Walking Dead Wizard

The translation for the walker spell isn't mine - it was offered to me by someone who's help on this story has been invaluable, thank you Charlee!

Chapter 52

"Are you alright?" Harry asked automatically as they both took in their surroundings, he mostly always asked Daryl if he was alright after each side-long Apparation. Mostly to make sure he hadn't fucked up and left a part of either him or Daryl behind, but he knew that was impossible he was too careful, too cautious when he Apparated for such a thing to occur. The only chance really was if he was Apparating into an unknown area completely blind without even the slightest bit of understanding on his surroundings.

He was back in Fort Benning, well, they were really; he could only spend a minimal amount of time here, an hour or two at most. The majority of the walkers were gone, between the runes and both his and Luna's spells they were dwindling in numbers. Harry always Apparated them to the same spot the first appeared in, he hadn't been sure if the Fidelius Charm could actually keep the walkers out - and still didn't actually, so it was better to be safe than assume it was and end up regretting it for the little time he would have left.

Kneeling down, Harry brought out a wad of clean blank parchment, he was going to make a version of the Marauders map, and only this spell and rune would show everywhere and everything not just the place his dad and friends had discovered during their years at Hogwarts. He had spent an entire week figuring it out, between using detection spells on the marauders map and looking through the books for anything suitable and tweaking it to create his own version. It was only technically at this point, he had no idea if it would actually work. Using spells he was brilliant at but he'd never considered himself smart in the way of creating spells let alone runes. Times change, with need comes even the most creative of things happening.

"Orbis terrarum notitia ratio Fidelius!" Harry cast the spell that would map out the area stretching as far as the Fidelius charm went. Then without pause he sliced his finger and used his blood to create the rune he had designed before hastily adding the second rune that would identify people, well it should. He might be doing it quickly, but he made sure that the design was perfect.

Flicking his wand at his cut, he watched it heal before his attention was solely fixated on the map again. Breathing deeply, he prayed that it would work before he cast the final charm causing the bloody runes to disappear into the map and for one brief moment Harry feared that his hard work had been for nothing, then black lines began to run across the page, squiggling loopy writing along the way the name of the areas.

Daryl watched Harry work with an air of fascination around him; he'd watched Harry come up with the runes neither when it became obvious the ones he wanted weren't in any book he owned nor had Luna heard of them either. He was becoming more and more adept at understanding Latin, and it wasn't just any Latin, they used ancient Latin. Or rather Classical Latin as apposed to Modern Latin but Harry actually said there were some spells in Modern Latin just not that many since a great deal of the spells had been created before books or scrolls were invented before Modern Latin had been in use. That they were found without names and passed along before being written into books for the magical world to enjoy.

"Luna said there wasn't a need for a wand back in the day, why would there need to be spells to reveal the castors intent?" Daryl asked continuing their conversation from just five minutes prior now that the map was writing itself out, it was like one of those spiral-graph things he'd seen on the TV.

"When magic first surfaced they didn't use spells, it was entirely focused on intent, and believe me that was enough," Harry explained, staring up at Daryl. Every day this man continued to surprise him, his enthusiasm for all things magical was…amazing, he'd never met anyone like him before and his feelings just continued to grow each moment spent in his company. "As they grew as wizards they would create their own spells, invent their own potions, they kept them in a special book (or scrolls) they called their Grimoire, their book of spells if you like. Only their apprentices and perhaps even sons or daughters ever got to see it, it was kept very secret; it was basically in those days a source of their power, of what they were capable of. Magic has been around since civilisation started, even the Egyptians had their own spells, potions and whatnot a lot of it was lost unfortunately, translations prove to be…explosive to say the least. It's the belief of many that they purposely added steps to screw it up so if it was taken it would be useless to those who don't know the exact recipe or spell combination."

"Now nearly everything has been lost," Daryl pointed out.

"Yes, yes it has," Harry said sadly, "Civilisation as we know it has gone, but we can do what we can to preserve what's left for the next generation, for Sophia or Sophia's children if she has any." the world would go on, and in a few generations they wouldn't know anything but this unless a cure was created and a government was remade even so it would take them at least hundred or so years for society to get even anywhere close to what it used to be.

"Well it worked," Harry said grinning sheepishly; he honestly hadn't expected it to.

Daryl looked down to see what he was talking about only to see his and Harry's name written on the parchment. Very small if his eyesight hadn't been perfect he probably wouldn't have been able to see the names.

