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

Hi all.

Firstly, thanks, stepmnstr, once again for your ace review and a big thanx to all who are along for this ride. Here's another chapter for you all.

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Enjoy! The Squig xx

3

Harry sat bolt upright panting slightly and sweating. In seconds, he had his glasses on and his wand gripped firmly in his right hand.

He listened intently. He heard nothing save the wind in the trees and the gentle snores of Severus at his side. He was sure he wasn’t having nightmares as he felt he had been catapulted from deep sleep, he was sure he’d subconsciously heard something amiss.

Hearing nothing unusual now but none the less wide awake, he shrugged on a gown in the dark, shoved his wand in the sleeve and padded off barefoot to the kitchen to make a brew. It was as he was halfway up the stairs that the sound came again, a phone ringing, his, on charge next to his laptop in the office. He ran the rest of the way, turning on lights. It was still dark outside.

He lunged at the lit-up screen, just as it flashed up 2 Missed Calls. Crap! He pressed List. Hermione. Then the sound of a message being left. Voicemail. He frowned and took his wand out, describing tempus in the air. 4:45 am. Hmmm, it must be urgent, he thought, as he dialled his mailbox.

Hermione’s voice, a frantic edge to it, “You’ve got to get out of there, Harry and Severus, you may be in danger. I’m going to ring every ten minutes until I get you. I’ve scanned and sent you an article from tonight’s Prophet that you must see”, and rang off.

“Whoa”, Harry murmured aloud as he sat and booted his machine, this didn’t sound good. Should he go and wake Severus? Nah, see what it’s all about first. He opened his browser and went straight to e-mail, Hermione’s was at the top of the list. He was just accessing it when his phone trilled again.

“Mornin’ to you, m’dear”, he found himself yawning as he answered her on the first ring, “What’s the rush, I’m just opening my account?”. Her tone was apologetic but firm, “Sorry, Harry, I know it’s early over there but you might be in danger. You see the Gunderssons were all killed within the last twenty four hours”.

Harry shook his head, “Gunderssons, Gunderssons”, he muttered, trying to recall. Hermione sighed, “Yes, the other lad, the other child of the prophecy, the basketball player, him, and his dad in a car accident, but it gets worse, Harry. His uncle, the psychic we nearly sent Jed and Sammy to? There in New Zealand? Fatal car accident, not six hours ago, your time”.

He was open-mouthed, stunned. “Ohmygod”, he breathed, then snapped back to himself, “So, this Gundersson chap over here, whatshisname, Roger, no, Roget, he was a wizard after all?” Hermione affirmed, “Yep, I found him, he was ex-Durmstrang but not very strong, but, anyway, I think that maybe you and Severus should think very carefully about staying there. Also, if those that killed them have looked through his papers or recent phone records may find something on Sammy. I’m worried, Harry. I think we need to tell them something, keep them here perhaps and I really think you two need to get out of there”, her voice sounded strained.

He then had the presence of mind to ask, “Been into the office yet?”, to hear her groan at the other end, “Please, don’t remind me. It’s a friggin’ nightmare. I swear the forensic team did more damage than the bloody burglars though nothing important went, that’s all safe, but the place is still a mess. As for dark spells, so-called, I’ve seen worse magic from a second-year Slytherin. It was quite amateurish but there was definitely an attempt on the safe, not just magical means either, a crow bar had been used, the marks plain. Harry, this is all getting bloody creepy and this bloody guy seems to wield quite a lot of power and if this connection is as your last e-mail suggests then this thing could have been spreading like a virus for years”.

Harry sighed, “I’ve thought about that. It takes some time to get through all but the first three degrees. I take it you’ve listened to the files then? Get anywhere with the German? Only Sev and I aren’t under the Redditus at the moment”. She naysayed, “Been up to my eyes in it at the office, but I’ll get to it in the next few days. Anyway, love, gotta go. Be bloody careful and I’ll hear from you soon, okay?” They ended the call.

Sitting back, covering his face with his forearm, Harry tried to slow his brain down enough to think. First things first, he checked out the e-mail with the scanned clipping from the evening paper. A short piece on Roget in the International column. He logged on to a New Zealand national paper. Nothing much there either. He’d try again in another few hours, maybe try and catch the local morning news on the TV, but first he had to wake his husband.

He made a pot of tea and tiptoed down the stairs with two mugsful. Severus was still asleep, cuddling one of Harry’s pillows, a sight which made Harry grin as he placed the cups on the side table and sat on the bed. He woke his husband up as gently as he could so as not to alarm him but Severus still spun round in Harry’s arms to sit upright rather quickly when he realised how early it was still.

Harry hushed him and sat apart until Severus had collected himself then told him the news.

“Are you sure?”, all trace of sleep was gone from Severus’ face, his eyes wide. Harry nodded, “It means they’re here somewhere, nearby, maybe with Adele’s sisters details. Oh fuck! We need to call her.”

