Walking Dead Wizard

Chapter 47

"That's Daryl and Harry back," Andrea called, glancing over to see the van, which didn't honk its horn, they never did. Dropping her knife she began to jog over to the gates, Luna and Mira joined her, between the three of them they got the first gate open before making their way down further and opening the other gate letting the van drive in, which it did, with more urgency than normal, it wasn't even near dark yet, when they went out scavenging they usually stayed out for at least another hour or so, maybe more, it was difficult to judge just what time it was. Either way it was still light and would remain so for at least another hour probably more.

The doors slamming had everyone looking over, Harry whistled, with a single jerk of his finger everyone abandoned what they were doing to see what their leader wanted. Yes, Harry was their leader, and he had made the prison a home for them all and risked everything to get what they needed he deserved the title and a lot more that they couldn't give him. Harry opened the back of the van, "Take what you can in, I want everyone in the dining hall in five minutes, but first I need to talk to Daryl," Harry told them, rubbing his face in agitation, glancing out at the prison, feeling very paranoid.

The only consolation he had was the fact the shields around the prison would prevent anyone being hurt if this fucking Muggle open fired on them. Harry grabbed as much as he could without rousing suspicion, everything had been emptied out of the box and the van was packed from the roof of the van to the floor.

"Put it on the cart," Carol said, urging him to empty his hands off the large soda bottles. The heaviest of the items always did get put on it; Carol was one hell of a woman and always thought ahead. She had the thing lying at the side of the building each time they left, not that they were always successful but she did it nonetheless. She watched him in concern; she'd never seen him look this way since they had been at the quarry, when Merle had been left on that rooftop by the others. He was obviously extremely worried, and the fact he wanted to discuss something with them…well it played on her mind but having something to do helped. She glanced at Oscar, Axel and Andrea; they sensed it too, judging by the worried looks.

Harry stalked away from the group, not even looking back to see if Daryl was following him, after what they'd just seen he wasn't in the mood for a 'personal chat' but it had to happen, he would rather avoid the whole 'avoidance' phase, which was happening already, Daryl hadn't even glanced once at him since the near kiss in the car. Things might be getting sticky soon so yes, he would prefer to nip it in the bud before something happened to kick them out of it. He decided to have this conversation in the cell block, it was less likely that anyone would overhear them or interfere, three dings alerted him to the fact one of the others had called everyone to a meet. One ding meant food was ready, but three they had decided upon being a way to alert everyone to meet up in the dining room. They hadn't had to use it yet, but he knew they'd remember the conversation.

An excited bark had his lips twitching despite his mood, as Anubis barrelled into him, brushing himself excitedly against Harry, almost whining, Harry just laughed softly, patting and stroking the dog, he seemed very healthy, he just wished there was a vet to make sure. Anubis was still hyper when Daryl entered the cell block, avoiding looking at him. He hadn't done so much avoiding meeting his gaze since they'd first met.

"Alright can we stop all this avoiding each other shit?" Harry asked, crossing his arms as he stared at Daryl, as he leaned against the metal banister. "Things are getting way too dangerous to avoid each other, especially since besides me, you and Merle know best what to look for if anyone comes close."

"You can blame me for it all if you like, even though both you and I know you leaned in," Harry pointed out after Daryl continued to remain silent. He had to bite his tongue when Daryl's face went red, not a noticeable encompassing blush but just there on his cheekbones. "I shouldn't have done it," Daryl twitched at that pronouncement, and before he came to the wrong conclusion Harry hasted to explain. "You're nowhere near ready for a relationship,"

"What the fuck's that mean?" Daryl asked, genuinely angry at Harry for his words.

Harry raised his hand, palm out and walked toward Daryl short as it may be causing him to flinch and recoil as he always did whenever anyone got too near him. Instead of lowering his hand, Harry pressed his hand against his broad shoulder, "You can't stand anyone touching you, not even I, even though I know it's not your fault it rips a piece of me when you flinch from me." Harry laughed a little, it was bitter and twisted, "For the longest time I've wanted you, but I assumed you were straight, I was alright with that, just being friends…it was better than nothing." Harry's hand dropped from Daryl's shoulder, but he remained close.

"Why? I'm a nobody. I'm nothing. Just some redneck asshole with an even bigger asshole for a brother." Daryl spat, his fears coming spilling out of his mouth, why the hell would Harry want him? He'd seen what his life had been like; he'd lived with him before the apocalypse got bad enough that they had to abandon the cabin.

