(A/N): We're back with Leo, Lisbet and Jerremyah, and they finally get out of bed. I mention two new characters, one I've been considering bringing in for a while now, and one I only thought about as I was writing this chapter. Foreshadowing, I guess? Leo mentions things that have happened in the past, concerning Mia and Amelia's relationship, but since those haven't taken place yet in the Amelia arc, technically they're... future plot points?

Trigger Warnings: References to child abuse, but nothing in depth. Basically just everyone acknowledging the consequences of Leo (and Mia) having grown up in that environment. Caliste is mentioned, which, as always, carries connotations about her situation.

Leo

It was hard to get out of bed- not just emotionally, but physically, too. Lisbet and Jerremyah hadn't tried to pull me back down, or hinder my departure- beyond maintaining an exceptionally appealing cocoon for me to hide away in- and yet, even after I'd decided to leave, it took me at least another half hour to actually put feet on the ground. In a gross misuse of vampire speed, the two older vampires were off of the bed before I even turned around, and when I did, Lisbet was tentatively unsheathing one of my pillows.

"Is this... okay?" I knew she was asking whether I was okay with her helping- without prior permission, no less- but out of context, it just looked like she thought I was really particular about the state of my bedding. Rather than trying to fight past the lump in my throat, I started stripping the covers off the bed in an attempt to give myself time to find the words to tell her how I truly felt on the subject.

"It's... fine." So much for that, I guess. It took me a second to realise why she'd started to put the pillow down after I said that, and when I did, I shook my head fiercely. "I don't mean- It's okay. I don't mind. I mean, it's not a prob-" I blew out a frustrated breath- why were words always so hard? "I appreciate the help, Lisbet. Thank you." She blinked as if the expression of gratitude was something shocking, and then her entire being softened. Not just her face, not just her body, but her entire bearing seemingly right down to her soul; soft as the pillow she was just barely still holding.

She lifted it again with a whole new vigor, and shed it of its casing in one swift movement that, funnily enough, reminded me of skinning a rabbit. "So, uh..." I looked to Jerremyah, who was standing at the side of the bed awkwardly, now that he'd put his slippers back on. "Could you use another set of hands, or...?" I knew what he was asking, without directly asking it, because he didn't want to specifically offer his help- lest I be more inclined to turn him down because of it. Luckily for him, I wasn't quite sure why, but I was far more likely to accept help from him than I was from Lisbet- and because of that, I flashed him the biggest smile I could manage... which, unfortunately, was still smaller than I would've liked.

"You know what they say," By the look on his face he either didn't, or was expecting me to shoot him down. "Many hands make light work." Tentative relief flooded his face, and he cautiously started moving toward the rest of the pillows. "And even though we have super strength, I think we could all benefit from a little..." I flicked my eyes to catch Lisbet's briefly, in acknowledgement of her advice. "Delegating."

We made short work of the bedding, even without using vampire speed- it seemed to be an unspoken agreement, most likely because of how I'd said I liked doing things by hand- and once the mattress was exposed, Lisbet set about using magic to clean it. I watched her silently for a minute, and once she was done, she turned to look at me in a way that suggested she'd felt my eyes on her the whole time. "What?" She asked, and I shrugged.

"Nothing. I just- I've never seen some of those spells before; where'd you learn them?" She sort of froze for half a second, before she forced herself to start moving again, and when her eyes darted to Jerremyah, I followed the movement- only to find him struggling to hold back laughter. "What? What'd I say?"

Lisbet sighed, but I was fairly sure it had more to do with her being embarrassed, than actually unhappy with my questioning. "Leo...well, the- the composition of mattresses may have changed quite a bit from when I was human- and therefore had the most need of these sorts of spells- but... once I went to Hogwarts- Once I passed a certain... milestone, it became an extremely useful skill set to have. Especially after I left Hogwarts, and I didn't have house elves or older sisters to clean up my messes for me, anymore." Her messes...?

Oh. "Oh! Oh- y'know, I was thinking about how useful being able to cast those spells would've been when Mia or I wet the bed when we were kids-" She didn't quite a wince, but it was still a pained jolt, and I knew it was because she was likely pondering what the punishment for such a thing might be. "-but now that you've brought it up, do you think... I don't know if Mia knows how to do that. Is that something they still teach, or is it- Do they leave it to the- the family?" My stumble wasn't subtle, and I didn't bother trying to hide it; if a little vulnerability was the price I had to pay to take care of Mia, I'd gladly do so.

"I'm not sure..." She said softly, tilting her head. "Is there anyone in that place you think might have taught her about them?"