He flipped open his phone as he dashed out of the room and back into the kitchen to retrieve the note on the fridge door. He dialled and pressed the thing to his ear. A sleepy voice answered. “Sorry to disturb you, Adele, but it’s Harry here, you met me the other day at Sammy’s”. He paused for a few moments for her recently asleep brain to catch up, “Oh, yeah, I remember you”. Her voice started to wake up as she rather waspishly demanded what it was that justified digging her out of bed at such an ungodly hour.

Harry apologised again and cut to the meat of the matter. He heard her drop the phone then recover herself, apologising in her turn. “Dead, you say, not accidental although that’s what they say? God, that’s horrifying. And you think this was deliberate? And Cassie could be in danger as my last known address?”

He could hear the rising panic in her words and hushed her, “It’s unlikely they’ll be interested in all of his papers and a kid that appeared in a muggle magazine years ago doesn’t really count. If you like, to be on the safe side, call Cassie, have her come over for the weekend or something”, he tried for his smoothest most reassuring tone completely hiding the unease he felt.

When asked, she found the dead man’s card and read off the address, somewhere to the north of them, Harry vaguely remembered the spot on the map, thanked her for the information, exhorted her to take care and they finished the call. He hoped he hadn’t lied to her about the potential unimportance of the man’s contacts. Harry thought it far more likely that it was about the prophecy and wiping out any ‘pretenders’ entertaining the idea of being the survivor in this.

He sank onto one of the stools around the central island, clutching his phone and deep in thought. He flinched and twitched round when he heard Severus enter, “I hope she’ll be all right. I want to tell her to run, but I don’t want to panic her, but somehow, my gut is saying she’ll probably be okay and that a wizard who would stoop so low as to publish in muggle magazines isn’t worth a second look. Shame we never got to meet him, he sounded all right from what Adele said”.

“Aye, and now the poor bugger’s dead. I think the sooner we are out of here, the better”. Harry had to ruefully agree. By now Severus was behind him and he leaned back to have arms around his shoulders and a cheek rubbing his hair. Harry kissed the stubbly jawline, “We’re running again, but this time, I think it’s a good idea to stay out of range. We need to know just how big this thing is and I’m getting the worst feelings about it all”. Severus nodded, “I agree”, was all he said, but his tone said it all.

While Severus prepared breakfast, Harry went out to Bessie for the maps. He spread them across the counter as they sat and ate. He pointed to a spot near the far north east, “That’s where Gundersson was killed, in his home up there. Poor guy. I suggest we go south”. Harry nipped off from the table and returned a moment later with the laptop. He plugged it in and unplugged the kitchen phone, snaking out a long wire to connect and switched on.

“I’ve been looking at a couple of ways to get us and Bessie to Australia and I’ve hit on the perfect solution. We go from here”, he pointed at a spot in the south-eastern corner of the South Island, “On a container ship, that also carries passengers, run out of somewhere in London, there’s a phone number. Some of these cargo ships also take passengers, they go right round the world, the first stop’s Melbourne but we could stay on to Adelaide, maybe head for Julia and Jon’s”.

Severus knew Harry was trying to keep things light, despite the dread he knew they both felt. “Actually, that sounds like a good idea. How long are we at sea?” Harry shrugged, “I’ll ask, I’m gonna ring this number, the office might still be open, it’s not eight at night yet back in England”.

It took a mere few minutes and the flexing of a little plastic and they had themselves a way out. They were sailing in fifteen days hence and they had to get to the other end of the country. Not a problem. And now perhaps they would really see a bit of the country they were in. Harry moved into Severus’ arms as the final arrangements were made. They would make for the Port and sail to Adelaide.

They finished breakfast and without a word between them, they started to pack up and tidy up ready to depart, they had a circumspect shower apiece and stowed the gear back on Bessie, making the bed up afresh and Banishing the rather pongy cabbage that had gone off.

Making sure the house was locked up thoroughly, all the verandah doors closed and the heating back on tick-over, they left, dropping the key through the door as requested. They were making for the Picton ferry. Far from enjoying the ride, they both found themselves glancing in the mirrors, checking for anyone following them, both stayed quiet until they were aboard. An hour or so later and they had left the North Island behind and were wheeling Bessie off on the other side.

And into another world.

A vast difference from the rolling countryside of the North Island, mountains piled up before them. Harry judged the western side of the island to be the quieter although, truth to tell, the place didn’t seem to be very populated at all. They shared a smile as Harry cut across a peninsula and headed straight for the coast after re-fuelling and stocking up on food and other necessities. Darkness found them just on the coast road.

Considering that they were supposed to be running, the next few days felt more blissfully honeymoonish than anything they had done so far even though their time was limited. They motored hither and you, Harry more than once patting himself on the back at his choice of vehicle, Bessie behaved herself magnificently, enabling them to take the toughest routes through the most spectacular scenery.

