Tricia frowned up at her mother as she smiled down at her, an indignant look on Tricia's features. She huffed, crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, to which her mother laughed and patted her on the head. With a heavy sigh, Tricia relented and grabbed the suitcase handle. She pulled it along behind her as she followed her mother to outside of the Estate. She waved to Nara - unsure as to why her twin wasn't coming - and placed her hand on her mothers arm. Next moment, they were whisked away through that horrible tube that was far to small for them and in France for her mothers tour. Once they'd booked into the hotel, Tricia un-packed her bags and waved to her mother as she left the hotel and wandered the streets.

She passed by an ice cream parlour, and with her pockets loaded with galleons she walked inside and over to the counter. People gasped and crowded around her with squeals of delight as they begged for her mothers autograph. Tricia waved them away and whistled, a security guard apparating outside and storming in to stand beside her. "Hey, Jaq." She greeted the security guard, who nodded in response. She looked at the list of ice creams before she smiled sweetly at the ice cream person. The person merely trembled in response. "I'd like a mint swirl with chocolate flakes." She said, before she placed a galleon on the counter, took the ice cream and refused the change. Jaq went and stood at the entrance to the ice cream parlour whilst she found a seat and licked at her ice cream happily.

Claudette’s white shoes were muddy, untied and getting tight, her lavender dress was dull and dusty, and her mousey brown hair was stringy and tangled with twigs. The child’s nine years of life could be broken into three separate parts. The first being before the accident, this was a time of love, laughter, bliss, and the naiveté to believe that such a time would never end. The second part was after the accident, where she was sent to her vile uncle’s home where the most unspeakable things happened, many of which she still could not understand. Finally the third part was the one she was still living; she had run away from that terrible place and her uncle’s sinister acts and appetites and now cared for herself as best she could manage.

Her green-gray cast downwards Claudette walked along the street feeling small and invisible as the grown-ups shuffled and bumped past her. Her stomach rumbled sharply as she went. Claudette’s eyes darted about her as she looked for something to sate her hunger. The bright colors worn by the people walking on either side seemed a rainbow at boil. They all seemed to being wearing robes far to sleek and flowing to be bath robes, or fancy dresses and many had tall fancy hats, one of which had a crow atop it! It made the girl pause and wonder if she had wondered it a type of celebration of some sort, for normal people would clearly never dress in such a manner.

Then she spotted it, and ice-cream shop. Almost without realization she glided towards it. She paused at the window and gazed longingly through it as she watched children licking happily at cones and digging ice-cream out of bowls the way one would snow with a shovel. She longed for a scoop of her own, her heart plummeted she knew it would never happen. She made up her mind that she would allow herself a moment more to dream, and then she had to move on.

Tricia had been in the midst of deep thoughts as she licked away at her ice cream. She hated being dragged along on tour, and this was made worse by the fact that Nara had clearly avoided being dragged along. Their mother always seemed to take at least one of them whenever she could, for support mostly and to show off her daughters. Tricia hated the way the people inched towards her, but they backed off with a look from her guard. Jaq winked at her as one fan ran away screaming from his frown, and Tricia grinned back. She brushed her hair away from her face and let out a heavy sigh, wishing she was back in Luxembourg - where she felt she belonged. She was looking forward to attending Durmstrang, though she did love her home and really had no desire to attent dull lessons.

Her attention was captured by a completely filthy girl peering through the window. Her hair was a tangled mess on her head with leaves and twigs sticking in it, her clothing dirty, ragged, torn and with questionable substances adorning the fabric. She took another lick of her ice cream as she took in this dishevelled, dirty child. Surely, she didn't live on the streets? But Tricia knew with another glance that she did, she noticed the tightness of the girls skin around her bones. Ever so skinny, it pained Tricia to look at the hungriness within her eyes and the longing directed towards the delicious ice creams. Tricia stood up, walked back over to the counter and ordered a hazelnut crumble with Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans mixed through it.

She paid the server who looked like she wanted to say something, but abruptly clamped her mouth shut and walked away with flushed cheeks and a dizzy look. Tricia raised her eyebrows but ignored her as she walked outside towards the girl just as she'd begun to move away. "Hey!" She called as she rushed over to her with a kind look on her face. Tricia may be a brat at times, rude, obnoxious and spoilt, but beneath that was a tender side and this girl needed something to eat - even if it was ice cream. She handed the hazelnut ice cream to her with a soft smile. "Eat it." She ordered as she took a lick of her own. "Im Tricia, Tricia Cissi Black. Whats your name?"

