When Sirius and Grant returned with armfuls of firewood, Remus was just relieved that Sirius hadn't murdered Grant on the journey there or back.

They both set the wood on the ground and James started to organise them from smallest to largest. He was clearly the unappointed leader of the group and in any other occasion, Remus would've immediately said that Sirius was the right hand man but, in this scenario it really didn't look like it.

James and Grant were rarely away form each other and Remus could see the red of anger that would creep up onto Sirius' face when he saw them together. Sirius wasn't great at staying calm and not being jealous, because the way he saw it, he was always James' right hand man.

"You said we had a long day ahead" Peter's voice came from inside the tent and James grinned. "What exactly did you mean by that?"

"Well" said James, clapping his hands together with a mischievous glint in his eye "today we're going to teach Grant magic"

Remus was sipping a cup of tea, thanks to the emergency teabags Peter packed, and choked on it. Sirius who was now next to him patted his back.

"What?!" Remus asked, completely bewildered. "Surely that's not possible"

"Muggles can be wizards Remus" James reminded him.

"Yes but if he showed signs of magic, then Dumbledore would've sent him a Hogwarts letter and he'd know by now" Remus argued and Sirius nodded from beside him. Hearing all of the noise Peter hurried out of the tent, just as shocked as the other two.

"Yes but if Grant is going to stay here he needs to know how to defend himself" James pointed out "Even if it's aiming a wand and saying a spell"

"James if he has no magic then he can't do spells, that's just common sense" Sirius said with raised eyebrow, wondering here James was going with this.

"But wands already contain magic" James explained "In muggle studies they taught us that Muggles can't necessarily use magic but with a wand they could produce some but rather uncontrollably. So what if we can teach Grant?" James said, hoping they'd all be on board.

"Absolutely not"

"Not gonna happen"

"Are you mental?"

Came all 3 voices at once. 

"If it's not possible James then there are plenty of other ways to defend myself. I've fought off enough homophobic bullies in my day" he said with a shrug and James' shoulders slumped.

"How about we give it a go" Grant said, trying to cheer James up "And if it doesn't work it doesn't work"

"It won't work" Sirius said under his breath but this didn't stop Grant from trying lift James' spirits. This seemed to bring the spark back into James' eyes and his smile returned.

"Well whilst you two try to change the rules of magic, I'll set up a new layer of protective enchantments. Magic is unpredictable in this forest and I'm not risking the enchantments breaking" Sirius said, standing up and making his way across the twigs and towards the far end of trees, raising his wand and muttering the incantations.

........................................

"Have you seen James?" Peter asked, interrupting Remus' solitude of reading. Remus looked up at his friend who looked bored out of his mind. They had already spent over 2 weeks in the tent and it was clearly getting to Peter.

"No, he's been out of the tent for a bit" Remus said before putting the book down "I'm sure he'll be back soon"

"Him and Grant have been gone for a while and I think Sirius is getting jealous" Peter said, wringing his hands nervously.

"What else is new?" Remus asked sarcastically.

"Good point. But he's taking it out on me and I'd wish he'd stop" Peter muttered sadly and Remus felt his stomach twist. 

It was one thing for Sirius to be jealous but it was another to take it out on his friends and especially Peter who had been nothing but the best friend to Sirius.

"Don't pay attention to him Pete" Remus said shaking his head " I know it's no excuse but he has a lot going right now" he explained and Peter nodded.

"I know" he said, his voice going as quiet as a mouse. 

"Come on, let's have a game of chess" Remus said, wanting to cheer Peter up.

......................

"How did the magic training go for the one hundredth time?" Sirius asked when he saw James and Grant approaching, James looking sad and Grant carrying the positivity for the both of them. Ever since the idea, James had been attempting to see if Grant had any magical abilities at all and clearly he hadn't been in luck

"Not great. He gave me the wand and it burst into flame" Grant said with a shrug, like being set on fire was the most casual thing in the world.

"At first I thought Grant had done it but then I realised it was my wand reacting to a muggle holding it" James said with frustrated sigh "I just wanted to make you more involved in the Wizarding world" he explained to Grant who just patted his shoulder sympathetically.

"I'm about as involved as I need to be" Grant pointed out and they both laughed. 

Sirius stood up and walked over to them both, looking at James.

"Wanna go run around for a bit, I really need to stretch my legs" Sirius said, ready to turn into a dog on the spot if James said yes.

"Can't" James said "Grant was gonna help me with mapping out todays reports" James said, his eyes looking tired from trying to force the tiniest bit of magic out of Grant.

"Oh...right" Sirius said, doing his best not to sound as angry as he felt. 

"Maybe tomorrow" James said "We'll get up early and run around all morning" he said cheerfully, noticing the look in his friends eyes.

"Alright" Sirius said nodding "But I swear you better mean late morning because I'm not getting up at 7am anymore, it's bloody exhausting" Sirius said with a small smirk.

"Noted" James said before heading back into the tent with Grant at his heals.

...................................

It soon turned from morning to afternoon in a flash and Sirius had been spending most of the day outside in the summer air, letting the rays of light filter through the tree tops and warm him up. He was wearing light wash jeans and a white t-shirt. He'd taken his leather jacket off when it got too warm and now he was looking up at the trees serenely.

He could hear the chatters inside of Remus and Peter playing chess and the radio back to its usual volume. He sighed, knowing he much preferred it outdoors. He was about to turn into a dog and take a run around the woods until he heard something. He stood up, trying not to be paranoid, hoping it was just a squirrel.

He took his wand from his back pocket and held it in front of him, ready for attack. The protective enchantments were still up so no one could see or hear them but he was on the side of caution.

He jumped slightly when he heard a twig snap and he spun around in time to see a group of people walking forward among the trees. One of them was clearly leading with a smug smile and the others seemed to follow, looking around curiously at their surroundings.

"I told you there'd be nothing here" one of them whispered to the other with a slight eyeroll.

"Don't question his judgement, he's almost certain they're here. He said so after the intel was given" the other replied with a firm nod, clearly having immense faith in her leader.

Then Sirius felt his heart sink into his stomach as fear rushed over him. He saw the man leading the group and froze. He'd never seen Fenrir Greyback before but if he was going to be anyone, it was the man in front of him. Startling eyes full of bloodlust and an animal like posture as he observed the trees, squinting at the view as if looking for one small detail in a vast clearing of woodland.

Sirius wanted to run back to the tent and get everyone out immediately but he felt paralysed with fear. He couldn't explain it. He'd faced his parents who were far scarier, why was this a problem?

Just when he thought the group would pass, Greyback tensed his shoulders and looked right at Sirius. Now Sirius held his breath out of  anticipation. Did he see him? How was that possible? Werwolves can't se through enchantments...can they?

"I can smell him" he said to his group and the others smelt at the air trying to catch on to what he was pointing out. Sirius saw a few of them nod in agreement with their leader and that was enough to strike a panic into Sirius.

'Remus' he thought suddenly.

He bolted from where he stood and right back into the tent.

"We have to leave. Now"