Hiraeth

Noun - homesickness tinged with grief or sadness over a lost home that can never be returned to.

Story Premise:

Persephone Pines former muggleborn Hufflepuff unspeakable tossed into the walking dead dimension after a botched up portal take down at work. This is an alternate universe Walking Dead.

This story is rated M for future scenes and vulgarity. You have been warned.

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Be warned, this is an alternate universe story so things will be different at times. This is not a happy rainbows and pink kitten fluff story. It may be a dark at times. If that's not what you wanted, there are many other great stories to pursue out there.

Reviews mean that I keep going and update sooner. Flames are not appreciated or welcomed. Remember what Thumper the rabbit said in the movie Bambi. If you have nothing nice to say, then don't say it. If you have constructive criticism, go ahead and give it, that's always welcomed.

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I'm sorry this chapter took so long to post. I finally got a job so I haven't had a lot of extra time to write. To make up for the long wait I have made this a ginormous chapter. Because of the size of this chapter; about 30 pages, I had to put the birth into a different chapter. Sorry about that folks. The next one might be quiet long as well since it will introduce Michonne, a surprise, and some other great things.

I have fixed up this chapter and edited it all on my computer. If there are still some things that I've missed please leave a comment and tell me. I'm currently working on the next chapter so there will be a sneak peak at the end of this chapter.

Thank you to the wonderful reviewer Nel. Maybe some people will and maybe some people won't. You'll find out later on in the story. It'll be a fun surprise.

We will indeed see other people from the show. Just because they didn't meet up in the same way doesn't mean that they won't meet up at all.

I will do my best to describe more of the world around Laura.

I certainly will take that suggestion in mind and see what I can do with it.

I am fleshing out all their different personalities as best as I can with only using Laura's POV, but it's not a fast moving thing because she doesn't quite know everyone as of yet. She's seen them from the show, but she doesn't want to totally judge them on that basis alone. Since it isn't in third person you'll only really see character development and the different facets that may be there through her eyes.

Thank you to the awesome reviewers Lorna and aishiteru naru. :3

Thank you to the following people who put my story on their favorites list and or followed my story:

Sue01, anon91, AzmarieLeeLee, Rockcutter28, rhi17

SpongeBob SquarePants belongs to Stephen Hillenburg

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Chapter Ten

Revelations

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The sun shone against a clear cloudless sky, and the light cold breeze wafted through the nearby trees. We stood on their warm wooden porch. The paint had peeled back revealing its oak properties. This was certainly an old farm from what I had noted. The roof, the windows, the shingles, and even the plants on the farm reflected its' age. It certainly didn't function as a large animal farm because there were none present anywhere we looked when we drove in. The air smelt dry with a hint of manure and chickens.

I could hear the kids shuffling their feet; their hesitance to meet new people rang alarm bells in my head. Did they sense the potential danger? They usually looked forward to meeting new people. I frowned and clutched onto Rick's arm some more. He gave me a reassuring grin, and I tried to smile back in the same way. All I really did was see my own anxiety reflected in his bright blue eyes. I tried to keep heart from racing. They didn't seem like the same people from the show. My palms felt sweaty, but before I could voice my concern we had already breached their threshold. We had all made our way into their home; it would seem rude if we just up and left now.

Otis had laid a still bleeding Andrea onto the table. Dale sat beside her on a worn wooden chair. I glanced around quickly noting that this house looked like the very definition of farm country. There was a woman who was fluttering around Otis, and I assumed this was Patricia. I hadn't really paid attention to her in the show, so getting a close up look at her was pretty neat. Her blond hair looked stringy, her completion pale despite the sun, her frazzled eyes were wide, and her face had too many lines for someone who was supposed to be my age. I supposed that keeping their dead loved ones in a barn had taken its toll on her.

Hershel looked exactly as I had expected him to, "Otis, what happened?" He was totally ignoring us for now and that was fine by me. Maggie and Beth had come around with towels, water, and their father's medical bag. I wondered if he would tell us he was a veterinarian.

Carol looked wary at the people that had converged around Andrea. Sure we didn't want much to do with anything involving Andrea, but just giving her to a group of strangers wasn't that nice. Daryl stuck close to Carol and Merle made sure to hide his healing hand behind his back. He was only really missing is fingers by now; the potions, charms, and salves were working wonders.

Morgan and Jenny stuck close behind us shielding the kids with their bodies. It was clear in our body language that we didn't trust them. I wondered if they saw that or if the majority of them overlooked it.

Otis looked guiltily at us while Patricia stroked his back, a worried frown seemingly glued onto her face, "I thought she was a deer...I had been tryin' so hard to find a fuckin' deer..." His eyes watered and he looked away, "I hadn't meant to shoot her. Could you help her doc? It twasn't her fault that I was a bad hunter."

At his words Carol gave Daryl a look that I couldn't quite interpret. Perhaps we wouldn't be leaving as soon as I had wanted. What were those two up to? Did that mean he was a bad shot and wouldn't survive in this world? I resisted the urge to frown; I felt like doing that might lead to something negative with these people.

Hershel gave Otis a disapproving look before he shook his head and sighed, "Otis...what am I going to do with you?" He pressed down on her wound and cleaned it with the supplies that the girls had brought him. They had hoisted themselves up onto a counter and watched with avid interest as their father worked on Andrea.

Jimmy shuffled his feet and took in every one of us with his eyes. He seemed sharper in this dimension. "So...ya'll are welcome here, right Doc? It's the right thing to do since we shot their friend."

Merle looked like he was about to snort and say something that would jeopardize our stay; Rick, who was beside him, made sure to subtly jab him in the ribs. He scowled quietly. Hershel glanced up at us and gave us a curt nod. His face only softened once he noted my slightly growing baby bump and all the children. "Ya'll are welcome here. I'm sorry my friend, Otis, shot one of yours. I'll do my best to stabilize her...My name is Hershel Greene. This is my family and farm." He focused his introduction toward me and the kids. Hmmm old man had a soft spot for pregnant women and children, go figure.

Maggie cleared her throat which stopped her father from continuing. He gave his daughter a chiding look before he returned his attention back to his patient. "Hello. I'm Maggie Greene, daddy's eldest. This is Beth my little sister." She indicated to Beth on her right.

Beth wiggled her fingers at us smiling, "Hiya." She pointed at the general area where Jimmy, Otis and Patricia stood. "The handsome fella over there is my boyfriend Jimmy, and ya'll know who Otis is now. The lovely lady beside 'em is his wife, Patricia." Beth hoped off the counter and tugged at her sister to follow. Maggie reluctantly got down while she rolled her eyes with a small smile. "Now that ya'll know us. Who are you folks?"

Hershel quietly worked on stabilizing Andrea while Dale held onto her hand with a vice grip. He briefly looked up at us with a curious gaze; I supposed that he was also curious about who he had opened his home to.

Maggie was eyeing Glenn in the way that the kids eyed the fudge I made for every Christmas after dinner dessert; clear want and hunger. Glenn noticed it too since he had turned bright red and backed into Morgan letting out a small sound of alarm. Morgan grinned at him.

I decided to bite the bullet and tightened my grip on my husbands' sweaty palm. My other hand lay on my pregnant belly purposefully accentuating it, "my name is Laura Grimes and this is my husband Rick Grimes." Rick nodded polity towards them. "The couple in front of the kids are Morgan and Jenny Jones respectively, the biker looking man beside them is Merle Dixon, and the man beside him and beside my husband, is Daryl Dixon, Merle's brother. The woman behind me is Carol Peletier, and the guy near Maggie is Glenn Rhee. The kids are-"

Duane surprisingly interrupted which meant a reprimand later from his mother; he knew that he shouldn't interrupt someone. "He's Carl Grimes, and the little girl behind him is Judy Grimes. The girl beside Judy is Sophia Peletier, and I'm Duane Jones...Sorta nice to meet you guys I guess."

Jenny had a deep frown on her face, "Duane." The warning tone was clear in her voice. I smiled despite it all; my godson was adorable when he looked sheepish like that.