"No, Daryl, you're not. Everyone here cares about you, some more than others admittedly, but if anything happened to you…it would affect us all, that isn't being nobody. You do more for these people than most would, you are important don't ever doubt that." Harry said, "Stop listening to your fathers voice," seeing Daryl's green eyes widening slightly, "I know how it is, I used to hear my uncles voice telling me I was worthless too, but you know what? I received a bit of good advice from someone…"

"You either get bitter or you get better. It's that simple. You either take what has been dealt to you and allow it to make you a better person, or you allow it to tear you down and destroy you. The choice does not belong to fate, the choice hasn't been taken from you, it belongs to you." Harry said solemnly, "Yes you were handed some fucking crap cards, but the deck is now yours to do with what you wish." saying it in a way that Daryl would definitely understand.

Harry moved away from Daryl, finding it next to impossible, once he was at the door, he spoke again, "I'll still be here when you're ready," he informed him seriously, "But know this Daryl Dixon, you better be sure, because I'll never give you up." passion and possessiveness shone through those green eyes before Harry turned his back on Daryl and walked away.

Daryl stared after him, a shudder passing over him at the look in those eyes much like his own, eyes that had been through and seen too much. How was it that Harry could see in the very heart of him and know what was going on? 'stop listening to your father's voice' rang around his head, and it was his voice he heard a lot adding to his insecurity which he hid behind a tough near impenetrable demeanour, but Harry had slithered like a snake into his heart, and even the guys here were slowly worming their way into his heart too, just not the way Harry had burrowed into it. They were more alike than he'd ever thought possible, as he thought on what Harry said, his uncle had been so wrong, Harry wasn't worthless, he was strong, powerful and motivated, a survivor and he only wished he could kill the fucker.

Anubis nudging him before barrelling after Harry brought him out of his thoughts, which brought what happened earlier to the forefront of his mind, not that they had too much to worry about as long as they were in the prison. Outside it though they'd be in trouble, especially the others if Harry or Luna wasn't with them. They needed to be told to be careful, although they rarely went outside so that had to count for something when it came to keeping them safe. Staring at his shoulder where Harry had touched him for a few seconds before he shook his head, his usual masks came up and Daryl began to retrace Harry's steps, not that he needed to he knew where everyone was, he had been there when Harry told everyone to meet at the dining hall after all, that and he'd heard the chimes. Which had reverberated around the prison.

"What do you think happened?" Andrea asked cautiously, as she stared around at the others, wondering if they had any ideas.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good," Carol said anxiously, standing behind her daughter, who was sitting on a chair colouring with Andre, there were a few books spread out on the table right now unused. There was also pencils, colouring pens, crayons and paper, those items you'd find in abundance in homes, when they apocalypse got bad, the last thing they'd care about was colouring in things.

"It's bad, I've never seen Harry looking quite so worried before," Mira said, "Have you?" they had known him quite a bit longer, but they didn't know the things she did. They were completely oblivious to Harry and Luna having magic.

"No, never," Amy was the one to answer from where she at next to her sister.

Luna said nothing, truth was she had seen Harry worried for longer periods of time, he had a psychopath after him intending on killing him after all. Harry had been wound up really, and she wondered what had caused it, whatever it was, it had to be quite big, potentially dangerous but not quite a danger to her or Harry.

"He's always quite laid back isn't he?" Big Tiny said, he was very protective of everyone here, that had been made clear from the moment they'd came face to face for the first time. Yet he had sympathy for anyone caught in this mess, he didn't care about his race, or the fact he was in prison, as long as they didn't hurt anyone they'd been welcomed. He had a good sense of judgement, while he had grown to like the two others they'd been stuck with, just a little, Harry had known how dangerous they were.

Dale just sat there listening to everyone speculating, a frown marring his usually cheerful face, he couldn't deny he was worried, but he hadn't been outside with the rest of them, he hadn't seen Harry himself yet. The only one seemingly unburdened was Andre, who was oblivious to how tense the room was, ah to be a child once more, he thought, even Sophia knew something was wrong, but she was no longer a child by any means. She was growing up; Sophia had come along way from the painfully shy child she used to be. It was a pleasure to be able to see it, just like it was one to see Andrea and Amy's relationship flourish as they learned all they needed to survive this new cold harsh world everyone had been so unexpectedly thrust into.

