Hey guys! I'm back! I'm hoping you'll join me in this story- I have been excited about this for months, and I wrote the first chapter last year- and review. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I own nothing you may recognize. The introduction of muggle objects in this story is necessary for the survival of the characters. Lets be honest- even if you're the brightest witch of your generation, could you take out a hundred zombies with just a wand before they eventually overpowered you?

Pairings: standard canon pairing backgrounds, though Astoria and Ron are barely present in this story. Of course, it will end up as a Dramione story with a happy ending, but these characters are going to have to work for it. 'Cause that's just what I do. Rose is Hermione and Ron's daughter, Hugo does not exist, and Scorpius is Draco and Astoria's son. Again, dramione will happen, so if that's not your cup of tea, I suggest you visit some other author's coffee shop.

(Hermione POV)

Prologue

~4 weeks into the Plague~

I set Rose down near tree and activated her necklace, telling her to sit quietly while I looked around. We were taking a bathroom break, but I wasn't about to do so without checking for the infected first.

"You-" I turned and a half decomposed, disgusting-looking zombie trudged toward me, nearly scratching me with its fingernails. It tried to speak to me, but all it could say was 'you' over and over. I couldn't tell who the zombie was when it was uninfected, but I decided it was male, because it was so damn tall. "YOU."

"Merlin!" I dodged its hands as I pulled out my knife, instantly regretting leaving my bag of weapons by the tree. It looked like the rotter was alone, so at least I wasn't in too much trouble. "Alright, come here, you."

"Y-" It started to say again, but I kicked it square in the chest and grunted as it fell backward with a thud. I got on top of it and made to stab it through the head, but the rotter latched onto my hair and began to pull my face closer to his mouth, trying to rip off my flesh. "YOU-"

I took my knife and cut off the part of my hair he had latched onto, watching as a good six inches of wavy brown hair fell with his hand to the ground. It confused the rotter for a moment, so I took my opportunity.

"AGH!" I screamed as I plunged my knife into the eye socket of the rotter over and over. Even though it was already dead, I put my entire weight on its forehead until it cracked all the way through, just to be sure. "Bloody hell."

"M-Mama?"

"Hold on, honey." I stood up and serveyed the area, just to be sure the rotter was actually alone. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw that it was. "Rose, sweetie, it's okay. You can come out now." I knelt down on the ground and opened my arms. My daughter reappeared with her hands clutched tightly on the necklace she wore and ran straight into my arms, her face burrowing into my neck. I rubbed her back and stood up. "It's alright now. Mummy's sorry you had to see that."

"It's okay." She whispered. "I had my eyes closed."

"You want to show me?" I said gently. She pulled back, still in my arms, and covered her eyes with her hands, her mouth set into a tight line. I tapped her nose and she stopped. "Good girl."

"Daddy?" She questioned.

She had taken to asking one question sentences when it came to Ron, since I would never answer her questions about him thus far. I knew he was a part of the first infected in a successful attempt to save Rose from a zombie that had gotten into the house, and although I had hope the uninfected humans would create a cure that actually worked, I wasn't about to tell Rose the truth about her father. I had no idea if he was still alive in his own body somewhere, but if he was, it would feel wrong to say that he was never coming back.

I tried to keep hope, anyway.

"I don't know." I pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. "I don't know."

"I miss daddy." She hiccuped, and I could feel the beginnings of many tears on my shoulder. "Where's Uncle Harry? And Auntie Ginny? And Jamie and Al and Lily?"

I smiled slightly. She was getting better with names and her memory, and now knew every one of the Weasley/Potter family by heart. Considering there were around 30 of us directly, I was quite proud of my four year old.

"They're waiting for us in a safe place, sweetie. We just have to get there."

"When?" She looked at me questioningly, her large brown eyes exact copies of my own.

"Soon, Rose." I patted her on the back, slipped my purse over my head, and began walking north again. "We'll be there really soon."

I walked with her in my arms until the sun was almost completely set, the last few rays of sunlight stretching over the hills. I found a high, sturdy tree on a small hill and decided that was where we would sleep for the night; I hadn't seen any of the infected in a mile or two. Individually, they were too unfocused to climb a tree or look for food there, but a group might be able to, theoretically; if a group came along, the wards would give me enough time to get rid of them. After making Rose climb onto my back and hold onto my shirt, I began casting the wards that would keep us hidden, and the wards that would alert me to anyone's presence. They were designed to keep out anyone without a magical signature- something the infected can't control and eventually fades- and would shock you if you tried to break through, but that wouldn't stop a cluster of zombies. Sure, the first few that threw themselves at the wards would probably perish, but the force of their bodies would break them, leaving a hole through which other zombies could get to us. But again, I had enough ammo at the moment to finish 200 of them, so I wasn't particularly worried.

