The Journey Cycle: pt 3: Australia *pt 3 complete*

Hi all,

So, the final chapter of book three appears....

A big thankyou and hugs to my reviewers for your sweet comments and for the stars since my last chapter.

(and thanks to quantumOwl for your comment for Finding Severus - I do keep an eye on my other stories)

There will be a bigger gap (maybe a fortnight) until I post again, cos, a) I have an essay to do, and, b) Books 4 and 5 need work and I now have the ending I want for book 5, so updates will be less frequent from now on.

So, after all is said and done, let us proceed apace -

16

Dinnertime later that night saw the pair wandering back to the bigger of the two houses hand in hand after some warm post-siesta loving that left them both glowing, to see an array of boxes and electronics scattered across the wide expanse of the kitchen table and the others gathered around with their heads bent over it all. Ron and Ginny looked confused but the others seemed to understand what was going on.

Harry glanced back at his husband, grinning, then ploughed into the goodies. Hermione was unpacking minute short-wave radios that could be tracked electronically. Harry gasped when he saw the price stickers. She turned to him, “Don’t, Harry, we’ll get it all back from the Ministry”. He laughed and examined the tiny tranceiver that could be fitted in the ear receiving instructions and hear everything that went on. Jed chuckled, “I love magic but this sort of gear I understand. I actually feel better about doing this now, knowing that you guys are the equivalent of Interpol or MI6 or something. Hermione explained it all while we loaded up with this stuff”.

Harry gulped then on second thoughts, realised she was right. They were or had been ‘operatives’ of one sort or another. Himself, Ron, Ollie and Hermione. The new Fearsome Foursome. No. There was only one Fearsome Foursome. He sighed. They were on a mission again and a detached part of himself really didn’t want to be here doing this. He sent the thought to Severus along with the feeling of resignation, {I thought I was done with all this}, his mind sighed. Severus glanced at him and read the woebegone beneath the neutral expression and threaded his arm around him pulling him close, {Harry, love, if you don’t want to do this, then don’t}. Harry looked into his lover’s eyes, {We have to. You know that. I can’t not do it. Don’t you want to see an end to this?}. {Harry, supposing this is just the tip of the iceberg? How deep are these people. We need to find out more}.

Harry smiled, {Exactly, we’re just going on a fact finding mission this time, see who’s involved, check out the scenery. We don’t want Jed and Sammy facing anything life-threatening, though I still have the feeling that when Lestrange claps eyes on Sammy he’s gonna suspect something. We might get what we need quite innocently}. Severus was still not sure.

Brother and sister started to prepare a meal, leaving the others to their arcana. Severus left his husband’s side and checked on his cooled potion, bottling it while the Weasleys cooked. Ginny and her mentor shared a look as he carefully decanted the delicately shaded potion into dark bottles and promptly stashed them in the fridge. He murmured, “Bloody hell , I wish I’d had a fridge at Hogwarts. Cooling charms never were as accurate”. Ginny laughed for a minute before her expression sobered, “Severus, what do you think are their chances in this mission?”

Severus looked thoughtful, “Actually pretty good, for all that I think they’re mad for sending in two such untrained folk, it should be a couple of us at least. Well. At least two of the Aurors”. Ron grinned, “I know what you mean”, he beat the eggs for the omelettes as his sister grilled sausages, “But I think this way has a lot going for it, too. These guys, or at least some of them, are extremely high-level masons, as we know, so this approach has to have something going for it. And, by all accounts, Jed is pretty high up here”.

Severus nodded, “Thirty third degree is considered the highest in many places and that is the degree that our friend has attained. Apparently, in a relatively short time too”. Ron went back to bowl and fork, “I know, that’s why I think this is so worth a try. These guys are gonna lap Jed up. Let’s hope that Sammy isn’t the fly in the ointment. If I had my way, it’d be Jed on his own to start with. He knows all the stuff”.

Severus cast Ron one of his best severe glances and rejoiced when it still had the desired effect, Ron’s brows raised and he coloured, “Mr Weasley, we may not believe or understand the arcane rituals of the masons, but please don’t disparage them for that. I greatly admire Jed and consider him a friend, not to mention a potions master in the making”.