"Ready to get to work?" Harry said, glancing at him briefly, green eyes just as damaged as his own met his and nodded. They'd cleared up the walkers that were outside, which itself had taken a week, two hours per day, they just had to get all the walkers in every single building in Fort Benning, which was going to be the hardest task of all. There were hundreds of them, that weren't including outhouses and barracks and the like.

"Where to first?" Daryl asked staring at the map as if it was just dawning on him for the first time the enormity of the task before them.

"Good question, I have no idea," Harry said bemused, "I suppose we're best going to the places that have food in them first just in case we need any, we're running out quicker every week, that and the places we're going to have already been picked clean, it can be our emergency supply if we have no other choice."

"Big place like this will have a food bank for those that need it," Daryl said thoughtfully, "They never accept fresh stuff, tinned goods usually and stuff that will last for months. It might still be there, but given the food shortages it might have been picked clean."

"So like a church? Or a building near it then?" Harry queried, "I've never been near one, not even back home so I have no idea what to look for."

Daryl shrugged his shoulders, he didn't know either.

"Alright, lets just make sure the area is clear," Harry said, grasping a rune stone from its pouch, he held it in his hand before non-verbally levitating it more than one mile of their location so they didn't end up almost burnt to a crisp when the rune did its work. Although it did have a safe clause built in, it wouldn't go off unless there were walkers around it, but he hadn't had to put that to the test yet. As soon as it was far enough away, Harry let it drop; the force of it falling was enough to cause a crack and the loud wailing sounded. It was a testament to how used to it they were that they didn't even wince at the loudness of it anymore. The third day they'd used it, after clearing up the majority of the walkers, noticing more just kept appearing and Harry thought the spell wasn't holding them back, when they first saw Walkers just flinging themselves from the rooftops to get to the sound, it meant that maybe, just maybe it had held them out after all.

After waiting five minutes it became readily apparent that there was no walker going to stumble upon them, "Ready to do some rappelling?" Harry asked grinning widely, green eyes gleaming, grasping the map he rolled it up and slung it into his backpack before kneeling and grasping a hold of the rope and began to rappel down, it was much more fun than he anticipated, he vowed to do it more often he thought as his feet planted firmly on the ground.

Daryl followed closely behind, allowing Harry to get a delicious view of his backside and muscles working to keep his weight from just plummeting to earth. He didn't even attempt to hide the salacious look on his face, but he did have to smother a laugh as Daryl looked away, trying to hide behind his growing hair - which he couldn't do just yet, but if he kept growing it he soon would be able to without trouble. Merlin did Daryl even know how difficult it was for him to keep his hands to himself? Despite the fact they'd both acknowledged their feelings for each other, nothing had happened between them, not surprising, both of them were broken in certain ways, Daryl didn't even know how to deal with positive feelings let alone display them.

"Come on," Harry said after a few minutes of silence, with that both men began to move, Harry amusedly shaking his head. "I really hope I don't look like an old man by the time you get the courage up to make a move." he teased Daryl.

"Stop," Daryl said in embarrassment.

"Or rather you look like an old man," Harry said, nudging Daryl with a shit eating grin on his face.

"Stop," Daryl said again, face going a little red.

"Stop," Harry said abruptly, grasping a hold of Daryl's arm, for once the hunter didn't flinch, either too surprised to react or he had heard it too. "Did you hear that?"

"Sounded like whining, a walker?" Daryl said, listening intently.

"I've never heard a walker whine, not like that," Harry said shaking his head. "Celesta, can you smell anything here?" He hissed at his snake, who peeked out of his clothes, she flicked her tongue out, tasting the very air which probably smelt like rotting flesh still; he'd be surprised if she could get anything. She'd had a tough time scent-tracking the deer even with them tracking its footsteps. The very air was sullied by the disgusting things, although not so much here, it might have something to do with the water, or rather lake he could see in the distance. It would definitely need searched for walkers and purged of anything remotely harmful of anything before anyone tried to drink from it or go into it.

"Smells like the mutt," Celesta hissed.

"Anubis is not a mutt, he's my familiar just as you are, and I wont have you insulting him," Harry hissed in annoyance, rolling his eyes, it wasn't the first time and he was sure it wouldn't be the last. "It's canine she can smell, somehow, someway a damn dog has survived here for what? Five to six months?" it beggared belief. He wondered if there was a chance that people were still alive…perhaps hidden in a bunker or something? If their names showed…then it stood to reason if there was anyone alive…it would show up.

