Walking Dead Wizard

To Charliee56- Thank you for your help with Fort Benning and the others who have given suggestions on where they could land, and those who gave maps of the area, I really appreciate the help - I do like my stories to be as realistic as i possibly can get them :D you're help is very much appreciated - also the names too! :D

As for the guest reviewer who said James Potter wasn't an Auror - you were very much correct on that front, i don't normally mix up canon and fanon (like at all) but I truly did think James was an Auror and have done for many years, i never thought to check James Potters profile on wiki, ive done it with nearly every other character lmao oh well! it doesn't matter since this is fanfiction anyway :D i can get away with it! But you'll probably find me using james as an auror less and less...

Chapter 50

"Looks like the hospital has a tower nearby, it looks like a flat surface and has an open roof, six or seen stories high I'd say," Harry mused, the problem was there might have been people there, people who were now walkers. He wasn't risking Apparating into an open are swarming with walkers, only for someone or worse all of them to be bitten.

"It's surrounded by other buildings, it will be hard to deal with a lot of walkers at once," Daryl pointed out, using his knife to pinpoint all the buildings, without damaging the map anyway. He knew Harry would be using that fire spell again, but considering how close he had been to the prison and not burnt that it might mean he was wrong but the way Luna spoke…it was difficult to accommodate obstacles when using that spell. "Luna said the spell was difficult right?"

"Yeah it is," Harry nodded conceding the point, "Alright let's see what else is high up and guaranteed to be empty." ignoring the cracks that accompanied Luna Apparating. Harry slowly moved the map around, searching for something suitable.

"Watch towers would be best," Daryl said, his sharp eyes flickering over the map, "They'll have loads of em, training areas where they rappel down em, ones they keep guard over too."

"Training area, that will be pretty secluded then," Harry mused thoughtfully, continuously flicking his wand away from areas that held a lot of buildings, he was too busy to see the surprise that flicked through Daryl's eyes, he was still not used to being heard or listened to, even his brother didn't so it was a constant surprise when someone did take his word for something. "There we go, completely secluded, if those runes work, it would be like leading them to a slaughter," he would have felt guilty but the person and their souls were already gone, the moment of death their souls departed, and then the virus awoke them as nothing but puppets without a string, hungering for only one thing, food of any kind whether it was human or animal.

"Will it be too much for you?" Daryl asked, a frown marring his features, as he glanced at Harry, Luna's words ringing in his ears.

"Honestly? It could be," Harry sighed, moving to sit on his backside, his knees beginning to ache from kneeling in the same position for too long. "I've only ever heard of the spell being used on single buildings, not an entire area, but there is a variation of it cast all over the place to hide magical areas from the non-magical population," the rustling had both Harry and Daryl glancing up cautiously.

"Have you found anywhere?" Luna asked as she wandered back over to them, amusement heard clearly within her voice.

"Is he still in one piece?" Harry asked, lips twitching, Luna seemed to have gotten a great deal of merriment out of Apparating Merle around either that or it was his reactions.

"Piece?" Merle asked, his face ashen, he looked as if he had been sick a few times, that and looked quite dizzy still. Apparation didn't sit well with wizards never mind non-magicals, so he wasn't surprised to see Merle was disorientated still.

"Oh yes, if one doesn't watch what he or she's doing, you can end up splinched," Harry said innocently, as Luna giggled into her hand blue eyes sparkling brightly. It was rather infectious, especially considering there wasn't much to be happy about these days, or rather since the world had gone to hell and each day was a battle for survival, at least they had a place where they were moderately safe for the moment. "You could quite literally leave your leg or arm in your previous location." Daryl stared at the floor a smirk adorned his face, at the look Merle supported.

"You're lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut," Merle grumbled, and despite himself he was rather amused by the teasing, it's exactly what he would have done if the situations had been reversed.

Harry just shook his head, he wasn't sure whether he wanted to know what on earth Merle meant by that. If he asked all he'd get is a weird look, Merle either didn't like having to explain himself or just didn't care to. Whether it was insulting or not, Merle hadn't spoken like he meant it so all was good.

