Sirius can't wipe the grin off his face.
He's burning up, dripping sweat and melted snow and he knows his hair is probably matted under this ridiculous blue beanie, but he just doesn't care.
Because today was a good day.
When he woke up alone, he'd immediately understood that Gwen had gone to take care of business. She'd been antsy and ditsy for days, fewer riddles and more dreamy notions of something called crumple horned snorkacks. He didn't believe half the rubbish in Xenophelius Lovegood's Quibbler articles, but Gwen did. Who was he to disagree? He trusted her.
To know more than he did, and to be safe.
She was brave, braver than she thought. And it made him brave too. Brave enough to apparate to the Potters and shed a few tears with James in the room where they used to stay up all night talking about Lily and Gwen. Brave enough to stay, even though Mia and Monty weren't there and Gwen was off somewhere likely putting herself in danger. Brave. He hadn't felt brave in a long time.
Laughter flies from his chest, Marlene nearly slamming right into a tree thanks to the snowball that James has thrown at her face.
"POTTER!" Her scream is so uncharacteristically dramatic that Sirius just laughs harder, watching the Scottish witch furiously wipe the snow from her face. James is hiding rather poorly behind a tree free of any leaf cover, the branches doing nothing to obscure his hovering form.
Marlene zips through the trees on her broom, and this time it's James' turn to screech like a little kid, ducking through the branches and flying away just before Marlene can get a grip on his sweater.
Her eyes narrow and she turns to Sirius. He feels himself wince at the murderous look on her face, rather familiar with it thanks to Quidditch. She was brilliant at it, though perhaps not the best team player. Sirius quickly zooms off, the wind and falling snow whipping across his burning cheeks and making his eyes water. James is laughing ahead, zipping around as if he's the snitch and Marlene is the sodding bludger coming to beat the life out of them.
She's just about to close in on him, and Sirius is nearly tired enough to let her, when they all freeze.
A deep, rumbling sound is slowly growing louder and louder. James looks to the sky, asking incredulously, "Does it thunder when it snows, Padfoot?"
"No, Prongs," Sirius scratches his forehead, sharing a look of concern with Marlene. "I don't think it does. Besides, that's not thunder."
"What the fuck is it?" Marlene asks, whipping her head around to find the source of the noise. Sirius looks down to see Remus peering out of the kitchen window, looking just as perplexed as the rest of them.
"Reckon you know what that is Moony?"
His friend's nose crinkles, and then Lily's head cranes out the window below Remus'. Sirius nearly laughs at the odd scene, but is stumped when Lily asks irritably, "Who is reving their bloody engine?!"
Marlene, James, and Sirius all look at each other, tilting their heads. The sound is even louder now, close enough that he can feel it before he can see it.
And what he suddenly sees, is a portrait of hilarity he won't ever forget.
Appearing out of thin air, hurtling towards them, is a shiny black thing with wheels. Sirius, Marlene, and James scatter on their brooms, narrowly missing the speeding metal contraption. A familiar, squeaky scream is sounding along side the engine now, and with complete and total amazement, Sirius recognizes Dorcas Meadowes driving a flying motorbike.
A flying motorbike that is going to crash.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
Lily and Remus disappear back into the house with round eyes, James nearly falling off his broom from the force of Dorcas speeding by. The bike drops sharply with a loud 'bang'
Metal screeches and if he weren't concerned he'd clamp his hands over his ears. The bike skids through the garden, kicking up snow and dirt and dark clumps of grass, coming to a rather unceremonious stop just before the back porch.
They all dive down on their brooms, nearly catapulting themselves off their own flying contraptions to check on the witch driving the one that had ruined the lawn.
Dorcas is frozen, still griping the handles with wide eyes and a dark blue headscarf covering her curls. What they hadn't noticed in the chaos, was the side car attached to the bike. And sitting silently, looking comically small in that side car, is a familiar being with hair that looks about as wild as a dragons nest.
Sirius gapes at the Ravenclaw duo, stunned to complete silence. Dorcas and Gwen. In a motorcycle. Crashing a motorcycle. James and Marlene are just as taken aback, jaws slack and eyes bulging.
Gwenyth Whitlock merely lifts a pair of goggles from her eyes. They leave behind black rings, and muss her hair even further. She blinks and tilts her head to the side, as if confused by the silence. Sirius quickly raises a fist to his mouth, biting into his knuckles and wishing more than anything that he could call upon some of his usual anger over her recklessness.
Instead, he laughs.
Hardy, full belly laughs that hurt his chest and stomach and face. He leans his hands on his knees, close to wheezing when the Veela of Hogwarts cracks a grin and says in a rare moment of slight excitement, "That was awesome."
It's about as wild a reaction he'll get out of her, but her eyes are glinting with adrenaline, her cheeks flushed a healthy pink that tells him all he needs to know.
That's was awesome.
Sirius pushes past Marlene and James, steps over the muddy canyon left by the large tired of the bike. He's quick to reach into the side car and undo the safety belt he's pleased to see wrapped around her shoulders. She stretches her arms up, and he sneaks his own around her waist, hauling her out of the sidecar just as Marlene and James stare as Dorcas begins to giggle.
