Disclaimer: Must I do this again? I don't own anything. Not even my pen name, which was gotten from another book. I do, however, own the noisy bangles that are annoying me so much as I type this already annoying disclaimer. Jingle, jingle, jingle...

Chapter Seven: First Day of Classes

The next day at breakfast, Professor Dumbledore stood at the podium as he had the night before. "This year, we are trying something new with the first year students. You will all attend a short introductory class in each subject today. It is our hope that this will help each of you excel in your classes. The rest of the day will be yours to aquaint yourselves with each other and the castle. Your normal schedule, which will be given to you by your Head of House, will begin tomorrow. The schedule for the older students remains the same. Thank you." He sat and schedules were handed out as promised.

The first class was Potions, in a light, airy classroom on the second floor. It was taught by a young, attractive witch, Professor Salsa, in the absence of the usual teacher, Professor Slughorn. The latter teacher was taking a year off for his health. Professor Salsa's youth did not mean she was less passionate or responsible about her subject. She greeted the class thus: "Potions has long had a reputation for being one of the less respectable subjects, perhaps because of the many poisons available to be made. Or perhaps because it has always been taught in a dungeon. I hope that, in this year, I will be able to break down that stereotype a little and teach you something about my area of expertise."

She went on to describe some of the potions she would be teaching, an outline of the class, and her grading system. There were only a few non-Ravenclaw students taking note- James, Jenna, Lily, and another Gryffindor, Remus Lupin. Lily, however, gave up trying to keep up with Professor Salsa's fast speech halfway through the class.

After half an hour, the bell rang, sending the first years to the next introductory class, History of Magic. This class was taught by a very old, very dull man called Professor Binns. He droned on and on about the class aims and grading system. The same people were taking notes, except that Lily only got as far as writing the class name at the top of the paper. About five minutes into the class, Sirius interrupted Jenna by handing her a note asking her what the heck she was writing in. Jenna had a muggle-style notebook for each class, as did Lily. Both of them were shocked that Sirius had never seen one. Jenna said what it was, and Lily added that her handwriting was so bad on lined paper that she wasn't about to try unlined parchment. Sirius still thought that the notebooks were the funniest thing he'd ever seen. Lily smacked him with hers.

Following History of Magic was Charms. It was taught by a tall, rail thin man in his forties, named Professor Flitwick. He began the class by asking, "What is Charms? Miss Evans?"

Lily started at her name. "Er, changing something into something else?" Lily had barely glanced at her books before coming to the school, and so had gotten some things mixed up.

James rolled his eyes and raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Potter?"

"Actually, Transfiguration is changing objects. Charms is manipulating the behavior of things." James didn't say this in a mean or snotty way, but Lily was still seething by the time his two sentences were over.

"Very good, Mr. Potter. I can see you read your materials." Professor Flitwick continued with the introduction to Charms.

A few minutes later, Lily handed a note to Jenna:

I will get him if it's the last thing I do. I will become the best in Charms. He won't know what hit him.

Jenna's reply:

Lily, don't get mad at him. He wasn't trying to be rude.

Lily wrote:

I don't care. He made me look stupid. He will pay.

Jenna didn't want two of her new friends to hate each other, so she wrote:

He can pay, but please act like you don't hate him? For my sake.

Lily replied:

You assume too much. I don't hate him. Yet. But if he keeps this up, I will. Hey, aren't you missing some important information?

Jenna hurriedly returned to her notebook. Lily wrote on the corner of the page, "I was just joking." Jenna mock-glared at her and she raised her hands in surrender.

The next class was Transfiguration. It was clearly James' favorite subject, as her appeared to have memorized the textbook. He answered all of Professor McGonagall's questions correctly and in more depth than was usually expected of a first year student. Lily glowered more and more with each question.

Finally the class was over and the first years went on to the next class. The crowd separated Lily and Jenna from the boys. As soon as they were out of hearing, Lily burst out, "I can't stand him! Who does he think he is, answering every question like that?"

Jenna tried to soothe her. "He just like the subject. It's not his fault."

It didn't work. "You don't have to rub it in."

"Lils-" They had arrived at the next class. Defense against the Dark Arts, Herbology and finally Astronomy passed in much the same manner. Lily didn't forgive James for the slights given in Charms and Transfiguration, even though it didn't happen again.

Finally it was time for lunch and the first years were dismissed from Astronomy to enjoy the rest of the day.

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