DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling.

~ Shards ~

Holding their newborn child in his arms, he feels... nothing.

She is looking up at him with shining eyes, waiting for an answer.

"I don't know," he says, handing the baby back to her. "You name it."

He watches the hope and pride fade from her expression, leaving only exhaustion. She is shattered by his words. She thought that this was what he wanted, that once the baby was born they would be a family... Instead, she is discovering again that he does not care.

As many times as she has realized it before, as many times as she has allowed him to break her heart already, she doesn't know why she thought this time would be any different. But, oh, how she hoped it would. And it hurts so much she can barely stand it.

She shields her thoughts and blinks back the tears as she cradles her child protectively against her chest. She has this tiny creature depending on her now and she doesn't know what to do. What if he tells her she isn't allowed to keep the child, to raise it...?

He waits, wondering idly what name she will choose, oblivious to the torment he has inflicted upon her.

She fights against the panic rising in her chest and once she has pulled herself together enough to speak, she says in a whisper the last thing he would have expected to hear.

"I don't know, either."

~end~