Remus refused to talk about D.A.D.A, although Sirius reassured him he had been brilliant. "Getting detention is not brilliant, Sirius. Getting detention is seriously bad news."

"His name's not Siriusly, Remus. It's just Sirius," Peter joked. When the detention had ended, Lily and Remus one handedly climbed into the Common Room.

"What did you have to write?" asked James darkly as he saw the blood Remus was pressing with a cloth.

"Nothing. Just… Umbridge idealism," Remus told them quickly.

"I will not question the teacher," Lily told them, "Bloody git. Not even sure she's qualified to be a teacher. If my parents knew about this…."

"It's a good thing they don't," Sirius reasoned.

"Well, what makes you say that?" Lily snapped at him.

"If anyone's parents knew, 60% chance that they won't be coming back to Hogwarts," James explained.

"Or Umbridge would be fired."

"Well…." Peter said quietly, "Maybe she'd be fired if she couldn't keep order."

James turned to him and asked, "What, like she couldn't get us to focus?"

Realization dawned on Remus's pale face. "Or if she wasn't teaching us. If we failed the tests."

"Just not paying attention?" Lily wondered aloud.

"She'd file a complaint. Dumbledore might not help her, but we can't be sure," Remus said, then continued. "It would have to be discreet disobedience…."

"Like what Sirius was doing," Peter whispered.

"What was Sirius doing?" Lily asked them, glaring at Sirius.

"I swapped books. Like, there was a charm that I used to switch the inside pages of that Magical Theory book with the book I'm reading now, so when I'm in class, I'm reading this fun book instead of that trash," Sirius explained, grinning.

"So if we did that…." James reasoned, "she would be proven ineffective. And if that happened…."

"She would be fired," Lily finished. "I absolutely hate her, but we can't just get her fired. That's-"

"Brilliant! It's less violent than the bloody Quill she uses," James pointed out.

"You know, I'd love to get you fired-"

"Come on. If we do this-"

"We'll be expelled."

"No we won't, we'll-"

"James, she does have a point," Remus stopped him.

"We can't just let her lord over us," Sirius complained, "It's tyranny!"

"You never say that about 'Minnie,'" Lily told him.

"Minnie and I have a future, Lily! It's like you and James, and anyway, she doesn't torture us with a bloody blood Quill!" Sirius yelled.

"James and I do not have a future," Lily said coolly, looking icily from Sirius to James. "Which means you and McGonagall don't have a future."

"Don't crush my dreams!" Sirius exclaimed dramatically, putting a hand over his heart.

"Please."

"Well, are we protesting or not?" Peter asked them.

Lily glared at the boys, but then replied. "Fine," she said, "I will work with you, but don't expect anything else."

"Ok. Tell your trustworthy friends!" James called after her as she trudged away.

By the next week, more than half of Gryffindor House was reading things other than the Defensive Magical Theory in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Sirius was more than halfway through The Book Thief, which Remus had started. Peter was starting to read Percy Jackson. James was reading The Tales of Beedle the Bard. A number of other books had their covers swapped, both wizarding and muggle books. Umbridge was unaware, but pleased that her students were always silent, rushing to get their books out. Rather than the suffocating silence the class had seen only weeks before, a new silence captivated the room. It was the silence of rebellion.