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

Severus' secret fear revealed! Read on.

All comments, stars, reviews gratefully received - the Squig!!

8

Harry awoke in the middle of the night, his head aching slightly from the increase in air pressure, and went to stand before the large windows. He could see flickers of lightning in the distance, could feel the storm building. He poured himself a glass of water and positioned a chair before the expanse of glass, sitting down to watch, he loved storms.

The thunder started to roll a short while later and from habit, he found himself counting, ‘one elephant, two elephant’ between lightning flash and thunder roll. This one was coming up fast and was promising to be a doozie. It was with a certain amount of glee that he sat back to watch. He glanced at his lover in their bed and remembered with regret leaving him to hang while he fell asleep after his massage. He would have to make it up to him later, he thought with a grin as he turned back to the lightshow before him.

The thunder sounded a lot louder now and behind him he heard a groan from the bed. He rounded again to see his lover shifting in sleep, then at a particularly loud ‘crack’ he saw Severus’ head disappear beneath the covers and watched as the covers were pulled over him. At the next roll he swore he could hear a distinct but small ‘no’ from the bed. Puzzled, he went over to see his lover tighten into as small a ball as he could under the duvet. He shook his head and sat back on the edge of the bed. Was his lover having a nightmare? He placed a cautious hand on the duvet-clad form and stroked, “Hey, it’s all right, love, I’m right here”, to hear another muffled groan at the next thunderclap and realised with a small and instantly repressed snort of laughter what the problem was.

Severus Snape, ex-Death-Eater, warrior and Potions Master extraordinaire, who had instilled the fear of the gods into at least three generations of Hogwarts students was afraid of thunderstorms.

In an instant, he drew back the covers and took his lover in his arms, trying to keep a straight face, and held him close, “Ssshhh, it’s a bit bigger than we’re used to in England, but it’ll blow over soon”, he whispered into the mess of black hair that hid the face of his beloved whilst raining kisses down onto the top of his head. The next clap was extra loud and Severus tried to burrow into Harry’s lap with a small scream. Harry did his best to soothe and comfort him whilst biting his bottom lip to suppress mirth. As the sounds lessened and rolled away with deep rumbles that shook the villa, Severus eventually raised his head and Harry pushed back the hair hanging over his face to see wide eyes and hear accelerated breath.

“Laugh and I’ll hex you”, was the mumbled comment and this set Harry off. He tried to keep it silent but his chuckles broke through even while he rocked the man in his arms, planting tiny kisses all over his raised face, “Oh, gods, Sev, that is so adorable”, as a last crack made his lover hide his face again burying it in Harry’s lap once more and Harry held him tight. “’S’allright, love, nearly over now. The storm is moving away from us”. He stayed quiet until the last rumbles had died away before lying down and pulling his lover up alongside him and kissing all over his face again. The man was really shaking. “How did you manage at school, Sev, you know, when there was a storm?” Severus mumbled something incomprehensible and Harry asked him to elucidate, “I lived in the frigging dungeons most of the time and the shop had my lab in the basement, so in the event of an impending storm I always managed to get underground. There, happy now?”, he snipped.

Harry shook his head gently, “It’s not weak to have the occasional irrational fear you know. If you must know, mine is crane flies, daddy-long-legs’. If there’s one in the room with me, I freak. Ron is well used to it by now and Draco used to take the piss something rotten until I found his to be moths. Never let a spider anywhere near Ron unless you want a Ron-shaped hole in your ceiling. We thought that Hermione didn’t suffer from one of these until we tried to get her up on a broom and she shrieked clear across three counties, hers is heights, even looking out from high-up windows will have her a jelly in no time”, he explained, stroking Severus’ hair.

The man calmed a little and apologised profusely for being such an idiot, “I can’t believe that they still affect me like this at my age. I’ve always hated them”, he admitted, “I never told Rem, I’d just disappear and he never questioned it. I hate feeling so weak in the face of them. The lightning I can handle, it’s the damned thunder”. Harry smiled, “That was a pretty big storm but then, we are a fair bit further south than dear old Blighty. The nearer you get to the tropics, the worse they get, but now I know, love, I’ll take care of you. They can’t get you unless you are the tallest thing for miles around and then it’s the lightning that can kill you, the thunder is just loud and annoying”. He stroked his lover’s back until his shakes had subsided and held him close. “Don’t tell anyone will you?”, he whispered and Harry kissed his brow, “Of course not, you big silly. Your secret is safe with me. You poor darling”, he dotted kisses along his lover’s parting then over his brow and down his nose.

