Walking Dead Wizard

Chapter 35

"This must be the guard's office," Harry commented, flicking off his torch having no need for it, there was a bit of light in here, hanging it from wrist, after slowly opening the door, it creaked but no other sound came from within. There was dozens of monitors all blank unsurprisingly, they place had absolutely no electricity running in it, his gaze roamed around the second he was in, no walkers, just a lone dead body, but he knew appearances could be deceptive. Not taking the chance that the body was in fact a walker, he sank his dagger into the temple, only once he'd moved around to the desk and faced the prison officer or warden whatever they were called here, did he notice the bullet wound to the head. Glancing down he noticed the gun, bending down grimacing in pain as his leg flared up, he grabbed the gun, checking it for bullets he found he'd used the last one on himself, and shaking his head he stashed it into his trouser pocket. Hearing the sound of keys, he looked up to see Daryl had a large bunch of them in his hand held together by a large silver ring that kept them together and in order.

"It's been a bit empty so far hasn't it?" Harry mused; he was beginning to think the prison had been one of the first places to go. They hadn't gotten to any main part of the prison yet though, so he might be a bit hasty. "Either they were outside or we're about to find them all still in their cells." he added quietly, still looking around for anything they could use, like weapons and such but there wasn't much, just a bunch of shiv's and weapons made with every day items like a toothbrush, in a box in the office. Along with paperwork that he didn't even want to begin going through. The baton he supposed could come in handy as a last resort but mostly it was useless like everything else.

"Would have been easier if we saw who was outside," Daryl replied shrugging his shoulders carelessly.

"No it wouldn't, there were a lot of civilians there, too many in fact which means there's somewhere that is open and letting them in," Harry informed him quietly, so he wasn't overheard. "There must have been around seven or eight prison guards in full riot gear as well." he added thoughtfully. Even the office windows were barred up, it would take a while to get them removed all of them.

"Here, Luna says you better take it," Daryl said handing over the vial after looking around to ensure that nobody was nearby. The rest of the others were checking out the other rooms.

Harry's head jerked up, a dry huffed laugh leaving his lips, of course she did, grumbling under his breath, Luna wouldn't leave him alone until he did. Although if he was honest he did want to take it, the constant walking, and knowing he would be continuing for who knows how long before they found an area secure enough to sleep the night in. In other words they might be at it for hours, so he was best to take it, as if his leg was willing him to agree it throbbed nastily at him. Accepting the potion, he drank it down in a single gulp, sighing in relief as the potion got to work, immediately removing the pain there must have been a muscle relaxant in it, he could feel it, as his tense muscles began to ease up. Holding the vial up to his sight, he cleaned it out magically and put it in his pocket, the one that didn't have the gun in it. Vials as well as everything else would be very difficult to come by, and he planned on making potions, also planned on scouting any possible locations where he could get more once things were at least a little bit settled. "There's nothing else here," he added, "What do you think, should we remove the bodies as we go or wait until we have a place set up?" asking Daryl for his opinion, noticing that he actually liked being asked judging by the surprise that flickered through his blue eyes, like just now.

"Don't matter, does it?" Daryl said, readjusting his crossbow.

"Do you answer my questions like that because you think I will do the opposite of what you say or is it because you think I will think you're daft for giving your opinion…?" Harry queried, wandering over standing right in front of Daryl, "Or do you honestly not care enough to think about it?" nine times out of ten he would find a way to answer the damn question without giving an answer. Without waiting on a reply he just smirked at Daryl before stepping around him and out of the room. Whistling for Anubis to follow him, which he did, his nails tapping on the cement floor as he barrelled after Harry. He could faintly hear the others talking, but it was muffled and that was inside a prison.

Daryl stood motionless for a long moment, trying to get himself back under control before he rejoined the others. He had been so close to Harry, too close for comfort, his own comfort; he had been able to see every detail of his face, his eyes. Tensing he forced himself to think of anything other than Harry. So that's how you got Harry to take anything for the pain, you hand it to him and tell him how it's going to be, so much for not thinking about Harry, Daryl inwardly groused, moving his crossbow he began fiddling with it the keys dangling around his wrist. His ears picking up the sound of someone's voice, curiosity got the better of him so he followed the others now thankfully in control of himself.

"How did it go?" Harry called out as he wandered into the outer area of the office, which looked as though it was where the officers got changed, judging by the uniforms and metal lockers and couches. It was a bed couch, it could be pulled out and turned into a bed, and he'd seen ones like that before.

"There's a dead officer here, shot to the head, bloody coward," Merle scowled, he had a similar pair of keys that Daryl had lifted in his hands.

