Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter nor Walking Dead and I don't earn any money with this story.
Author's note: Thank you all for your lovely reviews :) They're very motivating! This chapter turned out a bit short, but the next one should be longer.
Rating: M
Warning: noting in particular
Harry hadn't appeared at dinner. Neither had Severus for that matter. Was it a coincidence or were the two leaders of the Sanctuary planning the solution to whatever had happened in Columbus like Harry had promised?
By now Daryl knew there had been a run in with walkers and that everyone had survived, but that couldn't be the main problem. He hoped Harry or Severus would announce it the next day, if it was relevant for everyone, especially if it happened to be a threat. For now, he couldn't do much, though, because the remaining Columbus team kept mum.
He let his gaze sweep over the dining room, seeking the members of his group. Most of them were engrossed in conversation, some even laughing with people they'd only just met. The only exceptions were Rick and Lori. While the former was silently brooding in one corner of the room, the brunette was fuming at something or another. Daryl wasn't keen on finding out what had annoyed her this time.
Instead he got up, wrapped his poncho around his shoulders and went outside to get some fresh air. The sky was clear, making it a relative bright, albeit cool night. There was some movement on the watch towers, but otherwise the premises were void of humans, which made sense. Nobody (with the exception of the people on watch) was supposed to venture past the inner line of chain-link fences at night.
Daryl was leaning against a concrete wall, when he noticed the dark dot zipping through the sky. In the darkness, he couldn't be sure, but it pretty much looked like a bird. A bird whose agile turning maneuvers he knew very well by now. He pushed himself off the wall and stepped forward until the fence blocked his way. His eyes tracked the dot as it circled and swooped and when it finally disappeared into the dark shadows of the night, he felt a pang of disappointment.
He contemplated going back inside, when the sound of flapping wings reached his ears and in the next moment his left shoulder was weighted down by a familiar merlin. It poked its beak against his cheek in greeting and went to tug on Daryl's hair like it was wont to do, but then froze mid-motion. It pulled back and after a few seconds of hesitation hopped to the ground, where Harry tuned back into his human form.
"Sorry. I guess that's-" The wizards averted his gaze and ruffled the hair on the back of his head as he visibly struggled for an appropriate word choice. "…awkward now."
Daryl opened his mouth to refute the statement or maybe to ask why Harry had started to interact with him in such a manner in the first place. To his chagrin, words for neither left his mouth. He frowned, annoyed with himself, though Harry apparently thought the negative reaction was meant for him. The corners of the wizard's mouth pointed downwards as he crouched down slightly, most likely building up momentum to resume his flying.
"Wait! I…" Great, now what to say? "I ain't… bothered by it," he finally declared gruffly. Harry looked unconvinced, but that was just about everything Daryl was able to contribute to that topic for now.
A subject change was in order!
"What happened? This afternoon?"
Harry slowly straightened himself. His expression had visibly darkened even more and Daryl noticed a minute twitch in his right hand.
"We encountered a large group of revenants, quite a few of them under the age of ten." The brunet sighed and wearily carded his fingers through his hair. "Some people of the group were caught off-guard, hesitating… Jamie was one of them. Two little girls were coming at him and he froze. I pushed him out of the way and dealt with them, but in the meantime another revenant had crept up. A bloke a head or so taller than me, the brawny type. I was struggling with him and managed to fend him off, but this happened…" He morosely pulled something out of one of the cargo pants pockets.
It was Harrys wand, the dark wood broken in two, some sort of red-orange feather sticking out of one half.
"Ya can't do magic without it?" Daryl wondered as he scrutinized the magic tool. The wizard was at least still capable of turning into an animal.
"I can still do some things, like summoning stuff to me, turning into my animagus form and apparating… though side-along is out of the question. I'd probably splinch the other person." He shuddered and Daryl decided that he didn't want to know what splinching meant, it sounded painful in any case.
"And ya can't just replace it? Like a knife or gun?"
"It's not that easy." Harry slowly shook his head, his finger softly tapping against the ragged edge of the wood. "Disregarding the sentimental value… there's a saying in the magical world… or there used to be, I guess. The wand chooses the wizard. If it's the wrong wand, at best spells don't work as well, at worst they explode into your face, sometimes literally. I've seen it happen. Finding the right fit can be difficult and that's with a wand maker at hand. When I was eleven and got this one, I tried almost every wand in the shop and none worked right and I was beginning to think that- No, never mind…"
Daryl pondered the new information for a moment. As a non-magical person it was hard to grasp what it was like to be basically cut off from your magic, not just your primary means of defense, but also part of yourself.
Scary, frustrating… maybe even depressing?
Living in a zombie-infested world made the whole thing even worse.
"Tomorrow I'll check the wand shop in Atlanta, that's where the closest wizarding alley is."
"Alone?" Daryl raised a skeptical eyebrow.
Harry pushed his broken wand back into his pocket and rubbed his hand over his arms, probably to get warmer, considering the brunet was only wearing a long-sleeved shirt. A winter coat was unnecessary as a bird, afterall.
"No, Severus and Araminta are going, too. They'll cast a silencing charm on the shop and then check if there's anything useful left in the alley."
"Ya mind, if I come, too?" Not only was Daryl curious what a wizarding alley would be like, he also wanted to have the wizard's back during the wand shopping spree and maybe… he'd be able to pull himself together enough to voice his questions if he spent more time with the other man.
Harry was silent for a long moment, during which Daryl automatically held his breath in anticipation. In the end the wizard uttered a sigh and nodded his acquiescence.
"We leave tomorrow after breakfast."
The next day, Daryl stepped into Severus office, the starting point of their little trip. The brunet was frowning at him, but didn't say anything as they waited for the others to arrive. Daryl wasn't inclined to break the silence between them.
Next, a surprisingly cheerful looking woman with blonde curls appeared in the room. She greeted him with a smile, before turning towards her fellow magic-user, who had redirected his scowl towards her.
"Stop that! You're giving me a headache," Severus hissed after a moment. Daryl wondered if he was irritated by the woman's good mood, because as far as he'd seen, she hadn't done anything else to provoke those words.
"You know I can't help it! It happens naturally." The witch pouted and crossed her arms in front of her chest, making Severus grind his teeth.
"Then make an effort, you dunderhead! You don't see me running around and-" The brunet's words were interrupted by Harry's arrival and if the wizard's eye roll was any indication, this argument hadn't happened for the first time. Whatever it had been about.
"Again? You two are like cats and dogs, that's why I was against this constellation."
Severus raised an eyebrow, a smirk twitching in the corners of his lips, while he pointedly looked at Daryl, who was slowly but surely regretting having asked to join in.
Araminta's eyes widened as her gaze travelled from wizard to wizard and finally landed to Daryl. She suddenly started snickering and waggling her eyebrows at Harry.
"Really? Preening?"
Said brunet glared at both of them, his face decidedly flushed.
"I hate both of you… let's go!"
