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chapter one | begin with a bang!
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Minerva McGonagall was filled with dread the moment she'd learned she was writing a Hogwarts acceptance letter to Lee Jordan's younger sister, because if she was anything like her older brother, she'd be hell to teach.
And, like always, Minerva wasn't wrong.
Maddie had a mouth that operated before her brain, and so blurted out anything that came to mind - much to the amusement of everybody but the teachers.
Her wit and sense of humour somehow made it worse, because half the stuff she said her teachers (excluding Snape - he had no soul) would've laughed at if it wasn't their job to scold her for it. She couldn't help it either, because her mouth ran like the wind and she couldn't really care less.
Of course, this got her into a lot of trouble at school, especially after meeting her best friend Jess, who was almost exactly the same as her. The two were like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb from Alice in Wonderland, talking back to whoever they pleased and making comments as their teachers spoke - not to be disrespectful, of course, they just couldn't help it.
But, when Jacob joins their duo and they become a trio, he willingly keeps them in line so they wouldn't go too far as to be expelled. Who else was he going to hang around with if his two best friends were gone? Plus, the school would miss their humour and jokes more than anything, so someone had to be an anchor to keep them in place.
Although, they were pretty much unstoppable, most of the time, much like today.
"Potions!" Maddie said loudly with a cheerful tone. "The bane of my life!"
She and Jess walked in and plopped themselves down in their seats, many other Gryffindors and Slytherins surrounding them. Behind them sat Jake, who was next to Neville Longbottom. The two boys were quite good friends - Neville was the only one besides Maddie and Jess to know about Jake's longtime crush on Hermione Granger - so that obviously meant something, especially since he was so secretive.
It wasn't long before Snape strode in wearing a foul expression, his long black cloak gliding dramatically behind him as he did so. Gosh, Maddie despised that man.
Today they'd be making Doxycide - and, truth be told, Maddie and Jess should've known that Snape was going to do something about the two troublemakers, as he'd eyed them coldly the entire time it took for him to register the class and explain the instructions.
"Miss Jordan," he'd snapped, right before everyone got to work. "Since you have a bit of a reputation over the past two years in this class for carelessness foolery, I think it best to separate you and Miss Wood, before we begin the new school year,"
"What?!" Maddie yapped immediately, and Jess raised her eyebrows. Snape only scowled at them. "Why?!"
"Sir-" Jess began.
"Let's see, I'll swap you with..." he interrupted with a sneer, scanning through room before his eyes landed on his two favourite students to pick on.
"Mr Potter, from now on, you will swap with Miss Jordan to sit next to Miss Wood. Miss Jordan, you will be sitting next to Mr Weasley,"
"But sir-!" Harry began to protest, and Ron's eyes widened. The two boys were in the same house as Maddie and Jess, and knew exactly how much trouble they could be - especially Maddie. It was safe to say, Ron was not happy.
"Now!" Snape snapped. A few Slytherins, including Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, began to snigger.
Maddie rolled her eyes, and, with a huff, stood up and stomped past Harry to slam her book down on Ron's desk and sit next to him. The red-head didn't look at the girl as he held the bridge of his nose. He couldn't quite believe how unlucky he'd gotten in the first ten minutes of the lesson.
"And five points from Gryffindor for the attitude, Miss Jordan. Lose it or there will be more," Snape added, before instructing the students to begin their work.
Maddie flipped him off, once his back was turned.
"Right," she said, turning to Ron, who was still wearing an agitated expression. She ignored it. "I hope you know what you're doing, because I don't have a clue,"
"I know," said Ron, who had previously witnessed many explosions and accidents from Maddie's desk.
The two looked over longingly at their friends, who had already began to start. Jess, although still trouble, wasn't as bad a student as Maddie - if she was with anyone else apart from her, she'd actually be quite decent to teach. She read out the ingredients to Harry, who awkwardly checked them off, unsure of how to act around someone he didn't know too well.
"OK," said Maddie, turning back to Ron. "We'll probably get murdered if we don't start, so..."
Ron didn't say anything.
"Gosh, stop talking Ronnie, I can't even get a word in," she said sarcastically, standing up and roughly tucking her stool in, causing it to make a crashing sound. He huffed and did the same.
