Different

legal age

"Good response," Sirius nodded, making Draco blush. Claire sat up, crossing her arms in anger. Draco sent her a sheepish look, reminding her that he was raised like a Pureblood and was taught to never show affection, especially around adults. 

"Don't act like you weren't worse at Hogwarts," Regulus reminded his brother, who blushed faintly. "I'm surprised you weren't a teenage father."

"I thought you were gay?" Claire asked. 

"Well, yes, but I didn't know that at Hogwarts," Sirius responded, looking a little ashamed. "I will admit that I slept around with both men and women while I was there."

"Gross," Claire and Regulus said at the same time. Draco grimaced a little but didn't respond, still a little uncomfortable around Sirius.

"I grew out of it!" Sirius defended himself. "And Reggie, you weren't much better!"

"At least I'm proud of it," Regulus responded with a shrug.

A pained howl made everyone go quiet, glancing at the clock. It was now four in the morning and the sun wouldn't be coming out for a while.

"Maybe you could go find him," Claire suggested, her voice quiet.

"Remus will be fine," Sirius said with a shake of his head, but he was staring outside like he wanted to be out there. "It's better that I'm here, with you."

"How do you become an animagus?" Claire questioned.

"I'm not even going to answer that because you don't need to try," Sirius said with a shake of his head.

"I think it might be fun," Draco spoke up.

"It is," Sirius confirmed. "But I'd rather you wait that you'd wait to even try if you decide to become one."

"What is the transformation like?" Regulus questioned. 

"It's weird at first," Sirius explained. "The first few times you feel like you have to learn how to walk and move all over again. The transformation itself still feels weird now, but I've gotten used to it. It feels tingly and you can feel your bones shifting. But once you're the animal, it feels like you can finally be yourself."

"What would you do if I came home from Hogwarts as an animagus?" Claire asked. 

"Don't try it," Sirius said in his most stern parenting voice. Claire rolled her eyes and scooted closer to Draco, hiding her face in his side to yawn.

"Let's go to bed," Draco whispered to her. Claire shook her head no, wanting to stay up until her dad came home.

"Go to sleep, Claire," Sirius encouraged. "All three of you need to sleep. Moony will be home soon."

Claire wanted to argue, but it was a fight just to keep her eyes open. Regulus threw a blanket over to them and then turned over himself, wrapping himself up. Sirius stood up and turned off the light, not saying anything when Claire and Draco laid down on the same couch under the blanket. Draco left a small kiss on her shoulder and pulled her closer, both of them hoping that Remus wouldn't be too upset when he came home.

But of course, that was wishing for too much. An insistent poking on her cheek made Claire slowly wake up, swatting at the hand. Draco's arm tightened around her waist and his head tucked further into her shoulder and neck when she moved. 

"Claire, c'mon," Remus whispered, making Claire finally blink and fully wake up. Remus nodded his head towards the patio, and how tired he looked made Claire know that he wanted to talk now. She gently pried Draco's arms off of her and followed her dad outside, the clock showing it was only eight in the morning.