Monday's class with Umbridge resulted in four detentions.
"Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin, Mr. Potter, Mr. Pettigrew. We'll be discussing your actions about yesterday in my office tonight. Same time as usual," she told them before class was dismissed.
"Git," James muttered under his breath.
"Bloody toad," Peter agreed.
"Son of a-" Sirius started.
"She's a girl, so technically, she can't be a son," Remus pointed out.
Sirius finished his sentence anyway.
That night, the boys made their way to the office.
"Let's see if it worked," Sirius said, grinning.
There was no stain. The office was the same of usual, but now it reeked of cabbage and sulfur.
"Sit," Umbridge told them.
The boys remained standing.
"Or stand." Umbridge cleared her throat. "Hem, hem. I got your present yesterday."
"I'm glad. On a scale from one to ten, how would you rate our service?" Sirius asked her.
"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."
James gave a shout of anger. "You can't do that! 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 protested.
"Actually, I can," Umbridge said, smiling sweetly. "Your individual lines are ready, as are the quills. Well? Get going."
Each of the lines were different, but they all caused an equal amount of pain.
One hour. Their hands were covered in blood.
Two hours. The only thing they could feel was the sharp etch of the quill and the sticky sensation of dripping blood.
Three hours. No feeling in their fingers.
When they finally left the office and got to the common room, the sleeves of their robes were damp with blood.
"What did you guys have to write? 'I will not attack a teacher'?" James asked the group darkly.
"'I will not take part in a plot to attack a teacher,'" Peter replied, glancing at his bleeding hand.
"'I will not speak about eggs,'" Sirius said.
"What?" Peter asked.
"My distraction was a long and sincere apology about why James' homework wasn't done. I mourned my loss of breakfast for a while," he explained.
"What about, you, Remus? What did she have you write?" James said, turning to Remus.
"Er, same. Abiding rules and stuff," Remus said quickly.
"Well, we can be hypocritical scar buddies," Peter offered, "Because James probably will get Umbridge back for this, I'll help him, Sirius will continue to talk about eggs, and Remus will probably break the rules a few more times."
The detentions ended on Friday.
"You're free to go," Umbridge told them that night.
The boys sprinted out of the office and back to the dormitories.
As Remus pulled at the dormitory door, James, Sirius, and Peter got a glimpse of what Umbridge had made him write. It had nothing to do with following rules.
Through the blood, they made out one word: 'Monster.'