Motorcycles and Moonlight

It had been nearly eighteen years since Sirius had beheld the one true vision that captured his heart--his enchanted motorcycle. Hagrid had ridden it on occasion, and had taken meticulous care of it; but after Dumbledore believed Sirius innocent, the bike had been placed in the Black vaults at Gringotts.

After Harry had defeated Voldemort, Fudge was removed from his position as Minister of Magic and was replaced by a very levelheaded man by the name of Alastair Delaney. It was then that Sirius Black was exonerated of all charges and finally became a free man.

There was a big party happening at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Everyone was there; Harry, Ron and Hermione, Remus, all the other Weasleys, Tonks, Moody, Dumbledore and Minerva, other Order members, even Snape made an appearance. No one really noticed when Sirius had slipped out of his own party; which was strange in the sense that he had been rather boisterous most of the night.

There she sat; moonlight glistening off her high polished chrome and highlighting the rich leather. Gringotts had delivered it, so he hadn't even gotten to ride it yet. But he could remember. He could remember the intoxicating roar it made when he would rev it up; the soft purr it would hum just for him as they became one and flew off into the sky; the sensation of being truly free as the wind wound its fingers through his hair and put a blush to his cheeks.

A soft, agonized moan escaped him as he sat on the front steps of his childhood home, his roughened hands raking through his long black mane in irritation.

"Everything all right there, Sirius?" Ginny asked as she approached him cautiously.

He looked up, his cheerful mask carefully put back in place. "Well, Miss Weasley, what in the name of Merlin are you doing out here?"

"Think I'm going to go home," she replied with a tired smile.

"Go home?" Sirius laughed. "The night's still young! Bloody hell, someone your age should be getting thoroughly pissed and having an excellent time."

"You're probably right," she answered, the smile slowly fading from her face. "But I don't have a very high tolerance of firewhiskey, and have outgrown my liking of butter beer, so I don't find the process of getting thoroughly pissed very enjoyable. And that's not to mention that I usually end up sleeping in the loo. But why are you out here? This is your party, after all."

Sirius just waved his hand in the direction of his pride and joy. "Gringotts delivered it today," he beamed boyishly.

His roguish smile made her laugh, even though she was hardly in the mood to enjoy herself. She walked around it, examining it from every angle. She had inherited her father's innate love of all things Muggle, and this bike was no exception. "Are you going to take it for a spin?"

A surprised look flitted across his face, almost as though he hadn't really thought about it. His look of shock soon gave way to a sheepish grin. "Wanna come?"

Ginny stepped back, shaking her hands at him. "No!"

"Why not?" he asked innocently as he unfolded off the step. "It's great fun!"

"I don't think so," she answered, her eyes wide with trepidation.

"Come on," Sirius insisted, grabbing her hands. "I'll take you home. I would never let anything happen to you, you know that, right?"

Ginny, while she liked to admire it from afar, was mortified of the Muggle contraption in front of her, and the thought of riding it with Sirius wasn't very comforting, either.

"Oh, come on," he pleaded, his face looking every inch a young boy about to get into large amounts of trouble.

Ginny rolled her eyes in disbelief about what she was about to do. "Oh, all right," she sighed.

Sirius practically leapt to the bike and hopped on. He handed her a helmet before his hand rested on the key. He eyed it carefully before priming the bike and turning it. The bike started like he had ridden it just yesterday. He flashed her a cheeky grin as he helped her into the seat behind him.

Although he had given Ginny a helmet, he didn't wear one himself. His long black hair flew like a flag behind him. She could easily see why he found this mode of transportation exhilarating.

They were still traveling the streets of London as Sirius began to pick up speed. Sirius realized he hadn't been paying very close attention to the youngest Weasley, as he was surprised when he felt her soft breasts press firmly into his back. He found her face was soon buried into his shoulder, and her hands tightly wrapped around his waist; he certainly wasn't going to complain.

Using her obvious discomfort and position as an excuse, Ginny took the opportunity sitting behind Sirius to revel a little in one of her girlish fantasies. She was eighteen, she felt entitled, if only a little bit. Having him placed firmly between her legs, as raunchy as that sounded, was certainly opportunity enough for her. She slowly snaked her arms around his waist and held on tightly while burying her face into his neck, allowing his billowing hair to tantalize her freckled features.

