Walking Dead Wizard

Chapter 115

"We're soon not going to have enough room here for everyone," Lori commented, staring around the table, their very large group continued to expand. "There's enough room for five more people…six at the push with this set." Her voice wasn't filled with concern, just awed amusement. She'd long ago thought this wouldn't be possible. With good reason, they had seen a lot of dark destruction on the road to hell (paved with good intentions as it was) with Rick. You couldn't get worse than encountering a group of serial killing cannibal's now can you. She shuddered a little thinking of just how different everything could have been if Harry hadn't cast that charm on her son.

"Would it be better creating another set of tables and chairs here or in the other room?" Carol questioned, a critical look upon her face. Wouldn't want to make the room too crowded, which was truly mindboggling, they'd never really thought more people would join them.

"Why not just ration out the food per week for everyone?" Lily asked, farther down but her keen hearing heard the conversation further up. "It would certainly take a lot off Carol's hands." Truly curious as to why it hadn't been done yet.

"It's not really doable long term, in the next few years those solar panels are going to stop working," Harry explained, and the huge group quietened to hear what he had to say. Truthfully, they'd been wondering why, and some had uncharitably thought it was to keep them all dependant on Harry.

They hadn't been there as long.

The look on most of their faces were comical, clearly they hadn't realized there was a time limit on their usage of electricity.

"Isn't Luna trying to power them with…Ancient Runes?" the words were spoken slowly, clearly unused to saying them let alone thinking of them a lot.

"She is, Hershel," Harry confirmed, Luna wasn't here right now, she was out with Merle and a few others. "We don't like playing about with Muggle technology too much. However, we're using a property that isn't used yet. She's not had much luck."

"Should hope not, poor dear has hardly any time to sleep," Hershel protested, shaking his head, "Y'all need to take time for yourselves before you end up drained. Believe you me y'all close to breaking point."

Maggie pressed her lips together, amused. Her father was usually very well-spoken southern gentlemen. She'd very rarely heard him use the words y'all and he'd said it twice in two sentences.

"There are far more wizards and witches around…Luna and I can take a break," Harry agreed with his assessment, Luna was trying to 'prove' she could do everything if he took a break.

Approval was written across Hershel's face, as he nodded his head. Good, he was pleased to hear it, he didn't want them collapsing on him, especially with so many animals to tend to even if he had many apprentices learning how to do everything.

"Yes, if you need any help while I'm here I'd love to offer it…if I can." Percy was so earnest to help, to do his part. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to help at all. He wasn't the slightest bit trained to handle walkers or outside. Or anything Muggle (Mundane) and wouldn't be a help rather a hindrance. Poor guy would try his best, but people would have to explain everything to him and keep them back.

"If you're going to stay, then you'll begin learning as the children did." Harry explained his tone soft but firm. "You'll learn how to fight without your wand, when you get better at hand-to-hand combat you'll begin working with weapons, guns, knives and such, you'll learn what's useful when it comes to Muggle items before you start venturing outside. Short trips on the outside until you're confident." Telling him how it would be if he did elect to stay. He'd be very surprised if they did, Percy had been in the wizarding world his entire life…and he doubted it would change now.

"I'll let you know," Percy said grimly, giving a terse nod. Then smiled at him, going back to eating, the hot food was just out of this world. He vowed never to take it for granted again.

"I know you will," Harry revealed, then again, he believed the others would end up spreading out amongst the Mundane population.

Lori leaned over, talking quietly to Percy, a budding friendship between them taking root.

"Is heating going to be a problem come winter?" Maggie asked, bringing the conversation back to their previous subject. "It's never fun cutting down trees to get wood, but if it is to be the case…for all of us? We have to start soon." Rubbing her shoulders in remembrance, her home (how she missed it sometimes) had a coal fire, most of these buildings in PA had newer electric fires some had coal fires though Maggie had noticed. They might need to move there for the winters to keep warm.

"We have the ability to keep the home warm," Harry explained, "Also the heating warm, but producing electricity no." the weight of Daryl's hand on his stomach grounding.

"The extra things you all like to do might end up cut off," Harry warned them with a shrug, "When the solar panels give up the ghost, which means the Cinema, the telly, the internet." Giving the teens an amused quirk of his lips and surprisingly Dale and Hershel, who were downloading and printing out everything they could get their hands on binding it into book form, which to no surprise (everyone was surprised really) there was a book printing press available in a distribution centre.

"Oh man!" Carl grumbled, not that he got long on the computers.

"Carl," Lori lightly reprimanded her teenage son, but it was half-hearted at best but because he hadn't been unpolite. Before seeing to her daughter then turning back to Percy.

"Despite our best efforts it looks like we grew too complacent after all." Dale confessed, looking rather disappointed with himself. Then again, they had reason to be, they had been with Harry from the start, and had immeasurable safety far longer than anyone else.

"It happens to everyone," Harry told the aging Muggle firmly. Dale never ventured outside, just like Hershel didn't. Hershel however, was far more active than Dale had been in years. Dale did help around the mechanic bay, keeping the cars and vans in tip top shape. Cleaned and maintained his RV which had made the trip and stayed outside the house he and the others shared. It was the only thing he had left that had an abundant of memories of he and his wife. "Don't worry about it." then there were the days where he was in too much pain to move – he refused much of the medication they offered him taking the edge off with herbs and such.

