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Fleur struggled the most, or at least complained the loudest. First, it was the stones underfoot, then the burrs scratching her legs, and always the cold. Even moving, the chills wouldn't leave their limbs, and Harry feared hypothermia if they didn't find shelter tonight.
He stopped several times along the trail to make sure their bearings were correct, veering off when it began to curve back toward the lake. Harry had to push through dense underbrush and brambles. His hands and legs were scratched, blood trickling down each, but he finally broke through and sighed in relief when he stepped onto the rough firebreak road.
"We made it!" Tracey cried triumphantly, bursting through behind Harry and laughing with joy, throwing her arms around his neck.
She spun and held him tightly, then jumped back with an embarrassed smile. Harry couldn't see her complexion in the dark, but he remembered her touch and knew his own cheeks were burning red.
"Harry, you're a genius," Fleur smiled as she freed herself, her feet carefully picking a way through the gravel and ruts.
"I never had a doubt," his stepsister said, her smile making his already fast-beating heart race.
Daphne looked at Harry, frowning, and Harry felt warmth spread through his neck as he turned to indicate the path.
"The outpost should be a few miles up this road."
"Should it be?" Fleur asked.
"According to the old maps, it's there," Harry shrugged. "I looked for it once, but I was a kid, and this firebreak road wasn't built yet."
"We can't turn back," Tracey said fatalistically. "We can go forward or camp here," she looked around the gravel road and the dense forest on either side.
"Forward," Daphne and Fleur said together, and his stepsister nodded.
The road was barely better than the forest. It was wider and offered freedom from scratching trees, but the gravel road was brutal on soft feet, and without their bodies crashing through the forest, the girls were aware of its sounds. The flutter of bat wings and the rustle of animals fleeing the fire made them scream. After a mile, their nerves were so frayed that Harry didn't know what they preferred—the road or the dense forest.
"Fuck!" A scream of pain turned Harry around, and he saw Daphne fall to the ground, clutching her ankle. Grimacing, she touched the joint, wincing sharply as she tried to move it. Falling to his knees beside her, Harry reached out, and after a moment's hesitation, she let him take it. Running his fingers along the bone, he felt no bulges or protrusions. Manipulating the foot, seeing where it grimaced, careful not to injure her further as he checked the range of motion, his dueling training experience at least came in handy here.
"It's not broken," Harry said, and the blonde girl sighed in relief. "You've strained something badly, but nothing's torn."
"Can you walk on it?" Fleur asked, reaching down to help her friend up.
Daphne winced as she tried to stand on it, almost toppling over again before grabbing onto Fleur and Harry.
"How much further?" his stepsister asked anxiously.
"A mile," Harry replied, and Daphne leaned against him.
"I can't make it," she moaned, but Harry shook his head and dropped to his knees.
"Grab onto my shoulders, and I'll carry you piggyback as long as I can."
"Are you sure?" Daphne asked, raising an eyebrow with a worried look.
Larger than Fleur or his stepsister, Daphne was concerned about her weight, but when her arms wrapped around his neck and her heels hooked into his waist, Harry stood up with a grunt. He felt Daphne tense on his back, but she wasn't too heavy. When he made a small jump to seat her higher and more comfortably, she let out a small gasp and held him tighter, making him all too aware of the softness pressed against his back.
"Lead the way," Harry nodded toward the firebreak road, and his stepsister moved ahead, frowning with concern.
She glanced at Harry to make sure he was managing on the rocky road. His stepsister and Fleur walked on either side, ready to help Daphne if she slipped or fell. They moved slowly, and it wasn't long before Harry's breath whistled in his lungs, and his thighs and calves burned on the gentle slope.
As the dirt road rose beneath them, forcing Harry to step carefully on the winding path, the sky began to lighten in the east. It was still a few hours until morning, and the horizon was dark with smoke, but the bit of light reaching them was a welcome sight. Especially for the girls without shoes.
Fleur cursed at each step and had to stop twice to pick stones from her feet. Each time she started anew, the red marks on her bloodied feet grew larger.
Tracey wasn't in much better shape, but Harry's step sister was as tough as his stepmother and never complained. Even when he saw her wince, and a cut on her arch bled for several minutes, she remained silent and asked about Daphne.
"How are your shoulders?" she nodded to her friend hanging on Harry's back. "Need a break?"
"I'm fine," Daphne said, her breath tickling the fine hairs on Harry's neck as she turned to look at his stepsister. Her bright hair swung around his face, momentarily blinding him and filling his nostrils with a berry-herb scent that stirred something inside him.
"It's surprisingly comfortable," she added, then pointed to Harry's stepsister's foot. "You need to sit. Eleanor, do you have anything to wrap Tracey's foot with?"
"I'm okay," Tracey said, trying to deflect attention and failing to hide the pain with each step.
It was light enough that Harry's stepmother didn't miss it, and soon she had Tracey sitting on a rock while she tended to her foot. As she muttered to herself about needing alcohol or something to clean the wound, Harry let Daphne down and stretched his aching back. When he turned, he saw Fleur shivering and hugging herself, realizing it was cold. Daphne's warmth on his back and the exertion of climbing had kept him from noticing the chill. He pulled his shirt over his head and held out the thin garment to the slender girl.
"It's not much, but better than that tank top," Harry said, offering the shirt.