"One was back there," Harry commented, "So only two stayed behind after it got really bad out there, at least, although it's a guess, there's no telling how it went down." there had been some sort of riot though, otherwise the guards wouldn't have been in their riot gear. Unless they wore it in a bid to protect themselves from being bitten or scratched, which he had to admit was a smart move to make. It hadn't saved their lives though because they'd still ended up walkers. "That's two sets of keys we have, three or four would have been preferable but if there's only two we'll be more careful and there's less chance of them getting misplaced. One stays in the area we are living in the other goes with the designated leader." Harry decided, truthfully he didn't need keys; he could go anywhere he damn pleased, without Apparating too, since he could unlock the doors no problem.

"Do you think most of the inmates were transferred somewhere else?" Dale enquired, his tone concerned.

"I seriously doubt it," Harry said, hiding his incredulity as such a naïve question, but this was Dale they were talking about. Judging by Luna and Merle's look he wasn't quite as successful as he had hoped in hiding his emotions. "When things started getting bad their first concern would be those with power…your president for one, then the senators, who knows who else? The prisoners were probably nowhere on anyone's list, except maybe the guards who didn't leave." they all twitched and looked momentarily bewildered by his statement of 'Your president' before they remembered he wasn't American but British and it was true, their president wasn't Harry's.

Daryl snorted from where he leaned against the door, examining his fingernails as if they were the most fascinating things he'd ever seen. Dale wasn't going to survive, and if he did it would be solely thanks to those that surround him, not the old man himself. He was right about one thing; it was the survival of the fittest. He wasn't going to last long with that disgusting bleeding heart of his.

"Let's go," Merle grumbled, biting his tongue to stop himself saying a lot of things to dale that he wouldn't like. He didn't even understand why he was keeping it in and not just laying it bare for the old man. It wasn't like him, he always said what he meant mixed in with a few unsavoury words admittedly, but still…he moved out of the room a frown on his face as he tried to understand his own actions. 'He was a damn mystery to himself, ain't nobody gonna understand me' he thought to himself.

Daryl stared at his brother as he passed, watching him glance at Luna, his lips twitching, he was so whipped, there could be no other explanation for his odd behaviour. Although it hadn't changed him in the past, he'd had plenty of girls and treated them like shit, said whatever the hell he wanted to about them, to them and in front of them about others, although he'd never raised his hand to them, his brother drew the line at that, after seeing their father hit their mama all those years, they never wanted to be like him in that way. Still his brother was acting odd, and he kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Sophia kept next to her mum, making sure they both stayed near Harry, who Sophia felt more safe and comfortable with. Dale stayed nearby with Andrea and Amy, who were bringing up the back, while Harry, Luna, Daryl and Merle were up ahead, as the best fighters it made sense that they would be fist in line should anything happen. Andrea continued to mentally curse herself, in this little pecking order she had been reduced to the bottom of the pack, she would need to prove herself again, and she cursed herself yet again, for making such a stupid mistake.

"Keep focused, we don't know what the hell is out there," Harry called out, glancing back at the others sensing them lagging just a bit. The torch in his hand, lighting up the hall way, so they could see in front of them.

"Your leg must be feeling better, you're not limping anymore," Luna said, her blue eyes twinkling at him in that amused secretive way. Stopping for a second to draw an arrow on the wall to keep track of where they were and where the exit was.

"It is," Harry said giving her a small smile before he turned back and faced ahead, not letting himself be distracted after making sure the rest of the group wasn't. They soon found themselves at a metal door, which was locked. Merle who was closest and with keys immediately began to try each key to see if it opened the door. He would need to see about getting something to make it easier instead of constantly standing around and trying to find the right key. Those coloured tabs would help, attached to each key and maybe paint the area surrounding the key hole for reference. Harry was only slightly surprised by his thoughts, he didn't plan on staying here forever, he had plans to go to DC maybe even find an army base to stay in, as secure as this place a base would be infinity better. If going to DC helped with the possibility of a cure he was all for it. Then finally one of the keys grated all the way around, opening it.

"Oh fuck, keep Sophia out there," Harry grimaced turning away from the sight that met his eyes as he walked in, glancing towards Carol conveying without saying more just how serious he was. Harry grabbed a hold of Anubis, preventing the dog from investigating further. Thirteen bodies lay executed by their cell doors in pools of their own blood, Harry walked over, crouching down near the first one, they must have realized by the point where they were executing the others to aim for the head. Was it the officer that was in his office? The other that Merle had found? Or part of the walker riot guards? Harry couldn't decide whether it was a kindness or not, surely killing them was better than leaving them to starve and come back as walkers? The guards couldn't have let them leave in all good conscience, although it depended on what they'd done.

