Chapter One: Welcome To America
Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom arrived in Washington, DC via an international portkey. Each was dressed in dragon skin armor with cooling and warming runes as well as a featherweight rune etched into the leather. The armor was a uniform black and formfitting. It was perfect for Walker protection as the only exposed skin was from the neck up and the hands. Dragon-hide gloves took care of the latter, while the armor itself had a hidden pocket in the neckline that held a hood/mask that could come up and over the face and neck keeping those areas safe from bites.
In addition to their armor, each had a moleskin bag with a very large expansion charm. Inside each bag was enough gear for four to operate in the field for a year. That gave them redundancy in case a bag was lost. The gear included everything one would need to 'rough it' for that time, this included pots, pans, utensils and other sundry camping gear, as well as four muggle tents and one magical tent (made for four). Then came the food, toiletries and other sundry you would need for survival in the open.
Each magical tent contained a four bedroom apartment with everything one might expect to find in a wizarding home: the bedrooms, a large sitting room, a small library, a large community bathroom with showers and a large bath tub, and a well appointed kitchen. These tents would only be set up in areas that were deemed to be fully secure from both Walkers and any hostile people the group might encounter. For security, only a magical could set them up and only a magical could give permission for a muggle to enter them. In their collapsed form, the tents looked like a simple blanket roll, hiding their very nature from muggles. The tents had been created before the statute of secrecy was repealed, so these protections came standard for those who could afford them.
Each bag had four Nimbus 2010's in them as well. Harry had an additional two in his bag; his old Firebolt and a new one. The new Firebolt was half again as fast as his old one and required his armor to be worn to fly on it at full speed.
Finally, each had two spare wands in arm or leg holsters that had been made for them specially by Ollivander in gratitude for saving him from the herd of walkers that had attacked the alley. Each wand was as good as their originals and each holster was charmed to be invisible and undetectable by muggles.
Harry and his team found themselves surrounded by twenty American wizards and witches at wand point. "State your names and reason for being here!" called out one.
Harry took a step toward the man who'd called out, his hands spread to show he wasn't holding a wand, "I'm Harry Potter, these are Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Neville Longbottom." he informed point to each of his team in turn. "We've been ordered to assist you Yanks."
"We asked for at least twenty magicals and they sent you four instead. Typical British arrogance!" muttered one wizard as he joined the group surrounding Harry's team.
"Can in Foley, we're lucky to have any help at all and I guess you missed the introduction, they sent their best to aid us, the Ministry Six it looks like minus two of their number. Where are Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley?" asked the first speaker.
Harry gave a small sigh, "Ginny is staying home to protect her family and Luna hasn't been seen in several years." In fact she'd disappeared shortly after the Battle of Hogwarts and all letters via owl were unsendable. No owl would take them at least. She could be dead as far as Harry knew, but a small feeling in the back of his mind said she was still out there somewhere, even now in the midst of this catastrophe.
"Where are my manners, my name is James Mason and our late comer here Rob Foley. The rest can introduce themselves later, for now please follow me." Mason said and gestured for them to follow him. The remaining unnamed guards resumed their posts at the portkey point, a large room able to fit fifty with room to spare.
Harry and the others followed Mason out of the room and found themselves walking in what was obviously the Capitol Building. Mason explained as they walked towards a large door leading to one of the wings to the building. "We took over the Capitol Building after the muggle government retreated to one of their underground bunkers in Virginia. We lost contact with them a week ago and they're believed to either be lost or otherwise indisposed. We'll be sending a team to check on them once we figure out how to reach them safely. You need very precise coordinates to do a blind apparation underground. You could easily find yourself inside a wall or the surrounding rock of the bunker itself. That's a nasty way to die. Usually you have to know your destination by having actually been there at least once for such an apparation."
Harry nodded, "I had a near miss once when I was still in primary school. I did accidental magic to escape my cousin and his bully friends and apparated onto the school's roof, actually appeared about a foot above it and fell. I was so shocked at the time that I thought nothing of it until much later when I first learned to apparate properly."
Mason gave a start, "You apparated before you were sixteen? Amazing, and you did it before you were even trained in any magic at all, that's astounding!"
"That's Harry for you, always doing the impossible. I just call it the Harry Effect now when he does something like that." Hermione said, jumping into the conversation.
Mason and Foley laughed at that. "Well, this way if you please, the Minister for Magical America will want a word with you."
Mason lead the group into a plush office. The doorway had signs of having recently been warded against muggles noticing it, but the ward stones were now sitting on a table to the side of the door and powered down. Apparently, this was the minister's actual office throughout his career.
