A/N: Never thought I'd do this, but I read this fabulous story today, so here we are, writing the most ridiculously anti-my-principles fan fic you could EVER imagine. This is going to start out Marauder's Era, but if it catches on and I decide not to go canon, I might do a sequel in the book years, maybe even go into post-war if it really catches on. So, just a tip here, I own nothing, Claire and Sirius are twins, and Audrey is James's little sister, one year younger. This story is little more than a half-baked idea in my brain, which is my least-favorite starting point, but here we go!

-J

Claire rolled over and frowned, looking around the room she had woken up in. This was not her bedroom. This was bigger than her bedroom, brighter, without all of her Muggle band posters that Sirius had helped her permanently stick on her walls. And yet, that was her trunk in the corner, her shirt hanging off the edge of the bed, her pillow beneath her head.

Ah, yes. The Potters. She didn't sleep in her room anymore. She wasn't welcome at home anymore. She lived at James and Audrey's house because she and her brother had run away from home last December and were henceforth disowned.

Claire Black as a twin, a sixteen-year-old girl with a twin brother named Sirius, and she was second oldest by only two minutes and thirteen seconds. Still, Sirius never hesitated to rub it all in. They were oddballs in their family, Gryffindors. Her parents had resented that, and since had treated the pair of them as less than human, not like their "perfect" little brother, Regulus.

When she had been younger, Claire had been her father's little princess, his favorite child, and her mother's pride and joy, forced into constant competition with her cousins, Bellatrix, Andromeda, and Narcissa. When she was eleven, however, that all changed. She and Sirius were Sorted into Gryffindor, made friends with blood traitors, half-bloods, and Mudbloods, and refused to follow the family line on important issues such as blood purity and wizard supremacy. Home had become hell, a prison, and for Claire especially, the most terrifying, painful place in the world.

Sirius had sworn to protect her, but there was only so much he could do, and she hid a lot of things to protect him. They were both impulsive, which was somewhat of a family trait, and she knew the second he found out the half of it he would do something rash, something that would probably only make things worse. So for years, she hid the worst of her pain, the worst of her fears, for the sake of sparing Sirius a beating or two. After all, he was the heir, and there was only so much suffering they were willing to inflict on him.

Claire, on the other hand, was expendable. Yes, they wanted to marry her off to a well-chosen family, like the Malfoys or the Lestranges or the Selwyns, but as long as she looked pretty when all was said and done, she would marry fine. If she died, it wasn't really a hardship, and it meant no dowry was necessary. So when they really wanted to punish Sirius but couldn't actually bring themselves to hurt him, they would verbally or physically hurt her in front of him. This tactic became increasingly common as they grew older.

That Christmas, Claire had been doing her best to avoid her parents. Sirius was moody. He had been in a fight with his best friends and things were very tense for him. Naturally, he said a lot of stupid things when they were home for Christmas, and he had to watch their mother shriek at Claire, berate her, belittle her, tell her what a failure she was, how ugly she was, how she was a complete and utter disgrace to the name of Black.

The real icing on the cake, however, happened that night. It wasn't the first time it had happened, but it was the first time Sirius had known about it. At four in the morning, after hearing her screams, her pleading, the sounds of slaps, their father's verbal abuse, the cries and groans of a different kind of abuse, Sirius walked into her room to find her huddled in a corner, her clothes torn and covered in blood, a swollen eye, and tears streaming down her cheek.

"This has happened before," he said softly. She nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want you getting hurt," she sniffed. "He told me that if I went and complained to you, he would hurt you. He said if I told anyone, he would hurt you. I didn't want him to hurt you, Sirius."

"But he hurt you," Sirius said, the pain obvious in his voice. "Claire, we can't stay here. This can't keep happening. I can't take this anymore. Honestly, what's to stop this from permanently ending or damaging your life beyond repair next time? Come on. Pack your things. We're leaving tonight, while they're asleep."

"But where will we go?" she sobbed as he bent down to help her to her feet. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder as his arms held her tightly to him, cradling her, comforting her. She was terrified he would let go.

"The Potters," he whispered. "We're always welcome there, they said so before. Trust me, if they know what happened–"

"No," Claire snapped. "You're not telling them about this."

"Baby–"

"No. You can tell them Mother hit me, or Regulus and I got into a fight. I don't care how you explain away the physical marks. You can tell them about the verbal stuff, but you are not telling them about this."

"Love, he–"

"I know what he did," she whimpered. "Trust me; I know more than you what he did! I just what to forget about it, okay? If we're leaving, this is all in the past, okay? This is just a memory. I'm not ever going to talk about this again if I can help it, understood?"

She knew he wanted to protest, he wanted to make her take justice on their father, but he had always had a hard time telling her no, and it certainly didn't hurt her case that she had looked incredibly and completely pathetic in that moment.

