YEAR 7 | Draco Malfoy

32.0 the preparation

"Put that straight!"

A screeching voice woke Claire from her slumber, the sound making her curl into a ball underneath her sheets.

The warmth of her bed made it difficult to open her eyes or move but her mother's voice coming from downstairs made it impossible to fall asleep again.

She lowered her duvet and looked across her room, Pandora caught her attention as she was staring out her window from on top of her desk.

"Hey." Claire called out, the words having difficulty leaving her lips.

She still felt half asleep and even talking seemed to take all of her energy.

The black cat ignored her owner and continued to stare out of the window, her ears folding down whenever Evangeline's voice could be heard.

Claire huffed in annoyance at her pet before turning around, staring at the dark green painted wall.

She let her fingers trail across the texture and looked at the ring that Draco had given her.

There hadn't been a lot of moments where she took it off, losing it wasn't a risk she was willing to take.

No more messages had appeared since that first time but she had something new to keep her mind busy with.

The banquet.

Her mother had decided to invite a lot of people and to her surprise, the Malfoy's were invited too.

This idea had given the family a new thing to argue about.

Usually, it had something to do with Claire and her behaviour but now there was a feud between Evangeline and Robert themselves.

Her father refused to talk to anyone since he saw the silver ring but Evangeline didn't seem to care too much.

In her mind, this was something that needed to be done and after a while, her husband would come around maybe he'd even enjoy the party with the other husbands.

Claire tried to ignore the anxious feeling she got whenever she thought too much about the banquet or her parents.

With a groan and a few cracking noises, she turned around again.

Pandora hadn't moved but this time Claire's eyes wandered over to the gown that was hanging from her closet door.

Someone must've put it there this morning and she had a feeling about who that could've been.

The door to her room suddenly flew open and Claire gasped in surprise, turning her face to see who would enter.

"Claire, get up." Evangeline ordered while entering the room, making Pandora shoot off the desk and hiss at her in the process.

Evangeline ignored the cat and walked over to the gown.

She examined the fabric and nodded approvingly before taking it off the clothes hanger, turning around to show her daughter her latest purchase.

Claire tried to stop her face from showing the anger and disappointment she was feeling inside.

Since her mother hadn't talked about dresses until now, she had convinced herself that she would be able to pick out something herself.

Looking back it was naïve or even stupid to think that way.

"This will hide your broad shoulders perfectly." Evangeline said shamelessly

Her words stung but Claire kept her face straight, not showing emotion in the slightest.

She had the same body as her mother and it always seemed that Evangeline's insecurities were projected onto Claire, sometimes she was even ridiculed for it.