(A/N): Lisbet, Jerremyah and Greygorry talk about things. A little more backstory, on their relationships, Greygorry and his sire, and how Greygorry and Nicholai knew each other.

Lisbet

After Leo and Danniel had left, I led Jerremyah and Greygorry to my bedroom- which was a dangerous notion, as Jerremyah felt free to remark upon now that Leo wasn't around to hear it.

"If I'd known all I had to do to be allowed back into your bedroom was to team up with Grey, I would've done it sooner." It was a joke- and one entirely for the benefit of the people in the house around us- most likely attempting to listen in- considering that Grey and I both knew that Jerremyah had undoubtedly tried that already. I held no illusions that Grey and Jerremyah had enjoyed their own escapades while Jerremyah and I were apart- after all, it was the same for Grey and I, and he'd made it clear to me on numerous occasions that he'd recently seen Jerremyah, or would soon see him- not to mention that I'd lost count of the amount of times Greygorry had come to see me practically reeking of the other man.

I'd also lost count of the amount of times I'd curled up with him, desperate to absorb as much of Jerremyah's scent from him as possible- how many times I'd spent days afterwards relishing the scent of all three of us on my bedding, even though Jerremyah himself had never been anywhere near it. The wry look Greygorry shot me told me he was thinking much the same thing, and I fought the physiological impulse to flush in embarrassment.

"Maybe if you'd teamed up with Grey, you wouldn't have been stupid enough to incur my wrath and lose access to my bedroom in the first place." Jerremyah at least had the courtesy to look a little bit chagrined- whether that's because he regretted his decision, or just because I'd mentioned it, even I couldn't tell. Greygorry moved his arm, starting to swing their conjoined hands a little, probably trying to distract Jerremyah, and bring him back to his normal, maddening self- which was, unfortunately, how we both preferred him.

"Or if you'd listened to any piece of advice I'd given you in the past decade, she might have forgiven you by now." Jerremyah glared at him, but it lacked much heat.

"You mean like when you advised me to join you in Sidonie's service because it might make Lisbet jealous?" Greygorry face immediately turned a deep purple color, and he frantically shook his head- first at Jerremyah, and then turning to me.

"Joke! It was a joke!"

I'm sure it was a joke- if Jerremyah hadn't decided to join Greygorry in Sidonie's service in the two decades before he'd met me, I doubted there was anything that would make him want to join now, more than three centuries later. Even if being in Sidonie's service, meant being under Sidonie's protection- and being under Sidonie's protection, inevitably meant being under Sidonie. And Jerremyah being under Sidonie would, undoubtedly, make me jealous. I wasn't typically the jealous type, and if Jerremyah and I were no longer in a relationship there was technically no excuse for me to be jealous, but Sidonie... was Sidonie. There was a reason Greygorry was still in her service, three and a half centuries since he had first agreed to let her turn him, in order to 'service' her.

"Mm, sure," Jerremyah murmured, releasing Greygorry's hand and moving away from him, walking across the room towards my dresser. Uh oh. There were pictures on that dresser! He grabbed one of the frames, and turned to face me with a smug expression- which clearly only mostly hid his surprise. "You've still got photos of me out?" Ugh, I should've put those away as soon as I knew he was coming to potentially join the clan, but honestly, it hadn't even crossed my mind.

"...I looked too good in that one to hide it." He glanced down at the photo, and when he looked back up, he had a wicked grin on his face.

"You certainly do." I saw Grey roll his eyes somewhat indulgently, before he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Are we going to talk about this, or not?"

I pursed my lips, then pulled out my wand and pointed it towards the door. "Silentium Sonus." A wave of magic pressed down over the room, and I knew it passed over Greygorry and Jerremyah at the same time it passed over me, because I watched Jerremyah try to physically shake off the sensation, and Greygorry's mouth twitched downwards into a frown.

"Is that necessary?"

I glanced at Jerremyah, who, having put the original back where it'd come from, returned to the dresser to inspect the other photographs. "...Not... not exactly necessary, just..." I met Grey's gaze as I answered him, and I saw the understanding in his eyes.

"You're embarrassed. You don't want them to know." It wasn't exactly that I didn't want them to know how I felt about Leo- I'd been far to obvious about it to think I could feasibly hide it from them, but... for them to know exactly how badly I craved it... Yes, the thought was embarrassing to me- mortifying, in fact.

"It- If they know, I can't... guarantee they won't... tell him. And I can't- I won't- put that on him." Grey looked- he looked more concerned than I thought he would. Even knowing that he'd been training Leo for more than two years during the school term, I wouldn't have thought he would've been so worried about how Leo would be impacted by this situation. Was that just because I'd shown to care for him, or because Greygorry himself had a soft spot for Leo? If there was anyone I believed could endear themselves to my old friend, it was Leo.