"Think the other blocks are going to be the same?" Luna enquired, staring at the bodies without blinking.

Merle observed Luna, quite frankly impressed and a little shocked that she wasn't even the slightest bit perturbed by what she was seeing it made him even more fond of her than he was prepared to feel. Andrea, Amy and Carol had their hands over their mouths staring in horror looking ready to be sick. Dale had removed his hat and was standing there grimly, not able to look at the scene in front of him. He also noticed that Harry was pretty much the same as Luna, assessing everything critically as if they were putting the pieces of what happened together. Merle also noticed his brother doing the same thing as him.

"It's hard to tell," Harry commented still crouched down on the floor. "I should have expected something like this; the guards would never have wanted them to get out of the prison, at least those who had commented the more heinous crimes. The world had gone to shit, everyone was panicking, which caused the guards to act irrationally…maybe not them all…it's hard to say what's gone down."

"Makes you wonder doesn't it?" Luna murmured quietly, thinking of Azkaban, had the guards ordered the Dementors to suck the souls out of the prisoners? Killed them outright? Or were they still there, trapped and unable to do a damn thing? A great deal of the prisoners were Dementors and Luna unfortunately couldn't bring herself to care about them…not after what they'd done to her and her friends, hell everyone at Hogwarts.

"We aren't staying here are we?" Carol asked, looking sick to her stomach at the prospect of staying there.

"There's another cell block up that way," Daryl offered up a suggestion.

"It didn't look like a cell block, it looked more like a cafeteria," Harry commented, trying to remember what he'd seen, he could clearly remember seeing metal tables with seats.

"Other direction," Daryl told him.

"I guess we can check it out," Harry replied offhandedly, giving a nod, especially if it made them feel better. "We still need to get them out of here though, but it can be left for later." with that Harry stood up, "Let's get going," Harry noticed Sophia had seen what happened, as proof to children's resilience she was handling it a little better than her mother and the other girls (Luna being the exception obviously). Harry honestly didn't think the other cell block would be any different, but they might as well try. They would definitely need to decide which block soon, it was beginning to get dark and judging by the rumbling stomachs everyone was hungry. It was hard to believe they'd been at it all day just about.

It took them a further twenty minutes to get to the other cell block, having to open two doors to get there, which wasn't as easy as one would imagine with too many keys to test. Daryl was the one trying to open the door this time; Luna was craning her neck trying to see if there was anything beyond it. There didn't seem to be any outright displays of execution in this one.

"This cell block is bigger, more room," Luna commented idly, as the door was finally opened with the metal creaking.

"Just seems like it, the other one has the same amount," Harry said as he stepped in looking around critically. Stepping up his knife in his hand, he began to inspect each cell. Pools of blood screamed of something horrible happening here, but considering there were no walkers, and definitely no way for them to get out…he wondered what happened. "No bodies, no walkers, but a lot of blood…they weren't executed as a last resort…" the lack of bodies told the story all on its own.

"Doesn't seem like it does it?" Luna frowned, trying to make sense of it all, but she knew that would never happen.

"Don't matter now," Merle said, as he jogged up the stairs to check the rest of the area. It was the same as the ones below, saturated with blood in some way as if they'd been executed.

"There's no sign of them being dragged away," Harry commented offhandedly.

"Or walking," Daryl added.

"Stretchers?" Harry guessed, crouching down by a pool of blood.

"That much blood would be impossible to avoid…" Daryl shook his head pointing out the reason he believed they weren't dragged onto stretchers. His sharp blue eyes scanning the floor trying to piece together what had happened?

"I don't mind crashing here, I'm tired enough to ignore it," Carol said, 'for now anyway' it was just the dead bodies and the way they were killed that horrified her. That and Sophia was leaning against her obviously exhausted, ready to pass out any given moment. She hadn't helped with the cars, she was too young, so this was the most walking she'd done since she ran off into the woods with two walkers on her heels. Anubis whined, from where he lay on the floor.

"I think he needs the toilet, we might as well bring everything up that we'll need for the night, and we'll begin all over again tomorrow. Is there anything anyone wants brought up?" Harry asked as he exited the cell, avoiding the blood patches. Everyone had no problem hearing him, and protested.

"Just rest, for ten minutes, you'll be cooking when I get back," Harry teased them, stretching out languidly, sighing softly that potion had really helped.

"You wont be able to get everything alone, even two of the duvets would be too much," Andrea pointed out, knowing better than to ask to go with him, it would take a long time for him to trust her again.