Fleur and Daphne stared at him, looking more like twins than ever as the same expression crossed their faces. Slowly parting their lips, they traced the lines of his sweaty torso, then swallowed hard and looked at each other, their mouths tightening into narrow smiles.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Nothing," Fleur shook her head gently. "Just girls talk."
When Harry frowned in confusion, Daphne explained.
"We don't need to talk to know what we're thinking, and you keep surprising us."
"First, you saved us from a burning building," Fleur counted on her fingers. "Then you led us across a monster-filled lake."
Harry snorted in amusement, but Daphne continued, finishing her sister's thought.
"Then you carried me through the night like a knight from a fairy tale, and now you're offering Fleur the shirt off your back."
Harry shifted uncomfortably under their gaze, and with nowhere to look, he glanced at his stepsister and stepmother. Only to find them also watching him.
"That's the kind of man Harry is," his stepmother's pale blue eyes caught the faint light, seeming to glow in the dark. "And if we're going to survive this and the days to come, it's his strength that will carry us through."
"That's not very enlightened," Tracey smiled at his stepmother to show she was joking, and with a groan of pain, she stood on her bandaged foot.
When his stepmother stood, Harry saw that she had cut the bottom of her shirt to wrap Tracey's wound. The ragged material floated a few inches above her small navel, revealing smooth, pale skin. As Tracey tested her weight on her foot, Harry struggled to keep his eyes off his stepmother, who bent to clean up.
Fleur slipped Harry's shirt on like a poncho and moved to help his step sister walk, hugging her arms, but Harry felt Daphne's eyes on him. Realizing the girl was watching him closely, he felt a blush rise, intensifying when he saw her familiar smile.
"Ready?" Harry asked.
"Just a moment," she wrung her shirt, gathering the last drops and starting to bunch the bottom and pull it up. When Harry realized what she was doing, his eyes widened, but Daphne raised an eyebrow, and he turned away, getting the hint.
"There," she said, and a moment later, Harry felt her arms wrap around his shoulders.
He hoisted her up, her ankles locking around his waist again, and the cold was cut by the surprising warmth as she pressed against his back. A few labored steps later, Harry realized why Daphne was so warm. Then he jerked upright, nearly hitting his head against hers in surprise. Tilting his head back, he saw her shirt tied around her shoulders and neck, knotted in the front.
"I felt silly putting something cold and wet on you when you're being so helpful… You don't mind, do you?"
Harry thought he felt himself blushing but couldn't be sure, as his attention was focused on the hard points pressing into his back and the soft but firm body surrounding them. He nodded quickly and started again, hoisting the girl to a more comfortable position and loving the feel of her body swaying with him.
"I can think of worse things," Harry chuckled softly, smiling as he carefully placed his steps.
Daphne smiled into his neck, her breath warming the sensitive skin as she giggled softly.
"I can think of better," she murmured into his ear, making sure her voice didn't reach the girls ahead. "I saw you checking out Eleanor before we started… And were those moans I heard from the deck before the fire broke out?"
A cold sweat broke out on Harry's skin, and he prayed Daphne didn't notice, but she laughed again, this time more predatorily, and her thighs gripped him around the waist with new strength.
"How many years has it been since Mr. Potter died?" she mused, her words punctuated by Harry's grunts as he struggled up the slope. "Do you think she's had a lover all this time? Hmm… Tracey told me about her issues with men… I wonder if any woman slipped between those slim thighs… What do you think, Harry? Maybe a coworker? Or perhaps one of your stepsister's friends?" Harry paused and leaned his head back again, his mind working as he registered the meaning of Daphne's words. She let out another laugh, loud enough to catch the girls' attention. Tracey gave them a crooked smile while Fleur displayed a hint of aggression. When she noticed her friend's shirt tightened around her neck and shoulders, she stiffened.
"My feet really hurt... I might need some help too."
Harry felt Daphne shift and somehow knew she was rolling her eyes at her friend. Tracey saved them by turning to her friend and snorting derisively.
"If I can still walk, leaving bloody footprints behind, I think you can manage with a few bruises, Mads."
The petite blonde stood up to argue, but both of them noticed the bloody footprints at the same time, and she let out a small gasp. Despite her efforts, Harry's step sister refused any help and insisted they continue. "The sooner we get there, the sooner I can get off this foot," she said through gritted teeth.
Harry exchanged a worried glance with his stepmother, whose eyes held pride for her daughter. She said nothing but he noticed her stepping back and, without being asked, slipping her arm under Tracey's other side. Between the three limping women and Harry staggering under Daphne's weight, they made a pitiful group.
Fortunately, the wind shifted, drawing the smoke away from them as the fire road wound on. Their lungs might have been clearer, but after many miles of trekking with Daphne on his back, Harry's breathing was just as labored. His lungs burned and his muscles felt like lead, but twice, when Daphne tested it, she couldn't take two steps on her ankle without collapsing in pain.
The sun had risen, and hours of the day had passed, but the sky was dark as night, with only a red disk visible where the blinding sunlight should have been. The air was humid and filled with ash, which fell on them, thickening with each passing hour.
The need for water became desperate, and Harry's fears that he had led them astray began to scream in his mind. The girls and his stepmother hadn't uttered a word of complaint. Tracey's foot throbbed with pain, but she gritted her teeth and kept moving, and even Fleur's usual pettiness was burned away.
Chapters 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 are already available at Pat re on.
If you want to support me, read the next chapters of the story and more, I invite you to my
Patreo n .com(slash)BoobsHunter (Remove spaces)