Walking Dead Wizard
Chapter 89
Harry hadn't had to tell anyone at Pandora's Abscondo what happened, with so many of them going, it was discussed fervently over dinner. Between Glenn and Maggie informing her father, sister and the majority of what Harry still mentally referred to as 'Rick's group' despite the fact many of them had lost faith in Rick long before the terminus blow up. To think if he hadn't been so concerned about Carl that he might never have known their fates. Andrea and Amy were conversing with Michonne and Mira. Oscar was as always with Big Tiny and Axel talking about that in a low voice – which was his normal volume – and of course, Luna was regaling Carol and Sophia about her day, along with Meghan, Lily and Tara who had finished the first stages of their grieving and had begun to join everyone at the table.
This was what Harry had wanted, when he begun the thought of a communal dinning room. It vividly reminded him of Hogwarts, and Merlin he had missed it. Sitting around freezing his ass off, eating dinner while people avoided talking to each other overly much…rifled with strife had been difficult. Quietness (like the Dixons) was different to tense stifling quietness (Shane, Andrea, Lori, Carol, Rick) which had existed in the beginning. Its why he'd been so eager to sit with Daryl and Merle despite missing nearly everything about his world.
"Bringing so many new people here would be a mistake," Harry said, eyeing everyone. A high pitched childish giggle caused him to look for the source, despite knowing who it was. Judith was growing so quickly, she was no longer on pureed food (which was mostly fruit from the orchids) as well as blended vegetables and meat. She was able to eat what the rest of them did, admittedly cut up so she could chew it. Despite how Lori had been with Carl, she was very watchful and protective of Judith, she barely let the girl out of her sight. Hell, she only let Carl go when she knew who he was going with and how long they'd be. Having a somewhat stable environment, stable life had seemingly helped Lori integrate into the group more. There was no longer stupid rows about insipid things, it was as if what happened at both the farm and Terminus had woken her up. Everyone here had integrated easily, yes, but it was only three at a time at most. Which made it easy to watch them and make sure they weren't causing trouble.
"Unfortunately, you're right," Luna conceded while Daryl and Merle grunted their agreement. "It doesn't help that they've not had stability, if they feared for their life there is no knowing what they might do." It wasn't as though they could reveal where they were…but there were many other things people who were afraid could do – which did include murder these days – and it could be any of them paying the price.
"What would you do?" Harry asked thoughtfully, leaning back, his meal had long since been eaten. Even if his mind was occupied, eating didn't need much in the way of mental faculty, it was automatic. "About those at hilltop," he they were his primarily concern, although he didn't need to worry about them right now. He had put charms around the place, that would alert him if anyone came nearby. By anyone, he meant the living, not walkers, those Jesus' group could watch for themselves. He already had plans in place, but it didn't hurt to hear what his closest thought, see if it brought up any new ideas he could enact.
"They picked a good spot, don't get me wrong, especially with the uncertainty in the beginning," Luna started slowly, her own tone becoming thoughtful. "Higher ground and all, it's a smart thing to do, more warning for anything coming at you. They didn't think of the humans who would also be able to see them too though."
Harry and the others listened, a few even paused their conversation to hear what she had to say.
"Unfortunately, for the amount of people they have and the fact the walkers aren't exactly what we could call…our number one concern…Hilltop is extremely vulnerable and inadequate. Very insufficient, it's better than being on the outside but living in trailers for the rest of their lives while a lucky few get to lord it over in a manor?" Luna's tone became scornful just saying that. "Sure we could magically create rooms for them, but we'd maybe be able to create…what five or six rooms in total?"
"I'd say nine or ten," Harry replied, "The basement, the attic, few of the cupboards,"
"Even then, with the loses they've sustained it's not feasible to fit everyone inside," Luna said in quiet contemplation. "Even if they got the materials to build outer buildings…that itself would be extremely complicated. I mean the hill would have it lopsided and going downhill. That's not taking into account the space they need to grow and flourish…"
"Which already isn't enough," Harry mused, "They've barely enough room for a few pigs and some crops," all of which were basically given to the Saviours leaving Jesus to try and salvage anything for his group in hopes of saving them from the savagery the Saviours are capable of.
"You're going to set the charm up somewhere else…" Luna realized, almost hitting herself for not realizing it sooner. Of course, that's what he was planning, Harry was always thinking five steps ahead. He'd probably thought of all this long before this day…probably months ago when he first became aware of another settlement. "Somewhere they'll be able to settle into, a proper life, they won't even really need to accept magic because they won't be here…"
Harry's lips quirked in amusement, green eyes gleaming wickedly, giving a solemn nod. "It's been on my mind, more so today than before." Which was self-explanatory, after all Hilltop had been attacked, and Jesus was asking for help.
"Sure you want to do tha'?" Merle stated loudly, surprising everyone, "You'll wanna train em yourself, which means more time away from here and what ya really wanna do."
