Professor Dumbledore apparently had told the searchers that there was no need to go to Sunnybrook Orphanage, for there was nothing in the newspaper on Wednesday about Harry Potter being found. James was never brought in for questioning, either. He was very relieved that his secret wasn't found out, though he was wondering if he shouldn't tell Unity sometime in the future and swear them to secrecy. The other first-years in Unity were nice and appeared trust-worthy, and even the Slytherin members were turning out decent now that they'd gotten to know some Muggleborns. Mari's talks to them helped as well, and Malfoy's and Pansy's threats and insults just drove them further away from how they had been raised up and made them more inclined to see things Mari's way.

The other classes turned out to be exactly as Stella and Stuart had described them. James enjoyed them all except History of Magic and Defense Against Dark Arts. Stuart had not been exaggerating when he said that Professor Binns was dead boring. It wasn't figuratively speaking, either, for the teacher was a ghost. He had fallen asleep in front of the staff fire one night in his old age and he, or rather his ghost, had gotten up as usual to teach the next day, leaving his body behind. He droned on and on in a very monotone voice about goblin rebellions and other incidents in history. Other than Hermione, it seemed that nobody could actually pay attention beyond the first few minutes. James gave up even trying after the first class and spent future classes reading the text and taking notes.

Defense Against Dark Arts would have been an interesting class if Professor Quirrell weren't teaching it. His perpetual stutter made his entire speaking take twice as long, and sometimes it was a little difficult to completely understand. Coupled with his fear of almost everything, and the fact that his classroom smelled of garlic because he was afraid a vampire he'd fought once would come after him, it just made things worse. As for his absurd turban, he claimed it was a thank-you gift from an African prince for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but nobody believed him. For one thing, when Terry asked how it had happened, Quirrell turned pink and began discussing the weather. For another, there was always a funny smell around it and a rumor was spread, thanks to the Weasley twins, that it was stuffed with garlic so he could be protected wherever he went.

Charms and Potions soon became James's favorite classes, partly due to the fact that he was good at it. Even having Professor Snape, who favored his house and was not the nicest person in the world to those outside of Slytherin, didn't keep James from liking Potions.

Potions class, for the first-years at any rate, was Gryffindor with Slytherin and Ravenclaw with Hufflepuff. James was pleased, for it meant he would see Kyle. On the first class, James and Anthony, who were becoming very good friends, sat at a table with Kyle and Justin. When Professor Snape came in, he blinked when he saw that Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were sitting together. Even the very few that weren't taking part in inter-house unity were doing so, mainly because that was the only seats available to them and the two houses did get along quite well.

After taking roll call, Snape gave a speech on the subtleties of potions and how he could teach them to stopper death, brew glory, and bottle fame, if he didn't have the usual lot of dunderheads to teach. Then he seemed to take in account the Ravenclaws, for he added in a grudging tone, "Well, I suppose half this class isn't going to be hopeless. They should be clever enough to brew perfect potions."

He then told the class to pair up and make a simple potion to cure boils. James paired with Justin and Kyle with Anthony. They got to work, with Snape grading papers at his desk and every so often looking up to make sure things were going well. Towards the end of class, he got up to inspect the finished potions. Since the partners consisted of one Ravenclaw and one Hufflepuff, the end result was that all the potions were perfect or almost perfect. Snape looked slightly surprised.

"Five points each to Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff," he said grudgingly. He was even more surprised when he saw the potion James and Justin had made. It was not only perfect, but it was something he or Lily would have made. At the thought of Lily, Snape had to work hard to hide his emotions. He turned from the cauldron to look at James and Justin and froze. The color of James's eyes was the same emerald-green as Lily's, but the shape was different, as it looked like the Lydell twins' eyes.

"Er, the potion is very acceptable," Snape managed to say once he had his emotions under control. "I expect that everyone keeps up this level of proficiency in future classes. Class is dismissed."

In the afternoon, James and his closest friends in Unity went to visit Hagrid, having heard all about the friendly gamekeeper and wanted to meet him. Hagrid greeted them and invited them all in for tea, while his boarhound, Fang, yapped excitedly and then began trying to lick Ron and Kyle. Finally Fang settled for laying his head on James's lap.

The tea was good, but the rock cakes that Hagrid set out were really as hard as rocks. To avoid hurting his feelings, the six pretended to enjoy them. They told him all about their first week when he asked and James, Kyle, and Mari exchanged looks when Hagrid mentioned the search for Harry Potter. It turned out he was the one that had taken Harry from the Potters' destroyed home and brought him to his relatives' home on Dumbledore's orders. If Hagrid had any idea that the Dursleys didn't want Harry and would dump him at an orphanage, he would have never brought Harry there. Instead, Hagrid would have asked Dumbledore to let Harry be raised at Hogwarts or something.

James felt sorry for Hagrid when he heard this and wanted to reveal the truth, but it had also become clear during the conversation that the gamekeeper wasn't the best at keeping secrets. Oh, he would do his best, but he could accidentally let something slip, particularly if you got him drunk. And even if he did manage to keep it, you would be able to tell that he was hiding something from you. If someone asked him point blank if he knew anything about where Harry Potter was, no matter what he said, the other person would know the truth, that Hagrid knew something.

Hermione steered the conversation away from Harry Potter and Hagrid congratulated them on the whole inter-house unity plan. During the past three days, members from Unity had dropped by to meet him and had mentioned it, adding that it was the six of them that had started it. Even Slytherins, who normally didn't care much for him, had visited him, and had been very polite.

When tea was over, the six of them returned to the castle, their pockets full of rock cakes that they had been too polite to refuse. Once in the castle, they threw them away and went to the Great Hall for dinner. After that, all of Unity met in the Room of Requirement and discussed how things had been.