Archive of Our Own

Just a fun little fic I have been working on the past few months. This is finished and I probably won’t be adding to it. Hope you enjoy.

***HP

“Da fuck!” Daryl roared as a tiny blur shot past him. A tiny blur that was carrying away his backpack full off supplies he just spent the past four hours scavenging.

A crash was heard then Rick came sprinting around the corner, a box of cereal in his hands that was probably a year past its expiration. “What! What happened?” He yelled, as he rushed to his friend, a concerned look on his face.

“Which way did the little shit go?” Daryl growled as he bent down and scooped up his crossbow. Straightening up, he hooked the crossbow onto his back then briskly starting walking down the deserted grocery store isle. Well, they thought it had been deserted, but obviously they had been wrong. He was going to ring the neck of the little brat that dared steal from him.

Confused, Rick shoved the box of cereal into his bag then rushed to catch up with Daryl. “What are you talking about, man? Which way did who go?”

“The little brat that stole my bag and all my supplies?” Daryl hissed.

Rick started laughing. “Someone got the drop on you?”

“Fuck you! Some little brat came out of nowhere and took my bag. I didn’t even hear the little thief.”

Rick stopped laughing. “A kid?” He asked in concern. “A kid out here all alone?”

Daryl shrugged. “Don’t know if it was a kid or not, didn’t get a good look at it, but it only came up to my waist and it was fast as hell.”

“It, Daryl?”

“There!” Daryl cried, pointing to the filthy and grimy window of the grocery store. At hearing his cry, a little girl with long blonde braids, no older then seven, stopped then leaned towards the window. With a smirk, she held up his bag for him to see, stuck her tongue out at him, then took off.

“That little shit!” Daryl snarled as he bolted after her. He wasn’t going to hurt her, he just wanted his damn bag back. He also wanted to make sure she was safe. What the hell was a kid doing out here on their own, especially a little girl? The dead weren’t the only monsters preying on survivors. They had encountered their fair share of degenerates that would love to get their hands on an innocent little girl. Though, he didn’t know how innocent she was. Not with how expertly she was able to sneak up on him and steal his bag.

“Daryl!” Rick called, but when his friend ignored him, he took off after him.

Daryl had to give it to the little thief, she was fast, but he was faster. He was almost on her when she bolted into the thick forest. He was faster than her, but she was smaller and more agile than him and could easily duck and dodge the branches and leap over the fallen trees. She must know the area pretty well because there was no hesitation in her running and jumping. She knew the path and where she was going.

He was only a few feet from her when she turned to face him and let out a blood curdling scream. Her scream was so loud that it probably alerted every walker within a mile of their location. For a spilt second he feared that he had truly scared her, until he heard a loud popping sound and then a smirk slowly appeared on her face.

“Uh oh, you’re in trouble now,” the girl giggled, clutching the bag tightly to her tiny chest.

Daryl thrust his hand out to grab his bag from the little brat, when a shiny silver sword appeared between them, it’s dangerously sharp tip pressing against his chest, right above his heart. Taking a step back, his eyes jerked up and landed on another kid that was stepping out from behind the tree the little girl had been up against. He couldn’t guess the kid’s age, his appearance looked fifteen, maybe sixteen, but his eyes looked years older and wiser. Eyes of the brightest green he has ever seen. Eyes that were promising him death if he even so much as looked at the little girl wrong.

Hearing a clicking sound to his right, he knew that Rick had pulled his gun out and had it trained on the boy. “Drop your sword!” Rick demanded.

“Not going to happen,” the boy said, placing himself between Daryl and the little girl. “Put your gun away.”

“Not going to happen,” Rick said, repeating what the boy had said to him. “You have your sword pressed against my friend’s heart.”

“Your friend,” the boy spat, “was attacking a little girl.”

“Da fuck I was.” Daryl snarled. “The little thief stole my bag, I was just getting it back. I wouldn’t have hurt her.”

The sword pressing against Daryl’s chest lowered a little. “Daisy?” The boy questioned.

“Finders keepers, losers weepers,” the little girl sang, ending it by sticking her tongue out at Daryl again.

“It wasn’t lost,” Daryl pointed out. “You stole it.”

The little girl shrugged. “It’s mine now, you big stupid head.”

Rick snorted, the corners of his lips lifting into a grin. “Look, kid, we weren’t going to hurt her, we’re not like that. Just give us the bag and we’ll be on our way.”

“And I’m supposed to believe that you’ll just peacefully walk away?” The boy asked skeptically. “Do you have any idea how many scumbags we have come across that said the same thing, only to turnaround and attack?”

“We ain’t like that,” Daryl growled. “We didn’t even start this. I just want my bag, it belonged to my brother.”

The boy’s eyes softened a little as he looked to Daryl. “Is your brother gone?”

Daryl inclined his head. “He was killed a few days ago. Heard of the Governor?”

Whimpering, the little girl reached out and grabbed the back of the boy’s shirt. “I have heard of him, but haven’t personally met him. Daisy use to live at Woodbury with her father and older brother. Sadly her father and older brother lost their lives escaping the Governor.”

Lowering his gun, Rick looked to the little girl. “I’m real sorry about your dad and brother.”

“The Governor is a bad man,” Daisy muttered into Harry’s back.

Sighing, the boy lowered his sword, but he didn’t relax his body. “Daisy, toss the man his bag.”

“But it’s mine,” Daisy cried.

“Daisy!” The boy said sternly. “The bag belonged to his brother. How would you feel if someone stole the teddy bear that your brother gave you before he died?”

“But he did steal it,” Daisy whined. “I got scared and hid when I heard them enter the store and I dropped Mr. Cuddles. That man,” she spat, pointing to Daryl, “picked him up and put him in his stupid bag. He also took the last of the chocolates and he’s fat and ugly and doesn’t need anymore chocolate.”

Rick tried not to laugh, but he lost it anyway. “Oh, that’s funny,” he said as he put his gun back in his holster. “You think he’s fat.”

“Oh sweetie, that’s not fat,” the boy said as his eyes slowly raked over Daryl’s body, stopping and lingering on his thick, muscular biceps. “Nope, not fat,” he repeated.

Daryl’s eyes widened as the kid checked him out, obviously liking what he was seeing. While he was bisexual and the kid was cute and totally his type, he was also just a kid and way too young for him. He was thirty and the kid couldn’t be older than sixteen. He wasn’t no fucking pedo.

“If you give me my damn bag, I’ll give you your bear back.” Daryl promised. When he had seen the bear on the floor he picked it up to give to Rick’s newborn daughter, Judith, but if it belonged to the little girl then he had no problems with giving it back to her. Hell, even if it hadn't belonged to her and she wanted it, he’d still give it to her. The world was brutal now, kids deserved whatever piece of happiness and comfort they could find.

“And the chocolate?” Daisy asked, lifting her chin in defiance.

“Daisy,” the boy warned.

“It’s alright, she can have the chocolates too,” Daryl said. “Just let me keep a piece to give to Rick’s son, Carl.”

“I’m Rick,” Rick said, introducing himself. “Rick Grimes. My son Carl is just a few years older than you and loves chocolate. I’d be grateful to you if you shared a little with him.”

Frowning, Daisy looked down at the bag. “I guess that would be alright, but you can’t take too much. I also have to share with all the other kids.”

“Daisy!” The boy said sharply. “That’s enough. Toss him the bag and let him sort it out.”

Not taking his eyes off the kid, Daryl easily caught his bag. There was something strange about the boy, something he couldn’t put his finger on. He had no doubt in his mind that the kid was dangerous, but there was something else about him that was making his skin break out in goosebumps. He hadn’t missed how he quickly stopped the little girl from mentioning more about the other kids. The kid didn’t want the little girl to give too much information away about them and he couldn’t blame the kid for that.

Digging into his bag, he pulled out the stuffed bear and the bag of miniature chocolates he had found. Opening the bag, he pulled a couple out for Carl then handed them to Rick. When he went to step towards the little girl to give her the chocolates and the bear, the kid’s sword snapped back up, the tip pressing into his chest again.

“This again, kid?” Daryl asked, not stepping back from the sword.

“Just drop them at your feet and we will get them after you leave. You got your bag so go.”

“Alright,” Daryl conceded, dropping the bear and the chocolates. Inclining his head to Rick, they both took a few steps backwards before turning their backs to leave.

“Hey!” The kid called after they were a few dozen steps away. “For the record, I’m not a kid. I turned twenty two months ago.

Shocked, Daryl went to turn around to tell him bullshit, that there was no way in hell he was twenty, but before got the chance, he heard a loud popping sound. Spinning around, he was stunned to find that both the kid and the little girl were gone.

“Where da fuck they go?” He cried, sprinting back to where they had been standing. Confused, he spun in a circle. Not only were they gone, but there was no trail. He was an expert hunter and knew how to spot and follow a trail from feet away, but there was nothing, not even an upturned leaf or snapped twig.

“Not going to lie, that’s a little creepy,” Rick admitted, as he too looked around. “What do you think that popping sound was?”

Daryl shrugged. “Don’t know, but heard it before he appeared, and then again before he left.” Giving one last look around, Daryl turned and started heading back towards the store where they had left their car. He didn’t know how he knew, he just knew that he would be seeing the kid again. And he was a kid, there was no way he was twenty. The kid was barely over five-foot-five and couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred and forty pounds soaking wet. Twenty his ass!

***HP

Harry stumbled slightly, Daisy’s weight pulling him down. “I hate apparating,” Daisy moaned pitifully, her face a little green.

