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

Thanx stepmnstr for your sweet review - the conspiracy hots up!

Dear all, only 1 chappie again this week, RL's a tad frantic right now.

Read, enjoy and review.

The Squig

2

They were both awake early the next day. Severus found Harry in their hosts’ bedroom with a jar of Floo powder in his hands, “Who are you calling?”, he enquired drily from the doorway. Harry turned grinning, “The twins. We need some extendable ears. I had an idea early this morning but it will require a bit of cash, some muggle technology and a few sets of ears. That way, neither of us need to be present in the actual room itself but we may have to identify this Tony guy and see where he takes the others off to for this pre-meeting chat. We could do with a recce of the area and the pub itself to place the listening devices and somewhere to listen to it all, I’d suggest an anonymous hire car parked up nearby with both of us wearing glamours to disguise ourselves”. Harry bit his lower lip, his eyes on the middle distance. Severus cursed himself inside. This was the expression he had seen on Harry’s face many a time and he had always mistaken it for a sign that Harry wasn’t paying attention when in fact, he was deep in thought not spacing out as Severus had always suspected. He stayed silent as Harry spoke his ideas aloud.

He came in and knelt beside Harry giving him the space to think his ideas through. Despite the fact that he had always accused Harry of rushing into things he realised that in fact Harry was extraordinarily good at thinking on his feet and changing a plan at a moment’s notice once he was on the ground, so to speak, so Severus stayed quiet as Harry murmured the different scenarios he possibly envisaged.

“Okay, so an upstairs room in a pub, all very well but it might be locked up until the time it’s needed but there’s a strong possibility that if there’s a bar up there then a member of the pub staff will at least be present to set things up before the room is opened up for the meeting and that’ll give me a window of time to quickly install the gear. Fuck! Wish ‘Mione was here, she’s tons better at gadgets than I am. Fuck! Even frigging Dudley was better at this shit. So we put listening devices in place all around the room to miss as little as possible. The next generation extendable ears can be hooked up to a tape recorder. It’s a bloody good thing that Weasley senior was such a fan of muggle devices, the twins have been doing crossover technology for years now and have quite a good range of spyware. If we can’t get into the room before the meeting starts then we might have to actually go in and hide somewhere with a tape recorder or something and just wing it, but that’s a last ditch scenario for if none of this other stuff works, so, find a place to hide. These geezers may even have their pre-meeting chinwag down in the bar if the pub is quiet then it’s just a case of sitting in the bar with a quiet pint and stuffing a set of ears under their chairs or something to pick up all the sound. I need it recorded so I can send it to ‘Mione, preferably pictures too if it can be done and all without compromising Jed’s position in this group, preferably without them knowing for now, the fewer that know the better”, he ran out of steam at this, blew out a long breath and rotated his tense shoulders.

Severus was secretly impressed by this ability to think all around the problem, utilising magic and muggle tech with ease, linking the two where necessary. He ventured, “Perhaps we both need to be in there, one at each end of the room with separate devices of some sort”. Harry smiled at him, “Hopefully it won’t come to that but we do need a recce to figure out the kit we need, maybe we can bullshit the owners of the pub to let us into the room early to take a look around, for that we may need to borrow a couple of small items of the regalia, a badge or pin of some kind and read up on the different handshakes that each degree has. Apparently the handshake can identify your grade to a member of the cognoscenti if that website I read is correct. I need to print it out and we could do worse than practice it at any rate, it can’t do any harm at least”.

Severus used Harry’s shoulder to lever himself off the ground, “Well, why don’t I sort that out while you call the twins”. The smile Harry gave him could have lit up the room in the dark, “Yeah, good thinkin’. If you look in yesterday’s history of my ‘Net travels, I think it’s the second to last site I visited under ‘handshakes’. The site was easy to navigate, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding it again. My login was ‘Bessierules’ and the password is ‘Gryffindorforever1’”. Severus rolled his eyes at this and went into Jed’s office.

Right. This wasn’t difficult. Millions of people used this thing every day, or so Severus told himself as he booted the laptop. He checked that the wire was plugged into the phone line still, yes, there it was, so far so good. He pressed the button above the keyboard and Harry’s home page sprang to life on the screen. He nodded grimly at this. He hovered the pointer over the pulldown list until he found the usage history. Ah, second to last site, there it was, InternationalFreemasonry.org. He clicked the mouse selecting it and the screen changed bringing up the login box. He typed in the login and the password and the box returned with the password incorrect. Bah! What was wrong? He scratched his head and entered it again; perhaps it was the figure ‘1’ not the word. Bingo! He was in. He breathed a sigh of relief.

Nervously he clicked on a number of the menus and was getting nowhere until he spotted the search box at the top of the page. Oh, well, here goes nothing, he thought as he typed in the word ‘handshakes’ and pressed ‘go’. The page changed again and a whole load of drawings started to load of hand positions for the different degree’s handshakes. Goody, he had it, now to try and print it off. He knew this one and clicked the ‘file’ button then scrolled down to ‘print’ and selected it entering in ‘all’ and clicked ‘go’ again only to have a box pop up and tell him that there was no printer connected. Bugger!

