6 YEARS LATER

After a long six years of working as a Curse Breaker in Egypt, Bill was finally coming home. The moment he had received the letter detailing his transfer back to the England, he had owled me and I had promptly owled his mother. Of course, Bill had wanted me to keep the news from his family for a day or so in order to 'spend some time together' but I, unlike him, had a survival instinct. There was no way that the Weasley matriarch was going to let me live if she found out that I'd hidden it from her.

There was some ministry business that Bill needed to take care of before he had planned to come to my apartment for the night. I had offered to meet him in the ministry and now stood waiting for him. My eyes drifted to the large clock floating in the air, waiting a little impatiently for him to appear. But could you blame me? It had been months since we'd last seen each other. As if knowing my thoughts, he appeared out of one of the offices and looked around the corridor in search of me.

He had yet to spy me but I took off towards him, my speed increasing until I was practically running towards him. Laying eyes on me, he came to a stop and opened his arms to catch me when I threw myself into his arms. Lifting me off the ground slightly, he burrowed his head into my neck and peppered kisses to the skin.

"Godric I missed you," he rumbled, head still nestled in the crook of my neck. Setting me gently back to the ground, he pulled away to peer down at me with a grin.

"I'm glad your home," I admitted, arms around his neck. My eyes flickered to the fang earring dangling from his ear and laughed lightly, "Your mother's going to kill you."

"Then it's a good thing I'm not seeing her until tomorrow," he said quietly, voice growing a little deeper as he crossed the distance between us again. Using a hand to tilt my head towards him, he pressed a slow kiss to my lips. Pulling back from me, he pressed his forehead against mine. "Maybe we should get out of the ministry hallway? There's a lot of people staring."

Heat assaulted my cheeks as I was suddenly reminded of where we were. Clearing my throat, I nodded as he prepared to apparate us away, still refusing to let go of me. "Maybe then you can explain why you needed to pop into the housing registration office?"

He didn't comment on it, dropping a kiss to the tip of my nose and then we were apparating away. I expected to find myself in the middle of my apartment hallway, to feel the wards shifting to allow us entry. What I didn't expect was to be hit with a sudden gust of cool wind. Pulling away from Bill, I looked around to find that we were standing on a cliff, overlooking the sea.

Bill's arms removed themselves from around me, allowing me to explore. Without voicing my confusion, I looked to the cottage that stood on the cliff before raising my eyes to the open blue sky. Slowly I let my eyes drift back to the man standing beside the cottage, waiting patiently for my attention.

"Bill?" I questioned quietly.

"This is Shell Cottage," he explained as he approached me, taking my hand to pull me towards the small cottage. "And it's ours."

"Ours?" My eyebrows rose in surprise, looking at the taller man who smiled softly as he let us into the cottage.

"We were planning on moving in together," he reminded me, letting go of my hand so I could explore.

I didn't go far. Stepping into the small front room, my eyes landed on his suitcases that must have been sent here upon his arrival, I turned my eyes back to Bill. I found him watching me carefully, trying to figure out how I was taking the news.

"Of course we can wait until your apartment contract ends," he assured me, misinterpreting my silence as he approached me, "and mum'll kill me if I don't stay at the Burrow for a while, so –"

"It's beautiful," I assured him, crossing the distance between us. Rising to my toes I pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw.

"You always wanted to live by the coast," he reminded me, wrapping an arm around my waist to pull me against him. Peering up at him with wide eyes, I watched him lower his head to kiss the side of my mouth as he murmured suggestively, "So I was thinking –"

"Hmm?"

"If you're not too tired –"

"Before any of that," I cut in, breaking the tension and raising a hand to Bill's lips to stop him from speaking, "there's somewhere we need to go."

"There is?" he questioned, pulling away from me in obvious disappointment.

"There is," I confirmed, grabbing my wand from my pocket to prepare for apparation. Pecking his lips to get rid of his frown, I promised quietly, "Later."

That was all it took for him to perk up and I rolled my eyes, a small laugh leaving my lips. Bill wrapped an arm around my waist and I apparated us away. I could only wonder how he would react when he realised where it was that I was taking him.

It turned out that he didn't have enough time to realise where we were before he stumbled back from the force of another woman throwing herself into his arms. He faltered backwards a little, arms coming around his mother to hug her to him. Over the top of his head, Bill let his eyes meet mine looking betrayed. I could only smile sheepishly, ducking behind Charlie and Ron to try and hide myself.

Mrs Weasley squeezed her son tightly as if fearing that he would disappear again and Bill sighed, patting her on the back. She sniffled slightly, pulling back from him only for her eyes to narrow onto his hair before moving swiftly to the earring.

"William Weasley," she said sharply, "what on earth is that in your ear!"

Bill shuffled under her eyes as though he was, once again, a little boy being told off. "Mum –"

"And your hair! What were you thinking? Growing it out so much!"

"Mrs Weasley," I called out quietly, coming out from my hiding place to help him, "Bill hasn't eaten all day."

The little white lie worked like a charm. She began to fuss over him, commenting on how thin he'd gotten – he hadn't. If anything, he'd bulked up but no one bothered to point it out to her. Mrs Weasley made her way to the kitchen, ordering her children around as she went. The two youngest Weasleys set about clearing the table and Charlie was forbidden from helping. He was another one that Mrs Weasley was determined to fatten up as if her food would convince him to never go back to Romania.

She popped her head back around the kitchen door, eyes on her eldest, "Where are your bags?"

"About that," he saw no need to hide the truth from his mother, "mum, I'm –"

"We'll send your stuff over," I said quietly from his side.

Bill sighed, looking to his mum who was waiting for his answer, "they were sent along magically."

She nodded, seeming reassured by his answer, and went back to work. From the corner of my eye, I saw the quietly brooding man beside me and cleared my throat, intending to help his mum. A hand on my arm stopped me from moving anywhere.

Lowering his voice, he said from beside my ear, "I thought we were going to christen –"

Reaching out, I pinched him as I remembered just how many listening ears there were around here. I did not need another embarrassing memory. Bill hissed under his breath, rubbing at his abused side.

"Later," I promised, kissing the frown away from his lips. Again. "I mean it. Tell your mum that you're coming round to mine for the weekend."