Heat, Light and the Properties of Plants

Chapter 14 Wizard Photography

Harry stood outside a small building in Knockturn Alley, looking from the parchment in his hand to the sign above him.

\"Quercus Studios,\" he murmured. \"This must be it.\" However, the studios were shuttered, chained and padlocked. Had he made the journey for nothing?

\"Looking for me, dear?\" a voice enquired brightly.

Harry looked round. He saw a short, slim, fair-haired wizard smiling at him coyly.

\"Hello, I\'m Quercus. Did you require my services?\"

\"Oh - yes,\" said Harry, feeling uncomfortable. Now it came to the point, he wasn\'t sure he wanted to go through with this after all, even for Severus Snape.

But the small wizard gave him no time to change his mind; quickly undoing the padlock with a flick of his wand, he hustled Harry inside.

\"And what can I do for you, dear?\" he asked Harry, taking up an expectant pose behind a small counter.

\"Oh - I\'d like my picture taken, it\'s for a special friend -\"

Quercus rolled his eyes. \"What sort of photo, dear? Special gear, nude ... ?\"

\"Oh, not nude,\" interrupted Harry, blushing and feeling more embarrassed than ever. \"I\'ve got this pair of briefs he likes,\" he muttered finally. \"I thought you could photograph me in those?\"

\"Ooh yes, that\'d be very tasteful. Have you got them with you, dear?\"

\"I\'m wearing them now,\" confessed Harry, tugging down his jeans slightly to give Quercus a glimpse.

\"And what sort of pose were you thinking of? Bondage, self-abuse, toys ...\"

Harry hastily pulled his jeans back up. \"I don\'t understand what you mean.\"

Quercus sighed pointedly. \"Have a look at some poses, love,\" he said and produced a book of glossy wizard photographs from under the counter. Harry leafed through it and blushed.

\"Here, this one looks a bit like you, very popular,\" said Quercus brightly and handed over another book.

The youth staring provocatively up at them certainly looked a little like Harry after Tonks had been to work on him - and he was wearing a pair of black silk briefs very similar to Harry\'s.

In the first photograph he was sideways on, straddling a chair and squeezing his cock through the briefs until it hardened. Then he flung his head back, his full, pouting lips opening in an \'o\' of pleasure. A damp stain spread across the front of his briefs.

In the second he faced the camera, one hand splayed across his chest playing with his own nipples, his other hand poised just above the tip of his cock which peeped coyly out from the top of the low-cut briefs.

Harry turned a page. In the next photo the boy was bending over, his back to the camera, scowling petulantly over his shoulder. What looked like a large cactus jutted out from between his buttocks. As Harry watched, the boy clenched his arse and wiggled the cactus suggestively. Harry winced.

The next picture showed the boy looking down in mock shame as he pulled his erect cock out of his briefs and began slowly stroking it.

Harry gasped. If Snape had seen pictures like these - which was highly likely (shit, he\'d probably fucked the model, too) - no wonder seeing Harry in his black briefs had reminded him of his murky past...

\"Erm, no thanks,\" Harry told Quercus, averting his eyes from the small figure in the photograph, which was now wanking energetically. \"I\'ll just be sitting still. No fancy stuff.\"

\"Oooh, rather boring for your friend, ducky. Wouldn\'t he like your piccy to do a naughty little striptease dance just for him - on his birthday, f\'rinstance? You needn\'t even actually take your briefs off when I take the photograph - I could easily put a spell on it to do that.\"

Harry was sure that Snape would love it, but was startled to realise that he didn\'t know when his birthday was. January, was it, or February? \"Some other time,\" he said firmly. \"This\'ll do fine for now.\"

\"Maybe just a teeny spell - to cheer him up when he\'s at his lowest?\"

\"Oh, okay,\" Harry agreed reluctantly.

Quercus nodded, satisfied. \"I\'ve a feeling he\'s going to need it...\" he murmured to himself, ushering Harry into a private room at the back of the studio.

