Wands and Walkers

by FireAndFangs

When Sirius falls through the Veil in OotP, Harry dives in after him. He finds his godfather in the United States, with no evidence of witches, wizards, and magic as they know it. Instead, they are greeted by one of the walking dead and a crossbow-wielding Muggle with a Sirius-sized temper. Watch them make both friends and enemies as they try to find their way home.

13. Power

Author's Note: I'm sorry this took so long to get posted. There are a lot of things going on in this chapter and I wanted to do them properly, which meant a lot of editing and tweaking things. I've been busy and tired and haven't had a lot of downtime, and I'd rather get the chapter out slowly and have it be good versus rushing it.

Thank you if you're still reading this! I started writing this story during a very rough time in my life. Honestly, 2019-2023 was just a clusterfuck of shitty things happening one after another. I'm still recovering from a lot of it. Working on this story has been extremely therapeutic for me and has been helping keep me sane. After having a handful of chapters for it done, I decided to start sharing it online in case it helped scratch a certain itch for others out there as well. So while I'm ultimately writing this story for myself, I do hope it's doing something for you too.

Anyway...content warning for violence, torture via Cruciatus Curse, and, let's be real, I think Bellatrix Lestrange is basically a whole warning of potentially unsettling content on her own. There is also a rather violent, dramatic, over-the-top kill, which I think makes sense for the character carrying it out.

Thanks for reading!

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Four and a half weeks ago…

This place was ridiculous. This heat was ridiculous. These Creatures were ridiculous. The only people who weren't cannibalistic corpses come to life were all goddamn Mudbloods.

This world was the worst.

They had been here…three days now? It was becoming more difficult to keep track as Bellatrix's energy continued to wane from a combination of starvation, dehydration, and overall physical exhaustion. They had hardly slept, partially from the discomfort of the forest floor, partially out of fear of the dead-but-not-dead abominations that prowled about. They were casting protective enchantments wherever they decided to rest each night, but still being able to see and hear the Creatures was unnerving. The inkling that their enchantments had no effect on them trickled through Bellatrix's mind. So far, so good, but from seeing how the Creatures were unphased by quite a few other spells, she didn't think it was out of the realm of possibility that they could get through their enchantments.

She had been absolutely furious to discover, for instance, that the Killing Curse did nothing to them. When she had fired the spell five times in a row at one and it had kept coming her way like nothing happened, Bellatrix screamed in both anger and frustration. The Creature had opened its rotten mouth and expelled its foul breath in a growl, its slimy, sinewy hands groping for her. Bellatrix had pushed frantically away while stumbling backward. Her imbecile brother-in-law had laughed at her struggle, while Rookwood at least had the decency to magically knock the Creature a few feet away. Releasing a growl of her own, Bellatrix had thought back to the first Creature they'd encountered just after arriving to this stupid world, recalling that it had only gone down (without getting back up) after its head had exploded. She fired a reductor curse, tipping her chin up in triumph when she saw those same results again.

She couldn't torture the Creatures or put them under the Imperius Curse. The inability to use any of the Unforgiveables was, to Bellatrix, an unreasonable lack of options.

Worst of all, they had yet to see any sign of Potter or her blood traitor cousin.

They were currently walking alongside what seemed to be a never-ending road that sat between large expanses of woods. Bellatrix, Rookwood, and Rabastan had all discarded the top layers of their Death Eater robes in order to bear the pressing heat, carrying them in one arm or draping them over one shoulder. Rabastan had originally dropped his robes on the ground to abandon them entirely, but Bellatrix had accused him of disrespecting the Dark Lord, while Rookwood cited possible changes in weather and not wanting to leave obvious traces of their presence for Potter and Black to potentially come across—they would be sure to recognize wizard robes if they saw them.

They had hardly had any food at all. Bellatrix had killed a deer (at least Avada Kedavra still worked on animals) and they had made a fire easily enough, but the actual process of cooking the deer properly was rather lost on them, as they were used to House Elves preparing their food other than when they'd been locked up in Azkaban. Eventually, they settled for severing pieces of the deer off to cook one at a time. They tried magically skinning it, but it was a clumsy, haphazard process at best, still leaving patches of skin that they tried to carefully chew around. It had been difficult to both chew and swallow, and all three of them had taken turns running off behind trees to vomit or shit, sometimes both at once.

As for water, they were able to drink from their wands by casting Aguamenti, but as it was conjured water, it didn't sustain their thirst for long, disappearing in their bodies before being properly processed. They needed to find a real water source, which they hadn't yet.

They hadn't brought anything with them from their world, the Dark Lord having arrived at the Ministry just after Potter had jumped into the Veil. He had immediately called Bellatrix, Rookwood, and Rabastan over and demanded they go after Potter.

Bellatrix laughed as she watched her cousin fall through the Veil, quite pleased with herself for ridding the world of such a blight on the family name. Watching Potter shout in anguish and denial while the werewolf held him back had just been the icing on the cake.

But then Potter had broken free from the werewolf's hold and charged toward the Veil, calling, "SIRIUS!" and leaping toward it, disappearing.

The laughter had instantly died in Bellatrix's mouth as she stood there, dumbstruck. Was Potter dead? What would her Master say about this?

As if hearing her thoughts, the Dark Lord appeared on the dais, his mouth open and eyes darting up and down the Veil. He clenched and bared his teeth angrily and looked away to where the werewolf, who was the next nearest person, was standing, seeming to mirror Bellatrix's shock. The werewolf's eyes were still latched onto the Veil before belatedly moving to where the Dark Lord stood. The Dark Lord yelled, "Avada Kedavra!" and the werewolf just barely jumped out of the way of his Killing Curse.

In the middle of the room, Dumbledore had rounded up most of Bellatrix's fellow Death Eaters and had them immobilized. Bellatrix watched as Dumbledore looked from the wrangled Death Eaters and locked eyes with the Dark Lord. The members of the Order who were conscious took steps back as Dumbledore stepped away from the Death Eaters to better face The Dark Lord, who fired a Killing Curse at the old man before instantly pointing his wand at Bellatrix's captured comrades. The Death Eaters instantly became freed from whatever hold had been on them and scattered away. Moody started battling Malfoy while the werewolf engaged Dolohov.

Dumbledore had dodged The Dark Lord's Killing Curse rather agilely for a man his age and, once he'd returned to his feet, fired something bright and blinding that Bellatrix didn't recognize at her Master. The Dark Lord and Dumbledore began dueling and Bellatrix watched, transfixed, impressed as always by her Master's power, though she also worried for him. She hated to admit it, but Dumbledore's prowess was nothing to sneer at. Had he not been a foolish, Mudblood-loving, Halfblood, he could have been an asset in securing the Pureblood dream.

Then the Dark Lord sent some kind of wall of moving black shadows at Dumbledore like a tidal wave. He struggled to move against it, holding his arms up over his eyes and baring his teeth in an effort to move forward.

The Dark Lord held the spell and called, "Bella! Rookwood! Rabastan!"

Bellatrix immediately hurried over to her Master, along with Rookwood and Rabastan.

Still holding the spell, the Dark Lord said, "Rookwood, you still have the Fragment? You carry it now?"

"Yes," Rookwood replied breathlessly.

"And it functions?"

"I'm quite certain, my Lord."

"Pull it out now!" The Dark Lord shifted backward slightly as Dumbledore began to push back on his spell. Rookwood clumsily reached into his robes and removed what looked like a square piece of fluidlike fabric, somehow both soft and smooth at the same time. "The three of you follow Potter and Black through the Veil. Bring them back alive if possible, especially Potter, but kill them if needed." He brought his wand in both hands to his chest and then pushed away from himself, yelling as the wall of shadows flung itself forward at Dumbledore, knocking him back off his feet. He wasted no time in snatching the fabric square from Rookwood and pressing it to the Dark Mark on his arm, causing both the Dark Mark and the fabric to glow green. "Use the Mark to alert me when you're ready to return and I will open the Veil for you. Do you understand?"

Bellatrix did not understand. She opened her mouth to speak, but Rookwood said, "Yes, my Lord!"

"The Aurors are coming. Leave now!"

Rookwood nodded and tugged at Bellatrix and Rabastan's sleeves as he rushed over to the Veil, saying, "Come on!" just before jumping in.

Rabastan blinked in surprise before following, leaving Bellatrix to stand there, doubting her Master's orders for the first time. From what she had gleaned of the Veil, anyone who passed through it died. She understood it to be a gateway to the afterlife.

"Now, Bella!" The Dark Lord snapped as Dumbledore began firing back at him again. "You are the only one I truly trust to bring Potter back. Do not fail me!"

Knowing she had no choice and that death was better than disappointing the Dark Lord, Bellatrix said, "Yes, Master!" and jumped through the Veil herself.

Rookwood had explained as they'd trudged through the woods that night that the Veil was actually a portal to other worlds. The Unspeakables and the higherup Ministry officials who knew about it perpetuated the notion that it was a doorway to death in order to deter people from trying to access it. Unspeakables had done several experiments with the Veil over the last two centuries, including Rookwood, though he explained that no one stayed in the other world longer than an hour at most in the last fifty years. The world the Veil accessed changed every few decades. Years ago, before the Dark Lord's downfall, Rookwood had visited this one a few times while still working at the Ministry, only for a few minutes at a time to gather samples and take notes to return with. From what he'd seen, the world had appeared rather unextraordinary, and he hadn't seen any Creatures. After busting them all from Azkaban, the Dark Lord had expressed intrigue in the Veil and its potential, and Rookwood had worked to sneak in and find a way to travel through it at will without proper access from the Ministry.

"I was able to remove a piece of the Veil and brought it to the Dark Lord," Rookwood had said. "Together, the two of us managed to turn it into something resembling a Portkey, something that would act as a tether to our world."

"Did anyone else know of this?" Bellatrix had asked, disgruntled at being unaware of such a scheme.

"No, the Dark Lord wanted everyone to focus on the Prophecy. His interest in the Veil was secondary, derived from the potential to access another world, either as a temporary hiding place or a source of weapons or allies, depending on what the world had to offer. It was mostly just being explored as a backup plan."

The information only left Bellatrix in a foul mood. She should have been included in these discussions. After all, she ranked higher than Rookwood among the Dark Lord's inner circle. She had demonstrated the most loyalty, the most dedication to the Dark Lord's cause. Had he been having doubts about her?

And now, as they walked along this road with no idea if they were even heading in the right direction, Bellatrix had nothing but time to dwell, adding to her misery.

A low rumbling sound suddenly hummed off in the distance ahead of them and all three of them stopped in their tracks, wands up and ready. The noise gradually became louder, and after a few seconds, something appeared on the horizon, coming closer into their view.

"It's one of those cars the Mudbloods use for transportation," said Bellatrix.

"We need to stop it so we can take it," Rookwood said somewhat excitedly. "No more walking!"

"I'll stop them." Bellatrix strode forward haughtily until she stood in the middle of the road. The car got closer and some kind of horn sounded from it. Smirking, Bellatrix stood her ground and pointed her wand at the car when it was maybe ten feet away from hitting her.

The car was lifted off the ground as it was blasted backward, rolling with crashing thuds before finally coming to a halt some fifty feet ahead, upside down. Bellatrix cackled to herself before making her way over to it, Rookwood and Rabastan trailing after her. Different parts and pieces of the car were strewn about along the way. The car itself was scrunched up and smashed in, shards of glass all over the surrounding road, part of it smoking slightly.

Bellatrix moved around the car with a casual gait before bending over, hands on her knees, to peer inside. The body of a man lie crumpled, eyes closed, all exposed skin bloodstained. His arm and back were both bent at unnatural angles. Pieces of glass poked out from multiple limbs. Bellatrix stood upright again and stuck her foot through the broken window, nudging the body boredly with the tip of her boot.

Rookwood and Rabastan stood on either side of her, Rookwood sighing.

"You were just supposed to make it stop, not destroy it," he complained.

"Relax, I'll fix it," Bellatrix said with an eyeroll. She pointed her wand at the car's remains and said, "Reparo."

Nothing happened. Bellatrix frowned and tried again. Still nothing.

"What—" she started to snarl when Rabastan interrupted her.

"I think cars have too many components to just focus on the whole thing. Muggles have to fix the parts separately. I think you'd have to cast Reparo separately, on each part."

"Well how many parts are there?" Bellatrix asked impatiently.

"I don't know!" Rabastan fired back. "A lot, I think…"

Bellatrix growled and kicked the frame of the car between what remained of the front and back doors, turning away and blowing a strand of hair out of her face.

Rookwood took slow steps around the car, scanning, before coming to a stop at the back end and lowering himself to a crouch. "There are things we can take, at least."

Bellatrix and Rabastan joined Rookwood and looked at the open boot of the car and the contents spilling out of it. There were several small, square-shaped bags of a strange material, all with the same red and orange design with yellow print. There was an odd, catlike creature with sunglasses and a mouth opened wide on every bag as well.

Rabastan picked up one of the bags and looked at it more closely. "What are 'Cheetos?'"

Bellatrix looked at one of the bags as well, pressing her fingers along it to feel several pieces of something inside. She opened the bag and was instantly greeted by a smell like…cheese?...that made her stomach growl longingly. She removed one of the pieces and turned it over between her fingers. It was small, long, and narrow, coated with some kind of orange powder that stained her fingertips. She squeezed and the piece crunched, breaking in half. Bellatrix slowly brought one of the halves up to her face, tentatively setting it on her tongue.

A wonderful taste immediately registered to her and she chewed the piece fervently, stuffing her hand back in the bag and grabbing a handful of the contents to shove into her mouth. She sat on the ground and couldn't help moaning in pleasure at both the taste and at the feeling of something being put into her stomach.

"So it's food then?" Rabastan asked, opening a bag himself while Rookwood did the same.

"They are like crisps, I think," Bellatrix replied with her mouth full.

Each of them devoured a bag of the Cheetos in under two minutes. Bellatrix licked the powder off of each of her fingers before turning to inspect the rest of the boot. There were several more bags of Cheetos, along with a backpack and a bottle of vodka. She grinned at the vodka and took a generous sip right away before passing it up to her cohorts. Rabastan wasted no time drinking some as well, while Rookwood hesitated.

"We'll get drunk too easily after having no food for days," he said with a frown, though his eyes were glued to the bottle hungrily. "We still have a mission to accomplish for the Dark Lord and we are out of our element in this world. We should stay clear headed."

Bellatrix huffed. "I could out-duel Black with one hand tied behind my back."

"He was doing quite well against you before we got here. You only hit him because the buffoon stopped to have a laugh."

Bellatrix stood, growling in the back of her throat before squaring up to Rookwood and snatching the bottle from him. "Do not make the mistake of thinking my Muggle-loving cousin is more powerful than I." She took another swig while staring down Rookwood. "We have seen no trace of them thus far. I do not expect to find them any time today, and if I don't relieve my stress sometime soon, I will end up killing the both of you instead."

