Well, here's Chapter 3 of "End of the World as She Knows It."  I hope that you enjoyed the first chapters, even if you didn't find time to review them.  (Hint, Hint....)

Disclaimer:  Taineyah owns nothing, except Madelyn.

Taineyah: Hey Mr. Disclaimer, I think they've got it figured out that I'm not J.K. Rowling!

Disclaimer:  Well, you could do with some reminding!  *Runs away as Taineyah shoots lightening bolts out of her eyes and hits him in the butt*

**********************************************************************************

                Hermione shook Madelyn awake.  "If you don't hurry up and get dressed, you won't have time for breakfast before we go to Potions."

                "It's too early.  The sun isn't even up."

                "We're on the west side of the tower.  We don't get the morning sun," Hermione replied.  "If you're late for Potions on your first day, Snape will skin you alive!"

                Reluctantly, Madelyn got out of bed and got dressed.  "Let's go, then," she said, picking up her book bag.

                They went to the Great Hall, where Harry and Ron were almost finished their breakfast.  Madelyn readjusted the headband that kept her short brown hair out of her eyes and sat down.  She helped herself to a variety of foods and started eating.

                "You'll want to be careful around Snape," Harry said to her.  "He's in charge of Slytherin and he doesn't like Gryffindors very much."

                "Especially not us.  He hates Harry and, by association, me and Hermione," Ron said.

                "Is Potions terribly hard?" Madelyn asked.  "I've never done much magic."

                "Snape makes it seem harder than it is.  Just follow instructions and you'll do fine," Hermione said.  "It's more like cooking than magic."

                "I'm good at cooking..." Madelyn stopped as she was overwhelmed by a memory of she and her twin sister making lasagne.  They'd made a mess of the kitchen, but the lasagne had been perfect.

                "Then it shouldn't be too difficult for you," Harry said, pretending not to notice her abrupt silence.

****

                Potions was in a dungeon.  Somehow, Madelyn didn't find it at all strange to discover that, considering the things she'd encountered since Friday morning.

                "You are Madelyn Harris?"  Snape seemed to find it somehow astonishing.  "I had expected someone more...formidable."  He took in her mousy brown hair, brown eyes and short stature.

                "I am often underestimated," she replied, drawing herself up to her full height of five feet.  She hadn't seen Snape at dinner the evening before, and something about the man sent her skin crawling.

                "Indeed?  Well, if you think this will be an easy course of study, you will find that you have underestimated me."

                A pair of Slytherins snickered at the exchange.

                Snape looked satisfied with himself.  "I'm going to assume that you can follow basic instructions and set you to work making a potion that every first year student can prepare."  The way he stressed the phrase 'first year' told Madelyn that he didn't think she should be allowed to even try to catch up with her age group, or that she'd be capable of doing anything useful.   "The ingredients are on that shelf, the instructions are on page 17 of Magical Drafts and Potions."  Snape turned away from Madelyn and stalked across the dungeon to the front of the room. 

                "You'd better get started," Hermione hissed.  "That potion could take all lesson."

                Madelyn opened her book.  The potion was intended to cure boils.  The instructions sounded easy enough, kind of like making soup, but the ingredients were very odd.

                "Nettles?  Snake fangs?  Horned slugs?" she whispered to herself.  She hoped she wouldn't be asked to drink it or anything like that.

                She busied herself, stewing the slugs and crushing the snake fangs into a fine powder.  She boiled things by the clock and was careful to read every instruction twice.  She was determined to make the Potions Master see that he was wrong about her.

                Finally, she took her cauldron, filled with a bright green liquid, off the fire.  She raised her hand.  After several minutes, Snape came over and peered into her cauldron.

                "You have never made a potion before?"  Somehow the simple question came out like an accusation.

                "Never."  Madelyn was anxious, terrified that she'd done something wrong

                Snape turned to Hermione.  "Five points from Gryffindor.  You may be her tutor, but you were not given permission to help her with this."

