Smoke & Mirrors

Disclaimer The characters and sheer genius belong to J K Rowling. Any smut is mine, but I don't make a penny/eurocent/cent from my warped imagination.

Chapter 19 Kicking and Screaming?
Ron looked uncomfortably around the dimly-lit reception lounge. He wished he knew exactly what tale the twins had spun to get him in here: the boy at the desk had given him a very knowing smirk. The room appeared to be empty, but he couldn't help feeling he was being watched... His gaze wandered uneasily among the sumptuous armchairs and sofas, passed quickly over the low table with its album of wizarding photos (he'd taken one look at that then hastily closed it, his ears flaming with embarrassment) and came to rest on a big picture on the far wall. He crossed the room to get a better look.

He was standing in bemused fascination, trying to work out which limbs belonged where and who was doing what to whom, when a soft voice behind him made him give a guilty start.

"Would sir like to come upstairs now?"

He turned quickly, to see a tiny house-elf wearing a dusky pink, semitransparent silk pillowslip knotted around his waist. Two intertwined purple Vs were embroidered in one corner.

"If sir would follow me?"

Ron followed the house-elf up a flight of luxuriously carpeted stairs and down a short corridor. They stopped outside an oak door. The house-elf tapped on the door, opened it, then stood back.

"In here, sir."

Ron stepped hesitantly into a small room containing a large bed, a full-size mirror and a dressing-table. Two naked youths of about his own age or a bit younger were sitting on the bed, arms around each other. They broke apart as Ron came in, and the smaller of the two smiled brightly at him.

"Hi, I'm Jason, you can call me Jase, and this is my friend Marty."

"Er, hi," Ron said, trying not to stare at their fully erect cocks. Jase's was long and slim, Marty's was shorter but much thicker, and somehow seemed menacing to Ron, who was feeling decidedly insecure. He'd been made to leave his wand downstairs and he felt naked without it. Oops, bad choice of phrase. Ron swallowed hard.

"They told us you were a novice at this sort of thing, dear, so we thought we'd put on a bit of a show for you," Jason purred.

"Then if anything takes your fancy you can try it yourself," Marty said, putting his well-muscled arms around Jason and tonguing his ear. Jason broke free, laughing, and posed in front of the mirror, one hand on his hip. He indicated the items laid out on the dressing table: Ron glimpsed an array of potions, a riding crop, a whip, a pair of handcuffs, dildoes of various sizes and a strange round spiky object. He gulped and started backing towards the door.

"Uh, my brothers set this up... potion... doesn't seem to be working... I'll just..." he babbled.

Marty leaped nimbly off the bed and put his arm around Ron's shoulders.

"Nonsense, you'll love it," he smirked.

Jason picked up a goblet from the dressing-table. "Your brothers' potion might not work," he said, "but this is sure to, we've got our own tame apothecary now..."

"Sssh, Jase," Marty frowned.

"Oooh, sorry, forgot," Jason said, glancing uneasily over his shoulder. Then he smiled at Ron and handed him the goblet.

~ * ~
"I wonder how Ron's getting on?" Harry said, pacing restlessly up and down the twins' living room. "He's being a long time."

Fred grinned. "Having his horizons expanded I expect."

George craned his neck to look out of the window. "There's someone coming now... but it's not Ron."

"How do you know that?" asked Harry, looking out at the empty street.

"We have out methods," said George, tapping his nose. "I'd better let her in." He opened the door of the flat and made a complicated gesture with his wand. A moment later Hermione walked in, pink-cheeked with cold, her coat covered in a dusting of snow.

"I didn't know it was snowing in London," Harry said, looking out of the window again.

"It isn't," Hermione said. "I got caught in a snow shower walking to Hogwarts gates so I could Apparate." She gave Harry a hug. "Tonks told me about you having to come here: Remus is mortified about losing Professor Flitwick's parchment."

"He needn't worry," Harry said. "I was getting a bit fed up stuck in that hut all the time anyway. And now Snape's gone..."

"Yes, she said something about that, too," Hermione said, looking at him with concern. Then she glanced round. "Oh sorry, Fred, George, I'm being really rude. How are you both? Clever warding spell on this place!"

"Thanks, Hermione, nice to be appreciated," Fred said, beaming.

"Ron wasn't as complimentary," added George.

"Where is Ron?" Hermione asked.

The twins exchanged glances.

"Out," said George.

"Visiting a gay brothel," said Fred.

"I hope he's enjoying himself," Hermione said coolly, brushing snow from her coat.

"Er," Harry said. "Lots happened when I got back from the Ministry, did Tonks tell you about the centaurs?..."

~ * ~
"Oooh look, Marty, I knew he'd be a big boy when he got interested in us," Jason cooed.

"Let's show him how good it feels to have us both suck his cock, Jase."

And without further ado the rent-boys knelt on either side of Ron and ran their tongues enthusiastically up and down his cock. Jason pursed his full red lips and gave it a slurping kiss, then glanced provocatively up through his tousled fringe. He looked very young. Ron felt his cock give a sudden throb.

