As Before this chapter has not been beta read.
I apologise for any potential errors I have missed

Oohhh! Thank you for the fab reviews.

To Amy who sent me a review - In answer to your question, I suppose that I had this all planned out since I started writing this sequel. I have known how it was going to end for such a long time. And now I am finally polishing off these very last chapters I am doubting what I wrote.
The funny thing is, sometimes what you write you will become so full of doubt and read and reread and re-reread it thinking I spent hours coming up with "THIS"?
In truth I spent a few weeks away from it and still hated it. But Worst still was I could not think up a better version. I'm glad you liked it. And I think when I re-read this whole thing from the beginning again I may hate it less.

But enough of me and my mad writing woes.
Except that there is only one chapter and one massive epilogue to go.
Yes Miss T Felton we are at the beginning of the end.
There has been the barest of bare hints, as to where I am leading you. But then I made sure they were as obscure I dont think you fully grasp it.
I think after this you may better understand. Maybe not. I like to think it is ingenius still. But hey it could be cliche...

XOXO

Natstar

SHATTER ME

Chapter 32

The nursing staff found it highly amusing at the couple known as Mr and Mrs Black and their constant back and forth debate on trying to name their daughter. The doctors had kept Hermione admitted as they were a little concerned, from her low results from her bloods, and Hermione's moments of dizziness that seemed be affecting her more and more frequently. Sirius having listened to Dr Whitfield's concerns and assessment agreed that she should have the extra rest. They had gone through the name book twice in three days, their list of names crossed out and rewritten on a growing piece of paper. Hermione was sitting by the window, her daughter feeding greedily and contentedly.

"Morghanna?" Hermione offered to her husband. Sirius shook his head, "No, there was a third cousin that was very fond of Bellatrix."

He paced holding the list of names, "Olivia?"

"I thought that we already agreed that was on the no list? Imogen?" Hermione countered. Sirius stopped and pulled the pen from behind his ear.

"I'll put it on the maybe list, which now includes Isla, Kairi, Lucinda, Ashalynn, Stephanie and Nataly. Should we add Daisy- wait, no, even I don't like it" He crossed out the name he just wrote.

Hermione chuckled as she shifted the infant to burp her; humming softly to the rhythm she patted her back. Their little fairy, as they kept referring to her started making sounds then burped.

"My that was a big burp." Hermione kissed her daughter's head. Sirius looked at the clock. "The nurse will be here shortly to bathe her."

"I know, and I know you want to go and help with that too." Hermione smiled up at her husband, letting him take her.

"Anything to see those little toes splash in the water" He grinned.

"I might walk down with you, and then come back and lie down." Hermione folded the soiled towel.

"Dr Whitfield thinks he should keep you here two more days. He is still concerned with your fatigue." Hermione huffed and stood up.

"Honestly, I am fine. It was only a dizzy spell yesterday. And truthfully, I want to wear something that isn't a nightgown, dressing gown and slippers."

"Well you look just as lovely in pyjamas as you did in your wedding dress, my love. And even more so in less," He drew her in with his free arm to kiss her soundly, smiling in the kiss as he felt her face heat in close proximity.

"You are impossible," She scolded; the smile on her face, betraying her.

The nurse seemed to have chosen that moment to come in to herd them towards the nursery where the baby bath was set up. She pulled the crib out to use once they were done.

"Still no name yet?" She asked as she bundled the old bedding into the laundry hamper by the door. Hermione shook her head, "No, seems like we still cannot agree on a name for our little fairy."

They followed the nurse down the hall greeting the other new mothers that they had gotten to know in their stay. Giving Sirius and daughter a quick kiss she watched as he and the nurse went into the bathing area, smiling through the glass as Sirius was shown how to undress their daughter, the nurse watching and guiding him. Leaving him to care for her she walked slowly back to her room.

Her purse seemed to have fallen from the bedside table and she bent scooping it and her wand and spare quills back up and set them back on the table. Her bed had been remade in her absence and she crawled in enjoying the moment of peace as she waited for Sirius to come back. The notepad and name book were on the corner and she went through the list again of the names they had selected as maybe, humming as she crossed out ones that didn't seem to match. Two names on the sheet stood out.

"Daddy is back with our little sleeping fairy" Sirius wheeled in a sleeping baby.

