(A/N): Hey Guys! So, this is the second chapter today, yay!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Leo, Elaine, Shari, Quiggly, Nicholai, Mia, Brooke and (unfortunately) Cipicia.

Leo

To say I was shocked is an understatement, but I did my best to hide it.

"Is that so?" She raised an eyebrow at me, looking confused.

"Well, yeah." She stated, making it sound like she thought I was an idiot, but I smiled at her slightly.

"And how do you know that?" She winced, staring at the ground now, and I could feel the nerves pouring from her body.

"Because my mother was friends with your grandmother years ago...I recognised your last name." It was my turn to raise an eyebrow now.

"Which grandmother?" I asked, curious, and desperate, but she shook her head.

"Your mothers, Cipicia's mother." My eyes widened, and I stared at her in shock.

"How did you know my mothers name?" I managed to choke out in a squeak, and she chuckled grimly.

"Because she gave me this." With that, she rolled up her sleeve, and I saw a large scar on her forearm. It looked like the one my mother had given me, when I was five, except it curved off towards the end, ending in a jagged line.

"I know how you feel." I told her, and her head snapped up, staring at me, while I rolled my own sleeve up to the elbow, revealing the scar that marred the skin there. "My mother has a lot to pay for." I smiled at her sadly, and she swallowed delicately, shaking her head.

"How the hell did you come from her?" I knew exactly what she meant, but I shook my head anyway.

"While I may be behind her in terms of crimes against others, I'm not exactly a perfect specimen. Besides, they kicked me out of that house when I was seven, when...when they found out." I knew she understood exactly what I was saying, and I pulled the sleeve of my button-up school shirt back down to hide the scar once more, Brooke doing the same with hers.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered, but I merely grinned at her.

"Don't be. It's the best thing that's ever happened to me, really. Think of it as an escape, not a forced removal." She considered it for a second before returning my smile widely.

"So...who else knows?" I glanced at her, temporarily confused as to what she was referring. "About you being half-vampire, I mean." I nodded, sighing lightly and glancing around before replying.

"Elaine, Remus, James, McGonagall, Pomfrey, Dumbledore and Hagrid." Brooke's eyebrows wrinkled, but she smiled at the same time, making for a weird looking combination.

"So, your girlfriend knows, but your best friend doesn't? That um...Lily, girl?" I shook my head lightly, sighing deeper than before.

"I don't tell her because I don't want to lose her." Brooke stared at me for a minute before shaking her head.

"I doubt that." I turned my head to look at her. "You don't tell her because you're afraid. You're afraid of how she'll react, or afraid of how she won't react. You're afraid, and I completely get that, but sooner or later, she'll figure it out." I stared at the ground for a minute before nodding.

"Probably, yeah. But I'm not going to tell her. Not yet, anyway." She raised an eyebrow, and we were silent for a few seconds.

"James, James Potter? The prankster? Why does he know?" I smiled at her, shaking my head lightly in amusement.

"He figured it out." She raised an eyebrow, looking surprised. "Though, I dare say, we did give him quite a good lot of clues." The corners of her lips quirked up, before moving back down again.

"And Remus? As in, Remus Lupin, the boy I'll be playing against for the Wizards Chess champion thingy tomorrow?" I raised an eyebrow at the word 'thingy', before nodding.

"Yeah, that's him. He's-" Brooke cut me off.

"He's a werewolf, I know." I stared at her for a minute.

"I was going to say, 'he's a good friend of mine', but that works too." She blushed sheepishly and fiddled with the edge of her shirt. A thought came into my head.

"If your mother knew my mothers' mother," Too many 'mothers' in that sentence. "How did you know my last name? I go by my mother's married name, not her maiden name." Brooke shrugged, glancing at me before kicking at the floor lightly with her feet.

"Well, it wasn't that long ago. Besides..." She started, before glancing up at me sheepishly. "The window incident last year wasn't exactly the first time we'd met Leo." Looking at her now, I realised why she had looked so familiar the first time I had seen her.

FLASHBACK

Six Years Previous

I was at one of the 'Balls' my parents had forced me to attend. I was wearing one of those ridiculous sets of dress robes they put on kids, my mother had forced me to wear a bow tie, as always. But still, I made myself behave.

Just a year before, my mother had scarred my arm when I had spoken out against an important dinner guest, and even now, at the memory, my forearm tingled along the long line of the scar she had marked me with.

"Here, Leonides, meet Aleysia's daughter, Brooke." My mother thrust me forward to meet the small, pale girl subtly, and I shuffled my feet slightly as my mother disappeared into the crowd.

"Hi...Leonides." The girl struggled to say my name properly, and I took pity on her with a smile, even though she looked to be perhaps a year older than me.

"Hi. You can just call me Leo, if you want." I told her quietly, and she grinned at me in return, showing off the fact that two of her teeth were missing. Her pale grin eyes glimmered with joy, and my smile widened slightly.

"I'm Brooke, but you can call me Boo!" She announced, and I all out grinned at her now.

Her wavy black hair was tied into a loose bun on top of her head, with a few flowers intertwined, but a few ringlets framed her young face.

"Okay then, Boo." The childish word had felt foreign in my mouth at the time, seeing as how I was raised on prejudiced, pureblood, Slytherin, morals, but I used the nickname anyway, because she had asked me to.

We had stayed by each other's sides, avoiding our parents, until the 'ball' ended, where we said our goodbyes, promising to catch up at the next ball.

Unfortunately, the next year, my mother had disowned me, so I didn't attend.

FLASHBACK OVER

"Well, hello Boo." She giggled quietly as I pulled her to my chest, wrapping my arms around her loosely.

"It's good to see you again Leo."

(A/N): So, what did you think?

Leo's mum is such a mega-bitch!

Please review and/or check out my other stories!

This chapter has had minor edits made to it on 29/12/22 - Because I originally accidentally wrote that Brooke's mother was friends with Leo's great grandmother, instead of his grandmother.

This chapter has had more minor edits made to it on 5/2/23 - Because I originally said Leo was wearing a suit, but Cipicia would have put him in dress robes instead, because a suit is 'too muggle'.