Stick With Me, Kid, and We'll Go Places

HP x TWD

Characters: TWD cast + Harry

Summary: Harry Potter knew very little about America, so of course his 'family' had to take a vacation there right when the zombie apocalypse hit. He's only ten and he's already fighting for his life. Joy.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or Harry Potter.

Chapter 5 Word Count: 5059

Morning soon dawned over The Vatos' camp, washing the cold concrete warehouse with an auburn hue, thanks to the high windows positioned along each wall. But despite a lack of bright light, most everyone was awake, shuffling around and beginning their day the best way they could. In one corner, they had set up a small 'kitchen'—if it could be called such—with several scavenged gas stoves and a refrigerator hooked up to a small generator. Currently, several members were crowded around the area, taking bowls from a man behind a counter who ladled each one full of a sort of soup. Throughout the warehouse, groups had formed in bunches of four or five, each group drowsily chatting over their meager breakfast.

So peaceful was the morning that Glenn almost felt regretful leaving The Vatos. He wasn't sure if these people had known most of each other before the outbreak, or if Guillermo was such a brilliant leader that everyone just felt safe under his command, but there was a sense of ease amongst the group that made the situation seem semi-normal, as if the world hadn't gone to shit. It was a sense of casualness that Glenn could not say that he felt back at the Quarry.

So with thoughts tumbling through his mind, he packed up their own share of spoils from the hospital trip and ruffled through their duffel of food, running over the supplies several times in his head. Hopefully, once they made it back, he wouldn't have to take a supply run for a solid two weeks. Knowing Shane, however, enough was never enough.

After he finished packing, he ran through the route they would take to get back to camp. More than likely, they would have to get through the blockage from two days ago. If not, then he would have to call the lost supplies just that - lost. He was not going to needlessly endanger himself or Harry over clothes and medicinal supplies (no matter how much Harry looked to need the former), especially considering he had a large bag of the latter from the hospital. If need be, he might take a trip into Atlanta just to get some more clothes, considering that the winter was on their heels, and hardly anyone had proper wear for that season.

Besides, he had to consider the fact that one of The Vatos was going to take him at least out of town in a car, and there was no possible way to get to that area without some backtracking, and some part of him wanted to be quick and get back to the camp. No doubt a few people were worried about him, if only because his runs into the city provided food and other provisions. He didn't want to make them think he had abandoned him; that would not help anything, especially when he was going to be arriving with another member, or in Shane's mind, "another mouth to feed".

Glenn took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, letting his shoulders relax with the movement. He needed to stop thinking so far ahead. The best he could do right now was to take one thing at a time. That was the best anyone could do right now.

After settling his supplies and piling the two bags, he quietly walked over to where Harry was still dozing. The poor kid had had a very eventful few days, no doubt, and if the faded dark circles under his eyes were any indication, he was exhausted. From what little Glenn knew about the body and how it grew, he suspected that the boy more than needed it, as he was approaching his preteen years. Yuck.

Not for the first time did he wonder about Harry's life before. His clothes, gaunt frame, and his personality and the little actions practically pointed to an answer, but Glenn didn't want to press the issue while his relationship with him was so fragile and new. A little more trust and time would do leaps more than pressure and questions. That was something Glenn knew. So he ignored the dozens of questions poking at the back of his mind and instead inspected the area some more.

Like the rest of The Vatos, Sam had already started his day, and Glenn could spot the kid chatting with a group of men in their mid-twenties, probably talking about cars. Along with Sam's Mustang, about seven other cars were spread throughout the warehouse, but even with that many cars around, the place didn't feel very crowded. Instead, it kind of felt… cozy, in an odd sort of way.

What with all that happened the last few days, he hadn't had much time to inspect the warehouse in full, and he could honestly say that this place felt more like a 'home' than just a shelter. While neither of the groups was thinking long term, The Vatos seemed to have set up a much more secluded and secure space to ride out the apocalypse, no matter how long. The only fault Glenn could see would be the area between the nursing home and the warehouse, which was rather unfortified with only a flimsy fence between them and a possible horde of undead. Maybe he should suggest some things to Guillermo before he leaves.