“You should have thought of that before sneaking out to go thieving. Why the hell did you steal from two grown men?”

“Mr. Cuddles…” Daisy started, but Harry cut her off.

“Do you think your brother would want you killed over a stuffed bear? And that is if you’re lucky. You know what can happen to little girls if caught by bad men.”

Daisy dropped her head in shame. “I’m sorry.”

Harry sighed. “ I know you’re sorry, Daisy, but this makes three times now that you have snuck out. I’m sorry, but you’re grounded this time. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but your father and brother gave their lives to get you out of Woodbury and you’re disrespecting their sacrifice by sneaking out and risking your life.” Merlin he hated sounding like Snape, but he needed to shock some sense into her. She was going to get herself killed…or worse.

Daisy’s bottom lip started trembling as fat tears fell from her eyes. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Harry closed his eyes. “Don’t cry, it’s over and done with now. Run along and share your chocolates with everyone else.”

“Are you mad at me?” Daisy asked in a small and trembling voice.

“I’m not mad, but I am scared. It would break my heart if you were killed or taken from me.”

“You would be able to find me,” Daisy said confidently. “You have magic.”

“I can only track you for short distances, Daisy. You’re a muggle so you don’t have a magical core for my magic to lock onto. If you were taken far enough away, I would never be able to find you.”

“I promise that I won’t sneak out ever again,” Daisy swore before she rushed in and gave Harry a hug. “I’ll save you a chocolate.”

“Only if there’s enough for everyone. And don’t give any to the twins, I don’t want them to choke. Set their chocolate aside and I’ll give it to them later.”

“I love you, Harry!” Daisy cried as she bolted away and into the house that was the size of a small mansion.”

“I love you too,” Harry said back, then mumbled. “Even if you are giving me grey hairs at twenty and an ulcer.”

“I bet you a galleon that she’ll sneak out before next weekend.”

“I’m not stupid enough to take that bet,” Harry said, smirking at one of his oldest friends. “How’s the little man?” He asked Neville, looking to the three month old baby boy that was sleeping snuggly in his arms.

“Spoiled rotten,” Neville chucked softly. “The second I put him down he wakes up screaming his head off.”

Harry couldn’t believe that Neville was a daddy. Even after a three months since the baby’s birth, plus the nine months that Hannah Abbot, Neville’s fiancé, was pregnant, it still blew his mind that Neville was a father. And Neville was an amazing father that was completely in awe of his tiny newborn son.

Over a year ago Neville and Hannah traveled with him to America. He came to America to train for a year with their elite special force auroras, and Neville and Hannah tagged along because Neville wanted to study plants in America. Two months after their arrival, Hannah found out that she was pregnant, making it impossible for her to travel long distances by any magical forms of transportation. They had planned to fly the muggle way home after Hannah’s severe morning sickness issues passed, but then the world went to shit.

Shit was actually putting it nicely. He didn’t know what happened, no one did, but one minute everyone was living their lives normally, and the next minute the dead were eating the living. Immediately after the first reports came in of some strange virus causing the dead to come back craving human flesh and organs and that their bite was contagious, the American magical community went on lockdown…no one in and no one out. He couldn’t blame them, but at the same time they were refusing to help the muggles, even the children.

Of course with his “saving people thing” as Hermione had so lovingly put it years ago, he couldn’t sit back and do nothing while people, especially children, were being torn apart and eaten by the dead. He refused to hide behind wards with the rest of the American magical community, and despite him pleading with them to go into lockdown, Neville and Hannah refused to go into hiding too. So now here they were, stuck in America even though Hannah could now safely portkey back home with baby Rowen because they couldn’t leave behind all the muggle kids they had taken in over the past year. Kids that he now saw as his own.

They had been in Atlanta Georgia when the world came to a screeching halt. Like most of the muggles, they had went to one of the designated safety zones that the muggle military had set up even though it hadn’t felt right to him, being trapped behind flimsy fencing with hundreds of others. His instincts had been right and he knew that he should have listened to them. It only took one person, too scared to tell anyone that he had been bitten, to wipe out the entire safety zone, killing and turning others. It had been complete chaos. After the first scream everyone lost their minds panicking. People were pushing and trampling each other, parents were abandoning their kids, too overwhelmed with their own fear, and one of the worst was the caretakers for a group of orphans from a group home just up and leaving them to a painful and brutal death. Well it would have been a painful and brutal death if they hadn’t stepped in to protect the children.

In total there had been five orphans between the ages six months and thirteen that they saved. They also rescued a toddler whose father was too high to protect him or himself, a brother and sister whose parents sacrificed themselves for them, and a five year old down syndrome kid whose parents just left her to die. Along the way they acquired a few other kids, like Daisy, and a few trustworthy adults, but for the most part it was just him, Neville, and Hannah looking after all the children.

“There’s nothing wrong with being spoiled,” Harry said with a sad smile, thinking back to his horrendous and abusive childhood. Hell, even Neville had a somewhat shitty childhood with an overbearing grandmother who was constantly comparing him to his father and an uncle who was always putting his life in danger in hopes of triggering his accidental magic because he thought he was a squib.

“Is something wrong Harry, you seem distracted?” Neville asked. “Is it Daisy?”

“It’s always Daisy, our most stubborn and independent child, but no, that’s not what’s weighing on me. When out, Daisy stole a bag from a muggle man.”

Neville’s eyes widened. “Did he hurt her?”

Harry shook his head. “No, I showed up before he could, but I don’t think he would have anyway. He seemed pretty rough around the edges, definitely someone you wouldn’t want to get on the bad side of, but my magic was telling me that he was a good guy that wouldn’t hurt a child, even if that child stole something important to him.”

Neville’ groaned in exasperation. “What the hell is wrong with that girl?”

“I don’t know, but we are going to have to keep a closer eye on her. I’m going to contact Hermione and have her research how we can reset the wards so she can’t get out.” Even though they couldn’t return home because there was no way in hell they could leave the children, they were still in contact with their loved ones thanks to the mirrors Sirius had given him before he died. It was a good thing too, because they had been pretty clueless when it came to wards and casting the Fidelius Charm.

The wizarding world back home was handling this situation pretty much the same way as the American’s, except they weren’t on complete lockdown. They were allowing certain people, like aurors, to leave to help aid the muggles, but upon return they were fully inspected from head to toe for any bites or scratches and were then quarantined for seventy two hours. If after seventy two hours they were showing no signs of turning, like a fever, then they were released from quarantine and free to go.

He felt bad that he wasn’t back home helping, many people had pleaded with him to return thinking that he could somehow find a cure and save the world, but in his heart he knew that he belonged here with the children. If he could take them with him he would, but they were all muggles with no magical cores. He could apparate with them for short distances once in a while, but a long distance like Hogwarts or even just the next state over, would rip their little bodies apart. Their bodies wouldn’t even be able to handle a portkey. So as much as he desperately missed his family back home, America and these children were now his home. Neville, Hanna, and baby Rowen could return home, but he thanked Merlin everyday for Neville’s Gryffindor courage and Hannah’s Hufflepuff heart. Even though life back home in the wizarding world would be easier for them, they refused to leave him and the children. They were his rock and he would be lost without them.

“Is there more?” Neville asked. “You just seem really off.”

“You’re always so perceptive, Nev.” Harry said with a half a smile. “There were two men we met today, they seemed like pretty close friends. The one who Daisy stole from, my magic reacted pretty strangely to him.”

Neville frowned. “In a bad way?”

“So not a bad way,” Harry grimaced. “Let’s just say that my magic liked him. A lot! I, uhm, I never felt anything like that before. I was attracted to both Cho and Ginny, but that’s as far as it went. While I was attracted to them, my magic never reacted to them. With this guy it was like…”

“A bolt of lightning shooting throughout your body coming from your magical core?” Neville interrupted, a look of awe on his face.

Harry nodded slowly, confused over how Neville was acting. “Yeah, just like that. The feeling was so intense that it almost dropped me to my knees.”

“Harry!” Neville gasped. “That’s a soul bond connection. That guy, he’s your soul mate.”

Harry chuckled. “Soul mates, Nev? Come on, that’s not a real thing.”

“Yes it is, Harry, and it’s very rare and special. You won the golden ticket!”

Harry studied Neville’s face, waiting for him to start laughing for pranking him, but Neville looked dead serious. “Me, win a golden ticket? Come on, Nev, you know my luck better than that. It was nothing. I’m just overthinking the encounter.”

“Harry, you described exactly what they say it feels like when making a soul connection. This is a good thing. Hell, it’s an amazing thing.”

“Are you and Hanna soul mates?”

“Nah, but that doesn’t mean I love her any less. Like I said, soul mates are rare, like one in a million. My gran said that my mom and dad were soul mates, but I found my mom’s diary when I was thirteen and she actually had a major crush on your godfather for the longest time. True soul mates will recognize each other the second their eyes meet and that will be it for them.”

Frowning, Harry stared down at his beat up old Converse. “Nev, this guy, he’s a muggle.”

“Is that a problem?” Neville asked. “I know you don’t have any issues with muggles.”

Harry sighed. “It’s not like that, I don’t discriminate against muggles. If I did, I’d be doing a pretty shit job at it seeing as we have a house full of muggle children. My only family were muggles and they hated me because of my magic. You know how they treated me, what they did to me. What if my own soul mate can’t love me because of my magic?” Living in such close quarters with four others for years made it hard to hide his bruises. Neville, Ron, Seamus, and Dean all knew that his muggle family hated him and abused him.

