Chapter 3: Friends in High Places

Just to clear things up, SLASH or romance in its entirety is not the main priority in this story. It'll come inevitably, but it won't happen until a very long time. And quite honestly I don't care if Harry Potter is canon straight, this is fanfiction ffs.

Warning: Literally a bunch of Merle-esque type shit. So expect homophobia, racism, swearing, and all kinds~ (Let me put a disclaimer: I do not support racism or any type of insult towards any type of skin color, sexual orientation, or person, I simply am using how I myself perceive Merle interacting with Harry with his backward morality,)

AN: This might be considered a filler chapter, but I see it as an introduction to different character designs that I'm trying so hard putting myself in their shoes.

(IF you're offended in any way, you do not have to read this chapter.)

Merle doesn't need help, or rather he will never accept help.

His father made sure that no one will be behind a worthless, spineless, and degenerate son he raised under the kindness of his drunken heart. He was beaten and treated like crap, neglected by his father's broodmare, and took the crap all for his little brother he abandoned decades ago. He couldn't bare the fact his little brother received the same punishments he endured when he stayed in the monster's house, but he regrettably abandoned the boy after the treatment went too far.

So he joined the military.

But even that did not heal his already toughened heart. As a child, he remembers running away from the house and immersing himself in the forest where his father couldn't track him. He was free in the wilderness and when his brother was born, he made sure he would teach him how to survive without relying on their parents' loving care. Although now his situation wasn't ideal for his childhood fantasies, this is fucking real life and it is not all black and white.

A psychologist would say he grew up too fast, he calls it "toughening what wasn't their."

Despite having a military background, Merle cannot say he was a good person hell he doesn't even know what good meant purely because he realized the world isn't unicorn shit and rainbows. He committed crimes younger than anyone could imagine, smoked prematurely, and had his first bang before his majority with a desperate slut bowing submissively at his very feet. He didn't mind any of that because it shows his character, his childhood he tried to endure and the consequence after finally slipping through the broken cracks it left behind.

The other reason would be because everyone tends to abandon him. No one had his back. When he punched that sargeant, no one came to visit him; they all, instead, laughed at his face and told him how much of a right bastard he was for doing such a thing. And just like that, they simply turned and left, abandoning him when he needed them most. Just like the bastards that left him on the roof when Officer Happy handcuffed him against the rustic pipe near a door full of those dead bastards.

But what he didn't expect was a man staring at him with animals trodding towards him, a dog and an owl perched on the mutt's head. This might just be another trip, but he doesn't remember taking a hit.

However, Merle wasn't known for his… manners or lack thereof, anyway.

"Oh, what do we have here, precious? What do you want with lil ole Merle here who is tied up against this fuckin' pipe?" He says through gritted teeth. "You going to kill me, huh? Put me out of my misery after those bastards left me for dead?!"

He didn't admit it, but when the bastards left it hurt. Not because he cared for the motherfuckers, but that meant he just left his brother to fend for himself.

Wait, wait, wait… Did this fucking cocksucker sigh?!

"C'mon! Are you a fucking pussy, you white cracker?!" He could see the pale-ass baby skin underneath the black hood this cocksucker had over his small head. "C'mon, don't you wanna piece of this redneck's dick?!"

What the form did wasn't what Merle expected especially when he pulled a stick out of the fucking air. "Alohomora."

"What the fuck you just say?"

Merle will never admit he jumped when he felt the handcuffs unlock when the cocksucker said those weird voodoo words. He will also never admit that the cocksucker actually looks pretty good up close.

He wasn't gay. He just appreciates the way people look despite being a fucking cocksucker.

"Grab my hand." The cocksuckers offer his right hand for Merle to grab.

"Nah. I don't trust that hand you have there." Merle says cheekily, "Why I gotta get my hands soiled by a faggo- huh?!"

The cocksucker, once again, surprised him with how fast he was at grabbing Ole Merle. But nevertheless, he wanted to curse the little boy out because he felt like his body went through a fucking skinny-ass tube before he was upchucked back into wherever they are now because this ain't look like no roof. Soon after, nausea hit him like a bitch and had him bowing over to release his innards all over a patch of what feels like grass.

