Chasing The Stars | Marauders | Sirius Black

66 ~ It Flies

On the morning of the 3rd of November 1976, Eloise rose much earlier than usual. At precisely 6am she had tiptoed out of Sirius' bed and woken her brother in preparation for the day's celebrations, it being Sirius' 17th birthday. She shook James awake and he groaned, turning over and opening one eye,

"What do you want?" he grumbled and Eloise put a hand on my hip,

"It's almost as though you haven't been bugging me all week to see Padfoot's present." at her words James shot up, climbing out of bed and putting on a jumper and grabbing his invisibility cloak,

"Let's go."

Eloise led James out of the Common Room and down the corridors to the third floor, both of them crouching as to be covered fully by the cloak. The pair reached the familiar statue of the one-eyed witch and Eloise whispered 'Dissendium' causing the hump of the statue to open and allowing James and Eloise to slip inside. They down the passage, both of them having only taken a couple of apparation lessons, they had to travel on foot. After about an hour, they reached the end of the tunnel and James opened the trapdoor and climbed through, offering Eloise his hand and pulling her to stand in Honeydukes cellar. They climbed the stairs and were about to leave through the door when Eloise saw movement right next to her. She turned slightly to see James shovelling chocoballs into his pocket and she rolled her eyes, grabbing his hand and pulling him along, not letting him see the box of Peppermint Toads hidden under her shirt. The siblings walked along snowy Hogsmeade in a comfortable silence, not willing to take off the cloak in fear of being spotted. After about 10 minutes Eloise pulled them to a stop, they were stood in front of a shop that looked regularly new, the sign hung to the side, sparkling in the rising sun reading, 'Malova's Motors'.

James turned to look at his sister with a grin, knowing immediately what the gift was,

"Did you honestly get him a-"

"You'll see." she tapped his nose and opened the door, the sound of the bell alerting the worker who appeared from a room in the back,

"Ahh, Miss Potter, I suppose you hear to collect her?"

"That I am, Mr Malova." she said with a smile and the man gestured for her to go through a door to the left of them. As they walked into the room, James' jaw dropped in amazement. The room was enormous and was filled with motorbikes of every kind. The walls were made from a gleaming marble and a chandelier hung from the middle of the ceiling. As Eloise made a beeline for the back of the room, James engaged in conversation with Malova,

"So why are you selling muggle motorbikes in Hogsmeade?" he asked, observing the vehicle closest to him,

"Well you see, these aren't just muggle motorbikes." James turned to see Malova with a wide grin on his face, "I have charmed them to do a number of things, each of them having a different feature." James raised his eyebrows and heard Eloise's voice come from the back,

"Guess what the one I chose does, J." she called excitedly and he laughed,

"What does it do?" he asked and Eloise skipped over, wrapping an arm around her brother's shoulders- though with much difficulty seeing as he was six foot and she was only five foot six,

"It flies." she told him with an excited giggle and James' eyes widened,

"Padfoot is gonna love this."

~~~

Sirius began to wake up. His arm moved to the other side of his bed and his brow furrowed in confusion when he was met with an empty space instead of his girlfriend. He opened his eyes and sat up, blinking slightly as he looked around the room. Eloise was certainly gone, and James' bed was empty although Remus and Peter still remained asleep. He checked his watch and saw that it was 7:30am, 'What in Merlin's name is Lou doing up this early?' he thought to himself, but then he remembered what day it was. He smiled as he flopped back down onto his back. He was seventeen. He was of age. And as much as he didn't act like it, he was an adult.

~~~

Eloise and James returned to the dorm two hours after they had left, having transported the bike to sit somewhere on the grounds, awaiting the arrival of its new owner. Eloise was shivering slightly but a grin present on her face as James gushed about her gift,

"It's bloody brilliant, Belle, it's gonna make what I got him seem like utter horse shite!" she laughed and opened the door to the dorm, shushing her brother as she saw Peter still asleep. Remus walked out of the bathroom with his robes on and sent a sigh of relief their way,

"Finally!" he went over and kissed Eloise's cheeks, "Padfoot won't keep pestering me about opening his presents because I told him to wait until you two had got back." Eloise laughed,

"Where is the birthday boy?" she asked, looking around the dorm and Remus pointed to the door,

"I sent him to go and get us food and drinks from the kitchens." he said and James laughed loudly but Eloise gasped and smacked his arm, "Moony!" she said, putting her hands on her hips, "It's his birthday!"

"He wouldn't shut up!" Remus retaliated as the door opened, revealing a smiling Sirius, his arms laden with pastries and a pot of coffee,

"AHH YOU'RE HERE!" Eloise screeched, rushing over to him,

"Well I missed you to-" he stopped himself when he saw Eloise pick up the pot of coffee and sit on his bed. She looked up and saw his shocked and annoyed face,

"Oh sorry, did you think I was talking to you?" she asked with a smirk and he shook his head, setting the food down on floor,

"Bloody unbelievable." he muttered to himself, sitting down and biting a croissant, "My seventeenth birthday and my girlfriend is more excited to see a pot of fucking coffee." James and Remus shared a look and sat down, helping themselves to the plate of pain-au-chocolates. Eloise laughed and sat down in Sirius' lap, putting the coffee pot down and placing her hands on the back of his neck. He was still pouting so Eloise leant forward and pecked his lips,

"Happy birthday, love." she smiled and Sirius sighed,

"I'm only going to stop sulking because I have PRESENTS!" he sang the last part and Eloise got off his lap, walking to the present pile and placing them in front of him before walking over to wake Peter and sitting back down next to her boyfriend. Peter joined the group, rubbing his eyes and yawning as he reached for a pancake.