Just a warning that there is a small part of this chapter with a trigger warning. It's marked and it's not very long but please read the section with caution!
"Life is meaningless. What is the point of even living anymore?"
"They're just cramps, Claire," Hermione sighed. Claire whined and clutched Luna to her chest as she started crying.
"What now?" Ron grumbled. They were all hiding in Claire's room while Mrs. Weasley was yelling at the twins for some prank.
"She's just so small!" Claire cried. Luna tilted her head and then nuzzled into Claire's neck.
"Claire's right," Ginny whimpered, tears in her eyes too. "How can something be that tiny?"
"Not you too!" Ron complained.
"Shut it, Ronald!" Hermione snapped. Ron and Harry both looked at each other with wide eyes when all three girls were suddenly crying over how small Luna was.
"My uterus hurts so much," Claire groaned through her tears.
"Okay, I'm out," Harry announced, deciding that chores would be better than this.
"Bring us chocolate!" Hermione gasped.
Harry's trial was the next day, so Claire especially was already worried. She had tried to see what would happen, but she just came up with a mental block. When you add on her being on her period, she was crying all the time.
"What did I just walk into?" Tonks asked with a bright laugh as she passed the boys while they ran to find chocolate.
"My uterus is killing me," Claire explained. The two other girls nodded in agreement as they all sat on Claire's bed. Ginny was sprawled out at the bottom while Hermione was hanging over the edge, her hair brushing the ground. Claire was laying normally, her legs curled into her chest.
"Oh, no," Sirius gasped when he saw the scene. "Moony, love, it happened."
"Did I mention I'm on my period too?" Tonks added, curling up next to Claire, sitting up against the headboard, grabbing Luna and holding her. Remus smirked at the girl, who smirked back.
"Do you need tea? Chocolate? Flowers?" Remus asked the young adult playfully.
"Some flowers would be lovely," Tonks laughed. Claire lifted her head and looked back and forth between the two with a suspicious look. Sirius didn't look happy either, grabbing Remus' hand and showing it off like he was warning her to stay away. Neither Tonks nor Remus looked too upset at the looks they were receiving.
"Well, you don't get any from me," Remus told her. "But Mrs. Weasley wants all the kids downstairs for dinner. It's a big night with Harry's trial tomorrow."
The three girls all groaned as loud as they could. Hermione basically flipped over, sitting on the floor until Ginny forced her up, leaning on each other as they made their way downstairs. Tonks winked at Remus as she passed him, which didn't go unnoticed by Sirius, who huffed and stomped off. Remus looked at him with clear confusion on his face, furrowing his eyebrows as he tried to figure out what he did.
"You're so oblivious," Claire sighed when Remus sent her an inquisitive look.
"What did I do?" Remus questioned.
"You were just flirting with Tonks in front of him. It was gross," Claire said, a hint of anger in her voice.
"What? That wasn't flirting," Remus said, sounding very confused. "Tonks and Charlie Weasley have a thing. We're just friends."
"Well, we all know how Sirius is, so you should probably tell him that," Claire suggested. She knew her dad would never do anything to hurt Sirius, and Tonks didn't seem like the type of girl who would get in between a relationship. Claire whined and lifted up her arms at her dad since she knew it wasn't close to the full moon. He grinned and turned around, squatting so she could jump onto his back.
"How did you get to know so much about relationships?" Remus asked.
"I spent most of my time at Hogwarts watching people interact. Plus, I was in one, remember?"
Of course, as soon as she said that they opened the door to the living room to see Leo making out with another girl.
"Shit!" Leo gasped. His cheeks burned red and he looked almost scared of Remus, who put Claire down and tried to put a smile on his face.
"You must be Annabeth," Remus said politely, ignoring Leo who looked like he wanted to die in that moment. Claire felt the same. Annabeth was everything she wasn't. While she was skinny and had no curves, the other girl was curvy in all the right places. Her skin was perfect and clear while Claire had a pimple that wouldn't go away. Annabeth had a darker skin tone than Claire and it made her jealous. She had always struggle to identify herself because everyone else did the same. It was like Leo decided that he wanted the complete opposite of her.
