Chapter Two: Cynthiana

The first thing Rick Grimes noted once he was fully awake was his thirst. He'd tried calling for a nurse, but no one had answered his weak call. He rushed, (rushed being a relative term due how weak he felt...), into the bathroom and drank deeply from the tap.

He then looked around his room and noticed several things weren't right. The clock had stopped, he'd thought he'd been hallucinating that, but it was really not working. The flowers he thought Shane had left him were at least two weeks old judging from their dryness, and hadn't been watered in all that time. He looked into the closets near the door and found his uniform. The dress shirt and t-shirt were a total loss having been cut from him during his trip in the ambulance to the hospital. His pants were present though as well as a fresh t-shirt and boxers, socks and shoes. His gun belt and gun were missing however, likely being held by security or Shane had taken it back to the station. He'd have to check with security he thought.

First though, he needed to find a nurse or a doctor. Where the hell was everyone? Just then another thing caught his attention. There was no power in the room. That was a big no-no for any hospital, people could die without power to the machines that kept them alive until they could recover on their own... What the hell was going on? First no nurse to help him, now no power. Something was very wrong here...

He decided to go ahead and dress. His clothes were smelling pretty raunchy, he needed to clean up. He did a quick and awkward bird bath in the sink using cold water, the hot was running cold too... then got dressed as well as he could. His bandage was rank, he'd need to find a new dressing quickly or he'd get a bad infection and that wasn't good at all.

Just as he was about to open the door he heard a commotion in the hall outside. "There's a live one in here Harry." said a female voice, a nurse perhaps? But then how did she know he was in here and what the hell did she mean by her remark? Live one? Of course he was alive in here. Wasn't everyone?

He heard the sound of something being pushed away from his room door and then it opened slowly to reveal four people in odd clothes staring at him and pointing sticks in his general direction... What the hell?

He took a tentative step forward and said, "Is one of you a nurse? I need help..." He pointed to his foul bandage to explain why.

"Are you bitten sir?" asked the woman whose voice he'd heard a moment before. It dawned on him that she had a British accent.

"Bitten?... No, no, I was shot, in the line of duty..." He said, confused by her question. "Who are you people and what the hell is going on here?"

Harry looked at his friends and took a step into the room, putting his wand away and holding up his hands in a peaceful gesture, "My name is Harry Potter, that's Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom. We're from across the pond as you can tell from our accents. We were ordered to look for survivors here in the States and one of ours Seers said we could find survivors here in Cynthiana."

Seers? What the hell? "Seers?"

"Yes, a witch whose an old friend of ours has been over here for several years helping your minister for magic. Wait, do you know about magic? How long have you been in this room?" Hermione said and asked.

Rick wanted to laugh, magic... was this lady for real? "Magic? Are you serious? There's no such thing except for those magician guys who do tricks and illusions. Come on..."

The Brits looked at each other a moment as Rick gave in and began to laugh.

Finally Harry sighed and pulled out his wand again, "Lumos." The light on the end of his wand slightly blinding Rick for a second.

"Great, you have an LED flashlight huh, that's useful..." Rick joked.

Harry muttered under his breath, "Okay, how about this? Expecto Patronum!" Prongs sprang from the end of his wand, in all his silvery glory and began to prance around the room. The spirits of everyone present were lifted by the Patronus' presence.

Rick stumbled back into his bed watching the silvery stag in open disbelief. "What the hell!"

"Is that proof enough for you sir? By the way we gave you our names..." Harry said, trailing off.

Rick pried his eyes away from the amazing sight of Prongs and said, "S-Sorry, Rick Grimes, Deputy Sheriff Rick Grimes. So magic is real?"

"Indeed it is Rick," said Ron, speaking for the first time. "We're Wizards and Hermione there is a Witch."

"Could you tell us how long you've been here now?" asked Hermione as she began to rummage in her bag.

"I don't know to be honest. The last thing I remember with certainty is getting shot. After that, I'm pretty sure my partner came to visit and left those flowers over there for me from everyone at the department. I just woke up about an hour or so ago and was about to go looking for help when I heard you guys outside my door. You know the rest." Rick supplied. "Can I get some help with this bandage now?"

Hermione nodded as she pulled a bottle from her bag. "Essence of Dittany should fix you right up sir. Let's get that old dressing off."

