(A/N): Hey guys! Now, hold your shoes! Before you throw your heavy, and potentially dangerous, objects at me, I must tell you the reason I've been missing so long... School. Yup. Year ten is really hard you guys, ugh... I haven't been writing as much of anything, but I wrote this chapter, and the start of another in Math and PLP when I had some free time... so I hope you like! Now, commence the throwing!

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise as property of J.K Rowling.

Elaine

We had arrived back at Hogwarts on the Sunday night, and the next afternoon after a long day of lessons, Leo, Remus, and I made our way to the Room of Requirement. "Our first time alone together!" Leo crowed, dropping to his knees and pretending to weep with relief.

"Drama Queen..." Remus muttered, and Leo shot him a look of faux-hurt.

"Oh, Remmy, how could you wound me so?" He gasped, staring up at him with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. Remus only scoffed, shoving Leo in the shoulder hard enough that it would have made a normal person lose their balance, but didn't even make Leo falter slightly.

An amused grin tugged at my lips, and I cooed, "Aw, don't be like that, Moony..."

"Whatever, let's just get to it," He snapped, leaving Leo and I to blink in surprise.

"Moony...?" I questioned, and he looked at me with apologetic eyes.

"I'm sorry guys, I just... the full moon's coming up, and I just wish I could have someone with me."

I moved closer to him, biting my lip- wishing I could say something, anything, to make him feel better. "You won't be alone, Moony," Leo told him, but Remus only rolled his eyes.

"Madam Pomfrey doesn't count." Leo snorted quietly.

"I meant me." We both turned our heads to stare at him, confused.

"Leo, you know how much the wolf hates vampires after the change-"

Leo cut him off, smirking. "I never said I'd be doing it as a vampire." It dawned on Remus first.

"You-" Leo grinned proudly. "You idiot!" Remus launched himself at Leo- but he'd already disappeared. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up like they always did when Leo disappeared like this, but more strongly. "Where are you?" Remus asked tiredly, but the only sound he received in reply was a low growl, making us spin around, terrified.

Upon one of the towering book cases was a large, spotted cat- a cheetah- its back feet on the top of the bookcase, body angled so its front legs were stretched down a few shelves. Its claws were extended, its teeth bared, and it was growling- but the most unnerving thing was also what was most familiar: the eyes. Bright blue, just like Leo's. "Leo...?" I questioned quietly, my fear alleviated slightly by the sight of those eyes, and he stopped growling as he dropped to the ground swiftly, gracefully, and racing to my side, where rubbed his now feline head against my hand.

"You... you did it!" I said with a laugh, too shocked to even attempt to hide my awe. I crouched down to his level to look him the eye, and without a sound, his body began to melt; his shape changing slowly until Leo, in his human- or, well, vampire form, I guess- sat before me.

"Yep," He said in a modest tone that didn't quite match the situation, nor the big grin on his face.

Remus cleared his throat, drawing our attention to him and the single eyebrow he had raised. "And are you going to tell us how you did it?" He asked shortly, in an almost distrusting tone, and Leo's expression sobered until he looked almost ashamed of himself.

"Shari," He said simply, with a shrug.

"What?" I spluttered, confused, and he brushed a lock of hair off my face absentmindedly.

"Let's just say, she has a lot of experience in this matter."

He sat down in the closest chair, and an idea struck me. "But this is great! Now you can help me to-" He jolted upright, his hands grasping my shoulders gently so he could look me in the eye.

"No!" We stared at him, shocked by his cry of protest, and he bit his lip, a hint of nervousness peeking through his nonchalant facade. "I mean, only one of us needs to do this." I stared at him for a second while everything fell silent, before I put my hands against his chest and shoved him as hard as I could- he only moved back two or three feet, and I could tell he had only done so out of shock rather than the force of my push actually having any impact on him. I turned and stormed out of the room, the image of his surprised and hurt expression imprinted on the back of my eyelids.

I growled the password to the portrait of the Fat Lady, who stopped mid song to let me through, flustered as she was by my anger, and I stomped into the Gryffindor common room. "Laney?" Sirius was the first to notice me, jumping up from the couch at the sight of my fury. "Laney, what's wrong?" He asked in a soft voice, his hands resting on my shoulders much like Leo had done, except with less urgency.

"Leo's being an arse!" I snarled, stomping my foot- knowing that he could probably hear me, but not really caring. Right now, I rather thought he deserved it!

"That's, uh..." He trailed off, glancing back at the others. "New?"

Lily sighed, pushing past him to embrace me. "Ignore him, Leo doesn't intend to be mean." I shook my head- Leo wasn't being mean, he was being... God, just so frustrating!

"That's not what she meant," James guessed, earning himself a glare from Lily. "He was being over-protective again, wasn't he?" I nodded sharply, scowling.

"I can take care of myself, he doesn't need to- to..." I trailed off, before my knees buckled and a sob wracked my throat. The others stood frozen for a minute, shocked- they had never seen me cry before. The only people who had ever seen me cry before now were my mother, Jay, Leo, and Remus. Lily and James moved at the same time, sandwiching me between them, then Sirius wrapped his arms around me from behind, around James and Lily as well. I felt Peter grasp my hand, not being able to reach much else at that time. "He doesn't need to..." I whispered again, sobbing grossly into the nook formed by James and Lily's shoulders.

"Shh... shh..." Lily soothed, trying to calm me down, even as all of them held me tighter. I was ashamed of myself... I was crying, in front of people, and I had a sinking feeling that Leo could, indeed, hear me. It was embarrassing on a level I couldn't even begin to convey.

"It's going to be okay, Laney..." Sirius assured me, and I found myself almost believing his quiet coo.

(A/N): This actually wasn't as long as I thought it was going to be... eh...

Did you like it?!

This chapter has had small edits made to it on 30/12/22 - I didn't like the way I had Elaine slap Leo, so I made her shove him instead. Leo wouldn't have cared whether she slapped him or not, but I think considering how much I harp on about Elaine and Leo being each others safe haven, and Elaine knowing that Leo would never hit her, I thought it was a bit hypocritical of me to have her slap him here. She did however need a physical release for her anger, because just yelling at Leo wasn't going to get the message across that he had crossed the line with her.

This chapter has had edits made to it on 21/2/24 - formatting, and reconfiguring of sentences so they make a bit more sense.