Ron gawped at him, “Seriously?!” He gasped out, his voice high-pitched. Severus faced them and nodded, “Actually I do”, he lowered his voice conspiratorially and they both leaned in, “I think his magic is something very different, or it may be his muggle training in chemistry, but that man has the real makings of a master. It’s an indefinable quality. It’s more than just attention to detail. It’s almost instinctive. I haven’t seen the like since....well....since myself....it’s extraordinary”.

Ginny huffed out a short laugh, “Hmmm, I’d agree with you as a matter of fact. I was also watching him as he went about his prep, it was like he was almost transported”. Severus turned a smile on her, “Precisely! Merlin’s balls! I want to train him properly or at least find him some proper tuition”, he murmured. Ginny cast him a sidelong glance, “Aye, you should. Train him, that is”.

At that moment, Harry drifted over and caught the tail end of the conversation. “Train who?” Severus gently laid his hands on Harry’s arms, pulling his husband to him, “I really want to train Jed. I can’t help it. The man is a natural. Can we afford that house in New Zealand?”. To Severus’ surprise, Harry just grinned and pressed himself against his beloved’s chest, “I was wondering when you’d get around to the idea. A whole bunch of new friends and a beautiful liberal country to boot, what’s to decide?”

That decided it. At some point their second house would be back in New Zealand. They both dearly wanted to spend more time in this half of the world. It was Harry who mind-voiced it first, {It would be a great place to raise the children}. Severus planted a kiss in the unruly dark hair, {Yes} was his only reply, his eyes squeezing shut as he leaned his forehead against his lover’s, his mind whispered, {A good place to raise the young ones, indeed}

****

Two days passed and Jed still didn’t feel Sammy was ready. He was coaching him intensely on points of ritual at his own degree and Sammy just wasn’t taking it all in. The others could hear frequent angry bursts from the room they were using to practice in and Hermione would wince, “Shit, I hope doing this doesn’t damage their relationship. That would be terrible”, before a thickly laid on silence would pulsate out at them. Harry had to laugh; since learning silencing charms, Jed had a way of overdoing it a bit, but there seemed to be no harm done, the two would emerge in good spirits again to the relief of the others.

Harry and Severus had been poring over maps and studying local websites for pictures to hold in the mind during apparation, they didn’t want them all to end up too near to habitation but not too far away that they would stick out like sore thumbs. Ginny suggested that some apparate and some come in the car, but the idea was shot down, “Nah, too far to drive, remember”. She quieted, then Harry had an idea, “I know! Bollocks to all that long-distance apparation stuff! They’re like ruddy buses round here, we’ll hire a plane!”.

A smile broke over the faces of the company, “Bloody genius idea, blend in completely: bunch of Pom tourists on the looksee in hired wings, yeah, that’d work. In fact, why don’t we all go like that and use tourism as our cover, ‘specially if we have to stay overnight or something”, this was Ron. Far from the complicated plans they’d chewed over thus far, this one had the most going for it.

“We’d have to glamour, the lot of us, at least to start with, except you two”, Oliver turned to Jed and Sammy, “Lestrange would certainly recognise quite a few of us, after all, he fought us in the Ministry, him and his mad fucking wife, the murdering bitch, she was the one killed ol......shit, sorry, erm,.....yer dad”.

Sammy nodded, not amused, “I know. Why do you think I’m doing this? I know that my father did rash things but he was fucking killed and I never knew him. You lot knew him far better than me. I’ve got a letter, some newspaper clippings and a handful of Galleons. I want to look the fucker in the eye that killed him. I’ll play my part, don’t you worry but so long as I know that you’ll bring him down eventually”. Ron reached out and laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “We will, Sammy, old boy, we will”.

That night, Harry got on the case and hired them a plane and pilot for late on the following day. He booked them into a hotel near to the township, more of a glorified guest house really and ordered dinner for them all when they arrived.

While Harry was thus engaged, Severus slipped back into the kitchen and began brewing again. Ginny drifted in, “What are you....?”, she ventured to the side of the cauldron and smiled, “Harry’s ‘special’ pain potion. For when we get close to them, yes? I’d recognise the smell anywhere. God, that takes me back”.

