'Not yet, Mione,' said Bill, gazing down at her from between the arc in his room and the lump that had been, at one point, his fluffy pillow.
Hermione gave a little groan.
If she hadn't had a slight respect for Bill, he would, with a simple flick of her hand, be thrown across the room and into the wooden wall. It had taken Bill many months before he had earned that respect, for her to not misunderstand almost every sentence that he uttered and resulted in her losing her temper. Bill had only just managed to beat the amount of time it had taken Fred and George to become close to her, after she had returned, alone, to Hogwarts.
'And stop making so much noise,' said Bill. 'You are only in bed, not in front of the television.'
This time she gave a snort.
That was one of the activities Bill and the rest of the band of brothers forced her to do. To set the television to the left of the fireplace and watch various movies and selective channels, ones that did not show the news (as the rules of the Wizarding World applied for the Muggle one as well). The movies were treats, ones that were carefully selected by the boys when they dared to leave the house and journey through the Muggle World. To be bought with the precious money we had, the movies needed to only result in happy feelings, such as the children's ones she used to watch when she was younger, or to be an old time favourite of any of theirs. And at least once a week, the entire group would gather in front of the television, usually with one of them keeping a firm hand on her to keep her on their lap, and a movie was played in front of their eyes. It was family time, and though it was rare when any of them would leave the house, those few hours were ones of the most special points of the week.
'Is Mione up for some full breakfast?' spoke a voice from the door, 'or should we stick to porridge for today?'
Hermione glared at Lee, who simply gave her a wink in return.
The lot of them always talked about her as if she wasn't there, especially when it came to food. They each had an idea of exactly what she should eat and when she should eat it. All decisions of her meals were up to them, especially Bill. It didn't matter how many times she protested against it, none of her words were given any notice and they still continued to decide everything. Of course, that didn't mean she didn't continue to bring up her anger about it.
'I think probably half would be best,' said Bill.
Giving a little wiggle, and even though she knew it was futile, as there were two sets of eyes watching her, Hermione made an attempt to slip out of bed. Carefully Hermione shifted the sheets over so that at least Bill would feel as though something was there and slid her body slowly down the bed. Bill stopped her from trying to escape backwards and Lee would notice too quickly if she tried to move immediately towards the door. If she managed to make any sound, or if any of her movements caught their eye, an arm would grab her around her waist, whether it be because Lee alerted Bill, or Bill realised exactly what she was up to.
And what she was up to was to simply get a proper breakfast, if she managed to elude any of the others wandering around the house and if Bill and Lee didn't have their attention wavered from their conversation and see that there was an empty space next to Bill.
'Did someone remember to pick up milk?' said Bill.
'George managed to sneak into a Muggle shop last Thursday,' said Lee.
'Which one did he go to?' said Bill. 'The Death Eaters aren't watching the one three towns over.'
'That one,' said Lee. 'Barely missed being seen by McGonegall.'
Hermione felt her body shiver.
If any of the ones who remained in the castle found them again, the first words out of their mouths would be to try and convince the group to return. To return to Hogwarts meant having to remember…
'Mione,' whispered Bill's voice into her ear, 'I need you to remain in bed.'
Hermione gulped.
'I can handle hearing those names,' Hermione said.
Bill's arm crept around her waist, pulling her back up against her chest as his other hand dragged the covers around her again.
'But I can not watch you handle it,' said Bill.
Those words haunted her. They made her shiver. Ever since Bill had first whispered those words, they haunted her.
She could still remember the first time Bill had mentioned those words; still feel the sobs rack through her body as he held her against his chest. Somehow she had known his touch was gentle, that her body would perfectly curl into his. Never before had she ever reached out to him to comfort her, but at that moment, she knew.
And from then on, Bill had kept her by his side, refusing to listen to her protests that he had better things to do than look after her. He had been the one to arrange for her to be moved to his own room, his small apartment the furthest away from Madame Pomphrey and her Hospital Wing in Hogwarts, and to have a few quiet words with the rest of his family and their friends. It had been he who had approached her one night, asking for her permission to have them all housed in his apartment.
