He has heard enough of her huffing and puffing.
Strolling somewhere behind him, hiking boots dragging across the rustling leaves and dirt over the barely there path, not a child that has gotten whiny, but a grown woman. The difference is hard to miss, really, with the pout painted over her lips and the annoyed sighs tumbling from her slouching form as she wipes the sheen of perspiration from her temples. A groan of exhaustion when he heaves the backpack back over his shoulders, surely a glimmer of hope when he stopped for a short break to hydrate himself.
It is hard to miss but Harry could recognise that child-like whine everywhere when he continued to follow the path through the trees and rampant bushes.
That woman belonged to him.
At least that's what he said to the few couples and families that passed them down at the little café to take a rest, glances sent their way as she moaned his name when he didn't stop to sit down.
"Harry."
"Yes."
"That tree looks good to me. Perfect for setting up the tent, yeah?"
"Look at the ground. Make sure it isn't this wet."
She groans and the sound of the leaves crushing under her soles stop. "I can not walk any more."
He stops too, hooking his thumbs under the straps of the heavy backpack over his shoulders and glancing over his shoulder. "You can not or you will not?"
Her face falls into an annoyed expression and the image of the worried line between her eyebrows makes him roll his eyes and chuckle to himself before he turns fully to her.
He raises his eyebrows, fighting the smile that tickles his cheeks. "Come on. Only a little bit further," he protrudes his chin in the direction of the trail. "Ten minutes top."
The look she gives him is a challenging one. "Lead the way then."
Harry simply beckons his head to make her follow him and turns around again. "We have to find a decent spot before dusk or else we'll get lost," he lifts his voice as he steps over a large root hidden underneath the colourful foliage. "Careful."
"How attentive of you, thanks," she deadpans, Harry feeling her stare at the back of his head. "If we'll get lost, then I could finally sit down and rest at least, Edward Cullen."
"I'm pretty sure it was the breaking of dawn though, wasn't it? Need to get your facts straight." He watches her stumble in his peripheral vision, the sight making his lips twitch. "Besides, I'm thinking more of an Indiana Jones."
Suddenly, he stops, turning in a slow circle before swinging the backpack from his shoulders to rest in front of his feet and crouching down to get their tent out. It's a cute spot, a beautiful panoramic view of the forest. When he straightens back up, there's a small smile playing around her lips, eyes following as he raises the snapback to comb his fingers through his hair and fix it back with the peak at the back of his head.
"Change the hat and I'm sold," she glances at his dear yellow Free & Easy cap. "Although I think some more chest hair can't hurt either. If you're really going with it, I mean. Can't forget the whip of course."
Harry finds himself studying her, the lights from the crackling branches dancing across the buttery gleam on her face, and despite the straying hairs sticking to her forehead and the fatigue swimming in her eyes, he thinks she never looked prettier.
He glimpses at her from under his lashes with tongue pressing into the inside of his cheek, his lips twitching into that all too familiar face full of smugness. "Oh, of course we wouldn't want to forget the whip. Can't even hold yourself back from wishing to be fucked in the middle of a forest, hm?"
