Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
'I'll take care of you.'
'It's rotten work.'
'Not to me. Not if it's you.'
><><
"We have to go, we have to go—" Hermione spoke urgently and stood, seeing sparks of spells being fired in the distant woods. Ron scrambled to stand. He grabbed her wrist and Harry's shoulder, who remained on the wet ground with Addie in his arms, and Hermione quickly apparated.
If Addie could barely breathe before, she definitely couldn't now. It felt like she was being squeezed through a very small tube—she truly hated the feeling of apparating—but as soon as it started, it was over, and the rain had suddenly stopped pouring down on them all.
"Help me get her inside," Harry said to Ron, who bent down and slung one of her arms around his shoulders. The two stood with her in their hold and stepped slowly towards the doorway of a tent. Addie glanced at their surroundings and saw that they were in the midst of a small forest clearing. The smell of fresh pine met her senses as her feet practically dragged along the overgrown grass.
"I'll grab the med-bag," Hermione rushed inside the tent ahead of them. Addie wished she could be more helpful to the two boys, but her legs felt like jelly, and she genuinely could not put one foot in front of the other without falling. It was as though her body had finally succumbed to exhaustion now that she was in a safe enough place to let go. It felt difficult to even stay awake.
Harry's arm was tight around her waist, and she felt her body lean into his. Despite the circumstances, she felt butterflies in her tummy at his touch as he leaned down a bit and picked her up properly, walking her inside as Ron closed the door behind them.
The tent was much larger inside than out, and she felt comforted with her head against Harry's chest as he stepped into a smaller room off to the side.
It was lit warmly and had fabric as the walls and seemingly no door. He set her down on an ottoman in the middle of the room. Hermione came inside for a moment and handed him a towel, a pile of clothes and a bag that looked like a box.
"Thanks. I'll take care of her," he said. Harry grabbed the things from her with one arm so he wouldn't have to take his hand away from resting on Addie's shoulder, even if he knew she could sit up perfectly fine on her own. He had gone so long without her touch that any moment without it felt like a waste.
"Yell out if you need any help," Hermione said. She stepped out and drew a thick curtain door that had been tucked away shut. Addie figured this was a changing room of sorts.