"There's no need for all that, we can help," Andrea pointed out seriously, "There's only three people among us that cannot fight properly. They're new, at this early stage they'll only need one of us, two of us could go and help those that need us at Hilltop." As always happy to help, she no longer had that zealot passion to prove herself, but she did like keeping busy and doing what needed.
"I've absolutely no idea where they'll be situated, it might be miles away," Harry argued briefly, glancing down when Anubis put his head on his legs, his eyes going up to the table. Harry snorted wryly, shaking his head, greedy pooch that he was. He took his plate and put it on the floor, there was no need to worry about germs, he would sterilize it and sanitise it before it got washed. "With Negan seemingly everywhere…it's a bit too risky." He didn't want to lose any of them, and despite the fact he didn't say anything…he knew each and every one of them understood what he meant.
"It's a risk we understand and take into consideration…and I still want to do it," Andrea stated firmly, not arguing with him per se, just giving her opinion and willingness to help those who couldn't help themselves.
"You just want to use the motorbikes," Harry said wryly, grinning in amusement.
"That too," Andrea added, smugly, not afraid to show how she really felt.
"We will have to be careful, Negan has outposts, spread out all over the place if rumours to be believed. I'd rather believe them and be cautious than be caught of guard. You could pass them at any given point…and given how they don't seem to care about the human population it's dangerous. So I'll try and find somewhere as close to us as possible for those at Hilltop to live in." Harry cautioned her once again, all the amusement in the world couldn't prevent Harry from expressing his concern.
"Best make sure they'll come, ain't no point to doing all this for them to say no," Daryl stated, he didn't want Harry wasting his time. He was exhausting himself beyond endurance, trying to do everything at once, at least he wasn't trying to do it all himself. He was finally accepting help from the others, maybe now he would stop stressing himself out so much.
"That's a good point," Harry conceded, he doubted very much they would say no. They're literally sitting bloody ducks right were they were. Just waiting to be picked off by Negan, when they failed to give him what he wanted. There would come a time when it wasn't enough, when they couldn't get what he wanted and they'd eliminate the lot of them.
"There's a school not even two miles from here, it's a high school, it looks pretty new, like it was only built a few years before the world went to hell." Mira interjected. "I know it's not much in the way of security, but once the spell is on…they can take their time in barricading the entire thing off. Plenty of land to grow things in and they have kids, right? That means they'll have everything to begin their education again."
"That's right, we passed it a few weeks ago," Michonne nodded, "There will be a library, school items they can use, unless of course…it's already been raided but I don't see anyone being in a hurry to empty out a school. Short of wanting to live there."
"That's doable…there will be plenty of rooms, communal areas they can use…yes, well done, Mira, I'll go and look around tomorrow after dealing with Ezekiel." Harry nodded grimly, his mind made up. The amount of rooms in a high school…meant that families could live together and have privacy and others who are on their own would be able to have their own rooms. Depending on what they decide to do in the long run, whether they accept others into their lives or not, that was all up to Jesus really. Which meant he would need to be there when Harry cast the spell, making him a Secret Keeper of the property.
"Ever tried to dismantle a wall?" Merle asked, eyes gleaming almost wickedly.
Harry frowned, "Dismantle? Like how?" blowing it up or what?
"Softening the cement, gathering the bricks then replanting em somewhere else," Merle suggested, it would certainly be quicker than trying to build something about a damn school with only the hope of having the materials. They hadn't come across many other building sites and yards lately, so everything they had he didn't want given to hilltop. Call him selfish all you like, his group came before all else, even those in need at Hilltop. You just never knew when those sort of things could come in handy.
Harry's mouth opened a bit, "I've never tried anything like that," he admitted, and he wasn't above letting everyone here know he wasn't a miracle worker and yes there were things he just did not know. Throwing a glance at Luna in curiosity, wondering if she'd seen anything like that before.
"Well…we know Hogwarts was expanded over the years, including plumbing, but it doesn't look modified, so there has to be a way." Luna said slowly, thoughtfully, "There has to be something in the books…" she trailed off.
Merle groaned, realizing he wasn't going to see Luna at all tonight, as he knew that look, Luna wasn't going to stop until she had an answer. That's what he gets for opening his damn mouth, and people wonder why he kept quiet? He threw the others a disgruntled look at their suppressed amusement at his predicament. Bloody women! And always needing answers to things all the time.
Daryl smirked, silently taunting his brother, finding amusement in it.
"No, not tonight," Harry stated firmly, "We need a decent sleep," he argued with Luna. She needed a decent sleep, as always it was going to be too busy for words.
Luna huffed resignedly, "Fine," she pouted, but not truly bothered by his statement, mostly because she knew it was true and they were going to be away from PA for some time.
"Hershel, how are the animals?" Harry finally spoke to Hershel, asking the same series of questions he did every night. Whether here with everyone or sitting having a coffee or on the rare occasion Hershel wanted one a whiskey (not that he drank it) and spoke to him later on in the evening.