He stood and contemplated the spaghetti of wires around and under the desk. He checked what was plugged into the laptop, just the power cable and the phone line, fair enough, it had to be one of these loose wires. He spotted the printer and checked out the wires leading from it, one to the mains and another not connected to anything. Aha! Bet this one’s the one that connects the machines together. He was sweating slightly at this point and determined not to have to call Harry in. He looked at the shape of the plug and tried to fit it into one of the many sockets that surrounded the edges of the laptop and after a couple of tries found a hole that the plug fitted. Whew! The machine made a strange noise as the plug went home, they were in contact, so far, so good.

He ran his hand over his face as he once again sent the print command but still nothing. Bugger. Then he remembered something Harry had said about selecting the printer from the print dialogue box. He opened the ‘print’ option again and saw it was set to their own HP printer as default. He rose and looked at their hosts’ printer, another make altogether. He made a note of the make and serial number and looked for it in the box. Thank heavens Harry had loaded the drivers beforehand or he would have been royally stuffed and completely out of his depth. He selected the Brother model from the list and was secretly chuffed to bits as the machine sprang into life.

Hurrah!! The machine was chuntering out page after page of the drawings and he sat back inordinately pleased with himself until everything stopped and a red light flashed on the printer. Blast! What now? He frowned deeply as he approached it afraid it might do something weird. He held his chin in one hand as he contemplated it and breathed deeply. It was probably something simple. ‘Don’t panic, Severus, you haven’t broken anything, it’s probably something quite routine’. He checked the paper drawer. Phew! It was empty.

A quick search turned up half a ream of paper in the drawer beneath it. He grabbed a wad and fed the beast, closing the drawer again. The machine made a few more noises and the printing started again. Feeling quite lightheaded with relief, he sat down again as the document continued to print and this time it finished. By the cringe! These machines were tricky buggers all right. He felt all out of breath as if he had run a four minute mile but he was proud of himself as the document finished. He fetched the pile of paper off the printer and looked it over. This seemed to be all of it.

Leaving the machines switched on he hotfooted it back into the bedroom to find Harry deep in conversation with an orange-y green head in the fireplace. From this distance it was impossible to tell which twin it was. As he entered he heard the hail from the fireplace, “Hi, Severus, how’s it going mate?” He cringed at the familiarity but let it go still on the high of completing his mission, “Excellent, thank you. Here you go, Harry, that list. I printed the lot out as I wasn’t sure which bits we needed. We’ll have to replace the paper as I used quite a lot. I’ve left the website up in case we need anything else”. Harry turned and took the sheaf of paper from him, “Oh, nice one, love, thanks for that”. There was a snort from the head in the fire, “Whoa. Severus. Using the Internet now are we?”, the tone slightly mocking. Severus resisted the urge to pull a face at the cheeky git in the fire, “Oh, yes, use it all the time”, he said casually to see Harry sucking his cheeks in trying not to laugh.

A hand stuck out from the fire clutching a collection of odd pink things on strings, the extendable ears. “Well. I hope these are some use to you, but I admit, I’m buggered if I know what you want them for”, he was plainly fishing for information. Harry winked at his husband, “It’s for pervy purposes, George. I’m sure you will understand”, Harry said, smoothly. Severus grinned at George, “For sure, voyeurism isn’t our only kink, we like the sound effects too”. He saw the eyes on the strange vision go round, “Merlin, guys, I’m not sure I want to know. Oh and while I’m here, can you give our Gin a call?, I believe she has some books that you requested from the Restricted Section, you pair of perverts”. Harry and Severus laughed at this and the call ended shortly afterwards.

Harry flicked through the document, “This is great, Sev, we need to practice a few of the higher degree ones, after all if we’re going to fool the bar manager then we’ll need to, there’s a good chance he’s ‘on the square’ too if he’s letting out his top room to masons and we need to be convincing”. Severus couldn’t deny the logic of this and they sat for a while cross-legged before the fireplace and went through a few, trying them out. In short order they had mastered several from the upper levels, pressing this finger or that into the palm of the recipient, curling this finger or that to indicate the level of attainment or degree, then worked on making it natural, instinctive, until they had thirtieth degree and higher fixed into their minds.

Harry rummaged in the regalia cases and extracted the small pin with the dividers and set square on from the collar of Jed’s kit pinning it to his denim jacket and found a small Maltese Cross that he handed to Severus to pin to his leather. “Let’s keep it as unobtrusive as possible”. Thus kitted out, they locked up the house and headed into the city.

The day was pleasant and sunny albeit chilly so they decided to walk in, they followed the road signs and the tall buildings of the city soon hove into sight. They took their time wandering about, it was still early after all, too early for the pubs to be open yet. They found a cafe and had a late breakfast in it’s fuggy warmth. Thus fortified, they set out to explore after finding out that the local hostelries would not be open for another couple of hours but they didn’t mind, wandering along streets, ducking into tiny alleys, checking out shops.

Severus was admiring a small exquisitely carved box in the window of a small bric-a-brac shop when he became aware that Harry had left his side. He glanced to his left to find Harry with his nose pressed to the window of the shop next door, his face a picture of wonder. He stepped up beside him, “What have you seen, Harry?” but Harry was lost in another world. The junk shop window was crowded with all manner of things all jumbled together and Severus found it hard to discern exactly what it was that enthralled his lover so. Harry whispered, “I don’t believe it, the finest that Britain ever produced and it’s only a hundred dollars. Oh, Merlin, I must have it. I must”, and without further ado, Harry entered the shop in a trance.

