Voldemort's Blight Chapter 6 (Patreon)

The morning came too soon for Harry’s liking, and the lack of Daphne’s warmth only felt worse. He could hear her shuffling about in the cave, tending to the fire and preparing some breakfast, but he would’ve traded that for just a few minutes holding her in his arms.

For all of the contentiousness between the two of them, there was something utterly unique in the feeling of holding someone in your arms. Harry felt strongly about Daphne, whether it was through passion or frustration, and that made their connection so intense.

Last night, she’d practically begged him not to leave her, and yet she was gone in the morning.

He sat up, feeling the residue of last night’s lovemaking staining his thigh.

“How’re you feeling?” Daphne asked, barely glancing away from the pot over the gentle fire.

Harry frowned at her. She was acting odd.

“Fine. Better than fine,” he corrected after he stretched his legs. There was the slightest twinge to them as he moved, but not enough to truly bother him. He could hike today. “And you?”

“Good,” Daphne answered briefly as she stirred what was in the pot. “Eager to get a move on.”

Harry found his clothes resting in a neat pile in between him and the fire. Daphne must’ve laid them out for him. He snatched his pants and put them on under the blanket before slipping out and donning the rest of his clothes. The entire time, Daphne remained silent.

“About last night—” he began to say.

“Breakfast is ready,” Daphne interrupted him, pulling the pot away from the fire.

Without looking up at him, Daphne dolled out two bowls full of porridge. There were sultanas, diced apples, and cubes of pancetta mixed into the creamy oats. A hearty start to the day and a clear distraction from what Harry wanted to discuss.

He took the bowl, staring down Daphne despite her refusal to look at him. She started eating as she stared into the flames, hunched over like she hadn’t slept at all last night.

“Are you alright?” He asked her.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” She replied after a mouthful of porridge.

Harry shook his head. He really didn’t want to get into this first thing in the morning. There was plenty of hiking to be done, and he could ask her about everything then.

So, he scarfed down his porridge and drank an entire canteen full of water that Daphne provided for him. There were two more canteens each set aside that were filled to the brim, giving them plenty to make it through the day. Melting snow into drinkable water was a tedious process that Harry hated, but it was one of the most important jobs out here in the wilderness. Daphne must’ve been up for at least a couple of hours if she’d managed to prepare all of this.

As they began packing up their respective supplies, Daphne left the map out.

“I’m willing to travel down the route you chose,” she told him. “But we will need a place to camp for the night before we try to climb the summit. Somewhere near this tiny lake should do. We may even be able to find another cave within the mountain to shelter in for the night.”

“That’s fine with me,” Harry replied. While he was eager to get this mission done with, he was willing to acquiesce to her amendment. Besides, even once they reached the top of Mount Narodnaya, they’d still have to search for the source of Voldemort’s Blight and come up with a way to stop it. They could be stuck here for quite a few more days.

Daphne led the way out of the cave through a narrow tunnel that led upwards through the mountain. There were a few steep sections that required using handholds to pull themselves up, but it wasn’t long before they saw the first signs of sunlight.

After being in the cave for a couple of days, the natural light nearly blinded Harry. He blinked rapidly to help his eyes adjust to the sudden brightness.

They were high up in the mountains, just as Daphne had said, yet the slope was much gentler than Harry feared. Fresh snow covered everything in sight, obscuring whatever tracks Daphne had left the last time she came through here. Down below, Harry could see a small forest that encroached onto the side of the mountain and strayed further down towards a small river. It wasn’t the river they were meant to follow, but it would lead them towards the one they did.

“There’s lots of loose stones, so watch your footing,” Daphne warned him as she started down the mountainside.

With Harry’s leg still not completely back to normal, he took his time and carefully followed Daphne’s pathway down. It took a lot of focus to maintain his balance and not slip and fall, but by the time the ground started to level out again, he was feeling much better.

Once within the tree line, they could walk much more easily. There was less snow on the ground and clearer paths to follow. They simply had to follow the trees forward as the mountain curved around the side of them, as though it was trying to herd them back into its embrace. But eventually, they reached the winding river that would guide their way.

It was still early in the morning. They had hours of daylight left to go and plenty of walking to do, but Harry didn’t want to leave this issue until later when they were close to Mount Narodnaya.

“You’ve been acting distant this morning,” he noted casually, as though he were talking about the weather.

Daphne was just a few steps ahead of him, keeping a physical gap between them as she’d done all morning, so he couldn’t quite see her reaction to his words. She was quiet for a while before she let out a short sigh.

“I’ve had a lot on my mind,” Daphne answered.

“Care to clue me in? Because from the way I see it, you told me that you care about me, slept with me, and now are giving me the cold shoulder.”

“You act as though any of this is easy.”