He always made sure to include her in all decisions, on any matters that would fringe on her sense of personal space. And that was how he managed to argue against any of her points of why she had the right to choose what time she went to bed, as he insisted that her bed times had nothing to do with personal space. Forget the entire issue of how she was never allowed to go to bed alone.
There was always at least one of them with her. To help her.
Hermione gave a shudder.
'Not much longer,' said Bill. 'I just need you to stay a bit longer.'
And a small kiss on the top of her head.
She tried to fight it, but involuntarily Hermione felt her body crumple. She never could keep up a defence when he showed such signs of affection. None of the rest ever received the same kind of reaction. They could make her calm down, but only Bill's show could break her down to her inner self. And he was the only one who could build her up again.
'Humour an old Wolf, Mione,' said Bill into her ear.
Her body did what had become natural, she melded her body into his. She felt her body become one with his as he covered her, and the covers gently lay over them.
'Hardly old,' said Hermione as she felt strands of his hair cover her cheek.
When Bill was on the move, he insisted on his long hair being tied up with his leather string. For it to be off his face. But upon him crawling into bed, Bill would throw the leather string to the side, and allow his hair to hang loose. Only he could tell the difference, as even when Bill was in bed, it didn't mean he didn't shift. That he didn't twist and turn, ending up on the other side of the bed when he was still awake. For her, she would have thought that he would have kept his hair up, but Bill had a different definition than her.
'Quiet you,' said Bill. 'I will not be sweet talked into giving you extras.'
Hermione gave a snort.
No matter how hard she tried to not end up like one of those girls, Hermione sometimes wondered about the ones who could get away with almost anything. Those girls that had their entire group wrapped around their fingers. Hermione had always sworn that she would never end up like one of those girls. Never use her charms to end up getting what she wanted.
But she also knew that she would never be able to do that to her boys. To her Comforts. And not only because she would never be able to forgive herself for doing it, but also because they would never allow it. They allowed her to get away with quite a few things, but being used was not one of them.
'What are those other extras?' said Lee, 'and can I have them transferred to me.'
Tilting her head up and feeling Bill pull the locks of his hair over her face away, Hermione saw Lee grinning back at her, head up against the right side of the doorframe. And as he caught her eye, Lee gave her a wink. She should have known. The act was all for her.
The other sore point was that. Bill and Charlie allocated certain foods to each one of the group, regulating the amount of food that was given to each every meal. Not because any of them were inclined to eat more than their share, all of them had lost their appetites over the years and it was now more usual for the rest of the group to have to bargain each other into eating. No, the division of food supplies were more to make sure that each of them ate the nutrients they needed and to eat as close as possible to the carbohydrates a male or female were supposed to intake.
'No,' said Bill, 'those are being saved.'
Oh Merlin, don't tell her that he was going to try it again. After the last time-
'Not for me,' cut in Hermione. 'I don't need them.'
A pause, before Bill's grip on her grew tighter.
'Mione,' he said, 'don't argue.'
And with that, it was over. Bill had that tone in his voice. No one argued when Bill had that tone.
She had been hoping that with her being with him since four in the morning, that it would have calmed the Wolf. Usually the simple matter of having one of the Pack with him meant that the Wolf felt as if it was being surrounded with ones who were there simply for it, and no one else. The Wolf needed to be reminded that the Pack was there for it.
Glancing up, Lee caught her eye again and they exchanged a look. A different look than the last one.
She wasn't going to be leaving Bill's side today. The Wolf had decided that she was to be the one around him, and no one else would do.
Though the entire Pack knew that the Wolf was particular to her in the first place. It had begun upon Bill first seeing her in the Hospital Wing of that Place, curled up among layers of blankets as she refused to open her mouth to accept a potion from Madame Pomphrey. It had been Bill who had chased the medi-witch away, along with the various other Healers at the time housed in the castle. They were probably still working there.
It had been Bill who had sat down next to her, wrapped his arms around her and let her cry.