Neville’s eyes softened. “I don’t think that will happen, but you can’t let your fears stop you from being with your soul mate, especially now when times are so tough. Just think about it this way, if your mate can handle the dead eating people, I’m pretty sure he can handle magic.”

Harry didn’t want to get his hopes up, but Neville did have a point. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to accidentally run into him.”

Neville waggled his eyebrows. “Is he good looking?”

Harry’s face burned bright red. “His muscles have muscles, Nev. As for good looking. He’s not some pretty boy ponce like Draco Malfoy. For one thing he’s considerably older than me. If I had to guess I’d say late twenties early thirties, and there’s a hardness to him. He looks like if there was ever a man born to thrive in this god forsaken world, it would him. But he’s also hot, like so fucking hot.”

“Don’t let your fear ruin this for you. At least give him a chance.”

Harry grinned goofily. “I guess it’s a good thing then that I cast a wandless tracking charm on his bag. When I did it, I didn’t understand why, but it was as though my magic had a mind of its own.”

“That’s because your magic knows that everything is going to work out. I’m happy for you, Harry. You deserve to be happy more than anyone.”

***HP

Harry quietly crept along the side of the building, not because he didn’t want the man to see him or alert the dead that the man was fending off, but because he didn’t want to distract the man and then him end up bit. It would just be his luck, him getting his soul mate killed.

Soul mate! He still couldn’t believe it, but he had asked Hermione about it who then handed the mirror off to Professor McGonagall who then went into a thirty minute lecture about soul mates and how they were “absolutely a thing, Potter!” As much as he still wanted to deny it, seeing this man again was doing crazy things to his magic, and it wasn’t just because he was sleeveless, his sweaty biceps glistening in the hot Georgia sun as he expertly dispatched the dozen dead that were trying to make a meal out of him. No, it was almost as though his magic was crying out for this man, this muggle.

His soul mate being a muggle did surprise his old professor. She said that she had never heard of a magical person having a muggle for a soul mate, but then she added that he had never done things the proper way so of course he’d muck this up too. Merlin he missed Professor McGonagall.

Plucking up his Gryffindor courage, he took a deep breath then stepped out from where he had been lurking. Lurking, not hiding. He absolutely was not hiding. “You know, when I saw your crossbow yesterday, I thought it a pretty stupid weapon to bring to the dead apocalypse, but after watching you wield it, I can admit that it’s pretty badass.” So, too, was the man wielding the crossbow, but he was going to keep that to himself.

Harry was impressed with how quickly the man spun around, pulling a gun out from his belt and pointing it at him. He had no doubt that his soul mate was just as lethal with the gun as he was with the crossbow. He shouldn’t find it hot, but well…

Smirking, Harry held his hands up in surrender. “Easy there, big guy, I come in peace.”

The man narrowed his eyes at Harry, but didn’t lower his gun. “You following me?” He bit out.

Harry snorted. “Yeah, because I have nothing better to do then to follow you around. No, I’m not following you.” Technically he wasn’t following him, not really. He placed a tracker on his bag, not him.

Lowering his gun, the guy stuffed it back in his belt then bent down to retrieve his bag. Chuckling, Harry shook his head. “You know, you should really be more careful with that thing. You never know when there’s a little eight year old girl waiting in the shadows to nick your bag. Daisy was grumbling about you this morning. She swears you took more than a couple pieces of chocolate.”

“Do you ever fucking stop talking?” The man growled as he swept past Harry then stopped in front of the door of the building they were at. Using his hand, he wiped some grime away from the window then peered in.

“That’s just rude,” Harry mumbled, “and kind of hurtful. I’m Harry, Harry Potter.”

“I didn’t ask you your name.”

“Well I gave it to you anyway. I’m polite like that.”

“You held a sword to my heart.”

Grinning, Harry shrugged. “I was protecting Daisy and, incase you haven’t noticed, there’s quit a bit of a size difference between the two of us so I figured it was safer that way.”

“The brat wouldn’t need protecting if you were better at watching her.”

Harry bristled at that. “I’m doing the best I can, but I can’t be everywhere at once. Not to mention, she’s just as good at sneaking away as she is at stealing.”

“You’re not from around here, are you?” The man asked. “Not with that accent.”

“I’m not from Georgia or the United States. I was here for training when the world went to shit. Guess I’m stuck here now.”

“Training for what?”

Harry shook his head. “Nope, you only get one free question. I don’t answer questions from people whose name I don’t know.”

The man looked like he was going to refuse to give his name, but after a few minutes he answered. “Daryl Dixon.”

Daryl! Harry couldn’t help but think that this man totally looked like a Daryl. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Daryl.”

“Can’t say the same,” Daryl said, turning back to the door. Reaching out, he tried turning the knob, but it was locked.

“Ouch!” Harry cried, clutching at his heart. “You better watch it, you might blind me with your sunny personality.” Harry wanted to fist pump the air when the corners of Daryl’s lips lifted with the start of a smile.

Taking a step back, Daryl shifted then kicked the door open. After taking a look around to check for the dead, he entered the building, his gun once again in his hand.

Harry already knew that there were no dead in the building, he had wandlessly scanned it when he first arrived. Ever since the battle, wandless and wordless magic has been as easy as breathing to him. Kingsley had tested his magical core and it was completely off the charts, even higher than Dumbledore’s. It was so high that it was actually kinda scary and a bit concerning so him and Kingsley decided to keep it between just the two of them. The wizarding world saw him as either a savior or the next dark lord, if it got out that he was crazy powerful, both sides would make his life an even bigger living hell than what it already was. Not that he’d ever step foot in the wizarding world again….at least not for many, many years.

Entering in behind Daryl, Harry looked around the room, his eyebrows drawing down in confusing. “Why are we raiding a daycare?”

Freezing, Daryl turned to look at him. “We?”

Harry shrugged. “I figured since you’re alone, I’d be your backup.”

Daryl snorted. “Thanks, kid, but I can handle it myself. I don’t want you to accidentally shoot yourself in the foot and blow off a toe.”

Glaring at Daryl, Harry raised a single eyebrow. “First off,” he said dryly, “I am not a kid. Like I already told you, I’m twenty years old. That’s a big two and a big zero. Twenty! Secondly, I don’t have a gun so you don’t have to worry about my toes. All ten of them are safe in my shoes.” Turning, he showed Daryl the sword strapped to his back. He also had his wand if he needed it, but he wasn’t about to have that talk with his soul mate just yet.

Daryl shook his head. “How have you managed to survive this long without a gun.”

Harry smirked. “Surviving is the one thing I am good at.” He had been fighting for his survival ever since he was a toddler. First with Voldemort, then then Dursley’s, then Hogwarts and all that craziness, then Voldemort again, and now the apocalypse. He was a professional survivor at this point.

Shaking his head, Daryl turned then started searching the Daycare, rooting through every cabinet and every drawer. Some things he grabbed and stuffed into his bag, others he tossed to the side.

“Are you looking for something in particular?” Harry asked when he noticed that Daryl was getting frustrated.

Slamming the cabinet door he had just opened, Daryl spun around to face Harry. “Yes I’m looking for something in particular, but it’s nothing you can help me with.” He yelled. “Just leave me the hell alone!”

***HP

Daryl regretted yelling at the kid the second he opened his mouth, but he was just so fucking frustrated and the kid’s yapping wasn’t helping. He had been up all night with Little Asskicker as she screamed and cried from hunger pains. They had been looking for formula for days, but every store they hit had already been raided. He had prayed that he’d find something at a daycare, even just a few scoops of formula, but this place was also a fucking bust.

Harry pursed his lips tightly, but then after a moment he relaxed them. “If you want me to leave I will, but at least let me know what you’re looking for. You just never know, I may have what you need.”

“Formula!” Daryl snapped. “I need fucking baby formula.”

Harry chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully. “I’m sorry, I don’t have any baby formula, but I do have a couple of goats in milk.”

“Da fuck you do. You ain’t got no damn goat.”

“I’m pretty sure I do. If not, what the hell did I milk this morning?”

Advancing on Harry, Daryl grabbed him by his shirt collar then slammed him against the wall. “I’m not in the mood for pranks, kid. I was up all night with Rick’s newborn daughter crying because she is literally starving to death.”

“You don’t know me, Daryl, so I will forgive you this time, but I would never, ever joke around where food is concerned…especially when it comes children. I know what it’s like to have hunger pains as your constant and only companion. To be taunted by your relatives with food that you had to cook, but knowing you wouldn’t be allowed to have any. So when I say I have dairy goats in milk, you better fucking believe that I have dairy goats in milk.”

Dropping his hands, Daryl backed away from Harry. He wanted to believe that the kid had goats milk, especially after what he just confessed, but it was just too hard to believe that there were still goats out there or that the kid had a place safe enough to be permanent enough to raise goats.

***HP

“Daryl, I can get you a half a gallon of milk to start with. I’m not a doctor so I don’t know if goats milk has all the nutrients newborns need, but it’s better than nothing. Before fleeing Atlanta, I rescued six month old twins. They have done amazing and have thrived on goats milk.” Harry wasn’t going to tell Daryl that Madam Pomfrey owled him nutrient potions to put in the milk to make the goats milk safe, easier for babies to digest, and full of all the vitamins and nutrients that babies needed to grow up happy and healthy.

“What do you want for it?” Daryl asked skeptically.

“Want? Not a damn thing, Daryl. I’d rather cut off my damn arm then let a child go hungry. I can be back here with the milk in thirty minutes.”

