Remus did the only logical thing to do: He opened the book.
Considering that James and Sirius would take plenty of time debating which owl they used, he had about twenty minutes.
It didn't take much reading to figure out what James, Sirius, and Peter were trying to do.
That explained the vow of silence, the mandrake leaves, why Sirius had suddenly been out of socks.
James, Sirius, and Peter wanted to become animagi.
They just hadn't-
The dormitory door swung open.
Remus shoved the book under the bed and stood up.
"It's on it's way, Dumbledore will have read it by morning," Peter announced.
"Brilliant. It took some time, did you run into Filch or anyone?" Remus asked.
"No, all clear. James and Sirius just couldn't decide on a bloody owl," Peter grumbled.
"Well, there were a lot of good candidates," James pointed out.
"And it went faster than last time," Sirius added.
"Yeah, I thought it'd be another ten minutes or so," Remus said.
Sirius shrugged. "It's delivered, that's the important part."
Dumbledore mentioned nothing of the note the next day, though they knew he had gotten it.
Remus mentioned nothing of the book. Not yet.
When James banged his head on the table because the mandrake leaf tasted like lime, no comments were made. The only indication that it had happened was the swelling above James' eye and the others' deadpan expressions.
Besides classwork and mandrake leaves, James, Sirius, and Peter were planning Umbridge's ashwinder prank with the help of Remus and Lily.
"James, you still have the floo powder, right?" Sirius asked.
James nodded.
"Good, I don't think Hogsmeade would let a Hogwarts student buy any," Sirius said.
"Lily, you have a copy of Fantastic Beasts, right?" Remus checked. "We should make sure that we know how to handle them in case things go wrong."
"Yes, I've got a copy in my dorm, I'll grab it," Lily said. She left the Common Room, disappearing into the girls dormitory.
"We should break into there some time," Sirius said.
"No," Remus and Peter said in union.
"Sure," James said, shrugging.
"I think both James and Sirius have lost their sanity," Peter commented.
"Kind of you to think I had any to begin with," Sirius joked, winking at them.
"Back to Umbridge," Remus prompted.
"Right," James said. "So we're doing this tomorrow?"
"Yeah," Lily said. She was back, now holding a copy of Newt Scamander's Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.
"When tomorrow? We can't all miss class-"
"We'll go to D.A.D.A, but miss Potions and History of Magic because Umbridge has the fifth year Hufflepuff and Slytherin lessons then. She won't be in her office," Lily explained.
"Brilliant, we don't have to listen to Binns," Sirius said.
"Someone will. I need notes."
"Then you take notes and we'll do the prank," James said.
Remus shook his head. "Umbridge thinks it's us, if she finds out that we weren't in class when her office started on fire, she'll have more proof. If we switch off, it'll throw her off our trail. Also, Lily's right, we need notes."
"So you'll take notes for an hour?" Peter asked.
"Tomorrow's- I'm not supposed to be in class, I'm supposed to be doing homework," Remus said.
"Okay," James said.
"Why?" Lily asked.
"I'm missing a few days to see my mum, she's sick," Remus lied, looking down.
"I hope she get better," Lily said.
Remus nodded.
"Well, I'll take notes in Potions," Sirius offered, steering the conversion back to the plan. "I'm not going to History of Magic though, I'm skipping."
"I'll take notes then," Peter said. "I might not fall asleep. Not right away, at least."
The morning classes passed slowly. Charms was long, the end of Transfiguration was tantalizing, and in Defense Against the Dark Arts, it was a fight to keep smirks off their faces.
At lunch, they ran over the plot. When they would usually leave for Potions, James, Peter, and Lily detoured to Gryffindor Tower to pick up Remus, the floo powder, and the invisibility cloak, which they hadn't told Lily about. Sirius went to Potions.
After Gryffindor Tower, they went to the corridor where Umbridge's office was.
"She's gone," Peter told them when he saw her leave for her classes.
"Great, let's go," Lily said. She made to turn the corner and dash into the office.
"Wait, give her thirty seconds in case she has to come back to grab something," James said, grabbing her wrist.
