The Journey Cycle pt 1: Europe *pt 1 now complete*

6

Alone again, they packed up and stocked up Bessie and carried on their odyssey. Now they were going to see some high culture. Both had a hankering for Art and they were going to indulge themselves fully. They picked small back roads and wended their way northwest towards Madrid, expectation and hope driving them. Severus read aloud from guide books and Harry laughed and commented as he drove, classical music playing in the background from the collection of speakers that Harry had wired into Bessie. Severus relaxing in the front seat taking in the views all around him. He was loving all this and Harry had never seen the man so relaxed and attentive to all that went on around him.

They parked up on the edge of small towns and villages. They ate local produce, got stuck behind goat-herders, got lost as Severus learned to read road maps and through it all, Harry shrugged at delays and smiled at hold-ups in their journey. Where once Severus would have snapped or snarked at delays, he found himself smiling in the same way. Harry was teaching him so much. They would park up when Harry tired of driving and close the blinds, light the cooker against the chill of what passed for winter in these climes and curl up in the big bed, making love far into the night, Severus massaging the driver’s tired shoulders and back turning Harry into a jelly under his talented hands before taking him long and hard flung down on their mattress, making him howl his appreciation before they slept in a heap.

Severus became quite adept at cooking on the road and learnt the intricacies of the tiny stove even while he huffed his disappointment at the narrowness of his repertoire. Along the way, they purchased a wood-burning range and chucked out the Calor gas stove in favour of the range. Severus was in his element then, “Come on, Harry, cooking is so akin to Potions making. I just needed the right kind of heat to make it possible”, he murmured to his beloved as he concocted yet another perfect meal conjured on such an old-fashioned stove. The wood-burner also kept Bessie warmer at night and Harry was delighted at the improved state of Bessie with it on board, even though he had to make a small cut in her roof to allow a chimney.

They found a small family-run campsite, that, although officially closed for the winter, let them use the facilities and park up in the furthest corner from the house. They booked and paid for a whole month and conducted themselves completely unobtrusively. The family were glad of the extra income and impacted not a jot on their lives.

They were several kilometres outside of Madrid, to the northwest where the land was reasonably level but near to the Sierra de Guaderrama surrounded by deep woodlands, sparkling streams that ran off the mountains and small estancias that grew all sorts of fruit and vegetables providing them with all manner of local fare for their dinner table. They took long hikes into the foothills and paddled in the streams watching fish scurrying and wriggling in the clear waters. There were few or no tourists in this region particularly at this time of the year and they often felt like the only people alive on their treks.

They bought sturdy hiking boots and rucksacks in the city and went out for days at a time. Harry taught Severus how to make a true bender by pulling down the lower branches of shrubs or trees and staking them to the ground with a couple of tent-pegs he carried, to make a shelter for the night and in the mornings, once they had properly extinguished their campfire and covered the traces, they would leave their latest spot with absolutely no indications that anyone had ever been there. They would cook and eat simple meals over an open fire at night and subsist on fresh fruit during the day and any provisions they purchased from outlying farms along the way. Harry taught Severus to fish and their diet was supplemented with fresh river trout and bream which he would gut and clean before basting it with butter and spit-roasting it over the flames.

Severus was curious, “Where did you learn all of this woodcraft? You could survive anywhere with these skills”. Harry laughed, “When I had to spend those interminable summers at the Dursleys as a kid, there were a bunch of travellers that would make the common their home over the summer. Needless to say, the locals hated them and distrusted them greatly. You know the sort of thing, they were demonised for every burglary, every theft and deeply loathed, but in reality they were a peaceful bunch who just wanted to get on with their lives and raise their kids differently from the evils that they perceived in the money-grubbing real world. Anyway, Dudley and I were strictly forbidden to even look at these people as if catching someone’s eye would turn you to stone or something. So, of course, I made a point of getting to know them. They taught me all of this including how to convert a vehicle to create a home on wheels, how to make a full roast dinner over an open fire by dint of creating an earth oven, how to bury your shit in the woods, their motto was ‘bury it or live in it’”,

Harry smiled, “It was quite an education. I learned about engines and they used to let me help out with the repairs and maintenance. They returned year after year until the local council passed by-laws that forbade them from using the common. They tried to contest them of course as the laws regarding common land go back to the frigging Magna Carta but in this cash and land-obsessed society in which we live, the idea of free land to be freely used by all who need it has become a bit of an oxymoron”, he sighed, “Shame really, I liked those people. I believe that this particular group ended up heading for Eastern Europe in the end where the land laws aren’t nearly so restrictive. It’s a way of life that is being forced to die out. The powers-that-be don’t like people living outside of their societally approved boxes”, he snorted softly, “I think that’s what made me a bit of a rebel at school actually”.