“Isn’t it?” Harry sounded genuinely puzzled. “I know that we have our problems—”

“That’s an understatement.”

“—but it’s clear that we both feel something for each other. Why not give into it? Do you hate me?”

Daphne’s leg hesitated midstride, giving Harry a chance to fall in place right beside her. She still wasn’t looking at him; her gaze was directed at something far off in the distance, something not even really there.

“You can be an absolute nuisance and have a penchant for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, but I’ve never hated you,” Daphne admitted. “And you?”

Harry actually gave it some thought. His feelings towards Daphne were anything but mild. She could be so prickly at times, acting like a wild animal that snapped at anyone trying to offer it some help. But she was also undeniably clever and had dedicated her life trying to keep everyone inside of the Bubble safe. It was a type of dedication that he truly respected, even if he bickered and argued over the work she did.

Honestly, most of his frustrations over her work stemmed from the fact that there were no good solutions in dealing with the blight. Everything was a series of trade offs, and he hated being forced into situations where he had to make choices that he knew would be dangerous or detrimental to others. Sometimes they had genuine disagreements over what decisions were best for everyone, but the rest of the time it was just anger at the world that drove him.

And then there were their intimate moments in the broom cupboards. Those places of bliss where they both set aside everything and just revelled in their humanity. Daphne was beautiful enough to have been able to pick anyone she wanted, but she picked him. There were days that he wanted more or even just to talk about things with her, but Daphne had her rules that she strictly enforced. It was another one of his frustrations with her.

Daphne wasn’t a perfect person—neither was he—but still felt drawn to her in a way he hadn’t with anyone else before. Whether in good times or bad, he always found himself focused on her.

“You drive me crazy with how mercurial you can be, but I don’t hate you,” Harry answered. “Everything about living in this world with the blight makes things so much harder for all of us. If it’d never been here, maybe we’d never fight the way we do.”

“Maybe,” Daphne hummed in agreement. It was a nice, wistful sound.

She fell quiet again, lost in thought. Harry tried to give her whatever time she needed to process things, but he was itchy with anticipation.

“Why did you even pick me of all people in the first place?” Harry asked. “I mean, I get that you pulled me into that broom cupboard to have a fight, but then you were all over me and…”

“Even though you drive me crazy, it’s as good as it is bad,” Daphne admitted. “You’re passionate and, given all that you’ve done for the magical world, it can be hard to argue against you, even when I know I’m in the right. I did pull you in for a fight at first, but… I don’t. Things changed so quickly. I suddenly didn’t want to fight anymore after we’d spent the whole morning dealing with those funerals. I wanted to feel better, and you were the one that was there.” Daphne’s eyes flashed with frustration. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know what you meant. You wouldn’t go around shagging anyone who happened to be in the vicinity. It was because it was me.”

“Exactly,” Daphne nodded, relieved that he’d taken it so well.

“So, you don’t hate me, you’ve been interested in me for a long time, and after we finally have a truly intimate night together, you decide to ignore me in the morning,” Harry listed everything off. “You say this isn’t easy, but I just don’t see it. Help me.”

“We live in a dying world that’s shrinking day by day. We know that there were other Bubbles at different times across the globe in France, Brazil, New Zealand, Pakistan, but you’ve even confirmed for yourself that the American one is gone. Who knows how many others are gone too? All we’ve had is death and disappointment whenever we think we’ve found a solution.”

“And you think that this time isn’t going to be any different from the other expeditions?”

“I’m prepared for that possibility.”

“Fatalistically predicting it more like,” Harry frowned at her. “Is this why you’re so scared to try anything real with me?

Daphne’s silence was the only answer.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he promised her. “Voldemort has tried to kill more times than I can count, and he’s failed every single time. This won’t be any different.”

“How can you be so sure? That type of arrogance—”

“It’s not arrogance,” Harry corrected. “It’s based on experience.”

“Be that as it may, you nearly died already once on this trip,” Daphne argued. “Those Lethifolds would’ve slaughtered you if I wasn’t there to save you.”

“But you were there,” Harry pointed out. “And you’re still here with me now. That’s what happens with a partnership; we protect each other.”

“What happens if one of us makes a mistake? We can’t be lucky all the time.”

“We’ll make it through regardless. I believe that we will,” Harry told her sincerely.

“I wish that I could share your belief,” Daphne sighed again. “If it was, everything would be so much easier; I wouldn’t be so worried about my feelings for you. Maybe once this blight is over with, we could try to build a relationship together.”

“I don’t want to wait,” Harry interrupted her. “And I don’t think you do either. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have slept with me last night. This is your fear talking. Your fear of losing me.”

