The next day, as soon as Umbridge began to tell Jacob's class to put their wands away, she found herself hanging upside-down from the ceiling, immobile and unable to speak.
"Does anyone have any requests for specific hexes?" Jacob asked his classmates.
"We'll get in trouble," someone said.
"No we won't," Jacob assured him. "I'll do a memory charm at the end of class."
"Remember when you put Moody under an imperious curse?" another classmate reminded everyone.
Jacob grinned. With a wave of his wand, Umbridge was once again standing on the floor, mobile and untied.
"What do you want me to have her do?" Jacob asked.
"I don't believe you that she's under," a critical voice said.
With a grin, Jacob waved his wand. Umbridge started dancing around the room singing, "I am an idiot" over and over again. The whole class started laughing uncontrollably.
"Now what do you want her to do?" Jacob asked.
"We still need to learn the material to pass the test," one goody-goody complained.
"She wasn't teaching us anything," argued Jacob. "Besides, if she gives the test, it's a joke. She doesn't know as much as we do about her subject. Anyone who knows how to read can read later."
"Can we show her off?" another classmate requested.
Jacob opened the door and had Umbridge dance through the hallways singing, "I am an idiot." All the fourth year Ravenclaws followed, laughing hysterically. Professors McGonagall and Flitwick peeked out, saw what was going on, and went back to their own classes. Fred and George Weasley joined the Ravenclaws and suggested different acrobatic moves to have Umbridge do. Jacob eagerly fulfilled their requests. They were all laughing so hard, they didn't notice Professor Dumbledore. When he finally got their attention, he looked more amused than upset.
"If I find out that any unforgivable curses are being used, somebody will be in big trouble," he said gently. "Stay in your classroom."
Jacob had Umbridge lead the class inside. He continued taking suggestions for Umbridge's actions until class was over. He removed the curse, planted a false memory of her teaching the class with perfect behavior, and walked out.
All the Ravenclaws from other years heard about Jacob's antics that evening. Most were upset at Umbridge for not teaching her subject and felt she deserved Jacob's abuse. Some were concerned about Jacob's behavior and felt that it's never okay to hex a teacher.
For the rest of the year, Jacob continued taking requests about what to do to Umbridge. Most days were not unforgivable curses. Jacob refused to do anything that causes physical pain, but agreed to what he considered to be harmless hexes. At the end of each class, he did a memory charm so that Umbridge wouldn't know what was done to her. The fall semester passed quickly, and before Jacob knew it, he was on the Hogwarts Express going home for Christmas.
Jacob hasn't paid attention to the prefects after his first year. He noticed there were always some new prefects and some old ones, but he never paid attention to who they were. This time, the prefects paid attention to him.
"That's him," Anthony told Hermione.
"It's not safe to talk here," Herminone said, looking at Malfoy.
"Let's take him to another compartment," Anthony said. "He could sit with me, Michael and Terry."
"Am I allowed to sit where I want?" Jacob asked.
"You need to be with a prefect, head boy, or head girl at all times," Anthony told him. "But prefects only have to start out in the front. After we meet, we could go where we want. I could take you to sit with my friends."
Jacob followed Anthony and Hermione into another compartment where he found Michael, Terry, Neville, Cho, Marietta and Luna.
"I wonder what happened to the Weasleys," Hermione said. "They all disappeared last night along with Harry."
"Mr. Weasley was attacked," Jacob told her. "They were rushed home during the night for safety reasons."
Hermione addressed Jacob. "We have a group called Dumbledore's army," she told him. "We practice basic defense moves that we can use against Voldermort. Luna mentioned that you're very good at Defense Against Dark Arts, almost as good as Harry. Are you interested in joining?"
"What would I do?" Jacob asked.
"Practice different spells and hexes with us," she said.
"I could already do every spell and hex nonverbally," said Jacob. "Did Luna tell you what I do to Professor Umbridge?"
"Yes," Hermione said. "But we're not doing memory charms. There are too many risks. Professor Lockhart completely lost his memory from it."
"I'm careful when I do it," Jacob said. "I only remove what needs to be removed and replace it with what should have been there. I also do other things to Umbridge."
"We're not doing unforgivable curses," Hermione said.
"Why not?" asked Jacob. "The imperious curse is so much fun."
"It's also illegal," Hermione told him.
"I just make her walk around singing 'I am an idiot," Jacob said.
"Can you do that during my class one day?" Anthony and Michael requested.
"If you ever have Umbridge during one of my free periods," Jacob offered.
"It's still not appropriate," Hermione complained. "We're talking about defending ourselves, not hurting others."
"I do it to defend myself," Jacob said. "Umbridge wants to take away my ability to talk."
"You're still playing with fire," Hermione said.
"I don't do it anymore," complained Jacob. "Professor Dumbledore doesn't let."
"You just did it yesterday," Luna offered.
"I haven't set her on fire in months," Jacob insisted.
"You set Umbridge on fire?" gasped Hermione.
"She deserved it," Jacob said, "but Professor Dumbledore put out the fire and was going to punish me. Professor Umbridge said she wants to do it herself and gave me detention. I modified her memory so that she thought I served the detention."
"If you join us, you'll have to go by our rules," Hermione said.
"I'm not joining you for meetings," Jacob said, "but I'll fight with you during the battle of Hogwarts."
"When will that be?" asked Luna.
"In two and a half years," Jacob said.
"He's nuts," Hermione said.
"I believe him," Luna said.
"Well, let's see," Terry said. "His first year, he kept insisting that Ginny's diary was possessing her and opening the chamber of secrets. We have no proof that it's true."
"He's right!" Hermione gasped. "But it wasn't publicized."
"The next year, he said that Sirius is innocent and that Ron's rat is dangerous," Terry scoffed.
"Right again," gasped Hermione. "How did you know?"
"Now he's saying that in two and a half years, you-know-who will attack Hogwarts. What will he do until then?" Terry asked.
"This year, he's trying to get something from the department of mysteries. Next year, he's having Dumbledore and other people killed. The year after that, he's taking control of the ministry," Jacob said.
"He's crazy," Hermione said to Neville. "Let's sit somewhere else."
Hermione and Neville left the compartment. Anthony, Michael and Terry gave Jacob strange looks the rest of the ride home while Luna complained about wrackspurts.