She'd looked to him, and he'd smirked back to her. "What do you think?"

Her grin was wide as she replied. "Well I am running off with a man twice my age, and I'm going to have his baby"

They smirked and held hands, as they turned to follow the beaten road to the west, slapping the sign as they went past.

"5 Miles to Gretna Green"

It had been foolish of them of course, to enter a town even a small one. Especially one they were unfamiliar with. But they needed it. They needed it to stay sane in this fucked up world they were living in. They needed it. Which is how they came to be in an abandoned church, offering promises to each other. There was no Reverend of course, no service, no guests (apart from an enthusiastic Samuel), no flowers and no white dress. They had them on site of course, but Hermione had scoffed at the idea. She'd never dreamed of one growing up, so she didn't care to have one now.

But still, they had their runaway wedding. They stood in the church and offered vows to each other. They signed their names in the wedding book, and thanks to the on site blacksmith and jewellers, in addition to a number of new knives, they also each had a ring to give to each other.

And for one day at least, things were somewhat normal as they walked down the aisle together. Or as normal as life can be, when the dead hunted the living.

oOo

A pharmacy run garnered them more supplies. Prenatal vitamins, multivitamins...more condoms. Severus had arched an eye at her when she'd stuffed the number of boxes she'd found into the carry all, but she'd simply snarked back at him that she wouldn't be pregnant forever, and even if they were the last man and woman on earth, she had no plans regarding repopulating it just between the two of them. He'd chuckled at her then so she'd thrown a box at his head.

The temptation was great to take shelter in the town for the night, but they pressed on instead. It had been quiet there, too quiet. Not a sign of a single immune anywhere, so rather than push their luck they decided to move on. And sure enough as they camped out in the woods a couple of miles North, their suspicions were proved when during the night they heard of all things, gunfire.

Instantly both Severus and Hermione had been alert. They covered the campfire, even going as far as to risk a small amount of magic to vanish the traces of it. Despite the noise being about a mile away, they still moved another half mile from their initial camp, deeper into the forest and then climbing into the trees.

"What the fuck are they playing at Severus? Guns?" She hissed through her teeth. "They'll bring down every immune within miles" He was silent for a moment, contemplative before he answered.

"Perhaps that is their intention? It would not be the first time muggles used the immune as a weapon. Perhaps someone has a stronghold and another group is attempting to overcome it?" It was no secret that oftentimes the living were more dangerous than the dead.

"I don't like it Severus" She whispered to him. "Nor do I" he answered, and they pulled closer to each other in the trees, Samuel pressed between them.

Once more their suspicions were proved warranted, when they awoke to acrid smell of smoke. Hermione carefully climbed higher into the trees, for a better view.

After a few moments she returned down to them. "There's a large fire, somewhere near Gretna. Something big is burning, a building, warehouse maybe. We need to move, the wind hits it wrong and this whole forest could go up."

He agreed with her, and they cautiously made their way out of the trees and pressed forward at a faster pace than usual. It was not ideal to tire themselves at such a strenuous pace, but neither was the thought of being caught in the centre of a forest fire.

oOo

A few more weeks past and they were well into Scotland. They'd managed to tentatively skirt around the edges of Dumfries and make their way out into the southern lakes. There had been a few incidents with immune, most they'd been able to escape but twice they'd had to kill some of the damned things. Hermione was showing now, her bump was small but quite obviously a baby belly.

On the the motorway they'd approached two muggles. Women. Travelling together. They were on the opposite side of road to them, coming towards them. They'd eyed each other cautiously as they approached. It was a raised motorway, and a risky decision to take, for there was only two ways to go, forwards and backwards. The drop either side meaning death. But taking the motorway was the direct route, it cut days off their journey and avoided walking through two big city centres.

As the women passed, they seemed to keep as close to the opposite side of the road as they could. Which suited Severus and Hermione just fine. When they were level with them, but on the opposite side of the road, after a moments indecision, they made their way closer to the barrier that separated the two sides of the road. After exchanging a quick look, Hermione and Severus did the same.

They called out a cautious greeting, in a thick Northern accent.

"Y'alright?"

"Alright" Severus called back cautiouslly.

