(A/N): So I'm not entirely sure when I originally wrote this chapter, but its I think the fourth newest chapter? Meaning there are four written (or half written) to follow at this point. I do know that I wrote at least two of those more recently, but I'd guess this is probably less than a year old. Not sure though.

Disclaimer: Do people still do disclaimers? Is that still a thing?

Elaine

So my attempt to find out Leo's reasons behind hurting himself hadn't exactly worked... but at least I had convinced him that drinking from me was a viable option, and to keep it from the others.

Not that it would be hard to keep it from Lily, considering Leo was extremely hesitant to clue her in on the fact he was a vampire in the first place, but it would be infinitely harder to hide from Remus, and probably slightly more important.

I couldn't even begin to guess what he would think of this, given his crush on me, and the way he had reacted in the past upon seeing Leo and I in any sort of intimate setting.

I still wasn't quite sure how I felt about that. Remus was my second best friend, after Leo, and after finding out he had romantic feelings for me, I felt bad for not seeing it earlier. I was so focused on Leo... that I hadn't looked beyond the surface of my friendship with Remus, and I regretted making him watch me moon around after Leo for so long.

Speaking of who...

"You know, you haven't told me how you're handling the breakup." I pointed out as Leo's quill danced across the parchment on which he was currently writing his charms essay, and he paused.

"There isn't much to say." He murmured, his quill wavering back and forth above the paper as his hand searched for something to do. "We didn't break up that long ago." I tried to figure out if he was lying to me, but it wasn't like I was getting many visual clues, considering he had his back to me.

"Surely it's been enough time for you to get a vague inkling of how you're feeling though, right?" His hand stopped moving, like he had been hoping I wouldn't say that.

"I'm not exactly a 'feeling confronter'." He half-joked, clearly still dodging the subject.

"Just give me a number. On a scale of of one to ten, being super duper sad, one being fairly happy about it." He was silent for a second.

"'Super duper sad'?" I narrowed my eyes at the back of his head, knowing he'd see- feel- err, 'sense' it?

"Answer the question, Leo." His head and shoulders tilted in different directions.

"I don't know... maybe a three?" My eyebrows shot up.

"Ah, so that's why you didn't want to answer. You didn't want anyone to know you weren't completely bummed over the break up." He turned his head, flashing me his bright big blues.

"Well, it wasn't like we were planning our wedding or anything. I am going to miss the sex, though." He'd hinted at it before, really we all knew, but actually hearing him say it hurt me in ways I couldn't fully explain.

"...I'm... sure... you are." I struggled to get it out, it hurt to say it, to even think about it, but I couldn't exactly say anything about it. Leo had a right to date- and have sex with- whoever he wanted.

"Elaine?" He was facing me now, and as I blinked, I realised I was blinking back tears.

"Huh?" I questioned dimly, and Leo's expression softened tenfold upong hearing the hitch in my voice from unshed tears.

"Oh, Elaine..." He whispered, before getting to his feet so quickly I struggled to even register it in the time before he entangled me in his embrace.

He sunk into the spot next to me on the couch, and he cuddled up so close to me I almost couldn't tell where my body began and his ended.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm so emotional." I murmured, which was a lie- I knew why... I was in love with him, and it hurt knowing he was with someone else.

"You don't need to apologise to me, Love, you know that." I rested my forehead against his shoulder, which was surprisingly warm and comfortable. Hmm, I'd have to remember that.

"If I don't, who will?" He snorted, tightening his arms around me, and I noticed he was drumming his fingers against my ribs, something I don't even think he realised he was doing.

"A very good point, Damsel." He acknowledged, and I pursed my lips.

"Leo..." He turned his head against mine to signify he was listening, as if the sound he made deep in the back of his throat didn't already tip me off. "I want to try something, just... stay still, okay?" He stiffened slightly, and I refretted the choice of words, considering I knew from experience he wasn't particularly fond of being told to keep still.

"Uh... Elaine?" I leaned up on my knees so I could actually reach, and pressed my nose to the hollow between his collar bone and his neck, trying to replicate the way he had scented me in the past. "Elaine..." His voice was rather breathy as I nosed my way up his neck, deeply inhaling what I, as a human, could smell of his own, personal, scen.

"You smell good, like... like I don't even know what. Like every good thing I've ever smelt." He seemed pretty chuffed about this, moving almost like he was preening with the praise.

"Might be a vampire thing... or a veela thing." I didn't think so.

"Might be just a Leo thing." I told him, and he tilted his head to bare his throat to me more, a big move for a vampire.

"You're pretty good at this, but... you technically aren't actually scenting me." He breathed, almost sounding like he was afraid he was going to offend me, and I pulled back so I could see his face.

"What do you mean?" He tilted his head, like he was confused.

"Well, you were just sniffing me." Now it was my turn to be confused.

"But isn't that all you were doing?" He stared at me for a second, seemingly dumbstruck, before a blush started creeping onto his cheeks.

