Walking Dead Wizard
Chapter 70
When Harry woke up he found he was alone, which was unusual Anubis usually stayed but the faint sound of talking clued him in on the fact he'd obviously slept longer than he intended. Stretching out with a pleased groan, by Merlin he'd desperately needed that long sleep. Shoving the covers aside, not even remembering putting them on, or even taking his boots off which he observed were no longer on his feet. The bed was as comfy as the one he'd shrank down from his room in the prison obviously he wouldn't need to take it out.
Curious to know just how long he'd been out of it, he slid off the bed and ambled out of the bedroom, making his way along the corridor to the living room where the quiet talking was coming from. Opening the door, he wasn't at all surprised to see Mira, Andrea, Amy, Luna, Daryl, Merle, Dale, Carol, Sophia, Axel, Oscar, Big Tiny all in the room. It was the core group, the one that had spent a year together (minus Mira) in the prison and had bonded more than any other. Michonne and Andre he noticed were in the kitchen, which was a surprise, the back door was open and two bowls were in the kitchen half filled with kibble.
"Hey, how long was I asleep?" Harry asked, perching himself on the arm of the couch that Luna was on.
"Two days," they said in sync, their concern obvious for all too see.
"Damn, I didn't think I'd sleep that long," Harry said sheepishly, "Has everyone eaten?"
"Yes, we saved some for you," Carol informed him, as always the mother in the group who thought of everyone's needs.
"Thank you," Harry replied smiling in gratitude, he was so grateful that his magic hadn't soured his relationship with Carol, who he felt closest to outside of Merle, Daryl and Luna.
"You'd do the same for us," Carol pointed out as Sophia ran over with a plate of food for him, just some simple sandwiches and a packet of crisps.
"Will someone go and get the others?" Harry questioned, removing his wand, deciding to keep on using it for a while until he was sure his magic fully recovered. "Stand up!" he called to the others and they did as he asked without question, as Carol slid out of the house to get everyone else. Harry spelled the room to expand so everyone could fit in the room without feeling as though they were being boxed in. Then he levitated the couches to the edge of the walls, and proceeded to bring forth the wooden kitchen dining table over and expanded that causing it to become even larger, large enough to fit everyone so they'd all be able to sit down.
"Should I get the garden seats from the RV?" Sophia asked, watching the magical display with wide eyed wonder as she brought one of the chairs into the living room.
"There's no need," Harry informed her with a smile, as he proceeded to copy the seat that Sophia had just brought through. He copied it over twenty-four times, the four original made it up to the number of people who would be seated down. He probably should have made the adjustments to the kitchen instead of the living room but he could disable them any time.
Daryl watched Harry closely, more interested in his partner than he was in his magical displays, honestly if they were awed by that they'd not seen anything yet. Nothing came close to the magical display 'Fiendfyre' that had been cast a few times, both up close and from a distance. You could literally feel the magic surrounding you, it was indescribable and addicting. Harry looked a lot more comfortable (in his own skin) than Daryl had seen him in a long time. In fact he hadn't noticed just how much the lack of using magic was making Harry tense, yet he never really seemed bothered by the fact, at least it didn't appear that way. He'd say it bothered Luna more, especially at the beginning. Every tense moment had her going for her wand only to still as she realized she couldn't use it.
He'd been worried when Harry didn't wake up yesterday, even after reading the damn book on magical depletion. Luna had explained why he was still asleep better than the damn book. Like when you were ill, sleep was the best thing for you, so was sleeping when your magical core was drained, it helped it fill up quicker. Although Luna was getting concerned herself when it appeared that Harry wasn't any closer to wakening up two days after they'd came here.
"Hermione's been in touch," Luna informed Harry as she absently moved to take a seat.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked cautiously.
"I don't know, I didn't go into the trunk," Luna shrugged, she hadn't wanted to risk wakening him up, opening the trunk would have resulted in that. He had charms and spells to make sure it never got lost or to let him know if anyone touches it.
Harry nodded, wandering out of the room just in time for the others to begin making their way in, glancing around in obvious surprise before taking a seat. There was a tension in the air, as well as a heavy dose of anticipation as they waited. Especially Tyreese and Sasha who obviously didn't know anyone there yet, and felt the odd ones out which they were in a way. Not much had been done in the two days while they waited on Harry coming around, not even talking other than quietly expressed concern from most of them.
