Walking Dead Wizard
Chapter 55
When Harry woke up, he found that Daryl and Anubis was gone, not that it surprised him, what did surprise him was the time. He gaped at his watch, unable to believe it. It was eleven o'clock; he had slept six hours longer than he usually did. No wonder he felt so refreshed, that and he had oddly enough not suffered any nightmares last night. Not all his nightmares were from his people being bitten by walkers, but also about his past, the abuse, his time at Hogwarts and the people he'd lost there. Sitting at the edge of the bed, Harry stretched out before grabbing his trunk and unshrinking it, digging around in the clothes compartment for something clean to wear. Despite having the prison secured, he kept his trunk shrunk and on him at all times. Plus you never knew when you'd need a compartment to put things in. Not that it mattered overall, since he had a recall spell on it, ensuring that it could never be lost. His trunk was one of his most important items so yes, he damned well made sure.
Sliding his now socked feet into his boots, he tied them and stood giving another stretch before shrinking his trunk and placing it in his pocket. Absently making sure he had all his weapons, patting at his pocket before giving a nod, as he left his 'room' he picked up his compound bow and bag which was tucked in at the side of the door and made his way down the stairs to join the others.
"Hello," Harry said to everyone who all replied back, who seemed to be in the cafeteria, they'd probably did everything that needed done already and were just staying in to keep warm. He grabbed some water and nosed around in the food he wouldn't need to cook, before shrugging and deftly nabbing a few packets of crisps, only salt and vinegar and ready salted were left in that particular box, luckily for him, he didn't mind either flavours.
"Scavenging?" Merle grunted, observing Harry's actions, already knowing the answer to that one.
"Yes," Harry nodded, adding a few other items to his bag. Somewhere specific today though, he had no idea what it would be like. "Mira will be coming today; will one of you be able to watch Andre?"
Mira's eyes widened in shock that had been the last thing she expected out of his mouth. They were used to being told no when it came to accompanying Harry out scavenging. She understood of course, they used magic while they were out, hence why he never took others with him except those who knew obviously. They others didn't understand but had reluctantly come to terms with how Harry was. Dale though was probably the only one who was relieved that the others didn't have to leave, especially Andrea and Amy, he thought of the like daughters. And that was coming from a man who didn't believe humanity was all bad. Part of him must believe it; otherwise he surely wouldn't be so relieved they were safe behind the prison walls.
"I can," Carol, Chloe, Big Tiny and Amy all volunteered.
Harry grinned wryly at everyone as he sat down, choking down the water, which compared to his was awful. Big Tiny absolutely loved Andre, and Andre in turn liked him. He especially loved being walked around on top of his shoulders, the squeals he let out probably alerted many of the walkers in the area. The kids didn't have a lot to be happy about these days, so each time the adults got to see them completely unburdened was a weight off their shoulders. "Well Carol you have a class today, so Big Tiny can look after him until you finish, then Carol can take over. By then Chloe and Big Tiny will be taught defence by Andrea with the others, so you can take over after the class is over." It was best to have a plan instead of Andre being left on his own - heaven forbid, accidents did happen and they'd be a hell of a lot more lethal now than they used to be.
The three of them nodded in understanding.
"Do you think we can make some sort of training room? In one of the unused rooms?" Andrea asked, after a few moments of silence.
"It will need to be a decent sized room," Harry said thoughtfully, knowing why they were asking, due to the weather. "One of the guard's offices would be ideal, but they'd need clearing out," the computers, file cabinets and tables were still there, there was just no point to removing them, since there was nowhere to put them.
"What's in them?" Amy asked, she hadn't been near the offices, if she was right about where they were.
"Computers, cabinets, metal twin beds, I moved it down there after I got it unscrewed from the floor, didn't see the point to getting rid of it, anything might come in handy, or could be reused for something else…made into weapons especially." Harry spoke first; he had been well around the prison a time or two. Looking for somewhere really private that he'd be able to turn into a potions lab, but that hadn't been possible, in the end he'd decided to wait until Fort Benning was done and create a lab there.
Sudden intense tapping caused Harry to stiffen, to be heard even shrunk in his trunk was a surprise.
"What was that?" Andrea shot up out of her seat.
"Calm down, I was just tapping my foot," Luna said, tapping a few more times to demonstrate, causing everyone to relax back against the seats. Giving an inaudible sigh of relief, nodding to Harry when he shot her a look of gratitude at her fast thinking.