She said it very nonchalantly, enjoying the sensation of the buzz that was now making its way through her. Rookwood's eyes were dull with disdain, as if he didn't take her seriously, but Bellatrix noticed the subtle bob of his Adam's apple that he tried and failed to conceal. Her lip curled in satisfaction. She passed the bottle to Rabastan, who took another sip without argument. Bellatrix snickered before returning her attention to the backpack, sitting back down on the ground to sift through it. "If you're so worried about it, Rookwood, you can stay sober and act as our lookout."

Rookwood muttered something that sounded like, "you mean 'babysitter," but Bellatrix ignored him. There wasn't much in the backpack: a small pocketknife that Bellatrix claimed right away, a box of matches she tossed over her shoulder—they didn't need those—a frying pan, a couple pairs of socks, a worn photo of a man with a woman and a young boy—she tossed that away frisbee-style—and a weird, colorful stuffed animal that was actually hard inside. It looked like some kind of ugly, furry bird. Bellatrix turned it over in her hand and then jumped when the animal began to move, its eyes opening and closing.

"Furrr-by," it cooed in a high-pitched voice. Bellatrix looked at the thing in confused disgust and threw it as far away as she could.

Once all of the bag's contents had been inventoried, Bellatrix cast an expansion charm on it, returning the frying pan and the socks (the knife was on her person) and then adding the remaining twenty-one bags of Cheetos and the top layers of robes everyone had discarded. She shoved the bag at Rookwood and then took the vodka bottle back from Rabastan, deciding to carry it as they continued to travel.

For the next few hours, Bellatrix and Rabastan passed the bottle back and forth as they walked, trying to make it last as long as they could, eventually demanding more Cheetos from Rookwood, who gave each of them one bag before cutting them off until they made camp somewhere for the night.

Their luck improved even more when, as the sun was just starting to set, they approached the outskirts of a small town. All of them drew their wands, Bellatrix stowing the vodka in the backpack for now, and approached cautiously, looking in different directions for signs of either people or Creatures.

There were a few Creatures here and there that the trio dispatched without issue as they stalked along the dusty road, their heads turning left and right at the little old buildings on either side of them that appeared to be various shops. Bellatrix beckoned for the other two to follow her toward some kind of mom-n-pop general store.

She slowly pushed the door open, ready to fire something deadly at any sign of movement. Rabastan and Rookwood came in behind her and the three of them separated to check for any threats. All sorts of random items and garbage littered the floor, while some stands and shelves had been knocked over. The place appeared to have been raided quite some time ago. Bellatrix joined Rabastan and Rookwood somewhere in the middle of the store, none of them having found anything or anyone dangerous.

"We should camp here tonight," said Rabastan.

"Yes," Bellatrix agreed, starting to find herself swaying slightly from drunkenness.

"We should change clothes as well," Rookwood suggested, looking around at the racks that had t-shirts, hooded sweatshirts, tank tops, shorts, sweatpants, and swimwear hanging from them.

Bellatrix scoffed, sticking up her nose. "I am not wearing Mudblood garments."

"I don't like it either, but there aren't any wizard shops, are there? It's only temporary, for survival purposes. Do you not want to be cooler in this dreadful climate?"

Bellatrix crossed her arms and looked off to the side with a huff, her attention being drawn once more to how heavy the underlayers of her robes were and how increasingly suffocating it was feeling. Maybe it was the alcohol, but she found herself looking back at Rookwood with an eye roll and saying, "Fine."

Each of them separated to peruse the shop, Bellatrix looking at the shirts that appeared more feminine. She pulled different shirts away from the rack to examine them, trying to at least find something that she felt like she could wear without entirely hating herself. Eventually, a faded yellow t-shirt caught her eye as she examined it, even making her let out an amused laugh. It featured an old woman with a sickly sweet, very obviously fake smile plastered to her face while holding up a large, overflowing mug of beer in the air as a toast. The blue letters beneath the image said, "Bless your heart." Bellatrix disliked the idea of blessing anything and disliked the idea of discussing anyone's heart even more (unless it was about stabbing it or ripping it from their chest or something similarly violent), but she couldn't help finding the sarcastic woman somewhat appealing, and the idea of blessing someone's heart seemed to be the last thing the woman had any interest in doing.

Bellatrix removed the shirt from its hanger and moved away from the rack to check out the shorts. These at least all seemed to be on the plainer side, though a few pairs had words printed on the back where the buttocks would be. Bellatrix was most drawn to a cluster of loose-fitting gray shorts with a drawstring that appeared to be designed for comfort above all else. She held different sizes of the same pair up to her waist until landing on one that looked like it would fit her best.

Glancing around to make sure her companions were reasonably far away and that their attention was elsewhere, Bellatrix moved behind a circular rack of tanktops and began to change clothes, stumbling slightly and hopping on one foot as she lost her balance from being drunk. She giggled out loud. She hadn't been this drunk since her mid-twenties and had forgotten how much fun it was.

She rejoined Rookwood and Rabastan after a few minutes, her robes balled up under one arm. The three of them instantly began scrutinizing one another, their eyes looking each other up and down judgmentally. Rabastan had a green t-shirt with black print on it that said "Kiss my" and then a picture of a rather plump peach.

"I don't get it," Bellatrix said, gesturing at his shirt.

"Doesn't the peach look like an ass?" Rabastan grinned like some kind of twelve-year-old schoolboy. Nevertheless, Bellatrix moved her eyes back to the peach and realized he was right: it did look like a rather generous set of buttocks. She snickered.

Rookwood was wearing a black tanktop with a rather deranged looking cat that said "CATTYWAMPUS" in white print. Bellatrix and Rabastan were both looking at it with furrowed brows, and before either of them could say anything, Rookwood shrugged and said, "I have no fucking idea. It just looked comfortable."

The men were both wearing colorful shorts that fell just over their knees. Rabastan's featured starfish and seashells on a background of sand while Rookwood's depicted a sunset with palm trees. Both men were staring at Bellatrix's shorts.

She put a hand on her hip and raised her eyebrows at them. "What?"

"Those are…rather revealing," Rookwood said, bringing his eyes from the shorts up to Bellatrix's face.

"They're comfortable," Bellatrix argued, closing her eyes dismissively.

Still staring at Bellatrix's pale thighs, Rabastan said, "I'm starting to think Rodolphous should have let me wed you instead. My brother faired more fortunately than I thought."

Bellatrix cast a Bat Bogey hex on him, making him jump backward, yelling, his eyes shut as he frantically swatted at the bats flying out of his nose. Bellatrix cackled as she watched while Rookwood released an irritated sigh and put a stop to the hex, the bats disappearing.

"This is why you lot shouldn't be drinking," said Rookwood, not even having to look as he flung a hand out to stop an enraged Rabastan from stalking at Bellatrix, who openly sneered at him. Once Rabastan stood still, Rookwood brought his hand away and used it to pinch the bridge of his nose. "It's getting dark out. Let's set ourselves up in here."

Still somewhat wanting to mock and challenge her brother-in-law, Bellatrix merely winked at him and began to head over to a shelf stocked with beach towels. She grabbed several to spread on the hard floor to Transfigure into blankets while Rabastan stumbled over to the door. Rookwood, who had been Transfiguring beachballs into pillows, stopped in his tracks, holding a beachball up in his palm. "Where the hell are you going?"

"Protective enchantments," Rabastan called without stopping, flinging his hand up in a dismissive wave. When he swung open the door, Bellatrix could see that the sun was all the way down now. She began laying the blankets on the floor behind the counter as Rookwood dropped the pillows in the same space. She sat down on a blanket and took a pillow, positioning it between her back and the wall for now since she wasn't planning on sleeping yet. Rookwood sat across from her against the back of the counter, copying her pillow placement.

"Where's the bloody beach?" she asked seemingly out of nowhere.

Rookwood looked at her, confused. "Huh?"

"For all the beach things this place has, I see no—" she hiccupped. "I see no beach."

Rookwood shrugged. "Don't ask me how a Mudblood's mind is supposed to work."

Rabastan came back into the store rather ungracefully. He leaned over the counter and arched a brow at them. "Why are you hiding?"

"Just being safe," replied Rookwood. "No offense, but I don't have a hundred percent confidence in your spell casting abilities right now."

"Whatever," Rabastan muttered, sitting down heavily as Rookwood passed him a pillow. Rookwood then tossed each of them a bag of Cheetos before opening one for himself. Bellatrix caught her bag and opened it gleefully, all the manners she'd been brought up to exhibit going out the window as she stuffed handful after handful of the delicious snack into her mouth. Rookwood then conjured a jar and cast a bluebell flame to sit inside of it, setting the jar in between them all for a bit of light. Halfway through the bag of Cheetos, Bellatrix pointed her wand at the backpack that sat next to Rookwood's leg and said, "Accio vodka."

The bottle flew into her hand and she took a somewhat greedy sip, looking over at Rabastan as she lowered the bottle from her lips. He was looking back at her somewhat angrily but also somewhat imploringly, like a little kid looking at his mom knowing he would only get dessert if he finished his vegetables. It gave Bellatrix a mild thrill, seeing him know he was at her mercy. She passed the bottle to him with a smirk. About two thirds of the bottle was gone. It would probably be best for them to finish it tonight.

"Are you—are you sure they're actually here, Rookwood?" Bellatrix slurred.

"Yes," Rookwood answered quietly, patiently. "If we went in so soon after them, we would definitely end up where they did."

"Then how'd they get away from us so quickly?" Bellatrix had her eyes on Rookwood as she plunged her hand back into her Cheetos bag, only to find nothing more in there for her fingers to grab. Her attention switched to the bag as she pressed her face close to it to look inside, and she didn't register Rookwood's response. Looking back up at him and crumpling the bag in her hand, she said, "What?"

Rookwood sighed. "I don't know for certain, but I believe time gets thrown off when moving through the Veil. While for us, only minutes passed between Potter and Black going through the Veil and us going through, hours or even days may have passed here during that period. Similarly, we may return to our world after a week here to find that a month has passed for everyone back home."

Bellatrix was about to summon more Cheetos to her, but stopped halfway through casting the spell when she realized all of the bags instead of just one would likely fly at her. Instead, she held her hand out expectantly and Rookwood tossed her another bag.

"Was the Dark Lord aware of this when—" Bellatrix hiccupped again. "—he sent us through?"

"I doubt it."

Bellatrix narrowed her eyes at him as she opened the fresh bag of Cheetos. "Was the Dark Lord ever going to confide in me regarding this…" she waved her hand around vaguely, "world travel information? Had I been aware of this possibility, I could have been prepared."

Rookwood kept his eyes trained on the jar of flames. "I'm sure he would have eventually, Bella. He didn't think it was relevant yet. He's only been discussing it all with me because of my previous occupation." He moved his eyes from the jar to Bellatrix pointedly. "You are still his lieutenant. He knows you knew not what you were doing when you sent Black through the Veil. Lucius is the one who truly failed. The assigned task was to retrieve the Prophecy, and Lucius allowed us to be thwarted by a pack of teenagers."

Bellatrix watched Rookwood for another moment before nodding and reaching for more Cheetos. She failed to notice in the dim light that these Cheetos were red, whereas all the other ones had been orange. She was chewing on about six Cheetos at once, licking her tongue along them and savoring their delicious taste, when a spiciness suddenly bloomed among the cheesiness. Frowning, she swished the chewed up Cheetos around her mouth experimentally before swallowing and feeling that hot taste sliding down her throat as well. It must be because she was mixing them with vodka?

She picked up another few Cheetos and put them in her mouth, paying more attention as she chewed them. The spiciness only intensified, leaving her tongue burning and her throat dry. She swallowed reluctantly and waved a frantic hand in front of her, saying, "Hot," in a muffled voice.

"Huh?" said Rabastan.

"They're hot," Bellatrix repeated with more panic. She looked over at Rabastan, not letting the amusement on his face anger her just yet, her eyes watering. "You've been drinking too. You aren't—" she coughed as her throat both burned and became excessively dry at the same time. "You aren't feeling that?"

"No, not at all," Rabastan said with a grin.

Bellatrix impatiently gestured for him to pass her the vodka. She downed a solid gulpful while Rabastan growled, "Hey, too much. You gotta share."

The vodka didn't help.

Grimacing, Bellatrix brought the bag closer to the bluebell jar to examine it. This bag had more red and black with a couple of flames on it and read "Flamin' hot."

"I think these are different," Bellatrix gasped, sticking her tongue out in a poor effort to prevent the taste from being in her mouth. Both Rookwood and Rabastan laughed and Bellatrix pointed her wand at her tongue, casting Aguamenti. The water provided only somewhat of a relief, so she cast a cooling charm on her tongue as well.

She exhaled heavily in relief. "That's much better."

"Looks like karma got ya," Rabastan sneered. Bellatrix lifted her wand to hex him again. He immediately flinched away before Rookwood calmly brought his hand over Bellatrix's wand and pushed it down.

"We're all on the same side," he said gruffly. "We all want the Dark Lord to take charge and cleanse our society of Mudbloods, right?"

"Right," both Bellatrix and Rabastan echoed in irritated mutters.

They stayed up another couple of hours, talking, laughing, and finishing the vodka and gobbling up more Cheetos. Even Rookwood took a couple of sips now that they were getting ready to sleep. They had four bags of Cheetos left and maybe a shot's worth of booze when there was a noise outside.

All three of their heads whipped toward the door of the store, so it was clear that none of them had any delusion that the sound was just their imagination. It had been a sharp, echoing bang, and while still somewhat foreign to them, they knew enough to recognize that the noise was from one of the Muggle weapons, the only type to fire something deadly as quickly as a witch or wizard could fire a spell.

"We're fine," Rabastan breathed in the dark. "The enchantments…"

The three of them stayed quiet to listen. There were another two gunshots followed by a man's irate voice yelling something at someone else. Another man argued back. The voices drew closer before footsteps fell just outside the general store. There was a silent pause before the door creaked open and there was the sound of two sets of footsteps.

Bellatrix and Rookwood both looked at Rabastan, annoyed. Rookwood had been right to doubt Rabastan's ability to properly cast the protective enchantments while inebriated.

"What's that light over there?" one of the men hissed.

The footsteps drew nearer and Bellatrix put her hand on the wand in her lap. Two men peered over the counter, pointing rifles at them. The men were both dirty and sporting long, unkempt hair and beards. Bellatrix, Rabastan, and Rookwood stayed where they were, merely looking up at the Muggles as though bored.

"Yes?" Bellatrix asked after a moment.

The men glanced between the three of them with confusion before one of the men gripped his gun tighter and said, "Give us everything you got and we'll move right along. No one's gotta die."