And he had been the first one to be able to get her to eat, without forcing the food down her throat. Bill had been the first one to get her to take the potions prescribed by the Healers. The first one to help her sleep for a few hours before she would be woken up by her own dreams. By her own nightmares.
And for some reason, the Wolf had immediately latched on to her and had made her one of his Pack.
Bill had refused to leave her side since. And if he did, then he fought against the order until someone he trusted was put in his place to look after her.
'I'll go get the breakfast now,' said Lee, disappearing out into the corridor as the bedroom door closed behind him.
Hermione gave a little shiver.
It had been a rough night. Bill had refused to let her go after she returned to bed about quarter to five. He had wrapped her body into his, pulled the covers over both of them and had gently traced circles on her exposed shoulder until she fell asleep. No one else had joined them.
While she had been fighting against the urge to go back to sleep, Hermione had heard the rest of her Comforts go to bed. She knew that Charlie had disappeared with Oliver into Oliver's bedroom. The door always became caught on the piles of boxes Oliver had littered around his room and was usually the reason why the door was never closed. She had heard the thump as the door had bashed into one of those piles. And Lee had dragged his old quilt into Fred and George's bedroom; she could hear the sound of the heavy cloth being pulled over the floorboards in the corridor before it became caught in something in the twin's room. She didn't know what, as none of the three had said what it was when Lee had complained about the quilt nearly being torn. But she had heard them, and it had only been by Hermione grabbing Bill's arm that had stopped him from storming out of the room to yell at Fred, George and Lee for making a ruckus.
Hermione was going to have to warn the three properly before Bill managed to round them together.
'Mione?' Bill whispered.
The pressure of his hand on her arm lessened.
'You didn't hurt me, Bill,' Hermione said, turning her head so that she could give him a kiss on the cheek.
Bill would never hurt her. But sometimes, he lost control of the Wolf and the Wolf dealt with its Pack members as it would with another Wolf. It forgot that none of the other Pack members had the physicality to handle a Wolf's strength. Over the months, of course, they all had managed to increase their endurance of physical touch. They knew that Bill couldn't help it, and they didn't want to have to keep away from him because of it.
'But I-' said Bill.
Hermione placed another kiss on his cheek.
'You know as well as I do,' she said, 'what would happen if you did. And the wall is just as hard as it was the last time.'
She still did have her temper. And she had used it against them before. After escaping from her period of shock and disbelief, Hermione's temper had risen to new heights.
Bill had always had his magic, his ability increasing due to his work that forced him to continue on learning and acquiring. And upon he being Bitten, Bill had become stronger, even by Wolves' standards. The rest of the group had quickly become accommodating towards Bill, other than a few flares up. But not Hermione. Much to the horror of the rest of the group, Hermione had fought back.
When Bill decided, only three weeks after he had taken Hermione under his wing and into their new home, that he needed to prove that he was dominant over his siblings and the few friends who had survived the strains of war so far, Hermione had tried to keep her temper. She knew that this was the Wolf needing to prove to itself, and to the ones it considered Pack, that it was in charge. She could understand that. But she refused to be pushed beyond what she considered bearable was another matter.
And Bill had done that.
Bill was having a bad day. Bill was fuming. He was stomping down the stairs, each step sending waves of shock through the house and making its very foundation shake.
The first sound, the angry growl emitted from his own room ten minutes before, had made their bodies freeze, waiting for another sound, and Hermione to look up from her book, one of the few belongings that had been taken from That Hogwarts that did not belong to them, but Bill and Charlie had believed that her need for it was more than anyone else's. And it would be no help for the war, as it was a tome of Fairy Tales, Muggles and Wizarding ones.
She could faintly hear Fred and George shift in their chairs, the footsteps being enough to make their bodies realise that they would have to flee. And Charlie had already moved to a standing position, she could see him out of the corner of her eye, one hand resting on the arm of the sofa he had been sitting on and the other raised to catch everyone's attention before he gave the signal to run outside. It was always best to get out of his way when Bill was on the rampage, and the grounds around their cottage was too vast to be found by him.
