Walking Dead Wizard

Chapter 11

Jenner turned around slightly when he heard footsteps, he knew it probably wasn't Harry returning again, that boy knew how to be quiet; he'd gotten the fright of his life when he spoke an hour earlier. He found himself staring at Rick Grimes, the leader of this so called group, not much of one, he couldn't control his own people. He had heard Rick trying to control Shane, and he had failed spectacularly, not good form for a group trying to survive the apocalypse, they needed to trust each other, rely on each other and it was obvious this group didn't, not fully.

"How's the blood?" Rick asked, wandering over staggering slightly before sliding down at the end of the terminals staring at him, his bottle of wine sloshing noisily as he did so.

"No surprises," Jenner lied, Harry Potter's blood work could be the key in a cure being created against this virus, and his blood was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. The boy was unique, one of a kind, not just because of his blood either; there was just something about him that he couldn't put his finger on. He had revealed as much in the email he had sent with all his work before closing the terminals down. There was no point to wasting fuel, not when it was already dangerously low as it was. He'd had enough talking for one day, so he stood up and left room, a deep frown on his features not giving Rick a chance to speak. He'd been alone, cut off for months, so it was little wonder.

Rick watched him go his eyes tired too; he had simply wanted to thank the man for taking them in, for taking his family in.

Jenner was beginning to have doubts about his plan, the very plan he'd put into motion the second the shutters were put up. Should he warn them? Should he just go through with it? If the boys blood was part of the cure and he killed him he may very well be condemning the entire world. Jenner made his way back to his office where he sought out his wife's opinion, or rather asked the photo of his wife, who was long gone from this doomed world.

Regret, sadness and defeat and sheer deep haunted eyes set in a face that was aged prematurely as he sat down in his office.

Harry jerked awake, breathing deeply, sweat coating every line of his body, giving a shaky breath he sat up, flicking his wand to find out the time. Nodding grimly, due to the fact they didn't sleep late, ever, at the quarry drunk or not people would find themselves wakening up soon out of habit. All of them were probably suffering from quite the hangover. Self inflicted pain, they would find no sympathy from him, and despite his thoughts he opened his trunk, dug through it to find the potion that would help them. Hangover cure. It could be hidden in the orange juice and nobody would be any the wiser. Well they would be since they'd feel better too quickly but they'd pass it off, Muggles were ignorant of their surroundings and usually brushed what they saw off as something else.

Half an hour later he wandered into the dinning room that they'd used just yesterday evening and began to raid the cupboards with permission from Jenner of course. His hair was still wet from his shower, he hadn't been able to help himself, and the thought of a long warm shower after his nightmares had sounded so good. There was even bacon defrosting on the counter, he assumed Jenner had taken it out, whether it was out of date or not (only a few days) - didn't matter because it had been frozen, preserved.

He went about making a loaf of bread from scratch, his time of being nothing but a servant at the Dursley's had ensured Harry knew how to cook for himself. Once it was done, he put it in the oven to bake, then began preparing everything else. Pouring the potion into the large jug of orange juice, and put the kettle on so everyone could have something to drink like tea or coffee.

He was just wiping down the bunkers, looking at the sachet of powdered eggs as if it had offended him, when he heard the telltale patter of feet coming into the room.

"Oh, didn't expect anyone to be up yet," T-Dog said in surprise, if not a little sheepish as well, as he scratched at his neck absently.

"Always was an early riser," Harry replied with a wry grin, trying to put T-Dog at ease, the guy didn't relax around him, probably due to his friendship with Daryl and Merle, perhaps he thought Harry had the same views? He didn't know, but as he'd thought dozens of times he wasn't here to make friends.

"Need any help?" T-Dog asked, gesturing towards the food hesitantly.

"I wouldn't mind," Harry said honestly, "I can't do much with this powdered egg; I've never had to make it before."

"Let me! Nobody will know the difference after I'm done with it!" T-Dog insisted grinning widely.

"Go ahead," Harry gave a small laugh, moving aside as he began to prepare everything else handing him a frying pan absently.

"What's that smell? I've not smelt anything like it in months," T-Dog said inhaling sharply. It reminded him of time long gone passed, times he didn't want to think on because it hurt - the world had gone to shit and they were doing the best they could to survive and forget everything they knew. Despite how lovely it smelt his stomach twisted as if something unpleasant was wrong with it.

"Baking bread," Harry replied sardonically, watching T-Dog rub his forehead in obvious pain. Shaking his head he poured a glass of orange juice and placed it in front of the man. "Drink it, it will soothe your stomach maybe even take the edge of your self inflicted headache." he said pointedly.