Ron was going to be hard to work with - but Maddie would manage it. She was a strong believer in the fact that she could make friends with anyone - she just had to stick around them long enough.
"Also - in advance, I'm sorry for the amount I swear. I'm a bad person, I just can't help it. I literally just can't - it's Lee's fault. Lee taught me all the swear words,"
"...Okay?" said Ron through a disgruntled tone. Maddie tried not to laugh - after all, his words weren't the cleanest, either.
Somehow, they actually succeeded in getting to work, until the third step of the potion, where Maddie had messed up and stirred the liquid whilst it was heating, rather than before. Ron being Ron hadn't noticed a thing, because he didn't really know what he was doing either - but they knew something was up when it began to violently spit.
"Oh - no, don't start already!" Maddie said, frowning and wondering what on earth she could've done wrong, now. Ron was already preparing himself for some sort of explosion.
Trust Maddie to begin the day with a bang.
It was when the pair forgot to stir after adding chopped dragon liver did several huge bubbles emerge, before the mixture, as Ron had predicted, blasted out of the cauldron.
"What blew up?!" Maddie cried in disbelief, glancing down at the book in confusion. Ron sighed in annoyance, and his cheeks turned red, already preparing himself for a scolding from Snape, who was beginning to make his way over with an intimidating stare.
"I'm serious, now!" the girl bellowed. "What - blew - up?!"
The sad thing was, she'd actually tried, this lesson. Potions really wasn't her thing - which was surprising, because she was good with ingredients and steps when it came to baking. In fact, Maddie was a really good baker. She was convinced she'd just been cursed in the Potions department.
Harry and Jess were laughing at the pair's mess from across the room, and Ron sent his best friend a glare. Jake was grinning at his friend, Hermione Granger watched pitifully, and Neville Longbottom was just glad it was Maddie's turn to be Snape's victim for the lesson, rather than him. Maddie could take it much better than he could.
"Idiot girl!" Snape sneered, as the rest of the class deserted their potions to watch Snape scold the brunette girl. "I suppose you failed to remember to stir the dragon liver before adding the rest of the ingredients? Weasley why did you not tell her? Thought she'd make you look good if she got it wrong, did you?"
Ron opened his mouth to protest, but Snape cut him off before he managed to do so.
"That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor, Miss Jordan," Snape scowled at the girl, who was putting on her best poker face to stop herself from smirking.
"And you, Mr Weasley," Snape turned to Ron, who's face was now the same colour as his tie.
As he stormed off, the two exchanged awkward glances, before Maddie let out a laugh - having to cover her mouth before Snape noticed.
"He's a prick," she muttered, as the two began to clean.
"Yeah," Ron agreed. "Nothing new, though,"
"Exactly," Maddie smiled at him, before looking down at the mess. "Well... we barely have a cauldron now, do we? We can't make shit,"
"I doubt Snape wants us to," said Ron.
"Yeah - perhaps we should just put it all away,"
And that they did - which took a while, because their potion had exploded literally everywhere, and Snape had made them clean it up without magic as a 'learning curve'. They both knew it was really just to mess with them.
"My potion just exploded and I'm tryna fix it with a bloody sponge," Maddie cackled after a few minutes. Ron wasn't laughing.
The girl and boy didn't speak much for the rest of that lesson. Ron was in a foul mood after getting scolded by Snape for something Maddie did, and although she tried many conversation starters, he'd replied bluntly, so, in the end, she gave up. She turned around to Hermione instead, and began chatting with her. Hermione was nice.
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Their next lesson was their first time taking Divination. Lee had always told Maddie it was rubbish, so she wasn't to psyched about it. But, she was just glad to get out of Snape's classroom - anything was better than potions. And she couldn't help but wonder what Professor Trelawney would be like.
"How did you mess up that badly?" Jake laughed as he caught up with his two friends, recalling the events of the previous lesson.
"There were so many choices you could've made that were less terrible!" said Jess.
"It's a gift," said Maddie.