A second-hand shop filled to the ceiling with all manner of things. As Severus entered behind Harry he had to duck to avoid the blades of a pair of ice-skates dangling from the ceiling. He hung back as Harry approached the surly proprietor and asked to see the item that had inspired his curiosity. The man creaked to his feet and went into the window, “Yeah, had this here for about two years, I’ll do it for seventy five dollars if you wannit, could do with the space in my window”. Harry tentatively enquired if the price included a case for the object and the man shook his head, “Nah, but I’ve got a flight case somewhere in the back that will probably fit it, gimme a sec, I’ll go look for it”, her turned and left them alone in the shop as he disappeared through a ratty looking curtain into the back of the shop.

Severus watched quietly as Harry sat on a three-legged stool and, after peering lengthwise along the neck to check it’s trueness, he placed the guitar reverently across his lap, blew the dust off the frets, attempted to tune it then began to strum. He watched as his husband’s eyes filled as the beautiful tone filled the small dusty area, “Oh, gods, Sev, will you look at this thing, and it’s lying here all unloved and unplayed. I have to have it, love”, he whispered out of earshot of the shop owner, “A genuine Fylde, one of the best guitars ever made, oh, fuck, I am one lucky bunny”, he smiled waterily at his beloved. Severus smiled, “I had no idea that you could play, Harry”.

Harry grinned, “Well, I’m not much good but this is too good to miss, a box of this calibre. This geezer has no idea of it’s true value...”, then he shut up as the man emerged again carrying a rather battered flight case, the casing very rubbed at various points but the thing was basically sound and all but one of the locks worked fine. “I’ll take them both, is cash all right?” The man shrugged, “Cash is fine here, mate. Ten dollars for the case?” Harry nodded trying not to look too eager, “Hmmm, okay, say eighty dollars for the lot?”, he haggled and the man shrugged, “Yeah, go on. Want to get rid of the thing after all”, he pocketed the cash Harry handed him and Harry packed the guitar into the case carefully and they left the shop.

Harry was beaming a mere few yards from the shop, “Wow, Sev, this guitar is worth at least a thousand quid back in Blighty. I can’t believe I’ve just scored such a bargain and the tone is still good. The neck is still true and there’s no warping in the body either. It needs some new strings though”, Harry hugged the ratty old case to him closing his eyes blissfully and Severus had another insight into the amazing man he had married as Harry executed two perfect turns still cradling the case in his arms grinning like a loony, “Oh, Sev, I’m so happy. If the rest of today goes totally tits-up then it will be worth it to own something of this calibre”. Severus could do no more than smile at Harry’s evident joy.

They found themselves in a quiet square and Harry sat on a wooden bench and examined his booty at close quarters, lifting the guitar reverently from the case and slinging it across his lap. The tuning was a bit off but he still made a nice noise on the thing strumming an old Nick Drake tune, “Betty came by on her way..”, he began to sing in his light tenor and played and sang the rest of the song, the plaintive chords and Harry’s rather beautiful singing voice bringing tears to Severus’ eyes. He wasn’t the only one impressed as passers by chucked small change in front of him. Harry was oblivious as he started in on another song, Bowie’s Life On Mars singing lustily now as his voice warmed up and his fingers worked more efficiently over the fretboard, “As I ask you to focus on, sailors, fighting on the dancefloor...” and the song carried on. By the time he opened his eyes again, he had quite an audience mainly made up of student types with one or two older folk wiping the tears from their eyes. They all applauded as he stopped and requested various tracks from him but Harry blushed and refused, placing the guitar back in the case, looking bemused at the sparkle of coinage at his feet.

“Shit, they thought I was busking”, Harry blushed again as he swept up the money and they carried on, Harry swinging the guitar at his side as they walked. Severus was stunned, “I had no idea”, he breathed and on impulse pulled Harry to him and kissed his temple, “You’re really good”, he enthused but Harry hung his head, “Nah, and I’m rusty as fuck. I haven’t played for years”. He flexed his fingers, “Shit, I need to practice again, my fingers are sore after so short a time playing. Still, today isn’t about this. Wow, what a bargain”, he grinned widely and hugged the case again, his eyes brimming with unshed tears.

Severus took the case from him as Harry wiped his eyes and got himself under control again. Severus said, “We’ve got a fair amount of time to kill so I suggest we find a music shop if we can and buy you some new strings. I want to hear you play again, you really are bloody good and don’t you dare protest Mrs S”. Harry cast his lover a look his lower lip bitten between his teeth, his nose wrinkling, “You really think so?”, his query shy and Severus nodded, “Oh, yes. How long have you been able to play?” Harry shrugged, “Dudley was bought a guitar for a Christmas present, let me see, when he was thirteen, that would have made me twelve. He soon lost interest and I kind of took it up. I had to do something during those bloody boring holidays at the Dursleys. I would take it over to the travellers during the summer and jam with them, some of them were really fine musicians. We’d sit around the fire at night and play. There was a keyboard player and we used water containers for drums and a few of them had percussion instruments, shakers and tambourines and so on. It was fun, a bit of a laugh, that’s all. My abilities paled before Drae’s on the piano, my god, he was superb, his phrasing and tone was positively maestro-like and I never told him I could play anything. He was brilliant and I felt like I had two left hands in comparison”.

