Sixteen: "You thought you killed him"

My holiday has finally started, and although I've written loads by hand, I hasn't been edited to text, and I'm happy to have a bit more time for that.

Onto chapter sixteen! I hope you enjoy it. It might not be what you'd expect, this chapter surprised myself, but it works.

Thank you for all the enthousiastic comments, loads of kudo's, and other ways of showing appreciation. I truly appreciate it!

With all my love and thanks towards Salllzy for beta'ing.

Previously; We go back to before, where Ron takes care of Harry, and contemplates on his life (he kind of does that a lot, even though it annoys him himself). In the present Ron wants to save Shane, and Harry and Daryl go out scavenging while life settles for some peace. Although we all know that won't last long. Not with Harry's 'luck'. Ron shares a butterbeer with Merle in the new pub, where Luna has created a beautiful sign, and she named it. Harry is proven right about the farmers, and Rick and that group, as his alarms on Carl flare to life, and he offers the ex-farmers a way out. They won't take it.


Present time Out there, Darryl and Harry

"Daryl?" Harry questioned, feeling his surroundings.

"Yeah?" His hunter answered as he continued to scan the abandoned hospital hallway they were in right now. Daryl was lingering in doorways, staying behind him not to disturb him, but he kept an eye out on his back.

Ron had been there before them, to search for some stuff that Draco needed, and his first lieutenant had asked Harry to check some readings he had found with George when they scanned the building. There probably were some lingering spirits, needing to 'see the light' so to speak, and Death loved it when Harry had to do things like this... so Harry had trotted off like the good man he was, after getting Darryl to go with him.

"You never talk about your home life. You know, before all of this."

Harry tried to keep the conversation going, as not to scare the man with his movements.

"There is nothin' to say." Daryl shrugged almost unnoticed.

Harry paused, and looked at the man's face. He knew he shouldn't push right now.

"I did not mean to pry." He added in an afterthought. "I am also done. Nothing here, Ron must have been spooked by George."

Harry got a soft smile in return and an arm around his shoulders that pulled him close. So close that he could smell the forest they had walked through, and the sun on the other man's skin.

"Want to go home?" Daryl asked him after they had stood there for quite some time.

"Yes, let's." Harry pulled out his wand more for the show, than that he needed it, and Daryl just kept him close enough like he had been doing this all his life.

With no sound at all, within a few seconds, they were home.


Past time Luna Park, the hospital wing, Shane

Shane woke up to the sound of medical machines beeping around him, and the feeling that he had been shot. The fact that he realised what it was, spoke volumes, as he had been shot before on the force. He smelled forest around him, and he heard distant chatter oozing in slowly. His head hurt. It was like a hammer was pounding on his head, and all was fuzzy as he tried opening his eyes, seeing something blonde wave a hand over his head, before he fell back asleep.

He would go in and out, always seeing the blond man by his bed if he did get a glimpse of his surroundings. He wondered if he was in heaven, to see an angel, but he doubted it. Sometimes the man wore a long green coat, other times a white lab coat. A woman would sometimes visit him, sing children's songs, and tell him stories about the people that surrounded her, yet he couldn't remember any of it in detail.

It was dark when he woke the next time, and as if there had been an alarm, the blonde stood by his side within a few minutes. He felt a cold compress on his forehead, and an IV on his arm. He blinked strongly a few times, before he recognized his saviour or rather; his capturer.

"Hello Shane, how are you?" Draco, it was the blonde doctor that was with Hadrian at the CDC and later on the farm. The voice, the hair. It had to be the man himself.

He tried to talk, but felt his throat burn from the lack of use, as a cup with a straw was handed to him in an instant. He tried to sit up, but was guided by a pair of strong arms.

"Careful now lad, you've had quite a number done on you. You need more rest."

It didn't take long before he fell into the darkness again.


Life was weird, unreal, and most definitely trying to pull a prank on him. Shane had expected and also not expected to die by his best friend's hand. Of course, he had been bedding his wife, but he had thought Rick for that and Lori wasn't always the most stable one, so he had done what he thought best for Carl and Lori.

