Step Into Christmas (Mickey)

[ivanka luise krum]

December 2028

With one of the world's most famous former Quidditch players as her father, Ivanka Krum had grown up accustomed to the world of professional Quidditch. Her father's time as Minister for Magic had added to her understanding of the world of magical politics, and within both worlds were a lot of lavish parties that she didn't usually bother to attend. Even though she was Viktor Krum's daughter, Ivanka didn't really see herself as famous, and school and then her further education usually took up more of her time than she could devote to whatever social events to which her family had been invited.

One of the exceptions was that year's Quidditch League Holiday Gala. The attention there was on the current stars of the league and how much money everyone could raise for charity over the course of one night, which meant that it wasn't directly on her or her family. That was good, since it gave her the chance to socialize with other people instead of having to pose for photographers from every relevant publication and then some.

After an initial glass of champagne, Ivanka made her way in the direction of the toilets, ready to touch up her makeup. It probably wouldn't be the only time she would have to do that over the course of the night, with how much appearances mattered on such an occasion. She had likewise gotten a new set of dress robes for the gala, made of a pleated gold lamé fabric that she had worried might make her look too much like a Golden Snitch but that flowed more nicely than she had expected.

michelangelo tiberius mclaggen

[michelangelo tiberius mclaggen]

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At the end of every year, there was always some sort of public obligation that had to be met as a professional Quidditch player. Sometimes it was around Christmas, other times it landed on New Year’s. Every so often, Mickey was able to escape it without having to go. Now that he was the captain of the Bats and named to the national team, he couldn’t really shirk his duties. He had, unfortunately, achieved his goals and become the face of the team. Only because he had been there the longest at this point. Being the ‘veteran’ had plenty going for and against it. Expectations, for one thing, but also increased jersey sales for the other. He was never going to turn down the small commission he received for his name being used on his different jerseys. Apparently, the cut from the national team was a lot more, but only because they were incredibly pricey.

The other problem he had with events like this was that it usually meant his dad was going to be skulking around. Always looking to talk to old teammates and get the next big story for the Daily Prophet. It was quite frankly embarrassing, and his father had zero shame in it. The man did not know boundaries at all either. Random retired players and coaches would suddenly be thrust upon him at any given moment, Cormac grinning devilishly from behind them. Contrary to popular belief, Mickey did not require his father to assist in any way when it came to situations like this. He had already far surpassed the elder McLaggen career-wise, and definitely in skill as well. There was nothing beneficial that Cormac could do for him at this point.

Escaping the most recent encounter by excusing himself to the restroom, Mickey headed in that direction. No one with their head on right would try to stop a person heading to the bathroom. Then again, his father never did have the best interests of any of his children. Looking over his shoulder to see if he was being watched by the aforementioned, Mickey turned around in time to barely keep himself from running a smaller person wearing gold dress robes. ”Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” Mickey explained as he stopped himself in place. She looked familiar, but he couldn’t place a name to the face at all.

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[ivanka luise krum]

December 2028

As Ivanka kept walking, someone else ended up walking a few paces ahead of her. The individual glanced backwards, and Ivanka recognized that it was Michelangelo "Mickey" McLaggen when he turned his head. Though Mickey was skilled enough on the Quidditch pitch to be the Keeper for the English national team and Ivanka most definitely was not, they had some commonalities. Mickey was the son of Cormac McLaggen, who had been a professional Keeper himself, and he was the older brother of Raphael McLaggen, who had been in Hufflepuff with Ivanka and in her same year through the end of their NEWTs.

As for Ivanka and Mickey, they only really ran in similar circles when it came to their being the children of former professional Quidditch players. Had she been any physically closer to Mickey as she was walking, however, Ivanka would have run into him. Both of them managed to stop before that happened, and Ivanka avoided stepping on the hem of her dress robes.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention," Mickey apologized to her, though there was no harm done.

That said, getting through the night without any collisions, wardrobe malfunctions, or similarly embarrassing incidents was a must because of the nature of the gala. It wasn't just a party someone was hosting; it was teeming with members of the media and various other people who would love nothing more than to stumble upon some gossip. Unfortunately for any tabloid journalists in attendance, Ivanka was very much a lesbian with no interest in flirting with Mickey.

"Not a problem," Ivanka replied. "I wasn't trying to sneak up on you." She wasn't sure if that was why Mickey had turned around, but she supposed that it was better that it was her than someone who was trying to harass him about something.

michelangelo tiberius mclaggen

[michelangelo tiberius mclaggen]

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The unfortunate truth about events like this was that accidentally bumping into someone or bouncing from person to person in brief, pointless conversation was a requirement. Everything had to do with keeping up appearances despite everyone involved knowing it was all dragonshit. Being somewhat of an outlier was why it exhausted him so much. But Mickey still had his obligations and whatnot, a commitment granted to him at birth regardless of whether or not he had ended up as a professional. These sorts of things had gone on well before he had entered the fray, at the behest of his father. He supposed it was similar for other children of ‘celebrities’. He hesitated to call his father that.

Because of this line of thinking, he realized that the reason the young woman he had almost collided with looked familiar was because he had seen her rather infrequently over the years at various different events that he had been dragged to as well: she was a Krum. Which one, he wasn’t quite sure, though he knew there were quite a few. There had been one in Gryffindor alongside him, just several years younger. The Krum in front of him definitely had the same features.

