"Harry, Mione wants you," Daryl told his partner, glad he wasn't interrupting his sleep to tell him since he had woken ten minutes ago and was just having a quick shower before they headed out for the day. They still didn't know where they were supposed to go, but Hermione looked as though she'd been up all night searching for answers.
"Two minutes," Harry called back, a smirk stole across Daryl's face when heard Harry cursing after a quiet 'thump'. Daryl leaned back against the wall, waiting on Harry, preferring that than waiting for him in the living room. He wasn't one for small talk and Hermione always talked non stop which made him uncomfortable especially since he barely knew her. He suspected she was just trying to get to know him but didn't know how.
When Harry came out the room he gave Daryl a knowing smirk, Hermione could be overwhelming when she wanted to be. Both of them fully dressed proceeded to the living room where Hermione waited patiently, reading a book while she waited intermittedly scribbling in a book or spare parchment.
"Hey, Mione," Harry said, gaining her attention.
"Harry!" Hermione said giving them a smile, "Right, I have the information for you," she said.
"Go ahead," Harry replied, sitting down giving her all his attention.
"The CDC reports to the US Department of Health and Human Services, its closest branch is located in Capitol Street Washington. The address is 899 North Capitol Street NE Washington DC." Hermione explained, reading from the information in front of her. "There might be information in the public records before it got bad, but the information will probably be on the terminals in HHS. Its right next door to Animal Disease Control Division but Harry from what I can see the area is quite open, your best bet is to go by the rooftop and find a way in."
"I'll see what I can do," Harry said thoughtfully scribbling the address down on his notebook, which he nearly always left lying on the table. He hated Apparating blindly, but he was doing it more and more often these days, he had little choice in the matter. "The only problem is the building will have absolutely zero power, I'll need to lug the computers back here...won't they have some sort of security on them?"
"More than likely, but most people keep their password nearby, so check the workstations, the government probably don't allow them to create their own passwords so they won't be easily remembered." Hermione explained, "It's a long shot, Harry, are you sure you want to do this?" her brown eyes filled with worry. There was another place where there could be information, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) but she didn't say that, she couldn't deal with putting Harry in harms way against herds of walkers.
"Yes," Harry said without pause, his tone determined.
"Just be careful," Hermione said resignedly, knowing she wouldn't be able to talk Harry out of it. "I do have a bit of good news, Glenn will be happy."
"Oh?" Harry queried curiously.
"The Rhee family made it to the school, they were...quite overwhelmed that Glenn was still alive." Hermione said, remembering the conversation, they'd immediately burst out crying in relief and guilt that they had left him behind, or rather they felt that way anyway. "They're just waiting to hear back from me, I got off the mirror call with them five hours ago."
"I'll send him in after breakfast, which is already happening, so five minutes," Harry said, a small smile on his face, glad that not all families were torn apart in this apocalyptic world they had found themselves in.
"I'll let them know," Hermione replied, her hand covering her mouth as she suppressed a yawn.
"Once it's done, get some sleep, I mean it, you're no good to anyone exhausted." Harry commanded her.
"That sounds like a good idea," Hermione admitted, even just a few hours would do her good. "Just let me know when you get back alright?"
"Of course," Harry agreed, nodding his head. "I'll see you later," he added standing up, summoning a messenger bag and sliding the notebook into it. Checking to see if his weapons were inside, which of course, they were it was where he put them last night after all. Sliding his feet into his boots, he knelt down and tied them tightly, using magic to make them stick to his boots so they didn't get in the way.
Hermione watched them go, eyes lighting up in delight when she observed both men brushing their fingers together as they left the room. It might not seem very intimate, but for both of them it was, silent reassurance that they weren't alone, that there was someone there for them. She was so very happy for Harry. If anyone deserved happiness it was him, she still didn't know Daryl all that well, he was different from his brother, one was loud and extremely...brash but Daryl was so quiet and nearly impossible to figure out with the limited contact she had with him.
"No regrets?" Harry asked as he closed the door to their home, ambling down the path.
"No," Daryl replied immediately, his cheeks slightly red.
Harry gave a little smirk as his stomach rumbled, making him realise just how hungry he really was. Not that he'd be hungry for long, as they were only a minute away from sating it. As always everyone was already there, and by the look of their plates they were almost finished. "Good morning," Harry said, waving his hand to stop Carol getting up as she always did, he was fully capable of getting his and Daryl's breakfast.
