Dawn came late the next morning. Darkness was still covering the landscape when they got up for breakfast, with grogginess hanging heavily on their eyelids.
They had slept in the shed on three make-shift cots. Kate had put a warming charm on it but that didn't keep the roof from leaking down on them from the relentless thunderstorm.
Sirius stared up at the ceiling with his arms crossed behind his head, listening to the other two get ready.
He'd had another dream about Remus, this time one about a memory. The morning after his sixteenth birthday they had woken up in each others arms. Remus' head had been snuggled into the crook of Sirius' neck and it was so warm and soft that it was almost painful to pull himself away and get ready for class.
He could remember how fucking beautiful Remus was in the soft glow of the morning light… how radiant his smile had been when they'd climbed into the shower and immediately latched onto each other, lathering soap on the others body, shampooing the others hair… he hadn't know he was in love with Remus then, but it was still one of the happiest memories he had and he wished he could dream about it more often. The other dreams… the nightmares with monsters and demons that tore at Remus and took him away… those were too frequent these days.
"How do you think he died?"
James looked over at him as he stomped on his boots.
"Upright and proud like a goddamn Gryffindor. How else would he have died?"
Sirius shrugged.
"I just… think about it sometimes."
"That's really unhealthy, mate."
Peter nodded in agreement.
"I used to think about it too but I had to stop," he said. "It just made it worse."
"I know… I just hope it wasn't painful."
James and Peter exchanged a dark look and then both shook their heads.
"Do you think he'd be mad we're doing this? Risking our lives just to give him a proper burial?"
"Yes," they said in unison.
"But you would have convinced him," James added. "You were always able to."
Sirius felt a swoop of pride hit him at those words and couldn't keep the smirk from sliding onto his face.
"Are you going to lie around all day or get ready?" James snapped at him, pulling him out of his trance. "We still need to plan our first search party when we get there, it's not like we'll have naptime later."
They needed to be up and out of the house early before Kate's parents got wind that they'd stayed the night. She didn't want to give any snooping Death Eaters reason to suspect her family of being involved in their mission.
The three of them sat around after pulling their cloaks on and waited for the sound of Kate coming to join them. Finally they heard a small knock and she entered with her hair dripping and a breakfast tray in front of her.
"Sorry I couldn't fix anything better," Kate whispered as she passed out eggs and dry toast. "We'll get something more to eat for lunch at the Inn."
"Where are we going?"
"Back to your country, actually. Greyback hasn't set foot in this one in over a decade."
The three of them instantly felt relief. Just being back home would put a small part of them at ease.
"You said you all know how to Apparate?"
James and Sirius both grinned sideways at Peter.
"Pete here is still struggling a little. But he can pull it together for side-along."
Peter nodded fervently.
"I can, I will. Especially if we're going somewhere I can picture really easily."
"And where would that be?"
"Diagon Alley… Hogsmeade… my home…"
"Good, we're going to an Inn on Diagon Alley—,"
"Wait! You can't go to the Leaky Cauldron. It's too well known."
"I know," Kate said exasperated. "Give me a little credit here. We're staying in another place at the other end of the boulevard. My brother owns the place and is rooming us for free for the next two weeks."
James glanced cautiously at Sirius and Peter before addressing Kate.
"Kate…. there's something you should know. I know the three of us won't be of much help when it comes to using defensive magic but… well…. if this can help you in anyway, I want you to use it."
He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his silvery Invisibility cloak.
Kate gasped.
"Is that what I think it is?"
"Yeah… It was my fathers' cloak, and my grandmothers' before him. But anyone can use it and I don't want anything to happen to you."
Kate smiled, holding it in her hands for a moment and appreciating the cold silkiness of its texture, watching the way the threads caught the light.
"I've never seen one in real life before. You hold onto it for now, but that definitely might come in handy. Thank you."
Diagon Alley was almost unrecognizable when they Apparated just outside the brick wall that concealed the Leaky Cauldron. Christmas ornaments and wreaths were strung across every shop window, and glittering snow laid in clumps around the edges of the main street.
