Whose Universe Are We In?

12

Tom’s apprenticeship was duly announced at the breakfast table the following day and afterwards, his new master and the headmaster quizzed Tom under veritaserum before he was moved into a room set up in magical space within Remus’ quarters. Remus thrilled all day as he taught at the thought that his rooms would be inhabited by that intoxicating blond. Draco bloody Malfoy had never smelled this good.

****

That day, Dan got back online and posted more requests for fictions as more suggestions and links dropped into his mailbox. He went to the group site and thanked all those for their help so far, even though he was drawing a blank.

He grinned as he heard the faint strains of music below him. Lydia now had permission to practice here and Dan didn’t mind in the slightest, he knew she had said nothing about being able to use electricity. He listened to the music for a while; liking it but not having a clue as to the composer then started, sitting up, his mind awhirl.

He logged back onto the Internet and went back to the last story site he’d visited. Of course, he’d only been looking at completed stories. He called up the lists again but this time leaving ‘completed’ out of the search criteria, and waited and waited.

There was pages of the stuff. He couldn’t understand it. You didn’t go into Waterstones or wherever and buy a few chapters, did you? And for this reason, he had resisted reading the half-finished and the partly done, but as the story itself wasn’t done, neither would the fiction be if it was the actual ‘truth’. This thought made him shiver as he scrolled through the mountains of pages.

He read through a few precis in a lacklustre way but was on the point of giving up for today when he jumped out of his skin as a soft hand landed on his shoulder. There was a high-pitched yelp from behind him and he turned, wand out. Lydia was trying not to fall over backwards and had her hands out palms-out, “Sorry, sorry. Wow, are you online?”

Dan snapped the lid of the laptop down, “No, but there’s electricity in here too, so I come up here to save batteries”. Damn, he’d been careless with leaving the door unwarded. Still, he’d only been looking at a list of stories. The girl smirked then ran to the wall having spotted two wires, “Liar”, she giggled then pointed at the phone connection box on the skirting board, “That’s a landline point. Go on, what are you looking at? Are you looking at porn? Does the headmaster know?”

Dan rolled his eyes, “Dunno if he knows and I was looking at stories that I have on my hard drive, not porn, so you can sod off for a start”. She giggled again, “Sure you’re online, I saw the light on your computer, you big fibber, Harry Potter. Have you read Rita Skeeter’s books then? I bet you can read them online”. She leaned in conspiratorially, “I’ve read them on PDF’s. They’re rubbish”. Dan chuckled at this assessment, “I was actually reading one when I was interrupted, so you bog off and I can get back to it”. The girl wrinkled her nose and tipped her head aside, “Y’know, Harry, you look a lot older this term. All the girls are talking about it”. Dan rubbed his already coarse chin, “Oh it’s just the beard, it’s still me, silly. It’s suddenly growing a bit faster is all”. She nodded, seemingly happy with this explanation and skipped off again after giving him a wave. He wished he knew how to do memory modifications.

Locking the door this time he went back online and signed in to his email account, more recommendations for stories. The last one he looked at intrigued him. All it said was,

“Hi, the story you are seeking sounds like the one I am writing. How weird! I haven’t archived it yet, so the only place it’s posted is on my lj. If you’ve lost the address then here it is again. Come over and read more and friend me then you’ll get my regular news of updates..

M.

Underneath this, in blue, was a link to a livejournal site so he clicked it and waited while his browser found the site. It loaded to an introductory page that read: -

Welcome to the livejournal of Meggielovessnarry, home to all of my slash tales. Click Here to enter but please only read if you are of age in your relevant countries as I warn you, all of my stories are very much NC-17 and are therefore only to be read by those who are of age. Thank you and enjoy your visit to my journal. Feel free to leave constructive feedback as I thrive on it.

Dan clicked and was through to a contents page arranged thus: -

LOTR: -

FPS

RPS

HARRY POTTER: -

FPS

RPS

He knew enough of the slash-writing conventions to know that ‘FPS’ stood for ‘fictional person slash’ and ‘RPS’ stood for ‘real person slash’, so which to click was pretty obvious though he decided to browse her site for a while.

He went to her profile but there was nothing on there of note. He idly browsed her LOTR stories, a few shorts and a long RPS tale currently ‘on hiatus’.

