Author's Note: Hey guys! So to clear up any questions anyone might have, James is in fact Indian in this story. In the first chapter of Shifting Lines when Remus meets him it says he has brown skin, and on the platform when they went home for Christmas it has his father as white and his mother as Indian. As far as I know the book never technically states Harry or James's skin color so I figured I'd have James be half-Indian. Sorry if there was any confusion about that! If anyone has any other questions feel free to ask! :)

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Monday finally came after a long weekend of playing pranks (as well as studying, in Remus's case), and all four boys were giddy to get the Panty Plot started. Remus wished they had a better name for it but Sirius refused to use anything else even after Remus pointed out they were getting a bra as well as underwear. Of course they didn't talk about it whenever others were about. If everything went the way they hoped, they wouldn't get caught. Best case scenario a Slytherin got blamed.

During Defense in the afternoon Remus just watched Dedenne pace back and forth as she lectured about the differences between zombies and inferi. Whenever she asked questions she never called on Remus except when he was the only one raising his hand. When she was forced to call on him, he'd either be wrong or she'd gloss over his response as if it didn't matter.

"Absolute hag!" Sirius complained after they left class.

Peter reached over, grabbing Remus's homework as he tried to put it away. "Look at this. A D! Even I got a P." Remus snatched it back, cheeks flaming. "I bet it's even all right, isn't it?"

"Does she hate your dad that much?" James asked.

"Never mind that, let's go to her rooms. You've got the tie?" Remus asked. Sirius pat his pocket in response.

They went up a couple flights of stairs then down a corridor. It was well lit however seemed fairly abandoned. James took watch at one end while Remus stood near the main entrance. Sirius shed his robes and sweater, then removed his Gryffindor tie to put the Slytherin one on, making a disgusted face as he did. He ran his fingers through his hair uneasily, looking a bit ill.

"You're fine," Remus said encouragingly.

"Bugger that," Sirius growled then went to a large painting of a vampire. "Erumpent," he said and the vampire stepped aside, revealing a doorknob that formed 3D. Sirius stepped through, the door shutting behind him.

Remus turned back to the main corridor, keeping a careful ear out. He bounced on his tiptoes, feeling quite excited. Dedenne-well, probably didn't really deserve it but part of him felt that she did. A bit of revenge for all the awfulness over the past seven months. He ducked back when he heard some voices coming by however they were just some Gryffindors headed up to the tower. Once they passed, Remus returned to the entrance. A couple more minutes went then the door to Dedenne's room opened and Sirius came out, brilliantly pink.

They took off running, up to the tower, Sirius tearing off the Slytherin tie as they went. Once in their dorm they collapsed onto the floor breathlessly, begging Sirius to show. They were all pink now (minus James though he was obviously embarrassed) as Sirius shakily brought out two bright yellow objects.

"MERLIN!" James howled as Sirius deposited the bra and panties on the floor.

"Holy hippogriff they match!" Peter gasped out in awe.

"Is this what all girls wear?" James inquired, poking at the bra with the end of his wand. He hooked a strap over the end and lifted it up. "How come they still look-look-"

"Like boobs?" Peter asked, sending them into fits of giggles.

They did still have that shape, making Remus go even redder. They were lemony yellow with white lace over the-the-bowls? He wasn't sure what the boob part was called. There was lace edging along the edges too. The panties were the same lemon color with the same white lace along the edges.

"Can you imagine Dedenne in this?" James asked, waving the bra towards Sirius. Immediately everyone began groaning. Remus definitely didn't want that image in his head! YUCK!

"Ohhhh I'm gonna vomit!" Sirius moaned, jerking away from the undergarment. "St-stooop!" he whined as James wiggled it in his face. "I had to touch them, you know!"

James began waving the bra at Remus who squeaked and dove away, hiding behind Sirius. "No, keep that away, it's weird!"

He let the bra slide off his wand then he bravely plucked one strap, holding it between thumb and forefinger. "This is clean, right?"

"I hope so, I got it from her dresser."

James cracked a huge grin then slid his arms through the straps. The bowls protruded from his chest like great lemony hills. "Here, one of you help me. Go on then." Sirius went closer so he could hook the back of it. He wiped his hands off on his trousers after. "I'm a woman!" James announced to many giggles.

"Yellow's not your color," Peter said.

"I'd have Remy change it to red but I don't want to ruin the prank." James went to his own wardrobe, pulling out socks so he could stuff them down. He looked at the mounds then back up. "Tits."

After another round of loud laughter from the boys Sirius suggested, "Put your shirt over it.'

