Dysfunctional

54 - The Runaway Robin

Dark clouds rolled into each other up above, only a draft of air away from falling down on the earth in torrents. It seemed the weather refused to be happy, uncannily mirroring Sirius' disposition. It had been weeks since he had spent a sunny morning outside Potter Manor as Padfoot and lounged in the soft grass early in the morning.

He loved basking in the warm sunlight - something he had thought would forever be a luxury out of his reach while he had been in Azkaban. It was one of his secret pleasures, something even Harry had never witnessed since he was not one to wake up early.

Even thinking about his godson was enough to put a damper on his already gloomy mood. He sighed from his position on the ground beside Buckbeak and rolled up the sleeves of his dark t-shirt which clung to his back.

The Hippogriff was sleeping peacefully, not disturbed by the loud clanks issuing from Sirius and the beast he had been working on for the past hour.

It was his motorbike, the one he had last seen when he had given Harry to Hagrid on that life-changing night and gone off to chase Wormtail.

He had practically been in love with this beauty for quite a few years before his life took a turn for the worse. James had made fun of him and Lily thought he was an idiot for loving a non-sentient thing as a motorbike even more than he had fancied his girlfriend back then... Amelia? Amanda? Sirius could not even remember her name now.

'Who cares?' thought Sirius idly, pushing back his sweaty hair which kept falling into his eyes. That was another life. One he was never going to get back.

So if he wasn't as besotted with the motorbike now as he had been then, it did not matter.

It was just a bike.

Granted, it had plenty of memories of him and James riding on it together, up to all sorts of mischief.

But he would have rather gotten back James than this instead.

Still, he could not be upset with Arthur. He had been taken aback when he had called him aside after their first meeting in their new headquarters and given him the bike.

"Hagrid gave it to me after... well, it's been with me all this while," finished Arthur, uncomfortably. "Molly doesn't know of course. I must confess I am not very adept with motorbikes. I prefer cars, having owned one for quite a while before my son and your godson let it loose in the Forbidden Forest."

Sirius let out a bark of laughter, recalling Harry's story that he had told him over the summer. He had thought only he and James and Remus had wandered the Forbidden Forest for fun and knew it like the back of their hands. But they had never seen giant acromantulas in there that wanted to eat them for dinner. And thank Merlin for that.

"Hagrid thought it would make for a good birthday present. But I haven't been able to find the right parts or information to repair it by then. I think it would be better to put it in your hands so you can fix it up yourself. I heard you built it from scratch?"

He smiled. "I did. Thanks, Arthur."

Sirius had to remove the two-cylinder 650cc engine from the rusting frame - the old girl had been unused for far too long and it was time for a refit. He had waited for a month to get his hands on a four-cylinder 750cc engine to take its place after tirelessly gathering some knowledge on what was new in the muggles' world. They did have the most fascinating ideas.