Presence

James finished his last exam. He left the classroom that had been ordered exclusively for him and began to walk through the halls of Hogwarts while thinking about the exam.

This exam was different from the previous ones. Much more difficult and rigorous. It was a good challenge for James. It was administered by the Magical Testing Authority. A group of wizards and witches examined the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry during their OWL and NEWT exams.

Usually, this group of wizards traveled to Hogwarts every year on the exam date, but that date was a long way off. Dumbledore had arranged for them to come early to examine James. It must have been difficult for them to agree to test a third-year boy.

'I hope I Exceeded Expectations,' James thought with slight concern. Rarely did his confidence in his knowledge waver, but this time it did. The exam had been tough.

The exam was divided into two parts: written and practical. Strict measures were used, such as anti-cheating plumes and anti-cheating spells. One of the theoretical questions was about the definition of the change spell. 

One of the practical spells he had to cast was the vanishing spell: Evanesco. Used to make both animate and inanimate objects disappear. James had to make a mouse disappear at a much higher level, as when you learn this spell, you start by making a snail disappear, which, being an invertebrate, is simpler than a mouse.

James got the spell perfect, and in the practical part, he knew he did well. He was more concerned with the complicated definitions and formulas.

'I'll have the results on Monday,' James thought as he walked to the large dining room to have dinner and meet his friends. It was almost seven o'clock.

Today was Friday. McGonagall told him that between Saturday and Sunday, they would review his exam so that on Monday he would have the results. If he passed, he would go straight to the sixth-year class. The bad thing is that he will have to catch up, so these two days he will start studying sixth-year transfiguration.

James was walking through the corridors of Hogwarts, absorbed in his thoughts. As he rounded a corner, he spotted a group of girls, all wearing blue Ravenclaw uniforms. There were five of them in all, walking together and chatting happily, with sporadic giggles.

However, not all of them shared the same joy. The girl in the center of the group kept her head down, her expression dejected and was practically being dragged along by two of the girls walking beside her, their hands firmly resting on her shoulders. James, immersed in his musings, did not notice these details and barely paid them any attention.

As they advanced, the two groups drew closer and closer together, walking down the same hallway in opposite directions. The girls, noticing James' presence, were turning off their laughter and conversation, casting furtive glances in his direction. Tension was palpable in the air, though only for them.

When they finally crossed paths, James looked away from the group of girls for a brief moment. Suddenly, one of them gave a little jump and let out an unexpected hiccup. However, the two groups continued on their way without further incident, each going their way.

The girls, who had maintained a carefree and amused attitude before encountering James, breathed a sigh of relief as they walked away from him. Among them, Tianne Windsor, who still felt a slight fear of James from the incident in the middle courtyard, exhaled deeply, glad that the encounter had been brief and non-confrontational.

"Are you still afraid of him? You should have told your brother to teach him a lesson. Now, he's graduated, and you don't have the chance," said a lanky, short-haired, freckled girl. 

"I don't want to make any more trouble," Tianne said, not wanting to talk about it too much. Her brother had offered to give James a lesson, but she stopped him. She had a strange feeling. She thought her brother would lose. 

A seventh grader with excellent grades would lose to a second grader back then. Crazy, wasn't it? But that was her intuition, and after learning about the other events James participated in, it was a good call.

"He beat the sixth-year Selwyn boy... The duel would have been tied, and only your brother would have come off badly going up against a junior," said a red-haired girl with two pigtails and a small build.

"Tsch, the rumors are always exaggerated," said a curly-haired girl, clicking her tongue. She had heard the rumors of how amazing James Potter was, and even though her friends like Tianne had told her about it, she didn't believe in such prowess from a boy a year younger than her. Until she saw it with her own eyes, she wouldn't believe it.

"Anastasia was saying the same thing, Emma," said Tianne, remembering that fateful day.

"Let's stop wasting time. Come on. You walk," said the girl named Emma, pushing the blonde girl with a dejected expression.

The group of girls began their march until they entered a disused hall. They closed the door by putting in some incantations to keep out unwanted people and led the blonde girl to the center of the room.

"Please, Emma... This is my last pair of robes," the blonde girl said imploringly.

"Don't say my name with that mouth of yours," Emma said with an evil grin, looking at the girl in front of her. The blonde girl was Pandora.

Pandora, on this very day, was bombed by rotten eggs. Xeno found her and managed to clean her robe a bit, but it still had a disgusting smell, so she had no choice but to change her robe. Then, when she was going to the bathroom again, she was caught by this group of bullying girls.

She did not think that they would still get tired of completely dirtying her. She should go back to bathing and wear the least smelly and dirty robe.

"Don't wear that expression. You'll make us look like the bad girls. You're the boyfriend stealer," the redhead with the pigtails said with an amused smile. Tianne and the others laughed at their friend's comment.

'He talked to me first and couldn't get enough of following me around...' thought Pandora without saying anything. She knew that anything she said would be used against her and would only make the punishment worse.

"What spells will we try?" asked the redhead, fiddling with her wand. They already used rotten egg spells, ice water spells, and feather spells that stick to the body.

"I've brought a new spell. Red paint that is impossible to clean off for at least the first 24 hours," Emma said with a nasty smile.

