Hermione had been worried about Harry ever since Dumbledore died. He seemed to have changed somehow. He was more determined than ever that he had to defeat Voldemort, and yet the friends who had stuck by him throughout everything from their First Year at Hogwarts seemed to all of a sudden mean nothing to him. He didn't want to be around them anymore. He didn't even want to be around Ginny, and that was really odd considering the fact that they were supposed to be in a relationship. And she knew Ginny and Ron were worried about him too. Everything was just snowballing for him and they wanted to help their friend.
For the last three hours Hermione had been sitting in her room at the Burrow that she shared with Ginny while she was there. The whole time, she had been thinking about what to do about Harry. She wanted to confront him about his behaviour recently, yet she knew he was under a lot of pressure from, well, everyone. The whole wizarding world was relying on him to defeat Voldemort. That was some severe pressure, even for someone that seemed to thrive so well with it like he did. While she also thrived under pressure, she had no idea what to say to him or how to handle the situation.
She had spent some time thinking about who she could talk to about what to say to him. She didn't want to talk to Ron or Ginny because they were worried enough already about him. She couldn't talk to Molly or Arthur either because she knew they would just pester him constantly until he couldn't take it any more and that wouldn't help matters at all. The twins didn't seem like the sort of people to understand that sort of problem either. There was no way she was going to talk to Phlegm about it, either. She would never drop that low. Therefore the only person left in the house was Bill. She got on okay with him and therefore she decided to go and talk to him.
She got off the bed and walked to the door, pausing only to glance at Ginny (who was reading a Quidditch magazine), and then she left the room in search of Bill. He had to be there somewhere. He always was.
It didn't take her long. She soon found him sitting in his room with a couple of rolls of parchment in front of him, evidently doing some work from home while he was still recovering from Greyback's attack. Molly had insisted that he and Fleur stay there at the Burrow until he was completely recovered so that was what they had done. But he had refused to stop working and therefore, there he was doing some parchment work. She knocked on the door and when he looked up, she spoke; "Er... Bill... Can I have a word with you?" she asked.
Bill put his quill back in the ink pot and turned to face her, "Sure, what is it?" he asked. It wasn't often that he had really spoken to Hermione, especially considering how she disliked Fleur, but she was a family friend so she was more than welcome to come in and have a word if she chose to. "Come in!" he added, smiling at her.
"Thanks," she said, stepping up into the bedroom and smiling slightly back at him. It was awkward to talk to him when she had said some nasty things about Fleur with Ginny and Molly in the past but she knew she had to speak to someone. "I'm worried about Harry," she explained, the smile vanishing from her lips and being replaced with a frown.
"He's a strong guy, you know," Bill told her, although he had also been worried about how solitary he seemed to have become. She just nodded in answer to that, but she didn't look convinced. "Why're you worried about him? Have you tried talking to him?"
"He's just not talking to anyone. He's not right at the moment. I think it's to do with Dumbledore dying. I guess he just assumed Dumbledore would always be there," she said, the frown still etched onto her face.
"Well, I don't think any of us was expecting it, especially not to with it being Snape that killed him," he stated, now also frowning. "But Harry needs to keep his friends close to him in a time like this. Hell, half the wizarding world's against him! When it's over, it'll seem like it was just a distant dream. Nightmare, even," he told her.
"Exactly! But he's just isolating himself, Bill," she said, her eyes welling up slightly at the thought of Harry dying, especially if he died alone. He didn't want his friends to get hurt, but they didn't want him to either. "I wish he'd let us help!"
"Oh, Hermione, don't cry, I'm sure he'll come round. He could use your brains to help him for sure. And Ron's... And Ron," he smiled faintly at her. "And Ginny's love too, of course. I know he doesn't want you all to get hurt and I can understand that. I wouldn't want Fleur to get hurt because of me. And I'm sure you wouldn't want your friends hurt because of you."
"Well, no, but I'd still expect them to stand by me," she replied, but she too would hate knowing it was her fault they were hurt. It would break her heart to know she had caused them any pain. But from this side, she wanted to help them. She wanted to be there for them. "But I don't want to let him suffer alone. None of us do."
"Then you'll have to talk to him. Maybe you can convince him if you talk to him again? Or could you all talk to him together? Tell him everything you've just told me?" Bill shifted in his seat, the pain from where he was bitten starting to get to him slightly in his current position.
"Yes, maybe," she said quietly. But that would mean having to talk to them about it and she didn't want them to worry more than they already were either.
"Hermione. Just do it. You need to talk to him and let him know how it's upsetting you all. Otherwise, you'll all just keep getting more worried, won't you?" He wanted them all to be friends, to get along as best as they could. They'd been friends for years, after all.
She nodded. She knew he was right. "Yeah, thanks Bill. I'll have a word with them both and we'll have a talk with him tonight." She smiled at him, glad that she had found someone to have a conversation with that wouldn't just come up with stupid answers. "I'll let you know how it goes!"
"Sure, I hope it goes well!" Bill replied, smiling back at her. "Any time you want to chat you know, my door-" he glanced at his desk, then back at her, "-I mean 'office' - is always open!" he grinned at her.
"Thanks Bill!" she smiled at him again, "I'll go and find Ron and Ginny now. See you later."
"Yeah, see you later," he nodded, watching her leave and then looking back at his work, trying to remember where he was before she had interupted him.