"Up. "
Tanya sighed slightly as the broomstick reached her hand; this... This was an uncomfortable feeling. Tanya felt the broomstick and didn't like the feeling much, she should have imagined it beforehand but this, without a doubt, reminded her of the machines that the Volunteers of the United States used to fly in their last life. More specifically, that broomstick on which the berserker of the X being who gave her nightmares, Mary Sue, flew.
Tanya shook the thought from her head as she focused back on the broomstick. It's not like the broomstick was excessively bad, but she wondered if she would be able to fly over 500 meters in height with it. Remembering her height record in her last world, something inside her shattered into a thousand pieces, and that wasn't her heart because she didn't have one, so whatever was broken was probably something much deeper and worrisome; perhaps she would have to consider getting an oil change to see if everything was okay or even check the engine under the hood.
If she wasn't so desperate to fly, she would have already broken the broomstick in half.
Professor Hoch instructed the students on the ground to prepare for takeoff and Tanya got in line with the rest of the broomstick people between her legs ready to hit the ground at the professor's call.
All of Tanya's bad mood seemed to have disappeared in a matter of seconds as anticipation filled her body. Draco looked at the extreme concentration on Tanya's face and swallowed some saliva, thinking of the similarities her face had with that of a hunting dog with a desired prey in front of its eyes. Suddenly, Draco felt that Tanya's threats were certainly reinforced by something beyond bane simple words.
"3... 2... -"
Professor Hoch began the countdown but Neville kicked off the ground a moment before the professor's whistle sounded, shooting up into the sky with a shout.
"Hey! Come back here, young man!"
Tanya whistled with admiration as she watched him rise quickly into the sky, 10, 20, 30 meters. He seemed firmly attached to his broom, but it was making a dangerous turn that threatened to knock him off.
Looking up, Tanya grabbed her broom and began running in the direction of the boy. She noticed he was slipping off the broom at a height of 40 meters and was starting to fall. Tanya kicked off the ground and rose into the air with the broom. The acceleration of gravity gave her only a few seconds to act, so she had to move fast. Maneuvering the broom as if it were as natural as breathing, Tanya quickly ascended to the sky and then dived, matching Neville's speed to avoid injury from the impact or sudden braking for either of them.
She let go of the broom and opened her arms, holding Neville and descending as gently as possible. Neville, with his hands on his chest, stopped breathing for a moment as he looked at Tanya carrying him with a wide and beautiful smile on her face. He let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding in, in the face of the beautiful golden hair that fluttered in the wind with those beautiful reflections caused by the sudden rising sun, while Tanya's deep eyes looked at him so tenderly, as if she had been through this before.
"Hey, be careful with these brooms. By the way, I'm sorry about earlier. So, do we have a deal? If you ask me, I think a time-turner is a small price to pay for saving your life. "
Neville swallowed hard as he nodded suddenly, feeling his face turn red. Tanya smiled wider as she descended gently. Suddenly, the whole class applauded with excitement at Tanya's feat while Neville was left on the ground with trembling legs.
Hoch had a frown and crossed arms as she approached Tanya with firm steps.
"Miss Smith, do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" asked Professor Hoch in an imposing tone.
Tanya shrugged. "Certainly, much less dangerous than falling from a height of 40 meters."
Hoch furrowed her brow. "Is that your justification?"
Tanya cleared her throat and lowered her head. "That was dangerous, no doubt, I'm sorry, but I had no other intention than to save Neville."
Hoch's expression softened a bit as she opened her mouth to speak, but at that moment Neville, who was still getting used to being on the ground, vomited due to dizziness as he hunched over with a hand on his stomach.
Hoch covered her nose with her hand as she spoke in a nasal voice. "I'm taking Longbottom to the infirmary. Tanya, I want to talk to you later. Nobody gets on the brooms, I'll be back in a moment." Tanya nodded slowly as she watched the professor walk away.
"Yeah, no doubt she's going to punish me for saving a classmate, wonderful."
Draco walked over and said. "I don't think she'll punish you. She would have deducted house points like she did before. Maybe she wants to recruit you for the Quidditch team?"
"What? Tanya on the Quidditch team? That's not fair, I want in too," complained Crabbe.
"Yeah, I don't want to go through the tryouts," commented Goyle.