"We will have chicks in approximately twenty days," Hershel commented as Harry passed Daryl over a plate and sat with his own. "The other animals seem to be in relatively good health all things considered, just malnourished." the potion Harry asked Mira to brew and the others to put in the water that they used for the fruit and vegetables was...mesmerising to watch, it grew everything at an unprecedented rate, bigger as well. It spread father, gave the animals enough to eat without leaving themselves short.
"I assume they've been incubated properly then?" Harry answered Hershel, he remembered a little about animal care from his primary school days.
"They have," Hershel answered, drinking the remains of his coffee with relish. It would raise the amount of eggs they got each day, which was a good thing considering the size of their group. Which he knew would one day expand; Harry was already looking for people.
"Thank you, Hershel," Harry said, knowing that it was a group effort to make their lives a little easier, he honestly didn't think he would know how to deal with all the animals even with magic. The Veterinarian was an important part of their group, maybe one day they'd come across a doctor as well. "Glenn, I have news for you, so stay behind, Maggie you may remain as well." knowing that Glenn would probably want to share it with his partner as soon as possible.
Glenn paled at that, assuming it was going to be something bad. Especially if he wanted to tell him alone.
"That's the cue for us to leave," Andrea said holding her hand out for Luke who took it. "Meet me at the gates in five minutes," she told the others who were accompanying her today.
Everyone began to leave, and Harry flicked his wand, causing the used plates, utensils and cups to float over to the sink and begin to clean themselves. Unsurprisingly because of that, Sophia, Carl and Patrick were the last to leave, very reluctantly at that. But Luna managed to herd them out of the room, after glancing at Harry curiously, a subtle nod had her reassured he would explain when they were on their way.
"I have news of your family," Harry started off as soon as everyone, bar Daryl who was still eating, had left.
Maggie clutched at Glenn's hand giving him the support she felt he needed.
Harry didn't keep them waiting, "They successfully managed to get to the school, Hermione made contact with them, they are waiting for you. The mirror is already activated, take as long as you need, but if you aren't going to be able to go with Andrea, let her know so they aren't delayed."
Glenn was clearly overwhelmed by the news as well, since he remained quiet for quite some time before he managed to croak out a weak but grateful, "Thank you," trying to stop himself from crying, least in front of Harry and Daryl.
Harry smiled at him, "Go on," he said gesturing with his head for him to go to them - but a proper reunion would probably have to wait until after they were done scavenging for the day. Glenn wouldn't miss it, neither would Maggie, and even if Glenn wanted to talk to his family he wouldn't let Maggie go on her own. As soon as he and Daryl were done, their plates joined the others being washed before placed on the rack to dry.
Standing up he grabbed a few pieces of food, a few apples freshly picked from the trees, snack bars, some crisps and jerky he knew the others liked. They would need something to eat around lunch time, although more often than not they would go without eat when they returned with what was left over from lunch then dinner. Zipping his bag back up, he put the messenger bag over his shoulder ready for a long hectic day.
"Ready?" Harry asked, turning back around at Daryl's nod both of them made quick work of getting to the gates within five minutes. He could have Apparated but as he told Sasha they did a lot of walking and running. Making sure that they were well equipped by checking their ammunition, ensuring they had their hunting knives, only then did they make their way outside.
"We are going to Apparate onto a roof, the address is 899 North Capitol Street NE Washington DC," Harry explained, which he always did, they never went into any situation unprepared. "There shouldn't be anyone up there but better prepared." glancing to see if the other group were even close to coming, he had things he needed to do for them before they could head out.
"I've already charmed their bags, they also have Portkey's, there's no need to wait," Luna explained to Harry, knowing what he was thinking - she had known him a long, long time after all. Snapping her magazine back into her gun and putting into her holster on her hip, she'd been extremely pleased when she found out. She hadn't been able to convince Merle to wear one; even saying he was going to accidentally blow up his own ass made no difference. He'd just laughed at her.
"Thanks, Luna," Harry said gratefully, only then did he notice the other group beginning to wander down towards the gates, Glenn was amongst them, apparently he wasn't going to miss out. Harry gave Andrea a grim nod, telling her without words to be careful, there was nothing out here more important than their safety.
Sasha, Daryl, Luna, Merle and Harry headed out, Carol had already opened the gates for them, "We'll see you later," they said to Carol as they left. The others all got into position to Apparate, with Sasha watching unsurely in the background not used to the routine.