"Where is Luna anyway…" Meghan asked eager to know more of what magic the blonde would teach him.

"She went with Merle to do a little scavenging," Harry said kindly to the child. Merle was frustrated, he needed a way to let off some steam, and going with Luna would provide that.

"I will need help to get the hospital equipment put in order." Hershel commented, "Percy could help with that, could he not?" aware that he was a wizard and that all the hospital equipment had been shrunken down.

"We can help with the smaller things," Lori said, "I have nothing scheduled to do, in the coming few days." She'd taken Harry's word to heart, did her part, and admittedly she still liked doing things her way, but everyone now spoke to her and calmed her overbearing ways when she started to get a little obsessive. It helped getting called out, and did calm her down.

"I'm sure I can find something for you to do," Harry said wryly, with a teasing smirk.

"Difficult to do, since you won't be here," Daryl murmured, even after all this time, it still startled when he spoke, since he was so quiet most of the time. It was beyond baffling how the brothers could be so different.

"Where are you going?" Sophie asked, immediately after Daryl's words.

"Daryl and I are going to go camping for a few days, we'll hunt on our way back." Harry informed them, leaning further into Daryl's side.

"That's good, get away from everything, but I assume you're remaining in PA?" Hershel asked, giving Harry a pointed look.

Fred and George smothered a laugh at the grandfatherly look aimed at Harry. "Look at that…"

"Someone here knows our Harry…"

"All too well,"

"Which isn't hard to do."

Multiple groans met the twin talk, as each person ping ponged to the twins faces to listen to them.

"You get used to it," Percy said, normally he'd join them in groaning…but it was so, so good to hear them. To know they were alive and well.

Sophie, Meghan, Andre, Carl and the others sniggered in amusement. Merriment playing across their features.

"I'm staying inside of P.A, we're going to make our way to the river." Harry said, glancing at Daryl who nodded once in confirmation. That the river and its abundance of forest was still within the boundaries of P.A "Daryl will leave a map of where we are going so that you can reach me if somehow the radio doesn't work." If nobody magical was there, he had to make sure someone knew how to get to them in an emergency.

Knowing his luck…it would somehow happen whether he planned for it or not.

"Colson River or Gulzar River?" Maggie asked perking up, they tended not to overuse the rivers for fishing, so only had fish like once a week sometimes only once a month depending on how the rivers were.

Harry blinked, to be entirely honest he didn't have a clue. He wondered if they'd named them or if they still had their original name? He spent too much time on the outside and other than his chores he hadn't exactly been spending quality time within PA. This outing was to change all that…was it called an outing when they weren't leaving PA's boundaries? He glanced curiously at Daryl out of both of them, he would know.

"Colson River," Daryl confirmed, "It's the name that was decided on, even put on the map." He added to Harry, he could read his partner easily. Why they felt the need to name it something else entirely he didn't know.

People were weird.

"Did it not already have a name?" Harry asked blankly amusement twisting his features.

"Nothing we could see, so we named them, it was only later we found maps of the areas." Maggie shrugged, "The kids put signs up with their new names as an art project." With magic it was turned into metal covering with their drawing still on it. Gave it a bit of colour, while they were learning to fish and create their own lures.

"And they're still there?" Harry asked dubiously.

"Luna turned them into metal signs, and put posts down." Maggie grinned, "It was while we were counting the animals we had."

Harry nodded, that had happened quite recently, animals were being shared between the groups. Trying to prevent any inbreeding of the animals. Which wasn't as easy as it sounded, but they could only do their best.

"Do you have a tent? I still have our old one in the RV," Andrea made a gesture with her thumb in the direction the RV sat from where they were.

Harry smirked, green eyes twinkling delightedly. "I have a tent, and its my kind, far more comfortable."

Fred and George sniggered, recalling Harry's words when he first entered the tent. Which hadn't been all that special, it was rather basic compared to what tents could do. However, Harry had acted like it was the best thing ever, it had been a humbling experience, especially knowing what they did about Harry's childhood. They'd told their parents, too young to do anything themselves, but they hadn't done anything and Fred and George had been severely disillusioned at the time. They'd never really forgiven their parents for that. They wished instead they'd told Bill and Charlie, maybe they would have helped.

Daryl snorted, "Got tha' righ'," he'd actually been in the tents a time or two, long before anyone in PA had gotten to duck into one. Even walkers wouldn't be able to get them, Harry had warded the tents against everything even bombs.

Ain't tested em though.

"But thank you," Harry said, giving her a smile, he knew where Andrea would be staying tonight. "You come and get me if anything unexpected happens. Understand?" using his leader tone so that she would listen to him. Trusting Andrea would do as asked, even when Luna tries to intervene. Luna would want him to relax, she was way too protective.

Andrea nodded grimly, "There isn't much chance of that, right?" she'd seen Harry brought back from the brink of death with phoenix tears. If that can happen then surely the potions could aid Michonne and Mira, they were the strongest women they knew. Eyes filled with worry, truly vulnerable for the first time in a long, long while.

