A Dark Time For The Light

16

The next day saw them suited and booted, fed and reasonably rested for the next leg of their journey. Liverpool tonight, to see the community Remus was building. They climbed aboard the bike and Severus started her up. Harry still got a weird erotic feeling in his gut. He wanted to learn to ride a really large bike like this and charge off into the dawn, Draco riding pillion.

They picked a careful path through the A-roads, then joined the Motorway, heading South. It was a long ride. They stopped at Lancaster for lunch, and were in Liverpool by mid-afternoon. Severus wasn’t nearly as confident of finding the site as he had been of the Kilmarnock site. This one was very new, but between his empathy and Harry’s clever map-reading, they pulled into a small car-park long after the Muggle sight-seers had gone home.

As Severus revved and killed the engine, a small wooden door opened and a man-shape barrelled out. In the light flooding the car-park, Severus saw Remus running towards him. He climbed off the bike and into his lover’s arms. Frantic welcoming kisses and hands raked through familiar hair, touches, accustomed and welcomed, sliding beneath garments and embracing skin.

Harry felt a bit lost until Remus looked over Sev’s shoulder and realised they had a guest. Flustered, he pulled away from his beloved. “Harry. I didn’t know you’d be here. Welcome to the newest cadre”. The ex-werewolf held his hands out and Harry grasped them. They grinned at each other, then Remus pulled the boy to him in a hug. “Good to see you, Harry”, he murmured.

He fed and watered them, the took them on a tour of the dry brick-built tunnels, many of the vaulted ceilings making both Severus and Harry gasp at the sheer workmanship that had gone into their creation. They were led beyond the well-lit tunnels that Muggles were allowed to see into another network, less well-lit, but where fifteen fellow witches and wizards were hiding out, the caves being made into comfy and dry rooms. Harry was impressed.

He was slightly less impressed when he was left in a cave, alone, while Severus was led away by his ardent beloved. He was fed and comfortably housed, a cosy sleeping bag wrapped around him as he attempted sleep on a bed of light sand. To his everlasting chagrin, he had to conjure images of himself and his Dragon, before he could get going, but, disturbingly, it was images of what he and Severus had nearly done that took him over the edge sighing Draco’s name.

He awoke being gently shaken. Severus. Who smelled freshly showered. Harry smiled sleepily as he took a deep breath, “God, you smell fuckin’ edible, Sev”, before he rolled over and sat up, rubbing his eyes, shaking his head to clear it of the disturbing array of images playing themselves out behind his closed eyelids. Severus sat on the sandy ground and waited for Harry to collect himself. Edible, eh?.

He chuckled at the younger man’s discomfiture, until Harry turned steel-green eyes to his, “Stop it, Sev. Now. Where does one get a shower around here?”. Harry climbed out of his bedroll, clad only in t-shirt and boxers, and grabbed his clothes and bag, clutching them to him. Severus smiled up into those hypnotic eyes, “Just down a way, third cave to the right, go through it, three steps then a door to the right, an old staff shower”, he paused. Harry turned to leave. Then heard the low purr, “I’m not the only edible thing around here, Mister Potter”.

He couldn’t help himself, the water cascading over him, far too hot, but he revelled in it. That, and the loud noise of the water hissing down from the ceiling rose, over toned chest, flat belly, to where he leaned back in the stall, his hand pumping himself, breath sharp and ragged, until thick ribbons spurted from him to swirl down the drain, and he slid down the wall until he’d collected his senses, then stood, legs momentarily disobeying him, then managed a semblance of a wash.

He regarded himself in the washroom mirror, cheeks still flushed from his orgasm, eyes bright, then grinned at himself as he tried to do something constructive with his hair failing dismally, but not giving a shit. He dressed and went in search of breakfast.

“So, what’s on the menu today, Remus?”. His once-favourite teacher looked up with heavily lidded eyes, his head on Severus’ shoulder. He pointed at a table laden with food. “It’s catch as catch can around here, Harry, but there should be some hot food left”. Harry turned away to hear a purred, “Enjoy your shower, Harry?. Hot enough was it?”, at his back. Harry spun round, He couldn’t believe it. The man was flirting with him, even while he held his lover. Remus had his eyes closed, kissing a line along a bared forearm. Harry smirked, cocking his head, “No. Not nearly hot enough, but the water was warm”. With that he sauntered off in search of sustenance, knowing he had thoroughly rattled his ex-Potions master, and couldn’t repress a giggle.