Glenn went ahead and grabbed Harry and himself a bowl of soup from the man at the kitchen - Jorge, he thinks his name was. The buff man had accompanied him on his hospital run yesterday, and despite his intimidating appearance, the man seemed wholly comfortable in the food-laden environment, ladling and handing him two bowls of soup with the barest hint of a smile. Glenn returned the smile in full when he noticed the extra meat and potatoes in the broth, knowing that the man was thanking him in his own, silent way before they departed.

When Harry blinked open his eyes that morning, he almost forgot that two weeks ago, the apocalypse had come to town; he didn't even once think of the brain-rotted, flesh-eating creatures hell-bent on devouring the human race. He was warm. He was well-rested. He felt... semi-content.

Jaw cracking with a yawn, Harry turned on his side, struggling with the worn (and warm) hotel-grade blankets that enveloped him. In his struggle, something shifted underneath him, and after one heart-wrenching second of free-fall, he found himself sprawled across cold concrete and mostly blanket free. When his heart stopped pounding from the scare, he looked to see what happened.

Apparently, he had been sleeping on two lawn chairs pushed up against each other; they must have shifted just enough to dump him from its warm embrace.

With one hand rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he craned his head around to take stock of his surroundings—a habit born from all his years living with easily angered relatives. Unaccustomed to his surroundings, it took him a moment to realize he was in The Vatos' warehouse instead of his cramped hotel room. His curious, green eyes roved over the bits of machinery and car parts littered around the place, and he flinched when they landed on a particularly wrecked piece of equipment. The machine—possibly a spare engine (he wasn't quite sure)—had folded in on itself on one side, like an out of breath elder, an orange wrench laying innocently beside it.

His mind ran through the events of the previous night: his anger, the instinctive urge to throw something, an orange object blurring past his face, a crumpled piece of equipment, hiding, Sam's words.

-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-

"Hey, don't be afraid, Harry."

"Please don't hurt me. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so so so sorry."

"I'm not going to hurt you."

Harry muttered something under his breath.

"You aren't a freak, Harry. You are normal. Being a wizard doesn't make you a freak."

-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-.-:-

A wizard. That's what Sam had called him. Immediately an image of an elderly, stooped man with long white hair floated to the surface of his jumbled mind. Once, in school, they had watched a 2D film about King Arthur, and there had been an elderly wizard by the name of... Merman? No, that couldn't be it. Mer... Merlin?

He all the sudden felt extremely frustrated. Frustrated at himself and his relatives. Because of his lackluster upbringing, he didn't have any tangible knowledge about wizards—about himself. For he was surely a wizard, right? At least "Wizard" sounded far better than Freak.

Maybe he should look for more answers from Sam.

After eating the delicious meat and potato soup Glenn had brought for him, he began to search the warehouse for the caramel-skinned teen.

Eventually, he found the teen, predictably, back with his Mustang. Instead of polishing it, or perfecting its already near-perfect engine, Sam was reclining in the front seat with his window open. When Harry approached the car, Sam gave him a nod and patted the seat next to him. Harry needed no other prompting before climbing into the car as well.

For a while, the two sat in companionable silence, both of them sorting through their thoughts before speaking.

Harry spoke first. "How… Why do you know about wizards? What are they?"

"Well," Sam started before pausing. "Hmm. It shouldn't really affect ya since this infection has probably spread there, probably makin' the statue worth shit..."

Harry furrowed his brows, trying to figure out what Sam was talking about. After a minute, Sam continued.

"Well, my aunt was a witch," he began again, his voice only a little above a whisper. "We weren't supposed ta know, because there are some pretty strong laws in place when it comes to who can know these sorta things. Since she married into the family—she was from up north, I don't quite remember the name of the place—only her husband was supposed ta know about her bein' a witch. But one day, when I was probably five or six, she kinda slipped. I had run straight into our TV stand, and before I knew what was goin' on, I'm looking up at a floatin' TV, hoverin' 'bout three inches from my face. She had used her magic because she had wanted to protect me from gettin' hurt."

Sam mulled over his words for another few moments.

"My parents freaked out at first, because y'know, who wouldn't? She had just made a TV float in thin air! My parents were kinda scared of her, especially after she told 'em about the laws. For a few years, everything was kinda shaky, but we were still on good terms with her. But one day, when I was I think eleven or twelve, she disappeared, and we haven't seen her since."