The Potter FPS section was obviously her main fandom. She seemed to favour the novel length piece over the short although she had written a couple of shorts. There were twelve novels here, six of them in the same story arc. But it was when he clicked into her Potter RPS list that he felt a frisson down his spine.

There was a tale, still a work in progress, called ‘Untitled RPS’ He clicked the title and got the summary page. He read with a mounting sense of dread: -

Alan/Dan – also Harry/Snape with a little Tom/Dan.

Alan cannot believe that after all this time, young Dan Radcliffe has formed an attraction to him, so, when he rescues him from his former lover (Tom), he is stunned when Dan evinces an interest in himself, even if it is while he is still in costume! (lol) The final day of filming is over and he has Dan where he wants him – in his bed. They curl up to sleep when tragedy strikes.

They wake up at Hogwarts! The real Hogwarts. And it is nothing like the books or the movies at all! And now they are expected to play the parts of Snape and Harry! They delve into the lives of the men that they are ‘replacing’ and discover all sorts of secrets. What are Dumbledore’s plans? And what of Voldemort, who still lives?

Further complications ensue when Alan and Dan discover that they aren’t the only two who ‘came through’ at the time of the tragedy. Who is the other? None other than Tom Felton, Dan’s ex-boyfriend. And Alan isn’t happy. What happens next? Read on and see!

Dan could feel his fingers shake as he clicked to enter. This was the closest he’d come so far. Then as soon as the first page appeared, he hit the red ‘X’ at the top right hand corner then cursed himself for being such a chickenshit. Still he had the link in his email box, he could always go back. He wanted Alan with him when he did. He packed up his laptop and secreted everything else under the invisibility charm then made his way back to the dungeon with a heavy heart, keeping an eye out for stray pupils. He had no wish to run into any of the student body.

Alan was laid out along the couch reading as Dan entered their rooms. He looked up cursorily then went back to his book. Dan had that ‘uh-oh’ feeling. Shrugging off his pack and laying it down carefully, Dan was mindful of the line in the story summary, “And Alan isn’t happy” and approached his lover with caution. He knelt down on the floor in front of the sofa. Alan grumbled, “You’re blocking out the heat from the fire”. Dan grabbed the book and tore it from Alan’s hand. “This is about that kiss, isn’t it?”, he asked, boldly. “For fuck’s sake, Alan it was me recognising Tom and he said it was no big deal and it wasn’t to me. It was just an acknowledgement. Get over it. My mouth belongs to you as does the rest of me”. Dan laid the book to one side and brazenly climbed on top of Alan

Alan looked up then into the far-from-pleading eyes and reached out for the man. Dan dodged his hands. “Oh, no. You explain what all this coldness is about”. Alan’s arms lowered and he looked down, “Your ex has appeared, Dan, a stunning looking boy with whom you were in love. He is your age and you look good together. I saw that kiss, Danny, it was close, one of those habit things you do with long-term lovers.......”

That was enough for Dan, who pulled Alan’s face closer then kissed him, pressing his tongue between Alan’s reluctant lips until he had a reply then they grabbed at each other roughly and the kiss deepened with moans and groans.

They came up for air, gasping and smiling at each other. Dan whispered, “I don’t want him any more. Anyway, he’s going to have his work cut out keeping Remus out of his knickers”. Alan’s brows rose, “Really?” Dan snickered, “Yeah. Bloody hell, the guy’s almost salivating over him. Can’t you see it?” Alan shrugged and muttered, “I wasn’t exactly watching”. Dan laughed, “God, you are a jealous old sod, aren’t you?”, to receive a slap to his flank, “Yes. I make no secret of the fact”. Dan rolled his eyes, “You are such an idiot sometimes”, he declared and Alan frowned, “There will never be any reason to be jealous where I am concerned. I know I’m young and all that but when I’m in a relationship, I’m true and faithful. Actually, infidelity disgusts me. I’ve seen it split up the parents of my friends......oh, you know....”, his voice faded.

Alan knew all right. Amongst his friends over the years, divorce and infidelity had been rife. He recalled the civilised arrangement he and his lady friend had and wanted no more of it. He grabbed Dan down to him and kissed the breath from the boy then had to tip his head back after the kiss ended to let his young lover at his neck. He knew it was himself making those ridiculous noises but he found it hard to give a damn as his beautiful Danny devoured him whole, from neck to groin and back again, making him spread himself, making him beg, making him squirm until Dan’s cock deep inside him centred him, brought him back to earth.