"Let me guess…we're going to save it?" Daryl said resignedly.

"You never had a pet growing up did you?" Harry said, "You've grown apathetic towards anything that isn't human being a hunter as you are, but honestly? The animals are the real innocent in all this, they can't really defend themselves the way we can. Not only are we hunting them the walkers are too and they're dying agonisingly painful deaths, it's unfair but life has always been unfair to those undeserving of it. Its why I always aim for the heart so anything I catch to eat never suffers more than it has to." also why he put spells on his traps so they aren't dying in pain. "I'm not saying anything against you, by the way, I would be a bit of a hypocrite now if I did," he added bemusedly. Hissing to his snake, getting directions for where she thought the dog was, and Harry began moving.

Daryl had already known that, Harry was too damn compassionate against anything he came across. Except potentially deadly humans who pose a threat to anyone he cared about. Then he was ruthless, the leader in him came out in situations like that. Daryl and Merle had known it existed, but it wasn't until they split from Rick and the others did it truly shine through. Quickly and effortlessly catching up with Harry, he then asked as they continued to walk, the rattlesnake hissing occasionally, "Did you have a pet?" knowing the likelihood of the answer being a resounding no given his childhood - both their childhoods.

"I had a familiar, for seven years, an owl, a snowy white one I called Hedwig," Harry said, pain in his voice, "She was hit by the killing curse, I think was meant for Hagrid, while we were on he run from Death Eaters, I had to blow up the damn side car with her in it to get me and Hagrid to safety," bitterness and pain twisting like a knife in his gut. "She was my one constant companion, especially when I was at my relatives, she was smart, smarter than any owl I've ever known, and she flew all the way to France once without being told just so Hermione could send me something for my birthday. She always knew where I was, she turned up wherever I was a few minutes after me. She was temperamental, used to nip my fingers, hoot disapprovingly at me and turn her back on me when I didn't have anything for her to send."

"An owl?" Daryl said, "Why not get a dog? You said you always wanted one." he pointed out.

"Hogwarts allowed you to bring either a toad, owl or cat, but Hagrid was the one to buy me Hedwig as a gift, my very first gift actually and the one that meant the most to me." Harry said chuckling, "We use owls to deliver mail, and it's our main source of communication in our world…the mirrors weren't exactly well known, or books to write to each other in. Those have just been the desperate measures we've resorted to now. The dog is in here," he added, looking up, it was a house; they'd passed a dozen to get to this point. They could hear it more clearly now but it was definitely still muffled.

Unsheathing his knife and wand, he was determined not to use any of their ammunition - not when he could use magic at any rate without fear of being found out. "revelabit ambulatis!" using the spell he and Luna had come up with, it's literal translation meant reveal walkers, it was if it worked supposed to work a little like 'Homenum revelio,' but instead of humans it should detect the presence of walkers. "Alright, there's seven walkers in there," he informed Daryl what the spell had revealed to him, Luna would be happy to know their good work wasn't a waste of time. And time away from the group was precious and rare; it didn't give them a lot of time for reading and searching.

"Alohomora!" and just like that they were in, he didn't want to bust down doors, it would just be unnecessary cleaning at this point or more spells. It was a good thing they were ready as the two walkers in the hallway practically lurched for them, a solid double thwack one had an arrow sticking out of its forehead and another had a knife imbedded in the side of its head.

Sudden snarling took both of them by surprise, as a walker lurched for Daryl from behind the door, actually managing to grab the hunter, but that was as far as it got, as Harry furiously cast a "Bombarda!" his magic feeding from his emotions caused the walker to literally explode completely, showering both of them in bone, fat, muscle and copious amounts of blood.

Uncaring about his state, he cleaned Daryl immediately, hands fanatically searching to make sure he hadn't been scratched. His mind didn't even relish the fact he was actually getting to touch him, just pure panic and worry. He slumped in relief, closing his eyes, thank Merlin for that, he was fine, he wasn't the slightest bit grazed from the damn walker. "Fuck!" he muttered, then before he could think of the consequences, he grabbed Daryl's neck and pulled him forward, planting his lips on his, in his surprise, Daryl's mouth opened allowing Harry to sweep his tongue in, to get a taste of what he had thought for so long as forbidden fruit. Desire coiled tightly within him, urging him on, Merlin he was intoxicating, but remembering where they were caused any desire to rapidly deflate as he forced himself to let go of what he'd just started to claim. He had to forcefully repress the whimper at the loss, now that would have been pathetic. "Stupid fucking walkers, stupid fucking place," Harry muttered, his green eyes still alight with desire, he wanted him, just as he always had from pretty much their first meeting, but knowing his feelings were reciprocated had smashed a wall between keeping his feelings hidden - allowing himself to express them.

