Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his world belong to J. K. Rowling

Part 3/Chapter 23

Sunday, Victor and Peter loaded six horses into two horse boxes. Peter, Victor, Bellamy and Pat would be riding, and there would be two packhorses. Xander ran about them, barking excitedly. He was going, though no other dogs were. Margaret watched with a scowl on her face. She thought she should be allowed to go, too.

An hour after they left, Graham appeared to check on his patient. Bellamy had already announced that he was better, and there was no need for him any more, but Graham didn't agree.

Prior arrangements had been made, and the vehicles were left at a friend of Victor's, who lived in the desired area. Peter and Victor shared the baby for most of the first days, and after some initial puzzlement, Susan took to it beautifully. All day, as they rode, she was held, and it seemed that she enjoyed watching the countryside from her high perch. Xander might have felt a responsibility, as he tended to stay close to whichever rider held the baby.

Pat was still breastfeeding, and there were regular stops. Bellamy needed them, too, as he was still a long way from fully fit.

Even on the first day, they found another hidden place, but it was just a tiny shrine, with a little statue of a stout and frowning god.

At night, Bellamy conjured tents and beds for everybody, as nobody else's conjures were likely to last the night. Regular food supplies were bought when they passed through a town. Their clothes were cleaned by magic, although they all had a wash if water was available. Pat and Bellamy always had a tent, simply so they could make love. Victor would look at the silent tent knowingly, but when he hinted something to young Peter, the teenager was acutely embarrassed.

But it wasn't only to conceal the sounds of sex that Pat and Bellamy needed a silencing shield. At last, Bellamy was telling her about the sex that had occurred on the Costa Rivera. He made no images now, only related quietly how he'd been taken to the spa. That they'd gone very slowly, never hurting, never frightening. "I must have known somewhere inside me what they were leading up to," he said, "But they were loving me, and I desperately needed that loving."

"There's nothing wrong with having sex with a man if that's what you wanted," Pat said calmly.

Bellamy was quiet a long time. "They said it was just a small thing, that I'd be making them very happy. I wanted to make them happy. They looked after me, and they cared very much for me."

"So what happened?" prompted Pat.

"I think it might have been several weeks leading up to it, and I never revolted, or pulled back, or resisted what they were doing - or not that I remember."

"So what happened?" asked Pat, again.

"Well, one night, they just did it, and I wasn't hurt in the slightest. And I was surrounded by love and caring."

And he was silent for a while, again. "It hurt me, somewhere deep. I couldn't do it for them, and they were my friends, and I couldn't fight them. I can scarcely remember the next week or so. I don't think it lasted long, and they stopped."

"Did they know it was upsetting you?"

"I guess, but I just don't really remember. I know I never fought them. And I needed them. I think I might have stopped eating. I think I remember Mario being worried and upset. And once Bruno swore at me. But it's all very blurry."

"And then what?"

Bellamy turned to her and started stroking. "I don't want you to condemn them. They gave me love, all of them. They never, ever physically hurt me, and they did it among themselves all the time. I don't know myself why it should have upset me so much. It's only sex, and even if it had hurt, it wasn't much to ask of me."

Pat was silent. She was condemning. No matter what he said, he'd been defenceless, and they'd done something to him he didn't want. But now he was stroking, and she had to reassure. She thought that he was worried that she would think the less of him. So she made the moves that started the game of love. She loved him, too, and she would never, ever, do anything that would hurt him.

In the morning, the few necessary supplies were loaded back on the packhorses, bedding and tents were vanished, and the riders mounted. Bellamy took Susan for an hour that morning. He was a little stronger every day, seeming to thrive as much on the days outdoors as his little daughter, who laughed and chortled, and liked to pull the beard of Victor.

Jester didn't quite understand that his rider wasn't fit enough to gallop and race, though, and stamped his foot as Victor and Peter raced down a grassy bridle track. He even trotted a little on the spot. "In a few days," Bellamy soothed, and asked Victor if he'd like to ride him a while, and himself rode the solid black horse that belonged to Victor. Brewster wasn't worried that he didn't get to race, and Victor enjoyed the ride on Jester. At least he enjoyed the ride on Jester until the horse decided that he might like to play as Bellamy liked to play. But Bellamy whistled, and the skewbald stopped bucking, and went more quietly again.

That day, Bellamy looked intently to the side, and Brewster stopped. Susan was handed to Peter, and Bellamy slipped off the horse. The others waited, expectant. But he only leaned against a tree for a while, looking across the landscape. Pat had a detailed map, and he asked to see it. Deviating from their methodical search, they turned into a tiny track that led further north.