“How can I trust you? How do I know it’s real goats milk?”

Harry tried not to let his soul mate’s skepticism hurt him, he would be leery too if the roles were reversed, but it still hurt that Daryl would even think for a second that he could hurt a baby. He got it though, stranger danger was even more of a scarier thing now. “I don’t know how to answer that. I can promise you that it’s real milk, but I can’t make you trust or believe me.”

“Bring the goat to me,” Daryl suggested, his eyes hard. “Let me watch you milk it and then I will believe you.”

Harry didn’t want to say no, that would only make Daryl distrust him even more, but their home was too far away to make the goat walk and nonmagical creatures didn’t handle appariting very well. “If I take one of my girls away from the herd, it will stress them out and possibly cause their milk production to decrease. The twins are only a year old and still need their milk and my friend just had a baby a few weeks ago. His fiancé is nursing their son, but you never know what tomorrow will bring.” It made him sick thinking about anything happening to Neville or Hannah, but in these times life could change in a blink of an eye.

“I knew you were full of bullshit.” Snarling, Daryl stormed past Harry and out the door.

“Wait!” Harry cried. “I can’t bring the goat to you, but I can bring you to the goat.” He didn’t know how smart this idea was, but he couldn’t let a baby starve to death because his soul mate was stubborn and didn’t believe him. Seeing as Daryl was his soul mate that made him someone he could trust. Right? It was a risk, but his gut was telling him that everything would work out. He just needed to sneak a patronus off to Neville to have him warn the kids not to mention anything about magic. Luckily they had already discussed the importance of magic staying a secret and they had even practiced what to do in the event someone was brought in that didn’t know anything about magic.

Freezing, Daryl turned back around. “You would trust me with the location of your camp?”

It wasn’t exactly a camp, more like a fifty acre farm with a house that was magically enlarged to the size of a small mansion, but Harry wasn’t going to correct his soul mate. “Call me stupid, but I do.”

Daryl narrowed his eyes. “Is this a trick to get me into your camp to kill me?”

“If it was would I admit to it? Besides, I can think of better things to do with you than kill you.” Harry said with a wink.

“I ain’t no pedo!” Daryl spat.

“That’s good to hear because I would kill you if you were. And for fucks sake, Daryl, I’m not a minor. I’m twenty years old and have been for two full months. I don’t have a drivers license, but I do have my passport I can show you if you so desire.”

Growling, Daryl stormed up to Harry to where their chests were almost touching. “And what will you do if I desire?” He asked, his eyes darkening as he stared down at Harry.

Harry had to force his feet to stay planted and to stand his ground. He hadn’t expected Daryl to respond like that…all dominant like. Fuck that was hot! He didn’t know until this very moment that he had a thing for being dominated, but it seemed he very much did. Licking his lips, he looked up at Daryl. “I guess that will depend on if you believe that I’m twenty or not.”

Smirking, Daryl took a step back. “I guess we shall see then.”

***HP

After sending Neville a warning patronus, Harry led Daryl to his motorcycle. Actually it had been Sirius’ motorcycle, but when he came to America he shrunk it and brought it with him. He didn’t really drive it, it wasn’t very practical seeing as the dead were attracted to sound and driving a soundless motorcycle around would attract too much human attention if he used magic to make it quiet, but he liked keeping it on him for appearance purposes.

“You have a motorcycle?” Daryl asked skeptically. “Thought you didn’t have a drivers license?”

Harry rolled his eyes. “I don’t, but I don’t think there are any cops around to pull me over.”

Daryl smirked. “Think again. Rick was a sheriff’s deputy before the shit hit the fan.”

“Huh!” Harry said as he looked at Daryl thoughtfully. “You know, I can see it. He gives off the aura of authority. I was a bit of a police officer myself, believe it or not.”

“Not!” Daryl said flatly.

Swinging his leg over his bike, Harry narrowed his at Daryl. “That’s what I was doing here in America. Training with law enforcement special forces.” Not exactly true, but also not a lie.

“Do you honestly expect me to believe that you’re some kind or elite, special forces cop?”

Harry shrugged. “Believe what you will, Daryl Dixon, but get your tight ass on my bike. There’s a starving baby relying on you.”

Daryl looked to the space behind Harry. “Like hell I will. I have my own bike.”

Harry watched as Daryl disappeared around an abandoned building then he heard the sound of a motorcycle firing up. He didn’t think that he could find Daryl any hotter, but he was so very wrong. Daryl wearing leather and driving a motorcycle was enough to make him melt. Merlin he was screwed.

When Daryl pulled up next to him, Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a small scrap of paper. “Read this.” He instructed, handing it to Daryl.

Opening the paper, Daryl frowned. “What da fuck is the Lion’s Den?”

“My home,” Harry said proudly. “Technically it’s the Lion and Badger den, but that was just too long.”

“What?” Daryl asked, looking at Harry strangely.

Harry waved his hand. “It’s nothing. You ready?”

Crumbling up the paper, Daryl dropped it onto the ground. “Whatever.”

After Daryl took off, Harry magically incinerated the paper. He wasn’t stupid enough to leave the name and location of his home just laying around for anyone to read. As long as they were hidden under the Fidelius Charm, they were safe from both the humans and the dead.

***HP

Harry smiled softly when his home came into view. With so much death and ugliness in the world right night, his white and yellow three story home with a wraparound porch, green pastures fenced in with white fencing, and big red barn, looked better than any tropical paradise to him. He wasn’t sure yet how he was going to explain the lack of dead wandering about, but that was a concern for later. Right now they had a goat to milk for a hungry baby.

At hearing Daryl’s bike come to a stop, Harry stopped his own bike then turned to check on Daryl. He wasn’t surprised to see a look of shock and awe on his face. He knew that his home didn’t make sense, that everything outside the wards looked like something out of an apocalypse while the Lion’s Den looked like something out of a fairy tail, but there was no turning back now. Hopefully he wasn’t making a mistake by bringing Daryl here so early into their friendship…or was it relationship? No, not relationship yet, but hopefully in the very near future.

“Are you alright?” Harry asked.

“How?” Daryl choked out. Turning on his bike, he looked behind him at the death and destruction that had surrounded them just seconds ago.

Harry had set up the wards so that the adults could see what lay outside the wards, but the children could not. They had already seen enough for a lifetime’s worth of nightmares, this was their safe place and he didn’t want what was outside the wards to take that away from them.

Wincing, Harry scratched the back of his neck. “I guess we’re just lucky.” He answered sounding horribly unconvincing.

“Bullshit! This is impossible. No fencing! No walls!”

Harry had considered making it look like they had walls, but that would have taken a lot of magic to sustain and he was using a lot already maintaining the wards on his own. Hannah had been pregnant so she couldn’t help with the wards and, while Neville had really come into his magic after getting his own wand, he still wasn’t powerful enough to help with the wards. It just really didn’t make sense to him to put a strain on his magic to make it look like they had walls when they were cloaked by the Fidelius Charm anyway.

“Are you coming or not?” Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

Gritting his teeth, Daryl started his motorcycle again then motioned for Harry to go. Shaking his head, Harry took off leading the way through the wards and then to the barn. Turning off his motorcycle, he was greeted with the happy sounds of his goats and horses and the giggles of one special little girl that was sitting in the baby goat pen with a small herd of goat kids climbing on her and nibbling on her hair. Taking a quick look around, he spotted Neville in the garden and Hannah on the porch with Rowen and the twins. He could hear the sounds of laughter of the other children coming from the backyard playing on the gym equipment he magically created for them. This may not have been the home he pictured for himself a year ago, but this was his home now and he wouldn’t change it….with the exception of the whole dead eating people thing for sure. That was definitely something they could all do without.

Swinging his leg over his bike, he gave a stretch then walked to the fence and smiled warmly at the little girl. “Are you having fun with the babies, Peanut Butter?”

“Hawwy!” The little girl cried as she clumsily got to her feet. “Hawwy home.” Moving awkwardly, the little girl ran to the gate where she waited patiently for Harry to open it for her.

Opening the gate, Harry leaned down and picked up the little girl and gave her a hug. “How’s my little Peanut Butter today? Have you been behaving yourself.”

“I pway with the babies. They funny.”

Sensing a presence at his back, Harry turned to Daryl. “Daryl, I would like for you to meet Peanut Butter. Peanut Butter here loves animals and the animals all love her. Peanut Butter, this is a new friend of mine, his name is Daryl.“

“Hi, Dawa.” Peanut Butter said with an over exaggerated, clumsy wave. “I wuv anamalls.”

Daryl’s eyes widened as he looked at the little girl. Clearing his throat, he gave an awkward smile. “I had a dog once,” he said gruffly.

Harry snorted. “Relax, Daryl, she doesn’t bite. Well, at least not anymore. Right, Peanut Butter?”

Peanut Butter started making chomping motions with her teeth. “I bite, but not like the bad peoples. Hawwy said biting not nice.”

“That’s right,” Harry said, as he placed Peanut Butter back on the ground. “Why don’t you run up to the house and get cleaned up. I’m pretty sure Hannah will have lunch ready any minute.”

“Otay!” Peanut Butter cried as she rushed forward and gave Harry a hug around his legs. Spinning around, she rushed to Daryl and gave him a hug too.” “Wuv you!” She proclaimed as she started awkwardly running to the house. She was almost there when she stopped then spun back around.

“Shit!” Harry cursed softly, his face falling.

“Hawwy, you find momma?”

Harry forced a fake smile on his face. “I’m sorry, sweetie, I didn’t find her.”

