When she scoffed at his predicament, Yuri couldn’t help but smirk. Scorn he could deal with, scorn was something he was used to and he could handle it a lot better than he could handle pity – and being pitied by a vampire wouldn’t make as good of a story as getting into a scornful argument with a killed in the depths of the night in the middle of a graveyard, where he got the better of her intellectually and she ran off weeping and emotionally devastated when he threatened to stake her would make for a much better one. Okay so none of that was actually happening and Yuri had no intention of actually making a threat to kill the vampire in front of him – 1) because he wasn’t entirely stupid and 2) because he was far too interested in the conversation.

’I can fight, and get food when I need it’ he insisted his chin sticking out in a defiant gesture, meant to look as tough as possible – somehow her approval was the most important thing in the world right now, ’Beside the muck they serve is as much sawdust is it is food’ he added, it was true – somewhat the home received an allowance to feed the children – sometimes it was paid for by relatives who didn’t want the annoyance of a distant someones orphans bothering them around the house. Those children had private rooms and ate in a dining room with the homes mistress – parish children, charity cases like Yuri were fed in a different dining hall at long hard benches and the meagre knuts provided for their meals and clothing often went more often on the house mistresses brandy than on their feeding. Yuri could get fatter on the street than he could in the home.

’’Ow do you get food? You killin’ people and such around ‘Ogsmeade? Or do you like rob graves…or the butchers?’ he asked trying to think of all the possible places blood might be procured in the boring village of Hogsmeade. Being a vampire really was interesting.