"Harry, you need to eat, its been days," Luna said as soon as Harry wandered back in arms full of items he put on the table, "Sit down before I feed you myself."
Harry laughed at that, and knowing that Luna would he did take his seat next to her and quickly but thoroughly ate his way through the sandwiches. Mulling on what was the best way to go about everything that needed done. Just because they'd found somewhere safe it didn't mean they could just suddenly relax, they had a lot to do and most it if required trips outside their sanctuary and a lot of work inside of it. It would take them months for everything to be running smoothly, and that was even with a bigger group than they had been at the prison.
His piercing green eyes suddenly narrowed in on Tyreese and Sasha, making them extremely nervous, and they made no effort to hide the fact they were intimidated by the look as they shifted on the chair.
Bloody hell he was really, really intimidating, Tyreese thought, it wasn't an angry look either…it was more calculating if anything. It was as if the guy could see into him, judged everything in his life to see if he was worthy. It didn't help that the others looked amused, as if they were remembering something…perhaps when it had been done to them?
"You've both been in a secure location for most of the year haven't you? You're still reluctantly to kill walkers, running about with no supplies and barely anything that can count as a weapon. You've been well fed, so there must have been supplies where you holed up, you were either overrun or the food ran out." Harry said thoughtfully, remembering the scene from the prison. "You're not used to losing people yet either, they looked to you for answers and you weren't sure what to do, that tells me you've not been on the outside for long…I'd say two to three months max." this was all gleaned from his own experiences with the non-magical population and nothing to do with reading their minds, he wouldn't have been able to get all that from a single look anyway.
Tyreese swallowed thickly, nodding in awe were they really that easy to read? "My next door neighbour was a survivalist kind, had a fully stocked bunker, Sasha and I, we closed ourselves in there for over seven months until we ran out of supplies. After that we met up with Donna and her family, and eventually joined a group of twenty-five others but the camp was overrun and nearly all of them died, those who didn't ran off in different directions. It happened about six weeks ago by our calculations, maybe even longer in that time we just went from one place to the next just surviving."
"And your name is?" Harry asked, smirking a little at having been right.
"Tyreese Williams and this is my little sister Sasha Williams." Ty answered, sitting up straighter.
"Ages?" Harry queried, everyone else was familiar with the routine.
"I'm 39," Ty answered, and his sister answered as well, "32,"
"Have you killed anyone?" Harry asked.
"You mean like w-walkers? Or people?" Ty asked wide eyed.
"People," Harry nodded in confirmation.
"No," Ty said vehemently.
"Only Donna…" Sasha answered, Donna technically hadn't been a walker yet.
"Good, last question do you know how to fight?" Harry then questioned them, already knowing the answer to that question.
"In what way? The walkers? Fist righting?" Sasha wanted clarification before answering.
"In every way," Harry stated. "Can you fight? Can you shoot a gun? Can you use a sword or a weapon of any kind against a walker and hit them without taking ten tries?"
"I have a feeling I'd get my ass handed to me by everyone here," Sasha said wryly, causing a few to chuckle at her dry humour. "I can only shoot up close, I've never used a gun before Andrea gave me hers, I've never used a sword but I have killed a few walkers with a crowbar." which had been her weapon of choice.
"I'm good with a hammer, only takes one shot, I can fight, I'm alright with a gun…I've never held a sword in my life," Tyreese answered the questions out of order and without being asked.
"And you have no problem with magic?" Harry asked, watching them even more intently, he couldn't afford to have anything overlooked. It was probably selfish of him to be this way, to judge people because of their reaction to magic, to not let them in if they couldn't accept it. wasn't he entitled to some peace? Why should he bring people here if they were against magic? Allow them the protection of it while they vocally shouted their mistrust? No, no never again, the Dursley's had the use of the protection and abused him, he wasn't going to let it happen again minus the abuse of course…he wasn't a kid he wouldn't take shit from anybody. He was through doing that shit.
Tyreese laughed, "Hell no, ain't gonna see me complaining," not when it had them here, although he did feel a little guilty at leaving Allen and his son, but he had to think of himself and his little sister.