He had his feet planted shamelessly on Dan’s buttocks, his heels driving the fucking boy deeper into him. Above him, Dan sweated as he fucked, his eyes squeezed shut, a look of pure ecstasy on his face. Alan tightened his arse around Dan’s cock as it thickened slightly inside him then arched up at the apex of the deepest thrust and felt his innards bathed in warm cum, Dan crying out above him with each burst of heated jism. His own climax he wrung from himself as he was filled and let loose thick strings over his belly and hand. Dan cast the cleaning charm and lowered himself to lie on his lover. Alan threaded his arms around the heaving back and kissed whatever he could reach.

Dan came back up onto his shaky elbows and looked down at the face of his lover, kissing his nose then rose enough to not go cross-eyed when looking into Alan’s face. “I really love you, you know, and I wish you were into marriage. That’d be the ultimate test, I suppose. Marriage. Fuck! I’d marry you in a heartbeat and not just because you’re an amazing fuck”.

Alan smiled distantly and wiped away a drip of sweat from Dan’s brow with a finger, “Why else would you wed me?”, he asked, and instantly felt a fool for asking. But Dan seemed to be taking the question seriously, looking off into space and chewing his lip as he contemplated his reply.

“Because you never judged me. Because you never let me get arsey about my fame. I mean as a film ‘star’, not as Harry Potter. Because you are wise and kind, and, yes, a fucking amazing lover who is generous and giving in bed. Because you didn’t mind acting on my hunches even though I am vastly less experienced than you as an actor. I’m talking about your death scene. Oh, all sorts of things. I dunno”, he laughed, “I like the way you hold me when we’re asleep. I love that you are an affectionate man and not at all like Snape. You are very easy to live with. You have neat habits and prudent ways that echo my own, and, fuck it, I love you so much, Alan bloody Rickman. Now come here and kiss me”.

As that adored face descended to his tongue first, Alan exulted. He had everything he wished for – sort of – and the rest? It’d sort itself out. He had no time to process Dan’s speech before he had the lad’s tongue in his mouth again, his lithe body pressed down upon his own and his hands were massaging that cute pert little arse. The kiss swiftly went from innocent to obscene and Alan rolled them both over with a growl letting his rapidly growing erection poke and parry at Dan’s hole as he turned them.

It was Dan’s turn to be pliant and open. To spread his legs and let his lover take him. They fucked face to face and Dan kept his eyes open all the time. He watched as Alan came deep up his arse. He loved the flood filling him then Alan withdrew, kissing him all the time, keeping his body arched off his aching hard-on until he had it in his mouth then his throat. Dan actually screamed as he came – after a mere few sucks. Alan grinned, or at least smirked around the delicious length spending itself into his stomach.

He held the trembling frame of his lover to his chest as they both lay there recovering. Alan felt very....protective of his young lover, who now needed holding. He loved to hold, hence many affairs with the ladies, but the sex wasn’t as good.....yes, he loved to hold and held his Danny tighter. Dan stopped trembling and just snuggled up shamelessly, wrapping as much of himself as he could around this man that he loved. Alan sighed contentedly all wrapped up in young flesh and kissed his beloved boy. They slept on the sofa in a heap.

Dan had forgotten all about the story

****

There were a few hastily set up apprenticeships to disguise Tom’s with Remus amidst a welter of others. Albus read them out at the breakfast table, “Hermione Granger will be apprenticed to Professor Vector”. There were cheers and the girl blushed. “Draco Malfoy to Professor Lupin”. Muted cheers and even a few hisses from the Slytherins. “Neville Longbottom to Professor Sprout and Hannah Abbott to Professor Sinistra. Professor Hooch is considering Mr Weasley as her apprentice so the Gryffindor team had better win the next match”. The entire Great Hall laughed and some clapped as the Gryffindor team Keeper turned puce. Dan thought that some solidarity was called for and clapped poor Ron on his shoulder and Ron turned and grinned in gratitude.

It took a couple of days for Tom to move into Remus’ quarters owing to the sheer amount of ‘stuff’ that Draco Malfoy owned. He daren’t get rid of any of it in case it’s owner decided he was coming back and claiming it. Remus had to enlarge the space several times, a task that exhausted him.