"While potions are amazing miracles, even for wizards and witches…they can't actually perform miracles. I cannot say whether they will live or not, because when its time…it's time." Harry said bone achingly honest, "Even wizards can't fight death. I would have done it for every single one of you. I can't see why it won't work they're both strong." Rubbing his stubble that was growing, he needed to shave.

"I'm going to assume Mira has a better chance of getting through this due to her…shall we call it latent magic?" Hershel asked, nobody seemed interested in leaving, listening to them all talk. Even the newcomers were sat, but that was out of a sense of loss and unrealism. They felt like they were in some sort of dream, a fantasy but still stuck at the hospital.

"Squibs have no active magic, latent magic cannot heal anything," Fred spoke, "All it gives her is the ability to pass on the gene to her children and brew potions."

"Not that it makes her any less," George added not as an afterthought. "We aren't people who think we're superior for having magic."

Harry flicked his gaze to them, recalling that one of the Weasley family had been a squib. An accountant if he recalled correctly. Ron had spoken of him and you could tell (as an adult now) that Ron had regretted speaking of it. Families felt a deep-seated shame of having squibs, wizards and witches did feel superior over their magic. Regardless of their intentions.

The others glanced at Harry, seeking his opinion, trusting it far more than Fred and George's.

"It's true, that's what's said, what's written," Harry replied, the pings of Luna's group returning. "It depends on what people think. I think she wouldn't be able to brew potions if her magic wasn't at least slightly active. Whether I am right or not…no one knows."

"How long are you going for?" Sophia asked, Harry had never been away for long…but with a lot of other wizards here, they were offering the same protection, right?

"Three days," Harry answered Sophia's question. "And you're going to help Luna and your mum keep an eye on this place, yeah?" not treating her with kid gloves.

"Yeah," Sophia agreed.

"Good," Harry said nodding, "That's the others back, now the heavier stuff from the hospital has been shifted, they'll need help with the new stuff." easily done when it was in it's shrunken state. Still, working together would ensure it was done quickly.

"…and I'm telling you there was something weird! Walkers don't react to shit like that!" they heard from Merle's foul mouth.

"They're agreeing with you, Mer," Luna said nudging her partner in exasperated amusement. Opening the door to the communal dining room, she was starving.

She didn't expect everyone (Harry included) to still be there.

"Harry." Luna said, "Is everything alright?" usually they had meetings here for a reason…then again… "Is Mira and Michonne alive?"

"They're both alive, Poppy and Severus have taken over their treatment while Hershel has dinner." Harry explained, the two were over here more often than not these days. Getting to go anywhere that wasn't remaining in Hogwarts was probably a relief.

"Something weird is going on," Merle spoke emphatically, "Either the walkers are turning back into humans…unlikely or humans are beginning to imitate walkers to survive."

The confusion on everyone's face was comical to say the least. Now Merle was a no-nonsense sort, even if he was rather sometimes foul mouthed. They'd never seen him speaking and making no sense.

"Stop." Harry said standing up, "You're not making much sense. Luna?" turning to her hoping she had a better way of saying it, and having it make sense.

"Yeah, I've got nothing," Luna said amused, "It doesn't make sense but we know what we saw."

"Think on the memory for me," Harry said unsheathing his wand. Pointing his wand at her, he murmured the incantation, and a magical screen simmered into view allowing all of them to see what was going on.

They watched as Luna cast the spell to set them ablaze. It was a pretty amazing sight, and not to forget piece of magic. They were so mesmerised that they almost didn't see what the others had.

"Da fuck is that?" Daryl said in surprise, staring in stunned disbelief.

"There is no way, people would put on a walkers faces…and walk around like that…" Bob said seriously disturbed by what he was seeing.

"Right?"

"Why not? we've done it?" Andrea said standing up, her stomach squirming. "Not quite to that extent, we were trapped on all sides, with no way out."

"They weren't trapped, place was deserted in every direction, not even a damn car was in the way." Merle pointed out.

"Mentally these beyond challenging times affect us all differently." Hershel said, sympathy splaying across his face. "Perhaps they thought, if you can't beat them join them."

"They weren't frail by any means, they were eating," Lily added.

"That's just sick," Tara shook her head.

"No, it's desperation," Harry sighed, "Desolation, we're all changing. There is no staying the same with life altering circumstances like this. Some become depraved, others come out stronger…but there are others that…don't cope well."

"How many do you think were human?" Dale asked, as always having way too much sympathy for anyone.

"Seven at least, possibly more, who knows how many were amongst the herd?" Harry said, as the fire encompassed them all, looping over and over again on repeat.

"What were they up to?" Merle asked staring intently at the clip.

"Perhaps looking to get to safety?" Hershel pondered.

"Well, you know what they say, if you can't beat them…join them."

A/n – there we go! I honestly am running out of content for this story 😊 I did promise to keep writing until Harry gave birth and I do want to keep that promise but it can only go so far…so any suggestions and ideas (that don't include another big bad I'm all for hearing) is there something you'd like to see before it finishes? R&R please