Claudette's attention was so fully taken by the deliciousness within the shop she hadn't even noticed the person walking out of it. She jumped when the older girl called to her. "Je ne faisais rien!" (I wasn't doing anything!) she squeaked spinning so that her back was pressed against the window. This had become a natural reaction for her before she was being chased away from stores and even porches and alleyways on cold nights. She had said this many a times to her uncle, never to avail. Her eyes wide and heart pounding the child watch the warmly smiling girl. She seemed so friendly and nice but Claudette was unsure.

A small smile lit her face when she saw the ice-cream she was being offered. There was a moments pause while she tried to determine the trap behind her friendly demeanor. Finally she decided that it was safe enough and reached a hand towards the cold creamy dessert. Her fingers were inches from it when she noticed the very tall, very mean looking man behind the girl. Claudette's mind buzzed sharply as it faught to decide if she should run or put up a fight. In the end she tried to move but her knees wobbled and buckled beneath her sending her sprawling to the ground. "Non, non!" (No, no!) she cried tears raining from her eyes as she pulled her knees to her chest knowing what he would do next.

Tricia smiled as the girl proclaimed that she wasn't doing anything. It was a soft, gentle smile as she tentatively stepped forwards and held out the ice cream to her once more. She worried about the child now, had she been abandoned on the streets with no where to go? This made tears spring to her eyes as her more compassionate side shone through. "Its okay, I know you weren't," she spoke in her im-perfect-but-good-enough french in a very soft voice. The darling child made her heart swell at her innocent features.

She felt herself grow angry at the fact that such a beautiful, innocent little girl had been left to fend for herself against the cruelty of the world. She smiled brightly as the girl reached out for the ice cream, but as her body guards footfalls drew nearer the girl seized up, pulled away and she fell to the ground with tears sliding down her cheeks as she cried no. With a gasp, Tricia handed her ice cream to Jaq and leant down beside the girl. "Its okay! He's just here to protect me in case someone tries to hurt me, its okay sweety. I won't hurt you, please, its okay I promise." She reached out a hand to stroke the girls hair in very slow movement to show she wasn't going to hurt her.

Claudette trembled on the ground, but froze when Tricia made contact with her. Claudette held her breath, it wasn't a sharp and painful blow, nor did the contact hold any threat of changing into something sinister. After a moment she dared a glance up, the girl who was speaking to her had long dark brown hair and a kind unassuming face highlighted by strikingly kind sea green eyes. The little girl stared at her, awed by her beauty and gentle kindness. Her eyes trailed back to the large man, and fear seized her yet again. "Non." she whispered shaking her head. He would hit her, she knew, but another glance at the girl made her feel safer than she had it a long time, it was a very nice feeling. Her eyes fell back onto the ice cream, she hoped the offer was still standing. She fidgeted unsure of how to ask. "Je vous remercie, je s'il vous plaît-il?" (Th-thank you, may I please have it?) she asked her voice a soft whisper as she looked enviously at it.

Tricia smiled as her action was accepted by the timid girl. She saw that her body tensed up and her eyes scrunched shut, as if Tricia's action was one that would harm her. She felt appalled, who had hurt this girl so badly? She gently stroked the girl's hair and sat down beside her cross-legged. She ran a finger gently over the locks and frowned at how badly knotted it was. She now noticed that dirt was flecked through her hair, along with sticks, twigs, leaves, and even a dead bug. She pulled the bug out and gently with her free hand pried out a leaf. The sticks would require far more work. She smiled warmly at the girl as she peeked up at her, but when her eyes flicked back to Jaq she whispered 'no' once more and Tricia sighed. She translated her German to French and then spoke once more. "He won't hurt you, I promise. My mother has people who love her, you see, and they think that they can kidnap me to get to my mother. He just protects me, he won't hurt anyone unless I want him to, and I don't want him to hurt you." Tricia assured her in her best french.

She felt protective of this little girl with beautiful big eyes that were full of secrets and worries that such a young girl should not have. She wondered the age of this poor child and sighed heavily. When she asked for the ice cream, Tricia eagerly held it out to her and decided to ask her of her name. "My name's Tricia, Tricia Cissi Black. Whats your name?" She asked kindly. She then held her hand out to Jaq and took her own ice cream from him to lick at it. Jaq smiled at the girl on the ground in a way to assure her that he wouldn't hurt her.