He could do no more than lie on the sofa as Tom struggled in with all Malfoy’s gear, scowling and looking gorgeous. Most of Malfoy’s stuff was in magically conjured crates piled up in one corner of Tom’s room when Remus looked in later.

It was to find a morose young man, totally out of his depth, sitting on the edge of his bed. He raised those beautiful grey-blue eyes to Remus’ tawny and asked, “Can you keep me safe?” Remus, somewhat non-plussed, replied, with only the slightest of leers, “I’ll try, Dra—Tom. I’ll try”.

Later that night, Remus looked in on his charge, to find him asleep, curled up in that lonely bed. He sighed softly and closed the door, wondering how the hell he was going to possibly make good on his promises.

He had even more reason to doubt the next morning at breakfast. Deep into a conversation with Albus he missed the start of the commotion at the Slytherin table until one of the interlopers, Alan, murmured, “Albus, I think Tom is receiving the ‘summons’”, and left the table to run to his ‘pupil’.

“Fuck, Alan, it hurts”. There were tears flowing down Tom’s cheeks as he hugged his arm to him. Albus came up and cast a silencing spell around the three of them, “You will have to go, Tom, lest he visit worse atrocities upon yourself through the Mark. Keep your eyes down and your ears open, my boy, Bring us all the intelligence you can. I’m afraid you will have to be our spy now, in the absence of Severus Snape”.

Dan gasped, “You can’t mean that!”, he declared heatedly, “Tom’s a muggle with a bit of magic, like us. You can’t send him in baldly like that! He’ll be killed!” Albus turned his sharp gaze on him and Dan quailed, “Firstly, if Tom doesn’t answer the summons and soon, Voldemort is quite capable of killing through this link and secondly, you three have to be seen to be playing the roles of the men we have lost for now while we formulate a new solution to this dilemma, and not let him see us at our weakest, particularly as, at the moment, we have no real strategy. I’m sorry, Tom, but you will have to go. You may use the Floo in my rooms”. Tom shrugged, “’S’all right, I can apparate. Learned that pretty quickly, the wand movements are the same we used in the movie”. Albus nodded, these really were highly intelligent muggles, and said, “Then I will accompany you to the apparation point”, cleared the silencing charm and walked the boy out of the Hall.

****

To some of the assembled student body, it was obvious what had just happened, particularly the Slytherin seventh years. No wonder Draco had been a bit withdrawn, plus, it must have been odd to see Potter holed up for so long with his godfather. But there was a problem. It was pretty widely known that Snape was a death-eater, so why had he not reacted to this summons in the way he had of old? That and Pansy Parkinson was spreading the rumour that she was certain that their head of house was using a glamour when out in public.

****

They marched back to the dungeons wearing suitable scowls for the benefit of all those they passed in the crowded halls. They looked to be hissing at each other in annoyance to the amusement of the Slytherins they passed. Dan held his breath that made him go red, for extra effect. In fact, Alan was saying, “Shit, Dan, the kids noticed that I wasn’t Summoned. What should I do?” Through a gritted teeth snarl, Dan muttered, “Here’s your seventh years. Act your fucking head off”.

Alan’s folding over his left arm was graceful and more accomplished than ‘Draco’s’ as befit a man with more practice. The kids noticed though and eyebrows were raised at the rictus on their head of house’s face. The girls were instantly sympathetic while the boys jostled and murmured darkly, giving the man space as he stormed through their ranks, snarling, “Potter! Gut the flobberworms in my absence. I have to go out”, and Dan pulled a suitably mutinous face with the Slytherins sneering and catcalling and jostling him a bit in the corridor before he escaped thankfully into their rooms.

He was slammed into the door and kissed heartily. When they came up for air, Alan muttered, “Now what?” Dan grinned, “You use the ‘secret’ way out of here and bugger off for the day. You can apparate, too, remember. Just do short hops and go somewhere for the day. Have a day out. Take a bag with clothes in or transfigure something. I’m envious actually, you’ve just earned yourself a skive on this nice day”.

Alan growled, “Remember that Tom is, at present, probably enduring all sorts of hell right now, won’t you?” Dan frowned, “Since when did you care? Last I recall, you said he wasn’t worth my tears”. Alan rounded on his lover, “Yes, Dan, that was before Albus bloody Dumbledore made him the Hogwarts spy in my stead”.

