"I'm larger, I'll carry him from now when we need to move. There are some balms I could make for his chest if we can find the plants, they're not brilliant, not as good as potions... but the magic from brewing would attract screamers"

The tension fell from her body at his words , and she looked like a puppet who's strings had been cut as she sagged with relief, holding tighter to the boy in her arms.

She collapsed into his side, buried her face into his chest and cried.

There was nothing he could do , but put his arm around her and tuck her head under his chin.

cont.

The first thing they'd done once she'd settled the boy into the bed, is sit side by side and compare supplies.

And Severus was astounded with the level of trust she showed him in that action.

Rations and supplies were hard to come by, and more valuable than gold dust.

Once she'd put down the crossbow, she'd become vulnerable.

It would've taken nothing for him, a much larger and stronger man, to overpower her and take her supplies...or her.

So the trust she showed in doing so, trusting him so completely with both of their lives, made his heart clench in his chest.

Between them they combined supplies , making sure each of them now carried a bag that would keep them going if the other was lost.

It was no good to put all your eggs in one basket so to speak, if you lost a bag (or the person carrying it) the other would be useless.

He reluctantly gave her his worn backpack , and gestured to take her satchel. "If I'm carrying the boy, you'd better take the backpack". If she felt anything near as attached to her bag, as he did the backpack that he'd lived out of all these years, he half expected her to argue, but instead she nodded in acceptance and acquiesced.

He'd been morbidly pleased in a way to discover she also kept a list of known 'deaths' , as he did.

That was the next thing they compared.

And though it hurt them both to see some of the names on each other's lists , sometimes the not knowing was worse.

P. Mcgonnagol - Dead

P. Flitwick - Dead

Ginny Weasley - Dead

Ronald Weasley - Dead

Percy Weasley - Dead

Voldemort - Dead

She'd sniffled when she read McGonnagol's name off his list , wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt, and dropping her head to rest on his shoulder.

It was the next few names though , that made them sombre as they compared.

P. Sprout - Screamer...

He'd been sad to read that , and sniffed himself. She tucked her arm into his and dropped a kiss on his shoulder. Sprout had always been good to him , gentle and kind. even as a confused and angry youth , she'd always been nice to him in her motherly way and to imagine her as a screamer was painful , the woman in life wouldn't have hurt a fly.

Hagrid - Screamer

She whimpered at that , and met his eyes with her wide ones. It was upsetting for her , that man had been a stalwart friend to her for years , and he recalled being told of the hours she'd spent in his hut drinking tea when the boys were not speaking to her. But equally , the thought of the half giant as a screamer was terrifying and he nodded sombrely.

Albus Dumbledore - Screamer

They both had that name on their list , having been at the castle when the headmaster fell , and both felt the pain of the loss.

It was the next names on her list that made him pull her back into his lap and his embrace, when her hands had trembled and body shook as he read them.

Mum and Dad - Immune

Harry Potter...Screamer.

He checked the building for himself , seeing the way she'd fortified the front door by piling furniture in front of it.

With his larger frame, he was able to move some bigger pieces and add more fortification to the front door.

Even if they broke through the door, they'd have a struggle to get through the barricade. The one upside to this old station house, was the furniture was old. Outdated and ugly by anyone's view, but it was old and solid wood...so was strong and heavy, making for a good barricade. God knows what they'd have done if they'd had to make a barricade out of the ikea type modern furniture , that was as flimsy and lightweight as cardboard.

There were 4 windows to the upstairs , though none had easy access as the one Severus had got in. She'd confirmed that was the one she used with the boy, Samuel he was called Hermione had told him, though she called him Sam.

The first thing he'd done is find a shovel and dig a large pit under one of the windows , with plans to do the others as soon as he could. It would prevent muggles using ladders to get up to the windows.

There was a couple of apple trees at the side of the tracks, REAL apples and not the crab apples that were inedible, and Severus's mouth watered at the thought of eating something that hadn't come from a tin. From their position Severus ventured that one past station master had a habit of throwing his apple cores out of the window. Hermione confided that she kept the seeds from every apple, she had a number in her bag and had planted a great deal more around , for future benefit of herself or any others.

When Severus came back through the top window , he moved a large armoire to block it , ensuring that nobody would be able to just follow him in , as he had stumbled in the same way.

Hermione had been concerned about sealing them in , until he'd mentioned the skylight he'd spotted on the roof , which was inaccesible from the ground , having all the muggle defences around it to stop thieves stealing the slate tiles.

They managed to find the attic door between them , and Severus had hoisted her up on his shoulders so that she could get through the door.

When she returned , they made plans.

The attic wasn't a usable living space as there was no floor up there, just a few kickboards over the pipes which was a shame, but the skylight was large enough for them to get out of , and it was a simple latch to unlock.

So during the day they would use the window by the guttering, then on a night Severus would block it with the heavy Armoire. If they were come upon by immune or hostile muggles, the attic was their escape route.

It was a small building all in, designed for a live in station master. There was one small bedroom, small office, bathroom and downstairs was a kitchen.

When it came time to sleep , Hermione tucked the boy in with a quilt on the soft chair. Explaining that he breathed better if he was propped up ,rather than prone.

When she made to go for the bed , he made to go for the floor. Instead he was surprised when she grabbed his hand , and pulled him into the single bed with her.

He had his cock in her that night.