"Excellent, because I think I just worked out the perfect name for her." Hermione pulled the pink card from the crib and wrote it out.

"Say hello to Astra Fayelynn Black."

"Are you sure?" Sirius asked taking the card to see their daughter's name in Hermione's neat script.

"You don't like it?" Hermione frowned. Sirius put the card back onto the crib.

"Star fairy. I think it is perfect darling." He stretched out beside her. "Now how about you also get some sleep" Kissing her forehead.

"Only if you stay right here with me," She pulled his arm over as she closed her eyes, the name of her daughter the last thing she saw as she drifted to sleep.

...She stood in the mist. In the grey. The ever changing grey. Dark over light. Light over dark. The whispering breeze wove itself around her. It was louder this time. She could almost make out words within the whispers. She was in the red dress again. But the landscape no longer held shattered moments of her mind.

There was a strange familiarity to it. The whispering changed it sounded like a song, one that seemed to pull at her drawing her further into the grey than she had been before. She felt as if she was leaving her world behind. Her little world of pure happiness seemed to fall behind her like a bubble drifting into the greyness. She moved backwards. Or was it forwards? But there seemed something before her, ahead of her. Behind her.

She didn't want to get closer, but it seemed to move towards her regardless. She was at a door. A door in the grey. Something she had not seen before, but as she looked at it she felt as if she knew it. From somewhere. In one of her pasts? Did she have more than one? Her mind seemed to buzz and flash. With faces she didn't know. With scenes that seemed impossible. The song became louder, its tune so familiar to her, but from where?

Her Lullaby. As soon as the thought struck the song became clear. Her Daughters Initials glowed from the door. Something from with the deep recesses of her very being seemed to have unlocked. As the key in the door seemingly move on its own.

"She remembers!" A voice from beyond the door.

"About time" Another voice said causing the first to cackle.

"Time indeed," said the first, "Nearly thought it was never going to happen."

"She isn't quite there yet." The second voice said.

"Not yet. But soon, it is almost time…"

It was dark when she awoke; Sirius was curled up next to her snoring softly. But something felt wrong. The whispering in her dream seemed to have followed into consciousness. Movement by the curtains caught her eye and she gasped, jerking as she sat upright. Sirius awoke instantly wand out, and lit the room with an unspoken lumos charm.

"Give me my daughter." Hermione heard Sirius growl, rising from the bed behind her, wand pointing directly at Wormtail. Hermione's hand reached out and her own wand was in her hand. Three more shadows grew from the darkness.

"So the Dark Lords pets learned to become insects and rats." Sirius spat. Wormtail cackled. Shifting the bundle of blankets where Sirius had pointed and had his own wand directed at the baby now squirming in his arms.

Hermione's hand pushed down Sirius's. "What do you want Peter?" Hermione stepped between them, the three Death Eaters either side had their wands trained on her. The curtains behind seemed to blow on a wind of their own.

"What I want?" He giggled again. "I've got exactly what I want. You were the last. And here we are!"

"What do you mean she is the last?" Sirius asked. Hermione took a step forwards. Wormtail pointed his wand at her a bolt of red sprung from his wand. But it stopped short shielded. The whispering brushed her cheek. The door in her mind she never knew was there cracked open. The whispering seemed to have some substance.

"…Escape… your fate… black … gold … soul… light… Remember the way…"

Hermione wavered on the spot. Sirius grabbed her arm to steady her. There was something in the whispers, something that almost clicked inside. Yet the present demanded her attention as Peter cackled again.

"Come find me Sirius. Come and get your daughter. You make sure she doesn't leave" With that he apparated on the spot; their daughter gone with him. Sirius swore as the three death eater's began casting. Curses at him and Hermione. Shouts from outside the door alerted and reminded that they were still in the maternity ward of a muggle hospital.

Sirius deflected another spell aimed at the door that was now rattling on people trying to get through. Hermione fired as Sirius deflected but the third aimed another at the door. Both of them missed as they heard screams.

"No! They are innocent!" Hermione cried out. They aimed another at the door but Hermione deflected again.

"Sirius. You need to go find our daughter." She said as they now focused on casting at the door, another slipped past. More agonised screams.

"Sirius GO!" She yelled at him. "I can't block them fully until you go! Find her. I'll find you. I love you."