Dan took a breath then said, calmly, “Snape’s stead, love, not yours. Not Alan Rickman’s”. Alan gestured impatiently, “Yes, yes. I know that, but even so....” Dan sighed, yeah, even so; and even he felt sympathy at what Tom was probably going through, things that he had already hinted at. Dan shuddered, it really didn’t bear thinking about.

Alan changed into casual slacks and a shirt, carrying an empty bag for his cloak and wand. He stuffed his wallet into his pants pocket and threw his longest cloak around his shoulders, hiding his muggle clothes, kissed Dan heartily and made off through the secret exit. Many of his Slytherins watched him go as he knew they would so he hammed it up a bit, sinking to his knees once with the supposed pain then rising and staggering on to the gates of Hogwarts.

****

Dan decided to bite the bullet and go back online. He had a story to read. He packed up his gear, and, making sure that the corridors were quiet, the pupils now at their lessons, he set off for the astronomy tower with his small laptop rucksack on his back and a picnic style lunch.

****

After several apparation ‘hops’, Alan finally landed in the capital, feeling inordinately pleased with himself. British Airways didn’t even come close: he checked his watch, the journey had taken him thirty two minutes in all and almost twenty ‘hops’ but he finally landed in the jungly shrubbery in the garden belonging to an old friend of his whom he knew would be at work at this time of the day.

Disentangling himself from the clutching greenery, he sneaked from the garden, folded and stashed his cloak and wand and tied his long black hair back taking off his ‘Snape’ glamour, then, took out his wand again and gave himself dark red hair rather than black. ‘There, that should confuse the buggers’, he thought, then set off to enjoy a day in London. He wished Dan was with him though.

****

Poor Tom was having an altogether different sort of day. At the time of his Marking, he’d been told to merely touch the tip of his wand to his Mark and he’d be brought to the meeting. And so it was. A touch of wood to searing flesh brought him with an inelegant sprawl to a woodland clearing. He could hear titters and chuckles as he landed in a heap.

Keeping his eyes down he was helped to his feet. All he could see of the person who had assisted was his fat belly, short legs and splayed feet. He heard the hisses, “Unhand him, Peter, let me see him”, and the support was gone. Something sharp dug into the tender flesh beneath his chin and his face was forced upwards. “Sssso, my little Malfoy spawn, what shall we do with you?”

Tom had to keep the revulsion from his face at all costs. Voldemort’s breath stank, of rotting things and week-old fish. “My Lord”, he lowered his lashes and tried hard for bashful, “From the moment I took your Mark, I am yours to command, sir”. More titters greeted this little speech.

“Indeed”. The word drawn out on a hiss. Then Tom reeled as he was slapped across the face, “You insolent whelp. You have not made your obeisances, you think because you are of the bloodline of Malfoy that you can forget your place?! Kneel, boy, and show to whom you really belong”.

Mind reeling and his face hurting, Tom sank to his knees, grasped a portion of the ratty wool cloak the monster wore and kissed it, “I humbly beg forgiveness, master”, he mumbled, touching mouldy wool serge to his lips repeatedly.

His face was lifted again, “Then sssshow it, little one”. Tom tried not to let his eyes widen in horror as his face was lifted with those sharp talons, implacably digging into his soft skin, with one hand, while the other fished swiftly beneath the ratty robes and withdrew quite the ugliest, filthiest cock Tom had ever seen, from it’s depths. He feigned his ecstasy at being presented with this excrescence and licked his lips a mere moment before the thing was unceremoniously shoved into his mouth. He knew what he must do, even though everything in his body was dying to throw up and flee. But he took it, because he feared imminent death and because he hadn’t given a decent blow-job in what felt like months though was actually weeks.

After a few sucks he was getting almost used to the vile taste and after a few more he could feel the groans from the snake-man. More still and the foul length thickened in his mouth and it was all the warning he got, save the hand gripping his hair hard enough to pull some out, before he was swallowing hot jism by the bucketful. He may be a Dark Lord but his spunk tasted like anyone else’s. Tom came shamelessly in his pants as he drank.

Eventually his head was yanked up off the softening prick and Voldemort noticed the spreading cum-stain on his trousers, “That really exsssssited you?”, his enquiry was almost.....tremulous. Tom grinned, “Um”, he pointed bashfully at his pants, “Yeah. I mean, yes, my Lord”.

