Different

home

As always, sending mail to Draco was a challenge. She couldn't use her own owl so she tried to use her friends, but they could barely talk to her because their parents kept watching their mail. Theo and Blaise were no help because Draco wasn't responding to them either. In fact, none of her Slytherin friends were much help because they were all ignoring her letters. Hermione was the only one who would send her letters with any regularity.

After her vision, Claire wanted to figure out what was so important to perform an Unbreakable vow, but no one would answer her. Dumbledore wouldn't let anyone bring it up during Order meetings either. She felt in the dark about everything, which was unusual for her. It made her feel unnerved, and her anxiety was getting worse. She was barely sleeping because she kept having horrible dreams that didn't tell her anything important. The only good thing was knowing that her mother wasn't having visions because it meant that the Order had an advantage.

The only good thing about her dreams was that she saw Leo in them. She usually didn't talk to him, but she watched him to make sure he was safe. He was always in a different place, which slightly worried her, but he always turned around and gave her a reassuring wink or smile and she would wake up not long after.

Luckily for her, the family decided that it would be better to move back to Remus' house since Regulus was there and he couldn't be seen, so they were finally free of Grimmauld, although they had to go back multiple times a week for Order meetings. Claire was rarely allowed to stay home with Regulus, even though he did basically nothing. He mostly sat in his room and read, although he sometimes would join Claire in her garden. Remus was still cold towards the younger boy, but Sirius was still ecstatic and would make sure to spend as much time as possible with him.

"So, Harry will have to stay in the room with you, Reggie. Please don't scare him too much," Sirius said, making Claire blink and look up the copy of The Scarlet Letter that Draco had let her borrow. Regulus snarled a little but just nodded. He wasn't happy to no longer be at Grimmauld, especially since his new room was an office that barely had space for a bed and a desk. He had also left his piano behind, which meant that he kept writing songs without knowing how they sounded.

"He's coming tonight?" Claire asked.

"Dumbledore is picking him up because he has some task to do, so he shouldn't be here until early in the morning."

Claire frowned at Sirius, who also didn't look too happy at the idea.

"Is dinner ready?"

Claire and Sirius both grinned and hurried to the front hallway where Remus had come in. He had been on a mission for the past week and hadn't been able to talk to them at all. Remus scooped Claire up and twirled her around, a bright smile on his face.

"Oh, I've missed you two," Remus sighed, putting Claire down and then embracing Sirius.

"You're happy to be coming back from a mission," Sirius laughed. Remus smiled brighter and gave Sirius a kiss.

"I was able to complete the mission and arrest the Death Eaters without any casualties or injuries. Tonks has learned a lot, and she was able to lead the mission perfectly. Mad-Eye actually smiled for a second," Remus explained, sitting down at the table and nodding at Regulus, who barely nodded back.

"Let's hope my mission goes just as well," Sirius sighed. Since he was now a free man, Sirius was participating in more missions, but this would be his first long term mission since he first joined the Order as a teenager. He would be gone for at least a month, and no one was looking forward to it.

"It will," Remus insisted, placing a kiss on Sirius' forehead, which made Regulus roll his eyes. Claire snickered at the young man, who responded by flicking her off. Claire fake gasped and kicked his shin, and he did the same.