Hermione methodically removed his bandage and applied the essence to his wound, which closed and faded away much to Rick's astonishment. "What the hell? What is that stuff, a magic potion?"

"Yes it is in fact. You'll still need to take it easy for a few days and get plenty of fluids, but you'll be fine now." Hermione said, "At least as long as you avoid the inferi..."

"Inferi?" asked Rick in confusion again.

"I'm afraid the world's changed since you were shot Rick. I can call you Rick yes?" Harry asked. At Rick's nod he continued, "Most of the mundane world is in total chaos. A plague hit the muggle population and killed millions of people, that plague then became worse because the dead started to rise again afterward. These dead are what we call inferi, the undead. A single bite or a bad scratch that breaks skin will infect the remaining living muggles and eventually turn them into inferi as well. Muggles, in case you're wondering, are people like yourself that lack a magical core of any kind or mundanes if you prefer.

"It started out slow Rick, but the infection spreads so damned fast! It's like a snow ball rolling down hill. Once it had a good start, nothing could stop it, and until it runs its full course or we find a cure, the world is pretty much doomed. Even we magicals are not long for this world. We're immune to the disease itself so we can't be turned, but we can still fall victim to the inferi and be consumed by them. They have an insatiable hunger that nothing can satisfy and they're equipped to take advantage of this. We are predators after all, Humans I mean. Billions are now dead and walking around again, looking for their next meal, no matter what it is. We saw a large... herd I guess is the best thing to call them, on our way here. They were feeding on buzzards and crows that were foolish enough to try and eat from the walking dead. I haven't seen many of those birds in quite a while. It's likely to mean their extinction if this keeps up."

Rick had turned more and more pale with each word spoken and it looked like Harry had more to tell, but suddenly Rick's mind screeched to a halt as one thought struck him. His family was out there somewhere in this chaos and he needed to find them... NOW! "I have to find my family!" Ricked cried suddenly and started to rush to the door.

Harry called out, "Petrificus Totalus!" Rick froze in mid-step. "Rick! You need to calm down. You can't go running off like that unprepared at what you'll be facing! I'm sorry I had to do that, finite!"

Rick slumped forward a step then hauled back and decked Harry before he could react causing Harry to fall to the floor mildly stunned. "Don't. Do. That. Again..." He looked up to see Harry's friends all pointing their wands at him. "He had that coming, nobody gets between me and my family..."

"We can understand that Rick, I have a large family back home. I'm one of seven siblings." said Ron, trying to calm Rick down.

Harry spoke up as he got up off the floor, "But the last thing you want to do is go running off without fully knowing the situation out there. You want to find your family, we'll help you to do that, but you need a solid plan or you'll die on your own before you can get very far."

Rick had been pacing while Harry spoke. Now he gave a sigh, "You're right, you're right... So tell me, tell me what it's like out there. What can I expect out there?"

The team put their wands away except for Neville who was watching the hallway outside.

Harry spoke, "It's really bad out there, especially in the cities and larger towns. People are dying out there like flies and swelling the ranks of the undead even further every day. Just on our way here from DC we saw hundreds of thousands of inferi walking around aimlessly. Any sound or movement can draw them to you. We think they can also still smell or sense the living, which causes them to frenzy if they realize you're there. A few, one, two or three, are manageable, fairly easy to dispatch, but a large group of four or more by yourself? Run... you might live, you might not, but you have to avoid getting bitten or badly scratched. Follow that rule and you'll do well. Your best bet is to stay with a group, just be cautious with anyone you join up with or let join you. There are a lot of bad people out there running around. We met one of them, a guy that called himself Negan. He had about forty followers at the time, all hardened criminals he'd sprung from a prison. We took care of him and his goons, but he's just a drop in the bucket of what's out there, the scum of the earth have found this new world is almost tailor made for them. There's no law enforcement to stop them from doing whatever they want, so they're out there committing every sin, breaking every law you can imagine and getting away with it.

"The military is in shambles too, what's left of it. We're under orders to save as many people as we can, and that includes your military as we find them. However, some of the military out there are just as bad as Negan ever was. I'll be forced to do some damned distasteful things before this is all over..."

"Harry..." Hermione said, looking worried by that last remark. "What do you mean?"

