Walking Dead Wizard

Chapter 21

Harry, Daryl, the dog and Luna had just returned to the house to see a car driving up, Harry felt a flicker of surprise when he saw Shane and Lori getting out the car - he must admit he had suspected it was Rick and Hershel back. Everyone seemed relieved enough, when he actually saw Lori he cocked his head to the side, she looked as if she'd taken a rough tumble.

"She crashed a car on an empty road…" Harry muttered trying not to judge her, but he couldn't help it, it was bloody hilarious. Daryl's expression didn't change much but his eyes took on a twinkle Harry had never seen before.

Then everything froze when Shane dropped a huge bombshell, Lori was pregnant and Harry would bet everything he owed it was Shane's. Rick had been in a coma for two months, and two weeks had passed since Rick showed up, she wouldn't have had any symptoms from a pregnancy with Rick yet, two weeks wasn't enough even for an experienced mother.

"You're having a baby? Why didn't you tell me?" the sudden voice of Carl caused everyone to feel extremely awkward and Lori to shoot Shane a death glare. Or more of a death glare since he had brought her back under false pretences; her husband was still out there. He would have admired her worry for Rick if she hadn't started a relationship with his best friend so soon after his so called 'death'.

One wasn't to blame more than the other, they were both humongous wrong, no matter whether Rick was dead or not, Lori shouldn't have done what she did. Shane should never have told her that Rick was dead without really knowing if he wasn't. Now Lori was fully blaming Shane as if he'd forced her into it, although honestly? He was sure the relationship wouldn't have lasted much longer; Shane was becoming unhinged, even before Rick returned. He thought everyone else wasn't right for this new world and he was, but the truth was Shane had broke, he wasn't equipped to handle this. He had slipped into the kill or be killed mentality.

"Maggie? May I see your sister for a moment?" Harry asked, ignoring the drama. Not that they were outside anymore they'd done inside. Having a kid in the middle of the world ending, what a stupid fucking idiot, she should have been using protection.

"Do you have medical experience?" Maggie asked more than a little hopeful.

"I just have something that might help," Harry informed her, "She's in shock right?"

"Follow me," Maggie said, opening the door and getting them inside making a beeline for her sister's room. "Yes, she's in shock." she added as she opened the bedroom door, crumbling slightly at the state of her sister lying so pale and catatonic on the bed. Beth had always been so lively, to see her this way was quite a shock to Maggie's system and she hated that her father was gone when she needed him most.

"Can you get me a glass of water?" Harry asked her, anything to get her out of the room so he can run a diagnosis on her. He wanted to make sure that the calming draught would even help before wasting any of it. He didn't know when he would get to brew a potion again, and calming draughts really were on the bottom of the list. Pain relievers and blood replenishers were now the most important potions to brew at least to him you had to priorities somewhere.

"Sure," Maggie said immediately, before leaving the room.

Flicking out his wand he murmured quietly over her form, grabbing the results from his wand he quickly looked at the bottom for the most recent ailment. Shock it was, removing the vial, his mind worked quickly as how to have this go. Would watering it down help her? Or just giving it to her the way it was? How the hell did he explain that?

"Here you go," Maggie said coming in with the glass and handing it to him, still worried.

"I don't suppose you um…approve of alternative medicine?" Harry asked her wryly.

"Alternative medicine?" Maggie asked giving Harry a penetrating look.

"Yes," Harry answered her, "Um…this is a calming draught, it will help her, there's absolutely nothing harmful in it, it just calms you down, try it yourself," Harry said offering her the vial, she rose an eyebrow but nonetheless actually trusted him and sipped it.

"That tastes absolutely disgusting," Maggie exclaimed but oddly enough she felt her worries easing, it was real, it worked, how the hell did it work so quickly? She handed it back, hopeful that it would actually help her sister.

"Its herbs, herbs taste disgusting but they help," Harry said wryly, opening Beth's mouth he let some of the concoction ease its way past her lips. Easing her up, he poured the water in, rubbing at her delicate throat until she began swallowing, Harry didn't stop until she had swallowed every drop of the potion.

Maggie pressed her fingers to Beth's pulse point not even a few moments later, "It worked, her pulse it's stopped racing," she told him relived.

"Now she just needs to rest, her mind needs to process what happened," Harry replied, "Why didn't you listen to me and get her inside?" he then demanded.

"I couldn't get her away from Jimmy, then my dad…" Maggie admitted looking suddenly tired.

"I am sorry for what you went through," Harry told her quietly.

"You aren't apologizing for him?" Maggie blinked in surprise.

"Hell no, his actions have nothing to do with me, so I have nothing to apologise for" Harry stated sharply before adding, "…maybe except the…well I did put one bullet in…you know, I reacted…I didn't want Beth hurt." not quite able to say the word 'mother'.