Voldemort tucked his dick away and straightened the rags around his body. “Very good, young Malfoy, very good. Come and sssit beside me”, and His Foulness patted a spot beside him, extending the seat on which he sat with his wand. Swallowing his revulsion, Tom warily sat beside the.....thing,,,,who promptly threw an arm around him and pulled him into his side, then kissed his temple in a manner almost resembling playfulness. Tom ventured a look into that face. He saw utter hopelessness and sadness as well as ill-done-to evil just beneath the surface. He despaired at ever coming out of this alive. But after a short meeting they were all sent on their way.

Tom dreaded being asked to stay but he was dismissed along with all the others although the snake-man did manage something approaching a smile for him, “Take care, young Malfoy, take care. I may have to Summon you all to myself. Next time we meet I want news of the traitor, Snape”. Tom barely breathed at the tone in the .....thing’s voice and barely squeaked out, “Yes, sir. Good day my master, and I thank you”, before he disappeared with a pop just behind the others.

****

Alan had a lovely day incognito in London. He was thinner, younger and with long dark red hair. He passed anonymously through the crowds. He took his plastic for a walk, thinking all the time of poor Dan holed up in the castle whilst he was supposedly Summoned by evil. As he stepped between shops, he wondered how Tom was faring.

His thoughts didn’t linger there, however. He thoroughly enjoyed the mild spring day as he walked or taxied around town, stopping at favourite haunts looking so different from his old self as to nary raise an eyebrow. He had coffee and croissants then bought cashmere sweaters for him and Dan, then jeans for his lover that he knew would be sinfully tight and new undies for them both at a high class gents retailers.

Pleased with his purchases and once more wishing his lover was with him, he enjoyed an excellent pub lunch with a glass of wine, still glad to be out of the castle for a day even if it was by himself.

After having had a drink and feeling a little morose sitting alone in a pub where he’d shared lunch with many of his friends, he decided to take the slow route back to Hogwarts and stop in at a few places on the way. Pleased at this idea, (he loved apparation with a passion, having only ever gone from one end of the Cave to another before) he set off and pictured remote spots that he loved.

Hills, he loved hills, so, finding a quiet alley in which to shrink his purchases, he pictured a spot north of here, pointed his wand at his chest and was gone with a crack. He had a delightful afternoon but had to rest between ‘hops’. Apparation was tiring work and he didn’t see as much as he’d have liked. By Newcastle he was exhausted and still quite some way from the castle. The sky was beginning to darken now and it seemed an awfully long time since lunch. Alan sank down on a bench and really wasn’t sure how he was going to get back. Still, he had Dan’s phone number, he could at least ring him.

****

Dan had dinner first. In fact he kept finding all sorts of things to do in order not to read the tale. First, he’d warded the door and set up all his gear, only to feel cold and anyway, he wanted to be in their rooms when Alan returned, so he downloaded as much as there was of the story, copying and pasting it into Word, then set up his little printer and printed it out.

He went online for a while, checked his emails for more story suggestions but the one currently chuntering out of his printer seemed like the one. Even the summary had eerily ticked so many boxes. On a whim, he signed back into the site and left a post to the author requesting notification of updates. That done, he packed up the whole shebang, left his phone on charge and quietly left the tower.

The school was now in its afternoon session and he only passed what looked like a couple of first years on his way back. He glared at them and they scuttled off, squealing. This made him grin. Being Harry Potter sure carried some clout in this place.

By the time it was getting dark, Dan was beginning to worry. There was no sign of either Alan nor Tom. The corridors outside were densely populated owing to the hordes being called to dinner. Dan looked swiftly around at the milling faces and called out, “Zabini? Blaise?” The tall black boy spun around. “Potter! What do you want?” in his deep slow voice.

Dan breathed deeply, “Have you seen Malfoy this afternoon?” The boy shrugged, “No, not since this morning. Why are you bothered?” Dan rolled his eyes, “No reason. I was told to tell him stuff about apprenticeships that’s all”, Dan kept his tone casual. Blaise shrugged again, “Whatever, he’s still gone from earlier, I think”. The lad didn’t look too worried and ‘Draco’ had been part of his set hadn’t he? That’s how it was in the books, wasn’t it? Dan sighed and thanked him then closed the door on the noise.

