Different

waking up

Claire woke up in her bed, the pain in her head and body so strong that she couldn't do anything but lay there, trying to squeeze her eyes shut so that no light came through. She let out a little whine, feeling like she couldn't move her body. 

"You're okay, Claire."

She knew the voice, and she wanted to reach out and find the person, but her body wouldn't let her. She tried moving her hand, but nothing was budging, leaving her with panic filing her whole body. Claire relaxed when she felt a rough hand grab hers, but she still couldn't move. It didn't matter how hard she tried, she just ended up falling back asleep as soon as she thought she was about to move. 

"Just wake up....please."

She couldn't place either of the voices but she knew that she was safe.

"Why did you let him do this?"

"Sometimes it is necessary to suffer in order to become our true selves."

Claire drifted in and out of sleep, but she could never wake up completely. There were two voices that were there every day, and occasionally a third. She rarely heard the voice from the first day, but she knew that he came by every once in a while. She heard a few other voices that she heard, but she didn't know who they were. 

"I need you, Claire. Please wake up."

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Remus was miserable. He found it harder than ever to live without Claire, especially with Sirius being on the run. Lyall came by at least once a week, but other than that he was by himself, occasionally finding a job to work. He was mostly living off of money that Sirius had given him, but he was too proud to use it on himself. Instead, he was spending it on Claire's room and buying her new clothes.

Remus had experienced his worst full moon ever the first month that Claire left. He felt like he was more violent than ever, and it lasted longer than it ever had, even seeming to last past when the full moon went away. He didn't understand what had happened until Dumbledore had shown up on his doorstep, Claire passed out in his arms. Remus had almost fallen to his knees, thinking that his daughter was dead since her skin was pale and there was blood dried on the corner of her mouth. Dumbledore gave no explanation that day, simply dropping off Claire and informing Remus that Sirius would be there soon to help.

Claire had been asleep for almost a full month, only surviving on potions that Professor Snape dropped off every week. Sirius had been by her side just as much as Remus, only hiding when people other than Dumbledore or Lyall would come over. 

"You need to sleep," Sirius whispered as he came into Claire's room. Remus was sitting on the chair next to Claire, just watching in hopes that she woke up.

"I just want to know what happened," Remus responded, his voice broken as he sobbed a little. Sirius frowned and came to stand behind the chair, wrapping his arms around Remus' shoulders and leaning his head on the werewolf's. Remus interlocked one of their hands and then used his free hand to wipe away the few tears that he had let fall. 

"I'm sure Dumbledore will tell us soon," Sirius tried to say reassuringly, but even he was tired of waiting for an answer. He had never known panic like he did when Dumbledore's patronus had found him and he got the message that Claire was hurt and he needed to return immediately. 

"I don't know what to do," Remus sighed, hiccupping a little. Sirius sighed too and reluctantly moved so he was standing in front of Remus, kneeling down and grabbing both of the man's scarred hands. Sirius hated seeing Remus like this, and it had gotten worse with the full moon approaching. Sirius had made Remus smile for the first time by making a joke about his transformation being like a period, but the smile didn't last long. Sirius had spent all his time at Hogwarts putting on a fake smile, so he was the one comforting Remus and pretending like he had hope.