Eleven: Walking into town
Previously: Harry and Daryl join Ron and George on a "shopping" spree, while George tries out his new invention. The American Auror's force Harry's hand in a fight, and Ron and Harry send them packing easily. When they return to the farm they find out that Hershel is missing, and Harry offers to help look for the farmer.
AN:
I'm sorry for the long wait. Life was crazy, and with my country going into another lockdown, teaching online wasn't easy.
This chapter has come a long way. It was double in size before Salllzy got her hands on it, and then I had to edit some parts, leave some parts out, add a bit here and there, and shift some major parts around. This left us with this chapter, and two smaller ones after this, so that the flow will work. On the bright side: I have five chapters almost at the ready :).
I thought I'd treat my avid readers to an early christmas gift, and to show that this story is still alive. On that note; I wanted to pause and thank all of you for your continued support. I love reading all the comments, seeing the kudo's, and I'm glad this story has found an audience. As always, my love for Salllzy, for listening to my ramblings.
Past time, a few hours before Luna visited Carol and Sophia Peverell lands
Luna had been wandering the grounds for quite some time today, checking on the new fruit trees, the Muggle animal farms, and then she had a lovely lunch with Marriet, Elenoir, and Vicky. A true lady brunch, in a fashion that had Vicky giggling with the formalities that they used. Luna had never been one for all those things while growing up with her father, but even she understood that some things should stay, even whilst during an apocalypse. It gave a sense of normalcy, especially with everything that happened, and everything that was going to happen as Luna knew.
She had seen a future where at least the Magicals were able to rebuild their world, and the Muggles would be able to survive better. An offensive as Harry had made, to collaborate with Squibs and other Muggles, would be copied mostly in Europe thanks to his influence. America was to stay suspicious. Life would settle, but it would take some years; she guessed that Harry would see those days, but she still wasn't sure of his outcome. Harry had not made that decision yet, and the woman hoped that he would pick his happiness over war. May Merlin have mercy on those who crossed her Raven.
She was pulled out of her musing by Vicky who waved her over, while holding Reagan in her arms. The young child was a sweetheart; he barely cried, he listened, and was an exact copy of his father with the darker hair that Mack sported, and his mother's temper. If she and Neville would be blessed by Lady Magic, she hoped to have a child like that.
Vicky was a fierce witch, who had served in the No-Maj military as a reservist, and she was a volunteer firefighter before the Death started walking. She had a bob cut in her black hair that had been tidied and dyed purple again by Juliana, who had show'n up at the gates two days ago, when she had followed some horse tracks that were made by Ezra and Mitchell on their outings.
Juliana's father had been a horse farmer, and she had owned a beauty salon before all of this. She was the typical Southern Belle, though beautiful, and she gave no two shits for nothing.
George had eagerly introduced her to Marriet, who had been 'Mugglified' for the occasion, wearing a plain dark blue, long skirt, with a simple blouse. This way Marriet had felt comfortable, and it hadn't been suspicious. Since it only had been her, they did not want to put her in the holding facilities all alone, that had been set up to check on people, so a few of the magicals had teamed up, and checked the woman over.
Severus, who still could look like he didn't belong even while looking as Muggle as possible, wearing grey slacks, with a dark green dress shirt with boots, had checked her mind, while Elenoir had laced her drink with veritaserum. It might not be honorable, but this way they were sure that they would take no one in who did not belong.
The Muggle woman hadn't noticed at all. She had been overjoyed with being allowed to stay, as she had been on the run for quite some time. She was ecstatic to help out in any way, and the women hadn't seen anybody next to Mitchell, who was so happy to work as Juliana did, so they brought her in immediately.
She had driven to her father's farm, to find most horses gone, except three, and found the dead bodies of her family. She had done what every strong Southern woman did in that instance, and she had cleaned the house after allowing herself to wallow in self-pity with a bottle of scotch for one night. She had taken her father's biggest truck, unloaded all the petrol they had on the farm into canisters, put the three last horses in a massive trailer with enough food, cleared the house of everything she could think of; weapons, clothing, horse equipment, money, jewellery, memento's, some small furniture, and she had left.
She was now happily attending the rest of the horses with Mitchell and John, and had been super busy with helping out on the farms, and cutting everybody's hair. George, when he had come back, had told her that Marriet made home-built concoctions for beauty, and the woman had literally said that she thought she was in heaven.
"Juliana asked if you needed a haircut as well, I just went to visit her." Vicky laughed, especially when she saw Luna's face. "You could do with a trim, love!"