After belching, Merle's face was ripe with anger. He turned around hastily, advancing towards the cocksucker.

"What the fuck you just done to me, huh?!" He says a bit hysterically. "I'll kill you and that bastard dog of yours," he curses while he raises a fist to beat the growling animal.

"Are you always this rude?" The cocksucker says. "Just be happy that you're no longer a potential full-course meal for the dead ones."

"Trust I will feed you to the bastards then!"

Harry didn't know what possessed him when he saved the man from the rooftop. These were the times he wondered if his hero-complex had any sense of morality, or any common-sense at all.

The guy kept calling him a cocksucker for Merlin's sake!

Still he couldn't believe he actually thought the people - who quite honestly unnecessarily interrogated him and still decided to not trust him at all with their group, sans Glenn and the Afro-American woman with a nice smile - were actually nice. They've abandoned the man on the roof almost intentionally, or by accident, Harry doesn't actually know but leaving a man on the roof all by his lonesome with dead ones banging on the door… Harry really doesn't want to ponder on the thought. Glenn he gets, because the boy scrambled when given the opportunity. The rest? Not so much.

So I guess his hero-complex had some sense even though it's lacking in the common sense department.

"Where you takin' me? Hostage? Boy you don't know who you're messing with here."

"If I wanted to take you hostage then wouldn't you be incapacitated? Because I know how much damage you can do to my tiny body, so please spare me the hindsight." Harry rolled his eyes while patting Nox's nuzzle. "Anyway, we have to make sure we survive the night before we scout for your really nice group who left you behind."

It was a bit vindictive because the man did call him out on his sexuality, but he didn't notice the wince when the statement hit too close to home. He turned towards his wonderful owl whose intelligence seemingly surpasses even humans and rubbed her favorite spot between her beautiful wings.

"Well ain't you a smartmouth? And whaddya going to do with lil Ole Merle tonight? Secretly suck my cock?" Since the man seems to enjoy speaking in third-person, Harry guessed his name's Merle. "Why don't ya just kill me right here, right now? C'mon, I'll give you a head start with that mojo dojo, voodoo shit you got goin' on there."

Harry raised a brow and thought about it before a spell came to mind. He smiles cheekily when he brandishes his wand, pointing it at the man. "Levicorpus," he says. It charmed the redneck into an invisible hold, holding him upside down by his leg much to the amusement of the wizard who gets to witness firsthand how red the redneck's neck could go.

"Let me down you fuckin' cur!" He yells while flailing in the air with flippant, rude gestures. "Let me the fuck down before I-I-"

"Liberacorpus," and the man drops face first. "That felt good." Harry says before walking further ahead to check out the little shops in the district they landed in.

It didn't seem much in hindsight considering everything seemed rustic and underbearing. But he accepted the fact there were hardly any dead ones lurking around the place sans a few attracted by Merle's yells resonating through the valley. And that didn't take much to slaughter with a quick diffindo and a severing hex thereafter.

"Quite handy there, aren't yeah, cocksucker?" Merle says quickly mollified when he could feel the ground underneath him. "Do that again, you might actually get a fucking gun at your head." He threatens.

"Hey wait! Where ya goin? I ain't done with you!'

Harry raises a brow before he entered the small establishment which looked pilfered. Boxes scattered on the floor, the flooring looked almost chewed off, and the only person who was there was a hanging body of the store clerk near the back entrance. She had a red shirt, black slack trousers, and a green apron wrapped around her waist, but her body seemed almost mangled and half-eaten evident by the multiple claw marks on her lower torso.

"We gone deal with that?" Merle asks attracting the attention of the dead woman. "I guess not," he says after seeing Harry making his way towards some of he scattered boxes on the floor.

"So I heard the black trash interrogating you up at the roof, where'd you come from?" Merle asks Harry when the boy dubbed cocksucker bowed over the shelf in search of something decent. He leaned on the wall closest to the wizard. "In fact how did you get into the store without any of us noticing? You would've made a big noise if you did."