"I'll come with you," Luna commented, "We better go quickly before Anubis pees in here,"

"Good point," Harry grimaced, "Merle give Carol a set of keys, lock the door behind us, we'll go and get everything we'll need for the night,"

Merle grumbled but did as Harry suggested, and the four of them as well as their four legged fury friend made their way out of the building. Getting out much quicker as Harry just unlocked every door they came across, much to the Dixons amusement.

"We need to get in touch with Hermione, how long has it been since we spoke to her? Four days?" Luna spoke.

"It's not unusual, I didn't stay in contact every day," Harry said quietly, as they followed the permanent marker arrows to get back out.

"How do you stay in touch? It ain't like we have a mail service," Daryl questioned curiously.

The intensity of his question made Harry believe he'd been curious for a long while but had no reason to bring it up. "A book that acts as an email or text message, sending messages back and forth."

"Its how we knew Harry was alright and where he was, it also gave us the information on the walkers," Luna added, "He helped keep Hogwarts safe."

"You did as well, by leaving," Harry stated, certainly not amused that she'd put herself in danger.

"Someone had to and I am an expert on warding, the only other person that could have done it was Hermione and she was too important to the process of finding a cure to let her go." Luna stated, knowing Harry wasn't angry he was just worried.

"What about Professor Babbling? She has a Mastery in the subject!" Harry enquired realizing that something was obviously going on there.

"She wouldn't have lasted five minutes," Luna scoffed, "She's a brilliant wards mistress but sucks at everything else, why do you think she never took part in the war? She's never been in the Muggle world either, she wouldn't have known what the hell to do, and at least I knew someone on the outside."

"She didn't?" Harry asked idly, only slightly surprised. He wasn't very familiar with Babbling, only knew what Hermione had told him about her which was she was brilliant but a hard taskmaster. Opening the last door Anubis practically flew out of the place and quickly looked for somewhere to do the toilet.

"No," Luna commented shaking her head, breathing in the fresh air it was a little stuffy in the prison but also warmer so she couldn't really complain. Not that she would, she could just use a warming charm to heat her up.

"You have a teacher called babblin'?" Merle asked snorting in amusement.

"You think that's bad? You should hear the rest of them! And their first names!" Luna said, smiling at the look of amusement on Merle's face, it changed his entire face when he was happy.

"Newt is one of them," Harry laughed a little as they finally got to the vehicles, laughing more at the look on their faces.

'Newt?' both Dixons mouthed quite stunned, it gave a whole new appreciation for their names.

"Harry's grandparents were called Fleamont and Euphemia Potter," Luna told them, as she grabbed the duvets, pillows and covers they'd need to keep warm. "You alright, Harry?" Luna asked after glancing his way seeing he was once again impassive. Had he changed that much that she wouldn't get a single happy amused conversation out of him?

Harry just shook his head, "I never got used to the idea that everyone knew more about my family than I did," he admitted, as he finished boxing up the utensils and food.

"You didn't know their names?" Luna asked taken aback.

"Not until I was eighteen," Harry shrugged, putting the backpack on his back, he picked up the box, making it light weight, for now. "If you guys have a favourite food you'd like let me know and I'll have Hermione send it over, just don't be caught eating it." he didn't want to have to explain that one thank you very much. "You can eat it on duty."

"I brought a box with me that lets things be instantaneously transferred between them, like food." Luna chimed in seeing the look on the brother's face. She was actually beginning to get the hang of understanding this world, what was possible, what wasn't and more importantly she was beginning to notice the subtle tells on the brothers when they weren't happy, were confused or when they were amused.

"Burger and chips, they love burger and chips, totally smothered in ketchup," Harry told Luna smirking; as he began making his way back inside, he didn't need to whistle since Anubis bound forward after seeing him. "They probably wouldn't admit it but they've got a soft spot of toffee cheesecake, they eat it more often than anything else, even treacle tart."

Daryl just chuckled at the dumbfounded look on his brother's face, nudging him as he passed to get him to move. They weren't used to anyone taking the time to get to know them, never mind such a small detail. As soon as they got inside the entire corridor lit up brightly. It caused both Daryl and Merle to remember something and for it to click into place, the sigh earlier, they must be missing using magic in every day situations…or having to refrain from using it.

"Did you bring water?" Harry queried, glancing a Merle who was responsible for some of the food and water.

Merle grunted he was missing the way Harry made it cold, since more often than not now it was lukewarm. Like it had been lying in the sun for days.

And the next chapter is out! will someone else go to DC or would you like to see the others inevitably move there? Where will they settle down by the end of the story? will they find a cure or will they have to live with the knowledge that they come back as walkers and need put down but try to live their lives as well as they possibly could? R&R please