I could see that Hershel was amused. He nodded towards us before he turned all his attention back to his patient. Maggie saw how we were awkwardly standing there and gestured to the available seats, "Ya'll can follow me and I'll show you around."

She showed us where we could pitch our tents, if we had them, and it was just a couple feet away from their house. I wondered if this change in distance was because of the many more children we had and my slightly visible pregnant belly.

She stated that if we didn't have any tents then they were willing to make room at their house. We saw their empty fields, the fence around their property, the forest nearby, a decently sized chicken coop with a couple of chickens, and a very large barn that wasn't too far from their house. When we asked if we could check out the barn because the kids loved animals, she went stark pale and herded us away. I saw how the group warily looked at the barn after Maggie's reaction. We would all have a discussion about that soon.

Maggie's smile looked strained, "Do ya'll need help setting up?" She kept fiddling with her fingers.

I glanced back at everyone and found that they had wandered back to my SUV and Morgan's car. Rick leaned down and kissed my head before turning back to Maggie, "Nah, we'll be fine. Thank you for askin' though."

Before she could walk away I grabbed her arm, "Will Dale need a tent?"

The tight look on her face dissolved and she smiled again, "Nope. He can bunk with Andrea in the room Beth's hopefully setting up with Jimmy." I let go of her wrist and returned her smile whole she speed walked away.

We walked back to our group, my hand in his back pocket and his hand lightly gripping my waist. The kids looked agitated, Glenn was pacing, the Jones looked concerned, merle and Daryl looked oddly pensive, and Carol was shaking her head.

Rick quirked his eyebrow at our little group, but before I could ask what he was thinking about he let out a little chortle causing everyone to look our way. I waved and managed to pull a small smile onto my face, "What's up guys?"

Jenny pouted and went over pinching my cheek, "We'll talk later, sugar. Morgan and I are gonna get our things outta our car? Are we in your tent?" She grabbed onto Morgan's hand, and he helplessly shrugged.

I nodded, "Sure. Yeah, you guys can go with us. We can just expand the tent for more room. I can't make it too big though; can't spend that much magical energy with a baby."

She gently patted the part of my face that she had pinched before dragging Morgan off to their car. I tilted my head at everyone that was still there. The kids still looked agitated, but they refused to talk for once. Usually all of our kids were very vocal about their wants, needs, and wishes. I didn't know if I liked this change.

Rick squinted at everyone against the sunshine, "What's going on?" I really wanted to know too. Usually we didn't have that many arguments in our group, but that might have been because we were all on the road and had plenty of distractions within the SUV.

Glenn glanced up at us, "Jenny doesn't wanna stay here 'cause of the noises she heard in the barn…but we can't just leave Dale, right?"

Carol shook her head, "Glenn's right, but we have to do something about the noise. What if it's walkers?"

Daryl looked wary for some reason before speaking up, "We can deal with the noise, eh Merle? That's not the problem. We can even stay and wait for Dale to come to his senses, but where do we go from there?"

Merle nodded, "Yep. Darilina's right. Your lady's gonna pop outta a baby at some point so we can't stay with these farmers for the long haul."

Rick's attention was focused on the others, but the kids had caught my eye with their quiet agitation. Duane was wringing his hands, Judy was bouncing on the balls of her heels, Sophia was biting her lip, and Carl kept bouncing his knee. I wonder if they were waiting their turn to speak like we had taught them growing up. If that was the reason for their quiet agitation, then I would be proud; even in the apocalypse we had polite kids.

Rick sounded calm and confident while he tried to solve this problem, "You're all right. We can't stay here forever. Those sounds could be walkers and therefore a danger to us, and we can't really leave someone behind. I'm sure if we all talk about it we can figure out a compromise that meets everyone's needs."

Carol uncrossed her arms, "So if it is a walker filled barn?"

Rick had his thinking face on and I decided to step in. I didn't want the kids to wait for their turn forever, "We could always show them that these things are dangerous and need to be put down. We can have you, Daryl, and Merle go at them at that point. How's that sound?" Glenn looked relieved when I didn't mention him. I wondered if his hesitance to go against a lot of walkers meant that he still wasn't over being used as walker bait. Would he internalize that in this dimension too?

Carol, Daryl, and Merle nodded in agreement.

Rick kissed the top of my head and I could feel him smile, "All right. So we wait for Dale before we leave and during that time we'll deal with the possible danger here. Do you guys have any suggestions as to where we should head to?" At this point I could see that the kids weren't too interested in this conversation because they had moved into the SUV. I think they were going to watch cartoons while we finished up this conversation.

Daryl looked out past the forest and turned back to us, "We should head to the mountains. It'll be safer there."

Merle grunted in agreement, "The mountains would be pretty a good spot for hunting too."

Carol had a curious look on her face, "We could certainly make a new home up in the mountains, but which mountains?"

"It would certainly be safer. Maybe we could head up to the Rockies?" Rick's suggestion had merit, but that was so God damn far…we needed something closer. Some place that we could claim unconditionally. Somewhere we could hide away in without any danger of others finding us and killing us all; either the dead or the living.

I hummed and shook my head. They looked at me curiously. "The mountain idea is great, but we're so far from any. Traveling that much and that far could leave us with casualties especially since I will end up having to give birth at some point. How about we head to an island? I know that there's at least one close by, so we'd have a body of water separating us from danger. The closest one is called the Three Sisters Island, I think."

Glenn cleared his throat, "I know that place! It's up in Lake Lanier. Most people get there via ferry. The whole island is uninhabited, but people loved hiking, swimming or fishing up there. How are we going to get to there?" The others nodded in agreement. That would be tricky…still…I looked up at Rick with a pout forming on my face.

"We could go with my wife's idea. There is always a bit of magic if we want to go to that island. It would realistically be a solid safe haven wherein we wouldn't have to worry about someone coming by since the whole getting there would be difficult. We could even ward the entire island so people stay away should they want to try." Rick gave me a warm hug with the arm that still encircled me.

Merle nodded, "The whole place would be a safe haven. It would be easy to get to and get supplies with short stop's magic in play too...one focal point location could make portkeying easy too so we could pop in and out without shortie expending her magical energy. Water, access to trees, our own hunting grounds, magic, and we could easily clear it if there are walkers there too…hmm." I could see the cogs in his brain whirring away.

Carol actually grinned, her eyes crinkling, "I always wanted to live on an island." Pre-apocalypse, she and I had always talked about retiring on a warm fun filled island with our families. I had something more tropical in mind when we had talked about that though.

Daryl looked happier, "There would be better hunting too and fishin' since it was a park. We can even make a tiny marina. I bet we could clear some inner land for farming or something like that too." I could see this idea excited him more than the mountains.

Rick had a thoughtful look on his face, "It would certainly be a long dive up there, and we'd have to go around Atlanta and the other big cities. We could totally plug it into our GPS though." My husband loved his GPS; I think it was because he had programmed it to sound like batman. The kids always got a kick out of it when he used it.

Glenn looked reluctant though, "Would we leave the Greenes?" I wondered if he already had a bit of crush on Maggie. They hadn't really talked much, but he did seem attracted to her.

Rick shook his head, "If they're actually okay folks, I say we don't leave em' to their doom. Whatcha' all think?" I nodded along with everyone else and Glenn's smile crawled back onto his face. I gently squeezed his shoulder and unwound myself from my husband giving him a quick peck along the way. "I'm going to see what the kids want."

Merle snorted, "Cartoons I bet. Do you want me to set up yer fancy tent, short stuff?" I tilted my head and thought about it.

"Oh! I can help you with that. Our tent's kind of tricky." Rick piped in. I guess I wouldn't have to decide.

While Rick and Merle went off their merry way to put up the tent I wondered what bonded the two. I could probably find out later if I asked either of them. I tended to forget about things like that though.

Glenn looked longingly at the house, "I…ermm…should go check if Maggie needs anything, right? Cause we're her guests…"

Carol let out a tinkling laugh, "Go after her, Casanova."

