(A/N): Hey Guys! So, I've been trying to find a way to connect the last chapter I wrote, and the next two I've written, and I only just found the way, so, here it is.

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise.

Leo

I woke up the next morning to the sound of Vex hissing at an oversized, brown speckled owl that I recognised as Sirius's perched on my window sill. "Morning," I said as I approached the bird carefully, and it cocked its head at me, making me huff a quiet laugh. "Just like your owner." I untied the small scroll of paper from around its leg as gently as possible and unfurled it.

Leo,

What in Merlin's saggy, silver-haired buttocks is going on?

Sirius

Short, but definitely to the point. I sighed, fishing out some spare parchment from one of my desk drawers.

Sirius,

It's complicated.

Leo

I attached the parchment to the owl's leg, stroking its head carefully before moving over to my closet, pulling on a pair of jeans and the first t-shirt I saw. As I reached the bottom of the stairs, Lisbet looked up from the Daily Prophet and flashed me an oddly relieved smile. "Alright, Leo?" I shrugged, taking my seat at the table, doing my best to ignore the food Shari had prepared and left sitting in the middle of the table.

"Never been better."

Shari rolled her eyes, pushing a plate towards me. "Then why are you still not eating?" My father asked, and I winced.

"My stomach hurts. It'll go away soon, I'm sure."

Shari and my father shared worried looks, but Lisbet only smirked at me conspiratorially over the newspaper. "Such protective parents, aren't they Leo?" She teased, and I grinned as Shari glared at her.

"A cute couple, too," I said, before having to duck as Shari swatted at me with a frying pan. "Too slow!" I cried, moving to hide behind Lisbet, knowing my father wouldn't take too kindly to my teasing either.

"So help me, Leo..." Shari growled, but I only beamed at her.

"What, Shari?"

She hesitated for a second, before pursing her lips. "I will tell Elaine you like her." I shrugged, snorting a little at the threat.

"Please, she knows." All three of them turned to look at me. "What?" My father set down the Daily Prophet he had wrestled from Lisbet to clasp his hands together and level me with a stern look- I called it his 'I'm your father, you're supposed to listen to me', look.

"Well, it's just that before now, that threat would have sent you into a mass of apologies. Now, 'she knows'?"

Shari glanced at my father before back at me. "What your father is trying to say is, when the hell did she find out?" I paused for a second, wincing slightly.

"Well, I may be exaggerating slightly, but... I've made it pretty obvious that I like her."

Lisbet rolled her eyes. "Oh please, you two are as oblivious to each other as Shari and Nicholai." I'm sure Shari was trying her hardest not to blush, and my father nimbly whacked Lisbet with the newspaper like a naughty puppy.

"Well, I know she likes me, and I'm fairly certain she knows I like her, unlike these two-" Shari smacked me over the back of the head in a manner that could only be described as 'carefully' because I knew that with her vampire strength she could have taken my head off with such a blow if she'd really wanted to. She would have been a lot more gentle with a full human- or even a version of me that was a little less recovered from my recent illness- which was reassuring in that it proved she believed me... or was just that annoyed with me.

"Wait a minute, you know she likes you?" Lisbet exclaimed, catching the attention of the other two, and I shrugged.

"I overheard her admitting it, yes."

Shari quickly pulled me into a tight embrace. "Leo! Yay!" I rolled my eyes.

"Of course, there's one thing keeping us apart." Lisbet raised an eyebrow at me dubiously.

"What's that?"

I stared at her for a second, before gesturing to myself as though it was explanatory. When that didn't work... "Hello! Half-vampire here!" My father rolled his eyes, something he did rather rarely- at least where I could see him.

"Leo-" I cut him off, narrowing my eyes at him.

"You look me in the eyes and tell me there isn't even a chance of me ever hurting her, and I'll confess my love for her the next time I see her." He stared at me, slack-jawed for a minute, and I saw the pain in his eyes. The veritable agony. It was a chord that struck deep for both of us. "But you can't do that, can you?" He dropped his gaze to the floor as though ashamed- or perhaps just reminded of one night several years ago, when he'd first explained to me the real danger of what I was.

"Leo..." Shari murmured, and it took me a second to realise my flinch after the fact.

"I'll be back." None of them objected, and as soon as I closed the front door behind me, I switched into vampire speed.

I ran at full speed for over an hour, and at one stage crossed a busy motorway, finding it barely a challenge to dodge between cars- and even scaling the side of a lorry moving at speed and flinging myself over it. Eventually, I arrived at a small town and settled down in a diner rather ironically named 'Grandma's House', half-starved. The server, a young woman perhaps only a few years older than me, brought me my bacon and egg meal and a cup of coffee, and upon sitting there for half an hour after having finished my meal, just sipping my now cold coffee and observing the customers, I gave the girl a few notes to pay the bill, and a more than healthy tip that always felt like a indirect spiting of my mother and stepfather.

"Thanks, Jo," I said, and she looked up from her notepad, startled, giving me a small smile in return for the grin I threw her way.