I’m lying in one of the beds in the Infirmary. I have been injured in the fight. I’ve been roughly patched up and am lying completely ignored. I remember wanting to wee but I couldn’t get a bedpan. There’s a commotion at one end of the ward and the crowds of injured cleared. Severus Snape swept in with Harry in his arms, growling at anyone who got too close until Poppy indicated the bed next to mine and Snape laid Harry on it with great care.

Harry starts and tries to sit up but Snape gently holds him down. Harry made desperate gestures at his mouth and Snape helped him to turn over the edge of the bed before he lost his guts on the floor. Snape calmly vanishes the vomit but not before noting the blood lacing it.

Pomfrey eventually came over and began her work on Harry. Severus had to step aside briefly as she worked but Harry started to convulse with his familiar pain in his head, his hand flew to his forehead and he doubled over in agony. That was when he realised he could read the signature of the Marks still, even though Voldemort was quite dead. I recall having a panic attack thinking that Voldemort still lived until I heard them debate it heatedly.

Then I saw the strangest thing: after Pomfrey moved away to attend to another, Snape lifted Harry into his arms and rested Harry’s head easily against his shoulder. I watched the expression on Harry’s face turn from agony to relief and smiled but their attention was solely on each other. It was the next occurrence that made a lot of sense about the Harry that I barely seemed to know anymore, sequestered away as he was in the dungeons most of his seventh year. He grinned up at Snape, seeming to be quite comfortable in the man’s arms, then tilted his head and pecked him under the jaw. Severus backed away a bit but they shared a look for a moment then really kissed, tongues and all. Merlin’s beard! What’s that all about?Then Harry sagged in the older man’s arms. Snape simply held him and rocked him while Harry slept. It was only when Harry woke and Draco was there that Snape released him and helped Poppy tend to the never-ending wounded.

Yes, that was the next astonishing thing that happened that night. A battered and bloody Draco Malfoy storms into the Infirmary, all strut and swagger, yelling, “Potter, where’s Potter?”. And Harry tries to gasp out an answer even though he’s taken a rather nasty hex to his lungs, but, fuck me, he’s grinning. Weirder and weirder.

Then the snobby blond git homes in on Harry’s bed. The look they share is loaded with all sorts of things and I have to shake my head slightly but I am in no doubt a few moments later when Malfoy sinks to the bed beside Harry, takes him in his arms and snogs him senseless. Okay, this causes the old brows to raise somewhat! When was Harry ever gay? And snogging Malfoy and Snape to boot. Oh, Merlin! That quilt I started to make for him may never get finished now. Harry into lads? Hmmmm. At this point I feign sleep as I do not want to stop observing this newest wrinkle in the life of one Harry Potter. Not only is he snogging the face off Draco Malfoy, who seems utterly besotted with him, but he seems to have done something to that strange beast known as Severus Snape. Interesting. Verrrrry in-ter-esting.

She was aware suddenly of Severus gently calling her name and she shook away the memories. She grinned sheepishly. He smiled at her, “Where were you, if I may ask?” She rolled her eyes, “In the Infirmary at Hogwarts, the night of the Final Battle. The night I realised that Harry was gay and that both you and Draco were in love with him”. Severus half-turned away from her but she still saw the colour rise in his cheeks.

He nodded, “Yes, it’s true, but I doubt it would have worked as well for us both had we been together then”. Ginny chuckled, “Get real, you had a bond to make, you would have made it one way or the other even then, but you didn’t, did you? Look, I’ve no doubt that you loved Remus but it was always Harry for you, wasn’t it?” The man shrugged and met her eyes, “Yes, but what was I to do? He was in love with Draco. He waited, chaste and pure for four fucking years for Draco to come back. Rem and I made some attempts to play, even then, and it went straight over his head at the time, bless him”.