"You sound just like my mom," T-Dog whined after drinking it down.

Harry laughed in amusement, genuinely surprised and amused by what the man had just said. A few seconds after a groaning Glenn found his stumbling way into the room, looking like hell warmed over. Still groaning he made his way over to the table and sat down. "Look at that, think we've seen what Glenn would look like as a walker,"

Glenn just groaned again, but his lips were twitching just slightly, Harry's sense of humour nearly always left a lot to be desired, he suspected it was a British thing, but he wasn't sure - sometimes though he caught Glenn off guard with how funny he could be without meaning to or at least Glenn assumed he wasn't meaning to be funny. It was hard to tell since Harry was like Merle and Daryl; they didn't show emotion other than anger although he hadn't seen Harry really angry like Merle and Daryl.

"Here," Harry said placing a glass of orange juice in front of him, "Food will be ready soon." he added putting the pitcher in the middle of the table so everyone could help themselves. The kids wouldn't be affected by the hangover potion, it was completely harmless.

"Thanks," he murmured relaxing slightly as the pounding headache receded somewhat as he gulped down a glass of orange.

Harry stared at him for a few seconds before blinking and nodding his head, it was the first time anyone in this group had actually thanked him. All he'd done was cook the food; he hadn't gone out hunted all day and brought it back. Why was he being thanked for doing less than he normally would? People didn't make sense, but he'd always known that, right from a young age. Everyone began to trickle into the white room all speaking to one another but Harry ignored it.

Harry took sixteen plates out and spread them out along the counter as T-Dog finished the powdered eggs, once done he began to plate the food for everyone. The plates weren't exactly full but it was enough especially considering they'd not eaten hot food for the past few days with the obvious exception of last night.

"There aren't sixteen of us," Lori said as she began to pass the full plates to her husband who in turn passed them around until everyone had one.

"How quickly you forget," Harry replied his tone bitter. "Are you forgetting you are a guest here?"

Lori flushed in realisation and quietened down making her way towards her husband and son and began to eat her breakfast. Everyone else was doing the same thing, with the expectation of the few others that were missing. Harry stood behind the counter eating his own breakfast without joining the group at the table. Observing them, they weren't ready for the way the world was, right now they were a hindrance not a help, as Merle had said, but they would need to change that if they wanted to survive. They could do it, they could teach them, but would it be enough? Could they adjust to this merciless world? Kids were resilient, there would come a time when they didn't remember the world before, they would adjust but it wasn't as easy for adults to do the same.

"Alrigh'?" Daryl asked bumping into Harry bringing him out of his thoughts; it was becoming worse every day.

"Yes," Harry replied, coming back to the present, a sigh leaving his lips. "They actually think they've got somewhere to stay, to live," he would have pitted them if they weren't all desperate.

"You don't think it will last?" Merle joined in eating his breakfast, his tone quiet so the others couldn't hear.

"You have military training, you know about secure buildings like this, there isn't any solar panels, what does that tell you?" Harry pointed out rubbing his eyes.

"Fuel, if the power cuts off they have fuel," Merle said as realisation dawned on him.

"Powers been off for two months at least," Harry pointed out, "They'll have fuel, but it all depends on how much is left…afterwards this place will be gone."

"Don't you make sense ever?" Daryl asked in annoyance.

"Daryl this is the CDC, the Centre of Disease Control, they have shit here that could kill us all within days, weaponised small pox, Swine and pandemic flu's even Ebola strains that could take out half the country without a problem. Not that they matter now, but the safety measures were put in a long time ago, especially in the case of a terrorist attack. I mean can you imagine what could happen if terrorists got their hands on this place before the outbreak? If…no when the fuel runs out this place is going to explode, literally," Harry informed him.

"Shouldn't we warn the others and get out of here?" Daryl glanced around warily, not looking the thought of going down with the building.

"Some of us aren't strong enough to go back out there yet," Harry answered, his gaze flickering to Jacqui, Jim and Lori; they were quite possibly the weakest of the group. "I'll see what I can find out before explaining anything to the group…not that they will listen." Harry sighed tiredly, "They never do, no matter what we say." he tiredly rubbed his forehead and neck in silent frustration.

"Ain't ever gonna be," Merle snorted, "They're a bunch of pussies." they would have slowed down, starved and been overrun if it weren't for Harry and his brother bringing in game.

"Not all of them," Harry conceded reluctantly, "Quite a few have good aims, they could be warriors in the end and able to survive this world. There's no place for lone wolves anymore, what's the point to surviving if you're the last man standing?" he told them truthfully.