Harry listened to his story intently, but he flinched when Sam talked about his parents fearing his aunt. He didn't want to be feared by anybody!

Would something like that happen if he told Glenn? A shiver of fear crawled up his spine at the thought.

"Anyway," Sam said. "I don't know much about wizards or witches, or whatever. I have no idea why you are a wizard, or how, or what it means. I just know you are one, and it's a part of who you are. You can't deny it any more than I can deny that I am Hispanic, capiche?"

After a second of hesitation, Harry slowly nodded his head. "I just… I don't want people to fear me for being a frea— a wizard."

Sam side-eyed Harry at his slip-up, but decided not to comment on it for now. "Well, you can be sure as hell that I'm not afraid of you. Magical wrench or not, you can't be more than thirty pounds soppin' wet! I ain't afraid of no scrawny kid!" As brash as his words were, Sam's face was sporting a confident, reassuring smile.

For a long while, the two sat in silence, one absorbing new information, and the other thinking.

"Sam?"

"Hmmmm?" Sam cracked one blue eye open, attention sliding to Harry.

It took a moment for Harry to work up the courage, and even then his words were rushed. "W-w-will I ever see you again?"

Sam sat up in his chair, staring at the far warehouse wall before responding. "Well, yeah, duh. I'll be seein' you every damn day."

At Harry's confused look, Sam smiled. "What, did you really think y'all would be leavin' without me? I asked Guillermo this mornin', and he said yes, so I'm afraid y'all are stuck with me for a while."

Harry's vision grew blurry with happy tears and he went to hug Sam.

Sam carefully pushed Harry's hands away from himself. "Ah, ah, ah! The handsy stuff's gots ta stop. You can cling to Glenn all ya want, but leave me out of the mushy-fest."

Harry laughed.

Glenn strode purposefully to where Guillermo and his group of men sat near the garage doors, weapons at the ready. When Guillermo noticed him, the man gave a slight nod, inviting him into the circle, an invitation that Glenn took gladly as he slid into an empty spot.

"What do you need, Glenn?"

It made Glenn smile to think that he had gotten the hard-shelled man to finally utter his actual name, instead of "el burro"-while he still wasn't sure what that meant, he had a hunch it wasn't very nice. The fact that Guillermo had called him Glenn meant that the man actually saw him as a sort of equal instead of the dumb chickenshit who got Harry and himself into trouble a few days ago.

"Well," Glenn began slowly as he rolled the words around in his head. "I know that you guys have used this place for a while now without much trouble, but I was wondering about the stability of the fence between the warehouse and the nursing home." When Guillermo didn't say anything, Glenn continued a bit more brazenly. "I think that you guys need to secure it, maybe with some of the scrap metal lying about. The geek activity around here is only increasing, and you need to take bigger measures to make sure you and your own are safe."

One of the men in the circle growled lowly—the same one, Glenn remembered, who had strongly objected the day before—but he was quieted by a stern look from Guillermo.

For a solid moment, the leader of The Vatos seemed to mull over his words, no doubt crunching numbers in his head; the solidifying of the warehouse and nursing home wouldn't be cheap in either supplies or labor, but Glenn was confident it could be done with the amount of scrap metal and wiring he had noticed lying around.

After a few minutes, Guillermo looked into Glenn's eyes and nodded. "You 'ave a point, amigo. We have become too lax in our security, and the cadavers are growing. I'll get my men on the task rápidamente."

Glenn nodded. "If you need any help, Harry and I are more than willing to pay you guys back for helping us."

"Nah," Guillermo grunted. "Ya'll done more than enough. In fact, it is us who should be thanking you. If ya need anything more before you leave, amigo, just let Jorge know."

Glenn nodded again, mulling over Guillermo's words. "Actually… do you have any clothes that might fit Harry?"

Jorge, who he assumed was in charge of supplies and storage, furrowed his brow for a moment before answered. "Yeah, we should have somethin' to fit the squirt. We don' have any kids here, so he can have whatever he wants."

Glenn sighed in relief, thankful that they would not have to go after the duffle bag of clothes they had left behind. The medicine supplies would have to be counted as a loss, but hopefully, the bag he had gotten from the Vatos would be enough to (hopefully) make up for it.