He grinned before waving at us and soon sprinted off towards the house.

I happily sighed, "He's so adorable, like a little kid with his first crush…"

Daryl shrugged, "You gonna be okay while Carol and I scope the area and hunt a little?"

"Yep, you two go have fun." I grinned and stuck my tongue out slightly.

Carol rolled her eyes while she smiled at me. She made sure to ruffle my hair before going off with Daryl, "See you later, little bean."

"Bye guys!" I cheerfully waved at their retreating forms and I made my way into the SUV. I could see that the kids were watching future episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants on the Smart panel TV. However, when I opened the door I managed to catch their attention away from the TV.

Judy looked extremely relieved, "Mommy! We want magic lessons! We was gonna ask, but then all the adults started talkin' and we knew that it would've been rude to talk."

Carl poked his sister's cheek, "It's 'we were', Juds. Mom, I'd like to learn how we can become invisible like Sophia too."

Sophia looked uncomfortable when Carl mentioned her little slip up earlier. "I didn't mean too," she mumbled.

Duane pouted, "I wanna learn magic too, Aunt Laura. What if I'm magic and I just haven't done anything like Soph?" He looked adorable.

"Well we could test out whether you have magic I suppose. I hadn't really thought about testing people for magic, but that would be useful. Do you kids wanna stay here and keep watching cartoons while the tent gets put up?" I wanted to make sure they were safe and sound before I went over to talk to Jenny and Morgan.

Judy looked around thoughtfully before her stomach let out a plaintive grumble. She looked sheepish, "I'm hungry though."

Carl nodded, "I could eat." He was pouting now too.

Sophia rubbed her stomach, "Me too."

Duane leaned back against his seat and stared at the ceiling thinking for a little bit, "Me three."

"Alright…how about I conjure you guys some snacks and you guys promise that you'll stay here while we set up? I promise that we'll do magic tests and lessons as soon as we're all settled, okay?" I flicked my wrist and conjured up Lays potato chips in regular, barbeque, salt and vinegar, and ketchup flavor. I also made sure to conjure up some gummy bears, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, oatmeal cookies, chocolate Pocky and orange juice for each child. Judy bounced; she loved snacks.

They all cheered and promised to do as I said. I hoped that they would hold their end of the bargain. I recalled from watching the show that there were walkers about not too far from here.

Carl leaned over his sister and gave me a peck on the cheek and a hug, "You're the best mom! Thank you!"

"Yeah…thanks mommy!" She slobbered on my cheek giggling when I wiped her saliva off. I pinched her cheek lightly.

"Thank you Aunt Laura!" Sophia and Duane cheered at the same time. They glared at one another, "Jinx!"

Sophia smiled triumphantly, "You owe me a soda." Duane grumbled under his breath and stuffed some Lays chips into his mouth; salt and vinegar flavor.

I closed the door and made sure that the charms, wards, and runes were still active. The kids would be totally safe. I spotted Jenny and Morgan leaning against their car, "Hey guys. What's up?"

Morgan smiled and gave me a short wave, "Nothing much; just the wife overreacting."

Jenny snorted, "Overreacting he says."

I joined them and leaned back on an open space beside them on their car. The air smelt sweeter while the sun began dipping down the sky. I wondered if that was just my imagination because of my pregnancy hormones. Did someone make cinnamon buns? Ohhhh…were Merle and Rick done putting the tent up? I hoped there really were cinnamon buns available right now. "Whatcha mean?"

Jenny bit her lip and leaned her head down onto my shoulder, "Oh sugar…I found out I'm pregnant too. Just about four weeks now…I don't wanna stay where we could be in danger…" A frown furrowed her brow while she glared at the barn.

Morgan shook his head, "I kept trying to tell her that we'll be fine especially since we're all wearing the protection jewelry we have at all times. She won't listen though. You go and try and convince her. I'm going to join Rick in putting that tent of yours up; Merle might need some help too." He shrugged, lovingly kissed his wife, and jogged off.

I took a deep breath getting another whiff of the sweet cinnamon I had smelt before. I prayed that I would be getting something sweet from Rick later; in both meanings. "You trust me right?"

Jenny raised her eyebrow, "Of course, sugar. I trust you with my life as well as my loved ones lives. You know that." She looked up at the cloudless sky.

I nuzzled my head on her shoulder which caused her to let out a little laugh, "Then trust me when I say that we'll be okay."

She grinned and shook her head, "You didn't need to rhyme, sugar."

I shrugged, "Makes life fun."

"We do need more fun in the apocalypse. Do you think they're making us cinnamon buns?" Rick made the best cinnamon buns, second only to Carol. I always seemed to crave them when I was pregnant.

"I hope so Jenny, I really hope so."

She laughed at my serious expression and we made our way to a completed sturdy looking tent. It was still the pink that Judy had picked out. I loved our bigger on the inside tent.

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Dear diary,

I honestly thought I would never have time to write in you again, but we're taking a little break from magic lessons so I have a couple minutes to spare. Turns out Duane had a little bit of magic too. I had him try out Wingardium Leviosa on a feather, much like the movie, sans a wand, and it actually levitated. Go figure. I should've guessed the children would have all had magic in them.

I managed to teach them all how to turn invisible, which was pretty cool, but I made them promise to only do so during emergencies. We finished up a couple easy household charms, basic runes, basic warding patterns, and I even managed to show them how to pull themselves to me. I was a little worried about them portkeying themselves randomly at my side. Sure...I wanted them to practice and be safe, but they could seriously hurt themselves with this.

On a brighter note, they loved my lesson in basic conjuration. Duane conjured up a grape soda for Sophia since apparently he owed her one. I never really understood why some kids took a jinx so seriously. Sophia was happy though.

Carl conjured up a corndog, Judy conjured up turtle; which totally baffled me, and Sophia conjured up a giant snickers bar. Her chocolate bar looked more like a fucking cake. We still had about three quarters of it in our tent fridge. All it all, for their first practical conjurations lesson it went really well. The turtle still kind of freaked me out though. Judy had conjured up a living thing on the first go. I wondered what made her research turtles to that extent that she could produce one that wasn't utterly stupid. It's now her first ever pet, Terrance the turtle. The only odd thing about our new resident reptile was that it had blue eyes.

When Merle and Daryl saw that the kids knew how to become invisible they wanted in as well. I offered to do the same for Carol since she hunted as well, but she just smiled and shook her head. She knew that I couldn't do too much while I had a bun in the oven.

In order to power up some invisibility runes for them I had to teach the kids how to charge that too. Being pregnant when I wanted to do all this magic kind of sucked. Oh well...this gave me a good reason to keep teaching the kids things we had to know.

After they were able to turn invisible, only three times in a week for about eight hours each time, I asked them if they could teach us how to shoot with a revolver. Carol looked giddy at the prospect of teaching us too. I had always begged off on those lessons, lessons that I had assured her that we would do later and I supposed now would be later.

I had conjured and charmed some revolvers for each of our kids and we all expressly told them not to abuse this privilege. Sure, they knew how to shoot with crossbows, rifles, and with magic...but revolvers always felt a little weird to me for some reason. I supposed it was too close to what Carl had carried and what the other children used in the show. Rick and Morgan joined in with agreeing with everyone, but I think it was because they were gun enthusiasts to begin with. Jenny was meh about the whole thing. She had stated that her husband was bound to try and bond with Duane like that eventually.

Glenn asked if I would attach something cool onto his protection necklace like with Daryl and Merle. Me and the kids decided that the best thing to put on Glenn's necklace was a notice me not charm until I had more energy. It wouldn't be as effective as the invisibility rune, but it would do for now.

The other ladies and I joked that we should also put on a contraceptive charm since Glenn and Maggie kept getting kind of 'touchy'. 'Touchy' was the polite way of saying that they kept groping each other when they thought we weren't lookin'. He turned as red as an overly ripe tomato when we mentioned it. The only qualm he had about it was that Maggie might be confused. In all seriousness, when Glenn said that I put the charm on for him and added a slight confundus which would make Maggie believe he had condoms. This, of course, would be removed if we ever told her about magic.

