Oneshot: Desert Sands
The jeep made its way through the Valley of the Moon, kicking up a cloud of dust behind it. Sheer sandstone and granite faces rose in the distance, the red mesas they formed jutting out of the earth. The sun blazed down on the vista, glaring upon the sands of the desert.
The man punched open a water pack with a straw and held it out to the woman behind the wheel.
"We'll be reaching the camp soon, eh?" he asked, looking at his companion as she sipped some water with a grateful smile.
"A few minutes at the most," she said, adjusting her sunglasses as he slipped the pack into the bottle holder on the door. "Thank Merlin for magic though. Can't imagine making this run with just dodgy air conditioning to beat the heat…"
The raven-haired man laughed, lifting the pair of omnioculars he had obtained in Amman, and looked out the window.
"Daphne!" he said, peering at the nearest cliff face. "There's some crazy folk doing rock climbing at midday!"
Daphne leant over, looking out of the windshield as she decelerated slightly, her red tresses playing with the light that landed on them.
"Those specks over there?"
"Yep," her passenger replied, grinning.
"Morgana's unmentionables, some people…"
A massive, natural half-arch — at least fifty metres in height, and with width enough for ten jeeps like theirs to pass through together — made of the same red stone came into view on the right, sandwiched between two of the jutting dry islands that marked the landscape. A curious shimmer appeared to fill it.
The jeep drove through the archway.
"There it is," said Daphne, as a small camp made of white, hemispherical tents came into view a short drive away.
"Mr Potter, Miss Greengrass, right this way," said Omar — the person who had received them at the camp — as he led them up a short slope. "Your reputations precede you, of course, but the fact that even Mr Lovegood speaks so highly of you… well, it would be a crime to not house you with the best view we have."
Daphne nodded her thanks as Harry waved open the dome tent's flap.
"We'll be leaving to see some of those caves and ravines in the evening, I suppose," Daphne asked, shielding her eyes from the summer sun, "after this heat has lessened somewhat?"
Omar nodded, scratching his beard. "I'd suggest we leave at 5:30, or 6 at the latest — that'll leave us with enough time to reach the viewing point for the sunset. I would recommend driving, or better yet taking the horses or the camels for the full experience, instead of just portkeying."
"That works," said Harry, waving at Omar as he stepped aside to let Daphne into the tent. "We've decided to go muggle for this trip, as much as we can anyway."
The cold air inside hit Daphne and she sighed in contentment as she stepped out of her sandshoes, with Harry sealing shut the flap of the tent behind her.
She leaned into him, dropping her rucksack to the floor, as his arms encircled her from behind and his chin dropped onto her shoulder.
"You stink of sweat," he whispered, his breath hot against her ear as she felt him grin.
"Yeah, well," she huffed as she pushed him off and headed into the attached bathroom. "You aren't exactly a walking perfume advertisement yourself, are you?"
Harry leaned against the tent's central support as Daphne splashed away the dust on her face.
"Let's freshen up, and get a couple hours of rest, alright?" asked Harry as he sat down on the bed, and started sorting through one of the suitcases. Daphne flashed him a thumbs-up as he tossed her a towel and change of clothes.
"Harry! This petroglyph looks like Astoria!"
He looked over from where the guide was showing him the stone implement the ancient magicals of Jordan used as an alchemical anchor. Daphne was waving excitedly at him from a ledge a little above the ground. He stepped over to the other side of the small rift and made his way over to her.
Cool wind blew in, funnelled through the gorge they were currently in, and tiny eddies of dust picked up at Harry's feet.
"This one! Doesn't it look like her?" Daphne said, looking up at him as carefully wrapped his arm around her shoulders, nudging her safely away from the ledge. He peered at the etched figures from ages gone by — petroglyphs, the guide had said — on the wall of the shallow cave.
"They all look pretty damn similar to me…"
"Well, sort of, but doesn't this particular one look like it's annoying the other petroglyph-people?"
Harry hummed as Daphne lit up, leaning into him and pointing upwards. "Ooh, what does that antelope carving look like?"
Harry pondered for a moment, forming slow circles on her shoulder with his thumb.
"Not an antelope, I'm guessing?" he said slowly. Daphne thumped her head against his shoulder, red curls bouncing.
"A ferret, Harry dearest. A ferret. The ferret… and the annoying person. Get it?"
"Huh."
"It's a joke, Harry," she said, looking up hopefully.
"...aha! Ha!"
Daphne snorted as she looked around Harry.
"Oh look," she said, her smaller frame squirming out of Harry's embrace, "I think they're waiting on us to head over to the sunset point… they've got horses! Arabian horses!"
She bounced down the path and out of the shallow ravine, dragging Harry along as he clicked a few photos of the etchings that had interested her.
They had managed to find an unoccupied low mesa overlooking the wadi — their guide assured them that the sunset would look spectacular from that point as he headed back to tend to the horses tethered below, giving the two some privacy.
"The weather's so much more pleasant in the evening, isn't it?"
Harry looked up. Daphne was looking back at him from where she was sitting cross-legged on a rocky outcropping, loose headscarf flapping in the wind. Harry smiled as she held up the two glasses of cool sherbet that had been prepared by the guide at the camp's outpost at the mesa's base.
"Yeah, it really is," he said.
"Well, anyway," she said, turning back to face the setting sun. "Come on and sit or we'll miss the main event!"
Harry looked at the camera. Dennis had given it to him, saying that's what his brother would have wanted.
He raised the camera to his eye, positioning himself to get the perfect shot. There were some people more deserving than him to be in front of this camera's lens.
None more so than her.
"Oi! You coming?"
Harry smiled — he was doing a lot of that these days — as he stepped over, Daphne shuffling to make room for him on the rock. Daphne sighed contentedly as he gently rubbed her upper back — she always got tense there at the end of the day.
Setting the sherbet aside on the ground, she pulled his hand into her lap, threading her fingers through his as the sun sank below the horizon of the barren, martian landscape. The sands of Wadi Rum glowed a dull red in the dying light, and in the cold desert night the two leaned into each other's warmth.
Harry pulled her closer to his chest, her hair tickling his nose as he thought about the jewel he had sent for cutting the week before.
Daphne giggled suddenly, breaking the comfortable silence in the tent. Harry used the momentary distraction to reclaim some of the sheet.
"Hmm?"
"Oh nothing," she whispered, curling further into Harry as they reclined on the bed, "It's just… your face when you thoroughly burnt the treacle tart you were trying to make for dessert in the camp's kitchens — in the middle of a desert no less."
"Now, look here," said Harry in mock-indignation, pushing himself up on one elbow as Daphne twisted to look up at him, amusement dancing in her eyes. "The burning was clearly a group effort, not a —"
The rest of his complaint was lost to Daphne's lips as she pulled him down to her, and Harry figured he didn't really have much to complain about in the first place.
The desert lay quiet and serene outside, and the milky way looked on as the light in the tent finally went off.
AN: This short one-shot was written for the Haphne Summer 2021 Collection over at the Harry/Daphne discord (link in my profile). Be sure to check out the other fics written by members of the community!
Do let me know your thoughts and comments. Many thanks to Webstriker for his invaluable help while editing this story.