Bellatrix failed to repress a very loud snort, not that she'd really put much effort into holding it back in the first place. Part of her knew she should still be fearful of a gun because of how quick and powerful one was, but even in her drunken state, she could read that these men were too confident and nowhere near ready to fire at them quickly enough. "Go away, Mudblood." She waved them off in a shooing motion.

The men looked at each other, clearly even more confused now. "The fuck did you call us?" the one who had first addressed them barked.

Adopting the same mocking babytalk voice she had used with Potter, Bellatrix said, "Aww…is the wittle Mudblood sad because he can't do magic?"

"What?!" the second man exclaimed, looking back at his companion as if he had no idea where he was or what was going on.

Rabastan and Rookwood watched her carefully, both of them slowly putting hands on their own wands, as Bellatrix heaved a dramatic sigh. She lifted hers and pointed it at the men, both of whom stared and then laughed.

"Is that a stick?" the first one grinned. "Jesus Christ, you guys have really lost your shit, huh?"

Bellatrix focused on him. Or at least, she tried to. "Avadera Kedavera," she slurred. Nothing happened. "Dammit…" she cleared her throat as the men laughed harder, trying to concentrate better in her hazy state. When she spoke next, she enunciated as well as she could and spoke more vehemently. "Avada Kedavra!"

The first man fell dead to the floor in a green flash of light. The second man stumbled backwards before falling, yelling a terrified, "Holy shit! Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

Bellatrix groaned, as the second man was now on the floor on the other side of the counter, out of her sight and aim, so she would have to stand. She pushed herself off the floor and clumsily made were way around the counter, her leg bumping into the edge of it. Rookwood and Rabastan followed her lead behind her. The man that was still alive stared at his companion in horror, clearly trying to ascertain what he had been hit with, before returning his frightened gaze back up to Bellatrix. His hands belatedly began scrabbling for his dropped rifle, but Bellatrix sent it sliding away from him along the floor.

She pointed her wand at him as he pleaded, "No! No!"

"Crucio!" She held her wand on the man and watched as his body twitched and twisted, his eyes wide as he yelled in pain. He curled in on himself as tears streamed from his eyes, continuing to scream and gasp for breath. Bellatrix drawled, "Don't draw those Creatures to us, you imbecile. Silencio."

She found herself more entertained as the man's mouth opened but no noise came out, his body still convulsing on the floor. She increased and decreased the intensity of the curse at intervals for a couple of minutes. Blood began to leak from the man's nose and the corners of his mouth as Bellatrix held the curse. It felt so good to cause a Mudblood so much pain after how horrible the last few days had been, to demonstrate her power after she had been so uncharacteristically powerless. Her mouth hung slightly open and her lip curled as she watched the man's eyes squeeze shut, his jaw stretching and closing.

Rabastan was watching hungrily. He raised his wand to add his own torture, but Bellatrix turned on him with a snarl, much like a wolf not wanting to share its prey. "Go find your own Mudblood!" she hissed.

Rabastan lowered his wand and stood there sulking for a moment before returning behind the counter and sitting back on the floor, where he took advantage of Bellatrix's busyness by gulping some of the remaining vodka.

Eventually, Rookwood cleared his throat and said, "How long do you intend to play with your food, exactly? I'd like to go to sleep soon."

Bellatrix sighed. "Fine." She lifted the curse, along with the silencing charm, and left the man lying there in the fetal position, panting, sobbing, shaking, and bleeding. His pants were wet with urine. He didn't even look up at her or beg to be spared as Bellatrix pointed his wand at him again, sending a Killing Curse his way.

Once both of the men were dead, Bellatrix and Rookwood crouched down to search them. Rookwood's body had a bag stuffed with knives, handguns, a few lighters, cigarettes, and a couple of full water bottles. He brought everything but the lighters to the original backpack that had the expansion charm and stuffed it all in there.

"Let's save the water for after we've finished the vodka," he said, taking the bottle from Rabastan and having another swig, the corners of his mouth curved upward happily. Bellatrix found many of the same things in her body's backpack, though his also included a thick portion of some kind of jerky wrapped in foil.

"Brilliant!" she grinned, sitting back down and unwrapping the jerky. She took some for herself and then passed the rest to her companions.

She slept quite peacefully for a while, better than she could remember for a long time.

At least, she did until someone shook her arm rather frantically.

"What?" she moaned, trying to jerk away from the arm. She fully intended to go back to sleep, but then a familiar growl penetrated her ears and her eyes snapped open.

She sat bolt upright next to an already awake Rabastan, who shushed her with a finger over his lips. Rookwood stirred as well and sat up with a frown.

"It's them," Rabastan whispered, pointing at the back of the counter, on the other side of which had lain the bodies of the men Bellatrix murdered.

Bellatrix and Rookwood slowly stood, wands raised, and peered over the counter. The men were now Creatures, sluggishly getting to their feet while growling and groaning. Bellatrix and Rookwood each fired at one of the men and put them down, splashing the floor and walls with blood and chunks of flesh and matter.

"Were they bitten when they came in here?" Rookwood asked as he strode around the counter to kneel by one of the bodies. He began inspecting the Creature's limbs, only to find nothing and move onto the other one. He sat back on his haunches with a sharp exhale and looked over his shoulder at Bellatrix and Rabastan, shaking his head. "Nothing."

"They must have been bitten," Rabastan argued. "How else could they have transformed?"

"There's nothing on them!" Rookwood stood and ran a hand through his hair.

"It doesn't matter," said Bellatrix. "Next Mudbloods we kill, we blow up for good measure."

After leaving the store much messier than it had been before their arrival, they searched the rest of the town before leaving and scavenged some more things, including clothes, some canned food, and hygienic items like hairbrushes, toothbrushes, washcloths, and a couple of bars of soap. They continued traveling on foot for another week and were in better spirits, now having some food and water, which they duplicated for as long as was magically sustainable.

Eventually, they crossed paths with another approaching car. Rabastan and Rookwood immediately shot warning looks at Bellatrix, who scoffed and said, "I won't blow it up this time."

Instead, she created a line of fire across the road so that whoever was driving was forced to stop, the car skidding and swerving with a screech of tires before halting. Bellatrix cast a gloating glance at Rookwood and Rabastan before strolling up to the driver's side of the car.

The driver, a rather emaciated woman with wild eyes, pointed a gun out her window at Bellatrix with a trembling hand. Bellatrix shook her head at her.

"Accio," Bellatrix said, and the woman's gun zoomed from her hand and into Bellatrix's, though not without the woman desperately trying to catch hold of it and pull it back to her. This caused the gun to fire and send a bullet whizzing just past Bellatrix, who gasped in brief shock before returning an annoyed look to the bewildered woman.

"Stay where you are," Bellatrix commanded, handing the gun to Rookwood while pointing her wand at the woman.

The woman did nothing but look from Bellatrix's wand, to Bellatrix, then back to the wand, before gazing unseeingly over her steering wheel and muttering, "Am I hallucinating?"

"Nope." Bellatrix waited for Rookwood and Rabastan to open the back doors of the car and sit down before she strode around the car to the front passenger's seat, her wand trained on the woman the entire time as she sat down and shut the door. The woman was breathing fast, staring ahead of her in clear panic. "If I knew how these things worked," Bellatrix waved at the dashboard of the car, "you'd be dead, but I don't. So you'll be taking us wherever we tell you. Where are you coming from?"

The woman looked borderline catatonic, still breathing hard and not saying anything, eyes glazed over. Bellatrix growled and let a shower of sparks emerge from her wand without actually going anywhere, making the woman jump with a startled gasp before turning to Bellatrix.

"Where are you coming from?" Bellatrix repeated more dangerously.

The woman shook her head. "Nowhere specific. I've been alone for two months now. I've just been…just been traveling along until I can find a place to settle down. Haven't stayed anywhere more than a couple days."

Bellatrix glanced in the back of the car at Rookwood and Rabastan. "So you haven't seen anyone else? Perhaps a dark-haired man and a teenage boy?"

"I haven't seen another living person since the last in my group died," she said somewhat brusquely. "I definitely haven't seen a man with a teenager."

"Hmph…well, turn the car around anyway and go. Take us anywhere you think we might find people."

Bellatrix considered using the Imperius Curse, but she didn't really need it, as the woman hastily obeyed, driving them back in the direction she'd come from. Besides, Bellatrix somewhat enjoyed the woman's natural fear and submissiveness. For a while, she maintained the wide-eyed expression of someone in a daze, but she seemed to gradually recede from it. After maybe an hour, she finally spoke.

"So…what are you?" she asked breathlessly.

"The most powerful witch alive," Bellatrix replied instantly, sitting up straighter and tossing her hair.

"You're a…a witch? I suppose that isn't so farfetched. People die and eat each other now. Why not?"

They were quiet a while longer before the woman spoke again. "Are you going to kill me once we get to…wherever you want me to let you out?"

Yes. "No. As long as you do what we ask, you can keep your pathetic excuse for a life."

The woman nodded slowly. "Okay. So who's this man and boy you're looking for? Are you going to kill them?"

Bellatrix groaned and looked up at the roof of the car. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

The woman didn't say anything, but Bellatrix could see her visibly swallow. She had no more questions after that.

They travelled with the woman the rest of that day and most of the next. Bellatrix only slept when Rabastan switched places with her. Otherwise, she preferred to be the one in the front seat, as she didn't trust the other two to keep an eye on the Mudblood as well as she could. Whenever they passed through another town or place that looked as if it could perhaps contain people, Bellatrix ordered the woman to stop so they could search for Potter and Black. She left the woman in the driver's seat with a full body bind curse each time so that she couldn't ditch them. The first time they did this, the woman was back to shaking and breathing hard when released from the body bind, but she didn't ask or comment on it.

It was nearing dinnertime the next day when the car started making weird noises and slowing down when they were back on a country road with no buildings in sight. Bellatrix pointed her wand at the woman more intently and hissed, "What are you doing?"

"It's not me," the woman said, looking at some kind of gauge on the dashboard. It featured an arch of small lines, the right end bearing an F while the left end bore an E. There was a red needle that moved at subtle increments along the crescent, and it was now pointing directly at the E. "We're out of gas. I can't go any farther unless we find some or we can start another car."

When the woman pulled them over to the side of the road, she sat there somewhat contemplatively for a moment before saying, "The chances of finding another car with gas or finding gas we can siphon are…well, pretty fucking small around here. That means I can't take you any farther unless you want to try looking. So I suppose you're done with me, right?" Bellatrix watched as she stared out the windshield with a look of mingled acceptance and resignation on her face. "Please just do it fast and painlessly. That's all I ask."

Bellatrix soured. The fear was gone, which meant the fun was gone as well. "Avada Kedavra."

The woman slumped dead in the driver's seat, her head lolling forward. Bellatrix wasted no time in getting out of the car and the three of them were walking once again within seconds.

The next six days went by with Bellatrix, Rookwood, and Rabastan walking along and checking every building they found for those they were hunting. Bellatrix was getting increasingly frustrated. She wondered whether the Dark Lord had given up on them, if he was sending more Death Eaters in, if Potter was already dead and the Dark Lord had nothing to worry about anymore. On a couple of occasions, when she was tired, hungry, and absolutely sick of being here, she briefly considered summoning the Dark Lord to open the Veil and telling him Potter was dead and that they couldn't bring his body back.

Not that anyone ever actually got away with lying to the Dark Lord.

They had reached a small, suburban city with churches, schools, banks, movie theaters, a couple of large shopping centers, and apartment complexes when the Creatures started becoming harder to handle, leaving them with too many targets and not enough time and distance between them. One of the main roads at the heart of the city was so crowded that Bellatrix, Rookwood, and Rabastan had had to take cover in what used to be a pet store. They had moved along the buildings as well as they could with disillusionment charms on them to avoid the bulk of the Creatures, though they still had to dispatch a few along the way, before Rabastan said, "This one!" and opened the doors of the pet store.

About a dozen Creatures ambled toward them from different parts of the store and the trio made quick work of putting them down in the hope of avoiding attracting the attention of the Creatures outside. Once the Creatures in the store were taken care of, Rookwood and Rabastan began barricading the front doors with crates and big bags of dog food. Then, the three of them sat below the front window to catch their breath.

The disillusionment charms faded mere minutes later and Bellatrix inwardly expressed gratitude that they had held until finding cover. The growls of the Creatures outside seemed to only grow louder, unnerving her as she tried to come up with a plan. So far, she was thinking their best shot at just staying alive at least was to stay in the pet store overnight until…

Until what? Would the Creatures migrate elsewhere, or would they still be crowding the same area?

They couldn't stay in this building forever.

Rookwood and Rabastan were quiet too, and Bellatrix realized they had no better ideas than she did. They sat there for nearly an hour in almost complete silence, which was only disrupted here and there when one of them would voice a halfhearted suggestion for how to proceed.

And then they heard a commotion that made each of them turn and rise to their knees to peer out the window. People were moving through the crowd of Creatures, a man taking the lead, a woman carrying a little girl hot on his heels, and another woman bringing up the rear. The group stuck close together, the man and the childless woman wielding both guns and knives simultaneously. They moved so quickly, sometimes killing the Creatures, sometimes simply knocking them back with a shove or a kick. They weren't even using magic.

Bellatrix's fist tightened around her wand. She was being outdone by filthy Mudbloods.

The group were making a beeline for a large box truck down the road. The man cleared the area around the back of the truck and then opened it while ushering the woman with the child inside. She got in quickly as the other woman helped the man keep the Creatures back. Then the man barked, "Go on!" and the other woman backed toward the truck, shooting and slashing until she was close enough to get in too.

The man shut the truck door and continued to battle the Creatures solo as he tried to make his way around to the front of the truck, drawing any Creatures near the back of the truck toward him so that they didn't follow his companions.

Bellatrix couldn't help being impressed as she watched. The man swung a knife to a Creature coming up behind him on his right, driving the knife right into the skull. He used the sole of his shoe to kick another Creature away while withdrawing the knife and firing his gun at a Creature to his left at the same time. He moved from Creature to Creature with an aptitude of someone who had been practicing this for years, deftly dodging and countering as the Creatures tried to grab and bite him.

Bellatrix heard the engine of the truck come to life as one of the women inside apparently started it. The woman who had been at the back of the group opened the driver's side door and yelled, "Let's go!" firing a couple of shots to help cover the man before closing the door again.

Before she was entirely sure what she was doing, Bellatrix sprang to her feet, shoved away some of the barricade, and ran outside, Rabastan and Rookwood yelling behind her. She slowed down the Creatures closest to her and then sent them flying back. She ran toward the truck and then repeated the process, while her companions started firing spells behind her. She noticed the man by the truck glance her way in confusion.

He even had a goddamn eyepatch.

