The Journey Cycle pt 1: Europe *pt 1 now complete*

Wow, some great reviews since last posting! A big hug to auntbecky, TheQuiveringQuill and Dominique for your lovely comments - a few notes on them, if I may: -

- babies: - won't happen 'til novel 3 or 4 but they do happen - :D

- past lovers: - as one ages, one naturally incorporates the past into the present without rancour or jealousy - it just happens.

- Severus relaxed: - it has been many years since the Voldemort War and folk are no longer at that peak of battle-readiness. Severus has already made one mistake, taking Harry to the Wizarding district of Florence (ch.9).

Anyway, for such great comments, you all get 3 chapters today - that, and I cannot resist leaving you on a cliffie!!

As always, please r + r - I love to receive reviews.

Enjoy! The Squig xxx

11

There was a good two to three days hard driving before them, over five hundred kilometres lay between themselves and Venice but they had six days to go before they were due at their accommodation so they decided to meander about as the mood took them, and as it happened, it wasn’t long before the mood did take them. After the stresses of staying at the Villa Zabini, they kept exchanging lust-filled glances until Harry could take no more and pulled off the road into a wooded lay-by, killed the engine and launched himself at his randy lover landing in his lap. As a precaution he lowered the blinds over the windscreen and the two windows in the doors before taking his lover’s face in his hands and kissing him senseless. He could feel Severus’ erection digging into his hip and moaned into the intense kisses, his own ardour making him wriggle to adjust himself until Severus undid his jeans and freed him, pumping with one hand as Harry made small throaty sounds into his mouth as they kissed.

He pulled away and stood, lowering his jeans and underpants, shrugging them off then straddled his lover pressing the hard-on in Severus’ pants with his own while they kissed fiercely again. He stood again and undid his lover’s pants, pushing them and the underwear past the man’s knees before straddling the man again, their naked cocks touching and rubbing together, both making needy noises as they kissed ferociously, “I want to take you right here”, Harry whispered, his urgency plain as Severus laughed pushing his hands beneath Harry’s tee shirt feeling his nipples stiffen with his want. Harry spelled a lubrication charm over them both then sat hard on his lover’s cock feeling himself filled as he lowered himself to Severus’ lap until Severus was balls-deep inside him, rising and falling on that thick length that he loved so much. They kissed with feral intensity as Harry rose and fell in his man’s lap, tearing the buttons on Severus’ shirt to feel his cock rub skin, their tongues doing battle in each other’s mouths as the need built. Severus lifted the thin t-shirt over Harry’s head and toyed with him as he bounced in his lap causing both to moan. Harry drew his tongue away far enough to look into his man’s face as he was fucked, saw the want, the naked need and threw his head back before coming in hot thick stripes over Severus’ belly as a deep guttural sound escaped Severus’ mouth as he held on tight, thrust up to the hilt and filled his beloved with his own thick strands of seed on the final downstroke, holding tight and murmuring sweet obscenities as he emptied himself into the man with his wanton legs spread open across his thighs.

They kissed and touched foreheads as their breaths calmed and regularised from pants to something like normal although both were flushed and laughing. “Bloody hell, Sev”, Harry whispered as he leaned on Severus’ shoulder, licking his ear wetly. Severus in turn was still trembling from the force of his orgasm as he held Harry tight, his hot breath dampening Harry’s chest and shoulder as he felt the sated smile spread over his face, “Fuck. I needed that. I need you, my Harry, my own”, muttered between gasps as they kissed and stroked each other’s sweaty bodies. Harry chuckled, “We never made it to bed again”. Severus sniggered, “You always said that bed sex is over rated”. They held each other and silently agreed.

Eventually Harry felt a cramp building in his thighs and had to stand. He spelled a cleaning charm over them both before pulling Severus out of the passenger seat, closing the main side window curtains and leading his man to bed for a nap. “Hold me tight, love. Hold me while I sleep properly”, he whispered and Severus, spent and happy was only too willing to oblige him as they sank into a sated heap and slept until the late afternoon.