After exiting the diner, I could have sworn I felt eyes on me- or, attention being payed, at the very least- but after a few minutes of trying to pinpoint the cause of the feeling and finding nothing- and casually removing myself from the public eye by wandering around the back of the diner, where it butted up against a copse of trees if not quite what one might call some woods- I chalked it up to residual paranoia from my encounter with my mother, and started making my way back home, much in the same way I'd made it here... vampire style.

(A/N): So, there were originally going to be like, two chapter instead of this one, so it may seem like a filler chapter, but it isn't.

Please review and/or check out my other stories!

This chapter has had small edits made to it on 30/12/22

This chapter has had edits made to it on 30/12/24 - Okay, first of all, wow, I chose to edit this chapter by happenstance today because it's been in my 'to be edited' list for a while, and I wanted to get rid of it to clear my doc manager before the new year. Complete coincidence that I'm editing this exactly two years after the last time.

Changes are as follows: formatting, and reconfiguring of sentences so they make more sense. Made Lisbet's smile 'oddly relieved', since Leo isn't entirely used to her showing that she cares about him, so he doesn't really put two and two together that the reason she's relieved is because he woke up (reasonably) healthy. Made Lisbet's smirk 'conspiratorial', so she and Leo can extra bond over being little shits together. Changed Leo's scoffing to 'snorting a little at the threat', since he's sort of marveling at how far he's come, rather than being derisive or incredulous. Added Leo describing Nicholai's stern look as his 'I'm your father, you're supposed to listen to me', look- key words being 'supposed to'. Added the description that Nicholai swatted Lisbet with the newspaper 'like a naughty puppy'. Added Leo's entire thing about Shari smacking him over the back of the head, since I originally just said she smacked him, and it felt kind of mean considering he's still recovering from being poisoned/the antidote. Basically, he recognises that she softened the blow, but not as much as she would for a human or if she still believed he was in the throws of his illness, which he appreciated on both fronts, since as I explore more later, Leo likes being treated like he's capable- not just physically, but also yes, physically. Added the descriptor of Lisbet's eyebrow raise being dubious, since I didn't want it to be misinterpreted as anything but Lisbet being confused or unsure- like challenging.

Added the 'as though it was explanatory. When that didn't work...' after Leo gesturing to himself, since I wanted there to be more of a pause there as Leo sort of awkwardly tries to convey the problem only he (and Nicholai, to some extent) can perceive. Leo had originally described Nicholai's eye roll as being something he 'rarely did', but I added the 'at least where I could see him', because I think Leo knows that Nicholai is the kind of guy who would roll his eyes a lot, but Nicholai mostly gave that habit up (at least where Leo can see it) so Leo couldn't pick up the habit and infuriate him with it. The jokes on him, Leo picked that shit up on sale. Added the bit after 'the pain in his eyes', where Leo described it as 'veritable agony', and that it was 'a chord that struck deep for both of us', since as we later find out, Nicholai also has trauma regarding the loss of control of a vampire just as much as Leo has a fear of possibly losing control himself. Added the description that Nicholai's gaze dropped to the floor 'as though ashamed', and the part about 'or perhaps just reminded of one night several years ago, when he'd first explained to me the real danger of what I was', which is foreshadowing for something that comes up in chapter 647 (yes, I'm telling you that it foreshadows a chapter that isn't due to come out for another 19 months as of writing this note). Added Leo's belated flinch, since in the original he just 'frowned for a second', which I don't think fit the moment, or what was going on in his head. Changed 'highway' to 'motorway' and 'truck' to 'lorry', which are just the British versions of those things. Changed Leo's tip to a 'more than healthy' tip, and added that he did this partially because it felt like an indirect spiting of Cipicia and Sebastien (we'll see more of that spiteful generosity later). Added Leo feeling eyes on him after exiting the diner, which is semi-foreshadowing to what happens in the next few chapters- who we find out was in the area at the time. I'm not saying that anyone was actually watching Leo, particularly THAT person, but I'm just saying... Leo might have felt a presence nearby that he probably shouldn't have been able to. (The J-Man, I'm talking about the J-Man)

Also, for some added commentary, Shari swatting at Leo with the frying pan absolutely telegraphed the move so he could dodge it without hurting her, and Leo hiding behind Lisbet is so cute, even if it is technically because she's the only one there that isn't 'mad at him' (they're all just relieved he's 'okay'). Also, Nicholai having 'wrestled' the Daily Prophet from Lisbet. I considered having Shari refer to Nicholai as 'Nick' instead of 'your father', but decided she's really trying to help Nicholai portray the authoritative father figure, so she wouldn't use his name (particularly a nickname) often, especially during 'serious' moments like this. It's definitely a, 'your father and I are very concerned' moment that paints Shari as Leo's other parent. Nicholai swatting Lisbet's with the newspaper is a reminder (or foreshadowing, I guess, depending on whether you're reading this part for the first time) that he and Lisbet have been friends for a long time, even before Leo's involvement, and he isn't always the serious, quiet, broody character he seems on the surface. I just love the descriptor there: Nimbly. Nicholai doesn't seem a nimble man, but he's a vampire- he definitely IS nimble. Also, Leo scaling the moving lorry as he crosses a busy motorway using vampire speed paints a badass picture to me, but now I'm just imagining him getting his claws getting stuck in something like when a cat gets their claws stuck in a curtain, lol.