The Dead Arise

Chapter Prologue

Diagon Alley, England,

Above the Leaky Caldron;

Friday morning, July 29th 2012, 6 A.M.;

Harry yawned as he stood at the edge of the roof and watched the city of London burn. It was burning because the military was trying to stop the dead from rising but it was a failed attempt. It had been a long flight after flying to Hogwarts and finding the war wards were up around the ancient castle and no one else could get in. He didn't know it but over a thousand people were secure inside, many of his friends but many were trapped outside not knowing where to go. Beside him on the ground, sleeping in conjured sleeping bags was his godson Teddy, his friends Susan Bones, Daphne Greengrass and Padma Patil. All three had flown to Hogwarts but like him and his godson arrived to late to seek shelter. Before more of the undead had arrived drawn by the magic of the ancient castle, they had flown to Hogsmead and checked out the buildings. They had to dispatch a few dozen of the walkers including several children before they could loot the store for supplies. Most of the people had fled to the castle but they had been able to gather a lot of supplies from the stores in food, drink, and weapons before the inferi had arrived. They quickly fled to the air and Padma was crying as she saw her parents among the dead. Harry dispatched them and Daphne had told them that her house had been overrun as well

Hearing a noise he saw Teddy getting up, "Morning son," he said.

"Moring Da, what's the plan?" The fourteen year old boy asked.

Before he could ask his mirror around his neck warmed up and he pulled it out, "What's up Hermione?"

"Oh thank God. Are you and Teddy ok?" Hermione asked.

"We're ok, we're sitting on the roof of the Leaky Cauldron. Where are you?" he asked.

"Hogwarts, everyone made it here including your kids and ex-wife. We're missing a few friends but it could have been worse if Hogwarts had been closer to a major city.

"Well Padma, Susan Bones and Daphne Greengrass are with me as well. We got to Hogwarts but the wards were fully active. We took what we could from Hogsmead and sealed up the basement to Honeydukes and half their stock under stasis for you if you can get in. Does Draco and Slughorn have any idea what this is?" Harry asked as it got lighter and he saw the three women waking up.

"No, a bunch of evacuated healers and I were in contact with the French Magical CDC but it went off line three hours ago. They were being overrun by the dead. They had uploaded all their information to the magical servers and were waiting on the American Magical CDC in Atlanta to get back to them but then the satellite system went down. We need to know what they found and are trying to get a hold of them," Hermione said.

"My God!" Harry said as dawn broke and he could see the ruins of the city, "London is a death zone. Do not come here as to the American CDC let me and the girls think on a plan and we'll get back to you."

"What are we going to do, Harry?" Susan asked.

"We got to get to Atlanta, Hermione and the evacuated healers need some information. But first we need supplies," Harry said as he walked over and looked down on the alley and pulled out a box of matches.

"What are you going to do with those?" Daphne asked.

"What was our first transfiguring class?" Harry said as Padma smile brightened.

"Matches to needles," Padma said.

"Correct but we need arrows," Harry said as he opened the fifty pack of matches and started transferring them into the arrows.

Daphne and Padma took over when Harry started banishing the arrows at the dead below and they started dropping. Teddy was watching the roof hatch in case anything came up that way. Some arrows missed but most took down one of the dead and then Padma and Daphne started summoning the arrows back so they could be reused. Soon all that was moving in the alley was litter being blown.

Harry looked down at the dead, some were friends, some were coworkers from the ministry. He could see one friend he would miss for a life time and didn't have the heart to tell his remaining best friend her husband was dead.

Raising his wand, he said, "Accio wands."

Hundreds of wands flew up from the alley to land at his feet and they quickly gathered them and stored them in one of the muti-compartment trunks that Harry had taken from Potter Manor before he and Teddy fled from there. After closing the trunk and putting it away Padma called out.

"There are more of them."

Harry looked up and saw twenty more coming from Knockturn Alley. Harry quickly took them out and they mounted their brooms with Padma on the broom behind Harry because her four by twelve family owned flying carpet was to cumbersome in the alley to use.