"I am," Annabeth confirmed, sneaking a glance at Claire, who was staring at the floor.
"I was just grabbing my wand," Remus explained, grabbing his wand off the table.
"We were just-"
"It was pretty obvious what you were doing," Claire interrupted, her voice harsh.
"Look, I know that you two have history, but I just want to be friends," Annabeth said softly. "Leo and I will both be at Hogwarts, and I don't want any problems."
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This next part could be a little triggering for anyone, so please read at your own discretion.
"Of course you will be," Claire sighed. She took one last look at the girl who was everything she could never be and then stomped into the kitchen where she angrily made herself a plate.
"Claire...you okay?" Fred asked tentatively when she accidentally grabbed the knife by the blade and then screamed, throwing the knife into the wall, where it was almost all the way embedded.
"Holy shit," Sirius gasped. He ran over and started tending to her hand. Blood was dripping onto the floor and she stared at it in confusion before realizing her mistake.
"I forgot it was sharp. I thought... I didn't know it would cut me," Claire explained, her voice shaky.
"What the fuck happened?" Remus gasped.
"What the fuck does it look like happened?" Claire spat.
"Two more weeks," Remus and Sirius said at the same time.
"Let me help," Mrs. Weasley suggested, grabbing Claire's hand and pulling it to her.
"I can take care of myself!" Claire snapped. Everyone was looking at her with shock and she felt guilty for having ruined the dinner. "I got myself into this mess by not being able to protect myself and getting tortured. It was my fault that I have this stupid fucking brain fog, but I can handle it on my own."
"Claire, wait!" Remus yelled, but she was already up the steps, slamming her door shut and locking it. She winced when she remembered that her hand was still bleeding so she tried fixing it up. Her sniffles soon turned into full out sobbing. She had honestly gotten the forks and the knives mixed up in her head and hadn't meant to cut herself, or throw the knife. But here she was, causing more stress for everyone around her.
Her eyes glanced over to the bottle of pain pills next to her. She grabbed the bottle and shook it enough to know that it was basically still full. Her mouth went dry as she considered just taking them all. But then an owl screeched outside her window. Claire hesitated before putting the pills in the very bottom of her trunk.
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(Trigger warning over!)
The owl outside her window wasn't one that she recognized, but it was looking right at her. She furrowed her eyebrows and wrapped her hand in a hand towel, hissing at the pain. She would have to let an adult help her, but that would have to wait.
As soon as she opened the window, the owl perched on her bedside table. It had a letter on its foot it held out to her.
"To me?" Claire asked gently. If owls could talk, this would would be saying 'obviously'. "Are you from Draco?"
The owl gave a hoot of confirmation. Claire grinned and took the letter.
"I don't have any treats and I can't respond right now," Claire told the owl. "You can go home."
The owl didn't move, making Claire sigh and focus on her hand instead. A light knock on her door made her frown and she stomped over just to see Annabeth standing there.
"They told me what happened," Annabeth explained when Claire gave her a look. "I'm a pretty good healer so I thought I'd help."
"Sure," Claire muttered. Annabeth smiled and made herself at home, going through the bathroom to see if there were any bandages, which there luckily were plenty.
"Is that your owl?" Annabeth asked. The owl was gazing at Luna like it wanted a meal.
"No," Claire answered plainly as she sat down on her bed, Annabeth next to her as she took care of her hand.
"It's hard, isn't it?" Annabeth asked, giving Claire a look that she didn't reciprocate. "Being the only one who looks different in a group. I can't imagine being in a different House too."
"Is this supposed to be helping?" Claire asked, wincing as Annabeth poured alcohol on her hand.