They had gathered their things, snuck out of the house, and took the Knight Bus to Potter Manor in Godric's Hollow. Mrs. Potter and Audrey had been up talking and they took one look at Claire and insisted that the twins stay with the Potters indefinitely. When the boys woke up in the morning to find the Blacks with them, when the story the twins had agreed on had been given at breakfast, there were no objections. This was their new home.

Regulus had written Andromeda, who had written Claire. Their mother was supposedly heartbroken to find them gone the following morning. Claire wasn't sure how much of that she believed. Heartbroken that she had lost her heir? Perhaps. Heartbroken at the loss of her only daughter? Maybe. Heartbroken that Sirius and Claire in particular were no longer hers to control and manipulate? It was possible. Sirius thought that the only thing their parents missed was having them as their little slaves, particularly Claire. He was sure they missed breaking her down, claiming it was all in attempts to make her worthy of a proper marriage. Claire knew her father would miss them only for that, but there was a part of her that thought, in her own twisted way, their mother probably was a bit heartbroken.

After all, she had never laid a hand on Sirius and certainly didn't mistreat him at all if she could help it, even if she was incredibly angry with him. And even though she had sorely mistreated Claire, their mother did care for her daughter in a twisted sort of way, and would surely miss the opportunity to marry her off, train her for married life, and stack her up against her cousins. Their mother had always wanted a daughter, from the time she was little, their Uncle Alphard had told Claire once. Perhaps she wouldn't miss Claire in particular, but she would miss everything she had wanted Claire for, everything she had hoped Claire could be, could bring her.

Remembering were she was and why she was there, Claire rolled out of her new bed in her new room at her new home with the Potters, tossed her things into her trunk, and wandered down to breakfast, where Audrey, James, and Sirius were already sleepily stuffing toast and sausage into their mouths.

"I'm packed," she sighed, dropping into the chair beside James and piling sausage onto her plate. "I suppose you'll want me to pack your things as well, Sirius?"

"Nah, Audrey did it last night," he muttered through his toast. "We're all ready to go when Dad gets things loaded."

Claire smiled to herself. Audrey and Sirius would never admit it to themselves or anyone else, but they were probably going to get married someday. Sirius, of course, looked incredibly like Claire, with gray eyes, raven-black hair, and aristocratic, haughty good looks. Audrey, on the other hand, had her brother's hazel eyes, long, straight sandy brown hair, and the most honest, simple face anyone could ask for.

"All right, everybody," Mr. Potter called. "I'm going to get your trunks. You've got fifteen minutes to finish trunks and change and then we're going."

The four of them looked around at each other, shoved a bit more food in their mouths and then ran up to their rooms. Claire tossed on a pair of black jeans and one of her brother's Sex Pistols tees, ran her fingers roughly through her shaggy black hair, and slipped on a pair of trainers. Then she skipped down the hall to Audrey's room where her friend was standing in front of a walk-in closet, considering the options.

"Well?" she asked, sitting down on the bed.

"Very you, Claire," Audrey sighed. "You and your brother, I swear you just share a wardrobe between the two of you."

"Only shirts," Claire joked. It was almost true; they just passed band tees around between the two of them.

"Anyway," Audrey sighed, "have you seen my blue jumper? I was going to wear it on the train."

Claire winced. If she remembered correctly, that blue jumper had been stretched out considerably by her brother, which he used as a Quidditch kit a few days earlier in a little match between the boys.

"I'll go look for it, you wait here."

Audrey continued sifting through her dresses and Claire ran down the hall to where the boys were changing in James's room.

"Boys," she called, pushing her way in, "blue jumper that you guys ruined the other day? You need to fix it. Audrey's looking for it."

They exchanged worried looks and looked down at the stretched blue jumper they had hidden under James's bed.

"Right," Sirius muttered. "How do we undo this damage?"

"Know any laundry charms, love?" James muttered, pulling on his jeans. "Or something like that?"

"Nope," Claire laughed. "Well, I'm not sure if this will work… but…" she pointed her wand at the jumper and muttered, "Reparo."

The jumper returned to its usual shape and size and the boys clapped and cheered. She sighed with relief, snatching it up from the floor, giving Sirius a quick kiss on the cheek, and rushing off to Audrey's room, where she had on a light blue dress.

"Oh, you found it, thanks." Audrey pulled on the jumper and frowned. "It smells like your brother."

Claire froze, thinking fast.

"Ah, yeah, it was in some of his stuff that I borrowed. Smell probably spread. Is that bad?"

"Not exactly," Audrey laughed, "but I hope some of his crazier fan girls don't attack me. I'd hate to be mauled because you and your brother can't figure out how to have your own clothes."

