TW! Small mentions of poor eating habits / neglect as well as some uninvited touching!!!

A BEAUTIFUL WHITE dress lay on Claudia's bed that snowy Wednesday morning - which was also Christmas Eve, December 24th.

That meant that it was time for the Maple Ball that evening. And Claudia couldn't be less excited.

Over the past few days the girl had spent her time studying, cleaning and sleeping - that was pretty much it.

Despite the fact that Nicolas' birthday had been two days prior, she hadn't seen anyone. Normally the only times she actually was invited to the dinner table and to be around her family members was when it was a good opportunity to pave her way into the pureblooded society.

She was only seen as a part of that family when she was surrounded by possible suitors that could benefit the family name.

The fact that Claudia had been in her room meant that she was hungry. It wasn't unusual for her to go days without eating when she was at the manor, but since she was so well-nurtured at Hogwarts it affected her. She was hungry and she was tired.

So, what was the girl's goal for the evening you may ask? The answer was simple, to eat as much as possible.

A stern knock on the door disturbed the girl's ever so interested observing of her white dress, which was very pretty in her opinion. It was a cloudy white dress with lace decorating it, and in all honesty it sort of looked like a wedding dress. But, that wasn't exactly weird since she was intended to spend the night practically "hunting" for a future husband.

Claudia turned around towards the door as Louisa Maple stepped inside her room.

"Your father and I are expecting for you to be on your best behaviour tonight," the woman said slowly as if she was reading a script. "That also means that you have to do something about the way you look so you will get a chance with a boy despite your filthy blood status."

Claudia nodded politely as the woman left, and as the door closed Claudia immediately changed her behaviour and rolled her eyes.

It wasn't rare of Louisa to shame Claudia in every possible way. She had been called ugly plenty of times, for example. And been body-shamed, of course. One minute she was too skinny, the next she was too fat.

Maybe if she would actually make sure that Claudia ate and left her room she would be satisfied.

But, Louisa Maple was never satisfied nor content. The closest she got to satisfied was normally just her not being horribly against things.

Louisa's words honestly didn't hurt Claudia that much anymore. She had been struggling with it a lot in the beginning, but then a woman she had met at the ball one year told her that she looked a lot like her mum and her aunt, and that made her incredibly happy.

Of course, it was never fun for her to always feel like she wasn't enough. But she got used to it, and somehow even accepted it even though it was horrible. She always felt like she was enough around her friends, and maybe that was all she needed.

So, when she sat down and applied the minimal makeup that Louisa had left for her, she kept repeating a young woman's words in her mind.

"Oh my, look at you! You look more like your mum and aunt every year!"

Claudia recalled that the woman who had said those kind words to her was called Andromeda Black. Well, now her name was Andromeda Tonks and she had apparently been disowned. She had been good friends with Gemma in school, which was how she knew them.

Claudia remembered finding Andromeda to be the most bearable person in the room at every ball, and she even found herself wishing that she would somehow show up. But she most certainly wouldn't.

Good thing was that another Black, who was soon to also be disowned, was going to show up.

Claudia sometimes even wondered if she could get herself disowned, but that seemed rather impossible.

Because, Margaret Maple, Claudia's grandmother, refused to leave the family's money to Louisa's sons when she and Charles passed. Left to inherit it was Claudia.

Margaret was a tricky person, she hated Claudia but somehow she also didn't. Maybe it was the simple fact that she hated Louisa, Nolan and Nicolas even more than she hated Claudia - which, for the record, was for no particular reason.

If only Charles and Louisa could have a pureblooded child so that Claudia could be free of her misery.

The only positive thing about it all was that Claudia would at least never be forced to worry about money. She figured she was lucky like that, but at the same time she didn't give a shit about money; all she wanted was freedom.

But she had no freedom. It was clear the moment she sat on her chair in front of her vanity and practiced her fake smiles.

She looked like a fucking sociopath.

"Alright, Claudia," she said under her breath. "Let's go get some food."

•••

As she walked down the stairs, she noticed how the usually cold and dark place was filled with candles and Christmas decorations. A big tree stood in the middle of it all and people had already started to fill up the manor.

If there was one thing to note about the Maple household, it was that they tried their very hardest to appear perfect in other people's eyes. It was like a real life dollhouse, and Claudia was a perfect example of a porcelain doll who sat down and looked pretty.

They were, however, far from perfect. And Claudia was definitely far from a porcelain doll.

"Claudia," the low voice of one Margaret Maple spoke to her as she came down the steps.

"Grandmother," she said with a polite nod.

"I assume school is going well?" The old lady asked, and Claudia nodded assuringly.

"I've been studying for my O.W.L.s," she informed.

"Good," Margaret replied coldly as she swatted her away. "Go on."

Claudia immediately flashed her a fake smile as she darted towards the table filled with food and drinks, but she didn't make it far as a hand grabbed her shoulder.