They couldn’t tarry long but made time to stand, breathless before waterfalls, the like of which they had never seen before, deep ancient forests and smell the trees, take meals in tiny towns in the local cafes. They were sure they had no magical tailing spells on them and they kept a sharp eye out for other more mundane means of keeping tabs on them and determined that there was none. They relaxed then.

The nights were becoming a bit too cold to spend outside, neither of them relishing time in the cold when they had a toasty warm stove for the night-times, but during the days, they would leave Bessie and just set off with map and compass for a few hours, wearing stout boots and a bag with lunch or dinner in. This was the real country, the mountains and the odd hills, the magnificent ocean views, the falls, even glaciers higher up. They took a route that led past Mount Cook.

Harry still spotted the odd location from his favourite movies but seeing the country as a whole was simply amazing. They had a morning whale-watching, the creatures coming very close to the boat they were in. They spent an afternoon and evening in Queenstown, deciding on a decent hotel, a hot bath and someone else doing the cooking.There was a castle in Dunedin which Harry had to visit for the name alone then they were due at the dock.

Most reluctant to leave just as they were starting to really explore the place, they watched as Bessie was backed into a container and loaded aboard the same ship that they would be on. They had been lucky. The cabin they were in was empty from Melbourne back to Melbourne, so they were able to book such a short journey. Needing the use of a container helped them make their case. Harry watched Bessie being hauled away with his arm across his eyes before they were shown to their quarters.

A surprisingly spacious twin-bedded room with all the necessaries, wardrobe, dresser etc. an en-suite bathroom just off and a small ante-room cum study. Altogether a very pleasant billet for the next two nights. Dining was fairly no-frills. One ate in the mess with the staff but they had a decent chef aboard so neither of them minded and could be an interesting way to travel providing the sea behaved itself.

The evening meal happened just after they were underway and out into the open sea, a delicious repast of pork steaks in a red fruity hot sauce with rice and beans followed by a sticky toffee pudding and home-made ice cream. Severus and Harry were introduced to the captain who ate with everyone else along with a few others with whom they shared a language. Most of the rest of the crew seemed to be Russians or Poles.

After the meal, they excused themselves to go for a walk around the deck. Harry breathed deeply of the sea air and the pair made their way to the stern, leaning over the rail. Further along, there were another couple of guys having a smoke, they acknowledged each other with nods then politely ignored each other.

“Shame we had to bugger off like that”, Harry murmured as the lights of New Zealand in the late evening were retreating from view, “I’d like to come back one day. It’s a beautiful place”. Severus turned and smiled at his husband, “Absolutely”, then flicked a glance at the two men along the rail from them. Well, well. They were......up to something, something that involved them being very close indeed. He nudged Harry who looked across him and snickered at the sight particularly as man A twisted them so man B had his back bending slightly over the rail and they were in perfect profile before plundering his mouth with his tongue.

Severus turned to Harry and shrugged, pulling his husband closer and proceeded to kiss him senseless, out on the open sea, under the thick net of stars. They parted and grinned, leaning back on the rail with their forearms, the sea now black behind them. They had lost sight of land. They were aware of the soft swell under them, the slight rise and fall that Harry adjusted to immediately that took Severus a few hours to adapt to.

The two men moved off winking at the guests as they did so. Harry grinned back and turned back to his husband. They looked up at the stars. There wasn’t much light at this end of the ship and they revelled in the blackness and the vastness of it all though Severus grumbled that they still didn’t have a star manual. Harry knew he was right but whacked him lightly on the arm and told him to shut up and enjoy them anyway. There was no arguing with this, so Severus threaded an arm around his beloved and did.

There was a cold supper laid out in the dining room and, the sea air having woken their appetites, they partook fully. They recognised the pair from earlier but got no further than names as they had no Polish and the others no English but they grinned and sort of understood anyway using that universal language of expression when words didn’t work. They drifted off back to their cabin after more food.

They christened both of the beds that night before the sea air did it’s work and Harry sleepily spelled one of them big enough for them both and they curled up together. Severus cradling Harry’s arm with his two while Harry kissed the knobs on his spine and up into his hair at the back of his neck breathing slowly across Severus’ shoulder blade.

A loud sounding of the horn reminded one and all that breakfast was in twenty minutes. Severus and Harry jerked awake realising they had been asleep over ten hours. They spelled away the deep creases in their cheeks from rumpled bedding, the stoned sleepy look from their eyes then declaring each other presentable and after a quick kiss they found more food. Merlin, if they had done the whole 84 day journey, they would both be like whales although Severus had already spotted the small swimming pool and was determined to give it a try.

All told, there wasn’t much to do onboard, this was a working ship not a pleasure liner, so Harry spent time playing games on his laptop and Severus had some time to read. The main day of their travel, the skies were gloomy and low and it poured with slanting rain, the ship was yawing a bit, so they stayed indoors. Once the rain cleared, Severus had a swim and they ate again at some point, the food plentiful, hearty and beautifully cooked.