Bellatrix, Rabastan, and Rookwood continued working their way through the crowd as the Muggle man kept fighting off the Creatures by the truck. Now that half the crowd of Creatures had their attention on Bellatrix's trio, he had fewer coming at him and was able to create enough space to open the driver's side door and hop into the truck. He hung off the door handle for a moment, watching Bellatrix with apparent intrigue, before swinging all the way inside and shutting the door.

The truck started to move forward and for one infuriating moment, Bellatrix thought the bastard was going to ditch them. She could try firing an immobilizing spell over the crowd of Creatures, but didn't think it was likely to hit the truck at this distance, and the Creatures really weren't giving her the time or space for that anyway, continuing to pour toward her as if there was an endless supply of them. Bellatrix alternated between killing them, slowing them down, and knocking them back. She had considered lighting them on fire, but didn't like the idea of the fire spreading among the crowd and trapping her and her cohorts even further.

A squeal of tires caught her attention and Bellatrix glanced up to see the box truck turning toward her, plowing through the Creatures along the way. Rabastan and Rookwood drew closer to Bellatrix, watching the truck while still firing spells themselves. The truck screeched to a halt just a few feet away and the man beckoned through the windshield for the three of them to come in. Bellatrix, Rookwood, and Rabastan cleared their path until they reached the back of the truck, one of the women sliding it up just as they got there. She held a hand out to help pull Bellatrix in, but Bellatrix slapped the hand away and hefted herself up, the woman muttering a drawn out, "Ohhhkaaay…?"

Once Rookwood and Rabastan were in the truck too, the woman shut the door with a quick shake of her head. The truck sped off, still running Creatures over so that blood splattered on the windshield, until it finally got to a less populated side street and then out of the city, heading back down the country road Bellatrix's group had come from. The man then brought the truck to a stop, putting it in park, and looked over his shoulder at them.

"So…" he said quite casually, "what the hell was that?"

Bellatrix held up her wand and twirled it in a circle. "That would be magic, Mudblood."

"You can do magic?!" the little girl, now sitting snuggled against her mother's side in the back with them, exclaimed, beaming.

Bellatrix wrinkled her nose.

"Of course not," the mother said, now staring warily at Bellatrix. "She's just playing, sweetie."

Bellatrix let out a sickly, humorless laugh. "I assure you, I am not playing."

The mother's lips pursed into a thin line of disapproval. The other woman was wearing a flannel and had dark hair that was pulled back into a loose ponytail. She sat across from the mother and said, "Sooo…can you show us something then?"

Bellatrix shrugged. "Fine." She pointed her wand at the middle of the truck and conjured a snake. The women and the girl all shrieked as the man immediately rushed to climb from the front of the truck to the back. The mother pulled her little girl into her arms and turned away from the snake so that she was shielding her before scooting into the corner. The other woman had launched herself backward into another corner yelling, "What the fuck?"

The man dropped himself in front of the mother and child, hands held up as if in surrender, eye darting from the snake as it hissed and reared its head to Bellatrix. His voice was urgent but still surprisingly steady. "Get rid of it. Please."

"Suit yourself," Bellatrix drawled lazily, vanishing the snake.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, the adult Muggles all breathing heavily, the child whimpering with her face pressed into her mother's chest.

"Next time," the dark haired woman eventually said, "maybe stick with something more traditional like pulling a quarter out of your nose."

Bellatrix arched a brow at her before redirecting her attention to the man, who said, "Look, my name's Brian. This is Lily—" he gestured to the mother, "—Megan—" the child, "—and Tara." He gestured to the dark haired woman, who held up a rather sarcastic peace sign. "What…where are you from?"

"You look like that and fight like that and your name is Brian?" Bellatrix sneered. She made a show of looking over her fingernails. "How plain…"

Brian gave a soft chuckle. "Perhaps. What's your name then?"

Sitting up straight with an air of self-importance, Bellatrix said, "Bellatrix Lestrange." Tara snorted and Bellatrix scowled at her before gesturing at her companions, who had thus far remained silent. "This is my brother-in-law, Rabastan Lestrange, and my…colleague, Augustus Rookwood. We are searching for a dark-haired man traveling with a teenage boy. You will transport us to places you think we may be able to find them, and you will help us fight those Creatures and acquire food and water."

Tara scoffed, while Lily looked incredulously at Brian, who merely grinned as if amused. "Oh, we will, will we? And why do you think we'll be doing that?"

"Well, aside from the fact that we can and we will kill you all quite easily if you don't comply, we can also help protect you and use our magic to make your lives generally easier as a reward for your cooperation." Bellatrix leaned forward, closer to him. "We only helped clear the crowd of Creatures to be taken aboard your vehicle. And I know you only turned back to pick us up because you knew we could be of use to you. It's nothing more than a symbiotic relationship."

Brian nodded thoughtfully. Lily widened her eyes. "You can't be serious? She just sent a snake after us!"

"Oh, boo hoo. Perhaps I would have been wiser to let it eat you and your nasty little Mudblood brat and be rid of your trivial blubbering."

Lily's mouth fell open in disgusted outrage as she stared daggers at Bellatrix. Brian put a hand on Lily's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze as he raised his eyebrows at Bellatrix with mild reproach.

"I think you're right that we can help each other," he said, "and we don't have to be friends by any means, but there still needs to be a certain level of respect here."

Bellatrix opened her mouth to retort, but Rookwood spoke before she could. "That is something we can manage." When Bellatrix cast a scandalized look his way, he looked back with warning before returning his attention to Brian. "We have already lost quite a considerable amount of time trying to locate the people we're searching for. Perhaps we could get moving? We already came from that direction, by the way." He nodded at the windshield, indicating the road that the truck was facing.

Brian returned to the front of the truck. "There are only more herds of Biters back the other way, not to mention all the flooding and storm damage that's left a lot of paths unusable. I've been this way before." He nodded at the road ahead. "We're more likely to find not only your…friends…but a decent place to take refuge." He shifted gears and began to drive. "I'm not sure how you ended up in Georgia, but you obviously don't know your way around like I do. You said yourself you wanted me to transport you to wherever you think you'd be most likely to find these people. Well…this is the way."

"Very well." Rookwood sat back with his head against the wall.

They ended up traveling in the truck for quite some time. Apparently these Mudbloods knew how to locate other cars to siphon gas from, whatever that meant. Bellatrix had to focus on not losing her shit with the child, which kept trying to befriend her no matter how mean Bellatrix was or how many times her mother reprimanded her for speaking to Bellatrix. At one point, Bellatrix had been unable to control her temper and ended up casting Rictusempra at the girl, leaving her in a state of being perpetually tickled for five minutes, the girl both laughing and crying at the same time as it became more and more difficult to take the spell. Lily and Tara, who was apparently the girl's aunt, screamed at Bellatrix to make it stop while Bellatrix merely smirked at them. It was only when Brian begged Bellatrix to lift the curse and brought the truck to a halt that she sighed, rolled her eyes, and put an end to it with a flick of her wand. Megan had pressed herself into Lily's embrace, crying.

Brian had resumed driving but glared at Bellatrix in the rearview mirror. Bellatrix could only think that they should all be grateful she had used such a tame spell.

Tara was just as annoying as the little girl. She babbled a lot and tried to engage Bellatrix, Rabastan, and Rookwood in stupid jokes that none of them understood. At one point, she held a fist out to a bewildered Rookwood, who stared at it like it was a tentacle. When he did nothing but arch a brow at her, Tara sighed and withdrew her fist, muttering, "Never mind."

Brian was the only one in the group that Bellatrix could have a smidgeon of respect for, if it was indeed possible to respect a Mudblood. He was romantically involved with Lily, but he was not Megan's biological father. He acted the part, though, demonstrating a frightening protectiveness over her that reminded Bellatrix slightly of Black. Whenever they left the vehicle and Creatures came their way, Brian was able to dispatch them as easily and swiftly as the magic trio he traveled with. He also did it with a ferocity that Bellatrix related to. There was a lust for blood behind his eye, a hunger for violence that made Bellatrix feel as if she was in good company. He was generally mild mannered when he spoke, but when Bellatrix was mean to Megan or if Creatures attacked, an innate savagery permeated Brian's features and tone. Had Bellatrix been a Mudblood herself, she would have feared him. As a witch, though, she was drawn to him, recognizing him as a fellow predator.

They spent roughly another two weeks traveling before needing to ditch the truck, and Bellatrix had taken in her surroundings with narrowed eyes, finding them slightly familiar.

"My old community isn't too far from here," Brian had said. "The people who destroyed it are nearby as well."

A wild glint had passed through his eye in that moment, only to fade quickly as the group trudged on. He had previously explained that he'd been the leader of a community that had managed to operate quite close to how things had been before the Creatures came about, when there had been a civilized society, but then another community had started attacking his people until there was nothing left for them to take, leaving him to wander alone until he found Lily, Tara, and Megan.

At one point, they had encountered a large group of people at a campsite who were heavily armed, some of them having apparently been a part of the Muggle military. They even had what was called a tank, which Bellatrix understood to be capable of firing heavy, devastating, explosive attacks capable of quick and deadly destruction. The leader of the group was someone Brian knew, a man called Martinez. Martinez had been Brian's second in command in their former community. Brian said he had presumed him dead, vaguely explaining that they had been separated after engaging with the infamous enemy community. With Martinez's welcome, Brian had insisted on joining their group, which Bellatrix would otherwise been opposed to were it not for their power.

Within two days, Brian had killed Martinez under the guise of his life being taken by Creatures, along with the guy who was considered next up to be leader, leaving Brian in charge. Bellatrix found herself respecting the man even more, watching with amusement as he lied so smoothly to the idiot Mudbloods. She started to wonder if he would have been a wizard had he been born in her world. He was simply too cunning, charismatic, and fierce to be a Mudblood, embodying the traits of the revered Salazar Slytherin more than many Pureblood wizards she knew.

Rookwood and Rabastan had privately discussed with her that they should maybe be worried about Brian taking them out next, but Bellatrix had insisted that they had proven too invaluable to dispose of. Rookwood had saved Megan at one point when the group had been scavenging and Bellatrix had gotten them all out of a situation where they otherwise would have been trapped and eaten. And, she had reminded them that they were still a witch and wizards who were capable of more damage than Brian could ever dream of, and he knew it.

Only a few days later, Bellatrix and Brian had left the campsite one evening just the two of them to do some scouting, Bellatrix having sent Rookwood and Rabastan in another direction much to their chagrin. She wanted to discuss possible locations for Potter and Black alone with Brian, with her partners unavailable to say their piece and none of his Muggles present to interfere. The rest of the group knew what Bellatrix, Rabastan, and Rookwood were, finding them both fascinating and frightening, but ultimately expressing gratitude that they were on their team. Bellatrix knew, though, that their point of view could flip if they thought they were in danger at their own campsite, so she had played her cards carefully, for once, and demonstrated herself as an authoritative asset rather than a commandeering corrupter. She didn't want the rest of the group to think Brian was merely her puppet.

Even though, really, he kind of was.

The two of them were walking along a road Bellatrix and her companions had not yet taken, though she could tell it wasn't far from where they had arrived through the Veil, when the clip-clopping sound of a horse reached both of their ears. Bellatrix had held her wand up, ready to strike, when Brian had touched her arm and shaken his head. He nodded over to the woods, Bellatrix following him even though she wasn't sure what his angle was. She was with him because this was his world and he knew it better, so she trusted him to guide her in the right direction.

They hurried behind some trees, Brian's head poking around his tree with rapt attention toward the road. His chest was rising and falling in a way that Bellatrix could only identify as…excited? She looked toward the road herself and, seconds later, a brown horse with a woman riding it came into view. Even sitting down, Bellatrix could tell the woman was tall and slender, her locks bouncing in rhythm with the horse's brusque trot, somewhere between walking and galloping. The woman's eyes were sharp as they darted around, to the point where Bellatrix had to retract her head back behind the tree to avoid being seen as her head briefly snapped in the direction of the woods. Bellatrix looked back at Brian questioningly, wondering why he had them hiding rather than letting Bellatrix kill the woman.

Brian pointed at the woman and then at his eyepatch, and Bellatrix understood.

The woman brought the horse to a halt, slowly rotating her head from one side to the other as she scanned her surroundings. She reached a hand behind her back and drew some kind of sword.

Brian mouthed, "Kill the horse," and Bellatrix grinned.

She shot a Killing Curse at the horse and it instantly fell with a cut off whinny, the woman falling with it with a gasp and a grunt as she hit the ground. Brian beckoned at Bellatrix to follow him as he darted out from behind his tree, gun drawn. The two of them ran over, pointing Bellatrix's wand and Brian's gun at the woman just as she made it to her feet.

She slashed at both of them with her sword, her speed taking Bellatrix by surprise. Both Bellatrix and Brian barely pulled away in time, the sword missing Bellatrix entirely while it managed to tear Brian's shirt. The two of them leveled their own weapons at her and the woman stilled. She eyed both of them warily, her gaze landing on Bellatrix's wand and staying there, her lips parted slightly and brow furrowed.

She didn't freak out. She didn't look confused. She didn't laugh.

She recognized it.

Bellatrix's heartrate accelerated with her own excitement as she sneered, "You've seen one of these before."

The woman's gaze was fixed on the wand for a second longer before her eyes latched onto Bellatrix's, her face incredibly composed. She stood tall, tilting her chin up. "You mean a stick? Yeah, they're kind of fucking everywhere."

Bellatrix laughed. The woman was certainly bold, she'd give her that. She watched the woman's eyes slide from her to Brian, an anger lighting up her visage.

"And just where the hell have you been?" the woman snapped.

The corner of Brian's mouth merely lifted a fraction. "Around. I could ask the same of you. Where are you off to?"

"It's none of your damn business."

Brian let out a quiet laugh, his eyes roaming up and down over the woman. "You're clean, you've got supplies, you're not starving. You're still with them, aren't you?"

The woman's eyes narrowed, her jaw visibly tightening. She shook her head. "Nah. Rick ended up going even crazier. Everyone started attacking each other and destroying the place, so I left. Realized I'm better off solo."

Brian's grin widened. He shook his head slowly. "I don't think so."

"Who have you seen with a wand before?" Bellatrix asked. "Harry Potter? Sirius Black?"

The woman's expression faltered only slightly and for maybe half a second before returning to its cool façade. It was enough for Bellatrix to know she recognized the names. "I have no idea who you're talking about."

"But you're not questioning my mention of a wand…"

The woman stared between both Bellatrix and Brian, exhaling sharply from her nose, her breathing visibly picking up. Then, she moved in what Bellatrix recognized as another incoming swing of her sword, this time aimed directly at Bellatrix. Before it could swing more than halfway, Bellatrix barked, "Imperio!" and the woman froze.