Severus shook his head, “That’s a real shame, Harry. I knew Draco could play and I admit, when he was a boy, I used to listen to him practice for hours. Yes, he was good, but I feel he would have loved to know that you were as musical as he. I’d have loved to hear the two of you play together and I’m pretty sure that Remus would have enjoyed it every much as I would, he was quite appreciative of music himself as I’m sure you are aware. Bloody shame, Harry. Well, now that we are together, I’m going to keep your nose to the grindstone vis-a-vis practice. As you know, I’ve always loved music although I can’t play anything worth a damn but I will always appreciate those who can make their own music, no matter what the style or era, and you are good”.

Harry shrugged sadly, “Well, too late now. I wish I hadn’t been such a chicken-shit. I think I could have made his last months better with music but I was afraid to after so many years, you know?” Severus sympathised, “It was a real shame that Hogwarts never fostered artistic talent as well as magical, a bloody shame, and Draco should have known that he was in love with a fellow musician. What a waste, what a waste”, he shook his head again and hang where he was, he took Harry into his arms and held him out on the sunny street, “Well, no more, husband of mine. I want you to play for me. No, I want you to play for you. I know you love all styles of music and the fact that you are such a good dancer should have told me something, given me clues but I’m musically blind and I never read it in our Occlumency sessions, you kept that one hidden”.

Harry glanced at his beloved to see wet eyes and hugged him harder, “Well, now you know my biggest secret”. Severus smiled, “It’s out now, you sweet trollop. Do any of your other friends know? Ron? Hermione?” Harry shook his head, “No, music never really came up at school and our lives made no room for it afterwards”. Severus merely commented that that was the saddest thing he had ever heard and they carried on down the street.

Dundonald Street was easy to find and they almost tripped over it. As it happened, at one end they found a tiny music shop selling sheet music and other musical ephemera and they entered the dark interior. Harry walked straight up to the counter enquiring of the girl behind the counter if they stocked Adamus Phosphor Bronze strings and, having been answered in the affirmative, he requested a set of medium concentrically-wound. The girl spotted the case and asked if they were for the guitar he carried and Harry nodded, “I just bought this across town in a second-hand shop and I’m so pleased with it, the tone is still beautiful but the strings are shot”.

She came back to the counter with the strings he had requested and he asked her if she minded if he re-strung right there and she shook her head, “No problem, sweetheart, go right ahead, help yourself”. They chatted amiably and once she had discerned his accent, they chatted about his home country and the places he had visited. She made other suggestions to them both of sites that were off the beaten track that were cool but not in the guidebooks. “For good food you could do worse than the Star and Garter further along the street here, they do a mean lunch and their menu is inventive”. They thanked her for the information, paid for the strings and a book of Beatles songs that Harry fancied and left.

Severus grinned, “The perfect cover. A recommendation from a local and it’s nearly lunchtime. Shall we, love?” Harry returned the smile. For two pins he would have grabbed his lover to him and kissed him senseless but they had a mission to fulfil, so he made do with a long look instead that Severus returned, slight smiles on their faces and love and desire plain in their eyes.

The pub was open when they reached it. An unassuming place set slightly back from the street, the barman putting tables out on the street as they approached. Severus said to him that they had been recommended the place as the place for a fine lunch and the man beamed and waved them inside. “The kitchen doesn’t open for half an hour or so but maybe you would like to sample one of our guest beers while you wait. As it happens, we have a couple from England. How about a nice pint of Boddington’s?” Severus laughed, “As it happens, I’m a Manchester man, so I would be interested to see if it travels well”. The man’s hands shook slightly as he poured them both a pint, “Here’s hoping that this comes up to the standards of two such discerning clients”, he huffed out as he handed them their pints across the bar.

Severus took a long swallow, his head tipped back, his eyes closed. He licked the foam from his top lip in a way that made Harry’s knees go weak and declared, “You keep a mighty fine barrel young man. It does indeed travel. Ahh, a taste from home. Beautiful”, he grinned at the man as he shelled out for their beer. Harry took a sip as they found a table and grimaced, “Perhaps I am not a real ale fan after all, love”. Severus smirked at him as he took another swallow, “Bloody heathen”, he muttered, “This is a real taste of home to me. Leave me your pint and go and order some of your blasted lager then”.

Harry did just that and shared a grin with the barman, “My friend is the real ale man. I have to admit to being a Stella Artois man myself, a pint if you please”. The barman grinned at him, “I don’t see the point of all these beers myself but your friend looks happy with the beer, so that’s all right then. Here you go”. He pushed the golden pint across the bar to Harry and he took a long drink and was instantly refreshed, “Delicious”, was Harry’s verdict as he paid and told the man, “And your own, mate”. The man tinkled a few coins into a glass on the back of the bar as he tendered Harry’s change and Harry sat back down with his lover.

Harry left his beloved appreciating his beer and muttered, “Gonna go to the loo. Check out the upstairs if I can while things are quiet”. Severus didn’t hear, lost in the delicious taste of his favourite Boddies bitter. Harry slipped away and found himself in a narrow tiled hallway, he went to the loo then ‘pretended’ to get lost, easily finding the door to the upstairs bar. It was locked as he suspected. A simple Alohamora opened the door and he scurried up the stairs at top speed until he found himself in the upper room.