"As much as you love the people here, they're not going to have the same life experience as you," Annabeth said softly. "I know what that's like to be surrounded by people who look and act different from you. I really like Leo and you mean a lot to him, so I really want to be your friend. And I want to help you."
"I don't need help," Claire answered.
"Obviously," Annabeth teased. Claire blushed and twisted the end of her braid around.
"So you're saying that I can talk to you if I'm having problems?" Claire asked.
"Yeah," Annabeth grinned as she finished wrapping Claire's hand. "And I can help you with your hair. Leo said you were insecure about it."
"A little," Claire admitted. She winced when Annabeth finished with her hand. Now that the adrenaline had wore off, she was in pain.
"I'll let your dads know that you just want to be alone," Annabeth offered. Claire nodded gratefully at the girl.
"I'm sorry for being rude," Claire spoke up. "I really appreciate this. I'm not mad at you, I promise. I can see why Leo likes you."
"Same to you," Annabeth winked, closing the door quietly. Claire sighed and went to lay down when the owl next to her hooted loudly.
"You must be Theo's owl. You're almost as annoying as him."
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"But what if they killed him?"
"Claire, the Ministry did not kill Harry," Remus sighed for the tenth time. She had followed them around all morning and they were now lounging in their room, Sirius in the chair reading while Remus was on the bed, trying to nap. Claire was sitting in a window seat, anxiously waiting to see Harry come home.
"Go hang out with Ron and Hermione," Sirius instructed.
"They're being gross and all flirty," Claire said, scrunching up her face with disgust.
"Don't you have friends to write to?" Remus asked her.
"Okay, rude because you know that I don't," Claire replied. She had actually just responded to Draco, Theo, Blaise, and Daphne but he didn't need to know that.
"Go play with the cat," Sirius suggested, pretending to vomit when he had to say cat.
"She got scared by Buckbeak earlier and won't come out from Regulus' room," Claire sighed sadly.
"How did she even get in there?" Sirius asked, scrunching his eyebrows, which was a trait he picked up from his boyfriend and daughter.
"I think Kreacher opened his door to clean," Claire shrugged. She winced when Sirius yelled for the House Elf right in her ear. Remus gently whispered her name and gestured when he noticed her picking at the bandages. They had asked her if she was okay about a hundred times, but she didn't get upset because she knew that they were worried about her and Harry.
"Master," Kreacher said, barely bowing to Sirius. He looked so upset to have to be talking to the eldest brother.
"Did you go into Regulus' room?" Sirius asked, his voice sharp.
"Why should I tell you?" Kreacher questioned.
"Mr. Kreacher," Claire said kindly. "We just want to know because my cat won't leave his room. We just want to know how the door was even opened."
"Yes, Mistress Claire. I opened the door," Kreacher responded. Claire sent Sirius a taunting look as if to gloat that she got Kreacher to answer before he did. Sirius just stuck his tongue out at her. "I can remember you, Mistress. Your mother brought you here when you were just a baby."
The breath felt like it left her lungs, and Remus looked like he could say the same. Sirius' jaw tensed because Claire thought that he sometimes forgot that she wasn't actually his daughter, that Remus had once been in love with someone else.
"That's enough," Sirius said harshly. The House Elf glared and then stalked off, muttering harshly. The opening of the door prevented any awkward conversations.
"Harry!" Claire shrieked, running down the steps.
"I got off!" Harry exclaimed. She grinned and hugged him tightly before moving so Sirius could do the same.
"I knew you would!" Sirius laughed. Remus clapped Harry on the shoulder, a proud smile on his face.
"Did you meet Umbridge?" Claire asked.
"Yeah, how'd you know?" Harry questioned before nodding. "Never mind."
Hermione and Ron came stomping down the steps, followed by the rest of the Weasley clan. Hermione almost passed out from being so thankful while Ginny and the twins started singing so loud that the portrait opened and she thought Mrs. Weasley was going to kill them.
