Back To Hogwarts

First day

The next morning the boys woke later than anyone else. This caused them all to have to throw on their robes and run down to the great hall before breakfast was over.

"What do we have first?" James asked Tallon quickly. They turned a corner at a run and almost collided with Mr. Pettigrew who was the buildings caretaker.

"You better get to the great hall where you belong!" He yelled at the boys as they swerved away from him and took off into the entrance hall. As soon as the group entered the great hall students began to rise form the benches of the tables to head to class.

"A little late I see." A voice came from behind the boys as they stared hopelessly around the emptying dining room. "Where've you been?" James recognized the voice, turning quickly he was face to face with Fred Weasley, the ghost of Gryffindor.

"Uncle Fred?" James was shocked to see that his uncle whom had died many years before during the Battle Of Hogwarts levitating only about 5 inches from the floor. The tall, red headed man nodded and smiled at James.

"Nope. I'm George. And you call yourself my nephew." He shook his head laughing as James stared at him with a look of slight annoyance and excitement.

"Nice try." James said quietly, laughing. "We're starving." Fred turned, looking around. He pointed to the last Gryffindor table at the very front of the hall. There was a platter in the center of the table still filled with biscuits. "Thanks." James turned to the boys who were all watching him and Fred quietly. "Joining us?" Fred flew across the room quickly and stood by the table. The boys all headed in the same direction.

"Who is that?" Falcon asked quietly.

"That's my uncle." James answered nonchalantly. Falcon and Alastar gave James a weird look.

"Your uncle is a ghost?" Alastar asked this time.

"Yes."

"Guys, that's Fred Weasley. He was killed during the Battle of Hogwarts. He hasn't always been a ghost." Tallon piped up quickly.

"You're right." Fred said, popping up in front of them. "But I've always lurked the halls." Fred made a ghostly 'ooo' sound as he backed away and James started laughing. James and the rest of his new friends began to talk over breakfast. During this time he discovered that Alastar and Falcon are actually muggle born, which is why they had not known who his Uncle Fred was. James began to tell the boys all about his two uncles and his family's involvement in the Battle of Hogwarts. The boys listened excitedly as he told the stories until James was interrupted by a stern voice.

"Mr. Potter, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I do believe if you all don't get a move on you will be late for Potions class." The boys all turned to see the headmistress, Professor Minerva Mcgonagall standing behind them.

"Good morning, headmistress." Tallon spoke up quickly, " We were just heading out." Uncle Fred looked up to the professor and smiled.

"Oh come on, Mcgonagall, just a quick family reunion." He smiled, but there was still a strong sense of respect in his voice.

"I am very glad that you two could be acquainted, but that does not excuse this boy from class." McGonagall told Fred quickly. Fred nodded in agreement and waved to James.

"If you ever need me, James, don't hesitate to call." Fred said as he turned to leave, "Especially if your planning a little mischief." McGonagall gave Fred a look that caused him to streak across the great hall with a bout of laughter. James couldn't help but notice that someone was waiting for Fred when he shot out of the hall that seemed to be overtaken by laughter as well.

"Now," McGonagall began, "I believe that you boys should be on you way, and from now on, please get to bed at a reasonable hour. Potter's uncle won't be able to help you all with a late meal very often." With that being said, Professor McGonagall watched as the boys all nodded in understanding and rose from their seats to head to their morning lesson.

Potions class has always been held all the way down in the dungeons of the castle, the reason for this is that the potions master tended to be of Slytherin descent and normally head of the Slytherin house. As the boys made their way down the corridor they could hear professors of all subjects introducing themselves to their classes. The group broke into a run as they realized the time and took a sharp turn into the classroom.

"Ah, hello boys. How nice of you to join us." The professor was a tall man with high cheek bones and light blonde hair. "I think it's time you took your seats and I hope this doesn't become a habit." He drew out his last two words quietly to almost a hiss as his eyes examined each boy. His eyes finally rested on James. "Mr. Potter. Be sure to tell your father hello for me." James stared at the professor confused. "As I was saying!" The tall wizard spoke, breaking James' thoughts. "I am Professor Draco Malfoy. In this class we will have no foolish wand waving or spells. We will learn how to brew the finest of potions and I'd like to think that you might learn a thing or two about your abilities as well." From the back of the room a small ruby red haired girl threw her hand in the air.

"When will we start to work on love potions?" She asked loudly giving James a look that made his stomach lurch. All of the girls in the classroom seemed to be excited about the question and leaned forward awaiting the answer.

"Nonsense. We will be starting with a simple brew of essence of dittany. It is a healing potion made from the essence of the plant dittany." Professor Malfoy lectured for a bit about how the potion should be brewed and what it should look like once it is finished. "Turn to page 394." He watched the class as they turned their books. "Now, this is the recipe for Essence of Dittany. Follow closely and you should have a close to perfect brew." The class began pulling out their ingredients and cauldrons, getting straight to work. They all began chopping, slicing, grading, and crushing different ingredients before throwing them into the caulderon, James was half way through chopping the leaves of his dittany into tiny pieces when Professor Malfoy slowly walked up behind him.

"I see you have your father's school mindset." He drew out coldly, James turned quickly to face the professor. "You need to be on time for class, this didn't help him and being late will not help you!" James gave the professor and odd look.

"How do you know my father?" He said quietly. Malfoy turned his attention away with the question and began watching another student who was struggling with his dittany. "What an arse." James said allowed to his friends, they smirked at the comment, but stayed quiet. He had already decided that Potion's class was definitely not his favorite class.

"Next is Charms, with Professor Flitwick." Alastar told James and the rest of the boys as they headed form Potion's class. Once they reached the room, the peeked inside. There was no sign of a teacher anywhere within the room.

"Please, come in!" A small, but deep voice said cheerfully. "Come in, come in! Sit." The group of boys wandered into the classroom to find a small man standing on the other side of a podium. James stifled a laugh at the snide remark that Falcon had made under his breath. They all took their seats together and to James' delight a few first year Slytherin filtered into the room with them. They shared this class with Slytherin. A few seconds later his friend Atticus came wandering though the door followed closely by a small girl, fawning over him.

"Atticus!" James called brightly, waving at his friend from the train. "We've got a seat over here." Atticus looked up and waved, but didn't approach James. He sat across the room from James, with the girl sitting directly next to him. James concluded that Atticus had already accomplished the challenge of finding a girlfriend in under 24 hours. In charms class they were told the spell to make things levitate.