"Claudia, dear, there's some people I'd like you to meet," her father said with an almost scary smile as he led her away to a group of people, including a young man who was most likely another possible suitor.

Claudia hated it when her father pretended like that. As if he actually cared for her, as if the two had a normal father and daughter relationship. As if he didn't cast the Cruciatus curse on her just a few days ago.

But, Claudia had herself picked up the act so she smiled politely as she spoke to a family, who's son was a sixth year Slytherin.

That was pretty much what her night consisted of. Talking to people she barely knew about exams and the weather, waiting for a boy to show his interest. Her stepbrothers paraded around like they owned the place, as she walked around waiting to be owned by someone other than her father.

I fucking hate the patriarchy, Claudia thought.

Claudia still hadn't been able to sneak a single snack all night, and it caused her patience to slowly drift away. That girl wasn't only moody when she was sick, she was also moody when she was hungry.

Which, for the record, she had been since around dinner time the same day she left Hogwarts.

So, when she finally found an opening she wasted no time on walking towards the table full of food. And as she was barely a second away from picking up some weird-ass cracker with something weird on it, her hand was discreetly swatted away by Louisa.

"You must behave like a lady," she said sternly with a fake smile as she faced the ballroom full of people, Claudia doing the same.

"What? Are you saying that ladies don't eat?" Claudia shot back as she smiled towards a woman who was politely waving at the two.

Louisa waved back at the woman as she ignored Claudia's comment and went on.

"I heard that Evan Rosier has taken quite an interest in you," she said without looking at her. "I expect you to converse with him and his family tonight."

"You don't get to decide what I do," Claudia said as she continued to smile at the people who smiled at her. "You're not my mum."

"I'm your stepmother," Louisa said through gritted teeth. "So you do what I say."

"Oh, Louisa, there's no need for you to clean up my father's mess. I don't think it matters what your filthy halfblooded stepdaughter does. Who is the reason why your sons won't be inheriting any of my family's money might I add. I'll marry some arse either way, no need for you too put too much effort into it. You'll just end up with more wrinkles."

"How dare you speak to me that way, young lady?!" Louisa said as she finally faced her stepdaughter.

"I didn't say anything," Claudia smiled innocently as she mirrored her action. "Are you alright? Because I think you might be hallucinating," she said as she waved her hand in front of the confused woman's face.

"Wha-"

"Well, I best be on my way to the Rosiers then!" She said as she walked off to another person she absolutely despised.

Evan looked at her as if she was a piece of meat when she came up to him.

"Looking good, Sunshine," he said with a grin as she innocently smiled at him.

"I know," she answered. "Now let's get this over with, where are your parents?"

"Oh, she wants to meet the family," he grinned as he placed his hand on her lower back in order to lead her away. "Come on then."

Evan's family was just as she expected; rude, full of themselves, and way too interested in Claudia's appearance.

His mother even mentioned something about Claudia having "a good body for carrying babies". She was close to losing it the moment that comment was made, but then she felt her father place his hand on her shoulder as he and Louisa appeared.

"Mr. Rosier, would you like to escort my daughter to the dancefloor? Perhaps you could offer her a dance?" Charles said politely to Evan.

"Of course Mr. Maple, I'd be happy to," he said as he offered his arm to Claudia, who eventually reluctantly took it as her father whispered in her ear:

"He seems like a good choice, stay with him for the rest of the night."

Oh merlin's left tit, am I about to be betrothed to Evan dickhead Rosier? She thought as the boy in question escorted her to the dancefloor and offered his hand to her.

Dancing with Evan Rosier was like a living nightmare.

She wondered if anyone saw how the hand that was supposed to be on her waist slowly made its way down to a place it wasn't invited to, and how it rested there for a while.

She wondered if anyone saw how he slowly started to lean in closer to her.

And she also wondered if anyone saw just how uncomfortable she was - and that's when she realised someone actually did see it all.

Sirius Black in high person.

He was standing behind everything as if he was avoiding each and every single guest.

Sirius' eyes darted from Claudia's, to where Evan's hand was, to the ceiling because he wasn't supposed to look at her arse, and then back to Claudia's eyes.

And then, he started to walk. And Claudia started to subtly shake her head.

The last thing she needed was drama.

"Wouldn't you just love a drink right now?" She said sweetly to Evan, who nodded in agreement as he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

"I'll go get you one," he said as he walked off and left her alone on the dancefloor.

And then, Claudia caught sight of Sirius once again. This time he wasn't on his way to her, instead he was nodding towards the exit. Claudia shook her head yet again, but he nodded like a child who was trying to convince her.

And when she shook her head once again, he rolled his eyes and mouthed a "please".

Claudia sighed as she felt herself growing more intrigued by the second.

He was most certainly up to no good.

But maybe that wasn't such a bad thing?

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