The next day after lessons, the Marauders made their way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
The room looked like it usually did. Rows of desks, roughly thirty students, and Melior in the front of the room. There were only three differences from their normal lessons.
The first was the presence of Dumbledore and Slughorn beside Melior. They were taking part in extracting the memories, the boys assumed.
The second was the box of crystalline vials that sat on Melior's desk. A few of them were filled with a silvery liquid of sorts, but for the most part they were empty.
The third was a stone basin, which also sat on the desk. Another pale liquid filled it, though it was a different color than that in the vials.
As the room slowly filled, Melior said, "Is this everyone? Yes?"
When no one walked through the door or gave any indication that someone else was coming, he nodded and began to speak.
"If you are here, you are here to contribute a memory or memories to either accuse or defend Dolores Jane Umbridge," Melior said sternly. "It is not something to be done lightly. If you do not wish for high ranking Ministry officials and perhaps the Minister of Magic himself to see your memories, you are free to leave now." He sent a pointed look around the room.
A second year Hufflepuff quailed under his glare and hurriedly left the room.
"Anyone else?" Melior said. "No? If you plan on accusing, go to the left side of the room and form a line. If you plan on defending, go to the right side."
There was a flurry of movement as the students rearranged themselves into two lines. The majority of students were in the line to accuse; Only two Ravenclaws, a Hufflepuff, and a Slytherin seemed to want to help Umbridge.
"Professor Dumbledore, Professor Slughorn, and I will be extracting the specific memory. In order for us to retrieve it, you will need to concentrate on it," Melior instructed. "After we have done so, you will view it in the pensieve that the Ministry has provided for us to make sure that it is the memory you wish to submit. You will not be able to interact with its occupants. If the memory is the correct one, it will go into one of these vials to be transported to the trial. Is everyone clear?"
The students nodded and murmured their consent.
"Good," Melior said. "Let's get started."
The Marauders were in the middle of the accusatory line, sandwiched between some sixth year Gryffindors and a fourth year Ravenclaw.
"Which memory are you sharing?" James asked quietly.
"First detention," Remus replied.
"With you and Evans?" James said.
"Yeah, that one."
"It's a miracle that that was your first ever detention," Sirius said, shaking his head. "How'd you get through all of first year without any?"
"I behaved myself," Remus said.
Sirius gave him a look. "What do you mean? You helped create a diversion so we could sneak into Müller's office-"
"I'll be doing the first detention she gave us," James interrupted.
"That's the one I was going to do," Sirius said.
"Find another," James shrugged. "Peter, what about you?"
"After we trapped her office, that first time," Peter said.
James nodded somewhat thoughtfully.
"I know what I'll do," Sirius said suddenly. "I'll do the one when Umbridge called us into her office after the teacups."
"She didn't use blood quills on us then," James pointed out.
"She was still abusive, though. The toad tried to give us those teacups!" Sirius said. "That'll count for something."
"It should," Remus agreed. "Good idea."
The line moved forward a few inches.
"What are they doing up there?" Sirius said curiously, cranking his neck to see to the front of the line. He winced. "Ouch, that looks painful."
"It shouldn't be," Remus said plainly. "It's pretty straightforward."
"Reassuring," Sirius said.
It took a good half hour before they reached the front of the line.
"Mr. Potter," Melior said briskly as James stepped forward.
"So I just think about the memory," James clarified.
Melior gave a sharp nod.
"Okay." James went quiet as he concentrated.
Melior raised his wand and placed its tip amidst James' untidy mop of hair. He held it there for a moment. When he removed it, glistening tendrils were stuck to the wand like muggle paperclips to a magnet.
James looked at the strands hanging from the wand. "Is that-"
"The memory," Melior nodded, flicking the substance into the pensieve and giving the liquid a small stir. "Stick your head in."
"Stick my what in?"
"Your head."
Uncertainly, James complied.
It suddenly felt as though he was falling quite far. Down and down he went until he landed with a soft thud. He gave a start as he realized where he was.
The office was a girlish pink with walls covered in china kitten plates and floral carnations. A delicately patterned teacup sat on an expensive looking desk.
Besides James, there were three other occupants in the office.
Two dark haired boys had just come through the door wearing identical expressions of annoyance. The only telling difference between the two was a pair of spectacles that rested on the first boy's nose. They were slightly younger versions of James Potter and Sirius Black.