"This way," Kate said, ushering them towards Gringotts.
They turned left at the fork, passing beyond the wizard bank and then past some furniture and grocery stores. James stared for a moment into the lit up window of a gift shop that was glowing with Christmas cheer, and Sirius knew he was pining for home.
This was the first time James and Peter would ever be away for Christmas. Peter had told his mother he was staying with the Potters, and James and Sirius had told the Potters they were staying with Peter. It wasn't so much that they knew their parents wouldn't approve of what they were up to, but mostly because it would be too hard to say goodbye in case it was the last time they saw each other.
"This is it," Kate said, pointing at a narrow five story Inn with two Christmas trees flanking the front doors.
They stepped inside, soft snowflakes swirling around them in the dark entry hall. They pulled the hoods off their winter cloaks and saw Kate hugging and greeting a tall man who had the same blue eyes, the same nose, and the same color hair as her.
After a quick introduction to her brother, they were shown into the flat on the ground floor where they would be spending the rest of their holidays. It wasn't a regular hotel room, so they didn't have very much privacy, but the plus side of staying in her brothers own living space was having their own Christmas tree and fireplace.
Sirius could feel his adrenaline started to spark. This was really happening— they were really setting out to take down those bastards who had murdered their best friend and the boy he had loved so hard it was painful.
James kept glancing over to him and grinning. He was quivering in anticipation as well, both of them itching for adventure and action and finally some progress in the case.
He was going over in his head everything he could do to Greyback in revenge— what would make him hurt the most, what could possibly make him feel the same kind of pain that they had felt every day since Remus disappeared?
If Greyback had a mate, if he had replaced Kate's position with another, Sirius could just envision himself torturing that monster with the knowledge that they killed her. If a monster like him was even capable of love, anyway…
"Okay!" Kate said, her cheeks flushed pink with cold as they sat down around a coffee table to plan out their first week of searching. "Let's get to this."
"First of all," she started. "Greyback would never hide in London. The entire underground is controlled and monitored by either Gringotts bank or the Ministry of Magic. Secondly, I know Greyback would want proximity to danger. He told me himself that he would love the idea of being right under the Ministries' nose. So I've thought of several locations he could be besides London. And thirdly, I'm not sure you're aware of this but the majority of his victims have been Muggles. Only three known witches and wizards besides Remus and I were ever attacked by him, and all were captured upon infection. Soooo… while the advantage for us is that only three out of the seventy or so of his forces could use magic against us, the disadvantage is that—,"
"We have no way of knowing by first glance who can and can't do magic," James finished.
"Precisely. Those other victims are also, no doubt, highly skilled. They all have to be adults or otherwise the Ministry would have found them with the Trace. And they all three must use magic on a regular basis to aid Greyback in kidnapping and contaminating his victims. We're dealing with three wizards who are certainly not to be underestimated. No matter how comfortable you may feel knowing the majority of the werewolves can't perform magic, your guard must stay up at all times."
The other three nodded in agreement.
Kate reached into a travel bag and pulled out a large scroll. She untied the sash around it and unrolled it over the table. They leaned in and saw a large detailed map of the country with bright red glowing markers pinned on the names of twenty towns.
"These are the places we'll be searching. All of them have proximity to a Ministry outreach office, an enemy of Greybacks, or a center that has meaning to werewolves and criminals. Before we leave for each of them I'll have a meeting with you three in this room. We'll discuss what the significance of each location is and what kind of things to look out for, so we'll all be on the same page. We'll spend six to ten hours searching in and around every location on this map. But you need to understand… we could search every one of these locations in the next two weeks and still not find the compound."
"That's fine with us," Sirius said quickly. "We'd rather do something and fail than not do anything at all."
"Good," Kate smiled at them. "Also… as soon as we're finished Apparating, you three need to keep your wands in your pockets. The last thing I need is for one casual spell to ruin our entire mission. The Ministry can track you in a split second if you accidentally let slip so much as a Lumos. Understand?"
They nodded again, their eyes still roaming over the map and each glowing marker.
