Hermione and her group went off to their own devices, and she met up with Ron and Harry later that day.
"Did you get your letters done? I talked to some people in the other Houses and Justin's going to talk to Professor Sprout, Terry and Padma are talking to Flitwick, and I really don't envy Tracy having to talk to Snape."
"Wow, Hermione, can you breathe a second? Yeah, we sent the letters, so now we need to talk to McGonagall, right?" Ron said. He wasn't too sure about their idea, but he was going to go along with it because of his friends. Besides, Hermione and Harry said it was fine, and they can't both be wrong… right?
Wrong. Ron amended his answer when they got to Professor McGonagall's office.
McGonagall looked at the paper outlining the students' plan. Miss Granger had proposed letting all of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw House as well as some Slytherins not attend classes until that ridiculous Decree was repealed. While she was not opposed to the students' initiative, she could just see this backfiring as students decided to simply not do the homework as well as not attend class.
"You expect me to just let you skip classes for an indefinite period of time? Miss Granger, are you insane?" McGonagall all but hissed at her problem students. She loved these three students to death, but they were the bane of her existence. She couldn't remember a group of students got into as much trouble as those three… without meaning to.
Hermione paled. She hadn't thought she would have to convince McGonagall; she thought that she hated Umbridge as much as the rest of them. "We wouldn't completely be skipping classes, Professor. You can give us the homework and lecture notes and we can do sort of an independent study."
Ron gaped at her. "You mean we would still have to have homework? I thought we would just get a break from classes."
Hermione turned to her friend. "Ron, we have our OWLs this year. We can't slack off now more than ever. Did you really think we could just take off classes without extensive studying to make up for it?"
McGonagall interjected, "Miss Granger, that is exactly what most of your classmates will think. They will welcome this as a reprieve from classes and work, and when they start attending class again, they will be far behind their peers who either attended class or took the initiative in their learning. I do like your independent study idea, though."
"Professor, if we agree to keep up with the regular class curriculum, will you agree to let us do this?" Harry asked. He knew it was going to be hard work keeping up with the class without actually attending class, but he was sure that Hermione would make sure he and Ron didn't fall behind.
McGonagall sighed. "Is there anything I can say to stop you, Mr. Potter? I daresay that you would continue with your fool plan even if I did not endorse it. I guess if you keep up with the regular class I cannot make you attend class. Are you planning on going to every teacher and asking for their homework every week?"
"We were actually hoping you could help with that. I've talked to some people from the other houses, and they're talking to their Heads of House, but I was hoping you could talk to the other professors," Hermione answered.
"I will give the prefects the week's work to distribute, and as long as you keep up with the class, and I mean every assignment Mr. Weasley, I will be content to mark you as doing an independent study. If you start falling behind, you can come talk to me for individual help, or you can start attending class again. How does that sound?" McGonagall was pleased with this arrangement. It would be harder to keep up with the class work without coming to classes, but the fact they were willing to try said wonders about both their work ethic and how they feel about Umbridge.
AN: Thanks for reading, and thanks for the reviews. Sorry for making you all wait so long for this chapter. Keep reading, guys. And many thanks to annajesse65230, my new beta.
If you have any suggestions with what you want to see in later chapters, feel free to drop me a line in a review or message. I have an idea of where this fic is headed, but I'm sure we can make a few pit stops on the way if I get inspiration.