The last thing he had not expected was that he would be rescued by the redhead from Hadrian's group, who had hooked him up with work up and around the farm once Shane was declared ready for it.

Life would throw you a curveball sometimes.

Currently he was sitting outside before the building that Ezra had named the communal building for lack of a better name, for a community of five people, excluding Shane right now.

Ezra Bell, who was in charge of Luna Park under Hadrian's command, was sitting next to him on the patio. The man was a good one. He loved his wife, took care of people he didn't know, and he had taken the kid that lived with him under his wing without any question. The death went walking? Ezra had loaded his car, and followed John to this place without any question. Shane admired a man like that. Loyal, asking the right questions whenever that was needed, but protecting what was his in the first place.

Both men were watching the gate where Mitchell had just left through with Daryl and Merle, for a perimeter sweep, and trying to catch a little game for dinner. Shane was on one hand surprised to see the Dixons so at ease, and somehow it made sense. He noticed it all around the compound; it felt very homey and secure. Although he had a feeling that Ezra had stayed behind to watch him. Not that Mila needed to be afraid of him, he was more afraid of her. He had seen her use a shotgun at practice with no qualms.

Upon this point, Shane had been fed three meals a day, even healthy ones at that. Bread, potatoes, rice or beans with vegetables, and usually a good portion of stew or actual meat was served daily at lunch or dinner. Once he had tried taking a second portion, and no one had stopped him. They had even encouraged him to eat, to make sure that he would keep his strength, and he had yet to feel like a prisoner. He wondered when that would start.

They had told him that he wasn't to leave the compound before he was cleared by Draco, but even that had felt more caring, than controlling, so it came as no surprise that Ezra was taking care of him right now. The man was a natural worrier. Shane could pick them out of a crowd.

"So, have you given it any thought?" Ezra was a stout man, with a generous face, a buzz cut with dark hair, and usually a smile that was directed at the small group of people that inhabited Luna Park. Shane had learned that Hadrian resided on the other side, but he hadn't seen the man at all. If he believed Ezra, Hadrian was a fair and generous leader and had checked in on Shane a few times, but it was Ron who would decide what would happen to him.

"Yes." Shane took a deep breath and stretched his legs.

Shane had been offered a few options, and again none had sounded like he was a captive at all. He almost didn't believe it. This would take some time to get used to.

The first option that he had been given, was that he could stay, albeit it that he had to prove himself, by helping out with the visitor's compound just outside the gates of Luna Park. If he did good, he would be allowed to inhabit one of the little houses of his choosing. Ezra seemed to think that this was the best option they could have offered him, and after being there for a few weeks, without anyone asking for anything in return, he started to believe that Hadrian wasn't as bad as it had seemed before.

The problem was, his mind was very fuzzy, and the memories from the last half-year weren't as clear as they usually would be, so it was hard to decide whether he would stand by.

His second option was that he could stay on the visitor's compound just outside, if he did not want to submit to the questioning that came with the first option, and he could leave whenever he wanted. The third option was a car with a tank of fuel and survival goods for two weeks, but he had to leave the area immediately after he would be discharged by Draco.

"You're sure there aren't any ulterior motives?" Shane asked Ezra for what should have been the fourth time that week.

"No, not at all. You just have to help out around here. Although I might have decided your role for you, if you don't mind. I could use you on my protection detail since it's only me right now." The man laughed and Shane smirked. Ezra was training Mitchell, but they wouldn't let the younger kid walk out on his own, and the Dixon's were usually busy with other things like fixing up the mechanic shop, or going out with Ron or Harry, as he had understood.

"You can shoot, you used to be a cop; that gives you an advantage if we encounter people. We could do some scouting together, you could police new people that might come, and maybe you can help Mitchell. Train the boy. Ya' know, do your thing." Ezra's answer had been the same every time although he worded it different every time, and it never sounded rehearsed. With Shane's experience interrogating people, he knew that the man was very honest.