Closing the front door, he headed up the stairs, his actions brought Daryl out of his thoughts and he thankfully followed. He opened the door closest to him in the hallway, swallowing thickly as he looked into the room. It was a child's room, all pink and girly; there was a walker on the bed, tied with cuffs, snarling angrily, with pink pyjamas on her withered form. Stiffening his resolve, as he always had to in these instances; he walked over and without pause slid his dagger effortlessly into her brain, ending her bodies struggle for life. Once again having to remind himself that her soul had already passed on, that she was nothing but an empty husk of a person. "She must have got sick before the initial outbreak, instead of stepping forward they decided to cuff her…what were they thinking?" he sighed tiredly, he already knew, they were just trying to protect her and instead it could have very well been her that led to the entire place falling. It didn't matter now, it was over, and there were still three more walkers in the house - if the spell was accurate and not reading them from another property.

Daryl just turned and walked out, checking the other rooms knowing there was nothing he could say to make Harry feel better, when it came to kids he always felt responsible despite the fact he'd never met them. Truthfully though his mind was still thinking on what had occurred down the stairs just moments ago. He tried to put it aside, and for most part he succeeded, they had work to do, he could think on it later once they were safely within the prison again where they definitely wouldn't be ambushed by walkers. He could even still feel the tingling of Harry's magic, he was more sensitive to it these days, especially having felt Harry's magic when he'd asked him what it felt like to feel the wards. Each day that passed he felt it just a little bit more, he hadn't consciously noticed though, not until lately - until he saw Harry using magic daily.

"They ain't up here," Daryl said, meeting Harry on the landing after thoroughly checking four of the other rooms (one was a bathroom obviously) but there was nothing, he had even checked the wardrobes.

Harry nodded grimly, the pair then made their way back down stairs, stepping over the walkers, Harry casting a cleaning spell on himself absently, the dried blood felt disgusting on his face. They made quick work of checking the cupboard under the stairs and the living room, and then they went to the kitchen and found two walkers continuously scratching at the door.

"Must be where the dog is," Harry said, catching the walkers attentions, the fact they smelt like walkers for however brief a time must have hidden them from the walkers either that or their full attention had been to get inside that room to the dog. "What the hell is in there? I mean there can't be much room." and more importantly how had the dog survived? Another arrow and knife throw the last two remaining walkers were dealt with.

Harry levitated them out into the back garden, they would be burnt just like all the other walkers he came into contact with - like his own body would one day be too - he would make that clear. If there was a chance that this virus can be wiped out, he had to do all he could to ensure it was permanent and someone wouldn't go unearthing the most terrifying virus again and causing another plague upon this world.

Cautiously opening the door, after unlocking it, he let it thump against the wall, stairs, he noticed, "LUMOS MAXIMA!" and the entire area lit up despite the fact it was underground, it was a basement, and it was filled with an enormous amount of food…there was a youngish looking dog surrounded by cans with teeth bites in them as if it had been trying to open them - to eat. It backed itself into a corner and began to growl at them defensively. Harry then noticed the large bags of kibble which had been shredded presumably by the dog so it could eat. Still it must have run out a long time ago, the dog was thin, not as thin as Anubis when he got to him.

Ignoring the growling, he walked forward confidently, flicking his wand at the bowl it automatically began to fill with fresh cold water. The dog ceased its growling and crawled on its belly, whining softly before all that could be heard was the lapping of water from a desperately dehydrated dog. Leaving the dog to drink the water his green eyes glanced around the room, looking for anything suitable for the dog to eat, like dog food.

"It's a Siberian Husky, a female," Daryl told him, knowing Harry didn't know the first thing about dog breeds, or much about dogs, he'd been isolated, kept in a cupboard all his childhood and then in the wizarding world which obviously didn't deal in dogs at all if the only options you get to go to Hogwarts was with a cat, owl or toad. "It isn't fully grown, they probably only got the dog just before the world went to hell." it hadn't had much human interaction or at least that it could remember, or perhaps it thought they were the same as the walkers out there.