The woman's eyes glazed over as she brought her sword back to her side. She stared blankly ahead. Brian leveled the gun back at her, but Bellatrix put a hand on top of it and gently pushed it down with a soothing, "Ah-ah-ah. I have some questions for her."

Brian looked at her, brow furrowed. "What'd you do to her?"

"It's called the Imperius Curse. She must do whatever I say."

Brian's eye lit up, his lip curling, and he stepped back, tipping his head forward and waving his hand before him as if to say, "She's all yours."

"Tell the truth," Bellatrix said. "What do you know about Harry Potter?"

In a slightly dull monotone, the woman replied, "Harry Potter is a member of my community at the prison. He is a teenage wizard who is quite strong and wise for his age. He has become best friends with Carl, a boy who I am very fond of. He is selfless, humble, and kind, always trying to help others. I am thankful for him as a member of the community and for being a great friend to Carl."

Bellatrix exchanged triumphant glances with Brian before looking back at the woman. "And what do you know of Sirius Black? Again, tell me the truth, all of it."

"Sirius Black is a wizard and Harry Potter's godfather. He is brave, clever, and loyal. He is an outstanding parent to Harry. He comforts me and makes me laugh. He sees me for who I really am. He believes in me and my independence but also allows me to seek safety with him when I need it. I believe I am in love with him and I think he reciprocates those feelings."

Bellatrix felt another quiver of excitement. She could definitely do something with that. "And…where are Harry Potter and Sirius Black now? At the prison?"

"They are at the prison, yes."

Bellatrix looked gleefully back at Brian. "You know where this prison is?"

Brian nodded. "Oh yeah." He returned his gaze to the woman. "Why are you really out here, Michonne?"

"I have been looking for you so that I may kill you," the woman, Michonne, said, an edge like what she'd had before being Imperiused returning to her voice.

Brian nodded again. "I figured. Well…consider it mission failed, Michonne." He pointed the gun at her once more but Bellatrix snapped, "No!" and pushed the gun down with more force this time. Brian started to look annoyed.

"Black is in love with her," Bellatrix sneered. "I need to be the one to kill her. That way he knows it was me. He is reckless when emotional. This will be an opportunity to use that against him."

"How will he know if it was you? I deserve to be the one who kills her."

"Yes, I know," Bellatrix replied impatiently. "But is that all you want?"

Brian gazed off to the side for a moment, pensive. "What I really want is to find a good place for my new family to live, somewhere fortified. The prison would be perfect, but there are fences, guard towers…They see us coming and…"

Bellatrix stepped closer to him. "So let's take it! We'll use this woman to get Black riled up. He won't be in his right mind and will be easy to take hostage. We show up with all our people and weapons and him. Potter will without question give himself up if I threaten to kill Black. We can all attack their people together and you will get to claim the place for yourself! Without Potter and Black, they won't have magic on their side like you will."

"They won't have a tank either…"

"Exactly!"

Brian, appearing more content, looked back at Michonne. "You didn't answer…how will this Black fellow know you killed her instead of me?"

"Our Killing Curse leaves no mark. One of your bullets obviously does."

"Fine," Brian sighed, turning back to Michonne. "Michonne, give me your sword."

"No," Michonne replied.

Bellatrix snorted at Brian's frown. She made a show of clearing her throat. "Michonne, give him your sword."

Michonne placed her sword back in the sheath on her back and then removed the sheath and handed it to him. Brian took it with a wolfish grin, securing it to his belt. He returned his focus to Bellatrix.

"We can't attack tonight, though. We need to get everyone ready. And I'd like to take another hostage. Someone I know matters to the rest of them, who'll give them more reason to want to give up the prison."

Bellatrix tossed her hair. "Tomorrow then."

She turned and pointed her wand at Michonne, dispelling a flash of green light that caused her to collapse to the ground.

They put Michonne's body in one of the trucks from their camp and started driving toward the prison, Brian stopping when they were just about a mile away. He looked over at Bellatrix in the passenger seat.

"They might not find it by tomorrow," he said. "Not if we leave it outside the prison."

"Oh, yes, they will," Bellatrix said. "I'll show you. Come."

They got out of the car and Bellatrix levitated Michonne's body until they reached a telephone pole. She made the body float until it was near the top. Then she shot ropes out of her wand so that they wrapped around the body, securing it to the pole. Bellatrix stepped back, tilting her head slightly as she admired her handiwork.

"You said they turn into Creatures regardless of how they die, correct?"

"That's right," said Brian.

"Good…" Then, Bellatrix pointed her wand up at the sky. "Morsmordre!"

The Dark Mark, vibrant and glorious, burst into the night and hovered high above the telephone pole. The sight of the snake unfurling from the skull's tongue gave Bellatrix goosebumps as she stared at it in awe and reverence. She hadn't gotten to cast the Dark Mark, let alone see it, in quite some time. Her heart thrummed with excitement as if it was longing to burst through Bellatrix's chest to float up to the sky and be swallowed by the glowing green snake. She felt a pressure behind her eyes and realized she was tearing up at the sight.

Tomorrow, she was going to don her robes for the first time in over a month and march up to this prison's gates, where she would make her demands alongside Brian. Regardless of how everyone responded, she would take Potter and Black and destroy everyone in her path, littering the earth with the bodies of Mudbloods. She would even kill Brian and his people if she no longer needed them and if she could afford to do so without risking her life. She wanted to leave as large of a mark as she could, establishing her power here before she went home, back to her Master.

This world was as good as hers.

---

Present day…

When Sirius woke, he immediately realized he was constricted, bound by his wrists and ankles. He was slumped against a wall, on a bench seat inside of what seemed to be a Muggle camper.

"Hey, son," a soft voice said next to him, and Sirius looked to his left to see Hershel on the bench, also tied up.

Sirius began struggling against the ropes around his wrists, thinking he could surely break his binds if he transformed into Padfoot. He glanced over to the aisle of the camper and froze as he saw not just the Governor, but his wretched cousin, Bellatrix, the same person who had sent him to this world, standing there, watching. All of his muscles clenched and he released a feral snarl that only seemed to make his cousin laugh.

"Don't even think about transforming, dear Sirius," Bellatrix sneered. "If I see so much as a hint of you shifting your form to break free, I will kill you and the old Mudblood on site."

"Don't call him that!" Sirius growled.

Bellatrix grinned maniacally and tilted her head from side to side, singing, "Mudblood, Mudblood, Mudblood!"

As Sirius growled with more ferocity, Hershel, quite contrastingly calm, said, "What are the two of you planning to do here, exactly?"

"It's simple," the Governor shrugged, hands on his hips. "We present the two of you at the gates. They give up the prison and the kid. You two go free."

Sirius let out a bark-like laugh, looking at Bellatrix. "You're not going to let Harry and I go free."

"I will bring you both back to our world, mostly unharmed. That or, you know…kill you both right away instead."

"Only to kill us both shortly after returning to our world, as Harry very well knows will happen."

Bellatrix cocked her head, lazily resting her wand against her cheek. "You know, I've been thinking, Black—"

"How unusual for you."

"—Perhaps I was too quick to think death was the only suitable option for you. I'm starting to believe you could actually be quite useful for us to keep around."

"I'd rather die than—"

"Yeah, yeah, you'd rather die before joining us. God, you Gryffindors are so boring, not to mention predictable." She rolled her eyes and shook her head dismissively. "I know you're too much of a traitor and an idiot to ever be a Death Eater. But perhaps we could keep you for a while to make Potter cooperate, maybe even get him to actually follow the Dark Lord's bidding. After all, it only took a false vision of your torture to send him rushing to the Ministry after us. Imagine if he had to see you imprisoned and tortured in front of him with his very own eyes, witnessing firsthand for himself on a daily basis as you know nothing but the pain of the Cruciatus Curse, where the only relief you get comes from him willingly doing as the Dark Lord requests." She bent over to lean closer to him, resting her hands on her knees. "What do you think about that?"

Sirius tensed, a shiver crawling over every limb of his body. The idea of being locked up again on top of being tortured until he probably became insane like the Longbottoms—a fate he deemed far worse than death—was unnerving on its own, but to see his misery being used to turn Harry into a puppet for Voldemort? That was more than he could stomach. He sat up straighter and tried to arrange his features to reflect nothing but composed and obnoxiously smug confidence, forcing himself to smirk. "Harry would never hurt someone innocent to spare me. He knows I'd never want that and he's too honorable for it."

"He had no problem endangering his friends for you."

"That's different."

"Is it?"

"Say that Harry goes with them," Hershel spoke up, looking at the Governor, "but Rick and the others refuse to surrender the prison. What are you gaining from working with them?" He nodded at Bellatrix.

"In that case, we, unfortunately, execute you and they help me take the prison by force," the Governor replied.

"But what makes you think they'll help you once they have what they need?"

"We will kill whatever Mudbloods at this prison we can without putting ourselves at risk," Bellatrix answered haughtily.

"Even if they did flee once getting the boy, they will have at least removed the wizards who would oppose me," said the Governor. "If it comes to a fight, I won't have to worry about people using magic against me and my people." He stepped closer, his mouth opening and closing hesitantly before he spoke again. "I don't want a fight, though, Hershel. I don't want to have to hurt you or anyone else. I just want to settle this peacefully."

"That ship sailed for you a long time ago," Sirius hissed, glaring at the Governor before moving his eyes to Bellatrix, who looked like a child opening presents on Christmas morning. "And how exactly are you planning on returning to our world?"

"We have a key," another voice said as footsteps emerged from the back of the camper, startling Sirius. Augustus Rookwood came forward, reaching under his robes. Sirius' wand poked out of Rookwood's inside pocket, but he only got a brief glimpse of it. He was surprised Rookwood had it instead of Bellatrix. He supposed it made sense, though. If Sirius made an attempt to fight or escape, he would have gone for Bellatrix first, and if she didn't have his wand for him to wrest back, he would be quickly subdued again.

He returned his attention to what Rookwood was holding in his hand. It was square shaped, though rounded at the corners, and it covered Rookwood's palm. It looked like some kind of thick piece of fabric, but the surface somehow had a texture that was both velvety soft and smooth like marble, the gray color seeming to shift like fluid and clouds simultaneously.

The Veil.

"This is a fragment from the Veil which, thanks to the intellectual creativity of the Dark Lord and myself, has been made into a Port Key that will return us to the Fragment's original source when we tell our Master we are ready for him to activate it. So you see…since you nor your beloved godson bear the Dark Lord's Mark, we are your only way of getting back to the Wizarding World." Rookwood grinned, rolling up the sleeve of his left forearm and revealing the Dark Mark tattoo. "All I have to do is touch the Fragment to my Mark, and my Master will bring us home."

Sirius began thinking that through. If he could get free, gain the upper hand on Bellatrix and Rookwood, and steal the Fragment, he could kill Bellatrix, or Rookwood, or both, and press the Fragment to one of their Dark Marks. But maybe the Dark Mark only worked if they were alive…fine. He could keep one of them alive and sever their arm, or keep one of them tied up or in a body bind (he was leaning more toward the arm severing). The thought sent a surge of hunger through him that lifted the corners of his mouth into a twisted sort of smile. Now he just had to find a way out of this mess…

Bellatrix frowned and raised a brow at him. "I don't know what you're plotting, Black, but it won't work."

Sirius merely stared at her and imagined all the ways he endeavored to hurt her, hoping that his sick thoughts were reflected in his eyes and instilled her with fear. Before anyone else could say anything, there was a knock on the door and someone else came in.

Sirius rolled his eyes and said, "My god, him too?" as Bellatrix's brother-in-law, Rabastan, entered the camper, eying Sirius with a petulant disdain. "You couldn't recruit anyone better from death daddy's goon squad?"

Bellatrix opened her mouth to speak, but to Sirius' surprise, the Governor leaned over and punched him, sending Sirius' head swinging to the side and making his eye water with the difficulty of keeping it open.

"I think it's about time you shut that mouth of yours and understand your position," the Governor said very matter-of-factly. "You're the hostage. You have no leverage to be anything other than respectful and compliant."

Sirius laughed mirthlessly. "I'll eat my own foot before showing either of you respect or compliance. And don't forget…before all this is through, I'm going to kill you as painfully and degradedly as possible, you foul, abhorrent son-of-a-bitch."

Hershel turned his face toward Sirius and raised his eyebrows imploringly. The Governor stared at him, unreadable, but Sirius was sure he saw a flicker of fear pass over him.

Rabastan cleared his throat rather pointedly, looking at Bellatrix. "Everyone's ready if you are."

Bellatrix looked back at Sirius, her lip curling as a mad glint took over her eyes. "Oh…I'm ready."

---

Harry stood, momentarily paralyzed, his jaw slack and his heart slamming against his chest at the scene before him. He wondered if there was any way he was still sick in cell block A, having a fever dream—a fever nightmare. How were Death Eaters here? And how had they possibly decided to team up with Muggles? That kind of thing seemed to be beneath them.

A saying came to mind. Harry couldn't remember where he had heard it before, but it was something like The enemy of my enemy is my friend. That was the only thing that made any sense, was if Bellatrix encountered the Governor and realized they had common enemies.

And they had taken Sirius and Hershel hostage.

Next to him, Beth stifled a sob, whispering, "Daddy…"

"Rick!" The Governor called. "Come down here. We need to talk."

"You too, Potter!" Bellatrix sang.

Harry glanced at Beth, who was looking at him with fear and confusion. He wanted to give her some semblance of reassurance and tried smiling at her, but he knew it couldn't have come out as more than a grimace. Rick made to walk past him, heading toward the front fences before pausing and looking at Harry with uncertainty. He continued on and, after taking a deep breath, Harry followed him. His eyes latched onto Sirius, on his knees with his hands behind his back, his gray eyes wide with a combination of fear, anger, and sorrow as they returned Harry's stare. As he got closer, Harry could see the dark crescent of a bruise beneath one of Sirius' eyes.

Seeing his godfather in such a vulnerable position allowed Harry to fuel his ire more than his fear. Bellatrix had already attempted to take Sirius from him once, and Harry would be damned if he let her succeed this time. He tried to square his shoulders and steady his breathing, moving his gaze from Sirius to Bellatrix and making a conscious effort to come across as wrathful rather than submissive to her will.

He stopped where Rick stopped just behind the outermost fence, where only a gap of maybe fifteen feet or so lay between the two of them and their enemies.

"Let 'em go," Rick said right away. "You've got a tank, you've got wizards. You don't need hostages. Let 'em go, and I'll talk as long as you want."

"We don't want a drawn out chat, Mudblood," barked Bellatrix. "We want you to give us the boy and get the hell out of the prison."

"Harry James Potter, don't you do a goddamn thing she says!" Sirius yelled. "I don't care if—"

Bellatrix pointed her wand at Sirius and said, "Hush, you!" Sirius' mouth kept moving but no words came out. He turned his head toward his cousin and his eyes blazed even harder with his fury for being silenced.

