Majo Kon-ki The Marriage of Tanya the Witch
(The marriage chronicles of a witch)
Arc 1 - Philosopher's Stone – part 4
September, AD 1991, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Hermione was getting desperate. It was dinner time, and she needed help to find a way to defeat Degurechaff. This was why she was approaching Harry Potter, in the hope that he could tell something, anything that could help her.
This was the only time of the day that Tanya and Harry were not together, as she usually had dinner with professor Snape.
"They are very close. So, she must have mentioned something about her fly spell."
"Hum?" She noticed Harry was with a blonde, but not a girl.
"… tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel…"
Hermione heard something troublesome. It seemed that Malfoy was challenging Harry to a duel and he was accepting.
"Well… Now I have a good reason to talk to him…"
She then tried to make the boy see reason, that this sort of conduct was inappropriate and could cost Gryffindor points.
"That's true. But then again, Degurechaff is gaining so many points that I reckon we will win easily." That was Ron's answer.
Hermione gave the boy a really nasty glare.
"Er… Hermione, are you okay? You look a mess, there are bags under your eyes. Are you sleeping well?" Harry asked, noticing her sorry state.
Actually, no. She was studying almost non-stop, to the point she got just an hour's sleep every night for the last week.
"I-I am fine, just adjusting my studying time."
"If you are having trouble studying, Tanya could help you. She had been helping some of our classmates, even some from other houses."
"Oh! Really?"
"Pfff… How can you be so blind? She is just gettingprivileged information from them!"
"No, thank you. Now about that duel-"
"That's none of your business." Harry said quickly.
"But-"
"Goodbye." Ron concluded.
In the end, they never gave her any opening to ask about Degurechaff…
Of course they still went to the duel. And of course Malfoy didn't show up. In the end it was just a big waste of her time. Hermione could be studying instead of running from some three-headed monster dog. They could have been killed or worse, expelled! And then Tanya Degurechaff would rule unchallenged in Hogwarts! No, no! She was never getting close to Harry Potter or Ron Weasley ever again. That's a promise.
They had Herbology the next morning and Hermione was so tired that she almost arrived late.
"… does someone know how to defend against a Devil's Snare?" The professor asked.
Hermione was already depressed thinking that the same routine of Tanya Degurechaff being the center of attention would play, that she didn't even bother to raise her hand to answer the question…
"Hum? Nobody?" professor Sprout asked again.
"Eh?" Hermione glanced at Tanya, she didn't raise her hand, the girl was just taking notes.
"Oh, well. Then-"
"SUNLIGHT! You use sunlight or even fire!" Hermione shouted the right answer before the professor could finish.
"That's right miss Granger! One point to Gryffindor!"
Hermone couldn't believe what she just heard.
"I DID IT! FINALLY! I WON A POINT!" Hermione screamed with joy.
"M-miss Granger?!" Professor Sprout was dumbfounded with her outburst.
She looked around and saw her classmates looking weird at her. All except for Degurechaff, who was still writing something.
At first, Hermione thought she was lucky in that particular lesson, but in every class since that day, Tanya would be just writing and has never expressed any opinion or offered to answer any question. And this went on for another day, and another, and the next week and before Hermione knew it, it was almost Halloween.
By now, Tanya Degurechaff was almost forgotten by the teachers and Hermione was their new favorite, everyone except for professor Snape, of course.
Hermione finally got the place she deserved as the number one! Or it is what she wished she could accept.
Truth was, Hermione's pride was hurt. Her rivalry with Degurechaff ended with a victory by default! She never got a chance to prove who was the best. And there was the fact that she never figured out the spell Tanya used to fly.
Tanya, by her part, still answered questions the teachers asked directly at her, but most of the time she was just writing in her note book. Even the times she was seen in the library, she was still writing something.
"Alright class, this is all for today. Please don't forget your homework and Thursday we will be learning the Levitation Charm."