And with the way Charlie was staring over at her, he was ordering her to be ready too. But Hermione already knew that her body was tense, that it was ready to jump out of her chair and disappear out of the kitchen door, the book still in her hands. Bill was prone to rip anything apart, whether it be physically or due to his magic when he was in this kind of mood and Hermione didn't want that to happen to the tome.
Except…
Facing Charlie, Hermione mouthed, 'Where's Oliver and Lee?' to him. Immediately, he mouthed back, 'Both outside at the shops' and Hermione sighed ever so slightly. It was good that they were out, that meant that it was unlikely that they would face Bill, but… 'I will leave a Warning Spark at all entrances' Charlie added to Hermione's relief. Oliver and Lee wouldn't be able to miss the Warning Sparks, and would know better than to enter the cottage. They were safe.
In a way. The four of them were still in the line of fire. If they were caught by Bill…Hermione shuddered.
And Charlie noticed. She could feel his eyes rest on her, the action catching the attention of Fred and George who watched her out of their corner of their eyes. As much as the three were undoubtedly worried about her reaction, the threat of Bill was more immediate.
'Run,' Charlie hissed.
Grabbing the small bag by their sides, supply carriers carrying the latest supplies bought or 'borrowed' earlier that day from various towns, Fred and George scuttled out into the kitchen with George in the lead. But as George reached out a hand to grab the handle of the kitchen door, a scream followed by a crash echoed through the house. And Hermione knew that sound. That was Bill throwing something she viewed as precious.
'Mione,' Charlie said.
He was throwing every single gesture he knew to tell her to cancel all wishes of remaining. He knew that she could tell exactly what was being destroyed, and what she was thinking of doing to Bill because of it. The only reason Charlie wasn't grabbing her and practically dragging her out was due to the fact that he knew nothing would move her now. All Charlie could hope for was that, maybe, just this once, Hermione would see sense and not do what she wanted.
Unfortunately, this was another one of those times when she didn't.
With Fred's hard whisper of her name, Hermione scampered up the steps and crashed into the room, the wooden door banging into the dresser beside it.
'That belonged to them!'
What had followed had been one of the most vicious fights either of them had ever experienced, with Bill, using his experience and new found physical strength, against Hermione, who had her thirst of knowledge and the subsequent practicing that took place in order for her to perfect her research. It had taken months for Charlie, Oliver, Fred, George and Lee to repair the damage, especially as Hermione had been adept at slipping out of Bill's grasp when he tried to grab her and consequently throwing him against the wall with her wand. Few walls had survived, and few knick-knacks were repairable. And Bill and her had been forced to be separated in two rooms in good enough condition to house them while they recovered and while the rest of the cottage was made habitable again.
But it had had a good result. Five weeks later, Bill had snuck into her room and had settled down beside her. Placing an arm around her, careful of the few bruises still left, Bill had whispered words, words beyond meaning. And she had known, at that point, that she had earned Bill's respect. She had earned the Wolf's respect.
'I am not trying that again,' he whispered, as he leant up against the headboard and pulling her up with him.
'Good choice,' Hermione said, giving a little wriggle to get more comfortable.
Bill relaxed his grip enough for her to, a small smile on his lips as Hermione crooked her arm across his neck, with the other over his stomach and her head resting against his chest. She took a deep breath as she could feel his heart beating. Content again.
But then he sighed.
'We need to start IT today,' Bill murmured.
Hermione's body tensed.
'No,' she whispered.
'We have no other choice,' said Bill. 'If we don't do IT now, then we loose our chance.'
'Why do we even need to bother?' said Hermione. 'We know the end result of it all. The same as it was the time before.'
'We still need to continue,' said Bill. 'If we were to stop, even just that once, the consequences would follow our worst fears.'
Hermione gave a little sigh.
'We never should have started,' she whispered.
It had been begun with a slight flicker of persistence, of taking that small chance and deciding that nothing else mattered. But the events that had unfolded upon that first time had doubled upon their second attempt, and then the third. By the time any of them had realised exactly what they were doing….
