Nine Lives and Bad Luck

Daniels

When Soren was born, the nurses had all congratulated his parents with the usual empty words of praise for the slimy, shriveled infant which nobody could rightfully tell how they would end up.

What an adorable, lively baby he was.

He looked just like his father, oh but with his mother hair and nose, of course.

He would be an absolute heartbreaker when he grew up.

Little did any of them know how right that last one would be.

     By the time Soren Daniels was seventeen he was set in the world, charm, looks, brains, money; in the muggle world he had it all.  He came from a family of new money instead of old, but he had advantages others did not; magic, and when he was younger he had been exceptionally good at earning affection and praise from strangers in part because of it.

But as the third child, second son, of the family he had another thing that left the word at his feet; freedom. Soren's older sister, by five years, had been quickly married off just three short years prior for increased status to a man from old money who had gotten success and with it, the respect of many at the... young, bachelor age of forty-seven. Soren's brother was learning the family business, leaving him free to pursue whatever he liked in the magical world. A world that was solely his own.

      But even with all that he had, that counted for little in Drumstrang, there the only things that had mattered was blood and magic. So he quickly improved in the only one of those he could, that was the only way a mudblood survived in Drumstrang long enough to be considered one of them, well, one of them on the surface at least.

      Even in the muggle world, Soren was new money. He knew how it was, one of them on surface, if you did this or that for the old money and still somehow managed to keep your wealth, but not really if you looked any deeper than that. And if there was one thing his family was known for it was not being content to accept their place and status. His sister was a princess now, with both his nephews far up in the line for the throne. His brother was well on his way to making the family fortune worth the most of any family there was; new money or old. And he... he had just graduated Drumstrang, after clawing and charming his way to the top both in social circles and in terms of grades for seven full years.

And after those seven years, flattering when need be, fighting back when acceptable, and backing down when not, what had that earned him?

He was back at the bottom again, a mud blood fish at the scorned, murky bottom of a large pond. Oh he had skills alright, he had been second in the whole year, and he could have been first... had that not been a moment that required backing down. But.

But that didn't change anything.

He stared down at the low paying job offer, one of a dozen or so that he had been owled after his graduation, it would be hard work, long hours, little pay, no room for advancement. That was all any of the job opportunities offered in looping, poorly hidden condescending tones. As if they thought his only choice was to accept their "charitable offer" or go back to the dirty pig pen where he came from where they believed he had no experience nor education.

Of course they were wrong, he was tutored at home over the summer, had taken the necessary tests to have his certificate, and furthermore didn't have to work at all if he so chose. He and his wife and any children, should he ever get either, would all be granted a monthly stipend that was more than enough to account for living costs, on the account that he did not become an embarrassment to the family.

And he was anything but.

His father had already asked him home once after his graduation, and often scheduled deal closings to occur during summer before, so that Soren could be in attendance. Because with or without magic, Soren knew how to charm hearts and get what he wanted.

And what he wanted was not to do thankless work for pennies, nor to exist solely in the muggle world and give up what he had strove for for so long.

No, he wanted something greater. And he would get it.

       Three months after his graduation, he stepped into the circuit as he stepped into anything, with smooth, suave confidence that set hearts aflutter, and a slightly smug but still charming smile. His blue hair was artfully styled and his clothes were clean and well ironed. Whether he beat his opponents or not, he knew the second his eyes swept the ring that so long as he made a good showing, that he still would have stolen the audience's hearts; in short, that meant, really, he had already won.

The person who stood before him, on the other side of the ring, scoffed and Soren smiled back, ignoring him to wave at the crowd and wink at a particularly fetching women with wild black hair. It was good, he had heard of this Wizard, they would try to put up a fight, and knowing this Soren could really put on a good show, everybody loved an underdog. He would struggle a bit at first, while still displaying skill and an impressive array of spells, then he would begin to get the upper hand, using what would become his signature spell, before he'd let the other recover a little, only to finish him with his soon to be signature spell just when the crowd was starting to worry again.

Soren's smile shifted just slightly more into a more roguishly charming smirk as he let his eyes drifted back to his opponent, the count down started, "Let's have a good match, shall we?"

It was almost storybook perfect. They both drew their wands and the duel began.

       So, basically I know how the story is going to go, but I'm not quite sure how to escalate Skeeter's writing properly from the previous chapter and so that's why I haven't updated in awhile, so I'm moving one of the dueler's shorts up a chapter while I mentally bang my head against the wall because I realize it has been some time since the last update.

     Thank you for your patience.

     -T.A.L.A.