Hi everyone!
Very VERY Sorry for the wait on this chapter!
My beta bestie and I had some technical issues.
We are both currently got drunk reviewing chapters.
Then I learned the hard way that alcohol and posting the latest chapter for you do not mix at all.
*So embarrassing*

Much love and virtual hugs!
XOXO
Natstar

SHATTER ME

Chapter 4

"Tell me again, why mum doesn't want to come see me?" Hermione puffed as she held onto the parallel bars taking one painful step at a time. Her father stood on one side and the healer on the other ready to catch Hermione if she fell, which had happened the day before when they first began the next steps to Hermione's recovery.

She was finally free of all the muggle equipment, except the drip that was attached to her hand. However, it meant that she could now wear her pyjamas instead of the dreaded open back gowns. She still required assistance to use the bathroom and bathe. She was told if she could manage to stand on her own then she could finally have privacy in the bathroom. Right now that was a worthy goal.

"She said that there was an appointment at the clinic that she needed to take." Her father said. They both saw through the excuse. Their last visit, when they brought her some clothes her mother had to be taken from the room as she had started yelling at her daughter for lying to her and her father about everything that had happened to her at Hogwarts. Her mother said that she was not to go back to school. Hermione had pointed out that she was old enough to make her own choices in the world, which was when her mother snapped and said if that was so then she no longer had a place at home.

Hermione took a deep breath and took another step. She was determined to reach the end. She was hurt her mother did not come the following visits. Only her father came. He also wasn't happy with the situation, but knew there was a time and a place. Right now he was happy to know that Hermione was alive and on the mend. This was much better news than what he and his wife had been given at the end of the school term.

"You know she didn't mean anything Poppet." Her father said again. He said it every time he visited. Hermione stopped her progress. Breathing hard, she glared up at him showing the hurt her mother left in her eyes. Her arms were trembling under the strain and she had a sheen of sweat on her brow.

"Perhaps you should have a rest now. Over doing it won't help." He said softly. Hermione turned away, her eyes focusing on the wheelchair at the end of the parallel bars.

"I will finish it." She said through clenched teeth. She took a staggering breath and continued. The Healer observed silently. She knew her patient very well and allowed her to continue. She knew she would not push her harder than she had to. Through stubbornness, Hermione reached the end and finally allowed her father to help her back into the chair.

"I won't be able to come in tomorrow Poppet." Her father said as he pushed her chair back to her room. Hermione looked up at her father; the man who was there for her when she learned to walk the first time. The man whom put her feet on top of his toes the first time she learned to dance. He was the one who shared her passion for books.

"That's ok." She smiled at him. "I think Sirius said that he was bringing Harry, Ron and Ginny tomorrow anyway." She let her dad help her back into bed and tuck her in, grumbling as he did. He gave her a smile and a kiss.

"My daughter is not well so I'm allowed to fuss Poppet." Her father scolded lightly. Hermione huffed and crossed her arms.

"Just don't tell Sirius, or he and the boys will think it is fine for them to." She grumbled. Her father laughed, noting that she still distinguished her two best friends as boys.

"Poppet. I don't think anything I say will stop anyone from fussing." He said, amusement still in his eyes. He picked up her book and Discman and handed them to her, kissing her forehead.

"I better be off." He said. Hermione sighed as he disappeared out the door. She was alone again. She put the headphones on and pressed play. She stifled a yawn as she opened her book. She was determined to read a chapter before she fell asleep. She only made it to the end of the page when her eyes fell shut on their own, the music filling her as she drifted into dreams.

There was music was playing in the background of the room. She was at a costume party as she watched the crowd from the top of the stairs. There was a spaceman, and alien. Someone was dressed as a unicorn. Magic clearly had been used to create the effect. Hermione looked down at herself and gasped. She was in an extremely short green dress that looked like it was made from large leaves sewn together and ridiculously high heels that sparkled and glittered. She looked over her shoulder and saw iridescent wings. She didn't even feel them on her. With a thought they seemed to flutter faster. She wondered at the magic used for the effect.

Hermione stepped down into the crowd and came face to face with Captain Hook; eye patch and all. He smiled and his mouth moved. She recognised that he was saying she looked breathtaking. Hermione blushed and smiled. The face seemed familiar to her but she couldn't quite place where. He pulled her into a dance, the crowd moving back a little so they had room as he twirled her around the floor. As she spun she saw Luke Skywalker standing with Sandra Dee holding a sleeping baby, a cowboy with his arm around Pocahontas; and by the punch glaring at them, Mr Smee.

The characters in the room blurred as Captain Hook brought her close. She could swear that she could smell the spicy aroma of his cologne. He leaned in towards her capturing her lips with his, the moustache and beard on his face tickling her face. He pulled away for a moment, his lips were moving again saying something to her and he pulled out her wand from his large red pirate coat. She didn't know why he had it but she was so happy to have it back.

