When they got back to Hogwarts, they found themselves in McGonagall's office. "What were you thinking?!" mcGonagall exclaimed angrily. "When I heard from Madame Rosmerta that there were students in Hogsmeade, including one named Reg," she glared at Regulus, "We knew immediately where you six ran off to. Explain yourself!"
"I wanted to see where er, well, I wanted to see Hogsmeade," James said, almost admitting that they had found a secret passage.
"I tried telling him it wasn't a good idea," Sirius added.
"If you knew that what he wanted to do is wrong, then why didn't you tell a professor?" McGonagall asked Sirius.
"Er, I don't want to betray my friend," Sirius answered.
"You wouldn't have been betraying your friend. You would have been possibly saving your friend's life, for all you know. Don't you know there is a war happening right now?" McGonagall asked.
"Yes, Professor, I'm sorry," Sirius said, bowing his head.
"Don't bow your head to your elders!" Melania snapped. Sirius gulped.
"Sorry, Professor Black," he said quietly.
"None of you had permission to leave the school grounds, so that, itself, is breaking a school rule. You broke several school rules, but that is the most major one," McGonagall lectured. "I am very disappointed in all of you. Did you buy anything while you were in Hogsmeade?"
"We bought some candy," James said hesitantly.
"I believe you are hiding something. All of you, turn out your pockets," McGonagall snapped. Sirius was first to do so, because he knew better than to disobey Minerva McGonagall. The others were slower to do so. James was the last one to turn out his pockets.
"What is that?" Melania asked, peering at the shrunken broomstick.
"Er, a, er, well..." James stuttered.
McGonagall waved her wand over the broomstick, and it grew to its full size. If possible, she became even more angry.
"Mr. Potter, you do realize first years are not allowed a broom, correct?" she asked.
"No, Professor, I must have missed it somehow," James lied smoothly. Sirius didn't want to do this to his friend, but the adult side of him told him he needed to do this.
"Actually, he does know that, and I even reminded him of that, but he got it anyway," Sirius explained, giving James an apologetic look.
McGonagall sighed. "There are too many school rules broken," she said. "I think we need a second opinion." She stood and left the room.
"We're not being expelled, are we?" James asked fearfully.
"Please, Professor Black, we didn't want to go, and that's our fault," Lily pleaded.
Melania held up a hand. "I highly doubt you are being expelled, but I have to agree with Professor McGonagall in that you six have broken a lot of rules today. Regulus, since you are not yet a student, so you can't be given detention or a loss of points, you can consider yourself lucky. But I hope you learn from this. I will be having a private word with you later," Melania said firmly. Regulus nodded.
The door opened again, and this time, McGonagall wasn't alone. "So, you broke about ten school rules in just under three hours," the headmaster stated as though it was an obvious fact.
"We're sorry," James started to say but he was cut off.
"Let me speak, then you can make all the excuses you want," the headmaster barked. James shut his mouth quickly. "Do you realize you could have been attacked by Death Eaters? You could have been attacked, injured, or worse. I would also like to inform you that starting Monday, there will be new wards around the castle that will let me know if a student leaves the grounds, whether they have permission or not. So do not try this again, because I will know. Last I knew, you were all old enough to not need to be babysat like little children. Your actions today tell me otherwise. Parents will usually keep monitoring charms on their children until they are about nine years old. When they are nine, they are being trusted to not need babysitting every moment of the day. If you pull another stunt like this one, I am sure your guardians would agree to let me put monitoring charms on you."
James, Regulus, and Sirius looked horrified at the thought. They remembered when they had been little children and their parents always knew where they were at all times. They didn't want that again.
"Headmaster, what is a monitoring charm?" Lily asked politely.
"A monitoring charm is when someone can track you. For example, the caster would know which hallway you were in, or if you were in a potions lab with dangerous ingredients," Headmaster Black explained. "Now as for your little stunt with the broom, Mr. Potter, I know Lord Potter very well. I am sure he and I will be having a very interesting conversation later." James paled. "I will be giving the broomstick to Lord Potter to hold onto. As for consequences, I believe a month's worth of detention for the five of you who are students, and Mr. Potter, add another month to that seeing as this was all your idea and you bought that broom. Regulus, go with your grandmother. She will handle the consequences for you."
Regulus hugged Sirius, which told Sirius that Regulus was not upset with him. He and Melania left the office.
"Now, does anyone have anything else to say?" the headmaster asked.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have encouraged you guys to come with me," James said sadly. "And I'm sorry for not listening to you, Sirius."
"It's not just your fault, it's mine too," Sirius confessed. "I shouldn't have let my childish side of me come out. I should have tried harder to stop you." James laughed.
"Sirius, you are a child," he reminded him.
"Er, well, I guess, yeah," Sirius said awkwardly.
"Next time we go exploring, let's at least not break any rules," Severus said.
"Agreed," Remus agreed.
"Yes, let's listen to Sirius next time," Lily said, glaring at James.
"I believe twenty points from each of you is in order," McGonagall stated. "Mr. Potter, an extra twenty from you for buying that broomstick and for this being all your idea. I hope you learned something from this, all of you. I don't expect this will be the last time I catch you rule breaking but please try to make it simple enough to handle without getting the headmaster involved."
"Now, off you go. Enjoy your Saturday, but inside the grounds this time," the headmaster warned.
"Yes, Headmaster," they said in unison. They left McGonagall's office in a hurry.
"Are you enjoying your new job yet?" McGonagall asked. Arcturus glared at her.
"I will enjoy it more when those six are not up to something they shouldn't be."
"Potters are known for trouble," McGonagall commented.
"Oh, don't remind me," Arcturus growled. McGonagall laughed.
Later that day, Sirius saw Regulus at dinner. "Well, you're still alive," Sirius greeted him. Regulus snorted.
"Yeah, Grandmother didn't really lecture me again, but she did make me write lines with a Muggle pencil. I had to write the same line one hundred times," Regulus informed him. "But other than that, I'm fine."
Sirius was just glad Dolores Umbridge had not been the one telling him to write lines. He would have to talk to his grandfather about putting new wards up that would detect illegal or dark objects. That way, no Dolores Umbridge would be able to punish people like that in the future.
"But you want to know something?" Regulus whispered. "I had fun today, even if we did get in some trouble."
Sirius laughed. "Yeah, and when you do go there during third year, Rosmerta will probably call you Reg." They burst out laughing at the thought. They enjoyed the rest of the day together, without getting into any more trouble.