"I don't think that's it. It's probably a punishment, but it would be nice if it were true, I won't deny it," Tanya waved her hand as she mentally complained, 'If you punish someone for saving a life, aren't you basically encouraging them to do nothing while someone dies?'
"And well, do you have it?" Draco asked.
"Have what?"
Tanya looked into Draco's eyes, who smiled in agreement. "Oh, great, you stole it while saving him."
"Bought, not stolen," Tanya affirmed as she slowly pulled out the time-turner from her pocket. "Besides, it was a bargain for him. I only asked for this in exchange for saving his neck."
Draco laughed as he looked at Tanya's face. At that moment, other members of Slytherin formed a circle around them, and a girl asked Tanya about the function of the object, to which she kindly responded. She lifted the rememberall so that everyone could see it while joking with her peers about it. However, Tanya did not notice that most of them were laughing at her jokes out of courtesy and not because they were particularly funny.
Among those people surrounding Tanya, she suddenly lifted the rememberall out of reach of a not so discreet red-haired boy. Tanya's cold eyes met Ron's, who averted his gaze after a couple of seconds. Tanya smiled bitterly and saw Harry with a complicated expression a few meters away from the circle. She shrugged before continuing to take advantage of this small moment of fame to impress her pure-blooded Slytherin peers.
Shortly after that, Professor Hoch returned, and the class continued without further interruptions.
"Excuse me?"
Professor Hoch frowned as she took Tanya by the hand.
"I asked if you've ever played Quidditch before."
"I've never touched a broom in my life," Tanya denied, following the professor and noticing they were headed to Snape's office, the head of her house. "Professor, I know my actions were dangerous back there, but don't you think bringing them in front of the head of the house is a bit excessive?"
Hoch gave Tanya a hard look, and she returned it with a firm gaze. Hoch then smiled and laughed heartily.
"For a Slytherin, you don't lack bravery."
"Bravery? I just know I didn't do anything wrong."
"And that's a good Slytherin attitude. I like you, girl, but refrain from flirting in my class."
Tanya furrowed her brow. "You're misunderstanding things, ma'am."
"Oh, you little troublemaker. I was a student once too. What other reason would you have your hand on his chest? Care to explain?"
"... No comments..."
The rest of the journey was rather awkwardly silent until they arrived at Snape's office door.
Once inside, she noticed Snape's expression become somewhat complicated for a moment before easing with a sigh.
"Professor Hoch, what brings you to my office? Has Miss Smith caused any trouble?" Hoch shook her head as she barged into the office and sat in a rigid posture in front of Snape's desk.
"Severus, do you have a vacant position on your Quidditch team?" Snape looked at Tanya standing motionless by the door with a stern expression.
"You would have to discuss that with Marcus Flint. Such matters are relevant to team leaders. Honestly, if you have any second-year recruits in mind for the vacancy, I think Flint would be more than grateful."
"Severus, I'll be direct with you. Tanya is a prodigy. It seems like she was flying even before birth. If she were a Gryffindor, I would have run to Wood to get her on the team. But I can't let this millennium talent stay idle in the wind."
Snape looked at Tanya with sharp eyes. "And didn't it occur to you that today's talent will still be talent the next year?"
Hoch stood up and slammed her hands on the desk. "Severus Snape, I have no reason to help the snakes, but I know you want to win, and I want this talent to be pushed to its limits. This is my offer. Put the girl on the team, or I'll go around the world to force her to play on the Gryffindor team!"
Snape frowned. "Hoch, you're mistaking a threat for a deal." Snape looked firmly into Hoch's eyes before closing his own and turning his back, glancing at Tanya out of the corner of his eye. "Dumbledore wouldn't allow it, and if you take her to play for the opposing team, neither the Gryffindors nor the Slytherins will accept her."
Before he could finish, Hoch stood up and prepared to leave the room.
"Wait," Snape said.
Hoch turned to look at Snape, who had also stood up.
"What kind of prodigy are we talking about? I don't think we have any open positions right now, but a large part of our members are lacking. If she's such a prodigy, I think there's a place for her. Considering her size, Seeker?"
Hoch smiled as he turned to Snape and lifted Tanya by the armpits to hold her up in the air, causing her stiff expression and rigid pose to look rather comical.
"Forget catching a little golden ball, she caught a falling boy without causing more than a few bruises. Even if she lacked the skills of a Seeker, I doubt any Slytherin hunter could match her ability."
