James Potter and the Sword in the Stone

The next day James got up eagerly, wanting to start his new classes. When the other two Gryffindor boys woke up they introduced themselves as Rupert Griffith and Eric Palmer. Rupert was a short boy with red hair and green eyes. Eric, on the other hand, was tall and blonde haired. They both got excited when he told them who he was, for they had heard the tale of Harry Potter since they were young.

They went with James and Lysander down to the Great Hall for breakfast. On the way they had gotten lost, but Professor Briscoe, the Charms teacher, found them and led them to the Great Hall. For being part-goblin, he was quite friendly. They were given their schedules at breakfast, and the five boys discussed their classes.

"I think we all have Double Potions together," Eric said, looking at their lists.

"We're all Gryffindor, so of course we are. Ugh, we're with the Slytherins," James said disgustedly.

"Fat chance of getting any points there with Professor Carrow being Head of Slytherin. I wonder what she's like," Lysander said, taking a big bite of his eggs.

"Probably as foul as the rest of them," James said, helping himself to some toast.

"We're probably all gonna fail," Eric said miserably, slumping in his seat.

"Well that's not the right attitude to have on our first day," Bella said, entering the Hall with Jane, Abigail, and Molly and having a seat.

"Professor Carrow just looks unfriendly, though," Abigail Edwards said.

They all looked up to the High Table where the teachers sat. When Professor Carrow's gaze swept over them, they quickly turned back to their food.

After they had eaten, the group of them walked down to the dungeon together. Bella seemed to know her way around more than the rest of them. She was quite smart for her age. "It's so gloomy down here," Molly said nervously.

The Slytherins were already sitting inside the Potions classroom. As soon as the Gryffindors walked in they immediately began to whisper to themselves. Some, including Dolohov, pointed to him and sniggered. James and Lysander sat beside each other, James with a dark look pointed toward Dolohov.

Professor Carrow walked into the room silently and said, "Good evening, class."

"Good evening, Professor Carrow," the class replied at different times.

Professor Carrow was very dark looking. Her hair was dark and long, and her eyes looked almost black. Maybe it was just the lighting in the room, since she had all the windows curtained. James stared at her until she turned her piercing gaze to him.

"Open your books to the first chapter and begin reading. When you are finished, you will begin preparing the potion at the end of the chapter. It is a simple Boil-Cure Potion that shouldn't be too difficult for most of you," Professor Carrow said, walking around the room.

James took out his copy of Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger and opened it. He kept sneaking glances of Professor Carrow out of the corner of his eye. She pretty much stayed to the Slytherin side of the room, which was fine with James. Dolohov's hand rose slowly into the air.

"Yes? What is your name?" Professor Carrow asked.

"It's Alec Dolohov, Professor. Professor, I was just wondering if it's true that your aunt and uncle were Death Eaters," Dolohov said.

"Yes, they were. Anything else?" Professor Carrow said.

Dolohov shook his head slightly, clearly disappointed. Perhaps he was expecting her to be enthusiastic about it. In these days, if you even hinted that you were happy about being in league with Death Eaters the Ministry arrested you. They took no chances when it came to Voldemort's supporters gaining power again. Everyone went back to their reading since it was clear Professor Carrow was not going to reveal more about her life. James finished reading chapter one and found the potion at the end. It called for dried nettles, crushed snake fangs, stewed horn slugs, porcupine quills, and flobberworm mucus.

James made a disgusted face when he read the last one. A few others in the class had begun to heat the potion in their cauldron already, Bella included. He quickly did as they were doing until his turned red. James found that he didn't particularly hate brewing potions. It made the subject worse because it was so dark and the professor was so . . . broody. When he had passed everyone else in the classroom, including the Slytherins, he thought at first that he had done something wrong. He had followed the book exactly, and after mixing the dried nettles his potion had turned the right shade of blue.

Professor Carrow began to come closer and closer, stealing quick glances at his potion. Perhaps he was doing it wrong, due to her obvious scrutiny. But it had now turned the shade of orange his book described after putting in the porcupine quills. He had made sure to remove it from the fire, as the book called for. Lysander was eyeing James' potion curiously and then looking back at his own potion, which was sort of an orangish-brown color. It looked quite disgusting. Professor Carrow had now stopped beside James' table.

