A week had gone by since Randall had been brought to the farm. Harry had made the decision to wait and see what happened - to give Rick a chance to prove himself a capable leader. Quite frankly Luna's words had him apprehensive about even attempting to leave, would the others truly try and follow him? He didn't want to be responsible for anyone, especially people who weren't equipped to deal with this world they were now living in. It didn't take a genius to know the brothers would come with him, Merle absolutely hated Rick and the others, and for good reason they'd left him to die on a roof. He was only staying because of him and Daryl he'd bet. Luna obviously would come with him as well. The thought of any of those people going with him and ending up dead...chilled him, he honestly never wanted to be responsible for them but Luna was right - he would never say no, and take away their own right to choose. He'd had too many decisions made for him to even consider going down that route.
"Do you have any sleeping draughts?" Luna asked Harry as she sat down on one of the chairs outside Harry's tent. She meant a sleeping draught not a Dreamless sleep draught, to take that potion would be extremely dangerous it kept you out of it, while a normal sleeping draught just helped you get to sleep. Considering how exhausted Harry was she knew it would work right away.
"Yeah, a few, why?" Harry asked Luna blankly, in the week she'd been here her sunburn had faded leaving her to actually turn a light brown colour, it was odd seeing her that way, Luna had always been extremely pale, even paler than him and that was saying something. It was also odd seeing her so serious, and dressed in so little, all the little things that made Luna who she was - was gone, the radish earrings, the cork necklace, she hadn't been wearing them when she got here either so he did wonder what happened to them.
"Take it and get some sleep." Luna demanded, her tone booking no arguing. She knew she had to be firm to get Harry to do anything; he would cave for her after an undetermined amount of arguing. She should have done it earlier, but she hadn't like an idiot. They'd all been on edge expecting more walkers, but it had been a week now and all was calm and quiet - for now.
"Are you insane? I'm not taking a sleeping draught," Harry hissed keeping his voice quiet so nobody overheard them.
"Do you want to get yourself killed because you're too tired to fight?" Luna pushed.
"I'll be fine," Harry said dismissively, "I'm getting sleep," waving her off half heartedly, not even having the strength for it.
"Not enough, I, Merle and Daryl are taking turns on watch tonight, so please, please get some sleep." Luna pleaded with Harry; she'd noticed that he actually tended to sleep longer when Daryl or Merle was on watch. "You said yourself it wasn't going to last here, I would rather you refreshed when it did happen and able to think straight."
"Stop throwing my own words back at me," Harry groused, he hated when that happened.
"If there's even a sign of trouble I'll come and wake you up," Luna promised, sensing Harry's inward struggle coming to an end.
"I didn't even agree," Harry complained he hated when other people were right.
"Harry, I've known you a long time," Luna said chuckling in amusement, "Now go, and get some sleep."
"Come on, Anubis," Harry whistled to get the dogs attention as he stood, it wasn't used to its new name yet but he was getting there. He'd decided against all and every wizarding names he had thought. Anubis was the god of the underworld in Egyptian mythology associated with mummification and the afterlife. Considering it was crawling with the people who had died he found it quite an apt name for the world they lived in.
Luna stepped up and hugged Harry tightly, knowing her best friend was going through something that was making him conflicted and worried. "We'll be fine, Harry, we'll get through this." she believed that with the whole of her being, whether they would survive though was another thing altogether. All they could do was try, but she honestly believed with Harry she wouldn't be steered wrong, he would make sure they actually survived this.
"I wish you had stayed at Hogwarts, Luna," Harry said tiredly, hugging her back, "I would have felt so much better knowing you were all safe."
"Nobody is safe, they never have been, it's just worse now," Luna corrected him, "We've always been survivors, it's just a different kind of surviving now."
Harry huffed, "Story of our lives huh," he said as he stepped back out of her hug.
"We're lucky, we have something more than they do, we have a greater chance of surviving, if we had normal lives...we would be like these people." Luna informed him. "Maybe even dead. We aren't though, because we were armed with knowledge, with power and with conviction. Now go get some sleep."
Harry wordlessly nodded, opening his tent, Anubis following him his tail wagging, only then did Harry zip the tent back up. Opening the trunk he took out the blue potion, knowing it was a simple sleeping draught due to the colour; dreamless sleeping draughts had more purple in its colour. He lay down in his sleeping bag, and downed half the potion before sliding it back into his trunk and closing it, the feeling of Anubis lay beside him snuggling into his side, was the last thing he remembered as sleep took him into Morpheus' arms.