We've been camping out on the Greene family's lawn more or less for a week when Glenn found out something important while he and Maggie were sneaking around to "talk". There really were walkers in their barn. Carol wanted to shoot them; they certainly were a clear danger to everyone. And we all agreed, but we couldn't just go shooting everything. We wanted the Greenes to snap out of their delusional state first; it wouldn't be safe to take them with us if they thought that the walkers were just sick.

My husband figured that the Greenes were the way that they were because their walkers didn't straight up try to attack them otherwise their story would be different. I leaned towards his explanation too. They were still a little too friendly after doomsday happened; on one hand I'm glad, but on the other hand it would fuck them over if they weren't careful.

We didn't really have much contact with Dale for a couple of reasons. He was sleeping up in the house guarding Andrea and he didn't really know us all that well. I wondered who our moral compass was since we didn't have Dale. I certainly don't think it was me. He did trust us to take care of his RV though, so there was some faith there.

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It had been three weeks and Andrea was only sluggishly pulling along. Hershel had said it was because his equipment was meant for animals and not people.

They had invited us all for Sunday breakfast after they got to know us a little more. The kids got to eat in the living room near their old clunky TV while the adults had gathered around their kitchen table. It felt weird though since we all still recalled a bleeding Andrea lying on this table a week ago.

I tucked into my bacon, eggs, and pancakes with my right hand while my left hand clung to Rick's sweaty palm. He winked at me while he took a sip of his black coffee. We both felt the slight tension in the air.

Hershel cleared his throat grabbing everyone's attention, "Your friend Andrea..." Merle snorted and covered it by faking a cough. "...seems to be doing alright, but we need actual medication for her to really pull through." Patricia got up at this point and offered more orange juice to the kids. I don't think she liked talking about Andrea all that much. I wondered what happened to make her dislike Blondie so much.

Otis stood up ignoring his pancakes our curious stares. "There's a high school nearby. I can go get meds."

Hershel frowned, "Alone? Are you sure?"

Otis paled, but nodded resolutely. I was honestly glad that none of us volunteered to go with him. "It was might fault so it's my burden to bear alone." Patricia looked like she was imitating a shaking leaf. They both left the table together, probably to talk about it.

Rick squeezed my hand and kept eating. Usually this meant that we would all be on high alert should Otis get back. It was more like a suicide mission in my opinion, and if he did get back he most likely would be bitten or scratched. None of us wanted to bring the walker plague right to our doorstep. Carol subtly glared at Hershel while she ate her porridge. I could see that the hand that she had under the table was clenched in a tight fist. I couldn't understand Hershel right now either; did his delusion go so deep as to think that walkers weren't that dangerous?

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Otis came back pale and clammy the next day. Patricia went right over to him helping him sit down. The ladies were gathered in the house again at Hershel's instance since it was an awfully hot day today. He mentioned something about us avoiding heat stroke because of our flimsy tent. Psh…If he only knew the reality of our awesome badass tent he wouldn't have offered us their home. I think he was feeling guilty again.

Otis sat down by Jimmy turns and swallowed some pills that Patricia gave him. He put his head down near Jimmy blankly staring at him.

I glanced at them from my seat on their couch with the kids. Rick was off with Morgan mapping out our route and our pit stops to the island we had chosen in his office, Merle and Daryl were hunting, and Carol was with me and Jenny. Glenn was out with Maggie doing whatever they did by themselves.

"Do you think he'll turn?" I whispered to the ladies while we sipped the sweet tea that I had subtly conjured while the Hershel, Jimmy, Beth and Patricia were bustling around their kitchen.

Carol nodded and kept her hand on her disillusioned gun. Jenny kept worriedly glancing down at our pregnant bellies and the children, her pregnancy wasn't visible as of yet, but I knew how she was worrying. They had been trying for another child for years now.

The children were oblivious to the danger that was here ever since Otis had walked in. Judy had all got them to play the Heads Up Charades game. So far I think the girls were winning. I was glad that they were so absorbed in their game. If this situation went tits up, I'd rather not have them see it.

We heard a shriek in the kitchen; Jimmy was getting gnawed on by Otis. His eyes were a sickly white now, and he had apparently turned without anyone noticing. Patricia and Dale ran over and pried Otis off of Jimmy's shoulder. Jimmy was heavily bleeding and leaned against the counter supporting himself with his left arm while he tried to stem the flow of blood with his right hand. Beth shook like a leaf and Hershel looked conflicted at the scene that unfolded so quickly before them.

Carol stood in front of us while Jenny and I stood in front of the kids; the living room wasn't too far from the kitchen, but I doubt any one of us wanted to take a chance that it wouldn't matter. I had placed a protego totalum and a silencio around the children. They didn't need the nightmares from what this situation would entail.

Dale was getting torn into shreds; his stomach was torn open like a piñata, and Patricia looked petrified. I had to give it to Dale though. He didn't scream once, I could see his pained expression while he struggled to fight him off. Hershel looked green, conflicted with intervening and running. Beth had broken down into quiet sobs while she hugged herself carefully moving towards Jimmy. Jimmy was quickly going pale. Walker Otis didn't seem to care about the other living things while he chowed down on Dale though.

Hershel turned to us and let out a pained sound. "Please do something." I supposed that it finally dawned on him that these walkers weren't just sick people. Sick people certainly didn't tear people limb from limb, or pried open people like peaches.

Carol shot Otis and Dale in the head acquiescing to Hershel's request. I was so glad that I had silenced her gun. Jenny looked faint and I helped her sit down near the kids.

She motioned to Jimmy with her gun. "What about Jimmy?" I tightened my hold on my magic, that act alone helped to calm my racing heart.

"You gonna be okay?" I whispered making sure that the kids were safe and that there weren't any walkers from what I could see through the nearby window.

Jenny quietly nodded and swallowed back something, what I assumed would be bile, "This is just like when your neighbors got eaten." I could see that she looked a bit green. The peace we had experienced certainly didn't last long.

I nodded, "Tums?" I always had a small medical bag on me at all times. I stowed it away in a secret pocket in my bra. Shrinking charms, feather-light charms, and self cleaning charms were the best things to place onto bras, especially while I was pregnant. Goodbye lactation milk stains.

She shook her head. "I'll keep watch over the kids and you can watch Carol's back." I nodded and kept an eye on Carol while she took charge.

Jimmy was already rapidly dying from what we could tell from over here, "Mr. Greene?" The blood rapidly poured from his shoulder despite the pressure he applied, muscle fibers were brightly visible against the sunlight that streamed through the blood stained curtains. If it was an arm or a leg, any appendage we could cut off really, we could've saved him. As it were Carol fingered her gun again never taking her eye off of Jimmy because to us he was already a goner.

Hershel had partially shaken off his shock and gathered Beth away from Jimmy with little to no struggle. He looked at us, "Can we save him?"

Carol shook her head silently. Once she had acknowledged that Hershel and Beth both fell apart. Patricia stood over her dead husband and a mutilated Dale. She fell to her knees weeping silently after staring at Otis's face. Dale's intestines and blood were spread across Otis's face, a torn intestine hanging out of his open mouth.

Beth let out a plaintive whine while tears streamed down her face as her father pulled her further away from Jimmy. Jimmy gave Beth a sad smile before giving her father a short solemn nod, "Mrs. Peletier?"

Carol's face was neutral, but I could tell from her shaking shoulders that she didn't want to shoot him, "Just call me Carol, James." We had recently made him a birthday cake celebrating his eighteenth birthday a couple days ago. He wasn't forthcoming with information about his life before the apocalypse, but he was certainly sweet towards us.

