Merle Dixon

{A/N: It will mention their lives in the wizarding world here and there, but not enough for it to count as a major crossover. Hope that makes some sense.}

Catalina's POV:

I drove through the streets of Atlanta, straight into the city. It was the definition of a ghost town. Cars were left at random places, and blood and dead bodies were littering the streets and parking lots. There were one or two stray walkers here and there. To be honest, we were expecting more of these walking corpses to be wandering around but we're positive our RV will get their attention at some point.

Asher suggested we park our RV in between some tall buildings, in the middle of the city and yet there wasn't a single sound besides the stray walkers that were a good distance away. On the drive, Asher had also suggested we go on the roof to get a better look at the city and see if any people needed any help. So we placed a notice-me-not charm on our RV and spelled it to lock. We transformed into one of our animagus forms, the Phoenix and we took off into the sky. We noticed a large number of walkers heading right where we were standing. Seems like our RV had gotten their attention.

"Those are some nasty little shits." Mortem growled in our head, making us chirp in agreement, which sounded beautiful. We flew towards a rooftop, which could easily look down upon the lower roofs. We transformed back into ourselves and sat on the edge of the roof, using our sharp Phoenix eyesight to look around. It wasn't long till Ash noticed a man on a horse going through a hoard of walkers and being thrown off the horse. Causing the man to get inside of a tank and the horse being eaten.

"That poor horse." Asher said sadly, knowing how much I love animals. In every life, I had many animals, magical ones and mundane ones. Horses are the main ones I love.

"Hey, you there?" We heard from a distance, making us look around till we found the source of the voice. It was an Asian man holding a walkie and he was looking at the tank. We listened to his conversation with the man in the tank. We chuckled at his sarcastic responses and listened as they made a plan. We watched how it played out, although I had to stop Ash from jumping down there due to the hoard now coming after the man from the tank. He found the Asian man and they escaped the walkers by climbing a ladder and entering the building. We both signed out in relief.

"They are some crazy bastards." I heard Asher say next to me, making me hum in agreement as I took another look around. Suddenly we heard gunshots from one of the lower rooftops and we saw walkers being shot down. We looked where it could be coming from and we saw a short dirty blonde-haired, muscular man laughing as he caused more walkers to come to their current location. To be honest, his aim was impressive. He could have once worked a lot with guns or was a hunter.

"What in the bloody hell is he doing?" I hissed. We watched as the outside of the building was surrounded by walkers. Then a group of people was seen running onto the rooftop with the two men from before. We can see some hostility from the gunman and the group. Some of them are trying to calm the gunman down. Before we knew it, the gunman was beating up another man before pointing the gun at the others while they were screaming.

"There is way too much testosterone in the air," I said, hearing my husband chuckling next to me. We continued to watch and the man from the tank, who we then realized was wearing a sheriff's uniform, hit the gunman in the head with the butt of his gun and handcuffed him to a pole. After an hour of planning and looking out for walkers. Then the group disappeared back into the building. Leaving the irritated man and the now bloodied figure slumped against the wall.

"They aren't made for this shit Ash." I sighed, shaking my head at the clear display of hostility between them. In dangerous situations, like the apocalypse, people tend to either work well together or crumble under a lot of pressure. This group we've been watching is showing both signs. It is understandable though, having to watch people die in front of you or not knowing if your family is still alive. Both Astrid and I cursed under our breath when we heard glass breaking. Allowing walkers to enter the building. We let out a sigh once we saw them returning to the roof.

Things were quiet for a while. That was until I noticed the Asian man and the officer walking out of the store, covered in blood and guts. I looked at Asher and she was also looking at me with an impressed look. We turned back to the two men as they made their way through the walkers, as they couldn't smell them. I felt a few water droplets and looked up in the sky, and what I saw made me groan in frustration.

Ash looked at me and said "What?"

I just pointed up in the sky, and he saw the storm clouds, followed by thunder making it his turn to groan. It started to rain and washed away any protection the two men had.

