Chapter 9

The next couple of days Harry interacted with the group a few times but mostly stayed to himself, but when he did interact with anyone he made sure to play the part of a poor innocent child who had been trying to survive on their own for awhile. Then one day Harry got this feeling like he needed to be at a specific place immediately, so he snuck out of camp unnoticed then apparated to the location that came to his mind. That location just so happened to be on a roof with a man handcuffed to a pipe, and said man was shouting at the sky like a crazy person.

"I ain't begged ya before! I ain't gonna start beggin' now! I ain't gonna beg you now! Don't you worry about me! Beggin' you ever! I'll ne'vr beg you! I ain't gonna beg you! I ne'vr begged you before. No!" The crazy handcuffed man shouted.

Harry figured the man was suffering from some form of hallucinations caused by dehydration, but the man seemed too hyped up for just that. He wasn't really aware of all the muggle ailments. Scanning the area around them, Harry was quick to spot a small baggie with white powder surrounding it. Muggle drugs, Harry deduced suddenly; He'd seen some of that in other communities. Judging by the way this guy was acting it was similar to some of Dudley's outbursts, this made Harry cautious as he observed the guy more trying to determine how to best help him. He was drawn here for a reason afterall.

"Good fer nothin' pig. Just watch out fer ole Merle. I'm gonna teach them two a lesson!" The redneck declared, while yanking on the chain and pipe. Reaching for something.

After seeing what the guy, now known as Merle, was reaching for Harry quickly gathered up the nearby tool box; just in case the drugged up man got any nasty ideas. Harry didn't want this Merle guy hurting himself, especially since Merle was indeed a name on his list of people to prevent from dying too early.

Harry's interference brought his presence to the druggies attention, which he'd been hoping to avoid for a bit longer; at least until he had a plan figured out. Thankfully, if Merle got out of hand too much he could probably just knock him unconscious.

"Lookie here, we got ourselves a little raven! What are you doin 'ere raven boy!" The man snarled, "Thought ole Merle couldn't deal with the real grim, didya! Sent a child, did he! Jokes on you!"

Harry was a bit surprised about the raven remark. It was almost as if the guy could see Harry's wings. But there was no way that was possible. Right? Oh well, he'd have to worry about that later. Though Harry did chuckle at the reaper remark. If only he knew how right he was on that one.

"I'm here because you're being an idiot, mate. That and I'm here to save your sorry tail." Harry let the guy know.

The sun and heat had become unbearable and Harry knew he had wasted enough time trying to figure out how to do this without revealing any of his secrets. Harry had no idea how anyone could leave someone in these conditions and expect them to be healthy and remain here. It was crazy.

The man just stared at him for a moment in complete confusion and surprise, "What?"

Harry shrugged, "I only visit with those that make mortality challenging choices. Call this an intervention, Merle, as you yanks like to call it."

Harry decided to just use magic openly in front of Merle. Since Merle was on his list it probably meant that they would be together for awhile anyway and Harry wasn't getting bad vibes from Merle like he did from Shane. With that in mind Harry took a vile out of his bag then went over to Merle.

"What ya got 'ter and how is that gonna help 'ole Merle out of des 'ere cuffs?"

"This is going to clear up your high brain and get rid of your withdrawals so I can get you off this roof without either of us becoming Inferi chow."

"Ya just wanna poison 'ole Merle an be dun with it."

"Oh for the love of. Do you enjoy endangering your brother Daryl?" Harry went right to the man's soft spot. Tired of the ongoing rambling.

"Don' ya talk bout ma brother! He ain't got nothin' to do with this!" The chained man snarled, struggling harder against the pipe. Punching and kicking as if it'd get him released.

"You're doing a fine job of taking care of him are you? Going into an inferi infested city with a group of people that hates you. Getting high on some type of substance. Attracting every inferi for miles. Getting yourself chained up to this pipe." Harry paused and took a break, thankful that his new Master of Death powers let him see things when he went looking for them. Information was power afterall. Harry noticed how Merle had ceased struggling and was focusing on him somewhat. "Sure, they might have come back for you, but that was once Daryl had calmed down some and they grabbed a bag of guns. Who knows what would have happened to you by then."

"I ain't weak! Ain't nothin gon' happen to ole Merle! What do ya know, you fancy raven boy!" The man hollered at him.

"I know that Daryl would be a very different man if anything were to happen to you. Losing all of one's family does crazy things to a person. Especially if they're the last of the family they've got. Trust me."

The redneck just grunted but sagged against the pipe, thinking about what his hallucination had told him no doubt. Harry silently pulled out three waters before rolling them over to Merle, who quickly drained the first two and poured the third all over himself. He admitted it was a good idea as he rolled two more over to him. The empty bottles were thrown away before he began to drink the second set of bottles at a slower pace now that he wasn't sorely dehydrated.

"Now will you drink what's in this vile already?" Harry ask.

"Fine. If'n it will get me free."

Harry gives Merle the vile of a few phoenix tears and he drinks it all. The phoenix tears do their job and all of Merle's ailments are instantly healed.

"Wow. What was in that ther' thing? I ain't ne'vr felt dis good befur."

"Phoenix tears. They can cure anything. They can even bring someone back from the brink of death."

Harry waves his hand and the cuffs on Merle's wrists fall off landing on the roof floor.

"How did ya? You some kind of voodoo kid or sumtin?"

"Not really voodoo since I was born with these abilities but let's get off this roof now and back to your brother."

"Lead the way. You know I don' know if I should call ya raven or witch boy."

Harry snickered. "It's kind of funny that you started calling me a raven since well." Harry makes his black feathery wings visible to Merle, which causes Merle to faint; not that Merle will ever admit to fainting.