Four To The End (prev Shifting Lines) - Book One (Marauder Era)

Chapter Sixty-Seven - The Panty Plot

By the time he changed, washed his face again, and got back down to the Great Hall he didn't have too much time to eat and wound up scarfing some food down before heading to Defense. James and Sirius were discussing their plans of stealing Dedenne's underwear, filling Peter into the plot. Peter looked a little grossed out at the idea of Teacher Panties but was otherwise on board. The first order of business: figuring out where Dedenne's rooms were. Which meant probably stalking her.

Remus felt twisty during the entirety of class. Sirius intended to do the stalking which James and Peter agreed to. But Remus knew he'd be better at it. That's literally what he was built for, stalking prey--not prey, stop using that word! he commanded himself, feeling sicker. Except he couldn't say, hey let me do this because my sense of hearing is best so I could avoid anyone seeing me and my sense of smell is best so I could literally track her down. Ugh. He'd have to leave it to Sirius and hope that he didn't get caught.

"So why the sudden plan to do this?" Peter asked after class.

"Shh, not so close to her classroom!" James complained.

Peter clapped his hand over his mouth. "Sorry," he mumbled, quite muffled. Once they were a couple floors away, Peter repeated his question. Sirius informed him that it was revenge for how she treated Remus. Pete looked at Remus then nodded solemnly. "She deserves it."

Remus tried not to smile. Sure, he knew a large part of this echoed back to what McGonagall told him after the potion-balloon incident. Mr. Potter and Mr. Black are the sort of students who always find an excuse to cause mischief. However they had originally been on track to pull this prank on McGonagall and he managed to deviate them from the path by pointing out Dedenne had wronged him, and they were on board with that. Revenge against someone who wronged him. It just--made him feel warm and bubbly inside. He'd do the same for them, of course.

Fawley's going to see this... The same thought that plagued him whenever they were planning something big. I don't think she'll care though. The Bat-Bogey trick was different than this. This was targeting an adult, a teacher. Would she? How far did her entertainment of his pranks go?

*

Sirius didn't come back to the dorm until very late at night, well past curfew. He appeared with sparkling eyes and motioning for his friends to follow him to the bathroom so they could have privacy without Spinnet or Struthers overhearing them.

"Found it," he said as soon as Remus shut the door. "Took her bloody long enough to return to her rooms. I was nearly caught!" He ran his fingers restlessly through his hair, his locks falling back into place as if by magic. Remus wondered vaguely if maybe Sirius did have spells on his hair so it always looked nice. "There's a password, but I heard it. We can sneak in when she's occupied somewhere else."

"Not till Monday, then," James said as he messed his hair up, as if seeing Sirius's hair reacting differently made him want to reassure himself that his own hair remained sticking out everywhere. "We should wait until she's definitely busy with class. That would be the best opportunity--the safest."

"I was thinking... she might have paintings up in her room," Remus said, tugging at his sleeves. "Whoever goes in to nick them--"

"Nick the knickers," Sirius interrupting, sending all four boys into a fit of giggles.

Once Remus calmed down he tried again. "Whoever goes in to--to steal them--should have some sort of disguise. So if there is a painting they won't give it away."

"What kind of disguise?" James asked. Remus shrugged, not having any idea about that, he had only just now thought of the possibility of there being something to see them in her rooms.