Snape looked into Tanya's eyes and spoke to her for the first time in the conversation. "Why did you save the boy? Wasn't there anyone else there to do it?"
Tanya looked into Snape's eyes for a few seconds, feeling as though those black eyes were looking into her soul. She didn't like the feeling at all. 'You want to look into me, well, I can look into you too!' Tanya focused solely on Snape's eyes for a few seconds, and suddenly an image of a baby with blond hair appeared before her eyes.
Snape suddenly took a few steps back as Tanya tilted her head at what had just happened.
"You... what did you just do?" Snape asked.
Tanya looked at Hoch, who was still holding her in the air and had a confused look on his face.
She then looked back at Snape, whose expression was complicated, with a mix of confusion and anger. Tanya's mind raced a mile a minute, and she cleared her throat.
"Ahem, I saved Longbottom because it was the right thing to do, Professor, and I doubt there was anyone else capable of saving him from a 40-meter fall without suffering any injuries."
Snape clicked his tongue at the mention of Longbottom as he looked at Tanya's furrowed brow for less than a second before turning his gaze away and saying, "I'll see to getting you on the Quidditch team, Professor Hoch, you can leave now, I'll sort out the final details with Tanya."
"Please take a seat," Snape said.
Tanya's mind was racing as she sat down at Snape's desk. Inside she was a mess, but she didn't let any of it show on her face as she settled into her seat and looked firmly into Snape's eyes, who returned the gaze.
"What you're attempting won't work," Snape declared.
"Professor, I assure you I'm not attempting anything." Tanya thought to herself, 'Nothing more than showing myself as strong, respectable, and composed. I haven't done anything wrong, so there's nothing to punish me for.'
Snape blinked with an expression as solid as Tanya's. "Would you be interested in telling me what you saw?" he asked.
Tanya swallowed as she thought of an image of a blond baby in her head for a moment before continuing to feign ignorance of an experience she herself did not understand.
"Just over an hour ago, I saw Longbottom fall off his broomstick from the top of the tower after-"
Snape shook his head, interrupting Tanya. "Miss Smith, have you ever heard of Occlumency or Legilimency?"
Sincerely confused, Tanya shook her head without changing her expression in the slightest.
Snape's expression remained unchanged as his eyes wandered vacantly for a moment while the potions professor exclaimed, "I see." After a few seconds, the professor continued, "I think you're going to be late for your next class."
Taking this as an opportunity to leave, Tanya stood up and began walking towards the exit.
"Tanya... What do you know about your parents?" Snape asked.
Tanya turned around and raised an eyebrow at Professor Snape.
"Dead, or maybe they abandoned me. My earliest memories date back to the orphanage, and I don't know their whereabouts," Tanya replied.
Snape nodded, and his expression softened a bit.
"If you ever get into trouble with your Slytherin classmates because of your background, call me. I'll take care of it. And before you go, I want to ask you again. Did you really save a Gryffindor because it was the right thing to do?"
Tanya brought her hand to her chin, considering what answer would be best for the head of Slytherin. Admitting to helping a rival house without demanding anything in return would be the worst kind of suicide, so she would answer truthfully. A broad smile escaped Tanya's lips for just a moment.
"Forming relationships between the houses is essential for healthy coexistence," Tanya said.
Snape smiled conspiratorially as he looked into Tanya's eyes.
"30 points to Slytherin for your ingenious and premeditated actions for the 'formation of relationships between houses'."
At that moment, Snape and Tanya's thoughts were the same for a moment. 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.' Tanya turned around to leave the room.
"One last thing, Tanya, when you see Potter, humiliate him for me," Snape said, looking at her confused gaze for a moment before she leaved. Snape sighed and leaned back in his chair, relaxing his posture a bit.
"Legilimency... was it an inherited trait?" Snape pressed the bridge of his nose as he thought about the past for a moment.
That night, alcohol filled the air, and some idiot had the idea to put something strange in the drinks as a celebration for a great victory, something so powerful that even the Dark Lord was caught off guard. No one remembers what happened that night, but the next morning a blonde baby with silver eyes appeared in the room. The Dark Lord was perplexed by this abnormality, and the orders were clear in a "normal" situation: get rid of the child, maybe even feed it to Nagini, but the Dark Lord...