After some finagling and adjusting he got the sock-stuffed-bra under his shirt. Then he began parading around, swishing his hips. Sirius, Peter, and Remus rolled on the floor laughing until it hurt. Then James began mimicking Dedenne's way of speaking, shaking his finger at Remus until he couldn't stop himself from the laughter anymore. After they all calmed down, it took a lot of wrangling with help from Sirius to get the bra off (socks tumbling everywhere) and back on the floor next to the panties.

Next came a lot of discussion of what to do with the underthings. The idea of putting them up on a pole had been abandoned, as hardly anyone would see them before a teacher did and that wouldn't be any fun. James wanted to hoist them up in the Great Hall however the same problem arose: they'd be taken down before any of the kids saw them.

"What if we have them all curled up and unseen?" Remus said, squinting as he tried to picture the scene in the Great Hall. "Then halfway through breakfast when most everyone's there they unfurl? Simple spell."

"Oooh, we should make'em bigger," James said. "So everyone can see them."

"I'll get a book from the library tonight, to make sure we get the spell right," offered Remus.

"Isn't it engorgio?" Sirius asked.

"That'll ruin them though," Peter mumbled. "You'd need-umm-I forget the spell but it's suited to make clothes larger without the stitching going." By this point they all knew his mother worked as a seamstress, apparently quite talented, so Pete knew a fair bit about tailoring magic.

"I doubt she'll want them back anyway, or even admit they're hers," said James as he poked at the undergarments once more with his wand, flopping them this way and that, still quite amused.

"It is engorgio," Remus said, "but if we don't know the exact way of movement we're liable to set the knickers on fire and we don't want that unless we want to risk stealing more."

"Oh, definitely not," James said, patting Remus's shoulder. "Get the book and we'll get it sorted tonight. Or if you think you can do the spell Peter mentioned, find a clothing book and work on that one. Anyway, about tonight... we'll have to sneak out late tonight."

"S-sneak out?" Peter whimpered.

"What, you think we're gonna go in and put up giant bra and panties in front of everyone?" Sirius demanded. "Nah, we'll sneak in tonight and attach them somewhere high up in the Great Hall all rolled up to be hidden then tomorrow... WHOOSH! Great big yellow panties flapping in the-well, not wind, but you know what I mean."

Remus's head swiveled towards the door. "S-" He bit his lip, a touch afraid of admitting he could hear Struthers on his way up, of admitting he could hear so well. Then caution won over. He gave in. "Someone is coming."

"Blast!" James grabbed the underthings and shoved them under his bed a few seconds before the door opened. Struthers walked in to four innocent faces which put him on high alert. The four of them looking innocent surely meant they were up to something despite the fact they rarely did anything to Struthers. He went over to his desk, got something from the drawer, stared at the four boys suspiciously, then slowly left, keeping his eye on them the whole time.

Once the door shut, they all let out a sigh of relief then went back to their plans.

()

Remus went to the library early, copying out the engorgement charm out of Book of Spells and also checked out a book detailing clothing magic. He wasn't sure how expensive lacy yellow panties cost but it couldn't be cheap, so he didn't want to ruin them. Still... he had to agree with James. He doubted Dedenne would want them back.

In the evening he took one of James's socks (given up as a sacrifice) and practiced making it bigger without ruining it. He managed to get it a bit bigger though it became rather stretchy and awkward looking, the heel ruined. He tried on the matching sock then gave up. He wouldn't be able to get it big enough to be fun anyway.

"Engorgio," he said, doing the proper wand movement, and the sock grew huge. "Engorgio!" The matching one grew, a bit bigger than the first.

"Sweet!" Sirius fell onto Remus's bed, waving one of the socks like a flag. "Absolutely enormous."

"Reducio!" The sock shrank down and looked much worse than his attempt at the actual clothing-size-change spell. "No wonder tailoring spells are better." Remus picked the baggy disaster then tossed it to James. James caught it easily then spun around, slamming it down into his trash bin.

Sirius used the giant sock to chase Peter around then shoved it over his head. Peter flailed, yanking it back up. "Blimey, James, your feet stink!"

"Those were clean," James muttered.

"They're clean and they stink this bad?" Peter gagged a bit, throwing the giant sock at James. "Disgusting."

James sniffed at the sock and pulled a face. "Maybe the spell made the smell worse. Ten points!" He wadded the sock up, lobbing it into the bin to go with the first. "Oh yeah." He pumped his fist then fetched the bra and panties from under his bed, dumping them onto Remus's bed. "Do your work, Remy ol' chap!"

"Engorgio, engorgio!" The bra and panties began growing, growing, growing. They watched with interest until they finally stopped. They were HUGE!

James picked the bra up. "Merlin's beard, look! You could use these as a hammock!"

"If we come across a giant in need of brassiere we're all set," Sirius joked.

