Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter nor Walking Dead and I don't earn any money with this story.

Author's note: A bit of a filler/explanation chapter. It had to be done unfortunately ;)

Rating: M

Warning: canon-complient violence

Daryl was pretty sure he wasn't the only one gaping at the animal turned human. This was somehow harder to wrap his mind around than the various mystical creatures he'd spotted or the weird things he'd witnessed since childhood - Like the instant disappearing act from the previous night or the granny in town back then, whose vegetables had floated from their respective places in the garden to various baskets.

Maybe because the magic aspect was only partly responsible for his shock. Confusion, suspicion and, to make matters worse, a hint of embarrassment was coursing through his body, as Daryl's thoughts inevitably drifted back to the last few weeks. He'd thought he'd interacted with a particularly clever bird, but now that he knew it had actually been a person in… well, disguise, put everything in a whole new light.

Groaning and shuffling from all sides interrupted his pondering. Walkers, at least two dozen, had appeared from the forest on both sides of the street and were clumsily but determinedly staggering through the undergrowth to reach their next meal. Daryl eyed them warily, his hands reaching for the crossbow that was fastened to the front of his bike.

What now? Fight or flight?

His gaze strayed back to the unknown man, whose right hand disappeared in the front pocket of his pants. When it resurfaced, it held a few leather straps, which the brunet tapped, one after another, with a stick that had dropped into his hand with a flick of his wrist.

What. The. Fuck?

"Stay in the cars! I know you've got questions, but those have to wait till later. Wrap these straps around your wrists and drive on. We're almost there," the man – apparently another Brit – exclaimed as he drove a knife deep into the skull of a walker that had closed in too much. Then he dashed from car to car to push the leather straps through the partially opened windows. Daryl and his bike were the last in line. The man – Potter? – held his hand out with a crooked smile and turned back into a bird at the drop of a hat, when Daryl hesitantly accepted the offered accessory.

Yeah, he had a shit-ton of questions and some revelations to work through, but for now he decided to trust his gut feeling and wrapped the leather strap around his wrist, knotting it with the help of his teeth. At once the urge to leave faded completely. Instead his mind focused on the building and the fucking huge road sign with directions to the West Georgia Correction Facility half a mile in front of them that he hadn't noticed up until now.

Great, more mojo.

He vaguely heard Carl and, surprisingly, Hershel arguing with their respective fellow car passengers. Maybe they were the only other people who'd followed the instructions and were trying to convince the rest of the group after they'd felt the effects. To give everyone more incentive, Daryl stepped on the gas and pulled ahead of the cars, which was a good idea either way, because the walkers had almost reached them.

"C'mon!"

Fortunately everyone followed his lead and a few minutes later they arrived in front of the prison. They passed the first set of barbed wire fences, after the gates had opened by themselves, and were directed to a patch of grass, next to various parked vehicles, by a middle-aged man. Daryl stopped the engine of his bike and dismounted, before he took a cursory look around.

A few dozen walkers were lingering outside the outer fences, snarling and grasping in their direction but, for some reason, not even touching said fence. One more question to add to the ever growing list.

Each of the three watchtowers in Daryl's line of sight was manned by at least one person and he could see a few people beyond the inner fence. Some of them were children and elderly people.

Potter, once again human, was patiently waiting for the rest of the group to get out of the cars. After everyone had done so, all eyes swiveled to the brunet in astonishment.

"Whoa man, what the hell was that? You some kind of shape-shifter? Is that also a thing now?" T-Dog exclaimed, while Carl expressed his admiration for the transformation and Rick demanded an explanation for what the hell was going on.

The most interesting comment by far, however, was Hershel's.

"You're an animagus, aren't you, son?" The old man had a knowing glint in his eyes and the power to take Potter by surprise, if the slack-jawed expression was any indication.

"Yeah, I am. Are you-?"

"Oh God, no," Hershel interrupted him with a wave of his hand. "My uncle however, he went to that school at Mount Greylock."

"Ilvermorny."

"What is going on?" Rick growled, his patience obviously wearing thin.

Potter raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him.

"You having a safe roof over your head from now on is going on."

"You can't just-," Lori started to rant, but went completely ignored by Potter, who turned away from the two incensed members of the group to face the remaining eight ones, including Daryl.

"My name is Harry Potter and I'm a wizard, so are Severus and several other people who live here. Most are 'normal'" Here he air-quoted. "people like you, though. We've been around for ages, but there were laws and measures in place to keep us a secret from non-magical people. If you're wondering why, you may remember the witch trials. Keeping mum doesn't really matter or help anymore, though."

"So what, you're like a real-life Merlin?" T-Dog wondered incredulously. "What else can you do?"

"The more important question is why you didn't turn back yesterday evening and explained everything to us then," Maggie interrupted with a frown.

Potter eyed her for a long moment, before he scratched the back of his head with a sigh.

"It's hard to grasp that magic actually exists. I knew you'd be wary and might not come here, if I had revealed myself yesterday, but… I wanted to give you the opportunity to take a look around and talk to the people here, before you decide whether you want to stay or not."

"Like Andrea?"

The brunet shrugged. "Until yesterday I didn't have a clue that you knew each other, but yeah for example. There're another thirty odd people around here with whom you can talk, too." His eyes wandered to a brunette woman who had passed the inner gates and was walking in their direction.

"Harry, welcome back! Matthew wants to talk to you a.s.a.p. It's about the trip to Columbus."

"Alright, I'll go in a minute. Everyone, this is Clarice. She will show you around and explain everything. She's a witch and can tell you some more about magic if you're interested. Tomorrow I'll come talk to you. If you decide to stay, we'll equip you with these." Potter raised his left arm to show them the wide leather bracelet around his wrist. "Among other things, they'll give you access to the compound. I guess all of you have felt the effects of one of the defensive wards. It's the reason why you wanted to leave so badly."

"Isn't that what these things are for?" Glenn wondered, tugging on one end of the leather strap that was dangling from his hand. It wasn't even knotted.

"Yeah, but those're only temporary and won't work for more than another hour or so. If you were to leave after time runs out, you'd remember something urgent and walk or drive off. You wouldn't be able to get back here. The bracelets will be keyed to only you. If you were to lose them on the outside for whatever reason, nobody else would be able to use them. It's another security measure, but I'll tell you more about that tomorrow. Well then, I'll see you later… I hope you decide to stay."

Potter nodded at all of them in farewell, even Lori and Rick who were still slightly fuming, before he disappeared into thin air.

Daryl couldn't help notice that the brunet's lips had curled into a small smile again, when their eyes had met.

While Clarice led them to and through the main building, she introduced them to the people they met on the way and pointed out what had been improved or altered since the prison had been cleared of walkers (or revenants, as she called them). Solar cells had been added to the roof and another cell block harbored chicken and goats. The whole building was heated by some magical hocus-pocus and the cells had been extended to thrice their size and supplied with normal beds and proper doors to offer a semblance of privacy. Even the infirmary and the pantry were stocked.

It really felt like it was too good to be true.

Their next stop was the training room in which knife-handling and hand-to-hand were taught and practiced so that everyone knew how to defend themselves against a walker or living enemy.

"This is the beginner's class. They meet every other day for an hour or two," Clarice explained as they entered the room. A mixed group of young and older people of both sexes were practicing stabbing motions, while a blonde woman paced in front of them, offering advice when necessary.

"Andrea?"