"Alright, we might as well get going," Harry sighed standing up, grabbing his bag and bow, Mira stood as well, and Harry noticed she didn't have a single weapon on her. Frowning in annoyance, "Weapons, you're supposed to carry them all the time." he admonished her, jerking his head to the side in a silent indication to get her weapons. "Meet us at the watch tower." he added, before shaking his head and making his way out, absently messing up Sophia's hair, causing her grumble but grin as she righted it again.
Daryl as always followed him, his ever present shadow.
Harry hastily made his way across the prison, almost running towards the guard tower, the only place he would get any privacy whatsoever. Barely out of breath when he got to the ladder, and quickly ascended the tower, leaving the trap door open so Daryl could come up if he wanted to. With a flick of his wand the trunk was the right size and Harry opened the box that contained the mirror.
"Hermione?" Harry called out, trying to stop the worry he felt from consuming him, every single horrible thought of things going wrong getting steadily worse as he thought on it. Nothing could have happened to Hogwarts, it was well protected, secluded enough that more walkers couldn't stumble up on them and disrupt the wards - they'd held for a very, very long time since the founders, they wouldn't give way, and they absolutely couldn't.
"Harry!" Hermione blurted out, her face flushed as if she'd been running around Hogwarts like a headless chicken. "Everyone's here, we're having a meeting." giving the mirror a quick glance around the room.
"What's going on?" Harry asked intently, calming down, obviously it was nothing too severe.
"We received Ilvermorny's magical book," Minerva spoke calmly, her tone clipped but he heard it all the same.
"Magic book…as in THE magical book?" Harry asked, brow furrowing.
"Yes," Hermione confirmed Harry's thoughts. "It appeared in the Headmistress' desk, no letter, no note; it can't have come by owl or any of our known ways of teleportation."
"That's not good," Harry muttered, still reeling.
"Why?" Daryl queried from the corner of the room, he was sitting down, and legs dangling down out the hole so nobody could get up even if they wanted to.
"It's never happened before, even the Ministry can't get their hands on the magic book," Harry stated, "Do we know anyone in Ilvermorny? Teachers? Students? Anyone?"
"We don't, but I'll ask the students…maybe they'll have a cousin or friends who attend?" Hermione promised.
"Do that, what are your theories on this?" Harry asked, still kneeling as he spoke.
"That the school was overrun, or someone inside was turned and infected everyone else…we honestly don't know…maybe it was just the Headmistress that was killed and there is no other teachers left leaving only students…which might explain it coming here." Filius spoke up.
"I can't see it being overrun, they're up a bloody mountainside for Merlin's sake, with a lot of defences to boot, perhaps they are trapped inside and one of the teachers were testing to see if there was a way to send the book out to the nearest magical population that might be able to help?" Severus snapped, giving his own opinion.
"We can't though," an unfamiliar voice piped in.
"Evidently," Severus said sarcastically, "But they will not."
"Severus, is it a copy or the original?" Harry asked, even without seeing him he knew he was sneering at whoever opened their mouth.
"Is there a way to tell?" the unknown voice asked again.
"Of course there's a way to tell," Severus stated exasperated, the sound of a chair scraping was all that was heard, "It's a copy." he replied coolly with finality.
"Thanks, so obviously someone's there," Harry said feeling a little better, "Could word have reached them that we have people on the outside in various countries?"
"I'm not sure how they could have," Hermione admitted.
"Have you bothered to open it? It will show you how many are still alive," Harry stated seriously.
"She's here," Daryl said, glancing down.
"I have to go, I'm already late as it is," Harry added.
"We have plenty of leftovers if you want some later, I know you've been eating a lot of burgers later," Hermione added, before Harry said "De-activate!" and she was gone, Harry flipped the mirror back into the box gently, closing it before he shoved it in his trunk, only relaxing once his trunk was shrunk again. Fucking hell, she hadn't half scared the shit out of him…for what? A bloody book! Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he'd get into her about it later.
Daryl quickly descended down the ladder with Harry following him, jumping down instead of using the last few rungs.
"Why am I coming with you?" Mira asked, knowing there was a reason and wishing to know that reason, almost running to keep up with the two men, despite the fact they were having to stop and open the gates.
"What makes you think I've got a reason?" Harry asked, turning to face her as he cranked the gate open, a small smirk on his face.
"I might not have been part of the group since the beginning, but I've come to know you, and you never do anything without a reason," Mira pointed out, and he knew it too.
"You lived in the area right?" Harry said as he drew the gates back into position. He could see Axel coming out with Oscar making their way down, presumably to close the fences for them.
"All my life," Mira said, glancing at him curiously.
"You've been in the Magical world?" Harry pushed.
"Well, yes, just to get potion ingredients, when I was in a hurry for an order and not willing to wait for an owl to deliver it." Mira admitted taken aback.