"Ah Mason, Foley, good of you to come, who is this you have with you?" asked a lean and tall looking man wearing a fine business suit and tie, no wizarding robes were evident on any of the Americans.
"Minister Reynolds, I present to you, Harry Potter and company..." Mason replied with a smile.
"My goodness, is it true? It's a great pleasure to have you here Mr. Potter." Reynolds stated as he took in Harry's appearance and that of his companions. "And I see you've brought along some of your old allies against that damned disgrace of a wizard, Tom Riddle. Excellent! We could definitely use your help. Much of the country is in shambles or outright lost to us at the moment. We'll need skilled magicals like yourselves to regain a foothold in the country."
Harry and the others shook the Minister's hand and took seats in front of his desk. "How may we be of help Minister?" asked Harry, speaking for the group.
"I've had a seer scrying for us over the last few weeks looking for a key to ending this plague and helping us to save as many as we can." said Reynolds. "Now I know from your reputation that you have little faith in the art of divination, but this seer is a true one. She's been with my administration for several years now and she hasn't made a bad call yet."
Harry almost scowled, but it wouldn't do to be seen in public doing so, so he simply held his tongue.
Hermione on the other hand had to ask, "Who is this seer of yours? They're considered to be quite rare and like Harry, I put little stock in them."
"Luna Lovegood," said Reynolds, startling his subordinates, Mason and Foley.
"Lovegood is here?" asked Mason at the same time as Harry stood up and demanded to see her.
Reynolds waved Harry, and surprisingly Neville back to their seats, "Yes, yes, please calm yourselves. Luna is quite well and as I said, she's been with me for years now, of her own free will I might add. She'll be along in a few minutes, she'll be eager to see you all again I'm sure.
"Now then, as to what I need you to do specifically, I need you to find a group of people in Georgia. Somehow, they will hold the key to solving this mess once and for all. They don't have it yet, but they will find it sooner with you alongside them than if they are left on their own. According to Luna, you'll shave years off of this calamity if you can help them. Will you do this Mr. Potter?"
"If it will save that much time? Of course we'll do it. Right guys?" Harry stated, turning to look at his team.
"I'm in Harry, you can count on me." said Ron.
Hermione and Neville exchanged a glance and then both gave a nod of affirmation. "Of course Harry, we'll always have your back." Neville added.
"In for a penny, in for a pound." Hermione quoted with a grin. "It's what we're here for after all."
"Good, good. I knew when you entered my office I could count on all of you to get this done. Ah, Luna, just the person we were waiting for." Reynolds said, the last as the door opened an Luna Lovegood stepped in.
The gang all leaped to their feet and made as if to converge in the Ravenclaw. "Stop!" Luna called out, freezing them in place. "While it's good to see you again, I'm not up to being smothered! Now then, one at a time if you please. Harry, you first."
Harry gave the others a worried glance, then stepped up to Luna tentatively and brought her into a hug that she barely returned. Disappointment filled him at this apparent snub of his affection towards his old friend. Despite it, he gave her a quick peck on the cheek and said, "Luna, it;s so good to see you again. You have no idea."
Luna looked into Harry's eyes and he felt a gentle probe touch his mind's shields. Harry had long ago found a proper book on the mind arts of Occulemancy and Legimancy and studied its secrets. No one could enter his mind now without his knowledge or permission. To do so would mean a rather harsh penalty for the offender. Luna however, he could accept into his mind, he had nothing to hide from her after all, so he opened his mind to her.
She dove in and sought out memories of the night of the battle. Apparently, she found what she was looking for and her features softened. "I thought you might still be a Horcrux Harry. I'm sorry, but I had to know. My visions of late have been hauntingly similar to the ones I had at Hogwarts. I thought maybe Voldemort had tricked us all somehow and possessed you at the end of the battle. The dark feelings I'd had during school didn't abate after Riddle's death. In fact they increased, that's why I fled the country. I was afraid he was going to come back and I couldn't handle it at the time. I'm sorry."
Luna turned to Ron and smiled, "Come here Ron. I won't bite. Not again anyway."
Ron gave a start, then gave her a hug which she returned with some enthusiasm. "We were four and five and I tried to kiss you. I'm surprised you remember that."
Luna laughed, "I think I'd remember my first kiss. You were very shy back then. Ginny had to tease you into doing it!"
"Say, you've changed Luna, you're not your 'Loony' self we'd all come to expect from you. What changed?" Ron asked as he studied her.