***************************

In the kitchen at Number twelve, Grimmauld Place Ron had enchanted half a dozen kitchen knives, which were busily chopping up various vegetables and pieces of meat for a stew. Ron was poring over a gravy-stained cookery book which his mother had lent him.

\"That looks like fun!\" exclaimed Remus, walking into the kitchen.

\"Hi, Remus,\" said Ron, his eyes still on the cookery book. \"Any luck?\"

\"Afraid not,\" replied Remus. \"I asked around in Knockturn Alley and Diagon Alley. Nobody\'s heard of this Death Eaters\' hangout - or they\'re not admitting it, anyway.\"

\"Oh well, maybe Hermione or Tonks will have more joy,\" said Ron abstractedly. He leafed through the book, looking perplexed.

\"Is that knife supposed to be doing that?\" Remus enquired.

\"Oh bugger!\" exclaimed Ron, seizing the wayward knife, which had abandoned its pile of potatoes and was energetically chopping its way through the kitchen table.

***************************

Harry sat in the back room at Quercus Studios, feeling acutely uncomfortable. The blond wizard seemed to sense his distress.

\"Cheer up, dear, nothing to it. Like a little drinkie to calm your nerves?\" He bustled over to a small cupboard and produced a squat green bottle and a couple of glasses.

\"Oh, I don\'t know -\" Harry was sure there were warnings about accepting drinks from strange wizards in shady dives in Knockturn Alley...

\"It\'s all right, dear, it\'s not spiked or anything,\" Quercus twinkled at him. He filled both glasses then held them out.
\"Here, choose your poison; I\'ll drink the other.\"

Harry, feeling it would be ungracious to refuse, took a glass with a mumbled \"thanks\" and gulped. The drink was fiery, searing his throat and warming his stomach. He had to admit he felt much more relaxed, though.

Quercus sipped his own drink, and smiled at him. \"If you\'d like to pop behind that screen and get ready, dearie, I\'ll get the camera set up.\"

Harry finished his drink and walked behind the screen. He was glad that Quercus wouldn\'t be watching him take his clothes off. He quickly undressed down to his briefs and piled his clothes up on a chair.

\"Ready, ducky?\" Quercus called from the other side of the screen.

\"Yeah,\" mumbled Harry and walked slowly round the screen, shoulders hunched, staring at the floor.

\"Lovely, ducky,\" Quercus said. \"Let\'s just try a few poses, shall we?\"

He darted forward, and with quick, professional movements, arranged Harry\'s limbs to his satisfaction. \"Perfect!\" he exclaimed, and scuttled back behind the camera.

The photographic session passed in a blur to Harry; Quercus operated the wizard camera, occasionally calling out instructions and sometimes coming round to rearrange Harry\'s pose to his satisfaction.

But true to his word, he didn\'t insist on Harry taking off his briefs, and his manner remained purely professional - for which Harry was profoundly grateful.

\"There we are!\" Quercus said at last. \"All done. I\'m sure I\'ve got enough to work with here. You can put your clothes back on, ducky.\"

When Harry came back from dressing, he asked Quercus how long the processing would take.

\"Ooh, a little while, ducky. I\'ve got the spell to perform and everything. Can you come back this afternoon?\"

\"Sure,\" Harry said. \"I need to get some money from Gringotts while I\'m here anyway. And I might as well have lunch at the Leaky Cauldron.\"

***************************

Ron had got his stew bubbling away on the stove, and he and Remus settled down to a game of wizard chess on the kitchen table.

A moment later Hermione Apparated into the kitchen, a thick book tucked under her arm.

\"Hello!\" she greeted them. \"I managed to find - good grief, Ron, what\'s that smell?\"

Ron gave a shout of dismay and rushed over to the stove, where the stew had started to burn.

\"I don\'t understand,\" he grumbled, rolling his eyes. \"This always works when my Mum does it.\"

He waved his wand at the saucepan and shouted \"Deflammare!\"

The flames died down and the stew subsided into a seething, rather sullen looking mass.

\"Are you expecting us to eat that, Ron?\" asked Hermione.

