Tanya is a planning person, usually prepared for whatever the world decides to throw in her face, this useful skill was, tragically, developed by the need to not die in the face of the obstacles that being X put in her way; Therefore Tanya had expected any unforeseen event that might come her way when the time to meet Quirrell and blow a hole in the castle walls came.

However, she would never have imagined that something like the loyalty of her dog-ahem, friends, could get in her way when it came to sneaking out of the Slytherin common room, and the surprise didn't end there, but rather Crabbe and Goyle refused Tanya's order and, to put salt in the wound and finish off the surprise, they both made a coherent argument as to why she shouldn't leave them behind. They argued that since everyone in the house was already used to seeing them with Tanya if they appeared in the common room without Tanya next to them it would raise the eyebrows of several students, especially when Tanya had been attracting stares recently with her sudden inclusion in the Slytherin Quidditch team.

Although Tanya would love to debunk such arguments, the methodical part of her prompted her to leave no clues or loose ends, yet she was also unwilling to reveal to them what she was doing, as far as she knew them. It was unlikely that they would feel inclined to rat her out directly to the teachers, but she knew them well enough to know that they are not good at keeping secrets, not yet at least, that part of their training had not yet been carried out but Tanya was already planning it. On the other hand, Quirrell... Tanya had the feeling that he was someone capable of doing various unthinkable things to the boys if he wanted to and she was not willing to put her loyal dogs in the slaughterhouse, in the end, they were even more valuable than mere dogs, the boys had connections that would come in handy for their careers after Hogwarts ...

A career that she could only obtain if she graduated from Hogwarts, so it was important that there were no witnesses to what she was about to do, once outside the common room she knocked out both boys and put them in a cleaning closet where they would be safe until they woke up or someone found them.

With a serious look, Tanya slipped through the corridors until she reached the secret passage where she and Quirrell agreed to meet. Waiting for her in that place was the professor with an overly arrogant and cheerful smile that made Tanya repulse.

Apparently, the professor had already performed the spell that nullified the noise produced by the explosion, Tanya stood in that place without much more than a glance at the professor, she knew what her mission was and she knew what was expected of her.

Tanya thought for a second about what she was getting into, and told herself that whatever she was earning wasn't worth it, in the end, dark magic was forbidden and her goal was always to make her way in the fairest path... if possible.

However, a straight and incorruptible path became a second priority, after their second death things such as righteousness, or morals, started to be... uncomfortable. What was the point of sticking to the rules when the enemy couldn't even be affected by them? Being X would bend the rules as many times as he wishes.

She would not win this game by following a path of righteousness and discipline, she tried it in her second life and it led to a draw, it was time to take the reins in her hands; Of course, she would not abandon the values and discipline that made her such a powerful witch in her past life, however as she took her ebony wand in her right hand she stressed once again that the path of rightness would be one that would close more roads than it would open.

Sensing the potential within her wand, she pulled out her other wand, shorter and darker but much more powerful and unstable.

Instantly she felt the sensation on her ebony wand changing, almost jealousy, and that jealousy uncontrolled its inner power in a follow-up of unexpected potential.

Tanya looked coldly at her wands, she realized that they had some kind of intrinsic personality quite quickly after entering Hogwarts, it was hard not to notice, as soon as she made a gesture of wanting to change wands her ebony wand began to distort her spells and refuse to work. Of course, it's not like a stupid wand would be able to put up much resistance to Tanya, but her wand had proven so stubborn that Tanya momentarily wondered if it had anything to do with the core being so unique.

Her dual-core wand was tamer, but also more unpredictable, it worked well enough for basic things but more complex magic ran the risk of being twisted and going wrong in so many ways, luckily nothing had exploded in her face yet, but Tanya attributed this to her magnificent control over her inner magic.

Tanya looked alternately between her two wands, the dual-core wand was eager for the destruction to come while the ebony one was incensed as to why she would consider using another wand and was literally burning with power and rage to the point of getting too painful to withstand... for such a complicated operation she would rather use the wand that won't accidentally cause the Castle to collapse, but again neither of them seemed to be the right one.

With a sigh Tanya decided on the ebony wand, thinking that if she didn't choose it for something so important she might go rogue for the rest of the week and Tanya still didn't trust her dual core wand for practical use, besides, she still keep the dual-core a secret from her schoolmates and teachers.