It was chaos in the mansion. No one knew what the hell had happened, and everyone knew that someone would pay the price with blood.
Severus Snape hurried to dress while doing his best to find his wand.
Bellatrix Lestrange was hanging from a chandelier, doing her best not to vomit.
Lucius Malfoy was panicking as he noticed his shaved head.
Fenrir Greyback was trying to remove the silver spiked collar from his neck without his wand.
Bartemius Crouch Jr. attempted to walk through the mansion with his legs transformed into wooden legs.
And everyone was looking at the turtle on the table that they supposed was Igor Karkarov transformed.
The position of the other Death Eaters was unknown, but those present could only pray that their guts weren't served for dinner and that the extra chairs in the room remained alive.
However, the strangest sight was undoubtedly that of the Dark Lord.
He wasn't hanging from a chandelier or searching for his clothes, nor had he lost a hair that had disappeared a long time ago, nor did he have a collar around his neck. Unlike having legs like sticks and much stranger than being transformed into a turtle or a chair, he was cradling a baby in his arms.
Severus and the other Death Eaters wondered many things, even more perplexed by this than by their own conditions. Lord Voldemort was playing with the baby's cheeks with a curious and fascinated expression. Severus expected and feared many things, but what he least expected was for the Dark Lord to personally leave the baby at the same orphanage where he once was.
All of this was one of the strangest things in the world, yet Snape had a strange feeling when he saw Tanya, a strange familiarity, and he had no doubt that the other people present in that mansion felt the same way about this girl.
There was something strange in her gaze that made Snape unable to help but notice it.
Despite this, Snape would never have realized who this girl was if Dumbledore had not warned him that she came from the same orphanage as Lord Voldemort. Snape never revealed to Dumbledore the origins of the girl because all those present at her birth had made an unbreakable vow not to reveal what had happened that night. And yet she still ended up at Hogwarts, and as it could not be otherwise, in Slytherin.
She was so beautiful, cute, and innocent-looking, yet that was also why her gaze was so unsettling. She may have an appearance capable of deceiving, but it seems that destiny forgot to hide her dark and deep ambitions behind an innocent look as well.
Saving Longbottom because it was the right thing to do 'What a farce!' Snape was sure. 'What you want is a spy in Gryffindor.' However, the professor could not help but smile. He knew that the girl would probably be dangerous, but he could not suppress this strange feeling.
'Fatherhood.' Snape smiled sardonically as he returned to work, whispering under his breath. "Humiliate James' son for me, my daughter..."
Later that day, in the Slytherin common room, Tanya strutted around, pompously talking to her peers with a huge business smile, chatting with boys from the biggest families, recounting her feat and boasting about the rememberall.
Although some looked suspiciously at Tanya's brave acts, the rememberall vanished their concerns as the girl flaunted her victory trophy among the older boys from second and third years.
However, despite appearances, Tanya wasn't doing this just for simple mockery. On the contrary, she measured each of her words and made sure to promote herself among her peers who were children of important people.
But even a maniac monster like Tanya has her limits when dealing with children and preteens. Slytherin, despite being the house of snakes, ultimately had normal children in all the first years, and it was rather unusual to find overly ambitious ones among the first years.
Instead, everyone was expectant to form relationships and friendships with their housemates because being in Slytherin was, in most cases, a mark of quality when it came to one's blood. For this reason, although several twisted their expressions at Tanya's vague responses regarding her family, they easily let the subject pass when Tanya boasted about her knowledge of the topics covered in class and swayed her trophy in a hypnotic way, like a snake charmer, dancing on the edge of social death whenever the boys became curious about her lineage.
As Tanya sneaked away from that minefield, she prayed deep down to the stock market that the relationships she was forming wouldn't be shattered too strongly when her orphan status became common knowledge.
Sneaking out of the common room in secret for a moment, she came across a curious scene that made her smile.
"Longbottom! Is nice to see you again I see the rest of the Slytherins have given you... a unique welcome."
"I-I wanted to come and... see a couple of things about the task."
"And I imagine you tried to enter the common room with the help of some of the Slytherins."
"S-something like that yeah."
Tanya held back a mocking laugh as she looked at the boy hanging from the ceiling.
"Can you help me down?"
Tanya admired Neville's complexity for a second before sighing tiredly. "Tell me, do you know how to make coffee?"
"Eh? I used to make tea for my grandma."