"You sound like Mrs. Weasley; not what I need right now." Luna said softly, trying to block a bad memory from sprouting out in her head. She closed her eyes, and sighed softly, while a bow truckle came out from under her hair, to sit on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry darling. Can I help you today?" She tutted with Reagan a bit, but still smiled openly at Luna. Witches that had been pregnant were cared for until their children reached the age of three. Only after that, were they allowed returning to their duties.
"I'm going to check on the unicorns, Reagan might love them. Do you want to join me for the walk?" The blond woman offered instead.
"We would love to, thank you, Luna." Vicky pulled her wand, and used a spell that made Reagan hoover next to them, as if he was in a stroller, before she followed Luna. "If I don't watch out, this little tyke will be just like his father. With your influence, you might just find yourself an apprentice," Vicky joked.
If there was one thing that Luna appreciated about Vicky, then that was the pretence of normalcy that this woman could have, even on the strangest days. She would never treat anyone differently, no matter what.
Luna said nothing, as she mostly did lately. Hiding her own sadness, to see the joy in the world, so that the joy would spread. That was important for now. She felt her necklace heat up, and checked the message from George, before she sent her reply, after casting a messenger Patronus towards Severus and Marriet. Life would work out; it had to. They all had suffered enough.
Present time Out in the town
Harry really wasn't in the mood to look for Rick in a town that he had not scouted before, with two Squibs – as good as they were – at his back, with only Ron as back-up, but he needed to speak to Hershel, and so finding Rick would lead him towards Hershel. He left with Merle, Daryl, and Ron. Merle wanted to get out and about, so Luna had apparated in to look over Sophia and Carol, under the guise of teaching Sophia some new magics, so Carol would not feel too scared with everything that had been going on. Merle had insisted on making sure that Carol would only be informed if it was really important.
The small girl completely adored Luna, and the angelic woman had winked towards Harry when he had rolled his eyes when she had pulled out some bow truckle that had not been there before if he remembered correctly. The Pygmy Puff that Luna had gifted the girl had become quite Sophia's favourite, to Ron's greatest horror, who had sold the little things in George's and Fred's store before with disastrous outcomes. Every time he saw the little ball of fluff, he started mumbling profanities under his breath.
Merle, who had been playing a game of cards with Ron before Harry made the announcement, was the first to get ready to go. He ran upstairs to get his protective shirt that had been made for him by Luna and George, and then practically jumped down the stairs to get his bag ready. He filled all their canteens with water, and Ron sped the process up by levitating them towards the accompanying bags. Ron was the only one who had a dark brown one.
"Can't let ya'll go out without me this time. Rick's an idiot, I still have a score to settle with Officer Friendly!" Merle smiled his big smile and laughed kind of evil, like a man with a plan. Ron thumped him on the shoulder and got his own gear rustling towards himself before they would take off. Both men looked at each other, ready to go, knowing full well that they had each other's back, and if necessary, especially Harry's.
Meanwhile, Carol had made herself busy, and was now arguing over household things with poor Kreacher, who looked at the woman as if she was crazy. In exchange, Carol looked at the thing with expiration on her face mixed with some astonishment. It was a scene out of a sitcom, with both not really giving in.
"Missus should leave the laundry to Kreacher, it's Kreacher's work!" The elf argued a little annoyed that somebody had kept his work from him, and so he was unable to serve his Master to the fullest.
"I know, Kreacher." Carol still had trouble with calling the house elf that, but Harry explained that the names were either given by their mothers, or the Lords of the house. In this case, it had been the former Lord Black: Sirius' father. "But I want to help as well. I'm not used to magic, so I did these jobs at home as well," she explained slowly, as she tried to make the Elf understand.
"Missus can do that at the manor, not here. Kreacher was alone, not anymore now. Master took care of last Master's wishes, and he wants Kreacher to stay with new Master." The house-elf smiled brightly, which was more a toothy grin than anything else.
"Okay, Kreacher. I understand. I'll help out at the base." Carol shook her head which made her loose, greying hairs bounce on her head. She did not understand, but she did know that she would not be able to win from the thing if he got this fussy.
"Will you let me assist with lunch then? I would love to trade recipes." She smiled warmly at the creature, trying to ease her way back into the kitchen.
Harry laughed in secret as he descended on the stairs; the woman would have done perfectly in Slytherin. The ploy seemed to work as Kreacher's eyes lit up, and he nodded an affirmative. Carol smiled sly, happy that her plan had worked, and she would love to claim one of Kreacher's recipes; his casserole had been to die for.