Up in the astronomy tower, the phone rang and rang before going to voicemail, the little blue lights flashing on its side. The thing beeped to signal a new voicemail and the screen lit up but there was no-one to see or hear it.

****

Alan was really worried. He was bone-tired and realised he’d been a bit ambitious on his first real apparation. He urgently needed to rest but he hadn’t got through to Dan and he wondered why. Normally the first thing that would occur to him was simply that the battery had died or the blasted thing was turned off, but this was ‘Harry Potter’ now and anything could be the cause.

He stood in the shop doorway deciding whether to book into an hotel for the night or catch a train. He favoured the train. That would get him a lot closer and he could sleep if he was lucky. Just out of Newcastle, Alan was getting his head down when he heard a rumpus up ahead of him.

There were three lads about Dan’s age, maybe a bit younger, and they were causing trouble disturbing other travellers, particularly picking out the more senior passengers to harass.

They drew abreast of him and looked down on him trying to decide whether to have a go or not when Alan opened his eyes slowly, full of the Slytherin Death-Eater death glare, perfected over several years. They quailed and moved on. One of them murmured, “Fuckin’ psycho, that one” and their noise and nuisance continued up the train.

It was pretty late when Alan changed trains for the small branch line and he’d only just caught the last train of the night. He slumped down into the uncomfortable seat. He had almost half an hour of this to endure. He had no chance of sleep on this train but at least the occupants were quieter.

Two stops down the line and he was convinced that this rattling tin death-trap was trying to shake him apart. The compartment creaked ominously but to the other passengers all seemed normal. He looked at them reading, doing crosswords, eyes closed with earphones in, gazing out at the dark countryside. He wondered at something in the third novel. He knew he was taking a big risk. He could recall something Dan had said about the stories. “Some things are constants in a lot of people’s writing, like the layout of the castle, or the Knight Bus. They just are too good to ignore. Wow, I’d love to hail it sometime just to see if I could”.

Well this was an emergency and he needed to get back to a magical location, so why not? He got off at the next stop. The station was at the edge of a small sleepy village with a new dormitory section built on like a swollen sore on it’s side full of ugly vernacular houses that all looked like Privet Drive.

Alan found his way on to the main road which was now pretty quiet. He re-glamoured to ‘Snape’, waited until the road was empty of traffic and held out his hand holding his wand. He murmured, “Knight Bus”, for good measure and closed his eyes.

And there it was, in a whoosh of air brakes and a jangling of bells, the door hissed open with a snap. Standing on the top step, cleaning his nails with his teeth was Stan Shunpike, the spotty oik from the films. “Are you gettin’ on then?”, he asked laconically. Alan stepped up and gave the lad a glare to hide the odd feeling in his gut when the bus had actually arrived for him and said, “Inside cabin. Quiet, if you please. I’m going to Hogwarts School. How much do I owe you?”, in his iciest tones.

Money and ticket changed hands. Change was given and Alan was led to what can only be described as a stateroom as one might get on a ship. He tipped the dermatologically challenged youth and closed himself inside. He paid no mind to the lushly wrought interior just kicked off his shoes and fell face-first onto the bed. He was asleep in seconds.

****

Dan came out of his doze with a start not sure what had awakened him. Damn, there it was again. Someone was knocking at the door. He rubbed his eyes and cast a quick tempus, shit, nearly midnight. Where the fuck was Alan? And who the hell was knocking?

Still bleary and was that a crease he could feel on his cheek, he opened the door. To see two agitated Slytherins standing there, both babbling and pointing at once. He roared for quiet and they obeyed but not without one of them muttering, “You’re his bum-boy, not a teacher”. Dan calmly took points, after all, Harry had been a prefect, then he issued a detention with Filch, then asked what the hell was the matter.

Now they were more rational, he was led from the room but not before donning shoes and grabbing his wand. He knew it was ‘Snape’ that the boys had come to find but he had to do as Alan still wasn’t back yet. He bit down the gnawing in his gut. The boys led him silently on until they reached a room just off the entrance hall.

Dan should have been warned by the thin trails of foul-smelling vomit but he started in surprise at the sight that the two boys led him to. Tom was propped against a wall, shoulders heaving as he dry-retched then sipped from a glass of water to give him something to throw up.