'We needed that hope,' said Bill, as he gently gave her a kiss on her hairline, 'to survive.'
'That hope,' said Hermione, 'is killing us.'
There was no answer. They all knew now exactly what they had unleashed. Now, when there was no chance of stuffing it back into its little box.
And that was why when Hermione felt Bill slowly draw her closer to him, gently pushing her into the mattress, Hermione gave no squeak of protest at being told to go back to sleep. For if she slept, then maybe her mind would not dwell on it. Maybe her thoughts would leave her alone, something they never did when she was awake, and she could give her body a bit of rest.
Yes, she needed a few extra hours. Just a few more.
With a soft grunt, Hermione could feel Bill cover her with the covers as she closed her eyes with one last flicker of her eyelashes and let her mind wander. And for once, she was allowed this. She was allowed to pleasantly dream.
Hermione paused, giving her mind one last excuse to complain about what kind of situation she was going to find herself in by following through with this action, before striding forwards, pulling the door open and promptly nearly falling because of a large bundle of objects suspiciously in her way. Typical. Well, she wouldn't be deterred by that. It was all worth it in her point of view, because as she struggled for balance, Hermione could hear the all familiar cries of the ones she had just barged in on, and their various exclamations of disbelief. And as the seconds passed, she could finally distinguish each and every single voice of dismay.
Ah yes, she was back again.
'Mione!' yelled Fred.
A smile tugged at her lips as she watched him scoot further down his bed before grabbing the pillow he had been sleeping on top of, the simple concept of using it for his head a complete mystery to his mind, and threw it in her general direction. An extremely poor throw as it turned out, as it missed her completely and instead of causing her to think twice of the escapade, it caused her to laugh upon it crashing into the porch usually reserved for any owl that dared to tempt Fate by landing in the room.
'Tis too 'rly,' came the mutterings from George.
One of the little joys of doing this, Hermione had found, was the simple pleasures it brought, and seeing George struggle to pull his covers over his head further, as if it would be any use as a barrier between himself and Hermione, was one of them. Even after all the times she had woken them up, the concept that nothing could deter Hermione from what she was doing, always seemed to never be understood within their group. And of course, what was in the way of what she needed to do, and that was usually the covers, would the first thing to go.
With a gleam in her eye, Hermione promptly caused the covers to wiggle out of George's grasp with the aid of her hands and land in a heap on the floor.
They knew why she was here. And they knew that they would not be able to stay in bed since she had returned. And, if they were stupid enough to give her a new way to force them out of bed, then how could she be blamed? It was their own fault.
'Not supposed to give her a reason,' said the almost calm and collected voice of Bill, who glanced at Hermione through his curtain of long red hair that had long since passed his shoulder blades, and which was, as always, down since he had been sleeping.
Hermione gave him a nod in reply.
Bill was one of the few who was nearly impossible to wake, simply due to his simple act of somehow managing to stir from his sleep in enough of a fashion that he was almost coherent by the time Hermione came stomping back into the room. This had, of course, grown to a full-time battle of wills between Hermione and Bill, as Hermione tried to return to the room before Bill had managed to pull himself into a sitting position in his bed, and collected a mug of coffee to steam slowly on his bedside table with a little help of the Hogwarts House Elves. As of yet, Hermione had failed each and every time. And as such, Hermione had grown to respect the one male that she didn't have to scream at every morning, even though she was still attempting to catch him asleep.
'Should have guessed,' said Charlie.
Poking out throw his covers at her, before giving a little squirm, Hermione watched as his hand darted out from the quilt and began searching for at least one of the pair of slippers that always seemed to be displayed by the time dawn hit. Hermione had personally watched Charlie carefully collect the two and place them at the right side of his bed, the side that he was more prone to fall out of. Yet, Hermione knew by the time that she stormed back into the room to wake the males up, the pair of slippers wouldn't be there.
If Hermione hadn't know the males of the room better, she would have sworn that one or more of them were playing a prank on poor Charlie.
'Thought I heard him earlier,' said Charlie, giving a soft groan as he discovered, once again, that the two slippers were not by his bed.