Sirius growled not liking the fact he was leaving her. He ducked another spell, and then popped out of existence. Hermione felt the pull of him leaving as hard as when Peter took their daughter. But now it was only them against her. Her eyes glittered dangerously. As they spread out giving each other more room. She smiled at the one in front of her.

"Seems like we got ourselves one that wants to play boys," The first sneered at her.

"We've played before. Left her a pretty scar" Dolohov's voice came from her right. "I'll make sure to leave more than that this time poppet."

"Oh, you think so?" Her voice was barely audible from the kerfuffle beyond the hospital room. The one on her left shot another curse at the door, this time it was diffused by a labyrinth mesh lighting around the room. The others seeing the room glitter sent two directly at the walls each diffused in rippling sparks and lights.

"Caging us in poppet? Means you also can't get out either" Dolohov sent another spell at Hermione. She blocked it with ease.

"I wasn't planning on leaving. Not yet, now let's begin."

The room went black.

VVWVV

Sirius apparated directly to the street he had last tried to kill Peter. It normally was full of muggles out and about on business. But that was only in the daylight. At Night it seemed almost deserted. He growled into the shadows. He hated to have left Hermione on her own, against three Death Eaters. Yet it seemed that they were forced to play whatever game Peter had concocted. He cursed again, they had managed to infiltrate somehow and hitched a ride he'd guessed in Hermione's purse. The list of reasons to kill the rat seemed to grow by the minute.

"Hide and Seek, Padfoot. Like how we used to."

It had been a very long time since he had played that game. The last time they had was on James' stag night, because all of them found it hilarious he could become a literal stag. A drunken stag. But their shenanigans had taken them back to the place all had played the game of hide and seek. He remembered how mad Moody got finding them in various stages of undress around Hogsmeade. Yet nothing had compared to Lily. They had finally angered her so much that the she didn't speak, because none had found where Peter had hidden. And he had never told them where he had gone.

"I've got you Peter. A rat in your own trap."

Another loud pop and the public square was empty again.

Hogsmeade in the eighties wasn't much different to what it was in the nineties, including that the wizarding town was on high alert. The town being so close to Hogwarts was a target as it was the only place nearest to Hogwarts but outsides its protection. He knew now why Dumbledore kept it that way. Both sides had used it as a place to spy on each other to get an edge. No one noticed, nor cared about a stray dog sniffing around, searching for where he might pick up the scent. The town square was the official apparition point but like Sirius, neither he nor Peter had used it.

He had searched around every building. All were protected well by spells to prevent anyone ever apparating directly in. And he also knew Peter would have had trouble with a wailing newborn. That thought caused him to growl as he began sniffing towards the entrance to Hogwarts. Peter would suffer if his little star fairy was hurt or worse.

His nose nearly missed it from the strong scents of teenage witches and wizards frequenting the path. Padfoots dog nose sneezed, but he caught the scent of fear mixed with baby spit up. It seemed Astra did not like her first experience of apparating, much like her mother. Sirius let out another growl, as the scent led him down a lesser used path towards the only other building of Hogsmeade he hadn't searched; The Shrieking Shack.

He sat at the edge of the fence line, assessing. Most always thought that he was an irrational shoot from the hip, kick ass and take names kind of guy. Which had been true at one point that he once believed was his lowest point in his life, shortly after Hermione had left him after she got him away from his psychotic mother. However his daughter was inside that house. And he also knew that Peter would have prepared an arrival. The boy he knew had always loved puzzles and for the four of them Hogwarts had been a big puzzle to play in. At least until they had made the Marauders Map. Peter was as smart and devious as the rest of them. People had always underestimated that, and how far he would push the bounds of a game. And this game was one of Peter's making. Sirius knew he had to prepare for anything.

There was a light in the window on the top floor. And a shadow that moved past it. He let out another growl. He was there. He hoped his daughter was safe as well. But he also needed to let his wife know. She would not stop until Astra was safe. He'd heard it in her voice when she sent him after Peter. And for the first time he felt his wedding ring pulse. It would draw Hermione to him. He moved back to the tree line, transforming back to his human form and cast his patronus ordering it to find Hermione and give a message when she got to Hogsmeade. That done he returned to his animagus form and trotted back down the path. There was more than one way in and it seemed only fitting to enter the way he only ever had, via the Whomping Willow.