Putting away the other wand Tanya felt the ebony wand twist happily in her hand as Tanya prepared a small explosive spell with the help of the wand's core.

This spell, of course, was one from her old world, yet despite all the delicate calculations she made to control the explosion her wand only seemed to understand. "I get magic, mage wants to blast, I go ka-bom!" Transforming their calculations into raw energy destroyed them in the process, removing their control over them and making them much more powerful than they had been ordered.

Of course, Tanya expected this from her wand and had made the calculations way lower on purpose, yet the explosion was much stronger than expected.

A colorful explosion blinded Tanya in seconds, and the wall burst into a thousand pieces, giving light to a great and dark fall.

If Quirrell was impressed by such a spell he did not show it on his face, instead, he looked into the fall with caution and looked at Tanya, as if he was waiting for her to enter first. Tanya let out a contemptuous moan and looked into the new open space, her eyes lit up as her eyes scanned the darkness and the tunnel she aimed at and she looked Quirrel in the eyes.

"Coward," She told him and then jumped into the abyss.

Tanya's feet landed on something soft, which was very grateful, but not necessary, Tanya had prepared the most basic of flying spells in case she needed to back away at any moment, she was not stupid after all, On the other hand, if he could call a dark sorcerer a coward to his face, well, calling it power games or impertinence hardly mattered.

Slowly behind her Quirrell descended, gliding down cautiously and somehow staying attached to the wall as he looked at the soft thing Tanya had landed on.

An arrogant smile grew on Quirrell's face. "Devil's Snare." He said with a big smile on his face. "And you fell right into it."

Tanya frowned as she looked around, noticing how roots and vines were stealthily wrapping themselves around her body. Cursing in German, the girl remembered a book in the library that talked about this plant and its weakness. However, she grabbed her right arm along with the ebony wand was the first to fall. Acting quickly Tanya reached her left hand into her robes and pulled out the dual-core wand.

Suddenly the room was filled with a blinding glare of light and the malevolent plant moved backward, writhing in delusion, however, Tanya was not done with it yet, swinging her wand once again a whip of flames was swung at the plants. a couple of times even.

Quirrell slowly climbed down and followed Tanya who, with a whip in hand, led the way to the next room.

Smelling the burning smell in the air and noticing Tanya's irritated face Quirrell scoffed. "In the end, the weak are always the first to fall."

Tanya shrugged as she walked down a stone hallway. "Are you afraid of jumping through a somewhat dark void? You have no right to call yourself anything other than a weak coward."

That seemed to hit a nerve in Quirrell who put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Weak? Curious, aren't you the embodiment of weakness?"

Tanya smiled as she shook Quirrell's hand off her. "Weakness, lack of strength, of discipline, if I am the incarnation of weakness you are the sun in personated." Noting Quirrell's lack of response, Tanya smiled victoriously and turned around. "You've done a great job with first impressions, you know, threatening and coercing a weak girl.

Quirrell seemed to have trouble calming his burning emotions but when he did after letting out a sigh he rolled his eyes in annoyance but commented lightly. "Since you are such a weak girl, I should treat you as such, right?

Those words caused a chill to run down Tanya's spine from the depths of her being, luckily at that moment, they arrived at another room. One full of keys flew in the sky with a closed door on the other side of the hallway.

Tanya was just beginning to notice the brooms near the place and appreciate the magical sight when she heard Quirrell pronounce in a monotone the spell " Accio key " and see a small key being torn from among its companions and unfortunately going towards the teacher's hands where she would be grabbed firmly and mercilessly.

Tanya looked at the professor accusingly, he returned a flat look with a bit of indignation behind his gaze.

"What a lack of effort, it's truly disappointing," he complained out loud. "If they wanted us to play Quidditch with the key, they should have put a charm in place to prevent this.

"They probably didn't expect that someone would try it, much less someone who would unleash a troll in the middle of the Halloween party." Tanya proposed.

Quirrell nodded slowly even with that look of disgust and indignation.

"This is so simple that even a first-year could do it, Dumbledore appears to be blinded by cataracts once again, I imagine he must be busy looking in the mirror checking if he still has his glasses on."