"I still wonder why they saved me," Shane murmured. Ezra shrugged, while he checked his hunting rifle next to him in a reflex.

"You want to stay, right?" Ezra waved his wife over, and she brought a thermos with coffee and three cookies on a plate. She refilled their camping cups, as the good tableware would only be used inside the buildings to make sure it wouldn't break. Ron did haul more and more stuff in every week, but Mila was adamant, and you listened to a woman like that.

"I believe I do. It sounds good, almost too good." Shane nodded. He took a cookie from Mila, and she smiled before she kissed her husband on the lips. "It feels like you guys try going back to before."

"Do we?" Ezra asked him honestly. "There aren't many of us, and as of now we are only surviving because Hadrian is sharing his reserves with us. We're nowhere near where I would like to be, nor were Ron and I would want to be. This is going to take time. The only stroke of unexpected luck is that this compound is very remote, and protected by the miles of land, plus the decent structure that was already in place." Ezra sounded like a good leader, Shane mused. Someone he actually could follow without feeling that he would lose himself in the process.

"That would be nice, we could use some more residents. It is getting lonely on this side with just the six of us to interact with daily." Mila smiled at him. "Gabriel is a sweet man though, but he isn't a great conversationalist, and Carol and Vicky are usually on the other side."

Mila was a typical, natural beautiful Southern woman, with her soft blonde locks, and a warm smile, but with a no-nonsense attitude that Shane always looked for in a partner. It was no surprise that she and Ezra had been together for all those years, and still counting. She was able to pierce right through you with those blue eyes, but she still looked besotted as Ezra kissed her cheek or complimented her. It had been his dream once as well.

"Gabriel likes his own peace, I can't blame the man. He does know what to do with the farms, so Mack was very happy to have him around. He's an old mate." Ezra explained to Shane.

Gabriel was a new guy that had come in a week before Shane, an old army friend from Ezra, one of the only ones to respond to Ezra's emergency calls. Shane just nodded, he had a few brief conversations with the man, and so far he had made a decent impression on the former sheriff.

Ezra hummed, and he added: "I could use a good second Shane, so please consider your options. I like you, you are a good man, and a hard worker. I know that Ron would not have saved you if he did not believe in you. He has made you a generous offer, whereas you don't have to stay outside to prove yourself, normally that offer would not even be on the table at the beginning."

Ezra checked his gun again, as he watched his wife walk away, and wolf-whistled with a cheeky smile. Shane just drank from the still-warm coffee.

Ezra had a habit of checking his gun more than once now and then, and Shane could not fault that. He wasn't given his piece back although he understood why, but they had given him a small knife so he could protect himself against the Walkers, and he was grateful. He did miss his shotgun though.

"Well mate, what do you say? Shall I radio Ron?" Ezra wiggled the walkie in his hands with a beaming smile on his face as Shane let his head fall in his hands. After everything that he had learned about his old group, he could not say no. Being shot by your former best mate was not the outcome he had thought of. A good fistfight, probably. One he normally would have won from Rick.

Somehow Ezra had wormed a way into his heart, and Shane heard himself answer in the affirmative.


Present time Peverell manor, Severus and Neville

"Mister Longbottom." Severus strode with his usual flair through the old halls that made up Peverell manor, as he journeyed towards his lab. With everything that had been going on, keeping potions in stock was important. Especially since they had one small infant on the premises, and Marriet who was now pregnant was forbidden to brew by Draco. A decision he supported wholeheartedly. Potion fumes could sometimes turn poisonous depending on the brew, and he would not endanger his unborn child or fiancé.

It did scare him a little bit, if he took the time to be honest with himself, which of course he didn't since there were things to do. Severus had survived two masters, two wars, and the loss of people that he loved by not thinking too much about his feelings, but putting them behind his mind shields, and dealing with them every now and then whenever it became really necessary.