Much later, Harry felt himself being kissed then sucked awake, his sleepy eyes widening as he felt his body jerk and his cock ejaculate into the wet warmth of Severus’ mouth, barely attaining consciousness before he felt sleep overcome him as he was wrapped up in warm arms again and found the peace and comfort he needed as he succumbed to deep sleep once more.

It was late at night before he awoke again, the smells of cooking permeating his dreams of a wet mouth and smouldering black eyes. He yawned and stretched his aching body then turned, grinning sleepily at the man at the range flipping something in a frying pan on the cooker. He shook himself dog-like and allowed consciousness all the way in and sat up rubbing his eyes and looking for his glasses. “What time is it, love?”, he enquired to be told that it was after ten o’clock in the evening and that he had slept the entire afternoon away. He was still blinking blearily as a plate was thrust in front of him containing a fragrant and light mushroom omelette which he devoured sat up in bed, his lover sinking to the mattress beside him with his own plate and fork. They ate in a companionable silence broken only by the sound of metal on china until the food was all gone and Harry yawned again. Severus collected the plates and tidied up as Harry let the sounds of washing up lull him back to sleep. A few moments later he was aware of a warm body pressing around him spoon-style, arms around him and lips murmuring love into his ear before the world receded once more and he slept the sleep of the sated and fed.

Around two in the morning and Harry was wide awake and energised. He felt a hard-on against his hip and bent to it sucking his beloved in his sleep until he came with a series of soft grunts, never waking. Then Harry rose and dressed, reaching behind the bed and withdrawing two restraining belts very like seat belts and fastening them around his lover. He murmured, “So we’re road legal, sweetheart” as they clicked home. He made his way to the driver’s seat, making sure that the remains of dinner were battened down. He plucked a pear from the fruit that the Zabinis had given them and placed it on the dash along with a bottle of cold water from the fridge. He cast a look at his sleeping lover then sparked the engine and drove off into the night, Severus not stirring as he drove.

He’d set up a gentle classical soundtrack to play over the front two speakers as he drove and set off, his lover sweetly asleep in their bed, feeling more alive than he had felt for years as he pulled out of the lay-by and hit the now empty A-road and headed north sipping water and munching pear as he motored along. They would cover a good few miles that night, the air in the van redolent of sleep and sweaty sex. He glanced at the passenger seat and saw the dried evidence of their passionate encounter of earlier on staining the pale blue leather that the cleansing charm had missed and laughed softly to himself. This was travelling. This was living. He set off humming tunes into the night.

The dawn was well risen before he pulled off the road again and stilled Bessie’s engine. He didn’t want to deal with the rush hour so determined to miss it by dint of sleeping through it. He went for a piss and, shrugging off his clothes, he undid the seatbelts from across his lover which the man hadn’t even noticed before climbing into bed and nestling in, the curtains drawn and the doors locked. The engine was still ticking and cooling as his eyes closed and he slept along with the love of his life held tight by the arm flung around him, a slight smile on his lips.

He awoke sometime the next morning with the sound of rustling paper to one side of him, cautiously opening one eye to see Severus sat up beside him reading through various bits of printouts that they had made earlier. He took in his lover’s profile silhouetted against the light from the rear windows, his small reading glasses perched on his nose, the familiar frown in place when Severus was deep in concentration and just gazed surreptitiously for a while enjoying the view from under his lashes.

He moaned sleepily and turned towards Severus flinging a casual arm around his middle over the sheaves of paper that his man was perusing. Severus sighed and rescued them from creasing laying his glasses atop them and leaned down to give Harry a kiss on the cheek, “Morning, Harry. By gods, you slept long enough”. Harry blinked his eyes open and made a show of rubbing them and rolling around onto his back where his rather obvious erection tented the bedding, “H’lo, you. Have you looked outside yet?” Severus shook his head, “Not yet, I was re-reading this stuff on de Santos’ bloodlines, it’s fascinating. Why, should I have?” Harry sniggered, “If you had, you would realise that we are not in the same place that you fell asleep last night”.

