Disclaimer: Sirius Black and his family belong to J.K. Rowling.

Author's Note: Alphard named "Aster" after a youth beloved by Plato—that it means "star" in Greek was an added bonus. A pink gin to you if you recognize the couple playing a cameo role in the story.

The Concealment Charm

"That one's a bit young," Matthew said to Alphard as he nodded his head in the general direction of the door.

Alphard looked over his shoulder to see whom the bartender meant. There were plenty of establishments that would turn a blind eye to the presence of younger patrons, but Alphard preferred to keep them out of his clubs. The law set the age of sexual consent at twenty-one; if men chose to risk breaking that law, that was their business, but they weren't going to meet those boys at Alphard's club. The boy was clearly under twenty-one; Alphard might have guessed sixteen, but he knew all too well that the boy was still half a year shy of even that.

"My nephew," Alphard said to Matthew before sliding off the barstool to intercept the boy.

A small crowd was already beginning to coalesce around Sirius. Alphard wasn't surprised. Sirius was young and beautiful. His father had turned his share of heads—still did—and his mother—the bitch—had been a great beauty in her day. Sirius had inherited the perfect combination of their best features. And his youth, a rare sight in this club, beckoned them like a flame drawing in the moths. Alphard found himself noting with distaste which of his regulars were openly lusting after the boy. A man he didn't know was already trying to fondle the boy as he said something in his ear. Blushing fiercely, Sirius tried to back away from him, but another man close behind kept Sirius from retreating more than a step.

"Uncle Alphard!" Sirius yelped in relief when Alphard shouldered his way through Sirius's admirers and came into the boy's line of sight. After a glimpse at the grim look on Alphard's face, the crowd of admirers instantly began to melt away.

"Perhaps we should go to my office," Alphard said as he put a protective arm around Sirius's shoulders and led him back to the stairs down to the storerooms and the very small office where he kept the books.

"I'm sorry to just show up like this," Sirius said when they reached stairs, "but I had to get out of there. I couldn't listen to her another minute."

"That's all right, Sirius. First door on the left. I feel like running away every time I'm around your mother, too."

Sirius had tried the doorknob, found it locked, and unlocked it with his wand before Alphard could find the correct key on his keychain.

"You really shouldn't do that until you're seventeen," Alphard chastised. "You don't want to be expelled from Hogwarts, do you?"

"Oh," Sirius looked at the wand in his hand as if surprised to see it there. "I forgot. I can use it at home, of course. And it's all right to use it here, isn't it? The Ministry will just think you did it."

"Probably, but you should still be more careful." Alphard opened the door, since Sirius had not, and flipped on the light switch just inside it. "Besides, it never hurts to learn how to do things the Muggle way—learn how to blend in."

Sirius laughed. "That's what a friend of mine is always saying."

"Is he Muggle-born?" Alphard asked with interest. He knew it was possible that Sirius had Muggle-born friends in Gryffindor; he also knew what Sirius's parents would think of such friends.

"He's half and half," Sirius said as he shifted a box of papers from a chair to the desk so he could sit down. "Mother hates him of course."

"Of course."

"Father says he's 'acceptable' as long as he has at least one wizard parent—got brought up with magic and all."

"How very open-minded of him," Alphard said dryly.

"I know; I know," Sirius murmured as he slouched down in the chair until he was almost reclining and stared up at the ceiling. "I hear the things that come out of their mouths, and I cringe inside knowing that I sounded just as bad when I first started school. I really have no idea why my friends gave me a second chance and became my friends."

"Because you didn't sound as bad as your parents when you started school," Alphard said with a smile. "I remember, even if you don't."

"Maybe not as bad, but I came close enough," Sirius grumbled, but he did smile and looked Alphard in the eye again.

"Have a cup with me?" Alphard asked as he picked up the electric kettle he kept on his desk.

"I don't suppose I could have a beer from upstairs, could I?"

"No." Alphard filled the kettle with water drawn out of the air and heated it with a charm. He only bothered with the plug when Muggles were around. "You're lucky I was here," Alphard said as he spooned the tea leaves into the hot water and then left the tea to steep. "You caused a bit of a commotion when you arrived."

Sirius blushed again as he remembered the overly friendly man who'd accosted him. "I'm so sorry about that, Uncle Alphard. I didn't do any—I don't know what I did, but—"

"Relax, Sirius. It wasn't your fault. The men of our family are just too good-looking for our own good." He got Sirius to grin in amusement with that. "I was wondering how you found this place, however."

"This fell out of your pocket the last time you were at our house," Sirius explained as he took a matchbook out of his pocket. Alphard recognized the logo of this club at a glance and motioned for Sirius to keep it. "It has the address on it."

"Of course. Did you have to use a revelatory spell to see past the concealment charm on the front of the club?" Alphard asked as he poured the tea into his own usual mug and into one he'd transfigured for Sirius.

