Particular group

Monday, September 5, 1972.

Classes officially began. Students had the weekend to settle into the castle after the summer vacation.

Quidditch tryouts would begin in the second week, and you had to be at least a second year to sign up. Although James was assured of a place, as it was almost impossible for there to be a better Seeker than him, William told him that he would have to try out for the formalities so that they wouldn't think he got differential treatment.

James didn't think much of this. He was even less enthusiastic than he thought he would be about starting to play Quidditch officially.

He still loves Quidditch and wants to play. But he was very focused on everything he was studying: Transfiguration book, Occlumency, Dark Arts, and a useful defensive magic book, unlike the ones he was given for this year.

When he was in the library he lost track of time and stayed for many hours. The same thing happened to him when he was in the Room of Requirement. Another minor fact is that he began to study ancient runes.

He started reading the book: Ancient Runes Made Easy written by Laurenzoo. It was a beginner-level book and provided translations of twenty-one thousand different runes and symbols. It had a lot of pages.

So most of the time these days he was reading, studying, and practicing like crazy. The good thing was that he enjoyed it. Magic was fun, and the good thing about understanding the theoretical part was that you could put it into practice.

"Wake up, James. We should go to breakfast," Lupin said, opening the curtains on James' canopy bed.

Daylight fell on James' face.

"Is it time yet...?" asked James, opening his eyes with difficulty and getting out of bed. Beneath his eyes dark circles were visible.

He only slept four hours. Very little compared to the eight hours a day he should sleep to get a good night's rest.

"Yes. First class is Potions double with Slytherin," Lupin said with a less than cheerful expression at having to share another year with Slytherin students.

James replied with a lazy, barely audible mumble and began to change.

'I must create a routine and stick to schedules...' thought James.

Now that classes were starting, their time was more limited. They had classes from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon. He also had to allow time to do homework given by the teachers, and he had Quidditch training three times a week.

'I'll have to implement the routines she used...' thought James with a slight frown.

By 'she' he meant his former mother, Elizabeth Rothschild. When he lived as Edward, his mother Elizabeth put his day together very meticulously. He had timed classes and breaks. He slept eight hours a day without missing even once.

For that reason, Edward always woke up energized, although he didn't like his life arranged by someone else and minimal breaks so much.

James could not deny that the routine created by Elizabeth was super effective. It allowed him to learn at a fast pace and get adequate rest.

As he walked with the marauders towards the large dining hall, he thought about the routine. It should start at four o'clock in the afternoon and end at eleven o'clock at night since at that time he will have to go to sleep if he wants to get eight hours of sleep.

He has seven hours Monday through Friday to dedicate to study and self-dictated practice, 'Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I will have five and a half hours,' James thought, remembering the training sessions.

On weekends he will have twice as many hours since he has no classes. Nor can he devote all the hours to constant study and practice. It would be too much mental fatigue for his brain and would only lower his efficiency.

After breakfast, they went to the potions classroom in the dungeons. They were in the same class as last year: the marauders, Lily, Jasmine, Mary, Khanna, Rabastan, Snape, and Emily among others.

James sat in the back, and as Professor Slughorn gave his beginning-of-the-year speech, he pulled out a notebook and began to set up his routine.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he decided to allow an hour off. It wasn't a lot of time, but he could spend time with the marauders or go to the dragon club to spend time with Gwen.

As for the days he has quidditch training, he will only have between thirty minutes to forty-five minutes off.

The rest of the time will be spent in the library and the Room of Requirement practicing charms or studying. That break time should also be used for homework.

"What are you doing?" asked Sirius, whispering.

"A study and training routine," James replied in a low tone.

"After school...? You're mad," Sirius muttered, looking at James, who was writing non-stop in his notebook.

"You must be prepared. This year will be much harder than last. I have implemented a new form that you must follow throughout the year," said Slughorn in an eloquent tone.

"What form, professor?" asked Jasmine.