Harry turned to her, "I've been given a battlefield commission too, as a brigadier general. My orders are signed by the US President and the Minister of Magic. I'm to take command of all US Forces in the field as I find them and send them back to Washington for debriefing and reassignment. Anyone I come across that refuses to recognize that authority is to be dealt with harshly if necessary, permanently if I feel it is called for..."

"Harry, that's just crazy! How can they dump that kind of responsibility on you?" Hermione fumed.

"Calm down Hermione. You're right, up to a point, but then who would they have to send? Let's be honest here. I'm the best suited for the job out here. I know how to survive, I know what needs to be done and I have the dedication to get the job done, or die trying. There's also my 'saving people' thing you always used to harp on about too..." He said the last with a smirk.

Hermione sighed, "I know, hey!..." she punched his arm.

Rick watched their antics for a moment and while it was funny, he had a job of his own to get done, namely finding his family! "Look, I know you mean well and I appreciate what you're saying and the warnings and all, but I really need to get out there!" He looked at Harry now, "Will you help me find my family or what?"

Harry nodded, "Sure Rick. Luna said we'd need people like you to help us figure out how to stop this. If that means we have to find your family to do it, we'll do it." He pulled out a bag from his pack, "Here, take this, you'll need what's in there in case we ever get separated."

Rick opened the bag and goggled at what he saw. Inside was a pile of guns, military issue guns. There were four P-90's, four M4's, a BAR, two grenade launchers and a .308 sniper rifle with a fancy looking scope on it. In a side pocket (that was much larger on the inside than the outside, he noticed) was enough ammunition to outfit a small army, thousands of rounds. He rummaged around and found another pocket with what looked like field ration packs or MRE's, enough for a large group to live off of for many weeks if not longer. A final pocket contained clothes, both military and civilian, enough to meet the needs of a small town – both men and women as well as children of all ages. "This is... this is too weird. It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside..."

Ron grinned, "Yeah, that's magic Rick...hehe."

"There's enough in there to outfit a small colony, though the guns are a bit sparse at the moment. Those guns have been modified with magic Rick. I'll be modifying any weapons we find as we go the same way." Harry didn't add that he had enough weapons on him to outfit a full regiment of several thousand in his private pack. Those weapons were for later if needed. "Each weapon has a silencing charm on it so they fire without any noise. Noise equals death out there if you make too much of it at once. They're also charmed for accuracy. Just think about where you want the round to go as you squeeze the trigger and it will go there. Aiming is much easier as a result. The kickback of the weapons is reduced, but not eliminated, that's because you might try to keep firing an empty gun otherwise and get mauled before you can stop to reload. There's a counter that will pop up above the sights magically to help with this as well so you know how many rounds you have left in in the magazine."

"Wow Harry, that's some sophisticated magic. Where did you learn how to do that?" Hermione asked.

"In my travels over the last few years, I've run into some strange stuff. The spells for the weapons were taught to me by a hit wizard in Bangkok." Harry replied.

Rick just stared at the man in front of him dumbly. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that magic was really real. It boggled his mind, but what he'd seen so far was very useful. "I'll need to keep a close eye on this bag, if it fell into the wrong hands it'd be pretty bad for the good people out there."

"Oh, no need to worry about that too much. I just need to key you into the protections on the bag so only you can open it or take anything out of it. Anyone else that tries after the protection wards on it are working will find a bag filled with a few meager supplies. The real pockets will remain shut and inaccessible." Harry supplied.

"That's great, how do we do that?" Rick asked taking comfort from the new information that only he would be able to get at what was inside the bag soon.

"I need to prick your finger and put some blood on the zippers of each pocket." Harry informed Rick.

"Okay, let's do it." Rick said, eager to secure this fount of supplies.

Harry stepped over and used his wand to poke a small hole in Rick's finger. He then muttered a strange chant under his breath while he smeared Rick's finger over the zippers inside the bag. As each was covered in a smear of blood they glowed a golden hue and vanished. After he was done, it looked like the bag was empty, and it felt empty too.

"Let's get some supplies from the cafeteria downstairs to fill this up with as decoys." Harry said.

"That room's full of inferi Harry." Neville reported. "Remember the hall with the warnings on the walls?"

