Chapter 4.
After Soren turned 9, perhaps Lucius and Narcissa felt that their two children were at the age to make friends, or perhaps they noticed Soren showing signs of becoming a recluse, and began inviting some children of similar age and status to their home to play, hoping that Soren and Draco could find like-minded companions before starting school.
However, among these so-called "similarly situated" invited children, almost all came from pure-blood families with status similar to the Malfoy family, such as Theodore Nott from the Nott family, Pansy Parkinson from the Parkinson family, Millicent Bulstrode from the Bulstrode family, Gregory Goyle from the Goyle family, and Vincent Crabbe from the Crabbe family, among others.
In Soren's eyes, this was a group of arrogant, ignorant, and spoiled little brats. It was strange that he could get along with them! Moreover, as far as Soren knew, more than half of the children here had fathers who were Death Eaters!
Draco, on the other hand, was quite impressive. Relying on the Malfoy family's status, he easily won over his two followers, Goyle and Crabbe. Though these two big boys were a bit dim-witted, their sturdy builds made them perfect candidates for bodyguards.
Even the haughty Pansy Parkinson seemed to have a bit of a crush on Draco, admiring his somewhat childish arrogance.
To be honest, at that time, Pansy had short black hair, big black eyes, a prominent nose, and two cute dimples, making her quite adorable. However, her personality was terrible; except when she was around Draco and Soren, her words were sharp and sarcastic, always taking pleasure in mocking others. Goyle and Crabbe privately referred to her as "Little Witch."
Theodore Nott was one of the few who did not lower himself to flatter Draco. The Nott family still held a prominent reputation in the British wizarding world, owning several alchemical production businesses, and was one of the two major powers in the British alchemy scene alongside the Borg family. Theodore himself had decent talent, but his personality was a bit arrogant—simply put, he was unbearably narcissistic.
However, Draco quite liked him. He had told Soren more than once that he thought Theodore was the only peer worth having an equal relationship with.
Whenever this group of little brats gathered, Soren would find various excuses to avoid them. If the gathering was at Malfoy Manor, Soren would secretly find an opportunity to sneak away. Draco, meanwhile, reveled in the mutual flattery among the group and was eager to participate in various activities within this small circle. Soren often saw him out having fun and socializing with friends.
Soren had been invited a few times, but after several rejections, Draco sensed that his thoughtful little brother didn't seem particularly fond of mingling with his friends, so he didn't think much of it. From then on, everyone would automatically leave Soren out of future gatherings.
Narcissa was not happy when she learned of this. She nagged Soren a few times, but seeing that he was unresponsive, she realized her words were falling on deaf ears, and over time, she could only let Soren's reclusiveness be.
However, after noticing Crabbe and Goyle's strong and sturdy physiques, Soren also began to prioritize physical training.
Not being able to learn spells did not mean one couldn't enhance their combat strength.
In the magical world of Harry Potter, battles between wizards generally depend on three factors: the power of the spells cast, the accuracy of both sides, and their evasion rates. After all, only spells that hit the target are effective.
Only in rare instances do battles between wizards drag on due to a stalemate, where the total amount of magical power becomes the decisive factor. Thus, it is evident that for combat-oriented wizards, physical fitness is quite important; agile wizards can have a much higher survival rate in chaotic battles.
Without his family knowing, Soren began to secretly train his physical abilities with Dobby every night when it was quiet.
While reading the original novel, Soren had long wanted to complain that the young wizards at Hogwarts never participated in any physical training, focusing solely on knowledge and spell learning. In the entire seven-year Hogwarts education system, the only subject related to physical activity was the first-year flying class, which lasted for only one year.
No wonder the young wizards could master so many spells but performed poorly in practical combat. Perhaps this was because, in times of peace, unless one aspired to become an Auror, it was more practical for young wizards to spend their time learning household spells rather than exercising.
In his previous life, Soren was an expert in outdoor survival, with considerable skills in long-distance running, climbing, diving, and combat. He based his training on the descriptions of battles between wizards in the original novel and drew inspiration from the training methods used in military games in the Muggle world, specifically designing a systematic physical training process targeting evasion and hit rates.
He had Dobby aim harmless marking spells at him (being hit by the spell would only leave an ink-like mark), while he practiced various dodging techniques by moving around in a small space, gradually increasing the speed of Dobby's spellcasting to enhance the difficulty of his evasion.
After practicing dodging techniques and taking a short break, Soren had Dobby use flying spells to create a flurry of paper birds, while he practiced aiming with darts, determined to hit each paper bird.
During the day, Soren also developed a habit of reading the Daily Prophet diligently, actively keeping himself informed about events, big and small, in the magical world during this peaceful era.
In his spare time, Soren recalled that in the original novel, Bill Weasley, the eldest of the Weasley family, had a pen pal in some School of Magic in other country. On a whim, he decided to write a letter to the editor of the newspaper, expressing his desire to publish an international friendship advertisement under the pseudonym "Little Merlin."