The James who was spectating turned his attention to the occupant of the desk.
She was short with a nauseatingly pink cardigan. There, in all of her toad faced glory, was Dolores Umbridge.
"Now boys," Umbridge said with false sweetness, "It's nothing too hard tonight. We'll just be writing lines.
The young James began to move towards the door. "I don't have a quill- maybe I should go get one-"
"That's alright, Mr. Potter. You can use one of mine," Umbridge said. She opened her desk drawer, pulled out two pieces of parchment, two sleek, black quills, and passed them to the young James and Sirius. "I want you to write 'I will not disrupt class,' alright? And please, take a seat."
"How many times do we have to do this?" the young Sirius asked skeptically.
"Long enough for the message to sink in," she purred.
"And where's the ink?"
Umbridge's slight smirk widened. "You won't need ink."
The spectating James watched in horror as his younger friend and self began writing the lines. The words appeared in blood on their parchments, and slowly began to etch themselves onto their hands.
Not wanting to watch himself and Sirius, James turned his attention to Umbridge.
There was plain though slightly concealed glee on her face as she watched the boys pen.
The triumph on her face made James scowl. The bloody toad had gotten the better of them to begin with. She had tortured them and they hadn't made any difference for months. Why she had even been at Hogwarts to begin with, James couldn't not guess. All he knew was that-
"Is something wrong?" Umbridge asked, interrupting James' thoughts.
"No, except for my bleeding hand," the young James said. Then a look of comprehension dawned on his face. "These are blood quills, aren't they?"
"Are you suggesting that I, Professor Dolores Umbridge, am breaking school rules?" Umbridge asked with a falsely high laugh. "Honestly, why would you say such a thing?"
"Because my hand is bleeding and it wasn't before I started using this bloody quill!" James exclaimed angrily.
Sirius was silently writing lines, not participating yet, though he looked immensely frustrated.
"Well, look at the time," Umbridge said. "It's six fifteen, and I have better things to do than oversee this detention. You are free to go. But leave the quills."
It was then that Sirius reacted. He threw his quill onto the ground, tore his parchment into pieces, and spat at Umbridge.
The spectating James allowed himself a grim grin at his friend's nerve.
"You and my mum both," Sirius shot at her aggressively. "I'm sure you'd be fast friends." With that, he hurried out of the room.
The young James put down his quill and after shooting Umbridge an angry glare, made to follow.
Before he reached the door, however, Umbridge said, "Mr. Potter, what happens in this room stays in this room. If you tell a single person, you will have to watch your back, you and Mr. Black both. Have a nice night."
The young James rushed out of the office to follow Sirius and the scene faded.
All of a sudden, the present-day James felt a tug, and suddenly he was back in the Defense Against the Dark Arts room with Melior.
"Was that the memory you plan on sharing?" Melior checked.
"Yeah, it was," James said.
"You are free to go," Melior said.
James simply nodded and moved to wait for the others outside in the corridor.
Meanwhile, Dumbledore was removing the tip of his wand from Remus' head. With a small flick, the memory drifted down into the stone pensieve.
With only a moment's hesitation, Remus stuck his face into the basin to re-witness the detention.
Umbridge's office materialized around him as he finished falling, pink and elegant. Umbridge sat at her desk, fingering her blood quills almost impatiently.
There was a knock at door in the front of the office.
"Come in," Umbridge said with crisp cheerfulness.
The door opened quietly, revealing second years Remus and Lily.
"You'll be doing some lines for me tonight," Umbridge informed the two. "You don't need your own quills, you'll be using some special ones of mine reserved for this purpose. Ms. Evans, Mr. Lupin, please take your seats. The quills and parchment are ready."
"What are the lines?" the younger Remus asked.
"Your lines, Mr. Lupin," Umbridge said with a curled lip, "are already written for you."
Remus nodded obediently, took a seat, and picked up one of the quills.
Lily followed suit, only stopping to give Umbridge a look.
Umbridge cleared her throat. "Hem, hem. Ms. Evans, is there a problem?" she inquired sweetly.
"Nothing, Professor," Lily said coolly.
"Then I expect that you'll start on your lines," Umbridge said.
The older Remus watched in silence as his younger self and Lily began to write their lines, regardless of the lack of ink. They had already heard about what Umbridge did for detentions.