Peanut Butter’s face fell. With her shoulders slumped, she slowly made her way to the house.

“Her momma dead?” Daryl asked, his eyes still on the little girl.

Harry shrugged. “I hope so, it’s what she deserves. We were at one of the safety zone camps the military set up in Atlanta. It was a fucking stupid idea, we were nothing more than an all you can eat buffet for the dead. When things to went to shit, her parents up and abandoned her. They just dropped her hand and ran like hell without looking back once. I guess they didn’t want their Down Syndrome daughter slowing them down.”

“Da fuck!” Daryl hissed.

“She asks about her momma every time I return, but I don’t have the heart to tell her the truth. I don’t understand how a mother could abandon their child to such a horrific death? When I was fifteen months old, my mother stood between me and a crazy man. My mother gave her life for me.”

“My mother would have traded me for a pack of smokes.”

“Wow! That’s just…wow!” Harry repeated.

“It ain’t nuffin,” Daryl grumbled. Looking back to the house, he frowned. “Is her name really Peanut Butter.”

Harry started laughing. “Who the hell knows. Every time we asked her her name, she answered Peanut Butter. So Peanut Butter it is.”

Daryl gave half a grin. “I like it.”

“Yeah, me too.” Harry agreed softly.

“That was kind of you to save her. I can’t imagine it was easy getting out with her. I have heard some horror stories about the military camps.”

“It was a nightmare. My gut was telling me to get the hell out, but I was hoping to get some information out of the military. Spoiler alert, they knew less than us. When the first dead was spotted in the encampment, they were the first to turn tail and run with all the weapons. I tried to help as best as I could, but it was madness. In the end I grabbed Peanut Butter, a bunch of orphans from a group home that was abandoned by their caretakers, and a toddler whose father was so strung out on drugs that he didn’t even react when the dead started eating him. We also picked up a few deserving people along the way as well as some more orphans…like Daisy.”

“How are you keeping everyone safe from the walkers when you ain’t got no walls or fencing?”

“I guess it’s magic,” Harry said with a teasing grin, knowing that Daryl would think that he was just being a smart ass and not dead serious. “Come on, let’s get a couple goats milked. It’s not their normal milking time so they won’t have as much, but I should be able to get you a half a gallon to hold the little one over until after tomorrow morning’s milking. We average about two gallons in the morning and about three quarters, to a gallon in the evening. We separate mommas and babies overnight then milk them in the morning before turning them all out together.”

“Ain’t never milked no goat before,” Daryl mumbled as he followed Harry into the barn.

“It’s not that hard, but you have to be quick.” Opening a bin, Harry scooped out a scoop of oats. Saying a prayer that Daryl wouldn’t question him about the oats, he turned and gave his mate a smile. “My girls get pretty cranky if they run out of food while you’re still milking. They don’t work for free.”

“Where the hell did you find oats?”

Harry gave a dismissive shrug. “Here and there.” And the wizarding world. “I’m pretty good at scavenging shit.”

“Something isn’t right with this place.”

Harry chuckled nervously. “With everything going on, I can understand why you’re so cautious and don’t trust easily.”

“I’ve never trusted anyone, not even my brother.”

“Huh, well I guess there’s that then.” Walking to the milk stand, Harry dumped the oats into the attached bucket then opened a stall door and yelled. “Never! Come on girl I got a snack for you.”

“What kind of name is Never?”

A large black and white goat with long floppy ears shot past Harry and jumped on the milk stand where she then shoved her face in the bucket. Smiling, Harry scooped up a baby that stumbled out behind her that was a clone of its mother. “Never is my most temperamental lady and I thought I’d never get her trained to the milk stand. So that’s how she got the name Never. She only had a single baby so she’ll have the most milk.”

“That’s a stupid fucking name.”

Harry thrust the baby goat in Daryl’s arms, smirking when he started bitching and complaining. “You are just a big bright shining ray of sunshine aren’t you?”

“Fuck you.”

“Okay, but did you still want to see my passport first?” Harry asked sassily.

“I’ll just come back later then,” a voice said from the other end of the barn. “I’ll introduce myself another time.”

Seeing Daryl tense and hand drop to where he kept his gun, Harry quickly spoke up. “Come on in, Neville, I’d like for you to meet Daryl. Daryl, Neville is one of my very best friends so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t shoot him, especially seeing as he’s holding my godson Rowen.”

“Daryl? Ah, are you the man the took all of Daisy’s chocolates?”

Harry threw his head back laughing. “I told you Daisy has been bitching about you all morning.”

Still awkwardly holding the baby goat, Daryl grumbled. “I only took a couple of pieces for Rick’s son.”

Waving him off, Harry got to milking Never. “I don’t think it’s about the chocolates. I think Daisy likes you.”

Taking pity on Daryl, Neville opened the stall door. “You can toss the little one in here.”

With a sigh of relief, Daryl gently placed the baby goat in the stall and gave it an easy shove. “Do you eat them?”

Freezing, Harry looked up and down the barn isle before answering. “Not the girls, but we have eaten a few of the boys, just don’t tell the kids, especially Peanut Butter. The other kids would be sad if they found out, but they’d understand. Not Peanut Butter, she’d be devastated and go on a hunger strike again.”

“A few months back she didn’t eat for four days because she found out that we butchered a pig.” Neville added. “Now any meat we serve we tell her that we bought it at the store. To her store meat isn’t the same as animal meat so it’s alright to eat.”

“I think this will be enough milk until tomorrow morning’s milking,” Harry said, holding up a jar of milk that was a little less than a half a gallon.

“Do you want me to pasteurize it?” Neville offered.

“I got it, Nev. Daryl is afraid that I’ll poison the milk or something so he wants to supervise everything.”

“Harry would never in a million years mess with someone’s food, especially a baby’s.” Neville defended hotly.

“It’s alright, Nev, Daryl doesn’t know me. You can’t blame him for being overly cautious, especially concerning his friend’s newborn baby. You have seen some of the lowlife creepers we have come across, they wouldn’t have thought twice killing a baby.”

“I guess,” Neville reluctantly admitted, “it’s just, after the way you were raised, you would cut off your hands before you hurt a child.”

Harry shrugged like it was no big deal. “Maybe after Daryl gets to know me better, he’ll learn that he can trust me. Right now he thinks I’m just a sixteen year old brat.”

Neville threw his head back and started laughing. “Oh, that’s funny, wait until I tell Ron and Hermione.” Shaking his head, he looked to Daryl. “My birthday is the day before Harry’s, and I can assure you that he is twenty years old.”

“You look twenty.” Daryl grunted. “He doesn’t.” He said pointing to Harry.

Harry pouted when Neville continued to laugh uncontrollably. “It’s not that funny.”

“It really is,” Neville wheezed. “He thinks you look like a teenager. Which come to think of it, you do look exactly like you did at sixteen.”

“Not all of us had a supermodel glow up like you, Nev. You could be an underwear model with all those abs you have now.”

Neville’s face turned bright red. “Shut up, Harry, you tosser.”

Laughing, Harry turned to Daryl. “Come on, let’s get this done.”

***HP

“Well?” Rick asked anxiously as he hovered over Hershel. “Do you think it’s safe?”

Lowering the glass, Hershel licked his lips. “It tastes fine to me and Daryl said he watched the boy milk the goat and pasteurize the milk. I believe it’s safe for the little one, especially seeing as it’s all we have.”

“Here,” Maggie said, handing Rick a bottle she had warmed by the fire.

Rick still looked uncertain, but he accepted the bottle then placed it at his whimpering daughter’s lips. “I can’t believe we are trusting a stranger.”

“You trusted me to save Carl after he got shot,” Hershel reminded.

“I didn’t have a choice, my boy was dying.”

“That little one is dying too. She only has another day or two before she becomes too weak to nurse.”

“Dad,” Carl whined. “Please don’t let Judith die.”

Rick looked to Daryl. “Do you trust that boy?”

Daryl’s top lip twitched. “I trust that the milk is safe. From the time the goat was milked until the milk was placed in my hands, it never left my sight. I’m not sure if I trust the kid, there’s something weird about him and their farm, but I trust that he wouldn’t hurt a child. He’s damn near running an orphanage and all the kids I met were happy and healthy. He even risked his life to save a little Down syndrome girl whose parents abandoned her.”

Relaxing, Rick finally pushed the nipple forward and into his starving daughter’s mouth. Immediately she started sucking vigorously, her little whimpers stopping as she happily fed.

“What more can you tell us about this farm?” Hershel asked curiously.

Sighing, Daryl looked around at the people who had become family to him over the past year. He may have told the boy that he didn’t trust anyone, but he trusted everyone in here, especially Rick. More than once Rick has saved his life, even at the risk of his own life. Despite that, the only thing Harry had asked in return for the milk, was for him to not give too many details about his farm or his people. He didn’t ask him not to say anything, he knew that he would have to tell his group something, but he had asked for him not to put the lives of his group in danger.

“Daryl?” Hershel called.

“It was strange,” Daryl finally admitted. “They had no fencing or anything, not even guards, they were just sitting there out in the open living life like it was before everything went to shit.”

“What about the walkers?” Glenn asked.

Daryl shrugged. “None around, at least none close. After I left, I didn’t encounter a walker until I was almost a mile down the road.”

Leaning back in his chair, Hershel drew his eyebrows together in thought. “Did you have any issues seeing the farm?”

“Da fuck does that mean?” Daryl spat. “There’s nothing wrong with my eyes, I could see the damn thing just fine.”

