7,363Walking Dead Wizard
Chapter 126
The house-elves had what used to be a Martial courtroom converted into a meeting room. The chairs and raised platforms were gone, along with the judges and jury sections. It left the room bare until the round table was transfigured and then the chairs added. Designed thusly, so they would be closer to one another, without struggling to hear one another and its design was unique to make everyone equals, an idea brought to life by King Arthur and Merlin. In the middle of the table, was a map of the area, a great deal of it glimmering blue.
"Wow, the house-elves didn't have go to town," Luna commented, as she walked into the room, gazing at everything she knew should be there but wasn't. Even the metal cabinets were gone, which by the way, had confidential information within its archives. "What did the House-elves do with all the records?" as always, Merle was right at her back, staring at everything indifferently.
"I have no clue," Harry commented, "Would make good fire fodder though, so likely were it will end up." They never took down any of their own trees, only brought food and things from outside to keep their fires burning.
Merle chucked, "If the world hadn't ended, it would be pretty powerful information to hold," lamenting the fact the world had ended and they had nothing to hold over the people who thought themselves powerful.
"Blackmail you mean?" Bill said, making himself known, causing Harry to smirk at him, he hadn't been fooled. "Eh, we don't need documents to hold say over others." A lascivious smirk on his face, eyes twinkling deviously, making everyone realize that the twins weren't the only ones that were mischievous.
Charlie laughed, as he too joined them in the room, looking the happiest they'd ever seen him. Even before the end of the world, nobody saw him happy, mostly because he was only happy in Romania. With his beloved Dragons and even then, he had to put up with crabby idiotic bosses. Doing the work of five for a bloody pittance. If he hadn't loved what he did so much, he would have turned and walked away a long time ago. Then the world ended, and he had no need of money, go figure.
"Charlie! It's good to see you again," Harry said, smiling at the redhead.
Charlie inclined his head, smacking Harry's shoulder, "What are you talking about? We've seen each other more these past months than I did when you were at the Burrow." He teased him, as he sat down, slipping into the chair glancing briefly at the map as if it could or would provide some sort of clue as to what the meeting was for.
Harry snorted, "Well that can't be denied," he'd met Charlie only three times really, once when he was retrieving Noberta, or what she was known as at the time Norbert. Then at the Quidditch world cup, but he hadn't spent a lot of time with the wizard, Bill and Charlie had been monopolising each other's times, just as he had monopolised Ron and Hermione's, occasionally Fred and George would get in a minute or two. Then the war, the Order, and by the time they had their parts to play, it certainly hadn't been with Charlie.
"You think? Breaking the law at eleven," shaking his head, tutting playfully.
"Now this I have to hear!" Merle chortled out, always up for a good tale or two, especially when it came to Harry. "What did you get up to?" hopefully it was something truly innocent, given a lot of what he had heard about that school, he wouldn't bloody trust it with a hamster, never mind any flesh and blood kid of his.
"It's a good job it was us, otherwise you would have been in serious trouble," Charlie commented, "Then again, when it came to you, Dumbledore would have likely buried anything to do with the incident." There was no anger or anything in his voice over what happened or what could have happened. Just stating simple fact. Dumbledore would have made it go away.
Harry grimaced, conceding the truth with an incline of his head.
"What happened?" Merle asked again, staring at Charlie curiously, his feet thumping as he perched them on top of the table.
"Oh, my youngest brother, Ron wrote to me, begged me to help Hagrid who had hatched a dragon in his very wooden hut." Charlie told him, shaking his head, "Foolish man, if it was anyone else other than Hagrid, I would have thought Ron was just jerking my chain."
"That and Ron wasn't one for joking around," Harry quipped, it wasn't quite so painful to talk about him, especially with the rest of the Weasley's.
Charlie laughed, "No, Ron wasn't one for taking a joke, he was a bit too much like Percy, took everything against him as a serious offense." He missed his parents, missed Ron and Ginny, but he was so grateful that some of his family had survived after all. He'd grieved for them all for so long, not sure whether they'd survived or not only to be reunited with them years after this whole thing started.
"Oi, I take offense to that!" Percy grumbled as he entered with Madam Bones on his heels, who just watched everything with a glimmer of amusement in her gaze.
"So, what happened?" Merle ignored everyone, intent on getting the whole story out of Charlie.