"They might have some of your Potter luck in them, Cat," Ash said with a slight chuckle as we watched the two of them run from the walking corpses who were heading toward them. The two men jumped into a box truck and started to drive again. Hitting some walkers, before disappearing. We turned our attention to those on the rooftop and I frowned at the expressions on their faces. I can see that they thought they were left behind. Sad to think that none of them had any trust within the group. Not that we can blame them much after the situation we saw earlier. Then the group started to panic out of nowhere and left the rooftop, although the man with the bloody face hesitated before heading back to the man who was handcuffed. However, the man fell and the key went down a pipe.

"What a fucking idiot," Ash said as he is helping me off the edge as we watch him leave the trapped man on the rooftop. He was yelling and begging for them to come back. Yet they didn't return. I had to look down cause I was shaking with so much anger. Then I heard a horn blaring and saw it was coming from a red car that began to draw the walkers away from the building and the box truck following it. Leaving the overrun city and the man they left behind.

"God Dammit! Ash, what should we do!?" I asked my lover in a panicked and worried tone. Biting my lower lip we watched the man struggle against the pole and yell for someone to save him.

"You two do not have to hide who you are. You two can save him" Mortem said softly and with that, we both transformed into Phoenixes and flew to the roof. Ash let out some of his Phoenix magic through singing and the man looked up at us with wide eyes. We saw his shoulders slumped as Ash's magic calmed him down. We neared the roof and transformed back into ourselves once we were close enough. Landing on our feet in front of him, making him jump slightly in shock.

"I am way too high for this shit. I got to be hallucinating," he whispered to himself. He then closed his eyes and opened them again slowly. Once he noticed my soft smile in amusement, he reclosed them as he shook his head some.

"Hello," Asher said softly, making the man stop panicking again. He opened his eyes again. He looked at us with confusion written all over his face.

"Are ye two angels?" he asked, making me giggle with a small shake of my head. We pushed our sunglasses to the top of our heads, revealing our bright green/silver eyes.

"Nope. Just magical darling." I responded with a slight shrug. The man scoffed while leaning back against the pipe, causing the handcuff to rattle some.

"That's it. I have to be fuckin hallucinating. Seen two fucking birds turn into two attractive people. My mind has to be fucked." Ash and I couldn't help but laugh at his words, causing him to look back at us with a smirk.

"If this is a dream, it's fuckin great." I raised an eyebrow, turning to Asher who was smirking, as I placed my hand over my heart and with a flattered expression.

"Why, thank you, darling. We're getting quite flustered." I said as I fanned myself and Asher laughed at me. Causing the man to tilt his head, looking like he is lost in thought before chucking to himself.

"I'm Asher Lestrange-LeFay, you can call me Ash. This is my lovely wife, Catalina Potter-LeFay, you may call her Cat." Ash introduced us to him as I kneeled in front of him with a soft smile. He looks like someone who would be on guard at all times. I don't blame him, he was left on a rooftop by the group he was in.

"Merle Dixon," he replied.

"Well Merle, how about we get you out of these handcuffs? Our RV is around the corner with plenty of water and food. We wouldn't want you to burn in this heat." Ash told him. He seemed a bit taken aback by our kindness. After a few minutes, he nodded his head.

"Great!" I exclaimed happily and with a snap of my fingers, the handcuffs disappeared. He brought his hand in front of his face with wide eyes.

"God damn. This is a really good hallucination" he mumbled under his breath in disbelief. Causing me to chuckle again.

"We can assure you, Merle, we are very much real." I stood up with the help of Ash. We both extended our hand out for him, gesturing for him to grab it. After a few moments of hesitation, he placed his hands in ours. His eyes widened again when he realized we were real and not a hallucination. We helped him stand up and hold onto him so he doesn't fall from shakiness.

"Are you alright Merle?" I asked, concerned. He looked at me and nodded.

"Good. We're going to transport all of us to our RV. I must warn you, it is slightly uncomfortable, but you'll be fine once you have eaten and had some water in your system." Asher told him.

"How the hell do ye expect us to leave? Did ye not see all the walkers at the exit?" he said in frustration. Asher looked at me, waiting for me to blow up in anger, but instead, he was shocked that I had a smile on my face. His frustration didn't bother me like it would come from other people. There was a part of him that reminded me of Severus, knowing his behavior was a part of him. I know I'll enjoy it.