Another hidden place, another spooky cave. But it was only a few pieces of ancient treasure - a large, shallow bowl, ornately decorated, and what he thought had to be a sceptre. A jewelled tiara, too. He told the others what he'd found, but told them also that they shouldn't enter. There were some powerful and ancient spells in that cave.

"Well, why don't you break them then?"

Bellamy shrugged. "They're other people's secrets. Let them lie."

There were more secrets around that area, and Bellamy left the others, and did some apparations all around, only about a quarter mile at a time. But the few other ancient hiding places he found were empty.

Late in the day, he broke an ancient spell as he couldn't enter otherwise, but had to use the strong magic, and was then too tired to be safe apparating. He trudged very wearily back to his people, whom he could sense in the distance. They were not so far, but he lay flat when he got back, and Pat watched him worriedly. He cocked an eyebrow at her when she woke him for dinner, and said, "Graham would be going crook about now. He doesn't approve when I make myself too tired."

Pat didn't think she approved either, especially when he cried out in the night, and started to panic only because there was the tent wall too close. He woke Susan, too, who had to be fed and pacified before she went back to sleep.

Meantime, Bellamy walked along the road, back the way he'd come. Xander watched him go, but then lay down close to Peter, whom he'd been honouring with his company the last few nights.

Even two hours later, when Bellamy returned, he wasn't ready to go back to sleep, but conjured himself one of his easy chairs and made a campfire.

Peter slept soundly, but after a while, Victor joined him, and asked for a chair, too. Victor had no power of magic. They talked a long time that night, mostly about horses. Victor thought they should have another couple of smaller horses, like Jedda and Toby. He'd been impressed with the way that Margaret had been able to race and grab Pat when she was needed. He'd been told that Bellamy would certainly have died if Pat hadn't arrived so quickly.

"It must be strange," Victor said, "to have people trying to kill you all the time."

"I take it for granted these days," said Bellamy. "There's been intervals sometimes when no-one tried too hard, but nearly always, someone seems to want me dead."

Greatly daring, Victor asked, "Is that what you have nightmares about?"

Bellamy was surprised. The people who surrounded him tended to be tactfully silent when he betrayed his fears by having a nightmare. But he answered. "I have nightmares about being imprisoned, helpless for some reason. People have tried to do that to me, too, now and then."

Victor said, "We've got a few chocolate bars stowed away somewhere, if you'd like one.

"Yes, please," quickly, but it came from where Peter was supposedly sleeping. Finally, after his chocolate, Bellamy rose and stretched, and ducked into his tent again. There was a little sleepy murmuring, and then Victor smiled at the abrupt cessation of all sound from the tent.

Bellamy slept late the next morning, but he was the boss, there was no time limit, and the others just sat around, and talked, as Susan scrambled around happily in the thick grass, and Xander searched for rabbits, but didn't seem to know what to do about it when he found one.

When they finally resumed their ride, Peter took Susan, and he and Victor cantered ahead, Victor riding Jester again, Xander behind them. Pat and Bellamy just walked, and Bellamy started talking again. There was no-one around, and he conjured an image - Mario, wearing only swimmers, furry, like a bear. Big, soft around the middle. In his early thirties or thereabouts. And Bellamy said, in a tone of wonder, "I think he loved me from the first. I thought he couldn't have done really, because he never knew me. But he did know me. He knew me, and he loved me. And I may not have known it at the time, but I loved him. It was love that brought me back. They all gave me a measure of love, but Mario loved, fully and genuinely."

Pat said, "But he raped you."

Bellamy sighed, and replied, "He loved me, and he raped me."

"You said they stopped."

Bellamy paused, looking around, almost as if he scented the air. But it was nothing, and he went on. "They stopped for a while, and then I'm pretty sure they did it again."

"All of them," said Pat, horrified.

"They never hurt me," said Bellamy, "And I can't actually remember, but I think they drugged me, and then, the next day, I suddenly knew I wanted to go ashore, and that was the first time I dived overboard and started swimming."

Pat was silent, horrified. And finally, in a very quiet voice, "How could they have cared for you, and have done a thing like that?"

"They wanted me, and they took too much care to make it a long and gentle seduction. I think they just couldn't bear to give it up without a fight."

Pat was quiet, trying to understand. Bellamy went on. "Anyway, they stopped the ship, and Mario was on the boat that came searching, and he called me, and I went back to him."

"Did it all come out then?"

"I think I was in trouble," and he made a picture in the air again, but it was misty, and seemed to come and go, two men in officers' uniforms, and a woman, who could have been the doctor. And there were voices, accusing, battering. "That's how I remember it, but I didn't like it when people asked questions, and they were probably perfectly patient and kind, as they mostly were."