Harry stalked into the cafeteria; they now just called a dining room to make it more of a homely feel to it. Moving over to the kitchen he grabbed a pint glass absently and poured himself some juice from the bottles that had just been brought in, noticing that the shelves had been brought in, obviously the van had been completely emptied then, that was quick, but it always was with Big Tiny around, not only was he strong he could obviously carry things others would struggle with. Rubbing at his forehead as he did so, intently ignoring everyone until he thought about how best to describe the situation they'd found themselves in, well he and Daryl at any rate. Noticing that Anubis' water bowl was empty he filled that up too.

Once he grabbed his drink, he moved over to the others absently grabbing the pad of paper and a sharpened pencil before sitting down without saying a word began to draw much to the astonished confusion of everyone.

"Can I get a drink too?" Sophia asked, glancing up at her mum, looking excited.

"Of course," Carol said, making her way over, putting the kettle on and grabbing the soda Harry had opened and putting it and a dozen glasses on the tray and moving back over. Given its size, she poured one for both Andre and Sophia, and handed it over, the others were free to help themselves.

"Where's my brother?" Merle asked cautiously, wondering what had happened out there and whether he had to beat the shit out of anyone.

"He'll be here," Harry commented, but it was obvious most of his concentration was on the paper in front of him.

He was proven correct, a few seconds later Daryl did enter trying to be silent but failing spectacularly as everyone at once looked at him, silently demanding answers, none more so than his brother who was becoming extremely impatient at being in the dark.

"There is…." Harry paused for a few seconds, before venturing on, "A group of people nearby, I have no idea how big the group is, but the number we saw I would say was around ten men…and they are not friendlies."

"What happened?" Merle asked sitting up straighter, his hands curling into fists, both Harry and Daryl looked unscathed, but he knew Harry was able to get out of tricky situations and maybe that was the only reason.

"We first saw them when we were out a few weeks ago, the day Daryl brought his bike back." Harry said, "It was the same man, he seemed as if he was trying to help people, he was calling out to any survivors anyway and a few families or a group anyway did go to him. They were using army vehicles, I thought perhaps they were using civilians to help, I'm sure they needed all the help they could get at this point. I didn't think too much of it, I mean we all know we aren't the only survivors out there."

"Daryl and I, we stopped when we saw a…I'm not sure what you call it, but we called them corner shops," Harry explained, any shop that was near a lot of houses and on its own was concerned a corner shop.

"Same here," Oscar, Axel and Big Tiny said as one as the others nodded too curious to speak and risk distracting Harry from his tale.

"There were a few walkers inside, so we thought it might be untouched so we went to investigate, everything we brought in today was from there, not a bad haul and we were quite lucky, I think we should continue to keep an eye out for corner shops, I believe we might find ourselves lucky more often. We're probably not the only group that's going for the big places." Harry informed them idly, "We emptied the shop packed the van, which we parked a bit from the shop, it was a good thing we did," lying just a tad, "A group headed towards us, Daryl spotted them and we hid, when they were passing I noticed a lot of bullet holes and fresh blood on the army tanks, and trucks," nothing of what happened in the boot of the car showed on his face, but Daryl sure did find his nails fascinating suddenly.

"We heard a lot of gun fire, we waited until they were gone," Harry explained pausing as he stared at the kids, Andre was too interested in his drawing to care, even Big Tiny was helping him, but he was also paying attention. Sophia had to know the dangers, if they kept her unawares it would just cause more trouble, she was teenager, and sooner or later she might rebel, or want to be a little rebellious, they all went through that phrase, as much as he wished to protect her he knew the truth would be the only protection she needed. "They'd slaughtered an entire group of people, taken their possessions and left behind a complete and utter massacre."

Everyone reacted in different ways, some looked ready to be sick, others became grim; many pressed their hands over their mouth in horror unable to believe what they'd just heard.

"We think they took someone with them, someone sick or injured already," Daryl finally spoke, "There was a stretcher, nobody there looked sick or previously injured before they were killed."

"It's as if he feels threatened by large groups…but takes in small ones, so they feel indebted to him…with the belief that they would never betray him. This is just pure speculation at this point, we might be mistaken but we both agree it looks as if they've taken someone, my best bet was that person was unconscious, only an idiot would take someone into his group after killing them all while they were conscious and aware. He or she will probably be fed a lot of lies, memorize that face, and if you see it, run fast and run far," Harry said grimly, finally flipping the pad over to the group, finally allowing them to see what he'd been doing. Some of the gasped, the drawing was very, very detailed.