Pandora just clenched her fists and kept looking down at the floor. She had to hold on until these girls got tired of bothering her. Then she would go back to her peaceful life, like last year.

"That's a good one," Tianne said with a chuckle. It was just a bit of paint. 

Emma began to explain to Tianne and the other two girls the pronunciation of the spell and the wand movement. It was a simple spell. After five minutes, they knew what was needed.

'Will they all cast it?' thought Pandora, looking at the four wands pointed at her. She would be bathed in red paint if they all cast the spell on her.

Just at that moment of silence where Pandora was being watched by the four bullying girls, the doorknob of the door was heard turning. A creak was heard in the hall, and the door slowly opened.

James was the person who entered uninvited. As for the protective spells, it was very easy for him to remove them. Compared to a student in his year, he would be considered an expert.

Tianne, Emma, and the others instantly turned their heads. It would be too bad if it was a professor. Luckily for them, it was a student.

However, seeing James's expressionless face made them shiver more than if he had been a professor. At least in the latter case, they could create some excuse or be punished lightly.

'James Potter... Xeno's friend?' thought Pandora with surprise, raising her head and looking at the Gryffindor boy.

Tianne froze in place. The hand holding her wand was shaking, and her gaze was fixed on James.

Emma and the other girls also stood silently watching. Emma no longer showed the earlier bravery in questioning the rumors of James' strength. For some reason, none of the four could bring themselves to say a word. 

James began to walk towards the group without saying a word. His gaze was fixed on Pandora, who, for some reason, felt more fear as she was watched by James' stoic gaze.

It was a strange sensation that she never felt with any of her bullies or older student bullies. His presence had an invisible pressure. Also, knowing the events James was involved in, no one quite knew how he would act.

In the duel he had against Rabastan, he showed great brutality by aggressively humiliating him in front of everyone. The same is true of Anastasia and the others in the middle courtyard. He defeated a professor by cutting off his hand, most certainly with a Diffindo, or so everyone thought. On the other hand, against Mark Selwyn, he showed great calm and tranquility in defeating him. The same was true when he challenged Rabastan to a duel or on other occasions.

James, a few feet away from Pandora, stopped and asked, "You're Pandora Rosemary, right?"

"Yes, I am..." replied Pandora.

'Xeno's friend... I was right to come back,' thought James. It was obvious what was going on here. Four girls pointed a wand at a girl, who was trembling and staring at the ground.

"Come on," said James, gesturing with his head to leave the room.

"What?" asked Pandora.

"Let's go to the Great Hall. Xeno and your friends should be waiting for you. Let's go," said James in a calm tone, and Pandora nodded dumbly as she started to follow him.

"STOP!" shouted Emma as James and Pandora were about to leave. With her wand, she pointed her wand at both of them.

Tianne and the other girls, who were about to sigh, quietly looked at their friend with wide eyes.

'Let him go!' they thought to themselves but said nothing.

"What's wrong?" asked James, turning around and looking at the curly-haired girl pointing her wand at him.

"You think you can just come in here and do whatever you want!" exclaimed Emma angrily.

"Mm, what exactly did I do wrong? I'm just talking to a friend who wants to join me in the great hall for dinner," said James, raising an eyebrow.

"Shut up! We were having a meeting. Pandora, get back here!" shouted Emma, who was looking more and more angry by the minute. To James, she was like a Chihuahua dog.

Pandora flinched at the order and was about to walk back towards Emma and the others, but James stopped her.

"That looks like a threat, and you keep pointing your wand at us," James said with no change in his expression or tone of voice.

"Shut up! Mind your own business, Pandora come back or you will see!" exclaimed Emma. It hadn't crossed her mind that James would attack her. That was her grave mistake.

'Expelliarmus!' thought James, grabbing his wand in a second and pointing it at Emma, who couldn't react to the quick attack. An angry red flash hit her and sent her flying until she landed disastrously on the dust-filled desks.

After all the noise caused by Emma's disastrous landing, the room fell into a spectral silence. 

"Tsch, you've got it coming to you. I wanted to speak peacefully, but you keep barking like a dog and pointing your wand at me," James commented with a scornful expression on his face.

Tianne and the others looked down at her friend's unconscious body with frightened faces. Why was her friend so stupid? Everyone knew from the incident in the middle courtyard that James attacked Anastasia Nott, and she didn't even have a wand. It was obvious that he would be encouraged to attack a person if she yelled at him and was pointing her wand at him.

"What's that idiot girl's name?" asked James, looking at Tianne and the other girls, who were still frozen in place.

"Emma Parkinson," Tianne replied without making eye contact.

"Oh, the grand old Parkinson family. They're usually left in Slytherins, though they like Ravenclaw House too," James said in a tone of false praise.

"Does she have any older brothers or sisters?" asked James.

"Yes, an older brother..." replied Tianne, not knowing why James wanted to know that.

"That's good... What's his name, house, and year?" asked James.

"His name is George, and he's a seventh year in Ravenclaw," replied Tianne, looking up out of curiosity and noticing a slight smile on James' face that gave her chills.

"That's great. Big brothers should take responsibility for their sister's irresponsible actions. Let's go," James said, walking out of the room. Pandora took one last look at the crestfallen faces of her bullies and quickly followed James.