Chapter 2
It was time to leave. Duchess had spent one month grudgingly teaching them what she knew before thrusting a time turner at the children and a recently made trunk that merely needed the threes blood to activate its wards before bringing it into a warded off room only they and herself could access at this moment in time but would not once they went back, however it wouldn't matter as the trunk would have enough food for them for however long they chose to do their self teaching -of course the pensive filled with Duchess's memories a library of books within the trunks was an added benefit as well.
The time passed in a blink and when they returned they had all aged ten years, each showing that they were ready for what was to come when tested by Duchess in both mundane and magical areas of survival, healing, hunting, and more.
For the first time Duchess felt something she couldn't place and decided to ignore it, instead pushing them to learn how to cast wandlessly.
By the time it came to leave they couldn't do much but in Duchess's opinion they could do enough with what they had learned, telling them if they wanted to learn more to simply continue once they reached stateside.
They each had a backpack with an expandable charm placed upon it as well as a mokeskin pouch with a never ending charm on their belts. Every pocket on every item of clothing had an extendable charm also as well as one that made it so when they placed their hand inside what they wanted would come out rather than having to summon it.
It was under the fall of night when they fell into a heap in the heat of Georgia, just on the outskirts of a Quarry not too far from Atlanta.
Duchess immediately removed her expandable trunk from her rucksack, magic pulsing through the locks before opening the trunk and walking around; having spent years since the invention of the motor vehicle did Duchess have quite the collection as well as quite the amass of fuel to go with each and every vehicle. Knowing how cars would be a thing of the future it was one thing that she had been meticulous in keeping organised and up to date as well as documented and continuing to add to her own collection.
With an expansive range of choice, Duchess settled on one of the eco RV's with solar panels that she had super out with wards, runes and charms for this very moment as well as a smaller much the same so that when questioned they could say that Duchess was traveling with her goddaughter and met up with her godsons when the airports closed due to the outbreak.
When she came out of the trunk and finished setting up the trailers she turned to find two tents had already been set up, obviously for appearance sakes, but the woman couldn't help but stare in wonder, unable to remember the last time she had in fact been made to be in such a position since she had decided to use her power to isolate herself from those who may try and use her for their own benefit.
Shaking her head she walked over and entered the pre-warded red tent in which Luna indicated the boys were and was immediately his with a mouth watering smell.
"Hope your hungry-"
"We made dinner!"
A small smile lifted upon her lips as she nodded her head.
That night Duchess went strait to bed to leave the three to themselves, the witch had become aware soon after returning from the trunk that her aid was no longer needed and from the projection of anger in Harry's case she was sure it was very much unwanted despite his desire in not wanting to be a leader at all in the future to come, so when a week passed by with attempts of planning what to do in the future ahead with the group only to receive constant underhanded remarks, glares from young Harry and open hostility did Duchess chose to take down the second tent and place it in the RV in which she now slept and ate.
Neville stood by Harry's side when he revealed his reason for his open hostility, Duchess was a powerful witch, the most powerful, unrivalled by any; she could have ended the war with Grindelwald, with Voldemort. If Duchess hadn't of hidden away from the Wizarding world they would never have put Dumbledore in charge and both he and Neville's parents would still be alive, this was the boys reason and was Duchess's ire.
The witch told him that a Prophecy could not be changed once it was instigated, perhaps if she had known of the Prophecy's she could have interfered, and whilst she did know due to her history it was not a knowledge in which she would share or a knowledge it seemed the young Seer was aware as she chose the elder's side on the matter.
By the time the first two arrived Harry and Neville had apologised, whilst Neville had come to accept that the woman couldn't have done anything without any foreknowledge, Harry on the other hand begrudgingly did so due to Luna's insistence that they needed Duchess still to survive.
The moment that they arrived the Dixon brother's could tell that there was a rift in the small company at the Quarry, they could also tell that this small group were the type that you wanted to stick with right now, now that the world was pretty much ending.
At first Merle had wanted to just take what they had and run, that is until he saw them working out hours on end -at least he saw the three brits working out, the woman who the green-eyed kid seemed to have some beef with from what he saw did some kind of yoga and went for a run in the morning and night, but other then that and sharing chores with the other three didn't tend to do much practice in the way of preparation of the new world order, and yet the little blonde seemed to gravitate towards her like a mentor of sorts.
Both Dixon's found it odd but kept their mouths shut, until the day they saw the casual use of the groups magic in which green-eyes -Harry- chose to tell them what little they knew about the eldest of the group, information that made them question why the two had even thought of the boy as a leader when the woman had obviously been the one to teach these children how to survive like them, even if it wasn't in a way the kid may have liked. If both had a choice they sure as hell would have chosen a trunk with unlimited supplies and books that could teach them more then what they were already capable when they were young'uns.
It was like that for a few weeks, and then not long after dinner was there a loud explosion; Duchess immediately disappeared, reappearing only to collapse into her seat moments later beside a silently sobbing Luna who refused to answer anyone's questions on what had just occurred, so looking up at the group, already tired of this plague did Duchess tell them of the Atlanta bombing.
They sat in silence unbelieving of how ones own country could be so stupid as to do such a thing when the sound of tires and rumble of engines echoes make its way to them in their campfire at the Quarry.
Looking around at one another Duchess stood at the same time as Harry, followed by the Dixons, then Neville and Luna.
Each walked in silent agreement to meet their new guests knowing that in this new world without law and order the animals no longer had a leash to hold them back and were now out on the prowl, so everyone in the group had to watch out as humans were now more dangerous then the dead.
Five minutes passed by and a man got out of his car, a police cruiser if Duchess was correct. Looking at the man she could already tell he wasn't someone in which she would place her trust with any in her group, something in which she could see the others agreed if their looks and thoughts were anything to go by.
Duchess decided to let Harry speak for them, watching Officer Walsh's face as he registered Harry's words before looking at our trailers when a woman came forward and started spouting about sharing. She wanted to throttle the woman and was sure from the feelings of disbelief from the others they at least wanted to chew the mundane woman out for her stupid for thinking due to her lack of forethought unlike the rest of us that we would just share -however then she brought up the fact that the group had children and Duchess could see the looks on the trio's face falter before offering half of what they had but no more. If they wanted anything else they could hunt themselves, or go for a run into the city.
After the Officer and his whiney bitch turned Duchess turned sideways and glared at the trio, the heat within causing them to take a step back.