                "Hermione never..."  Madelyn stopped at a look from Snape.

                For the rest of the lesson, Madelyn took down the notes that the rest of the class had taken while she had been working over her cauldron.  She kept her head down and let the anger course through her veins.  If and when she ever got through with Voldemort, and paying back Dumbledore's generosity, she'd have to spend some time making this man look like a fool.  He deserved it.

*****

                Lunch was uneventful, luckily for Madelyn, as she needed some time to calm down after Potions.  Then, she went with Harry and Ron to the North Tower for Divination.  The air was heavily perfumed and nearly impossible to breathe.

                "Hello, dear.  I've been expecting you," the insectl-ike Professor Trelawney flitted over to Madelyn.  "I'll ask you to sit with your tutors."

                Madelyn nodded, too choked by the perfumes to speak She turned towards Parvati and Lavender.

                "I don't suppose you've ever encountered the cards before?"  Professor Trelawney blinked, her enormous eyes making her look like a dragonfly.

                Madelyn hid her amusement as she turned back to the woman.  "I know a few basic spreads, if you're talking about Tarot cards.  My best friend's mum used to read and she taught me."

                "We're working with the cards for the first time this month, so you shouldn't have much trouble keeping up.  I will, from time to time, ask you to come for some extra work with tea leaves, astrology, palmistry and crystal balls.  Parvati and Lavender can help you with the rest."

                "Thank you, Professor," Madelyn choked out, her eyes watering.  She sat with Parvati and Lavender, at a round table surrounded by armchairs.

                The two girls were whispering.  Finally, Parvati looked at Madelyn.  "You're ready to work hard?"

                "Yes.  Divination is an art-form.  If you don't have the gift, it's nearly pointless taking the class, as it will be too difficult.  I read that page of the textbook.  If we're lucky, I will have the gift, and it will be easy on us all."  Madelyn found her Divination tutors exceedingly snobby and horrible, but they were going to help her, so Madelyn found it necessary to pacify them.

                "So long as you don't expect us to work miracles and put you at the top of the class."  Lavender sniffed.  "We'll help you if we can."

                By this time, Professor Trelawney was at the front of the classroom.  "Settle down, students.  We're going to begin today by learning the Celtic Cross spread.  Does any one know what it's used for?"

                Madelyn raised her hand.  "It's used to discover hidden aspects of a relationship, romantic or otherwise.  It can uncover aspects including, but not limited to, the future and the true feelings of another member."

                "Very good!  One point for Gryffindor.  Does anyone know how to lay the spread?"

                Madelyn raised her hand again.  "I'd have to show you, because it's hard to explain."

                "Go ahead," Professor Trelawney said eagerly.  She hadn't expected the new student to contribute anything for quite some time.

                Madelyn shuffled her cards, which showed pictures of humans and dragons.  Every deck in the store where she'd gotten them had been different, and these cards were the ones that seemed most like her friend's mother's deck, the ones she'd learned with.  "Who do you want me to read?"

                "Just do a quick reading on yourself."

                "She had to pick the hardest person to read for, didn't she?"  Madelyn muttered, as she thought of a question and started putting down the cards.

                "Perfect!"  Professor Trelawney looked ecstatic as she came over to peer at what Madelyn was doing.  The rest of the class crowded around.  "Can you read them?"

                "Mm hm," Madelyn said thoughtfully.  "I might not do it quite perfectly, because it's a lot harder to read oneself."

                "That's a good point.  Go ahead."  Professor Trelawney seemed so happy that she might burst.  Parvati and Lavender glared.

                Madelyn started speaking as she looked at her spread.  "The dominance of the major arcana implies that my life is in a state of turmoil, where there are a lot of powerful people and strong forces surrounding me."

