There was a problem.
He intended to sleep and go tomorrow, but he forgot they had a 10-hour flight to arrive before tomorrow morning.
So, he was woken up in the night by his father, who was very angry: "What are you doing? We must go now!".
He was still in a daze, so his father used a spell to amplify his voice and wake him by force. He now was getting dressed in order to go.
Luckily, his father had already miniaturized and taken all of his belongings, so he didn't need to worry about that.
James said goodbye to his sisters, and to his mother, before going on the broom with his father.
The trip was very long, and as they had talked about everything during James' vacations, they didn't have much discussion subjects left.
They did have some discussion subject: the beasts that were not previously there on the trip that James didn't know about, or even the one that James knew about and recognized.
He also asked his father about the origin of the bracelet he gave him, and now knew it was an object passed down in the family, and that he was the last user of it.
Around the end of the trip, James began to be really bored, and was relieved to see the village in the distance.
They arrived next to Hogsmeade and walked to the shore to get on the boat.
James was impressed by the village: it hadn't changed a bit since September, and it was still as lively as ever.
As they still had some time, they decided to take a detour and eat a bit: 10 hours of flight without eating made them really hungry!
They stopped at a tavern near the main plaza and ate good, fresh eggs. It has been a while since James tasted such simple food – with his mother preparing delicious complex food and Hogwarts' food being very complicated as well –, and it was very refreshing.
After they ate, they left and were now walking towards the shore, to, this time, really go to the boats.
When they arrived near the boats, James' father handed down the miniaturized belongings, but, unlike last time, didn't un-miniaturized them. Apparently, he wanted James to get them to their normal size on his own.
James then hugged him tightly, before going on a boat.
Like last time, none of the fourth year or above were presents, and as they were all sorted there were no more white robes.
When arriving to the castle, James quickly got to his bedroom. The classes started at 9AM, and it was currently around 8:30, so he needed to be quick.
There, he used a magic spell to sort things out, but it didn't work the first few times: he got ahead of himself and was not focused enough for the charm to complete.
It made him angry, and he suddenly had an indescribable urge of smashing everything to pieces with black magic.
He quickly repulsed his urge – and wondered where it came from –, and after a few more tries everything sorted out.
He then prepared for class and ran as fast as he could towards the herbology classroom. The problem was: it is the farthest from where he was right now, so he needed to sprint like hell.
Fortunately, he arrived only a few minutes late, before everybody was sat and ready, and got the opportunity to see Ethan again.
He didn't saw him on the boats, and he remembered why.
As they said before vacations, they were sending each other owls frequently and remembered the content of the last letter: "I will not travel by the boats across the lake; my family currently have some trouble, and I can't stay home alone, even for a few days. Rest assured; I will still be at school. See you then!".
They continued their classes like normal, and the evening arrived. James had wanted for all the vacations for this: he could now return to the library!
He walked as fast as he could and arrived in the first to the library. There, he searched for a book to read, and saw something that picked his interest: 'How To Brew A Good Wiggenweld Potion'. He knew this was the potion for regeneration, and also knew that they will only learn it in sixth year.
So, he borrowed the book and started reading it in his bedroom. Soon, he'll too be able to brew the potion!
There were annotations on the side of the book at nearly every pages, pointing out inaccuracies in the book or adding explications.
At the last page talking about the last step, everything was grayed out and instructions were written on the side of it.
James really wondered who wrote this and didn't knew if those comments were good. To know that he was soon going to try it, after all, potions are a 'try and retry' kind of thing!
But before he even knew it, it was dinner time, and he went to eat with Ethan.
He was really happy to see him again, to the point where he had an incontrollable big smile on his lips.
While eating, they all noticed that their voice was forcibly shut up, and soon understood why: the headmaster, Windsor, was standing in front of the owl-shaped lectern, ready to speak.
Behind him, there were the professors that wore different expressions: Gryffindor who looked very proud, Ravenclaw who looked focused on something, Slytherin with his trademark bored expression, and finally Hufflepuff, along with Adams, had a blasé expression.
He started: "Welcome back, students, to Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. You will stay here for the rest of the year, but I suppose you are all accustomed to the school, even the first years, by now. I, and the other professors, wish you all a very pleasant stay at Hogwarts.".
The students then all gave a round of applause, and the headmaster returned to his seat.
When the students re-focused on their food, Slytherin immediately disappeared, while virtually all the others got up and left. The only one left was Ravenclaw; she didn't even notice the others were gone! But, a few minutes later, she took a look around and hurriedly left, embarrassed.
After they finished eating, James and Ethan went back to their common room. James knew that to prepare the Wiggenweld he read about earlier, he needed for the mixture to have around 20 hours of rest. If he could, he would have liked to prepare it tonight, but he didn't have any ingredients.
The problem with the ingredients was that they were simply not obtainable in the castle. To obtain them, James had two options:
- One, he goes to collect them himself in the forbidden forest.
- Two, he buys them at Hogsmeade.
As the last time he was in the forbidden forest was quite a traumatic experience for him, he decided to buy them at Hogsmeade.
But another issue soon appeared: the money. He didn't have any, and that was a big problem. His father didn't leave him anything, so he needed a good source of revenue.
He started thinking about what to do, until he finally got an idea.