Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to it, unfortunately.

Hermione took a deep breath as she stood outside in the rain by herself in front of Shell Cottage. It was not even two weeks after the Battle of Hogwarts, and she needed to find someone to help her with her new condition. Bill had been staying at Shell Cottage alone since Fleur had decided to divorce him only a couple months after being married. He hadn't had lots of contact with the family since then, but Hermione knew he could help.

He raised her hand and quickly knocked on the door, still getting drenched in the cold rain, but she had stopped caring long before.

The door opened swiftly and Bill took one look at the soaked witch and quickly ushered her inside, running to grab a towel for her.

"Hermione, what are you doing here? What's wrong?" Bill asked as soon as he wrapped the towel around her tightly.

"I couldn't be there anymore... I just, I needed someone who could help me." Hermione said, the reality of her situation dawning on her again as she felt tears stinging her eyes.

"Help with what, darling, you have to tell me or I can't help." Bill said, kneeling so that he was at her height as she sat on the stool in front of him.

She couldn't find the words, so she pulled her wet hair away from her neck and nudged her shirt downwards, where he saw the thick claw marks marring her skin, mirroring the ones he had on his face, a silvery bite mark in the middle of them.

"When?" He asked quickly, trying to assess the situation.

"The final battle... Greyback." She said with tears rolling down her cheeks. Bill nodded and pulled the young witch into him, hugging her tightly.

"Does anyone else know?" He asked her, pulling away to see her face.

"No, I tried to heal the wounds the best I could by myself, but I didn't tell anyone. I don't want them to know. I was getting antsy at the Burrow, I know the full moon is tomorrow. I can't seem to sit still, it's like an anxious feeling. Everyone was irritating me, and I almost blasted Ron through a wall because he tried to force himself on me." Hermione said before realizing just how much she had told him.

Bill growled ferally. "Ron tried to force himself on you?!" He said in a very deep voice.

"He tried, but didn't succeed. Luckily my wandless/wordless magic is pretty well developed." Hermione told him and he paced back and forth in the kitchen. "Can you- can you help me?" He immediately stopped pacing and looked back at the terrified witch sitting in front of him.

"Of course, Hermione. Of course, I'll help you. Right now I would just like to go to the Burrow and rip my youngest brother limb from limb." Bill said growling the last bit of it. She could tell he was fighting his wolf.

"No! Please, Bill, they don't know where I am right now and I'd like to keep it that way. Plus, I've already punished him plenty." Hermione said, standing up to stop him from going to the fireplace to floo. As soon as her hand touched Bill's arm, a shock went through them both and his eyes, flickering with yellow, focused on hers. "Please."

"Okay." He conceded, nodding his head. He turned his focus back on the fact that Hermione was still soaking wet and shivering. "Come, let me get you some dry clothes while you take a shower, then I will finish healing you."

Hermione nodded, following him up the stairs. He led her to the master bathroom and turned on the shower for her, before handing her a towel and leaving her to her privacy. About five minutes into her shower, Hermione screamed.

Bill ran into the bathroom after hearing her scream to check on her. "Hermione, what happened?" He asked before just yanking the curtain open, no matter how much his wolf was telling him to.

"I just- I have a few more wounds than I thought, and I can't quite lift my arms, and I almost lost my balance a few moments ago." Hermione said, sounding weaker than he'd ever heard her.

"Hermione, I'm going to get in there with you. Don't worry, I'll keep some of my clothes on, I'm just going to help you finish getting clean and see what all I need to heal, okay?" He told her.

"That's- that's fine." She said, unsure. He took his clothes off, down to his boxers and undershirt, and opened the curtain to climb into the shower. As soon as he did, he could see her shielding her breasts from him, but the rest of her body looked as if she had been beaten with a beater's bat. She had large bruises on her legs, up her back, on her stomach. What stood out the most, beside her obvious werewolf attack, were the ugly purple handprints on each of her upper arms. They were obviously fresh, unlike the others which were not yet two weeks old now.