Harry sighs. "You know how I suddenly transported us from one place to another? Well that is one form of transportation I could do, the other is portkeying and that is how I got into this mess." Harry's hands stopped from searching through the various scrap in the boxes and looked at Merle's blue eyes. "I don't honestly care what had happened back there. He simply didn't trust me with his group and abandoned me like he abandoned you, apparently."

"The fucking squid dropped the fucking keys to the handcuffs that kept from cuffing the ape in the face," he mutters unaware that he was amusing Harry. "Then he fucking just leaves me for the bastard's as a fucking chew toy. And that is when you came up. But still, how did you get your voodoo to that location?"

"A portkey is supposed to take you to your desired designation after activating the specific code, but the portkey itself wasn't what we call a normal portkey as it simply barfed me up somewhere random and not to like a safehouse where there is no rock-wielding zombie thrashing against a screen door." Harry sighs at his Potter luck his headmistress loved to hang over his head. "Inevitably they noticed me unconscious on the floor because the damn thing made me fall face first on the concrete and made my bloody nose hurt."

Merle gave a good hearty laugh. "Oh that is the best damn thing I've heard all week."

"Thanks." Harry drolls, rolling his eyes before walking towards the entrance with Merle. "We better keep moving, there's nothing around that is worth taking."

"Why don't you just voodoo food to appear?"

"Well because it would probably taste like the thing I transfigured. For example, if I transfigured a table into an average burger, it would taste like polish wood." Harry shrugs, "It's the wonders of magic that has me confused, but we could use it for everything else apparently like making water out of thin air. And it isn't any type of voodoo, it's just wizardry."

Makes sense, enough. "It's voodoo if I want to call it voodoo," Merle says stubbornly. Harry, in response, rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue for Nox and Hedwig to follow him out of the building.

"You know what, you're not bad company." Merle end up saying after a few moments of comfortable silence. "At least I don't have this want to fuck you up everytime I look at your face."

"Wow, thanks Merle." Harry stopped suddenly and turns towards the redneck. He had a small smile on his heart-shaped face. "And by the way, the name's Harry. Would've introduced myself earlier, but you found it important to insult my sexuality."

Merle surprisingly grew fond of the little cocksucker. After the two weeks of walking to cover ground and meander through the woods, he found the boy somewhat comforting when they had those moments. Not those sissy moments where sluts talk about their feelings, but where they could have those conversations where they ain't joking around and fucking around with each other's past.

They didn't talk about the abuse they both received, but what they've done in their lifetime. Merle talked about his fondest moments in the military while Harry talked about his time in Hogwarts.

"That isn't real," Merle chuckled at Harry's look of vengeance on his face when the older man flung a little portion of mud, which landed on the younger one's nose. "There isn't such thing like a fucking magical school. Next thing you know my brother's chupacabra is fucking real."

"Dead people are walking Merle. Do you honestly think your dubbed voodoo couldn't be?" Harry's deadpanned look stroked Merle's giggle-dick and sent the man in another paroxysm. "And what the hell is a chupacabra?"

"Touche, cocksucker, touche."

"You still haven't answered my question regarding the chupacabra Merle."

However, what stopped Merle from giving Harry anymore looks of contempt were the scars littering the cocksucker's back.

The cocksucker didn't seemed ashamed of his body up until a heatwave came brushing through Atlanta, Georgia, and they were too hot to continue on their little trek for the Quarry up in the mountains. He refused to take off his clothes, and the only time Merle could've seen him divest his shirt would be when he fell asleep in his tent. The man didn't know why up until he caught the cocksucker washing his sweaty shirt near the stream.

Long claw marks stretched towards the cocksucker's ass, small markings here and there, but what had Merle struck cold was the striations of belt whips.

He hadn't expected the little cocksucker to receive the same treatment he did when he was a lot younger.

Merle wonders to himself how did this little one keep himself together while enduring abuse? Fate gave him a shitty life, and all the boy could do was smile and continue surviving. While Merle and his little brother on the other hand could barely even smile, nor cry because the fucking monsters knew how to drive their emotions away from their bodies.