She laughed aloud then sobered, “Poor you, waiting all that time”. He looked affronted, “Don’t say it like that! I enjoyed the first fifteen years with Remus. You don’t really understand the dynamic between us beyond the salacious details that I was fully aware that Rem was passing on to you. Of course I knew what a gossip Rem was, I was in love with him after all, the old tart”, a look of pain flitted across his face, “I still miss him sometimes, you know. I know Harry still thinks of Draco sometimes, too, but I wouldn’t change any of it. After all, we have had far longer with our past partners than with each other, but this is so.....so....bloody real...I can’t describe it any other way. Words damn well fail me”.

She smiled her understanding as her eyes filled and he rolled his at her, “Now, now, no need to get all sentimental on me”, he murmured as he turned off the light under his potion, lifting the cauldron from the heat and setting it to cool.

More than ever, she was determined that the Polyjuice potion be used otherwise. Her girlfriend was a devious minx and she suspected her of having a major crush on Severus. Hermione may think she was acting discreetly but in reality her motives were as plain as day. Ginny quite enjoyed the feeling of thwarting one of Hermione’s sneaky plans. Hermione wasn’t the only brainy one in this relationship.

Ginny huffed out a laugh, “Severus, you have been my mentor since I was twenty eight and I have never known words to fail you”. He filled up the last phial, stoppered it and laid it aside before nudging her arm, leaning in, “Words often fail me these days. It is either a symptom of encroaching old age or.....”, he left the rest unsaid, but Ginny understood, or hoped she did. Hints of a love so great that it could withstand anything. A Power that Voldemort knew not. But Voldemort was a penny-ante nobody compared to the current situation and she hoped Harry’s love was big enough this time.

****

The small plane taxied to a halt on the airfield. They were all waiting in a huddle, a few suitcases around their feet for veracity’s sake. They wanted to appear tourists after all. Everyone was on edge but Severus noticed the underlying excitement running from Harry’s side of the bond. He was needed again and was on full alert again, much as he had been before Draco died. Severus sighed and stayed on the sidelines, watching as Harry re-bonded with his old work and school-mates. He felt a mixture of jealousy, pride and hopelessness, not to mention too damned old for all this kind of caper. He patted the pocket with the veritaserum in and grinned inwardly, he may yet be of some use.

Pete the pilot grinned as he shook Harry and Severus’ hands. Harry returned the smile, “Got a few friends with us this time, some from England and a couple of guys from New Zealand and we’re checking out one of the smaller towns”. Pete grinned, “I like folk that aren’t your usual tourists”. Severus joined in, “Aye, we met the Smethwicks in Greece, Crete to be exact. Harry and I have been travelling some years now. We’re thinking of India next”. The banter was pleasant as Pete ushered them all aboard and settled them in prior to take-off.

“Do you want me to fly over the bush a bit, Harry? Show ya mates a bit?” Harry nodded, “Yes, please, Pete, that’d be great”. The ladies were impressed by the luxuriousness of the small plane. Harry reddened slightly, “Well, Pete is a first class pilot, flies rock stars and film stars about, that sort of thing, this isn’t your normal ‘air taxi’ but he was the only one I could think of at such short notice”. He had boggled a bit when he had seen the man’s prices, but he knew he could rely on the man’s complete discretion.

The flight took two hours as Pete gave them a hefty detour over the wide open expanses of land below them. Hermione’s face was pressed to the glass in the front seat, “Wow, there’s whole lots of nothin’ down there”. Pete flashed her a smile, “Aye, this is the quieter side of Aus. It’s the eastern side that’s more populated and the south-east too, where your friends live. Julia told me about you after she an’ her brother had first met you lot. She sat where you are now and talked for hours about these great people her an’ Jon had met in Greece, my, it’s a small world”. Her face lit up at this, “Yes, we had no idea of how famous they were or anything, I mean, they told us, but it’s hard to picture until Severus and Harry experienced it firsthand. I’d like to see Jon and Julia before we fly back to England”.

Pete smiled, “Well, I’m quite quiet at the moment, to be honest, so I’ll probably be available if you want”. Hermione looked down, “Well, to be honest....erm....your prices are a bit steep....but I don’t blame you, this is a very well-appointed plane....erm but myself and my friends aren’t quite as well off as Harry....sorry, didn’t mean to cast aspersions”. He laughed aloud, “Nah, at this time of year, I’m open to negotiation and you’re appreciative folk to run about. You should see some of the bloody yobs I get in here, think just because I run a VIP service, they can treat the place how they like, shit, the mess they leave behind”.

