"Minnie doesn't hate me," Sirius announced when they returned to the Common Room.
"Great," James said. "So it went well?"
"We are never prancing McGonagall again," Remus said.
"What did she make you do?" Peter asked.
Sirius groaned and answered. "We have to clean the Hospital Wing-"
James shrugged. "That's not too bad-"
"-without magic."
"Okay. That's bad," James answered, sympathetic.
"But she did give us biscuits," Sirius said, a little more cheerfully.
"Of course she did," Peter said. "She loves giving out biscuits."
February ended and then it was March.
"Well," Remus said awkwardly, "I've got to go, it's that time…."
"Bye," Sirius said, watching him leave.
"We need to do more research," James decided. "That book isn't enough."
"It's three hundred pages," Sirius said, "It's enough information, and anyway, there aren't any other books, McGonagall would have told us about it."
James sighed. "Yeah, I guess," he said.
They were silent for a moment.
"He'll be fine," Peter said quietly.
"Yeah. I just wish we could do more," James said, looking down.
"Well, he's missing class today, he'll need notes," Peter said after a minute.
"Wants to start studying for exams already," Sirius said, shaking his head, "He'll make us join him if we don't get those notes for him. I don't know about you, but I don't have any intention of studying until May."
They grabbed their books and made their way to Charms.
Charms went smoothly and they were making their way to Transfiguration when Lily came up behind them.
"Oi! Potter, Black, Peter!" she called.
"Evans," James greeted her.
"Just got word that Umbridge is back to the books," she said.
The boys grinned.
"You know Zander Mitchell?" Sirius asked.
Lily nodded.
"Tell him that the books are back on," James said.
"Tell the rest of Gryffindor, too," Peter added.
"Alright," she said, then hurried off.
In Transfiguration, McGonagall was back to her normal shade and gave Sirius a look.
Sirius winked.
McGonagall ignored him, to which Sirius declared meant their relationship would be alright.
Before entering Defense Against the Dark Arts, the boys switched their books, grinning all the while.
"We'll get her," James vowed. "It'll work."
With that, they walked into class.
Umbridge smiled and cheerfully crooned, "Today you'll be reading Chapter Fifty Six. There will be no need to talk."
No one talked.
The class read, suppressing smirks of triumph.
At lunch, Zander came up to confirm what Lily had told him.
"Umbridge is using the books again?" he asked.
"Yeah, that's what she did in our class," replied Sirius.
"Brilliant, I'll let the rest of Hufflepuff know we're back in," Zander said, nodding.
"Brilliant," James said.
"Well, I'm on that, thanks for letting us know."
"No problem," Sirius said.
With that, Zander walked off, leaving the boys.
"We should See if we can get Ravenclaw in on it, three houses would be better than two," Peter said.
"Let's talk with Remus about that when he's back, he knows some people there," James said.
"Speaking of it, where is Lupin?" a voice drawled behind them.
It was Snape.
"Well, look who it is," Sirius said, feigning boredom.
"Snivellus," James said, turning in his seat to face Snape.
"You didn't answer my question," Snape pointed out.
"And we don't have to," James told him coldly.
"Keeping secrets, are we, Potter," Snape sneered.
"If you have to know," Sirius started, "he's-"
"Sirius!" Peter hissed in warning.
"-fighting the Giant Squid," he finished.
"Fighting the Giant Squid," Snape said dryly. "Yes, that's definitely what he's doing."
"Poor bloke thinks it's a fair fight. He's probably in the Hospital Wing by now, suffering from lack of oxygen and whatnot," Sirius said sympathetically.
"Speaking of the Hospital Wing, that where you'll be if you stick around for much longer," James threatened him.
Snape scoffed at them. "Have it your way this time, Potter." He walked off towards the Slytherin table.
"Git," James muttered.
"He doesn't know," Sirius said, glaring at Snape, "and he's not going to."
"We'll have to tip Remus off about the Giant Squid in case Snape tries asking," James said.
"Yeah, tomorrow morning before class, when we bring him up some breakfast," Peter said.
"Alright," Sirius said, now glaring at the entire Slytherin table.
"We'll get them on April Fools," Peter told him.
"Them and Umbridge," James said with a small grin.
"In the meantime," Peter decided, "I'm going to eat something. Pass the gravy, Sirius."
Sirius turned back to the table and passed Peter the gravy.
"I'm going to get some of Minnie's biscuits. I think the house elves were making her some," Sirius said. "Anyone else?"
The other two shook their heads and Sirius left the hall, heading towards the kitchens.
He never made it there. A group of three fifth years were strutting down the hall, talking loudly.
"-won't miss much, Hopper said she'd take notes," the sandy haired Slytherin was saying.
"I don't care what we miss, anything for Honeydukes," a Hufflepuff girl announced.
They reached the end of the corridor. The second Hufflepuff stuck his head around it as though looking for someone.
"No one's there, it's all clear," he told the group. "Come on."
They disappeared around the hall.
Sirius did the only logical thing: He followed them.
The group stood before a grey stone statue of a single-eyed crone.
"Dissendium," the Hufflepuff murmured, tapping her wand on the statue.
The statue slight shifted, revealing a gap wide enough for a person to fit through.
The girl and boys slipped through the gap, the statue sliding shut behind them.
"It's a secret passage," Sirius whispered to himself. He grinned and broke into a run, he had to tell James and Peter.
"Where are the biscuits?" James asked him when he ran into the hall.
"I've got something better than biscuits," Sirius told them. "You won't believe what I just found!"
"What?" Peter asked excitedly.
"Come with me!"