Beth started giggling. “That’s not what he meant. He meant…”

“Beth,” Hershel interrupted, “ Daryl said he could see the farm so drop it.”

“Sorry, daddy.”

“You said he’s willing to supply us with more milk?” Rick asked hopefully.

“He said he had more than enough to share. I’m supposed to meet him in the morning.”

“I’m going with you,” Michonne said, not asking but telling.

Daryl scowled. “Why the fuck do you want to go?”

“You said they had supplies, even feed to feed their goats, it sounds like we should become friends with them. If they’re willing to give us milk, what else would they be willing to share. Maybe we can work together.”

“It’s not a bad idea.” Hershel said thoughtfully. “They sound like good folk.”

“He did ask if we needed anything else,” Daryl admitted.

“I don’t know,” Rick said with a scowl. “The kid seemed alright, but trusting others have gotten some of our group killed in the past, including my wife. I’m not sure it’s worth the risk.”

“I trust that they won’t hurt us,” Daryl said, shocking even himself by saying that. He didn’t trust easily, but there was just something about Harry. He had no doubt in his mind that the kid had it in him to kill in order to protect those he cared about, he could sense a powerful and dangerous side to him, but he could also sense that he cared deeply and was a truly good person. He was also stupidly attracted to the brat, which was a problem because he still didn’t believe that he was twenty years old.

Rick passed the baby over to Beth. “I’m not comfortable with this, but I trust you Daryl and I trust your judgement. I’m also grateful that the boy is keeping my daughter alive by supplying us with goats milk so I’m willing to discuss an alliance if they are interested.”

Daryl hated that a part of him, a big part of him at that, was excited over the possibility of working with Harry and seeing him more often. Harry was pretty much everything he looked for in a partner, except for his damn age.

***HP

Yawning, Harry closed his eyes and rested his head back against the wall while he waited on Daryl. Normally it would be stupid to close his eyes and let his guard down like this, but he had been up all night with Peanut Butter thanks to night terrors she suffered from. This was actually the fourth night in a row and he didn’t know how much more he could take. He was going to have to contact Madam Pomfrey to see if there was something he could safely give her to help her sleep peacefully. Her as well as himself. He couldn’t function like this much longer.

“That’s a good way to get yourself eaten.”

Eyes still closed, Harry smirked. “If I had known that that was all it would have taken to get you to…”

“Don’t you fucking finish that sentence,” Daryl growled throatily.

Harry really didn’t want to open his eyes, but the wards he had set around himself before he closed them were alerting him that Daryl wasn’t alone. Groaning, he opened his eyes, only for them to widen when he saw who was sliding off the back of Daryl’s bike. “Michonne!” He cried in shock and disbelief.

Michonne’s head popped up. “Harry!” She gasped.

Kicking off from the wall, Harry rushed to Michonne and pulled her in for a hug. “Oh my god, I thought you were dead.”

Scowling, Daryl crossed his arms over his chest. “You two know each other?” He asked, a hint of jealousy in his voice.

Harry’s grin was blinding as he looked to Daryl. “We were at the same camp together. She’s the one who taught me how to properly use a sword.”

“I thought you were dead!” Both Harry and Michonne cried at the same time.

“I wasn’t there when the camp was overrun,” Michonne explained. “I was out with team A scavenging for supplies.”

With a cry of excitement, Harry grabbed Michonne’s arm then started pulling her towards his bike. “You have to come with me, I have something to show you.”

“Da hell!” Daryl growled. “Where the fuck you going?”

Harry didn’t bother to look over his shoulder as he continued to drag Michonne towards his bike. “Home. I have something that Michonne really needs to see. You can come with, Daryl, if you want.”

“Like I fucking want,” Daryl grumbled, but he swung his leg back over his bike.

“Harry, I don’t understand,” Michonne said in confusion as she allowed Harry to push her onto his bike and then stuff a piece of paper into her hand.

“Read that,” Harry instructed.

“Harry?”

“Just read it, Michonne.”

Sighing, Michonne looked down at the crumpled piece of paper. “Lion’s Den?”

Harry snatched the paper out of Michonne’s hand then straddled his bike. “Hold on tight.”

***HP

Harry raced back home as fast as he could safely push his bike, it’s not like he had to worry about other motorists or the cops. He just couldn’t believe that he had Michonne on the back of his bike, he thought for sure she was dead. After the encampment fell, they had hung in the area for two days waiting to see if any parents returned for their children but none had. He knew that nothing would have stopped Michonne from returning for her toddler son so that’s why he had assumed she had been among those slaughtered.

“Slow down, Harry, you’re going to get us killed!” Michonne yelled in Harry’s ear.

“We’re almost there!” Harry yelled back. “Just a few more miles.”

Michonne wrapped her arms tighter around Harry’s waist holding on for dear life. At seeing a beautiful farm come into view, she let out a gasp. “How?” She asked.

Harry slowed his bike as he turned into the long driveway. “The how isn’t important right now.”

“Daryl said that this place didn’t make sense. How can you safely live here without any defenses?”

“That’s not important either,” Harry said as he stopped in front of his house. “Neville!” He bellowed.

Neville came tearing out of the house with his wand clenched tightly in his hand. “What is it? What’s wrong, Harry?” He asked, eyes wide,

“Sorry,” Harry cringed, “I didn’t mean to scare you, but look who I found.”

“Michonne!” Neville gasped in shock. “How? We thought you were dead?”

Sliding off his bike, Harry turned to offer Michonne a hand. “She wasn’t there, she was out on a run.”

“What the hell is going on?” Daryl snapped, getting off his own bike.

Bringing his fingers up to his lips, Harry let out a whistle. Turning to Michonne with a grin, he held out his hands. “Let me hold your sword and bag for you.”

“Why?” Michonne asked as she slowly unbuckled her sword from her back.

Harry pointed to a group of kids that were making their way from the barn all laughing and joking around. “Because you’re going to need both your arms.”

“What are you talking about?” Turning to see what Harry was pointing at, all the color drained from Michonne’s face as her entire body started shaking. With a loud sob, she fell to her knees.

“What the hell?” Daryl cried.

Harry stopped Daryl when he moved to help Michonne. “She’s fine, she’s just had a bit of a shock.”

Sobbing, Michonne climbed back to her feet and yelled. “Andre!”

A little boy about four years old stopped walking and looked up. Cocking his head to the side, he cried. “Momma!”

“Momma?” Daryl muttered.

Sobbing, Michonne took off for her son at the same time the little boy started running towards her. Falling to her knees again in front of him, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him onto her lap and started rocking back and forth as she sobbed.

“Didn’t know she had a kid,” Daryl muttered.

Sniffling, Harry wiped at his eyes. “I had befriended Michonne my first day at the camp and when all hell broke loose, I ran to her tent to check on her. It was her husband that was so out of it on drugs that he didn’t even care when the dead started eating him. I was too late to help him, but I knew that Michonne taught Andre to hide in a dumpster if she wasn’t there if something bad happened so I grabbed him and ran.”

“Are you crying?” Daryl scoffed.

“How can you not be?” Harry sniffed. “Look at them, mother and son reunited after all these months. All this time Michonne thought her baby boy had been viciously ripped apart by the dead. Don’t you have a heart?”

“No!” Daryl answered flatly, though his eyes looked a little misty. “I ain’t no pussy.”

“Where did you find Michonne?” Neville asked, coming to stand by Harry.

“She was with Mr. Sunshine.”

Daryl rolled his eyes. “She wasn’t with me. She only joined our group a couple weeks ago.”

“I can’t believe it,” Neville said, his own eyes watering. “It’s a miracle.”

Refusing to let go of her son, Michonne picked him up and carried him to Harry. “How? I don’t know what to say.” With a cry she lunged at Harry and hugged him with one arm, crying into his neck.

Harry hugged her back. “You don’t have to say anything, Michonne. I’m just sorry we didn’t find you sooner. I honestly thought you were dead. Everything was so chaotic after the encampment fell and then the military started dropping bombs. I thought the safest thing to was to pack up everyone and get as far away from the city as we could.”

“You saved him. You didn’t have to but you did.” Michonne sobbed.

“You’re my friend, Michonne. I may have only known you a short time, but we shared an instant connection. When the screaming started, I went to your tent first to help. I’m sorry about your husband.”

“I don’t care about him, he was a shit father. Thank you, Harry, thank you so much. You gave me my life back.”

“Why don’t we all go inside,” Neville offered warmly. “Hanna and I just finished decorating a cake. We can celebrate.”

“Cake?” Daryl asked suspiciously. “How the hell did you bake a cake?”

Harry stepped away from Michonne, but kept one arm wrapped around her waist. “There’s so much to explain, but I don’t know how or where to start.”

***HP

Michonne was still holding her son on her lap as she finished her second piece of cake. “I have so many questions, Harry. So, so many questions.”

Harry’s eyes flicked to Daryl who was leaning against the kitchen counter pushing cake crumbs around on his plate. He had been suspiciously quiet this entire time and it was worrying him. He understood why, Daryl knew that he was keeping things from him, but he just didn’t know how to start the magic talk.

“I have a question,” Hannah said warily. “What are you going to do now? Are you going to take Andre and leave?”

Harry tensed at the question. He had been so worried over the magic talk that he knew he needed to have, that he hadn’t even considered that Michonne may take Andre and leave. Michonne may be Andre’s mother, but for the past year he had taken care of the four year old and had been a father to him. He loved Andre like he was his own. The thought of Michonne taking Andre and leaving the safety of the wards terrified him.