It was dark, the curtains pulled across the windows and the bar empty of staff. Fishing the extendable ears out of his pockets and a blob of blu-tack, he tacked them under the tables that were scattered about. He quickly attached one to the small stage at one end of the room and another he fixed high up on the wall at the other end over the door. He whipped out his phone and made the adjustments, murmuring a ‘testing, testing’ into one of them, picking the signal up clearly on his phone. Good, this was going to work. He used his wand to cast an invisibility glamour on all the ‘ears’ and left quickly, making his way back to the bar just in time to see the barman handing his husband a menu for lunch.

As they pored over it, he gave Severus the thumbs up, “I’ve tuned them into my phone and they work. After lunch, we’ll need to hire a motor and we’ll probably be okay lurking around the corner later on. I can’t do anything about pictures but this’ll do for now. We should hear everything that goes on in that room anyway”. Severus murmured his approval and when the barman reappeared they ordered lunch. When it came, they understood the girl’s enthusiasm. The food was plain, homely and thoroughly excellent. Harry had the home-made steak and kidney pie and Severus had the deep-fried snapper with roasted veggies. They had another pint with their meal, paid for everything, tipped the barman handsomely and left as the place was beginning to fill with what was probably the pub’s usual lunchtime clientele. He wished them a cordial good afternoon and hoped he would see them again.

Before entering the car hire office, Harry cast a judicious breath sweetening charm over them both. After all, it wouldn’t do for them to hire a car stinking of alcohol. He hired a recent model small hatchback and paid cash on production of his International Licence. He took the keys from the toothily smiling woman and they had their plan in place. He loaded the car with his new guitar and they headed back to the house.

They had a sexy afternoon, making love and dozing until the alarm on Harry’s phone woke them. They had an extremely randy shower to relax them both and headed out into the gathering dusk grinning at each other as Harry eased off the drive. They were in plenty of time. Harry had left his phone on charge all afternoon so they could catch everything that was said without fear of the battery failing them. They parked up in a side street that allowed evening parking. Harry cast a ‘notice-me-not’ over the interior of the car so the folk emerging to enjoy the early Wellington evening paid them no heed at all.

They waited, Harry’s phone open to the ‘ears’ that were spread about the upper room. Their luck was in. The bar must have been busy because the pre-meeting chat took place at one of the tables in the room upstairs. As they heard the men mentioned in last night’s call greet each other, Harry pressed a button on his phone and the call was recording onto the memory card in short order.

“So, Tony, what is all this about the Spanish? Causing trouble are they?”, came a light-toned voice. The man that they had heard the previous night on the answerphone replied, “Aye, I haven’t heard back from Jed yet but these guys are fucking weird. The head of their Order is a bloody weirdo anyway. Whassisname? Guillermo de Santos, some Spanish bloke is using us to recruit people to some cause he’s got going. Now I know that none of us are keen on Blacks or Pakis or anything, but this guy’s a rabid racist. There’s a move afoot to depose him, you know, put another man at the head of the Grand Spanish Lodge, but there’s a groundswell that wants this guy out of office. He keeps harping on about ancient families and, wait for this, magic”.

There was a clear gasp from at least one of Tony’s listeners that Harry and Severus clearly heard. “Magic! What the fuck is the guy going on about? We all know magic doesn’t really exist. It’s a metaphor for the actions of the great Architect. Fuck! I wish young Jed was here tonight. I can’t imagine why he didn’t contact us to tell us he wasn’t coming, s’not like him to miss a meeting”. There was a pause, “Sounds like this Spanish fella’s a bit of a nutjob and the sooner he’s replaced the better if you ask me, only I know we bow to Spain in all matters Masonic but there’s folk who are mighty pissed off at him. I heard he had a member of his family murdered. A girl. Young, too. Raped and stabbed. Not pretty. We don’t need that sort mucking up the Order”. There were murmurs of agreement at this and the plain sound of beer being quaffed, a belch, an ‘excuse me’ from one of them.

“So, what’s all this shit about magic?” a third voice joined in, “What’s that all about, then?” There was a silence before Tony spoke again, “Well, I’ve heard that there’s real magical folk out there in the world, folk who use wands and stuff. My sister knows someone who has a friend, you know the sort of thing. She hasn’t seen anything with her own two eyes but she reckons there’s real magic out there. Christ, if we could tap into that, it’d be so good. The Spanish could go fuck themselves. We would lead the world with our branch of the Order. We’d know more secrets than the whole fuckin’ Order put together”.

Harry and Severus exchanged looks at this, hidden out of sight in the small car, this didn’t sound good and they whispered about eventually letting Jed and Sammy hear all this from their lodge-mates, their new friends would have to make some serious choices about their magic and their loyalty to the Masons, it would seem as if the two were possibly incompatible if the greedy tone in their friends’ voices were anything to go by although amongst the three discussing them it would appear as if Jed was a highly respected member and much liked.