Hermione was almost out of the class when she heard Degurechaff.
"Done!" she said and started to arrange several sheets of paper.
"Please, professor Flitwick."
"Hum? Yes, miss Degurechaff?"
"I have been working on this thesis. Could you read and tell me what you think?"
"A thesis you say?" He took her papers.
"I don't know if I will have time today or the day after, but I may give a look at the weekend."
"Thank you. There is no need to rush, please read when you are free."
"Hum? A thesis? That's what she was working on?"
Herminone just shook her head and exited the classroom.
"As if some homework could compensate for the time lost! She should, instead of writing Merlin-knows-what, go back paying attention in class! Then I could defeat her in a fair way!"
The girl stopped and turned to see professor Flitwick leaving the classroom and flipping through what she believed to be Degurechaff's 'thesis'.
"Hmm… what did she write?"
For some reason, Hermione was having a really bad feeling about this.
Professor Flitwick was late! How could that be?
Hermione was looking forward to this class and the professor hadn't arrived yet!
"Once I learn that flying spell, I will finally prove to myself that I am better than her!"
Hermione believed that the secret of Degurechaff's fly was in the levitation charm, or maybe one of its many variations like the Hover Charm or the Floating Charm. She already knew the spell, but so far could only levitate small objects, and they moved slowly and without precision. That was why she needed the professor's advice.
"This is absurd! How could he- Oh! There he is with professor Mcgonagall?"
Just like Hermione noted, professor Flitwick arrived with professor Mcgonagall, both had a serious expression on their faces, and before greeting the class…
"Miss Degurechaff! Where are- Oh! There you are!" Both teachers stood before Tanya.
There was silence in the classroom as everyone stopped chatting to see what was going on. But by the professors' looks, it seemed Degurechaff was in trouble.
"Hum? Something you two need from me?" Tanya said nonchalantly.
They just glanced at each other for a moment and professor Flitwick took the initiative.
"Miss Degurechafff, did you really write this?" The professor said holding the papers she gave to him in their last class.
Now Hermione could see at glance the title: 'The theory of mana and the unlimited potential of magic beyond common understanding.'
"Unlimited potential of magic? And what is mana?" Hermione thought about the unknown word.
"Yeah, I started using some ideas I had a few years ago when I learned about magic. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish til now since it's forbidden to use magic outside school. Did you already read it? What are your thoughts?"
"Y-yes, I already finished and I took the liberty to show to professor Mcgonagall-"
"Miss Degurechaff! Can you demonstrate any of the ideas you wrote here?" Professor Mcgonagall cut in.
"Some of them. Which part would you like to see?"
The professor flipped furiously through the pages.
"This part! Chapter three!"
"Oh! The Incantation and wand gestures hypotheses? Very well." She stood in front of the class.
"Ahem! I believe that today we were going to learn the levitation charm. To do this, you have to make this wand movement and use the incantation 'Wingardium Leviosa'…" Just as she said, she performed a wrist movement and pointed her wand to the feather in her table and it floated in the air.
"But, what if I told you that this is all unnecessary? That we don't need to chant or make gestures or even use a wand?" Degurechaff glanced at the feather next to her and it floated without her doing or saying anything.
"With just a look?" Hermione stared in disbelief.
"Some advanced classes teach this to the students. But the truth is, this is not advanced, it's actually basic. The moment you perceive the essence of magic, or mana, you will only need the aptitude to order it to do as you will."
This time she closed her eyes and all feathers in the class started to float, and before someone could be impressed, even the tables started floating too.
"I believe that in the distant past, the old wizards created these wand movements and incantations to help children learn faster, something similar to the 'placebo effect'. You believe that this will make it work and then it does. Probably, it worked so well that people simply forgot to tell they didn't need those in the first place. And after some time, either the witches and wizards just forgot that they didn't need those 'placebos'… or it turned into a tradition."
