Different

chocolate

The house was silent. Instead of being comforting, Claire found it suffocating. She was ready to get back to Hogwarts, but she wasn't ready to face Remus or Sirius. Instead, she stayed in her bed, curled up in one of her dad's old sweatshirts that he had put on her bed the night before since most of her clothes were at Hogwarts. 

A knock on the door made her jump and made the pit in her stomach grow.

"Be in the kitchen in five minutes!" Remus announced through the door. Claire mumbled a reply loud enough that he could hear and hurried to change into something more appropriate for school and make her hair presentable. 

"Good morning," Claire said softly when she walked into the kitchen. Remus and Sirius paused their conversation and nodded to one of the empty seats at the table. Claire hesitantly sat down, not able to meet their eyes. 

"How did you sleep?" Sirius asked, trying to break the tension.

"Fine," Claire lied. While her dreams usually acted as mini visions of the future, she had dreamt of Draco laying in a pool of his own blood, except she was too late and he had died. After waking up for the tenth time in two hours, she had given up on sleeping and instead sat there and tried to see Draco's future, but to no avail. 

"We'll leave in a few minutes, but we can't let you go back without telling you that your behavior last night was inexcusable," Remus started. 

"Harry's ribs are broken, and it's because of you," Sirius continued, making Claire frown. "I know that you're not ready to forgive, and I'm not saying that you have to either, but you could have killed him."

"I know the feeling of protectiveness that overtakes you when the person that you love is in danger or hurt," Remus added, a regretful look on his face. "I've hurt people because of it in the past, but you can't let it overwhelm you like it did last night. You became a different person."

"How do I stop myself from getting like that?" Claire questioned, her voice cracking. "I saw Draco laying there and I wanted to do the same to Harry. And I want to forgive him, but I don't know how. How can I ever forget what he did to Draco?"

"You won't ever forget," Remus sighed. "But if he gets his act together, you will learn to forgive him. For now, avoid him at school. Let him deal with his own issues and he'll realize the truth and come around eventually."

"He knows that what he did was wrong, and he feels horrible," Sirius said, a troubled look on his face. "Harry doesn't expect you to forgive him anytime soon but he hopes that you eventually can."

"We won't force you to do anything," Remus added. 

"Can I please just go see Draco?" Claire pleaded, not knowing how to feel about Harry. She knows that the curse that he used was an accident, but that didn't change the fact that Harry had gone there to fight with Draco, even if it wasn't meant to be a duel. 

"Of course," Remus said softly since he had a good idea of how she was feeling. Sirius looked like he wanted to talk more, but he didn't argue. The trio said their goodbyes, which were heavy with the unknown, and then Claire used floo powder to arrive at the fireplace in the Hospital Wing, with special thanks to Professor Dumbledor for allowing that. 

"Merlin, you scared me!" Madam Pomfrey gasped, a hand at her heart. The fireplace that she landed in was located in the healer's office, so Claire couldn't see Draco.

"Is he awake?" Claire asked after mumbling an apology. 

"I want you to be very careful with him today," Madam Pomfrey instructed. "He just woke up a few minutes ago and he hasn't fully woken up yet."