"You didn't tell them anything?"

Bellamy looked blindly at the pleasant countryside they passed, the tall horses gently walking, the two packhorses following. "I told you I was a pretty pathetic object in those days. I don't really know what I said and did, except that I was so relieved when Mario came for me. Mario would look after me and things would be all right again."

Pat reached across from Josh, and touched her husband on the arm. He looked back at her, and she saw that his eyes were wet. Xander suddenly joined them then, and when they looked ahead, they saw that Victor and Peter had found a small clearing, and had dismounted for a break. Pat gave Susan a feed, leaning with her back to a tree, and Bellamy again felt his eyes wet. His wife and child had such a beauty. He was so lucky to have his family.

He hadn't finished his story, and that night, he started again, the silencing shield in place in the tiny, enclosed world of the conjured tent. "Afterwards, they asked if I wanted my own bed, and I was terrified that I wouldn't be allowed to sleep with Mario any more. I needed him, more than ever. He gave comfort. He did sleep with me that night, and every night I was on the Costa Rivera."

"Did they have sex with you again?"

"They still cuddled and hugged, and I needed that. But they never even had sex in front of me." Bellamy smiled, a touch sadly. "I still slept with Mario, both of us naked. And sometimes, at night, I'd hear him begging Nino or Bruno for sex. It seems I was untouchable, but it was very difficult for him." He grinned suddenly. "He tried Angelo, once, as both Nino and Bruno were doing some sort of night job, but only got soundly sworn at."

Pat laughed, and Bellamy was relieved. She'd been taking it too seriously.

Bellamy had now told Pat about the thing that had upset him enough that he'd dived overboard, without thought or planning. It was like it helped him think or maybe feel. And in the morning, he said that there was to be a change of plan. From now on, he was just following his instincts. And he thought he had to go further north.

For days, they travelled further north-east, right out of Wales, and into a more rugged area, an area that Bellamy had already searched without result. After four days travelling, following Bellamy's instincts, they walked slowly, single file, along a narrow road, with stone walls too close alongside. Bellamy whistled to Peter and Justin who rode ahead, and wheeled to the right, through a gap in the stone wall. It was a rise, and Jester strained to jump out of the road that was sunken in comparison to the land around. Maybe it was an ancient way. Bellamy held tight to Susan, who looked around in interest. When the six horses had climbed out of the roadway, Bellamy glanced at the wall, which repaired its hole.

Unerringly now, Bellamy led them through a thick wood, the horses walking quietly. It was quite a simple place where the bags of gold lay. Just a shed in a paddock. Bellamy halted the others, handed Susan to Pat, and approached alone, feeling for the spells, possibly dangerous. It turned out to be easy enough for him to break the spells that protected the reward.

When he was satisfied it was safe, he called the others, and they filed into a circle around the bags of gold that so many had tried for. Pat touched it. She knew that Bellamy was rich, but she'd never seen so much actual physical wealth. It wasn't only gold. Some bags were full of medj money, as well. The killer of the great wizard might need to travel far and fast, and medj currency was more easily negotiable than bulky gold.

"Now what?" said Pat.

Bellamy answered, "I've thought about it. It needs to be proven to people that the reward is gone. And with the reward gone, I'll automatically lose nearly all of those currently trying to kill me. So I'm going to send it to the Ministry of Magic, put it in the atrium, and protect it with spells so it's untouched. Display it there for a week, and then send it off to Sudan or Ethiopia or somewhere, and hope they spend it on food, not guns. But you can have some, too, if you want," he said to Peter and Victor. "You've earned it."

Victor turned over a gold piece in his hands, but said, "I think it should be displayed intact." But he grinned. "I wouldn't mind a Christmas bonus, though."

"Might as well do it now, then," Bellamy said, and glanced at the bags of gold and treasure. They vanished. Then he disapparated, appearing right next to the piles on the floor of the atrium of the Ministry, next to the tawdry gold statue in the middle of the floor. There were always people in the atrium, and he caused a commotion, which he ignored. Instead, he only conjured a sign. 'Please note. There is no more reward for the death of Henry Bellamy.' He surveyed it with a smile. And unless there was a wizard stronger than himself about, no-one would be able to touch it.

Here was the great wizard with his back exposed. But Len Fitzpatrick looked at the piles of gold, knew there was no point, and didn't draw his wand. He probably wouldn't have been fast enough anyway, especially as an auror had been alerted, and was walking fast toward Bellamy. Bellamy only raised a hand to Homer, and vanished.

He went back to his wife, his baby, and his friends.

***chapter end***