Harry swallowed, his eyes moving from Sirius to Bellatrix. "If I go with you right now, will you let Sirius free?"

Sirius shook his head vigorously and Rookwood aimed a hard kick to his spine with the point of his boot, making him buckle forward so that he almost toppled over.

"Let's put it this way, Potter. If you don't go with us, right now, your godfather will die, right now. And we will kill anyone else in there who tries to protect you."

"If we…" Rick's voice was loud and strong but carried a tremor of emotion as he looked at the Governor. "If we leave the prison without a fight, will you leave Harry alone?"

"I would let Hershel go, but they would still go after Harry," the Governor tilted his head at Bellatrix, "and I would help attack anyone who stood in their way." He removed a sword that was sheathed at his belt and casually walked over to Hershel with it before holding it in front of his throat, the woman guarding Hershel with the gun stepping back. Harry's heart stopped for a moment as he recognized the sword as Michonne's katana. He saw Sirius' eyes flash dangerously at the sight, and Harry was hit with a hard pang of sorrow for him as he realized the Governor must have killed Michonne. Harry hadn't seen her around the prison since being released from quarantine, and if the Governor had her sword but she wasn't a hostage it only made sense.

Rick's eyes darted around searchingly and Harry could tell he was trying to do some quick thinking. "What if—"

"Let me put it to you this way, Rick…the only way everyone walks away unharmed in this scenario is if you adhere to both of our demands. I get the prison. They get the boy. There is no one or the other."

Sirius' voice returned to him mid-sentence as he apparently broke the silencing charm. "—kill everyone anyway! You all need to fight! Harry! Don't do it. Don't you dare."

Bellatrix groaned dramatically, marching over to Sirius, shoving Rookwood away as she pointed her own wand at Sirius' head. "Potter, your godfather is quickly wearing on my nerves. If you don't make a decision soon, I'm going to kill him out of sheer irritation!"

Harry pressed his lips together hard. Sirius' eyes were glued to him, pleading, Harry knew, not for his own life, but for Harry to stay put. Harry looked at Hershel, who was looking at Rick as if trying to say something to him telepathically. He thought about how Hershel had two daughters, a son-in-law, and a grandkid on the way, all of whom could be snuffed out if Harry refused to give himself up. In addition to effectively signing the death warrant for Sirius and Hershel, Harry would be condemning Hershel's family, not to mention Rick, Carl, and so many others. He exhaled heavily, ground his teeth together, and, carefully avoiding his godfather's gaze, Harry nodded and started to walk toward the group gathered at the gate.

An arm flung in front of his chest to bring him to a halt. Rick slowly pushed Harry back and stepped in front of him.

"You can't have Harry," Rick said firmly.

The Governor let out a humorless chuckle. "You're willing to suffer unnecessary bloodshed on the behalf of someone who doesn't even belong here? Someone who brought danger to your door with his very presence?"

"Harry didn't ask for any of this. And I'm sure you'd have still come to try to take our home anyway, help from wizards or not. And…Harry does belong here. He may be from a different world, but he's become an important part of ours."

Harry stood there, speechless, overcome with warmth and appreciation, but he couldn't let this happen. He took another step forward so that he was alongside Rick again. "Rick, I—"

"No. I don't care where Harry came from, because Harry ended up here, with us. He's done a lot for us. He's been a good friend to my son. He's saved lives. He's a good kid, and an important part of our community. Just like a lot of the people from Woodbury have become important members of our community." Rick raised his eyebrows at the Governor pointedly. The Governor lowered the sword, if only very slightly. "When you gave us a choice like this with Michonne, I told everyone that we can't sacrifice one person for what seems like the greater good, because each of us makes up the greater good. That holds true for Harry, and it holds true for the people who came here from Woodbury. And…" Rick put his hands on his hips and looked away bracingly before returning his attention to the Governor. "And it can hold true for you as well. There's enough room here for everyone, including all of you."

Bellatrix cackled. "We have no place here. Our Master waits for us."

"Do you hear yourself?" Rick asked incredulously, tilting his head at her. "Your master? Look, I—I know our world is probably worse than yours in a lot of ways, but if you stayed here, at least you could be free. Do you really want to go back somewhere just to spend the rest of your lives serving someone else? Harry and Sirius have told us a lot about your 'master' and the things he has you do. You've branded yourselves for him, you've hurt and killed people for him, you've suffered prison, and he punishes you harshly for any type of failure. Do you really want to go back to that, to being someone's lackey? If you stayed here, we could let go of all of it. In our world, we've all done some horrible things, some of the worst things, just to stay alive, but this community is our second chance, our fresh start. We get to come back, and if we can come back, so can you."

Harry's jaw was slack in awe of Rick's words, chills sliding along his arms from their impact. He was beyond touched by Rick's devotion to protecting him, and humbled to see him willing to put aside everyone's transgressions to try to give them all a home and avoid violence. Harry truly understood now why he had been largely considered the community's leader even though he had been taking a step back for a while. Rick had the strength and wisdom to do the difficult things that needed to be done to provide the best future for all involved. Hershel was smiling proudly at him.

Rookwood and Rabastan exchanged glances, and Harry was shocked to see a brief spark of consideration in their eyes. That was how powerful Rick's words were. Bellatrix shot an incredulous glare at both of them and they immediately ducked their heads.

"Remember, Brian," said Bellatrix, watching the Governor with calculating eyes, "there is no good and evil. There is only power, and those too weak to seek it."

Harry inwardly shuddered at the words Voldemort had once said to him, unnerved at hearing Bellatrix repeating them now. He knew there was no way she would be swayed, and judging by the way Sirius' hackles twitched, his godfather knew it too. Unable to look at her since she was standing over him, Sirius stared straight ahead with an intense focus, his eyes hard and his jaw set, waiting.

The Governor was eying Rick intently, and Harry could tell he was genuinely mulling over Rick's words. Even if the Death Eaters still went after Harry, Sirius, and the others, the Governor backing out of the plan could be a gamechanger even if all he did was call off his people. There was a longing in the Governor's features that made it clear at least a part of him wanted to believe Rick.

And then his eye narrowed, a cold shadow enshrouding it.

"Liar."

The Governor pulled the katana away and then swung it straight at Hershel's throat.

There was a split second where the world stopped. Harry watched in horror as blood instantly pooled at Hershel's collar and stained his shirt, the proud smile still on his face before his head slid from his torso and his body toppled over...Hershel, who had just worked so hard the last couple of days trying to keep Harry and several others alive, only to be murdered, executed in front of everyone who loved and cared about him.

Then several things happened at once.

"NOOO!" Rick cried next to Harry, shooting at the Governor through the fence, while Harry, burning with a hatred he had never known before, aimed his wand at Bellatrix and bellowed, "CRUCIO!"

Several gunshots followed suit behind Harry and Rick from the rest of the prison community. The Governor's people answered back.

The Governor grunted and clutched at his arm as Rick's shot grazed him, and Bellatrix fell to the ground behind Sirius with an abrupt scream, Harry's curse having burned a hole through the fence to reach her.

Sirius threw himself to the ground and rolled sideways, transforming into Padfoot mid-roll, breaking his bonds with a snarl, and immediately lunging at Rookwood.

Rabastan Lestrange yelled, "Avada Kedavra!" and Harry pulled Rick to the ground as the jet of green light sailed over them.

Harry jumped back to his feet to reengage Bellatrix, who was also already on her feet as well, glaring at him and panting as bullets flew around them.

"Never used an Unforgiveable Curse before, have you, boy?" she shouted. "You need to mean them, Potter! You need to really want to cause pain—to enjoy it. Righteous anger won't hurt me for long!"

She fired a different curse at him that sent his section of fence falling inward toward him. He and Rick both jogged backward, retreating behind one of the old overturned prison busses. They both peeked out around it to fire spells and bullets. Bellatrix had started marching toward Harry, but Sirius, who had returned to his human form and apparently found his wand, fired something at her that had her jumping backward to dodge it. She scowled and turned around to fire back at him, and the two were quickly locked in a fierce duel just as they had been at the Department of Mysteries. Rabastan, who had been checking on Rookwood, rushed over to fight alongside Bellatrix and Harry came out from behind the bus to fire shots at Rabastan. Rabastan deflected Harry's stunner and began dueling him instead of Sirius.

Meanwhile, the Governor yelled out some orders for his people and the tank began pressing forward, rolling over the fences like they were nothing. His people followed behind the tank both on foot and in cars to get closer to the people of the prison without getting hit.

Rookwood, scrambling to his feet and pressing a hand up to his collarbone, which was bleeding profusely, hurried to follow the tank, and once the tank had done enough damage to get the prison community to retreat, he strode past the tank with a swift, furious gait and began firing the Killing Curse at any Muggles who were not with the Governor without breaking his stride.

There was a flash of green and Allison was dead.

FLASH. Ted was dead.

FLASH. Leo was dead.

FLASH. Jeanette was dead.

"No!" Harry yelled. He deflected Rabastan's next spell, sent a jet of fire his way, and then ran back toward the prison to go after Rookwood, leaving Sirius to battle both Bellatrix and Rabastan at once.

Harry fired stunning spells at any of the Governor's people he passed, sometimes throwing up a shield charm to avoid their bullets, but he kept running after Rookwood until he reached him in the courtyard. He fired a spell at Rookwood's back, but Rookwood whipped around, ready for it, and blocked it. Harry had no doubts Rookwood's plan had been to lure Harry away from Sirius by attacking others so that he could engage him on his own, but he didn't care. They began dueling, Harry relying primarily on his instincts and reflexes, reminding himself that this wasn't any different than fighting the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries.

Only, there was a difference in that his body was weaker now. Fatigue from being ill began pulling at him after little time, leaving him slower to respond to Rookwood's relentless pace. Harry tried to use his adrenaline to his advantage, harnessing it in a way that only came with having had practice at fighting for his life. He knew he couldn't rely on that forever, though.

He just barely blocked something deadly and found himself stumbling backward with a grunt, almost losing balance as Rookwood pressed on him. He had nearly no time to recover before needing to block another spell, not even worrying about countering right now as he tried to regain his bearings, doing his best to smother the panic that was beginning to creep its way through. Rookwood's lip curled, apparently able to see that Harry's energy was dwindling.

Gunshots fired from off to Harry's left, both he and Rookwood ducking automatically, but it was Rookwood who let out a brusque cry of pain and then clutched at his right bicep. Tyreese, Sasha, Karen, and Bob were shooting at him from behind one of the prison security cars. His teeth bared, Rookwood threw a Killing Curse back and then deflected another burst of bullets with a shield charm so that they ricocheted back at the car.

The Killing Curse struck Bob down while the other three dropped in time to avoid the return of their own bullets. But Tyreese, Sasha, and Karen quickly popped back up to reengage Rookwood, all of them looking more invigorated after seeing Bob fall. Harry capitalized on the moment by sending his own hexes at Rookwood while his friends shot at him. Rookwood used another more encompassing shield charm to block both the bullets and Harry's hexes before quickly sending spells back at Harry in one direction and Tyreese, Sasha, and Karen in the other. Bolstered by the aid of his Muggle friends, Harry pushed himself back on Rookwood harder and fired whatever he could at him.

Rookwood began to move backward, his triumphant sneer gone as he now seemed to take on Harry's previous panic, dodging and countering both spells and bullets. He grunted and swore when one of Harry's stinging hexes hit his sternum and a bullet just missed his head. Then, eyes wide and frazzled, Rookwood fired one explosive spell at Harry and one at the car shielding his friends before turning on his heel and running, disappearing from Harry's sight.

Harry chased after him, fully intending to catch up to him, but not realizing how close he had come to the tank, which fired and hit the nearest wall of the building, causing an explosion that sent Harry flying from his feet. He landed face down with an impact that made his skull rattle and crunched his nose, leaving his head swimming and ears ringing. He turned his head to the side with a groan and opened his eyes, blinking excessively. Everything around him was blurry, and he realized his glasses had fallen off. He lifted a shaking right hand off the ground to hold up his wand and summon his glasses, but his wand had flown from his hand in the blast.

Harry tried to push himself to his hands and knees, only for everything to go black as he lost consciousness for the second time in twenty-four hours.

---

As soon as Daryl saw what was going down, he went into action, his concern for everyone else allowing him to keep his own fear at bay. He instructed everyone to be ready to fight, to head for the bus if things went awry, to wait as long as possible for however many people as possible before leaving. He brought the gun cart around and passed out weapons and ammo, his eyes staying on Rick, Harry, Sirius, Hershel, and their enemies the whole time. Then he positioned himself in a spot at one of the boarded up fences alongside Carl, feeling responsible for him while his dad was busy.

Carl was hunkered down with his own gun aimed and ready, his eyes focused. Daryl knew he needed to keep an eye on the kid to make sure he didn't do anything rash. Carl had come a long way after killing the Woodbury boy, but he had no doubt that Carl might revert to shooting first and thinking later if he felt his dad was in danger.

Not that Daryl would blame him. He was certain this situation was quite different. Yet, he also knew that the current situation needed to be handled delicately or everything could blow up. It wouldn't just be one casualty; it would be a chain reaction.

As he watched the conversation taking place by the fences, only able to hear parts of it, Daryl's worries were confirmed to be valid when Carl expressed frustration that they should do something.

"Your dad's got it," Daryl said. After hearing the demand for Harry to give himself up, Daryl worried that Rick would push for that to happen after revealing he had exiled Carol, but Daryl was determined to trust his friend to make the right move.

Carl insisted he could end things right now by killing the Governor. Daryl couldn't help admiring his moxie, but it was coming from the overconfidence that came with being a teenager. Daryl explained that he could end up starting something else entirely instead of having the heroic results he imagined.

When Rick refused to let Harry give himself up, Daryl felt a burst of pride for his friend. By the end of Rick's speech, Daryl actually had some hope that things could turn out okay. Even if the dark wizards didn't stop their pursuit for Harry, if the Governor pulled his people back, they would have much less of a fight on their hands.

Sirius was who Daryl was most worried for. There was a chance the Governor would give up his agenda, and Daryl had a sense that the Governor even had a respect for Hershel, that he didn't truly want him dead.

Sirius would be the first casualty if the dark wizards decided to attack. While it wasn't something Daryl wanted by any means, he was aware that Sirius would prefer his own death to Harry's or anyone else's.

And then the Governor's visage had twisted from something hopeful and contemplative to enraged at being made to dare for better, and Hershel was dead with a swift flash of Michonne's katana.

It had taken a long moment for Daryl, along with everyone else, to process what was happening as Hershel seemed to fall in slow motion. Rick and Harry were the first to react, both of them unleashing their fury at the exact same time, one with a bullet, one with a curse. Daryl and Carl fired next, Daryl pumping bullets out with an angry huff and visualizing them hitting the Governor as if he could kill the man by sheer force of will.

