Trouble [S.B]

23

Ruby Stross had a peculiar life.

She came from a wealthy and respected pureblood family. Every single one of her family members had been sorted into Slytherin and were extreme pureblood supremacists. So it was a surprise for all of them when little Ruby was sorted into Hufflepuff. Being sorted into Gryffindor was bad enough, but Hufflepuff? The Stross family became the laugh of all the other families, just as the Black's had been when that same year Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor. Since both children had known each other basically since birth, they sometimes found each other looking for refuge in the other. Not in the physical way, but more so in an emotional level. Ruby's worst year was first year, no use denying that.

But even if to most wizarding families being sorted in the "wrong" house would lead them to an immense amount of beatings, no such thing came to her. To the other families everyone in the Stross household were cold hearted people, but that was the biggest lie to Ruby. Her parents were the kindest and most loving people she knew. They had both been in Slytherin when they were younger and had been friends for the longest time until they were told that when they both graduated they were to be wed. This led them to be more than friends and they didn't find themselves hating the idea of them spending the rest of their lives with each other. 

Ruby grew up with so much love from both of her parents, others hadn't been so lucky as her. She always confided in her parents with her biggest and deepest secrets. So when the sorting came and she was sent to Hufflepuff as soon as the Sorting Hat had graced her head, she just had to tell her parents as soon as it had happened. She had cried herself to sleep that night, for she feared her parents would disown her but that never happened. She received a howler the next day and it was both her parents telling her it was okay and that they were so proud of her, that Hufflepuff had earned themselves a brilliant and talented witch. That day she couldn't stop smiling.

Her happiness did not last for long though.

Not only had Slytherins begun to taunt her for her sorting, but because Ruby was a chubby girl. This only resulted in her crying and eating all sorts of junk food, only to then cause herself to throw it up. It was only when another girl in her year saw her that she stopped.

Lily Evans had been her knight in shining armour.

Since a young age, Ruby had known of arranged marriages, she also knew that her parents had gotten together because of one. So when she was ten years old she asked her parents if she was going to have an arranged marriage as well, when her parents told her that they had already selected who she was to marry after finishing Hogwarts she asked them relentlessly for the name of said boy. For the longest time her parents refused to tell her and she genuinely thought that it was Sirius, but then that thought was discarded because he got sorted into Gryffindor and both families couldn't afford any pureblood offspring being sent to Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, they would only accept them in Slytherin and since both had been sorted into anything but Slytherin, the chances were slim to both pureblood families. SHe realized who her future husband was when in first year during Christmas Holidays her parents went to have dinner at the Parkinson Manor.

Sebastian Parkinson was a handsome boy from a very early age, so this was a bonus to many families that were trying to get their daughters into an arranged marriage with him. The Parkinson family being highly respected was the main attraction though. Somehow, word got out about their marriage and the girls who crushed on Sebastian started teasing her, this later lead to bullying on their part. Ruby became incredibly insecure and this made way to her eating disorder. 

This was how Lily Evans found her. Crying and holding onto the toilet for dear life as she threw up the food she had eaten a few minutes before. Lily had threatened to go to McGonagall if she carried on and Ruby was immediately scared, she didn't want to embarass her parents any further, so she stopped. One day, after Lily had been following her around to make sure she didn't do it again, the redhead asked her why she did that. Ruby had cried and said that some girls had been making fun of her weight and she thought that if she did that they would somehow stop.