This Time - Chapter 8

The Morning After...

Sunlight is streaming into the room through the open window. A cold breeze streams into the room, causing me to shuffle closer to the source of warmth next to me. Remus is beautiful when he sleeps, his chest lightly rising and falling, his hair tousled and his arm over my shoulder.

I never want to move, which is what's going to make this even harder.

A while later...

I groan, stretching out my arms, reaching for Sirius.
"Morning gorgeous," I whisper, blinking as sunlight streams through the window. Except he's not there.

I sit up, looking around. Sirius' half of the bed is empty and made, a cold cup of tea left on my bedside table with a note. I'll always love you is written in Sirius' scrawl of writing. Jumping up and out of bed, I rush through the door into the hall. Sirius' coat and shoes are gone.
"Lily!" I yell, my voice high.
A minute later she burst's through her bedroom door in her pyjamas. "Remus? What is it!"
"Sirius, he's not here. He left a note."
Lily's eyes widen. "Grab your shoes and coat, give me two minutes. He must have gone to the airport." She turns and run's back into her room, I run for mine. I grab a pair of jeans and a shirt and put them on. Grabbing some shoes, I run out and pull them on as Lily comes through the door, somehow looking immaculate considering she's had 1 minute.
"I have an idea!" she yells, pulling on her pumps. "Meet me downstairs."
I tie my lace and dart after her, slamming and locking the door. Coming down, I see Lily outside, standing against something.

"Why did you get my bike?"
"Well we're not going to walk are we. Get on and hurry up."
"I can't Lily, not since-"
"Remus, I know this was given to you by that complete bitch Marlene, but you're dream boyfriend is right now going to his doom. Get over yourself, man up, and get on the fucking bike."
I'm stunned, but obey, and straddle the bike. Lily clambers on to the back and grabs my waist; the last person to do that was Marlene. No, Not important. I hit the ignition and speed off down the road, Lily clambering on behind me.

Across the streets, down the lanes, we speed between cars. I guess fate is on our side, as all the lights go green before us.
"The airport, down that street!" Lily yells. I turn the corner, speeding down the road she indicates. We speed past a bewildered looking Minerva at the doors of Cosmos Coffee, across a cobbled street and back onto main roads. Another hundred metres and we're at the airport, speeding into the car park.

I skid to a halt, and quickly chain the bike as Lily takes her helmet off.
"Let's go!" I yell, running towards the entrance. I barge past the crowds of people and... now what? People swarm around us.
"What now?" I mutter.
"Look for his stupid hair."
"Stupid?"
"You know what I mean. Over there!" Lily yells, practically shoving aside a small child. I chase after her, overtake, and collide with Sirius.

"Remus? Lily? What are you doing here?"
I punch him. "What do you think you complete moron, we're stopping you from doing something stupid."
Sirius rights himself frantically. "Stupid, like saving a member of family? Is that stupid? The plan was never going to work, there was no way. I have to do this Remus."
I grab his face and kiss him, deeply. "Just trust me, it's the shittiest plan ever I know but it will work."
"Remus, you can't."
"Remus, Sirius, they're here." Lily interrupts, gesturing over to the approaching man with Andromeda.

"Ready Sirius?" his father asks.
"Where are your bodyguards?" I ask.
"Why do you wish to know?" he snaps at me.
"Idle curiosity."
"They're getting my bags loaded on. You best get yours on too Sirius."
"So they're not here?" I say. For the second time today, I floor a member of the Black family, and it's not even 12 am. "Andromeda, Sirius, Lily, run now." I yell, and dart for the entrance. Andromeda looks terrified but obliges, grabbing a stunned Sirius by the arm and pelting for the door. The crowd having heard the thunk of man falling on floor part before us, but no security comes and stops us.

Outside, I put Lily and Andromeda on my motorcycle. Giving Andromeda my helmet.
"You know the place Lily, you'll be safe Andromeda."
"Where will you and Sirius go?" she asks, looking terrified.
"We'll see you; we gotta lose these assholes first." Sirius says, motioning over to his father's hired muscle.

