"Bill."
Hermione's voice was quiet. She couldn't believe that he was awake at this time of night and he had read the letter. How would she explain this? Her heart had sunk back down to the feeling she had about two hours ago. She felt empty, but this time for different reasons, this time it was caused by her own recklessness of leaving out that pathetic letter.
She walked in the door and closed it behind her. Nothing had changed, the lights were still off, the fire was still raging on in the middle of the room and the rain was still crashing against the window, which was directly in front of her across the long room, yet it all felt different. When she was in the room before, it had at least felt peaceful. Now it just felt tense and awkward. Bill was said nothing and she were left to try and explain things herself.
"Bill, I didn't act."
Bill turned around when she started talking. She could see his face, see the hurt in his eyes, but when she stopped looking directly into them, she could see his face wasn't telling the same story, he was angry and he was angry at her. He stayed perfectly still. His hair wasn't messy, but it wasn't neat either. It looked, as if he had been lying down for an hour and just woken up, something she remembered that he actually had done. He had no shirt on, just some jogging bottoms that he would usually wear when he went to sleep. She could tell she was only about ten minutes late. If she had gone home ten minutes later, then he probably wouldn't be awake and he wouldn't have read the letter that she knew was about to get her into some serious trouble.
"You're just picking up the pieces of my broken heart?"
Hermione could tell by his choice of words that he had thoroughly read the letter she had left behind. She knew he'd done what he always did, analysed the text and tried to find meaning in every word. How could she be so foolish? To leave such an emotional piece of writing out for a man like Bill to find, someone who reads into everything, so clever and so very stubborn.
Did she think that she wouldn't have to explain herself? That she'd just be able to come home and expect him to just greet her, hoping she'd made her mind up? How could she be so stupid? When it came to finding answers, he was just as thorough as she was. He wouldn't rest until everything was explained.
"Bill I was sad. I didn't mean an-.."
Bill once again cut off what she was trying to say. He didn't seem interested in her explanation. She'd said enough in her letter, now it was his turn to explain himself to her.
"You act off with me for a month, a month Hermione, because of this. Are you fucking serious?"
The words he used were enough to show her that he was more than serious at that moment. She knew when he used her name in an argument, it was to make it personal and when he swore, she knew it was something he needed to express. She knew he couldn't find the right words to explain himself and for a man with such a wide vocabulary, not being able to find the words he needed wasn't regularity.
"You have the right, to blame me for not loving you when you will hardly talk to me for a month. You feel you have the right to say to me that I don't love you and that I don't show it, when you don't even come to bed with me at night. You have the audacity to tell me that I still love my ex-wife, when it was you."
He paused to gain composure of himself. The more he spoke, the louder he got and the angrier his words became.
"When it was you who pushed us into the relationship, I told you we should leave it. I knew you still thought I loved her, even when I didn't. I said to you that we shouldn't get together until you knew for certain, that I wouldn't be thinking of Fleur and you agreed."
Hermione just went pale. It's so easy when you're caught up in a moment, to think of all the bad things, but as she realized while looking into the window of the Twins' shop, when you truly look at the bigger picture, you can see the happiness. But this is something she realized way too late. She should have thought about this before she even wrote that damn letter.
"Bill, I was frustrated, I needed to get it out, but I never acted."
"You needed to get it out, so you do this do you? I've been asking you for weeks what's been wrong and the most you've given me is 'Nothing for you to worry about'. I'm sorry Hermione, but this is something I should be worrying about, because my girlfriend has gone insane."
Bill's words annoyed Hermione. Sure she'd been way out of line and shouldn't have done what she did, but for him to call her insane was just unnecessary.
"Insane?"
Hermione decided that she would get nowhere in this conversation if she stayed timid, so she decided to argue his way, loud, and stubbornly.
"Is it really insane for me to think, that you could still be in love with the woman you spend every night with after work, the woman you were married to for 3 years and the woman who is insanely beautiful and kind? Really, that's insane of me is it William?"
The use of the name William proved this was a fight. Hermione never called him William, unless times were hard, or she truly needed his attention.
Bill seemed to have had enough of Hermione's talking. He moved and started walking around the room annoyed.
"No you stupid girl. What's insane is the fact that you can't see, that the one I love is YOU! The fact that … How can you not see the things I have done for you? I gave up travelling in my job for you; I didn't even do that for my family Hermione. I went through all that trouble that nearly got me fired to get the records of your family. I stopped seeing my sister, who needs me now more than ever because I actually thought something was wrong with you. I stayed up every night trying to talk to you, trying to find out what was wrong with you and this is it, something as pathetic as this?"