With a well-oiled purr rumbling from the Mustang's engines, the three of them rolled into the camp a little past three in the afternoon. To avoid the undead, and leading anyone to the camp, they had taken a longer route.

First to exit the car was, of course, Glenn. Even though Sam's car had been quiet, their entrance had still attracted wary eyes and more than a few defensive stances. Once his face had been exposed to the light, however, wary eyes shown with relief at his return. The only one who didn't let his guard down walked through the throng of excited people. Shane.

"Good to have ya back," Shane said, stopping a few feet from Glenn. "Who're your new friends?" Despite the friendly enough words, Shane's tone was far from welcoming, and Glenn knew he needed to tread carefully.

"It's good to be back," he said, smiling to try and diffuse any situation before it started. " I know I was really late. I got into a bit of trouble in Atlanta, and I had to hide out for a while. I met another group in Atlanta—they called themselves The Vatos—lead by a man named Guillermo. They sheltered us in return for a bit of help with a scavenging job, even gave us a good portion of the loot." Nervous, Glenn tried to give as much neutrality to the facts as he could, but he wasn't quite sure it worked.

"And your friends?"

Glenn let out a soft sigh and waved to the car's inhabitants. From the driver's side, Sam carefully stepped out, adorning a nervous, if charming smile on his tan features. From the back came Harry, and upon the ten-year-old's appearance, he could visibly see Shane relax. Who could be intimidated by a kid practically swimming in his own clothes?

"This is Sam and Harry," Glenn explained. "I met Harry on my run—heck, he practically jumped into my arms!" At this Harry and him shared a humorous look. "We were both caught up in a horde before The Vatos saved us. Sam is part of The Vatos. He offered to take us back here, and if possible—"

Here, Sam interrupted Glenn. "I wanted to ask if it'd be alright if I stay with you guys. I brought some extra supplies with me, and I can take care of myself, but Atlanta's gettin' pretty dangerous, ya know? I don' know how much longer a group as big as The Vatos can stay there without trouble. Besides, Glenn and Harry are probably the only two friends I have right now, and I don' have any intention of losin' them because of y'all, ya hear?"

Glenn smiled nervously, gauging Shane's reaction. He was sure that Shane had been an extremely respectable man two weeks ago, but the apocalypse had changed all of them in some way. The officer had the occasional issue with his anger, and as a self-proclaimed leader, he wasn't very responsive to disobedience or anyone likely to give trouble. While he knew Sam would not cause any issue within the group (purposefully at least), he also knew that Shane could be a hard ass for some of the most asinine reasons.

Shane's sharp jawline tensed for a second at the teen's interruption, but Glenn relaxed his shoulders when that was the only outward reaction of irritation.

"Well," he hesitantly started, growing uncomfortable with the gap in conversation. "I was gone a lot longer than normal, and I'm extremely sorry. However," he interjected when everyone began to shift their feet uncomfortably. "I did get a really good haul thanks to the help of this kid."

Glenn cracked a large smile when Harry huffed after the Korean had grabbed his shoulders and mussed up his hair. The ten-year-old grumbled something about being called a kid before quickly attempting to settle his wild locks, but the soft smile on the kid's cheeks betrayed his true thoughts on the matter.

With Sam's help, they quickly unloaded the several duffel bags from the trunk and backseat of the Mustang, watched carefully by Shane. One-and-a-half duffel bags filled to the brim with food were the first to be taken and handed off, followed by another bag of medicine and then a bag filled with miscellaneous items they may or may not end up needing. It was better to be safe than sorry, Glenn's mother always said.

In the backseat, they kept a few changes of clothes they scrounged up for Harry, plus a box of comic books courtesy of Sam. Sam had told Glenn that if he had the chance, he wanted to surprise any kids in the camp with them since he didn't have a whole lot of use for them himself. While Sam had been less than friendly when they first met, he had to admit that the teen had quickly grown on him. Glenn still wondered about what happened between Harry and Sam that one night, but he certainly didn't press.

He knew that Harry could use a good friend like Sam, and as long as the teen didn't do anything to intentionally hurt Harry, he would let them do as they please.

After their rocky introduction to the camp, things began to settle back into normalcy.