It's fear that kept Merle going. But for Harry, Merle doesn't know.

For now Merle kept quiet so he doesn't touch upon anything he can't undo. He doesn't know how the cocksucker would react to Merle finding out his secret he stubbornly hoarded. So, Merle turned the other way and watched the stars with a form of pleasant tranquility he hasn't felt for a long while.

"Merle, do you need anything?" Harry had asked.

It was another thing Merle was not used to, other people's stupid empathy. People typically turned the other way whenever they see him walking around with bruises under his eyes and a bloody lip.

A week later from the whole scar situation found the duo coping with drug withdrawals.

Merle experienced drug withdrawals before, but he hadn't for awhile until the end of the first week. The second week was rough for Merle when he found out he didn't have any good stuff going into his system since he was abandoned by his fucking comrades. Then he soon realized he was out of his Holy Apollo when he checked his stash before his head practically hit a metaphorical wall, and the small auditory hallucinations he had of his father yelling worthless into his ear.

"Merle are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine, why?" He wasn't. His fucking head is killing him with a sharp ass knife. His temple's pulsated abnormally and his vision began tunneling.

"You look awfully pale, why don't we sit down?"

"Nah, nah let's keep goin' don't want my brother worryin' about me." Although he doesn't want his brother to see him like this. He doesn't want him to see him at his lowest point.

Not when he has to be strong for the both of them.

"Merle you're slurring your words together, just sit down okay?" Just keep going, just keep… fucking… going.

In contrast, Harry never left him like the fuckers he had in his life, except for his brother, he never abandoned him alone in the wilderness when he had the chance to bolt elsewhere. He stayed glued to his side making sure Merle was hydrated enough and allowed the body to flush away the shit in his body. He knows that Harry has no idea what is happening, but at least he knew what he was doing when he made sure Merle felt decent after a couple of days.

After his body flushed all those chemicals away, he and Harry found themselves in the forest salvaging for anything that wasn't touched by decay. There were several cabins in sight, as well as the occasional berry bush. It wasn't a lot, but at least they got a flashlight and a couple of candy bars for the road.

Harry had told him about the small little trunk he kept tucked in his pocket, which Merle freaked out about when the boy enlarged it in front of him. It looked like an expensive antique he and his brother gawked at when the monster took them out of the house for once. When he looked away from the trunk he saw the shameful look on Harry's face; the cocksucker probably forgot he had such a thing in his little pocket.

Merle shrugs. He honestly doesn't care, as long as they had a back-up plan if nothing goes their way.

It wasn't easy, but at least Harry had came up with a solution before the horde showed up.

This time Merle surprised Harry when he pulled the little cocksucker away from the walking horde behind a tall, thick deciduous tree. He masked their scent with the wet mud they were stepping in and simply walked behind the horde, making sure they kept their distance because he doesn't doubt those fuckers have a stronger nose than the white mutt hobbling in front of them.

What didn't help was the fact the mud squelched beneath their feet.

"Fuck," Merle mutters lowly when one walker turned his ugly head, revealing the multiple flesh-wounds on his mangled face.

Harry turned towards Merle. "Muffliato," he muttered the charm with his wand aimed at their feet. "Diffindo."

The voodoo shit hit the walker's head, a clean slice right through the forehead. The fucker almost dropped dead, giving Merle enough time to dive for the walker's body before it hit the mud, which would've gave away their position. He bowed slightly, gently laying the bastard on the floor. About two looked at their direction, but they instead tailed behind the horde after they dissipated deeper into the forest.

"That was fuckin' intense," Merle muttered.

Harry nodded his head and snorted softly.

Harry and Merle stopped at the forest's opening.

"Yo cocksucker," Merle called. "How about you leave me do the talking?"

Harry quirked his head, unperturbed by Merle's beloved nickname for the short Brit. "Do you think you can still trust them? After what they've done?" Harry asked. He honestly did not spend another week walking towards the quarry for them to be turned away by the lovely group who abandoned them back at the department store. " No one deserves abandonment, not even the worst of criminals in this state. I mean I don't mind seeing Glenn again, but the rest? I don't think they want any of us back."

