Different

dementors

Remus had lied. He told Claire that he would write to her and visit her, but in the two years she had been at Hogwarts, she had gotten a total of five letters, each one shorter than the last. Claire would write letter after letter just to get no response. Remus stopped coming to pick her up during the summer for their day, and Claire eventually gave up on him. She came to realize that he never loved her like he said he did. She was just a charity case to everyone.

Apparently everything that Remus said had been a lie. Hogwarts was horrible for Claire. Draco was the only person to talk to her in Slytherin, and he only did so when no one else was there. Over the years, his aura went from a white to grey and blue as he became meaner and meaner. Claire still didn't know how or why she could see the colors around him, but she had grown to not care.

Harry rarely talked to Claire when they were at Hogwarts. Gryffindors and Slytherins were enemies, and Harry seemed to care about that way too much. Harry had also befriended Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, so he was too busy with them to hang out with Claire. Ron seemed to hate Claire from the moment he met her while Hermione was much kinder. Back in first year, Hermione didn't have any friends so she and Claire would silently study together in the library, but after a troll almost killed Hermione, Ron and Harry in a bathroom, Hermione was too busy to spend any time with Claire.

As for the rest of the students, they all seemed to know something that Claire didn't. Whispers filled the halls whenever she went past, and she always sat alone in the Great Hall and often in classes too. It seemed as if something about her mother had scared them away. Claire had tried to find something on her mother in the library, but the librarian yelled at her until she left. Claire noticed that quite a few books were missing the next day. If she ever tried to ask another student about her mother, they would run away before Claire could even finish the name.

Thomas and Millicent were no help either. Lauren had finally ran off to live with her boyfriend, so the parents were obviously upset. They spent all their time either doing everything they could for Matt or practically abusing Claire. She had to buy makeup to cover the bruises, but the emotional trauma was left uncovered.

The only escape that she had was gone too. In the summer of their second year, the Dursley's had placed bars on Harry's windows, so they could rarely talk. One night, the Weasley twins, Fred and George, as well as Ron came to save Harry. None of them even glanced at Claire, who was watching them in their flying car with shock and longing. And now, in the summer before their third year, Harry had left one night and Claire hadn't heard from him since.

Claire had given up on hoping that Hogwarts could become her home. She had come to the conclusion that she didn't have a home and she didn't have anyone.

Boarding the Hogwarts Express for her third year made Claire feel as if she really had no one. Thomas had barely stopped for a second when he dropped her off at King's Cross, leaving her to stumble and drag her trunk behind her. Walking onto Platform 9 and 3/4 made her feel more alone as she watched her fellow students get hugs from their parents. Even Harry was being hugged by Mrs. Weasley. Luckily, Claire didn't have to watch everyone recieve hugs for much longer because the whistle blew.

Claire always sat alone on the Hogwarts Express. She would stop and say hi to Harry and then find a compartment to herself. This year was no different.

"Hi, Harry," Claire said softly as she opened the door to the compartment where he was sitting with Hermione and Ron. A slumped figure was by the window, but Harry jumped up before she could see who it was.

"How are you? Was Thomas better this summer?" Harry asked as he gave Claire a small hug.

"Yeah," Claire lied, waving hi to Hermione. Ron was ignoring her completely.