"I know, thank you, I realised a few days ago that they weren't sick when I was attacked…" Maggie explained, "But Glenn saved me." Maggie literally lit up just mentioning him.

"He has a lot of experience dealing with them," Harry agreed, "He's a good man."

Maggie smiled at him as she tucked her sister in, feeling a lot better, but she'd feel complete once her father was back where he belonged. She could scarcely believe he'd gone for drinks at a time like this, especially when they needed him. They'd been gone too long, but she suspected it was her father just being stubborn, he got like that. If it was the case it would take Rick and Glenn ages to get her father to agree to come back home.

"I'll leave you alone," Harry said standing up and going to leave the room.

"Do you really believe the group is broken?" Maggie asked, staring pensively.

"Yes," Harry replied immediately, "Does it sound like a good group when they sent people down wells? Open barns full of walkers? Gun them down and risk bringing more walkers down upon us? Which will happen, this place is going to be flooded with walkers take my word for it. I'd make a suggestion of taking everything important to you and putting it into a bag ready to grab when all hell breaks loose…again."

"Then why are you staying?" Maggie asked, before quickly, "I didn't mean…I mean not like it sounded…" she stuttered.

Harry grinned, "It's a good question isn't it? I've never really fitted into the group, nether has Merle or Daryl, and our last location…we were there first before everyone else came to the quarry. We would have left…but I…I realized realistically to survive you need a big group, and they had kids, I stayed for them,"

"Even though you didn't know them?" Maggie felt deeply touched by that, he was putting their own survival above his own.

"Couldn't let them starve," Harry told her, "I know what it's like…you know what's ironic? Daryl, Merle and I made sure they were never hungry, but all the adults other than Carol? They never thanked us not even once, but the kids? They did, they thanked us. I can't continue to stay because of them…I can't."

Maggie nodded, it sounded as though Harry was trying to convince himself more than anyone else. "You lost someone. A child, not your own but you still feel responsible." it was the only conceivable reason for his insistence.

Harry sighed, "Yes, it was a long time ago, I wasn't there, but I should have been." why was he even telling her this? It would be around the entire group before tomorrow morning and the last thing he wanted was pity thrown his way, he loathed pity. "I would appreciate it if you kept this to yourself." With that Harry closed the door firmly not giving her a chance to reply.

Harry tapped his foot impatiently waiting on the others to get their backsides into the truck. He'd been woken up over half an hour ago, if it could be called getting woken up since he hadn't been sleeping, not properly, he continued wakening up every twitch he heard, honestly he was surprised - truly surprised that no walkers had come this way after the shootout at the barn. Merle had been gone since last night, hunting, must be a deer otherwise he wouldn't have remained out all night. It was the only time they actually stayed away overnight if they found big game.

"Come on, let's go!" Shane barked, flinging his bag into the back.

Life was odd, unpredictable, one minute Shane wanted Rick dead the next he was actually worried about him enough to start a search party, and at the moment that concern actually seemed genuine. Harry knew he could spend a hundred years trying to figure everyone out around him, but he would still be surprised. The others quickly joined them, putting their stuff in the back; Shane was literally just climbing into the truck when they all stopped.

A motor could be heard; everyone looked over, even Luna where she sat with the dog and Sophia who was petting the dog looking extremely pleased with itself, at the camp where Harry had told her to stay. He'd also asked her to come up with a few names, he was drawing blank. Although he did have a few names rattling around, they just didn't seem…appropriate for a dog. Then again he'd named his owl Hedwig, after a saint, while most other owls had really childish 'pettish' names.

The Greene's and the family friends were standing on the porch with hopeful looks on their faces. Watching the car drive down the path towards them, relief spreading over their features, as well as that of Lori and Carl when they saw Hershel, Glenn and Rick step out of the car.

"Patricia, prepare the shed for surgery!" Hershel shouted loud enough for the woman to hear, as he moved around the car.

"Who the hell is that?" T-Dog said in surprise, staring at the guy he could see, everyone followed suit. Or what he could see since he was blindfolded.

"That's Randall," Rick explained as he and Glenn carried the injured boy.

"What the hell happened out there?" Harry asked curtly, as T-Dog helped Glenn take the guy away.

"We encountered another group," Rick told everyone, even as Lori pressed up against him, and his son hugged him.

"Let me guess it didn't end well?" Harry muttered sarcastically.

"No, no it didn't," Rick replied, rubbing his face tiredly, "They were digging for our whereabouts, trying to get us to let them join our group. It didn't end well, I had to kill them."

"Where does the kid come into it?" Daryl asked, still watching the barn doors where the stranger had been put by members of the group and Hershel who was presumably operating on him.