James returned the yards of lemon under his bed. "Perfect. So, we're all good for tonight, then?"

"Do we-" Peter started then James shot him a look. "Yeah. All good."

()

Remus stayed up that night, hidden behind his curtains as he waited for the time came for sneaking off. He felt both sick and excited at sneaking out. He'd been out after hours before but that had been entirely accidental. I shouldn't, he kept thinking. But oh how he wanted to! They are rubbing off on me.

He looked down at the blank parchment set on a book in his lap. He dipped his quill, carefully writing out, Dear Mum and Dad 17/4/72 then he just stared dumbly at the the creamy smoothness. Letters home were getting harder to write every time he tried. His mother wrote back endlessly, all the trivial details of her lonely daily life that hurt Remus's heart. He wished she could go out and make friends. It wasn't fair that she couldn't. Surely she could make friends and-and lie to them about not having a child or something, keep him secret so she could at least go out sometime. Maybe he'd talk to her about it over the summer; it wasn't anything to write about. Plus he wasn't sure how his father would feel about it. He'd dislike it, most likely, finding it too risky.

I'm glad to hear things are going well at home, he finally wrote, and I hope the garden's going well. It snowed this morning. It's still so cold! Peter slipped on some ice going to Her

Drat! Remus thought, carefully blacking out the sentence, making sure that Peter's name couldn't be seen at all. Then paranoia got hold and he simply ripped up the parchment, trying again.

I'm glad to hear things are going well at home and I hope the garden's going well. It snowed this morning. It's still so cold! One of my classmates slipped on some ice going to Herbology today and he nearly went shooting down the hill. It was pretty funny.

Course the funniest part was Sirius shouting 'practice for sneaking up the girls' dorm, Petey!'.

He was all right of course. Nothing more than a couple bruises.

Remus tipped his head back, closing his eyes. They were wrapped around him, like great vines. Entwined in his every moment of school. Either them or Lily. He considered writing about the Muggle game Lily taught him on Sunday, but wasn't sure how to without outright saying. They played Pin The Tail. Lily put up a picture of a vaguely horse-like creature then put some sticking solution on a piece of string. Then whosever turn it was, was blindfolded, spun around, and then they tried to put the tail on the animal. It was a lot of fun, and wound up with them falling over more often than not. He couldn't talk about that though.

It felt like squeezing inside of him, being so dishonest with his own parents. Lies! He shook his head, angrily pushing the parchment off his lap until he calmed down enough to figure out how to write to them. He opened up the book, reading until James's alarm quietly went off. Time for sneaking.

Remus got out of bed almost at the same time as James. White flashed on his face as he grinned. "You get Sirius, I'll get Pete."

All Remus had to do was move aside Sirius's curtains as he was wide awake, waiting. He hopped out of bed, going for his shoes. On the other side of James's bed he was waking Peter up who was snoring gently. James bent in, pressing his hand across Peter's mouth to prevent him from crying out when he woke up. Which he did, his protests muffled. His limbs went everywhere, one hand nearly smacking off James's glasses.

"Shut up!" James hissed out. "It's just us."

"Oh! Oh!" Peter sat up, trembling. "I thought it was someone evil."

"Yeah, Pete, dark wizards are coming just for you," Sirius said as he tied the laces on his shoes, trying to keep his laughter quiet. "A madman's broke into Hogwarts just to hunt you down. You figured it out."

Peter glowered as he swung his legs out of bed. "Shut up. I fell asleep."

They all got shoes and robes on, and James fetched the underwear from under his bed. They were so big they couldn't hide them in their pockets so James and Sirius carried them over their shoulders, the panties like a yellow cape. They tiptoed down to the common room, pausing on the steps to make sure no one was up snogging, then they rushed across to the door. James went first, Pete behind him, Sirius, then Remus at the back.

Remus's entire body thrummed, his senses were on very high alert. It almost felt like walking on clouds as they slunk through the shadows of the corridor. He could sense all their hearts pounding, his own going at it quite a bit itself. James and Sirius had gotten practiced in the art of sneaking. Pete's footsteps were clumsier. Remus's were rather light, his muscles taut as he went. It all felt rather wolfish. Not that that was a good thing.

On the fifth floor Remus reached out, snagging the sleeve of Sirius's black cashmere bathrobe. "Filch," he whispered. Sirius's eyes flashed as he glanced back but he obediently grabbed Peter who relayed the message to James who pulled the line down a side corridor then behind a large tapestry where there was a secret passage. They rushed down as quietly as they could even though the passage doubled back to the sixth floor. There James took them down another secret passage that took them to the fourth floor. It was very narrow and they had to go one by one, and even then it felt cramped.