"Now… every mission will be different. But hopefully we'll be able to hit two locations on a good day. Our missions will consist of interviewing locals, and I will wipe their memories to cover our tracks. We will always be covering stretches of forest by foot and looking for clues in the landscape for werewolf activity. I'll bring us back here for meals, and you can't stay up all night talking. Lights out means sleep time and not stay up all night plotting."
"Okay," they chimed.
"And also… we need to split up during missions. In two's. You two will be with each other," she nodded to James and Sirius. "And I'll take Peter with me. I should be able to keep track of you, but in case something happens and you need me to come get you, or if you need to communicate with me while we're separated, I want you to use these."
She pulled out two small packages wrapped in brown paper and handed one to Sirius. He undid the paper and pulled out a small rectangular mirror.
"What does it do?"
Kate unwrapped her own mirror and held it up to her face.
"Sirius Black!"
Sirius glanced down and saw Kate's face peering out at him from the glass.
"Wicked!" James grinned, leaning in to look back at her. "Where'd you get these?"
"They used to be my brothers. We'd use them to communicate with each other while he was at school and I was stuck in home studies."
"These are brilliant," Sirius whispered, holding it over for Peter to look at.
Kate tapped the reflection of Peters face with her thumb and the mirrors returned to their natural function.
She smiled at their impressed faces.
"You can have them when our mission is done if you want. I never use them anymore."
She set her mirror down on the edge of the map before finishing.
"And finally… we need to discuss what will happen if we actually do discover the werewolf camp. Now, while I may not know the three of you very well, I can with my limited knowledge assume that you are not ones to back down from a challenge or shrink away from battle."
They all grinned at each other, their shoulders squaring as they felt their Gryffindor pride swell inside them.
Until—
"Unfortunately, that's exactly what I'm going to have to ask you to do."
The little balloons of pride inside each of them deflated with sad whimpering noises.
"You can't be serious," James said, dumbstruck.
Kate sighed.
"You have to understand… this will be bigger than any of us can take on by ourselves. As soon as we realize that the location is really the compound Greyback has been building his army in, we need to contact appropriate back-up. Heading in on our own could get us killed and leave Greyback without anyone tracking him again. I can't risk that. Once we confirm the location, we will use an owl to alert the Auror office and request fighters and law officials to come to our aid. And you three will wait here while the camp is raided."
"Why?" they exclaimed in unison, tempers flaring up.
"Because you're sixteen," she seethed through her teeth. "You are not capable of battling Greyback or werewolves or Death Eaters! Why do you think Voldemort uses him and teams up with him? Because he attacks Muggles all the time! You think that the second Greyback realizes he's in trouble, he won't call up Voldemort to help him? Or every damn Death Eater in the country? I cannot allow you three to throw yourselves into the middle of that mess! You are already doing enough helping to find him as it is."
Sirius couldn't believe it. He was supposed to just sit inside, warm and cozy, while the Aurors did all the dirty work?
No.
Kate could reason with them all she wanted, but she could never understand it. She didn't know what it felt like to feel so much hatred, so much hunger for revenge.
Just five months ago Remus had been young and alive and beautiful, and now he was dead. A pile of bones somewhere in the wild was all that remained of him.
She would never understand how badly they needed to ruin the monsters that were responsible.
Sirius could hear Kate speaking to them, but he didn't process it. Her voice sounded indistinct, as if drifting towards them from a far distance as Sirius lowered his eyes to his lap and slowly tilted the mirror in his hand until it reflected James' face.
James glanced down and they locked eyes in the reflection. An invisible beam of understanding shot through them and Sirius tilted the mirror the opposite way until Peter's face was in view. Peter looked down to meet his gaze and gave the tiniest nod of understanding.
"… so you three need to promise me you won't stay and fight."
"We won't," they lied.
"And you will stay here until I come back or until the Aurors deem it safe."
"We will," they lied.
"So no rash actions, no underage dueling, and no playing heroes. Understand?"
"Understood."
"Promise?"
"We promise," they lied.
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