Severus knelt up in bed and peered through the rear window, “Oh, I recall more woods than this. Where are we?” Harry chuckled, “I was wide awake in the middle of the night and drove us further up the coast. We’re about halfway between Ancona and Rimini to be more precise. I felt like doing some night driving and you were fast asleep, the roads were empty, so I put some music on and drove for about four hours, so I haven’t slept for hours and hours at all”. He pulled Severus down to him and kissed him properly. As they surfaced, Severus murmured, “Didn’t hear or feel a thing though I had a delightful dream where you sucked me off at one point”. Harry laughed outright, “Wasn’t a dream”, he giggled, “I did just that, then strapped you in and drove. I like night driving but I stopped before whatever passes for the rush-hour around here and came back to bed. It was great. I had the moon to light my way”.

He was silenced by more kissing until he moaned as Severus rolled onto him and they enjoyed a lazy mid-morning fuck that took excellent care of the hard-on that he had awoken with. Stretching, they both rose and Severus set about his usual task of preparing breakfast while Harry freshened up and dressed. After they had eaten, Severus had his own shower, pulling on clean clothes. They may not have stayed in the Villa Zabini itself but they had made full use of the laundry facilities whilst there and each had clean attire again.

They set off again in the late morning stopping at small towns along the coast to admire the scenery and look around enjoying a late lunch of fresh fish in one of the minute lido towns just south of Ravenna before dipping inland again to Bologna where they found a mid-priced pensione to stay in for a couple of days. This ancient university town teemed with young folk getting ready for another year at college. Severus was delighted with the plethora of bookshops and spent many a happy hour scouring them while Harry loved the ambience of this laid-back place sitting outside cafes and just soaking up the atmosphere watching the world wag past. They both explored the town together and partook of the excellent cuisine by day and the lively bar scene by night finding a sweet little gay bar tucked away down a side street where they were made welcome, the ex-pat English owner delighted to be speaking his native tongue as not many of his ex-countryfolk found their way to such an out of the way location usually just sticking to the tourist spots but the man, a Steve Martin, was delighted to recommend sights for them to see a bit off the beaten track.

Their last night in Ravenna, they were sat in Steve’s bar when they struck up conversation with a couple of French lesbians who spoke perfect, if accented, English and who they discovered were on their way to Venice and Harry asked them how they were travelling. Monique, the younger of the two stuck up her thumb, “We are, how you say, ‘itch-‘iking”, and Harry offered them a lift on the spot. Severus chivalrously said that he hated to think that two young ladies should be at the mercy of random drivers and they accepted with thanks and they made a rather pissed arrangement to meet up again on the morrow.

Sure enough, the two women were waiting for them as arranged, heavy rucksacks on their backs and were welcomed aboard Bessie where Harry had pulled out the sofa into the middle of her, bolting it down and revealing the seatbelts that made her EU road-compliant, settling his passengers in. Monique’s partner, an older butch called Fabienne did the honours with the map-reading and off they all went, Fabienne in the passenger seat while Severus was on the sofa beside Monique. Harry was delighted, this was the first time they had actually carried passengers and the four exchanged lively stories of their travels so far.

Monique and Fabienne were on their way home after spending over a year on the road and had many a colourful tale to tell which kept the two men entertained. Harry was cautious even while reading no malice from the two women and he maintained the fiction that he and Severus were two impoverished travellers who could just afford to travel in a vehicle. It didn’t do to become too close to people that they didn’t know but the two ladies were excellent company and were in no mind to rob them or anything. Monique laughed at the postcards that Severus had tacked up particularly the David with ‘Harry’ written across it. “”So, ‘arry, zis is what you are like under the clothes, n’est ce pas?” and their driver laughed and blushed, “No, but Severus seems to think so”, he grinned into the rear-view mirror, but the other three made risque jokes about Harry’s physique that Harry took in good part casting his beloved the occasional smouldering look via the mirror. Harry tired around Rovigo and Monique, showing her International Driving Licence, took over the driving for awhile with Severus up front with her and Harry drowsed on the sofa beside Fabienne. They reached the outskirts of Venice after nightfall and they dropped the two women off, having skirted the rather boring looking Padua in favour of heading straight there. The ladies thanked them profusely and wished them both godspeed as they parted.

