As promised to her superior, Hannah was stood in the ministry at the reception desk to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Even the departmental title was making the young witch feel queasy as she stepped up to the desk to address the welcome witch behind it. This felt like some sort of disturbing nightmare. The whole last month had felt like just that. From the bite to the transformation to the job suspension to right now where she was about to sign her freedom and dignity over to the Ministry of Magic just to keep her job and prevent the only other person who knew about this to register her himself.

“I’d like to speak to Griffon Manley.” Hannah coldly informed the slightly older witch who seemed more interested in quilling onto some hidden parchment than helping the department’s newest visitor. The rudeness prickled the healer even further and she pursed her lips tightly, her usual look of disapproval twisting itself onto her soft features. This department had been extremely busy and stressed as of late, Hannah was more than aware but that was no excuse for sloppiness even at the welcome desk. The unwillingness for the witch to help instantaneously only helped to make Hannah follow her instincts and turn on her heels and leave.

“Now would be nice if you aren’t too engaged. Tell him it’s Hannah Bombay.” She added sternly, leaning forwards onto her tiptoes to peer over the desk. “Or I’m confident he’d be keen to facilitate you with 7 down.” The older witch’s eyes widened before she jumped out of her seat and vanished through the set of double doors. Hannah sighed and glanced back at the desk that housed the latest witch weekly crossword half filled out. Of course that had been more interesting than the newest werewolf to be registered.

It had taken Hannah several days to build up the courage to do this and she was still unsure if she could. She half expected to see Griffon and instead of telling him she needed to register, she would suddenly remember some fact she hadn’t given him on her wolfsbane investigation, tell him this and proceed to leave the ministry, still an unregistered witch. That would have been the preferable action but she had to do this. She was obliged and had very little choice.

Griffon was surprised when he was told that Hannah Bombay was there to see him. He wondered, idly, what for? Was there something big going on at the hospital, he wondered? Griffon informed the older woman to send the healer in, and he cleared his desk of most of the clutter as he waited, sipping his mug of coffee. "Shoo- go on now," he said as a bird landed on his desk.

The welcome witch showed Healer Bombay to Griffon's office, and he smiled warmly from her seat when he saw her. "Please- come in, have a seat," he gestured to a large, comfortable chair settled in a nice patch of wildflowers. "You'll have to forgive the mess," he told her. "I haven't had much time the last month to do any pruning around here- things are just growing however they please."

"Tell me, what brings you this way?" he asked. "Is everything quite alright?"

Hannah offered the welcome witch a curt, formal nod. Despite the tight smile straining her glossy lips, the witch’s eyes showed the disapproval she felt about the older woman’s unprofessional behaviour. This look of disapproval, however, was exchanged with a flash of surprise as she looked away from the departing welcome witch and into the office of Griffon Manley. Lips parted in astonishment as widened eyes took in the utterly unexpected and bizarre sight in front of her.

Manley’s desk appeared to be situated in the centre of a wood. A muddy, insect filled, tree covered wood. People whispered behind Hannah’s back about how the healer of the silent was weird but she dreaded to think what they’d say about this fellow when they saw his office. This was definitely not going to make her feel any more comfortable about this registering process.

Griffon spoke and Hannah stared around before cautiously taking a step into the office. Placing one foot in front of the other in such a bizarrely natural location wasn’t as simple as usual when one was wearing expensive high heeled footwear. As she moved to the chair lying in the bed of flowers, one heel after the other began to dig into the mud. She grit her teeth and continued on before lowering herself into the chair.

Deciding not the comment on the strangest office, Hannah instead focused on the topic at hand. Was everything all right? No, no it certainly wasn’t. She took a slow breath, placed her hands on her knees and looked across at the department head.

“Not exactly, no.” The witch responded, feeling her steely, calm voice falter as she considered what she was about to tell him. “So I will just get down to business, Griffon, because you’re a busy man and this isn’t exactly going to be a pleasurable conversation for myself. I presume you require some forms for this. The ministry do delight in paperwork.”

It didn't take long for the healer to let him know that things were not okay. Griffon blinked for a moment, wondering what she meant. "Paperwork?" he repeated. The ministry did have a thing about requiring paperwork for even the most trivial things, but... "Yes, well, I think that we don't really delight in it, as it is generally pawned off on interns." He chuckled awkwardly- he still wasn't certain what she was on about.

"Though I'm not sure why you want to talk about paperwork, I can see why it is generally not a pleasant subject. Has the WCU sent over some paperwork because of the attacks you treated at Mungo's?" Griffon asked. That was really the only thing that he could think of. "If it is too much you don't have to rush on getting it complete right away. I know you have been incredibly busy."

Even so- Griffon had a sinking feeling that Mungo's paperwork was not the concern. He couldn't know. He'd never been overly skilled in divination. Griffon was not particularly clairvoyant, but he had learned over the years how to read people. And she seemed so incredibly solemn, and upset. "Of course, if you'd prefer to speak with someone other than me, I can arrange that to," he added. Perhaps it was just himself that was so unpleasant?

“No no, it’s you I require an audience with, Sir.” The witch finally interrupted after her nerves had allowed the wizard to talk over paperwork possibilities for her presence in his uniquely decorated office. Hannah was struggling to force herself to be sat in this room to discuss this with someone she knew and therefore she wasn’t about to organise to speak to a different official no matter how unpleasant the present situation was.

