maple syrup | remus lupin [1]

29. a winter's ball

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.