At King's Cross, Mr. Potter pushed his daughter's trolley and Sirius piled Claire's things on his own and they made their way onto platform nine and three-quarters. The boys carried the trunks onto the train and Claire heard someone calling her name. She turned and saw Regulus with their parents down the platform. Her father was watching her, leering at her, and she turned away, searching for her twin as her father and brother worked their way up the platform. Audrey was with her parents, saying her goodbyes. Sirius and James were nowhere to be seen, probably still securing the trunks. Her heart began to race.

Just as her father reached her, Remus and Sirius came off the train and walked back toward where she was, Sirius with a vicious look on his face.

"Claire," Regulus said, "father found you a match. You don't have to leave, you know. Rabastan is willing to marry you after you graduate if you promise to come home on the breaks again."

"She's not going back," Sirius hissed, wrapping his arms protectively around Claire, "so you can forget the engagement. She's suffered enough at your hand, father. I'm not leaving her alone in that house for another second."

"Hi, Remus," she muttered at her brother's friend. "Good summer?"

"The same as always," he said, watching her father watch her. "Have you seen Lily?"

She shook her head, burrowing deeper into Sirius's arms.

"This offer won't be open forever, Claire," her father drawled. "Rabastan promises to provide for you, despite your rebelliousness, and you would have your cousin nearby. This is the best option."

"No," she whispered, gripping Sirius's jacket, noting that her hands were shaking slightly.

"What did you just say?"

"She said no," Mr. Potter said, walking up behind Sirius and Remus. "If you wouldn't mind, Orion, I'd like to say goodbye to the twins without you breathing down their necks and making her uncomfortable."

Claire was sure her father was about to cause a scene, but very few people had the guts to take on the Potters publically, and apparently her father was included in the majority, so he turned, led Regulus back to their mother, and allowed Mr. Potter to say goodbye to Sirius and Claire unencumbered.

"If Regulus gives her any trouble, you write me," Mr. Potter told Sirius. "Anything at all, you let me know."

Mr. Potter didn't know the full extent of the abuse, of course, but he was a wise man and knew enough to know that Claire wasn't likely to cower in fear over a simple smack or two across the face. Sirius nodded and led his sister onto the train, down the carriage about halfway to the compartment James and Peter had settled into.

"I've got to go to the meeting," Remus said, "but I'll see you all in a bit and you can explain what just happened."

"Tell Lily-flower I said hello!" James exclaimed as Remus left the compartment, but Remus just shook his head and gave a tight smile as he closed the door behind him. Claire settled on her brother's lap, arms tight around his neck, her face buried in his chest.

"Well, we all know who James is after this year," Sirius said. "What about you, Pete? Got your eye on a girl?"

Peter blushed and nodded, but refused to say who. Claire had an inkling that it was Audrey, but she didn't say a word. Peter was teased enough for just being himself. He didn't need the extra agony of being completely smitten with James's baby sister.

"What about you, Padfoot?" James asked. "Who's the girl this year?"

"You mean, who's the first girl this year?" Claire joked. "Honestly, Sirius I'd be more impressed if you set a goal like having a steady girl or being completely single, no flings or strings."

"Single it is, baby," he whispered, kissing her forehead. "But you, my dear, I want to see with a steady, loving boyfriend by the end of the year, and that's an order."

Claire frowned.

"What?"

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed!" Sirius gasped, sharing a look of surprise with James.

"Noticed what?"

"But he's practically in love with you!" James whispered intensely.

"Who?"

"Sweet Merlin, she's clueless," Sirius sighed. "Our dear Moony is absolutely head-over-heels about you, love. It's about time you two discovered that you're destined for each other and started snogging each other silly. I suspect there's a wild beast underneath his good-boy exterior that could give you quite a good time."

Claire glared at Sirius, shook her head, and buried her face in his chest once more. Despite her denial that anything was there, she ran through her mind memories of Remus. Once or twice, she had caught him watching her in class, seen him stare at her across the common room. It wasn't a look she would expect from someone like Remus, not the curious interest or concern she might have thought would be there, but the more she thought on it, the more she remembered the hunger in his amber colored eyes, always more so near the full moon, which was why she had written it off as nothing in the past.

Was Sirius right? Was there some part of Remus, or even some part of the wolf, that actually desired her? And if that was the case, did she want him back? Claire had never thought of Remus in that way, but she knew perfectly well that he was handsome. The scars on his face were interesting, his eyes held pain that she had always felt she could find kinship in, and the soft, hoarseness of his voice, the vulnerability and yet absolute feral strength he sometimes possessed… She nearly shivered.

But after her ordeal, after what had occurred a mere month ago, was she even ready to start thinking about relationships and boys? She was broken, damaged, and a boy like Remus deserved so much more than she had to give.

No, whether Sirius was right or wrong, she had no business pursuing that boy. That much was clear.