Different

lyall

Claire's breath was caught in her throat as her body thrashed around, curling in on itself in an attempt to protect herself. Screams tried to exit her throat, but no sound would come out. She was in too much pain to even let out a whimper. A cold laugh told her that it was her uncle who was doing this to her, which wasn't a surprise.

"Well that felt nice," Evan sighed, the pain finally lessening. Claire whined in the back of her throat, still curled in a fetal position. Tears fell down her face as her body continued to ache. "An old friend of mine brought me a wand and I'm going to have lots of fun with it."

Claire just whimpered, gasping as her body shook. Her painful wakeup call wouldn't stop, and she didn't think Draco's salve would help her with this pain. Evan let out another laugh and slammed the door shut, the sound of a lock barely registering above the ringing in Claire's ears.

It had only been a week since Hogwarts had ended and Claire was already ready to go back. Evan had almost immediately started hurting her, blaming her for almost being caught during the school year. Draco's salve had been the only thing that saved her from the endless pain. But this pain was the worst she had ever felt. Her body continued to shake, small whimpers leaving her mouth every few seconds. The clock on the wall told her it wasn't even seven in the morning, meaning that Evan probably snuck into her room just to hurt her.

Claire had been locked in her room ever since she got back. Evan or Millicent would bring a meal up once a day and that was it. Claire couldn't decide what was worse, Evan's abuse or Millicent's insults. Worse of all, they installed a lock on her window, preventing her from leaving that way to see Harry.

"Please help me," Claire whimpered to no one, clutching onto Sirius' leather jacket. She had found it in her common room when Remus left and she figured that he had returned it once they learned that Sirius was innocent. Despite barely knowing Sirius, the jacket brought her comfort after Evan or Millicent visited, so she always had it nearby.

"Claire?" A soft voice asked, gently knocking on the door. Claire whimpered, her eyes flickering to the clock to see that it was already 10, which was when Remus told her he'd be coming over. "Claire, I'm coming in."

The dull ache prevented Claire from turning when her father unlocked the door and entered. She listened as his steps stopped to observe her and then hesitantly started again.

"Is everything okay?" Remus asked hesitantly. Claire just let out a sob, gasping when it caused her even more pain. Remus hurried to sit on the bed, checking her over for any injuries. Through her blurry eyes, Claire watched him frown and furrow his eyebrows when he couldn't see any visible injuries. Unbeknownst to him, that was only because of Draco's salve. "What happened?"

"I-it h-hurt so...so b-bad," Claire sobbed.

"What did, sweetie?" Remus asked worriedly.

"I-I don't kn-kno-know."

Remus felt his anger rise as he thought of the only thing that could make her be in this much pain. A growl escaped the back of his throat and he stood up, stomping to the door.

"Evan!" Remus roared. Claire struggled to turn over to try to see what was happening. Evan came to stand in front of a raging Remus, a smirk on his face.

"How can I help you, mutt?" Evan taunted. Remus wiped the smirk off his face by slamming him to the wall, his hand at Evan's throat. Claire sucked in a breath at the sight.

"I warned you," Remus growled so low Claire almost couldn't hear him. Evan's mouth opened and closed, but no sound exited. "I don't know how you did it, but I swear to Merlin I will hurt you just like you hurt her and then I'll make it ten times worse."