Nine Lives and Bad Luck

Fudge

Cathy Fudge went through the entirety of her Hogwarts career in perpetual embarrassment. For some reason that she couldn't understand no matter how much she tried, she had let her Uncle convince her Slytherin would be the ideal place for her. Don't get her wrong, Slytherin probably was her best house rather than the other three houses; she was by no means an idiot or unmotivated nor was she friendless after all. However, with his growing political career her uncle was known by all of the Slytherin families; that is to say they knew who was truly pulling the strings of his career and how far he would go to advance. And that was to say the pampered prisses' fathers and far. And the pampered prisses' themselves had no reluctance using that power nor did they seem to realize she did not share his attitude.

So often people would bug her to do their DADA homework or to tutor them in exchange for some pitiful sum or for the even more pitiful illusion of power. That didn't mean it was just the Slytherin's, the Gryffindors took particular joy in making cracks at her last name and the Ravenclaws sneered at her, in fits of childish frustration, at her at best mildly mpressive grades in anything but DADA because of the sheer jealousy and humiliation of being shown up so stupendously in that one class.  The Hufflepuffs didn't interest her all that much- the ones who were any good were difficult to provoke into a duel and whatever she was, she wouldn't stoop to picking on blubbering firstys. There was no sense of victory in that. Plus, as far as she could tell few of them shared her enthusiasm towards violence.  

    She was determined to prove them wrong. Not by going into politics- there was no way she was doing that, not even if they payed her (and boy had they tried to). No, she was going to become a dueler, and a damned good one and prove that she was determined, magically powerful, and had zero interest in wasting her time for their cheap galleons or their shadow puppetry.

     It was with this determination that Cathy had risen in the ranks of dueling and now years after her graduation she stood so close to the top. A mere hands breadth from joining the End Circuit. It would not stand in her way for long, she was an Expert level dueler, ready to finally prove herself, realize her ambitions, and step into the arena which gained wide eyed awe from anybody. Not even precious prefect Albus Dumbledore could turn up his nose at that level of skill.

    (Although... she supposed he wasn't exactly a prefect anymore, but all the same he still choose to remain, haunting the castle like one of its ghosts, so that he could continue to loom over everyone at the school as if nothing had changed all the while lording his powerful magic over the students within its confides, forcing them towards the roles he saw in them. Hah, for all the potential power he had gained, he was still playing the same role he had of charmingly eccentric prodigy, another sign of him being so stuck in the past. She was out in the real world. )