'Why not warn us then?' said George, as he curled himself into a ball in order to regain enough warmth to go back to sleep, or hopefully manage to do so.
Hermione gave a soft snort, as she knew that she had won one battle. George had truly given up hope of getting back to sleep, as he hadn't tried to recover his covers. Though, the entire idea that any of them would be able to was laughable, even if George was searching for his pillow. George's pillow always managed to get itself lost during the night, and today would be no exception.
'Warn me,' muttered Fred, 'then I coulda been trying to enjoy me last moments of sleep.'
'Thought it was me dream,' said Charlie as his hand disappeared underneath his bed before he gave a soft yelp and pulled out a slipper.
A new groan erupted from the far side of the room. The one who made the noise was lying on the bed next to Charlie's, his covers tangled up around his legs and pants he was wearing twisted around him. As usual, that one wasn't wearing a shirt.
Hermione rolled her eyes as she met the sparkling eyes of Lee.
'Why are you so happy about?' muttered Fred.
With another flick of his wrist, Fred made another attempt to have his pillow return to him, only for it to lift off the ground, hover for a few seconds before promptly falling back to the floor again.
'Mione!' Fred said.
'What?' Hermione said.
She was despicable sometimes, they should know that by now. If they hadn't, then exactly where had their brains been for the past couple of months?
'Mione,' said Bill, as he picked up the cup of coffee from his bedside table, 'take the spell off Fred's pillow so that he can have it back.'
Hermione tried to give Bill an innocent look, the operative word being here, 'try'. Upon seeing Fred make another attempt to recover his pillow, and failing, Hermione couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes.
'Mione,' said Bill.
With a heavy sigh, Hermione muttered the counter spell and the pillow flew over to Fred, only to bash him. And for a second time.
'Mione!' said Fred, as the pillow landed on the bed.
She knew Bill was giving her his Big Brother Look, but as it failed all those other times, it did once more.
'Had a wonderful dream,' said the soft voice of Lee, as he shook the covers off him and slowly began to crawl to the side of the bed.
'Another one?' said Charlie, swinging his feet onto the ground and into the one slipper he had found.
'Hm,' said Lee.
'What it about?' said Charlie.
Lee turned to face Charlie, a glint in his eyes.
'First kiss,' Lee muttered.
Immediately the catcalls started, causing Hermione to growl under her breath…
'Mione?' said a soft voice.
She could feel someone shaking her, but though this dream was enough to cause tears in her eyes, it was still a memory of one of her happier days. This was before they had been forced to flee Hogwarts. Before Bill had realised the real reason why she had been so-
'Mione?' said the voice again.
The shaking was becoming more insistent. She was going to wake up if they kept this up. She couldn't have that. She needed to finish the dream.
And then cold; the feeling of ice dripping through the covers and trickling into her clothes. No. No. She was waking up.
Someone was pulling her from the covers, forcing her to sit up as they wrapped their warm body around her. But that didn't stop the coldness. That didn't let her fall back asleep.
Hermione let out a wail in protest.
'Thank Merlin,' hissed a second voice, as someone pressed something soft against her stomach. 'I thought we'd lost her completely.'
'She didn't eat before she took her nap,' said a third. 'I told you that was a bad idea.'
A growl.
They were around her, she would recognise Bill's growl anywhere. They were keeping her from her dreams.
Why?
'We know that now,' cut in Charlie. 'We won't make that mistake again.'
Why wouldn't they let her sleep? They told her that she needed to nap, and then she did. Only they woke her up, too early. Way too early.
'Where is her blanket?' said Fred.
'Up against her,' said George, before he pulled her from whoever was keeping her sitting up, and snuggled her up against him, his chin gently resting on her head.
'Keep it there,' said Charlie. 'It might help.'
The feeling of part of the cloth being slightly pulled her from her grasp, before George deftly pushed it back into her fist.
'I thought we burned that one?' said Lee.
Ah, he must have been the one. He was the only one who would dare to take so much of the blanket away from her, and the only one that George wouldn't have 'punished' for doing so.
