The morning came bright and early, James found himself woken from his dreams by his dorm mates rousing him, the two of them not knowing much about Hogwarts were equally as excited as he was, and they had lots of questions. The boys asked him about their classes, how they were supposed to know when and where they were, both happy to know James had a couple of friends willing to help them by taking them to some classes in the mornings, and making them a map to help them in between. They asked him about flying, which they were told they would receive lessons in, as it was one of the main forms of travel, and the only one they could do until their sixth year. Many minutes later the boys made their way into the common room, where the other first year, Isabelle was standing.
As soon as the boys stepped down from the stairs Isabelle walked shyly up to them. The girl seemed very awkward and not very sure of herself, the boys surprisingly quickly realised that she was the only first year Gryffindor girl. James felt incredibly guilty, none of them had spoken to her upon arrival to the common room the previous night, she must have been all on her own since then. James quickly invited her to join them on their way to breakfast. The smile that came to the girls face made James feel giddy inside, and his guilt ebbed away as the group made their way down to the Great Hall. The group talked happily amongst themselves, James and Corey answering Isabelle's questions that the boys had previously asked James.
James however was distracted slightly, he was thinking of the other students, wondering if anyone else had been left lonely last night, he thought of Jade in Slytherin, sure Scarlett was another girl in her house, but somehow he could not see the two of them getting along very well. He was eager to find her quickly, to show her that he would be there as a friend. He sped up his steps, wanting the get to his friend quickly, but not wanting to run, surely there would have been a rule bout running inside.
The group soon came across Jade standing outside of the Great Hall, James noticed the way her face lit up when she saw him, the two greeted each other as old friends, even though they had only spoken together for a few hours, he soon found that his fears were true, upon reaching the Slytherin common room Scarlett and Scorpius had left Jade, and the older students had all retired to their own rooms. Isabelle listened intently to the other young girl, and the two began talking to one another about their shared experience last night. Jade had thrown a very rude look at the group of boys, causing Isabelle to laugh, claiming the boys had more than made up for the night by their actions this morning.
Together the group sat together at the Gryffindor table, feasting on bacon and eggs, toast and whatever else caught the fancy of the group, there were far too many choices for the first years, and they were soon full to the brim. Gryffindors head of house, Professor Longbottom made his way towards their group, smiling.
"Good morning!" he greeted them, "How was your first night at Hogwarts?" he asked, Corey and Jeremy smiled back at the professor, while the two girls stayed silent. James decided that he needed to say something for the girls, once again drawing on his bravery he began.
"Professor, I've noticed a problem" he said, all the faces turned towards him.
Taking a deep breath he continued, explaining to his teacher, and parents friend, that as the year group was much smaller, Isabelle had to spend the entire night on his own. Professor Longbottom listened to James thoughtfully, before turning and talking to Jade, he asked her what her experience was in the Slytherin common room. Jade nervously told him of how there were only two other Slytherin first years, and that they were betrothed, and had no inclination to talk to her, even going as far as calling her a dirty mudblood, not that she knew what that meant.
Neville was shocked, he had no idea the first years in Slytherin could be so harsh, he thought that over the years the prejudice had slowly ebbed away, it seemed however that he was wrong, the professor sat in silence for a few minutes, before turning to the two girls.
"Are you two friends?" he asked Jade and Isabelle. The two girls looked at each other and smiled, explaining they had only met each other this morning, but that they got along well enough over breakfast. Neville gave a nod to the two girls before asking them to accompany him for a few minutes, James watched as the two girls followed him over to the teachers table, were they began talking to Professor Pucey. Turning back to his house table he saw that Corey and Jeremy were talking animatedly about football, while he knew the game fairly well, he was not keen on joining their conversation.
James looked around the table for a moment, everyone else was happily talking and eating their food, everyone seemed to be looking forward to classes, very unlike his muggle school, where he would pretend to be feeling sick to try and get out of going, it never worked though, it was probably the one instance when being in a magical family had its downside, if he was sick, his mum could fix it in just a few minutes, and if he was faking, his mum would know even sooner. James wondered which class he would have first today, he knew it was nearly time as Teddy was making his way over to him and his friends.