Glenn made quick work of unloading all the supplies and stashing them into their respective places. With the game the Dixon's caught, they may have enough food for a couple weeks now. While they had brought back a good amount of non-perishables, their group was also rather large. Even during extreme rationing, they would go through quite a bit each day. Glenn personally didn't think the large group would last much longer under such conditions, but he tried to keep an upbeat attitude to mask his worry.

Sam and Harry were immediately herded over to the kids' group courtesy of Lorey. While Sam made some protest about being referred to as a kid (he was sixteen Goddamnit), the teen easily blended in with the children, handing out comic books and a few figurines out like candy on Halloween.

Harry and Carl hit it off pretty quick, the Grimes' kid pouring over some of Sam's gifted comics with the curious ten year old. Carl's excited whispers about The Hulk carried across the camp, bringing a soft smile to most everyone's faces.

Shane still gave a few suspicious glances towards Sam every once and a while, but the man kept his mouth shut about the matter.

For a while, everything was normal.

Harry didn't quite know what to make of the group of kids he was very quickly introduced to. For most of his life, Dudley had run off any potential friends, replacing them with bullies and Harry Hunting, leaving him mostly alone. In the span of a few days, he's made two awesome friends, and now there's a group of kids his age not in the least bit scared of him.

It was new, and kind of scary, but he decided that he liked it.

The first kid to introduce himself had been Carl, and then Louis, Eliza, and Sophia, in that order.

Carl was very open and talkative, swiftly dragging Harry into a conversation about a big green monster ("He's a superhero," Carl corrected, smiling). on one of the picture books Sam had brought ("Comic books," Carl supplied). Every question Harry had, Carl would answer without pause or judgment, or even a hint of irritation. Carl was happy to talk, and Harry was happy to listen, and if he had a question, the slightly older boy was more than happy to give an answer.

Harry basked in the warmth of friendship, letting his worries slip away for a few moments. By the time dinner was ready, Carl had flipped through the entire book, and he carefully placed it back inside the box before leading Harry over to the group around the fire.

At first, dinner is quiet as everyone grabbed their plates and begin eating, but as everyone begins to relax, conversation resumes. Of course, the topic is on the newest arrivals, namely Harry.

The first question he was asked was his age, then whether he was from Britain based on his accent. Several more questions were asked, but finally, Lorey asked: "where are your parents, sweetheart?"

Harry immediately lowered his eyes and hunched his shoulders, avoiding eye contact. "They died when I was a baby. My aunt and uncle have been taking care of me since. And I don't know where they are; they left me alone in a hotel room the day of and never came back."

The group fell silent, awkwardness permeating the air. Sensing this, Harry immediately tacked on:

"But it's alright, 'cause I got Glenn and Sam now."

Glenn ruffled his hair from where he sat next to Harry, and Sam snuck him a smile.

His parents were dead, and his aunt and uncle were awful, but he had faith in Glenn and Sam.

At first, living in tents on the land was rather hard for both Harry and Sam, but they adapted rather quickly. While there was a small period of adjustment, both new members settled in rather well into the group as well.

In the first few days, Sam had gotten into a verbal fight with Dale and Jim over whether his Mustang was worth scrapping for some parts. (Sam refused to budge, banning them from even touching his baby.) However, he did concede to letting them use his stash of coolant and gas so that they could keep the RV properly supplied with AC or heating in case of emergency.

Harry, not knowing what to really do, as he wasn't allowed to actually help around camp, had taken to following the other kids (Carl specifically) around like a lost puppy.

Eventually, Lorey took the boy under her wing and began to teach him alongside the other kids in the camp. For a couple days, Harry really tried to hide his knowledge, afraid that the other kids would get jealous and hate him. Eventually, however, Lorey did catch on to his act and encouraged him to do his best. When Lorey discussed their homework the next time, all of the other kids congratulated him and asked him for help. It made him extremely happy.

When he wasn't doing homework, he and Carl had taken to sitting in the RV's shade to read comic books. No matter how abhorrent his knowledge was on superheroes, Carl never once got mad at him. If he forgot a character's name, Carl would simply tell him again ("That's Hulk and Captain America. Both of them are fighting Loki"). If he couldn't remember their superpower, or he mixed up superheroes and their powers, Carl would just remind him (That's Iron Man, he doesn't really have any powers, unless you count his brain. He made the suit all by himself, isn't that neat?).