"Oh, I requested leave, convinced a few apprentices to ask for leave as well, as we flew from Romania to Scotland, took us forever, but we did it." Charlie informed him, they stopped for sleep and food during the day, but at night they flew near constantly. He couldn't afford a damn Portkey; international ones were very expensive. His parents had only been able to visit once since he left home, same for Bill, although, they'd won money that time so it was easier. They'd refused to save it; Bill had told them it had a better use than visiting him. Bill used to make a whole lot more money than he did. He'd just refused to come home; he hated their mothers smothering. Every time he went home, he got vexed over her constant nitpicking. Complaining about his hair, his clothes, his jewellery choice, everything, Bill just got too weighed down by it all. He understood that, he too got a lot of aggravation from their mother. They loved her, but just…just better from afar.
"How long did it take you?" Harry piped in, curious himself now, as they waited on the others either to either portkey to them or use the cupboard.
"I think just over a week," Charlie said, scratching at his chin, trying to recall, it was so long ago now, and it was a blip on the radar of all his adventures. "The way back was far more memorable." Getting to see a baby dragon? Without it's mother around? Rare thing indeed, Hagrid had been so foolish to do what he did. He had actually contemplated turning him in, but instead he'd elected to write him a letter warning him if he even heard a rumour of him doing something so foolish again, he would inform the Ministry. Dragons were not toys, the damage she could have done…it gave him nightmares. Especially knowing his siblings had been at the school too which was worse. It was a miracle she'd adapted to the wild, having been hand fed and been nowhere near other dragons in her formative memory.
"Now she's found her way here," Harry commented. "How many dragons are in the sanctuary now?"
"Ten," Charlie said puffing up proudly, "And I'm pretty sure one of the females is pregnant, which means there will be more eggs soon." Getting to run it at his own leisure? It was absolutely amazing, and the respect he got from the other dragon handlers meant more than anyone would ever know.
Harry frowned, "That's getting to be a big number, Charlie," he cautioned the wizard, "There won't be an infinite number of walkers to keep them as well fed as they are now." sure, they had breeding programmes for all the animals that continued to flourish both in PA and the trunks and PA.2, The Kingdom, Savior compound, Iivermorny and Hogwarts. The Kingdom and Savior compound was the most recent and they were still building the programme up.
Charlie sobered up, "I'm aware," the very idea of killing any dragons, even if it was for the species on good so they didn't starve or humans didn't starve…didn't mean he liked it. "I'm just not fully comfortable with the idea of destroying any of the eggs." He had wanted to preserve the dragons and all their species, not endanger them further. To protect them from those who sought to destroy them for their monetary value.
"No, we can't, I agree," Harry confessed, rubbing his forehead in anxiety, troubled as always, in one case or the other.
"No point in borrowing trouble, eggs might not hatch, right?" Daryl pointed out, it happened to all sorts of animals, likely happened to dragons too. Low-key rubbing Harry's back, he wasn't supposed to be getting himself riled up, it ain't good for none of em.
"It's true, we are lucky if one of the clutch survives," Charlie explained, "They can have up to four or five, and those that actually hatch don't always survive the year."
"How often do they have…clutches as you said?" Merle questioned; he hadn't even been aware there were ten dragons! He disliked his blindness of anything that was happening. The soldier in him he guessed, especially now that he was clear minded and had been for years now. It wasn't quite so easy to get drugs, even if he could, he would never risk Luna or Harry for that matter.
"Luckily there's only two female dragons, and once a year," Charlie explained, giving him a smile, "But this is the first clutch since the apocalypse." At least one that he knew, whether eggs had been hatched in the world, well, who knew? There just may have been. They'd have no way of finding them, but he couldn't focus on that, or the people whose life might be endangered by any other dragons. He prayed that wizards had managed to secure the dragon sanctuaries worldwide, and were able to save them.
"That we know of," Harry added wryly, "Let's just hope that they are, last thing we need is a bunch of dragons in the sky eating what's left of humanity."
Bill shuddered, especially considering how real that could possibly be, and they wouldn't have the strength to fight them.
"Would be fitting, wouldn't it?" Harry said eerily, figuring what they were thinking, "The world once belonged to the reptiles in the form of Dinosaurs, only to belong to the Dragon reptiles in the end."
