Author's Note: Thanks goes to Lientjuhh, who suggested that James drop Divination after the first class and switch to Ancient Runes. I actually already was thinking about doing it, but the suggestion made up my mind for me. Sorry that it took awhile to update. I was busy the past couple of weeks.
The next morning was bright and sunny. James ate his breakfast, looked over his schedule, and then headed for his first class, Arithmancy. Hermione, Mari, the other Ravenclaws in Unity except for Morag and Michael, Ry, Claire Harper, Hannah, Tracey, and Blaise were in his class. Professor Vector was the teacher and she did a very good job as she went over the class and began explaining the basics. Hermione, who was very good at logic and numbers, appeared to love the class, and when it was dismissed, James heard her mutter, "That was a much better class than Divination."
He gave her an odd look, for she wouldn't have taken Divination yet and should have no idea what the class was like. "What are you talking about, Hermione?"
She ignored the question, saying, "Sorry, but I must hurry to Muggle Studies, James." He shook her head and went looking for the North Tower, for his Divination class was next. It took a few minutes, but James and the other Ravenclaws that were taking Divination finally found the classroom. Professor Trelawney had on glasses that magnified her eyes, several necklaces, and wore a filmy shawl over her robes. She looked like a large insect with an aura of dottiness that was nothing like Luna's. The class also turned out to be something of a joke, for the teacher appeared to be mostly a fraud with only a shred of real talent. She seemed to prefer dismal predications over happy ones, and had a thing for death omens.
The class started out by doing tea leaves, and when Professor Trelawney looked at James's cup, she said that she saw a falcon, which meant he had an enemy, a club, which meant an attack, and a skull, which meant he had danger in his path. He rolled his eyes at this and only conceded that she might have a point about the falcon, for Voldemort would be his enemy. He jumped when Professor Trelawney let out a scream and stared up at her. When she explained that she saw the Grim, he couldn't help laughing.
"That's not the Grim, that's probably my guardian's Animagus form, which is a large black dog!" James exclaimed. "Which means I'll probably be seeing Sirius soon."
When class ended, he had decided that it was a joke and during lunch, found Professor Flitwick and arranged to drop Divination and replace it with Ancient Runes. Fortunately the first class for the third-years didn't start until tomorrow, so he wouldn't have missed anything. Padma and Anthony also dropped the class and they replaced it with Care of Magical Creatures,
After lunch was Transfiguration, where the lesson was on Animagi. Professor McGonagall demonstrated her Animagus form of a tabby cat. James paid close attention, for his father and godfather were Animagi, though he wasn't sure if he wanted to learn to become one. It was rather difficult to master the transformation, and not everyone could manage it.
Unity met after the last class of the day, where the indignant members of the group that were in Gryffindor and Slytherin reported what had gone on during their Care of Magical Creatures class. Hagrid had shown hippogriffs, which were rather nice and handsome creatures, who wouldn't hurt anyone unless they were insulted. Ry was brave enough to volunteer to approach a hippogriff named Buckbeak, and after bowing to him and receiving a bow in return, was allowed to fly on his back. Ry hadn't really cared for the experience, preferring a broom, but it did prove to the rest of the class that there was nothing to be really scared of. However, Malfoy and Pansy hadn't looked happy, and it was clear that they wanted to ruin things for Hagrid. Malfoy hadn't also been paying close attention, for he insulted Buckbeak and ended up being slashed in the arm. He made a big fuss about dying and was hurried off to the Hospital Wing. Everyone in the class was angry at him, other than Pansy, though Vince and Greg were the only ones that weren't vocal about it.
"Malfoy won't try to get Hagrid in trouble about it?" asked Hannah worriedly.
"Well, a bunch of us were there and saw exactly what happened," pointed out Ry. "We can testify to the fact that Malfoy wasn't paying attention and insulted Buckbeak after Hagrid had told us that hippogriffs were proud creatures and that it wasn't wise to insult them. If I have to, I can use my connections, though I'd prefer not to."
Then the matter of how Hermione was doing several subjects at once was brought up. Apparently Neville had noticed that her schedule had said that she was doing Divination, Muggle Studies, and Arithmancy at nine o'clock that morning. When the other Gryffindors said they'd seen her in Divination, James and most of the other Ravenclaws in Arithmancy, and Ernie, Morag, Daphne, Theo, and Susan in Muggle Studies, they rounded on her. "How can you be in three places at once, Hermione?" demanded Ron.
"I can't tell you," protested Hermione in reply. "I promised McGonagall I wouldn't."
Bianca rolled her eyes. "She's using a Time Turner, of course. That's the only way she can be in more than one place at the same time." After she explained what a Time-Turner was for the ones that didn't know, she continued, "I am a little surprised that you were given one, Hermione. But then again, you are a model student, and Professor McGonagall would have vouched for you."
Hermione nodded. "Yes, but please just keep it quiet among us. Nobody else is really supposed to know."
At dinner, Dumbledore made an annoucement. Apparently Minister Kishi wanted to further friendly relations with Britain, and the Japanese school of magic had decided to take part in it by setting up an exchange program. Everything had been finalized this morning, and in two weeks time, several students, in third year to sixth year, would be coming from Japan with three staff members. They would be Sorted into the four houses for the year, and Dumbledore asked that everyone make the exchange students feel welcome. However, no Hogwarts students would be going to Japan, for none of them could speak, read, or write Japanese, other than the few of Japanese descent. There was a translation spell that enabled people to hear conversation in the language they were most familiar with, but so far there was none that did the same with writing.
A number of students were very interested at this news and began chattering excitedly. Unity wondered how the exchange students would do at Hogwarts and decided to befriend any third-years that came.