Severus asked, “Where were you when it started?”, and Harry shrugged, “I couldn’t sleep. I get headaches when the air pressure builds up so I got up to watch it through the windows. I love big storms and the pressure lightening afterwards and that smell of ozone that follows when it’s passed overhead. I even count between the lightning and the thunder to see how far away it is and this one was a bit of a biggie after all”. Severus shuddered.

They settled back into bed to the sound of the rain hammering down, Harry stroking his lover’s back and face as he held him. He ran a hand down Severus’ back and pulled a leg across his own, his tone changing as he caressed the skin, “I seem to remember crashing out and leaving a certain someone all turned on. I have a feeling I owe that certain someone....”, as his lips captured his lover’s and opened over them and they kissed deeply until both made small noises in their throats and Harry rolled Severus underneath him and consumed his mouth and tongue with his own, flinging a leg across his lover’s lap and squeezing gently.

The kiss was returned full force and they shifted about again until Harry was under Severus and moaning at the weight pressing him to the bed, his hands running down a taut back to clutch at his arse to pull him nearer. “Want you”, he murmured around the invading tongue and felt their cocks slide together and knew that his Severus wanted him as much. There was an urgency about the way Severus prepared him and slid into him. Harry’s legs raised and circled the narrow waist pulling him in deeper. Severus threaded his arms under Harry’s shoulders for leverage and he began to move and thrust, both moaning and making those sexy little sounds. Their love-making was slow and loving, kissing until one or the other had to surface to climax with gasps and needy noises before they folded together fitting perfectly as they came down, kissing and rubbing noses and exchanging gentle words until Harry held Severus tight against him and kissed him goodnight. They slept again and the rest of the night passed peacefully with just the dripping of the rain outside the only sound aside from the gentle snores.

Mindful of the last few days’ activities, Harry got onto the Internet the next day as Severus prepared breakfast and ordered them some reading about the current situation as well as a plethora of background on the various sects and cults active in modern-day Europe. “I’ve tried to find the least sensationalist things at least written by professors with a bit of research behind it not just conspiracy theory junk and am having them sent here so we’ll have to hang on here for a bit longer until everything arrives, but that’s no hardship”. Severus agreed even though he still felt like a bit of an idiot for being so scared of the previous night’s storm. He gazed over Harry’s shoulder as he watched him order a stack of books online. “Are you just looking these things up?”, his brow creased as he watched Harry type his credit card number in, Harry shook his head, “No, darling, shopping”, then tipped his head for a kiss. “The Internet is a lot bigger than just info now though it wouldn’t hurt to do some research while we wait for the books to arrive”.

He pulled a seat up for his lover and they sat side by side as Harry typed various words or phrases into a searchline and site after site appeared in lists before them. “Now, we don’t want the nutters, but if you look at the addresses of these sites, you see, like this one here, this is a university site, for example and the research will have at least some supporting documentation plus other useful links that we can look up. This one’s in Japan, the next one is in Canada....”, he was cut short. “You mean we are actually looking at research conducted in universities in these two places?” Harry nodded, “Yep. Doesn’t matter if these folk are all still in bed, their computers are always on. Like as not, the information could be routed via Australia, the States, anywhere really. It’s the best research tool in the world. I bet you could find potions materials you’ve never even thought of if you learn to use this thing. Magicals are pretty clueless at this sort of thing, let’s face it, Hogwarts was so stuck in the nineteenth century, I mean, Diagon Alley looks like it fell from the pages of a tacky Victorian novel. This, Sev, this is the twenty first century. No leather bound tomes, not that there isn’t a place for them, though they should be transcribed and put up here that would save the books themselves from further damage. Aaahhh, I love the Net. ‘Mione taught us how to use it and even Ron is pretty au fait these days although the Ministry still refuses to subscribe to a phone line so the Magical world can be connected. When or if we go back to England, I want to live outside the Magical world so we have electricity and all the mod cons, that’s why ‘Mione and Nev live where they do and I can’t say as how I blame them”. Severus was confused but stunned.