She was definitely taking a shine to the man. She left her seat and made her way aft-wards, dropping into a seat beside her girlfriend, “Hey, want to go and see Jon and Julia? Pete says he can do us a discount and we can maybe fly home from Melbourne or somewhere. Just by ourselves, and I want to see them again, whaddyou say?” Ginny gave her an incandescent smile, she was to have her girl to herself for a while, “Yeah, I’m up for that. After this next bit is all over?” They both breathed out long sighs as they faced each other, and Hermione nodded, “Yes, after all this. We’ll just bugger off by ourselves for a few days”. Ginny flushed a pretty pink and leaned in, spontaneously planting a kiss on Hermione’s mouth that deepened in an instant. Gasping, they drew apart again and simply looked at each other with arms wrapped about each other. Ginny treasured moments such as this, she knew this couldn’t last, she drank them down like heady wine. She knew she was lost totally but she didn’t think her girlfriend was of the same mind at all.

Harry and Severus were sprawled along the long bench seat re-living sweet memories of the last time they had been here. There wasn’t really the time to repeat the experience but they lay in the same position as previously, Severus holding Harry from behind and Harry’s head was resting on Severus’ shoulder. This time they had Ron and Ollie facing them with Jed and Sammy across the aisle.

They were deep in discussion of tactics. They were all going to book into the hotel first. Jed had made a few phone calls before they left the villa, huddled away on his own, using accepted masonic phone protocols for indicating that a brother was in trouble without giving the game away to a random eavesdropper. He had called the police station where Lestrange was the sergeant, his heart in his mouth the whole time and had made vague reference to the problem he had. The man had agreed to a meeting the night they landed. He had offered to meet them from the plane but Jed had demurred, “I’m with a party who have no knowledge, I thought it best this way”, and Lestrange had paused, “That is wise, brother”, before suggesting a bar in the small town for them to meet in after Jed had intimated that there were two of them in trouble.

Severus leaned forward and inspected their ‘Marks’ on demand, to make sure that the charmed inks hadn’t ‘bled’ too badly into the surrounding skin. They bore no Morsmordre but they did carry the crossed bones. The story they had concocted was that their own Lodge was onto those men that were bonded to the caster of the crossed bones mark, despite Jed being so high in the Order as to be beyond reproach but here they were, trying to seek out teaching and connect with fellows of the crossed bones as, living so far from the centre of things, they felt out of the loop in affairs relating to their tattoos. But for the fact that they had been promised extensive new knowledge, they may not even have bothered becoming members at the Lodge jamboree in Madrid two years ago, where they had pledged themselves to de Santos himself.

Harry nodded at the fervency of Jed’s telling. He was a damn fine actor, if not a magician. One of the skills he was unlikely ever to learn was that of apparation. Harry recalled Minerva mentioning this, “His magic is quite powerful in some areas, Harry, but patchy to nothing in others. I have never seen one of these ‘not-quite’s before and I have to admit, he fascinates me. He is so eager for knowledge”. He came back to himself with a tiny shake and shared the memory with his husband. There was still something indefinable about Jed that none of them had been able to figure out, even though most had sensed it.

For his part, Jed sat scrunched up in his seat, his face turned to the window. This wasn’t how he imagined magic to be when Severus and Harry had first told them of it, but then he had read of the War and they had told him of the infiltration of his precious Lodge, some of the dearest and most steadfast friends he had ever had. He owed it to them at the very least, to show them that this side of the world was not for the taking. He glanced at his fiance, staring stonily ahead of him, his eyes shuttered, and Jed’s heart went out to him.

These were the people who had killed his father, the man he had never known. Jed had been treated to many a diatribe over the years about what a bastard the unknown man had been, how awful to dump his mother in such a situation, etc, etc but it turned out that the man had been in real trouble, had ended up in prison and had been murdered at the end.