Hermione had no retort. He really did make her sound pathetic and it was. She could have easily turned around and questioned him for calling her such a word, but for the first time ever, she knew that if she did, her argument would have been invalid. She saw a floor in every comeback that she could think of, but then his words sunk in; Ginny? What was wrong with Ginny? They had been best friends for years now and she saw her on an everyday basis and still, she didn't know there was anything wrong with her.
"Ginny?"
That was the only thing Hermione could bring herself to say.
"And you think you have it so bad eh? My sister can't go a day without drinking. Have you talked to her about it? 'Cause hell, when I go there to talk to her about what's wrong with her, all she can do is turn around and ask what's been wrong with you and you haven't even noticed that something's wrong with her?"
Hermione couldn't believe it. Had she been so caught up in herself that she couldn't see her best friend was in need of help?
"And what about Charlie? Did you even notice he was home? Did you notice that he was without a job? Can you even begin to imagine what it must be like to be at the top of your job, the very top and then get fired for something that you didn't do? No, because nothing like that has ever happened to you. You've been in your job for a little over two years and you've climbed the ranks higher than most people do within 9."
Hermione continued to listen to Bill talk. She was being given too much information to take. Bill seemed to know everything about everybody.
"When's the last time you talked to Tonks after Lupin died? Have you ever sat down with her and had her cry on your shoulder, talking about how it's been for her to bring up Teddy? No you haven't."
He seemed to know every bad thing that was going on in the world.
"What about Neville? I can't remember the last time he was at home during the night. He spends most of his nights walking the streets. Do you have any idea what that boy would give to have somebody loving him the way that you have somebody loving you?"
Then something dawned on her.
"Draco. I may hate the slimy little shit for what he did to my brother, but did you know he can't have children? His wife's been talking about leaving him for quite some time if he doesn't do something about it."
"No Bill. I don't know how it feels. I also don't know how it feels to carry around everybody's problems on my shoulders. I'm sorry."
Hermione's words sounded sympathetic. Hermione knew he would ignore it. Bill wasn't the type to accept other people's sympathy. He was too hard face and Hermione was right, Bill continued his rant, without taking in what she had said.
"Did you know that my mother thinks the absolute world of you? Did you know she's the reason you were able to go back and finish your final years at Hogwarts after the war? She's the one who got you in you know? Well you would know, if you'd just listen to something she'd said over the past week."
Hermione couldn't take it. Bill was trying to make a point, she knew that and it wasn't him who was making her feel awful, it was the realization that she hadn't paid attention to any of her friends lately. She'd been so busy focusing on herself that she didn't do one thing other than being clever, which was what she was known for. She didn't help her friends when they needed her most. Hermione always looked after everybody and she loved doing so, but she didn't even know that people needed her help. She looked to the floor and started to cry for the 100th time that night.
She wasn't sure when it had happened, but Bill was standing in front of her. He moved one hand under her chin and pulled her face up to look at him.
"Look Hermione. You need to understand that I'm not saying this to hurt you. I would never hurt you on purpose."
He moved his other hand and placed it on her cheek and used his thumb to rid the tears that were on that side of her face.
"But we're all the same. We all get desperate sometimes. The world isn't black and white, happy people and sad people, there's colour in there. There are purples and pinks and reds and blues and I know that when you're hurting it's hard to accept sometimes, but we feel black and we feel blue sometimes as well, not just you."
Hermione moved her hand up to meet the hand that was caressing her cheek and looked Bill in the eyes.
"I'm sorry, I didn't."
"Shh."
Bill stopped her, not wanting her apologize.
"I understand, but I still want to talk about it okay?"
Bill held Hermione in his arms, for the first time in what felt like a lifetime and even though he knew he didn't want to mess this moment up, he knew they needed to talk about it. Not for the sake of saving himself, but he needed to put Hermione's fears and doubts to rest. He walked her over to the sofa, handed her the letter and said.
"Explain."
Hermione wasn't sure of what she was meant to do at this point. She didn't want to explain the letter because she knew she didn't mean any of it and she was sure Bill knew she didn't mean it. What did he want her to explain?
"Hermione Granger. Never have I known you to turn down a good explanation."
He laughed, seeming to try and make the conversation a lot less tense and a bit more light-hearted, but still said it as if he wanted her to tell him what she was thinking when she wrote the letter.
"I know you didn't mean the things you said in this letter. I know that you know I love you, but these words were true when you had written them and of course I don't want you to sit there and point out everything I'm awful at, even though there isn't much of a list for that."
Bill winked and smirked at her when he said this laughing. At this point Hermione knew things were coming back to normal. Bill was being his cheeky self again and if keeping things this way meant that she had to go through every part of her letter and tell him what her mental idea was for writing it was, then she would.