He squinted at the small screen, “The print is a bit small”, he complained and Harry kissed the tip of his nose, “Wait there”, and dived out to the bus and brought back an oddly shaped box which he plugged into the laptop and into the mains, then proceeded to print off loads of relevant information as they ate, periodically feeding the printer from a fresh ream of paper as he surfed site after site. He whooped in surprise as he came across a family tree site for the nobility in Spain that had Guillermo de Santos’ family tree on, linking them to an even older French family whose eleventh century scion had been involved in the crusades. He copied the link and, opening up his e-mail account, dropped it into a new e-mail and sent it to Hermione. “There, now ‘Mione can click on the link from the letter I just sent her and save herself the time researching”. Severus was still confused.

Harry went back to his main search engine and typed in ‘wolfsbane’, pressing ‘go’. The screen filled with page after page of site names. He scrolled down the pages, “See, most of it is useless, but look here”, he exclaimed stopping at a site that said, ‘wolfsbane in the treatment of lycanthropy’ and clicked on the link that brought up a Russian site from St Petersburg university with an accompanying link that allowed for the purchase of the plant, “See, you can buy it fresh or dried for shipment. So if Knockturn Alley was ever short of stock, you could have always ordered it from this place in Russia. By the looks of this, it’s actually a grower in the Urkutsk region out on the Russian steppes”, he shrugged then turned to grin at his lover, who shook his head, “The world just shrank”, was all he said in a small voice and Harry totally understood the feeling, “Yeah, that’s what I thought when I first saw the Net. Oh, look, here’s another supplier in South Korea and they freeze-dry it which preserves it better than air-drying and they’re cheaper than the Russians, but if the Russian guy is a grower, then it will be fresher from him, but at a pinch, if it was out of season then you could get it from Korea, no problem”. Now Severus was completely gobsmacked and he started to laugh, “Ohmygods, this is amazing”, and Harry nodded to hear a pinging sound, “An e-mail”, he announced and flipped back to his e-mail provider, “Look, Hermione’s just sent a thank-you for the link I sent her”. “Merlin, that fast”, and Harry smiled, gently butting his lover’s shoulder, “Welcome to the twenty first century, my Sev. This is how so much business, research and commerce is conducted nowadays, not to mention more porn than you can shake your dick at”, he laughed.

Severus shook his head, “What else can this thing do?” Harry grinned, “Well, you know all of the music and movies that I have on Bessie, it’s a bit illegal but most of that lot is downloads off the Net. If I had gone to a muggle school or university then most of my essays would have been sent by e-mail, most of my research done on here. We’ve used the webcam for live chat with Hermione in England, bought things and found maps and guides to attractions that we have then visited. It’s how I’ll book the container ship to take Bessie to Asia and also book our flights. Check the weather in any part of the world and read the news in any language you choose. You can save information to your hard drive or print it out like we did that family tree, check out daily currency exchanges at any time, all sorts really”. Severus shook his head, “And all that information is in your computer?” “No, it’s stored on huge computers all over the world and we just have access to it via the phone line”, he pointed to the wire that fed from the laptop to the phone socket in the wall, “We could do this without wires if we had a node nearby but it’s still slower than having wires although we have a node address while we stay here, I made that a criterion of renting this place, so if we want, we can take the machine outside and do all this sitting in the sun”. Severus shook his head again and huffed out a long breath, “And none of this is magic, is it?” Harry grinned, “Nope, pure Muggle, although it looks like magic to the uninitiated. I’ll teach you how to use it and you can amaze the folk back home. I remember trying to show Drae all of this and he just whinged that owls were easier. I don’t think he wanted to understand. It is a bit different, I grant you, but it’s not that hard to master, after all, millions use this every day”.

There was another soft ping and Harry flipped back to his e-mail account, “See, the books we ordered are on their way to us and the company have given us the carrier by which they are sending them plus a tracking code so we just go to the carrier’s web-site like this”, he clicked the link and entered the tracking code, “See, despatched. Estimated time of arrival, three days, so we’ll check it again tomorrow and the books will probably be in the hold of a plane on it’s way from England to here”. Severus threw up his hands, “All right, I’m officially impressed. This is great and I want to learn how it all works. Show me, just not today. Today, I want to go out”. Harry closed the machine down and kissed Severus, “Okay, not today, but I will show you and you’ll love it, I promise you”.