Tanya drank from her coffee cup and twisted her face.
"You'll have to do better next time."
Longbottom swallowed as he leaned slightly. "I-I'll try to."
Both were in a corner of the Hogwarts kitchens, Tanya sitting at a table with Neville standing respectfully beside her.
At that moment, one of the house-elves approached them. "Can I do anything for you?" However, Tanya's response was to drink from her coffee cup, tired of repeating this for the third time in half an hour.
"No need, I don't like unpaid work." The elf made a sour face and went back to work.
Neville looked at Tanya, who drank her coffee with a bad face. "Why do you reject the house-elves?... I mean, i-if you don't mind me asking."
Tanya looked into Neville's eyes. "Neville, you're a pureblood wizard, right?" The boy nodded slowly. "I see, tell me, do you trust me?"
Neville looked around hesitantly. "I mean... you saved my life."
Tanya took a little more of her coffee. "I understand that Gryffindors, in addition to being brave, they are loyal and honest. Hypothetically speaking, would you trust someone who has saved your life before?" Tanya looked into Neville's eyes, who trembled a bit as he lowered his head.
"Th-that I suppose."
Tanya looked piercingly into Neville's eyes. "In the hypothetical case that someone came running in with a knife, would a Gryffindor put the life of their savior above their own? Hypothetically speaking, of course."
Neville averted his gaze. "I think so, yes."
Tanya looked at her cup, stirred the remaining content a bit, and drank it before asking directly. "Neville, I saved you from a fatal fall. Will you die for me?"
Neville swallowed while sweating profusely, unable to look at Tanya who remained focused on her coffee cup.
"I-I..." However, Neville couldn't articulate a word.
A couple of seconds later, Tanya stood up and gave Neville a pat on the back. "Neville, I don't think you should let what a Gryffindor would do define your actions."
Suddenly, Neville felt his knees giving out under the sudden weight that was lifted from his back. Tanya crouched down beside him as she looked him in the eyes.
"Neville, don't let something like a house define your person and the people you can make friends with." Tanya gave him a business smile and stroked his hair.
"Also, don't worry about ever having to save me, there's nothing that can kill me." Tanya's smile became cautious as she looked over her shoulder for a moment before continuing. "Let me ask again, do you trust me?"
Neville stared into Tanya's eyes and said, "I-I do, I trust you."
Tanya smiled broadly as she got up and prepared to leave the kitchen, leaving her empty coffee cup in the sink. "Then I suppose I can entrust you with a secret of mine."
Neville got up slowly and hurried to follow Tanya, still holding the tray with the coffee cups. "D-Does this secret have to do with why you don't want to use house-elves?"
At that moment, Tanya noticed her rememberall starting to glow red and quickly run to her coffee cup to wash it herself, only to see that the house-elves had already done it. She cursed under her breath at her own stupidity for a moment before answering Neville. "If that's how you want to see it, I suppose in part it does. After all, in Muggle society, slavery is prohibited, and all work should be fairly compensated."
Propaganda...
I mean:
Author's note.
Chat GPT wrote a beautiful bad Draco X Tanya story in the last chap extra just for me to do a bit of Tanya X Neville in this chapter XD.
Anyway, first soldier - I mean, close friend of Tanya acquired, it's a pity that no one is up to her battalion. And is a shame Tanya can only drink Visha's coffee in her dreams.
Now, I may have gone a bit overboard with Tanya's past. At first, I had the idea that she was Snape's daughter from a drunken night and that her blond mother never told Snape until she died giving birth and Tanya ended up in an orphanage. Then I thought that Tanya didn't really look much like Snape physically, so I decided to give her some mystery to her birth by making it so that she didn't know who her parents were but that they were Death Eaters.
Then things escalated slightly, and the concepts ended up making Tanya the daughter of all the Death Eaters as well as the Dark Lord at the same time in a strange and magic way. Despite this at the moment, the only one who knows who she is, is Snape, as Lucius still doesn't recognize her.
Anyway, the first two parts of Chainsaw Bocchi – the oneshot are out now, so if you're interested, take a look.
See you in a bit and sorry for the delay.
Sincerely,
"I watched the Mario movie twice already and highly recommend it."
J-More.
PS. Now I have to correct errors, so I'll see you in PS.2 when I'm done.
PS2. Sometimes I worry that everything I write is comedy XD.