They walked again around the deck to work off the heavy meal, this time it was a small group indulging in a little smoke of grass that they met in the stern. They were offered and accepted with polite smiles a fairly strong joint of weed. Harry asked, “Tobacco?” One man seemed to understand and shook his head. Harry took a tentative drag, wow, it was bloody strong. With all the sea air, it went straight to his head. He had another couple of drags and handed it to his husband, “Go easy, it bites”, he muttered sotto voce.

After a while, thoroughly wrecked, they wandered into the bow after checking there was no-one about. It was a bit lighter at this end but they still found a dark patch for some al fresco kisses and to watch the sea part below them as the bow cut through it. They had another early night.

The commotion around them the next morning told them they were approaching land. Harry looked out of his porthole and sure enough, land was on the horizon. They were to put in at Melbourne first but by that night they would be in Adelaide so they had to vacate their cabin this morning after breakfast and continue as foot passengers the rest of the way.

For the afternoon they sat out on deck for the most part, watching the Australian coastline pass them to their right using the binoculars to see what the could of their destination, the new people that they had met at lunch were going back to England having travelled for nearly five years across Australia and a large chunk of Asia. Harry drilled them for info for a while and tales were exchanged.

Dinnertime came and went before they were docking at the port in Adelaide. This took some manoeuvring and Harry watched everything, fascinated. The designated containers were lifted off and a gangplank was finally lowered to allow the passengers off, at this juncture, only Harry and Severus, it was now wholly dark outside.

By the time Bessie was unloaded and all the relevant checks done it was getting quite late. The harbourmaster let them pull over on a scrubby bit of land to park up for the night as long as they promised to be gone before the day manager found them when he came on shift at 8. They were happy to agree and cooked a good meal on the beast that night, equally happy to be back in their own bed again afterwards. The blinds were fastened tight, the light was kept low and the silencing charms strong.

At the crack of dawn they were on their way again, thoroughly relaxed from their sojourn on the sea. They parked up in Adelaide proper and set out in search of breakfast. While they were in the cafe enjoying bagels and cream cheese, Harry drew out his phone and dialled. A gruff voice answered at the other end. Harry stated his request to speak to Jon or Julia and was quite rudely rebuffed. It was as the man was hanging up that Harry yelled, “Tell ‘em it’s Harry and Severus from Crete and London, they know who we are”.

The voice disappeared to be replaced with Julia’s more familiar one, “Harry?” cautious, tentative. “Hi, Julia. Guess where we are?” They both heard the squeal, “You’re here aren’t you? Oh, fuck, where the hell are you?” Then the phone was muffled as they heard her shout for her brother to pick up the other line and Jon’s sleepy voice joined in the call becoming instantly awake when he heard who it was and how near they were. Harry jotted down the address and they set off again after breakfast after being directed to Port Elizabeth by the proprietor of the cafe.

They stopped at a large hypermarket and stocked up filling both fridge and freezer as well as stuffing plenty of beer into the boot. Harry’s phone was ringing as they were packing stuff away. Jon. “Hey, forgot to tell ya mate, you’ll have to avoid the front like the plague. I forgot you’re famous. There’s always photographers and whatnot camped outside. You can either cast one of those obscurement charms that Hermione’s told us about or try at the back of the estate, though the roads a bit wild and bumpy, stops a lot of unwelcome attention that way”.

Harry thought a moment and consulted with his husband, “Let’s cast glamours”, he murmured to his phone, “Okay, give me your plate number and I’ll have security buzz you in as soon as they clap eyes on you. Hey, it’ll be great to have you here. See you in a few”, came the reply and the call ended after Harry had carefully recited his registration number.

They found the road easily enough, tall gates crossed it and were only opened at the buzz of a voice through the intercom. The house itself was one of eight or so arranged out of each other’s sight around this huge walled plot of land. Each house was equally well-protected but outside one such there was a gaggle of vans and reporters milling about. They looked as if they were actually packing up. Harry hung back a bit as they altered their appearances slightly then drove slowly through the mass of folk to the steel gates beyond. Instantly, they began to open. Various of the press tried to grab cameras, phones even to get pictures of the occupants of the mid-blue van with windows in it’s high sides.

Harry instructed his lover to keep his head down and shield his face with his hands in such a way as the cameras couldn’t catch more than a glimpse of them, a holdover from his own earlier days of fame. Severus murmured, “Your licence plates? Won’t they be able to get who you are from them?” Harry laughed, “I dunno if you’ve looked much at my licence and the various car papers I have, whether to do with Bessie or hire cars, but at some point at DVLA, they made a clerical error and as a driver, I’ve only ever been Porter not Potter. That way I never come up on computers anywhere. Oh, that thrice-blessed ‘r’. Passport control are quite happy that it’s a clerical error and I always tell them I’ll get it sorted but it’s never been a problem up to now. My signature and picture are identical on both and so Bessie is registered to a Mr Henry Porter”.