"Look remember that brother I've been talking about? Well he's there." He says simply sighing.

"He's the only person I trust out of all the other bastards."

Merle still hasn't warmed up to Harry more than he should, which Harry respects. The man perhaps went through a hard life, harder than Harry's own life given the man did not trust easily. Harry accepted this fact because he himself understands.

Harry nodded his head in understanding. "Okay, I'll just stand aside."

Merle nodded and walked towards the unaware tall guy with a dorito-shaped back and a semi-pompadour hairstyle.

"What up?!"

Harry had to roll his eyes when the exclamation sent the other survivors turning with their weapons drawn. Of course, trust Merle to make a loud entrance.

"Dixon?" The pompadour guy said in astonishment as if he didn't expect the man to have survived, at all in fact. If his widened eyes and gawking mouth was any indication anyway. "Where the fuck you come from?"

"Well if it weren't for Officer Friendly and the gorilla over there then we wouldn'tve been in this mess, now would we, G.I. Joe?" His southern drawl almost keeled Harry over in laughter. "And what's it to you? Finally made us Dixons turn out to be monsters?"

G.I. Joe blinked twice. "Look, Merle -"

Merle interrupted with a loud cough. "Nah, I don't give a fuck about your excuses. I'm going in, c'mon cocksucker!" He waved for Harry to come. "We don't need to hear what these fuckers have to say about themselves."

G.I. Joe once again floundered like a dying fish when Merle sauntered into camp as if he owned the place. "Merle you can't just- We can't bring people in easily!"

Merle turned his head. "Do you think I've ever listened to you, G.I. Joe?" He chuckled humorously. "No I don't think I've ever did because we feed you, those kids, and the rest of you ungrateful fucks without complaining like the rest of you and that Queen B who think she rules the place. Anyway, the kid practically saved my ass when the black-dumpling over there lost the damn key and left me on the fucking roof."

"You fucking racist piece of shi-" Harry's interrogator was pulled back by the fancy-hat person and the spaniard with an attitude. "C'mon, got more shit to say, redneck?! Huh?!"

"C'mon then King Kong! Beat your chest and try and catch me you fucking idjit." Merle all but snarled.

Turning away the unfolding drama, Harry caught sight of one favorite person he had the pleasure greeting back in the department store.

"Glenn!" Harry waved at the unsuspecting Asian man who watched the scene with partial amusement and partial fear probably because Merle appeared out of the blue. "Nice to see you alive." Harry all but joked, chuckling when he saw the korean wince slightly.

"The fuck is he doing here?!" The man turned his glare towards Harry then back at Merle. "I don't trust him, get them both off this fucking camp!"

"T-Dog, shut the fuck up. You're going to attract more walkers around these parts." The spaniard practically hissed in the man's ears. "C'mon, mi amigo."

"Sorry I didn't come back for you, Harry." Glenn scratched his head with a sheepish smile. "I would've but there were like three hordes!"

Harry snorted. "It honestly doesn't matter anymore. As long as you're safe." He smiles. "I still have to find shelter, so you think I can hunker down here for a bit?"

"Sure, but it isn't for me to decide. It's kinda Shane's call when survivors come up in these parts."

"Who's Shane?"

"Oh the guy Merle cursed out by the trucks." Glenn looked amused. "I can admit he's kinda racist, but he knows how to put people in their place ."

"I can attest to that. You didn't have to deal with his nagging and backwater jokes."

Glenn snorted. "Anyway, you hungry? We got some fish grilling over there and a couple of squirrels Daryl caught for us." He pointed at the stoked fire near a couple of empty coolers. "Honestly, I think Daryl and Merle provides for the group more than any of us, actually."

"So why abandon him on the roof?" Harry had to ask even if he knew Glenn wasn't apart of it. "If he provides more than anyone around here, why get rid of something equally precious and needed during these times? I don't see the merit."