"Don't give me nightmares," Luna grumbled, she loved animals, yes, and would do anything for them, but too many dragons? Nightmare material, she wasn't deluded.
"OH, THAT WAS HIGHLY UNPLEASANT!" Ezekiel hollered as he staggered to the ground, after the Portkey deposited him in the room.
Luna swallowed her giggles as she helped Ezekiel stop moving until he regained his equilibrium.
"NEVER AGAIN!" he shouted, shaking his head as if the portkey had affected his hearing. "NEVER EVER AGAIN!"
"They aren't that bad," Merle commented, amusement colouring his tone.
Ezekiel gaped at Merle, "How would you know?! Have you been forced into taking one?" allowing Luna to guide him into a sitting position with his arms on his legs and head lowered in-between them.
Merle snorted, "Yes," and he didn't act like that afterward.
"Your portkey had stability, and a handle for a good grip, it's easier when items are made that way," Harry said in amusement. "Smaller portkey's tend to be worse on the person…commuting."
Ezekiel huffed out an incredulous laugh, "Commuting!" that was a good word for it. Sighing softly, feeling much improved now that he didn't feel like he'd literally been stuffed into the eye of a storm, or better yet, into a dryer and left to die. He squeezed Luna's arm in silent thanks, grateful for her assistance, for it had truly been one of the most horrendous experiences he'd ever suffered.
"How is Shiva?" Luna asked, the admiration she held for the animal still present, despite the fact she had been up close and personal with the tiger in the past. Saving it's life had not been considered a waste of resources, but it was with great regret that she may well be the last tiger alive in the world, and without another tiger, a male one, the species were more than just endangered…they were soon to be extinct. It was unfortunately, not the only animal to become so, but they did try to save what they could, they'd even managed to save pandas.
"She's doing wonderful," Ezekiel declared enthusiastically, just as adoring of all animals as Luna was. The two could sit and discuss animals, their treatments, temperaments and even mating habits for hours if they were given a chance. They'd done it twice over the phone, which was extremely odd to see nowadays. Before the apocalypse it would have been the norm, but after everything went offline, all technically had been abandoned, it was of no use to anyone. Until they'd figured out how to use magic on electrical items, well runes really, but it was still magic at the end of the day. "A little leery and more reactive of Walkers but it's understandable." He added, as Luna pulled him up to his feet, and guided him to the table.
"She still listens to you?" Luna enquired, worry flashing through her blue eyes, she knew if Shiva turned, she could manage to take out the entire Kingdom population should she put her mind to it.
"One hundred percent," Ezekiel murmured, he wasn't foolish enough to not understanding why Luna sought to ask him as such. Shiva was beautiful, and like most beautiful animals they were dangerous in a certain setting. They could only hope that Shiva understood the difference between walkers and humans, for if she took it as them all being the same, she may snap. All living things had their snapping point, animal or human. It's why he had primarily kept all but a select few she definitely trusted to see how she'd deal. He was lucky for Harry and his community; he would have lost her if not for their quick actions. Worse, he would have had to put her down, he didn't have anything that could have been used to sedate her, let alone stitch her up.
"That's good, I'm glad to hear it," Harry said, patting his shoulder, proving he'd been listening to him as well as talking to Charlie as well, how did he do that?
"Alright, since we're all here, take a seat everyone!" Harry called out so that even those furthest from him heard him.
Ezekiel watched everyone automatically obey him without question, even he didn't get that kind of obedience from his people. There were people who were three times this man's - Harry's – age and they actually listened. They didn't just listen to him, they respected him he realized, watching their gazes turn to Harry waiting, watching and listening. He could stand to learn a thing or two from Harry, he knew, for he'd love that sort of respect.
"Here with us today is Susan, Amelia Bones, aunt and niece respectively and Blaise Zabini, they're in charge of the Savior compound," Harry gestured towards the aforementioned people who inclined their heads, "Ezekiel from the Kingdom community," hand pressing against the man's back, "All of you know myself, Luna, Merle and my husband Daryl from P.A, Charlie, Bill and Larissa from P.A two, Larissa is still learning English so be kind." He warned them. "From Hogwarts we have Hermione, Severus and Minerva."
"Aren't we missing a place?" Ezekiel asked confounded.