Harry nodded, "I remember. Just keep back when we get there and I'll show Rick what we're up against. Rick, just think about which pocket you want to open and open the bag. You'll find what you want waiting inside. At the moment I suggest you open the gun pocket and get out one of the M4's or P-90's whichever you prefer. Let's finish clearing this floor and the one above though before we head down. I want to check this place for all the supplies we can get. I don't care what it is, if it looks useful. Grab it and put it in these bags, they're bottomless." Harry handed out four bags and then with a wave of his wand he put everything of use in the room in his bag, including the monitors and the bed... all of it shrinking as it neared the opening.

"Um, that's a neat trick, but I can't shrink anything." Rick said in amazement.

"That's okay Rick. You can gather things like toiletries and medical supplies as we go, those don't need to be shrunk." Ron offered.

Rick nodded, "I can handle that I guess." he said feeling a little lost and overwhelmed.

"It's okay Rick. We're with you now, and we'll find your family. Let's just get this done, medical supplies will be in short supply for a long time to come, so we need to hit as many hospitals and pharmacies as we can as well as any big chain stores. But before we do all that, I think we'll find your family and get them all to a safe place." Harry said as they moved out of Rick's room and began to more or less loot the place.

The team was methodical, moving from room to room going one direction down the hall. Neville and Ron would take turns watching their rears as they moved along. Each room was searched and looted. Any bodies were transfigured into little statuettes and placed in his bag. They found many patients had been gunned down in theirs rooms, some taken out properly with a head shot, others not so. These were still moving around their rooms and Rick found out firsthand how bad things had become. The stench of death was so bad that Harry put a bubble-head charm on Rick and himself and had the others do the same.

Rick had retched for several minutes after finding a nurse being fed upon by a fresh walker in one room on his floor. He realized that it was likely because of this nurse that he was still alive. Her death was as recent as last week. It was a sobering and horrifying experience, one he

wished that he'd been able to have stopped, for her sake if not just his own. This new world he found himself in was a terrible one, he was beginning to wonder if his family was okay out there in the middle of it all and his patience was wearing thin as they cleared his floor and the one above it before heading down to the floor below and beginning another sweep.

"Are we almost done here? We're burning daylight..." Rick uttered.

"Yes, this is the final floor. We don't think we'll find much in the basement area, just the boilers and maybe a couple of backup generators on a hospital this small. We'll be coming up on the cafeteria in a moment." Harry said.

True to his word, the doors that were clearly marked 'All dead inside, do not open' came into view shortly thereafter. A board and a thick chain held the doors shut... sort of. There was enough give in the doors that several inferi were pawing at the board and chain in a vain attempt to open them.

Harry began to draw a series of runes on the walls adjacent to the door and chanting under his breath as he went. As he finished each rune it gave off a green glow.

Hermione watched his progress, growing more concerned and more alarmed as she realized just what he was creating, but she kept her mouth shut because one slip might cause Harry to mess up what he was doing and that might cost him his life...

After ten minutes, Harry drew a final rune and then said, "Alright, everyone stand back. I'm going to charge the rune chain and then blow that doorway open. Everyone clear back!" The team and Rick fell back five feet and then readied themselves for a fight, Rick shouldering his M4 while the team unsheathed swords and wands.

Ron handed Rick a fireman's ax from the loot as backup for his M4.

Meanwhile, Harry charge the rune chain he'd created and cast a reducto at the doors, shattering them and sending the nearest walkers flying back into the room behind. The other walkers quickly filled in the resulting vacuum of space and charged through the doorway... and were cut to pieces by the rune chain that had formed a lattice of razor sharp green light like lasers from floor to ceiling and wall to wall.

Harry kept charging the runes for several more moments as the undead continued to pour through the doorway, but eventually one rune gave out, then another and another until only half were still active. The spent runes burning a hole into the walls, ceiling and floor as they gave out. As another rune failed, Harry switched tactics and began hurling cutting curses at the heads of the remaining walkers, "Open fire!" he yelled at the others who, up until now, had been merely watching the carnage.

Rick opened up with single shots at the heads of every walker he saw as they became visible. Harry's team launching hexes and curses of their own at those they saw as well. It was overkill...

In the space of time that the fighting lasted, which was less than thirty seconds all told, fifty-six walkers were put down. Only a few stragglers remained in the other areas of the cafeteria when they searched it, those being unable or too uncoordinated to join the pack at the doors.

"Okay, let's clear this area and get the hell out of here..." Harry said. Rick was in full agreement, and not in a little bit of awe at what his new companions were capable of.