Hermione realized that now, everyone was watching with stunned looks on their faces. And then everyone started clapping.
"That was fantastic, miss Degurechaff! I wonder why nobody ever realized any of this!"
Hermione was in shock, when she finally thought she was about to beat Degurechaff, she brought something like THAT!
"No, no! That's not the end, after some practice I will-"
"And this is not even the most impressive part! I am still trying to comprehend about those… what was the name again? Those orbs?"
"Operation orbs. They are devices powered by both magic and technology and I believe those will replace wands some day. But that is only after we find a solution to the interference in electronics caused by magic- Ah! I also proposed an answer for that in later chapters."
"Did she just figure outhow to solve one of the major problems for modern wizards?!" If proved right, that was something Hermione could never beat!
"Did you see that Filius? That is one of my own!" Professor Mcgonagall was so happy that she was already boasting.
"If you remember a little back Minerva, she almost got placed in my house!"
The rest of the class was almost the same as flying class, Hermione could just stand as Tanya Degurechaff exposed more of her ideas.
"Now, these are some revolutionary ideas miss Degurechaff. You are without any doubt…"
"Please don't say what I think you will say! Please!" Hermione was praying to any god that could hear her.
"… the brightest witch of your age!"
"It should be me…"
"I can see you becoming prefect and later head girl!"
"I -I wanted to be that too…"
At that moment, Hermione noticed that all other children in the class were in awe of Tanya- No, not just in awe, they seemed genuinely happy with her success. And not just today, any time in the past Tanya was praised by the teachers, the other students, even those from other houses were glad for her. It was a different story with Hermione, even her house mates seemed annoyed with her when she answered a question or did something right.
Hermione couldn't hold back the tears any longer and just ran out of the classroom. The worst part was that no one noticed since they were so focused on Tanya.
They were both smart girls and yet, everyone hated Hermione but loved Tanya.
Tanya noticed that her display in charms class had upset Hermione so much that she didn't even attend the next class. She was almost in the Hallowe'en feast when Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil commented that said girl was crying in the girls' toilets.
"I worked hard to create this reputation as a 'good kid'. Better talk to her before someone finds out I am the one to blame… Dammit! And I was looking forward to the Hallowe'en feast! I seldom have the opportunity to eat any sweets!" With such thoughts, Tanya headed to the girls toilet after asking Harry to save some sweets just in case.
"Granger- I mean, Hermione, are you there?" Tanya asked, knocking in the stall in the girl's bathroom.
"Go away!" Said the girl behind the door.
Tanya sighed.
"Why are you here?"
"I am worried about you."
"I swear! Why can't everything go as planned? There is always a small hindrance!"
This happened because Tanya had too much free time in her hands. She actually didn't need to be the best in this environment since there was the chance of leaving without notice. But she found no clues about the deathly hallows so far, the library at least proved to be a dead end. She tried to spend her time making connections with the other students to see if they heard rumors such as a cloak that never deteriorates, a stone that made 'true ghosts' appear or a wand that gave a dramatic boost of power to a wizard. But there was no way to ask directly like that without sounding crazy. She would need to interact with those children and hope that any information came her way. This was why it was so important to make connections with the Slytherins, as the pure blood families were also the oldest and had the best chance of knowing something about the hallows.
There was also the need to start training Harry Potter but their relationship was still in a delicate stage. If she pushed too hard he could stray away from her. She had to wait until Harry saw the need to become stronger, it had to happen by his own volition. It could take a few years until he showed any interest in combative magic. So, for now, she would let him go free and enjoy his time, after all, it's not like Voldemort would reappear right now.
And that was when Tanya found herself with lots of free time. By now, she was already considered the best in her year but she knew that it would not last. Soon a true gifted student like Hermione Granger would surpass her. And that was when her problems started. First: She hated to lose. And second: It would be too humiliating to lose to children that are technically more than forty years younger than her!
