"Detention, Mr. Black," Umbridge said. "I will not have you speaking out of turn in my class."

"I raised my hand, Professor," Sirius said. "You said to talk in this class I had to raise my hand, so I did."

"Twenty points from Gryffindor and another detention," Umbridge said.

Sirius glared at her.

Umbridge gave a sickly sweet smile and continued her lesson.

That night, Sirius went to her office to receive the detention.

"You're late, Mr. Black," Umbridge noted when he arrived. "It's 5:07. You were supposed to be here at 5:00."

"Sorry, I was tied up," Sirius said.

"Detention comes first."

"Actually, food does. You see, I had to finish the eggs before Peter could steal them from me, and it was quite a large bowl-"

"Lines do not require talking, Mr. Black," Umbridge said stiffly.

"Of course, Professor."

He sat and pulled out his quill.

"Hem, hem."

Sirius ignored her.

"Hem, hem," Umbridge insisted forcfully, "You will use my quill, Mr. Black."

"I don't think I will, this one is fine."

"Mr. Black-"

"Really, Professor, I-"

A soft mewing came from the corridor, directly outside the door.

Umbridge stood hastily from her desk to open the door.

Sirius turned his head in time to see a grey, spectacle-marked tabby cat stride into the office, tail high.

Umbridge hurried to the desk, opening a drawer and pulling out a small china saucer.

Sirius gaped at the cat. "Min- er, she's… cute," he stammered.

"Mr. Black, if you don't start your lines," Umbridge said, pouring some milk into the bowl, "I will stick my quill to your hand and force you to write."

"You'll have to stick it to my hand, I guess," Sirius said.

Umbridge did exactly that.

Almost three hours later, Sirius left the office and hurried back to the Common Room. Rather than shock, it was excitement he felt by the time he threw himself onto the couch, forming a plan.

"What happened?" Remus asked him.

"Minnie, she was in there, Umbridge didn't know, she poured her milk," Sirius rambled.

Remus, Peter, and James were all confused.

"What?" James asked when he finished.

"That didn't make much sense," Peter decided.

Sirius tried again. "I was in detention and there was this mewing at the door. Umbridge opened it and it was Minnie. She was a cat, though, like when we turned her green, but I don't think Umbridge knew it was her. So Umbridge let Cat Minnie in and gave her milk and stuff."

"That still doesn't make much sense," Peter said.

"Why was she in Umbridge office?" James questioned.

"McGonagall is spying on Umbridge?" Remus asked.

Sirius shrugged, shaking his head. "Maybe, I don't know, but knows about Umbridge and her detentions now, for sure."

"So..." Peter said slowly.

Sirius began to explain his plan. "So she could talk to Dumbledore and get Umbridge-"

Behind them, the portrait opened, revealing McGonagall. The boys could feel suppressed anger, see the unnatural tightness in her lips, and the dangerous flush in her cheeks. Her eyes flashed furiously as she turned to the Marauders.

The Common Room had gone dead silent. None of the Gryffindors moved a muscle.

"Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, Mr. Pettigrew, Mr. Lupin," she said tightly, then turned to Lily, who stood in the opposite corner, "Ms. Evans. I think you had better come with me."

With a glance at each other, the boys rose and followed her out of the room, Lily behind them.

"What did you guys do?" Lily grumbled.

"I don't know, what do you think this is about?" whispered James, turning to the others.

Sirius shook his head and shrugged. "I don't know, she already chewed us out about turning her green earlier."

"Do you think that we're in trouble?" asked Remus quietly.

Peter nodded. "Probably."

"Someone is in trouble," McGonagall informed them, sounding just as furious as before.

"Brilliant," James muttered sarcastically.

"It's not you, Mr. Potter, nor is it Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin, Mr. Pettigrew, or Ms. Evans," she finished.

"Brilliant," James said brightly.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the seventh floor corridor.

"Are we making you more biscuits, Minnie, dear?" Sirius asked cheerfully when he recognized where they were.

"No, Mr. Black," McGonagall said. She faced the wall for only seconds before a familiar door materialized. "In."

They walked in expecting a kitchen, but found something completely different.

It appeared to be a cross between a meeting room and library. Bookshelves lined the walls, covered with volumes of all colors and sizes. In the center of the room was a long oak table with six black leather chairs.

McGonagall took the seat at the table's head and gestured for them to do the same.

When they had taken their seats, Lily took it upon herself to figure out what was happening.

"Er, Professor, what's going on?" she asked, glancing around the room.

"I trust that you have been in detention with Umbridge," McGonagall said tensely.

Lily nodded. "Yeah, a few times."

"She cannot continue with this," McGonagall said, "She won't. Not under my watch."

"So what are we here for?" Peter asked.

"I need you Marauders to make some mischief. Keep her too busy for detentions. Make her want to quit."

Sirius and James grinned, Remus smirked, Peter blinked, and Lily pointed out, "I'm not a Marauder."

"Well, then I need the Marauders and Ms. Evans to make some mischief," McGonagall said. "Hypothetically," she added as an afterthought.

"Hypothetically, that we can do," James said.

"Well, let's get started then. Hypothetically," Sirius said.

The plan began to formulate.