As they cleared the crowd and the flashlights, they entered from the bright sunlight and the noise into a different realm. As the gates closed behind them they were enveloped in a cloud of green. A modern house made almost entirely from glass was barely visible fifty yards or so away but everything was hidden by tall deeply green trees, only the tiniest of shafts of sunlight entered into this jungly gloom. Harry slowed to a crawl and had to put the headlights on dipped, it was so unexpectedly dark as he picked his way along a well kept driveway picked out in small white stones.

Two bright splashes of blond came running towards them and Harry pulled Bessie to a stop. They jumped down and set off towards their hosts, meeting half-way in clumsy but heartfelt hugs, “Hey, good to see ya? Still on the honeymoon? Great weddin’ by the way”, Julia rushed out breathlessly. There was a whiff of alcohol and grass around her although it wasn’t noon yet.

Harry relinquished her and hugged Jon, no alcohol but the grass smell was definitely stronger. These two were more than casual users. Severus asked them about the jungly atmosphere and the gloom, “Surely you have a spot to sunbathe in”. They both glanced at each other and grinned, “Actually”, Julia began, “If you think about it, then you only ever saw us at night. We’re not vampires or anything”, she giggled at this, “We’re albinos, Jon and I, we have no pigment in our skin or hair and in daylight we’ve pinkish eyes like ruddy hamsters, so for us, when we’re at home, it’s easier to stay in the gloom. Hope that’s okay?”

Harry clapped Jon on the shoulder, “Hey, no worries, the light is a bit intense for our northern eyes anyway and I love all the trees”.

Jon told Harry to bring Bessie closer to the house but Severus remained on the ground to walk with his hosts, taking an interest in the other shade-loving plants that filled the garden. There were many rare ferns and other humidity loving plants growing under the green canopy above. The cheerful cawing of parrots could be heard and Severus was in his element in this space, letting his enthusiasm show. The garden was a joint effort between brother and sister as Jon related it, “Until this whole band thing and the series went mad. These days, we haven’t the time or inclination for a lot of it but the gloom keeps the helicopters away at any rate”.

They had caught up with Harry by this time. Julia showed him where to park up, “Turn around so your sewage pipe and electric line up here”, she pointed to the relevant spots on the ground and Harry had to turn Bessie around. A proper spot for mobile homes, eh? All mod cons. He stopped and switched off the engine, hopping out and breathing deeply of the mossy air, feeling the sweat start in the small of his back. Bessie was a short way from the house but on closer inspection, there was a flagged path leading from the park-up to the house, edged in the same white stones.

The house itself was a modernist dream. A series of what appeared to be floating wooden platforms but were floors held together by massive slightly greeny sheets of glass. The roof was glass also but filled with water and piping that provided all the hot water and heating needs for the house itself. Jon told them that high up in the trees were a series of solar panels that caught all the sun above the canopy, “Waters this whole place from the dew reclamation unit we have here plus the water recycling that we do. We don’t need to have walls around the outside of the house ‘cos, hey”, he shrugged as they all looked out into the almost impenetrable green.

There were a few sliding internal panels to create small islands of privacy and several proper closed in bathrooms, like capsules or pods scattered about the house. There were blinds that could seal off the outside from indoors but they were apparently rarely used. There was a long thick opaque glass ‘spine’ running the length of the box-like space but the spine curved fluidly making all the spaces it formed the rear wall of into interesting shapes. As with Sammy and Jed’s, the main living was on the first floor and the guest bedrooms were on the ground floor with more solid walls and a greater feeling of privacy although they all boasted large windows and gorgeous views of the leafy garden.

The rooms that Harry and Severus were shown to were immense, a huge picture window looking out on a waterfall tumbling down from the rise behind the house. There was a bedroom, bathroom and walk-in wardrobe. The bathroom was thick glass tiles and a combination of wet room and/or sauna at the flick of a switch. There was a bath big enough for the local rugby team set in it’s own alcove. Gawping, they dumped their few bits and pieces and followed their hosts upstairs.

The illusion of floating above the forest floor was much more real up here. All of the glass panels moved giving access to a glass walkway all around the house. Strong but slender steel wires acted as a fence stopping you from stumbling off but not obstructing the view of pure glass from the forest. Harry imagined the house must look fabulous lit up at night. The lounge area was massive with a glass coffee table and various huge sofas. This segued into a dining area that looked little used for that purpose with an elegant glass dining table and pale wood chairs.