"So he doesn't- know? How could he possibly not know?"

I blushed, embarrassed I'd been so obvious about my maternal instincts where Leo was concerned, and I crossed my arms over my chest as if to protect myself from Greygorry's scrutinizing gaze. "I'm not usually quite so conspicuous about it, but... things have changed, recently. Not just since... since Nicholai-" Greygorry shifted uncomfortably, and I knew it was because he was thinking of his old... friend? I didn't know whether they would still have referred to each other as such, but they certainly got along better than Nicholai and Jerremyah, and both men being academics had brought them closer together- in fact, I knew they'd collaborated on a few different academic projects over the years, so clearly even if they hadn't been close, they were amicable. "But especially since he came home for Christmas." I had no doubts that both Jerremyah and Greygorry took note of my use of the word 'home'- as in, this wasn't just Leo's home, but mine, as well.

"And... how, exactly, do you feel for him?" I didn't miss the glance Greygorry shot in Jerremyah's direction- ah, obviously they'd spoken more in depth in the past about my reluctance to take in a kit, and it was in the forefront of Greygorry's mind now.

"Jerremyah and I have talked about it more extensively-" I shot a pointed look in Jerremyah's direction, before rolling my eyes as I recognized the fact that he was holding up one of my frilliest bras up to his chest, like he was trying it on for size. "You're a child." His head lifted, and he gave me a big, goofy grin, that reminded me so vividly of someone else that it hurt.

"You know red's my favorite color." Actually, I knew for a fact that it was really blue, but that wouldn't have worked with the lacy scarlet bra he was holding, and to Jerremyah, the joke came above all else.

"Put it down, I can't have you ruin that- it's my fanciest one!" Jerremyah and Greygorry shared a look- they knew if the bra was 'fancy', I never wore it- and they also knew that Jerremyah had ruined so many of my undergarments at this point that when we were together, I'd probably gone through more clothing in a year than most people went through in their whole lives.

"I can be careful," He told me, and I was surprised he wasn't throwing a euphemism my way- until he seemed to realise what he'd just said, and cocked an eyebrow before amending it. "I can be gentle." It was practically a purr, and I refused to let such a low effort attempt affect me, so I turned my attention back to Greygorry.

"Anyway." Greygorry, to his credit, tried as hard as he could to hide his considerable amusement. "You know Jerremyah and I have spoken about the fact I didn't want a kit, because I felt the entire thing is a bit unethical- if you're intentionally seeking out a person in need of help, for any purpose other than to help them out of the kindness of your heart." Greygorry, also, didn't look like he disagreed with my assessment. "We did, however, agree that sentiment kind of becomes moot if you're not seeking someone out, but taking care of someone you already know."

Greygorry's eyebrows furrowed. "And... are you taking care of him-" He gave me a pointed look. "Or are you taking care of him?" His eyes moved between Jerremyah and I, just as pointedly. Was I taking care of Leo, or were we taking care of him?

I refused to look in Jerremyah's direction, in order to try and judge his reaction, but even without looking at him, I could tell he was avoiding me just as readily. "I'm definitely taking care of him, but... You saw us, downstairs. The whole clan takes care of Leo." Greygorry gave me a dry look.

"I think we all know that's not what I meant."

I shrugged pointedly. "And I think we all know that any decision we make doesn't matter- It's all up to Leo in the end."

(A/N): Greygorry: 'You should have listened to me advice.'

Jerremyah: 'You shouldn't undermine me.'

Jerremyah: 'Like when you tried to get me to join your sire's harem to make Lisbet jealous?'

Greygorry: 'Oh shit, I'm dead. She's going to kill me.'

Greygorry: 'Joke! It was a joke!'

Lisbet: *rolls eyes*

INFO

Silentium Sonus - Silence Sound

This chapter has had minor edits made to it on 18/3/23 - So I originally said Greygorry is a Ravenclaw, like Nicholai... which doesn't make sense, because we've already established that Greygorry is French, and as such, went to Beauxbatons. I changed 'and both men being Ravenclaw had brought them closer together' to 'and both men being academics had brought them closer together'. Just know that Greygorry WOULD be a Ravenclaw, if he had gone to Hogwarts.

This chapter had had light edits made to it on 6/1/23 - To clarify who is speaking, at one point, and to make it a little less bullet-point-y, hopefully. Oh, also, to clean up the lack of contractions, because that's something I changed in later chapters, and when I came back it seemed super weird that Lisbet was always saying 'I had' instead of 'I'd', or 'he had' instead of 'he'd', etc.