VVWVV

The Hospital room was a broken mess. She had a cut to her cheek, bloody lip and more minor scratches and bruises marked by her torn and bloodied nightgown. They had gotten close to overwhelming her, and almost succeeded in their depraved acts upon her. And only because the depths of her mind had a door that was never there before crack open a little more, making her vulnerable to attack as her mind left her reeling, dizzy. The whispering that seemed to repeat the outside world's speech and something else. A curse? A warning? She had no time to give it much thought, especially when they knocked her to the floor and banging her head.

Hermione looked around at the destruction. One of them had the misfortune to get first-hand knowledge on how deadly her animagus form truly was. But when she was pinned down by two of them after being bodily tackled, with a look in their eyes that said that hexes and curses weren't the only thing on their minds it left her little choice. The one on top of her was now a bloody carcass with bloodied body parts strewn around the room, the pool of blood a dark patch on the carpet.

The other two weren't dead. But neither were they in any state to function, not after she had delved into their minds and made sure there was almost nothing left. What she had seen in both minds made her want to vomit more than what she did to the other. Of the three Dolohov had put up the hardest fight. But then he had already faced off against her in the past. He'd also apparently been the first to volunteer to Peter's sick plan. She touched on his mind again. Unlike the unspeakable she left enough to do just enough to trigger their animagus forms one last time as basic brain functions kicked in they would never return back into human form. One had become a ferret, and the other into a scorpion. She transfigured part of the bed frame into a cage for the ferret and the smashed mirror into a glass container for the Arachnida.

There was nothing else to be done as except to summon her purse and checking that the Phoenix feather was still safe, and putting in the animals. She flicked her wand collapsing the walls of the spell drawing the destruction and mess in. As it drew in she stepped through the walls of the spell hissing as it stung through her. It continued to shrink down into nothing but a small pile of ash. The room now represented a concrete shell. Scorch marks on the walls ceiling and floor the only other signs of the near total destruction. Sounds of the outside world indicated that there were still people on the other side of the door. She knew that there were possibly also wizards on the scene by now too. They would be able to open the door. Eventually. By the time that they did enter she was long gone.

The gravel cut into the soles of her bare feet, as she apparated blindly following the pull of her ring; and that of the fairy necklace that Astra now wore. Unlike Sirius she skirted the village. She had reached the path towards Hogwarts when something shimmered towards her, distinguishing itself into a fairy. Not like one from the wizarding world but one as if it was from a muggle story. In any other moment she would have laughed at Sirius's voice coming from something she would have expected to have a high pitched voice.

"They are in the Shrieking Shack. I have taken the tunnel entrance. Be careful my love. He will have set traps." The patronus zipped away Hermione knew it would have returned to its owner. She knew that she was quite a ways behind this trail than Sirius. But it didn't make it any less dangerous. Like Sirius she stood just beyond the fence line, weighing her options. As she watched she saw the same light in the window on the top floor and the same shadow. She morphed into her panther form, its eyes better in the dark. With her cat eyes she saw something else. Something that made her teeth pulled back, her growl rippled out to the night. Somehow Peter Pettigrew had turned the Shrieking Shack into a trick house.

The panther sniffed the gate to the fence, pulling back, its long tail lashing in distaste. So Peter wanted them to go through the tunnel. That was just fine. She turned and melted into the shadows. He would be expecting a girl. Not a panther. And as she sent her own patronus out into the night, unlike Sirius she could cast spells without changing form.

The whispering followed in her wake, the door in her mind still persisting in being listened. Yet a feeling of dread grew as the whispering continued and the words became less jumbled. She stopped in her tracks as they solidified in her mind,

To escape the fates
Your fate
You must find a man black of night
With a heart of gold
And keep intact his soul of light.
Remember the way
The path sewn of old
Threads are cut
Lives are sold

Hermione sprang forwards. No matter what happened, she knew that Sirius could not kill Peter. Because if he killed Peter – no she wouldn't let it happen again. She stumbled as she passed through the gates of Hogwarts, memories of jumbled pasts or lives seemed to shutter through her mind, showing a newer Hogwarts, an older Hogwarts and places this vessel had never seen before. The only constant in these images were of the man she always seemed to keep running to.

VVWVV