Different

midnight runs

"How is this safe?" Sirius questioned as he easily pulled Claire back a second before she almost run into a trip wire, a bored expression on his face.

"This doesn't feel safe," Claire agreed.

"The Death Eaters know where we live, but they can't get into here," Remus explained for the hundredth time. He sighed unhappily too as he observed the dreary appearance of the house. They were there about a week before everyone else would be moving in so they could make it nicer.

"I think I'd rather get killed," Claire responded, shuddering when she almost walked into a cobweb.

"Not funny," Sirius and Remus said at the same time.

"I don't... what's this called?" Claire asked helplessly.

"A portrait, you stupid half-blood."

"Okay, so I think I'm having hallucinations now," Claire said. Sirius stepped forward and protectively put his hand on her shoulder. The woman in the portrait sneered as if this was the worst thing she had ever seen.

"This is just my dear mother," Sirius explained. Remus gently tried to usher the two away so he could find a way to hide the horrid woman. Her eyes zeroed in on Remus and she sneered even harder, her grey eyes tearing into his head.

"I see my worthless son is still with his worthless half-blood werewolf. My greatest disappointment," the woman spat.

"Reducto!"

The portrait laughed at Sirius' attempt to destroy her.

"You can't get rid of me! You aren't smart enough or good enough. You don't deserve to be in this house! Kreacher!"

The most horrid looking creature that Claire had ever seen appeared in front of them.

"I haven't missed you," Sirius said, a grimace on his face.

"Yes, Mistress?" The house elf asked, ignoring Sirius except to glare.

"Get them out! Now!" The portrait ordered.

"This is my house now," Sirius spat, forcefully guiding Claire into the kitchen to get away.

"No wonder you ran away," Claire murmured. The woman was horrid in every way imaginable and she didn't know how Sirius turned out so well with a mother like that.

"She always liked Regulus more," Sirius sighed. The kitchen was just as disgusting, but it would be used for the Order meetings so the two men started doing random spells to clean up a little, but it was so disgusting that it didn't help that much.

"That was your brother?" Claire asked as she settled into a chair, pulling her knees to her chest.

"My younger brother," Sirius confirmed. The thought of his brother made him look a little upset.

"He died during the war," Remus added. Their tones made it clear that they didn't want to talk much more about him.

The next week was filled with cleaning the house as much as possible, which wasn't much. The full moon was approaching so Remus couldn't do that much towards the end. Luckily the Weasley family moved in and they were able to help a lot more. Ron and Claire were still a little awkward, but the twins let Claire help them with their new inventions for a joke shop. Unfortunately, Remus and Sirius made them stop once they found out, but they promised not to tell Mrs. Weasley about the products.

Claire was still a struggling with headaches and the visions were starting to come back. She knew that Harry would be attacked but she didn't know what would attack him, which made her worried. She still struggled to remember names and she would often walk into a room and then just stand there while she tried to remember where she was. It didn't help that the house was huge and confusing. She spent a lot of time with Buckbeak, which was why she was excited when she got a letter that Hermione would be joining.