"Yes missus, we can. Kreacher be sharing things, Missus learning beef recipes, Kreacher learning new pie." The thing rubbed in his hands and then left to do its business as it wanted. Leaving a weary Carol in his wake.
"Are you guys familiar around here?" Ron asked with a nonchalant energy, while he scanned the area as they touched down, as Merle found he could describe it the best.
It was a small, typical American town, nothing out of the ordinary for Merle. He had seen a lot of these farmer towns. A bar, with a few shops was strewn around, with idyllic houses all around. Before the plague, this must have been a nice town, with some good people, Merle mustered. There were some old-fashioned signs and plaques on the walls of the stores and buildings, indicating what must have been there before.
"Harry, I'm throwing George's spell; be careful!" Ron spoke softly, as he stood shoulder to shoulder with Merle, both men automatically choosing each other to fight alongside since Daryl was glued to Hadrian.
"Sure, I've got the perimeter. Merle, you know this place?" The raven haired turned towards him, as he wanted to check on him. Daryl followed silently in his footsteps, with his bow held up ready to strike if necessary, listening to all the sounds around.
"Nah, never been here. America's big ya' know." He added with a shrug, and turned around to see if he saw the two men they were looking for.
"Just checking, mate." The man nodded short, before whipping a knife out of a holster, with a gun in the other hand. Daryl had his crossbow in hand, while sporting a black sleeveless shirt, that Hadrian had only shaken his head at that morning, while Merle himself wore a loose plaited shirt over a wifebeater.
He noticed that Ron, like him, had taken a liking to the southern style, and it had become his mission to seek out more goodies for the soldier that he started to consider a friend. He knew that the wizards were able to fix their clothing with spells so they were never warm nor cold, but Merle really was never cold, so wearing more than a shirt right now with this heat would be too much for the former marine.
"Heh," he added, without thought, as he saw Ron create some powder, and red signals that exploded around the area on his mark. It created a air map, for the lack of a better word, that showed Ron exactly what he needed.
"Some Walkers, eight heartbeats around town, so I'm guessing we should walk that way." Ron had slipped the wand back in the holster. The wands had a way to disappear right before their eyes, something Merle found very nifty, but he could not explain how they did it yet. It was a challenge that he wanted to work out himself, so he decided not to ask yet.
Hadrian had stayed perfectly still, something Merle saw the man do often, like he spoke to an invisible force, or just meditated in a weird way. Merle wasn't sure. Maybe he needed that before a big fight, maybe it was just typical Hadrian. Who knew, he had seen men do weird stuff before a battle. After a few seconds he nodded, and waved his hand towards a building. Merle assumed it was a left-over from their war.
"Non-magicals, so be careful Ron." Harry's voice sounded strained, like he was carrying something heavy, but Merle didn't see any difference in his own brother's movements, so he understood that it was nothing out of the ordinary from the smaller guy.
Merle had been less on the road than Daryl, who seemed to follow Hadrian's every move in a practiced way. He wasn't resentful of that at all, as he knew that his brother couldn't sit still at all. He wondered if Daryl would know himself what he wanted; maybe it was time for some happiness for the Dixon brothers. He had a feeling when the British Sunshine had saved him, that it was meant to be.
Merle had never really figured out if Daryl liked men or women, or just no one, as he never had brought ladies or gents home. Merle would not care any less. He might discriminate against other pansies, but if his brother decided that his fascination towards Hadrian was more than friendship, then Merle would smack anyone down who dared to say anything about that.
Merle on the other hand had wanted some quiet time, and he had opted to stay in the camp with Carol and Sophia for the last few days, until it started to itch again like today. Sophia was a sweet thing that needed more guidance than anyone understood, while Carol was getting herself back together in an apocalypse while her abusive husband was dead, so that had left some scars to be accounted for. He knew he could be a handful so he had opted to leave them to their peace, to get acquainted with each other again. Or in Sophia's case: with magic.
Merle liked the caring woman a lot, but he also realised that someone like Carol would not fall for someone like him. He was an outcast, a hunter, an ex-soldier; a mercenary. He had worked for a motor club, doing all kinds of jobs, and had not been the best guy all around. It had surprised him that Hadrian had helped him, but on the other hand, it also didn't. The man oozed power himself, but he had a soft spot for injustice, something that big Red had confirmed himself.