"I couldn't just leave him there to die," Rick defended his actions.

"So you brought someone here whose group is actively hunting for other survivors probably intending on robbing them blind? Smart move." Harry's voice was filled with incredulity.

"He's not staying here," Rick said his arms moving out as he spoke to appear more firm. "As soon as he's recovered we'll drive him out and put him somewhere."

"You could have done that anywhere, especially before getting to the farm!" Harry argued.

"He's injured, leaving him there would be like killing him!" Rick argued right back.

Harry gritted his teeth causing the others to wince at the sound, "There's one too many dangers in this camp without adding others into the mix."

"He did what he thought was right!" Lori defended Rick.

"They left him to die, they wont be coming looking for him, we were careful," Rick added adamantly.

Harry looked around at everyone's reactions, they were mixed, some agreed with him others were agreeing with Rick. They weren't going to last, he realized, they weren't just broken but incompatible. They were clinging to values that held no hold here in this post apocalyptic world. He hated to use Voldemort's phrases but there was no longer good and evil, only those with power and those too weak to seek it. By power now it meant the will to survive, and these people weren't going to if they didn't open their eyes and realize the world wasn't what it used to be.

He wasn't sure he could wait for them to realize that before he left, it wasn't just him he was looking out for anymore, the brothers could look after themselves so he wasn't worried constantly about them, but Luna? He was going to be constantly worried about her and the group making stupid decision wasn't help endear him to them. Stupid? It wasn't stupid, it was suicidal, and it wasn't just Randall, it was Shane he had to watch out for too, and it was beginning to be too much for him.

"You have my word, he will be gone as soon as it's possible," Rick said solemnly and with conviction.

Harry just scoffed and walked away, knowing that something would happen, maybe even lose one of the group trying to be noble against a group that had tried to kill them. Sighing resignedly, the boy could be like Regulus and Draco, gotten too far into a group without anyone to help…it was true, but it was such a risk to take.

"Stop worrying about me, I can take care of myself," Luna commented, as Harry continued to brood.

"It's not just you, there are kids here, Luna and we don't know a damn thing about this guy." Harry admitted his concern.

"Harry, you can't continue to live here if you don't want to, not for the sake of the kids, they have parents, they'll need to learn from them, and you can't risk your life for them and ignore your own feelings." Luna pointed out, "You know what happens when you ignore your instincts."

Harry flinched slightly, "That was a low blow, Luna," Harry said.

"Plus if you left I think more people would follow you than you think," Luna informed him.

"I don't want anyone to follow me, I don't want to be a leader," Harry hissed quietly.

"Nobody does really, it's one burden people don't like, at least normally," Luna said quietly, "If they want to though, you won't be able to turn them away." trying to give Harry an alternative to being miserable in this group and he was, the only time she'd seen Harry truly relax was last night when they were discussing everything with Merle and Daryl. She'd never seen anything like it; they were bringing danger upon danger upon them. Harry would NEVER make decisions like that, he protected his friends above all else, even putting himself at risk to do it. Harry was trying to get them to see how wrong they were, but he wasn't having much luck by the look of things. She'd only been here not even twenty four hours…and she could see the strain Harry was going through to make group whole, she knew deep in her heart that Harry's temper would snap eventually and he would leave unless they shaped up, and she wasn't sure which she would prefer to be honest. She didn't know the group, but some were very nice, they spoke to her and included her despite the fact she was new to them.

Until she knew for sure she would have to keep her distance from the others, she would follow Harry to hell and back, no amount of arguing would work. Others would follow him though, she was sure of that, she had seen the looks he got from certain members of the group. The respect, the gratitude and the understanding, although what the understanding was she didn't know. More importantly she saw that Daryl rarely took his eyes off Harry whenever they were within sighting distance of each other.

And herself? Well there was something pulling her towards Merle Dixon, a pull she'd never felt before and they hadn't even spoken once. She knew it was her magic, and it obviously found them compatible, which did happen, it wasn't very rare, but it was rare enough to pique her interest.

There we go! i promise next chapter we'll have a name for the dog :D it will also feature a time jump of about a week or so until 'Randall' recovers :) I hope that i've conveyed Luna as a friend and not someone that's trying to push Harry away from the group...because i'm not sure its getting across let me know what you think! Do you want Dale to survive? or will he die as he does in the series? although if the group splits...dale nor Hershel would matter much since i wouldnt be writing about them...as for Andrea she isn't bad this time around due to her sister but she does have a desire to help and protect (her sister) no wishing to leave like Shane...she's all about keeping her sister safe but would she go with Merle, Daryl, Harry and Luna? Or will it be Amy making the decision to go and Andrea going with her after not being able to convince her? so many possibilities just a question of who finds the prison first Rick or Harry :D R&R PLEASE