Thinking about his feelings was not a priority in a situation like this. Marriet was his first priority, his child and Harry second. The fact that Harry sometimes felt like a son to him, went also unsaid, or he stuffed it somewhere in his mind, not to think about it again.

Neville turned around as he heard the voice of his former potions professor, and waited patiently until he walked next to him. The younger man was wearing sturdy clothing, with the purpose to be worn on the fields. Even for a wizard, farming was harder work than expected, but Neville had grown into his role from the first day he had started on these fields.

"How are your crops coming along?" Severus had a commanding way of talking, that Neville had learned to respect, and the potion master was secretly happy that the war had upped the once boy, now man's bravery.

"Very nice. I am producing more than enough for all of us, but also with enough variety to keep Luna Park and us eating well, varied and healthy." Neville smiled. "If we're lucky, we can start selling or bartering with the produce." He was proud of himself, since he had to work his magic on everything to make sure that there was enough for all the people that had joined them, and probably would in the future.

"Do you need anything in particular that you are missing in the storage? We could send George out to get it for us, and I can cultivate it."

"Yes, I do have a few ingredients that would be nice to have. Lady Longbottom will be taking care of some, but I am glad to meet with you now. Draco has requested some unusual potions and salves, especially with Marriet pregnant, and for mister Walsh's aftercare."

"Ah, naturally." Neville smiled and took the proffered list. "This won't be hard to find, I'll let the Weasleys know. Gerard said that he wanted to clear one of the Alleys, and see if they can repopulate them with people who don't have housing for now."

"Yes, I was informed. His idea has some merit." Severus' answers were usually short, and to the point, but Neville knew that he meant well, and listened to everything that was being said.

They exchanged some pleasantries, before Severus took the steps down to his labs, and Neville went into the mess hall for a short break with his beloved wife for tea.


Past and present time Rick and his group

Rick looked tiredly around the small kitchen where they were bivouacking with barely any supplies. He knew that the alienating that Lori had done with the Dixons was not smart at all, but his wife had been erratic for as long as he knew her, and she had been difficult to control even before the uprising of the Walkers.

It had not been as bad in the beginning, but after Carl had been born, it somehow became worse. She became more demanding than ever. Even as they had wanted more children, and Rick had not been able to give them to her, having her pregnant now was a pure blessing, even if it made their travels very difficult.

He was happy that Hershel and his family had chosen to come with them, and not join in on the freakshow that was Hadrian, but he really could have used the Dixons to hunt some game for him. Maggie was good, but not that good, and Glenn was better at looting than finding hunting spots.

He did not miss Dale's nagging, nor Shane's compulsive behaviour or Andrea's whining about wanting to do a man's job. Sometimes you had to be a firm leader, to keep what you needed, and deserved. Yes, Rick mused, he was doing a fine job, and he would show these people.


Present time Luna Park, the communal building

The communal building was coming along nicely, if Shane was allowed to say that about his work. Since the little houses had been meant as vacation homes, they had most of the amenities that were needed on a daily basis, but it had been Shane's idea to convert one of the bigger buildings into a real communal one.

Ezra had started it, but Shane had run with the idea and made the other man proud by changing plans. It was good for morale, meetings, and other things. There was one building with a large kitchen already there; meant to become a restaurant, and they went with that. The old communal building was way too close to the gates for safety, so they intended to redirect that as a security office and garage with storage for cars.

The roof needed repairs, and they had rewired the gas and electricity to work on the generators that were in the municipal building close by. The little man that did all those repairs had come by, and did some miracle work with all that. Ezra had been scouring through the plans on the former vacation park, to make sense of it all. Shane had been called in as well, but they decided to just leave it be. Ron told them that the other man had it under control for now. Merle had just shrugged, and said that the grid would hold it with ease. Whatever that meant.

Shane was logging some wood for repairs and getting their wood pile ready for the winter that was on its way, with Gabriel, Merle, and Ezra, when Hadrian appeared before them with Ron in tow. When Shane looked up, he found the man with a pensive face in front of him.

