Hunters' Mate
Summary: Caught in the zombie apocalypse, two men, desperate to find their missing pup instead find the ones destined for him. Who will survive in the world where the dead reign eternal? Will they find each other or will families be torn apart? How will the story change?
Special Announcement: I have decided to switch my facebook page into a facebook profile for ease of use so that I will actually be able to use it and interact! Come friend me on facebook at Ashton Mason (My pseudonym), or at facebook dot com /ashton. mason .5686
Authors Note: Hey my lovelies. I have been fighting with the muses that be to try and write for the last few months and it hasn't worked. I have finally been able to write something, unfortunately, it is not for Little Dragon or Emerald Flames, but instead a new story.
Honestly? I'm not fighting it, not being able to write has been driving me nuts. So, I hope that you guys are able to appreciate this one anyway!
Happy reading my lovelies!
Warnings as they stand now: Will include mentions (possibly scenes) of rape, noncon, abuse, this is unique I promise, I'm not sure what else a.t.m. because my brain is fried. Will add more later as I think of them. Werewolf Remus, Stuff about mates, soul mates?, destined mates?, Harry is 16 and 17 at the start of all of this but still underage so the tag.
Disclaimer: I do not own either Harry Potter or The Walking Dead. I wish, but I do not. One day I will be published and able to say that I do own something and I will be complete! Today is not that day.
Chapter 1: The Beginning
Harry stood in front of the large double doors that served as the main entrance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the scent of smoke filling his lungs as the sound of screams echoed around him.
Everywhere he looked there was carnage. Friends and classmates lay strewn around him deathly still and covered in blood, their eyes staring blindly into the distance. Ahead of him, others were fighting, some of Fenrir Greyback's pack kneeling over others, their faces buried within their flesh as stomach-churning sounds of chewing and slurps sounded. Flashes of light continued to fly, mostly from the figures cloaked in black.
Neville, sweet and loyal Neville, lay on the ground twitching and drooling as cries of 'Crucio!' hit him continuously.
Luna mere feet from him, face pale, eyes lifeless, and clothing was strewn around her as she was used, even in death.
Ron and Hermione fell to a jet of flames, the roar of the fire doing nothing to lessen the sound of their screams.
"You did this Harry," Voldemort's voice whispered to him as the serpentine man appeared before him. "So much magic blood lost because you were a coward because you couldn't face me."
"No, that's not true!" Harry tried to say but before he could get a word out a thin skeletal hand wrapped tightly around his throat.
"It's all right my boy," Voldemort smirked as he loomed over him, his eye color swirling as it began to change, "Just relax. It will all be over soon-"
Harry bolted up from the small nest he had made for himself on the floor, taking in greedy gulps of air while tears ran unchecked down his cheeks, the sound of cackling laughter still ringing in his ears.
"He's dead," Harry whispered to himself as he brought his knees up to his chest and hugged them tight enough for his knuckles to turn white. "He's dead. They're still alive, everything is okay."
As his breathing finally started to go back to normal Harry glanced around the strange room that he found himself in feeling a brief moment of panic before he remembered just why he was here.
The Dursley's were on one of their yearly holidays, this one being their largest as it coincided with Uncle Vernon's yearly paid week of leave. This year however Uncle Vernon had been offered not just one but rather two weeks of leave with the stipulation that he would do a walk-through of one of Grunning's supply manufacturers who were located in Atlanta Georgia.
Of course, they could not pass up an opportunity like that. Aunt Petunia had been bragging to the neighbors for the last week about how essential and important her husband was that they would give him an extra week of paid holiday time for only one walkthrough. Of course, Vernon was so incredibly powerful to the company that, according to her, he had the power to decide the fates of this supply chain employees, one word from him, and they'd be jobless and on the street.
Unfortunately for Harry, he was also on the Dursley family holiday. Harry had been so hopeful that he would have been able to go to the Burrow a few weeks early, especially now that the war was over and he was so close to being seventeen but unfortunately, after he had sent out a letter with the request he had been told no by both Ron and Dumbledore who claimed it just wasn't safe and the order to not reach out to Sirius or Remus about staying with them either.