"We're magical Merle," I replied. He paused for a moment before saying a soft 'oh yeah' making us chuckle slightly.

"Are you ready darling?" Ash asked him, getting a small nod from him. Ash apparated us to our RV which had a few walkers a small distance away. Merle looked around, slightly pale at the situation.

"Let's go!" he whispered in frustration. This caused me to fondly roll my eyes as Asher took the notice-me-not charm and the locking spell off our RV. I opened the door and walked in with Merle hot on my trail. Asher came in and shut the door.

"Cat take a seat, I'll make us all some sandwiches and grab some water." Ash said.

"Thank you, baby. Come, Merle, take a seat." I said. I turned to Merle and saw him in a state of shock as he looked around. Our RV was extremely large on the inside, much different from what you would expect from the outside.

In the front of the RV held three seats, for the driver and two other companions. Which was accessible from the right door inside the RV. The one on the left was to the family room. It has multiple couches on one side, while the other side holds six armchairs. Four of them are back to back while facing the remaining two. Further into the RV held the kitchen, which is big enough to cook and has working appliances. In the fridge/freezer and cupboard, there are charms to keep food and drinks fresh and refillable. At the end of the RV, it held a door that led to one of the bathrooms and stairs leading to the twelve rooms that had their ensuites. The room's decor is a combination of different shades of gray with black and white here and there, besides Catalina and Astrid's room. Making it feel homely and gorgeous.

"Fuckin hell" he mumbled in awe, making me giggle. I guided him to one of the armchairs and pushed him gently into it. I handed him one of the water bottles Ash gave me while he was still looking around.

"What would you prefer on your sandwich Merle?" Ash asked before heading back into the kitchen.

"Do ye have any turkey?" He asked hopefully after gaining his composure.

"Of course we do darling. Oh, we aren't sure if you smoke, but there is a pack of cigarettes, a lighter, and an ashtray in the small cupboard to your right." I said as I watched his eyes light up and he immediately went to grab them. He smiled widely while he lit on. However, it was replaced with a confused look on his face as he slowly looked through the curtain.

"How come the walkers aren't tryna get in?" he asked us before taking another drag from his cigarette.

"You can guess that this isn't a normal RV like the ones you're used to. This is a magical RV, which means magic won't let them close enough to even try to touch it." His mouth formed an 'O' shape before looking out the window again. He watched in fascination as the walkers walked by like they couldn't see the RV. Ash finished making our sandwiches and handed Merle his.

"Here you go, Merle. Eat up." Ash said softly as he handed mine to me. Ash sat next to me with his food in his hand. Merle's stomach growled and he blushed in embarrassment. We smiled but didn't comment as I grabbed a cigarette for myself and lit it up.

"So, ye weren't lying to me when ye say you two were Magical?" He asked, breaking the silence. I looked at him with a smile full of amusement, knowing he accepted that we weren't any kind of hallucination.

"That's right darling. My husband and I are Wixens. Commonly known as Witches and Wizards and we are the only ones of our kind in this dimension." I respond before taking a drag from my cigarette, causing him to choke on his sandwich. He looked at us with wide eyes.

"Dimension?"

"Yes. This isn't mine nor Cat's first life and it won't be our last. We were reborn into different moments in time. We visited different dimensions. Although, this is the first dimension that we're the only one with magic. We will answer all of your questions Merle. First, we have to know if you can handle it. I can assure you it is quite a lot and it'll have to be a secret for now. We aren't sure if we are going to reveal our magic to other people yet." We watched as Merle opened and closed his mouth a few times, not being able to say anything.

"Would you like us to continue? You can stop us if you have any questions." I said. With a silent nod, I smiled at him before finishing my cigarette.

"How about we start with our life and how we came to what we are now? Honestly, our first life was shitty, but it was the start of what we became" Ash said. I hummed in agreement while Merle nodded for us to start.