"The potions…they worked, the illnesses with the horses is already fading fast," Hershel explained, ringworm was a common problem with horses, he dealt with it all the time. He'd feared the worst when he realized quite a few of them were infected. Tried to isolate them to stop the spread of infection, but he'd failed. The potions he'd been given them for the past few days was working, the skin was clearing up. All of them were showing signs of improvement. They hadn't need to go hunting for antifungal disinfectant either, the spells Harry used he insisted would remove all living organisms. He didn't go into detail seeing that the children were there and many adults were still eating.
"And the goat?" Harry questioned, he remembered everything he was told, it was a matter of importance especially these days.
"Is recovering, I've got him away from the rest of the herd," Hershel reassured him, pink eye was common in goats, he'd been lucky to spot it in time and get the goat away from the rest of the herd before they were all infected with pink eye. He had a natural remedy he was able to create himself, so no potions were required for that one.
"Good, we'll discuss your helpers later," Harry stated, by helpers he meant assistants or more like apprentices really. They were learning everything they could about Veterinary. Hershel wasn't going to be around forever, so they had to have someone in the reigns to take over. Hershel couldn't work until he dropped dead, that wasn't fair to the man after all. So once he had his apprentices trained as best he could, they would take over, and he'd finally get to retire again…with only the occasional help instead of working all day in order to get everyone and everything done. Thankfully his two daughters, Jimmy and surprisingly Patrick had taken a liking to helping when he could. In fact he practically lived in Hershel's shadow. Presumably because he wasn't being a little hard on the teenager. Either that or he was hoping to be good enough at it that he wouldn't need to do anything else. Like having to go outside and scavenge for food. Too bad for the teenager he would one day have to go, he refused to let his fear of walkers terrify him. If anything happens and he freezes up it would be the end of him.
Harry hadn't failed yet, so he refused to do so with Patrick.
"Any other problems that need to be discussed?" Harry called out, making sure even those having a private conversation could hear him.
"No,"
"Nothing,"
"All's well,"
"Everything's set up,"
Was commented while many of the others just elected to shake their heads.
"And the school classes?" Harry directed his attention to Carol for this, her, Lily and Lori were primarily setting it up for the moment. Mostly because they were the ones with the kids that definitely need to be taught, two in high school education while Meghan – who wasn't being taught magic yet, merely reading – was in primary school setting. The women used grades when talking about it, and honestly, Harry couldn't keep up with the way they spoke regarding the years they were in, even something about 'sophomore' had come up. It made his head explode when they discussed that so he remained firmly away from it as humanly possible. Luke would just be beginning to learn his ABC's and 1,2,3's.
"All set up," Lily was the one to confirm it. Excitement thrumming through her, she was actually looking forward to getting into it. It would be like a real job, something to do every day, settling into a routine. She needed that, not that what she was doing wasn't good enough. But after being stuck in that apartment for what felt like years, terrified to her core, for not only herself, her daughter and her father…this was a relief. Being able to walk down the stairs, do things, fetch food, cook, now she'd be able to educate what was left of the underage population, so that they at least learned something.
She knew it wasn't the most important thing given the state of the world. It wasn't as if the kids would be able to pass exams and go on to university and get jobs. That world was long gone now, instead what they needed to learn was subjects this group of people already knew. Nursing, doctors, veterinarian, mechanics, how to plant and keep fruit and vegetable growing, those who know how to fight, both with weapons and physical fighting. So many people with so many different talents that helped everyone in the group.
It would ensure their survival for a long time to come.
"You need to decide on one teacher, and one teacher alone," Harry warned them, "Not only will it give stability but it will ensure their education runs smoothly and we can't have everyone trying to keep up and teach them." He wasn't going to negotiate on that.
"I'd like to do it," Beth volunteered.
"Decide later," Harry stated, "Come to a decision together." With that Harry stood up, rubbing at his temples, exhaustion weighing him down. Merlin, what a bloody weird day it turned out to be, he'd never have foreseen this sort of shit in a million years. Nor in the weirdest dreams he'd ever had, and he'd had a lot of bloody weird dreams in his life, especially after finding out about the magical world to begin with anyway…when he wasn't dreaming about Voldemort of course, or the induced visions he'd had later.
But of course, this was Harry's life…things were about to get a lot more difficult, but with magic on their side they had the upper hand.
Whether they all survived or not…remained to be seen.
It was time for the battle between the Saviours and the groups to commence.
Miles away 'King' Ezekiel was getting his first taste of the madness that was the Saviours, which was going to sway his decision.
Yep very, very short sorry! Making way for the chaos to come...which by the way isn't easy when they have magic on their side but I do want it to be bloody and gory so I'm having to think extra hard on how to accomplish that :D but I have an idea so it's going to be real fun to write! Read and Review please!