The Marauders and Lily exchanged glances.
"She quit," Sirius said, then repeated himself. "She quit."
They were silent for a moment as the news sank in.
"I told you she only needed one more shove," Remus said, a grin spreading across his face.
"We did it!" Lily said excitedly. "She's gone!"
"Victory to the Marauders!" James exclaimed.
"I knew it would work!" Peter said contently.
"No more blood quills, no more detentions, no more of her stupid books!" Sirius said happily.
"We won," James said. "We got her!"
"You know what this means, that she quit?" Sirius asked. "We don't have to go to D.A.D.A anymore! No exams for that!"
"We're still having exams, I didn't study for nothing," Remus said.
"Who cares about whether we have exams or not, Umbridge is gone," Lily said.
"Lily Evans, not caring about exams?" Sirius said. "I think we've started to rub off on her, James-"
"Have not," Lily said. "I still studied for the exams. It's just, right now, they aren't the most important thing."
"I think that a celebration is in order," Sirius said. "Peter, you and I'll sneak down to the kitchens, we can't have a party without food."
Peter grinned. "Let's go."
It was a fast trip. They returned only ten minutes later with a platter of biscuits, small cakes, brownies, and five flasks of pumpkin juice.
"A toast to the Marauders," Sirius said, passing out the flasks.
Lily gave him a pointed look.
"And to their accomplice," James added.
"Cheers," Peter said.
"Cheers," the group echoed.
"You know," Lily said, helping herself to a brownie, "now that Umbridge is gone, I'm able to tell everyone that you're the ones behind April Fools. And that food fight. And practically all of the excitement this year."
"Please don't," Remus said.
"Can't wait," Sirius said.
"Well," James said, smirking. "You did help us. I don't think you'd want anyone knowing that."
"You wouldn't tell on Evans, would you, mate? After all we've been through?" Sirius said. "There was the time when she made Peter steal my eggs so I couldn't help you with homework-"
"The ashwinders," Remus continued.
"Peeves."
"Language spell."
"Voice changing spell."
"The dye."
"The nifflers," Peter said with a grin.
"The quills."
"Muggle Awareness Day," Sirius added.
"And maybe a few other ones, but those are the top nine. You wouldn't turn her in after all that," Remus said.
"What about tonight? I helped with that," Lily said.
"You ruined my proposal to Minnie, so that doesn't count," Sirius said.
Lily rolled her eyes. "I did not. It wasn't like she was going to say yes."
"Yes, well, Minnie loves me. And even if I rushed into it, you still attacked me, along with James, Remus, and Peter."
"Yeah, well, you attacked me and the rest of Hogwarts with your April Fools Day prank."
"You could have given us umbrellas, we put cushioning charms on the stairs!"
"We didn't do that, you said no to that," Remus said.
"Of course we put cushioning charms on the stairs, Remus, why don't you remember that?"
"We didn't put cushioning charms on the stairs," Peter said.
"Traitors. You're supposed to be on my side!"
Hogwarts was thrilled.
Umbridge was gone.
No more torture.
No more detention.
No more obnoxiously pink cardigans.
Nothing could be better.
Except for exams being cancelled. To Sirius' dismay, the Defense Against the Dark Arts exams were still scheduled.
"We don't have a teacher for them, why should we still have to take them?" he complained.
"Because they're part of the curriculum," Remus replied.
The few days between Umbridge's downfall and exams were exuberant and almost carefree. The giddiness and excitement that came with her resignation were the only trophies of their victory, but neither the Marauders nor Lily cared; They had succeeded.
The rush of triumph lasted until the exams began, which were long and taxing.
The Charms Exam was full of random spells they had learned over the year, which they performed on a stack of books or on a partner before Flitwick.
The Transfiguration Exam was simple enough. They had to turn a snuff box into a mouse and a hermit crab into a horn.
For Potions, they had to brew an antidote to common poisons, which didn't give any of the second years much trouble.
Defense Against the Dark Arts was a written exam as Umbridge hadn't taught them any defensive spells. It was supervised by a very smug McGonagall, who seemed to have taken this position as of the utmost importance.
The only other written exam was History of Magic. It had more questions then the D.A.D.A one, but the questions were shorter.
When the exams were finally over, students poured out onto the grounds, basking in the warm sunlight or laying beneath the shaded trees.
"Hey, Remus," James said.
The Marauders were lounging on the shore near the lake, enjoying the soft breeze.
"Yeah?" Remus said.
"Did you ever think about fighting the Giant Squid?"
"Fighting the Giant…. No, why?"
"Well, earlier in the year, Sirius made a comment about you fighting the Giant Squid while you were out," James explained.
"Would you ever fight the Giant Squid? Then we would have proof that you could be doing it," Sirius said.
"No. I'm not fighting it," Remus said.
"Really? You're missing out, honestly. Just try it," Sirius said.
"I'd like to see you do it," Remus said.
Peter grinned. "Yeah, Sirius, go on and try it."
"I'm not an idiot!" Sirius protested.
"Controversial," James said, "but you're our kind of idiot."
"What do you mean controversial?" Sirius asked. "I'm definitely not an idiot."
"Well, I think it's safe to say that we're all idiots. I mean, who decides to dye Minerva McGonagall green? Or set ashwinders loose in Hogwarts? Or pretty much anything that we've done this year, or last year, for that matter," James said, shrugging.
"I happen to think that those ashwinders were a stroke of pure genius," Remus said.
"I happen to agree, but only someone mental would actually attempt that," James said.
"At least if we're mental," Remus said, gesturing at Sirius, Peter, and himself, "you're mental, too, because you were in on it."
"Whoever said I was mental with you guys?"
"You're a Marauder. It's part of the job description."
James grinned. "Brilliant. Do these idiots want to give the toad a final send-off?"
Sirius smirked. "Of course."