"We are going to Apparate, since it's your first time you'll feel rather odd...hold your breath," Harry said, grasping a hold of her wrist, ignoring her wariness, she had wanted to come after all and it wasn't like he was going to waste time finding alternative means to get there. When he noticed she breathed in and held her breath, Harry glanced at Daryl giving him all the warning he needed these days and Apparated the three of them away, Luna he knew would follow directly behind.
The Apparation went smoothly, Daryl let go immediately and went on the defensive, crossbow raised as he observed their surroundings. Harry kept a grip of Sasha, knowing how disconcerting it felt at first, how dizzying and sick it made someone feel. "Just breathe through it," he informed her.
"H-how long have you been doing this?" Sasha asked, she felt as though her insides had been scrambled about and left in the wrong places. How could they remain so unaffected by it? It was even worse than the Portkey they'd used to get to PA originally. She hadn't really noticed it after a few seconds when she looked around the entire area, which looked new, welcoming, and so very different from every walker infested inch of the earth she'd seen since coming out of the bunker.
"Apparating? Six years or so, and it's the same with people being side-long Apparated." Harry informed her, muffling his amusement at her jump in fright when Luna and Merle made an appearance. Seeing that she had regained her bearings, he wandered over to the ledge, looking over the amount of walkers in the area; it was obvious to him that nobody had been near here yet. "Well, Hermione got it right, it's very open."
"Good for us, I wonder if it's just offices around here..." Luna said, eyes scanning the horizon.
"Well there's an animal disease centre in this building, it might have animal supplies, books we can take back to Hershel, a sterile lab if things were locked away properly." Harry mused, "The map might tell us what else we could find, if we are lucky."
"And animals who have starved to death," Luna said, "Or been eaten by walkers because they were caged," her tone dark, her love for animals knew no bounds.
Harry squeezed her shoulder in comfort; he felt the same way as she did, but probably not to the same extent. He would never see an animal suffering and not do anything, but he didn't mourn the ones already gone from this world. It was just a waste of energy, although it was definitely different if it was his. Hedwig's death had left a hole in his heart that Anubis had helped heal over. "They're beyond suffering now, Luna," he commented, "Let's look for a latch so we can get down into the building, if it has one."
"All building's are required to have them, these are air conditioning units, someone needs to be able to get to them if they needed repaired." Sasha explained, touching the box as they moved around to find an entrance, which was quite easily spotted. Harry smacked the door three times as loud as possible, listening intently.
"Could the building have been locked down before it got worse?" Sasha asked, wondering how long they would remain waiting.
"I doubt it, unless they joined FEMA," Harry said, but he had no idea of the ins and outs of the whole medical thing in America, nor back in the UK, he knew more about St. Mungo's than any of those things. Which was depressingly useless like much else he knew of the magical world now - except spells. "Is it possible? I mean wouldn't everyone in the medical profession come together to try at least? Well those who didn't run." thinking of Jenner, the poor guy.
Merle just grunted, Daryl shrugged as if to say 'Don't ask me' and Sasha just shook her head not knowing the answer either.
"Keep to my back," Harry stated to Sasha, staring until she nodded, she understood back to him. "Good." he tried to open the door to find it locked, "Alohomora," he uttered under his breath, it followed by a clicking sound, as the door swung open, the immediate area looked clean and well kept.
"Any people?" Daryl questioned, crossbow aimed, green eyes narrowed.
"Homenum revelio!" Harry cast, but the results were negative, there was nobody alive in the building. "Nothing," he answered, not really surprised, this wasn't the kind of place one holed up in to stay away from walkers, and there was probably no food in the premises.
Luna quickly used the spell to detect walkers, sighing resignedly when high numbers was the reply. "There are a lot of walkers in the building, totalling nearly a hundred. They could be anywhere, we will need to be very careful." especially considering they didn't know the layout but the building looked pretty simplistic which worked in their favour.
Harry went first, wand in one hand knife in the other with a gun close at reach, as always with Daryl and Merle next, Luna would have had their backs (more often than not both Merle and Luna), and instead it was a shared duty between both females today. "The best computer to go for would be the bosses one, so the biggest and highest office."
"Agreed," Merle nodded in approval.
As they continued to cautiously move down and into the building they realized it would be easier to see than they thought possible. All these offices had glass windows installed, half wall, half glass, open, airy and pleasant to look at.
"Ain't doin' much in way of security," Daryl said scowling in disapproval.
Harry smirked at them, "It proves they weren't dealing with any sensitive information, and people's medical records were sensitive. I'm not sure what they did on this level but it definitely wasn't important." nobody in their right mind would deal with such intricate details of privacy within these halls.