He slumped down the counter cabinets and sat down on the bloodied linoleum floor. "My mother used to call me James...she's in the barn with Beth's mom...Could you...could you please make sure we end up in the same place? …In heaven…I don't want us to be monsters. My momma...my momma would be so sad..." He glanced at Beth, tears trickled down his cheeks, "I love you Beth..." He turned his dimming eyes towards Hershel, "Mr. Greene...don't...keep...monsters..." His chest let out a rattling breath. I wiped away the tear tracks on my cheeks. He really was sharp in this dimension...

Hershel looked like he wanted to run or drown his sorrows in liquor. He turned and kissed Beth on the head before stumbling out of the house. Beth crumpled to the ground and was about to reach for Jimmy, but before she could do that Carol shot Jimmy straight in the head.

Beth stared at us with wide, scared eyes, filled with tears. The glass shook in the kitchen and cracked when she curled up into a ball by Jimmy's dead body.

Patricia had fled the room while Jimmy was taking his last breaths. I think she had headed to Andrea's temporary room.

Carol shook slightly and I gave her a tight hug, as tight as I could with my belly, "You gonna be okay?"

Carol nodded and wiped away a stray tear, "He was a good kid."

Beth let out a loud sob shattering the light bulb in the kitchen. My eyes widened while Carol shook her head, "That's quite a bit of accidental magic at her age."

I was about to go over and comfort her, but Carol stopped me, "Make sure that the kids and Jenny get back to the tent. I'll deal with this mess and Beth. Could you call Merle and the others back to the tent if they're not already there?"

"Mhmm...I can do all that, but are you sure that you want to handle this alone? I can help. Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I can't still do things." I resisted the urge to pout. I hated not being able to really help.

Carol kissed the top of my head, "I can handle this. I owe Beth that much after I had to shoot her boyfriend." She sounded calm, but I could hear a hint of wariness in her voice.

I took down the shield and quickly led the kids and Jenny away from the remnants of the blood bath. While I scurried off, I glanced back and saw that Carol had knelt down to a still sobbing Beth.

Carl looked up at me while we speed walked back to our tent. I had quietly and firmly asked them to all hold hands so we could go faster, "What's going on mom?"

"I'll explain once we get to the tent, darlin'," I muttered. Jenny looked sick still, maybe her pregnancy nausea was kicking in. It was either the nausea or the blood bath, either way she probably needed a bathroom.

When we made it to the tent, the kids plopped themselves down on the nearby couch while Jenny ran to the bathroom. My cell phone rang and I curiously picked it up. "Hello?"

"Yo, short stuff. We stopped the farmer from going off the property. He said something about coming to terms with stuff after a drink. Daryl even got him to give us permission to off the walkers. Ya'll okay over there? Should I bring old MacDonald back to the tent for a stiff one? Guy looks like he might need it." Merle sounded gruff and I heard Hershel exclaim that we had a working cell phone.

I nodded, "Yeah. You can bring 'em to the tent. We have to bring Beth in too. Carol's collecting her; she had a burst of accidental magic when Jimmy died."

"Wait. What? That boy toy of hers' is dead? How about the bad shot and Dale? Are they okay?" I could hear Merle's curiosity and Hershel pacing nearby him. I managed to also hear Daryl explaining something to Hershel. I couldn't make out the exact words though.

The children looked slightly alarmed when I had mentioned that Jimmy had died and that Beth had a dangerous bout of accidental magic. Jenny managed to get them calm and quietly explained the situation in a way she only could.

I started pacing behind the couch that held all the kids, "Yeah...all of em. Otis was probably scratched or bit. We couldn't see anything on him though. It could just be the virus."

Merle grunted, "Virus?"

I slapped my forehead gently with the hand that wasn't holding my cell phone, "Yeah. I keep forgetting that ya'll didn't have any tech when ya'll were with Shane."

I could hear Merle getting tense at the mention of Shane, "Tell us about it all when we get back to the tent. We'll make sure to bring old MacDonald along." I heard Hershel stating that he would prefer to be called by his name. Merle just laughed it off in his typical fashion.

"See ya soon." I touched the end call feature on my phone's screen and saw that the kids were staring at me while Jenny had apparently given up and laid down on the couch nearby them.

Judy looked up at me with her blue eyes, blue eyes so similar to my husbands, "Mommy?"

"Yes, darling?" I don't think this much stress while pregnant was good for me at all. I combed a hand through my wavy locks. I was thankful that we had indoor pluming, working hot water, and lovely showers.

Judy had apparently gotten her fluffy unicorn and clung to it, "Where's Beth?" The kids had apparently gotten along quite well with Beth and Jimmy. Sophia made a sour face, "Is Jimmy really dead?"

Carl had a pensive look, "Mom said he died while she was on the phone so probably is."

Duane had a guilty look on his face even though his tone was petulant, "I don't really feel that horrible about him dying...we didn't really know him that well. Is that bad?"

Carl pinched Duane's side, "I guess not…my great great Mawmaw died a year ago, but we didn't really know her. Mom felt kind of bad when that happened, but she didn't break down or nothin'."

Sophia nodded, "Still though…" She tilted her head back and sighed.

It always amazed me when the kids showed how sharp and nosy they were. I hoped those traits would help them in this dimension and not hinder them. "I don't appreciate being eavesdropped on, but yes. James has died and Elizabeth is still in the house. Aunt Carol is cleaning up and straightening her out before bringing her here."

Judy nodded and snuggled into her stuffed animal. "Okay." It was so easy to explain things to Judy because once you explained something she'd pretty much just accept it, at least from me and Rick.

Sophia leaned back against the couch, "Is my momma gonna be okay?"

I threaded my hand through her soft long sandy blonde hair, "Of course. She just wanted to handle this one alone. You know that she can handle just about anything."

Sophia nodded and the boys had already decided it was enough doom and gloom. They had slid off the couch and started setting up the Wii that I had conjured for them a week ago. I wandered towards the kitchen hearing the children's conversation about what to play in the background. I sat on one of the barstools around the kitchen island and pressed my phone to my ear after I dialed Rick's number.

"Honey?" I tried to make sure that my voice didn't waver. This had been a really messed up day considering the relative peace that we had recently experienced.

Rick picked up on my stress, "Sweet pea, what's wrong?"

At his tone of voice I just lost the battle to maintain composure. I told him all about how Otis got infected, how Dale died, how Jimmy died, how Carol had to do it, Beth's accidental magic, and the whole kerfuffle of a mess that was heading to our tent right now. He stated that he and Morgan would be right out of the shooting range.

It wasn't long before my husband engulfed into a warm tight hug while Morgan went over to check up on Jenny. "We'll get through this, sweetheart. I love you."

"I love you too, honey." I buried my nose in his chest and took in his scent. We'd just have to face everything head on, so far that was working well for us.

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It took several hours but we had gathered everyone here. Hershel looked hesitant when he first entered the tent and Beth was mostly depressed when Carol had her come in. Maggie looked astonished while she walked into our tent. Patricia had offered to watch over Andrea so she wasn't here. They needed a talk about magic, the barn, and this whole doomsday thing. I'm glad Rick decided to record the news cast on a USB.

Hershel sat next to Beth and Maggie holding their hands tightly. Maybe after all of this we could give him a bit of a stiff drink. He certainly looked like he needed it. Beth took everything in around her with a sad wonder and Maggie just looked shocked. Yes, it was indeed bigger on the inside. For a moment I wondered if any of them liked Doctor Who. It certainly wasn't as big or as glamorous as the Tardis, but it was still pretty cool in my book.

Maggie saw that Glenn had taken a seat near her and she grinned slightly, taking his hand with her free one. Hershel's eyes softened when he saw Maggie and Glenn holding hands. At least that part of this world hadn't changed.

Rick was leaning against one the walls facing the couches near the television, "So ya'll are here because of a couple things. First thing's first though. That barn of yours houses monsters, walkers we call 'em. If the proof of what happened this morning hasn't convinced you then I'll show you the international news video that happened when this entire thing first started."

Beth looked hesitant, but raised her hand. I chuckled. She was definitely a goody two shoes pre-apocalypse, "Yes, Beth?"