"Two technically," Harry said with an amused snort, "Jesus is listening in the mirror," Hilltop wasn't exactly somewhere they communicated with daily, it was very self-sufficient, Harry was pleased to say. They traded animals, and sometimes foods or medicine depending on what they needed at the time. "As for Iivermorny, Glenn should be here with them already. They arrived hours ago, now that the cupboard is up and running there, we don't need to reply on written notes to get our points across." Recalling their frustration in getting word to the other magical schools.
Just as he finished speaking, he heard the subtle sound of footsteps, the door opened almost without sound, everyone still used to remaining quiet now to avoid walkers.
"Ah here they are now!" Harry said, "Representing Iivermorny magical school, Gaby and Grace Rhee, Glenn's sisters."
"Why not the Headmistress?" Susan asked befuddled, staring at the girls, feeling a little offense at the fact she didn't come. "Shouldn't she be here representing her school?"
Harry arched a brow, and gazed expectantly at the two girls, silently wondering that himself. He had a guess or two he could make for it, but he wondered if they would be honest or not. If they are anything like Glenn they wouldn't like to lie, or be incapable of it, Glenn was a rotten liar, hilariously rotten at that. On the other hand, they might have been chosen because of a diplomatic air, which was important when dealing with new people.
"Honestly? We're supposed to say that she's busy protecting the school and goes out to defend the marches and pits. Which she does to be fair, and it takes nearly all day to deal with any Inferi in the vicinity, she goes every third day to help with the efforts." Gaby explained solemnly, as she moved, taking the lead with her brother and sister moving behind her. "She doesn't really trust outsiders now, and not to mention doesn't trust the cabinets."
"Well, a few years ago, that would be fair," Hermione commented, glancing at Harry, recalling what had happened to Montague before Draco managed to fix them. Which by the way, had been a really well done. It had impressed her, and she was very difficult to impress. Draco was intelligent, he just didn't show it much, mostly because of the imbecilic shit that came out of his mouth while they were at Hogwarts. Rhetoric he'd been fed his entire life, and a hatred for muggle-borns and not to mention he'd been raised to hate Harry.
Severus snorted, knowing exactly what they were referring to.
"What happened a few years ago?" Merle was never afraid to ask questions that might have a tragic end.
"I don't wanna know!" Daryl declared, especially not if Harry wanted him going inside of those things again.
"I've told you about what happened," Harry said, giving Daryl a look as he did so, "But they were broken when it happened, and those aren't the broken ones. They've literally been built from the ground up, and are completely safe, for both no-Maj's and magical people to use."
"Go long enough, you would begin to feel the only people you can trust are those around you," Hermione sighed, she knew well enough that was true. Anyone who had been in war would know this to be true, Harry, herself, Merle, and even Daryl, everyone here had been to war it was just a different kind of war.
Merle grunted his agreement, taking his feet off the table as drinks made its way around the table though the use of magic. Delighting in the fact it was a butterbeer in front of him. They'd tried to get him to enjoy pumpkin juice, which was disgusting, the only thing he liked pumpkin in was a pie, not as favourable as peach though.
"Are we to assume you're going to be our contact from Iivermorny from now on?" Susan questioned, still displeased that the woman herself hadn't come instead delegated the task. The meeting was set nearly a fortnight ago ensuring everyone could come, not that there was much preventing it to be fair.
"We are," Grace was the one that spoke this time, "We jumped at the chance of spending time with our brother…until we heard from him, we thought the worst." Not even a hint of a wobble in her voice over the confession, but it was nothing new, they'd all been through something similar to an extent.
"Alright, let's get to it," Harry called out, gesturing for them to sit, "Have you had any trouble? By that I mean the human kind?"
"No, nothing of the kind," Grace revealed.
"Nothing,"
No trouble,"
Heads were shaken, they too had no trouble with humans.
"I'd hope not to ask…but seriously nothing would surprise me, you all know how to track movement, yes? Especially the human kind so you'd be aware of anyone encroaching on your territories?" Harry asked, staring them all down, it didn't matter if they were a former professor, or class mate or someone he didn't know well, they all received a look.