It continued in silence for another few minutes before Lily spoke out.
"This isn't even legal, Professor," she said. "I'm done, I won't write any more."
"You'll write for however long I tell you to," Umbridge said. "I believe your line was 'I will not question the teacher.' This means not questioning what I tell you in class and what I ask you to do outside of class."
"I'm not going to stand for it," Lily said stubbornly. "It's illegal!"
"Would I ever do something illegal, Ms. Evans?"
"Of course you bloody would, you're doing it right now!"
"That is enough. Please sit down and finish your lines, or it'll be another detention tomorrow and twenty points from Gryffindor for ignoring a teacher."
"Some teacher you are," Lily muttered darkly, but she returned to her seat.
"Five points from Gryffindor," Umbridge said, almost happily.
The lines were finished in silence until Umbridge dismissed Lily, requesting that Remus stay behind for a minute.
"I'll wait in the hall," Lily told him.
The young Remus nodded.
Once Lily was gone, Umbridge made her move. "Mr. Lupin, the headmaster has informed me that you have some… health problems," she said.
Remus nodded yet again.
"I would like to make sure that you understand; I will not fall for any of your tricks. You will be treated like any other student," Umbridge said.
"Tricks, Professor?" the boy asked cautiously.
"I know what your kind is like, Mr. Lupin," Umbridge said with disdain. "I won't fall for your act like Dumbledore and the rest of your classmates."
"It's not an act, I'm not like that, Professor," Remus said, voice shaking slightly.
"You're a half breed, Mr. Lupin. Half breeds are monsters, and monsters are savages," Umbridge said cruelly.
"I'm not like that," Remus repeated more steadily. "Goodnight, Professor."
"Remember, Mr. Lupin," Umbridge said threateningly.
The older Remus looked instinctively at his hand as he was tugged out of the memory.
Monster. That was what she made him write.
Dragging him back to the present was Dumbledore.
"Alright, Remus?" Dumbledore said kindly.
"Er, yes, Professor," Remus said hastily.
Dumbledore nodded. "This is the one you want to submit?"
"Yeah."
"You can go now."
"Alright." Remus glanced back at Sirius and Peter, who were respectively waiting in line and had their face touching the pensieve.
Sirius gave him a small grin.
Remus tried to return the gesture, then left to wait with James in the corridor.
Peter was now inside the pensieve, in Umbridge's office, wishing that he didn't remember the smell of the room after they had trapped it. The stench of cabbage and sulfur was not something that he wanted to spend much time smelling.
"Sit," Umbridge instructed the young Marauders. They stood by the door, trying not to appear bothered by the smell.
The Marauders remained standing.
"Or stand." Umbridge cleared her throat with a "hem, hem," then continued, "I got your present the other day."
Sirius grinned and said cheekily, "I'm glad. On a scale from one to ten, how would you rate our service?"
Umbridge bristled. "Hem, hem. As punishment, you'll spend the next few days writing lines. And, Mr. Potter, you've been pulled from the Gryffindor Quidditch team."
"You can't do that!" James said angrily. "McGonagall is in charge of the team, you can't pull me out!"
"Minnie wouldn't give you permission to do that! James is still on the team!" Sirius argued.
"Actually, I can," Umbridge said sweetly. "Your individual lines are ready, as are the quills."
None of the boys made any move to begin.
"Well?" Umbridge said. "Get going."
The older Peter watched as he and his friends reluctantly complied.
I will not take part in a plot to attack a teacher. I will not take part in a plot to attack a teacher. I will not take part in a plot to attack a teacher.
He watched as he wrote it over and over again, watched as the blood blossomed from his hand.
It seemed as though it was happening to someone else, but Peter remembered the way the blood had soaked through the sleeve of his robe and the sharp twinge that the quill caused all too well.
He shivered as he saw the look on Umbridge's face; A look of pure enjoyment that he had never noticed when she was at Hogwarts.
The memory lasted far too long for his liking, and it was a relief when he resurfaced in the D.A.D.A room.
"Was that the memory you planned on sharing?" Melior asked him.
"Yeah," Peter said.
"You can go," Melior said.
Peter hurried out of the room and away from the pensieve as quickly as he could.
Sirius was incredibly tense when Dumbledore rose his wand to his head to extract the memory.
