(A/N): Hey Guys! So, this chapter was pretty easy to write, for once. I hope you like it, even though Leo and his father are pretty damn angst-y in this chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Leo, Elaine, Shari and Nicholai.

Leo

By the time I made my way back to the Estate a few hours later, my father was sitting in the middle of the lawn, all alone, waiting for me. I sighed quietly, shaking my head and walking over to him.

I stared at him before sitting down in front of him, legs crossed and head bowed, waiting.

"I'm sorry." My father said a few minutes later, and I raised an eyebrow.

"For what?" I asked curiously, wondering what he could possibly be sorry for.

"For being the one responsible for inflicting this mess of an existence upon you." I winced, but remained still. "I expected...I expected things to be normal, or at least somewhat normal, but not like this." I fought the urge to wince again.

"What do you mean?" I asked quietly, and he glanced up at me for the first time.

"You weren't supposed to develop such a fighting ability as you exhibited earlier for at least another year or two." I chuckled bitterly, shaking my head.

"So even among weirdo's I'm a freak, good to know." My father raised his head to look me in the eye.

"Don't say that. You're not a freak, you are perfectly normal in my eyes." I stared at the ground, avoiding his concerned gaze.

"But to no one else. How would people react, if they found out what I was?" I thought of Remus and Elaine, shaking my head. They were the exception. "They'd call me a freak, a monster." I looked at him as he flinched. "They would say the same thing about you, too. But what they don't know is that we aren't monsters. We're people. We have souls, and most of us use them." I stood up, brushing the dirt off my pants.

"Are you coming?" I asked, and he slowly turned his gaze to me, a small smile on his face.

"No. Not yet." He told me quietly, before returning to stare into the depths of the forest from which I had emerged. I stared at him for a second before shrugging it off, and walking inside, where I found Shari at the dining table.

"That was quite the speech." She said, and I ignored her in favor of sitting down. "Your parents..." I glanced up at this, surprised.

"What about them?" She raised her eyes from the wood of the table she had lowered them to, watching me.

"Your mother and fake father, I mean. Were they...did they...did they call you a monster?" I blinked, rubbing my forehead with my fingertips.

"I'm too tired for this." I told her, standing up and heading for the stairs, but she grabbed my wrist as I made my way past her. It seems my answer had been made obvious to her, because she wrapped her arms around my shoulders.

"I don't care if I look like I could be your older sister, if you need someone, consider me your mother Leo."

She said, planting a soft kiss on my forehead, making me slightly uncomfortable. God knows my real mother was never this compassionate, and my father had never been the touchy-feely type.

This was the first time that I had ever really felt like...I had two parental figures who actually cared about me.

"Thank you." I whispered, hugging her back tightly before releasing her quickly. "But I really am very tired."

She grinned at me before waving a hand to the stairs and returning to the book she had been reading. As I headed for the stairs, I saw my bag, my messenger bag, under her chair.

"Hey Shari," I said casually, and she nodded for me to continue without turning around. "What're you reading?"

She froze, and I had my answer. "So much for my privacy." I muttered, snatching the book off her, picking my messenger bag from under the chair and slipping it back inside before heading for the stairs.

"Leo, why are you researching animagi?" I didn't stop, having been asked this question so many times now by Lily that freezing was no longer a natural reaction.

"I'm getting an early start on my transfiguration OWL, I hear it's a part of the test." I swung my bag over my shoulder before freezing as she replied.

"And why do you smell like werewolf then?" I turned slowly to face her, and she smiled at me smugly, one eyebrow raised. "Well?"

"My best male friend is a werewolf, get over it." She blinked, her smile dropping before she grinned at me.

"Oh, so it's for OWL's, and not to help him out?" I froze again, and she stood up, smirking proudly. "You should give up now, it's wrong and very dangerous." She continued, her smile still on, and I stared at her, perplexed. She slipped a piece of paper into my hand and I unfolded it while she continued to scold me.

'Sorry, but if your father knew I was endorsing this he'd kill me...

Probably somewhat literally.

Meet me in the second floor drawing room at midnight, I'll explain everything then.'

I nodded, showing I understood.

"You got that?" She asked, referring to the scolding she had been giving me the whole time.

"I understand, I won't even research it anymore." I told her with a grin.

"Good, now go to sleep."

A few hours later, it was midnight, and I silently made my way to the drawing room on the second floor, just as Shari had designated.

"My god you're noisy." She remarked as I closed the door behind me as quietly as possible, and rolled my eyes.

"My god you're annoying." I mimicked and she waggled a finger at me.

"No one likes a smartarse. Well, except for that Elaine girlfriend of yours." I blushed and pointed a finger at her.

"We're just friends!" I hissed, and she chuckled.

"Whatever you say, lover boy." I rolled my eyes before waving a hand.

"What did you want to explain?" She cleared her throat before sitting on the ground cross-legged, and gesturing for me to do the same.

"I want to help you transform. Into an animagus, I mean." I stared at her, trying to see if she was serious.

"You're kidding." I spluttered, but she shook her head.

"Nope." She said, popping the p. "Completely serious. You see, a little while after I was turned, I became an animagus. Maybe, with the help of someone's who's done it before, you won't get yourself killed in the process." She raised an eyebrow at me, trying to make me understand.

"Thank you." I said for the second time tonight, and she waved a hand.

"Is anyone else involved in this?" I hated lying to her, but I shook my head anyway.

"No, just me." She raised an eyebrow slightly before shaking her head lightly.

"Alright, we'll get started with the basics now. I'll tell you more through the rest of the break, and maybe we can attempt it during the summer." I beamed at her and she rolled her eyes.

"I swear, sometimes you act like a thirty year old, other times you're a six year old on a sugar rush."

(A/N): What do you think? Is Shari being an animagus too convenient or what?

Please review and/or check out my other stories!

This chapter has had some minor edits made to it on 29/12/22 - Modifying Nicholai's phrasing again, to better reflect things that become known later in the story.

This chapters has had some edits made to it on 16/2/24 - I originally said Shari was a registered animagus, but I don't think that makes any sort of sense, practically. Since I later bring in the concept of vampire's obtaining illegal fake documents of identification (like birth certificates) in order to be able to exist in the world without people knowing that they're vampires, and 99.99% of vampires aren't 'registered' with the Ministry, I don't think- unless she pretended to be human at the time- Shari could have registered as an animagus without outing herself as a vampire, which would have lingering consequences. Even if she did manage to successfully fake being human (which she likely wouldn't be able to), she wouldn't have been able to keep up with the requirements for being a registered animagus without, again, outing herself as a vampire, so I think even if she had been registered then, she wouldn't be registered now. Like, if she had been a registered animagus before she turned, she would've had to fake her death within a few years of her being turned, in order to avoid the Ministry realising that she suddenly wasn't aging. So, yeah. I decided to change it to just 'animagus', rather than 'registered animagus'. I think I originally wanted to contrast Shari being an 'official' animagus with Leo and the others being 'unofficial' animagi, but I don't think that works, logically. Narratively, maybe, but not logically.