They were startled by the ringing of a phone and Harry looked at his screen. It was only when the voice he identified as ‘Rick’ said, “Bugger, call from Gerhardt in Frankfurt, ‘scuse me chaps”, that they grinned and continued to listen in. It was obvious that Rick had moved away from the other two as they could now hear two conversations, well, one and a half as their surveillance gear couldn’t pick up the caller at the other end of the line, only Rick’s half, they concentrated on listening in to this, aware of the connection that existed between the Spanish and possible German factions.

Rick was murmuring quite low and Harry turned up the small volume pot to hear, “Bollocks, they’re speaking in German. Do you still have your Redditus charm cast?” Severus shook his head and said, “Well, the device is recording all of this so we’ll have to translate later”, before there was a sound of frustration at the other end, “Gerhardt, Gerhardt, I’m losing the signal, hang on and I’ll step outside”. Harry and Severus looked at each other in consternation. Harry tuned back in to the others’ discussion but it had turned sporting and was of no further interest for now, “We’ll have to get closer, love, there’s nothing for it. Come on, we’ll both fit under the cloak”. They left the car and locked it up activating the alarm and set off around the corner and into the main street. Harry cast hasty glamours over them both in a shop doorway and they continued down the street.

They spotted a tall man outside the pub on his phone, his back to them and the passing traffic, one finger in his ear as his voice tried to cope with the background noise. As they made to saunter past, Harry diverted and cast one end of a spare set of ‘ears’ on the ground under a glamour and drew out his phone as he and Severus nonchalantly looked as if they too were simply making a call but were still able to listen in.

Neither of them could understand a word. They glanced at the man hunched over his own phone, seemingly arguing with his caller. They did, however make out the words, something like magisch benutzer that the man was muttering and Harry whispered, “Magic user. Bloody hell. We need to translate this asap”. The call ended and they re-tuned to the upstairs again to hear a babble of different voices, it seemed that the main meeting was about to start and they picked up various references to the mad Spanish and other things of interest. Severus was cautious, “Do you think we have enough to go on?” Harry shook his head, “Nope, I want to get in there, have a proper listen, but we’ll have to be quick before they lock the door and the meeting proper starts. Come on”.

He bodily dragged Severus into the pub which was now pretty full. Glancing behind the bar, he saw that there were now a couple of young women serving and the friendly barman of earlier was nowhere to be seen. Bypassing the bar altogether, Harry led them both into the hall where a selection of men were slowly wending their way up the narrow stairs, their regalia cases in hand. Severus wasn’t sure about this at all and said as much but Harry was having none of it. “I’m going in, love. If you’re not keen, I can’t make you, wait for me in the car if you want. I don’t want to stay for the whole thing if I can help it but they may post guards or something on the doors but I’m gonna have to move fast here”. Severus sighed in annoyance but knew there was no stopping him, “Give me the phone and the car keys. I’ll stay down here. I’ll probably have a pint here in the bar first then make my way back to the car”. He smiled grimly as they parted and he went back to the bar as Harry made for the Gents.

A moment or two later and the door of the toilets creaked open a fraction, the coast was clear, the door opened and closed seemingly under it’s own volition and Harry was on the stairs quick as a trice before he heard more men on the stairs behind him. He nimbly mounted and was through the doors just before the last three men entered. He heard them greet the doorwarden and the doors were closed.

He found a safe spot behind the small stage and slid down the wall to listen. He wished fervently that he had at least brought up a bottle of water with him as the room was a bit warm with all the people now present and being under his invisibility cloak could get a bit sweaty anyway, but there was nothing he could do at this point. He sighed quietly and made himself as comfortable as he could in the rather cramped space.

He could make out the backs of the four men who now took the stage, calling the meeting to order with a “Welcome Brethren”, and the meeting began. The first order of the day was the initiation of a new member to their level. Harry couldn’t see all of the ceremony but he heard all the invocations and the chants, the call and responses of the inductors and the newest inductee in Latin of all things, this at least he could vaguely understand and he knew Severus at least would be able to translate this on the fly as he was listening.

Frustrated at his lack of vision, Harry snuck out of his hiding place and positioned himself a bit nearer to the action, scuttling swiftly under a table, keeping away from the legs around him. He saw the new member kneeling as he accepted his new badges of office, being tapped on each shoulder with a ceremonial blade in a fashion reminiscent of a knighting ceremony before the man was blindfolded and ordered to rise. A man flanked him to either side and he was led to each of the several men that had, by now, formed a rough circle around the space left empty between the tables. Murmured words were exchanged with each and the new man seemed to be swearing vows.

As this part of the ceremony came to an end, the others went back to their seats. The new man was laid out on the floor, his arms and legs spread wide and he was positioned according to the cardinal points of a compass which another man held to be sure of the correct orientation. This time only one man spoke, in English this time, as various symbols were placed around the prostrated man, a set square, a set of dividers, two columns, one by each foot to represent the twin pillars of the original Temple and at the man’s head a Maltese Cross.

More incantations were spoken over him by the authoritative man that Harry presumed was the head of this degree. Then the new man was turned over and bound hand and foot, his body now aligned East/West. He was assisted to rise to his knees and he spoke his own piece that would bind him to this degree in a slow voice, each word enunciated clearly as he swore fealty on his own life and that of his brethren to uphold the laws and protect the secrets of the Order. His bonds were cut with the sword and he was helped to stand. A cloak was draped over his shoulders and his blindfold removed and he was finally welcomed amongst them all as a fellow brother. There was a muted cheer and a smattering of applause and the man was led to a seat at one of the tables.