"Then you'll know the nearest magical area," Harry said, scanning everywhere to make sure they were alone.
"It will be crawling with the walkers!" Mira squeaked she hated those things, having spent so much time with this group she'd ended up calling them walkers too.
Daryl scoffed at her, wondering again how she had survived out there.
"Yes, but we need everything we can get, I'm getting low on certain potions, and I want to get everything out before they're useless." Harry stated, "If you don't want to go I can't and won't force you." he admitted. He should have done it sooner, one cauldron wasn't going to last him forever and he hadn't thought of getting more while he was in the apothecary.
Mira bit her lip uncertainty, but eventually she squared her shoulder, "I knew someone from the magical district, he lived alone…he was old, Hamish died before this whole thing started the property should be empty." jumping over a log.
"Should?" Harry said, cautiously.
"He died two weeks before the first broadcast was announced, he was cremated, he has no other family," Mira admitted, "Hamish was a Potions Master, he always focused on his career." and regretted it towards the end, but she had visited him numerous times, and had never admitted she was a squib. She hadn't wanted him to look down on her.
"What do you think?" Harry asked Daryl, that might have been what was said, but Daryl and Harry both knew what was really being asked - was it worth risking it.
"No riskier than anywhere else," Daryl shrugged, as they continued moving through the forest now.
Harry nodded; Daryl was alright with the plan then. "Face me, think of those memories, I'm going to glean your surface thoughts and get a good look at the building so I can Apparate the three of us. It won't hurt, I'm not going into your memories either, and all I'll see is what you're thinking as you look at me."
"You're an Occlumens?" Mira stated resignedly.
"Actually what I'm doing is Legilimency, but I am an Occlumens, I can close my mind from intrusion." Harry corrected her out of habit. Once she looked at him, he dug in a bit, getting a good look at the property, ignoring her thoughts and worries, it was pretty standard nobody wanted anyone snooping around in their mind. After a few moments he slowly eased out, glancing around, Daryl was doing the same thing crossbow raised.
"Alright, take out your knife," Harry informed Mira grimly, clasping hands with both of them, he fought against the urge to close his eyes and visualise where he wanted to go - it was instinctive to do so, but in this world…he wasn't going to risk it, definitely not when Apparating blindly. "This is going to hurt." he muttered before tensing as he Apparated, using the full force of his magic, expecting it to be warded, which it was, quite extensively for a Potions Master…then again compared to his own Potions Master…maybe not.
"Fuck," Harry hissed, hands on his knees, wincing as his head pounded, he didn't even need to look to sense that Daryl was already checking everywhere downstairs for any walkers, or entrance spots where they could get in.
"Alrigh'?" Daryl asked, returning from up stairs. The house was the weirdest thing he'd ever seen in his life, and he'd seen a lot.
"I'll be fine, hurt like a bitch getting through the wards," Harry said, forcing himself upright. "Everything clear?" Merlin it hurt to talk, to listen to anything. Walking over to the window, he peered out, unsurprisingly there were walkers everywhere. Backing away a bit, not wanting them banging on the doors and windows. "Where are the shops?" he queried.
"That way," Mira pointed to her left; "This side is nothing but houses or flats." she pointed to the right hand side.
"Hmm," Harry said thoughtfully, making his way through to the kitchen.
"It's empty," Daryl pointed out suspiciously.
"There's spells to clean and dry clothes, we don't need a washing machine or dryer, if you look in the cupboards you'll find everything still edible. They have preservation charms on them, which means anything put in a certain cupboard is going to be frozen, preserved fresh, or chilled. The sell by date won't matter, we don't need electricity or appliances to preserve our food, in fact in most places electricity won't work when mixed with magic."
Daryl moved towards the cupboards, yanking the first one closest to him open to see for himself, he was met with a pile of plates, bowls and cups. Closing it he opened the next one only for an instant chill to settle over him. His jaw unhinged for a moment, despite everything he'd seen magic and its ability could still surprise him. There was more than what a normal cupboard could possibly fit in there, it expanded like Harry's trunk.
"Believe me now?" Harry teased, as he joined him in opening the cupboards. "Oh would you look at that, anyone for a ham and cheese sandwich?" it was just too bad he couldn't take some home for the others…there was no way he could answer how a piece of bread and ham survived so long in a damn apocalypse.
There we go! It will be a few more chapters before we get to the middle part of the story which is where Rick and Co make a return! Any suggestions on how that happens? After all without Daryl they'd never find the prison! Hmm guess that's the next thing I've got to plan out for this story and the anticipated entrance of Michonne will come in either the next chapter or the next again ;) R&R please!