In an instant Dan dismissed the boys and was beside him, “Jesus, Tom, what happened? Was Alan with you?” Tom turned a sickly face to him and sneered, “No, Alan was not there and Voldemort made me suck him off and I came and I think I’m allergic to his spunk. Can you get me to the medical room?”

They shuffled and hobbled, Tom having to stop and retch every so often, still getting the dry-heaves but Dan called for Poppy as they entered. Poppy came bustling in, still tying her dressing gown, her hair in curlers. She took one look at the wraith-like boy being held up by Dan and was all business.

Seating Dan on the next bed she fluttered about getting Tom laid flat on a bed and proceeded to dowse him. Dan could hear him whispering but couldn’t catch the words, though from the reddened state of Tom’s face, Dan could well imagine what was being said. The woman was a medic after all.

He watched, still amazed at the simplest magic as several phials of potion rocked towards her through the air; slowly so as not to disturb the contents. He observed her doing her job with brisk efficiency, making selections from her phials and feeding them to Tom then gauging the results. He made to vomit again and she caught the meagre results, examining them closely, she hadn’t admitted that she’d actually administered a mild emetic but she needed a sample of anything that was still in the boy’s stomach.

Voldemort’s seed. She swiftly cast the mess of bile and evidence into an unbreakable bottle and administered a stomach tonic with relaxant that instantly made Tom feel better and the gut spasms stop. Dan watched as the other lad’s breathing calmed and wanted to comfort him in some way but resisted the urge. Despite all that Tom had been through, Dan wasn’t his any more. Dan watched Tom’s chest rise and fall, the movement becoming more regular. It was when he heard the small snore that he realised the blond was asleep.

Poppy patted his shoulder, “I’ve given him Dreamless Sleep, Dan. You need to get back to your quarters”. Dan blurted, still not in total command of his faculties, “Alan’s still gone. He hasn’t come back yet”. Poppy smiled, “He cannot be Summoned, can he?” Dan shook his head, “No, and Voldemort can’t reach me either, the way he did, Harry”. She nodded at this, “So Alan had to go somewhere just for show?” Dan smiled, “Yes, there were rumours flying about that he can’t feel the Mark, so he staged a Summons and disappeared shortly after Tom”. Poppy nodded sagely, “Then he’s probably somewhere too tired to get back here tonight. Has he tried to firecall you? only there’s a way of telling even in a closed Floo fire........” but she turned to her companion to find him gone.

‘No, he wouldn’t have bloody fire-called me but he almost certainly would have phoned me”. Dan ran up the rounded flight of stairs and into the room, lunging for his phone when he saw the blue flashing lights. He listened to the message, heard the weariness in his lover’s tone and sighed, he had a night of cold pillow-hugging in front of him. He composed and sent a blistering text describing exactly what he’d like to do right now. He pressed ‘send’ and had to adjust himself, glancing round guiltily to make sure there were no students about.

Carrying on down to the dungeons, his phone beeped softly, he opened the message, “May all your dreams come true but right now I am tired though I await you. A x” Dan’s heart leapt and he positively ran the rest of the way, tipping into their rooms and seeing Alan with a pile of parcels all around him fast asleep on the sofa. He smiled at the sight that greeted him and tiptoed over to his love, leant over him and kissed him.

Next, he was being pulled down over Alan’s lap and kissed thoroughly. They parted slightly, Dan still had his legs over Alan’s and he still held his lover, “So. Where’ve you been, then, that’s got you this tired out?” Alan related his day, telling of the fabulous shops he’d visited, producing item after item of clothing for Dan. “You don’t have to wear any of it and we can soon change or return things if it’s not to your liking, but....”, he was silenced with a kiss and a lapful of Dan.

They pulled apart again and grinned at each other. Alan had to cough slightly, “So, Dan, what did you do with your day?” Dan bit his lip and accio’d a sheaf of paper towards him, “I think I’ve found it.....the story we’re in. The author hasn’t finished it, it’s a work in progress, she posts about once a week”.

Alan’s eyes narrowed at this, “Bloody hell, is this right? Have you read the thing yet?” Dan shook his head, “I read the summary and my blood ran cold. I’ve not had a reaction like that yet from anything else....”, he hesitated then ploughed on, “And I sort of want you here when we read it”, then yawned, “But not tonight. I’m knackered”. They kissed again and led each other to bed.

Despite their tiredness, they still found the energy for some fun and games before ‘lights-out’.

The story stayed unread.