I considered it for a few seconds, then shrugged again. "Not my mother, certainly. Nor grand-maman- Caliste. The only other female family members are Isolde and Aunt Markaisa, and- well... they aren't exactly fond of children." Lisbet blinked hard, which should've tipped me off. "The only person I could see having a good enough relationship with Mia to be willing to teach her- and the desire to keep her out of trouble to inspire her to want to- is Amelia." Lisbet nodded slowly.

"Mmhm, right. And do you think Amelia would know these spells, in the first place?"

I thought about it, then said, "I mean, probably, righ- Hey!" Lisbet's face immediately morphed into one of false surprise, but what seemed to be genuine contrition, at least. "God, stupid- This is why I don't like to talk at breakfast, I'm far too honest in the morning!"

Jerremyah shrugged, looking simultaneously vaguely amused; curious, and concerned. It was impressive, really. "Keep your mouth closed all you want, kiddo- we'll be here anyway." Unwillingly, I softened at that, and even as I shot Lisbet a dark look, I could tell by her face that it was 'lampshade' dark, rather than 'depths of the earth', dark.

"Look, that's not- Isolde means nothing; Aunt Markaisa is... complicated, and Amelia... that's more Mia's story to tell than mine. You've- She's not... new. You've heard about her before." Their eyebrows furrowed in matching expressions of confusion. "Amelia was our governess," They seemed surprised that I was being so forthcoming, but honestly... this wasn't about me; not really. Not directly. That made it a lot easier to talk about. "She- she was strict, but not- she never hurt us. And after-" I cut myself off, remembering that I hadn't told them about my broken leg, or the other circumstances surrounding my ejection- rejection- from the family. "-the incident-"

They both reacted physically to that, jolting in shock even as their faces showed that they were flummoxed. "I'm sorry, what? 'The incident'?" Lisbet asked, and Jerremyah wasn't far behind.

"That's worse! That's actually worse than not talking! I don't know how you found a way, but you did- Honestly, I'm kind of impre-" Lisbet smacked him lightly on the shoulder. "Look, I can appreciate an art form-" I cut him off now, knowing he wasn't actually planning on going anywhere with it.

"She took care of Mia after I left- was forcibly removed, whatever," I amended, just to appease Lisbet as she opened her mouth to protest. "We got on good terms, right at the very end, and I think it was a wake-up call for her. And... my parents made her suffer for not doing exactly what she was supposed to- which as I think you know, I can relate to." Lisbet winced. "I want... during the summer- or maybe even Easter Holidays- I want to facilitate her and Mia's reunion. I know they got close, and... I'd like to see her again, too."

Lisbet hesitated for a few seconds, examining me carefully, and once she'd apparently seen what she wanted to see, she nodded. "Alright, Nounours; I trust your judgement. If you want to bring her here- or go see her somewhere else- I'll do everything I can to help you do just that." Which was only one of the many reasons I loved her.

(A/N): Lisbet: *embarrassed, having to explain to Leo that she learned the spells to clean the mattress because of her period*

Leo: *trying to help her be less embarrassed, by mentioning that he thought the spells would have been useful when he or Mia wet the bed when they were kids*

Lisbet: *winces*

Leo: 'Oh, she's wincing because she's pondering what the punishment for that was.'

Lisbet: 'But... but you're STILL a kid!'

Translations (French):

Grand-maman = Grandmother

Nounours = Teddy Bear

Trigger Warning (for the next information segments, about Markaisa and Isolde): HEAVY misogyny/misogynistic undertones, typical terrible pureblood dynamics, and maybe some hints at grooming/predatory sexual behavior, depending on how young Isolde was when she and Daimen met/married.

So, 'Aunt Markaisa' could only have one or two possible connections to Leo. Since I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that Cipicia is an only child (if I haven't, here I am saying it, she is an only child), that means she has to be on the Joannis side of the family- which means she could either be Sebastien's sister, or possibly his brother's wife... she's his older sister. You may note that Leo (well, technically Mia) being the Joannis heir means that the line passed through Sebastien rather than Markaisa, even though Markaisa is older, because she's somewhat of a... problem child. And while the things she's done would probably be overlooked if she was a man, their father, Daimen Joannis is... well, he's a misogynistic d-bag, but he's sneaky about it.