Severus took Harry into his arms, “I hated that side of you once upon a time, but looking back, I think I was actually jealous. I think that I would have loved to be as free as that, and if I had known a tribe of wanderers like that in my youth, I think that I would have been tempted to run away with them”, he sighed. Harry turned in his arms and kissed him, “There’s an expression that was often quoted to me, I think it’s North American Indian in origin, one that says you live with the land and not off it, if you see what I mean. Treat the land well and it will look after you in return”, he turned back to the fire, “That’s why I insist on covering each of our campsites so carefully. I don’t want to leave behind so much as a spent match not to mention that the careless setting of fires can lead to huge disasters with entire forests burning down over thousands of acres. A lot of the more recent devastating forest fires are usually a result of either outright arson or of silly kids playing at gypsy and the little fires they light to roast marshmallows or sausages on get out of hand. For instance, if you are on peaty soil, it behooves you to actually lay a thick layer of stones to build the fire on top of so that the fire doesn’t run underground as it can on peat thereby destroying thousands of acres of precious land”. Severus was somewhat amazed at all this and said nothing just holding Harry tight against his chest.

They turned in fairly early that night, Harry setting up the bender and unrolling the groundsheet, pinning the top edge over them to the branches that had been gently bent to the ground fastened by a couple of tent-pegs. He grabbed a couple of dried branches of foliage that had previously fallen. Severus quirked an enquiry at him, “We’ll have rain later tonight if the clouds on the horizon are anything to go by and this should keep us snug. We’ll have the bags inside too”, Severus grinned at him and complied.

Harry doused the fire carefully before they dived under their shelter and they laid out on the blankets toeing off their boots and removing their waterproofs and fleeces rolling the latter into soft pillows then they started to strip each other in the dark punctuated by kisses that increased in intensity the more clothes that were shed, hands clumsy and needy in the dark, chuckling into each other’s mouths.

That was when they heard it.

A blood-curdling scream carrying to them through the still cold air. They both froze in mid-motion and Harry immediately began to scramble back into his clothes. “We must go and check it out, Sev. Someone could have fallen or anything out there, it definitely sounded like a bloke and he could be injured. The mountains are a hostile place in the winter and the guy could die of exposure or something”. Severus gritted his teeth but he knew this man before him and smiled inside. Of course they would render any assistance that they could. They fastened themselves back into jackets and boots and left the bags reasonably safe under their shelter. Harry picked up the torch, his mobile phone, their travelling first aid kit and a small notebook which made Severus frown until he saw the reason.

They climbed back into the dark air and made for the source of the noise and Harry tore small pages from the notebook and speared them onto branches at eye height as they passed and Severus once again admired his lover’s sense. They both had their wands on them.

The scream sounded again but this time the voice sounded female. They paused but this did not sound like passion unless it was of a particularly brutal sort and pressed on through the trees towards the sounds. As they passed between trees, Harry quieted them to creeping and his Auror instincts were on full alert. Severus whispered, “What, Harry? What are you being so cautious about?” Harry hushed him, “Not sure, but something feels wrong here. I can’t tell you why, but if fifteen years as an Auror have taught me anything, it’s not to go rushing in”. He heard Severus’ soft snigger behind him, “So your training taught you more than ever I could at school then?” Harry glanced at him and smirked. There was an orange light up ahead between the trees that by it’s flickering nature was obviously fire and they crept closer. Another scream rent the air and a strange smell assailed them and Severus gagged, “Flesh burning”, he looked on the point of throwing up.

They could see a clearing ahead of them and were aware of shadows passing before the flames of what was quite a big bonfire and both of them now could feel the crackle of dark magic in the air around them and were even more cautious as they inched forwards, wands drawn, the torch flicked off. Harry’s blood ran cold when he heard a dark voice intone ‘Crucificer’. There was a flash of red and another scream. Severus didn’t need a translator to understand, “Fuck!. Cruciatus in sodding Spanish”. They skirted the glade still tucked back among the trees, then Harry spotted an easily climbable tree and dragged Severus toward it and they both shinned up using the evenly spaced branches like a ladder.

They were looking down at twelve masked and cloaked individuals before the large fire. A hooded figure stood before them and three individuals lay prostrate between them. They watched in horror as the lone man pulled out an iron bar from the fire, the end of which seemed carved into a shape that neither of them could make out. The man ordered one of his minions to expose the left forearm of one of the prone forms and pressed the brand to the skin. They could hear the hiss of scorched skin before the scream rent the air. From their vantage point in the tree, they saw the whole thing and although the whole ceremony was conducted in Spanish, it was fairly obvious what they were witnessing.

Another Dark Lord rising and Marking his newest followers.