"Listen," Luna muttered her voice a breathy whisper as if she didn't want to be heard.
"I hear them," Harry said, glancing in the direction of the quiet moaning they could hear.
"Broom closet?" Sasha whispered it was the only room without windows.
"Perhaps," Harry said thoughtfully, trying the door and found it closed, non-verbally opening it, he found again it wouldn't budge, much to his confusion. If there were walkers behind the door it would at least budge a bit. "They've barricaded themselves in." he realized, using magic to make the door see through, and he was proven correct, "Idiots, they left themselves vulnerable with no way out."
"Wouldn't have survived anyhow," Merle said without emotion, "Only had enough food to last a week if they rationed right, and that was if the electricity held, them machines are electrical, without it sonsofbitches are impossible to open...wouldn't have opened with what's in there." there was hardly anything in way of weapons, nothing that can break the thick almost bullet proof glass of the vending machines.
"Unless they had the keys," Sasha reasoned, thoughtfully.
"They ain't open," Merle said gruffly, disagreeing with her. "Nobody would close it after opening it," especially not with everything else that had gone on.
"Let's go," Harry said steeling himself, as much as it pained him to leave them there, he reminded himself that they were just corpses now, the people were long gone from this world, it wasn't as if they were being forced to watch their own actions stuck in their mind.
"Harry, we can't leave them," Luna said, torn herself.
"We can and we will," Harry said, turning to face her momentarily before he began to move again, just as Sasha passed the door shimmered back to the thick solid door that nobody could see through. "Blame me if it makes you feel better." he added, but there was just no point to wasting time and resources in getting in and dealing with the five walkers in the room in return for nothing, there was nothing they could possibly want in that room. Except paper maybe in a few years, but right now it wasn't an urgent requirement.
Along the corridor they found themselves faced with eight walkers, they were dispatched very quickly and easily, well not so easily, since one of them was just a young boy, barely eight years old if Harry had to guess. With less haste than the other walkers, he pushed his blade into his head silently apologising before gently lowering him to the ground.
"Damn, some of em got trapped in the elevator," Merle said listening to the closed metal doors for a moment. Should have known better than to use an elevator during an emergency, idiots. He didn't voice his thoughts; he'd rather not have Luna scolding him like an errant kid again.
"Here's a list of employees, and which floor they work at." Luna said, wandering over to the plaque. "Head of HHS, top floor like you thought, so it's this floor, and around the corridor straight down to the end."
Harry nodded, shrinking down the water cooler, the water inside would need removed but he was sure between himself and Luna they could keep it filled up or put a rune on it so it was self replenishing. Although it would need to come last in the grand scheme of things. Daryl kept the doors open for him; in turn Harry gave him a smile of thanks before they moved along.
Half way down found some sort of FEMA set up or collection point in one of the rooms much to their delight. They must have had plans to put some sort of FEMA thing up around the college. It was definitely the wrong place, it was too crowded, too open in this area, and at least at Hilltop they picked a good spot. For all he knew, he was entirely wrong. Harry was immediately on the move, bringing out his trunk, ready to get it all packed in.
Sasha moved to begin picking up one of the boxes of medical supplies, and probably a lot of other things, when a demand of "Don't," confused her, nonetheless she let it go only for the contents in the entire room - including a grand coffee maker, cups and coffees, five vending machines still full of items to shrink themselves and slot in along with boxes containing sweets and crisps and such to fly into the trunk neat as you please despite the fact all of it shouldn't have been able to fit into the chest. Magic truly was a wondrous thing, she glanced at the others and they didn't seem at all bothered by the display...does that mean the magic and wonder would wear off to her too?
Daryl suddenly whistled urgently, causing Harry and the others to be instantly on edge. Harry exited the room, and hastily cast the strongest sticking and locking charms he knew on the doors they'd passed preventing the walkers from getting to them. They must have been louder than they'd anticipated if the walkers had heard them from below.
"Now we're trapped as well," Sasha said slightly panicked, not thinking straight but not overly hysterical.
"Apparation," Harry said patting her on the back, not the slightest bit condescending, it took a lot of getting used to when it came to magic so he didn't blame her for not thinking of it first. In fact he never wanted them to think of magic as an out right away. With that they made their way towards the end office, they weren't sure how long that spell would last against a herd of walkers. Occasionally glancing over their shoulders, wary and cautious, quite rightfully so. "I wonder why they've never came up here before if they could, I mean the place is spotless apart from general dust of course, absolutely nothing has been disturbed in months." he mused aloud.