This part of the evening concluded, it was down to business. The man who had inducted the new member rose from his seat on the stage. “We know not where brother Jeremiah is tonight but I trust someone is taking detailed minutes for him”. A murmur from one of the tables indicated that this was so. Harry spotted five chairs on the stage, only four being filled, the centre one vacant and had a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. The middle slot, the detailed minutes, brother Jeremiah. It took him all of two seconds to put two and two together. Jed was the leader of this degree! Oh, Merlin! No wonder they were all so anxious at his non-appearance. Had he been here then he would have certainly been the one to induct the latest member, not to mention lead the meeting but in his excitement at finding himself a wizard and the lightning-fast way that they had buggered off to England, he had obviously not thought to contact his Lodge. No doubt that had been his intention when he got to London but as these others seemed to know nothing of his whereabouts, he obviously hadn’t got there. ‘Nice one ‘Mione’, Harry found himself thinking under his cloak.

The meeting moved on to the disturbing news that had reached them of ‘the Spanish question’ as it was dubbed and the murder of Graciela de Santos and the rumours that magic was involved. Harry’s ears pricked at this, but it seemed that the other members were as bemused as Rick, Malcolm and Tony in this although more than one of the members seemed to either know a little or at least have an opinion in the matter. The main consensus, though, was to move towards de Santos’ deposition as head of the Spanish Order to which there were many ‘Ayes’ as a vote was taken.

Rick then stood and expressed his deep misgivings as a result of his chat to the head of the Frankfurt branch, “Brother Gerhardt called me earlier this evening. It would seem as if these magicals have infiltrated their Lodge and they aren’t happy about it. Seems the guy they caught had this bizarre tattoo on his left forearm, a pair of crossed bones and when he was, er, questioned, he revealed that there were others with this same affiliation scattered across the whole movement. Apparently he bragged about it actually and here’s the weirdest thing, despite him being, er, restrained during his interrogation, he simply vanished before everyone’s eyes and no-one’s seen him since. Gerhardt reckons that there’s a secret Order within the Lodges using us as a cover for more nefarious activities. He has a friend in the Royal Arch degree in Berlin who also shares his suspicions, they have been comparing notes and it would seem as if the German Lodges have been quite compromised. I move that we try and uncover these weirdos and oust them at the first opportunity. To make sure that our Order is clean, I would ask all the brethren present tonight to roll up their left sleeves and I will inspect you all. We cannot have infiltrators in our midst, certainly not rapists and murderers besmirching our good name and disseminating our secrets in any way”.

This created an angry buzz around the room and all rushed to comply eagerly revealing their arms. Harry took as quick a look around as he dared and he didn’t spot anyone trying to cast a glamour on the sly although from his position he couldn’t see everybody. Rick and another man made the inspections and they declared this particular Lodge ‘clean’.

Harry thought to himself that this seemed to back up what Ron had told him months ago about the Germans although he was gratified to discover that not everyone was happy with the Death Eater factions infiltrating them and this gave him a small measure of hope.

The meeting changed then to ordinary Lodge business and Harry found himself becoming quite bored. He tried not to fidget as he subtly changed position, crawling beneath an empty table so he could stretch his legs out. It was jolly warm under his Cloak and he was sweating profusely. He undid one of the ‘ears’ from under the table and murmured to his lover that he was all right but that he would probably have to wait the meeting out as there was no way he could make his escape without detection, “I need to collect up all the ears too, we can’t be leaving magical devices lying around. I’m bloody thirsty, too, and hot”, he groused.

He was almost asleep when he was brought back to the by now stifling room by the sounds of chairs scraping over the wooden floor and feet and legs all around his hidey-hole were in motion. Thank Merlin for that, he thought, the meeting was evidently at an end. Shaking the torpor from his limbs, he scuttled under the tables and retrieved all of the ears that he had planted previously and managed to slip away unnoticed although he had a close call when someone bumped him on the stairs. The man looked round and shrugged seeing no-one immediately behind him and carried on with his conversation. ‘Whew, that was close’, he thought.

He waited until a gaggle of the men were heading out all at once and slipped out with them. He had already cast an eye around the main part of the pub, determining that his husband was no longer there and was relieved as the cold night air hit him. As soon as he could, he ripped off the Cloak and hared off back to the car, flinging the door open and collapsing into the driver’s seat beside his lover. Without a word, Severus handed him the keys and Harry peeled away as quickly as possible.

They stopped at a small late-night mini-mart and Severus ducked inside and purchased a couple of cold bottles of water for his red-faced husband who was obviously a bit over heated and Harry received them with grateful thanks, swigging from one whilst rolling the other against his flushed face and neck to cool himself down and they drove back to the house through the sleeping suburbs.

Severus ordered them some take-out over the phone while Harry went to have a cool shower washing off all the sweat of the evening and the doorbell chimed as he was drying off. Harry extracted the memory card from his phone and stuffed it into his little card reader attached to his laptop, plugged it into the hi-fi in the main room and they checked out the sound quality which was good enough if a little muffled in places. He banged it into the laptop saved the whole thing as a sound file and uploaded it to his best friend attached to an e-mail before ringing her after checking the time.