"You alright there, Hadrian?" Ezra usually took the liberty to greet everyone before Shane could, and the deputy just shook his head. A day would not go by before Ezra had asked him how he was, and how he was feeling. He would almost start to feel comfortable if he wasn't careful.

"Yes, very much." Ron nodded, but Hadrian kept silent as he looked over towards Shane.

"Do you have a moment?"


Shane had not realised that one conversation with Hadrian would turn out to be such a mood kill on one hand, and a feeling of elevation on the other. He knew he would be questioned in detail after he had opted for option number one, but he did not realise that they would be blunt enough to tell him the truth. He kind of wished they hadn't.

He had been poisoned. Poisoned. In what way, they weren't sure, but Draco's lab work had proven that. Ron had been brisk with his explanation, and Draco admitted to overhearing Lori tell Rick that the baby probably was his. Shane's. Shane had a baby on the way that he wasn't allowed to care for, and the mother of the said child had done nothing to protect him, while all he ever did was take care of her and her first child.

It was a metaphorical slap in the face, to say the least. After he hadn't felt the need to lash out, which had surprised him since that had been his go-to action before, they had smiled knowingly and started the questioning. Not that it had felt like he was being interrogated, it was more like they wanted to get to know him, and Shane felt like he needed to tell them all. All cards were out on the table.

The poison had been flushed out of his system by Draco, when Shane was in recovery from his gunshot wound. Draco had not explained how, but doctors were often strange, and Shane usually avoided them like the plague. He wasn't going to look a gifted horse in the mouth, so to speak, and had taken the explanation for what it was.

Everything felt clearer in his head, and he realised that having a nagging Lori by his side, while he was poisoned, really did not help. He wondered if she had done it, or if it had been Ricks doing. All he could do right now was a guess.

"Shane, are you alright?" Ezra, the saint, was sitting next to him, savouring a sandwich with egg and ham that Mila had made for both men.

Mitchell had been sent out with Merle again for some extra training, and Carol was decorating one of the houses with Mila in between making lunch and dinner.

"Yep, man. I'm fine. Just contemplating on some things."

"Hadrian told me, that must have been a tough pill to swallow." Ezra drank from his coffee, while he rested his face in the late summer sun.

"You know, I wished I could visit and ask them some questions that are running through my mind, but they did not want me there anymore, and actually killed me after they tried to poison me. I'm lucky to have survived that, so I do not wish to challenge death again. Draco said I was on the verge of practically dead."

"Yeah, as white as a sheet, Ron said." Ezra nodded and let his eyes roam the fields before them.

"I wonder how they got me out of there." Shane took a big bite from his sandwich.

"I've seen those two do some weird shit, especially when they think I'm not looking," Ezra wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and hummed. "I believe they were special forces before."

"Yeah, I do believe Ron told me something like that. Special agents. MI5 or MI6? Dunno what they call that in the UK."

The rules were plain and simple, and Shane had signed the contract faster than he had expected. They offered lodging, clothes and amenities, and three meals a day for his contribution towards the community, and with an extra addendum that if he ever tried to take over from Ezra or Hadrian without explicit orders from the former, Ron would off him in a second.

This had made him smile because this was exactly what he had spoken with Rick about. Someone needed to take charge, and seeing a community that did, eased his mind a lot. The former deputy could live with those rules easily enough, especially under people like Ezra or Hadrian.

The next morning Ezra had handed him his gun back with a mended holster, enough bullets to last a few patrols, a bigger knife to replace the small one that he also was allowed to keep, new boots, a leather jacket, and leather gloves. He had held up a few keys, and Shane had chosen one of the smaller houses next to the entrance. He took his new job seriously.

Carol had been the one later that evening to invite him for dinner at the communal hall, where she had him choose even more clothing from the racks, with a backpack and other survival things and amenities that he could need.

It had been a confusing day, to say at least.