"We do now," Gaby murmured, a sheepish sheen to her, they'd assumed they were safe until the group managed to get through the wards and into the school after taking care of every single walker in the vicinity. Which took a long time, especially with more walkers venturing closer with every sound they made. "Honestly though, we're safe for the most part, we live in elevated levels, and we have bogs and the like between the bottom of the mountain and the top."
"Not every single wizard and witch will be kind," Harry said with remarkable patience, his face impassive, "All it takes is luck, intelligence and power, then they could overrun your school. Never take your security for granted." He warned her, hopefully she'd warn the headmistress and make changes. It was a miracle they hadn't already been overrun if this was the attitude they had towards the school.
Then again, most magical's did believe themselves invincible just because they had magic. He said most because not everyone is that way, Harry was chiefly amongst them though.
"We've set quite a few traps in the end of the wards in P.A 2," Charlie shrugged, "The muggles were truly atrocious!"
"Utterly barbaric those traps," Bill agreed, looking green around the gills.
Harry laughed softly, even Daryl didn't use the ones Bill and Charlie were talking about, they used more humane ones, the ones Bill and Charlie were using were vicious, with both pieces of the trap with teeth and the way they clamp they could remove whatever limb they caught. "Catch anyone with those, they'll not be going anywhere anytime soon." It was a good caution to have, he applauded their determination to make sure P.A 2 was secure.
"Merlin, what kind of traps are you talking about?" Amelia asked, slightly alarmed by what they were saying.
Harry shook his head, "It doesn't matter, just make sure your own people don't accidentally activate them, I'm not wasting potions on stupidity. Understand?" giving them a serious look, just like he wouldn't give food or weapons to Deanna and the rest of her ilk.
Bill nodded seriously, giving his silent agreement.
"No trouble with walkers, or as some call them Inferi?" Harry asked.
"We're having some trouble, we ran out of the runes you gave us a while back," Jesus confessed, looking remarkably sheepish in the mirror he'd received last week.
"Why the hell didn't you say anything?" Harry asked, extremely displeased with the man, giving him a glare of sheer annoyance.
"See here, we're struggling, we've got nothing to bargain," Jesus explained his reasonings.
"You know I don't give a shit about that," Harry refuted his words with a bite to his tone that wasn't there previously.
Jesus just flushed and looked away for a few seconds, he knew that, but he didn't want the group to be indebted to anyone else more than they already were. They owed Harry more than they could ever reveal, not only had he protected the group on a whole but set them up somewhere else.
Exhaling nosily, "Luna would you mind visiting tomorrow with a bag of the runes?"
"I don't mind at all," Luna agreed, she was doing most of the heavy lifting now, since Harry was due to drop any given moment. Harry hated it, he was so independent that he hated asking for help. Luckily, he didn't mind asking her, otherwise things could have gotten a bit complicated.
"Good, is there anything else you need, Jesus?" Harry asked, turning to face the mirror again.
"Well, if you don't mind, some pain medication? We can't be sure but we believe Marvin has a slipped disc." Jesus revealed, "He's sixty years old, and is insisting on not having anything, and trying to stay active but the pain is too intense."
"Want someone to see him to see if it is?" Harry asked, straightening up.
"We have a nurse, it's as good as a confirmation," Jesus reassured him.
"I'll ask Lily what type of pain relief is best for a…slipped disc and if we have any, I'll send it with Luna," Harry told him.
"Thank you," Jesus answered gratefully.
"Any needs in your own groups?" asking everyone.
"Well, there's a few people that need help in mine," Susan confessed, face going red in mortification, "But I'd like to ask alone if that's possible."
Harry frowned, "It's not like we'll ask for names, Susan, what could you need?" wizards and witches were more open about sex than muggles or so he'd been led to believe anyway.
Amelia just stared at her niece, waiting expectantly, she couldn't be a leader if she felt uncomfortable talking about womanly problems.
Susan squeaked, "Um, well, you see, we…uh, Negan, he uh, had multiple 'wives' and well, that is to say, he left his mark so to speak."
Merle laughed, finding it comical that a grown woman was finding sex so difficult to talk about.
"Are you trying to tell me that the women have sexually transmitted diseases?" Harry asked, pinching the bridge of his nose at this nonsense. "For fuck sake, is there even a potion for that?" he wondered out loud.
"No, we cannot get sexually transmitted diseases, our magic gets rid of it before it could possibly affect us. Therefore, there has never been a reason to make such a concoction." Severus declared smoothy.