Harry just could not understand Dumbledore anymore. He was taking his role of Magical Guardian extremely far lately, seizing control of his vaults and, as he found out after this latest incident, also monitoring his mail.
A late-night letter sent in secret courtesy of Dobby brought about the revelation that he had also been stopping Sirius and Remus from taking back guardianship of him or even really contacting him at all outside of the rare letter that Dumbledore would let through to keep him from being suspicious, a lot of good that did.
Soon it wouldn't matter though, Harry just had to play his game for another week and a half and then he would be free… And possibly starting a legal case, especially considering the last injustice that Dumbledore had performed. Luckily, even if Dumbledore managed to Obliviate him of this latest occurrence like Harry thought he would, he wouldn't be getting away with it. Not this time.
Three days ago the Dursley's had forced him to send a letter to Dumbledore for them. Harry had been hoping that they were demanding he be taken away so they wouldn't have to take him with them. Unfortunately, Dumbledore had come the next day and instead of taking him away, Dumbledore had stunned him without warning.
When he came to he was laying on the floor in the Hallway feeling like he had been run over by the Hogwarts Express and as though there was a heavy and ice-cold weight on his chest. He had never felt weaker, even after he had suffered from a severely depleted core and magical exhaustion when he had defeated Voldemort.
He had looked on in horror as Dumbledore sealed his wand in a small pouch that he then spelled to where Harry could not open it. Dumbledore had proceeded to explain to Uncle Vernon that he had sealed away an enormous portion of Harry's magic, so much that he could not access it without the aid of his wand and, even with his wand, he would hardly be able to use it.
His plan was to come back after the Dursley's returned back from their holiday, remove it, and then take Harry away for the very last time before his next birthday when he would be able to leave anyway.
So here Harry was, essentially magic-less and at the mercy of the Dursley's far more than he had ever been before. This was going to be a long two weeks…
Every morning, while Harry prepared their breakfast in the hotel rooms kitchenette, the Dursley's would watch the American news. At first, it mostly consisted of Uncle Vernon snarling over how savage the American people were, but each day more and more reports of a mystery illness spreading globally would be broadcast and they would become more and more worried.
When stories telling about people looting started Aunt Petunia worried about her precious Dudders going hungry so she sent Harry out to the store to bring back as much food as possible while Uncle Vernon looked into getting their flights back moved up.
That was Harry's first encounter with the infection. On his way back to the hotel, arms loaded down with the junk food that Dudley had demanded Harry had seen him. At first, he had thought that he was just an extremely drunk man, stumbling, shuffling, and groaning as he went.
A police officer had pulled over to talk to him, telling him he was going to something called the 'Drunk Tank' only for the man to bite into the officer, tearing off a chunk of his shoulder. The officer had shot him as well, two bullets into the chest but the man didn't stop. Or, he didn't stop until the officer managed to shoot him in the head.
Another person who had seen what happened must have called the cops because soon more cops and an ambulance were there. Harry listened in as the first officer was told that he was now infected as well. Any bite or scratch from someone who was sick would transfer it. Whatever it was they had no idea, some sort of mix between rabies, aids, and the flu was what the paramedic said before leaving.
Harry hurried back to the Hotel after that and hoped that his relatives wouldn't want him to leave again.
Aunt Marge had called Uncle Vernon yesterday to tell him that some of the 'infected freaks' had broken onto her property and had literally eaten most of her precious dogs and had tried to go for her as well before she had been able to 'take care of them' with the aid of her trusty shotgun. She had bragged to him about 'putting them down like the wild beasts they were' and had insisted that Uncle Vernon purchase a new rifle while he was still in America.
"American's are savage enough without whatever this is Vernon," She had huffed over the phone, "You must be prepared for whatever happens!"
Uncle Vernon had tried to call her the next day to check on her but she hadn't answered. Nor did she answer any of the other times he had dialed her…
The day that they were due to return to England had come and gone. Most of the city was on lockdown, the airports closed due to infected people on the planes attacking and there was talk of the American military setting up a 'safe zone' on the other side of the city.