'No, we burned Mione's,' muttered Fred. 'This was Her's.'
Hermione felt her body become rigid. That meant this was this belonged to the girl who she considered a sister. Who could have actually been her sister if she had-
'Enough,' whispered Bill.
And that would be the end of it, except they had taken her out of her dream, and reminded her of Her. They might be able to push it to the back of their mind, but as she had already been thinking of…
Why did this have to be so hard?
'Do you have the food ready?' said the soft voice of Bill.
'Since you first ordered me to get it ready,' said Lee.
She didn't need to open her eyes to know that Lee had stepped out of Bill's room to set up her meal, and undoubtedly to add a few extras to it. Not that any of the other Comforts would protest, more than once they had tried to sneak some in on her. They ignored her protests, at one point Charlie had held the chocolate up against her lips until she had opened her mouth.
'Come on Mione,' said Bill, gently drawing circles against her arm, 'we need you to wake up properly now.'
Hmph. Hermione was going to become full of life when she was ready to. Not before.
'Mione?' whispered the soft voice of George.
Any moment now George was going to creep up next to her and speak into her ear. He knew the effect of breath in her ear. He knew that it would get some kind of response. He knew that she would have to wake up a bit further in order to make that response.
And that gave her very little time before she would be subjected to it, so she needed to use the time wisely. With the slightest of snorts, Hermione snuggled herself further into Bill. She tried to forget that Bill was smiling, that he was whispering to one of her Comforts nearby or that he had increased the rhythm of the circles on her arm. That would just confuse her, and would help them wake her up faster. She truly was at a disadvantage.
'There's some extra goodies for you,' said the voice of Fred, as she felt someone gently pull a lock of her hair from the messy ponytail Charlie had put her hair in before they had insisted she take her nap. Slowly running his hand along the lock of her hair, Fred curled it around his fingers before stroking the side of her face.
'We raided our special store,' added George, as if that would encourage her to open her eyes.
Her Comforts should have learned by now that the promise of the 'goodies' wouldn't give her any resolve to follow one of their orders. The supposed temptation of 'goodies' had never done that before, and Hermione swore that they never would in her future. Nothing the Comforts could say would change that.
'And food is prepared,' said the voice of Charlie.
'Don't make us have to properly threaten you, Mione,' said Bill.
Hermione didn't have to guess that Charlie was sending Bill one of his famous looks, one that used to rival Mrs… Well, that look was capable of making milk turning sour.
'Do you wish to force us to threaten you, Mione?' said Bill.
Oohh. Nothing Bill could threaten her with was going to make her wake up. And he should know that his threats didn't work on her. The last time he had tried to threaten her, it had ended up with several burnt patches in the woods surrounding their cottage. The other Comforts had had to have the two restore the grounds at different intervals in order to make sure that some peace was kept, though that hadn't stopped both of them being on the receiving end of a talk with Charlie.
'Wait until Lee returns,' said the voice of Charlie, 'and then you may threaten her.'
'She won't open her eyes because the food has arrived, Charlie,' said Bill.
'And your threats won't work,' said Charlie.
This seemed to be getting interesting. Carefully Hermione opened one of her eyes, ever so slightly, so that she could glance at the scene before her. She didn't need to see to know that Bill had her carefully curled up against him, but the fact that he had one hand outstretched in order to sign something at Charlie was something that she hadn't noticed. What he was exchanging with Charlie was a mystery, as the two had never explained the code to the rest of the Comforts. The hand signals had been invented long before the War had started, even before the two had gone to Hogwarts. That one was solely for Bill and Charlie. The Comforts and her had their own for during the War, and afterwards when a few were trying to not disturb the rest.
'You have a better idea?' said Bill.
Maybe Bill's mood hadn't improved after spending the night with her, along with being with her during her nap. Yet he had never suffered so badly before, as usually after having her with him, Bill's wolf was placated enough to feel that there was no need to be dominant. How could this have changed? Could this be another point of the wolf that Bill had never warned the group about?
'Yes,' said Charlie, 'and it involves you taking a walk.'