HPTWD

After clearing the hospital and marking it on their maps, the team and Rick headed for Rick's neighborhood in the town. They also noted stores and houses that looked untouched as they passed for later scavenging, marking these places on their maps.

The maps were magical and could be scaled from a global view all the way down to a home's interior rooms. It was both a step up and a step down from the Marauders Map in that it had an epic scale of detail, but couldn't be used to track people across the globe. Harry was working on it though and was nearing a breakthrough he hoped would help him to search out other survivors and save as many as he could.

Rick walked down the street with his new friends and came across a woman who'd been badly mauled and eaten by other walkers. The horror of the sight almost unhinged him. He stepped over to her, just out her reach as she slowly crawled along and said, "I'm sorry this happened to you. No one should have to suffer what you've suffered. It's okay now though, I'll help you." He stood up and aimed his M4 at her head an pulled the trigger, ending the woman's suffering as a weak inferi. "Let's go."

The others nodded solemnly and followed after taking a second to bow their heads to the fallen woman.

A few long minutes later, Rick walked into his house calling for his family, "Lori! Carl! Where are you?"

Harry and his friends exchanged looks. "Let's keep an eye open for others. Inferi are going to hear him yelling too so watch for them as well." Harry ordered calmly.

Inside Rick was growing frantic again, there was no sign of his family or where they might have gone. He searched every room, then did it again using his police training. Now he began to notice signs of a hasty evacuation. Clothes were scattered around, though most looked dirty so they were likely from the laundry room and discarded after a moments thought as his family had packed, though Carl's favorite shirt was missing and so were all the family photos from the walls. A quick search in the living room and a few other places revealed that the family albums were gone too. So that must mean that they'd gotten out of the area alive, whenever it was that, that had happened.

Rick stepped out onto the front porch just as a young black boy was sneaking up on Ron with a shovel, clearly about to strike him in the head. "Ron! Look out!"

Ron spun so fast he was a blur of motion, his wand coming up, a curse on his lips. The boy fell back and landed on his ass as Ron's spell missed the boy's head by inches. "AHH!"

"Easy son, we're not going to hurt you." Ron said as he realized he'd almost killed the boy, raising his wand at the very last second to throw off his aim and miss the child before him.

Harry came up behind another black male and said, "Easy now, drop that spade..."

The man stiffened in alarm, but complied as he saw he was covered now by two more people with those odd sticks. Hermione and Neville were those people and they looked a bit miffed. "Let my son be, he thought you were one of those walkers."

"Fair enough. You friendly then or are we going to have a problem here?" asked Harry as he stepped around and in front of the man.

"We're friendly enough, who are you people? Duane, come over to me son. This is my son Duane, I'm Morgan Jones." Morgan said looking warily at Harry's group.

As Duane walked over and joined his father Harry made introductions, then said, "We're here looking for Rick's family. Do you have any ideas as to where they might have gone?"

"Most likely, they went to Atlanta. They've got that CDC place down there searching for a cure. I heard the military bombed the city though just before the radios and TV went quiet. That was weeks ago. It's mighty long odds, but if they were lucky, they'll be down there somewhere." Morgan supplied looking doubtful that Rick's family was still alive.

"We should get inside somewhere before it gets too dark out here." Ron commented.

"I suppose you can bunk in with us, we're in a house up on the corner." Morgan volunteered, if a bit reluctantly. He began walking up the street towards what Rick knew as the Drake residence.

"Are you staying with Fred and Cindy?" Rick asked Morgan as they came up to the door.

"Never met 'em." Morgan replied. "It was empty when we got here." He opened the door and stepped inside with his son. "So, what exactly was that light show about with my boy?"
Morgan added as the others started to walk in as well.

Rick grinned, "Oh, that? My friends are wizards... oh and a witch, sorry Hermione." he said as Hermione raised an eyebrow at him.

Morgan grunted, "I heard about you people just before everything went dark. I didn't believe what I was hearing, don't think I do now for that matter."

Harry smirked, "Shall I give Morgan and his son my patented demonstration of magic Rick?"

Rick nodded, "I think that would do it Harry. I know I was impressed. Watch this Morgan, Duane."

Harry repeated his spells that he showed Rick, then pulled out one of his many bags. "How well have you been eating Morgan?"