She couldn't help but snigger at the sound of Ron complaining about her to his friends behind them. She turned around and flashed him a warm, friendly smile which made his face turn red, realising he wasn't being as secretive as he thought. Maddie snickered back to Jess and Jake - messing with Ron was definitely going to keep her entertained during potions.
The class was nearly filled to the brim when they arrived at Divination, and the three rushed over to grab a table so they wouldn't be separated. They'd began to wonder where their teacher was, before a soft, misty voice came out of the shadows.
"Welcome," it said. "How nice to see you in the physical world at last,"
Maddie, Jess and Jake exchanged bewildered expressions. Professor Trelawney moved into the light.
"Welcome to Divination," she said, setting herself in a winged armchair in front of the fire. Maddie was certainly enjoying the coziness of the classroom. "My name is Professor Trelawney. You may not have seen me before. I find that descending too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds my inner eye,"
Nobody said anything. Maddie caught sight of Ron Weasley's baffled expression from across the room, making her laugh.
"So, you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts. I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you. Books can only take you so far in this field..."
Jess was visibly pleased at this information.
"Many witches and wizards, talented though they are in the area of loud bangs-"
Maddie grinned, as her two friends glanced her way.
"-and smells and disappearances, are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future," Trelawney went on. Maddie was beginning to get bored and began playing with the cloth covering the circular table she was sitting at. Most of the students were watching the woman nervously.
"It is a gift granted to few. You, boy," she said suddenly to Neville, who almost toppled out of his seat. Jake chuckled at him. "Is your grandmother well?"
"I think so," Neville said tremulously.
"I wouldn't be so sure, if I were you, dear,"
"Is that a threat?" Maddie blurted out with a very confused face, receiving a kick from Jake. Jess snickered, and Trelawney ignored her. Neville gulped.
"We will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year. The first term will be devoted to reading the tea leaves. Next term we shall progress to palmistry. By the way, my dear," she added suddenly, turning to Parvati Patil. "Beware a red-headed man,"
Parvati gave a startled look at Ron, who was right behind her, and edged her seat away from him a little. Maddie snorted.
"In the summer term," Professor Trelawney continued. "We shall progress to the crystal ball - if we have finished with fire omens, that is. Unfortunately, classes will be disrupted in February by a nasty bout of flu. I, myself, will lose my voice. And around Easter, one of our number will leave us forever,"
A very tense silence followed this, though Trelawney seemed not to notice it. Jess was frowning.
"I wonder, dear," Professor Trelawney said to Lavender Brown, who shrank back in her chair. "If you could pass me the largest silver teapot?"
Lavender sighed with relief and stood up, taking an enormous teapot off the shelf and placing it on the table in front of Trelawney.
"Thank you, my dear. Incidentally, the thing you are dreading - it will happen on Friday the sixteenth of October,"
Lavender trembled, and Maddie raised an eyebrow.
"Now, I want you all to divide into pairs. Collect a teacup from the shelf, come with me, and I will fill it. Then sit down and drink until only the dregs remain,"
"What if I'm allergic to tea?" Maddie asked.
"Are you, dear?" Professor Trelawney asked, a slight frown appearing on her face.
"No," Maddie said, her serious expression turning to a grin. "I was just joking,"
Ron rolled his eyes with an unamused expression.
"I see," Trelawney said, about to turn away, before stopping suddenly and saying to her, "You should know, a recent acquaintance will affect you greatly in the near future,"
Maddie pulled a face, and Jess grinned at her.
"Awe," said Maddie, in disappointment. "Why'd I get the most boring one?"
"As I was saying," Trelawney continued. "Swill the dregs around the cup, upside-down on its saucer, wait for the last part of the tea to drain away, then give your cup to your partner to read. You will interpret the patterns using pages five and six of Unfogging the Future. I shall move among you, helping and instructing. Oh, and dear -" she caught Neville by the arm as he began to stand up. "After you've broken your first cup, would you be so kind as to select one of the blue patterned ones? I'm rather attracted to pink,"
Shortly after Neville reached the shelf of teacups, there was a tinkle of breaking china. Maddie and Jess blinked in surprise, as Jake headed off to partner up with the boy.
"So, a tea party," said Maddie sardonically. "This should be fun,"