They still had a night before they were due to report at their apartment so they made for a campsite that Steve had recommended and spent a night there. Severus gathered Harry into his arms chuckling over their adventures, “So this is travel, Mr Potter? I love it and you more and more as each day passes”. Harry blushed and sank into the kisses, “We’ve been lucky so far”. Severus shook his head, “No, I did a little cautious Legilimency on those two before you let them aboard, there was no ill-feeling from either of them and they were glad of the lift. They bore us no ill-will. In fact they felt safe with us. Although they told their funny tales, they have endured some not-so-nice experiences. I read them both and they had been treated badly by an Italian salesman type while they were in Sicily who wanted a go at Monique. I guess that hitch-hiking is a bit of a riskier way to travel than the way we are doing it”. Harry nodded, “Yeah, hitching can be very dodgy, especially for women, though Legilimency is a useful skill for sussing out potential passengers. I’m glad though that we can offer lifts from time to time, it’s part of the experience and Bessie is equipped to carry two more after all”.

The campsite was noisier than they were used to and they ended up sited next to a bunch of Austrian students who made quite a bit of noise. They could have complained but instead ended up joining the group of six laughing and drinking and singing beside an open fire set in one of the open fire-pits ranged around the site. One of the boys had a guitar and they were further entertained with various folk songs around the cosy little fire, crashing cold cans of beer that made the students welcome them fervently despite the fact that Harry was at least twice their age. They also contributed generously of the remains of the produce that the Zabinis had furnished them with and were fed by them enjoying the rudimentary stew type meal cooked by two of the girls. The party had decent enough English and between that and Harry’s excellent command of German, they had a cracking evening, Harry explaining that they were a couple of aging poufs from England, which bothered the small party not one jot even when they cuddled up around the little fire.

They retired a bit earlier than the students and Severus took Harry into his arms in bed that night, “This is it, isn’t it, love? This is what you wanted from travel? Meeting random people from all over, hearing their stories. This isn’t about the tourist beat for you is it?” Harry chuckled and shook his head, “Nope. The tourist thing is okay as far as it goes but this is travelling. Nothing slightly to do with tourists. It’s quite possible that the folks we meet will be quite a bit younger than us, but you don’t mind that, do you?” Severus smiled and shook his head, “Not a bit of it. I’d rather do it this way than follow some dry itinerary from some book or have some chirpy tour guide marshalling us onto coaches like we’ve seen elsewhere. I understand now what you mean about the difference between tourism and travel. Count me in, darling. I want to be a traveller”. Harry sighed, “Love it when you call me that”. Severus quirked a brow and Harry biffed him lightly, “Don’t play the innocent with me, Sev. I love it when you use endearments. That’s precisely the third time you have called me ‘darling’. Don’t stop. You can be as mushy as you like with me and I will lap it up”. Severus tightened his arms around his Harry, “So what!! You’ve called me ‘sweetheart’ at least as many times”. Harry laughed, “Counting are we?” Severus just nodded, “No more than you are, idiot”, he growled as they headed towards sleep, the sound of the guitar on the edge of their hearing.

Deep in the night, Harry was awoken by his lover burrowing into his side making small scared noises and heard the familiar sounds of thunder in the distance. He wrapped Severus as tight as he could in his arms and they rode out the storm snug in Bessie and their now familiar bed, Harry feeling all protective towards his lover as he held him as the surge of the storm passed several miles away, not even bursting overhead. Harry, yawning, held his man as the worst of it passed over and they eventually slept again to the sound of rain hammering on Bessie’s roof.