"No," Sirius said slightly surprised. "I thought I sensed something at the front door, but I couldn't tell what sort of spell it was. I thought your customers were Muggles?"

"They are—most of them. It's not Muggles that this spell keeps out."

"Well, if it was supposed to hide the place from wizards, it's obviously not working. I saw the place as clear as day."

"It's not supposed to keep them out either," Alphard admitted. Sirius looked puzzled but did not ask the obvious question. Alphard hated to explain—Sirius looked so young, too young for all this—but it would still be true whether they talked about it or not. Alphard took a sip of his tea before putting the mug aside. He should have taken the time to fill the kettle from the tap; it just didn't taste right this way. "About twenty years ago, I was at a club much like this one—a club with an exclusively male clientele."

Sirius smiled slightly and nodded. He'd obviously heard his mother rant about Alphard's 'perversions' often enough that he had already known Alphard was gay. Alphard attributed the faint blush which now reappeared on Sirius's cheeks to his lingering embarrassment about the man upstairs.

"On that night," Alphard continued, "the club was raided by the police. I was able to disapparate away, but my Muggle friends weren't as lucky. It gave me the idea to open a club of my own—I had the money; I wasn't disowned until a few years later—and ward it with a concealment charm to hide it from the police. I'm now full or part owner of five clubs in four different cities, and all of them are protected in this way. It's not as crucial in this country since the law changed a few years ago, but it still provides protection from harassment. And where the laws haven't changed yet—like Rome—the concealment charm is still very necessary."

Sirius nodded, but he frowned as if trying to figure something out. "That's a pretty specific group to exclude—the police. How on earth did you do it? The charm would have to 'recognize' that they were police, and I can't see how you made it do that."

Now they'd come to the heart of the matter. "I couldn't," Alphard admitted. "One's profession isn't intrinsic enough to whom a person is, but one's sexual orientation is. I designed a concealment charm to hide my clubs from people attracted to the opposite sex. Or to be more accurate, only those attracted to the same sex can see through it. Those attracted to both seem to see through it fine."

For just a moment, Sirius's face reflected nothing more than admiration for the way Alphard had solved the problem. Then Alphard saw the boy pale as the full significance of this revelation dawned upon him.

Alphard nodded understandingly. "You saw through the charm. When I was your age, I knew I was different, but I don't think I really understood how I was different yet. 'Queer' and 'poof' were familiar insults, but I didn't really understand what they meant. Did you know about yourself? Or are you still in the suspecting but in denial stage?"

"You're sure about me?" Sirius asked. "I mean, I couldn't have seen through the spell because I'm a wizard, could I?"

"I'll take that as a 'Yes' for the denial stage."

"Oh god," Sirius groaned as he slouched down in his chair again and briefly covered his face with his hands. "No offence, but I don't want to be gay."

"No offence taken. I don't think anyone ever says, 'When I grow up, I want to be a social outcast.'"

Sirius suddenly laughed. At Alphard's inquiring look, he explained, "I was just thinking of what my friend Remus would say about that."

"I'd hold off telling any of your friends if I were you. If there's one thing I remember about being a teenager, it's that there's no one more threatened by homosexuality than other teenage boys. All those newly discovered sexual feelings coupled with trying to discover who and what they are, it makes for an insecure mix. Insecurity inevitably leads to hostility. Give them a few years to grow up a bit first and then you can decide whether or not to tell them."

"I suppose you're right. I know you're right, but—" Sirius smiled ruefully and shook his head. "I can already hear what they'll say about my keeping it a secret. Hypocrite. I gave one of my friends a very hard time for keeping something a secret once."

"They'll understand that this is a bigger secret," Alphard assured the boy. He kept to himself his belief that it was probably a moot point anyway. If Sirius ever did tell his friends, it was unlikely they'd ever get past 'gay' to worry about 'hypocrite.'

"Actually, you'd be surprised," Sirius said. He sighed and looked into tea, but he put it aside rather than take another sip.

"How about some supper?" Alphard offered. "I know the perfect place."

Alphard's 'perfect place' was his other London club, but Aster was as different from The Dark Star as day is from night. Aster was a gentleman's dining club: members only, leather armchairs in the lounge, starched linen tablecloths in the dining room, and attentive staff throughout. It differed from other such clubs in that no one needed to be ashamed to hold a hand or steal a kiss; both the concealment charm on the door and a maitre d' who admitted only members and their guests saw to that. As Sirius came to terms with the discovery he'd made that day, Alphard didn't want his only impression of other gay men to be the openly lustful boors who'd surrounded him at The Dark Star.

"This fireplace is connected to the Floo Network," Alphard said as he gestured to the large fireplace which dominated the lobby of the building. "Ostensibly, it's the Floo connection for these two flats," and he gestured to the doors labeled 'A' and 'B' on either side of the room. "But it also provides a Floo entrance to the club upstairs. The concealment charm hides this door." Alphard then opened the door to the stairway and led the way up.

