Tanya Degurechaff’s Hogwarts Adventure

Parvati Patil

Parvati was not sure about being separated from her twin initially when she was sorted into Gryffindor after her sister was sorted into Ravenclaw. They had spent their entire lives together, doing everything together as twins and the thought of being separated was a little scary, but she was not going to be alone. She had dormmates to get to know and distract her. Especially Lavender.

Lavender was great. Outgoing, confident, and full of so much advice and gossip. They could spend hours chatting away without any issues.

Lily could also chat for hours, but the girl was so energetic that Parvati felt exhausted after being in her presence for too long. Blessedly, Lily was easy to silence by distracting her with something.

Hermione was not so easy to shut up when she got rolling on a topic, and all the topics Hermione wanted to talk about were so boring. Who cared who invented the spell they were using or what all the different uses of some potion ingredient was?

Despite that, Parvati was willing to still call Hermione a friend. At least Hermione didn't scare Parvati.

Tanya terrified Parvati. She didn't talk much and kept what she did say short. And Tanya's eyes. Parvati and Padma went on a trip to India when they were younger to visit their extended family and while there a tiger got close to the property they were staying at. Tanya's eyes reminded Parvati of the look the tiger gave her and her Papi when they stumbled upon the tiger. So confident in its strength that it did not need to threaten. And Tanya was strong. Parvati knew how difficult it was to lift the school trunks and the beds they had did not look light either, and Tanya was able to push and lift them with seeming no issue.

And then there was Tanya's sleep schedule. Or lack there of. Parvati has yet to see Tanya actually fall asleep. Oh, Tanya would lie down and be still, but she didn't go into the deep breathing the other girls did. Parvati was certain Tanya was not sleeping and was just waiting till it was acceptable for her to get back up.

Even the way she saved Neville scared Parvati. The way she seemed to pounce off the broom and attack Neville's form before twisting them around to land. And then she was on her feet, pouncing onto Neville again looking for something.

The only thing about Tanya that allowed Parvati to sleep peacefully was that Tanya seemed to have decided that the Gryffindor First Years were hers to protect. Parvati was afraid to find out what would happen to her if she ever ended up on Tanya's bad side. If Tanya wanted yoga, Parvati would go along with it. And so far it seemed leading a simplified version for the other girls less used to the positions did not seem to anger Tanya. Parvati was not sure how long this would last, but hoped Tanya would at least give some warning before it was no longer enough.

On the bright side, a dueling club was starting up and Harry Potter was going to be there participating. So far he was not as impressive or interesting as the stories made him out to be, but he was still a rather cute boy. One who frustratingly spent a lot of time near Tanya, preventing Parvati from getting close to him, but the dueling club seemed a great way to maybe spend a few moments with him without Tanya's presence.

The morning of the dueling club started rather normal for a Saturday, yoga, shower, then breakfast. Malfoy could be heard bragging about something across the hall, likely saying how he was going to beat Harry. Harry was looking nervous until Ron said something to him, followed by something from Tanya that seemed to firm up Harry's confidence. After breakfast, everyone went to do their own things until the club was scheduled to begin, with Parvati stumbling on Lily with her arm in the vanishing step.

"What are you doing?" Parvati asked.

"Looking for treasure! People are constantly stumbling and jumping over this step, so they might have lost something."

"Find anything?"

"A galleon, two sickles, and a couple of broken quills!"

"Right, have fun I guess." Parvati moved past the other girl to meet her sister at the library before heading back down to the Great Hall together. Once they arrived, they saw the tables had been pushed to the side and a platform was in the middle of the room, on the platform was a white line that lead to two circles at the ends and a small mark halfway between the two circles. Professor Flitwick was standing in the middle of platform with Harry, Malfoy, Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore behind him.

There was only a small gathering of students that were in the Great Hall, the rest of the students in the castle seemingly having decided to do other things on their Saturday. Parvati and her sister got good positions at the middle of the platform to see what was about to occur.

"Alright, I do believe that is about everyone who will be showing up," the squeaky voice of Flitwick called out as he waved at the students. "There has been some interest by certain students in starting the dueling club back up, and I am rather happy to lead this club. As some of you may already know, before I started teaching here, I was on the professional dueling circuit and even managed to win a few tournaments back in my prime. It is with great honor that I lead this club and help share my passion with all of you who choose to join. Today, we will be just showing off a few exhibition matches and going over a few of the basic rules, if you are interested in actually joining up, sign up sheets with the location of the dueling room will be posted in each of the common rooms."

Professor Flitwick backed up onto another platform behind the main platform so the diminutive teacher could still be seen as he motioned for Harry and Malfoy to get onto the platform.

"So, for the first match, we have Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy. Neither of them had participated in a duel before, so I expect both of you to pay attention as I give instructions." Professor Flitwick looked at the two boys until they gave a nod of acknowledgement. "Good. Now in dueling, only magic is allowed to be used, no physically hitting each other. Secondly, you are to start with one foot within the circle and if you fall off the platform, that counts as a point for the opponent. Disarming counts as three. Any solid strike with a spell counts as one point. For this first match, we will be going to three points only, though a traditional match is to fifteen."

The professor made sure both Harry and Malfoy understood before continuing.

"Now, tradition dictates the duelists bow to each other to show respect. That's it."

Parvati thought the bows were rather stiff looking and the two boys did not let their eyes leave the other.

