The island was only 2 miles long and 1 mile wide. Before the outbreak it had a population of 38 people.

Port Mor was where they'd arrive at the Island, and there was little else there but a school, a pub, a farm and a bunkhouse. It seemed fitting though, even the name itself was more in tune with their current feelings.

It was smaller than Eigg, which seemed fitting as their world had become so much smaller without Sam.

And instead of settling in Sam's long awaited EiGg... they were going to the Isle of Muck.

As it was just the two of them now. (Three technically if they counted her growing bump). The travelling was not any faster due to her condition, but it was a little easier. They didn't constantly have to have one eye peeled on the whereabouts of the young boy, nor did they have another mouth to feed. They needed to catch less food, or if they caught more than they required then Hermione was able to have more. For no matter how much she insisted otherwise, Severus would never take more than his ration, insisting she ate until she could no longer do so and only then would he consider eating any more.

When they sat an ate, sometimes Hermione thought about how much this life had changed them. She'd been a vegetarian at Hogwarts, with her eyes set on becoming vegan when she finally graduated. She would've gone vegan beforehand, though it was hard enough explaining to the Hogwarts House Elves why she didn't want any meat on her plate or in her meals, they were unable to fathom the concept of her not wanting dairy either. She snorted in amusement as she bit into the cooked rabbit in her hands. Severus raised an eyebrow at her but she simply shook her head and he went back to his own food. There was no need to say anything, for it was a common thing to sit and reminisce of times gone past. As she looked at Severus she realised just how much he had changed too, for the Severus of her youth would have surly become viciously annoyed and badgered her for an answer as to her behaviour, whereas her Severus simply accepted her answer for what it was, and got on with it.

oOo

Their luck abruptly changed upon reaching another small town in Scotland. Hermione heard the noise first, and he a few moments after. At first they thought it was a screamer, until they heard it again more clearly and began to cautiously move toward it.

They reached a small farm, a smallholding really. A tiny cottage with a few chickens mulling around, a fenced off field and a small barn. It was the field that was drawing all the noise, and once he lifted Hermione onto the roof of an old landrover for safety, out of the reach of any approaching immune, Severus hopped the fence with his bat held over his shoulder.

There was a big pony, or a horse. He wasn't entirely sure what the difference was, but it was running in panicked circles unable to get out of the fenced in field and unable to get away from the immune that was following it, dragging an injured leg, teeth gnashing as it attempted to sink them into the equine's waiting flesh. In seconds Severus was able to disable it, and finish it entirely moments after. The immune didn't hunt animals, not unless they were starving. This one was fairly recently turned, and despite the gruesome leg wound it wasn't rotten in anyway, falling to pieces like many of the ones from the original outbreak were.
Judging by the dead immune in the corner of the field, this muggle had been bitten whist defending himself and turned probably mere days or ago. But trapped in the field as it was, with a chunk taken out of his leg, he'd been unable to escape the field while alive and unable to hunt once dead.

The pony/horse was panting and shivering, sweat coated its body and thick white foam dripped from its mouth and onto its chest. The whites of its eyes were showing, and as Severus went to move towards it and the fence, it reared back on its hind legs with a squeal, kicking out its front legs towards him and making the thing even larger than it was to start with. He hadn't realised just how damn big the thing was.

He fell back with a sweared oath "Fucking hell, Rabid beast, try being grateful I just saved your damn hide!", and wondered just what in the seven hells he was supposed to do now, as the stupid beast was currently between him and Hermione. He didn't fancy his chances hopping over the other side of the fence which was topped with barbed wire. He may not have planned for this baby, but he'd still like the ability to partake in the act of making them, thank you very much.

A clicking noise, followed by a metallic clang, drew his attention and that of the great beast in front of him. Hermione was stood at the gate, making a strange clicking noise with her tongue and rattling a metal bucket. He was about to scoff at her attempts when the rabid beast, instantly dropped back onto the four legs that Merlin granted it, and ambled on over to her with a soft rumbling noise.

He watched agape as she grabbed a piece of twine from the fence, the same kind that was wrapped around a nearby bale of hay and with gentle words easily persuaded the beast to allow her to put it round his neck. Held loosely in one hand, with the bucket in the other, she easily led the beast out of the field with no more than a piece of twine.

"Severus, open the barn door for me would you?" Too dumbstruck to do anything else he complied to her wishes and jogged ahead of her to open the large wooden doors, after a quick check through the windows that their were no nasty surprises waiting inside.

He held the door open as he watched his tiny pregnant wife, waddle along the path, bucket now abandoned, as she lead the giant beast calmly with a piece of string no thicker than Severus's shoelace.

She got it inside the stall in the barn, and latched the gate behind it and Severus watched as the thing began to voraciously tear into the hay that was strung up, only for Hermione to quickly pull it out of the way, causing the beast to rush at and kick at the stall door in displeasure and snort angrily at her.

Before he could drag her to safety she had reached over the stall door and began digging her fingers roughly into the horses neck. "I know you want it baby, but you've been running yourself ragged for lord knows how long, if you eat it now you'll colic, just rest and calm down for a bit and then you can have it"

Severus watched as the fingers dug roughly into the neck of the beast in a way that couldn't at all be pleasurable, but found his eyebrows arched in surprise as the beast leaned into her touch and began to wiggle its lips in a bizarre manner. Suddenly the thing lunged for her and he shot forward only to find her reassuring him it was fine despite his concerns as the thing began to bite and mouth at her back.

"He's not trying to hurt me Severus, he's grooming me back" She said with a small laugh as the thing exuberantly hooked its large head over her shoulder and attempted to drag her closer.

"Grooming?" He asked incredulously, but then remembered her fingers digging into the animals neck and realised that must be what she was referring to.

Then another thought popped into his head. "He? How do you know it's a He?" He regretted the question the second he asked it, especially at her amused chortle when she gestured to the back end of the beast with a flourish.

"Fucking Hell, that wasn't there a minute ago, I doubt I'd have missed it, especially when the thing was doing his level best to walk on two legs" He said face flushing red and she laughed. "It's because he's relaxed now, he's letting it allll hang out" she giggled and he snorted.

Though they both ended up chuckling when the beast snorted back to him.

Cautiously he made his way closer to them, still wary of the beasts reaction to him earlier, though there was no need as it simply turned and regarded him with soft brown eyes.

"He's much bigger than the ponies at Hogsmeade" He said offhandedly, as he reached to pet the animals neck under Hermione's guidance.

"I should hope so, He's a horse. A draft horse at that, a shire would be my guess" She told him and he nodded in understanding. "The farmer probably still worked him, looking at the harnessing up there. I bet he pulled a dray or even did farm work"

Severus noted the pieces of leather Hermione referred to, hung up in the barn, some had brasses attached to them and he recognised those at least from the time spent retrieving his father from numerous muggle pubs as a child.

"He's beautiful aren't you mister? Aren't you beautiful?" With seemingly no concern for the welfare of her face, she planted kisses on the horses soft muzzle and was rewarded with the animal lifting his lip and mouthing her face back in an entirely unsanitary way, that Hermione didn't seem to mind in the least.

Walking over to the leather-work he picked up the only piece that he recognised, the bridle with the big black blinkers on it. There was a name plate on the side that had gathered some dust so he began to rub it with a scrap of cloth he found.

"He can't stay here alone Severus, can we keep him?" She asked him with a smile as she finally gave the beast the hay it had been seeking. Severus had no intention of denying her anything that made her smile like that, but when he moved his sleeve from the leather, and noted the words his cleaning had revealed, he knew there was no way they would be leaving the hulking beast behind.

Samuel Smith Shires