"Well Ron, it's called growing up and learning how to cope. I was pretty messed up by Mum's death, and the visions started for me shortly after beginning at Hogwarts. I believe they had something to do with hitting puberty. Anyway, instead of getting the proper help I needed in my school years, I retreated into my mind and made up stuff about nargles and wrackspurts to keep others at a distance. It didn't help that over half the Ravenclaw House teased me and bullied me the whole time I was there either." Luna informed calmly.
"Those lousy gits..." Ron started.
"You teased me too Ron, so don't start. I do forgive you though because we became friends again in my fourth year." Luna said, cutting him off.
"We're sorry you went through all that Luna, I should have seen it. I was teased in primary school for years myself because I was such a bookworm." Hermione said as she stepped forward and offered Luna a hug.
Luna happily returned the hug and said, "It's alright now Hermione. Once I came to America, I was properly diagnosed and treated for my depression and taught how to cope with my gift. I'm still spacey sometimes, but nowhere near as bad as at school."
Harry frowned, "Luna, I knew about you bullying problem and did nothing to stop it because you asked me not to. I should have told a teacher, or even Dumbledore. He would have put a stop to that and maybe have been able to get you the help you needed sooner."
"It's over with now Harry. No use getting upset over what if's and should have's now. I'm better now and I have my old friends back. What more could I ask for?" Luna stated.
Neville came forward and said, "How about an old flame that's very happy to see you and happy you've gotten the help you needed. I've missed you so much..." he choked out the last bit bringing Luna into a bone crushing hug.
Luna did a quick scan if Neville's open mind and sighed as she fell firmly into his grasp. She'd not felt this kind of contentment in over ten years, ever since the two of them had parted so abruptly after the battle. She knew he loved her, and, though she hadn't really realized it back then, she knew now that she'd found her soulmate. "I love you too, Neville Longbottom."
Neville's burst with sudden joy. He'd found her again and now for the first time, she had said what he'd always hoped she would. "Will you come with us?"
Neville's question sobered Luna somewhat, "I can't Nev, I'm needed right here. Minister Reynolds needs my visions to guide us through this, and you need to go with Harry. You're going to save some people at a critical moment in time. If you don't go, our cause could be set back years or it could be lost forever. I've seen this."
Neville was saddened by this news. He turned to Harry, "It's just like with me killing Nagini isn't it mate. If I hadn't killed that damned snake, Voldy would have come back again."
"It looks that way Nev. I hate prophesies..." Harry replied.
Mason interrupted the reunion, "Sorry to intrude, but we are standing in the Minister's office. Shall we continue this meeting so we can all make plans?"
"Of course, how silly of me. I got caught up in the moment. I'm sorry George." Luna said looking at the Minister.
"No harm done. In fact I think this has helped to set you at ease Luna, in ways I hardly expected. But now then, let's continue making our plans and hope that we plan well, for our very lives and future depend upon it..."
The planning session began in earnest. Harry and his team learned a bit of geography for the state of Georgia and the surrounding states next to it just in case and went on to map out possible locations where they could secure a safe area for survivors to go to.
The Americans argued back and forth for quite some time as to where these safe locations should be.
"We could use Coleman Federal Prison," Foley said finally. "It's brand new, fairly remote and has its own power plant and water treatment facility, as well as a large hospital building. It's exactly what we'd need in terms of security. It's been built with actual walls all the way around it like the old style prisons of the last two centuries, no fencing to worry about being overrun or breached. It's also where they were going to put the Guantanamo prisoners, but no transfers had started yet. They were a week away from opening, so it should be fully stocked with everything refugees would need, food, medicine, etc."
"It might have, but the National Guard did start a camp there in the first weeks." Minister Reynolds said, "I'm afraid it may be overrun at the moment. And it's pretty far from Atlanta which is where Luna said they need to be."
"That might true right now, but give me twenty men and Harry's team and we can clear any inferi out in less than a week. Hell, we might find some survivors right there too, trapped in the prison by their former compatriots." Foley persisted.
Harry spoke up, "It sounds like our best option that I've heard so far. We can clear the prison and maybe a few of the other locations you've mentioned today and then go to Atlanta."
"No Harry, you need to go to Cynthiana Kentucky first, no later than tomorrow or you'll miss a key chance to save several survivors, then you can move on to Atlanta for the others." said Luna.
"Can we do the prison right now before we go the this Cynthiana?" asked Ron.
Luna pondered it for a moment, "Yes, but you'll have to hurry if you go now."
"So let's gather the guards in the portkey room and go to the prison right now. We can scout it out easily enough before it gets dark and see how difficult it will be to clear, if we need to that is. Any inferi that may have been there might be gone now." Foley recommended.