“How many are in your group?” Harry blurted out.

“Why would we tell you our numbers?” Daryl snapped. “We don’t know you.”

“I trust him.” Michonne admitted as she clutched tightly to her son.

“Well I don’t trust you,” Daryl shot back. “I barely know you more than him,” he said pointing to Harry.

Harry reluctantly nodded his head. “Then let me meet your leader and I’ll talk to him. I want to offer you all a place here. We have safety and security here and plenty of food.” Knowing he should have discussed this with Neville and Hanna first, he looked to them apologetically, but they both smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up.

“You have already met him. Rick is our leader.” Michonne explained.

“Take me back to your camp and let me speak to him. You have met me a few times now, do you honestly feel that I’m a threat to your people.”

After a brief moment of silence, Daryl shook his head. “No, I don’t think you’re a threat. You not only trusted me with your location and introduced me to your people, but you have also saved Rick’s daughter’s life. Fine, you can come back with me and talk to Rick.” Looking to Michonne, he added. “You stay here with your boy. The prison is no place for a toddler.”

Harry could see the conflict on Michonne’s face, but after looking down at her son, who had fallen asleep in her arms, she nodded her head. “I’m not abandoning you all, but I have to put Andre first. I don’t want to take him out there. I don’t know how or why, but this place feels safe.”

Harry got to his feet. “Alright then, let’s see if we can convince Rick to relocate here.”

“Do you have enough room?” Michonne asked.

Neville chuckled. “If not, Harry can make some.”

Daryl was half way out of the kitchen when he stopped. “Do you know how old Harry is?” He asked Michonne. From the living room Harry and Neville could be heard laughing at his question.

Michonne shrugged. “Nineteen or twenty I think. I’m pretty sure he said he was nineteen when we met and that was almost year ago. Why?”

“There’s no fucking way he’s twenty.”

***HP

“It’s kinda depressing, but smart,” Harry said as he looked up at the prison. They had stopped at the gate so Daryl could open it and let them in. Seeing movement in the lookout tower, he watched as someone scrambled out of it then sprinted into the prison. If Rick didn’t know they were there before, he did now.

“It’s a fucking prison.” Daryl growled.

“Exactly! It wasn’t just made to keep people from getting out, but also to keep people from getting in. Not sure how well the fencing will hold under a big herd of the dead, but it beats sleeping out in the open.”

“We’ve already had to patch up sections, the prison won’t hold much longer. Are you going to talk and tell us how you’re securing your farm without any walls or fencing?”

Harry cringed. “If you decide to join me, I’ll spill all my secrets.”

“Including your true age?”

Harry rolled his eyes. “You’re a bullheaded bastard. A hot bullheaded bastard, but still bullheaded. Like I’ve said a hundred times now, I’m twenty years old. I’m small for my age because my relatives who raised me didn’t think I needed food to grow into a big, strong, healthy boy. Who knew proper nutrients were good for the body. I was lucky if I got one meal every three days and even then it was just my cousin’s leftover scraps. I didn’t start having regular meals until I started boarding school when I was eleven and any progress I made while at school was ruined every summer when I was sent back to my loving relatives.”

“I still don’t believe you’re twenty.”

Harry threw his hands up in the air. “Merlin, I never thought it would be this hard to get someone into my pants. You’re going to feel really stupid when you finally believe I’m twenty and realize how much fun you have missed out on.”

Growling, Daryl moved to step towards Harry, but Rick yelling his name stopped him. “We will finish this later.”

Harry climbed back onto his bike. “Looks like I’ll be finishing it later…by myself since you can’t get it through your thick head that I’m twenty!”

Harry wasn’t sure how many people were in Daryl’s group, but Rick and two other men were waiting for them, all three armed and looking at him suspiciously. Looking to the prison, he spotted a few other faces peeking out, some even looked to be kids. If they all were going to move back to the farm, he was going to have magically add a few extra rooms. Better yet, maybe they could build a couple houses, that sounded better than them all under one roof.

“Daryl?” Rick questioned tensely. “Everything alright? Where’s Michonne?”

“Back at his place.” Daryl answered, motioning to Harry. “Seems she had a rug rat and the kid saved him.”

“Still not a kid,” Harry sighed in exasperation. “And I actually knew Michonne from when we stayed in one of the military encampments. I thought she was killed with her husband when it fell, but I was able to save her son.”

Rick’s eyes widened at that. “I didn’t know she had a kid. Did you? He asked the Asian man next to him.

The man nodded his head. “I overheard her telling Maggie about him. That’s pretty crazy, man, that you just happen to have him.”

Rick narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “That is a little suspicious, especially seeing as we don’t know much about Michonne since she just joined us.”

“Dude, we’re not working together to infiltrate you or something. You have nothing we need or want. I’m actually here to offer you help.”

“We have guns and the prison. It’s not much, but it safety and right now that’s pretty damn rare and worth killing for.”

Harry pointed to where a group of dead were pushing against the fence, the fence damn near buckling under their weight. “It’s not going to be safe for much longer. One big herd and that fence is coming down. I can offer you not only safety, but a real house to live in and food.”

“Why? What’s in it for you?” Rick asked sarcastically.

“Hopefully him,” Harry smirked and winked at Daryl, “if he ever gets over himself and accepts that I’m twenty, not sixteen.”

After a brief moment of shocked silence, the Asian guy doubled over and started laughing uncontrollably. “Daryl! You think Daryl is gay?”

“What’s so funny about that?” Daryl snapped. “And I’m bi, not gay.”

Immediately the Asian guy stopped laughing and straightened back up. “Dude, no, there’s nothing wrong with it, I just never….”

“Shut the fuck up, Glenn.” Daryl growled.

Harry chuckled. “Look, I’m not here to steal anything or hurt anyone and if you prefer to remain here, that’s fine and I’ll even help strengthen your fencing, but I have a big farm with plenty of room.”

“You would trust a group of strangers whom you never met around your people? Daryl said you have a lot of kids in your group.”

“No, I don’t trust you all yet, I don’t know you, but I do trust Daryl and Michonne and they trust you. Daryl also told me you were a law enforcement officer, which I too was something similar back in my country.”

Rick scratched at his beard as he looked around, his eyes darting from the fence, the prison, then back to Harry. “What do you think?” He asked Daryl.

“I think he has a shit ton of secrets and until we get some answers, I won’t be able to fully trust him.”

“Ouch,” Harry muttered under his breath. It hurt hearing his mate say he still didn’t fully trust him, but he did understand his feelings. He knew he needed to come clean, but he was honestly scared.

“I trust that he won’t hurt us,” Daryl added. “But his farm doesn’t make sense. There’s no walls, no fencing, no lookouts, nothing. The kid doesn’t even have a gun and I didn’t see one in the house either. They’re just going about their lives on the farm as if the past year never happened.”

“How is that possible?” A black man asked in awe.

Harry was trying to come up with something to say, when someone did it for him. “Magic.” A man said simply.

Harry turned to the right where the voice came from. A voice that he thought he would never hear again because it was suppose to be safely behind the wards of the locked down American Ministry. “Hershel?” He questioned in disbelief.

“Mr. Potter,” Hershel said with a massive grin on his face. “I never thought I’d see you again, son, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. You’re to noble to hide in the wizarding world while there are people in need.”

“Harry!” A young female yelled.

Still in shock and disbelief, Harry barely had enough time to brace himself before a body was slamming into him, blonde hair blocking his view of a confused looking Daryl and Rick. “Beth? Beth, what the hell? You guys aren’t suppose to be here.”

Hearing a soft clunking sound, Harry turned back to Hershel, a sick feeling washing over him when he saw that Hershel was using crutches to walk because he was missing a leg. How the hell had he not noticed that Hershel had lost a leg? “What the hell happened?” He cried as tears filled his eyes.

Still grinning, Hershel made it to Harry. “Now none of that, son, it was just a leg. Who needs two anyway.” Reaching over his daughter, who was still clinging to Harry crying, he embraced Harry in a one arm hug. “It’s damn good to see you, son. Damn good.”

“I wish I could say the same, Hershel. You’re suppose to be safe. Is Annie and Maggie here too?”

“What the hell is going on? Do you know everyone?” Daryl yelled.

“Did he say magic?” Glenn chuckled. “I could have sworn I heard him say magic.”

Stepping back, Hershel looked grimly at Harry. “Maggie is inside with the baby, but my sweet Annette didn’t make it.”

Harry shook his head no. “No, that can’t be, not Annie. Annie is the most badass auror I have ever met, there’s no way she’d be taken out by one of these monsters. I don’t understand, you’re suppose to be in the wizarding world. The last I talked to Annie she was packing you all for the move.”

“Everyone shut up!” Rick bellowed. “Can someone please explain what the hell is going on!”

“It’s alright, Rick,” Hershel said gently. “Harry here was a guest of my wife’s a for a few months before everything happened. Him and his two friends stayed at the farm so we basically became family.”

Beth lifted her head from Harry’s shoulder. “Is Hannah and Neville okay? What about the baby?”

“Everyone is safe, including little Rowen.”

Beth grinned happily. “Oh, I can’t wait to see them.”

“So let me get this straight,” Rick said sounding flustered. “You not only know Michonne, but you also know Hershel, Maggie, and Beth?”

Harry inclined his head. “Yup! Small world, huh?”

Glenn raised his hand and gave it a little wave. “Can someone explain the magic and wizarding world part?”

Looking a little panicked, Harry grimaced at Daryl. “Surprise, I’m a wizard.” Pulling out his wand, he gave it a flick and magically produced roses for Beth.