"You can relax, Sirius, it shouldn't hurt," Dumbledore assured him.
"I'm not that tense, Professor," Sirius said jokingly. "I'm just preparing for the worst. You never know when a herd of Erumpents will come charging through the door."
"You never know," Dumbledore agreed with a twinkle in his eye. He removed his wand and placed the memory into the pensieve. "I trust you were watching your peers and know what to do?"
"Yeah," Sirius said, and slowly lowered his face to the swirling liquid in the basin.
After a brief moment of falling, he was suddenly in the corridor outside the Great Hall.
Sirius whirled around, trying to find himself in the crowd of people on the way to lunch. Instead of finding himself or the others, he found Umbridge, who was striding as quickly as she was able towards a group of students near the doors of the Great Hall. He followed her, keeping pace with ease and reaching the group before she did.
"Lunch sounds like a great idea," Remus was saying, making to follow Lily, who had just left for the hall.
Umbridge reached them. "I'm afraid lunch will have to wait, Mr. Lupin," she said.
The Marauders whirled around and Sirius found himself studying his younger self.
"I'm so short," he noted aloud.
"I have some questions for you, if you'd come to my office," Umbridge said, continuing as though she had not heard him.
"We'd love to," the shorter Sirius started, "but this really isn't the time."
"I wasn't asking, Mr. Black."
"Alright," James said.
Umbridge turned on her heal and began to lead them to her office.
The Marauders exchanged glances, but followed quietly and without question.
When Umbridge, the Marauders, and the older Sirius reached the office, Umbridge opened the door and forced commanded them inside.
On her desk was a pot of tea and filled teacups. Chairs sat at each placing, and the boys were giving the cups odd looks. They were not ordinary teacups. They were the enchanted ones.
"Have some tea," Umbridge insisted. "There's sugar and milk on the desk.
"Er, Professor?" Peter piped up uncertainly, "I don't drink tea."
"Actually, none of us drink tea," the young Sirius added.
"You're all English, right?" Umbridge inquired sweetly.
"Yeah," James said.
"Well, what sort of Englishman doesn't drink tea?" Umbridge asked.
"Many people, in fact, and we're a few of that many," Sirius said logically.
"Humor me, Mr. Black."
The young Sirius' lip twitched into the ghost of a smirk. "You see, Professor, I can't. Humor isn't part of my personality. I'm rather Sirius, actually."
The older Sirius grinned at his own joke. "Quite Sirius," he said.
The boys lost their intent expressions to a moment of laughter.
"You use that one way too much," James complained with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
"Drink the tea," Umbridge told them, not the least bit entertained.
With a smirk, Remus grabbed one of the teacups and took a small sip.
"Remus, don't!" Peter said, only a second too late.
"Why ever not?" Umbridge said. "Surely you don't know something about these teacups."
"No-" Peter paused as he realized what he had done.
It was then that the young Sirius took matters into his own hands.
"Remus, the pact? What about the pact?" he exclaimed somewhat dramatically. "You haven't forgotten about our pact, have you?"
"The pact?" prompted Umbridge.
"We're not supposed to drink tea," Sirius explained.
By that point, Remus decided to attempt and place the cup back on the table. It was an unsuccessful attempt. Without a word, he exited the office.
"Oi! Remus!" Peter called after him.
"See?" James said convincingly. "It messes with his brain, makes it go strange, the boor bloke. We should go get him." With that announcement, he left, Sirius and Peter close behind.
"I did not dismiss you!" Umbridge said, but they did not reply.
With a jerk, the older Sirius was pulled out of the pink office and back into the present.
"That's the one," he told Dumbledore before he could ask.
Dumbledore nodded and called for the next student.
Sirius met up with the other three outside in the corridor.
"How'd it go?" James asked.
"I was so short," Sirius said. "Shorter than Peter short."
"Hey!" Peter protested. "I'm not that short!"
"How'd it go for you guys?" Sirius asked.
"Fine," Remus shrugged, somewhat unconvincingly.
"It just made me even more determined to get her in trouble,"
James said, voice tranced in anger. "Actually, forget trouble, I want her in Azkaban."
"Understandable," Sirius nodded. "She's a right bloody toad. But now that she's going to be convicted, I vote that we forget about her and get on the the business of Marauding."
"Brilliant," James said.
"So now," Sirius said, grinning, "What's our next prank going to be?"