"Well, our first life was terrible, as Ash said. My parents were murdered when I was one year old. I witnessed my mother getting hit by the killing curse. I'm sure you can guess what that does. The wizard, who killed my parents, was hunting me down due to a prophecy made about me. Stating that I would be his downfall and whatnot. That very same night, he shot the curse at me, but instead of killing me it rebounded and shot back at him instead. Afterward, I was taken to my mother's non-magical sister's house. It was well-known that she and her husband hated anything to do with magic. She resented her mother because their parents gave their attention to her mother and not to her aunt. Anyways, magical children have what is called accidental magic. It usually happens when children experience such intense emotions and their magic lashes out in different ways. Well, when that happened to me, she would get beaten by my uncle and later on my cousin and aunt would join in. When I was about three, I became their slave. I would do everything and serve them while I only got scraps to survive on. If I burnt the food or broke anything or made a simple mistake I would get beaten and then I got thrown into my bedroom, which was a cupboard under the stairs-" I say before getting interrupted.

"So, ye telling me they put a small child in a cupboard and barely feed ye?" He asked in shock. Making me nod with a small frown.

"A few days before my eleventh birthday I received a letter. I was confused because as far as I knew, no one outside my "family" knew I even existed. Besides a few children from school and teachers and neighbors-" I finished.

"They tried to help ye right? I mean they had to see ye getting hurt." Merle said emotionless, although we can see the anger in his body language and eyes.

"My uncle and aunt had told everyone that I was a troubled kid who was left as an orphan because my parents were drunks and died in a car crash. You see, I didn't doubt my "family" words. Nor did I know anything of the Magical World. So I never question anything. It wasn't until they started to freak out due to the letter I had received. I then started to question things and wanted answers. All they would do was rip the letters up and burn them whenever more came in. Until one day when hundreds of letters came swarming into the home. That caused our uncle to ship us out to a dusty old barely standing little shack in the middle of the ocean. He assumed that they wouldn't track us out there. He was of course wrong because the moment it was midnight on my eleventh birthday, the door was kicked down. Our friend Hagrid, who was the groundskeeper at a magical school, came and tried to explain everything to me the best he could." I paused our conversation for a minute and I waved my hand and the now empty set of plates drifted into the sink where it started being washed. A smile formed on my face as Merle watched the display of our magic in awe.

"That is fuckin handy," he said, pointing to the sink. Causing us to laugh with a nod.

"Let's start with my story now. I'm known as the Dark Child because my father was a Death Eater along with my uncle and aunt. My father's family was cruel and insane. I was a baby and they started to torture me, making my mother watch. I had to watch my mother be passed around because my father failed the task given to him by the Dark Lord. My mother got killed when she was trying to run away with me because she didn't want me to grow up to be a Death Eater or through the abuse I went through and witnessed. When my family got sent to Azkaban, I got sent to my mother's family which happens to be near where Cat was living. We were friends because we knew we were different from our families. The only difference between my childhood and hers was the fact my family wasn't stupid enough to physically abuse me, but they did mentally. They would lock me up in my room after degrading me and comparing me to too many things about my father. I didn't want to be what my father and his family became. When I got my letter, it was somewhat similar to what Cat's family did to hers. When I finally went to Diagon Alley we went and got an owl. Owls were used as a way to communicate. You see the magical world is centuries behind in your world. As we don't have electricity yet and-" Ash said before being softly interrupted,

"Ye got to be always fuckin cold." Merle teased, making all of us chuckle. I checked the time and saw we had been talking for over an hour.

"We'll tell you more about my story and Asher's story later. Now, do you have anywhere else to go or do you want to return to the group?" I asked. Merle's face immediately hardened when we mentioned the group. Then it softened slightly as he was thinking. He let a tired sigh out and rubbed his eyes before looking back at us.

"Ma little brother is back with the group. I don't plan on separating from him anytime soon. So, I have to go back." We smiled at him because it was clear that he loved his brother. From what we gathered is that feelings aren't something that isn't easily expressed by Merle. Yet no one can deny his loyalty to the only family he has left. Reminds me of my husband and I and how we are.

"Let's get moving then. Ash, you're driving this time."