                She pointed at the first card.  "The Emperor.  It shows a male figure, either very intelligent or very brave, or maybe both.  The High Priestess.  A strong-headed, intelligent person, female.  The Knight of Pentacles.  A male, cautious and realistic, with a tendency to be pessimistic.  The Star, inverted." 

                Madelyn swallowed.  That had always been the card that came up for her sister, and it had always been inverted.  "A person who has been there, by my side but is now gone and will never be seen again.  This person still holds an influence over me, even though she's gone."  Madelyn brushed away a tear.

                 "The King of Pentacles.  A powerful male figure holds a strong influence over me.  Judging by the dark background of this particular card, he isn't a good person.  Death.  Although the light is favourable, based on the later appearance of the Sun, there are going to be a lot of changes with these people in the near future.  Many of these changes will be extremely difficult to deal with.  The Sun.  A favourable light which cannot be stopped from existing shines on my relationship with the three people at the beginning.  The Chariot.  I have a long way to go to understand the reasons for my Star being gone.  The journey will be difficult."  Madelyn sniffed, but kept reading.

                 "The Two of Wands.  An action, on my part, which will throw my life askew.  It may be as simple or small as me saying a single word.  Judgement.  An absolution of my major problems...a rebirth of sorts."

                "Excellent.  Can you put it all together and tell us what it means?"  Professor Trelawney clasped her hands together hopefully.

                "I have recently met three figures, two male and one female, because a man has caused me to lose someone close to me.  They are likely to become strong allies, even friends.  I'm going to do or say something to them which will shock them into helping me on my journey and they will eventually help me to reach a plateau in my life."

                "That was amazing.  I've never had anyone read that clearly the first day we pulled out the cards and actually began working with them.  Three points for Gryffindor."

                "It was something to do on rainy days, when I was younger.  I've been reading for five years.  It's not like everyone else you've taught has had a lot of experience."  Madelyn was blushing.

                Parvati and Lavender, upset at having been outshone by their student, refused to speak to her for the rest of the class, which made Madelyn happy, as she didn't particularly want to chat with her tutors.

                After class, as Madelyn was walking out of the North Tower on her own, Harry and Ron stopped her.  "You can walk back to Gryffindor with us, if you like," Ron said.

                Madelyn smiled a little.  "Thanks."

                "Were you okay back there?" Harry asked as they walked.  "I thought it was pretty cruel of Professor Trelawney to have you keep reading when you were so upset."

                "I'm okay.  It's just... the inverted Star was always my twin sister's card and... I lost her recently."

                "I'm sorry," Harry said, compassionately.

                "Yeah... we were kinda close.  I miss her."

                They walked in silence, as neither of the boys knew what to say.

                "If you ever wanna talk about her..." Harry finally said.

                "Sure."  Madelyn cut him off, so he didn't have to finish the sentence.  She knew that that card was her sister's way of saying that she was okay, but Madelyn had to avenge what had happened to her and stop it from ever happening to another.  She was more determined than ever that, someday, she would pay back the evil Voldemort for his crimes against her family.

************************************************************************

There's chapter 3.  I'd just like to say that I don't actually read Tarot cards, so my best friend, who has the pen name Amieva on this site, worked on the Tarot reading with me for almost an hour, trying to get it right.  It may not be perfect, as I was insistent on using several cards, and bending their interpretations a bit (like the Star.  Madelyn knew who that card was, and interpreted it as such), but, thanks to Amieva, it is fairly accurate, compared to the original draft.

I apologise for the seeming slowness of the chapters.  I promise that there's not going to be a chapter for each day.  After the first few days, it might be one a week, or, in some cases, one a month, in the Hogwarts world.  (I'm going to try to update twice a month.)  I need to set the scene (and show the world that Maddie isn't another Mary Sue type.)

Things will speed up.... and get a little racier, maybe.  Life is best when you know what's going on and how many people like your story!!!!

Thanks, Tainz.

PS  If you review mine, I'll review yours (if it's signed.)  Everyone likes reviews, so I'll return the favour, as soon as I can.