"But I want you to tell me why you felt like this at the time and try not to break my heart, yes beautiful?"
He smiled at her and left her to tell him the rest.
Hermione looked down to the letter; she couldn't actually remember what she had written.
Do you wish I was a bit more like her?
"Bill, Fleur is an amazingly beautiful woman. She's kind, funny and nice."
"But that's nothing compared to you."
Bill interrupted.
Bill, I hope you don't see me as the girl who will sort out all your problems. I can't do it.
"I didn't want to be the girl who you thought was going to fix everything in your life. I can't do that. I wish I could, but I can't."
"But you already have Hermione."
Bill seemed to have an answer for everything.
"Bill, you know. If you're just going to do that every time I say something, then there's going to be a very long night's worth of explaining to do."
She laughed as she was saying this.
She laughed.
It had been a long time since she'd laughed with him and it felt good. It felt right again, as if this was meant to be. For the first time in a month she understood where she belonged.
"I'm sorry Hermione. My point is that everything you think is just that. It's what you think, nothing you have written there is actual fact and it's just the over- working brain cells in your head. Yes Fleur was a beautiful kind woman."
Hermione frowned at him as he said this.
"But that's nothing compared to what you are Hermione and I wish you would just understand that."
Hermione simply smiled. She had no reply and she didn't want to reply.
"I love you Hermione."
"I love you too Bill. Can I ask you a question?"
Bill looked at her. She thought she could see worry in his eyes, so she simply moved her hands and held his in front of her, shaking her head.
"No nothing. I just wondered. How do you know so much about everybody?"
Bill smiled. She didn't know if it was from relief that they were off the topic, or if something she had said had amused him.
"Hermione I work day in and day out, looking after vaults that people keep their secrets in. You'll be amazed what people leave behind or talk about when they think everything's safe."
"So you go through people's stuff and listen into their conversations?"
For the first time that night, Hermione had regained her usual tone of disagreement for what Bill had just said. Her brows seemed to burrow into her eyes and Bill could tell she was back. He gave her a little smirk before justifying himself.
"I prefer calling it being observational; you can't tell me you wouldn't do the same Miss Granger."
And there it was, that cunning, that charm and that brain she could have sworn should have earned him a place at the Slytherin table. It surely earned him a place in her heart. When they first met Hermione always found that conversations and debates with him were always a bit more of a challenge. He always had the brain-power to back up what he was saying and always had the cunning to come up with a very hard one to argue out of retort and Hermione could never pass up a challenge. This is what drew her to him. People would always question why she was with somebody of his age, or why she would date her ex-boyfriend's older brother. Her answer was always the same.
She loved the challenge.
"As a matter of fact, Mr Weasley." She made sure to state his name in a rather prudish kind of manner "I wouldn't."
He just smirked.
"But then you wouldn't know all the other wonderful things that I know. For example; Seamus Finnigan is back in our world."
Hermione was a bit stumped that he would bring up Seamus' name the same day she had seen him, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to use it to her advantage.
"You don't need to work with Goblins to figure that one out Bill."
He looked confused for a second, but it didn't last long. He never let it show that he had been outsmarted or put out by a statement.
"So you've been with Finnigan have you?"
Now it was Hermione's turn to look confused, but she never hid it when she was trying to figure something out. She never could when Bill was around, so she never tried. Before she could ask him how he knew he answered her.
"When I said his name, you looked to your right. You always do that when you're trying to recall a memory or thinking back."
"Bill Weasley you clever boy."
"Yeah. That and the fact that he told me he was going to be out at his new pub tonight. It's rather easy to put two and two together really."
"When I said clever I meant sneaky." She giggled at his admission "When did you talk to him?"
"About two days ago, when I was getting off work, he was just outside. He invited me out to a beer and everything, but then I told him I had to get home to you."
He knew that she was with Bill? Then why was he flirting with her all night? Hermione started to wonder, lost in her thoughts as she usually was.
"He was flirting with you?"
Hermione came back to the real world for long enough to realize what she was saying in her head, was also leaving her lips.
"Why wouldn't he know we were together? Miss Granger is there something you're not telling me?"
Bill said, surprisingly, with a smile on his face.
"Bill please don't hate me. I was feeling down and it was the first time I'd seen him in a while and I didn't think it was the best topic of conversation, besides, he was only calling me cute."
Bill cut her off there, with a kiss to the lips, the first kiss she'd had with him like this for a while. It was hot and fast and needy, but not for a second did she stop to think, she immediately returned the kiss.