"I didn't know you could draw," Amy said, staring at the picture in slight awe and slight disgust knowing what this person had done.

"There weren't any…children there?" Carol asked, her face pale and drawn just thinking about what Harry revealed, it horrified her to her core, and she had thought her husband was bad…it was nothing on this son of a bitch.

Harry shook his head solemnly, no there hadn't been any children, for that he was thankful. He and Daryl had been forced to deal with the bodies that weren't shot in the head, which admittedly had only been three, buried under the pile of other bodies. They had aimed to kill, and to stop reanimation, which means they knew about the virus being airborne as well.

Daryl moved forward a little to see the drawing, and he had to admit he was impressed, the picture was extremely detailed, and it looked exactly like the guy they'd seen. He hadn't been aware that Harry could draw, judging by Luna's gaze she had been previously unaware as well, and she'd known him longer. It explained the fact he'd stashed a pack of pencils and a pad of white drawing paper in his bag, he'd assumed he was keeping them for Sophia but he realized he was probably wrong.

"What if Rick and the others bump into them?" Dale asked deeply concerned. Axel, Oscar and Big Tiny didn't ask who Rick and the 'others' were since they knew the group used to be double in size before they'd partied ways due to Rick's ultimatum.

"I doubt they will, Rick was determined to find somewhere to hunker down, they've probably already found somewhere, they're smart they're probably doing just as well as us. Rick won't risk going too far, or expect Glenn to go too far not with his wife pregnant." Harry reassured them.

"Do you really believe that?" Andrea asked.

"Of course, I might not have partied ways with Rick on good terms, but he does have what it takes to be a good leader." Harry answered honestly, drinking from his glass, it was a bit too sugary for his liking, growing up he'd never had anything other than water, and at Hogwarts it was either pumpkin juice or orange juice he'd drank. While pumpkin juice was sweet, it wasn't sugary at least not overly so like the juice he had in his hand. Cola, he'd seen Dudley drinking it by the bottle every dinner time. "Unfortunately he made the mistake of making an ultimatum to me, to everyone really. I don't do well being told what to do, especially by a man who had woken up, cuffed a good friend to a roof and left him there to die, if that is the kind of decisions I could rely on from him…then there was no way I would trust him with my life. While it's true he proved himself somewhat, we did get to see the leader in him, and it was destroyed when he was forced to kill Shane. Blaming everyone for his own actions…it was a cowards way out, hopefully he will have recovered realized along the way he can't just call survival a democracy, not without losing everyone eventually, people will only take so much, and that night Maggie and Glenn looked ready to leave themselves."

"I think if Hershel hadn't been there they would have," Luna agreed, his daughters as grown as they were, seemed to value family above all else and it was admirable really, she wished her father was still with her, but at least they'd been able to say goodbye even if they weren't together when her father turned.

"I do hope they stuck together," Amy said, "It's too dangerous to be on your own,"

"I agree," Dale said sombrely, surprisingly he didn't think about Rick and the group every day anymore, but Harry was right, Rick would look after them.

Merle scoffed before standing up, moving over to the cart which hadn't been touched yet and grabbed a bottle of whiskey, vodka and more juice before making his way over to them and putting them on the desk and began to make drinks for everyone.

"Do you think we're in danger with this group?" Axel asked, gesturing towards the picture that they all had taken turns looking at, trying to memorise the face. Tipping his head in thanks when Merle handed him a drink, out of all the people, Harry, Daryl, Luna and Merle had trusted them first, gave them a chance to prove themselves along the way the others had come around too, but they hadn't been blind to the wariness radiating from them. Although they really could see their side, which was why they had said nothing and knuckled under. Now they were trusted completely, it was shown by the fact they had looked after Sophia and Andre a few times.

"Potentially? Yes, we've seen them now in two completely different directions, they've obviously got a supply of fuel, somewhere nearby and the weapons to go with if they have the ammunition to spare by killing people for no apparent reason." Harry sighed, shaking his head at the drink Merle offered, a pointed look on his face, the guy should know by now that he did NOT drink. Merle just rolled his eyes and handed one to Dale. "We will just have to be more careful now, and never go anywhere on your own, and if you hear anything get inside the prison." not that they did, he made sure they always went places in pairs.

"Won't matter, there ain't any walkers, they'll know," Daryl pointed out.

"Yes, they will, but they will also be reluctant to do anything especially without knowing our numbers, or our own weapons," Harry pointed out smirking ferally. "Only an idiot would attack somewhere this big without knowing their enemy, the only reason such a thing should be attempted is if you're desperate or there's a solid reason."

