The bike, turns out, is massive. Humongous. Gigantic. In the small backyard of Potter's Herbs and Misc., on top of James' favourite and no-longer-among-the-living petunias, it looks like an ink spill on a child's drawing. With its tall tyres and shiny black paint, it looks just as incongruent with its quaint surroundings as Sirius Black did inside the shop.

"Hop on," Sirius says, already climbing on to the seat. Remus stares at the thing in discomfort. "What? Come on, give me your bag." There's a sidecar attached to the bike, and Sirius throws Remus' bag into it. "There's a library book in there!" Remus glares at Sirius. "Oops," Sirius doesn't sound sorry at all, "Just get on."

Remus awkwardly swings his leg over the seat, his cheeks burning as he slides on to the hard leather. Sirius smells of smoke, which would've been unpleasant if not for the accompanying fragrance of something floral, like wild roses. It's a stark contrast from everything else that constitutes Sirius Black.

"You might wanna hold on," Sirius must be smirking as he speaks, Remus can hear it in his voice. Remus rolls his eyes and reaches back to grip the back of the seat. It's strange, sitting like that, because his legs are touching Sirius', and he's leaning back to keep Sirius' hair from his eyes.

"Do you not have a helmet?" Remus asks. Sirius turns around, incredulous. He looks offended. "Does it look like I do?"

"But-" Remus' words drown in the infinitely louder roar that motorbike gives out as its enging turns on. Remus flinches. He's never heard anything like that.

"Hold on tight!" Sirius somehow raises his voice above the cry of the engine. The bike jerks forward, and Remus feels his heart accelerate in anticipation.

But it's far worse than Remus imagined. The bike is going forward. Which Remus obviously anticipated. But it's also moving up. Now that, Remus did not expect. His hands shoot out to grab Sirius' torso. "What in the nine rings of-"

Sirius grins and lets go of the bike's handles to tighten Remus' arms around himself. He turns back. "Told you to hold on."

"Why the hell is it flying?"

"Guess it's... so called... magic," Sirius is still looking back, at him, a complacent grin dancing on his lips.

"Magic? You're insane!"

"Tell me something I don't know."

"Something you don't... can you please turn forward? You're going to get us killed!"

Remus rolls his eyes in exasperation and looks down. Diagon Alley looks like an assortment of matchboxes below them. Sirius stays looking at Remus for another half a minute, that obnoxious little shit, but turns around anyway. They're so high up in the sky now, and it's freezing Remus' fingertips. The cold sneaks in through his jumper, which is too oversized to provide any real warmth. The holes at its elbows aren't helping, either.

But then again, if Remus had expected a journey through the clouds, he would've at least worn a scarf.

The bike quiets down a little once they stop ascending. "Can we..." Remus leans forward so that Sirius can hear him. "Can we maybe slow down?" Remus lets out a hiss as a strand of Sirius' hair flies into his eye. To his surprise, Sirius actually obliges, and the engine quiets down a bit further. Now it lets out only a low rumble.

"Better now?"

"Yeah," Remus replies softly. Sirius looks at him, this time through the rear view mirror. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing... just cold."

Sirius shrugs. They travel the rest of the distance in silence, staying well above the ground to avoid being spotted. Remus feels a sudden drop, and grips Sirius' jacket. "Hold on tight," Sirius tells him, and out of nowhere, Remus sees the earth come closer and closer.

It feels too much like an uncontrolled fall for Remus to feel safe, so he just squeezes his eyes shut and clings to Sirius. He feels a harsh bump, and before he knows it, they're no longer moving. When he opens his eyes, they're in the frontyard of the Potters' Cottage.

Sirius somehow manages to look graceful as he dismounts the bike. Remus' stumble is embarrassingly clumsy in comparison. Sirius hands him his bag. Before they can move, the door opens.

Out of it steps a girl with loud red hair, pulling a scarf just as bright around her neck. A large shopping basket hangs from her wrist. Her eyes widen when she sees the two boys.

"When did you-" her words stop in her throat when she sees the bike, now sitting among yet another patch of no-longer-among-the-living flowers, this time hydrangeas. "Oh my god, did you-" She stops herself again, and then rushes towards them, dropping her basket. Her hair flies behind her, and in the setting sun, she looks like a flaming torch. "Sirius!"

Lily Evans practically throws herself on to Sirius, who stumbles back slightly, but returns her embrace anyway. She pulls away to look at him. "I haven't seen you in... ages," she says softly, hugging him again. "Hey, Re," she smiles at Remus, "I didn't know you guys knew each other..."

"We didn't. Not until today." Remus clarifies. Lily nods. "We came to see James..." Remus trails off. Maybe he should've texted James before coming. Why didn't he do that?

"He's inside... in our room. We're out of milk, and eggs, and... sorry, nevermind. He was actually throwing a fuss about being left alone. He'll be thrilled to see you," she laughs, loud and bright, "Especially you, Sirius. No offense to you, Re."

She kisses Sirius goodbye and gives Remus a hug and shoves them in through the door. Remus watches Sirius, who watches Lily disappear down the street. They wait silently for a minute, neither of them seeming to know how to take it from there.

"Right, um... Do we just head up to James' room?" Remus asks. Sirius shrugs. "Sure..."

He's obviously waiting for Remus to go first, which is strange, but Remus leads the way to James and Lily's shared room. They moved in together right after school had finished. 

Remus knocks on the door. "James?"

"Remus? Is that you?" James sounds very sick. "Come on in." Remus pushes the door open, and he's met with a tired looking James cocooned in a thick blanket on the bed. He's holding a packet of crisps and watching something on his laptop.

He sits up and makes space for Remus. "Did you-" James' face melts into a small frown, which immediately gets replaced by a small smile. "Padfoot?"

Remus steps aside, but Sirius doesn't move. "Hello, James," he says softly. James is up on his feet, the laptop almost dropping to the floor as he attacks Sirius with a massive hug. Remus tugs at the sleeve of his jumper, looking at the setting sun through the window.

The two old friends part after some time, and before Remus can even protest, James is dragging him and Sirius to the bed. "If you two get sick, Lily's going to kill me..." he disappears from the room, and comes back with a vial of PepperUp, which he makes them drink.

"You should've told me that you're coming," he tells Remus. "And you," James points at Sirius and sniffles, "You are one sick bastard, do you know that? Where the hell did you disappear to?"

Sirius shrugs, "Road trip?" James rolls his eyes. Remus and Sirius spend almost an hour with him, until Lily comes back. "I can give you a lift," Sirius offers. Remus accepts it with a small thank you.

"You better answer my calls, you hear me?" James warns Sirius before they leave.

Once again, Remus finds himself alone in the sky with Sirius, this time with the twinkling stars surrounding them. But despite how beautiful they look, Remus can't help but think that just like his name suggests, Sirius shines the brightest of all.