Mason shot that idea down, "No Foley, we can't spare the guards at the moment, but I suppose if Harry feels up to it and his team has no objections, they can go with you and scout it out."
Harry looked at his friends, after receiving a nod from each he said, "We can do that sir."
"Very well," said the Minister, "you may proceed. I'll have Richards in plotting get you a portkey ready that will put you in a good position to start your mission. Good luck, to all of you..."
HPTWD
Coleman Federal Prison was built along side of a chain of rivers and small lakes west of Sparta Georgia. It was more or less in the middle of nowhere, so the rumor of the National Guard using it as a refugee center was just that, a rumor. There was only one small access road leading out to it so there was no real ease of access to the place save along the water chain or via air.
It was built to house the lowest of the low, the toughest of the toughest, a supermax facility through and through. It was perfect... on paper. In reality it was a logistical nightmare. Most of its supplies had to be delivered via the access road or via barge. This meant tight scheduling was required to keep such a facility running at peak efficiency. It's too bad the world had to end to ruin all those carefully laid plans and schedules... It was going to be glorious, or so thought the warden of the facility, Gordon Reins.
Reins had been at the prison when all hell broke loose out in the rest of the world. As one of the planners for the prison, Reins had argued for and obtained a series of housing units for himself and his staff that he'd planned to hire. When the plague hit, his wife Marie and their daughter Kathy were in Atlanta. Reins sent the prison's personal chopper out to get them and they'd moved into the prison itself when they'd returned. Taking up residence in one of the hospital wings. Within hours, Kathy became sick. In a day, she was gone, and she then soon rose again as one of the living dead. Kathy bit her mother before Reins could get to her and by then he knew what that meant as did she... Reins shot them both in the head as he'd been instructed via radio and TV before they both went off the air and then cried like a baby for the next two weeks. He'd rarely eaten anything in that time period and lost a lot of weight. He was a shell of his former self and madness had begun to set in.
Over the next several weeks before Harry's arrival, Reins had gone completely bonkers. He'd managed to lock up all of his existing staff and their families in the first days after he'd gained a little of his self control back. Then he'd simply left them to starve to death. He quickly learned after the first few deaths of these poor people that there was no need for a bite or a scratch for a person to then turn. This lead him to the next leap in logic... They were all infected, every last one of us one of them.
He was safe of course, nothing could infect him! He was the warden! He didn't have time to get infected! Yes he was quite mad indeed. He systematically began killing the others at the prison, putting them out of their misery was how he saw it. Nothing could be done for them after all...
Into this madness came Harry and his team plus one American wizard. The portkey dropping them off on the roof of the hospital wing so they'd have an overview of the prison.
Reins saw them arrive and realized that the nonsense he'd heard about there being people out there in the world o could perform acts of magic, actual magic, not the on stage variety must be true. He promptly took aim at one of the wizards from his present vantage point, a guard tower next to the hospital wing, which had a height advantage of twenty feet above the hospital roof, and squeezed off a round at the only female present. Witches were more dangerous right?
The shot knocked Hermione off her feet as it hit her in the left shoulder, Reins was currently drunk so had missed the head shot he'd aimed for. The only thing that had saved her was the armor conveyed some protection from bullets. Some, but not much, the bullet was stopped, but the force of said bullet translated partially through her armor and broke both clavicle bones on that side of her body. Instantly, she dropped and through up a shield with her good arm, wand already in hand.
The others did the same and then turned towards the threat from above.
Harry saw red as a lean, near skeletal figure took aim once more after calmly jacking another round into his sniper rifle. Taking aim, Harry yelled, "Stupify!" The red colored cursed caught the man in the face and dropped him like a rock.
"Hermione!" yelled Ron. He rushed to her side and checked her over with a quick medi-spell.
"I'm okay Ron, the armor caught most of it, nothing a dose of skelegrow won't fix." She told him in a thready voice, her face pale from the pain.
Neville reached into his bag for a pain potion and a bottle of skelegrow. They instantly arrived in his hand and he gave them to Hermione to drink.
"Thanks Nev." She said, downing the bottles with a grimace, "I really need to find a way to flavor those things so they don't make me feel sick..."
Foley apparated up into the tower and cast an incarcerous spell on their would be assassin, then came back with him. "His ID says he's the warden here."
Harry shook his head in disbelief, "How the hell does a man like that gain control of an elite prison like this place," he pointed out towards what looked like a very well maintained prison, "and where the bloody hell are the rest of the people that should be here?"