Sasha shook her head, she didn't have a problem either.
"If you want to stay there's a few stipulations and they're mandatory," Harry informed them, causing Rick and the rest who hadn't been with Harry to sit up straighter. "Everyone going through training, we'll set it up once things are calm, but you'll need to attend them, and everyone from the youngest to the oldest pulls their weight, nobody sits around and does nothing, nobody tries to get someone else to do their share, nobody tries to tell anyone how its done, you take your orders from me unless I tell you someone else is in charge, which will happen when I'm out scavenging which will be quite a lot over the coming weeks."
"Done," Tyreese stated firmly, he had absolutely no problem with those orders at all. He'd known he would have to pull his weight, but if this was the answer to doing it then hell, he would. Although he felt as though the whole 'nobody tries to get someone else to do their share or tell them how it's done' wasn't aimed at them, but others in the group.
"You aren't going scavenging alone?" Sasha asked, she only asked because it sounded like he was going by himself.
"No, I'll be taking a group of at least five or six," Harry informed her, "It's going to be all hands on deck, if we even hope to get this place up and running in a timely fashion."
"Merle mentioned going after grains and such?" Hershel made it sound like a question.
"Yes," Harry confirmed looking at Hershel, the last time he'd seen him he'd been in devastation after losing the farm. He had also lost a lot of weight, he observed, he looked extremely frail but he had a quiet strength about him. Picking up the map he'd plucked from his trunk while he was there, he spread it out. The Dixon brothers automatically stood up as well, their gaze flickering over the new map, the old map was placed up above it, it was covered in red circles or dots of the areas they'd scavenged. "We have enough food to do us so that's not going to be our primary goal, not for a while at any rate."
"Now according to the phone directory there are eighteen farms in Atlanta that grow fruit, vegetable and grains." Harry said thoughtfully, not really speaking to anyone in particular. The copied piece of paper made sense, there were highlighted markings through some of the lists. Merle picked up and his blue eyes roamed over the pages. "Savannah, Newnan, Lexington, Keysville, Carnesville, Ellijay,"
"There's one in particular I want to go to first, it's called the goodness grocery, it specialises in rice and grains," Harry pointed to the one with a star at the end of the address. "I also want to find some farms, ones that are so obscured on the map that it can't be found easily, and with the population as minimal as possible, there's a chance we might find more animals and supplies. Oh shit, Luna please tell me you took the animals out?"
"You didn't take that trunk, I did," Luna said giggling a little at the face on Harry. "They're out back eating grass until we find the stables. The chickens are next door so they don't get trampled on by either the dogs or horses."
"Well there's plenty to go around, nowhere has been cut for over a year," Harry snorted in amusement.
"Are we staying in this area? Or moving to a different one?" Andrea asked, after a few seconds of respectful silence to their current conversation.
"Does this place have solar panels?" Big Tiny asked, at pretty much the same time as Andrea.
"Yes, the facility generates thirty megawatts of solar power that covers over three hundred aces of land." Harry said wryly in Big's direction before turning to Andrea, "If you like them then yes, we can remain here, I see no problem with that. We have no shortage of homes that we can live in."
"What needs to be done first?" Tyreese questioned, up to doing his part.
"Where to start?" Harry said with a huffed laugh, shaking his head. "I didn't expect to miss the prison quite so much or so soon."
"Well there's no cleaning here so I'm good," Amy said grinning widely, remembering the first few days at the prison and the constant cleaning.
Andrea, Amy, Dale, Carol, Axel, Oscar, Big Tiny and Sophia laughed in agreement, it had been hard work cleaning out the prison, but considering what Luna, Merle, Daryl and Harry had been doing they'd had it easy.
"Judging by the food I'm going to say its after lunch time isn't it?" Harry asked thoughtfully gazing out the window.
"Only just," Luna confirmed.
"Then there's no point to going out there today, which means an early start tomorrow," Harry said, decisively.
"Who's going with you?" Andrea asked holding her breath, she hoped he'd meant what he said about letting more people go scavenging.