"All year long you will work in a group of three. You will not be able to change once the group is formed. They will make potions in class with their group and must do homework with them. At the end of the year they will have to present a paper on all the months we have been working. Then you will have more details of the work," Slughorn explained with a slight smile.

"They will also have to pass the paper or else they won't be able to take the exam at the end of the year," Slughorn added.

All the students were surprised. Last year they didn't have such important work that would last so long. Little did they know that the worst part Slughorn had yet to tell them.

The students began to whisper with their group of friends, to arrange how the groups would be. It was a very important decision, as they would be working together all year.

"Silence. Don't start forming groups. You will not decide them. I will," said Slughorn, and all murmuring ceased.

'As I expected...' thought James, looking up from his notebook. It wasn't the first time Slughorn had set up groups for different students to socialize with each other. Especially between different houses.

"Without further ado, I will tell you what your groups will look like. When I call your names, stand up and sit together. Now everyone stands up and position yourselves against the wall," Slughorn said, pulling out a list.

The students looked at each other. With no other choice, they stood up and neatly positioned themselves by leaning against the wall. One next to the other.

One row was Gryffindor, and one was Slytherin. It was very obvious that there was no good chemistry between the two houses.

"Lily Evans, Peter Pettigrew, and Dolores Umbridge," Slughorn said as he pointed to the desks in front of everything for them to sit down.

The first to step forward was the red-haired Lily Evans. Unlike last year, she had grown a few inches. Her hair looked redder than usual, and she also had longer hair.

James had to push Peter to walk over and sit next to Lily.

Out of the Slytherin row came a short, chubby girl who looked like a pale toad. Her neck was small, and her eyes were bulging. In her short hair, she wore a black velvet ribbon.

She always had a smile that seemed kind on her face, but this time it was not so. She didn't like the idea of sharing a group with two Gryffindors for the whole year at all.

Slughorn kept calling the groups, and little by little the desks were filling up. Sirius got a group with two Slytherin girls that James didn't know.

The girls didn't seem at all displeased to have Sirius as a classmate. They even greeted him cheerfully and didn't have haughty looks on their faces like they did when they looked at someone inferior.

Lupin was next to Jasmine (Lily's friend) and Avery Dylan much to his chagrin. One of the students is part of Rabastan's gang.

To Toby's good fortune, he was next to Mary Macdonald and a bespectacled boy from Slytherin, who had a barely noticeable aura. He didn't look like a typical pure-class bully.

"Next group. Let's see..." said Slughorn.

"Severus Snape, Emily Shafiq, and James Potter," he added in a high tone.

James stepped out of the line with almost no one left and turned his head to the left. His gaze and Snape's met.

Neither seemed pleased to be in the same group. James, for one, regarded Snape as a person looking for trouble when they wouldn't even talk to him.

On their first trip on the Hogwarts Express, James was talking quietly with Sirius, and when he said he wanted to stay in Gryffindor, he heard Snape click his tongue in disgust. Snape said that Gryffindors were all brawn and had no brains.

That's not all. Usually in Potions classes, he had run-ins with Lupin and Peter, as he is very good at Potions and comes across as arrogant.

On the other hand, Snape considers James to be arrogant and wants attention all the time. Because of his race against Rabastan last year, his duel, his Flipendo attack on Mulciber and Avery, etc.

Emily had already sat at a desk with a blank expression as usual. Without saying a word, James and Snape sat down. One on Emily's left side and one on her right side.

James and Emily just looked at each other and nodded slightly. It had been a long time since they had spoken. Their relationship had deteriorated. Although it was hard for James to admit it wasn't the same as when they were kids.

Once all the groups were formed, Slughorn began with an explanation of how they would be working from now on and what they should be doing as group work.

If anyone entered the room earlier they could notice that the Gryffindor robes were on one side and the green Slytherin robes were on the opposite side. Now, they were all mixed together.