They carried the conversation over at the fire where he was greeted with a smile by Jacqui and a curious little girl with mousy features. He smiled and waved.

Glenn shrugs. "I guess because he's racist?" He sighs. "I don't know, but everyone's got a problem with the Dixons. They've never really insulted or said anything about me, but everyone else? Well, they weren't spared by their bigotry."

"Everyone has their own opinions, I guess."

"And I guess you can say you got a friend in high places? You get it…" Glenn coughs awkwardly when Harry gave him a blank stare. "Cause he does drugs…"

"Oh Merlin…"

Harry's felt his left eye twitch in annoyance.

"How do we know you aren't going to kill anyone here?"

Seriously?

"Do you think I look armed to the tooth? Do I look like a serial killer to any of you?" Because quite honestly, the sharpened spear poking out of one tent seems awfully tempting. "I've already received an interrogation from your other fellas sitting in the corner, particularly the one sporting a black eye. Majority deemed me unfit and untrustworthy because they believe I'll slit everyone's throat open with a dull butterknife."

"What if they're right. How do we know if we can trust you?"

"Because I saved the man who you all left for dead." Harry turns his glare towards the cursing African-American who now holds a wet rag over his injured eye. "I've heard he's the only one gathering food for all of you and instead of saving him and eventually going back, you all left him with a bunch of dead ones busting through the door!"

"I tied the door up before we bounc-"

Harry raised a questioning brow. "Do you think a rope will keep a horde from busting through a metal door? If a protective screen door barely survived a rock-wielding dead one then how will a simple metal door handle a horde pushing against it?"

This time, however, the other cop offered his two-cents.

"Sir, we would have handled the situation if you gave us more time."

"Handled the situation? The situation wherein Merle was left for dinner to a horde?" He felt his vindictiveness bleed through his green eyes because he felt awfully pleased when the cowboy hat wearing bloke turned persimmon. "I don't know if you're definition of handling a situation means the same thing."

Finally, T-Dog asks a brilliant question. "What I don't get is how did you get the racist out of his binding? I dropped the damn key in between a tiny ass grate. How did you fish that out, huh? Mister Handle-the-situation guy."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Magic." He says cheekily, which earned him surprised looks from the children surrounding the small huddle near the campfire. Anyway, not like he was lying.

Merle himself snorted. "He fished it with the metal hook he nicked in the department store y'all abandoned." After another deep, bellyfull laugh, Merle hunched over. "The cocksucker has quick reflexes not like some black-dumplings who tumbledown from a fucking rock"

"Fuck you!"

Ignoring Merle, Harry placed his hand on his lap. "I'll get out of your hair in no time, just give me time to rest and I'll be gone before you even say magic. Because trust me, staying with a Merle for longer periods of time will eventually lead to brain cell reduction and I kind of want to keep them intact."

Merle, fortunately, did not take the insult to heart. Instead, he gave another loud, deep laugh. "You know you enjoy my company, you cocksucker."

"We can't let you do that."

"What?"

"We can't let you stay here when none of us trust you but Dixon. Look we do not know you and it seems like not any of us trust you in the same vicinity with the children we have here." G.I. Joe rubs his face in thought. "So why don't we give you a backpack filled with supplies and you look for shelter before it gets too dark."

"Wait, wait, wait." Merle looked positively appalled. "You giving him the boot after he saved my ass? A person that ain't your scooby gang over there?" He points at T-Dog specifically, but he also secretly indicates the cowboy wearing man standing awkwardly at one end.

"Look Merle, none of us trust him other than-"

"I trust him."

G.I. Joe took in another sigh. "Glenn-"

"I also trust him," the usually silent woman, Jacqui, spoke up. "We misjudged him because the stressful situation put all of us on high-alert."

"And what's your reason Glenn?" G.I. Joe says through gritted teeth.

"Look around here Shane." He waves his hand around the premise providing emphasis. "We are grasping straws at this point, not without Merle and Daryl hunting for food all the time and the kids running around putting themselves in danger. Man, look, I don't know Harry that well, but he's a nice guy and doesn't want to slit our throats. We need all the help we can get and we can't afford losing people before we lose the group as a whole."