The maitre d', after asking if they'd care for a drink in the lounge before supper and recieving a negative reply, led them to a table in the dining room.

"Thank you, Rookwood." Alphard handed him the note he'd quickly written to his brother before leaving his office. He'd assured Orion that Sirius was safe and would be home after supper. "Could you send this note off with one of the owls in the back?"

"Rookwood?" Sirius asked in surprise after they were alone again.

"Aegis Rookwood. He's Myron Rookwood's youngest. Squib, unfortunately, which is why you've probably never met him before. His family kept his existence a virtual secret and then tossed him out on his ear when he turned seventeen."

"That's what I'd expect from the Rookwoods," Sirius said grimly.

"He started here busing tables and worked his way up. Approximately a quarter of the members here are wizards, so I like having a few people familiar with magic on staff." Alphard had retained only a fifteen percent interest in Aster— the remainder equally divided amongst the other members— but he enjoyed keeping a hand in the running of the club.

At the mention of wizard members, Sirius had begun looking around the room, but Alphard gave him credit for trying to do so discretely.

"I don't see any one I—oh, that's Victor Willaston's father, isn't it?"

Alphard turned his head slightly to follow Sirius's gaze. "Um-hmm. I'd say the vast majority of our wizard members are married. It's one of the lesser known traditions among pureblood wizards. To quote your grandfather's words to me, 'No one cares if you bugger half of England, just make sure you get married and carry on the bloodline.' My refusal to do so is why I was disowned."

The arrival of the waiter—this one a Muggle—to take their order brought the subject of wizards to an abrupt end. When the waiter moved away again, Alphard decided to indulge in a bit of good-natured gossip. "Do you see the redhead to your right?"

Sirius glanced and nodded.

"The man with him is a MP from Sussex or Wessex—I know it has 'sex' in it," Alphard said, and Sirius grinned. "The redhead is his aide; they've very discrete the moment they leave here—separately, of course.

"And behind that pair, do you see the older man with the good-looking blond?"

"Yes," Sirius said without needing to look again.

"He's in investment banking, and the blond is apparently is his latest 'flavour of the month.' They're always young, always good-looking, and they never last.

"In contrast, do you see the two older men by the window behind me?" Alphard realized that he should be more specific. Everyone here must seem 'older' to a fifteen year old. "One has a cane beside his chair, and the other is probably wearing a dark glove."

Sirius nodded again.

"They've been together over thirty years.

"And oh, would you look who just came in," Alphard said more to himself than to Sirius. "The one with the yellow tie has been together with someone for ages, but that fellow he came in with isn't him."

"He could just be a friend," Sirius pointed out. "Or not," he added as the couple shared a brief kiss on their way to their table.

While the waiter served their first course, Alphard found his mind straying to Paul, the jilted lover of 'Yellow Tie' Philip. He wondered if Paul needed a bit of consolation.

"You do realize," Sirius's voice pulled him back, "that tonight you're probably the source of gossip yourself. Here with someone young enough to be your son. For shame, Alphard." Sirius grinned and toasted Alphard with his glass.

Alphard also raised his glass. He was quite pleased that this visit seemed to doing Sirius some good. Leaving Alphard's office in the cellar of The Dark Star, the boy had seemed reluctant to go back upstairs. Alphard had said that they could leave through a backdoor; Sirius would just have to wait while Alphard told the bartender that he was leaving. Sirius had refused the offer to sneak out the back way, but he'd been careful to stay very close to his uncle as they made their way through the club.

Sirius's grin vanished as someone at the dining room entrance caught his eye. Alphard looked and saw his brother Orion scowling at them. Orion turned on his heel and went back the way he came.

"I'd better go," Sirius said as he started to rise. "Making him wait will just make it worse."

Sirius was halfway to the door when his father came back into the room, now shed of the cloak he'd been wearing over a Muggle suit. Barely glancing at his son, Orion strode past him and took Sirius's seat opposite Alphard. A waiter rushed over to clear Sirius's plate and to pour Orion a glass of wine from the bottle Alphard had ordered. Sirius came back and waited by his father's elbow.

"You were a fool to send that note to me at home," Orion said to his brother. "What if the boy's mother had read it? You know she has a screaming fit whenever you spend time with the boys."

"She didn't read it, did she?"

"No, the owl was smart enough to bring it directly to me. And as for you," Orion glared at his son, "straight home. Use the fireplace downstairs. If you're lucky, she hasn't realized you're not in your room yet. If she has, she's your problem. Leave your uncle's name out of it."

"Yes, sir." Sirius smiled apologetically at Alphard before leaving.

Alphard wondered how long it would take before Sirius realized that his father had walked into Aster with all the ease of a member—which he was, of course. Sirius would have realized it already if he weren't preoccupied with worry about his mother's wrath.

"If his mother finds out that you brought him here, she'll probably kill us both," Orion said grimly.

"Why ever did you marry her?" Alphard asked.

"Because you refused to, remember?"

—Written January 2006