"We should be getting our timetables any minute now, I wonder whats taking Professor Longbottom" Teddy said, looking over just in time to see Jade and Isabelle jump up in excitement and wrap their arms around each other, while the professors shook their heads at the display before they made their way back to the table. Within a few minutes James had received his timetable, and learnt that the teachers were going to allow Jade to move into the Gryffindor dormitory with Isabelle, it seemed Malfoy and Boot-Parkinson would soon be moving into their own quarters as a betrothed couple, the professor Longbottom and professor Pucey had both agreed the two girls would be happier with a friend to share the room with.
Looking over their timetables they soon discovered due to the small year group all houses would be taking their classes together, apart from flying class, being once a week, the flying teacher had decided it best to have the classes as small as possible to achieve maximum safety, Gryffindors class was after lunch this very day, while the other houses had theirs at different times during the week while Gryffindor had their study time. James was very excited for this particular class, like his father he hoped to become seeker on the Quidditch team, and knew that this would be his first chance to show his skills. James barely registered his group and himself standing up, nor the walk to his class, the next thing he knew he was sitting in the classroom, next to Jade and Corey, as their teacher walked in.
He introduced himself as Professor Goldstein, proclaiming he was a close friend of 'Harry Potter' James scoffed at this, he had never seen or heard of this man before. The teacher looked at him.
"Is there a problem Mr..?" the professor began, everyone's eyes turned to him.
"Potter, sir" James responded smugly, taking pleasure in the way the colour drained from the teachers face, the class joined James in a little chuckle, it was clear the teacher hadn't been telling the truth about his friendship with the great Harry Potter. The class began soon after that, the teacher told them they would begin by learning a simple stunning spell "stupefy". The class paired off, and began practicing the spell. No one made much progress at first, and after James had a few attempts he could hear Malfoy snickering.
"Look at this, Potters father apparently beat the dark lord, and he cant even do a simple stunner!" Malfoy called out, laughing loudly with Scarlett and another girl.
"Shove off Malfoy" James spat angrily, he needed to be like his dad, he needed to be strong and powerful. Trying again, again he was unsuccessful. The frustration was nearly unbearable.
"So your father couldn't do the spell?" Jade asked, staring at Malfoy, placing her hands on her hips, "Cause you sure can't, not everyone can do a spell straight away" she said stepping closer to Malfoy.
"Shut up mudblood!" Malfoy spat back at her. The tension in the room was suffocating, the group stared daggers at each other, all thinkning of ways they could retaliate.
"Mr Malfoy! Outside now!" Professor Goldstein bellowed, his face hard and angry, if James wasn't so annoyed at Malfoy he would have laughed at him, his face paled further, James didn't think it was even possible, he tried to think of a comeback as Malfoy walked past, but at that moment he heard a sniffle. Turning to look, he noticed a tear running down Jades face. He quickly turned and pulled the girl into his arms. James never enjoyed seeing anyone upset, and while he had only known Jade a little while, he wanted her to enjoy her Hogwarts experience.
"Don't worry about him Jade" he said, trying to comfort the girl, she was slowly becoming more and more upset, she began to confide in James, telling him that she didn't understand what he was calling her, and she didn't know why he had been so rude to her ever since they first met the previous night. With a sigh James began to explain to her all about blood status in the wizarding world, he explained the prejudices among the purebloods. He told her that it meant nothing, there was no difference between anyone with magical powers. Jade on the other hand wasn't quite convinced, so James promised to take her to talk to a friend of his, professor Granger. He told Jade that she was the smartest witch in his dads year, and was his best friend.
Before too much longer he was telling Jade about the adventures his dad got into with his two friends, and soon Jade was laughing along with him, and asked if the two of them could make their own adventures at Hogwarts, James obviously promised. At that moment the teacher entered the room again, and they all continued working on the spell, with Jades new found determination, she and James were among the first to successfully cast the spell, earning them both points for their house. Scorpius on the other hand, did not manage to cast the spell, upon returning to the room he had spent the remainder of the lesson snickering with Scarlett and Colette Zabini, a ravenclaw pureblood, who knew Scorpius and Scarlett before school started.
Jade stuck close to James for the remainder of class and well into lunch, it was time for the Gryffindor first years to go to flying class, while Jade had a study period, she told them all that she would be staying in the library to avoid 'the purebloods' as Malfoy and his friends had been dubbed and promised to save James a seat during transfiguration if she got there before him, giving the girl a quick hug, much to the amusement of Corey and Jeremy the boys rushed out to the Quidditch pitch, Isabelle trailing behind.