The salaryman was a very successful man but always had a deep regret for not ever placing first place during his school days. Tanya thought that given her knowledge, she could be the best in her second life, but even there, she took second place in the academy and still had to cheat Ugar out of the way to make sure she would graduate from war college as one of the twelve knights. This was why she decided that in her third try, she would be at the top, even if she had to crush any rival, but…
"I forgot that I am dealing with children here."
"Listen Hermione, I don't care about grades or being best in class, what I really want are friends."
"I think this is a good excuse. I am just a poor and lonely orphan wanting to make some friends."
"The orphanage I was raised in was supposed to become a convent for young nuns. But when my mother died on their doorstep they couldn't just toss me away. I ended being the only child around, and the sisters merely ever saw me as a burden they didn't need."
As a matter of fact, the sisters of her orphanage tended to pamper her all the time, but a sob story would be more likely to gain Hermione Granger sympathy.
"Actually, I am not very good with magic. The ministry discovered me as a witch years ago when I was blowing things up and I am afraid that is all I am good at, aside from flying and a few other spells."
This part of the story was true and was the reason she knew her image as the best would not last. In her first week at school, she realized that for some reason, it was difficult to cast any spell that had no apparent use in a combat situation. For example, in the first transfiguration class they had to transform matches into needles. Tanya could do that well because in her mind she was transforming a few pieces of wood into needles that could be used as weapons. But should she try to transform the needles back into wood, it would be very difficult for her. The same rule applied to the levitation charm. She could see a tactical advantage in that, but if she tried to use a charm to, let's say, remove dirt from an object, her spell would it instead. Even that little petal-opening trick with professor Snape years ago, became hard as most attempts resulted in her bursting the flowers. In the end, her own knowledge played against her. She discovered that incantations and wand movements were just 'placebos', but because she knew it to be a trick, it was impossible to believe in them.
Tanya's only guess was that this must be because originally she was trained to see magic only as a weapon, but perhaps with time, she would be able to use it in more mundane ways.
"You are lying!"
"No, as you can see, my body is small compared to other children. I think that deep down, I am scared that people could hurt me. Maybe that is why I can only learn defensive magic."
"Dark witches and wizards are a great issue here. This is a good opportunity to justify my preferences in magic."
"That's a lie! If you just wanted to make friends, you wouldn't spend so much time writing that essay! I saw you ignoring even Harry when writing!"
"Argh! She is a sharp girl!"
Actually that essay was a desperate move, Tanya had to do something before her grades lowered. For some time she wondered what could be done, when it finally struck. Her knowledge of the different aspects of magic between the worlds provided a very unique view!
In the last world, because magic was harder they invested more time and resources into research to reach the most optimal results. And Tanya still remembers a fair amount of the theory behind these researches. Just the notion of mana gave her an enormous advantage and if she added the concept of computation jewels, it could revolutionize this world.
Forget being top of the class, Tanya would be top of the entire school in her first year! Even without doing anything anymore, such great accomplishments would not be easily forgotten. And should her grades lower, the explanation would be that she is beyond such easy subjects. She could already foresee that the next seven years would be very calm and peaceful.
"Safe, nice and easy… I feel like I finally got my job at the rear!"
"W-well, I wrote that essay because I was scared. If by the time I turn into an adult I don't get a good job, the nuns at my orphanage said they will force me to either become one of them or get married."
"Sorry sisters! I am very grateful for everything, but I really need villains right now."
"Is that why you are always with Harry Potter? You want to have a potential husband just in case?"
"WHAT?!"
"Phew! First professor Snape and now this girl? Does everyone want me to marry that boy?"
"You got it all wrong Harry is… well, my very first friend and he is… important to me, I guess."
"My 'precious little brother'… who I want to blow up for alwaysclinging to me!Really! I know I wanted him to grow dependent on me but the only moments he is not around is when I am at places where boys are not allowed. And recently, at dinner, when I am with professor Snape. Ugh! He wants to hold hands all the time! I almost wish Voldemort would show up as soon as possible just to end that boy's usefulness."