"Y'alright Lass?" They'd asked Hermione pointedly, after eyeing her baby bump, and then sending a cautious glare at Severus. He wasn't imaging it when he saw their hands grasp the handles of the weapons they carried. He wasn't offended by their assumptions.

"Alright." She answered, making a point of grasping Severus's arm so that her hand was in view. When they noticed the ring on her finger, and then Samuel cautiously peering around her legs , they seemed to visibly relax.

"Anything to trade?" They asked cautiously, and it was Hermione that answered. "What have you got?"

They managed to make a decent trade between them, they were grateful for some excess furs Hermione had tanned along with some meat they'd trapped.

Hermione had scoffed when Severus wanted to go into the animal shelter building outside Gretna, but he'd remained steadfast. Sure enough he'd got one of the long sticks with a noose on that they used to catch stray dogs, and a trap used for feral cats. They proved excellent for catching animals. "I am hopeless with the crossbow, and soon you shall be unable to hunt." He'd explained his reasoning. Having lost the battle of wills, Hermione had made sure he was properly rewarded for his victory that night, by dropping to her knees and taking him into her mouth. He was stood, with his back resting on the trunk of a tree when she fell upon her knees in front of him, untucking his cock from his trousers and quickly jerking it until it was half hard in her hands. "To the victor the spoils" She'd conceded, and proceeded to pick up his cock and put it in her mouth. He'd hissed out his pleasure as his half hard cock thickened and lengthened in her mouth, as she bobbed her head down his length enthusiastically and ran her tongue up the vein on the underside. His hands fisted in her hair and he rocked his hips gently, encouraging her movements and let slip a deep groan when one of her hands reached up to cup his balls. Whispering a constant litany of praise, he thrust into her warm and waiting mouth, feeling the pleasure like a slow burn rising inside of him, from his toes, to his balls, to the tip of his cock and up to his head, making him see stars. She was utterly focused on his pleasure, pulling out all the stops to make it as enjoyable for him as possible, as her fingers pressed into his perineum as her hand cradled his balls. It didn't take long before he was fisting her hair tightly and arching his back as his cock erupted into her warm mouth.

So with the aid of the noose (which when hidden just right, made a fantastic snare) and the trap, one thing they were rarely short of was meat, even if it was squirrel and rabbit. They often caught foxes and badgers, but chose to let them go. It was not worth the risk of disease that they carried.

In exchange for the furs and meat, Hermione was grateful for the tinned fruits she received, for she was ever mindful of her pregnancy, and the lack of nutritional balance an almost all meat diet provided. And Severus was extremely appreciative of the expensive professional fishing rod set the girls had acquired, but been unable to figure out how to use.

After an unspoken understanding passed between them, and both Hermione and Severus's sense of fair play and honest nature had shown through, it was Severus that had spoken up.

"This trade is unfair, the rod is more valuable. You should take something else."

But the women had shaken it off, gesturing to Hermione's belly and Samuel. "You need it more than we do. Besides, they were doing us no good. Couldn't figure out how to use the fucking things."

Touched by the gesture, they shared another look and Severus passed them something off his back. "Take this then." The knives they'd picked up from Gretna blacksmiths were wicked sharp, and Severus had spent a few days carving out a decent branch, and affixing a blade to the end, leaving him with a wicked spear that was excellent at killing immune whilst keeping them at arms length.

"That's too much" One of the women said, eyeing the impressive weapon, but Severus shrugged it off gesturing to the rods. "These will help me feed my family, besides I can make more"

Sharing a similar look to what Hermione and Severus had, they fished out a couple more tins of fruit along with some tins of condensed milk powder which Hermione almost gasped at seeing. They placed all of them on the barrier between them, before taking the spear Severus offered.

"And this will help me protect mine" The taller one offered a nod to the pair of them, which they returned.

"Good trade friends. Avoid Glasgow at all costs. There were 6 of us before we got there."

"Good trade" Severus and Hermione returned, shaking their hands over the barrier. "Avoid Gretna Green, it's too quiet there, and we heard gunshots in the night. The next day there was a fire burning"

They waved each other off with well wishes, and continued on their journey, without looking back.