"We'll need to do a search of the prison, see if anyone else is left." Foley said looking at the man at his feet in extreme disapproval.
"Expecto Patronum! To anyone still alive here, do what you can to make some noise, help is on the way... If you can't make noise, stay put and stay quiet, again help is coming. Stay with anyone who is in trouble. Act as a distraction if you can to save them, now go." Harry said, passing along a message and some instruction to his patronus. The others followed suit with similar messages and instructions. Each sent their patronus to different areas of the prison to search. The area more quickly.
Harry turned to the warden, "Enervate, Legimens..." He delved into the man's broken mind seeking answers. He found them and was sickened by what he found there, especially the man's vision of self worth. He'd been a decent bloke once, but the loss of his family brought forth a dark side the the man. One that left little choice for Harry.
He pulled back from the man's mind and issued his findings, "For the murder of twelve men, women, and children, you leave me no choice but to sentence you to death." He drew the Elder Wand and sent a cutting curse at the prone man's neck, decapitating him. He then sent a piercing curse into the head, ending the man's existence forever in this world.
He pulled the Resurrection Stone and called the man back, "You understand why I did what I did?"
The shade nodded reluctantly. "I do, you gave me a mercy. I shall not forget it." Harry dismissed the man to his fate in the afterlife.
Hermione was trembling, "Harry, how could you be so brutal?"
"I am what this world made me Hermione, a weapon. I chose to use that for justice." Harry replied.
"Is this what you've been doing all these years? Have you been judge, jury and executioner to others? How many?" Hermione asked, shouting out the last question.
"Only him Hermione. I got Ministry approval both here and back home. Out here in the world, we're going to run into some pretty despicable people. Murderers, rapists, pedophiles, the worst kinds of people you can imagine, we'll probably see them all before this is over. We need to have some kind of law, so I asked for the authority to do what needs to get done. They said okay, so here I am now, carrying out that authority, because, like or not Hermione, someone has to do it..." Harry replied before turning back to the remains and banishing them to oblivion.
Harry's speech left everyone deep in thought for over twenty minutes. That's when they heard the sound of banging, metal on metal somewhere in the complex below.
"Let's go." said Harry.
HPTWD
It took them half an hour to narrow down just where the sound was coming from. Outside a cell. Harry's patronus was waiting while a very skinny young woman was banging on the door to the cell for all she was worth.
"We're here, calm down ma'am." said Harry. "Alohmora." The cell door popped open and the girl rushed out to hug Harry.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" she said repeatedly and so rapidly she was hard to understand.
Hermione gave her a calming drought, which the girl frowned about after getting over the foul taste. "That should calm you down, sorry about the taste."
"I thought I was going to die in there. Reins locked us up weeks ago. I was the only one he fed, said I reminded him too much of his daughter to let me die like the others..." the girl half moaned out. The calming drought was barely working on her apparently.
"What's your name? I'm Hermione, this is Harry, Ron, Neville and Rob." Hermione said, pointing to each of the others in turn.
"Rachel Sanchez, my dad was going to be a guard here. His first job since he got out of the Marines. H-he's gone now, along with most of my family. I have cousins in Atlanta, but I have no idea what's happened to them." the girl responded. Harry pulled her into another tight hug and offered his condolences for her loss.
"She's the only one we've found alive so far. Are there any others here that you know of?" Foley asked.
"No, I'm the last of us. I heard a gun shot earlier. I thought that was it. Reins liked to snipe us from a tower, right into the cells from our windows. Is he still out there?" she asked apprehensively.
"He's been dealt with. You won't be seeing him again." Harry said.
"Good, I hope he rots in hell for what he did to us!" Rachel yelled, the calming drought wearing off.
Hermione pulled the girl off to a corner and sat with her at a bench to talk while the men went about searching the cells for walkers. The stench from one area giving them away.
They found only one active walker. The poor sod had been decapitated by a poorly aimed head shot, so only his head reanimated. They made quick work of the head and started banishing corpses from the cells, all save Rachel's family whom she identified by cell numbers.
The evening, they held a small memorial service for Rachel's family and buried the bodies in a mass grave. Foley returned to Washington to gather a prepping party and returned with them to reorganize the prison for habitation.
Harry and his team, meanwhile, headed for Cynthiana via broomstick...
HPTWD
AN: Here ends the first chapter, I hope you like it so far! Please review, it's not a requirement, but I like feedback for all o0f my stories. Feedback helps me to find errors, get new ideas and in some cases inspires me to work harder on proceeding chapters. Flames will be read for face value, and little else. If you don't like the story, it's simple, don't read it.
Thanks
Martin70
