Chapter 31.
One day during the Easter holiday, Soren received a duel challenge letter delivered by an owl.
When Soren first received the challenge letter, he was confused. After inquiring from various sources, he finally understood the intricacies of the Slytherin faction disputes. "So there are such undercurrents within Slytherin, things that were never mentioned in the original story. I'm starting to find campus life quite interesting."
Faced with a plot twist outside of the original plan, Soren smiled with delight, as if he had encountered something very enjoyable.
There were two challengers—one was Terence Higgs, a third-year former Slytherin seeker who had been replaced by Draco through financial means. He felt unjustly treated for losing his position due to manipulation, so he wanted to challenge Soren to a duel, hoping that if Soren lost, Draco would restore him to his position as seeker.
The other challenger was Gellert Lestrange, a fourth-year student who viewed the Malfoy family's choice to prioritise self-preservation after Voldemort's downfall as a betrayal of pure-blood families. Therefore, he would not allow the Malfoy offspring to easily gain popularity and prestige within Slytherin.
Cautious, Soren had Daphne help investigate the strengths of the two challengers from their families before deciding to accept the challenge. Soren also had the idea of establishing his own following within Slytherin, and this challenge was a good opportunity to assert his authority.
Soren did not want to be like those rigid pure-bloods, constrained by narrow-minded pure-blood ideology. He hoped that the power he built could be based on merit, valuing talent over bloodline—he placed more importance on a person's character, temperament, strength, and talent.
And anyway only by subduing the entire Slytherin could he feel at ease in recruiting talents from other houses.
This challenge had already spread widely due to someone's deliberate promotion. The moment Soren signed the acceptance of the challenge on the letter, the young wizards in the common room erupted in excitement. They eagerly anticipated the duel, and some even invited Professor Snape, the head of the house, to be the referee on the night of the duel.
The duel was scheduled for two nights later, in the Slytherin common room.
On the night of the duel, when Soren stepped into the common room right on time, the atmosphere instantly became quiet and eerie.
Professor Snape stood expressionlessly in the centre of the room, and every corner was filled with young wizards. Soren quickly scanned the room and realised that almost every Slytherin students had attended.
Draco looked at Soren with a somewhat worried expression, after all, Soren's opponents were students several years his senior; Daphne and Meredith, however, were filled with blind confidence in Soren, looking at him with excited and expectant eyes.
Just as Snape was about to speak, Soren hurriedly interrupted, "I'm sorry, Professor, but before tonight's duel begins, I would like to say a few words."
Snape's indifferent poker face showed no reaction, and Soren took his silence as consent.
He cast a sonorous charm on himself, "Good evening, fellow house students. I'm sure you all know the significance behind tonight's duel. Before that, I want to clarify one thing: me coming here today is a personal decision and has nothing to do with the Malfoy family!"
Upon hearing this, the crowd erupted in astonishment, and the young Slytherins began whispering to each other, making the room as noisy as a market.
Soren continued loudly, "On the first day I was sorted into Slytherin, I was very satisfied. Ambitious, shrewd, valuing honor, adapting to circumstances, preserving oneself, and prioritising victory—these are the things what I care about. However, I do not look down on any student from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff. Because today I discovered that house Slytherin is also not perfect!"
This statement shocked everyone. To say such things in Slytherin, a house that values honor and looks down on others, was a recipe for disaster.
Except for the still-expressionless Snape, everyone was stunned by Soren's surprising words, and the atmosphere abruptly turned silent.
Seeing that he had achieved the desired effect, Soren pressed on, "Dear fellow students, do you know the purpose for which Salazar Slytherin established this house? Do you know why he insisted on the pure-blood ideology?"
He paused, and when the Slytherin students looked at him in confusion, he continued, "It is power! It is unity! It is a unified will!" Soren looked at them with piercing eyes, "Of course, there are also the continuously evolving and intertwining interests!"
"True Slytherins should be composed entirely of excellent students; deceit and cunning are not the best descriptors for us. The correct narrative should be one of unity and mutual assistance, achieving success together."
"True Slytherins care not for the excellence of bloodlines, but for true talent and strength."
"True Slytherins regard wisdom merely as a means, not an end. It no longer evokes disgust, but instead conveys elegance."
"True Slytherins can joyfully tell their families on the day they join, 'Look, I have entered the best house at Hogwarts,' and on the day they leave, they will smile deeply to the Slytherin badge, thanking it for every day spent here."
"Now look at yourselves, think about what you have done today. While you cling to a stagnant noble mentality, the brave Gryffindors are enhancing their Defense Against the Dark Arts. While you revel in the success of your schemes, the wise Ravenclaws are familiarising themselves with spells. While you are divided and fighting over trivial benefits, the diligent Hufflepuffs have already sown their mandrakes, which are now ready for harvest."
"Why do we consider ourselves superior? Just because of a bloodline that brings us no power? Just because of schemes that only focus on petty gains?"
"So I hope that everyone here tonight can forget that I am a Malfoy, and remember that I am a Slytherin!"
It must be said that Soren's passionate speech moved many young wizards.
Head girl Gemma Farley was the first to stand and applaud, followed by Draco, Pansy, Daphne, and Meredith, and soon more and more young wizards joined in the applause, slowly more than half of the students were clapping, especially those from weaker families or mixed-blood backgrounds.