"We never could," Daryl admitted, turning when he heard movement to see that the scientist had joined them and Andrea was already pouncing on him demanding information stating that they hadn't come for the eggs. Well that much was true, they had come for answers.

"At least let the man have his breakfast," Harry said frowning at Andrea, "There's a time and place for everything, demanding answers from a man who has taken us in and sheltered us is not right, the world might have ended but common courtesy hasn't - not yet."

"That coming from you?" Shane chortled amused.

Harry cocked his head to the side, his gaze immediately landing on the scratches, there was only one person in the group with long nails, his gaze narrowed in on Lori for a few seconds, pale shaken and glaring at Shane with wounded anger. "Excuse me? Is there something you want to say to me?" he growled out through gritted teeth. The fucking hypocritical bastard, he had been the one to come to the Quarry after they had settled in.

"Don't start again!" Glenn snapped out in annoyance, seemingly surprised by his own words he crouched down lower looking worried.

"Could you be talking about the time you sauntered into the Quarry as if you owned the place?" Harry ignored Glenn's words, his face a mask of disgust at the thoughts he was getting from Shane as he stared back furiously. "Or perhaps the time you dismantled every protection we had around the Quarry that resulted in the death of seven of our own and the departure of four others who knew you couldn't keep them safe?"

"Our own? So you do consider yourself part of my group now?" Shane snapped.

"Brother this isn't helping," Rick tried to stop Shane from continuing, it was pointless.

"WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE FOR THEM?" Harry roared, letting lose two months worth of frustration, "You stood in that Quarry ordering everyone around and you did fuck all yourself, you risked everyone's life gladly and never took on a risk yourself! You collected water! You sat on the RV with your gun acting like you knew what the hell you were dealing with! Disappearing for hours, you aren't a leader! You're a coward, you can't even think! What the hell did you think would happen sending T-Dog, Glenn and Merle on the same fucking run?" Glenn and T-Dog stared at each other they'd been asking themselves the same question since they left the Quarry that day. "You're a disgusting pile of shit man, worse than the men you arrested."

"Shane saved these people, you're going too far," Rick said coming to the defence of his best friend and brother.

"You're so blind; I would laugh if it wasn't so pathetic. He told you he scratched himself in his sleep? With what? He has no nails; he's bitten them down almost to the nail bed. There's only one other person here who has nails long enough to inflict the damage on Shane's neck, someone who also hasn't pulled their bloody weight," Harry hissed out, Shane immediately paled and backed down, unable to meet anyone's eyes, "And for your information I might not be the most pleasant of people but I've made damn sure you've had food in your damn belly every night, Daryl and I both, I would never let anyone go hungry if I can help it, I know what the fuck its like." his piece said, his magic beginning to get the better of him he stormed from the room, hands clenched at the side of him as if he was trying to stop himself from attacking Shane, truth was, only Daryl and Merle knew Harry was barely holding onto his magic.

"Well done Sherriff, tell you something, that boy might not look like much but he might be the difference between you sorry lot surviving and dying." Merle defended Harry, just as he would always defend his brother; Harry had saved his life quite a few times, just like he had in turn, team effort all around. Turning around, Harry's earlier words rattling around in his mind, grabbing his brother he left the room ready to get his stuff things were about to turn worse he had a feeling and if there was anything Harry had taught him was to trust his gut. "Get your stuff," he demanded gruffly to his brother, who as always didn't object just did as his older brother told him.

When they finally came out of their shock at what had happened and looked around they found the scientist was once again nowhere to be seen.

"What did he mean about your neck, Shane?" Rick asked grimly.

"I lied, I didn't scratch myself," Shane admitted but that's where his truth ended, Lori froze in complete terror. "Lori slapped me, I said we should have gone to Fort Benning and it would have kept y'all safe. She thought I meant you couldn't keep them safe, just a stupid misunderstanding," running his hand though his hair, a sure sign of nerves.

Rick nodded, before wandering off he had to speak to that scientist now.

Harry made his way into the main room where everyone was currently standing, some sort of conversation with Jenner. He was feeling considerably much calmer, he never used calming draughts, he had to find his own peace, and otherwise he would be completely screwed when there was no more around to help him. He wondered what they were talking about.

"-Playback of TS-19," the scientist said in that voice he'd used previously to talk to the computer.

The computer repeated his words, as the screen lit up, showing something that even the children there would know - a human brain. Harry stared not even twitching when the scientist declared very few people had been able to see it.

As if to prove his point, Carl asked, "Is that a brain?"

"An extraordinary one," the scientist declared, Harry closed his eyes and pinched his nose, knowing that it was Jenner's wife. The fondness of his tone declared as such.