****

Severus tossed another book away from him and sat slumped in the deck lounger, his head in his hands, “It’s no use, I don’t understand any of this, there’s too much to take in. If this is magical history then it’s nothing that Binns ever taught. Damn it all, Harry, we’re getting nowhere with this”. Harry lifted his head from the book he was perusing, “We need help with this, Sev, Muggle help. I’m gonna ring ‘Mione”. With that, he stood and stalked back into the villa.

Hermione sounded tired as her face appeared onscreen, “This is bigger than us Magicals”, she sighed, “There are so many factions and all after different things from race purity to the frigging Holy Grail. I’m at a complete loss, here”. Harry had told her of the selection of books that he had ordered that the two of them were currently ploughing through, “There’s just too much here. This history goes back centuries and is woven through with speculation and half-truth”. She nodded jerkily at the other end of the webcam, “Maybe we’re going at this all wrong. We need to know what it is that de Santos hopes to gain from declaring himself the new Dark Lord, damn his eyes!”, she spat. Harry felt warm arms around him from behind and sank gratefully into them, “She’s right, you know. Just what does he hope to achieve here?”

Harry sighed, “I don’t know”, he said resignedly, leaning his head back against Severus’ stomach, “I just don’t know, but whatever it is, he has more of the weight of history behind him than Voldemort ever did and is willing to use all that to gain his nefarious ends. This list of factions never ends but it does seem rooted in the Catholic faith, whatever it is, although they were the biggest persecutors of magicals in history. Merlin, my head aches from this”.

Hermione said tinnily from many miles away, “It’s all magical to a degree. What are miracles but another form of magic anyway. Let’s be honest here, the schools of magic had a selection policy didn’t they, Severus?” The man’s brow creased, “Well....”, he began hesitantly, but Hermione cut him off, “Come on, Severus, don’t be coy, this isn’t the time. You taught there, you must be cognisant of this”, and Severus nodded and sighed heavily, “Of course there was, there had to be”, he ran tired hands over his face, “There were only so many places each year at the schools of magic and of course we picked the strongest and best”.

Hermione crowed, “I bloody knew it. How else could we have made up perfect numbers each year? There are what? Five magical schools the world over? That took in eighty students each year?”, she thought a moment. “We need to find out more about the de Santos line, go back to basics, find out what made him think he could do this. What made him make this bid for power. Maybe we’re going about this all arse about face. It’s all about him, a cult of personality if you will. Is it racism? Exclusivity? Pure breeding? What?”

Harry counted off on his fingers, “Well, for one, it’s highly unlikely that he seeks some Muggle religious artefact like the Grail or the pieces of the One True Cross for instance as the Christian religion has no place for us magicals within it. And as an extension of that, it’s also highly unlikely that he seeks to affiliate with other Muggle secret societies like the Templars or the Freemasons despite the quasi-magical trappings that they perform in their rituals. So that takes us back to his motivations. What does he want? Is he another like the poor orphanage-raised Riddle seeking pure power and dominion? Or are his reasons darker? We need to find out more about him. Does he, like Riddle/Voldemort seek eternal life? Is he another magical Hitler? Aiming to rid the world of the half-born? And how come his own niece is the one to fight him? A member of her own family”

Hermione sighed loudly and said, “No matter. We’ll get on it from this end. You guys enjoy your travels but keep in touch with us and we’ll stay in touch with the Spanish authorities. We’ll keep you up to date as we find out stuff. Harry, have you written to Graciela yet?” Harry shook his head, “Not yet. I don’t know how to contact her. It’s not as if we can send her an owl or anything”. Hermione giggled, “Send me the letter by Muggle mail and we’ll owl it on to her from here. Just keep trying to find shit out and we’ll all compare notes as we go along. Hurrah for Muggle comms, I say”, and she lifted the can of whatever she was drinking in salute to them, “Take good care, you two, and we’ll all stay in touch”. She ended the communication with a jerky wave and a blown kiss to the pair of them.