Their status in Slytherin was generally low; positions such as head boy, Quidditch team members, or even prime resources in the common room usually did not go to them. They had long been dissatisfied with their inferior status in the house, and the vision Soren described resonated most with them.
As a rival, Terence Higgs was also moved by Soren's words.
He himself came from a humble mixed-blood family, and he was able to establish himself in the fiercely competitive Slytherin thanks to some connections between his father, Bertie Higgs, and the Auror office director, Rufus Scrimgeour.
Nevertheless, despite his excellent talent in flying, he still lost the position of seeker. This time, he would become a target, forced to step forward and be used by some powerful families hiding in the background.
Gellert Lestrange's face flashed with a sinister expression as he sneered, "No wonder you're a Malfoy; you certainly know how to talk, sounding as if you have great principles. The question is—do you have the strength to change Slytherin?"
Soren scoffed dismissively, "Whether I have that strength is not something to be determined by mere words; we will soon find out!" Without waiting for Gellert to respond, he turned to Snape and said, "Professor, I am ready; let the first duel of today begin with me challenging Higgs!"
Terence looked at Soren's fearless confidence and saw no hesitation or fear in the eyes of this boy, who still appeared somewhat youthful, only determination and confidence. He sighed and fixed his gaze on Soren's eyes, saying, "I am moved by your words; I hope you remember what you said today—Professor, I apologise for wasting everyone's time tonight; I choose to forfeit!"
Snape's expression showed no change, merely nodding slightly to acknowledge Terence's forfeit.
Then Gellert stood up, moving to the centre of the common room, facing Soren.
Although he verbally belittled Soren, he held no underestimation in his heart; after all, Soren's performance in the dueling club was well-known, especially during Christmas when he had easily dealt with Harry and Ron two against one.
After both performed the ancient dueling salute to each other, the duel began after Snape counted to three!
Gellert knew power of Soren and took the initiative to strike first, casting "Disarm," "Stun," and "Petrify," spells in quick succession. In an instant, three attack spells were unleashed, sealing off all possible escape routes for Soren, achieving the remarkable feat of casting three spells in the blink of an eye!
Soren estimated that with his casting speed, he could at most manage two spells in an instant. Realizing he couldn't win through speed, he angled his wand cleverly to cast a spell filled with red light, which accurately collided with the Stun spell among Gellert's three spells.
The two spells collided with such force that instead of canceling each other out, they rebounded like two balls hitting each other, suddenly accelerating and flying off in opposite directions—while the red spell knocked the Disarm spell away, the Stun spell was deflected off its attack trajectory.
With just one spell, Soren managed to neutralise his opponent's offense without moving an inch, which required immense courage and absolute confidence in the precision of his spells.
Gellert didn't have time to admire Soren's response; as Soren neutralised the attack, Gellert moved swiftly, running around Soren at high speed. When he reached Soren's left rear side, he unleashed the same three spells again in an instant.
Faced with the identical assault, Soren chose to change his strategy. He quickly cast two universal counter-spells, "Finite," accurately hitting and nullifying two of Gellert's spells, and rolled to the side to avoid the last spell while casting a dim white light spell aimed at the moving Gellert from below.
Gellert, still running, attempted to dodge by turning his body, but the white light took a strange curve and abruptly turned, striking Gellert in the chest, sending him flying into the air before crashing down hard!
A loud crash echoed throughout the arena, accompanied by the sound of bones breaking, and Gellert let out a chilling scream of agony!
Snape rushed in, first administering a potion, then using spells to perform emergency care, which allowed a student to carry him to the school hospital.
Snape glared at Soren, his usually icy demeanor darkening. Although it was a fair duel, causing such severe harm to a classmate with dark spells still violated school rules.
Moreover, Soren's attack was so fast that even Snape couldn't react in time; otherwise, he could have used a counter-spell to prevent Gellert's severe injury. As the referee present, he bore some responsibility for this.
Since Soren had been casting spells silently throughout the duel, no one could discern what spells he had cast, except for Snape, who recognised that the white light seemed to be a high-level application of the Levitation Charm.
This spell was a modified version of the Levitation Charm created by Soren, capable of rapidly elevating the target before causing it to plummet to the ground, injuring the target due to the impact. Soren named it the "Thousand-Pound Drop Spell."
However, even with Snape's knowledge, he could not identify the red light spell that Soren had cast, let alone understand how Soren made the spell curve after leaving the wand. It must be said that Soren's various mysterious aspects successfully made him the second priority of Snape's attention.
As for the first priority, it was needless to ask—naturally, it was the son of his enemy, Harry Potter.
To be fair, Gellert was undeniably strong; his ability to cast three spells in an instant was enough to leave most of the young wizards present in awe. Soren had defeated him in just two rounds, causing a strong visual impact on the young wizards present.
In that moment, Soren's image as a powerful and ruthless figure was deeply ingrained in the hearts of every Slytherin student—
Terrence Higgs suddenly felt fortunate for his earlier decision to forfeit, while those who had harboured ill intentions towards the Malfoy family now felt a sense of awe towards them. Students who already admired Soren became even more fervent in their worship of him.
*****
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