Uncle Vernon was already loading his, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley's stuff into his car, Harry content to wait in the background and not draw any attention to himself. Every day there were more and more dead wandering the streets. The last news program that had aired on the telly told them that this illness was indeed killing people. If you were bit or scratched you would get sick and pass away only to come back as one of them.
A lot of names were being thrown around for them, the sick, geeks, stiffs, shufflers, biters, eaters, walkers.
Whatever you chose to call them, there was one universal truth. No one wanted to become one.
Harry wished that he could just go home. Back to Sirius and Remus but he couldn't. Not only had Dumbledore sealed his magic but he had also made it so that no magic at all could locate him, not owl mail, Patronus messages, tracking charms, or even House Elves. He was completely cut off from everyone and everything that made him Harry and not Freak or Boy.
Harry wasn't sure how much longer he could take having his magic sealed away before he snapped. Already it felt like he had a black hole of sadness and despair where his heart should be, his own personal Dementor.
"Don't you worry your pretty little head Pet," Vernon's said softly as he ran his fingers through her hair. "The Freak isn't coming with us, I promise you. If he tries to I'll throw him to the dead myself. You heard what the Dumber-door said, as long as I have his w-wand, he can't do his Freakishness. He'll be just like the rest of us! He'll be dead within days."
Sirius glared at Dumbledore from his place at the large staff table in the Great Hall at Hogwarts. The only reason that he had agreed to come was the off chance that Dumbledore would give a clue on his pups whereabouts. For weeks now they had been trying to find him only to run into one dead end after another.
For over a year now they had been fighting with the Ministry and Dumbledore himself to gain custody of Harry, in fact, that was the first thing that Sirius had done once he had been proven innocent. Each attempt was met with Dumbledore's opposition, for some reason the old goat refused to let Harry go. Finding out about how he has been tampering with Harry's mail, taking control of his family vaults, and, worst of all SEALING HIS MAGIC, they just could not understand what was happening.
Why was Dumbledore doing this? He could placate and twinkle his damn eyes all that he wants but Sirius Orion Black was not going to fall for it.
For the last three weeks, Sirius and Remus had holed themselves up in Grimmauld Place, using the time to ensure that it was one hundred percent safe and habitable for when Harry moved in, and to prepare for the lawsuit that they were going to help Harry launch against Dumbledore for the many wrongs that he had done against their pup.
"Hey Sirius, Remus," Neville greeted them with a tired smile as he took his place at the table, Luna sitting beside him with a worried frown as her eyes traveled over those who were already seated.
"Neville," Sirius said with a happy smile, before turning his attention to Luna, "What's the matter, Luna?"
"What?" Luna gasped jerking slightly in shock at being addressed before casting her gaze around the area once again. "Oh, Sirius, it's just that there are so many Subtilus floating around. They're a sign of death you know. Luckily they haven't chosen a host yet, but we must be careful…"
"Subtilus?" Remus asked as he leaned forward in his chair to better see the small blond. "And what exactly do they do Luna?"
Luna looked up then, her eyes meeting theirs, seeing something which brought fear into her normally calm gaze.
"They wake the dead."
"What do you mean he's in America!?" Sirius roared, hands slamming down on the table and causing Remus' cup of tea to rattle on its saucer. Remus really couldn't blame him though, if he himself wasn't fighting Mooney for control he would be right there next to him. As it was, Remus was very tempted to just give in and let Mooney tear the old coot's throat out.
"At the time it had been what was safest for him my boy," Dumbledore attempted to soothe that blasted twinkle shining in his eyes.
"Oh?" Remus all but growled, Mooney snarling in the back of his mind. "Just like keeping him away from us? Keeping him isolated from the people who love him and tampering with his mail? How about sealing his magic? Do you want to try to explain how sealing his fucking magic had been for his own safety!?"
"You did what!?" Molly's voice the only thing discernable over the chaos that ensued at his words.
Remus reveled in it. In the cacophony of voices all screaming at the old man before him. At the righteous fury as most of those here proved their loyalty to his cub, but most of all, he reveled in the shocked gaze of Albus Dumbledore as one of his many plots were uncovered.
Authors Note: One day I will write a non-Dumbledore bashing fic, today apparently is not that day.