Carol, on the other hand, was a soft spoken woman, with a cunning streak that he respected, but he doubted that she would appreciate a guy with his looks. Somehow, being around the wizards, and seeing her daughter safe, she had become her own woman, in just a few weeks, and hell: he liked what he saw.
He followed the others while still in his thoughts as they wandered the empty streets that had abandoned cars strewn around in search of the farmer and Officer Friendly, whom Merle really would not miss. He knew they would do better without the other group, but he understood the need that Hadrian had to help everybody he met. He just hoped Hadrian would not make a decision too late.
Present time The town, Ron has taken the lead
They had found Rick and Hershel in a heartbeat, especially after the gunshots that echoed through the whole street in rapid succession. Ron cursed, as he noticed all the Muggles in their vicinity. He dropped the practically invisible but magical barriers as they heard voices coming from a car in front of them.
"Weapons out," he ordered, knowing that it wasn't needed, but some things were so ingrained in his blood, in his body, that he just did it without thinking. He heard Merle respond with an "aye cap", which made him smile just a little bit. Daryl, who was always silent, no matter what, reloaded his bow to take the next walker down, as Harry slashed through two others with ease. His arrow landed right between the eyes of the next walker and Harry saluted.
"China man is here as well, just heard him," Merle announced with annoyance in his voice.
"Stupid people," Daryl murmured, "Can' learn, won' learn."
"You could hit them with a brick," Harry added as he showed up on Ron's left, his usual place, "Won't change anything. They are still alive, all three."
"Too bad." Merle smirked vindictively while he stalked around the corner, taking a Walker with him, following carefully in Red's footsteps not to set off any alarms or traps.
"Merle, not now." Daryl chided him with a rough, lowered voice, as he checked the other corner, before loading a new arrow on his bow. "Got company incoming, two vehicles, a few clicks away."
"We're not risking our lives or magic here, Harry," Ron muttered agitatedly, "Let's go." He looked behind him to see Daryl nod, and Merle smile viciously, but they waited on Harry before the unit would move.
"Mate, I agree." The words were almost unbelievable from Harry's mouth, but Merle had felt the annoyance coming from the man all day long and this decision seemed to be the most logical one.
"Hold on." Ron whispers towards Merle who wanted to step onto the street to take out a walker, taking his arm with a firm grasp, before they both were whisked away with almost no sound. Merle thought he would never get used to that awful feeling.
Present time Green farm, inside the tent with Carol and Sophia
While Sophia was reading the old-fashioned books in all kinds of muted colours that had come from the magical school in England, Carol had been mending her own business, correcting some of Merle's shirts by hand, and sorting through the laundry that Kreacher had delivered, to select which was who's, when she heard the distinctive pop that most of the magical folk made as they apparated in.
It had been some surprise to hear that her little darling had magic, but on the other hand it had also been the most obvious thing ever. It explained her behaviour, and perhaps Ed's behaviour. Carol had no idea where Sophia might have gotten it from, but she guessed it wasn't from Ed. She still mourned that man, even though she knew that it wasn't the right thing to do, but he was and always would be Sophia's father. To her, he had been dead a very, very long time.
"Hello Draco, it's lovely to see you again!" Carol smiled broadly as she saw the blond doctor coming over towards the kitchenette. He dumped a larger bag on the table, before hugging the woman in a formal, yet friendly way.
"Hello Carol, how are you today?" Draco shrugged off his jacket in an elegant manner, before he waved his wand over the tea kettle. "Has Kreacher been playing nice? I heard him mutter something about not being allowed to cook lunch?"
"He's been an angel, well as much as that little thing can be. We've accomplished a truce." Carol exclaimed proudly. "Luna is outside, searching for something she called a 'nargle'?"
"Have you now? Well, call me surprised, that old Elf is a menace. I know. She send me a message. Knowing Luna, she won't be back for another hour." Draco laughed in a wholesome way, and he waved at Sophia, who was engrossed in her books so much, that she only listened up when she heard the kettle whistling. Just like Daryl, she had come to appreciate tea much more than before, and she was at his side in seconds.
"Hello darling," Draco said soft and sweetly, with no malice in his voice. "How's the reading going?"
"Very good!" She exclaimed. "I'm working on potions now, just doing some herbology. The anti-burn potion is very interesting." She went off, and Carol watched how sweet Draco listened, and answered her questions without seeming tired. The young man could look dangerous at times, but he was a true gentleman towards the people he loved, she had noticed.