Tanya watched as Quirrell opened the door and entered without really expecting her, however, in her mind she agreed with the indignation, although the three-headed dog was threatening... it was probably the biggest obstacle so far after breaking the wall, it had taken them a little more than 5 minutes to cross over two obstacles, honestly, it was disappointing, the devil's snare was a plant studied in school, maybe it might have been a threat to any idiot who had never heard of it, but even if you don't know its weakness, attacking a plant with some fire is somewhat a natural response. On the other hand, if you are a dark wizard trying to break in, it is quite likely that you are used to a plant with the name "Devil's snare" and if instead of jumping into the void like Tanya, you are as careful as Quirrell that plant was little more than coal waiting to be burned; As for the key, seriously, who the hell didn't put security against accio? Being such a common spell, it is probably the first thing a magician tries, for the love of capitalism!

Following Quirrell as Tanya thought about how she would fire the idiots who did these tests Tanya found herself with a stupid look when she saw that she was now in a giant chess set and that Quirrell was trampling a horse in anger even if it was made of stone and he wasn't exactly the muscular type.

"This is... suspicious, we hide in the oven in the hide-and-seek game."

Quirrell looked at her with amused eyes.

"I didn't take you for the type of person who spoke in puzzles."

Tanya, I smile malevolently "Oh, it just occurred to me that if I spoke like you, maybe my message would go through your skull until it made a hole from side to side, that way all this would be over much faster.

Quirrell looked at her doubtfully before calming his attitude and replacing the horse in the game.

Tanya looked at the pieces curiously and simply took the king's place.

"Wow, is Your Majesty afraid of taking a small jump?"

Tanya ignored the biting comment, as she commanded a pawn.

The game was long and a huge headache, the teamwork of the pair was rather... lacking, much to Tanya's chagrin, taking the position of king in the game did not give her an absolute right over the rest of the pieces, she only stuck herself in a position with the weakest piece in the game, both magicians argued with each other about strategies as they both ordered the pieces to move, quickly, however, it was Tanya who inspired the pieces to follow her orders under a combination of threats, promises and motivational speeches that, no matter how ridiculous it was to command chess pieces like an army, worked. Quirrell tried to fight her control but that only brought discord and distractions, Tanya tried many times to convince Quirrell to move to certain places, failing in most cases.

In the end, it was a massacre.

Logically, not the kind of massacre that would make Tanya complain about the waste of human capital, however, there were only 5 pieces left on the board towards the end. Quirrell is the knight, Tanya is the king, a pawn on their side, an enemy pawn, and the enemy king.

That tense situation was horrible.

Tanya moved from side to side of the board trying to cut off the enemy king. In the latest turns of the game, she had become especially active, personally finishing off the enemy queen and 2 other pieces. However, the end was so close that she could almost savor it.

Quirrell jumped forward and Tanya froze, um... they were about to drown the enemy king, and the only way to avoid it was to get out of the enemy pawn's way and allow her to crown herself a queen.

Quirrell looked at her angrily and she returned his look multiplied by 10 while spitting his idiocy in several languages, the pawn was crowned, Quirrel had to block the check as the only move available and luckily for him, the queen instead of sacrificing herself (which would leave Tanya winning since she still had another pawn that she could promote) she moved to a square making a mistake.

Quirrell took advantage of the mistake instantly and put the king in check, as soon as the king moved to avoid it. Checkmate.

The enemy king threw its crown at Tanya's feet, she looked at the living statue with a cold gaze, her hand swung her dual-core wand and the head of the statue exploded into a thousand pieces releasing a shower of shrapnel that hit Quirrell but didn't injure him a lot since he was able to block in time with his shield most of it.

"Undoubtedly," Tanya commented in a fierce voice. "We should be on opposite sides next time, I'd enjoy crushing you under my boot.

"I don't see you wearing boots."

Quirrell rolled his eyes and regained some of his serious demeanor that had deteriorated so much during their chess game; Tanya would have made fun of his childish attitude if she weren't too busy arguing with him while trying to lead an army, she was too tired and irritated to argue anything with a person with multiple personalities. Although technically only Quirrell had control over his body, Tom's influence was quite prominent and it became quite obvious that he could not command Quirrell without Tom having something to say, and any complaints Tom had were not directly expressed as such by Quirrell.

With a double sigh, they both continued to the next room...

