7,381Walking Dead Wizard
Chapter 2
The moment Harry was in the privacy of his tent, he flipped the lid of his trunk open and moved his shrunk trunks to the side to do a quick survey of one compartments contents; he had a few vials of Phoenix tears packed among his large potion supplies, he suspected not even they could help against a walker bite, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. Not to mention his stockpile of ammunition was sure to come in handy if they encountered an undead hoard in the city. Harry shrunk his trunk down and slid it into his pocket, then ducked out of his tent; physically he was prepared for their foray into Atlanta, but he was still gearing himself up mentally. He knew Merle would be impossible to deal with, he was sure to be mad as hell about being left on top of that roof, it would be quite the task getting him to calm down enough to return to camp.
Harry wandered over to where Daryl's car and Merle's bike were parked, silently contemplating the best way to go about rescuing Merle. He would likely be weak, it was incredibly hot outside so he was sure to be thirsty and, depending on where he'd been handcuffed, suffering from sunstroke.
"Glenn!" Harry called, heading back to the main area of the camp to gather a bit of information on Merle's condition.
"Yes," the Korean boy asked hesitantly, he hadn't had any part in handcuffing Merle to the roof but he was still wary of Harry's wrath.
"Was Merle cuffed in a shaded are? Or has he had to put up with this heat without any sort of protection?"
"If it gets too hot up there he should be able to roll under the pipes he was cuffed too, they should provide a good amount of protection from the sun."
"Well, that's something at least," Harry sighed
"Do you want me to come?" Glenn offered. "I know the area best." despite the fact he really didn't want to return there today after what happened.
"No," Shane said, approaching from behind. "The less people who people who leave the camp, the better."
An unhappy looking Rick wasn't far behind. "The guns would be worth the trip, we need the protection." This was obviously an argument they'd been having for a while.
"No," Harry said shortly. "None of you are coming. Thanks for the offer, Glenn, but it'll go a lot smoother if it's just the two of us."
"You can't stop me from coming, we need the guns and I'm responsible for what happened," Rick insisted.
"Yes, you are responsible," Harry agreed, "but you're still not coming with us."
"We need everyone we get here. There was a walker just outside of camp," Shane pointed out. "We need every able bodied man just in case more wander up here."
Harry startled slightly at that revelation, from what he understood walkers moved in herds, if one had been around the camp more were bound to be close by. The quarry was no longer safe, they would have to look into either fortifying the camp or moving on; he'd gather the others and have that conversation with them after he'd retrieved Merle.
"Hey, let's go!" Daryl shouted from across the camp.
Harry scoffed and rolled his eyes at the man. "All right, all right, give me a second," he called back.
Rick looked conflicted. "I really think I should go."
"You're life isn't worth Merle Dixons even with the guns thrown in!" Lori Grimes, who was apparently married to their newcomer, exclaimed, shaking her head at the man.
"Lori…" Rick said imploringly.
"Don't go dad," Carl begged, his doleful eyes staring up at him.
While Rick was distracted dealing with his family, Harry slipped away from the group and jogged to Daryl's truck. The moment he was in the car, Daryl was pulling away from the camp, leaving a somewhat dismayed looking Rick in their dust.
"That was close," Harry sighed. "Drive until we're well away from the quarry, out of Dale's line of sight.
Daryl nodded absentmindedly and did as told, ten minutes later he veered into the woods and continued to drive until he was certain the truck couldn't be seen from the road. The two men climbed from the cab and met around back.
"You'll need to take my hand," Harry told Daryl. "Or give me your wrist, whichever you prefer." He knew Merle was extremely prejudice against gays, but he wasn't sure about how Daryl felt about them. Daryl definitely emulated his older brother attitude wise, but whether he truly felt that way was anyone's guess.
Daryl didn't even blink before holding out his arm for Harry to take. The Dixon brothers already knew about Harry's magic, they'd seen it in use but hadn't actually had it used on them yet.
"Fair warning this is going to feel extremely weird," Harry cautioned. "Keep your eyes closed, hold your breath. You'll feel as though you're being sucked through a tube but it'll be over quick." With that warning, he took a firm grasp on Daryl's wrist and Apparated them, not even waiting to see if Daryl did what he suggested.
Harry and Daryl appeared on the roof, and predictably, Daryl immediately began gagging; Harry carefully herded him away from the edge of the building, the last thing they needed was for Daryl to fall over the edge in his disoriented state. He shoved him into sitting position, then crossed to the roof where Merle was supposed to be cuffed. When he caught sight of the man, he began gagging himself. Merle had gotten his hand on a handsaw and was attempting to saw off his own hand.
"Damn it Merle, what the hell are you doing?" Harry snapped, he snatched the saw from the man's hand and flung it to the side, he then went on to knock Merle out with a stunning spell. He immediately set to work on healing his arm, Merle hadn't gotten too far, he'd yet to actually hit bone, but it was still bleeding quite heavily. Harry summoned a vial of Essence of Dittany from his trunk and poured a few drops over the wound, it only took a handful of seconds for Merle's skin to begin knitting itself back together. Harry checked the older man for any other injuries, he was clear of any but there was a suspicious white powder on the tip of his nose.
"He's been doing drugs," Harry hissed. No wonder Rick Grimes had cuffed him to the roof, Merle was erratic at the best of times, hopped up on drugs he was a danger to himself and everyone around him. "He's dehydrated as well and he's showing signs of heatstroke." After using a spell to unlock the handcuffs, Harry doused Merle with a steady stream of water.
"He promised he wasn't doing that anymore," Daryl scowled.
"Yeah? Well he lied. Accio handcuff key," Harry snatched the small key from the air as it came sailing toward his face. Who knew when the handcuffs might come in handy?
"He gonna be okay?" Daryl asked, looking over Merle worriedly.
"He'll probably be a little sore and he'll need a dew day's rest, but he should be fine," Harry said. "Let me wrap his wrist up and we can head back."
"What about the guns?"
"I think I'm close enough to summon them from here, it'll take a little longer for them to get here though. Accio gun bag." He'd took a quick peek in Glenn's mind when they were learning earlier, the other man had seen Rick being overrun by the herd of undead and drop the bag, so Harry was able to clearly visualize it in his head.
It took less than five minutes to reach them, Harry dug through the cache of weapons and ammunition, taking stock of all that they had. "No silencers," he noted. Not that muggle silencers actually silenced the weapons, they only muffled the crack of gunshot whereas magically manipulates suppressors cut the noise out altogether.
"I'm going to do some scavenging, you staying here?" Harry said as he zipped the duffel bag back up.
Daryl grunted in affirmation.
"I'll only be a few minutes, five minutes tops. I figure they left in a hurry and so didn't have much time to check the store for anything useful. I'll ward the doors so nothing but me can get up here."
Daryl nodded and settled down on the ground beside his unconscious brother.
"'Keep this on him," Harry said, transfiguring a strip of cloth torn from his shirt and drenching it in water. "It'll keep him cool until I get back."
Daryl silently watched Harry drape the wet blanket over Merle, before turning and leaving the rooftop. He didn't like the thought of Harry going off on his own, but he knew that, of the three of them, Harry was best at handling the walkers both with his magic and without it. He would be back.
Edited by AnarchicMuse thank you :)