"...no." Was all he said, and my eyebrows shot up.

"Oh... then, what were you doing?" His blush intensified, and as his gaze dropped, my interest only rose higher.

"Well... just..." I quirked an eyebrow at him, urging him to continue. "With scenting... you're not just getting the scent of the other person for yourself... you're putting their scent on you, or, more commonly... putting your scent on them." I sat there for a second, trying to figure out exactly what he meant by that, and how it was any different to what I had just been doing.

"So... Basically... Whenever you scent me... you're actually trying to make me smell like you?" He officially became quite possibly the brightest red I had even seen him, shoulders hitching as he tried to hunker down into the couch like a lost knut.

"Well... when you say it like that, I sound like a weirdo." I shook my head quickly, trying- and failing- to dampen my grin.

"No, I think it's actually kind of... sweet. I don't know, sort of like you going... I like this, so I'm gonna rub myself all over it and make it smell like me." I thought about it for a second. "Although, it does kind of sound like something a dog would do." He cracked a grin, seeming relieved now that he knew I wasn't freaked out by the real meaning behind him scenting me.

"I can live with 'dog'." Leo assured me, and I smirked slightly.

"The real question is," His head twitched to the side, like he was preparing to hear what I had to say. "Would you like it better if I put my scent all over you, or your scent all over me?" His blush returned, as dark as ever.

"The real question is," He echoed. "Do you really want an honest answer?" I blinked, eyebrows furrowing slightly.

"Of course I want an honest answer." He hesitated for a second, shrugging weakly like he didn't quite know what to say.

"Well-" He seemed to choke on the word. "The- the second one." I smirked, already having anticipated his answer.

"Right." I stated firmly, looking him over for a second before realising I had no clue what to do. "Err, how exactly do I do that?" He gave me a smile, one that was half fond, half indulgent, before he grasped both of my hands in his larger ones.

"Uh, well, there are the main scent areas, which are where your blood is closest to the surface, or whererever you tend to, uh... sweat?" I cocked an eyebrow.

"Sweat? How did we go from scenting to sweating?" He flushed lightly.

"Well... when you sweat, you... tend to smell more, right? So... If you want someone to smell like you, you rub your strongest smelling areas over one of their lesser smelling ones." I tilted my head, thinking that information over. "But considering I'm supernatural, my scent will almost always be stronger than yours." I nodded slowly.

"That makes sense." Though I did feel a little saddened now that I knew I could probably never actually make him smell all that much like me.

"So, when I rub my nose/mouth/face on your neck, I'm rubbing one of my highest scent areas against one of yours, thus making you smell like me." I nodded again, indicating that I understood.

"So, if I do something like this..." I trailed off, rising up on my knees again to press my mouth to the warm flesh of his exposed throat.

It was slow going, Leo's body coaching me via his movements, his sighs and shudders, before I had crawled my way into his lap. His arms were slung around my waist, and if he thought I was missing the way he had purposely placed the veins at his wrist against my bare skin, he was very wrong.

I mouthed at his neck between the intervals where I rubbed my face against various parts of his upper body, but I found a curious reaction when my teeth brushed his skin.

He practically writhed beneath me, making a sound that was almost like a cross between a giggle and the purr he emits whenever someone plays with his hair.

"Did you just-?" I stared at him for a second, taking in the flustered look on his face. "What was that?" He shrugged weakly, and I couldn't help but smile. "You make the most adorable sounds." I told him as I nuzzled the side of his face, feeling the heat in his cheeks for myself.

"Well- You- You're- Adorable-" I muffled my laughter into his neck as he became more and more flustered.

"Are you going to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas?" I asked, choosing to change the subject rather than start a debate with him I couldn't hope but win.

He was quiet for a second, so quiet I could hear his heart beating just before he shrugged.

"Actually, I think I might go home this year." My eyebrows shot up, not having expected that answer.

Leo didn't usually spend Christmas with his little dysfunctional vampire family unless there was a surprise visit set up for him, but since we hadn't been invited over lately, I figured that wasn't the case.

"You know... What with everything going on?" I didn't know exactly what he meant by that, but I assumed it had something to do with the oncoming war- I mean, what else could it be?

"Well, if you need anything, just owl. I'm sure McGonagall would let you come back early." I said, even as I intertwined our fingers, wondering with a bit of dread whether he'd pick his self-harming tendencies back up as soon as he was out of our watchful eyes.

"And I'll be sure to owl you regularly even if I don't want to come back early, and I'll wash behind my ears, and take an umbrella just in case it rains, mum." I rolled my eyes, more than a little amused even though I followed it up with a weak slap to his shoulder.

"Shh, Leo. No one likes a smartarse."

(A/N): Wrong, Elaine. Everyone likes a smartarse. Especially a Leo-shaped smartarse.

This chapter has had minor edits made to it on 15/2/24 - changed 'mom' to 'mum'