”No, no, I know that. It was more because I was trying to sneak away from that,” he motioned with his head towards the group he had escaped from. His father’s obnoxious bark of a laugh ripped through the din of the rest of the party. Merlin, he hated it so much. ”I’m sure you know how it is, always having to go to these…” At least there could be some commiseration on that front. Unless this Krum enjoyed parties. Of all the children of famous witches and wizards he had spoken to, the general consensus seemed to be that they tolerated these at best.

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[ivanka luise krum]

December 2028

"No, no, I know that," replied Mickey to her saying that she hadn't been trying to sneak up on him. "It was more because I was trying to sneak away from that," he emphasized, directing her attention to a group of people in conversation, including his father.

Ah.

"I’m sure you know how it is, always having to go to these…"

Ivanka nodded. She understood completely and was grateful that she didn't get paraded around more. Her father's time as Minister for Magic had been rocky, and she really didn't care to be associated with politics any more than she already was by the virtue of her being the next generation of what she really hoped wouldn't be a political dynasty.

"If you stay at Hogwarts long enough, I've heard that helps," she joked. There was no real way around a holiday party, though, because she didn't have classes or assignments that needed to be turned in immediately. Ivanka guessed that Mickey was probably looking for someplace to hide for a little while. From her personal experience, the sweet spot between hiding for long enough for his father to get distracted by whatever he was talking about but not so long that he would get worried about where he'd run off to was still too short.

michelangelo tiberius mclaggen

[michelangelo tiberius mclaggen]

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Mickey didn't know what was worse, being a McLaggen or being a Krum. If he thought it was bad enough being the child of a Quidditch player that flopped, he could only imagine what it was like to be related to an actual star, a Triwizard champion, and a Minister of Magic. Viktor Krum was probably a better father though. He'd never heard anything bad about the man, save for some of his brief policy changes during his short political career. Mickey really didn't care about that sort of thing though, unless it interfered drastically with his life.

The good part about running into the Krum girl was that it would be the perfect distraction away from the rest of the crowd. No one would bother them this way if they made it look like they were in some kind of deep, philosophical conversation about the effectiveness of using a Golden Snidget versus the modern Snitch ball. Mickey had zero opinions on it since he was a simple Keeper.

"That was unfortunately never going to happen for me," Mickey admitted. There wasn't a chance to stay longer at school anyways, unless he'd managed to flunk a year. Then his pro aspects would be down the drain. Knowing his father, he would have pushed to drop out at that point and go for it anyways. Plenty of students had done that in the past. "So what's kept you there? I imagine Hogwarts has all sorts of interesting extended studies these days. The buildings alone are impressive..." He'd only visited once, to see the updates made to the pitch. Modernized locker rooms were not what he called 'big changes', but the school had to start somewhere he supposed.

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[ivanka luise krum]

December 2028

"That was unfortunately never going to happen for me," Mickey commented about the possibility of staying on at Hogwarts. That was true from the standpoint of there not having been any sort of higher education attached to Hogwarts specifically until a year after she had finished her NEWTs; she wouldn't have gone, except her Curse-Breaking training had switched to being at LIFE rather than in the proverbial school of life. Academically, though, he probably wouldn't have wanted to, even if he'd had the option. He was an excellent Quidditch player.

"So what's kept you there?" Mickey asked. "I imagine Hogwarts has all sorts of interesting extended studies these days. The buildings alone are impressive…"

"Curse-Breaking, like Irina," Ivanka replied. "They've made our training more formal," which wasn't a bad move, seeing as being a Curse-Breaker was a dangerous career. Preparing trainees instead of dropping them into ancient tombs with someone more experienced and wishing them good luck had worked for Gringotts in the past, but they probably would get a higher success rate out of the LIFE program eventually. "I'm doing an extra year now, mostly for the Ancient Runes."

michelangelo tiberius mclaggen

[michelangelo tiberius mclaggen]

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Even off in their little corner near the restrooms, away from everyone else, a floating tray of finger foods managed to find its way over to them. Mickey waved it off in an annoyed manner as it hovered a bit too long for his comfort, but it persisted as he tried to pay attention to Ivanka as she spoke. A rather aggressive shove later – if that was the correct adjective for the way the silver serving platter dug its way into his shoulder to get his attention – and Mickey pushed back against it with his hand. Applying enough force into simply charmed objects always sent them on their way. He’d spent his entire childhood ducking out of the way of floating skeins of yarn at his grandmother’s house, the occasional knitting needle poking out of them. She had been losing it for years at that point, but he preferred not receiving a lobotomy from the yarn that would be turned into his Christmas gift.

The tray finally fucked off back to the closest group of guests to them, leaving Mickey annoyed and shaking his head at it. This was exactly why he hated events like this, even if they were an obligation. The Krum girl was in the middle of saying she was also in Cursebreaking, like her older sister, and that she was still in school to wrap up a few things for the career.

”There’s quite a lot of you now, aren’t there? Feel like I can’t even go a week without opening the Prophet and seeing some kind of discovery being made or a major accident from the Cursebreakers.” The last one he had seen was earlier in the year, where there was a small piece about an accident at Gringotts concerning one of the Cursebreakers. Something about a security troll getting a little too aggressive with the bank employees and almost taking the head off of one of their state-sanctioned graverobbers. He supposed they were all in it for that sort of thing though. And who was he to look down on them? He had quaffles and bludgers launched at his face while sitting on a flying stick. Mickey totally understood the adrenaline junky behavior. ”Fascinating line of work though. Can’t say I was ever that interested enough in History of Magic or Ancient Runes to make it a career though. Dad would have skinned me alive if I did anything other than this,” he shrugged.

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