Severus and Harry looked at each other in horrified shock then turned their attention back to the ceremony below them the bile rising in their throats as they saw the new recruits stripped naked and passed from one to the other of the masked followers to use and humiliate as they saw fit. Harry moved as slowly and as carefully as he could and drew his phone from his pocket. He turned off the flash and took as many pictures as the little machine could store plus a video of the abuse. “Evidence”, he whispered, before stowing it in his jacket. Harry felt Severus move against him, “I can’t watch this, Harry. Too many memories”, his voice was shaking. Harry nodded, there wasn’t much more they could do, two against so many. They slid back to the ground and Harry held his lover as he vomited into the soil at the base of the tree, his gut convulsing. They were both in shock as they slunk away into the trees. They picked up Harry’s paper trail and wended their way back to their little encampment.

Harry didn’t think twice as he extracted his mobile from his pocket and speed-dialled Hermione who answered, her voice thick and sleepy, “Harry, d’you know what time it is?”, she snipped. Harry broke down into sobs at the sound of her voice, “It’s happening again, ‘Mione, and I’ve got evidence to send you as soon as we can do the uploads”, and told her of what they had just witnessed, to stunned silence on her end, then a small, “Oh, shit”. There wasn’t much to say but Hermione promised to speak to someone she knew at the department of International Wizarding Relations and did her best to comfort her best friend from hundreds of miles away then they rang off.

They spent a miserable night huddled under the bender. Severus noticed with a small corner of his mind that Harry had been right about the rain and as dawn rose the heavens opened and it poured down. They spent the night crying and clutching each other close. Harry was especially distraught, “I have no tie to this one. Is there some other poor bugger out there? Another me? Marked like I was?” Severus held him tight, “Who knows, love, let’s hope so. Oh, fuck, why?” Harry shrugged, “It’s like you once told me, there will always be those who are attracted to the dark and the idea of power”.

As the dawn asserted itself, they packed up with heavy hearts and headed back to the campsite and Bessie, arriving as the day was waning. Neither said much on the trek back, their minds and hearts heavy with the sights they had seen the previous night. Harry’s phone rang as they were re-entering the camp-site. Ron. “Harry, Hermione told me. She’s gonna ring you herself later, she’s currently knee-deep in research and the Ministry are on full alert, but apparently there are folks here who have been taking quite an interest in the happenings over there. I take it you are in the vicinity of Madrid, am I right?” Harry answered in the affirmative.

His friend replied, “There’s been some suspicions of renewed ‘Muerte Corroer’ (Death Eater) activity apparently. The Ministry have been trying to ignore it as usual but now the famous HP has actually witnessed it, now some heads might be pulled out of arses at long last. Harry, this isn’t your fight, mate, but it cannot be allowed to continue. We are in touch with the Spanish MoM and we have been assured of complete co-operation, though whether we will or not remains to be seen. You guys just continue your trip and lie low and try and enjoy it. How come you got to witness this anyway?” Harry told of their week-long trek in the mountains, “Apart from all this, I’m having the time of my life, Ron, me old matey”. Ron rejoined with, “You keep on doing that, though I may suggest that you either leave Spain soon and try another country, though, for the same reason, I’d avoid Germany if I were you. We’ve been following up reports from there too”. They talked a little longer then closed the connection.

As true as her word, Hermione called later on and told him that action was being taken and that she may have to return to Spain in her official capacity as one of a delegation of British Aurors being brought in to help the Spanish as they had the most experience with the most recent of the Dark Lords. Severus also offered to talk at any conference that they may hold, “Nowt like an ex-Death-Eater to explain what really goes on at these things, eh?”, he quipped to Hermione’s shaky laugh. “We may need you both to give a talk to the Spanish Authorities if you are game”, they both assented. Harry murmured, “Well you know how to find us. Phone or e-mail. Fuck it all, ‘Mione, I thought this thing was all done with”, he sighed. Hermione answered, “Harry, evil is never over. It will always come back to haunt us. Let’s hope that this time, it hasn’t got so entrenched yet, and it can be nipped in the bud before it spirals out of control. This time you mustn’t get involved in the fight. It’s someone else’s this time”. Harry agreed, “That’s what Ron said. I only hope that this ‘saviour’ isn’t some scared schoolkid like I was”. They chatted some more and ended the call.

In the event, they decided not to leave the country but cut short their stay where they were and headed north as soon as they had charged Bessie’s batteries. They wanted to put miles between the series of shocking events and themselves. Severus was worried that Harry may try and intervene but Harry shook his head, “Look, I only did the saviour thing ‘cos it was bloody prophesied. Ron and ‘Mione are right, this isn’t my fight, so you can forget that I am going to rush in with all my foolish Gryffindorish sensibilities and try and save the bloody world again, but if the Spanish need our help in a consultative manner then we will help, but this time, me and you are strictly backroom boys”. Severus looped his arms around Harry and kissed him before sinking his head on Harry’s shoulder, “I don’t want to lose you, my Harry”, he whispered, the tone of desperation evident in his voice. Harry held him tight, “Not this time, love. Not this time”, as they clung to each other.