Hermione could feel Bill's grip on her lessen. She slowly slipped from his grasp until she was lying on her side on the bed, causing her to take the chance to grab the covers and pull it over her. As she felt the warmth return, giving her the added ingredient she needed to feel safe enough to sleep, the voice of Charlie cut into her slowly shutting down mind.
'Go for a walk, Bill,' he said.
'I don't need one,' said Bill, straightening up as much as he could to his full height when sitting up, trying to stare down Charlie.
'You stayed up during all of Hermione's nap,' said Charlie. 'Walk it off.'
'No!' said Bill.
'Bill,' said Charlie, with the slightest of growls in his voice. Hermione knew that he dare not allow any more, as the last problem Charlie needed was for Bill to think that Charlie was challenging him. Charlie wasn't a Werewolf, he didn't have the strength to win a battle against Bill, and Charlie wasn't the sole head of the group. That position was shared between himself and Bill, and arranged long before Bill had been Bitten and had become a Werewolf.
It was pure luck that Bill's Wolf side didn't see Charlie as a threat.
'I am perfectly fine!' said Bill.
'Don't make me have to take everyone out of the house, Bill,' said Charlie. 'Mione needs her rest and she won't get a proper nap if we have to pull her from the bed.'
Charlie would hardly win with that argument. As her nap was just ending, Hermione had supposedly gained all the rest she needed, therefore it wouldn't matter that she had had to take a walk through the woods. Yet, there was still the little point that Bill wouldn't want Hermione to move until it was absolutely necessary, and if it meant that Bill would need to leave the cottage, than he would argue inside that it was better if he did.
The softest of growls from Bill. That comment had touched the Wolf side of him, and his wish to keep one of his own Pack comfortable. Hermione knew that she wasn't part of his Pack solely because she had become the lover of Ro… And then Bill had pulled himself off the bed, side-stepping across Fred and George before disappearing out of the room. Under her breath Hermione sighed, thankful that it had been Charlie who had stood up to Bill, and no one else. Only Charlie could have 'convinced' Bill to try and vent out his anger outside.
'And now you can stop pretending to be asleep, Mione,' said Charlie, and out of Hermione's eyes, she could see that Charlie had settled on the edge of the bed.
'You aren't fooling anyone, Mione,' George added, as she felt herself being pulled back into his arms. George crossed his legs, settling Hermione in his lap as he stroked the side of her face, running his fingers from her hairline all the way down to under her chin.
Hermione gave a little grunt in reply. She wasn't going to prove to them that they were right, they were right enough of the time.
'Mione,' said Charlie, 'up. Barely a few hours before you were practically begging to be allowed out of the bed.'
Hermione gave her head a little shake. They should realise that that was before. Now she had accomplished sleep, and had had a nice dream. She had a reason to remain asleep, in case she was lucky enough to have another pleasant memory pass by.
A heavy sigh from George.
'Very well then, Mione,' said George, 'you give us no other choice.'
And then something was grabbing her around the middle, gripping her just underneath her ribs and holding her out, with her legs still caught in the covers. Someone else then took a hold of her, pulling her into their embrace as her legs were untangled. By the time she had opened her eyes, which had closed upon realising that she needed to pretend to be asleep again, Hermione found herself in the arms of Fred.
'Wha?' Hermione muttered.
It was just typical of them that even when she finally admitted that she needed sleep, they decided that she needed to be awake. She just couldn't win.
'No need to pretend, Mione,' said Fred, as he gently rested his chin on her shoulder. 'We do have some kind of brain working between all of us.'
'Hate you,' Hermione muttered, making an attempt to worm her way out of Fred's grip, only to realise that Fred had somehow managed to curl his fingers in a good enough position that instead of trying to escape, Hermione could only think of the last time she had been held like this. When Harr…
Hermione gave a quick shake of her head. She couldn't think like that. She couldn't. That was in the past, and it would stay in the past.
'Yes, yes,' said Fred, 'but you still have to get up.'
'And you will have to eat all of the food we put in front of you,' said George, 'like always.'