Walking Dead Wizard

Chapter 69

It was utterly silent when Harry, Daryl, Luna and Merle made their way into the cafeteria or rather dining room they'd called it for most part of their stay here. Other than Carl and Lori staring at Rick Grimes everyone stared at Harry, and surprisingly there was a lack of hostility or suspicion on many of the gazes. Jimmy and Beth were wary, watching Harry with caution. A couple of others (T-dog, Patrick) just didn't know what to think. While Big Tiny, Axel and Oscar couldn't care less, for all they cared they might as well have found out that Harry really had blue eyes not green.

"So what's the verdict?" Harry stated calmly and casually, as if he hadn't just been sitting and fretting for over an hour worried and anxious over what people thought of him. "Can you accept us despite what your bible says?" glancing at Carol and Hershel, both of them were the most devout out of them all. Beth next to her father in terms of belief, Maggie wasn't as religious as her father and sister but still believed to an extent.

"What people often forget is the bible we read today was translated," Hershel spoke up to the surprise of everyone, "It is a common misconception, the original Latin phrase in Exodus 22:18 for 'Thou shall not suffer a witch to live' is Non dabis ut Veneficium, which means..."

"You shall not suffer a poisoner to live," Harry and Luna answered in sync, as they sat down.

"You both know you're Latin," Hershel's eyes widened in surprise, giving a nod of pride, not many were so proficient in Latin anymore, less now than ever. "That is from the Hebrew bible, which is in fact the original bible. There is also a translation that states thou shall not suffer a necromancer to live."

"Then where did the saying come from?" Luna questioned, she knew what the bible was, and she was oblivious to much alright nearly all of its content. The magical world did not share the beliefs of the non-magical population, even a huge portion of the non-magical population believed in the bible and its contents. Neither Merle or Daryl cared two hoots about it, and a good job too, who knows what they'd have done to Harry if they were believers.

"The Hebrew bible was translated to Greek or Latin, and then into German by Martin Luther. English translations came later of course, known as King James Bible. As anyone who knows a foreign language can tell you, some ideas, words and concepts simply do not cross over well from one language to another. It's why the idea of Lucifer as a fallen angel exists, even though it's nothing more than a translation error. In fact even in the most painstakingly crafted translations, errors can result in very different meanings. Exodus 22:18 is one such example. According to Reginald Scot, who wrote a book on this subject in 1580, the word we know as witch was actually chasapah in the original language." Hershel was on a roll, "The translation of this word was poorly done, according to Scot, who states that chasapah in Latin is Veneficium which can be a poisoner or one who practices witchcraft.*"

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose, he really didn't want a bloody lesson in Christianity, it didn't matter what the bible said or meant, hundreds of thousands of people died at the hands of those doing 'gods' work. Nearly all of them women, it was a sad sorry state of affairs and he wasn't going to let the world go back to those times. It was why he was reluctant to let anyone come with him who feared magic because given time the same thing would happen all over again. This outbreak had set back humanity thousands upon thousands of years.

"You're either comin' or you ain't," Merle muttered, he ain't sitting listening to the god-fearing man across from him spout nonsense about a belief he couldn't care less about.

"Can magic be used to...hurt people?" Beth asked slowly, gathering the attention of everyone.

"Yes," Harry said straightforward and bluntly, "It can, Beth, but these can do the exact same thing," showing his hands, "They can be used to beat a man to death, but they can also be used to heal someone or save someone magic does not determine whether someone is going to be good or evil,"