“I’m just as scared of what happens if you lose me,” Daphne hissed at him. Finally, she turned to face him head on. Her eyes were rimmed red and had tears welling up. “Don’t you ever feel scared about what would happen if you started a relationship with someone only for them to die days or weeks later?”

“Of course I do,” Harry replied.

“Then you can see the dilemma I’m going through.”

“What I don’t do is let it control my actions,” Harry added gently. “Very few people know this, and I can’t explain all of the details right now, but during the final battle at Hogwarts when Voldemort called for a temporary armistice and asked that I be turned over to him and his Death Eaters, I went to him willingly. I was fully prepared to give my life and die in the hopes that someone else would be able to step forward and kill him in my stead. I was terrified at first, but I found a sort of peace as I walked towards what I thought was going to be my death. In those final moments before I confronted Voldemort, I let go of my fear.

“Ever since then, I’ve tried to live my life like that. It isn’t easy. I lost my best friend and countless others on previous expeditions and nearly refused to go on this expedition altogether. The only reason I did was because I listened to and trusted my friend.”

That last part was a bit of a half-truth at best, but he didn’t want to tell Daphne that. Not right now at least.

“What I’m trying to say here is that letting your life be ruled by fear is no life to live at all. You’ll always be wondering and second-guessing yourself when you shouldn’t be. Life is precious. Even if we’re only here for a little while, why not live our lives to the fullest? For all that the losses in our lives hurt, we need to make sure that the wins feel just as good.”

Daphne was staring at him like she was finally starting to understand a little bit more of who he was as a person.

“I don’t know if I can feel that way,” she finally said.

“Can you try?” Harry asked as he reached out and took her hand.

Daphne squeezed his hand. “I can try.”

He closed the gap between them, his lips finding hers in the chilly air. The warmth of her lifted his spirits, bringing him one more powerful reminder of what he was fighting to preserve. He hoped she felt the same.

The tension between them melted easily, and they spent the rest of the morning in good spirits. They reached the long river quite quickly and followed it down a valley filled with snow-capped greenery. Spruce, fir, and pine trees dotted the landscape along with plenty of short shrubs and moss. They came across cloudberry plants and purple and yellow wildflowers. Each day that they spent out here reminded Harry of how beautiful the world was. He desperately wanted to bring back colour to the world so that everyone didn’t have to live their lives staring out at the grey landscapes outside of the Bubble.

They stopped briefly for lunch, eating a meal of English cheddar cheese, venison salami, black pudding, dried nuts and fruits, and slightly stale tortillas with a beef and nduja ragu they heated over a small fire they made.

After only a short rest, they continued on their hike, reaching the path that led back up into the mountains just after midday. It was an easy walk along a different snake-like river, but as they ascended in altitude, a cold wind began to come in from the east. The mountains offered less protection as they climbed higher, but they faced the conditions bravely nonetheless.

The river gave way to open plains. They were very gently sloped upwards to the distant Mount Narodnaya, which Harry could just spot in the distance. The mountain stood tall above the rest but had a relatively flat peak at the top.

As they grew closer to it, a snow flurry began to pick up around them. With the high winds, it felt like the snow was blowing right at their faces. They had to tighten up their robes and ensure that their faces were as covered as possible as they continued into the harsh weather.

Bright blue waters met them as they reached the lake that Daphne had suggested they stop at. With the storm raging so violently around them, trying to search the mountainside for a cave to rest in would be nearly impossible. They decided that it would be best to set up their tents underneath the cover of some nearby trees and rest for the night before they continued towards the summit.

They made quick work of setting up their tents side by side, nestled between two tall pines that had a few shrubs growing around them. The wind wasn’t quite so bad here, but it was still a challenge to deal with as they tried to make a fire pit. Every time they got a fire started, the harsh winds blew it out, leaving them with little comfort.

It wasn’t much of a surprise then that it only took a quick offer for Daphne to agree to share his tent with him that night. The shared body heat would be of benefit to them both.

But just as they were getting ready to take shelter in Harry’s tent, there was a terrible cracking sound that came from Mount Narodnaya. They reached the edge of the treeline and stared up at the old mountain, fearing that a sheet of ice or some rocks were coming loose and about to tumble down onto their encampment.

The truth was far worse.

High above, a dark shape took to the skies. Enormous wings stretched out from its thin body, flapping as it swerved left and right. The beast howled an ear-piercing screech that sounded like the rushing wind before billowing out a breath of blue flames.

“It’s a dragon,” Daphne murmured in amazement as it flew overhead. “A Swedish Short-Snout.”

It was the same dragon that Cedric Diggory had faced off against during the Triwizard Tournament. Was this chance or Voldemort mocking him from beyond the grave?

The beast screeched again and started circling the mountaintop. Again and again it patrolled its boundaries before it came down to rest at the summit.