\"Don\'t worry, it\'ll be fine,\" Ron said airily. \"Anyway, \'Mione, what\'s that book you\'ve got there?\"

Hermione held out the book for Ron and Remus to see. \"It\'s called Secret Wizard Pubs of Britain and Northern Europe ... but it\'s hopeless, there are hundreds of them, we need more information... \"

***************************

After a pleasant lunch at the Leaky Cauldron Harry headed back to Knockturn Alley. Although he had had to fend off old Tom\'s enquiries about his \'lucky young lady\'. Still, he\'d had a good meal. And collected a fair amount of galleons and sickles from his vault at Gringotts. Now for that photograph...

Quercus was leaning on his shop counter, idly leafing through one of his own albums.

\"Is the photo ready?\" asked Harry.

\"Nearly,\" said Quercus. \"I just need to finish the spell ... you know, to make it work properly, I really need to know the name of your friend?\"

Harry looked down. \"Severus Snape,\" he mumbled.

\"Oooh, lucky you!\" exclaimed Quercus. He leaned forward over his counter and asked confidentially \"Tell me, ducky, is it true what they say about Severus Snape?\"

\"Er - how do you mean?\" Harry asked cautiously.

\"Does he really have ...\" Quercus dropped his voice to a confidential undertone \"... a tattoo of a snake coiled round his dong?\"

\"No, he doesn\'t,\" Harry said.

\"Are you sure?\" asked Quercus, looking disappointed. \"I heard that He-who-must-not-be-named had it done on him at the same time he had the Death Eater mark tattooed on his arm. Cuz he liked to talk dirty to him in Parseltongue and watch the snake rear up and spit venom - \"

\"No,\" Harry repeated firmly. \"I\'m sure I\'d have noticed.\"

***************************

Ron, Hermione and Remus were poring over Secret Wizard Pubs.

\"There must be some way we can narrow it down - \" Remus was saying, when he was interrupted by a loud clatter. Tonks had Apparated clumsily into the kitchen and stumbled over a stool.

\"Oops, sorry.\"

\"Hallo love,\" said Remus. \"Did you have any joy at the Ministry?\"

Tonks shook her head gloomily. \"They are a bunch of tossers there,\" she complained.

Remus laughed. \"I\'m not arguing: but why now particularly?\"

\"Well, quite apart from that bloody anti-werewolf legislation - \"

\"The less said about that the better,\" interrupted Remus, his face darkening.

Tonks groaned in exasperation, recalling her frustrating day at the Ministry, and began pacing up and down the kitchen.

\"Yes, well , apart from that, I asked everyone who might know about this secret pub, and they were about as much use as a chocolate cauldron!\"

She stopped beside the stove.

\"Is this stew supposed to look like this?\" she enquired, peering into the saucepan.

***************************

Harry finished counting money out into Quercus\'s hand, then picked up the photograph and carefully stowed it away in an inner pocket of his jacket.

\"Thanks dear,\" Quercus said perkily. \"Come again any time.\" He accompanied Harry to the studio door and opened it for him. As Harry stepped out into Knockturn Alley, a big crow flew overhead.

When it saw Harry it gave a \"caw!\" of triumph, swooped lower and dropped a small roll of parchment at his feet, then flew off.

Harry picked the parchment up and gasped as he recognised Snape\'s small, cramped handwriting:

Harry
I need your help.
I\'m being held prisoner.
Come alone and tell no-one.
This parchment contains a secret map which will guide you.
Tap it with your wand and say :
\'The Silent Witch\'.

\"The Silent Witch!\" exclaimed Harry.

\"What\'s that, ducky?\" asked Quercus, coming out of the door of his studio.

\"Oh, nothing,\" said Harry, hastily stuffing the parchment into his pocket. \"Thanks for the photograph, \'Bye!\"

As he hurried away down Knockturn Alley, Harry\'s thoughts were in a whirl. What had happened to Snape? Was the message genuine? Had Snape written it under duress? Should he ignore Snape\'s warning and tell the others?

One thing was certain. He wasn\'t going anywhere without his Invisibility Cloak ...

TBC >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>