The words of wisdom, it seemed, had struck a chord. G.I. Joe obviously did not expect Glenn's smooth tact because the kid was usually quiet and reserved.

"Okay fine," Shane grouses. "You can stay, but only until you get your bearings. Then I must ask you to leave. In the meantime, you help Daryl and Merle hunt for food. Take it like earning your place."

"Earn your place, freak!"

Harry winces slightly, going unnoticed by the others surrounding him but the man he spent most of his time with on the road. Merle wondered why Harry winced at those very words before the Brit nodded in acceptance.

Harry quirked his head.

"That's Merle's brother?" Harry points at the conversing with Merle almost casually. He had short-cut brown hair and startling electric blue eyes, and a crossbow attached at his back. Honestly, he looked just as badass as Merle does with a suppressed hunting rifle slung around his shoulders. "They don't look anything alike."

Glenn snorts. "But they act just the same."

"Probably." Harry shrugs.

"Aye, cocksucker. I've got someone to introduce you to." Merle waves him over.

Inclining his head slightly, Harry advanced towards Merle with Nox following in suit. His eyes, though, wandered aimlessly throughout the camp; watching everyone and thereabout, minding their own business and coping with the need to survive rather well. When he reached his destination, Harry offered the man next to Merle a small smile before his attention fixated on the man in question.

"What's up Merle?" he says almost casually, eliciting a small grunted snort from Merle's brother.

"This over here is Darylina! The brother I've been talkin' about." He pats the other man's back almost reverently. Hence almost. "Darylina, this guy is the cocksucker that saved my ass back at that roof Officer Friendly cuffed me on."

"Hi. It's actually Harry Potter, newly dubbed cocksucker much to my distaste." He muttered the last part but it did not fall on deaf ears. The two men simply chuckled at his expense. "And yes I did save your brother and no I don't need anything in return. I think his company is a full payment in itself, thank you."

Daryl gave a roguish smirk. "That's Merle, ain't it?" Man of few words, Harry could respect. "I'm gonna go on a hunt, you in Merle?"

"Sure thing, brotha!" Merle says releasing the safety off the rifle. "You in, cocksucker?"

Harry pursed his lips. "Uh… I don't know how-"

"Nonsense! We'll teach you." Merle says almost excitedly which gave Harry a mental breakdown. When Merle's excited, dread leaks into Harry's cardiovascular system. "You can also show Darylina what you can do with that mutt of yours."

"Fine. Let's go Nox."

After Harry, Merle and his brothers finally ambled off into the forest's depths, a curious little boy and girl simply followed them with giddy expressions on their face. One boy had his hair tucked neatly in a cowboy hat, whilst the girl had curly butterfly clips holding her bangs, pulling them out of her face. Meanwhile, at camp no one seemed to realize the kids followed the triad, not even when Shane and the Queen Bee seemingly trampled off into the forest despite Officer Friendly's watchful eye atop the RV's roof.

"So what are you teaching me, Merle?" Harry inevitably asks, noting the two little goblins following the triad when he felt something creeping between the trees. "Because this doesn't look like-"

"Sh!" Merle hissed when his eyes trailed after the doe walking over towards the small bushes. He nods at Daryl who knew silent, hunter language and quickly crouched on the ground, minding even the smallest noise the crackling dirt beneath their shoes gave off. "On my mark," he whispers lowly.

The man brilliantly stuck both his fingers in his mouth, emitting a soft whistle, gathering the attention from the doe. However, before the doe could do anything but move, Harry watched as Merle's younger brother released a perfect, seamless arrow through the magnificent compound crossbow. It whistled in the air, aimed true lodging in the deer's eye. The death was almost instant, as the blood erupted from the wound.

Merle and Daryl expertly walked towards the corpse with a carving dagger in hand.

But what caught the hunters off guard was the small audience they seemed to have garnered.

"The hell are you both doing here?" Merle hissed. "Go back to camp!"