He loaded a tray with food and sat with them both as he ate. Remus told of the founding of the cadre. “I found these folk living rough in Delamere Forest, not far from Chester, and I knew of these tunnels. I grew up not far from here and when they were discovered after all these years, I was naturally curious. In fact the year I taught at Hogwart’s was when I learned who was leading the restoration project. An old friend of the family. A squib, but a friend. There are more tunnels than they let the Muggles see, and here we are, living in them. According to the bush telegraph, there are a bunch of people living under Lime Street station, too, but we haven’t made any contact yet”. He sighed as he relaxed in his lover’s arms, closing his eyes. Severus and Harry exchanged a quick ‘look’, then Harry looked down at his plate, embarrassed.

As Harry ate, Severus took a quick census of names, so he could re-direct mail, from where friends and loved ones thought their beloveds were hiding to where they actually were.

Harry had to watch as Severus and Remus kissed, murmuring promises to each other. Then Severus straddled the bike and they roared away, Harry twisted in his seat to wave at the last remnant of his almost-family as he realised his adopted uncle’s lover was, at some in the not too distant future, going to betray him, with himself.

They rode down the M62 sliproad, not too much traffic, then Severus slipped a hand from the bars and briefly ran it along Harry’s thigh, before taking control again, seeming to not notice the total mess that rode pillion with him, only feeling the hands bunching to fists in his jacket pockets. He grinned and turned them in the direction of Manchester.

They picked up the M60 to the South, Severus flicking his indicator at the Stockport exit, They secreted the bike somewhere in a place called Cheadle Heath, near a former park-keepers cottage, They made their way to a doorway in sandstone rocks, knocked a complicated pattern and were admitted, the occupants nervously checking out Harry until they declared him ‘clean’. Severus dished out the mail, and received several photo-copied copies of the samizdat Daily Prophet, and tucked them carefully into his bag.

So this is where it’s produced, Harry thought as he watched the secretive exchange, then moved towards Pansy. They recognised each other cautiously, paranoia in Pansy’s eyes. Harry held her gaze, “Hermione wants to link us all together via the Internet, How’re you guys fixed for that?”. He drew out his notebook, and Severus watched on, amazed.

As Pansy showed what technology they had. A kited phone line, dodgy electrics. Harry grinned and turned to Severus, “We need ‘Mione up here. We can do this, Sev”. The man was a tad confused. Harry caught it and bit his lower lip, “Don’t worry, Sev. You’ll still get to ride your bike”. Though he was secretly worried. He didn’t want Sev’s role diminished, he had a feeling that the addition of Muggle technology would put an end to the man’s long distance rides, which he seemed to need.

In silence, they took off for Leeds, arriving mid-afternoon at a row of condemned terraces, that the Underground had squatted, Justin Finch-Fletchley at their head, who embraced Harry, then shook Severus’ hand. Harry wondered at this and sighed. Would he ever be able to move out from beneath the mantle of The-boy-who-lived?. He didn’t think so. He wandered outside and withdrew his phone, calling Moira, making sure she’d received her ‘Prophets’, even though the pictures didn’t move any more. At her affirmative, and her heartfelt good wishes, he closed the phone, his mind full of his beloved. He slept another lust-filled but self-satisfied night.

Leicester was a cadre of only 20 people and this time, there was no mail for any of them. Severus by-passed them, heading South. As night fell around them, they arrived in Bristol.

Severus navigated his way carefully through a large mainly deserted industrial estate, most of the units boarded up and in disrepair. Here and there, shapes moved in the shadows, occasionally lit by the several small fires dotted about, before slinking away from the light into the encompassing darkness. Harry shivered, Severus felt it. The bike came to a halt in front of a high chain-link fence topped by rolls of barbed wire. On the other side of the fence, several large dogs ran up, barking and growling, slavering through bared teeth. Harry recognised a Dobermann, a couple of Rottweilers and the smaller stocky Staffordshire Bull Terriers in the pack.

Suddenly, he was blinded by a strong white light blazing right in their eyes. Instinctively, his hand came up to cover his face. “Lower your hands. Who are you?”, a gruff voice on the other side of the blinding light. “Severus Snape and Harry Potter with the mail and the Prophet, and take that blasted light out of our eyes”. “Show your faces, both of you”, the barked command. Harry lowered his hand and squinted into the light. They removed their helmets.

Suddenly the gate to the compound was opened and they were granted admission, nosing the bike through the open gate. Harry saw green blobs each time he blinked and it took him a moment or two to assess his surroundings. They were in a fenced concrete yard. A couple of cut-down oil drums had fires blazing in them. By the flickering light of one, Harry watched two men playing fighting games with the Staffies, training them for savagery. The light from the other fell on four people sat side by side on a partially collapsed sofa. Three sat unmoving, staring listlessly into the fire, the fourth, on one end, withdrew a needle from his forearm and slumped over the arm of the settee, his key now dangling loosely around his bicep.