Hermione cried openly now, knowing that someone else knew what she was going through. He walked closer to her, now under the spray of the shower and pulled her into his chest, running his fingers through her hair under the water to get the tangles out. She held onto him tightly, afraid she would fall if she let go. They didn't speak a word as he gently washed her hair, washed out her wound, and made sure that she was clean. After turning off the shower, he picked her up, bridal style, wrapping a towel around her before gently laying her down on his bed.

He quickly dried himself off and changed his clothes before walking over to the bed with a small pile of clothing, sitting it next to her. She was still crying as he carefully lifted her arm to assess the large handprint bruises. He growled under his breath before reaching into his drawer and pulling out a jar of Fred and George's bruise vanishing paste. It might be disgusting, but it did the job.

"Hermione, I am so sorry for all that has happened to you, but I promise I will help you in any way I can. I'm going to heal your wounds and by the time I'm done, you'll be covered in this lovely concoction, and it will hurt, but you are a strong woman. For me to do this, I'll have to take your towel off, is that alright?" He asked cautiously.

"I trust you." Was all she said before he carefully unwrapped her from her towel. He worked diligently, covering her in the thick yellow paste before setting to work on her neck. He used dittany and healing charms to close the wounds, however they both knew the scars would never fade.

While working on determining if she needed any other treatment, he had found Bellatrix's handiwork on her forearm.

"When did this happen?" He asked her, having not seen it before.

"When we were captured at Malfoy Manor. Bellatrix..." Only Harry and Ron knew of her torture, but she trusted Bill. "Bellatrix had put Harry and Ron in the cellar and said she wanted to have a chat with me. I lost count of how many times she used Crucio, then she used a cursed dagger and wrote this into my arm." She explained, tears falling freely as she remembered it all.

"Why didn't you say anything when you were here afterwards? I could have helped the after effects of the cruciatus, and helped with this." Bill said and Hermione looked up at him.

"I had to be strong. We needed to get into Gringotts, so we had no time for me to ask for help or heal properly. What does it matter, it's over now. Bellatrix is dead." Hermione told him and he was trying to keep himself contained, listening to her.

"It does matter, Hermione, because you never got to heal properly. I assume that you will be staying with me for a while so that I can help you with being a demi-wolf, so I will do my best in the time you are here to help you heal properly." Bill said before standing up and pulling her to a standing position with him, as he helped her get the clothes on.

They were quite a bit baggy on her, considering he was much taller than her, but they were clothes. He quickly transfigured them into night clothes. He would figure out a way of getting her some clothes of her own tomorrow.

"Are you sure you don't mind me being here?" Hermione asked him seriously as he helped her back into the bed, covering her with the blanket. He moved a piece of hair out of her face and smiled gently at her.

"I'm sure, and besides, I have been quite lonely, so maybe this will do us both some good." Bill told her before standing up and grabbing a blanket from the closet.

"Now try to get some sleep, love."

He turned to leave the room and she spoke up, "Bill?" He turned back to look at her, seeing her frightened eyes looking at him. "Stay?"

He looked as if he were having an internal debate with himself before he nodded and put the extra blanket away. She lifted the other side of the blanket to let him in next to her and she sighed. She wasn't used to being afraid. She was a Gryffindor for crying out loud.

She felt much more safe now that he was laying beside her and she found herself closing her eyes easily. She fell asleep quickly, but it didn't last. Just as every other night, she found herself drowning in her nightmares.

"No! I swear, we didn't steal it! It's a fake! We didn't take anything!" She yelled out in her sleep, waking Bill immediately. He quickly shook her to wake her up.

"Hermione, wake up, it's just a nightmare." He told her, watching as she opened her eyes and immediately relaxed as she saw him. Tears were still rolling down her cheeks as she rolled over closer to Bill.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." Hermione told him, wiping her eyes.

"Remember what I told you, Mia, I am going to help you, and that means through the nightmares, too." He told her, pulling her closer to him. She felt so small compared to Bill. He was much taller than her, but it made her comfortable.

"MIa?" She asked, confused about the nickname he gave her.

"Hermione is too long for me to say when I'm still half asleep." He responded, sleepily.

"I like it." She told him before they both fell back asleep.

So I'm trying something new here with the Hermione/Bill pairing. Let me know what you think! Things will get a little more interesting in the next chapter, so review if you want me to post it! Tout mon amour - BEX