Chapter 35 : Desert Dreams and Hidden Charms

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"Can we leave already?" He asked hugging Severus, who hugged him back and lifted the concealing charm from his person, giving Harry back the four inches it hid.

"Nice to see you too Harry. I'm fine, thanks for asking." Severus stated neutrally, making the boy blush. "Excited much?"

"Just a little." Harry admitted sheepishly.

"And to answer your question we'll leave in an hour by portkey." Harry smiled expectedly.

"Did you get an approval by the Ministry?" It was no secret between them that Harry had wanted to travel by portkey for ages.

"Even asking for approval by the Ministry would require stating the names of those using the protkey and the reason of leaving the country." Severus explained. "Luckily I do know how to create a slightly illegal portkey that can take us to our destination without having to explain why I'm trying to smuggle a Potter out of the country without parental consent." The potions master explained with a down right self-satisfied smirk, sending Harry in a fit of laughter.

"I promise I won't complain about being smuggled out of the country, Sev." Harry promised, wiping the tears from his eyes as Severus gave him his wand. They had decided he'd better carry it with him in case of emergency and only that. The hour passed in small talk, Harry narrating how Adrian had finally admitted he needed glasses and his mother's surprise when it turned out that he didn't; thankfully that had been accounted as a result of inheriting Lily's eyes and thus no more questions were asked.

The Potter family, minus one, had left again for the rest of the summer, after a short visit from Ronald Weasley, the sixth son of Arthur Weasley, if Severus remembered correctly. Apparently, he and Adrian had met one day in the Ministry and became quick friends. Harry himself admitted enjoying the boy's company, even if he did have some sort of obsession with the Chudley Cannons. A lost cause, Severus agreed as the team hadn't seen a place other than last since the late nineteenth century.

The hour passed faster than expected and soon the two wizards found themselves holding their trunks in one hand and an old frying pan -the portkey- in the other.

"Three, two, one…" Severus counted backwards and Harry felt a strong nudge behind his navel, as if an invisible hand was pulling him backwards; his hands locked down on his trunk and the portkey as the world started spinning. When the sensation seemed to lessen, Harry prepared himself and sifted his weight backwards while extending one leg forward, a trick Severus had taught him so he wouldn't land on his face. He opened his eyes the moment he felt solid ground beneath his extended foot and looked around him in wonder; the first thing that got to him was the heat. Severus had warned him about it of course, but he never expected something of that magnitude. It was scorching and even the air was hot as he inhaled. Then it was the setting itself; he was standing on crackled golden-red earth that dissolved into sand in the distance when he looked back. And when he looked forward…

"Do you only stay in castles or something?" Harry asked the potions master amused. In front of him stood a Kasbah, a Moroccan citadel in perfect condition, the golden coloured walls standing proud on a granite cliff. A shallow river flowed between them and the settlement while palm trees and green desert bushes contrasted brightly with the red hues of the ground.

"What can I say?" He asked rhetorically. "Call me sentimental, but it reminded me of home."

"Okay, Mr. Sentimental." Harry stated and smiled. "Now can we go?" Severus chuckled and lifted the two trunks in the air with a flick of his wand. They walked under the desert sun slowly, passing the wooden bridge in the river and continuing towards the Kasbah.

"What do you say we try and blend in with the locals a bit?" Severus asked winking at Harry. "There's no point in trying to follow the trail on the map with that sun." Harry regarded him confused.

"Sev, don't get this the wrong way, but we just arrived from Scotland. I can bet you every single person in this country is more tanned than my whole family has ever been put together. And the two of us? We're considered pale even back home. How do you suggest blending in?" The boy asked amused.

"You do make a good point Harry, but what I meant was maybe buying some local clothes, visit the wizards' bazaar in the nearby town, take some pictures, play tourists for a while." Severus explained smiling.

"Oh." Harry stated, his smile widening. "We could do that."

"Yes, we could." Severus agreed as they approached the entrance of the Kasbah. They entered through an amazingly high gate, fashioned in the one of a kind detailed woodwork found only in Morocco and into what appeared to be an inner garden. The building was rectangular in shape, with a shallow marble pool filled with clean water in the middle, the inner walls reaching upwards to a brass and clear crystal dome that gleamed in the sun. They approached the reception where a pretty, young woman, maybe twenty one or twenty-two years old, with dark hair and large grey eyes was handing the key to a couple in front of them.

"Enjoy your stay in our Kasbah!" She spoke with an accented voice and a polite smile. Harry's eyes gleamed mischievously as he noticed the girl's smile widening and reaching her eyes as she regarded Severus appreciatively. "Good morning sir!" She greeted him, her eyes blinking rapidly a couple of times, her voice deepening. Severus blinked once in shock, but shook it off quickly.

"Good morning." He started and the girl smiled even wider, her eyes fluttering at the sound on his voice. Harry did his best not to laugh, as Severus kept speaking. "We have a reservation under the name Black." He smiled at the name Harry had picked as their alias, after deciding the name Potter was easily recognizable even across the borders. Black was selected as it was common enough and was a lovely pun to the mutt who would most probably keel over and die if he ever found out Severus had used his name to sneak out of the country.

"Oh yes I see, father and son. And what a lovely boy you have!" She exclaimed looking at Harry. "He looks like you, if I may say so." The two wizards smirked looking at each other. "Severus is it?" She asked the potions master with yet another wave of fluttering eyelids.

"Yes, quite right." Severus offered, his large dark eyes wide. Harry tried to hold back his laughter; with his wide eyes and shy smile, Severus was giving the receptionist a full blown puppy-eye look. He appeared completely different than he ever did, for the first time looking younger than his age and the best thing was, Harry thought in glee, that we was doing it completely unintentionally. The effect on the girl was immediate; she sighed softly and assumed a dreamy look, the key forgotten in her hand. This was taking forever, Harry thought.

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