Bill stopped it for a second.
"Anybody can call you cute Granger, as long as I'm the only one who can make you feel sexy."
He sat up and moved her off the sofa, kissing everywhere he could reach as he stayed in a sitting position and placed her so she was standing in front of him. She was still soaked from the rain which had made most of what she was wearing pretty flimsy.
He started to kiss her hip bones, moving across, kissing her lower belly while he did so.
"Missed this, didn't you baby?"
His eyes were looking up at her as he started to kiss upwards towards her chest.
"Missed this nearly as much as I did, well if you hadn't been so stubborn, then you could have had this every night."
As he moved up, he grazed her nipples with his teeth through her shirt and she let out a soft moan. He moved higher and higher until he was kissing her neck and he was standing at in his full height.
He stopped kissing her and looked into her eyes, almost as if he was studying her, saying nothing, the room completely silent. The sound of the fire and Hermione's rather loud breathing was all that could be heard.
Bill moved his hands and started undoing the buttons on Hermione's jeans, ripping them open and then they heard the zipper opening and the sound of Hermione's breathing all of a sudden stopped and he smirked, moving his face a little bit closer to hers, reaching her ear.
"Why did you stop coming to bed with me?"
His hands started to move inside her jeans and rubbed on the front of her knickers. Hermione just bit her bottom lip trying not to let out a sound.
"Why wasn't I allowed to do this for so long?"
Bill's voice had become husky, almost predator like. As he was talking he moved his hands into her nickers and he softly and slowly started to rub her clit.
"I know it isn't because you don't love it."
He started to move his hand a little faster, rubbing his fingers all over her, teasing her entrance and then back to her clit. Hermione was doing all she could to stay silent.
"'Cause if you didn't love it, then I couldn't make you do this."
Bill plunged his finger into her and she couldn't keep quiet. She let go of her lip and moaned nice and loud, just like Bill knew she would. He started pumping his fingers into her harder and faster, just looking into her eyes, but she couldn't stare back any longer, she'd thrown her head back, eyes closed, mouth open. Bill used his other hand and pulled her head back to his so their foreheads were together.
"Do you want more Hermione?"
She couldn't say anything. It had been little over a month since she'd last been touched like this and she missed the feeling. She just moaned and Bill knew she was lost for words. He knew exactly how she was feeling and he used this to his advantage.
"Do you Hermione? All you have to do is ask."
He smirked at her while he was watching her trying to get her words out.
"Bi..Mor.. More, Bill please."
She panted but managed to ask.
Bill plunged his finger into her one last time and kissed her hard, with more passion than the last. He was stroking her walls as he was kissing her and she could hardly keep herself together. She was wobbling at the knees.
"As you wish beautiful."
He stopped everything, pulled his hand from her jeans, moved his head away from hers and took her by the waste. He turned her around and threw her onto the sofa. He leaned in and started to kiss down her body again, this time pulling her top over her head and unclasping her bra while he was there and he took her nipple into his mouth. He circled it around his tongue and bit it ever so gently and then gave her other nipple the same treatment.
He moved down her body and pulled her jeans down her legs, throwing them to one side. He kissed up the inside of her legs, paying attention to everything. As he reached her core he looked up at her.
"I miss your taste Hermione."
He immediately pulled her knickers to one side and got to work. He worked her core like nobody, he always used to and she missed it. She needed it so badly. One of her hands travelled down to his hair and she grabbed it pushing his face into her. He made a moaning sound that vibrated her and made her yelp cutely.
She was biting her lip, just watching his head between her legs. He wasn't licking her pussy, he was eating it. He was making sure that everything was touched and played with. He circled her clit with his tongue, flicking it every now and then and just before anything could happen, he'd move his tongue and feast inside her, trying to get his tongue in her as much as possible.
He wanted to her cum. He replaced his tongue with his fingers and slowly started to pump in and out of her and he started to play with her clit once more. She'd lost all control, she couldn't take anymore.
"Come on Granger, cum for me."
And she did, with that she came undone. She couldn't help it; she arched her back and pushed Bill's face in further as he continued to eat her while she came, his fingers still pushing in and out of her.
"Bill, Oh.. Oh… fuucckkk, Biiillllll!"
Bill stopped playing with her and moved to sit next to her. She cuddled up next to him and wrapped her body around him so they were closer than they had been in so long. She missed this.
He wrapped her up in the blanked that was on the back of the sofa still and made sure she was warm.
"We can get rid of this stupid blanket now then can't we?"
Hermione just looked at him and giggled. She was home and where she belonged, but what would tomorrow bring? Was the letter out of Bills head, or were he just putting on another brave face?