"A-HAH!" Harry said in triumph, as he grabbed the large tin of dog food, which he immediately opened, using the ring at the top to slide the top off. He moved back towards the Husky, avoiding the dog's dirt along the way and dumped its entire contents into the second bowl. The dog lurched for it gobbling it down, too fast for its own good, but Harry understood, he knew that all too consuming hunger that plagued anything that went without food for so long.

Finally grimacing at the smell, he banished it all; oddly enough the dog had stuck to one corner to do the toilet. He sanitised the room as well, so any lingering smells disappeared, leaving a fresh scent of lemon behind. He banished the mouldy food as well as an afterthought, but most of it was tinned goods or airtight goodies, like beef jerky and crisps. They had truly prepared themselves to remained shut in, closed off from the world for at least seven or eight months if they had rationed it. It was too bad they had not known the virus was airborne and kept one in their home…a single scratch delivered would have been enough.

"Well, at least we won't have to worry about food for a while…especially if even a third of these houses have this kind of supply in their basement." Harry said, a small smile twitching at his lips as Daryl petted at the Husky, he might try and pull of not caring but Harry knew deep down he obviously did…he certainly cared about Anubis, and Anubis was mad about him too. "Anything you want to take with you? There's plenty of chocolate here." Daryl had a sweet tooth a mile long, even if he would never admit it. He grabbed a few things regardless so they had something at least to take back. He didn't take the hot dogs though, he was sick of hotdogs, he'd had them too often. He'd still eat them though, in this world nobody could afford to be fussy eaters.

Harry had just finished packing up a few things (some food for them and a dozen or so cans of dog food - putting them into a bag he had seen at the bottom of the shelves - when he caught a glimpse of a pink sparkly collar and a lead, the collar was for a puppy, no doubt about it, but he could make it so it was larger, that way they could put a collar and lead on her, he wasn't leaving her, even if she ended up biting him, but like with Anubis he knew the Husky would come, he had earned at least a bit of trust by feeding it. It didn't have a name tag on it, he noticed, as he approached the Husky to put the collar on - it did let him without any trouble. Hopefully the two would get on, otherwise he'd need to find somewhere else for the Husky, Anubis came first, and he was his familiar, although the Husky could be too, but right now she certainly wasn't. "Let's get back to the prison; we've been here long than I anticipated." Daryl nodded refraining from looking at him, his cheeks tinged red, obviously thinking about what happened earlier, Harry sincerely hoped that this wasn't the beginning of Daryl avoiding him…he hoped it was just the fact they'd shared a kiss that was making him think of something he obviously didn't want to dwell on in here of all places.

"Hey," Harry said getting his attention, "I don't regret it, I do want to do it again, very much so, but I promised to let you decide and for that I am sorry for pushing you."

"You didn't," Daryl answered after a few seconds of indecision, he'd liked it.

"It's all new to me as well," Harry added, both of them were new at this and it would probably take them a while but Harry honestly didn't care, as long as he got Daryl at the end of it all, it would be worth it. It would be a long hard slog to convince Daryl that he deserved happiness that nothing would happen if he just accepted that happiness and allowed it to show through.

That got Daryl to look at Harry, surprise prominently displayed on his face before his inscrutable masks were back up. As always giving one of his little nods of understanding he finally stood up, it was time to head back. He accepted the chocolate bars from Harry, happiness bubbling up inside of him. He fucking loved that someone knew him so well, someone that wasn't Merle for the first time in his life - someone that actually cared to learn about him too. Harry had always gone out of his way to show he cared; surely he could do the same in turn?

Well what did you think? Finally it happened! :D and Daryl is beginning to realise he has to show he cares as well so it should go smoothly from this part of the story to the next...now how to bring in our favourite samurai warrior any suggestions? observing the prison thinking she's seeing things? caught by Merle and Luna snooping (the wards when she got too close) and fearing she might be from the 'guy's' group? or will they meet by sheer happenstance after she gets out of woodbury and gives them all the juicy details? and as for those who haven't seen the TV series this far you have my sincere apologies BUT not all things are the same obviously! Will Mira be able to say goodbye to Andre or will they both become super protective of him and him have two mothers? Did she see them use magic? or did she believe she was hallucinating? Will she know and say nothing or will she find out when the others do? How about Rick and the others...times coming where they'll be making an entrance also just how will they come back into it? Rick wouldn't have come the way of the prison if it weren't for Daryl hunting so definitely not that way and he wouldn't risk going near if the prison is occupied with his wife pregnant and all? R&R please!