They landed by the first store and killed the two inferi in the store and Padma, Susan and Daphne quickly stripped it of what they could use. At the entrance of Knockturn Alley Harry conjured a wall that blocked the street off once he looked down and saw hundreds of the dead coming their way. The five of them went up the street saving what they could or need and in the trunk store, Harry grabbed a few more seven compartment trunks as well as all the cool and freezer boxes that were in the shop to store frozen and cold foods in. They also hit the few restaurants in the alley as well as the Cauldron and emptied it of food and drink. Harry and Susan cried with relief as none of the Longbottoms were found in the inn. Getting back on the roof, they ate a quick meal that Susan and Padma made and then sat to discuss what to do.

First they would look for a grocery store to gather more food and water before flying west towards one of Harry's properties in the US. It was where the family had stayed when they went there the summer before for vacation and get the modified RV that was on the property. It had magical tanks that refilled the water and propane fuel and banished the waste as well as solar panels on the roof. The house was a five bedroom on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic. The house was in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and had a eight foot high brick wall around it. So it should still be safe. Harry's Grandfather had bought it when they were there in vacation in fifty-two. Harry had modernized the house in two thousand and when they were there two years ago he had bought a 2010 Raptor Toy Hauler Fifth Wheel that was 41.7 foot long along with a big maxed out six door Extreme pickup to tow the trailer. The truck was heavily modified as well with comfort charms as well as enlargement charms on the inside. The two big diesel tanks had runes that would make more fuel in them as well. The family had used the truck and trailer to travel the United States for the summer in 2010 and then Harry had parked it in the big garage behind the house.

With the plan in place, Padma unrolled the flying carpet and everyone took a seat on it as Padma sat in the front to control it. The carpet had built in charms that would make it invisible to muggles and they lifted off and headed out over the city. Fires were raging everywhere they looked and the smell of humans being roasted in the flames hung heavily over the once great city of London. It was early afternoon when they took off but as they traveled they could see the hordes of undead moving out of the cities chasing the few survivors. In some parts, the military was making last stands but a lot of them were withdrawing into the castles to try and survive but they four adults knew it was a useless gamble because they were not taking a lot of supplies with them and they would eventually run out.

Harry knew for a fact that the Royal Family had withdrawn to Balmoral Castle with two regiments of SAS, a tank regiment and several engineering companies to rebuild the defenses along with their families because it was in the muggle papers. They may survive but he wasn't sure if they would. He just hoped they followed his recommendation on stabbing the dead in the head as they found out to prevent them from coming back to life. Harry had found that out when Ron had come back and his cutting spell had hit him in the forehead dropping him instantly. He still hadn't told Hermione that Ron was dead. He just told her that they got separated and he was looking for him. Deep down he knew she knew that he was dead.

It was getting dark as the approached Exter and found a tall building to land on. The building was the EDF Energy building and it massive flat roof was empty of any of the dead. Settling in the center of the roof, they rolled out their sleeping bags while Harry went to all the doors that led on to the roof and sealed them shut. They stood together looking out over the darkened city and could hear some gunshots but not a whole lot.

Harry stood guard most of the night until Daphne woke up and then sent him to get some sleep as she took over guard duty. When dawn started to come up, she went down into one of the trunks she owned and that she enlarged. She quickly made some food for everyone with the help of her two elves. The elves had been popping around to her friends houses and emptying them of supplies if they still had any. One of the houses was her best friend Tracy who she found out through the elf communications ability was in Hogwarts with her family as well as her sister and her husband Draco. There was no sign of her parents and she sighed over that. She also learned that Parvati, sister of Padma and her business partner had made it to Hogwarts as well.

After a quick breakfast that a surprised Harry and the rest found out about Daphne's two elves and they lifted off. They were heading in a east by south east direction when Harry directed Padma to land on a store that had a few walkers around the base. It large parking lot was half filled with cars and baskets were scattered in the parking lot full of items. The store was an ALDI grocery store and its lights were still flickering. Searching around the roof, they found near the back a generator that was still running so they knew the food would still be good inside.

Harry pulled out his broom and flew down to a bus that was on its side near the entrance after telling the girls what to do about the glass doors and windows.

"HAY ASSHOLES!" Harry shouted out and the dead turned and started shambling towards him.

Using cutting curses, Harry started thinning the crowd out as the three girls flew along the windows and doors sealing them up with conjured walls. Padma flew near one of the doors and triggered it and Daphne set off a noise maker inside that started drawing the dead out of the store. Harry kept up his part of drawing the dead out and when the girls finished they summoned the carts to the roof of the store where Teddy went through removing the non perishable items and tossing the spoiled parts into another basket.

