(A/N): We're back with Elaine, Remus, Mia, and Dahrya, in the aftermath of Mia revealing that she and Leo made a blood pact to love each other.

Trigger Warning: References to child abuse (Cipicia kidnapping Leo, slapping him, and using the cruciatus curse on him, among other things).

Elaine

"You made a vow to love each other?" Remus asked, sounding more than a little befuddled, and Mia nodded. "Look, I've never had a sibling-" He and Dahrya shared a look, as the only children that they both were. "-but shouldn't loving each other sort of be like... unquestioned? I mean, at least if you're both- good people. Hell, Sirius loves his little brother even though Regulus is a..." He twisted his head around as if struggling to hold his tongue. "Not, a good person."

Mia shrugged. "You know what Leo's like- that hasn't changed, only grown. And our parents liked to... try to pit us against each other. It didn't usually work- Well, it never worked, but sometimes we... we did question it." She was quiet for a second, clearly thinking deeply. "And considering the way things went, I'm extremely glad we did, because you know Leo would've convinced himself that I hated him- did convince himself that I would be willing to hurt him at my mother's request, when she kidnapped him." Remus and I blinked heavily, brows furrowing, and Mia took one look at us and rolled her eyes. "He never told you about that, did he? Not the kidnapping, but the part about me."

"No, absolutely not," I told her. "He was very vague about the whole thing, just saying that you saved him- unchained him from a table- and that she slapped him, and used the cruciatus curse on him. Other than that, he just said that she was being her, and left it at that." I gave her a grateful look, and she answered it with an understanding nod.

"Would you be willing to tell us a bit more?" Remus asked carefully, obviously trying not to irritate Mia by asking her to tell us anything she wasn't willing to talk about.

She pursed her lips. "There's not much I can tell you," She said. "Not because I don't want to, but because I wasn't there for very long; just between when our mother left the room, and when Lisbet broke in- well, after she took him away, but before my mother woke up. I spoke to her, you know." Her mother? "Lisbet." Oh. "I didn't know who she was, obviously, but she was trying to take Leo; I didn't know whether she would hurt him, or if she was trying to save him- just that Leo was surprised to see her. I asked her what her intentions were, and she said she was taking him home-" She faltered ever so slightly, as if struggling with the concept of the Ellwood Estate being more Leo's home than the house they grew up in together. "-to his father. His real father." I'm guessing Lisbet hadn't made that distinction, but I could be wrong. "She... asked if I wanted to go with her." She had? "I- I said no." I suppose that was obvious, given the fact that she hadn't left that house until this summer.

"That's understandable," Remus soothed. "Lisbet can be a bit off-putting, and you didn't know her. And even if you did, leaving the only home you've ever known isn't an easy thing to-"

"Leo is the only home I've ever known," She said simply, which... I hope she told him that to his face, some time. "I knew if I left, mother would take it out on Amelia- other people, too, most likely, but Amelia... She already took Leo breaking his leg out on her, so I'd hate to see what she would've done if we'd both disappeared then. At least with the way it went down, she can't blame Amelia for being involved in any way. Though... whether that would stop her from taking it out on her anyway..." She frowned, evidently quite concerned- Amelia must have been the name of their governess.

Dahrya held up a hand, drawing Mia's attention to her, and said what we were all thinking. "Leo broke his leg? ...how?!" She glanced at us, and Remus and I shook our heads- we hadn't heard about this, either. "I mean, a hand I understand, a foot, yeah, but a leg? We're pretty hardy- Leo especially- I don't see what could possibly do that sort of damage." Mia shrugged.

"A tree." Huh? "Well, technically, the damage was done when he hit the ground, after falling out of the tree." Dahrya stared at her, perplexed.

"He fell out of a tree? What sort of vampire is he?" I checked to make sure the corridor was still empty, and she flapped a hand at me. "No one's around, closest is three corridors away, snogging in a broom closet. Stop panicking, we're discussing Leo's arboreal accident." Mia shot her a reproachful look that Dahrya ignored entirely.

"When you said Leo didn't tell you much about that day, I thought he would've at least told you what landed him in St Mungo's." Oh. Oh, now it made a little more sense. "To be fair, he didn't slip, the branch broke- and I believe he broke his ankle, as well. I don't know, I didn't go with him- obviously- and I only saw him for a minute or two when he got home, before-" She cut herself off, shaking her head.

I glanced at Remus, who looked just as nauseated as I felt. "So... when she threw him out... he was walking around with a broken leg?" Mia nodded, and I reeled at that. At the implication. Leo's father hadn't just taken in a little boy, but a little boy that couldn't really walk- I'd have to remember to thank him, the next time I saw him. I'd say give him a hug, but I don't think Mr Ellwood was much of a 'hugger', if I'm honest. "That's..."

"Awful," Remus finished for me, and Dahrya bumped his shoulder with hers in an attempt to return his earlier comforting, albeit with a bit more physicality. "But... from what you've told us, I can't imagine Leo climbing a tree at that age. What possible reason would an ostensibly mild-mannered, well-behaved little pureblood- posh- boy have for climbing a tree?" It was a fair point, but I could take a guess that it was the one thing 'Leonides' and Leo had both shown to care about above all else.

"Why do I have the feeling it was somehow for you?" I asked her, and when her eyes flicked to me, I saw in them the proof that I was on to something. "I... Knowing you now, I wouldn't expect you to have asked him to climb a tree unless you had a really good reason, and I don't know why you wouldn't climb it yourself, if you thought it was necessary."

Her expression became rather pained. "You're right, I didn't ask him. In fact, I begged him not to." Uh oh. "The wind took my favorite hat, and Leo knew that if he didn't go after it, I probably wouldn't get it back. Amelia was distracted talking to Nolan, so Leo told me stay behind while he climbed the tree- I saw him fall." Her eyes took on a distant look, and she wrapped her arms around her midsection comfortingly. "I watched him fall, heard him hit the ground... and I'm pretty sure I heard his bones break as I ran toward him, through the bushes." She was silent for a second, eyes lowered, before they raised suddenly to meet mine. "Do you know what the first thing he did was, when I reached him?" Well, knowing Leo...

"Something dumb, but incredibly sweet?" She stared at me for a moment, then the corner of her lips quirked up.

"...yes," She said quietly. "He pulled the sticks out of my dress... probably because he didn't want me to get in trouble, too. Obviously, he had no idea that being punished for climbing a tree was going to be the least of our worries for a while... and that that would be one of the least kind things he did for me, until we met again."

But not the last... "You said 'one of' the last kind things- what was the last?" She shot me a look that told me that was the exact question she hadn't wanted me to ask.

"When Leo got back from the hospital," She said slowly. "Before my mother threw him out, I came out of my room as he was walking down the hallway on his crutches. I didn't know what'd happened, but I knew Leo was hurt- I just wanted to be close to him. Mother tried to stop me- she was getting quite cross, but I didn't care; I'd take any punishment she could've meted out, but Leo- Leo told me to go back to my room. He told me we'd talk later- he promised we would, not knowing..." She took a shaky breath, steadying herself. "That was the last kind thing he did for me, back then- at least that I know about."

(A/N): There was a bit of a typo, that obviously I had to change, but I found it so funny that I just had to show you guys. When Elaine says that Nicholai isn't much of a 'hugger', I originally wrote that he isn't much of a 'human', which is... correct, but not what either of us were trying to say.

I finally managed to write that chapter I was stuck on (598), and then also wrote 599 that day and 600 and 601 the next day, so we're now all set through to the start of October next year. Now maybe I can start work on the billion other writing projects I want to work on, but I'm not going to hold my breath.