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Daryl and Merle were on top of the RV keeping watch, Merle was keeping an eye on the shed where Randall was being kept, and of course Daryl was keeping an eye on the opposite direction mostly for walkers. They did any duty that kept them away from the group as long (and much) as possible. Both of them turned when they heard a noise inside the RV to see Luna climbing out the hole that had been created (at least the netting) when Dale saved Andrea from the walker that day on the highway.
"Hi," Luna said as she sat comfortably, legs hanging inside the RV. "Why hello, Luna it's absolutely beautiful tonight," she added sarcastically, grinning slightly to show she wasn't offended by their silence, she'd had a week to get used to them and had been warned it was the way they were. Her mind drifted to the first time Merle had actually spoken directly to her.
000000 Flash back
Luna was sitting outside Harry's tent, with a blade sharpener in her hand, slowly and easily sliding it up and down her blade. The blade was spelled never to get dull, but that didn't mean it shouldn't be sharpened, it would also never rust, the Goblins were always brilliant when it came to weaponry. Her lunch was tilting precariously on the chair, but never once toppled over. Everyone was eating lunch, Dale, Andrea, Amy, Beth, Maggie and Glenn around the RV while Shane, Carol, Rick, Lori, Carl and Sophia ate at the actual camp ground they had, while Daryl, Merle, Harry and Luna sat nearer their tents cleaning their weapons, or reading as Harry was doing while munching on his lunch. The dog was munching on the entrails of the animals that had been caught that day. It was absolutely a disgusting sight, that many grimaced at, but it wasn't as if there were any alternatives to be had.
"That your blade sugar tits?" Merle asked Luna, all the while leering at her as he did with the women in the group at some point.
"I assume you're talking to me since I'm the only female here?" Luna asked not even looking up from her task. Then her electrifying blue eyes did look on Merle's darker blue ones and said, "I can assure you, they aren't made of sugar,"
Harry snorted, before beginning to cough as his food got lodged in his throat, he thankfully managed to cough it up before he gained the attention of absolutely everyone there. The look on Merle's face had him actually laughing fully blown, his mouth open as he stared at Luna with a look on his face that said he didn't know how the hell to react, whether to be amused or question her sanity. It was obvious nobody had ever said such a thing to him before.
Merle went quiet after that, a thoughtful look on his face as he watched her, eventually a smirk formed.
End 0000000
"How did you both meet Harry?" Luna asked, despite the fact it had been a week, she didn't know the particulars, Harry trusting them was enough for her but she wanted to speak to them. "He doesn't trust easy as I'm sure you've noticed."
"Rednecks not good enough to trust?" Merle asked her, a hint of snapping in his tone.
"I'd be happy to answer that...if you tell me what redneck actually means," Luna commented calmly, her gaze never wavering from Merle.
Merle scoffed but more in amusement, "He asked the same thing too,"
"So?" Luna pushed for an answer.
"Poor white trash," Merle muttered, all familiar names he'd heard his entire life.
"You always insult yourselves this way?" Luna asked aghast. "We're all poor now; money means absolutely nothing, so the term should mean nothing. How did Harry react when you told him that?" a sly smirk appearing briefly.
"He ain't said nothing," Merle shrugged.
"Ooo, he went quiet," Luna said, "That's a sign that Harry's really pissed off."
Merle grunted, he had noticed it; he went real quiet until he just boiled over and actually said what was on his mind.
"Harry's never discriminated people," Luna revealed, shaking her head, "He doesn't care what background you come from, how much money you have. His best friend's family didn't have enough money to buy new clothes each year, or the school uniform. Ron was jealous of Harry, of his new clothes, a shiny trunk, completely forgetting that Harry would have shoved it all at him to have what Ron did - a family. Ron became co-dependant on Harry actually, expected him to marry his sister, share his money, and share everything Harry had accomplished. It embittered their friendship to the extent that Harry backed away from him and the family by extension."
"And I don't care about the lack of money either, back to my original question, Harry doesn't trust easy...and if you include these people then he doesn't trust at all." Luna stressed the words hoping they'd get what she meant. "How did you meet him? I'm assuming it has something to do with you, Daryl." she pointed out, "You're the archer," the one with arrows that Harry claimed to have been shot with. Unless he had somehow managed to shoot himself, which was very unlikely.
