the stares of the other patrons.

"We need to go," Fauna told Ayla in a low voice, leaving a paltry tip on the table that would likely never make it to the bartender.

She started to rise, casting a wary glance around her, and put a hand on Ayla's shoulder to try to usher her towards the door.

Ayla felt her heart begin to race and her skin tighten, all the awkward and uncomfortable sensations that came with being scared out of her mind. For the past four years Ayla had known that her cousin was a werewolf and that the unfortunate truth was that her aunt and uncle were dead because of it. She knew her father and her sister had attended her trial and that she had been put on probation. Even after spending most of her Christmas holidays with her cousin Ayla had never really understood what it meant for Lexus to be a werewolf. She had never been able to put herself in the older woman's shoes and understand all the complications that were holding her back. Nor had she really been able to experience the full magnitude of a feral mind integrated with a human one.

The sight of Lexus' glowing eyes and sharp teeth, Ayla could barely breath. She had never been afraid of her cousin until that moment. She had experienced her irrational behaviour, her quick temper and had seen the side effects of her monthly transformations but it wasn't until that moment that she had ever seen her cousin as dangerous. She would never agree with the anti werewolf sentiments that she knew a lot of people held but she certainly understood now why everyone was so afraid.

She didn't question when Fauna led her to her feet and practically dragged her out of the pub. After Lexus' little outburst she didn't want to be anywhere near the Hogs Head. In fact she didn't really want to be anywhere. Her mind was having a hard time comprehending anything that had just happened beyond the strongest sense of primal fear she had ever encountered. She hadn't been that scared since the Yeti attacked her.

When the girls were far enough from the Hogs Head and the fog that had spread over her mind began to clear Ayla turned to Fauna with a very serious and very scared look, "Fauna you can't tell anyone about this." She frantically looked around to make sure no one was listening to them, "I had no idea about any of this, I just, I can't let her go to Azkaban, I know she's not a killer."

Fauna walked fast, slightly ahead of Ayla, and threw a few glances over her shoulder to make sure they weren't being followed. She felt jittery and tense, like she could go running for hours, and her expression projected a mixture of fear and anger.

That wasn't how the meeting was supposed to go! They should never have met in a dodgy place like the Hog's Head, and Fauna was pissed off at Ayla for not warning Lexus, and at Lexus for raging at them and revealing things she shouldn't have.

So when Ayla piped up in a frightened voice, telling her she had to keep quiet about Lexus, Fauna whirled on her, crossing her arms and glancing around the empty street.

"I don't know. I don't know," she snapped, her huff of frustration clouding the air.

"What am I supposed to do!" Fauna threw up her hands, desperation and worry tinging her voice.

"What if it happens again?" She demanded, talking too fast to give Ayla a chance to speak. "I mean, once was bad enough. But a second time? A whole group of wizards?" Fauna lowered her voice, but bit out the words so Ayla could still hear them.

"I just- if it happens again," Fauna put her head in her hands for a moment, then looked up. "Why does it keep happening? Why isn't she being more careful?"

Though it made little sense to fire her questions at Ayla, who knew no more than she did, Fauna couldn't help it. She felt horrified and chilled by Lexus' words, sickened by the idea that she'd killed people. Yet the sympathetic part of her felt bad for blaming her when she didn't know the whole story. She was in over her head, and she wished someone would tell her what to do, but all she had was Ayla - a younger year, who didn't want to see her cousin get sent to Azkaban.

Ayla was beyond terrified and tears welled up in her eyes. Never before had she ever felt her age so strongly. In the end she was still just a kid and had just thrown herself into a very adult situation that she really knew nothing about and shouldn't have been involved in to begin with. When Fauna rounded on her she couldn't help the quiver in her lip or the few single tears that burst out. She had never seen Fauna that angry before. Fauna had always been like a big sister to her and she hated having upset her so much.

"I . . . I don't know." Ayla's own voice was barely audible but hers was strangled with fear rather than anger. She felt so out of place and just wanted to get back to the castle and forget this whole thing ever happened.

She glanced sideways at Fauna shaking her head, "I don't get it. Her parents, that had been an accident and the ministry was giving her wolfsbane every month how could she have . . ." She shook her head again trying to wrap her mind around a puzzle she only had half of the pieces of. She kept feeling like she didn't know the whole story, that while dangerous and scary as all Slytherin, Lexus wasn't a killer and there must be something else to the story, some crucial detail she wasn't privy to.

As the girls moved into friendlier places of the village Ayla caught sight of the Owl Post office and nodded to Fauna, "I'm going to Owl my dad. I'm going to tell him the whole story. If anyone can deal with this it's him. I . . . I can tell him where Lexus is and he can get her the help she needs." She began to wring her hands together worried for her cousin but also the consequences of what she was about to do, "He can fix this. She won't be a threat anymore." She barely whispered the second part as if she didn't really mean Fauna to hear it.

The sight of tears in Ayla's eyes caused Fauna's anger to start to fade, and she let out a sigh, expression softening. She listened to her trying to work out Lexus' story. Neither of them understood it all, Fauna thought. Knowing that Lexus had killed people but not knowing how it had happened or why just made her conjure horrific scenes in her head. She rubbed at her arms, looking fearful.

When Ayla offered to owl her dad, Fauna latched onto that, desperation clouding her outlook on the problem. Mr. Collins would know what to do. He was an adult (a real adult, not a seventeen year old), and he'd understand how serious things were despite the fact that Lexus was family.

"Good," she nodded, starting for the owl post and glancing back at Ayla. "We should head there now. You can send him an owl and he can take care of things, and... you'll let me know when you hear back from him? Please?"

Her eyes were large and worried, and she stopped walking to turn and face her, needing reassurance that this would work.