Taking a deep breath to gather her thoughts, Hannah looked from the beetle making it’s way across the desk to the older wizard on the opposite side of the desk. He appeared to be mildly perplexed. As one would be if they didn’t know why someone had wandered into their office making the suggestion of gathering paperwork.

“It’s not about the paperwork at the hospital.” The voice was calm, betraying the inner panic scrambling at her throat to stop anymore words from flowing from her lips. “I certainly don’t wish to deal with Mr Bagnold in this particular situation. He isn’t your most amiable member of staff, Manley.”

Hannah stopped herself. She wasn’t in the ministry to criticise its staff. She had to get down to business, sign a few forms and leave.

“I’ve been bitten.” The words came out rushed, lacking the usual professional emotionless Hannah’s voice created. “I believe it’s my legal obligation to register with your department.”

Griffon nodded when she said that it was him that she needed to speak with. But Miss Bombay went on to explain that it was not about paperwork at the hospital, and Griffon arched an eyebrow. "No- Mr. Bagnold is certainly not the most friendly of persons, but he does his job well which I prioritize over whether or not he is personable." Most of the time Kurby's personality didn't matter much- but occasionally he did ruffle the most inconvenient feathers.

He was about take a sip of his coffee whenever she said that she had been bitten. Slowly, Griffon lowered his mug back to his deak and leaned forward. "Bitten?" he repeated. He knew what she meant- it must have been why she had no desire to deal with Kurby. He was likely not very sensitive in moments like these. It wasn't easy for anyone who had been bitten to do what was right and to go through the registration process- it would be even harder if she had chosen to seek out Bagnold.

"This is the part where I am supposed to say something comforting," he began slowly. "And I truly wish, Miss Bombay, that something I could say would make you feel better. It's a tragedy when any good person is bitten, and magic can only do so much to help. But yes- you are right," he told her, "registering would be the best thing to do."

"It's a lot of paperwork," he told her- tone switching from sympathetic to official. "But I can help you with it, or someone from the registration unit can. You will also have to report here for the May full moon," he added. "I know it seems an insensitive question now, Miss Bombay- but are you certain that you were bitten? And if so, do you know by chance if it could have been a direwolf?"

Hannah blinked as she tried to comprehend the notion that he had in fact implied such a ludicrous thing as for her to not be fully aware what the obscenely morphed and ugly scar spread across her left forearm was. The teeth marks formed a semicircle, two fangs having dug deeper, drawn more blood, scarred more flesh and caused more pain. An almost obsessively clean hand instinctively reached across to her covered forearm as she considered his words. His words, his interesting question would have made more sense if it had been to another, if it had been to someone that didn’t know a lot more than they wanted to about this particular curse.

Her arm had taken a month to heal properly. Something like this always took longer to heal. The skin usually had a miraculous healing quality. If one injured it, tore it, ripped it free, it healed itself as best as it could. It repaired quickly by the amazing magic of the human body. Normally it ended up seeming unharmed. It appeared perfect, untouched. Yet if the wound was deep enough, scars appeared. If the wound was cursed, venomous, no amount of healing, no potions or ointments could help it. The only possibility of healing was time. Hannah had always considered scars to be, in a way, a person’s life story. Scars told a history, the revealed an individual’s most intimate secrets. Hannah wondered what one might think if they examined her scars.

“Don’t insult me. I’m a healer, Mr Manley. I know quite well what a werewolf bite looks like and what it does.” Hannah sat up straighter, carefully watching Manley with displeasure. “I hardly think it’s necessary for me to come here in May. I am a qualified healer, I am fully aware of how to handle a werewolf transformation.” She had already done it once. “And after the chaotic mess of the March full moon, which I witnessed firsthand, I believe I am more than within my rights to say I would handle it better than your department.”

Griffon wasn't surprised when Hannah bristled over his questions and the statement she would have to come in for the May full moon. "I am not insulting you, Miss Bombay. That is the furthest from my intentions. It is my job to care for this department- and to make sure that proper questions and steps are taken. And that's what I am doing. When you fill out the paper work the same questions will be asked."

And then she insinuated that he was incompetent. It was Griffon's turn to fire back this time. "I will not have you stand here and insult my department after all that they have been through!" he state loudly, slapping his desk. "What happened had nothing to do with our own incompetence. It was a tragic accident, and there were lives lost- and our goal is to prevent that from happening. We had no idea there were beasts out there like these direwolves- and now that we do know, we have to do our very best to prevent that sort of thing from spreading."

"We can't know if you were bitten by one of these mutated werewolves or not without observing you throughout the course of the may full moon. Your pride be damned, Bombay. The public is a hell of a more important than your pride. And you can either arrive of your own free will and prove to us you aren't a dire- or you can come clad in silver shackles. I'm sure that Bagnold would love to have the privilege of fetching you from Mungo's to bring you here if you decide you want to be difficult just because you're facing a difficult time and having to learn to deal with this affliction."

"A lot of people are dead, even more have had their lives ruined, and people are terrified and we're doing all we can to get a handle on it. You take the risk as a healer to come into contact with this sort of thing. It's unfortunate that you are out there saving lives and have had yours ruined in the process. But if you don't take the proper precautions until we're sure what kind of werewolf you are, you'll be going against your own nature by killing and attacking without being able to control it. And I won't let you do that."

"You can hate me all you want for it, madam. You can think I'm an unintelligent pig, even. I'll admit I'm not the most diplomatic or articulate man for this job- but I'm not going to put lives at risk to prevent offending you. It's not the right thing to do."