CHAPTER THREE: A NEW BEGINNING
MRS. WEASLEY'S POV
She closed the door to Claire's bedroom, 'poor girl' she thought shaking her head, she went down the stairs quietly, and went into the kitchen, her husband was sitting in the table with Sirius and Lupin, 'what will we do? We have to get him out of there' said Sirius, but everyone went quiet when she sat down next to Arthur 'how is she?' asked Lupin, Molly shook her head 'shocked, I just showed her the letter and she cried for what seemed to be days' Lupin sighed 'Amos probably wasn't thinking straight, he always loved Claire, and Ana would never leave her baby' said Arthur, 'well they just did, but what are we going to do Arthur?' Molly asked taking a glass of water from the middle of the table 'we could keep her you know?' she said quietly, 'the boys love her and Ginny has always sort of idolized her' Arthur considered it 'I guess, we have to talk to Dumbledore first though, Claire's been through a lot in just four months, but we are going to offer to keep her of course' Molly smiled, 'well, I'd better start dinner, when is Harry getting here? That will help Claire get back on her feet' Sirius
Smiled 'Harry will probably get here tonight' he said, Molly began to make chicken soup and shepherds pie. After an hour or so of cooking, she called the kids to come and help set up the table, 'mum, how's Claire? What happened to her?' asked Fred taking a handful of cutlery from the drawer bellow the stove, 'she's weak, could you go wake her up?' Fred nodded and began to climb up the stairs.
CLAIRE'S POV
She felt someone shake her up slightly, Fred Weasley was sitting in her bed, looking at her with that pity smile she was so used to getting now a days. 'How are you feeling?' he asked, Claire shrugged, 'numb' she said grinning. Fred hugged her and kissed her head 'you're like a sister to me, and now we might actually be brother and sister' Claire flinched back at the word brother, 'I'm sorry' she said to Fred who looked at her confused, 'its just that the idea of Ced just…' she trailed off. Fred smiled at her 'its ok, so, dinner's ready, and Harry's probably on his way here' Claire's heart skipped, she hadn't seen Harry all summer, and she missed him so much, 'great, I'll be down in a minute'.
Mrs. Weasley had left a towel and some shampoo, Claire got into the bathroom and undressed, she touched the tattoo she had in her shoulder she felt the name of 'Cedric' engraved on her skin. She had done it on one of her long walks to York, she met loads of interesting muggles there and one of them worked on that tattoo shop and had convinced her to get one.
She got into the shower and felt the water run smoothly through her body, she felt calmer as if the water had momentarily drowned the pain away.
After a long satisfying bath, Claire got into her sweatpants and sweatshirt and went downstairs.
She entered the kitchen and saw Harry who ran at her and picked her up kissing her like they hadn't seen each other in years 'I missed you' Claire said kissing him again, somebody coughed in the kitchen 'oh, sorry, erm- hi' she said nervously looking at Mr. Weasley and Sirius who were looking at them expectantly 'Claire' said Sirius hugging her 'you know that you're always welcomed here right?' Claire nodded, and sat down besides Harry. Dinner passed rapidly, Claire was starving, living of cold pasta and salad was horrible and at last she had something to eat that was worm and delicious, for a moment she was so happy to see Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Ginny and Hermione again that she forgot about what had happened, it wasn't until Lupin brought the subject up 'Claire, you need a new guardian to enter your Gringotts vault, we've been discussing it and maybe its best if Arthur and Molly were your guardians' the table grew silent, Claire looked at Lupin confused 'but, my parents might come back, they should've set something up for the time being' Lupin looked at her sadly 'Claire, I don't think they're coming back, we need to start changing things as quickly as possible' , Harry squeezed her hand and smiled at her, 'well, I guess that for the time being, if they want to they could be, I mean, I really don't want to be burden' Mrs. Weasley gasped and ran to hug Claire 'not at all, I've always wanted two daughters' she said between heartfelt sobs, Mr. Weasley stood up and joined the hug, so did the other Weasleys. 'Thanks Mrs. And Mr. Weasley' said Claire trying to keep her voice steady, 'nonsense, now you'll call us mom and dad' said Mrs. Weasley smiling and wiping her tears.
Dinner went on smoothly after that, until Harry began to ask questions about He-who-must-not-be-named, 'everybody else, up' snapped Mrs. Weasley, Claire didn't know what to do, so she just stayed besides Harry and waited until the conversation was over 'what has the Order been doing to stop him?' asked Harry, Lupin crossed his arms 'we've been recruiting, and so has he, but its difficult to do so if Fudge isn't cooperating' Sirius coughed 'have you read the Dailey Prophet?' Harry shook his head 'well, its been attacking you and Dumbledore, telling everybody that you're mentally ill and sorts' Harry took the Dailey Prophet from Lupin and just after reading the first paragraph he threw it aside 'but why wont he understand?' he exclaimed letting go of Claire's hand, 'its stupid we know' said Moody who had just moved out of a shadowy corner, 'but we think he's after something, a weapon, something he didn't have last time', Harry frowned 'like something that'll kill everyone?' Sirius was about to say something when Mrs. Weasley stood up 'that's enough, he is just a boy!' she yelled at Sirius, 'but he has the right to know Molly!' said Sirius, 'well that's responsible of you Black' Mrs. Weasley said savagely, Sirius stood up 'are you calling me irresponsible?' Mrs. Weasley nodded 'he's not James Sirius!'
'And his not your son' said Sirius hotly 'he's as good as' retorted Mrs. Weasley. 'Well, bed then?' suggested Mr. Weasley trying to cover up the awkward moment, Lupin nodded and stood up, everyone did the same and said goodnight. Harry accompanied Claire to her bedroom, they sat on her bed 'Claire, how are you feeling?' he asked her, Claire was about to say 'fine' but after seeing those bright green lights, she gave up and before she could stop herself she launched into telling everything she had been feeling for the past four months, they talked for what seemed to be hours, 'so, after my parents left, I just felt as if they never wanted me, that they didn't care, and I'm trying to be strong but sometimes I can't' she finished, Harry hugged her and kissed her head, 'can you stay here tonight?' she asked him taking his hand, Harry nodded, 'I'll get a cot or something', but she didn't let go of him, 'no stay with me here' she said touching the other side of the bed. Harry smiled and lay down on the bed, Claire rested her head on his chest and Harry put his arms around her and kissed her forehead 'goodnight' breathed Claire, Harry kissed her head 'I love you' he whispered and with that Claire fell asleep.