Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter nor Walking Dead and I don't earn any money with this story.

Author's note: Daryl finally gets some time to ponder his prior interactions with Harry

Rating: M

Warning: slightly disturbing thoughts

Andrea looked up from where she was correcting the form of a little girl no older than ten.

"Guys…"

Her eyes were wide, before her face did something complicated. Daryl wasn't the best at deciphering other people's emotions, but he assumed part of it was relief, though Andrea didn't look particularly thrilled to see them. If his hunch was correct, the blonde was probably glad that most members of her former group had survived, but also had negative emotions concerning their parting on the farm.

It had been a complicated situation, but they'd basically left her behind to fend for herself. They'd always gone a long way for the members of their group, even when almost all hope for them was lost, but they hadn't gone back to check if Andrea was really dead or had escaped. It wouldn't be a surprise if she felt at least a little betrayed.

Andrea turned back around to her students and dismissed them for the day with a strained smile on her lips. As soon as the last person had trickled out of the room, Carol dragged Andrea into a desperate hug.

"We thought you were dead! What happened?"

For a moment the blonde was unmoving, but then wrapped her arms around the other woman, as well.

"I grabbed the weapon bag and ran into the forest. That worked for some time, but eventually I was out of ammunition and exhausted. I stumbled and thought 'This is it', but then-"

"Harry appeared?" Carl piped in.

Andrea loosened her hold on Carol and stepped back, before shaking her head.

"No, I met Mischonne. I guess, she saved my life… We travelled together from then on. She's here, too. She was wary of this place in the beginning, but I talked her into staying for at least two weeks to see what it's like and I think she's starting to like it here. It's a great place. We have a lot of supplies and the amount increases daily thanks to the supply runs. It's also safe from walkers and scavengers."

"And the… magic thing?" Glenn wondered tentatively and got a lazy shrug in return.

"It takes some getting used to, but if it's making our lives easier, I'm all for it. And the people here are nice," Andrea offered, smiling at Clarice, who was still in the room with them. "Even Severus, though he's a bit… grumpy."

"He was the one to invite you to the Sanctuary, too?"

"Yeah, though Harry was watching us for a week or two beforehand." Andrea frowned pensively as she leant against the wall behind her. "I guess you know of the bird thing? He was always sitting in one tree or another, staring at us. It was a bit creepy, to be honest."

"Just sitting in a tree? He didn't come close to you?" Carol probed with a smirky side-glance in Daryl's direction.

Said brunet groaned and contemplated burying his face in his hands for a long moment or outright leaving the room. In the end he just turned his face to the side and hoped with all his might that the heat he felt in his ears wasn't a visible flush. Daryl knew exactly what Carol was alluding to and he wasn't ready to contemplate Harry's actions in bird-form and what they meant in regards to him.

Spending the night in a soft bed and sitting down for breakfast in peace felt weird. Daryl had still slept with one eye open and his body was ready to react to a threat in a split second. He doubted that would ever change, even in the Sanctuary.

When they had eaten their fill, they'd been directed to one of the rooms in sector B, though instead of Harry joining them for more explanations, it had been Severus. Apparently there had been a last minute decision the previous evening and now the younger wizard had joined the supply run team to Columbus.

Rick wasn't quite sold on the Sanctuary (or just Harry), but it had been decided that they'd stay at least until Lori had given birth to her child. Daryl was still betting on it being Shane's offspring, but that wasn't his problem. Fortunately.

"Potter, may has mentioned it yesterday, but this is your admission card." Severus waved to the small table on which ten identical bracelets were displayed. "They negate all defensive wards for you and are therefore, as a security precaution, tuned to only you. Do not lose them! Their second purpose is especially relevant for those of you, who will be going on supply runs. Each bracelet functions as a portkey. Portkeys are magical means of travel akin to teleportation. Some of you have already seen me apparate, which is a similar travelling method, though apparition has to be performed by a wizard or witch, whereas portkeys can be used by non-magical people, as well."

The brunet paused and rubbed his index finger over his lips in contemplation.

"There may be need for you to take someone along for whatever reason. If the wards register another person without a bracelet of their own, your travel will automatically be directed to one of the containment rooms that have been prepared for such a case and you will have to wait to be let out by one of the people on duty. Now, if you'll come forward one by one and add a drop of blood to your respective bracelets…"

Daryl had spent the rest of his day exploring. Their individual tasks would start the next day, giving him enough time to familiarize himself with the piece of land and its buildings more thoroughly. It also gave him opportunity to mull everything over in peace.

He recalled his first meeting with Harry and now, in retrospect, was very glad that the brunet was such a nimble, little bastard. Daryl tried not to think too deeply about what would have happened if the wizard had ended up their dinner. Severus or someone else from the Sanctuary group would've probably paid them a visit and sent them six feet under. Or maybe worse, they would've told them just who Daryl'd killed and made a meal of. Shuddering in disgust, he redirected his thoughts to the time after they'd entered their… truce.

He remembered the preening, the careful nips to his ears, eyebrows and fingers and the times when the merlin had kept him company during his watch. It had been surprising for a (maybe) wild animal to behave in such a way, but the attention had been welcome.

And now Daryl knew that the merlin was actually a guy who could turn into an animal.

In his mind the preening turned into fingers carding through his hair and the beak into human teeth and lips that didn't contain their touches to Daryl's face and fingers. He felt his face and ears turning hot and was glad that nobody was around to see him blushing.

Daryl didn't even know why Harry had acted in such a way. If the brunet was just (for whatever reason) fond of him and animal instincts had taken over or if it had been… kind of creepy flirting.

Maybe he wouldn't be quite averse… to the latter… if both at them were human at the time, that is. Either way, he'd try to talk to Harry, if only to learn more about magical creatures. He was dying to know which actually existed.

A sound similar to a backfiring car pulled Daryl out of his musings. The groans and snarls from the walkers surrounding the property grew stronger, but try as they may, they didn't get closer to the chain-link fence. He eyes them for a moment, but then jogged over to the courtyard to find out where the sound had come from.

As it turned out, the Columbus group had returned and obviously something dire had happened. A few members of the group were chalk white, Harry in particular. Had someone been killed during the supply run? Daryl didn't know how many people had gone on the trip, so he had no idea whether somebody was missing or not.

"I… I'm so sorry, Harry. If I hadn't- I-" The teen next to Harry sounded on the verge of tears as he repeatedly reached out and retracted his hand without ever touching the wizard.

Harry dropped his own hand on the shoulder of the young man and squeezed.

"I know. It wasn't your fault and I'm glad you're alright. I… I'll think about a solution. Bring the food to the pantry and then let Maurice take a look at your wrist, okay?"

Now crying for real, the teen bit his lip, but nodded, before shuffling into the building. When he had disappeared from sight, Harry dragged the hand, which'd lain on the boy's shoulder, over his face and through his hair. Afterwards he strode into the main building, as well, under the sympathetic eyes of the Columbus group.

What the hell had happened?