"You say that like you think he's not an idiot," Merle said wryly, gulping down the whiskey, his brother grabbed it before he could but filled his glass for him.

"I don't think he is, he has a plan, he's surrounded himself with people who are just as repulsive as him and who are obviously good at keeping a secret…I'm sure everyone else in the group is completely unaware of what he's doing. Those kind of men are the most dangerous," Harry corrected him thoughtfully, it reminded him frightfully of Voldemort if he was honest without the powers to go with it which was a really good thing, it would make him easier to deal with if he even thought of approaching his territory.

"The worst thing is that he isn't the only group we're going to have to watch our for, there will be others just as bad as this guy, damaged people are dangerous, they know how to survive, and there are a lot of people out there more damaged than us…although honestly? I hope we don't come across people like Randall's group." Luna said, her stomach twisting unpleasantly.

"Who's Randall?" Axel asked, already feeling the affects of the alcohol in his system. Oscar and Big Tiny were curious as well, all the tales they'd heard from the group, this Randall and his group wasn't one of them.

"Definitely not something to be explained with young ears in the room lets put it that way." Harry grimaced, before realizing there was a way to let them know without saying the words. "Let's just say that they're the least liked in a prison setting,"

Axel gulped, nodding grimly, oh they knew what he meant alright, child rapists and killers were given a very hard time in prison because even murderers had morals as strange as it sounded. He definitely needed another drink, grasping a hold of the bottle he poured in a generous amount before taking a big gulp.

After a few drinks Carol took Andre and Sophia to their room, Merle was getting a bit too drunk and was swearing quite a bit more than usual, Andre was at that age where he was picking up on the words spoken, Mira elected to go with her, since she wasn't much of a drinker herself. Instead of a proper meal, they were eating peanuts and crisps and snacks that Harry and Daryl had just brought back. They were barely out of the room before Merle sparked a smoke for himself, at least he'd restrained from smoking right in front of a toddler. Dale was even enjoying himself, laughing at the things Merle or one of the girls was saying. They were completely drunk, Harry watched them with amusement even if the smell was repugnant, bourbon and whiskey especially made his stomach queasy, made him think of times he'd rather completely forget. Although the smell he was getting more and more used to these days, it wasn't as if he could avoid it. Especially around Merle and Daryl, they were big drinkers.

"You really don't drink do you?" Andrea said turning to face Harry, "I thought at the CDC you were just too wired, too worried to let your guard down." she was always one of the braver ones who said what she thought, even back at the Quarry before they knew each other. "Have you even actually had a drink? I mean come on; surely you drank when you were a teenager! We all did, it was a rite of passage!"

"No, I don't, what can I say? I was never quite normal," Harry said sardonically, he'd never joined in when Ron, Seamus, Dean and Neville got themselves drunk with fire whiskey that they'd all pitched in to buy, Ron's contributions were only a few Knuts and a Sickle and he'd been annoyed that he hadn't wanted to join in, that was Ron for you, always bull-headed and too stubborn for words.

Andrea continued to stare at Harry as if she was hoping to work him out. He was bound to have lots of friends, Harry as just one of those guys, surely he had. If Harry himself hadn't been able to afford drink his friends surely could have? Someone in his family had obviously been a heavy drinker, but her own grandfather had been, it didn't mean she shouldn't drink, and Harry had said nobody in his family had died due to heavy drinking…so it wasn't a family thing. Honestly the longer she spent with Harry the more of an enigma he became. She jumped when Harry whistled suddenly, wanting to get away before he was asked even more questions about the fact he refused to drink.

"I'm going to let Anubis out for a pee then head up stairs, have fun, try not to eat all the crisps," Harry teased them, grabbing a few things for himself on the way out before leaving them to it. He wasn't alone, and he knew the presence well enough to know it was Daryl, not that it truly surprised him, well actually, it did, he'd thought Daryl would avoid being alone with him until he thought everything through.

There we go! the scene i wanted to happen before they got together has officially happened :D It's odd, probably small to you but its been in my head for a while now and it took ages to work around it so it happened :) the way I'm going there's not going to be much need of a big time jump by the time Daryl and Harry are together eh ;) which obviously will happen...the question is will Rick and the others stay? Or will they remain only until Lori gives birth and more importantly...will Harry be able to save Lori's life? or will that life altering situation still happen (poor rick well maybe not so much in this story lmao) R&R please!