"We were wondering if you were interested in visiting your old house? Get some stuff you might not have been able to take with you before?" Hadrian spoke now, and shrugged as Ron pointed towards something on the map that had been spread out on the 'war table' as Ezra called it. The raven-haired man seemed a whole lot more relaxed than the last time they spoke, and somehow his guard was a bit more down than before.

"No, thank you Hadrian." Shane shrugged. "I have my tags and gun, that's all the mementoes I need. You've been generous with the rest. My apartment only held the bare necessities, so no probs."

"If you're sure?" Ron asked now, but they let it rest after he nodded that it was indeed.

Shane would not look back on his past, but start with making new memories. He had vouched for that to himself when he had signed the contract, and he would keep himself to that. No more unnecessary killing. He would be the protector again. In silence he had retaken his police vows, as a reminder of who he was.


Somewhere, nowhere, today Peverell Manor, Harry's office

'Was this how you imagined it would be?' It wasn't the first time that Harry asked the entity this question, and usually, he would get an invasive answer.

Harry had gone through all his paperwork. Signing off on missives, evading the Ministries. He sent his correspondence with Teddy along through the special floo connection that would end up with Lucius. Harry missed his godson dearly, and hoped to see the boy over Christmas. Minerva's updates were still positive, and Lucius kept him in the loop on what was happening over in the old United Kingdom. He just hoped Teddy dared to visit him.

Death had emerged somewhere along the day next to him, and the entity had not taken any shape or form yet. Harry had found that it did this when it was busy. It loved to appear as a man, or as a raven, but it never really communicated with Harry about the reasons why. Harry had stopped asking, as he never got an answer.

'Yes.' Death's cloud formed into the elderly gentleman he used before. 'No.'

'Both answers are true?' Harry questioned.

'Yes master, you know that.'

'I know everything, and yet nothing.' Harry shook his head, letting his hair roam free. He really should cut it, but he had gotten fond of the long locks over the years, and it hadn't been in his way as of yet.

'That is also true.'

'I still wonder why I entertain you,' laughed Harry, almost finding it comical that he now did look like the idiot people still thought he was. The Prophet, in all their wisdom, wrote articles about Harry when there was a national disaster.

'Don't stray from the path, master.'

'You say that, yet I haven't seen the path.' Harry drank from his tea, that Kreacher had sneaked into his room again. A glass of water with a slice of lemon appeared next to him as well. Devious elf.

'You stop looking, you don't see.'

'Seeing is for Luna.' Harry countered.

'True, master. You could try.' The being always spoke in a dull voice, if you could call it speaking.

'Try what?' Harry sounded tired now, but Death said nothing anymore.


Present time Nothing good happens after twelve

"You know," Luna said mysteriously, as they were lounging in the pub with a record playing some country blues that Ron hauled in from everywhere in the background, "I think Marriet deserves a nice wedding before she starts showing too much."

Severus, who had been shooed away from his personal quarters by Marriet that evening, and had been roped into drinking with Draco and Ron, needed all his spy skills to not drop his tumbler with fire whiskey, as he looked at the woman who had just glided into the room. She had started talking without preamble as she usually did, and seemed to glow with some kind of fairy dust and look eternal with her white-blonde hair woven into braids with all kinds of exotic flowers in them.

Naturally, Severus had thought about marrying Marriet, the potions master had made his intentions very clear, but it had not come up since they were building a new world. It wasn't the most important thing in the world at that moment, and he did not want to spend the scarce resources that they had.

Since he said nothing, Luna continued in her dreamy voice as if she hadn't paused in her talking: "yes, that would be perfect. Gerard and Harry could perform the ceremony. It will look so beautiful. I can help Elenoir if you want. "

Then and there, Severus felt that his destiny had been determined, and in a rare case, he threw his fire whiskey back without any preamble. Luna was usually right. The least he could do was to give Marriet a decent wedding.


Let me know how you feel after this chapter. Did this surprise you? Who you would like to see Shane end up with? WD, HP or an OC? I would love to know your thoughts.

I promise more Harry/Daryl fluff in the next chapters ;).