"And I also wanted to be your friend-"
"Stop."
"Hum?"
"Stop acting like you care about me. I know you just want to look good in front of the teachers!"
"Fuck!"
"You won. Not only are you smarter, but people like you. All I have- had was my identity as a gifted child but now that you took it away… who am I?"
"Great! Now I got caught in teenage angst!"
"Well, why don't we study together? This way we could both learn more with each other."
"That's not what I want!"
"Eh? Then, what do you want?"
"I-I want … all the praises!"
"Huh?!"
"I want you out of the way so all the praise from the teachers will be for myself. And myself only!"
Tanya sighed. It seemed that she gave too much credit to this girl. She was just a spoiled brat after all.
"Hmph! Let me see if I understand. Rather than focus on improving, you cower at our gap. With so many people in this world, you are bound to find someone that is better, but instead of using them as reference, embracing what is possible you can learn… you go crying to the closest bathroom in the hopes that I will pity you and stay out of your way?! This is so childish! Not to say pathetic!"
"H-how dare you?! I don't want your pity!"
"Did I just say all that out loud?"
"Since you can do anything, is it fun looking down on people?! And don't think that I believe your lies! Y-you little overbearing mean girl!"
"Ahhh…now I really blew it."
"I HATE YOU! And I really wish… wish that you were…"
The last part came as a whisper and Tanya didn't hear. But she could guess what was said. Nevertheless, she now had a good reason to act the angry part. She pulled out her wand and pointed to the stall door.
"Know what? I think I can survive just one person hating me! But you are still coming out-"
It was then that she felt a nauseating smell.
"Ack! What is this stench?!"
Just as she thought that, through the door came a big gray skinned humanoid, a club in one of its hands.
"Is that a troll?" Tanya paled at the sight.
The troll immediately saw the girl and made a gesture to catch her.
"Shit!" Tanya avoided his hand and slipped past him.
"HERMIONE DON'T COME OUT! NO MATTER WHAT!"
Contrary to her warning, Hermione opened the door wide enough to peek out.
With the sight of the troll, she let out a groan of fear and slammed the door shut.
"Of all times, now you open that door?!"
Hearing the sound, the troll turned to see what had caused it.
"No!" Tanya pointed her wand at him and was about to cast her specialty, the blowing curse.
"I can't, not here!I don't know how resistant this thing is. The blast could end too powerful and blow up this entire bathroom together with Granger!"
"Hey! Over here!" she started to wave at the troll.
"I need open space."
He seemed indecisive if he should go after Tanya or check the stalls where the sound came.
"HERMIONE, I AM TAKING HIM OUTSIDE! WAIT A FEW MOMENTS AND RUN BACK TO THE DORMITORIES!"
Tanya then grabbed a bar of soap and threw with all the strength at the giant.
The bar hit the troll right in one of his eyes. It let out an angry roar.
As it advanced against her, Tanya made a dash through the door and into the corridor.
"!"
"What are they doing here?!"
Just as Tanya entered the corridor, she saw Harry and Ron Weasley coming towards her.
"RUN YOU IDIOTS!" She screamed at the same time that the troll walked out of the bathroom and rushed towards her.
Both boys screamed at the sight and turned to run. Or rather, just Ron ran, Harry turned back, a look of hesitation in his face.
"SHIT!"
Tanya then activated her flight magic and shot herself towards Harry, catching him in mid-flight.
"Wahhh!" Harry screamed being caught off guard.
"Hold still!"
Holding the boy, she turned her head and saw that the troll was still in pursuit.
"Why are you here?"
"W-we wanted to warn you about- Ah! It's getting closer!"
Harry was right, the troll was almost over them.
Just at the end of the corridor, Tanya saw a window and accelerated towards it.