I taught Lily how to drive my cycle, and the two of them speed off, round a corner and are out of sight in just a few seconds.
"You ready?" I ask Sirius as I crack my knuckles.
"Always."
"You're not leaving me, not this time." I tell him. It's not a request, it's a command.
"If you talk like that to me some more, then yes sir." Sirius grins.
The two men are almost upon us when we charge. I take one, Sirius the other. Sirius' man falls back onto the ground, Sirius descending on him, a whirling dervish of punches. Mine staggers but pushes me back. Surprisingly expertly, I roll and end up back on my feet. I launch at him again, this time knocking him down. Sirius' has slumped, not moving, and Sirius kicks mine in the stomach winding him.
"Let's go." I say. Sirius nods, and the two of us run, leaving one unconscious, the other winded.

With quite a lead on them, we snake through the streets, changing directions every now and then just in case. We arrive at a door in a wall. I knock thrice, and the door unlocks.
"There you two are." Minerva says. "In, now."
Sirius and I enter into the back stockroom, Minerva locking the door behind us.
"Are they here?" Sirius asks.
"Not yet, I heard them zoom past, so I guess they're taking a detour."
"Shit." Sirius mutters.
"It's fine, I know Lily. She'd have had a reason."

We wait for about 15 minutes. The shop is technically open, so Minerva pops in and out of the backroom while the two of us stay in here.
"I don't understand all the secrecy, but you're safe here you know, so you can relax." she tells us, as she comes in holding two coffees.
"Thank you." Sirius says, "My father is a powerful man, with money, lots of money, he'll have eyes everywhere."
Just then, there are three knocks on the door. Minerva unbolts the bolts and turns the key. In come Lily and Andromeda. Sirius grabs Andromeda in a hug, and I grab Lily.
"Where did you go?" We ask.
"We had to hide your bike; there was a car I suspected following us."
"So long as you're here now." I say.

We stay in the back room for a few hours. Sirius spends most of the time on the phone to a cousin of his about Andromeda and organising her journey out of Edinburgh. When he finally puts the phone down.
"Remus, I need your bike. Andromeda, you're flying out of London Heathrow this afternoon, I've got to get you down there."
He then turns to me. "I'm coming back, I remember what you said last night, and I'm holding you to it." Then his lips meet mine, and my heart lifts. He grabs me in a hug after, and whispers in my ear. "I'll see you tonight, and then we're having a week in bed."
"I'll hold you to that." I tell him, laughing.
"Lily, Minerva, thank you so much."
"I'll lead you to the bike, then Remus, we can go home."
"What if he comes after us, or them while we're gone?" Andromeda asks, still looking frightened.
"They won't." Sirius says. "My father's not an idiot; he knows that we'll disappear and all emigrate probably, hence flying out of Glasgow. Now, let's go." He says.

An half hour later, Lily and I watch as they speed off and head for a motorway. This is going to be the longest wait of my life.

That Evening...

I was right.
"Any word?" Lily asks, stepping out the bathroom wrapped in a towel.
"No, nothing since he said Andromeda was safely in the air and he was driving back. His cousin Narcissa flew in and is on the plane with her to make sure she's safe. I think they're going to Brazil."
"So long as she's safe and you can get your piece of ass back, then we're all fine."
"I still haven't forgotten 'stupid hair' and he's more than that."
"Save it for the romance novels. Now, I've got some chocolate, popcorn and a copy of White Chicks, how about that for an evening?"
I turn to face her. "Sounds perfect."

I go to bed after the film. It feels empty without Sirius here, even though we were together for only one night. It's 1 am and I can't even sleep, all I can think about is whether or not he will get ba-
There's a knock on the door.
I rush out of my room, past a tired looking Lily who's emerged from hers and open the door.

There he stands, "I promised." he says, grinning cheekily.

Authors Note.

Okay I'm sorry this has been forever, but I've been busy. This is essentially the last chapter (of the first of a few arcs), except they'll be an epilogue, their week in bed, which I'll write when I can. I hope you enjoyed the journey, please fav if you haven't. Review too maybe :) . Fav me as an author maybe and check out some of my other stuff, and Have a good day.

Keep an eye out, as besides the Epilogue, this isn't the last you'll see of this

Thomas