"Scamander, is it? I believe you've added the wrong amount of porcupine quills. You must learn to pay attention and read, otherwise you will never make it in my class. Understood?" she said.

Lysander nodded glumly, stirring his potion feverishly. James poured the stewed horned slugs into his potion after a few minutes and stirred until his potion turned first a turquoise color, then a red. This sudden change in color startled him at first until he consulted his book to make sure it was indeed supposed to be red. Professor Carrow walked silently over to James' potion and looked inside his cauldron.

"You're Potter, aren't you?" she asked.

"Yes, Professor," James replied quietly.

"Have you ever brewed a potion before?" Professor Carrow asked.

"No, Professor. This is my first time," James told her.

She nodded unhappily and said, "Well, good work. Ten points to Gryffindor."

She walked away, and James let out a breath he did not know he was holding. He had expected to be criticized for his effort, not rewarded. Professor Carrow was not at all like James had thought she was. Despite her unkempt appearance and mysterious manner, she appeared to be capable of giving praise. And he wasn't even in Slytherin. Professor Carrow didn't come to the Gryffindor side of the room again, possibly because she didn't think the rest of them would be able to produce anything similar to the Boil-Cure potion.

When the class had ended and James was putting away his things, everyone stared at him grumpily. Not very many others had succeeded at the potion. Bella, however, seemed to be quite happy for him.

"You were brilliant! I was trying to keep up with you, but I just couldn't!" she said happily as they were walking to the Great Hall once again for lunch.

"Yeah, James. You were really good. I couldn't get mine past that ugly orange color. Even when I added the horn slugs it didn't change," Lysander said.

"It was nothing, really. But it was the first time I had ever made one," James said proudly.

"It was nothing? You got ten points for Gryffindor! She didn't even give any of the Slytherins points," Bella said.

They had just started to walk up the stairs that led to the Great Hall when Dolohov said from behind them, "You think you're just great, don't you, Potter?"

James turned around to face him. "At least I'm not proud of being related to Death Eaters."

Dolohov whipped his wand out angrily. "How dare you? You wouldn't be so smug if your stupid father wasn't some big hero!"

"Don't talk about my dad like that!" James said, taking his own wand out.

"Stop it! Come on, James," Bella said, pulling on his arm.

"Yeah, Potter, run along with your little girlfriend," Dolohov said with a smile.

Then Dolohov spotted Professor Rothwell coming down the stairs. "You lot should be getting to the Great Hall, or you'll miss lunch. There isn't a problem, is there?"

He was having a little difficulty getting down the steps with his injured leg. "There's no problem, Professor. Just a friendly chat between friends," Dolohov said.

"We're not friends," James said darkly.

Professor Rothwell studied them for a moment, and motioned for Dolohov to proceed to the Great Hall. "You two go on, as well. I wish to speak to James for a moment. Not to worry, he'll be along shortly," Rothwell said.

Dolohov went eagerly, throwing smug looks over his shoulder. Apparently, he thought James was about to get detention or something. Bella and Lysander went reluctantly. Professor Rothwell waited until they were out of range to say, "You're James Potter, I take it? Yes, you look like him."

"Er . . . who, sir?" James asked, but he already knew the answer.

"Your father, of course. I know him from the Ministry. We work together, you see."

"So, you're an Auror, Professor?" James asked.

"Yes, but after my slight mishap this past summer in the forest, I decided to take on the job of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Until my leg heals," he said, pulling his pant leg up slightly to reveal that it was heavily bandaged.

"In the forest? You mean, the Forbidden Forest?" James asked curiously.

Rothwell seemed to realize he had let something he shouldn't have slip. "Let's just keep that between you and me, James. I wouldn't want your father to hear that I've told you things you shouldn't know," he said quietly. "Now, you should be more careful not to make too many enemies here. Go on to the Great Hall with your friends. And remember our little secret, James."

Professor Rothwell walked down the steps the rest of the way and proceeded to head out to the grounds. James watched him go, then walked slowly back to the Great Hall. What was in the Forbidden Forest that would take a chunk out of Professor Rothwell's leg? On second thought, there were probably many things that would be more than willing. James had heard stories about the Forest, and his parents discouraged him from going near it unless he absolutely had to. And when it was absolutely necessary, he was only to go in with Hagrid. Thinking of Hagrid, James realized that he should probably go down to his hut and visit.