“Da fuck!” Daryl gaped wide eyed.

Giggling, Beth clutched the roses to her chest. “I guess you can’t get in trouble for spilling the beans. All those stuck up ministry people are hiding like a bunch of cowards.”

“That’s…not…real,” the black man said slowly, looking a little freaked out.

“Felt the same way myself, Tyreese, the first time my Annie did magic in front of me.” Hershel chuckled. “But magic, witches, and wizards are very much real and always have been, they’re just really good at hiding themselves.”

“How did it happen?” Harry asked with a lump in his throat. When he had first arrived in America to train with their elite, special force aurors, he had been placed under Auror Annette Greene’s care. Annie, as she had insisted he call her, was the oldest auror on the force and also the most decorated. She was Dumbledore level badass with a sprinkling of Professor McGonagall’s snark and Snape’s ability to intimidate you with just a look. They had hit it off immediately and she had insisted that he, as well as Neville and Hannah, stay with her and her family while in America. All this time he had assumed that she was safely in the wizarding world with her husband, daughter, and step daughter. What the hell had happened?

“It was those stuck up ministry people. They decided that they didn’t want anyone without magic locked down with them, even family,” Beth explained. “Mom refused to leave us. She told them they could kiss her ass.”

“Beth,” Hershel scalded though he was smiling at his daughter.

Harry was furious! Hell, he was more than furious! He couldn’t believe those bastards did that. It was rare for witches and wizards in America to marry muggles, their laws were so much stricter here, but he knew that there were some that were granted permission and were allowed to tell their muggle families about magic and the wizarding world. Annie had been one of the few who had been permitted after she had met and fell in love with Hershel, a widower with a young daughter, Maggie. Together they also had one daughter, Beth, but she had been born with no magic.

“We were doing pretty good there for a while behind Annie’s wards, but then she went to check on the neighbors and…” Hershel closed his eyes and took a few deep breath. “Well, I’m sure you can guess what happened. We found her three days later in the cow pasture eating old Rhonda. We knew she had died because the wards fell and the dead were able to wander onto the farm.”

“I am so sorry,” Harry cried. “If I had known I never would have left. I never heard about the no muggle family members ruling, that is just cruel. I thought you guys were safe.”

“Not your fault, son, and it is what it is. There’s nothing we can do about it now except fight and live for Annie.”

Harry sadly wiped the tears from his eyes. “And your leg, Hershel? What happened to your leg?”

“Got bit clearing this place of the dead.”

“I did it,” Rick admitted looking a little green at the memory. “It was either that or…”

“Thank you,” Harry said cutting Rick off. “That couldn’t have been easy. Thank you also for helping them. I may not be their blood, but they are family.”

“Enough of the mushy shit. Someone needs to start doing some explaining,” Daryl demanded. “Magic? Wards? Ministries?”

Harry took a couple deep breaths trying to collect himself. He was absolutely devastated over the loss Annie and sickened over Hershel having to have his leg chopped off, but he was seething over the American Ministry not allowing muggle family members to go in lockdown with them. He would rip them a new one if he could, but it was too late now. He was probably magically strong enough to rip apart their wards and confront them over their heartlessness, but there were more innocent witches and wizards hiding behind the wards than prejudiced ministry officials and he didn’t want to risk them getting hurt. No, he had to focus all his magic and energy on his loved ones here and see to their safety and comfort. He also had to find a way to convince Rick to move everyone to the farm. There was no way in hell he was going to leave Hershel, Maggie and Beth in this filthy shit hole that was only days away from collapsing and being overrun by the dead.

***HP

Daryl watched as Harry gathered a couple of jars then excused himself to go milk his goats. After two hours of intense drilling by himself, Rick, and a few others, they had all agreed to go back to Harry’s farm to check everything out and to meet Neville and Hannah. To say his mind was completely blown was a fucking understatement. First the dead eating people and now magic, it should be impossible, but after watching Harry magic an old prison bus without an engine in it to run so the group could all go to the farm, how could he deny that magic was real?

Looking around the room, he studied the faces of the people he spent the last year fighting for their lives with. He knew that if this was just an ordinary day, pre apocalypse, none of these people would have given him the time of day, except for possibly Rick, but that was because he was a deputy and he more than likely would have arrested him or something. Now, though, now they were family. He had nothing in common with any of them, just the will and the strength to survive by any and all means necessary.

Even though it had only been a couple hours since they left the prison, everyone looked different and it wasn’t just because they all were showered and in fresh clean clothes for the first time since fleeing Hershel’s farm. No, it was their faces and their eyes and how they were holding themselves. Gone was the constant tenseness, their bodies ready to flee in an instant. Their faces and eyes were also softer, more relaxed and at peace. They were all happy and content.

Hearing a soft giggling, he looked to the far corner of the room where Carol was sitting with Peanut Butter on her lap reading her a children’s book. He didn’t know if Carol looked like her mother, but for some reason Peanut Butter attached herself to Carol the moment she stepped off the bus and started calling her momma. At first he had worried that it would upset Carol seeing as her daughter had only been gone for a few months, but it looked as though Peanut Butter was helping heal Carol’s broken heart. She wasn’t even correcting Peanut Butter, she was letting her call her momma.

Looking into the kitchen, he spotted Hershel sitting at the table savoring his second cup of coffee. Silently rising to his feet, he walked to the kitchen and joined Hershel.

“Doesn’t feel real, does it?” Hershel asked. “After everything we have been through, all the pain, fear, and loss, we are finally safe.”

“Don’t jinx it,” Daryl grunted.

Hershel chuckled. “I may not be a wizard, I have never even been in the wizarding world, but even I know how loyal and how powerful Harry Potter is. The boy is famous in his world, damn near a legend, there is even a holiday in his honor, he will do everything within his power to keep us all safe.

Harry had given them the short version of his life and why he was so famous in his world. It was pretty hard to believe everything Harry went through, but he knew that Harry wasn’t lying even if the tale was something out of a fantasy book. Not that he had ever read one of those, he wasn’t big on reading books.

“Is something bothering you, Daryl?”

Peeking out the kitchen window, he spotted Harry playing with Never’s baby. As much as he was trying to deny it, he was crazy attracted to the brat. “You know Harry pretty well. How old is he?”

Placing his mug back on the table, Hershel leaned back in his chair and studied Daryl. “I respect you for being against dating minors, but let me set your mind at ease, Harry is twenty years old.”

“Told you,” Neville, who had just entered the kitchen, said with a smirk.

Without saying anything to either of them, Daryl slipped out the backdoor and headed towards the barn. Hershel confirming that Harry was twenty years old was all the proof he needed to act on his desire for the brat. There was no way in hell Hershel would lie about Harry’s age, especially since he picked up on his attraction to Harry.

Entering the barn, he spotted Harry grooming one of his goats while humming softly to it. At hearing his footsteps, Harry’s head snapped up, a grin appearing on his face when he saw him.

“Needed a little peace and quiet too?” Harry asked.

“No!” He grunted out before grabbing him and pushing him against the barn wall then slamming his lips down on his.

***HP

Harry was so shocked, that it took a minute for his brain to register what was going on. When it did, he kissed Daryl back just as passionately as he was kissing him. “Finally believe that I’m twenty?” He panted when they finally broke apart.

“I asked Hershel,” Daryl said before claiming Harry’s lips again,

“Remind me to thank him later,” Harry chucked, resting his forehead against Daryl’s as they took a second to catch their breaths. “Told you you would regret not believing me. Just think of all the fun we could have been having these past few days.”

“How about you finish milking these damn goats then show me.”

“I was hoping that you would pull your head out of your ass so I rushed the milking and finished already.” Harry was so damn relieved that Daryl finally believed that he was twenty. Restraining himself from jumping his mate had been getting harder and harder by the hour.

“Just so you know, I don’t care that you have magic. I’m not your fucking relatives.”

Any tension and fear that Harry had been holding on to, left him at Daryl’s words. Even though Daryl’s group seemed to easily accept magic thanks to Hershel having his back, he had still been terrified that Daryl would reject him. “You don’t know how much I needed to hear that.”

Daryl knowing his secrets felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his chest, but there was still one secret he was keeping from Daryl and he wasn’t sure when or even if he should tell him. How could he expect Daryl to understand mates when he himself was still struggling with the concept. Luckily he had time to figure everything out seeing as Rick and everyone in his group voted unanimously to stay on the farm. When he escaped to the barn for a breather Rick had been discussing with the others a plan for building a few cabins. He could easily magic a couple cabins, but maintaining them would add to the strain on his magic and building the cabins themselves would give the group something to do. Without having to be constantly moving, hunting, and on their guard, they were going to have a lot of free time on their hands so building their own homes would give them a goal. For now he was going to magic a couple temporary rooms onto the farm house so everyone wasn’t sleeping on top of each other.

He didn’t know what the future would bring, or if there even was a future to look forward to in this new world, but he was going to do everything within his considerable power to keep everyone safe and happy and having someone at his side, someone to lean on and support him, was more than he ever expected in life. Not only that, he now had a family, a family that seemed to be growing by the day. Life wasn’t going to be easy, but when had life ever been easy for him.

Harry was wrenched out of his thoughts when his lips were captured in another fiery kiss. “You're thinking too hard.” Daryl growled in his ear.

“What are you going to do about it?” Harry teased, only to let out an unmanly scream when Daryl tossed him over his shoulder. Yeah, life wasn’t going to be easy, but he was looking forward to it.