Morgan picked his jaw up off the floor after seeing Harry's Patronus and said, "We've been getting by, but we haven't seen anything in fresh vegetables in weeks, had some apples a few days ago though. There's an apple tree in a backyard three blocks from here."

Harry rummaged through the bag he'd pulled from his pack and began pulling out several fruits and vegetables; fresh carrots, tomatoes, green peppers, potatoes and a large pineapple to name just a few.

"Where did you get all this from?" Morgan asked in confusion. He smelled and felt each item, "These are fresh, as if they were gathered today!"

"It was gathered by the house elves of Hogwarts, our magical school in the UK. There's a freshness charm on everything that will last for years, or until the food is used. Then the charm wears off and the food starts to decay as it would normally." Hermione supplied.

"Well this is a feast, I'm grateful for it, thank you." Morgan said feeling moved by these people.

"Morgan, you and Duane should come with us. We are going to be gathering as many survivors as we can, and we could use all the help we can get." Harry stated. Something told him that Morgan was important somehow for their future.

Morgan shook his head sadly, "I, I can't leave just yet. My wife's out there you see. The fever took her right over there on that bed. I was too weak to end her after she turned... I, I just couldn't do it!" He broke down into deep sobs.

Hermione stepped over and offered her shoulder to the distraught man, "It's okay Morgan. You're not the only man who's been unable to do what was needed in this new cruel world we find ourselves in. We saw plenty of situations in the UK that were along the same lines. Others stepped in, when they could, and took care of it. Would you like for us to help you with this? You know she's not there anymore right? Your wife is gone, but her body is out there and it's hungry. You know it's only a matter of time until someone else wanders along and becomes a meal for her and the others out there. Let us end this miserable existence they're in and then we can get Duane to somewhere safe, okay?"

Morgan was full of self doubt. He wanted to end his wife's suffering himself, but he'd been too weak before to do it. He wanted to tell them no, that he would deal with her, but his heart was breaking at the thought of what she'd become and he still wasn't sure if he could do it now, even with these people here to back him up. After a long debate in his head, Morgan finally said, "I want to end it for her myself, but there are so many of them out there, I'll need help to find her and get this over with."

Harry stepped back from the door and said, "She's in her mid thirties and wearing a long white night gown yes?" At Morgan's startled nod, "She's at the front door..." Harry pulled out a magically silenced 9mil and offered it to Morgan. "You can end this right now, or I can do it for you. It's up to you..."

"That will make too much noise..." Morgan said, not knowing about the charm on the weapon.

"It's magically silenced." Harry aimed at a picture on the far wall and fired. The bullet made a dull thump as it passed through the picture, a painting with no glass to break, thankfully. "See?"

Morgan nodded, he walked over and took the gun, then looked through the peep hole in the door to see his wife peeking in back at him. He took a step back and put the gun up in place of his eye, "God forgive me..." and pulled the trigger...

Outside, Morgan's wife flew back into the yard, a hole in her head... She didn't get back up, and none of the other walkers seemed to notice her sudden demise.

Morgan broke down and went off to hug his son so they could grieve together in private...

HPTWD

The next morning, Rick persuaded the group to go to the police station. He wanted to gather his favorite gun, if it was there, and other supplies the station should have on hand, if no one had looted the place yet...

As it turned out that the supplies were present as well as his favorite gun. Shane had left it in Rick's desk drawer. Harry and Hermione gathered everything of use from the station, along with all the vehicles and the fuel supply, gathering the fuel into fifty-five gallon drums and then shrinking the barrels for storage in the one of the bottomless bags Harry seemed to have a never-ending supply of. When they shrank and bagged the vehicles floored Morgan and Rick, while bringing a grin from Duane for the first time since the day before.

Hot showers were had by everyone and Rick shot his fellow deputy turned inferi before they all gathered in two cars, Harry driving one, Rick the other. There next stop, Atlanta...

HPTWD

AN: So, another chapter done. I've not really kept a word count on this story so far, but I try for at least nine or ten pages in Verdana, 10 font per chapter. I've found this to be a good size in the past and makes for an easier read I've been told by reviewers and friends. I like to read long stories myself, but I see some people complain if they're too long. Anyway, enough of my rambling. I'll see you all next time!

AN2: Also, thank you to all of you who've added this story to your following and/or favorites lists and to those who've reviewed... It helps me knowing someone out there has shown some interest in my work.

Martin70