"So, this is a Hershel and Lily problem," Harry replied, "How many wives did he have?" sure he'd completely emptied out his fair share of pharmacy's, a lot of them smaller ones in malls but it helped build up quite a load in his trunk. Quite frankly he's bound to have quite a lot, considering he'd never had to deal with anyone having a sexually transmitted disease, yet. Thankfully.
"Seven," Susan grimaced, "They're doing well in regards to their mental health, but its taking a lot to make them see it was rape, even if he gave them the illusions of a choice."
That certainly sobered everyone up, the amusement the felt fading fast.
"Did any of them end up pregnant?" Minerva questioned, utterly disgusted by what she was hearing. If she hadn't been grateful for Harry acting, she would have been now.
"It's a miracle, no they didn't," Susan replied, remaining as professional as she could. She'd gotten so close to them though, and worked with them in bettering themselves and helping ease their suffering, she'd use the term 'get over' but you could never get over such a thing, you could only overcome it.
"That's something at least," Severus commented, "Anyone have a mind healer or therapist in their groups?"
Everyone remained silent, none did.
"That's disappointing, but not surprising," Severus stated, no matter, its likely many of them wouldn't want to share their horrendous stories to a stranger, even if they had been a therapist before the world they knew came to an end.
"Is there anything else anyone needs while we're on this portion of the meeting?" Harry called out, shifting in discomfort.
"Actually, we do need something," Minerva answered, "Wands, we've got eleven-year-olds now that need wants and three don't have suitable or acceptable matches. It's going to begin interfering with their magic and ability to cast it soon if it's not corrected."
"Ron had Charlie's wand for a year, or was it, Bill's? either way, even Neville had his father's wand for bloody years before he got a new one." Harry said throwing Minerva a baffled look, as he shifted again.
Minerva's mouth thinned out in displeasure, "If I had known I would have taken them to Ollivander's myself, foolish idiots! It was hardly any wonder that we saw an improvement in Ronald's spellcasting in second year, and not to forget Neville."
Harry blinked, lips twitching, it was strange to hear his Head of House actually referring to his friends by their given name. Especially since Ron had never interacted with her as a fully grown adult with a job. Neville was different, of course, still, focus, wands, he wasn't best pleased he was going to have to give any up, his supply was quite short. "Did all the Oceanside students get a good one right away?"
"They had no trouble at all, which is why we're annoyed by the wand not choosing any of them." Minerva declared, they had an entire shop full of wands, it didn't bode well for the future, that's all she could say. She worried about the time when there were no wands left. "How many do you have in your possession?"
"Three thousand," Harry replied, ignoring Minerva's gape, he'd done his searching when it came to magical areas to ensure he got everything from potion ingredients to wands. "Bring them brough, they can try for one amongst my pile, but we also need to have someone creating wands." He'd also inform her to make sure to collect the wands off anyone that had passed away, and to check wand holsters of walkers that might be wizards and witches. It might seem disrespectful but it wasn't, even before the apocalypse. Some families kept wands to see if a child might take to it, like a family heirloom.
"That many…?" Minerva gaped.
"There's a lot more wizards and witches in America, and a lot more magical districts," Harry pointed out, before gasping, okay, that felt really, really fucking painful. He felt like his insides were being liquified, what the fuck? "OOWWW!" standing up, clutching his side, fuck, fuck, fuck that was really sore.
Severus automatically cast a few spells, easily deducing exactly what was going on, and a read of the diagnostic spell that he cast, proved him quite correct. "It's time." He was quite lucky really, all he had to do was wait on the sac weakening so it could be cut away, witches still had it worst of all.
A/N – yep that's the twins coming! I've thought of everything I possibly could when it comes to the story, and I'm now out of ideas, I'll try and post a few more chapters with the babe once it comes but after that I definitely need to finish it, but on the bright side, there's a different one you can sink your teeth into (already started after it has a chapter or two written) so that's nice! Also, I got a review about the whisperers, and it was sort of implied within the story that they were destroyed with the Fiendfyre the magical folks cast, if you go for a re-read you'll likely notice it, very subtle but there! I think the last few chapters will be mostly family orientated, would you be alright with that? Or would you prefer to see further worldbuilding? R please x