'Oh, God,' she thought, 'he smells just as I thought he would.' He smelled slightly of musk and wind, if that was possible. Like a light breeze on a hot summer day, the way her bed sheets smelled after hanging on the line all day.

She practically moaned aloud before realizing what she was about to do. 'That would be bad, Ginny,' she reprimanded herself, sitting up just a little. She was surprised when Sirius then leaned back into her, as if missing the contact.

"Are you ready?" he hollered over the sound of the bike.

"Ready for what?" she asked naively.

"To fly, my dear, to fly."

She had forgotten the bike was enchanted. Bloody hell. "Er...couldn't we just stick to the ground for tonight?"

"Not a chance," Sirius grinned with a glint in his eye. "Hang on!"

Within moments, they were traveling above the streets of London. If Sirius thought Ginny held on tightly before, he hadn't felt anything yet. She squealed softly, perhaps in surprise, but he assumed fear as she practically cut him in two with her arms.

"Gin, love," Sirius tried to say, "I need to breathe."

"Oh, right," she said. If he had been facing her, he would have seen the crimson blush that washed over her cheeks as she loosened her grip slightly.

She soon relaxed and began to enjoy the view, not to mention the fact that for once, it was just she and Sirius. Not that she thought anything would ever come of it; but all too often she had been overshadowed by Harry, Ron, and Hermione. This was something only she was sharing with him--his first ride on his motorbike since that fateful night eighteen years ago when one of his best friends had been betrayed.

They soon flew right by Big Ben, but thankfully had gotten far enough away before it began to toll. Ginny swore she still felt the vibrations from each chime; of which she counted twelve, midnight.

"Where to?" Sirius finally asked, looking as if twenty years had been removed from him. "Unless you still live at the Burrow, I'm afraid I have no idea where you live."

Since Ginny graduated in June, she and several of her friends had moved into a flat on the other side of London. Her parents thought she only shared it with Luna Lovegood, whose family had been neighbors of theirs. Truth be told, Ginny also lived with Neville Longbottom and Colin Creevey. Not that there was anything going on between any of them, it was the only way they could afford it.

"No," Ginny finally answered. "I don't still live at the Burrow." She had no idea who would be home, and didn't know if she could trust Sirius enough to not mention to her parents or Harry who she lived with.

Sirius felt Ginny's body tense behind him when he asked her where she lived, and thought it odd that it took her so long to answer. "I can't take you home if I don't know where you live."

Ginny knew she hesitated longer than she should have to answer. "You know, you don't have to take me home. We can just go back to the party and I can Apparate from there."

Surprisingly, Sirius didn't say anything else about it, but soon they were landing on a grassy knoll outside of town. Sirius got off the bike first and offered Ginny a hand after she had removed the helmet. He watched her 'a bit too closely,' he thought, as she stretched and unfolded off the bike.

"What did you think?" he grinned proudly.

"Once I got used to it," she smiled, "it was a lot of fun. Where are we, anyway?"

Sirius looked around, almost remorsefully. "Really want to know?" he asked. She shook her head yes before he continued. "This is where I would come when I was a kid. The house is over that way." He waved his hand absently in a north-westwardly direction. "There's a tunnel, just over there, and if things were particularly bad at home, I'd sleep there. Well, before I moved in with the Potters when I was sixteen, that is."

She couldn't fathom why he was sharing this with her, but she sat on the grassy knoll, knees drawn up to her chest, and listened as he recounted how it was to live in the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. When he had finished, he was laying on his back on the ground next to Ginny, propped up on his elbows.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Ginny finally asked, "Why did you just tell me all of that?"

Sirius grinned, that playful, devilishly handsome grin of his. "So maybe you'd tell me why you refuse to tell me where you live? Bloody hell, Gin, I lived in Azkaban, nothing could be worse than that, love."

Ginny smiled, caught in her own web of deception. "I have roommates."

"So?"

"My parents only know about one of them."

The expression that washed over Sirius' face when realization hit him was absolutely priceless. He would have never thought it of the youngest Weasley. "You live with your boyfriend?" he asked with a scathing smile.

"NO!" Ginny laughed. "Oh Merlin, NO! But they are guys. Although I somewhat suspect they find each other more attractive than they would me."

Sirius laughed at her confession. "And you were afraid I'd tell? Ginny, really now."