7 Bottles on a table, flames closing behind and in front of them, and finally, a note on the table, Tanya read it carefully and felt like throwing it into the fire.

"Even first years can overcome this."

Quirrell raised an eyebrow. "Unlike the previous ones, this seems to me to be the most intelligent obstacle of all," Quirrell argued internally for a bit before taking his words back. "While there are several very powerful magicians without a shred of logic in their being, this is simply..."

Quirrell went over the previous Tanya's words more carefully. "A trap." He concluded with a low tone full of suspicion.

Tanya frowned as she looked at the bottle to return and the bottle that would take them forward.

"We wasted enough time at chess chasing every little loose end, whatever we decide we should do now."

Quirrell's eyes became sharp. "If this is not a trap, reaching the end will be enough to win, however..."

Tanya understood the unspoken words as she looked at her dual core wand in her hand, her focus shifting back to her ebony wand knowing that it would refuse to work for a few days after making such extensive use of the ebony wand. dual core in this raid, on the other hand, the wand he was using now was still too out of his control to perform more than simple spells.

Taking the bottle that would carry them forward in her hand, Tanya asked with a deliberately uninterested tone.

"Will you finally deign to tell me what we are looking for?"

Quirrell didn't say anything as he looked at the bottle in Tanya's hands and subtly moved his wrist. Tanya felt the bottle trying to escape from her hands but she expected such a thing. The glass shattered in her hands as her grasp on the bottle tightened, pieces of glass piercing her skin and meat, however, the potion inside the bottle did not fall to the ground. The dual-core wand was in Tanya's hand and the potion floating in synchronization with its movement.

Quirrell looked into Tanya's cold eyes before making another subtle flick of his wrist. A rock flew from Tanya's blind spot to crash into a barrier just an inch from Tanya's hand. Quirrell's eyes widened in surprise. No one should be able to cast two spells at the same time.

The flow of the potion faltered a little but as soon as the shield fell it returned to normal.

"Double casting." Tanya began her explanation with a cold voice. "A characteristic for which one looks for dual core."

Quirrell looked at Tanya with curiosity and paranoia, wondering why she was revealing his secret, however, Tanya's cold gaze did not waver as she answered as if she had read his thoughts.

"We signed a contract, if you remember correctly an unjustified attack is penalized, if I had let your stone hit my hand now you would be nothing more than a clown in disguise."

"But then what happens to the shrapnel she threw at us or the glass in her hand?" Quirrell heard his master's voice echoing in his mind and again, Tanya anticipated his thought as she shook the crystals again.

"Collateral damage is avoided by this rule, but don't get ridiculous ideas, it will just be so if there is no desire to hurt or incapacitate the opposite party to the contract."

Quirrell frowned as he listened to Voldemort muttering many things in the back of his mind when he finally received permission from his master to speak.

"We are after the philosopher's stone."

Tanya looked at him in confusion before her eyes widened in realization and, just for a split second, a greed that was caught by Voldemort appeared in the girl's eyes. Tanya nodded slowly and divided the potion in two.

They both drank it and moved on to the next room without saying a word.

Author's Note.

Sorry for the shorter chapter but that was the perfect time to end the chapter :)

Today we had Tanya and Quirrell's conversations with some layers, however, since I don't want to make every little detail explicit in the narrative you'll have to use a little deductive power plus I'd love to see each person's interpretations of what they're actually saying. I had planned not to mention the fact that unintentional harm to the other would not count as a breach of contract no matter how damaging it was and just leave the evidence with the broken glass and shrapnel falling on Quirrell, but fearing that either I, or you forget it because of the long time between updates, I decided to stop the nonsense and make it more explicit.

In contrast to the above, building conversation with layers in a story in which Hermione sat on Nevil's back just a few chapters ago is certainly my style.

On the other hand, I don't know if I'm delusional, but this duality only makes the whole thing hilarious and fun from my point of view, although I must admit that I spent more time fine-tuning the details than I would like to admit.

Sincerly.

"Seriously, it was a long time."

J-More

P.S. I forgot to mention that I also decided to explore a little more what it means for Tanya to have two wands and the usefulness of the dual-core wand...

Pd2. In the end, I decided to change the title from "The Trials" to "The Abyss", all to further push the symbolism of the chapter :)

Pd3. I'm giving Quirrell too much personality, maybe I'll regret it xD.