"That's it," Marty murmured, sliding his hands over Ron's body and giving his arse a gentle squeeze. "You know you want to..."

Jason knelt on the edge of the bed, his arse presented invitingly to Ron. "Go on, put your finger in," said Marty. "Look, like this," and he gave Jase a quick finger-fuck before stepping back, hands on hips, and nodding to Ron with an encouraging grin.

Ron stretched out a tentative finger and cautiously pressed it into the waiting hole. The boy moaned and humped his arse up higher. Ron felt as though Jase's arsehole was sucking on his finger; soon it was swallowed up to the knuckle. Jason writhed and panted with every sign of enjoyment.

"Hasn't he got a gorgeous hole," Marty said fondly. "Think how good that will feel around your cock."

Ron pulled his finger out and looked at it doubtfully. He couldn't help giving it a surreptitious sniff to see if it smelt of shit. But to his surprise, all he could smell was a heady, erotic scent which seemed vaguely familiar. Before he could place it, Marty came quickly up behind him, seized Ron's cock, and guided it into Jase's arsehole. Ron gasped, and found himself thrusting eagerly in all the way. Murmuring crude words of encouragement, Marty pressed himself against Ron, reaching between his legs to fondle both his and Jason's balls. He pushed backwards and forwards against Ron, who cried out as he felt a slippery something slide into his own arsehole.

"It's okay, just a little dildo to give you a taster of what it's like," Marty murmured breathlessly.

Ron could only babble in reply; the dildo had found his prostate. He came, hard, inside Jason and then collapsed onto the bed with the rent-boys, who enthusiastically wanked each other until their spunk spurted all over his belly.

"Did you enjoy that, then?” Marty asked, languidly stoking Ron's spent cock.

“Mmmph, uh, thank you,” Ron said faintly.

"Anytime, darling," Jase said. "It's been a pleasure to share hot boy sex with you, you know? Not like some of those trolls we get from the Ministry."

Marty frowned at him and put his finger on his lips. "Now, now, naughty... you know we're not supposed to talk about our clients." He poked his tongue into Ron's belly button. "Let's get you cleaned up, ducky..."

~ * ~
"So do you think Professor Snape went off somewhere with Quercus?" Hermione asked.

"I don't think he was intending to leave that night, at all," Harry said, frowning. "He left all his stuff behind, for one thing."

"What sort of stuff?"

"Oh, the usual... potion ingredients, clothes..." He found himself hoping that Remus had kept quiet about Snape's memory of fucking Malfoy. "Oh, and that scroll he was always looking at..."

"Is that the scroll you said you couldn't open?" Hermione said. "Let me see it ... you never know, it might give some clue to what he was meaning to do."

"What, you think YOU can open it?" Harry asked.

"Mmmm, not exactly, no; but I've got an idea..."

Harry shrugged, and went into the twins' spare bedroom; he had Snape's things carefully stowed away beside his own trunk.

"Here you are," he said, returning with the scroll of parchment. Hermione took it and ran her wand over it, her face tense with concentration.

"Ah, yes – I thought so – hmmm..."

"Care to share your brilliant thoughts with the rest of us, Hermione?" said George.

"Just a minute," said Hermione, who was now pressing the tip of her wand against the scarlet seal which held the edge of the parchment firmly closed. Finally she gave a sigh of satisfaction and held the scroll out to Harry. "Well, it's an Arbiter Amicorum seal."

"What does that mean?" asked Harry.

"It means that you should be able to open it... if it recognises that you're in Snape's confidence."

"And how the hell do I convince it of that? I already tried to open it, remember – and no dice."

"We-ell," Hermione said, "do you have anything that Professor Snape gave you, Harry?"

"Er... yes! The keepsake dagger!" Harry blurted. He fumbled in his jacket, produced his silver dagger, and stabbed at the seal, which remained obstinately intact.

"What now?" he demanded.

Hermione frowned, lost in thought. Then she clutched Harry's arm.

"I think I've got it! Tap the dagger, Harry."

Harry grinned at her. "Of course! You're a genius, Hermione!"

He tapped the handle of the dagger with his wand and said "Severus Snape". Immediately the familiar words of Snape's inscription were spelled out in letters of fire above the dagger:

My Harry
In remembrance of our times of deep sexual joy
And in the hopes of many many more
Your Severus

Harry picked up the scroll and waved it through the fiery letters, leaving a fading trail of embers in the air behind it. With a soft sigh, the parchment unrolled until it almost touched the floor, the broken seal dangling from its lower edge.

Eagerly, Harry spread it out on the table and they all pored over it.

"Looks like this comes from Durmstrang," George said, pointing to the crest at the top of the parchment.

"Memory Melding," Harry read out. "What the hell's that?"

"It's a very obscure branch of magic... some people count it among the Dark Arts... I'm sure it's illegal," Hermione said.

"Yes, but what IS it?"

"It's a way of tampering with a stored memory so it appears indistinguishable from a real one," Hermione said.