"Well, honestly, how well do I really know you?" she pointed out.

"You trusted me enough to get on the back of that bike," he laughed as he rolled over onto one elbow, facing her. "But why is that? Why don't we know each other that well? I've known you since you were, what, fourteen?"

"Yeah, something like that," she sighed.

This time it was Ginny in the moonlight that caught his full attention. Its soft light gently illuminated her milky skin, and danced in eyes the color of mahogany. She had grown up pleasantly enough, he figured. She was a bit on the slender side for his tastes, but she wasn't a stick either. She wore her red hair long, and it reminded him of a tarnished sunset, vibrant, yet not shockingly so.

It was her eyes that bothered him the most, though. They looked haunted, and he should know, he had seen that same look reflected in the mirror for the last five years. He wondered why a girl so young and seemingly alive had such old and haunted eyes.

He reached up and gently tucked a rouge strand of hair behind her ear. "What secrets could your eyes possibly hold to make them look so troubled?" he whispered softly.

She had shuddered inwardly at his touch. "Are you joking?" She eyed him carefully. She knew he wasn't by the look of confusion on his face. "You haven't heard about my first year? The Chamber of Secrets?"

"Well, I've heard about the Chamber, but what does that have to do with you?"

"Bloody hell," she laughed cynically, "you really don't know. I can't believe no one ever told you."

Sirius sat up next to her, sensing that he wasn't going to like what she was about to say.

"I was the one, Sirius," she whispered, bowing her head towards her knees, and trying to hide the tears that were starting to well up in her eyes. She hadn't recounted the tale in many years, yet it lay as fresh in her mind as if it were yesterday.

"You were the one that what?" he asked, encouraging her to continue.

"Opened the Chamber." She could no longer repress the tears and they now streamed down her cheeks, leaving glistening trails in their wake. "I wrote in a diary, an enchanted diary...the diary of Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"Who's Tom Riddle?"

"Lord Voldemort," she answered, finally chancing a look at him. "I was possessed by Lord Voldemort when I was eleven bloody years old. I opened the Chamber of Secrets, and nearly got everyone killed."

Sirius had heard stories about the Chamber, but never anything about an enchanted diary or Ginny Weasley being possessed by Voldemort; and the thought sickened him now. He felt murderous, and was ready to face life in Azkaban once again for it. Thankfully, her soft sob brought him out of his brooding.

This was unfamiliar ground for Sirius. He had spent much of his youth at Hogwarts fending off any type of relationship beyond a good snogging and an occasional escort into Hogsmead; spent most of his adult life in Azkaban, then subsequently in hiding. Finally, he placed a reluctant arm around her shoulder.

She initially bristled under the contact, trying hard to keep her emotions in check. She hadn't anticipated that recounting the story to Sirius Black would be so hard; although she figured her emotional reaction was partly due to her current mood and the childhood memories he had just shared with her. She soon melded into his shoulder and allowed herself the emotional release she tried so desperately to avoid.

He found comfort in holding her, as if not quite so emotionally detached and broken himself. Anger always seemed to be his prominent emotion, and even he knew that wasn't healthy. The years spent with the Dementors had certainly taken their toll. Sirius found himself stroking her silky red hair and whispering things like, 'It will be all right', and 'Let it all out'. He briefly wondered where he had learned such things; as it certainly hadn't been from his family.

"I had no idea," he finally uttered when her sobs and faint cries seem to abate. "I'm so sorry."

Ginny sat up and hastily swiped at her face with the sleeve of her jumper. "I thought you knew," was all she could whisper.

Sirius laughed. His laugh still reminded her of the shaggy black dog that he often was, almost bark like. "If I had known, Voldemort would have been dead long ago."

Ginny felt that was perhaps the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her, and subsequently leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on his unshaven cheek.

Feeling that the situation was nearing an uncomfortable point, Sirius stood quickly. With a smoldering smirk he offered Ginny his hands. "So where to now?"

She accepted the proffered hands with a slight giggle. She wanted to savor her brief moment with Sirius as long as she could make it last; she didn't think she would ever have the opportunity again. "I like moonlit strolls on the beach," she offered, a slight flirtatious innuendo in her voice.

"To the beach it is," he announced playfully. He once again offered her the helmet, but this time she declined. His only response was a quirk of an eyebrow before they were off once again.