Obviously, seeing the man not yelling profanities at this point seemed to have confounded the children. "Uh-uhm…"

"Queen Bee is going to blame us for traumatising the both of you if you don't go back to camp. I'd rather not have your mother on my ass, boy!" He points at the one with the cowboy hat. The boy had the grace to give a sheepish bow.

"I-I'm sorry, Merle sir." He says quietly. "W-we just wanted to see you guys hunt because our parents says we're too young."

"Merle, why don't I-"

"Aw, shit!" Daryl's crude remark had the four turning their heads. The two children gasped and covered their mouths before a scream inevitably came forth. "The fucker got our meat." He didn't miss a heartbeat before shooting the dead one in the head with his crossbow almost effortlessly.

"You think we can just cut around it?"

"I don't know brother, the bite don't seem slow. Cocksucker, why don't you lead these two back to their parents before they go AWOL on us."

A dead one feasting on a deer's corpse wasn't on Harry's bucket list. Shaking his head, he clicked his tongue for Nox to follow. "C'mon, we don't need to see this." He says softly.

"We-we're sorry, Mister…"

"Oh none of this mister nonsense, the name's Harry Potter." Harry smiled. "Who're you two?"

"My name's Sophia, Mist-Harry…" She says a bit awkwardly, her shoe digging into the dirt. "We're sorry for ruining everything."

"I'm Carl, and I'm also sorry!" The boy says with a sheepish look on his round face. "We didn't mean for this to happen…"

Harry sighs softly. "I know, but you both knew the dangers when you followed us. Why don't we just get back to the camp and I'll tell you both a story if you do not tell your parents what had happened, okay?"

That got the children to easily agree. The trail back to the camp wasn't long, but long enough to tell the story of a boy, a dragon, and a tournament filled with mystical creatures. Although he omitted some gruesome details, he fabricated an entertaining tale for the children to distract their eclectic minds from the current environment. Talks about mermaids and the myths regarding their beauty, dragons the kings and queens of the skies, and the labyrinth filled with riddles and magic had the children off their rockers. Their questions amused Harry, but by the time they reached the camp, a harlot stomp towards them and shot them a glare. Specifically Harry.

"Where the hell did you take my child?!" The harlot all but screeched, pulling Carl away from his side as if Harry was Satan incarnate.

Harry raised a brow. "They simply followed Merle, Daryl, and I in the forest. I saw them and walked them back with me." He answers brusquely. "I didn't want them seeing such a violent death, so I lead them back to camp."

"You're lying!" The harlot accuses venomously. "How do we know you're telling the truth, huh?!"

"Unless you're a criminal investigator, I don't know. And if you can't take my word for it, why don't you ask Carl?" Harry's unimpressed tone rubbed the harlot the wrong way, making her more agitated much to the Brit's amusement. "Nox, back down." He says but not without his dog snarling at the harlot before trodding off.

"Carl, did he do anything to you?"

"No mom! Harry's a nice guy, he told us stories about a guy and…" Then he goes on a full, very wordy elaboration on Harry's spurned tale about a portion of his life. "We accidentally followed them into the forest. I know that I'm wrong following them, but we were curious. Harry saw us and he took us back here! He's not a bad guy." He pouts adorably.

The venomous glare Harry received from the harlot did not go unnoticed and Harry gave one back, not even holding the strange, sickly-acid green glow his eyes give off whenever his magic resonated outside of his body. This shocked the woman and hurried away with her child straddling her sharp hips.

"Sophia, why don't you find your parents, hm?"

"Will you be okay, Mister Harry?"

Sighing at the child's respectability, he gave a tiny smile. "I'll be okay." The little girl soon enough leaves after a few heartbeats.

Harry sighs. "I need to get to MACUSA. Quickly."

AN: It's fun writing Merle.

I'm sorry for the long wait. My university spring semester finally ended, but I have to deal with finding a new place to stay. In the meantime, I'll be sure to start the next chapter immediately and have it out in no time!

And just a side note, this story will most likely follow the Walking Dead timeline within season one to three, but with a magical twist. I don't know how I'm going about that yet, but it'll come… hopefully.