"Could we talk about magic first instead? I'm sure daddy'll let ya'll get rid of the monsters our loved ones turned into...the magic thing is more important right now, right daddy?" She looked so hopeful. I supposed it would be a lighter topic than the gore that she recently experienced. At least she didn't try to kill herself in this reality.

I also noted that she didn't cut herself in this dimension either, which was intriguing. I found this out because she was wearing a sleeveless shirt because of the heat and her arms were bare of any marks or scars.

Hershel looked conflicted before he let his shoulders sag in defeat. "Magic first…madness later."

Rick nodded. I found it didn't really matter what we spoke about first because we knew we would be safe within our tent and with the vehicles parked nearby that were charmed, warded, and rune carved for our protection. "Laura?"

I nodded, "So as you can actually see magic exists. When you left Hershel, Beth had a bit of accidental magic that shattered the glass in your kitchen. Carol has since then cleaned it up so that isn't a problem."

Maggie rapidly blinked and glanced at her little sister, "Bethy has magic...like…like Harry Potter?"

I wanted to laugh and tried my best to reign in the grin that threatened to break through onto my face. Glenn was grinning brightly at Maggie. They certainly followed the same wave length.

"Kind of. She's not a prophesized child like him, or as powerful. I doubt anyone could be the Master of Death, but much like my children and me, she has magic." I made sure to snuggle into my husband during this conversation.

Hershel looked doubtful, Maggie looked ecstatic, and Beth looked relieved. Hershel looked around before nodding, "I can understand how ya'll can have magic. This tent is proof enough of that, but Bethy's just sixteen. She's a baby. She's my baby."

Beth shook her head and gripped onto her father's hand, "Daddy, I know I'll always be your baby, but...weird stuff's always happened to me. You can't keep explaining it away. Momma, Jason, our neighbors, MawMaw, everyone else is gone. There aren't any more explanations, daddy. It just is what it is, just like what momma said..." She wiped away the tears that had trickled down.

Hershel wilted, but before he could protest Maggie chimed in. "Beth's right, daddy. Ever since she was little weird stuff kept happening to her. Explaining it away won't help us this time. Don't say that I don't know what I'm saying 'cause I'm a baby too. I'm twenty-four now. Besides..." She gently patted his knee, "You prayed for a miracle after momma passed. Doesn't this count as a miracle? Magic, like the stories she used to read to us, is real." Glenn sat on the arm of the couch and rubbed circles into Maggie's back.

He looked so old now, what he just found out seemed to add more years onto his face. "I need a stiff drink."

I went over and started making some tea at the kitchen island nearby. I was really happy that the living room, dining room, and kitchen were all open to one another. Yay open floor plans! "We'll talk about all the particulars about magic after Rick shows the news cast. It's not just for you, but for the kids, Glenn, Merle, and Daryl too. Ya'll haven't seen the news and you need to."

I conjured up some hot water and tea while Carol came over and prepared something stronger for Hershel, Merle, and Daryl. Jenny joined in and started making hot chocolate for everyone else. Morgan decided to morally support Rick by taking my spot on the wall beside my husband.

Rick nodded, "This panel is a smart TV. It acts like a computer and is powered by magic, the other's already got an explanation. If ya'll have questions I can answer them after this. This little orange stick that looks like Lego is called a USB and it has the information we need. I'm gonna plug this in and it'll show you the previous recording from the beginning of this walker plague. I'll switch to the current news after alright."

Everyone nodded while the ladies and I finished up the drinks we were concocting. We'd probably be finished in the middle of the news.

I listened in while I finished making some tea for me and Rick. Carol had slipped in some rum with the coffee she had brewed, and Jenny had added a dollop of nutella, tiny marshmallows and some whipped cream in each mug.

The news woman, red head somebody, was talking about how the virus had become airborne. I swear that woman looked like Scarlett Johansson. The epicenter of it all, in the States, was in Los Angeles and California and she warned us all to stay away. The president and our main government officials were all sequestered away in a far away centre in the mountains. There were actual safe zones, but she also warned everyone that we'd have to find them our selves since some of the military officials went rouge. Atlanta had been bombed. She had stated warily that those that got bit, scratched, or had any skin penetration by the infected would soon be infected themselves. Since the virus was airborne, if someone died; from any cause, they would come back as a walker. These walkers were described as shells of the virus. The people that they once were no longer lived in their bodies since the memory center of the brain was eaten away by the virus. Everything that made them who they were would no longer be present. They went and talked about the in-depth aspect of all of this. The news went on for a while and the Greenes, Dixons, and Glenn paled as they processed all this information.

We handed out the drinks we had made. Rick gladly accepted the tea and took a seat on a nearby arm chair. I perched on his lap sipping my own mug of fruit tea. Carol had handed off the strong coffee to Daryl, Merle and Hershel and they all looked like they appreciated it. Carol sat down on the loveseat that Daryl had parked himself in. Merle leaned against the wall staring blankly at our TV.

Jenny gave all the kids, Glenn, and Maggie hot chocolate. I think it soothed their nerves. Carl and Judy had moved away from the other kids to snuggle near Rick's legs. They hadn't seen the news either. It was brutal and very gory for the news.

Sophia had made her way over to Carol and plopped down on her lap. Morgan and Jenny took the seats that the other children had occupied and cuddled with their son. This was something dreadful, but we couldn't stop watching. It was like an ongoing train wreck.

When the news finally finished Rick didn't bother showing the international news that was left. I don't think anyone really wanted to rehash any of what our reality entailed.

Beth turned around and stared at the doorway, "We'll be safe here, right?"

I nodded, "Mhmm...Our stuff's been charmed to the teeth."

Carl looked up at me finishing off his hot chocolate, "What happens to Dale's RV?"

Merle grunted, "We should take it. Ten to one, we'll have more use to it than Andrea. If she pulls through she can have it. Shrink it, will ya shortie?"

"That's true." Rick intoned and I agreed.

Hershel was stone silent only really just letting it settle in, "After seeing that...magic seems like a rainbow." I smiled while everyone nodded silently finishing off their drinks.

Maggie looked hard at us probably noting that we all wore jewelry, "What's up with all the jewelry? Is that a city folk thing?"

Carol shook her head, "Laura made us protection necklaces."

Hershel looked at me hopefully, "Protection?" I assumed he was asking me what that meant and if they could have some as well. I glanced at his two daughters and saw hope reflected back at me.

Rick tightened his hold on me and kissed the back of my neck, "She's pregnant right now so she shouldn't really expend her magic."

I gazed at my husband with a warm smile stretched across my face; my dimples were once again prominent, "Three shouldn't be too hard."

Beth frowned, "What about Aunt Patricia though?"

Before I could really explain why I could only make three, Maggie shook her head and poked her sister, "Patricia is a very religious person, Bethy…the kind that would wanna burn a witch." Beth winced at that comment. That name applied to her now too.

Hershel looked sad, but he nodded as well, "Maggie's right, sweetie. Your Aunt Patricia is a sweet soul, but she's a religious nut." The unsaid words rang through my head. As nice as she seemed, a person who would hurt us because she thought magic originated from the devil...just even the thought of that made my skin crawl. I was a Christian myself, but trying to hurt someone for something they couldn't help...Damn.

Beth pouted, "That really sucks..." She crossed her arms and slumped in her seat.

Carl nodded, "This whole apocalypse thing kind of sucks." He placed his mug, his sister's mug, and our mugs on the nearby coffee table. Judy nodded against my leg, she clung onto her unicorn.

"Kind of, but now we get to spend more time with our parents and friends and that's really cool." Sophia chipped in snuggling against her mother. Carol kissed the side of her head lovingly.

Duane let out a little laugh, "It is nice not having my mom as the principle of our school."

Jenny rolled her eyes and gently swatted him in the back of his head. His comment made a majority of our group chuckle slightly.

This was the certainly a strange start of our friendship with the Greenes.

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So diary,

It's nice to write to you again. Wow…this'll make it two entries in one month. That's great, considering the circumstances.

