(A/N): Hey Guys! So, usually I write my chapters in Word before uploading them to here... unfortunately, on my school laptop, it won't let me open word, so I have to just write it straight into the Document thing. I've also accidentally just deleted all my work done in the past five weeks... -_-

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise.

Trigger Warning: Brief mentions of self harm.

Leo

Remus, Elaine, and I were sitting in the Room of Requirement, chatting absently, when the door burst open. I had made sure to sit slightly further away from the other two then I normally did, due to my small- major- slip up the previous night with Brooke, and I was so preoccupied that I hadn't even heard them coming. Remus and Elaine jumped as the others- minus Lily- entered, used to having me warn them, and three more chairs appeared out of thin air courtesy of James. "It has come to our attention," He began, and I rolled my eyes.

"Does no one say, 'hey, how are you?' any more?" Sirius grinned at me and reached out to ruffle my hair, but before he even got close, I flinched away, leaving James, Elaine, and Remus to stare at me worriedly.

"As I was saying," James said, tearing his eyes away from me to move them to Elaine and Remus as well. "It has come to our attention that you three are studying animagi. And due to a massive amount of deduction work, we have figured out that it's because of Moony's furry little problem."

Elaine snorted quietly, shaking her head. "Took you long enough..." Sirius faux-glared at her.

"And we want in."

We stared at them for a second before Elaine scoffed. "Leo's only just barely letting me do it, what makes you think we'll let you three attempt it?" Remus nodded furiously, and I just smirked slightly- though I was still a little perturbed by the thought that Elaine felt like she needed my approval in order to continue the animagi process.

"Well, we're Moony's friends too! Besides, you three will need all the help you can get! It's not like it's easy to become an animagus." I chuckled quietly, and they turned their gaze to me.

"And what are you smirking at, sir-smirk's-a-lot?" Sirius asked somewhat bitterly, and I just stared at him while activating that small, trigger-like switch inside my brain that made me change.

I could feel my features changing, quicker than last time- it wasn't painful, but it was definitely very strange. Within a few seconds I hopped up on to the table in my cheetah-form, and saw the boys gaping at me with wide eyes as I watched them with my animalistic blue ones. "You-" James stuttered.

"You've already done it," Peter breathed in awe, and I admired his courage for a brief second before pouncing at him- or more precisely, just over his head. He squealed and dove for the floor, and I laughed, a quiet growling noise erupting from my throat like a harsh purr.

"Was that a laugh?" Elaine asked, a fond grin on her lips, and I made the change back, straightening back up into a sitting position.

"I don't know, was it?" It was almost like the room breathed collective sigh of relief.

"Thank God- you were acting a little weird this morning."

I raised an eyebrow at Remus's exultation. "Was I?" I asked, perplexed, and James grimaced.

"So you've already done it." I turned my focus to him, a little surprised by the sudden change of attitude. "Will you help us with it?" I shook my head quickly.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told Damsel- if you want to do it, I won't stop you, but I'm not exactly going to hold your hand and guide you through it."

Sirius raised an eyebrow at Elaine. "He's feisty today, isn't he?" Elaine shrugged, one corner of her lips raised in an approximation of a grin, before there was a quiet knock on the door. Everyone turned their gaze to me- even those who didn't know I was a vampire- and I rolled my eyes before honing my hearing slightly to find out who it was. I swallowed thickly before standing up.

"It's Brooke." The others looked confused, but I moved quickly towards the door and pulled it open- and slipped through the small gap before closing it after me.

"Leo," She greeted with some surprise, but I grabbed her arm lightly and used it to guide her through corridor after corridor until we were far enough away that I was sure the others couldn't eavesdrop.

"Brooke..." I started, biting my lip and looking away- looking anywhere but at her. "I'm sorry about last night," I told her quietly, and she laughed.

"Leo, it wasn't you fault- it was mine. I shouldn't have pushed you. Besides..." She glanced down at her wrist, where the injury had faded to a scar. "I did this to myself."

I stared at her for a full minute before taking a quick step back. She looked offended by this, but I shook my head. "Not that. You stink." Her eyebrows shot up and she looked even more offended, but I rolled my eyes. "You smell like blood." Her eyes widened slightly in understanding and she took a step back as well, probably remembering last night. "You know, you're pretty strong." She looked confused, but then she must have realised that I was talking about the way she'd managed to push me away, and gave me a shrug.

"Veela genes, I guess."

I glanced back towards where the Room of Requirement was, before returning to her. "Brooke- Elaine and Remus know that I'm part veela." She stared at me, silently encouraging me to continue. "And... I wanted to maybe tell them that I wasn't the only one in the school." She bit her lip, wringing her hands together, and my eyes zoned in on the minuscule cuts on the side of her neck, put there by me. The blood had been cleaned away, but the small cuts- the product of my razor-sharp teeth- hadn't faded in the slightest.

"Would you tell them... who it is?" She asked nervously, and I shrugged.

"Not if you didn't want me to."

She looked incredibly relieved, and nodded. "You can tell them, then. I just... I don't think I'm ready for the world to know, y'know?" I nodded- I knew exactly how she felt.

(A/N): So, what did you think? The power has gone out twice in the past half hour... I'm in maths at the moment, and I got to recess in four minutes, so I probably won't get another chapter done until at least this afternoon.

This chapter has had minor edits made to it on 30/12/22 - Added the trigger warning.

This chapter has had edits made to it on 22/2/24 - formatting, and reconfiguring of sentences so they make more sense.