"And what does that mean Merle Dixon?" Luna asked, her arms suddenly crossing and giving him a pointed look.

"Ain't meaning nothing!" Merle protested, bloody hell, this woman was irritatin' as hell sometimes.

"Don't piss on my leg and tell me its raining!" Luna rebuffed, using the words she'd learned from him.

"Looks like he's been teaching her some slang," Harry said amused, watching the pair of them continue to argue. "I have to admit you have some of the funniest sayings I've ever heard, I love them."

Harry cleared his throat loudly after watching them for a few minutes, "Can we get back to the matter at hand now?"

Luna looked sheepish while Merle just stared expectantly; he was never one to shy away from anything. Truth be told he absolutely loved the banter between himself and Luna. Hearing her speaking his words in that accent of hers was even more arousing.

"Daryl suggested the watch towers, they're high up, they've give us the lay of the land much easier," Harry said pensively, gazing at the map. "The only problem is it will be harder to get the walkers, even with magic."

"Ain't look like you had a problem clearing out the prison," Merle snorted, his tone basically denying the fact he had been in awe of what he'd seen that day.

"I can't use that spell constantly, there's too many buildings, if my spell even clips it the entire place would go up in flames them kaboom," Harry replied, his brow furrowed as he looked back down at the map. "There's only so much Fiendfyre can do, the rest will have to be done on ground level, I mean there could be up to or more than half a million people there, no doubt when this all started they took as many people as they could in to protect them…not knowing by having so many people on the inside they were reducing their chances of survival tenfold. The fort was probably gone before anyone realized the virus is airborne."

"Why would it go kaboom?" Luna asked confused.

"Gas, petrol, they'll have a lot of it there, in underground tanks or in cars, helicopters, armoured tanks, and not to forget they've probably got an armoury, whether there's anything in it or not remains to be seen, but just having the potential there makes me wary about using the spell a lot." Harry explained, "It's why I've brought the runes, if we can find somewhere secluded we could attract a great deal of them and set fire to them there without running the risk of blowing the place up."

"Oh," Luna replied understanding why he'd brought the runes now. "So what are you doing today then? Just the Fidelius or are you actually going to try and take out walkers?" her tone showed her concern at Harry doing both. He was powerful, yes, there was absolutely no denying that, and everything he had done was done without any powerful magical displays…well mostly, I mean he'd defeated the darkest lord in their history twice without using any spells, both time the killing curse had backfired. Talk about irony, no his powerful displays were when nobody was around, like that patronus that drove off one hundred Dementors and instances like that.

"I don't know," Harry said, his tone unsure for the first time, "I guess we'll find out." he really hoped he could complete the spell; Luna was really making him doubt he could do it.

Daryl glanced at Harry, surprised by the insecurity in his words, it was the first time he'd ever heard Harry insecure. Even when Luna saw his back he'd had his head held high, even injured and laid up for weeks in his cabin he had remained strong, even wakening up to two rednecks like him and his brother. He always seemed so strong and sure of himself, Daryl didn't know how to react to the fact Harry was showing vulnerability, except it made him feel a strange urge to stop it from chipping away at his self worth. Hell, Harry was making him see he was somebody, not just a good for nothing, asshole of a redneck, with an even bigger asshole for a brother.

"Take a good look, Luna, we're going to Apparate," Harry said, visualising where you wanted to go to was always easier than Apparating blindly, too many things could go wrong that way. "Here, it's the training ground, they rappel down rope, and nothing should be up there but keep your eyes open just in case. Just don't Apparate onto the edge, whatever you do." smothering a smirk at the look on Merle's face, it was comical really.

Harry stood back up after rolling the map and putting it away, gripping his gun tightly, his compound bow strapped to his back, he couldn't deny he was nervous about this. It could backfire in so many ways, but once he made up his mind about something he never went back on it. Not even when his gut was telling him something was wrong, just like when he had gone after Sirius that faithful day. Not that he felt as if something was wrong, he was just nervous about the uncertainty of it all.