Carl quickly became Harry's best friend.

When he wasn't following Carl around or working on homework with the other kids, Harry would occasionally see the other members of the camp.

Daryl and Merle didn't seem all that friendly, especially to the other members of the group, but they mostly left the kids alone. They liked to hunt and bring back squirrels or rabbits almost every day. Harry had never really had squirrel or rabbit before, but they didn't taste too bad. That's another thing he liked here: he was able to eat to his heart's content most of the time, because if there were any leftovers after dinner was served, Lorey liked to give all of the kids a second helping. She said it was because "kids need a lot of good food to grow up strong and healthy."

Carol was really nice, even if she didn't speak much outside of the kids' homework sessions, and she obviously loved Sophie a whole lot. Her husband wasn't all that nice though. He yelled at both Carol and Sophie a lot, and they were always quieter when he was around.

Mr. and Mrs. Morales didn't really talk as much as Lorey or Shane or Glenn did, but they weren't quiet either. Their kids, Louis and Eliza were nice, if soft-spoken as well.

Dale and Jim mostly kept to themselves, one sitting on top of the RV and the other wandering around camp. Dale often would chat with Carl and Harry if they were reading in the RV's shade, sometimes talking about old comics and sometimes talking about random things to fill the silence. He was nice if a bit odd. Harry had no opinion on Jim, as he had never really spoken to the guy.

Andrea and Amy were sisters, and they were really nice. Sometimes, Amy would join them by the RV. She wouldn't say much, just watch Carl and Harry as they read the pages of their comic. Harry once looked up and caught a fond smile on her face before she hid it with a yawn.

Andrea would watch them as well sometimes, but Harry never caught her smiling. Either he couldn't catch her smiling, or she wasn't actually smiling like her sister was.

Lorey was really nice, almost like a mother, or at least what Harry thought a mother might be like. She took care of Carl (and him to an extent), gave him hugs and kisses, and did everything else Harry might think a mother would do. He didn't know what a mother was actually like, as he never had one, but he liked to think he would have had a mother like Lorey.

T-Dog and Jacqui where also really, really nice. Sometimes T-Dog would quiz Harry on what he's learned from his comic sessions with Carl, many times imparting some random fact about one superhero or the other. Jacqui would occasionally give him snacks or even one time she gave him a bracelet she had made out of some clovers. If Lorey was motherly, then Jacqui kind of reminded him of an aunt or even a grandma.

Harry didn't know much about Shane. Shane would occasionally talk to him to make sure he was alright, but he was usually too busy giving everyone orders or instructions to have a proper conversation with him.

Several days pass in almost a daze for Harry. It's been almost three-and-a-half weeks since the apocalypse began, but Harry might as well have been transported to another world entirely, that's how different his life had become. Not only did he actually have friends, but he had a whole bunch of people who didn't immediately hate him because of his relatives! He didn't have to go without a meal, he wasn't punished for being smart on his homework, he had clothes that fit him, and he was truly happy.

He didn't care if the apocalypse never ended if it meant he could be this happy.

Oh, how naive he was.

A/N: Hi, I am back. I've had a lot of issues (both personal and motivational) when it came to writing this fic. I apologize for making you guys wait a year-and-a-half for this chapter. I wanted to make it over 6000, but I really couldn't push more into what I already had.

I'm currently in my freshman year of college, so please be patient with me. I really want to continue this story, as I do have a lot of plans for the future with it, it just might take a while to update from time to time depending on my full schedule.

But other than that, I wanted to thank all of you for being awesome! Stick With Me, Kid, and We'll Go Places has almost 30,000 views, 515 favorites, 810 follows, 103 reviews, and it's been added to 13 communities! When I first wrote this story, I had no idea it would go so far, so I wanted to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart, because just seeing the love you guys have for this story motivates me to make this story better (because it can be better).

Also, I have edited the past four chapters for grammatical, spelling, and some pacing errors. It didn't change the content by much, but I hope it makes reading easier for newcomers. :)

Happy Writing~!

_-*Doodling Shadows