To his surprise, the newspaper's reply came very quickly; within a few days, he received a response from the editor, who agreed to publish the friendship advertisement for free to promote international communication in the magical world. Soren thought to himself that perhaps this was due to the lack of material for newspapers during this peaceful era.
A few weeks later, Soren received several letters from potential friends, successfully making a few foreign pen pals.
Among them, he frequently communicated with a pen pal living in North America and another in Japan. Through their correspondence, he gained a preliminary understanding of the magical world outside of Britain.
From then on, every weekend, Soren added the habit of reading and replying to letters.
When his parents found out, Lucius scoffed but did not comment. In Lucius's eyes, the British magical world was the most powerful and noble wizarding community in the world, while other places were merely remote and backward. This mindset was not uncommon among those in the British magical world, as the lineage of North American wizards originated from Britain, and the distant East was generally recognized as somewhat backward in both economic and political terms.
That said, being his beloved son, although the Malfoy Manor already had four owls for mailing letters, one day Lucius commissioned someone to buy a magnificent gray eagle-owl named "Ulysses," claiming that the family needed to supplement their number of owls. However, the current number of owls was more than sufficient.
Soren understood that this owl was specifically bought for him to send international letters.
Narcissa, on the other hand, was concerned about Soren's mental health. She often stared at him with a complex expression, perhaps mistakenly believing that he lacked like-minded friends, which caused feelings of loneliness. She could also see that Soren did not enjoy the small circle of pure-blood descendants, filling her heart with guilt as a mother.
Of course, Soren did not take his parents' opinions too seriously.
When Soren informed his parents that he had read through the hundreds of books in the family's library, even the aloof Lucius couldn't help but show a surprised and delighted expression. "Truly, you are my son, inheriting my former grace," Lucius said, rarely allowing himself to be so pleased.
"Come on!" Narcissa shot him a look, ruthlessly exposing his lie. "I don't remember you ever loving to read. I distinctly recall that during your school days, your time spent courting girls was several times that of your reading time!"
"This..." Lucius was momentarily at a loss for words.
Soren timely interrupted their conversation, alleviating Lucius's embarrassment. "Father, Mother, besides the family library, do we have any other channels to obtain such rare magical books?"
"Hmph," Lucius snorted lightly, "such books are usually the closely guarded secrets of major pure-blood families; how could they be easily lent to others? Even among pure-bloods, it's the same... Aside from the long-established pure-blood families, I've only heard that the collection of the Medieval European Wizards' Association is comparable, but these arrogant old relics seem impossible to buy off; I've tried to join a few times but couldn't gain entry..."
Narcissa then suggested taking Soren to visit Soren's grandmother—Druella Black. Druella had visited when Soren was very young and was very fond of the naturally intelligent Soren; in fact, Soren and Draco were the only two grandchildren she truly recognized.
Soren had two aunts—her eldest aunt Bellatrix joined the Death Eaters after getting married and had no children, while her second aunt Andromeda was disowned by the family for marrying a Muggle wizard.
Druella lived alone in a small estate in Wiltshire, and when she saw her beloved grandson visiting, her face was filled with uncontainable joy. Hearing that Soren wanted to stay for a few days made her incredibly happy. So when Soren expressed a desire to view the collection, Druella eagerly brought out all the books at home for Soren to see.
Druella's collection was inherited from her and her late husband, Cygnus Black, from both of their families. Before her marriage, Druella was a young lady from the Rosier family, so part of the collection came from the Black family, and another part from the Rosier family, a significant portion of which had early on been sent to Malfoy Manor as Narcissa married out.
Then Aunt Bellatrix and her husband were caught and sent to the wizarding prison Azkaban after the First Wizarding War and were sentenced to life imprisonment. According to wizarding law, all their assets, except for those in Gringotts, had to be transferred to Druella's name.
This allowed Soren to benefit, as he not only found books from the Black and Rosier families in Druella's collection but also some from the Lestrange family, totaling over a hundred volumes.
Although Druella was old, she was not senile; none of the books she brought out for Soren contained dark magic, but there were certainly some secret spells from the Black, Rosier, and Lestrange families. Soren knew these were the most valuable knowledge of pure-blood families and greedily absorbed everything he could with the time-turner every day.
After living in his grandmother's estate for a month, Soren and Narcissa finally bid farewell to Druella, who was filled with reluctance. Druella generously decided to give all the books to Soren, ordering a house-elf named Sasha to deliver the books directly to Soren's bedroom at Malfoy Manor.
[Black Family Spells Acquired! Rosier Family Spells Acquired! Lestrange Family Spells Acquired!]
When Narcissa saw Soren's bedroom piled high with disorganized books, she felt both helpless and amused. She bought a bag engraved with a No-Trace Expansion Charm, and the space inside was like an empty library, allowing Soren to store thousands of books.
Soren loved this gift; it made him feel as if he had his own private library. He couldn't wait to neatly arrange all the books he had brought from Druella's house into the bag's space, only to find he could barely fill one percent of the shelves.
[Private Library Acquired!]
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