Each of the rooms they came across was stuck closed with magic, just to be on the safe side. The only one they went into was the boss's office. Nudging the door open with his foot, he took in his surroundings. The room itself was massive, with little room used in it. In the middle of the office taking up a pride of place was a large ornate desk that just did not go with the modern setting the building exuded. Metal cabinets adorned an entire wall, presumably filled with a lot of paperwork.
"Luna, look for some sort of password, for the computer," Harry commented seeing she was already over there, Merle was as well and he'd help.
"Accio password," Luna murmured, grinning as she snatched the piece of paper that flew out from underneath the monitor stand.
"You takin' it with?" Daryl asked keeping his eye on the door.
"Yes, no choice," Harry sighed, there was no power here to get whatever information they could get. So he would need to put it next to the other computers in the security centre and see what they could find. He would need to get one of the others to go through it, Andrea or Amy someone who knew how to work the damn machines.
"Doors have gave way," Daryl said, entering the office and closing and locking the door before backing away, just as slamming and shuffling was head at the other side of the door. They were fast, it seemed as though this might be the first time they'd smelt fresh meat since they turned.
"I'll just pack up everything," he informed everyone, and they automatically stepped back, Sasha followed suit lagging behind only slightly. "Oh shit," Merle, Daryl and Harry said as one as the door gave way, letting the walkers entrance. Luna grabbed Sasha and Merle and disappeared with a pop, trusting Harry to get Daryl and himself out of there on their own.
Harry summoned the trunk now bulging with the contents of the office, grabbed a hold of Daryl and blindly Apparated them out of there, not really having a destination in mind. A novice mistake to be sure, but a mistake nonetheless. The sound of a horn honking met their ears before they fully understood what was going on, it swerved to avoid them at the same time Harry shoved both himself and Daryl out of the way of the red truck which was barrelling along the road rolling along on its side, the mirrors were long since crushed as was the hood.
"Bloody hell," Harry said, guilt exploding in his heart, what if he had killed them? Bolting towards the truck which was now blazing like an orange sun, Harry cast a powerful Wandless 'Aguamenti' drowsing the flames.
"Careful, they could turn quick," Daryl cautioned him keeping a grip of his knife as he opened the back door, finding a guy with brown hair and a mullet? He was unconscious, but very much alive. He was not dressed in any kind of survivalist gear; he looked ready to go down to the beach. Harry and Daryl stared at each other wondering who the fuck would dress that way with walkers after them.
"We shouldn't even move them they might have spinal injuries." Harry said, "I have no idea what to do,"
"Incoming," Daryl said, ejecting an arrow from his crossbow, before reloading quickly, the crash had been heard for miles probably, and every walker in the area will be coming towards them.
Cursing yet again for the tenth time that day, he summoned all their belongings, letting it load into his messenger bag; it would take too long to remove his trunk in this confined space. "Grab a hold of my shoulder," Harry called to Daryl who was still shooting at walkers.
Daryl ejected his last arrow (that he had with him) into the head of the closest walker before grabbing a hold of Harry's shoulder, a few seconds later they were no longer next to the truck, and those that had been in the truck were no longer in it either. They were outside PA with three unconscious bodies in a tow.
"You will need to tell Luna, my brother, and Sasha," Daryl said, lifting the unconscious female up into his arms, his crossbow behind his back.
Harry agreed as a Patronus message was swiftly delivered to Luna's current location. Only then did he levitate a big burly redhead who seemed to have gotten the worst of the injuries, and a short chubby mullet wearing man into PA, "Get Hershel, I'll need his help with this." Harry barked to the closest person, who happened to be Tyreese and T-Dog.
"Where's my sister?" Tyreese asked wide eyed in fear, almost glaring at T-Dog accusatory.
"Now!" Harry barked impatiently as he continued walking.
"Where are you taking them?" T-Dog asked getting ready to run to find Hershel as asked.
Harry paused, that was a good question, they weren't at the prison anymore, and they didn't exactly have a secure building, although it wouldn't be hard to make a magical one. "The Doctors surgery,"
"I'll meet you there," T-Dog said and he began to run towards the cafeteria where the chore board was situated which would help him find Hershel much more quickly than running around like a headless chicken. Tyreese followed him, still looking absolutely worried. "Hey, Harry would have said if something happened, she's just with Merle and Luna." he reassured the guy, hoping he was right, but this was Harry they were talking about he didn't need to hope he was right he knew he was.