She passed through the open window, decelerated and rose towards the sky, stopping a few meters in the air.
At that moment, the troll broke through the window and reached the outside, looking around furious, trying to find its prey.
"Now,YOUare MY prey!"
"Hey Harry, have you ever heard about the hayabusa- I mean, the peregrine falcon?"
"W-what? No! What does that have to do with this situation? A-and more important! I-I can't hold on!"
"Just hang on a little longer. The peregrine falcon is famous for its high-speed not only in ascending but also in its dive to catch prey. There is no other animal in nature that can match its speed and ruthless."
"And, the point is…?"
"… the one at the top always has the advantage!"
"Let's find out how efficient professor Snape's Sectumsempra curse is."
Tanya pointed her wand down at the troll and a white light flew down towards it.
The troll looked up as the light passed through it and hit the ground, opening a fissure.
For a full second, the troll just stared at the two kids in the air, before it split evenly in half and each part fell to the sides.
"And the one down can be crushed at any moment!"
"I almost forgot this truth. Because of orders from 'above' I had to surrender myself to the Russy. And, in the first place, if I had no mercy and completely crushed that incompetent, he would be too afraid to approach me. Let alone push me onto an oncoming train…" Tanya thought, remembering how she came to die twice.
"Always be the one above!"
"Whoa!" Harry said, marveling at the precision the troll was killed.
"Let's just hope it's not an endangered species…"
"T-Tanya, I am slipping!"
Harry was already at her waist and still going down.
"Huh? Oh! Okay, I am going down." Tanya said and started to descend towards ground level.
"Eek!" She screamed feeling a hand grabbing her buttock.
"What- Where are you touching?!"
"I-I can't help! I am falling!" In desperation, Harry grabbed her… with both hands.
"Y-you little perv-" She lost focus and both came crashing down.
There was some irony to this situation as Harry ended up on top of Tanya.
"…!" She was looking at him with annoyance.
"…" He was looking at her with a scared look.
"… tell me you did this on purpose and I might forgive you for taking the lesson to heart."
"Err, no… Sorry! It was just an accident."
"…" Harry still didn't move from her.
"Then… GET OFF ME YOU MORON!" Tanya said, pushing Harry off of her.
"Ow!" She winced.
"What is wrong?"
"My leg… I think I sprained my ankle."
"We need to take you to the hospital wing!"
"Yeah- Wait! Where is my wand?"
"Hum? Ah! It is there." Harry pointed to one of the troll halves.
"I will get it for you." Just as Harry picked up her wand, professors Mcgonagall, Snape and Quirrel came out.
The three looked at the scene of the troll split in half with Harry standing in the middle with a wand in hand, and Tanya sitting on the floor holding her foot. It was easy to see the conclusion they came to.
"P-Potter? You killed the troll?!"
AN: I swear I am trying to post a new chapter weakly. But I am still not very quick at writing.
In the next chapter, Tanya relationship with Hermione will improve. Don't worry, I won't turn Hermione into a villain or do bashing against any character (really hate when people do that).
About the peregrine falcon, I kind of want to use him latter as a patronus. I was inspired by the visual of the drive shot of Ozora Tsubasa from Captain Tsubasa. I also wanted to illustrate Tanya's desire to be above others (in this case, literally).
About mana, this is what I am making up to justify the differences between both universes. In the youjo senki universe, mana is very scarce, this is why they needed computation jewels, the formulas create a magic with the precise amount the mages can harvest. In the Harry Potter world, mana is plentiful, specially around wizards, they just need a small thought and do virtually anything, but in the past, there were children that had a difficult time in learning spells. The older then realized that this was a matter of confidence and made up wand moves and incantations in the hope of solving this. At some time, children started spreading these 'placebos' between themselves and the adults were to embarrassed to tell the truth. Unfortunately, this also limited the potential of the next generation of wizards as they couldn't make spells that they didn't know an incantation and wand gesture. Of course, there still is wandless and chantless magic but as Tanya said in this chapter, that is considered very advanced.