Jenner spoke to the computer again as it went into EIV mode, Enhanced Internal View, immediately the screen began to show the inner workings of the human mind.

"What are the lights?" Jim asked, staring at the screen in rapid attention.

"It's a person's life, experiences, memories it's absolutely everything," Jenner explained staring at it mesmerised.

"It's us; it's what makes us human, those electrical impulses? They determine everything about us, everything we do, think and even say from the moment we are born until we die." Harry said speaking solely for Daryl who he could see was getting annoyed at not understanding again, he had picked up a lot of information reading about Occlumency and Legilimency as well as healing. "I'm going to guess that the virus affects the brain?" Harry summarised.

"Death? So this is a Vigil?" Rick said after Harry had stopped speaking his heart beating through the roof.

"Yes," Jenner replied honestly, "Or rather the playback of a vigil."

"You mean this person died?" Andrea asked saddened, "Who?"

"TS-19, someone who was bitten and infected volunteered to have us record the process," Jenner told them, never once removing his eyes from the screen knowing this would be the last time he saw it. He almost recoiled from someone's sudden touch, only to look deeply into penetrating green eyes that held sympathy and understanding within their depth. He knew, Jenner realized, he knew that this was his wife. He said nothing though and quickly removed his hand before standing at the corner watching with those green eyes of his.

"What was that all about?" Daryl asked joining him, just successfully managing to sound pissed off and not jealous.

Harry turned to face Daryl, "It's his wife," he explained just as Jenner explained things to the group.

Daryl's eyes narrowed as he turned to face Jenner now paying more attention as he 'scanned to the second event'.

"The resurrection times can vary, the shortest time is three minutes, the longest we heard was eight hours, and in the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute and seven seconds." Jenner said, his tone lowering each second he spoke. The screen showed them exactly what happened when they reanimated.

"It restarts the brain?" Lori and Amy cried out in shock.

"No, just the brainstem," Jenner corrected automatically, "It's just enough to get them up and moving."

"So they're not alive?" Rick sounded so hopeful that Harry had to withhold a sneer at his sentimentality, the world was going to shit and those things were after them and he just wanted to console himself that he wasn't actually killing them while they try to eat the group and his family?

"You tell me," Jenner pointed out looking more tired if it was at all possible.

"Yeah they're dead," Harry sighed, "It also explains why we have to aim for the head,"

"God what was that!" Carol jumped when something appeared on the screen.

"He shot his patient in the head," Andrea explained, "Didn't you?"

"Well I would have done the same, let them rest in peace instead of returning as a walker," Harry replied, annoyed at Andrea's judgemental tone. "How many times have we done it ourselves already?"

"VI power down the computer and workstations," Jenner demanded and the majority of the light went out enclosing the room in near enough darkness.

"You have no idea what is it do you?" Andrea said horrified, she had hoped there would be an answer here, something that would save them, especially her sister, the only family she knew for definite she had left.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitical or fungal," Jenner replied.

"Doctor Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you, but if you don't mind, I have one other question for you, that clock, its counting down, what happens when it reaches zero?" Dale asked.

Harry's head jerked around to see it, his eyes widening. "Tell me you have more fuel," he snapped interrupting Jenner's answer about the power.

"And then?" Rick demanded, but Jenner was leaving.

"Get everyone out now!" Harry roared, "GET YOUR STUFF AND GET OUT!"

"You know what happens?" Rick rounded on Harry.

"The CDC will explode when it gets down to zero; get your bloody family out of here now!" Harry gave him a shove when he just stood there in disbelief. Fortunately most of the group was already running for their rooms trying to get out of there before they ended up dead. "I'm going to get everything we can use," Harry said running towards the kitchen, there was no point to letting it blow up. Merle and Daryl shrugged and followed him, knowing he would more than likely use magic and always up for seeing more of it.

Would have loved to have written the entire scene where the CDC goes up in smoke BUT its late so I thought I'd get this to you all :) just need to decide who stays and who leaves ;) will Shane try something against Harry in retaliation only to be shocked when he comes out? will he even get to threaten Rick before this is all said and done? nobody thats messed with Harry lives to tell the tale! I hope you all like this strong resolved Harry since most other walking dead stories he's kinda...wimpy unbelievably so!

Also I wish to bring in ONE additional wizard OR witch into the story from Harry's life, I'm thinking someone that could change Merle for the better make him want to stay in a group and contribute without all the violence etc... Hermione i think is too serious and wouldn't be able to take Merle's crude jokes...but Luna could i think and give back just as well... what do you think? A witch for Merle? :P after that though there will definately not be any others since again most stories have everyone that was in Harry's life or worse Draco suddenly in the picture! R&R please!