"Now take your starting stances. We will discuss proper form during the first meeting, so don't worry if your form isn't great right now. Just make sure one foot is in the circle. Very good. When I give the instruction, begin the duel. And when I tell you to stop, you will stop. Am I clear?"

With a pair of nods, Flitwick raised one arm and began a count down. "Three. Two. One. Duel!"

Harry started off whipping his wand forward while shielding his eyes with his other arm. "Lumos!" He yelled, causing a bright light to shine.

At that same moment, Malfoy also snapped out a spell, but his casting was quieter and Parvati couldn't hear his spell being cast and by the time her vision cleared the, she couldn't tell Malfoy had cast a spell at all.

Harry uncovered his eyes and cast another spell that went wide over the red spell Malfoy sent out. The boys were moving closer on the platform. Malfoy attempted to cast another spell, but Harry responded by sending sparks at Malfoy. Malfoy tried to get out the way and Harry sent another spell at Malfoy, knocking Malfoy's wand out of his hand as Malfoy fell off the platform.

"Winner! Potter!" Flitwick called out. Snape had gathered Malfoy's wand and was helping the boy up while McGonagall gave Harry a small smile. Parvati and the Gryffindors in attendance were giving Harry cheers for winning that died down with Flitwick's instructions. "Settle down, settle down. To end the duel as both contestants are able to, it is traditional for them to bow to each other again. There we go. Now, Mr. Potter did an admirable job on getting the first point in Mr. Malfoy. And a winning point at that, but as that was a shorten duel, there was little chance for either one to get the measure of their opponent's dueling style. Not that either Mr. Potter or Mr. Malfoy have much of a style yet. Now, how about something a little more exciting?"

There were cheers across the hall as McGonagall and Snape took their places across from each other and bowed to the other with more confidence and grace. Flitwick counted them down and the spells began flying.

Few incantations were said at all, the spells seeming to fly out of the wands with only the smallest flicks of the wrist. McGonagall transformed the platform as she blocked and dodged Snape's spells and sending her own across the platform.

"Point McGonagall!" Flitwick called out as Snape was hit with a stream of water, the first hit of the match. Snape looked rather annoyed as he was dripping wet while McGonagall was smirking. Without saying a word, the spells began flying again. Colorful bolts crossing the platform, either being dodged or splashing against rapidly raised shields or bits of transfigured platform. The display of skill was dazzling as the two professors dueled.

"Point McGonagall! Match Snape!" The last exchange went so fast, but Snape was on the ground with the jelly legged curse, but he managed to slip a disarming charm through McGonagall's protections. With a few flicks of his wand, Snape had undone the jelly legs and dried himself off while McGonagall had her wand returned. The two professors bowed before beginning to repair the dueling platform. As the platform was transformed back into its normal shape, Dumbledore took position at one end of the platform with Flitwick taking position at the other end.

Snape took center stage as the referee. "And now students, the final match of the day before you go off and fill the rest of the day with whatever inane activities you do outside of class."

Dumbledore gave a graceful bow, his long white beard touching the floor before taking his stance. "Go easy on this old man. It has been a while since I last fought." There was a smile on the Headmaster's lips as he brandished his wand.

"Not on your life. I haven't had a good duel in ages," Flitwick replied with his own bow before readying his stance.

"If you are quite done," Snape drawled, rolling his eyes at the theatrics Flitwick and Dumbledore were doing before the match even properly began. "Three. Two. One. Duel."

With that Flitwick sent a flock of small birds down the platform that were whipped out of the air by a flaming whip coming out of the end of Dumbledore's wand before he turned his whip into a shower of burning flower petals swirling back and turned to steam by shouts of water out of Flitwick's wand. Flitwick disappeared into the steam momentarily until it condensed down into icy blades sent back to Dumbledore before being blasted into a fine, snowy mist.

Where the duel between Harry and Malfoy was nearly pathetic in the spells used and the duel between Snape and McGonagall a fierce back and forth, the duel between Flitwick and Dumbledore was beautiful in a way. The way the colors of the spells reflected through the mists, crystals, and smoke they were creating was a light show on par with, or perhaps Parvarti would even say surpassing, any fireworks show she had seen.

The show, the spectacle, the performance. It was so beautiful. Like a combative belly dance. A thought crossed Parvati's mind. A stage outfit of hers plastered on the front of Witch Weekly as she toured the dueling circuits. A smile on her face as she watched the duel unfold.

—-

After spending some more time with her sister and giving Padma a hug before they separated, Parvati found a relatively quiet corner of the Common Room and began sketching her ideas for dueling outfits. She was so lost in thought that she didn't even notice when one of her drawings was picked up.

"Hmm, clean line work. Proportions look good."

Parvati looked up and squeaked seeing it was Tanya. Tanya carefully put the image she was looking at down before picking up another.

"The outfits look like they are able to actually be worn by a person, though I would defer to others on the fashionableness of them."

"They are suppose to be dueling outfits," Parvati said, not sure what she was defending her drawings from.

"In that case, you will want to lift the hem up. And this dangling sash bit should be brought in closer to the body. You don't want anything getting in the way of maneuverability or that can easily get caught."

"Like this?" Parvati asked, making the adjustments.

"Yes," Tanya said before making other minor suggestions. A tightening here or there, perhaps padding there for protection. Parvati would not say it was a friendly interaction with Tanya, but if one was going to step into a dangerous field, one needed to heed the advice of a dangerous being.