Breathing deeply, he took Daryl's hand in his, and Apparated.

Harry had kept his eyes open, too fearful to even contemplate the idea of closing his eyes. He quickly glanced around on the platform they were on sighing in relief; well they were safe for now. Moving to the edge, he glanced down metal, it would definitely be harder for the walkers to knock it down. He ignored the snarling and growling of the things all around him, running towards the rappel tower their hands slamming against it, desperate for food…something that had probably been denied to them in a while. He was right though, the place was overwhelmed with walkers, there wasn't a spot where he could see the grass for them all, and this was only one area.

"Bloody hell," Harry said, glancing around in shock, despite knowing what it was going to be like…it was still a horrifying sight to see. Army, military, civilians, medics, doctors even people in riot gear were there all trying to get passed each other to the meal they could smell even way up as Harry, Daryl were. A few seconds later, Merle and Luna appeared; Luna steadied Merle who staggered a little. The further away the worse the Apparation was.

"Da-hum," Merle said, staring at the horde in disgust.

"We have no idea if they'll be able to rip this down but I'm not taking any chances, first time it jerks we get out of here, agreed?" Harry stated, pocketing his gun and flicked out his wand, the elder wand, he needed all the power he could get, even if it was just a boost from the elder wand. Then he focused solely on his task, his eyes going blank as he began to speak Latin.

"The Fidelius Charm an immensely complex spell involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret Keeper, and is impossible to find — unless, of course, the Secret Keeper chooses to divulge it." Luna explained eyeing the walkers warily, clutching her wand tightly.

"What happens if they can't say?" Merle queried curiously.

"You mean if they're dead?" Luna asked. At Merle's nod Luna gave a very text book answer, she was a Ravenclaw after all. "When the charm is initially cast, one can choose more than one person to be Secret Keeper, though it is unknown if there is a limit as to how many people can carry the same secret in this way, no one has tried. Once the Secret Keeper dies, all the people who have learnt the secret from them will become the new Secret Keepers. If the Keeper has chosen not to reveal the secret to anyone (so that they are the only Keepers) then the secret rests with them forever. However, it appears that, to be eligible, one must be capable of divulging the secret if they wish to, as this would explain why wizards do not simply bestow the secret onto creatures who cannot speak a human language, or creatures such as house elves, who can simply be ordered by their masters to not divulge the secret, something to do with their free will, the spell just doesn't latch on."

"You got eidetic memory, woman?" Merle asked, impressed…but of course he didn't show that, his facial features didn't twitch the slightest.

"No, it's just a fascinating spell, it's really old, nobody knows who came up with it," Luna explained, "Plus during the war I did contemplate using it. As you can see it's really powerful, really long, and multifaceted charm that only those who are powerful can cast."

"Seems to a reoccurring theme," Merle muttered.

"All old magicks are that way, back then magic was purer, they used staffs or their hands, never wands, back then they were revered as mages, even when some were not." Luna explained, "Magic began to be diluted as they tried to preserve their magic and blood, it made magic mediocre in most people, but as I told you before, the opposite happens, squibs are born…and Daryl, squibs are…"

"I know," Daryl replied bluntly, jerking a little when Harry suddenly reached out to touch him, trying to grab his shoulder.

"Let him, it's how the spell attaches to you, to let you become the Secret Keeper," Luna explained, but by the Daryl had already calmed down, stowing his usual reaction to being touched.

"You two as well," Harry murmured still concentrating on his task, before going back to muttering Latin again, too low for Daryl and Merle to make out the words. He felt Luna's hand on his shoulder, "I'm not going to contaminate you merle or give you lurgi, so damn it just fucking do it, this is hard enough as it is." he snapped through gritted teeth as his magic flared around him.

"Lurgi?" Merle whispered perplexed.

Luna giggled, "I think the term here is cooties,"

Merle flushed red but kept his hand where he'd placed it on Harry's arm.