"Daryl, Merle, Luna, Michonne, you Andrea, and Sophia," Harry stated, "Mira will look after the kids, Carol will be in charge of overseeing everything that needs to be done until we return. Most importantly the area I've decided on for the vegetable garden will need prepped, Carol already knows how it goes she watched me doing it before. T-Dog, Tyreese, Sasha, Glenn, Maggie, Beth and Jimmy will be responsible for getting it done."
Carol swallowed briefly, the thought of her daughter going out there terrified her, but she knew that Harry and the others would never let anything happen to her. She also knew why Harry was going to start letting everyone go, they had to learn to survive, Harry wasn't going to let them rely on him all the time just in case anything happened. It was why everyone was taught how to fight, how to wield weapons…now all they had to learn now was scavenging.
Sophia had sat up straighter, her eyes gleaming brightly, she was looking forward to it.
"Excuse me?" Hershel questioned, "If you are going to look for veterinarian surgery, I would like to come if that's possible?"
"That won't be done tomorrow, probably the day after," Harry explained. "I think there's a veterinarian surgery already in place, but it can't hurt to have more supplies."
"You think?" Rick questioned, only for Hershel to press an old hand on Rick's shoulder calming him down.
"I don't know the ins and out of the entire place yet," Harry said simply and without embarrassment or shame, the fucking place was massive. "There will be a map somewhere on the complex we can use to get around, I've said before this place is a society onto itself, it has everything anybody could possibly need including a doctor and veterinarian surgery maybe even more than one. I do know it has a hospital, everything will be investigated sooner or later."
Everyone nodded in understanding, the place was huge.
"After you've finished your course of antibiotics, you will begin to do chores like everyone else." Harry turned to speak to Lori. "During those times you will have someone watching Carl and Judith when you aren't doing chores you watch them you do not want to know the consequences if I find Carl going off by himself. You will not palm them off to someone else or cause unnecessary drama. It's not going to be like before, you pitch in for the good of everyone else. You also wont demand the women of the group to do chores you feel women should be doing either. Everyone will know what their chores are at the start of the day and when they choose to do them it's up to them." it startled Harry to see just how much relief shone through the eyes of Glenn, Maggie, Beth, Hershel and Jimmy.
Andrea and the others who had left with Harry during the original split had to suppress their smiles of amusement.
Lori looked between wanting to argue, shout or disappear in embarrassment at being called out in front of everyone. In the end she admitted defeat and nodded feeling extremely small right now.
"Rick and Hershel can either join in the digging or they can do the washing," Harry stated, seeing Rick opening his mouth Harry quickly added, "Trust me, having something to do to take your mind of the PTSD will help. Giving yourself too much time to think will make your mind dwell on things best forgotten. It will get easier with time just let yourself heal."
The Dixons' refrained from scoffing, in their opinion Harry was being too kind to the asshole. Especially given his actions since the start of all this shit, but that was just Harry all over. He'd given two rednecks a chance after all hadn't he? And they'd always be grateful for it.
"If you have questions about anything else, now is the time to ask." Harry said resigning himself to a long, long conversation about magic and the intricate details it entailed. Perhaps he should get Hermione on the mirror to be part of the discussion, it was time she met everyone he held dear here. He knew she was curious about them, about who he would be so reluctant to leave behind. He spoke often of Sophia so that was who she was most curious about.
There we go! the magical discussion will be next then I'm thinking definite alone time for Daryl and Harry :D the question remains will they do it? or do you think it's too soon...they've only just come out with their relationship after all, I don't want to go too slow but I also don't want to rush it their romance isn't the point of the whole story it's just something added, something extra to enjoy :) you all want Mpreg so will it be something they both agree to down the line or will Harry be unique and end up pregnant before both decide it? and no it won't be right away I'm thinking once I have the majority of the story done I'll do time skips like six months to a year and show the progress as well as relationships etc... would that be alright? I just feel as if it would be required for either to bring Mpreg into it or it will need to be the very last chapter its mentioned in...what about Luna and Merle? :D do you think Merle would be able to deal with a kid without running for the hills LOL!
Also let me know if you can think of anything i've missed in regards to what they need to do right away...such as things i already have planned like wells...mostly for the animals or veggies...like they had on the farm...? Sometimes you guys have the best ideas that I dont think of :) R&R PLEASE!