Only a few of the dead came out of the store so as soon as they stopped coming out, the girls formed a box in front of the electric doors and signaled Harry it was clear. Harry flew over and landed with the girls and they then entered the massive store. They grabbed a basket and harry transformed it into a flat cart able to hold two of the trunks with some of the cooler and freezer boxes, Daphne's elves stood ready inside to store the food. With a quick check they found three more dead that they dispatched and vanished before heading for the back section where they emptied out the huge freezers and fridges of their products. As they levitated the items into the trunks, the elves stored it and soon had them emptied where they moved on to the store freezers and then the rest of the store. Food, clothes, shoes and boots, socks propane containers, and anything else they would need.

It was late by the time they finished and they flew back up to the roof to camp again. On the way out Harry had grabbed the local circler and was going through it when he found a shop they had to check out. With a point me spell he knew which way they had to go in the morning and after a peaceful night they followed the point me spell to a strip mall as the Americans would call it. The store was located and they were surprised by how little activity there was. A quick check for life found none in the area and they landed by the door where the store's door was quickly sealed off with three walls and a large enough area that they could take off from. Entering the store, they stood near the front and Harry cast a noisemaker which drew four of the dead and they were quickly killed and banished. Another noisemaker didn't bring anymore so they started going through the military surplus store, empting it as they went of everything that they would need. If they had it, it went into the trunks including dozens of jerry cans that they planned to fill with fuel. Teddy was pleased with the bikes and fishing gear and they all chose several bikes to take with them as an alternate transport system. Tents, military clothes, winter clothes, camping gear, tools, knives, axes, bows and hunting arrows were taken as well as extra string and arrowheads. In all, Harry thought they had enough to survive and the girls looked at him strange when he said it was adequate.

After empting the store, they flew back up to the roof and climbed back on board the flying carpet and headed for the tip of England and the Atlantic Ocean. They flew along and over to Lands End where Teddy remembered there was a lighthouse off the coast from a trip his grandmother had taken him on because Lands End was where his grandfather was from.

"Are you sure no one lives in the lighthouse anymore?" Harry asked and watched as Teddy scrunched up his nose in thought.

"If I remember right from the book Grandma bought me it said it was closed in 1988. It's called Longships Lighthouse, and is off Lands End in Cornwall. The only way out to it is by boat and helicopters and it has a helicopter pad on the top."

"Ok, we will check it out," Harry said as he turned to Padma, "Well you heard him."

A tired Padma nodded and then changed directions as Harry cast the point me spell for the lighthouse. Two hours later they flew over the ocean and headed for the tall stone building sitting on the top of the rock that jutted out from the ocean floor. They quickly landed and Padma rolled up the carpet because of the wind. Harry found the door and they descended into the building with wands lit looking for danger.

Daphne had cast the life detection charm and it came back to small animals, "No human or humanoid life here," she said as she followed Padma.

"Thanks Daphne, you know we need a charm to detect the dead," Harry replied as they came to a door and opened it.

Inside the glass enclosed room were two large lamps that were slowly turning. The good thing was the lights were off. Sealing the door from below, they broke out their bedrolls and then the elves popped out of the kitchen trunk that Daphne was carrying and served them a hearty meal before they crashed to sleep. They decided to spend two days there resting before they would begin their long trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina so Padma could teach them the control runes on the carpet.

At dawn on August 4th, they lifted off after speaking once more to Hermione who told them that the system was somewhat back up. They could see into the facility, but was having problems downloading the information they needed. She also reported the city was being fortified and turned into a safe zone but she wasn't sure how long that would last. With Padma flying the carpet, they headed out to sea for the five day crossing. The carpet had two control positions next to each other. Padma was on the left and her replacement would take the right in six hours so she could rest then they would switch off and on and with four adult cores flying the carpet none of them would fly the craft more than once a day.

Notes for other chapters.

Merchant ships?

Crashed airline debris?

Fishing boat drifting?

Civilian ships?

British destroyer drifting? No sight of dead

American frigate dead in the water? Dead all over it

Top floor of the Waterford on Piedmont Apartment 2 bedroom. Publix around corner and lots of fast foods and restaurants nearby to raid for food.

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