(A/N): We're back with Remus and Elaine, in the aftermath of Remus finding out that Leo fed from Elaine.

Trigger Warning: Brief mention of self-harm (Elaine has to explain that something happened the same day they confronted Leo about his self-harm). A mention of Tarea Hugar and his affect on Elaine's life (Elaine is surprised that Remus doesn't know what vervain is, then realises that she only does because her father is a Hunter). Lots of talk of human blood drinking, basically.

Remus

I couldn't believe what I was hearing- Leo had bitten Elaine? When? Why? Well, I mean, I know why, but... why? Leo was so... at least, I thought he was against the idea of drinking from humans directly, let alone drinking from Elaine. Elaine, fiery and sweet Elaine, had let- No. If we were being real here, Elaine hadn't let Leo do anything; by the way she reacted when it became clear that I'd figure it out, it obviously wasn't something she was upset about- which meant she'd likely encouraged him to do so. In fact, knowing Leo... she'd had to fight him quite hard for it- which led to my question: Was it worth the fight? I had to know.

Judging by the way her cheeks turned into veritable tomatoes, I thought it just might be. "I- I-" She shook her head as if to clear it. "Not that it's any of your business-" Like pretty much everything else involving my two best friends, apparently. "-but yes," She said, ducking her head as if her flush wasn't sufficient to convey the breadth of her embarrassment- not at what they'd done, but at having to tell me. It was a gesture I knew she wouldn't have made to many other people- maybe only Leo, or her family- and it spoke of a kind of trust and vulnerability I'd rarely ever experienced directed my way, if ever; that sentiment nearly brought me to my knees.

I couldn't help but pull her in, and press a kiss to her forehead. "Elaine," I murmured against her hairline, and I felt her surprise in the stiff set of her body- until she relaxed into the embrace, that is. "I- I'm sorry." She made a noise in the back of her throat that sounded confused... or maybe just curious. "Got a bit overwhelmed, there- It's not- Ignore me, for a minute." She huffed a quiet little laugh.

"You sound like Leo," She said, which I thought was quite the commendation, especially coming from her. "Maybe if you didn't try to keep all your emotions inside, they wouldn't bubble over like this." That was fair, I guess, but not something I could let slide, given the circumstances.

"Is that what you told him after you let him drink from you?" I asked jokingly, and earned myself a snort in return. We were both silent for a second, before I said, "How'd you convince him?"

She took so long to reply that I thought I'd misread the situation- that she hadn't had to convince him- but eventually, she confirmed my assumption. "We'd talked about it beforehand- briefly. The day we confronted him about the- the cutting-" I didn't blame her for faltering, over that one. "-after I sent you guys away, we- I got him to agree to consider feeding from me." Right. Because Leo's entire excuse for hurting himself- at least, the one he'd given us- was that he needed the pain to keep himself in control of his bloodlust... and if he was satiating that bloodlust by drinking from Elaine, then hopefully, he wouldn't need to hurt himself anymore. The reasoning made sense- but unfortunately, I highly doubted that was the only reason he was choosing to hurt himself.

"Okay, and... how did you go from him saying he'd 'consider it', to actually getting him to do it?" She pulled her head back to meet my eyes, and when she did, her cheeks were red again.

"We, uh... so, we were... 'getting along particularly well'," Hm? "In the room of requirement. Alone. Intimately." ...ah. Well. Good for them. And also, uh... how 'intimately' were were talking, here? Just snogging, or...? "Leo said he was worried about biting me, because the safety precaution I'd suggested- stunning him with my wand- may not be effective enough to stop him, considering that vampires tend to have a resistance to magic. I mean, you remember what happened when Maloney stunned him- and he's a lot stronger now than he was back then." And getting stronger every day- according to that conversation we'd had a while back. "So, I suggested we use vervain, as a backup."

I felt my brow furrow. "What's vervain?" I asked, and she paused for a second, then barked out a bitter laugh. It confused me, until her explanation came, a moment later.

"Right, sorry; forgot that's not- Not everybody grew up with a Hunter for a father." Now, her bitterness made perfect sense. "Vervain is a plant that's extremely harmful to vampires." How... how harmful, exactly? And... who was in charge of the vervain, now? Was Elaine keeping track of it, or could Leo be- Well, I'll get back to that, later. "Leo said he knew Slughorn kept some in his storeroom, so he went and got it, and then- well." Her cheeks pinked quite prettily, but I forced myself to ignore it, given the circumstances. Abruptly, she changed tacks. "He told me he'd always wanted to taste my blood." It was partially the suddenness of this statement, and the statement itself, that made me blink.

"I... suppose that's to be expected," I said, and Elaine's nose scrunched up to match her eyebrows.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I- Really?

I sighed, then shrugged with my arms still around her. "It means," I started. "He drinks blood, and you have blood." She seemed displeased with this evaluation, so I continued. "You're also- Elaine. He's- With the way he feels about you, it's not- I don't know why you're surprised."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "This is Leo we're talking about- I don't assume anything about what he might be thinking or feeling anymore, because every time I do-" She cut herself off with a shake of her head. "I also- I don't expect him to be so honest... especially not about things like that." Probably fair.

"But he's... getting better about that?" She bit her lip, then cautiously, nodded.

"I- I think so. At least, about certain things. He's... I don't know. I don't know what's changed, but... I'm hopeful that it's a good thing."

We were both quiet for a minute, before I tugged on the end of one of her curls, gently. "You didn't really answer my question," I reminded her, and she groaned- clearly already knowing what I was referring to.

"Remus!" She whined, which made me smile- if only because, again, I knew she wouldn't use that tone with most other people. "You- You're- Ugh." Her exasperation was incredibly gratifying. "It..." She trailed off momentarily, the blush more than returned. "I liked it," She admitted grudgingly. "I really, really liked it- but... I don't know if I'll ever be able to convince him to try again."

(A/N): Last chapter of 2023, the next chapter will be uploaded on the 1/1/24 which keeps to the two day schedule, but the one after that should be 8/1/24. Huh, I guess that means I'll be uploading every Monday, next year- which means, because there's 53 Mondays in 2024, you'll be getting 53 chapters, instead of 52. Neat!

Remus's concern about Leo and the vervain was originally a bit more subtle, but I knew if I left it like that, I'd inevitably forget what the hell I was talking about, so it should be clearer now- at least to me.