These had been pushed against the curved back wall and a plethora of instruments lay about or were standing in racks or cases all over the room, to one side, a bank of mixers and computers sat jostled together on a side desk, a pair of headphones tossed casually on top. Beyond this space was the massive kitchen. All steel and glass. Severus sucked in an impressed breath through his teeth, “Harry, I revise what I said about wanting a kitchen like Jed and Sammy’s. This is what I want”. Harry laughed at this, “I bet you’ll say this in every posh kitchen we go in”. Severus shook his head, “No, no. I never saw glass used as a building medium before. I always saw it as so delicate but look at this wall, the stairs, all glass, one of the most inert substances, never ruins or adulterates potions, why do you think I always put them in glass? I’m not behind the times, I did try various plastics, but nothing is as pure as glass”.

Jon laughed, “You sound like the nutter that built this place for mum and dad when we were kids. Living here is a bit like living in a fish bowl but now the trees are taller, it’s okay”. Julia snickered, “Yeah, poor mum and dad, they got sick of living in the gloom all the time, so when dad retired last year, they went to live in the summer house in Hawaii and left us this place. So we had a load more trees imported, a few died off but most survived and plunged ourselves into almost total darkness 24/7. There’s a few lighter spots in the grounds, like by the outdoor pool where our buddies can sunbathe and the like but mainly it’s all shade trees”.

Julia continued, “Except for where the horses are. They have shade, sure enough, it sure gets hot in an Aussie summer but there’s fields behind here and stabling for the animals. We tend to exercise them at night though ‘cos of our delicate skins. One of the horses is an albino too, she can only come out at night just like us. We rescued her from the knacker’s yard as a foal, in fact all of our horses are rescues of one sort or another. Take Sylvie, she was an ex-racehorse. She got lame and was gonna be shot but I rescued her and brought her back here. She can’t be ridden any more but she’s happy enough now, she lives with all the others and is part of the herd even though she limps a bit. All the mis-fits end up here”.

Jon continued, “Aye, we’ll show you around the rest of it all later, when the sun’s gone down, but for now, who’s for a bite to eat? A drink maybe? What’ll it be, beer, tea?” Harry smiled, “We just ate, thanks, but a drink of tea would be nice. Do you have iced?”

The two started to wander into the kitchen, “Sure. Iced coming right up”, and they drifted away. Harry went over to the glass and looked out. Severus came up behind him and threaded his arms around Harry’s shoulders, “It’s a beautiful modernist prison, isn’t it?”, he whispered into Harry’s left ear. Harry nodded, “This is fame, Sev. Real fame. Locked gates, security guards and curtains whether of cloth or trees or steel between you and the world, maybe curtains of alcohol or grass or other darker substances, too. I bet they have ‘people’ for every eventuality, to go shopping, pick up dry cleaning, book restaurants and holidays. I wonder how they escaped to Europe without an entourage”.

Hearing their hosts still in the kitchen, Harry tipped his head back for a kiss that was gentle but hot. Severus lifted away from it with a smile, “Well, here we are again, Mrs S, ready for a new adventure. How long shall we stay here then?” Harry shrugged in the circle of arms, “Dunno, not long, a few days maybe. It’ll be nice for a while but I want to explore as well and I bet these folks don’t get out much. It can’t be fun with the press camped on your doorstep all the time and I bet these guys are followed the minute they set foot outside this compound”.

Severus could do no more than agree before their hosts emerged with a tray of drinks. Julia giggled, “So, the honeymoon’s still going well then? Not ready to divorce yet are you?”, she grinned archly at them to smiles from them both. Severus didn’t release Harry, he saw no point in doing so, after all, these two had been at their wedding and he had no intention of pretending to be straight around them. He purred, “The honeymoon has been mighty odd so far as a matter of fact. Virtually the first thing we did was to attend a funeral, in Spain. Very sad. And the last thing we heard before we left for here was news of yet another death. Someone we were to be in contact with but had not yet had the chance to meet. Both magical folks, both caught by the wrong side it would appear”, he sighed heavily and rested his chin on Harry’s shoulder.

Eventually the two unwound from each other and accepted drinks from the tray, sitting with their hosts around the conversation piece formed by the huge sofas. Harry noticed that Jon and Julia had beers. Jon took a swig from his bottle, “So, you guys, whaddya wanna do while you’re here, you’re welcome to stay as long as you want, by the way. We don’t get out much ‘cos Big Bird is pricey to take out all the time but we have a method of getting past all the press to get out and about”.

Harry looked up, “Well, I did think it must be tricky for you to get out with all that lot outside, yes. Also, I bet you’re followed a lot”. Julia sighed, “Yeah, but we have a ‘copter to get around in. You know, since you told me about my magic, I’m really sad I don’t have much. I’d love to learn that Apparation thing, it’d be loads easier than getting Big Bird ready, not to mention cheaper and greener and if I could take a passenger – fuck – well sexier than mere helicopters or friggin’ Ferraris”, she took a long pull on her beer.