Everything quickly descended into chaos. Daryl eventually separated from Carl to go after the Governor's people, cursing himself when he belatedly realized he'd left the kid to his own devices. But his rage and tunnel vision sent Daryl moving along the prison grounds with a smooth violence that granted him the ability to take out several enemies. While taking cover to reload, he spotted Sirius dueling two of the dark wizards at once at the front of the yard, his wand a blur as it swished in different directions and at different angles. Daryl couldn't help stopping for a moment to watch, fascinated, having never seen wizards fight each other before. It was different to see Sirius battle another wizard than to battle Walkers, and Daryl realized just how lucky he was that he and Sirius were on the same side.

Shots were fired at Daryl and he flung himself back behind the stack of metal file cabinets, repositioning himself. A Walker came up behind him and he impaled it, keeping it in front of him as a shield before moving back out into the open and then flinging a grenade, easily taking out the ones shooting at him.

Mere minutes later, the tank, a reasonable distance away from him, fired another explosive shot that had him seeing Harry being flung into the air and slammed into the ground. Growling to himself, Daryl maneuvered over to the tank and, with a graceful leap, shoved another grenade into the tank before hurrying out of range as it blew up.

The douchebag driver of the tank had scrambled out in time to avoid being hurt, but Daryl managed to stalk up to him with his crossbow raised before the man could do anything besides raise his hands in surrender, grimacing. Daryl shot him in the chest and then hurried away to find Harry.

Beth was kneeling over him as he coughed, trying to help him sit up, but Harry only seemed to be semiconscious. She slid his glasses onto his face and then looked up at Daryl.

"He's hurt!" she exclaimed. "Something got stuck in his leg!"

Daryl dropped to the ground and helped get Harry somewhat upright, the kid's eyes half open and rolling, his limbs slack. His face was dirty and his head was bleeding slightly, but not in a way that worried Daryl too much. Instead, Daryl looked down to the leg Beth had mentioned, seeing a fairly large shard of shrapnel protruding from Harry's thigh and knowing he needed to be taken out of here to be treated, and soon.

Daryl looked at Beth sadly. "We gotta go."

Beth nodded and gestured at two backpacks sitting by her. "These are bugout bags I made while everyone was sick. I set them around different parts of the prison just in case. They've got medical supplies."

Impressed, Daryl nodded and grabbed both bags, hefting them both over one shoulder with his crossbow. "Good thinking." He then put one of Harry's arms over his shoulders and instructed Beth to take Harry's other side. Together, they rose to their feet with Harry between them.

Before they got moving, Beth frowned at Daryl, leaning her head past Harry's chest to look at him. "I couldn't find his wand."

Daryl looked down and quickly began scanning the ground, but there was all sorts of rubble everywhere. He was considering setting Harry back down to look for the wand, but the sound of Walker growls grabbed his attention and he snapped his gaze up to see a cluster of them coming from behind. Many of the creatures had been drawn to the prison by all the noise of the battle.

Shaking his head with frustration, Daryl positioned Harry more securely between himself and Beth and said, "No time. We gotta go."

Harry's feet dragged along the ground as Daryl and Beth carried him away from the prison, Walkers following after them.

---

Carl inwardly scolded himself for listening to Daryl. He had been so certain he could have shot the Governor, even though he was, as Daryl had pointed out skeptically, fifty yards away. If he had fired when he had been considering it, the Governor would be dead if not incapacitated, and Hershel would still be alive.

But Daryl had insisted that Carl's dad had the situation under control. For a minute, Carl had believed him to be correct, hearing much of his dad's speech and how he refused to give up Harry, which Carl was grateful for. He could even see the Governor slowly pulling Michonne's katana away from Hershel's throat, frowning pensively.

And then he'd swung at Hershel like he was nothing more than an animal to slaughter.

Carl had fired as soon as his father had. He and Daryl had stayed there together at first, firing at the Governor's people side by side, until the tank started rolling over the fences and up to the rest of the prison. From there, Carl had started veering off one way and Daryl the other.

He had spent a few hazy minutes nimbly moving from cover to cover to shoot at the Governor's people before flashes of light caught his attention from the corner of his eye. Carl gasped at the sight of Harry dueling with one of the dark wizards about twenty feet away. Both of them moved so quickly, shooting spells of different colors. Their feet moved as if they were dancing, their wand arms flourishing with purpose

Carl dove off to the side when a stray jet of blue light flew his way. He clumsily scrabbled to his hands and feet until he managed to get behind an overturned picnic table. He sat with his back against it, trying to steady his breath, something about the near miss from the spell more frightening than any of the bullets that had come close his way. He peered around the table to see that Tyreese, Sasha, and Karen were now helping provide cover for Harry from behind a security car. Carl watched for another moment before his baby sister crossed his mind like a sharp slap to the face.

He ran back into the prison, remembering that Judith had been in Beth's cell, but he'd seen Beth outside, without her. Carl came skidding to a halt in Beth's cell, clutching the top of the crib as he peered in. Judith wasn't in there. There had been no disturbances to her crib or the cell, though, so Carl was quite sure someone else had come to grab her. Somewhat reassured, Carl hurried back outside.

Finding whoever had Judith was his next plan. His head swiveled in several directions upon returning to the courtyard as he assessed who was where. He saw the bus that had been intended for emergency evacuation drive off some distance away, and while he hated not knowing for sure, he partly hoped Judith was on it.

Rubble was piled around the ground by where the tank had blown up one of the outer walls. Carl stumbled over it all in his hurry to find Judith, his shoe eventually sliding over a rock that rolled beneath his foot. He fell and landed sideways on several rocks and bricks, swearing as he rubbed at his leg and hip. He turned and began pushing himself to his feet, but he saw something that made him freeze in place.

A wand.

On his hands and knees, Carl reached frantically for it, pulling it out of the rubble and blowing dust off of it. He turned it over in his hand, trying to ascertain whether it was Harry's or Sirius', but he knew it was most likely Harry's since Harry had been dueling not far from there. Eyes widening, Carl began shifting rocks, bricks, and pieces of metal around in search of a body. He spent a couple of minutes sifting through rubble before coming to the conclusion that Harry wasn't under any of it. He jogged away and began turning in several directions, trying to see if Harry was unconscious or injured somewhere nearby. He realized that there weren't a lot of living people within his sight anymore, whether from the prison or the opposition. Walkers, on the other hand, were beginning to creep their way in in numbers.

Hopefully, Harry just hadn't been able to find his wand and had to run off in a hurry. Carl stuffed it into his deepest pocket to make sure he didn't lose it. Then he went back into the building and tried searching in there for people. Block A was largely inaccessible, much of it caved in from a shot from the tank. Carl made his way through the tombs, where chunks of ceiling started to fall around him from damage caused by an earlier shot from the tank. He rushed back outside and stopped to catch his breath. Three Walkers approached and Carl shot each of them before heading in a different direction.

"CARL? CARL!"

Carl recognized his father's voice, trembling with pain and fear, and hurried toward the sound, taking down two more Walkers that stood between them. He rushed toward his dad with both relief and a bit of shock. Rick was limping, his face swollen, bloody, and bruised, sobbing as he embraced Carl.

"Where's Judith?" Rick asked thickly.

Carl faced his father full on, a sinking feeling in his stomach at being unable to answer. He shook his head. "I don't know…"

He let his father sling his arm around his shoulders and helped support his weight as they wandered around. Part of Carl was more hopeful about finding Judith now that he'd found his dad. Yet, another part of Carl was on the edge of despair. Rick—a strong, able-bodied, full-grown man—had reunited with him battered and beaten, hardly able to walk. How could he expect to find his baby sister alive and healthy?

Don't think like that.

They continued to hobble around together until the sight of Judith's baby carrier on the ground ahead of them made them both stop. Carl's breath hitched as they made their way over, knowing it wasn't good that they didn't hear crying.

Please be okay. Please be okay. I can't do this without you, Judith.

His heart sank about as low as he was sure it could go. The carrier was empty, covered in blood, with blood all over the ground around it. His sweet baby sister…

Rick let out a heartbroken wail, his body sinking as he leaned more heavily on Carl. Carl shut his eyes and shook his head, because of course the universe couldn't let him have this one bit of salvation. His home was destroyed, his makeshift family was gone, and now the last thread he was hanging by had been cut, sending him falling down, down, down…

He opened his eyes at the sound of a Walker growl and honed in on it, stalking over to it with his gun as a hatred rose in him for the monsters that just couldn't stop making his life hell. He pumped one shot into it and it was down, but that wasn't enough. He shot it again where it lay motionless on the ground. He shot it again and wanted to do nothing but shoot it again and again and again until all of the Walkers everywhere were eliminated. It vaguely registered to him that his gun was clicking, empty of bullets, but he couldn't stop trying to shoot.

His father came up behind him and pulled him away, and Carl broke down, sobbing along with Rick as the exhaustion of this world crushed in on him. Father and son continued to cry together as Rick, still leaning on Carl, led him away from the prison to go through the woods.

"Don't look back," his father breathed, his voice raspy. "Carl…just keep going."

As if keeping going wasn't all Carl ever did anymore.

---

The helplessness ate at Sirius like nothing other as he knelt there in the grass. He had known Harry would give himself up; that was just who Harry was, but he couldn't just let it happen. He would always fight for his godson, and he fought to break through his awful cousin's silencing charm to continue to try to convince Harry to fight for himself.

Sirius could have kissed Rick when he stopped Harry from surrendering, declaring his loyalty to Harry so certainly in spite of the risks. His respect for Rick only grew with how the man tried to save everyone there, including the scum that saw Rick as subhuman simply for being a Muggle. As much as he appreciated it, Sirius knew that it was futile, at least on the Death Eaters' end.

Sirius knew that, most likely, he was about to die.

He waited with bated breath as the Governor actually seemed to ponder Rick's words. If the lunatic had some kind of change of heart, Bellatrix might turn her attention toward him instead and leave Sirius an opening to get free. Otherwise, he was probably about to take a Killing Curse to the head.

He could accept it, but he didn't want it to happen. He wanted to be there for Harry.

His whole body was tense, ready to either die or to seize an opportunity for action. He started thinking about how much he loved Harry, hoping his thoughts would somehow find their way to his godson so that if Sirius was about to die, at least Harry knew that one thing.

Then the Governor hissed just one word.

"Liar."

And the next thing Sirius knew, Michonne's blade was slicing through Hershel's throat. Flecks of blood splashed Sirius' face, his jaw dropping and his eyes wide in shock as he watched Hershel slowly fall, his head separating from his torso before both could hit the ground.

There was a long second where everyone was silent before Harry and Rick yelled simultaneously, Rick firing his gun at the Governor, while Harry fired a curse over Sirius at Bellatrix. If he didn't know any better, Sirius would have sworn Harry had just attempted the Cruciatus Curse, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. Whatever it was hit Bellatrix and sent her to the ground with a yelp of pain and Sirius immediately threw himself to the ground and rolled away from her, dodging a spell from Rookwood and transforming into Padfoot so that the ropes around his hands snapped and he was able to stand on his own feet.

He wasted no time as his eyes quickly sought and landed on his prey. Rookwood was stepping back to put more space between the two of them, his wand up and ready to strike, but Sirius was too fast for him. He growled and leapt at Rookwood, pinning him to the ground before the man could fire. Rookwood tried to push Sirius off of him to no avail, and Sirius grabbed Rookwood's wrist in his jaws and shook it back and forth like a ragdoll to make him drop his wand. Then he swiped at Rookwood's chest with the double yield of opening his robes and causing more injury, taking satisfaction in the Death Eater's cries of pain. Sirius removed his own wand from the inside pocket with his teeth and tossed the wand off to the side before swiftly plunging his jaws into Rookwood's collarbone, causing him to yell in louder agony. He felt something hard crunch in his grasp and closed his teeth down more forcefully, jerking his head back and forth again to try to rip things. He could taste blood and was further incensed the more he saw getting smeared around Rookwood's shoulder and chest.

He leapt off in time to dodge a curse from Rabastan and quickly dove toward his wand, transforming back into a man and snatching it up. He spun around upon hearing a metallic groaning sound and saw that the fence by Harry and Rick was falling in on them. The two of them moved back safely, but Bellatrix started advancing on Harry. Sirius ran toward her and fired a hex at her that she gracefully dodged. It provided the desired effect, though, in that Bellatrix started attacking him instead of Harry, and before he knew it, Sirius and his cousin were engaged in a fast paced duel like they had been more than a month ago.

This time, Sirius wasn't going to get comfortable or cocky. He stayed focused and unyielding as he tried to read Bellatrix's body language and predict her moves before she made them. Rabastan came over to join the fight but was quickly pulled away when Harry started firing at him. Sirius tried to keep an ear and the corner of his eye open to make sure Harry was safe without compromising his concentration on his own fight.

He heard Harry yell, "No!" and was reengaged by Rabastan. He deflected Rabastan's curse and countered only to immediately dodge something from Bellatrix and answer her back as well. His eyes darted between the two of them as he fired, blocked, and dodged in quick succession, his wand practically a blur in his hand as it worked. He was just barely able to register seeing Rookwood in his periphery, storming the prison, Harry chasing after him.

It sent a nervous flutter through his chest, but Sirius didn't allow it to disrupt his flow. He assured himself that Harry was competent enough to handle Rookwood and forced himself not to think about how Harry was still recovering from the flu or how he was pursuing the Death Eater in an emotional state. He also reminded himself that Harry had been moving closer to the prison, where his Muggle allies would hopefully back him up. Ultimately, Sirius couldn't help Harry if Bellatrix or Rabastan killed him, so he kept his eyes trained on them.

Gunfire was erupting all around him, but Sirius barely registered it, using shield charms for the occasional bullet that whizzed his way. A few minutes passed, though it felt like much longer, and Sirius was panting, his cheek and ribcage both smarting from hits he'd taken. He could feel himself starting to slow down a little bit, but noted that Bellatrix and Rabastan were as well. Bellatrix was the most unscathed of all three of them, while Rabastan had blood leaking from one ear and was holding his nondominant wrist protectively against his ribs. His eyes were also swimming somewhat as if dazed, probably from when Sirius had knocked him to the ground with a hard thud.

Sirius focused more of his defensive power on Bellatrix and more of his offensive power on Rabastan. His lip twitched in triumph when his slashing hex cut a long, deep gash on the inside of Rabastan's thigh, tearing through his femoral artery and sending him to his knees with a cry of pain. The pant leg ripped open and was soaked with blood in seconds.