After all of the wards were set and Rose was holding onto me securely, I cast charms on my hands and feet and began to climb up the tree. Around ten feet up there were two thick, long branches, upon which I set our things. After taking out the sleeping pad and making it its original size, I stuck it to the tree with a charm and laid Rose down on top of it, her blanket over her chest. I took my glock out of my bag, undid the shrinking charm and loaded it with ten bullets, setting it near the base of the branch just in case I needed to use it.

"Alright, come here, my sweet girl." I said gently as I laid down on the pad. Rose immediately crawled over to my side and clutched the bottom of my jacket, her long red hair splaying wildly around her face. I tucked her hair behind her ear and put my left arm around around her, my right behind my head. "We don't have to practice your words tonight, but we will tomorrow, alright? You're doing so well."

"Okay." She yawned. "Mama, sing me a song? Please?"

"Alright, but only a short one." I sighed, and began to sing a soft version of 'Beautiful Dreamer'.

"No! A Christmas song, Mama." I could tell she was almost asleep, and though it was the middle of July, I began to sing the first few verses of 'Silent Night'.

Halfway into the song, I stopped abruptly when I heard a rustling from a distance away. I would not have bothered to listen to it, but the sound was getting closer and closer. It sounded like feet.

A lot of feet. Running.

As quickly as I could, I gently set Rose down onto the sleeping pad by herself, activated the invisibility charm in her necklace, and climbed towards the base of the branch. I grabbed an automatic weapon out of my bag- thankful for hidden expansion charms- and loaded it, just as a single person came running over the hill. I didn't immediately shoot, because if there was one zombie running, it was running for something or from something.

Sure enough, about ten zombies came trudging up the hill, running as fast as they could after the first. I took aim and was about to shoot down the first zombie, when he gave a horrified scream.

Zombies didn't scream like that. Either this zombie was barely just infected, or... No... I hadn't seen another human being for weeks. It couldn't be.

The herd of zombies was getting close to the tree and the edge of my wards, so I aimed for the second's head, pulled the trigger, and shook my gun from side to side. One by one they fell to the ground until there was just one left, who had caught the first, solitary zombie by the arm and was frantically trying to sink its teeth into it.

The might-be zombie was screaming bloody murder, so I knew something was up. I climbed down from the tree and aimed for the zombie that looked rotted instead of the screaming one, and with a single bullet in its eye, it was on the ground, finished.

The only one left- the one that might have been a zombie or might not have been- stood there for a moment. It was too dark to see anything but the shape of its body. I reloaded my gun and pointed it at him.

"You have five seconds to convince me not to kill you, rotter." I said, wondering if this rotter still had the ability to speak a normal language.

"N-No! Please! I-I'm not infected- I'm human!" It pleaded with me, falling to its knees onto the ground.

It sounded vaguely familiar. "Get up." I told it harshly, unbelieving. I was still shrouded in the darkness of night, but there a bit of moonlight that shone onto the ground in front of me. "Take three steps forward, slowly. No sudden movements or it won't be pretty for you."

It started to whimper and got up, taking slow steps forward until I could clearly see its terrified face.

"Ah, hell." I groaned, pointing my gun at the ground and clicking the safety back on. "Of all the no good, rotten people who could have turned up, it had to be you."

"What?" He asked, still scared and panicked. "I-I don't know what you're-"

I gritted my teeth and took a step closer to him, making myself seen.

"Shit." He cursed.

Draco bloody Malfoy. Whoop-dee-doo.

Should have shot him when you had the chance, Granger.

A/N: Boy, am I excited about this story! Most of it is prewritten, save for the last few chapters, so there shouldn't be more than a week between updates this time. I'm going to shoot for updates every Sunday after this. So... Do I have any passengers willing to climb aboard the story train with me? -Nikki a.k.a.- Twipotterfreak28

P.S.- This story won't be too graphic, for those of you wondering. Sure, they'll be some good ol' fashion zombie killing, but no massive blood baths or horror like that. Also, I'm still on my relentless search for a good, reliable beta. Any takers? Email me at the address found on my profile, and head on over there for laughs.