We gave a better in depth explanation about magic to the Greenes after the video about the news finished. They were even more accepting of magic after we gave them a demonstration with the kids. I conjured up their favorite meal and it made Hershel cry. Apparently it was the meal that his wife always made every Sunday evening.

I got the kids to conjure up stuff as well. Beth and Maggie were astounded, although Beth was more excited about the prospect of doing magic as well. We all had protection jewelry now. Beth had chosen to use the earrings that Sophia had conjured up, golden daisy stud earrings, and Maggie chose the star stud earrings that Judy had conjured up. Duane had conjured up a golden chain while Carl had managed to conjure up a delicate looking golden hay bale pendent; Hershel had chosen to wear both of theirs. The kids were proud of their creations, and I was proud that they had actually conjured up actual golden jewelry. Their lessons were certainly working out well.

I charmed their respective pieces of jewelry with the same charms, rune carvings, and protection spells that I had given to everyone else, portkeying included.

They had opened the barn and let Carol, Daryl, Merle handle the first onslaught of walkers that came out. When there were a few stragglers, we let the others; including the kids, try their aim out with the guns we had given them. They were all pretty good shots, but they needed more confidence...especially Beth. Hesitating in this life might just get you killed. When all the walker versions of their loved ones were killed I made sure that Beth didn't go into a suicide spiral. She didn't, but she did manage to make one walker explode out of grief. Hershel needed another stiff coffee after all that, and Glenn comforted Maggie so she was mostly okay.

Patricia had found out that Beth had magic some how and locked herself up with Andrea. She gave us the evil eye every time we passed by her and no longer talked to Hershel, Maggie, or Beth. I think she only really took care of Andrea out of a feeling of obligation. I wondered if that would lead to her doom. Andrea was still sluggishly healing despite the medicine that Otis had gotten for her.

We celebrated Carl's twelfth birthday in our tent. Daryl had found a stray golden retriever during one of the few runs they did, and he brought her back as a present for Carl. She was a sweet dog and Hershel said that she was probably only about four years old. He also managed to confirm that she neutered; Hershel was a good vet. My son dubbed her Mia. Rick and Judy sang him a song for his birthday while Rick played the guitar. Those two loved making music.

The kids conjured up their own gifts for Carl, and the others brought back things from their run. Sophia had conjured up a leather vest for him. Duane worked on conjuring a bunch of rice. I used the rice to make them a shit ton of onigiri*. I was glad I let them watch all that anime on the smart TV. Beth, on her first try at conjuration, made my son neon green sunglasses. I would need to show her the inner workings of things text book that I had the kids always reading. Conjuration wasn't any good if you didn't know how the thing worked, how it was built, and what it did.

Carol had gotten Carl a sheriff hat, which made me wanna have a heart attack. Merle had found a huge can of chocolate pudding and gave it to my son; I had a feeling that I knew where that can came from. Rick let him have his sheriff badge, which made our son actually tear up. Morgan and Jenny gave Carl a leather backpack filled with books and Xbox 360 games; Morgan found it all and decided it would suit him. Hershel decided to let Carl have one of his chickens when Carl expressed his wish to have one. I think my son had meant in Skyrim though, but he was happy enough with one in real life from what I saw. Maggie and Glenn managed to find an Xbox 360 with five controllers to go with all his new games. I made sure to cast a Repairo on all of it along with the proper charms to make it work with magic. I would upgrade it for Carl for Christmas.

We all decided to shrink Dale's RV since Andrea was hardly healing. If she did miraculously get better then we would just unshrink it. Surprisingly it was Maggie's idea during our, now, regular Sunday afternoon lunches.

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The air chilled and the leaves turned into vibrant reds, yellows, and oranges. Some of the bright crunchy leaves fell onto the ground, and the days shortened. This signaled that November was upon us...Well that and all of our technology indicated that it was already November; November eleventh to be exact. I made sure to wear my poppy tee-shirt. I doubt if I actually wore a poppy people would understand.

I took in a deep breath of the sharp crisp country air and watched the sun rise with my husband. I was bundled up in my blue sheepskin lined hoodie and charmed yellow skinny pants. I tucked my feet further into my brown Ugg boots and lifted the red fleece blanket that we were sharing up to my neck. Rick chuckled and tightened his hug around me. I was so glad I could still sit on his lap and that we had enlarged our orange camping chair. He blew on the black coffee he was drinking. It was a nice end to our guard duty shift. I wondered how Carol and Daryl were up on the Greene's roof. I hoped that they were properly bundled up.

"You gonna tell me what happened with Shane and Atlanta?" I hated bringing up something so bad during such a nice sun rise, but I did want to know eventually.

"Not right now, sweet pea. I will eventually though, count on it." He nuzzled the back of my neck and I couldn't help but smile.

The frost on the grass made it sparkle, and I contently sighed. This peace was nice. Rick kissed the side of my neck, "I love you."

"I love you too." I twisted around to catch his smiling lips. I could certainly get used to this.

My phone rang, and Rick quirked his eyebrow. I shrugged and deftly slipped my phone out of my pants pocket, "Hello?"

Carol chuckled, "You love birds look adorable from our vantage point."

I rolled my eyes around, "I'm sure you guys look cute too, Carol." I could hear the amusement in her voice. Daryl cleared his throat in the background.

"Bad news little bean…"

I furrowed my brows and got up off of my husband taking the blanket with me. Rick mouthed what's wrong. I shrugged motioning to my phone. "What kind of bad news?"

"I think we have about three or so hours before a herd of about…" She seemed to be confirming something with Daryl, "…A hundred or so walkers are coming our way. They're far and slow so we have time, but we have to get the hell out of here."

I nodded; my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. We'd have to wake everyone up, shrink and pack everything up quick as a whip. Would Patricia wanna come? How could we get to Andrea now that Patricia had barred us from visiting her to see if she was okay? "I'll gather everyone up and we'll head out ASAP. Are you guys okay to get down on your own?"

Daryl laughed in the background despite our apparently dire circumstances. Carol hummed. "Yep, we'll just head back down through the roof access point through the attic. See ya'll soon."

"See ya." I let the phone call end and stared at my husband fear clearly visible on my face.

He got up and gently placed our blanket on the chair. He held my arms searching my face, "Sweet pea?"

I looked up at him and bit my lip, "We have to leave."

"What's wrong? Carol and Daryl saw a huge walker herd comin' our way. They said we have a couple hours max to get the hell outta here. Do you think we'll make it?" I buried my head in his chest, and I could hear his heart start racing.

I heard him take in a large breath of air before he released it, his heart calmed down slightly, "I'll wake everyone up in our tent. You go get the Greenes and the others. The tent and all of our stuff has an automatic stasis and shrinking charm placed on them, right?"

I nodded, "That's true." I bounced on the heels of my feet. I was glad I wore comfortable shoes today.

He bent down slightly and kissed my head, "I love you."

I whined just a little and he bent down further while I tiptoed. I felt his soft lips against mine and I wished we had more time, "I love you too."

He gave me one last hug and hurried back into the tent making sure that he grabbed our camping chair and blanket on his way in. I lightly jogged towards the Greene's house and hoped that we would make it out of here in time. My peaceful morning certainly wasn't turning out how I had hoped.

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I burst through their door and headed straight to the living room. They usually took their meals in there while Patricia had claimed the kitchen. It suited everyone fine since the kitchen had pretty bad memories for them now. I could see that Patricia and a despondent Andrea were in the kitchen. She was feeding some sort of sludge to Andrea.

Hershel, Maggie, Glenn, and Beth were already talking to Carol and Daryl in the living room. I could see that this wasn't the greatest time since it was six forty-nine am. This mess did show some of their personality and what they might have been doing in the morning though. Hershel only had his dark pants on and a thin sleeveless white shirt, a toothbrush held limply in his hand. I think this much bad news all at once wasn't good for his health. Beth had pink doughnut pajamas on; she kept repeatedly trying to stifle her yawns, my conjuration text was held tight against her chest. Did she stay up reading all night? That might have been a bad decision considering that we had to leave pretty soon now. Maggie was wearing what I assumed was Glenn's shirt while Glenn was just wearing pajama bottoms. Oh! I saw a glimmer of a ring on Maggie's left hand finger. I think they might have gotten engaged last night. I was so going to grill them both for details after we get to somewhere safe.