About electronics, mana is also a sort of energy, and become even more concentrated around magic users. So after some time, a wizard's houses became too charged with mana and if there is electronics around, mana mixes with electricity and causes it to overblown. My solution would be to anticipate this problem and create measures before hand, maybe with capacitors (sorry, it's been a long time since I studied electronics).
Hope that you guys understand what I tried to explain here, but to sum everything up: Tanya exposed her knowledge of her former world in order to became top of the school and also to assure a good job after graduation (if she didn't find the hallows yet).
Oh! And Tanya kind of opened a Pandora's box by sharing her knowledge about operational orbs. This will revolutionize the world in a way that even squibs will be able to do magic. Who knows? Maybe eventually even muggles could harvest mana to create some simple magic. And as with everything, this will come back to hunt Tanya…
Also, Tanya can basically do only the same magics she could do in her last world. She can destroy things, fly, sense other magical beings and create decoys. I created this weakness, because I don't want her to be too powerful. In the next chapter, I will expose another weakness of her, the trauma she got with Lorya.
reviews:
To Lubber: No, thank you for reading.
To candy77: Thank you. I have some special moments reserved to Luna, but only in the second arc.
To Ocansino: Thank you. Snape can't adopt Tanya. It's possible that such thought even came to his mind, but Dumbledore warned him that he is to became a spy should Voldemort ever returns and Tanya would then be left alone. Also, Tanya wouldn't accept anyway, since this situation as an orphan gives her more freedom to act. Hermione will be Tanya's friend, but she will be more closer to Harry just like in the original. Dumbledore will suspect Tanya since she has too much similarities with Tom Riddle, but a few misunderstandings will convince him that Tanya puts Harry well being before anything, instead, he will believe that she is a 'god send' ally. She will not have any backlash from the Gryffindors because as far as I know, there was never any issue about being friendly towards a slytherin, since only a few of them were actually dark. About Quidditch, in my story, Tanya will dislike the sport, I already showed that she don't like to fly in brooms because it would make her look too much like a mahou shoujo and she also has her own flying style. About her joining a Quidditch team, I have something planned latter on… Oh! And yes, the rules says that in Quidditch you need to be under a broom.
To noahs95: Thank you. I wanted to make something different, since there are so many stories where Tanya is with Visha. Still, I plan to at least mention her in the future. About Tanya's wand, I already have an idea, I can still change if someone offers a better one. I really wanted to use Cherry with dragon heartstring, but both Nevile and Lockhart already have these wands and I want something that wasn't used in the series yet. That is the reason I won't use blackthorn too.
To Me Myself and I: Thank you. I really like when people disagree with me, because I can analyze if I am doing something wrong. About the 12 knights, sorry, but yes, Tanya cheated. She took advantage that Ugar just had a daughter to convince him to drop out. In the manga, she even mentions that she manipulated him when he was emotionally vulnerable in order to make certain that she would graduate as one of the twelve knights. It's not clear, if she became one of the knights because of this or she just wanted to take down as many rivals as possible to make sure she would get the 'Von' title. It's possible (but I doubt) that she even graduated in first place. About her desire to be number one. I believe that you are most right, but… At least in my view, Tanya is too much of a perfectionist, she has to always give her best, to show that she is above others. So I truly believe that things like 'second place' would not look good in her eyes. And for a side you are right, she would not find much satisfaction in competing against children but… I think it would be very humiliating to lose against children 40 years younger than her. Also, as I mentioned in this chapter, Tanya got too much free time and I can't imagine she slacking around.
To Mernom: Sorry, I didn't fully understand what you mean. So far, I write thoughts in Italic to differ from normal talking. Can you elaborate? Maybe point a few examples that were particularly confusing? I really wish to correct any possible mistake. Or what would be a better way to show thoughts?