Trouble [S.B]

27

Ruby sat uncomfortably at the table as her grandparents talked illy of her to their guests, the Parkinson family.

It was August 31st and both families, the Stross and Parkinson, were sat on the long table having dinner, just like they did every year before their kids returned to Hogwarts. It had become sort of tradition for the two families to have dinner before the year started, being done in hopes of making their children comfortable enough for when they got married. However, this year things were a little different. Ruby's grandparents had visited all the way from France to spend time with them during summer, much to Ruby's dismay.

Ruby had been lucky with her parents being kind and loving, even if she was in Hufflepuff. She did not have the same luck with her grandparents. Both hated her to the core, having resented her since she was born and then they started hating on her even more when she was sorted into that good for nothing house, as they put it. It did not matter if she excelled in every one of her classes, or that she was the designated prefect of her house, or that she was in the school choir as one of the main voices. It did not matter how hard she tried to be in her grandparents good graces, they always found faults in her.

This seemed to be the main topic currently. The Parkinson family were no obstruction for them to speak ill of her, nor was the fact that Katerina Vanity was also a guest.

Ruby's and Katerina's friendship came out in an odd way. They hadn't ever spoken to each other until the day they celebrated Noelle's 17th birthday. And after glaring at the older Black quite heatedly, they left after Noelle, only to realize that she was already being comforted by Regulus. The girls decided to leave the two alone because they knew Regulus would be able to make her feel better, well as better as you could get when being insulted by someone you considered a friend. So as the group left them, they decided that they would use that morning to get to know each other better, only to realize that Katerina and Viola were actually really nice and funny girls. They also realized they weren't prejudiced as the others Slytherin's and not only that but they were incredibly curious about muggles and welcoming to some of their "funny inventions" as Viola put it.

They weren't besties, they still had a long way to go for that, but they were good friends.

That's how Ruby's and Katerina's unusual friendship started. Over insults and slaps to the face. Not on their behalf though.

It started with little greetings in the corridors, then they were sitting next to each other in classes, to doing homework at the library and finally having sleep over's at the other girls dorm. Both girls had many things in common and they liked to talk about silly things that went through their minds, it wasn't that Ruby disliked her best friends, it was just that they all had their own things going on. Kasumi was almost always with Mary and Ruby had nothing against her because she was always by Sebastian's side when they finally got together, but she decided to let them bask in it all for as long as they desired. Malia was sort of in the same boat as Kasumi, only she made more free time to spare but she was also an exceptional student who excelled in most of her classes and not only was she prefect but she was also a tutor to those in her year and the younger years. Noelle was... who knew? The girl had become even sketchier this year and no one knew the reason why. Between her tutoring sessions with Black, being prefect and whatever was occupying her mind, that wasn't school, she had her hands full; still she would make some time for her best friends and would make the most out of it. And lastly Lily. No one knew what was going on with Lily. One moment the girl was full on laughing and the next she'd be in a daze looking at the wall in deep thought, in the beginning they asked what was bothering her but after being shrugged off constantly they stopped asking her and decided that Lily would talk when she wanted to.

That brought her to the summer.

Ruby didn't know that her parents were good friends with Katerina's, and after some talk about her parents flying to America to solve some things they left their youngest with the Stross family. Katerina and Ruby had spent most of the summer together, going places, staying at home amongst other things. Of course on the occasion Ruby would leave her to go on a date with Sebastian before he, yet again, departed to France. But they still had a good time, well the days were they weren't blessed by the presence of Ruby's grandparents. The three teengaers were growing irritated with the ongoing babbling of Ruby's grandparents and while Ruby could take their hurtful words, Sebastian could not remain as composed as he pretended to be.