"Hands off, Potter," Lily told him.
"Just trying to make sure we don't get caught," James said, letting go.
Lily grunted, but didn't acknowledge the comment further.
A minute later, James, Remus, and Lily were in. Peter stood outside as the first lookout.
"Where's her fireplace?" Lily asked.
"Behind the desk, I think," Remus said, closing the door behind them, hinges squealing.
"Incendio," Lily muttered, creating a small fire in the stony hearth.
"Now the floo powder," Remus said.
"Yeah, I'm on it," James said, pulling the pouch from his pocket. Slowly, he poured the floo powder in.
There was a soft roar as the flames blazed, flickering to a deep emerald green.
"Now what do we do?"
"We wait," Remus said.
"How long?" James asked.
"An hour or so. It depends."
"An hour? Couldn't we just leave it-"
There were footsteps outside in the corridor.
The group fell silent.
The lock clicked as the door was opened.
James whipped the cloak out from his pocket and threw it over them.
Lily blinked. "What the bloody-"
James threw his hand over her mouth.
Lily didn't have time to protest before Umbridge came in.
Without a word, Umbridge hurried to her desk and grabbed a stack of papers.
James, Remus, and Lily didn't dare breathe.
Umbridge was only inches away, surely she could see the flickering flames now….
Umbridge moved out of their range of vision, they couldn't see her anymore.
They were so close to being caught.
If she only walked around the desk, she would know they were there.
Every breath was too loud….
Their heartbeats were loud as stampeding elephants….
Then the door shut and the click of pink heels faded into the distance.
It was a full minute before they pulled the cloak off.
"That was a close one," Remus said.
"Yeah," James agreed, "Thank god she didn't see anything."
"What was that?" Lily demanded. "Why didn't she see us?"
James and Remus exchanged glances.
"It's an invisibility cloak," James said finally.
"Where'd you get it? Those are supposed to be really rare," Lily said.
"My dad," James said simply. "It was his. He passed it on to me."
Lily nodded. "Well, good thing you brought it, otherwise we'd be in detention."
"Yeah, it's saved us loads of times," Remus said.
"You've used it before?"
Remus smirked. "How else do you think we covered the Slytherin Common Room in flamingo feathers?"
They continued to converse until Sirius came in.
"Potions is over and Peter's going to History of Magic," he informed them, then blinked, looking at the group.
"Yeah?" James asked.
"Is Lily Evans smiling in the company of James Potter?"
Lily's smile dropped instantly. "No, I wasn't," she said, shooting James a glare.
"Yes, you were!" James protested.
"I'll do lookout. Come get me when the ashwinders are ready," Lily said, marching out of the office.
"Nice one, James," Sirius said, grinning. "Maybe you and I can do a joint proposal. You ask Evans and I'll ask Minnie."
"That's not happening," Remus said blandly.
"Who says it's not?"
"I do, McGonagall isn't going to marry you, honestly-"
A crackle came from the fire.
The boys turned.
"I'll get Evans," James said. He jumped up and ran into the corridor.
James and Lily came into the room just in time to see the first serpent slither from the ashes of the fire.
The ashwinders had small, diamond-shaped scales that were an ashy grey. Their eyes blazed with a warm, threatening orange glow like hot coals. Pink tongues whipped from their mouth, tasting the air.
"Brilliant," Sirius breathed.
"Woah," Lily said.
The two ashwinders hissed in union.
"Let's go, come on," James said.
"Wait!" Sirius said. He grabbed a random quill and piece of parchment from the desk and scribbled the signature courtesy of the Marauders.
"The room is going to be on fire, that'll burn," Lily said.
"Not if we use a sticking charm on the wall outside," Sirius said, grinning.
Apparently the Marauders had struck again.
Umbridge's office was in flames.
That was the talk of dinner.
James, Sirius, Peter, and Lily shared knowing smirks. Remus was gone.
"Those Marauders are going to run Umbridge out of this school, that's for sure," Fabian Prewett announced.
The grins widened.
Umbridge would be gone in no time.