She inspected the wand and seemed satisfied with it. She glanced at the ceiling and grinned. Flicking her wand the ceiling started glittering like a disco ball. Thousands of tiny lights winked and danced across the ceiling casting a rainbow of flickering lights on the room and costumed people below. Everyone looked up in awe before the next song flicked on and the crowd began moving to the beats.

Hermione smiled up at her Captain Hook. She realised that his eyes or rather the one eye that was visible was the same as the boy in her previous dreams. She didn't have a chance to contemplate the realisation when he captured her lips again. She could feel his arms around her and that delicious scent filled her nostrils. When they parted she staggered back a little gasping from the intensity of the kiss, he put out his hand on her shoulder to steady her then shook her shoulder…

"Hermione" Sirius called her name softly. His hand gently shook her shoulder softly again. Hermione blinked awake, the scent in her dream still lingering, but the rest of it faded as she looked at Sirius frowning slightly.

"Is it tomorrow already?" She looked over to the window and saw that it was still dark. Sirius chuckled as he sat beside her.

"No, your dinner is getting cold. I stopped by on my way home to see how you were going." He settled on the end of her bed with the table between them. Hermione shifted sitting up a little. She noted that instead of the hospital food she had been getting, there were two plates with burgers and chips. Sirius pulled out two cans of lemon squash and opened hers for her.

"You stopped by to see how I was going with dinner?" She asked raising a querying eyebrow at him. Sirius smirked at her taking a chip from her plate.

"I had a feeling you would appreciate something different to whatever they put on your tray." He pointed to the ground where he put the tray. It looked like stew that had gone cold and congealed. Hermione wrinkled her nose at it before turning back to the burger and chips.

"Good point." She said lifting the burger and biting into it. Hermione closed her eyes moaning in enjoyment. The burger was a simple hamburger with lettuce, tomato, cheese, fried onions and pickles, and a good amount of sauce, yet as it wasn't the soft food they were still trying to feed her; everything about the burger was heavenly. Sirius watched her as she took her second bite moaning again. He suddenly found it hard to breathe. Tearing his gaze away he lifted his own burger.

"I wonder if it is just good burgers that get you to make that sound," He quipped at her before taking a bite of his own burger. Hermione's eyes flashed open and she choked down the mouthful of food. Her face was flushed red, not just from choking on the food.

"I did the same with the chocolate Ginny snuck in for me the first time they came to visit. Harry and Ron squirmed in their seats as I ate the whole bar." Hermione retorted quietly as she put down her half eaten burger and took a sip of the lemon squash, watching over the lip a smile on her mouth as Sirius now choked down his mouthful of food, trying to laugh.

"I bet they did." He wheezed. "Better finish your food before it gets cold." He pointed to her half-finished meal. They ate in silence, finishing their burgers.

"Thanks for dinner Sirius." Hermione said as she picked at the chips between them. She gave him a quick smile. Sirius had leaned back against the end of her bed reading the back of the book she had.

"Anytime Hermione." He smiled in return. Hermione's heart suddenly skipped a beat. It must have shown on her face as Sirius sat up looking suddenly concerned.

"You ok Hermione?" He asked pushing the table away and shifted closer to her on the bed. Hermione nodded, shaking off the feelings that quickly swept through her.

"Just indigestion. I think I enjoyed that burger too quickly." She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. She looked up at him again. His face was still frowning in concern but his eyes seemed to smoulder. He leaned in and put his hand under her chin. His thumb slowly brushed the corner of her mouth and across her bottom lip. She didn't realise she was holding her breath until he let go of her and stepped backwards.

"You had sauce on the corner of your mouth." He explained; his eyes still on her. Hermione felt like someone was pounding on her chest. And she realised it was her heart thumping hard and fast. Finally Sirius turned away and began clearing away the evidence of their dinner and put the tray back onto the table, the food still untouched.

"I should go." He said turning back to her. Hermione found that she unable to speak and simply nodded. Sirius moved to the door and smiled, "Until tomorrow." He disappeared, shutting the door behind him, leaving Hermione in the hospital bed thoroughly confused at the whirlwind of emotions that raced through her.

Sirius stood and leaned against the other side of the door, as he too struggled to contain his own whirlwind of emotions. For a moment he swore that she shared that same spark. When he had arrived at her room he heard her mumbling in her sleep, almost as if she was having a conversation with someone in her dreams. She had a soft smile ghosting her lips as she dreamed, at least before he shook her awake. Then when they were finished with dinner all he did was smile at her. But he felt, deep within that somewhere in Hermione's mind, in her memory she recognised him more than Harry's Godfather.

He knew it was a risk to push it a little when he rubbed her bottom lip. There was no sauce as he made the excuse; he just wanted to touch her. He pushed away from the door, striding down the hallway. Dumbledore had warned all of them that Hermione needed to remember everything on her own. He was explicit when he was lecturing the teenagers but he didn't miss the warning look the headmaster gave both himself and Remus. It wasn't going to stop him to try to get her to fall for him again.