"Sirius, Lucius Malfoy was there," Harry announced. Mr. Weasley nodded when Sirius looked at him. A quick glance at Claire made the men, and Harry, go sit at the kitchen.
"Oh, thank Merlin!" Hermione gasped. Claire put a happy smile on her face and agreed.
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"Happy birthday to-"
"Let me sleep or I'll spoil the ending of your favorite show," Claire murmured into her pillow.
"Wake up!" Tonks yelled, laying over her. Claire groaned loudly and rolled over enough to push the girl off of her. Tonks had bright purple hair today, which Claire was slightly jealous of. Tonks could change her appearance at will although she mostly just looked like herself.
"Look at my big fifteen year old!" Remus gushed, squeezing her face. She sent him a bored look and he smirked. Annabeth had helped her take her hair out, so she knew that her hair probably was messy and she had morning breath.
"They did it to me too," Harry spoke up. Claire groaned once more and rolled over.
"Let me sleep!"
"No can do!" Fred and George said. Her eyes shot open and she tried to move, but it was too late. They shot water all over her, soaking her from head to toe.
"Oh, shit."
"Run."
The twins were running as soon as they saw the look in Claire's eyes. She chased them until she had them tackled, making them spray water over themselves until they were even more soaked than she was.
"What a great birthday," Claire sighed happily once she was done.
"We hate you," the twins groaned at the same time. She grinned at them and then wrung her hair out over them, dropping more water on their faces as she stood.
"We'll get you for that," Fred threatened.
"I bet you will," Claire responded.
"No murder on my birthday," Harry pleaded when he saw the situation. The twins weren't actually mad, so they just winked and then apparated back to their room.
"Fifteen is a big age," Mr. Weasley said as the two teens sat down at the kitchen table. They both thanked Mrs. Weasley as she placed a big cinnamon role in front of each of them.
"Don't remind me," Remus sighed. "I'm getting old."
"My oldest is even older. How do you think I feel?" Mr. Weasley asked.
"I can't imagine when Harry starts dating too," Sirius said as he stole a bite from Claire, to which she glared at him and stabbed at his hand with her fork. "It was hard when Claire started dating. I can't imagine them both dating at the same time."
"Don't worry about that," Harry said. "Apparently girls don't want to go out with me."
"You just won the triwizard tournament. I think that'll change," Claire snorted. "Wait, new vision. You'll be alone forever."
Harry shoved her and she laughed. Her eyes widened a little when she realized that she said that in front of the Weasley parents, but they seemed to already know or they just didn't care. Hermione kicked her ankle while Ron was oblivious.
"Malfoy is the only boy who would ever want you," Harry teased.
"Yeah, I'm okay with that. Have you seen him?" Claire laughed.
"He's not attractive!" Harry gasped.
"Who?" Ginny asked as she came into the kitchen.
"Malfoy," Ron answered with a grimace as if even thinking of him was painful.
"Oh, he's a ten," Ginny said with a shrug.
"Hermione?" Harry asked, sounding like he was in distress.
"I'd probably give him an eight. I'm not into blondes," Hermione shrugged.
"Okay, enough," Remus sighed, although he looked a little amused. Harry and Ron both looked a little upset.
"But he's a git," Ron argued, ignoring Remus.
"He's not as bad anymore," Hermione told him.
"Exactly!" Claire agreed.
"Okay, stop before you kill Harry and Ron," Sirius laughed.
"I bet he didn't even give you a birthday present," Harry said to Claire, ignoring Remus and Sirius when they rolled their eyes.
"He raised a cat for me," Claire reminded him. "And he sent me a letter this morning. I just haven't gotten to open it."
"How? We've been stopping his owl," Remus asked, his eyebrows furrowed.
"You'll never know," Claire teased. "And, Harry, you didn't get me a present either."
"Being in my presence is a present," Harry told her seriously.
And even though Claire shoved him and continued to joke with him, she was glad he was finally home.