Sorry for the delay friends, I've been very ill, hopefully this will make up for it. Also check out my new story, which is also WIP, Sins of the Father.
"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.
The weather was throwing them for a loop, and they were really beginning to wish it would settle on one thing or another. Or as Severus put it, "Make up it's fucking mind already".
In typical British fashion, it was fluctuating from harsh snow flurries, to bright sunny days. Either of which would have been preferable to the miserable slush they had to deal with in-between. Those days when the sun melted the snow into piles of grey filthy mush, that always seemed to soak through their clothes and chill them more than the snow itself ever did. Those days were grey, harsh and tiring. The dismal cold and wet sapped their strength and hindered their progress. It soured their moods and made them wish they could find somewhere safe to stay. At times, it made it harder for them to make any progress, as the motivation to carry on was sorely lacking.
Their progress as it was, was slow and hard already. Though with the addition of the fishing rods, and the animal trapping gear, food was easier to come by than it ever had been before, they had both failed to factor in just how physically draining pregnancy was on a woman. Hermione quickly grew tired, and they found that the distance they were able to travel in a day was dwindling more and more as time went by and her pregnancy got more advance. Not only that but she had to give up hunting much sooner than they expected. Her balance and equilibrium was off, and Severus was afraid that she'd have an accident and he wouldn't be there to help.
It had taken them a while to get Samuel to understand the reason for her expanding mid-line, but eventually with the help of some books they scavenged from a small library in one run down village, they finally got the point across. After that Samuel spent almost every night sleeping with his head atop and arms around her belly.
Severus, once he'd untangled them from the the mess they'd come in, had begun fishing at every opportunity. Hermione was grateful for the oils and vitamins the fish provided, and Severus enjoyed teaching Samuel how to fish. Though for the most part, Severus was certain he enjoyed digging in the mud for bait, more than he did the actual fishing side of it, he still shared and indulgent smile with Hermione when the boy proudly brought her the first fish that he'd caught for himself. Hermione showed him how to cook it, and they ate it that night. The boy didn't stop smiling until the next day.
oOo
It took them a long time to get well into Scotland. With Glasgow on one side, and Edinburgh on the other , they had to take their time and cut through a lot of countryside to avoid both of the big cities. That meant they had to cross right through the centre of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. It was harsh countryside. Little shelter and little safety. Though the original plan was to cut over the hillside, Hermione's pregnancy made that impossible so they had to stick to the roads, meaning they were always exposed. Though in the middle of the vast countryside, it never felt good to be so exposed. It made them feel vulnerable, and the stress and anxiety grated on their nerves and put them on edge.
When they finally broke out of the Trossachs National Park, it was once more into miles of farmland. The feeling of being out in the open, didn't dissipate, but at least they had a crack at some sheep once more. The stupid things were fairly easy to catch, and the wool always came in handy.
It was another 3 days of walking through farmland, before they reached the first proper village they'd seen in weeks.
Finally, they spent a night in real beds under a real roof.
When Samuel was asleep, she reached for him.
Her pregnancy hormones had made her, for want of a better term, horny as hell. Of course Severus was more than happy to comply, however their frequently unsafe lodgings had meant that there was little more relief he could offer her than a quick hand down her pants, as he brought her to a fast completion.
There was going to be none of that tonight though.
Her baby bump would make it difficult for him to get ontop of her, so instead she lay on her side and he spooned behind her. shedding clothes below the waist, he pulled her leg so it was atop his, and he palmed his cock as he primed himself to enter her. She was whimpering and gasping as his other hand teased her slick little clit, and her own hand was teasing her own nipples into hard points.
With the pregnancy, her breasts already seemed a little larger, her nipples darker and more pronounced, and as he slipped his cock into her warm heat, he couldn't help but take a handful of her luscious tit, teasing the nipple between his fingers.
She arched back into him, her hand reaching back to pull his head to her, as they kissed artlessly. It was all teeth, tongues and heavy breathing. But fuck if it wasn't what they both so desperately needed.