While Rabastan gasped for breath and hunched over, clutching at his leg with shaking hands, Sirius continued to deflect and counter Bellatrix's onslaught. As soon as he had another opening, Sirius shot the same slashing hex at one of the exposed sides of Rabastan's throat, causing him to make a gagging noise and bring a hand to hold his neck. Rabastan coughed and choked as blood poured from both his leg and his throat. He slowly lowered himself to lie down on the ground and curled in on himself in a fetal position, closing his eyes as he alternated between emitting coughs and whimpers.

Sirius felt his heartrate pick up in excitement as he realized he had one Death Eater down and could now focus entirely on killing his cousin.

Bellatrix made a growling sound and lost some of her tiredness in exchange for more ferocity. Sirius had his own burst of renewed energy and met her head-on. He was vaguely aware of Rabastan getting quieter and more still where he lay on the ground. He had another turn of good fortune when he landed a yanking hex on Bellatrix's wand arm, snapping it straight back and upright with a loud crack. Bellatrix shrieked as her shoulder was dislocated but still managed to hang onto her wand and sidestep and block the next two hexes Sirius volleyed her way. Snarling at him, she switched her wand to her left hand while her right arm dangled at an odd angle. She was only very slightly and subtly awkward dueling with her nondominant arm, adapting impressively well and maintaining her calculated anger.

Bellatrix was an absolute nutbar, but Sirius was fully aware she was considered Voldemort's best soldier for a reason.

Sirius' hand, sweaty in the summer heat, slid and fumbled ever so slightly over his wand as he was about to block another strike from Bellatrix. His wand's movement was thrown off enough that the spell got by him and sent a searing pain to his stomach. He bent over momentarily and brought his arms over his middle by reflex, his stomach lurching sharply with not just pain, but nausea too. He tried to dodge Bellatrix's next attack but was too slow and was knocked backwards onto the ground. He lifted his neck up and fired somewhat haphazardly while lying on his back, clumsily hurrying to his feet and wincing as his stomach continued experiencing shooting pains. His attack had missed and Bellatrix had her wand raised mid-swing with another attack when a shot rang out. Her upper body jerked forward with an impact and the bit of light that had started glowing at Bellatrix's wand tip disappeared as she brought her left hand under right armpit to reach around and clutch at her back. She roared with pain and fury, her teeth bared in a feral snarl as she spun around, revealing a shallow gunshot wound in her right shoulder blade.

A woman Sirius recognized as having been with the Governor's people stood there, doe eyes round and wide as she gaped at Bellatrix, pointing a gun at her in a violently shaking hand. Before Sirius could capitalize on Bellatrix having her back to him, she turned her head his way and flicked her wand back over her shoulder. Sirius hopped backwards and the blasting hex hit the ground just shy of where he had been standing. While it didn't hit him, the small blast knocked him off balance and made him fall over again.

He saw a green flash of light above and beyond him and sat bolt upright in time to see the woman who had shot Bellatrix fall over, dead, Bellatrix running away past her. Her left arm was tucked under her right armpit to clutch at her back, her mangled right arm pinned bracingly down her side. Sirius growled and pushed himself back to his feet to chase after her. She maneuvered around one of the pickup trucks from the Governor's camp and then shot something at it, setting it ablaze in a burst of fire. Sirius skidded to a halt and shielded his eyes at the flames suddenly walling up in front of him. He coughed for a moment after swallowing a bit of smoke and then stepped back and shuffled sideways to get around the vehicle.

Several yards away, Bellatrix was disappearing into the woods. Sirius hesitated, wanting to pursue her, wanting nothing more than to remove her from the earth for murdering Michonne, threatening Harry, and for helping kidnap Hershel, leading to his death. She was weak right now, in rough enough shape that Sirius could probably finish her off fairly easily if he managed to catch up to her.

Hadn't he told Michonne how much he regretted going after Peter?

Hadn't he promised Harry to be more cautious?

Bellatrix wasn't a threat right now. Harry was still at the prison, along with others who could use Sirius' help. He forced himself to turn away.

He rushed over to the body of the Muggle woman who had helped him, crouching down to look her over. She had dark hair that was in two small ponytails, round brown eyes, and wore a flannel over a t-shirt. Sirius remembered from the glimpses he'd gotten of her when he and Hershel had been brought here from the Governor's camp that she had appeared somewhat unsettled, her expressive eyes full of uncertainty. She must have realized she'd made a mistake in her alliances and tried to change directions. Even if she didn't fully understand who Bellatrix was, she knew she was a witch, and it took guts to shoot at her as a Muggle, even in the back. Sirius touched a hand to her shoulder in a quick gesture of sorrow and thanks, stood, and shot her head with a mild reductor curse to ensure she didn't turn.

Sirius ran back through the grass and spotted Rick and the Governor fighting some thirty feet away, punching each other and throwing each other around, both of them fierce and violent. Sirius started to jog their way, pausing quickly to check that Rabastan was indeed dead before going on.

At least now there were only two Death Eaters in this world, one of them grievously wounded. He could only hope that Harry had fared okay with Rookwood and that Bellatrix would succumb to her injuries.

The Governor was straddling Rick on the ground, punching him in the head and face over and over again before squeezing his hands around Rick's throat, strangling him. Rick's hands only lifted in faint effort to fight back before dropping and Sirius realized he was too injured to recover from his position.

Once close enough, Sirius pointed his wand at the Governor, sent him flying backward off of Rick so that he slammed into the ground, and then hit him with a leg locker curse. The Governor made panicked grunting and whimpering sounds as he tried to sit up, staring at his stiff, immobile legs in horror, jerking his body as if attempting to shake the spell off.

Sirius narrowed his eyes at the Governor as he strode toward him. The sound of a Walker growling somewhere nearby off to his right caught Sirius' attention. He quickly investigated the source of the sound and found Michonne's katana abandoned in the grass, picking it up before walking back over to the Governor, his hand clenched tightly around the handle as his whole body vibrated with fury.

If Sirius couldn't go after Bellatrix, he was at least going to inflict as much pain and terror possible on the man who had not only aided her, but killed Hershel and had a hand in killing Michonne, in addition to the heartache he had caused everyone else.

Blood lust pounded through Sirius as he reached the squirming Governor, who tried to reach his dropped gun that lie a few feet away. Sirius lazily kicked the gun farther out of reach. He gave Michonne's katana a casual twirl in his hand as he shook his head at the Governor. Then, he brought the sword down in a stabbing motion and struck between the Governor's legs, directly in his delicates, pressing down so that the katana was stuck in the ground.

The Governor screamed in pain and reached for his bleeding crotch, howling and sobbing pathetically. Sirius lifted the leg locker curse now that the Governor was pinned. The Governor's legs writhed and folded in and out in attempts to alleviate the pain.

Sirius admired his handiwork for a moment before turning and walking back over to where he had heard the Walker growl. He clenched his teeth again at the sight of Hershel's Walker head before pointing his wand at it and levitating it into the air. He directed it back over to the Governor, positioning it so that it hovered just a couple of feet above him.

When he saw Hershel's head floating above him, snatching its jaws hungrily, the Governor pressed his head back against the ground as if he could make himself sink through it to escape. His eye widened with fear and he began hyperventilating, wheezing out stuttered syllables, unable to properly speak through the pain he was in. It was clear, though, he was trying to beg.

"Tell Hershel you're sorry," Sirius said menacingly.

More fishlike gasps and sputters. Sirius lowered Hershel's head down closer to the Governor. It now floated just over the Governor's chest.

"Tell Hershel you're sorry!" Sirius shouted.

"I'm—" the Governor wheezed, coughing and gasping again, "—s-s-sorry…"

Sirius nodded slowly as he stared down at him. He stayed like that for a moment as the Governor's labored breathing shook with sobs again. Then, he levitated Hershel's head higher, away from the Governor, and crouched so that he could bring his own face closer to the Governor's. He stretched his lips into the most deranged smile he could muster before speaking in a sharp whisper.

"Liar."

Sirius stood upright again and lowered Hershel's Walker head until it sat on the Governor's chest, just below the Governor's chin. Before the Governor could sit up, Sirius cast a permanent sticking charm to the bottom of Hershel's neck, keeping it glued there. As the Governor was in full hysterical hyperventilation, trying to sit up and shake the head off of him, it opened and closed its jaws over the Governor's chin and began chomping through it, bit by bit, the Governor screaming in agony.

Sirius watched momentarily as Hershel's head made slow but steady work chewing through the Governor's face, leaving a mess of blood and shredded skin and tissue. The Governor let his head drop limply back to the ground in defeat, his chin essentially gone and his jaw too mangled to make any noise. Sirius allowed himself one last look and walked away.

He made his way over to Rick, who was leaning against an old prison bus as he struggled to his feet, coughing hard. Sirius quickly closed the space between them and put a hand under his arm to help him up. Rick's face was bruised and bleeding, puffy and swollen, one of his eyes almost swollen shut. They stood for a minute with Rick leaning on Sirius as the strength returned to his legs.

"Have you seen Harry?" Sirius asked urgently.

Rick shook his head as he coughed some more. His voice was incredibly raspy when he choked out, "Carl?"

Sirius shook his head as well. "I don't know. Why don't you stay here and rest? I'll look for them."

"You g—go ahead of me," Rick choked out. "But I'm not waiting here."

"All right." Sirius carefully let go of Rick, keeping a hand held out cautiously until he was sure Rick had his balance. "Be safe."

He ran toward the prison, noting that swarms of Walkers were ambling toward the prison as well, coming from different directions. Sirius realized they must have been drawn by all the noise, while some were recent turns from people who had died in the battle.

It worried him when he didn't see other living people as he got closer to the building. There were bodies all over the place, some he sadly recognized, but no one he considered himself close to so far. He didn't see Harry or Rookwood, didn't hear the sound of spell fire.

He saw the tank, flames protruding from the top like some kind of messed up birthday candle. Its operator, who Sirius had deemed a certified asshole, was dead a few feet from it, one of Daryl's arrows in his chest.

A little farther down the courtyard, a chunk of one of the outer walls had been blown to bits, bricks, rocks, glass, and metal everywhere. Sirius scanned the piles of rubble, his heart thumping as he imagined seeing a curse-scarred forehead or a hand holding a wand protruding from the wreckage. He dropped down and began moving the debris around frantically.

"Harry?" he called. "HARRY?"

"Sirius!"

Sirius' head snapped up before he could even register that it was a little girl's voice instead of his godson's. He was both relieved and disappointed to see Lizzie standing by one of the entrances to the main cell block as if guarding it, a gun in her hands.

"Lizzie, have you seen Harry?" Sirius asked, approaching her.

"A little while ago. He was with Daryl and Beth. They were getting him out of here."

Sirius swallowed. "He's alive?"

"Yeah, but I think he hurt his leg. Daryl and Beth were helping him into the woods over that way." Lizzie pointed over Sirius' shoulder and Sirius looked behind him. The stretch of woods she was talking about was already pretty far away, the space between crowded with Walkers.

They would be moving slowly if Harry's leg was hurt…Sirius could catch up with them…

"Okay, I found the sling!" Mika called. Sirius turned back to see Mika running over from the entrance to C. Sirius' heart melted in gratitude when he saw that Mika had Judith strapped to her in a baby sling, completely unharmed. Mika grunted as she hefted her arms more securely around Judith, as she was still a considerable weight for the little girl, even with the sling.

"Here, let me have her," Sirius said, eerily reminded of finding baby Harry in Godric's Hollow and surrendering him to Hagrid. He tried to shut the memory out as he helped remove the sling from Mika's shoulders and get Judith settled over his own chest. He took a quick moment to look down at her calm, curious face and marvel at her survival through all this. Then he looked at Lizzie and Mika. "All right, girls, let's try to catch up with Harry, Daryl, and Beth."

Mika shook her head vigorously, her eyes getting big. "There are too many Walkers that way."

"Leave them to me. We'll be all right."

But she was right. Sirius cast spells ahead of him in an attempt to gain the upper hand on the Walkers before they were spotted, slowing down the ones he could reach and setting some on fire. Then Judith started crying, drawing the attention of all of them. Sirius fired more rapidly, stepping backward, the heads that he struck exploding more and more closely as the Walkers rushed their way.

"No! Stop!" Lizzie yelled. "Don't hurt them!"

"Shut up, Lizzie! He has to!" Mika scolded.

Lizzie ran over and tugged at his arm. "Please, don't!"

"Lizzie!" Sirius exclaimed, tugging his arm back impatiently as Judith cried louder. He growled in frustration, quickly glancing from the advancing Walkers, to Judith, to Lizzie at his side trying to pull him away again, to Mika standing behind him with her own gun drawn while her whole body trembled. "Dammit!"

He turned away from the direction the Walkers were coming from and motioned for Lizzie and Mika to run ahead of him just before he broke into a run himself, wrapping his arms protectively around Judith while clenching his wand. "Come on! Go, go!"

He hated running in the opposite direction of the one Harry had gone in, but he had a baby and two little girls with him that had no other adults to be protected by. He couldn't leave them, and muscling his way through a crowd of Walkers with them was too dangerous. Judith was loud, Mika struggled to be violent, and Lizzie had a mental block with the Walkers that put them at risk. He would get them in the cover of the trees, away from the bulk of the Walkers, and they'd make their way back around in search of Harry. He briefly had the idea of sending sparks in the air for Harry to locate him, but Bellatrix was still out there, injured though she was, and Sirius had no idea what became of Rookwood. He didn't want to draw the Death Eaters to a baby and two kids, nor did he want Harry to seek him out only to be intercepted by Bellatrix or Rookwood along the way.

Harry was with Daryl and Beth. After Sirius, Daryl was the best person at the prison for Harry to be out in the Walker-infested wild with. Daryl would protect him. And Beth cared considerably for Harry. She would do whatever she could to look after him.

Sirius took one last look at the smoldering ruins of the prison, now crawling with Walkers, before he followed the girls into the woods.

I'll find you, Harry. I promise.

Judith, her cries having subsided, gurgled enthusiastically. He snorted as he stepped through the treeline and gently patted the top of the baby's head. "Damn right, kid."

---

Author's Note: I had fun writing Bellatrix's POV, especially putting her and other Death Eaters in a setting where they're forced to rely on Muggle things/people. I tried to write her as someone who's insane in the sense that she enjoys violence and causing pain/fear, wants power over others, and has no qualms about doing whatever she needs to get what she wants, but I still wanted her to still be real. I feel like the movies sometimes depicted her as just a mindless psycho who thought of nothing but her love for Voldemort, giving off more of a goofy cartoonish vibe, but in the books, she still showed intelligence and had a personality. I also tried to draw a couple of small parallels between her and Sirius, as I sort of see them as opposite sides of the same coin.

We'll be starting to deviate more from canon next chapter. The basic plotline of the show will still be the same, but how things are happening and who lives/dies will be quite different.

I feel like I had more to say, but can't remember right now lol. I'll come back later to add on if I think of anything. In the meantime, feel free to ask questions if you have them!