"She had fun," Gwen says plainly, "The landing was a bit rocky, though."
"A bit?!" Sirius laughs, pulling her in and pressing a kiss to her cheek. Her jaw. Her nose pink from the cold. He kisses her smile, still trying not to laugh. Gwen quirks a brow when he pulls back, and he hopes he's not looking at her too adoringly while he thumbs away at the black rings around her eyes. He nearly melts into a puddle at her feet when she leans in and presses her cold nose to his cheek, her legs banding around his waist.
He strokes back some of her tangled hair, asking quietly, "Is this what you were doing this morning?"
"Yes, amongst other things,"
He just rolls his eyes at her vague answer.
"But this was most important. It's a bit early for a Christmas present, but I wasn't quite sure how to wrap it. I don't think I have enough old magazines to cover it."
Sirius blinks down at her, brown furrowing in confusion, "Present? For who, mon chaton?"
Her grin is soft but the tension around her smile lines tells him that she's trying not to laugh at him. Dorcas, still in her adrenaline drunk stupor, shouts, "FOR YOU, YOU FUCKING MORON!"
James rears back from where he's helping the Ravenclaw off the motorcycle, Marlene just grimacing from where she's holding her girlfriends other arm as if this isn't the first time Dorcas has had such an outburst.
Sirius freezes, looking over Gwen's head at the bike tilted up on the bank of snow and mud. Despite the crash landing, it's still in one piece. His eyes roam the metal coated in snowflakes, the windshield splattered with dirt. The sidecar, perfectly Veela sized.
"You didn't," His voice comes out a lot smaller than he'd intended, stunned by what it is Dorcas is saying. This is his. This bike, the one that looks like it's straight off of the muggle magazine pictures he'd permanently stuck to his walls as a child....this is his.
He whips his head down to see Gwen looking at him patiently, her eyes an endless sea of serene blue.
She got this for him.
"Inferi," He gulps, aware that multiple sets of eyes are on him. His cheeks feel warm, he nearly shrugs off his coat. He hasn't cooled off, sweat still drips down the back of his neck. Though now he's almost certain it's from nerves. "C'est beaucoup trop." [this is too much.]
The Veela's expression changes, a nearly invisible shift where her dreamy smile flutters and her eyes falter from impenetrable ice to pools of uncertainty. It's so small, but her simple statement confirms her apprehension, "Tu n'aimes pas ça." [You don't like it.]
Sirius shakes his head frantically, grabs her hands and squeezes them until they cool his hot skin. He swallows past the lump in his throat, unsure why he feels like crying, "C'est incroyable. Je n'arrive pas à croire que tu aies fait ça pour moi." [It's incredible. I can't believe you did this for me.]
He cracks a shy smile at the relief on her face, glancing up to nod when James ushers Marlene and Dorcas into the house. His friend shoots him a pleased smile, looking just as excited about the bike as Sirius was beginning to feel. He looks back down at Gwen's pink nose and small smile. She tilts her head, and silence falls between them for a few moments. He knows she's cooking up something in her beautiful mind, he nearly expects a riddle to break the tension between them. But she never fails to catch him off guard,
"Pourquoi je ne ferais pas ça pour toi?" [Why wouldn't I do this for you?]
His mouth opens and closes a few times, the doubt threatening to tell her why exactly he didn't deserve things like this. Why he didn't deserve her. But she smiles like she knows, like she's already thought of a rebuttal for each and every self deprecating remark he may make.
Sirius sighs and cups her cheeks in his hands, saying shakily, "I'm going to change the subject now. Not because I don't want to talk about feelings...but because if I tell you how much this means to me I'm going to end up fucking you up against my brand new motorcycle."
Gwen laughs, the sound echoing in the silence of the snow covered garden. Echoing in his heart, his soul. He looks at the motorcycle giddily, thinks about flying high in the sky with her in the side car, holding hands and singing together. Freedom. Another piece of his freedom.
"I think I'd like that," Gwen says finally. "Both the fucking, and the subject change. It's getting a little emotional for me. You know I don't do well with that sort of thing."
Perhaps they're too honest. Maybe they aren't honest enough. Sirius grins carelessly, scooping her up and plopping her into the drivers seat before throwing his legs over behind her, trapping her. He buried his face in her neck, teasing, "Now, that just makes me want to torture you with talk of feelings, Whitlock."
"As long as you'll give me a ride later."
Sirius gasps at her blatant innuendo, shaking his head, "You're incorrigible, mon ange. It's inappropriate, really."
Gwen peers over her shoulder, eyes soft and full of mirth. She leans back, presses a kiss to the hollow of his throat where he's sore from trying not to cry.
"Come on then," She says, clambering down from the bike. She waggles her brows, holds out her hand, "Let's go eat lunch, and then I'll give you another present."
Sirius opens his mouth to make another joke about the sexual implications of her words, but she cuts him short, smiling knowingly,
"I think it's time I tell you another secret."
{{this one was a bit longer, but I didn't want to split it up. Hope you enjoyed!}}