His hands reached down to cup her hips as he increased his speed, and she threw her head back and moaned as the angle had him brushing against that sensitive spot inside her that made her see stars.
It didn't take long before she was gasping and clenching around him, and then he followed her into bliss, momentarily losing himself in the pleasure as everything but the two of them ceased to exist.
When he was done, he pulled out from her gently and rolled her onto her back, kissing her indulgently, before moving down and kissing the swell of her belly. It was there he let himself rest, head pillowed on the swell of his child within her, as she gently ran her fingers through his hair, and he was lulled to sleep with the reassuring sound of Samuel's soft snores from the other side of the room.
oOo
They had enough food that they could spend a few days in the house, before they needed to move on. It was risky yes, but they needed to recharge, especially Hermione who was at their best estimate, around 5 months pregnant. They needed to move though, they could not stay there forever. At best they had a month before Hermione would be into her third trimester of pregnancy, and Severus really wanted to reach Eigg by then, as the kind of travel they needed to do would be practically impossible, and highly dangerous for a woman in the late stages of pregnancy.
So it was, after a few much needed days of recovery, even Samuel was getting stir crazy, despite the long stint they'd gone without proper shelter. So they packed up their things, foraged what they could in the house and moved on. As they walked through the small village, they foraged in each house they came to and managed to regain some supplies, which Hermione was pleased about. Their provisions had dwindled somewhat during their long trek passed loch lomond.
There was a couple of immune, though they proved little challenge for Severus. They were old when they were turned, pensioners that lived in the small village no doubt, and it was clear they'd gone a long time without feeding as their bodies were decaying and slow. Each was dispatched easily.
On the edge of the village, much to Samuel's delight they came upon a park, the first they had seen in months, and a shared indulgent smile between Severus and Hermione meant they both knew what their next stop was going to be.
Samuel rocked around the park happily, for though it was only small there was a number of things that hadn't been in the other parks he'd been in before, like the small merry go round, and the zip wire which he insisted on riding ten times in a row, until he was laughing so much Hermione was concerned he might wet himself.
She couldn't begrudge him the fun though, and a look at Severus saw that he was thinking along the same lines.
Their fun was cut short, when Severus eyed the sky as a groups of birds shot into the air cawing loudly out. They quickly scanned the distance though didn't see anything, untowards.
"Fox? Or cat maybe?" Severus asked and she simply shrugged in answer, though they both remained alert.
They heard it then. Blood running cold and skin turning ashen, they heard it. The howling in the distance. A Screamer. Sharing a look of fear, Severus quickly grabbed Samuel from atop the slide, despite the boy's protestations, as Hermione grabbed the pull along bag and they began to jog away from the gut wrenching sound.
There was no way they could outrun the screamer, not in Hermione's condition. So the only way they had a chance was to distract it long enough for them to put some distance between them. They'd talked about the eventuality and they knew what they were going to do. Severus, who was more capable with wandless magic, seeing as neither of them carried wands anymore, cast a lumos maxima, leaving a large ball of magically generated light floating above the playground they'd just left. It would not distract them for long, as the lumos would not last long, but hopefully it would be enough time for them to get some distance between them.
Samuel, who could not hear the howling and did not understand why his long awaited time on the park was cut short so suddenly, struggled and protested when he was bundled into Severus's arms, as they took off from the playground at a brisk jog.
They managed to get to the bottom of the street, before Severus dropped Samuel with a hiss when the boy landed a kick in his ribs hard enough to wind him. Hermione grabbed his arm roughly, ready to pull him along with her...And then, it happened. The boy, confused and frustrated, stamped his foot in anger, as he quickly pulled back from her grasp and looked at them with such single minded determination that Severus was worried what exactly it might entail. Though what happened was the last thing that he could've expected. The last thing they had ever expected. Now until this point, Severus could've been almost certain that the boy with his deafness and overall sickly pallor, was a squib. Hermione had been of the same opinion.
He was proved wrong. Dreadfully wrong.
Samuel proved just how naive Severus's assumption had been...with his first ever accidental magic.
Destination, Determination, Deliberation.
He apparated.