Harry and Severus exchanged a look. Maybe telling the marginals wasn’t such a good idea if they didn’t have enough magic to realise. Hmm, rethink that one for future reference. Harry said, “Hmm, maybe, but it’s probably what makes you so good with your animals. I bet they thrive here”. Her snit shelved, she glowed at the mention of her horses, “Sure, some of the animals I’ve had through here, even the most caring vet has tried with. It’s something to do with the psychology....”, her voice tapered off to silence.

“Anyway”, she came back to herself, “Sorry, we asked you what you fancied doing?” Severus smiled, “Well, we don’t follow itineraries and to be honest, I know absolutely bugger all about the locale. We just jumped onto the ship at Port Chalmers and here we are. We landed in Adelaide with the express intention to come over and visit you two, so, if we do touristy things, then all right, or, if we just sit around and talk for a bit, get to know each other better, then that’s all right too. We can do the sights and stuff later, but if there’s anything that you would like to show us, then lead on, though I will admit, a ride in a helicopter sounds pretty good. As far as non-magical transport goes, I have now been in a plane, a ferry ship, a gondola, a large van that is our home, buses , a horse and the huge container ship that we came here in, so a helicopter would augment the list”, his eyes twinkled as he finished speaking.

They all laughed at this and Severus grinned like a loony inside, ‘Here am I putting people at their ease. Strange’, flitted across his brain. Jon slapped a thigh with his fist, “Sure, we can do that. Take a picnic somewhere, go for a walk if you like. You guys are into hiking aren’t you?” Harry nodded and the discussion turned to attractions for a while, the conversation still a little stilted. Harry had an idea.

“You know, Bessie’s road legal for four and we could smuggle you two out in her easily. We could even try to cast glamours over you, disguise you a bit”, his tone thoughtful. Julia perked up, “What’s a glamour? Is it permanent?” Harry looked for his wand, “No, it only lasts a short while, the less you do, the longer it lasts, but, yes, it changes peoples’ perception of your looks. It’s a simple enough spell and it does nothing intrinsically to you but it alters perception so even your loved ones will see you in the ‘disguise’. A skilled wizard or witch is quite capable of casting them on him or herself too, a necessity when not being recognised is a must”.

Julia looked longingly at him, “I wish I could do some of this”. Severus muttered something to Harry, a conversation they had shared with Hermione: there was a magical section to Melbourne, maybe a day trip, to test out how much, if anything, she could see, maybe pick up a contact for wands, a simple one, similar to Hagrid’s, after all that was how Hermione had read her, the girl before them wasn’t completely incapable. They grinned at each other, this was turning out to be quite the ‘busman’s holiday’ after all.

Harry turned back, “Well, when Hermione dowsed you, she read enough magic in you for certain things. There is a small magical district in Melbourne, we may even be able to get you a wand, but don’t keep your hopes up, there aren’t any wandmakers this far south, as far as we know, but it would be interesting to see what both of you see of the place as they are only visible to magicals. To non-magicals they appear entirely different. I’d like us all to go there”. This drew an enthusiastic response but Harry’s next words threw a damper on things, “I’d like you to desist from intoxicants for a couple of days, Julia, when we go, you need to have a clear head. Buying a wand is a tricky endeavour at the best of times. So if you are serious about this then I would ask you to refrain”. She pulled a face but agreed, finishing her bottle and dumping it decisively in the trash.

They exchanged desultory conversation into the early afternoon, Jon showing his guests a couple of episodes of the show that was keeping them sequestered so. It was a fairly puerile comedy in the vein of ‘Friends’ about a band that shared a house and the trials and tribulations of the fame machine as well as focussing on the relationships within the band and with various paramours as the series progressed.

Julia clicked off the TV with the remote, “There you are. Total crap but it pays the bills, not what I thought we’d be doing as a famous band. It started three years ago when the band really did live together in a house, a right old dump that we squatted on the outskirts of Melbourne. We had a few hit singles and a couple of massive albums but the capriciousness of the public changed and we were offered this instead of the band just going under like it should have but we had stars in our eyes and a way of continuing. We had no idea that it would be this popular and last this long. We’ve finished the third series and we’ve been offered a fourth which we signed up to a couple of days ago, hence the number of journos on the step when you showed up, normally there’s only a couple from the gossip rags and ‘mad Lucy’ our number one fan who lives out there, but she’s pretty harmless all told”.

Jon continued with a yawn and a stretch, “Well, Jules, just one more season then we’re calling it quits, that is, if the network’ll let us. We make too much money for them nowadays and they are such greedy bastards. We’re in negotiations to syndicate to the States but I’m not convinced that our brand of comedy will travel and I’m pretty sure the Yanks will want their own actors in there with their own humour and everything. They do that to British series as well, just buy the idea and sort of translate it into their own moronic style and lose everything that made it funny in the first place. Ah, well”, he sighed resignedly, “At least then, we can just retire on the proceeds and slide into obscurity. Fame ain’t that great”.