Which brings us to Isolde. Isolde is Daimen's second, MUCH younger wife. I'm not sure exactly how old she is, but judging by the fact that Leo has an opinion of her, she must have been married to Daimen for at least a few years before Leo was kicked out, which means she was at least... I'd say 21, in 1967? Since Sebastien was born in 1938 (making him 29 in 1967, to Cipicia's 27), and Markaisa is two years older, which means she was born in 1936 (making her 31 in 1967), that means that Isolde is likely a few years younger than her stepchildren. The two women are both said to not be very fond of children, but I imagine those are for different reasons- Markaisa, because she's expected to have kids in order to further the family line (and refuses to), and Isolde, because she's quite young herself at that point in time, and since she married fairly young, probably had her opinion on the matter informed by her new husband, Daimen, who already had grown children, and didn't (really) want to upset the already tenuous balance by having more children with his new, much younger wife. There's also probably some other (heavily misogynistic) things that influence that choice for him, but I won't get into that here (or maybe ever, but if I do, it'll be in Amelia's arc, not Leo's). Leo says 'Isolde means nothing', because she is his stepfather's much younger stepmother, and even before he knew he wasn't related to Sebastien, she was probably more treated as 'Daimen's New Young Trophy Wife' rather than an actual family member- and since she didn't try to be seen as such, it was never really an issue. He also says that because he doesn't really care if he reveals HER existence, because she barely means anything to him. I doubt she came to visit often, and when she did, they both had bigger issues to worry about. He doesn't hate her, but he doesn't particularly like her, either.

Technically, both women should have had the title 'Mistress Joannis' like Cipicia, at one point or another, but I imagine the only person that would ever try to use that for Isolde is Daimen, and honestly, I'm not sure he would when they're around family, anyway- because even he only sees her as a (rather outwardly respectable, but still) trophy. Markaisa either never used it (outright refusing to use it, to honor her mother, until she died), or only used it to piss Isolde/Cipicia off, even after she was married. Now that she's married, she's obviously 'Mistress (whatever her husband's last name is)'.

Also, I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've mentioned that Lisbet had older sisters. She mentioned in the past that she became a nun 'because of her mother', but I also think one of the reasons she joined was because she was free to do so- her sister's had already grown up and been married off (and likely had children of their own), and Lisbet decided to join St Brigid's to honor her mother. Then she met Jerremyah, and... the rest is (t)his(s)tory.

Also x2, when Leo says he doesn't like talking at breakfast because he's too early in the morning, this can be explained by breakfast at Hogwarts requiring students to get up and dressed, then traverse the moving staircases to get to their table in the Great Hall, so by the time Leo actually gets to breakfast, he's probably more on guard than he is at home. And also... he's lying. He just got relaxed around Lisbet and Jerremyah, and Lisbet took advantage of that (by not stopping him from saying what he was already saying, if you can call that 'taking advantage'), and wanted an excuse to hide his weakness.

Oh, and another thing, you may have noticed that Leo mentioned that Lisbet's pillowcase removal reminded him of skinning a rabbit. You might be asking yourself, 'why does Leo know what that looks like?' Well, in the chapter 'Body Of Work', Leo says "I don't know about you, but I don't have much practice butchering large game animals." Notice how he specifies 'large game animals'? Well, I have this theory that during Leo's childhood (probably when he was about five or so), Daimen and Sebastien took him hunting (actual hunting, not Vampire Hunting) to try to toughen him up (because he was a bit too empathetic for their liking, even then), and while they didn't actually make him kill anything, they DID make him watch it be skinned (by someone else, not them, they aren't skinning their own animals). If you're wondering how they hunt, I was actually curious about that too, because I originally imagined guns, then went 'duh, wizards', then realised they also couldn't use Avada Kedavra, and was forced to wonder how exactly wizards hunted, after the Unforgivables were made... well, Unforgivable, in 1717 (because surely some of them must, right?). Well, turns out another person already asked that question on stackexchange, and I saw that someone suggested the 'Arrow Shooting Spell', often used by Appleby Arrows supporters at Quidditch matches to show their support for their teams. The British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters banned the use of the spell at matches when referee Nugent Potts was pierced through the nose with a stray arrow in 1894- which shows that these arrows are, in fact, corporeal, and thus, could probably be used to kill a rabbit or other animal.

One more thing (last one, I promise)- something I've been meaning to address for a while. So, technically, I think underage wizards from pureblood families are supposed to be able to use magic at home (depending on whether their parents allow it or not), since the trace can't detect whether an underage person or an over-age person uses magic, just that magic happened near an underage person in an environment it wasn't supposed to (such as Harry getting busted for Dobby using magic near him), I think Leo should technically be able to use magic at home (at the Ellwood Estate), and would've been able to use it at the Joannis Manor (and likely did, unintentionally, due to magical outbursts), but let's chalk that up to the Joannis's and the Ellwood's refusing to let their children use magic in the house (lest they break something/learn to fight back...), okay? As for the Folley's... maybe Audrey's house isn't designated properly, or something, because they're trying to hide from Tarea.