Which began to be easier said than done, as Harry's magic began to become more and more intense, he felt as though his hand was burning where it was touching Harry. Then suddenly it blasted out of Harry in its intensity, like a massive blue rings, the magic thrust itself away, getting steadily larger as it moved, it was like one massive bubble when they connected together, the dome still visible to them all.

At least for a short while, the longer Harry chanted the further the spell got away, until they couldn't see any sign of magic, so it had either dissipated, they couldn't see it or it was just too far away for their eyes to see.

Merle and Daryl stiffened as they heard Harry's voice in their minds; it was truly one of the freakiest feelings in the world. They could clearly hear the words, and even after the voice quietened, they could remember it clear as day; it was imbedded deeply within their soul and mind never to be forgotten even if one did have a tendency to forget things.

'Pandora's apscondo can be found at Fort Benning Georgia,'

Then like a puppet with their strings cut, Harry fell completely unconscious, Daryl moved quick enough to prevent Harry smashing his head against the side of the platform. Spying movement he watched Luna remove her trunk and return it to its normal size, and digging inside, for what Daryl presumed was a potion. Or rather two, he realized as he took two vials out, both different colours.

"It's a good job I had this, never thought I'd have to use it though," Luna said, shaking her head, Severus must have known, he had given her the potions supply she had before she left. There had been genuine respect in his eyes as he handed them to her, and he'd said gruffly 'try not to get killed' in his usual way, but Luna didn't take offence, it was just his way. Kneeling down she opened Harry's mouth and dumped the contents of the vial into it, rubbing at his throat to force the unconscious man to swallow it. Steam bellowed out of his ears, she didn't even laugh or grin when both Dixons jumped a little at it.

She was focused solely on her task, uncorking the second vial; she poured that down his throat too. "That should do the trick," she muttered before sitting down properly, absently putting the vials and the corks back into her trunk, they would need to continue using them, you really weren't supposed to, just in case there was any remains of the previous potion in it, but needs a must, they couldn't get vials anywhere, not unless they got lucky in a magical district. It was too bad it had been a sweet shop, but then again, the chances of any potions or ingredients being left by that point were slim to nothing. It was also a very good thing that Severus grew his own ingredients, and Sprout grew her own herbs, so they could continue making the potions they really needed.

"It looks like its holding, you picked a good place Daryl," Luna said giving him a small tired smile.

Daryl looked slightly bewildered for a few seconds before he nodded in acceptance of the praise.

Merle wandered over to the other side, glancing down, those things were solid, build mostly with sturdy metal as apposed to being completely wooden, although there were wooden panels around the top and down the side where they rappelled. It was a good job, if it had been wooden that amount of pressure would have seen them toppling over within seconds he reckoned. Even this wouldn't last forever though, not against a hoard of these things. Hearing Harry groaning distracted him, he looked over to see him weakly sitting up before slumping Daryl.

"Well at least it wasn't for nothing," Harry said, his eyes half mast he looked ready to fall asleep again. Harry froze, feeling one of the wards going off, one that he had set on Carl, why did it have to happen now? He had no way of helping, but the buzzing gradually began to fade, breathing out in relief, the life threatening danger must have passed, whatever it was Rick and the others must have dealt with it.

"So it worked?" Daryl queried.

"The words you heard was the charm activating," Luna explained, seeing that Harry was too tired to even respond.

"What was that shit anyway?" Merle asked.

"Never heard of Pandora's box?" Harry asked his voice quieter than normal, he had a half smile on his face.

"Don't go telling me that's real," Merle grumbled, rolling his eyes heavenward.

"No, at least not that I know of, it's part of Greek mythology, supposedly Pandora opened a box out of curiosity and all the evil in the world was supposed to have been unleashed upon the unsuspecting world. That was the part people remembered…but what people forget…was at the bottom of that box hope remained. It's something that people really need right now." Harry informed him, "I felt it was rather fitting to be the name used to keep the secret. It's also the name of Luna's mother actually."