Jed watched the conflict raging across his lover’s face, even beneath the outwardly cold, calm demeanour and shuffled closer, raising the arm on the seat between them, taking Sammy into his arms and pulling him close, “Don’t worry love. I’ll do most of the talking, well, the masonic stuff anyway, and you do the magical stuff as we discussed. You’re simply a better wizard than I am, but I am the higher placed mason. And we’ll have Harry with us....”, he let his voice fade.

This was the final tactic. Harry had shown them his Cloak, to the wonderment of the two fledgling wizards and declared that he was coming along to the pub for the meeting, despite the glowers he was receiving from his spouse. Harry turned in Severus’ arms, his eyes sparkling, {I can do this, and I will. You married an Auror, love, and a bloody good one, if I may say so, although I may not have actually been one for a while, but it’s like riding a bike, you never really forget, especially when so many things are built into me almost to the point of instinct, like reaction times and such}. Harry watched Severus’ face fall slightly and gathered him close, {Come on, Mrs P, you’ve been doing your job, even when one of the potions wasn’t actually needed at the end, ‘cos the plans changed, but believe me, the other one will be and I will be forever in your debt for saving me from the agony I go through when I am near people like this. I hear your doubts, love, but please don’t do this to yourself. You are a warrior and should be aware of the different layers required to win a battle. The frontline troops would be fucked but for the backup guys, the older ones, the ones with more experience, the ones with the advice and warnings, potions and plans. This is Jed’s play after all, and we know little of their world}.

Severus was gloomy, {My wand hand itches, Harry}. Harry smirked at him sidelong, {Don’t you worry. Now I can ‘send’ images to you, I can send where to apparate to, so if we end up meeting the main ‘brotherhood’ then I’ll send for you, love, don’t you worry about that. I’m part of a team here, love, I don’t do the independent maverick thingy any more. You’ll probably have to side-along the rest of the troops or at least pass along the message, ‘cos it’s me and the lads going in first}. Severus’ mind growled as he buried his tongue in Harry’s open mouth, {Aye aye, cap’n) and Harry’s laugh was stifled by the invasion.

There was a tension in the cabin as Pete landed them safely. This was it, time to shit or get off the pot. Pete shook their hands and wondered at the sombre mood of his passengers but he still pressed a card into Hermione’s hand as he shook it. He was thoughtful as he climbed back aboard his craft, these were a strange bunch, but nice and polite with it, even if all of them were obviously queer. He shrugged as he started his engines again, their money was as good as anyone else’s.

The proprietress of the small guest house they were booked into raised her brows when the folk arrived and all insisted on taking the rooms in single sex pairs. Still, she had been told that they were a bunch of mature students with a tutor travelling around and absorbing new cultures. In that case, it didn’t seem weird that the same genders shared rooms. As the only two women, it was natural that the vivacious brunette and the quieter redhead share a room. She noticed identical bands on the fingers of two of her guests, the third finger of the left hand, and they were rooming together. She sincerely hoped that they weren’t the ‘married queer’ type but her heart slipped into her boots as they calmly signed the book as ‘Mr and Mr Underhill’.

She was further discomfited by seeing the elder Mr Underhill place his hand in the small of the younger Mr Underhill’s back as they climbed the stairs. The gesture was possessive, intimate and she wasn’t happy about it at all. She lifted the phone as the last of her guests disappeared to their rooms, pressing the keys with urgency. She hugged the handset to her ear as she waited out the ringing tone, then huffed out a sigh of relief as her call was answered.

“They’re here”, was all she said before hanging up, her eyes travelling upwards to where her guests were residing. She wore a small smile as she did so. “Underhill, indeed. We’ll see, shall we? What prizes walk amongst us”.

END OF PART THREE

.....and here I leave you.....

I hope you are enjoying this tale and will take a few moments to review what you have read so far.


....so, until next time.....love ya all and I'll be back soon.

much love

The Squig xxx

Author Update 02/12/10:

Hi all, sorry I haven't posted for a while but uni life is crazier than I anticipated and has heaped work and essays upon me as well as me doing a full-time job so at the moment, updating is beyond me.

Please be patient - I have every intention of coming back to this and it is NOT on hiatus. I promise that I will start posting again at Xmas as I have a couple of weeks holiday and some revision days owing to me at that time.

Thanks, with love

The Squig xxxx