"But that's not possible, is it?" Harry said, remembering Horace Slughorn's crudely censored memory of his conversation with Tom Riddle about Horcruxes. "Not so it's not obvious it's been tampered with..."

"It's extremely difficult," Hermione said, "but it is possible... it looks from this parchment that Professor Snape was trying to find a way to change the appearance of someone in a memory... a sort of Polyjuice potion for memories..."

"Yeah, those look like potion ingredients," Fred said, pointing to the scroll.

"Seriously Dark, some of them," George said. "But that wouldn't stop old Snape." He sounded almost admiring.

Harry's attention had been caught by Snape's cramped handwritten annotations in the margins of the parchment. Bending closer to decipher them, he saw a name he recognised, and gave a sudden crow of delight.

"So that's why he had that memory! It wasn't to wank over or anything!" Harry exclaimed, a grin spreading over his face. He felt as though a great weight had been lifted from him.

"What memory?" asked Hermione.

Harry gave a silent thank you to Remus Lupin for his discretion. "Oh, just a memory he had of Draco Malfoy – I did wonder what he wanted it for, but reading this..." he tapped the parchment "... it looks like he's intending to perform some of this Memory Merging whatsit..." He gave a shout of laughter. "Good for him! If it works, it won't be me starring in Pensieve Porn, it'll be Draco Bloody Malfoy. Severus said he was going to think of a suitably Slytherin payment for the little turd when he tried to split us up, looks like this is it..."

Hermione looked serious. "I wouldn't feel too euphoric if I were you, Harry," she said. "I can't help remembering those nasty articles in the Daily Prophet... including accusations of murder! Someone doesn't like Snape... or you... and he's very likely to be with that 'Someone' as we speak..."

"But that must be his plan!" Harry said excitedly. "He's obviously trying to get hold of that wet-dream memory of me –"

"A very dangerous plan, if you ask me," Hermione said.

"She's right," George said. "We've heard some pretty dodgy rumours about Vix's Vices."

"Yeah," said Fred. "Snape might not be in a very safe place at the moment, if that's where he is..."

"I wish I knew for sure," Harry fretted. "Is Severus at that knocking-shop, or isn't he?"

"I think I can tell you that," came a voice from the doorway.

Everyone looked up from the parchment. "Ron!" exclaimed Harry.

"How did you get in?" demanded Fred.

"I gave him a key and the password before he left," admitted George. "It seemed the least we could do, considering he nobly volunteered."

"He didn't exactly volunteer," Fred said. "We practically had to drag him into Knockturn Alley kicking and screaming."

"Shut up, you two!" Harry said impatiently. "Well, Ron?"

"I think I found out what you wanted to know," said Ron, coming into the room. He looked rather shell-shocked. "I'm pretty sure Snape IS holed-up at Vix's Vices."

"Holed-up?" repeated Fred, smirking. "Interesting choice of phrase."

"How do you know?" Harry asked anxiously.

"Well, they were talking about having their own tame apothecary now... although I don't think they were supposed to tell me that..."

"Needn't be Snape, though," George argued.

"Yeah, but then there's the arse potion –"

"Arse potion?!" chorused the twins.

Ron gave them a hunted look, then turned to Harry. He carefully avoided looking at Hermione.

"Harry, you know that stuff Snape made for you? The stuff you showed me and Charlie in that pub? They're using the same potion. I thought it smelt familiar, but I only just realised what it was..."

Harry drew a long breath. "So I was right!" he said. "Severus IS there... and... bloody hell, Kreacher DID say 'Vix'!" He clenched his fists. "That fucking elf has to know more. And I'm going to MAKE him tell me."

"Good luck, mate," Ron said, shrugging.

"Harry is Kreacher's master," Hermione said, biting her lip and looking anywhere but at Ron. "If anyone can get him to talk, he can."

"I suppose I could try Summoning him here," Harry said doubtfully, remembering how Dumbledore had conjured Kreacher to the Dursleys' with a flick of his wand. "But I should really tell Professor McGonagall; he is supposed to be working in Hogwarts kitchens..."

"It's all right, Harry, I need to see Minerva anyway," said Hermione, getting to her feet. "I'll explain things to her and bring Kreacher back here with me –" she looked at the twins "– if you two don't mind?"

"Well, I can't say he'd be our first choice as house guest," Fred said. "But yeah, if it'll help."

"I'm sure it will," Harry said. "Kreacher's got to have some of the answers – I just need to think of the right questions."

When Hermione had gone, the twins advanced on Ron with anticipatory grins and sat either side of him on the sofa.

"So, dear brother..."

"About this brothel..."

"... spill the beans..."

"... so to speak..."

"... you know you want to."

Ron angrily shrugged them off and stormed out of the flat, slamming the door behind him. Harry stared after him, his thoughts whirling. He was torn between amusement and sympathy for Ron. But his overriding feeling was joy that Severus was still his, faintly overshadowed with the fear that his lover might be in danger...

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