The thunderous roar of Sirius Black's new motorcycle echoed throughout Godric's
Hollow as he descended toward the home of Lily and James Potter.
As he landed the bike, the front door opened, illuminating both the motorcycle
and it's driver in the light of somebody's wand. Sirius began to dismount the
bike, but hesitated as he heard the unmistakable angry voice of his best friend
James.
"Padfoot! What the hell are you doing? Harry just fell asleep! Are you going
to put him back down when he wakes up?"
Sirius let out his trademark Barkley h of a laugh and put a shoulder on his
friend's shoulder. "Just give him a little rum in the bottle and he'll be out
like a light. Mum used to give it to Regulas up until he was teething. Works
like a charm."
"I am NOT giving my newborn son rum! And neither will you! He won't be visiting
you if your going to give a baby alcohol."
Sirius rolled his eyes, earning a dirty look from James. Sirius knew the Potters
had a hard time finding a babysitter other than himself as baby Harry had a
tendency to attract snakes.
"Relax Prongsie, can't you take a joke anymore? Surely you haven't lost your
sense of humor in your old age."
"Old age? Old age? Is that what this is? Has it ever occurred to you that it's
time to grow up? Time to get a real job and stop playing for some stupid rock
band. The Weird Sisters? What is that?"
"My idea," Sirius replied with a sly grin, "though the real credit goes to Cissy
and Bellatrix for their inspiration. And we're getting a pretty big following.
Our show at the Frog Shop next Saturday is sold out. That's more than 500
people!"
"The band's not the point Padfoot. What's this?" he asked, gesturing to the
oversized motorcycle. "A flying death machine?"
"Death machine? Nah. It's a muggle vehicle...makes me stand out better than
everybody on those damn broomsticks. Makes me feel safer to fly too...not too
fond transportation that involves a thin pole riding my arse moreso than me
riding it. Whatcha think? It's why I stopped by. Wanna take her for a spin?"
"What do I...? Want to take her for a...?" James' anger was now evident in both
his voice and eyes. "Are you insane? GROW UP SIRIUS! Lily won't let you
around if you keep up this reckless stupidity."
"Lily won't let me? And does Lily always run your life?"
"Pad- Sirius...things are different now. The Marauders...that's over. That was
our childhood. I've grown up, and I'm happy. Don't you think it's time you do
the same? Chill out...grow up a bit, actually get to know a girl for once
instead of having three dates with three different girls a week."
"Grow up a bit? You want me to settle down?" now both anger and hurt were
becoming evident in Sirius' face. "GROW UP? What happened to Solemnly swearing
to be up to no good for life? What happened to our plans? Live fast, die young
and leave a good looking corpse? I don't need to grow up Prongs. Growing up
means growing old like Albus! You let me down man...you let me down and now you
try to twist things and make me feel bad. Ya know what James? SCREW YOU! I'm not
going to sit here and take crap from you in the yard of the house I put the down
payment on. I'm out of here, I'll go where people actually appreciate me."
Sirius mounted his motorcycle again and started it up.
James voice could barely be heard over the roar of the engine. "SCREW YOU TOO
SIRIUS! Run to your anorexic girlfriends with their drugs and alcohol like you
always do. Hide from the world! Drown your problems in self pity!" At last
Sirius snapped. He reached his large paw like hand out in a fist and it met
James' jaw. James fell to the ground caught off guard as Sirius sped off into
the night, unaware that he had just seen his best friend alive for the last
time.