Carol nodded towards me while Daryl helped Hershel sit down to absorb everything, "You, good little bean?"

"Mhmm. I'm here just incase they wanted to pack some stuff. It'll be a good lesson for Beth to learn how to shrink things at a fast rate and the packing charm." I patted Beth's shoulder and she flashed me a sleepy smile.

I suppose we weren't quiet enough because Patricia peeked in on us sneering, "If you're leaving I'm staying. I'm gonna keep Andrea here too. Only a good Christian can heal. You devil spawn people can just leave." With her nose in the air she turned and went back to feeding Andrea.

I felt my ire rise, but squeezed it down. It wouldn't do to just slap people. I shook my head. "You ready to learn something new, Beth?"

Beth nodded, and gently placed down the text book after she let out a yawn, "Whenever you are, teach." I nodded, but paused for a moment; we should probably do this in her room. It would make sense to do that there any ways since most of her things would be present there. Maggie had gently tapped my shoulder causing me to turn to face her.

"We're going to pack up. Do ya'll have one of them charmed bags like in the books?" Maggie looked hopeful. I would make sure to make her bag feather-light along with the extendable charm.

I nodded and conjured up a leather back pack applying the charms right after. "Here you are."

Glenn grinned, "Thanks Mrs. G." Both of them scampered off up stairs. Carol and Daryl shook their heads.

Hershel let out a long resigned sigh and looked up at me from his seat, "Could you hand me one of those bags as well, Laura?"

I conjured up the same leather back pack with the same charms and handed it to Hershel, "Here you go."

He gently took it from me, "Thanks, Laura."

Daryl looked at me and patted my shoulder, "We'll help Hershel with the packin'. You can just worry about Beth." Carol nodded before she turned to Hershel and started showing him how to store things in the charmed backpack.

Beth and I went up the stairs and I saw all the photos of their family nailed up on the wall climbing up the stairs. I was definitely glad those backpacks had been charmed; there were a lot of photos.

She smiled at me and welcomed me into her bedroom. It was a pale blue room and there was a medium sized window on the wall in front of me covered in a white curtain. A worn oak dresser with a mirror sat to my left next to a small desk, a large bed with a side table was to my right, and when I entered further I found that there was a small closet near the bed. It was a tight fit, but seemed cozy. I nodded to myself before turning to face a nostalgic Beth. She was clutching the text I had let her borrow to her chest again while she looked at her room lost in some memory.

I smiled, "Beth? Are you ready?"

She snapped out of whatever she was thinking about and returned my smile with one of her own, "Yep, Mrs. G."

"Alright, just follow me." I demonstrated flicking my rotating my wrist in a specific pattern. "Those motions are what surge the magical energy from your core into this specific charm. Usually we can just surge the magical energy with a word and a wave of a hand, but since this is a very specific charm made for small and large areas we have to do the motions."

She nodded, placed down the text on her dresser, and mimicked my motions, "Like this?"

I beamed, "Exactly! That's perfect Beth. Now take a tiny piece of your magical energy and flow it through your arms to your wrists and hands. Then we'll actually say the charm."

With that we set out to packing up her entire room. We scourgified her clothes, the sheets, and soon we shrunk her bed, her dresser, and all of her other things. I made sure to put a stasis and refreshening charm on it all so it wouldn't get all gross and stale smelling, I always did that when we packed up all of our things. By then end of it all, we had only really spent twenty minutes packing up; now the room just had bare pale blue walls and a beige carpet. We hugged and she left to make sure everyone else had packed up what they had wanted to.

I made my way to where we camped and found that it was all packed up and put away as well. I decide to un-shrink Dale's RV and transcribe all the charms on the SUV onto it. It would do for a magical moving base until we found somewhere with more room. Expansion charms could only be so good on vehicles. It's not like she was the all powerful Harry Potter.

Rick made his way to me and raised an eyebrow before bending down to gently kiss me, "Not takin' the SUV this time, darlin'?"

I shook my head, "We'd all be safer in one vehicle and we have Dale's RV now anyways." I ruffled his growing hair, it always waved a little when he let it grow; Carl had the same kind of hair.

"Alright, we can just move everything to the SUV then. Do you want the kids to help you shrink our SUV and Morgan's car?" He straightened and cracked his back slightly. I hope we had enough time to do all of this.

I nodded, "Yeah, it'll be a good magical exercise for them. Do you think Morgan and Jenny will mind? Oh dear…will we even have enough time?"

He shook his head, "Nope. I was talkin' to him earlier. He said he would prefer it if we all drove in one car too. This RV idea was a good one, and I just confirmed with Daryl. He took another look and said that the herd was at least two hours away still."

Rick made sure to give me another hug and kiss before we went off to do our separate tasks. The sun was rising further in the sky and the morning was heating up slowly. I slipped out of my warm hoodie and got the kids to press the shrinking charms on the cars while the rest of us moved everything into a newly charmed, rune carved, and warded RV. I made it so that it was like a small house on the inside, but I found that I couldn't make it any bigger. There was always a limit to how far you could stretch a mundane item's insides. Oh well, c'est la vie. I made sure to store the cars in palm sized wooden boxes. Merle thought it was hilarious that they looked like little miniature figurines. I found out he loved those kind of things; it kind of weireded me out to be honest.

We all loaded up into the RV and drove off as the sun pressed up higher into the sky. As we drove away we could hear the many moans, grunts and groans of the herd that was converging ever closer to the farm. Hershel had bid farewell to his home along with the girls. He had tried to convince Patricia to come with us or to let us take Andrea. She rudely shot us down on both requests. She didn't even let Beth hug her goodbye. It was a rude awakening for them. Magic, as wonderful as it was, wasn't something that everyone would accept even during the apocalypse.

I sat up next to my husband in the front passenger seat that we had added to the RV. Carl had managed to change the beige exterior to a deep metallic blue with Sophia's and Duane's help. Judy had transfigured our rims to look like black stars. They didn't really do anything, but look cool so I didn't scold her. The kids loved changing the color of things and customizing anything they could get their hands on as of late. The inside of the RV was wonderfully different in comparison to the show. It was bigger, air conditioned, and so much modern. There were now two floors much like the buses from London had two levels. I sipped the watermelon juice in my glass and leaned against my window, "Rick?"

"Yes, darlin'?" He kept his eyes on the road, but he managed to give me a quick kiss.

"Do you think this is like some crazy tradition that won't break until we get to the island? Do you think that will even work?" I stared down to the bottom of my glass before I glanced down at my slightly protruding belly.

Rick dryly laughed, "This won't become some new family tradition for us, but we certainly have to keep moving until we get to that island. I hope, pray, and believe that it will be our escape from this, sweet pea. We just have to get there first."

As we drove off he held my hand, the one that wasn't holding my glass, and I noticed that we were heading to the abandoned campground that they had gone to in the show. "Are going to make another pit stop for a while?"

He nodded, "Yeah. Winter's coming and driving in the snow even with magic isn't something I want to risk. Besides, pit stops cover our tracks."

I agreed and reclined a little in my seat. I shouldn't worry too much. I mean what could there be waiting for us at that campground anyways?

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To be continued...

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Sneak Peak: "...Those fucking bastards were so doped up that they couldn't even protect the kids. My fucking three year old had to sacrifice his life to save my baby girl, his baby sister…"

Onigiri*: Japanese food made from white rice formed into triangular or oval shapes and often wrapped in dried salted seaweed. Traditionally, an onigiri is filled with pickled umeboshi, salted salmon, katsuobushi, kombu, tarako, or any other salty or sour ingredient as a natural preservative. Laura loves putting minced sausages, and veggies into the onigiri that she makes. It's not as traditional, but the kids love it.