"He ain't told you anything?" Daryl asked, they seemed very close, so he didn't get why she was asking them.
"I didn't ask," Luna shrugged, unbothered.
"He appeared in Atlanta while my brother was hunting, got shot, we took him back to our cabin so we could fix him up," Merle explained, they'd been fixing themselves up for as long as they could remember after accidents, so they knew what they were doing - mostly.
Daryl winced to himself remembering the screams that had left Harry's throat when they began removing the arrow from him. For a skinny guy he was stronger than he looked.
"You saved him, well that makes sense," Luna's eyes twinkled brightly, having finally figured it all out.
"Does it?" Daryl asked bluntly, his eyes roaming around despite the conversation, looking and listening for any potential threat.
"Yeah," Luna said gazing up at the sky, which was completely dark now. Harry doesn't have a high expectation of others, to him they could have just left him there to die, but they hadn't. They'd taken him to their home and they had healed him without any expectations, he could imagine the scenario playing out. Harry had always desired normalcy, to do things without the wizarding public watching his every move, to meet people without expectancy getting in the way. They'd been the breath of fresh air Harry had needed, although she wished the apocalypse hadn't happened. "Harry rarely trusts anyone, but when he does? It's for life, the only exception is if you break that trust...then it's gone for good no amount of trying would change it. It's an honest miracle that he trusted you guys, not because of anything you did or didn't do, but what Harry's been through. He hasn't had an easy life." she revealed, "Wake me up when it's my turn please," she said hopping back down and out of the RV, ambling towards the tent she was using, a single one that had belonged to a man named Jim. She didn't ask what had happened - she honestly didn't want to know. Two sets of identical eyes watched her process before they snapped back to each other then out into the darkness.
------------0
Harry moved around the tent getting dressed in something clean, pouring fresh cool water for Anubis before he unzipped the tent - he didn't want everyone to see after all. Brushing his hair and putting it up before he stepped out of his tent. He felt a lot better; it was amazing what one night of uninterrupted sleep would do to a person. Stretching out and yawning, as Anubis bound over to Sophia and Carl to greet them enthusiastically.
"So...anything happened?" Harry asked, gratefully taking the food from her and sitting down, more pasta, good thing nobody hated it.
"Rick and Shane have taken Randall to a public works station?" There was a note of questioning in Luna's tone, but Harry shrugged as well, he had no idea what the hell it was any more than she did. "Other than that it's been quiet, I already did your chores, so you're free for the day. Daryl and Merle are sleeping since they were up most of last night." they hadn't come to get her until about five o'clock in the morning.
"Except training," Harry pointed out; he trained Carl and Sophia (with or without ammo) every day whether it was knife training or gun targets. They weren't the only ones, Amy, Beth, Maggie, Andrea and the others had followed and trained hard. Even Andrea had stopped being so damn smug all the time she was just dedicated now. He wasn't sure what had caused it, unaware that it was in fact himself, he had said they needed capable fighters not ones who liked to brag - it was about surviving and that had made Andrea realize how childish she had been. Beth had been shaky in the beginning, unsure of herself, but between Amy and Harry she was doing really well now, although her sister was definitely the stronger of the two at the moment, given time it might change.
Harry had been aware of her declining thoughts and had taken action to ensure she didn't feel as though suicide was an answer. Make her feel as though she had a sense of power, that she decided her own fate, that it wasn't just kill yourself or be killed by a walker. A week later those thoughts were gone, replaced with a single minded determination that those walkers wouldn't take another of her family from her. Harry was very proud of her process, but it was mostly Sophia, she never missed the targets anymore, either she was having lucky shots or she had it figured out.
"That's them back," Andrea shouted from the RV binoculars trained on the car. "He's with them." she added.
"He as in Randall?" Luna asked her voice only slightly rose.
"Yes, something happened," Andrea added, the urge to go down was strong, but she'd only just started to be allowed back on duty so she wasn't going to risk screwing up again so soon. So she remained where she was despite the fact she just wanted to be down there with them.
"We need to hold a meeting," Rick said grimly, his voice carrying around the area so he was heard, "Twenty minutes in the house."
"Well this is interesting," Harry mused, staring thoughtfully at the man's back as he disappeared.
"What is it?" Luna asked.
"I have a funny feeling about this meeting," Harry told her.
"Aren't you going to wake Daryl and Merle?" Luna asked as Harry stood.
"They're already awake," Harry replied, "All that noise will have made sure of it. They're actually light sleepers."