Remus emerged first, listening carefully. Then he waved his hand, and they hurried out. Thankfully Filch seemed to be creeping around the upper floors and the four of them reached the Great Hall without much trouble. The room seemed so different in the middle of the night, with no one else around. The first thing Remus did, though, was glance upward at the thin crescent moon.

"Right-o," James said, scanning the ceiling for the best spot. "There." He pointed at one of the middle rafters.

After they used some twine and sticking charms to get the panties to hang down below the bra, James and Remus floated the lemon monstrosity up to the rafter where the sticking spell on the bit of twine stuck to the bra straps got stuck to the rafter. It hung down, waving gently.

"Brilliant," James and Sirius chorused.

Remus waved his wand and the whole thing rolled up, hiding up in the rafters. "All you have to do tomorrow is..." He flicked his wand, using the counter spell. The bra and panties came unrolled, swinging about. Remus quickly rolled them back up.

James grabbed Remus, his arm going around him tightly. "You are such a genius!" James exclaimed, messing up Remus's hair the way Sirius always did. Sirius frowned though quickly turned his face back up towards the rafters.

"Why did I have to be here?" Pete whined. He was sitting at one of the table looking bored.

"Support," Sirius replied immediately. "You're in for this too, you know. In for a knut, in for a galleon."

James paced around, neck craned as he made sure the yellow wasn't easily seen. He declared the job finished but before they could leave, a crashing sound caused all four of them to dive under one of the tables. Remus drew his knees up, shaking a bit. Were they about to be caught? Peter was jammed in beside him, breathing heavily almost right into Remus's ear, his hot breath prickling Remus's skin. Peter's fingers wriggled, grasping Remus's arm.

"Shh," Remus hissed as Peter pulled him close, whimpering. "Shh."

Another crashing sound, this one in the Great Hall. On Remus's other side James jerked a little bit. Then they heard Peeves cackling loudly. A whooshing sound as he flew through the air. Remus chewed at his lip, worried Peeves would find the undies. If he does anything in here, they might find the underwear in the morning too. He held his breath, hoping... hoping... Then there was another crashing as Peeves burst through the main doors, his laughing fading down the hallway.

"Thank Merlin," Sirius said from James's other side.

The four of them climbed out from under the table, Peter still clutching at Remus, face deathly pale. "Th-that was c-close!" he whined. "Does that-happen a lot?"

"All the time," James replied. "You wanna come with us again sometime, Pete?"

Peter looked on the verge of vomiting. "Let's just get back to the dorm," Remus suggested, not wanting Peter to sick all over his feet.

They went out a side exit to avoid Peeves. Remus hadn't ever been down this corridor. It was narrow and rather twisty, but they were on the same floor in the end. They were extra careful making their way back, stopping at every little sound Remus heard. He wondered if he was being too open about his hearing... he just didn't want to get caught.

Thankfully the Fat Lady was in her portrait when they got back. She gave then quite the stink eye when James said the password, lecturing them about sneaking around at night. But she opened up, and the four of them went into the common room. Once safely by the fire thy all began giggling. Peter looked a lot better too, the pastiness replaced with a flush of victory. James mimed holding up a glass so they all mimed clinking drinks together.

"You enjoy sneaking about?" Sirius asked Peter, nudging him.

"I don't know," Peter said reluctantly. "I mean kinda yeah. But it was scary with Peeves. Maybe if we don't have as much danger-"

"The danger's what makes it fun!" complained James.

"How about you?" Sirius asked Remus.

Yes, Remus thought giddily. "Marauding is certainly interesting," he settled on, not wanting to sound too silly, or admit how much he had enjoyed it. James would just get all high-and-mighty with 'I told you so's.

"Sorry, what is interesting?" James asked.

"Sneaking around?" Remus switched his gaze to him. "It was interesting."

"You didn't say sneaking, you say something else," said Sirius.

"Oh. Marauding."

"What's that?" James demanded.

Remus squinted, trying to figure out how to explain. "Erm. Like sneaking around? Well, I suppose, really it means like-originally pillaging. Like vikings. But it's-well, you know, like-gangs marauding around looking to cause trouble. I thought of it the other day when you two were off in the night, since I was reading a book about pirates. I thought it suited-"

"Pirates? Vikings?" James perked up. "That sounds cool."

"It was a really good book, it was about-"

"No, not that, the marauding thing."

"Oh. Yes, of-of course."

Sirius slapped his thighs so loudly it caused all of them to jump. "Well, me laddies, I say we go to bed. The sooner we go to sleep the sooner we can wake up and proudly fly the yellow jolly roger come breakfast." He gave a sharp salute before jumping to his feet, leading the way back to the dorm.