Ruby Williams/Other Musings

On occasion, Ruby Williams feels like the odd one out within her own family. Everything about them confuses the eleven year old to no end; from their obsession with looking prime, to their obsession with being superior to what they often call the “sports junkies”. Of course, their mother being a fashion designer is somewhat of an excuse for the former, but it doesn’t perplex her any less. It’s because she can’t see why such material things matter, however, she still tries to adhere to Blair’s expectations to keep her mother in a decent mood. Usually, she can get away with slogan t-shirts, jeans and converse shoes, since it’s stylish but casual at least. Ruby wants to wear clothes for comfort, she doesn’t need to cut her circulation off.

Ruby has always been a closet soccer fan, which occasionally makes her feel as though she was born on the wrong side of the line. While her father was around, she was allowed to take classes, but never learnt to fly due to Blair’s obvious disapproval. But she would take what she could get, and began supporting 1. FC Koln. He bought her a jersey for Christmas, and she has successfully managed to hide it from Blair’s attention during her massive sports clear-out. Ruby has not played football since her father left, which is disappointing since she thought a sporting career could be on the cards. Because of her own dreams, she has always admired the Williams on the other side, sporty, free, working hard, playing hard - when the closest she’s come is watching Kuroko no Basket and Haikyuu!! in secret.

Instead of lingering on her sports sabbatical, Ruby has attempted to find other things to occupy her time. Books about tragedy have lined her bookshelves, while listening to Halsey and the like, shut up in her bedroom. Since her dad left, Ruby has preferred her own company to that of her family, feeling overall uncomfortable around her family. So, talents in speaking Spanish and playing the guitar have come up. The whole family situation leaves Ruby upset - she honestly wants to be friends with the others, but is too scared to start a conversation in case they hate her, and fears being shut out by her own family. Doesn’t her family know Shakespeare tried the family feud thing four hundred years ago?

Ruby has a knack for needing the approval of others, and indeed she spends far too much time searching for it. This is because she doesn’t even have her own self-approval, privately referring to herself as the “failure child” and needs people to bolster up her injured confidence. So, she’ll do anything for anyone; watch things, read things, gain interest in what they like, do their work...just anything to become liked. Yes, she’s quite gullible and easy to blackmail, since she’s so chameleon-like, and this has wound her up in a lot of sticky situations. Not to mention she is very sensitive and takes everything to heart. All the time she tries to lie that she’s fine, or laugh, but it’s too outwardly visible, and she hates lying on principle. But sometimes lying is better for the person, so she tries it. She always prioritises others over herself, some people say this is unhealthy. After a while of interaction she will accept her need to recharge and never underestimates the healing properties of a good crying session.

She is inherently loyal. This might be why she hates Miles so much, and why she finds it so difficult to be friends with the others. She knows how it is like to lose a father and is very empathetic - she also does not feel as though Miles can be a stable member of their family now he has already left one. She’s stubborn, refuses to call him ‘Dad’ and goes by ‘Ruby Collins’ wherever possible (i.e. not around Blair or her siblings). She was easily a daddy’s girl so was the most injured when Blair left.

### History

Before transferring into the muggle world as an orthopedic surgeon, pure-blooded wizard Miles Williams did a brief stint as a a healer in St. Mungo's, where he met pure-blooded witch Aileen Cortés. The latter had transferred recently from Spain. It didn't take long for the two to meet, obviously under the dire circumstances their job placed them in. From their coworker relationship emerged a close friendship between the two. They'd work together every day in the same floors, and met frequently during their off hours. Eventually, it became something else, and they began dating. Just a year and a half after they began to date, Miles proposed. They exchanged vows months later. A little afterwards came the first of their four younglings - David Williams.

While the Williams family led a happy life with their growing family, there was another family with origins from Ireland and Germany that began to flourish. A pure-blooded fashion designer named Blair Schneider, and a pure-blooded lawyer that went by the name Jack Collins. They met in court, with the latter as the former's lawyer when someone decided to sue the fashion designer for stealing their designs. Blair's side came victorious, and in the celebration of it, the pair informally met and a friendship began to flourish. Around the time David was born did Blair and i/n get married. About a year afterwards, their firstborn was born - Emiline Collins.

Ruby Williams was the last of their children, arguably the closest to their father. She was happy, and while Blair didn't like Quidditch she allowed Jack to teach Ruby soccer, something for which she had gleaned a liking. In return Ruby dressed however her mother wanted and tried to support her so she wouldn't take back this decision. She spent a lot of time around her father, and honestly thought of him as some sort of super-dad, kicker of ass and baker of cookies all at the same time. When her parents fought she tried to act like a mediator and cheer them up; initially this worked, but as things got worse her siblings began to pull her back.

It was in response to this that she literally made a small explosion when Emiline was having a go at her (I tripped over the crabby girl's things, and then she yelled at me, and then I *exploded*.) Her father was proud but there was nothing to be done, and before Ruby could receive her Hogwarts letter it was mostly over.
After two decades of marriage more or less, Blair and Miles' marriage collapsed. It was sudden, and nobody expected it, but it happened. As for the Collins' marriage... it lasted almost as long as Miles and Aileen's did, though everyone could see and had fully expected it to fail. A few years in, Blair and Jack just... lost their connection, and it reflected in the way they acted around each other - distant, snappy, and always leading to arguments. The final blow to the marriage was when Blair decided to continue her line of work in London, England, where she believed her work would be more successful. It was during one of her visits to London, looking for a home, that she met Miles Williams.

Blair and Miles really hit it off, the pair flirting more often than not. One thing led to another, and they began to date. Shortly after, it came to light that it had led to Blair's first pregnancy since her youngest - Ruby - was born, almost a decade beforehand. Doing what was considered right, Miles waited a little before proposing to her. Their wedding happened just a few short months later and, after gaining the custody of his kids, dragged them into his new shared house with Blair, who in turn brought her own kids with her. It was here that the feud started, both sides of the family seeing how different they were to each other. While Aileen and Miles' kids were sportier, and didn't mind playing rough and dirty, Blair and Jack's kids did mind. They were much, *much* classier, which led to more clashing than getting along.

Not Ruby - she wanted to be like the cool kids, but was afraid of being shut out of her own family. There was a girl her age, Kayla, but Ruby didn't know how to start a conversation and feared she was hated. While she's at Hogwarts, she wants to stop this feud instead of having to pretend to be into it.