Harry had to chuckle at this, “You can say that again! Although I’m nowhere near as famous as you guys, I have had a taste of it and it is less than pleasant”, he glanced significantly at his husband who said nothing. Julia giggled, “You mean the whole boy-who-lived thing?” to feel Harry’s rapier gaze on her. She held up a placating hand, “Don’t look at me, it was Hermione who sent us the history of your school, the latest edition as she was at pains to point out with explicit instructions to read the last three chapters first”.

Harry rolled his eyes, “I used to hate her doing that to us but I see the reason why now. It tells the story fairly dispassionately and without too much gush. If people really want to know about us then it takes less than a day to read, a mere hour or so for some and it gets over the thing of having to explain each time, like you showing us the DVD of your programme, says it all a lot quicker than explanation”.

Jon thought this over, “That’s a good way of puttin’ it. I’ll remember that. Hey, so you’re the most powerful magical people in the world, you two and Hermione? How weird was that, running into you lot like that?” Harry barked out a laugh, “Not so. We seem to run into magicals at every turn. I think that, with the exception of perhaps Holland, we have encountered wizards and witches everywhere so far although the methods of encounter change all the time, the last two, in New Zealand, were gay and bikers. We don’t go looking for them, we just seem to meet up somehow. We meet lots of non-magicals, too and except for shops, we’ve only briefly actively sought out the wizarding world’s own emporia”, he told them of the night in Florence.

Jon screwed up his face, “Shit, it must’ve been pretty bad. I mean, you did this, like, twenty five odd years ago”, he said incredulously, “I sure hope we fade and die from the public eye long before then. I don’t want to be still having to hide away all that time down the line”. Harry grinned, “It’s only in our world, though, thank fuck, or I would be completely mental by now. If I was a huge movie star or rock star that still had the fame thing going then I suppose you either play the game totally or top yourself”, he shuddered.

Severus interjected, “Indeed, that was part of our decision to travel. Go outside our world, see something of the rest of it. Not stay so insular. The wizarding world can be a very closed in place, small cadres everywhere, not always in touch with each other. One of the things I have been made aware of as we have journeyed is how many magical folk either fall through the net or slip through consciously”, he was thinking of Nott in Greece and shuddered at what had led to the four of them meeting in the first place. Synchronicity was a bugger sometimes.

They all went quiet and Harry slumped in his seat, trying to repress a yawn, “Sorry guys, would you mind if I took a nap?” Severus whipped his head around to see if it was one of those imminent collapse naps but, no, Harry just seemed tired. Brother and sister shared a grin, “Well, to be honest, because of our condition, mostly we live at night. When you first called, it wasn’t early in the morning, it was just after bedtime, so if you need to kip, go ahead, feel free. Siestas are much encouraged in this house”, Jon laughed. The others apologised at this to be told, “Don’t be silly, not everyone knows that we live like this, we only let friends know, plus the shooting for the show, all the outdoor shots have to be done with computers filling in the backgrounds. Aaah, sometimes I really hate this show”, Julia put a hand on her brother’s arm, “It’s ironic that one of the most popular sitcoms on TV at the moment is a perfect place to raise awareness of our disability but instead, the backgrounds and our eye pupils etc are messed with to give us the illusion of being these all-Australian kids, blonde and blue-eyed, but they enhance the blue and they take the pink out. The tans we have are from a bottle”, she slumped her shoulders.

Severus stood and hauled a grinning Harry up, “If I might ask, how did you go on in Crete under the hot sun there?” The siblings chuckled, Julia said, “Easy, Jon and I worked the press and the bottling plant between us, we were in a basement the entire summer. We worked hard, it strengthens the arms brilliantly for the winter filming and tour season. I’m the drummer in the band. We just played out at night”. So that was that.

On the tour of the house, the two guests had not been shown the two stainless steel cubes that formed the master suites, situated as they were on the other side of the wavy glass partition. They had just had a languid hand waved in their direction, a curt, “Mine and Jules’ rooms”, then were shown the study. From the one viewing, Harry could only surmise that they were completely lightless boxes in which the light-afflicted occupants could finally relax. The small party separated for the remains of the afternoon.

“I think it’s more than just albinism. There’s this condition I heard about. Very rare. Where everyone who suffers with it lives at night. I think there was even a movie made based on it. What’s the betting that if they can tolerate light, it’s way down at the yellow end of the spectrum; candlelight, dim firelight and such, the blueness of high daylight is actually most painful, hence the jungle out there”, Harry gestured out of the now open window.

They were lying side by side holding hands, dressed still in boxers and musing on the day so far. The atmosphere both inside and out of the house was so humid that the idea of close contact was anathema right now, so they contented themselves with lying and talking that eventually became grunts and mumbles until snores took over.

A/N - Thanks for reading and please review.

If this is a little slow posting and you fancy a little 'RL' Snarry, then give my 'Celebrity' tale a go - who knows, you might like it!

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Luv and stuff

S2