The building at the back of the yard was open to the day. Harry surmised, an old bus garage. Two broken down old coaches were inside, and by the dim lighting, at the back of the garage was a metal stair that led to what looked like a row of offices, jutting out over the large space, the glass fronts of the offices were hung with a selection of rags and blankets to ensure privacy. The whole place made Harry feel extremely depressed, not to mention fearful.

Severus pulled the bike on and stopped the engine. The man who’d let them in sauntered over to them as they dismounted. Harry glanced nervously at Severus who just nodded in reply.

“Well, Snape. Got any mail for us?. Severus busied himself digging into his pannier. The man reached out a lightning fast hand and grabbed Harry’s jaw, roughly turning the boy to him, “Well, well, the sainted Harry Potter. So nice to meet you at long last”, he spat, inches from Harry’s face. Harry reared back, trying to escape the strong fingers bruising his cheeks as they dug in.

At Harry’s strangled cry, Severus spun round. In his coldest voice, he said, “Take. Your hands. Off him. Now”. The man glared at Severus then wrenched his hand back and backed away a step, he flicked a glance at both of them then leered, “This your new bum-boy, eh, Sev?. Prettier than the werewolf, isn’t he?”, he ran his tongue along his upper teeth and hissed, raking his eyes up and down Harry’s body. Harry reflexively stepped closer to Severus. Merlin!, he wished he had his wand. His attention was diverted by a ratty looking woman approaching them with a small pile of mail which she exchanged with Severus, then took a few copies of the Prophet, she glanced briefly at her compadre then melted back into the gloom. Their business complete, not another word was spoken as Severus and Harry donned their helmets and reversed the bike out. The gate was held open for them by one of the pallid occupants of the sofa, holding a snarling Rottweiler by it’s choke chain with his other hand, and Harry and Severus roared out of there as quickly as they could.

They were a mile or so away, when Harry tapped Severus’ shoulder urgently. The man pulled them off the road. Harry scrambled off the bike, pulling off his helmet, then bent double dry-retching. He straightened and turned bracing himself upright on the bike’s seat, “Who the fuck were those people, Sev?. They really scared me”.

Severus blew out between pursed lips and raked a hand through his hair, “They are all ex-Slytherins that none of the other refuges would take in, usually because of suspicion that they may be spies. Most of them have turned to hard drug use and the lad who was so rude to you runs regular illegal dog-fights. I’m sorry, Harry, I should never have taken you there and subjected you to that. He’s Theodore Nott’s elder brother, Thomas. This has hardened yet weakened all of them...”, his voice tailed off.

In a moment he was around the bike and took Harry’s weight against him, feeling the boy shake in his arms. He laid Harry’s head on his shoulder and let the trembling play itself out. He murmured, “It’s the not-pretty bit about the Wizarding world going all pear-shaped”. Harry nodded, “Come on it’s not just Slytherins, Sev. Look at Hermione and Ron. It’s been tough on all sorts of people for all kinds of reasons. In a way, I feel I got off lightly”, this last a bit choked.

The arms tightened around him and he let the fear show through, feeling a strong hand slowly stroke his hair. Harry moved against Severus’ chest and looked up into the older man’s face. “Thanks, Sev. I feel much better, now. Those guys were a bit scary. Actually, it’s the dogs. Apart from Sirius, I’ve never been a big fan, and I knew these were fighting dogs”, he shivered again. Severus smiled and dropped a kiss into Harry’s hair. “I never was keen on dogs, myself. Any of them”, and looked into Harry’s upturned face, his smile widening.

In a heartbeat, his lips were on Harry’s, eyes closing drowsily, mouths opening, tongues seeking each other, a soft moan as they met. Bodies pulled tighter together. Harry’s thigh slipped between leather-clad ones, he rode a leather hip, an answering hardness against his hip-bone as the kiss built from sexy to searing until they needed air and drew away, gasping. They both shook slightly. Severus whispered, “Not here, I know somewhere a few miles away”. Harry nodded slowly, “Yes”, and put his helmet back on.

Severus gunned the engine and they set off again, Harry plastered against his back, his gloves off, raking his nails over Severus’ inner thighs as they drove, then a hand cupped Severus’ balls to be swiftly batted away as the man drove. Five minutes later and the bike halted in a tiny lane, woodland to either side. In a trice, helmets were off and lips met again, “Fuck, Harry you’re a bloody tease, you nearly had us in a crash”. Harry grinned and tried hard to look bashful and failed miserably, being kissed senseless instead.