Hermione answered on the fifth ring and excitedly told them of the start of the training with her two charges. Harry, in turn, told her of their night’s adventures and the fact that she would now have an extensive sound file to listen to with info on the German connection, “It does seem as if de Santos’ lot are using the Masons as a cover and the Masons are less than chuffed about it all and are beginning to suss them out. It also seems as if Jed is quite the leader of his Lodge, too, so it’s essential that he isn’t privy to me infiltrating like this. It would appear that the magicals are involved at all levels, too, if what this Rick fella said is true. Royal Arch is the fourteenth degree, the first of the mystical degrees”, and he gave her a brief outline of what Rick had announced at the meeting and the checking of the arms of the other members for the crossed bones insignia.

She was quiet at this until Harry had to ask if she was still there. “Sorry, Harry, this is quite a lot to take in. I’ll have to pick up my e-mail at Ron’s but the lads are staying there at the moment. We sort of kidnapped them off the steps at Mason’s hall in London and took them to Grimmauld Place”. She then laughingly told them of Sammy lifting Walpurga’s portrait from the wall, “Fancy that, eh? She’s been banished to the cellar until we can think of what to do with her”, This made all of them laugh, Severus loudest of the three of them. They said their goodbyes and hung up. Harry sighed as he ate, “So ‘Mione hasn’t gone back to Neville then. That’s bloody sad”.

Severus passed his husband more food and said thoughtfully, “Well after the advice you gave her the other year and the fact that she’s already playing away with your other ‘sister’, are you surprised?” Harry had to admit that, no, he wasn’t, “Although it’ll break Neville’s heart. He loves her completely and utterly, always has. I know he’s a bit boring, bless him, but he’s a good husband and an excellent dad to those kids. He’s a good man, Sev, despite what you may think of him”. Severus agreed up to a point, “All very well, but our Hermione is a creature of action and excitement and, I think, just as Remus and I were at the end of something, then so is she, even though her spouse may not see it that way. Yes, it’s a shame, but you cannot direct the vicissitudes of the human heart. I think she has simply fallen out of love with him and once that goes then what else is there but hanging on for the sake of the children in a dry sterile marriage that is feeding no-one satisfactorily any more”.

Harry shrugged, “You hung on with Remus, though”, he stated baldly. Severus frowned, “The man was dying, Harry, I couldn’t leave him, not at that stage, but there’s nothing wrong with Neville. The marriage is dead but the participants are nowhere near it. I knew the moment that she told us about the abortion that she had no intention of trying to revive it. You cannot flog a dead horse. It’s a pity that all this didn’t wait a few years until the children were older and I’ve no doubt that it will affect them badly but what is, is. There were obvious tensions between them even in Crete and she had asked your advice long before that, in Spain if I recall, the year before, so it isn’t as if she did nothing to try and save the situation”.

Harry sighed, flopping back on the sofa, “You’re right. Maybe they married too early, they were just out of school after all”. Severus smiled grimly, “Yes, and it was the end of a war. People do that kind of thing at the end of wars. Think of how many in your year wed young. It’s the affirmation of life in the midst of death. Let’s face facts, straight magicals have a habit of marrying young in any case and your generation were quicker off the mark than most, look at how fast Narcissa had her son married off after all and the moment Pansy realised she wasn’t going to be bound to the Malfoys, how quickly she took up with Blaise instead. To be honest, I’ll be most surprised if that marriage survives beyond the flying of the youngsters from the nest”. Harry shrugged resignedly, “True. I was tempted to take up with Ginny again, despite being gay, but I’m glad I didn’t, and she was pretty quick to haul Justin up the aisle, I think to please Molly as much as anything. I know Arthur had reservations about Justin and it turned out he was right”.

Severus leaned in and kissed Harry on the temple, “That’s why I wanted you to be sure about us, love. Why I wanted you to wait until you had done your grieving for Draco and you weren’t just rushing into things with me. I don’t think I could stand it if you were to leave me now”. Harry grinned at this and tipped his head up for a proper kiss and Severus obliged. As they drew apart, he murmured, “I would rather die than be separated from you, my only love, and, yes, at first, I wanted to ring you and say, ‘sod it, come out and join me right away’, but with hindsight, I’m glad I waited, even though it was bloody torture and I missed you so much”. Severus chuckled, “Oh, and I was in no pain? I think not, Mrs S. I don’t think I’ve ever missed anyone like I missed you during that interminable six months. I had a mental calendar that I crossed the days off from. It was bloody murder, I can tell you”.

Harry smiled warmly at this and held his arms open, “C’m’ere, you. I need a cuddle after all this”. Severus shuffled along the sofa and into waiting arms, “Mmm, I think I need one too”, and they just sat quietly a while relishing the closeness and the mutual comfort, their hearts singing until Harry yawned widely, “Shall we go to bed? I’m knackered after today and it’s been a long one. We must figure out what we’re doing next but I’m too tired to think about it now. Let’s sleep on it and make plans in the morning”. They kissed slowly, with such love but little or no heat. They tidied up the remnants of their meal and headed to bed, switching off lights as they went. They lay in each other’s arms until sleep closed their eyes and they relaxed into each other with deep sighs and gentle kisses murmuring sweet nothings until sleep took over.


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