"And Apscondo?" Daryl was the one who asked.

"Latin, Latin for a hidden secret shelter," Luna said wryly. "Harry's always had an ironic way with words."

"Come on, we might as well head home, there's nothing we can do right now, and you are not using any more of your magic for at least twenty-four hours, do not make me follow you around to make sure. It will make things worse if you don't let your magic settle; I had to give you a magic boosting potion, to recuperate your magic faster." Luna said sternly.

"Why don't you show them what you're made of? There's nothing around here that can be destroyed if you lose control the spell," Harry pointed out teasingly, a pout on his face, he felt fine, just a little tired. "Which I doubt will happen."

"You just want to see if the rune will work," Luna scoffed.

Harry sniggered, "Yeah there is that," he also didn't want to move, he didn't think he'd ever been this close to Daryl before. He could feel every rippled muscle against his back. He definitely didn't want to end it too soon, Merlin he was strong, but Harry had already known that. He had held onto his crossbow and shot it off, biggest mistake ever, not only was it really heavy but the recoil had hurt like a bitch. It was heaver than the damn bludgers, he'd rather be hit with one than pick up that crossbow and use it again let's put it that way.

"Me too," Luna said with a vindictive grin, flicking her wand out, she'd only ever used this spell once, it hadn't gone well, thankfully she hadn't destroyed anything. She wasn't a child anymore, she was a grown witch, she thought to strengthen herself before she cast the spell, "FIENDFYRE!" and the cursed fire leapt from her wand, the oxygen in the air giving it strength, as Luna controlled it, if leapt everywhere, the flames reducing everything in its path to ashes within seconds.

Then with a flick of her wand she stopped the fire, looking mighty impressed with herself. It really shouldn't have been a surprise, her mother had been an extraordinary witch in her own right as well.

"Pass one over," Luna said, and Harry dug into his pocket for the velvet pouch and handed it over. Luna plucked one of them out, the other walkers were already coming forward, hastily grabbing the runed gem she flung it with all her might, causing it to smash against the ground, causing a crack in the gem, and loud wailing could be heard, all four of them watched the scene intently. Even the walkers that had been making their way to them was now diverting towards the noise.

"Might not need the smell of blood or blood after all," Harry mused, he was slightly disappointed when the second rune didn't work though. Just as he was about to give up and suggest they head home, a blast of fire had every walker within a mile radius incinerated they would have been too if Luna hadn't quickly erected a shield over them and the platform.

"Brilliant," Luna said, "That's really going to help getting this place done,"

"And anything else that comes our way," Harry nodded in agreement. "We best get going." still weak in the legs he was grateful when Daryl held onto him.

"Oh no you don't, I've told you, no magic!" Luna warned him, "Wrap your arms around me," she demanded of Merle, suspecting what she was doing; Merle said nothing and did as he was told - much to Luna's shock. Gripping Harry and Daryl's forearms tightly, she wrapped her magic in the three of her passengers before Apparating them back home.

"Come on, let's get you back to the prison before you pass out again," Luna urged Harry, completely forgetting to look around, and all of them left.

They were unaware of the African American woman in her mid twenties, crouched down watching them from the trees suspiciously, her hand hovering closely to her samurai sword. She never quite touched it; her gut was telling her she would be seeing them again soon, better or for worse...even her gut couldn't tell her that without her knowing more.

I hoped you like the name! As you can see the place is still called Fort benning I've just continued the tradition of using names that aren't the building...like order of the phoenix can be found at grimmauld place ... needed something for this too :D sooo looks like Daryl and Harry's relationship is coming along and should be fully blown within the next few chapters with a little luck then i can concentrate on the new addition to the group ;) then of course Rick :D *sigh* fifty chapters in and I feel like i'm not even half way yet :D

As for the bit about Harry feeling the charm for Carl - in the series it implies their lives had been in danger when they ended up sleeping in storage containers...which I've decided to have happened right about now...will it be the last time it happens? Or will Harry have to save their arses before they come to the prison? R&R please