Severus dug a bag from the backbox, “Our accommodation tonight, Harry. It’s a bit of a tight squeeze, but somehow, I don’t think that’ll bother either of us”. Hand in hand they went into the wood and set up the small pup tent. They divested each other of their riding layers, then Severus held the flap of the tiny tent for Harry to crawl in and he did so, trying hard to remember to breathe.

He lay on his back in the cramped space as Severus crawled in after him and without preamble took the quaking boy in his arms and kissed him deeply. The darkness was inky around them, no sounds but for the wetness of kisses and the small mewls they elicited from both of them.

Then hands were everywhere trying to divest each other of clothing in such a confined space, between heated kisses alternating from hard and demanding to soft and pliant, then skin glided along slick skin, erections pressed together and Harry was atop Severus, straddling him. His lower belly dipped as he flexed his back and rubbed them both together causing Severus to fling his head back and bite down hard on his lower lip, a strangled sound escaping. Harry leaned forward and whispered, “I want you inside me, Sev, and I want to make you scream”.

The boy’s sheer wantonness once his barriers were down amazed the man below him as he continued to grind them together, “Come on, Sev, fuck me, fuck me hard”, the man almost whimpered.

With shaking hands he separated them and fumbled for the oil in his bag. In a lithe move. Harry reversed his position, presenting his sweet arse to his lover, while taking the man’s cock into his mouth. Severus cried out aloud, then Harry teased his tongue around the tip, wiggling his backside until he was seated on his lover’s tongue, the tip of his own cock chafing the roughness of chest hair. Harry groaned as the tongue breeched him, followed quickly by two slick fingers, buried up to the knuckles twisting and opening, he pushed back harder, taking as much of Severus’ cock in his mouth as he could until he felt a stilling hand on the back of his head.

He pulled away, “What’s up, lover”, he whispered. Severus grinned at the term, “You’ve got me like a bloody breathless teenager, Harry. I was getting too close, is all. And I want to come inside you, so leave me be and let me ready you...lover”. Harry wriggled his way face to face with Severus and they kissed again, Harry tasting his musk on Severus’ lips, as three fingers entered him, angling up and slightly forward until Harry clenched hard around them and cried out, pushing onto them with main force, “Fuck, yes”, he ground out between clenched teeth, “Gimme the oil, I want to ready you”, he slid back and slicked his lover’s cock and balls sliding a cheeky finger in, making Severus arch under him, then subside and growl, lifting Harry over him before impaling that beautiful boy on his cock, hands clutching his hips hard enough to bruise.

As each burning inch made it’s way home, Harry pushed down and threw his head back emitting strangled cries of pleasure/pain until Severus was all the way in. They rested a moment and Harry leaned forward slightly to kiss his lover, then started to make small rocking motions causing them both to moan. Harry braced himself on his hands either side of Severus’ chest and lifted himself, then plunged back down as his lover thrust upwards to the delight of them both. A few more and both were sweating, Harry’s back pushing against the roof of the tent in his rise and fall, a rhythm establishing, Severus legs bending at the knees to give him more leverage, and now the strokes were faster, fevered. Their mouths met again, Harry was pushing so hard, wouldn’t allow Severus’ hand around his cock, “No, baby, just this”, he gasped out, they were slamming together now, so hard, sweat rolling off them. “Harry...oh fuck....lover...I’m...”. “Sev...don’t stop....harder, babe....more....more...fuck, and they came loudly and noisily and joyously together, riding the waves of their climax and crashing down the other side, splashed generously with Harry’s copious come.

Harry collapsed against Severus’ chest and as he softened, he withdrew to a giggle from Harry. He held Harry to him quite prepared for the boy to sleep instantly, but instead received a lovely long soft kiss and gentle touches, “That was brilliant Sev”, he whispered. Severus grinned in the dark and cupped Harry’s face in a broad palm and kissed him again, “That was truly lovely, Harry”, he whispered as they held each other, quietly amazed. Not only was the boy in his arms a wonderful lover, but liked to kiss and cuddle afterwards. Whereas it shouldn’t have done, secretly this little fact thrilled Severus Snape to the core. As he drew lazy patterns over Sev’s chest, Harry was equally delighted at the fact that Sev seemed to like a little holding between sex and sleep. They looked at each other for a long moment, then held each other as they drifted towards sleep.